Why Markets Are Buoyant and Under Pressure

ImageAndrew here.Despite all the hand-wringing about the economy and its prospects, the stock market hit another record high.

Why? Earnings and the expectation of future profits continue to beat estimates, even as interest rates creep up.The real question is no longer whether the bears are wrong, but how long the huge corporate spending boom can defy the gravity of rising borrowing costs.Also: Lauren Hirsch has a scoop on the sale of the Chrysler Building to Tishman Speyer, bringing the famous skyscraper under the same ownership as Rockefeller Center.

More below.Worries about the status quoU.S.stock futures are pointing down this morning, after the S&P 500 set yet another record on Tuesday.Analysts still expect major indexes to keep climbing.

Yet the economic risks that have dogged markets in recent weeks, including rising bond yields and energy prices, don’t appear to be going away anytime soon.“This bull market is about nothing but earnings growth,” Michael Purves, the founder of the research firm Tallbacken Capital, told The Times.What’s happening now is “the best earnings and margin growth in our lifetime,” Steve Chiavarone, the chief investment officer for equities at Federated Hermes, told The Financial Times.That momentum should carry on through the corporate earnings season, which begins next week: Over 70 companies in the S&P 500 have raised profit estimates for the recent quarter, a record, according to FactSet.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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