*Mueller Report* Are We In The Clear For Investing Again?

This week has brought some big news! Should we sound the all clear for investors to be buying stocks without any hesitation again? The Mueller Report was released Thursday morning which has kept many glued to their screens to review for anything important. Remember a week ago we shared how there are data being released that we need to pay attention to.

The Mueller Report was released Thursday which provided a summary of the two-year investigation. As had been previously reported in the news there didn’t seem to be anything new that seems like it could hamper progress ahead. Of course, there were new statements of things said or done that will displease people to learn about. This may not be just an easy win or quick investigation to walk past. But as far as investors are concerned it doesn’t appear that there were major items revealed to really cause concern. In the days ahead we will have to see what further questions or hearings are scheduled.

Corporate Earnings that have been released so far have been for the majority, positive. Only 6% of companies have reported so it is still early. But for those companies which have reported first quarter results we are seeing revenue growth, earnings per share growth, and higher wage and labor costs. You can view a detailed report of companies that had reported through April 12, 2019 from Factset.

As earnings continue to be released, we will be watching for this data on a larger set of companies. What we are noticing is that companies which report good earnings and estimates ahead are seeing their stock price rewarded. Those companies which report negative or disappointing earnings results have seen their stock price punished along with the disappointing news. It seems like this is fairly obvious or expected for the stock price to react similarly to the earnings results. However, this is not always the case. Often investors can overlook a bad quarter where there are reasons. These quarterly results seem to be showing that investors are watching closely and investing accordingly to the outcome.

We wouldn’t sound the all clear just yet. The corporate earnings data is still coming in and it will take some time to digest it along with the Mueller report.

Wondering how this affects your investments? Schedule a call with Michelle and Steve to discuss your portfolio today.

Image Credit: https://www.wsj.com/articles/mueller-report-release-11555590084