After three consecutive weeks of an ongoing US government shutdown and the postponement of major economic news releases, traders are now turning their attention towards the official beginning of the last earnings season of 2025.
Broad-based gains in US equity markets were primarily driven by robust earnings results, which aided all three major stock market indices, the Nasdaq, the S&P500 and Dow Jones, to keep rallying into uncharted all-time territory, extending their impressive win streaks.
JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, four behemoths of the US banking sector and set the tone this time around, with analysts expecting strong beats on both the revenue and earning per share dimensions. Analysts will also be monitoring, changes around the banks’ net interest income, the expansion of their lending procedures, the performance of their trading divisions and deals on the investment banking front, as traders are eager to see a revival of the stagnated IPO function.
Overall, big banks kickstarting the earnings cycle with a positive note, broadcasting strong financial health, the momentum may be passed onwards, lifting animal spirits.
Nevertheless, markets do remain vulnerable to shifting US-China trade dynamics, as the flare up of tensions between the worlds two largest superpowers dampens demand for riskier assets and boosts on the other hand, inflows towards safe haven assets such as gold and silver.
Technical Analysis
CITI Chart – Citigroup attempts to form base after brief pullback from all time highs ahead of earnings
Resistance: 85.50 (R1), 89.00 (R2), 92.00 (R3)
Support: 81.75 (S1), 80.00 (S2), 78.00 (S3)