S&P

Shortly after the close today, Apple will report its much watched earnings which will be closely watched for several reasons. The biggest one is that since Q1 2014 AAPL has contributed 25% of the S&P’s 4.2% growth rate (excluding the EPS benefit of the company's massive buyback program). Furthermore, roughly 40% of the nearly 9% jump in Tech margins since 2009 is attributable to Apple alone.

However, that was all in the past: this quarter Apple is actually forecast to subtract 0.7% from the S&P's bottom line.

One day after a sliver of a bullish Gartman peeked out, when he announced that he was "slightly net long of equities", it would appear that yesterday's red close prompted the "world-renowned" commodity expert (according to his family relations at CNBC Fast Money), to do what he now tends to do on a daily if not hourly basis, and is back to being "cautious... perhaps defensive."

First, this is what he said just yesterday morning:

One of the recurring themes as we cross Q1 earnings season, is that virtually every sellside strategist has been repeating ad nauseam how as a result of the shaprly lowered earnings expectations...

... companies will have no problems beating consensus estimates. And then we got something like last week's week's barrage of tech company misses.

For many pundits this apparently did not register and just today BofA said that "1Q EPS expectations have likely bottomed as companies have begun to beat across the board." This is how it explained this observation:

Ahead of two key central banks events this week, the Fed announcement on Wednesday - in which Yellen is expected to do nothing and most likely will continue the dovish relent first seen a month ago - and then the BOJ on Thursday (which also mark the anniversary of the second longest and most artificial bull market in history) where Kuroda is increasingly expected to shock with something even more ridiculous, global shares have fallen modestly around the world as oil declined on signs a global surplus of crude is likely to persist.

Submitted by Pater Tenebrarum via Acting-Man.com,

Dismal Earnings, Extreme Valuations

The current earnings season hasn’t been very good so far. Companies continue to “beat expectations” of course, but this is just a silly game. The stock market’s valuation is already between the highest and third highest in history depending on how it is measured.