LONDON The outlook for Wall Street earnings has deteriorated significantly in recent months, data shows, raising the risk that companies in the United States may slip into recession before its economy does - with Europe close behind.
LONDON Reports of progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations and hopes of a new scheme to support euro zone banks drove a strong rally in European stocks, which posted their best week since November and reclaimed three-month highs.
LONDON As the United Kingdom's Brexit crisis deepens, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have differing views of the ultimate outcome but the two titans of Wall Street agree on one thing: They don't believe there will be a no-deal Brexit.
By Josephine Mason and Helen Reid LONDON, Feb 15 The outlook for Wall Street earnings has deteriorated significantly in recent months, data shows, raising the risk that companies in the United States may slip into recession before its economy does - with Europe close behind. Analysts on average expect the S&P 500's first-quarter earnings per share to drop 0.3 percent year-on-year, according to I/B/E/S Refinitiv data. That's a big drop from the 8.2 percent rise expected as recently as October and would mark the first contraction in U.S. company earnings in three years. Analysts have also made deep cuts to forecasts for the rest of the year. They still expect growth in the remaining three quarters, meaning Wall Street would avoid a technical recession typically defined as a fall in two consecutive quarters. But only just, as the lowered growth forecasts are meagre. For a graphic on U.S. earnings estimates over time: https://tmsnrt.rs/2TRqqof The swift pace and size of the cuts have kindled concerns that the downward trend will continue, particularly as companies struggle with squeezed margins and large amounts of debt. The full-year estimate stands at just 4.2 percent now, down more than half from 10.2 percent in October. It's pretty gloomy on the other side of the Atlantic too. Analysts anticipate barely any growth among European companies listed on the STOXX 600 at the slowest in 18 months, data shows. For a graphic on European earnings estimates over time: https://tmsnrt.rs/2EaTT7f (Reporting by Josephine Mason and Helen Reid; editing by John Stonestreet)
* Berenberg: 10 percent chance of May's deal (Adds details and JPMorgan)
LONDON Daring investors are dipping their toes back into UK housebuilders, attracted by high dividend yields and low valuations even though they are seen as among the most vulnerable sectors in the event of a messy Brexit.
* Graphic: World earnings growth estimates plunge https://tmsnrt.rs/2E8GjkU
* Graphic: World earnings growth estimates plunge https://tmsnrt.rs/2E8GjkU
* Graphic: World earnings growth estimates plunge https://tmsnrt.rs/2E8GjkU
LONDON Investors made a U-turn on emerging markets, naming them the most crowded trade, in Bank of America Merrill Lynch's survey for the first time in its history.
The defrocking of former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick is a "very important signal" to the Catholic Church hierarchy that no one is above the law, the Vatican's top sexual crimes investigator said on Saturday.