CEOs Go Silent on Future as S&P 500 Seesaw Rocks for Another Day
- Fewest instances of profit outlooks on record in September
- Unknowns in election, economic growth muddle outlook
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The S&P 500 Index is having its worst bout of earnings-season indecision in 16 years. Don’t look to chief executive officers to help cure it.
About the only thing with less precedent than the benchmark index’s six-day streak of alternating up-and-down moves since Alcoa Inc. reported results has been the refusal of companies this earnings season to say anything to help clarify their future. There were 20 instances of any kind of quarterly or annual profit guidance this month through Monday and 21 in September, roughly a third of the usual volume, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Bank of America Corp. Last month’s total was the fewest on record.