iPod Mini vs Q3 Earnings

So it’ll be Apple’s product launch event versus the earnings reports of America’s multinationals in the battle for the next leg of this market. We’ll hear from 33 S&P 500 companies today and the statistics say we should not be enthusiastic headed into these reports.

According to Reuters, “Of the 123 S&P 500 S&P companies that have reported earnings through Monday morning, 60.2 percent have topped analysts’ expectations, shy of the 62 percent average since 1994 and below the 67 percent average over the past four quarters.”

In the last 24 hours we’ve heard from DuPont, 3M, Texas Instruments, Dow Chemical and UPS. None of them have had much good to say. All them are reporting lower revenues and most are having trouble thanks to the stronger dollar and Euro/China revenue shortfalls.

I’m not sure this type of thing can be contained to just the third quarter. I’m also not sure that Apple’s announcement today of their smaller iPad, rumored to be called the iPod DeVito, will be quite enough to lead the charge higher again.

We’ve chosen to remain overweight US exposure and defensive sectors, underweight global growth-sensitive names and cyclicals. Seemed wrong during much of the summer rally. Seems right given the reality of earnings season.