The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Sunworks, Limbach, Fuel Tech, Herc And Stifel
Zacks Investment Research | May 02, 2019 10:42PM ET
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – May 3, 2019 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Sunworks, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) , Limbach Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LMB) , Fuel Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTEK) , Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) and Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) .
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
Wall Street Sees Best 4-Month Start in Decades: 5 Winners
Wall Street saw its best start to a year in decades and the sharpest gains in April in about 10 years. The latest milestones were achieved mostly due to a more accommodative Fed and a slew of positive economic reports. Apple’s rally following upbeat earnings results eased worries about the first-quarter earnings outlook, while increasing optimism in U.S.-China trade negotiations helped drive recent gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average witnessed its best four-month start to a year since 1999, while the broader S&P 500 saw the best start since 1987. The indexes recouped losses incurred in the final months of 2018, when fears of a global recession sent markets sliding.
Fed Rules Out Immediate Rate Hike
The Federal Reserve recently left key interest rates unchanged and Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell stressed that the central bank will continue to stay patient with rate hikes. Fed adopted a cautious stance this year mostly due to inflation remaining short of the committee’s 2% target.
The Fed’s preferred price gauge, the so-called core PCE index, was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis in March, the slightest increase since January 2018. The broader PCE index, in the meanwhile, rose 0.2% in March compared to the previous month and jumped 1.5% from a year ago.
Nonetheless, Fed’s views were widely considered as accommodative, at least for the time being, and should have a soothing effect on investors. After all, the Fed’s rate increase last year had taken a toll. This is because hike in rates increases the cost of lending money from financial institutions for small and medium business houses. This in turn could exert more pressure on the U.S. economy.
Economy in Sound Shape
Talking about the U.S. economy, GDP for the January-March period expanded at a 3.2% annual pace, the best first-quarter growth since 2015. The gain was well above analysts’ expectations of a 2.3% increase.
To top it, Americans are now feeling more optimistic about their conditions. The key economic indicator that measures attitudes on future economic prospects came in at 129.2 in April and exceeded analysts’ expectations of a 126.9 reading. At the same time, both the future expectations and present situations index remain near their highest levels in a decade.
Some other recent reports also point to signs of strength. March retail sales’ surprise jump of 1.6% does indicate that consumer spending will eventually improve and that a proxy for business investment has risen sharply. Headline durable goods orders expanded 2.7% last month, easily surpassing estimates. In fact, durable goods orders grew at the fastest pace in seven months.
Buoyant Earnings Results
Dow component Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)., in the meanwhile, was in the spotlight after the iPhone maker beat expectations for the first quarter. Apple revealed that the worst is over for its China business and that its service business is picking up, which analysts see as key to Apple’s growth.
Apple’s results helped ease worries about the earnings outlook for Wall Street even though Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc. tumbled in the wake of revenue miss. Total earnings for the 313 S&P 500 members that have reported first-quarter results are already up 0.1% on 3.8% higher revenues, with 78.0% beating earnings estimates and 61.0% beating revenue estimates (read more: Zacks Investment Research
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