GE reported better than expected earnings, Two day Fed meeting, GDP report will be released next week
July 22, 2016
Friday – July 22
In earnings news, GE reported better-than-expected earnings on earnings-per-share and revenues, but other components declined. In addition, despite beating expectations, it comes as the company lowered the numbers heading into the earnings release. “The diversity and scale of our portfolio enabled the company to perform well despite a volatile and slow growth economy,” GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said in a statement. Companies continue to beat lowered expectations – which is both good and bad.
The two-day Fed meeting kicks off on Tuesday and will end Wednesday with the 2:00 p.m. ET release of the statement. There is a zero percent chance of a hike to the short-term Fed Funds Rate, but the accompanying monetary policy statement may give some clues on future interest rate movements. The Brexit vote will be one of the main topics along with global and U.S. growth, inflation and the labor markets.
The closely watched Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report will be released next week and comes after the weak 1.1% reading for the first quarter of 2016. The Atlanta Fed is forecasting 2.4% growth for 2016 for the second quarter. Global investors will be watching closely to see if the world’s largest economy can achieve higher levels of growth. GDP is the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period.
