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 NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street is enjoying a surprisingly good second-quarter earnings season — so good that investors are discounting predictions of an economic slowdown later this year and betting instead on strong profit growth and higher stock prices.
In a quarter where oil prices remained near record levels, 69 percent of companies within the Standard & Poor's 500 index reported better-than-expected earnings. The fears that high energy prices would spur inflation or reduce consumer spending — or both — appear to be unfounded.
"You have here a quarter where, for the first time, we had these high oil prices throughout the entire quarter, and you can see from earnings that the consumer attitude toward these prices is benign," said Joseph Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co. "I think it's safe to say that those attitudes will continue, and that bodes well for the second half."
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