By Jesse Cohen
Investing.com - Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings season has gotten off to a strong start so far, with companies like Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) all blowing past analysts’ expectations.
Earnings for the S&P 500 are expected to decline by 4.1% for the third quarter, according to FactSet, which would mark the first year-on-year contraction since the earnings recession that ended in 2016.
Lingering fears over the fallout from the prolonged U.S.-China trade war on U.S. companies prompted market players to brace for a grim earnings season.
However, this trend has not played out so far this season. Of the 43 S&P 500 companies that reported earnings before the bell Thursday, 86% have come in better than consensus expectations.
The biggest name to report results this week was Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX). Shares surged 10% after the streaming giant added slightly more paying subscribers than Wall Street expected in the third quarter when it reported after Wednesday’s closing bell.
Earnings will continue to be the focal point for investors for the remainder of the month, with market heavyweights like Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) all set to report quarterly results.
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-- Reuters contributed to this report