面对美国公司辉煌的第二季度财报季，投资者兴致阑珊。
一大批标普500指数成份股公司的利润超过了华尔街的预期，但它们的股价几乎没有变化。这是投资者连续第二个季度对喜人的业绩表现无动于衷，更加让人担心今年已经上涨18%的美股可能要回撤。
市场反应不温不火之际，正值新冠病毒delta毒株四处蔓延，华尔街银行自己也推后了回归办公室的计划。通常推动基准指数攀升的亚马逊和其他科技巨头，最近也跌了跟头。
“财报季表明很多好消息已经被消化，”美国银行股票策略师Jill Carey Hall周五接受采访时表示。“业绩超预期的公司，股票并没有跑赢多少。”
数据显示，标普500指数成份股大多已经发布财报，其中85%的公司盈利超预期。平均而言，他们的股票在业绩公布后的第二天上涨了0.2%。这跟第一季度的趋势类似，当时的次日平均表现为下跌0.1%。
在标普500指数升至新高的背景下，投资者迄今对背后正在酝酿的忧患视而不见。尽管估值处于历史高位、价格通胀可能持续、货币刺激可能缩减、Covid-19感染率上升，但市场的关注点一直是企业盈利继续增长和利率保持低位的预测。
高盛依然看涨美股。该行上周援引这两个因素，提高标普500指数年底目标。David Kostin牵头的策略师预测，该指数年底可能收于4700点，意味着比上周五收盘水平上涨近6%；该行之前的估计是4300点。
“相对于共识预期，我们认为随着公司成功管理成本，以及高利润率科技公司在该指数中的权重越来越大，收入增长和税前利润率的提高会更加强劲，”策略师们在一份研究报告中写道。
五大科技公司占标普500指数权重超过五分之一，但科技股财报后的初始表现尤其疲软。至今已经发布财报的科技公司中，94%盈利超预期，但数据显示，他们的股价次日平均下跌0.6%。
“当估值如此昂贵时，利润真的需要上台阶，”行业研究首席股票策略师Gina Martin Adams说。“科技公司的利润确实在上升，问题是其他公司也在上升。”
Investors have lost interest in the glorious second-quarter earnings season for American companies.
A large number of S & P 500 companies' profits have exceeded Wall Street expectations, but their share prices have barely changed. This is the second quarter in a row that investors have been indifferent to the gratifying performance, adding to fears that US stocks, which have risen 18 per cent this year, may have to pull back.
The lukewarm market reaction came as novel coronavirus's delta strain spread and Wall Street banks themselves delayed plans to return to the office. Amazon, which usually drives the benchmark index higherAnd other tech giants have also tumbled recently.
"the earnings season shows that a lot of good news has been digested," said Bank of America.Equity strategist Jill Carey Hall said in an interview on Friday. "for companies that have outperformed expectations, stocks have not outperformed by much."
Most of the S & P 500 stocks have reported results, with 85% of them beating expectations, according to the data. On average, their shares rose 0.2% the day after the results were announced. This is similar to the trend in the first quarter, when the average performance fell 0.1 per cent the next day.
Against the backdrop of the S & P 500's rise to a new high, investors have so far turned a blind eye to the concerns that are brewing. Although valuations are historically high, price inflation is likely to persist, monetary stimulus is likely to shrink, and Covid-19 infection rates are rising, the focus of the market has been on continued growth in corporate earnings andThe forecast that interest rates will remain low.
Goldman SachsStill bullish on US stocks. The bank cited these two factors last week to raise the S & P 500 year-end target. Strategists led by David Kostin predict that the index could close at 4700 by the end of the year, meaning it is up nearly 6 per cent from Friday's close; the bank's previous estimate was 4300.
"We believe that as companies successfully manage costs and high-margin technology companies play an increasingly important role in the index, revenue growth and pre-tax profit margins will be stronger than consensus expectations," strategists wrote in a research note.
The big five technology companies account for more than 1/5 of the S & P 500, but the initial performance of technology stocks was particularly weak after the earnings report. 94% of the technology companies that have reported earnings so far beat expectations, but their share prices fell by an average of 0.6% the next day, according to the data.
"when valuations are so expensive, profits really need to go up," said Gina Martin Adams, chief equity strategist for industry research. "the profits of technology companies are indeed rising, but the problem is that other companies are also rising."
