US stocks: What next after 'spectacular' earnings season?

US earnings season is drawing to a close with 87% of S&P 500 companies beating expectations in the best quarter for earnings growth in over a decade, according to Refinitiv. In this week’s episode, IGTV’s Victoria Scholar speaks to Ben Gutteridge, director of Model Portfolios at Invesco, about what we learned from US earnings season and what lies ahead for US equities. Gutteridge says it has been a ‘spectacular’ quarter for earnings, partly due to base effects, but also thanks to vaccination efforts, alongside monetary and fiscal stimulus programmes. However, he says there is still a lot of uncertainty in the consumer sectors, including travel and leisure. In terms of investors’ concerns over inflation, Gutteridge is relatively optimistic, believing that inflation is most likely to be transient.  Any opinion, news, research, analysis, or other information does not constitute investment or trading advice. Follow us on Twitter @IGcom