Earnings season is moving. 20% of S&P 500 Index companies have reported their financial performance for the third quarter of 2021. The companies that have reported show earnings growth of 45% over the third quarter of 2020.
There was a lot of news about the employment picture this week. Unemployment dipped below 5% in September to 4.8%. The expectation was for a 0.1% decrease from August to 5.1%.
Equity markets faced selling pressure on the week amid mounting risk factors. The S&P 500 was down 3.1% on the week. Small caps fared better with a drop of 2.6%, whereas the NASDAQ Composite was down 4.1% as rising rates scared the duration trade.