The Bull Market Keeps Running Thanks to Growing Profit Forecasts

  • Earnings estimates increase even as Fed, omicron fears flare
  • Benchmark’s rally this year driven largely by improving income
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Wondering how U.S. stocks can keep going up in the face of a newly hawkish Federal Reserve and a fast-spreading omicron variant? The answer once again is uncanny resilience in the key measure of American corporate health.

As scary as all the headlines have been, they have yet to enact any appreciable harm on forecasts for S&P 500 earnings. Rather than fall, as case counts climb and the global recovery comes under increasingly worrisome threats, estimated 2022 income for firms in the index actually climbed about $1 to $220.40 a share in the last month.