‘The most volatile earnings season since the financial crisis’

A wild fact from Goldman Sachs managing director Brian Garrett about the significant swings in individual stocks as quarterly results roll in:

“If it’s felt like a volatile earnings season, that's because it is,” he writes in a note to clients. “In fact, this has been the most volatile earnings season since the financial crisis.”

So far, the average S&P 500 stock has gone up or down about 5% on the heels of releasing quarterly results.

And yes, it certainly has felt like a volatile earnings season. Match Group, Stanley Black & Decker, 3M, Mohawk Industries, Charter Communications, and Bristol Myers all had double-digit gains on strong results recently, for instance. And on the day the S&P 500 broke its streak of consecutive sessions without a 2% decline, poor financial performance from the likes of Tesla and Lamb Weston certainly played a part.

Goldman’s data are as of the end of July, so we’re not even capturing things like Meta’s spike on earnings or Qualcomm’s slide to kick off this month.

“By the end of this week we will largely be through eps and onto a hopefully quiet August,” writes Garrett.