Stocks Rally Slightly On Wednesday

Trading on Wednesday was an example of earnings holding up the market rather than causing it to rally. The industrials sector was up 1.02% on the back of great earnings from CSX. The stock was up 7.85% as the firm reported 78 cents of EPS which beat estimates by 12 cents. Revenue growth was 0.3%, reaching $2.88 billion which beat estimates by $50 million. The bad news for the overall economy is that this beat was driven by operational improvements as the operating ratio improved 950 basis points to 63.7% from 73.2%.

It looks like stocks will head higher on Thursday because American Express beat estimates and Jeff Bezos released his shareholder letter for Amazon. American Express had $1.86 in EPS which beat estimates for $1.71. The firm also said EPS for the full year will be on the high end of the range from $6.90 to $7.30. Revenue of $9.72 billion beat estimates for $9.46 billion. The stock rallied 3.99% after hours on Wednesday. This is a great sign for the overall economy just like CSX's report. This one is even better because revenue was great opposed to the executional improvements CSX had.