Markets mixed as earnings season “not off to a very good start”

Markets were mixed on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2 perent but the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.1 percent and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.3 percent.

Tom Essaye, president of the Sevens Report, noted that earnings season in the US “is not off to a very good start”.

Indeed, Lori Calvasina, RBC Capital Markets’ head of US equity strategy, suggested that there may be a little too much euphoria in the US stock market right now.

Calvasina said that “positioning in U.S. equity futures is parabolic, shooting straight up”. She said that peaks in futures contracts last year were followed by selloffs.

“If we’re only getting modest earnings growth this year, S&P 500 only deserves to have modest expansion based on how it is played out the last few times,” said Calvasina.