An earnings avalanche hit Wall Street this week as corporate
America stepped onstage to share its fare. Some random items
in the news:
Bank of America notched a quarterly profit, although it
achieved its results through a different route: The company
sold assets and cut expenses. Still, given the widespread
panic that has surounded BofA including concerns over
mortgage exposure and the near-death experience at the $5
level (whihc would have prohibited some mutual funds from
holing BofA) the news was embraced by investors.
Morgan Stanley reported a smaller than expected loss on
better than expected equity trading revenue (always the most
volatile componentin the earnings mix.) Morgan was the only
firm of the five major banks to trade profitably in 2011 and
helped by the perception that an imminent European implosion
has abated.
Research in Motion exhibited impressive price action after
Samsung denied chatter that it was interested in acquiring
the BlackBerry maker. While the perception remains that
other suitors exist.
Finally, the market has room to the upside, we would be
wise to remember that the smartest people on Wall Street
screamed "get out of stocks" in December and that followed
a 2011 rally.
Sheila McKinney
