Bank Earnings Season Kicks Off With a Split: Goldman Jumps, Citi Slips

Q2 earnings season shifted into high gear this week as major Wall Street banks began reporting results, with sharply divergent reactions across the sector. Goldman Sachs shares jumped following better-than-expected results, while Citigroup shares slipped despite posting its own quarterly numbers. JPMorgan Chase, one of the last of the big lenders to report, was due to release results as attention across the sector turned to how higher-for-longer interest rates and geopolitical risk are shaping bank balance sheets.

Data group FactSet has forecast that overall S&P 500 earnings will grow by roughly 22 percent in the second quarter, which would mark a second consecutive quarter of growth above 20 percent for the index. That kind of growth rate has raised the bar for individual companies, with investors quick to punish any results or guidance that fall short of already-elevated expectations.

Attention will next turn to a wave of major technology earnings later in the month, with Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Apple all scheduled to report by the end of July, followed shortly after by Amazon. Nvidia, whose results have become one of the most closely watched events on the market calendar, is not expected to report until late August, but its performance often sets the tone for sentiment around the broader AI trade well before its own numbers land.

With markets already on edge over the standoff around the Strait of Hormuz and elevated oil prices, analysts say this earnings season carries extra weight: investors and policymakers alike are looking for signs that corporate America can absorb geopolitical shocks without a meaningful hit to profit growth heading into the back half of the year.