As if markets didn't have enough to think about, earnings season is getting going with a slew of big banks reporting this week. We talk about the technical picture of financials in today's report.
Just like that, its earnings season again. As we do every quarter, markets ring in earnings season with a handful of household names, most hailing from the financials sector. While we will root for positive results from every company, more seems to lie in the balance when it comes to the big banks. After all, productive quarters for big financial companies typically signal robust economic growth/actively over the preceding quarter, a strong sign for the broader economy. All that to say, keeping tabs on what price action might be telling us about this group ahead of their earnings report can pay dividends down the line.
We will start first by showing you how to access NDW’s “earnings tracker” via our premade database reports. By going to the screener (“Old” or “new” version) you can navigate to database reports and scroll down to the “Stocks with Earnings Releases” tab. From there, you are able to organize stocks based on their next published earnings date. We also include a handful of other information, like that stock’s sector or TA score to help guide you around earnings related plays in your portfolio. Remember, earnings are one of the most common ways in which the fundamentals and technicals can collide, so having a gameplan in place around earnings related price movement is paramount.
Financials have struggled mightily this year. Even after the ceasefire in the Middle East provided some relief for major markets, financial representative XLF remains the worst performing sector so far in 2026. Having fallen over 7% so far this year, XLF has seen its fund score drop below a 3.0 fund score as technical weakness has emerged. This has coincided with a decrease in relative strength against other sectors as financials has fallen from as high as the first position to the seventh position over the last few months. All that to say, the sector has certainly fallen far enough in the rankings that the average investor need to be wary with exposure to the group.
Large bank names reporting this week include the likes of Goldman Sachs (GS), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C), Blackrock (BLK), Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS). They join the likes of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ Netflix (NFLX) Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) and several other insurance names to open up the first week. GS reported this morning (4/13), falling as much as 4.5% in the morning before rallying alongside broader markets throughout the day. Like many of the names reporting this week, the technical picture of GS remains largely defendable. The stock is a 5/5’er, and even after the decline on 4/13 it has maintained a string of higher lowers since last August. Many other options have very similar technical pictures as they move into earnings. JPM, C, and BAC maintain technically acceptable TA scores to open up Q2. Wells Fargo is the lowest rated option heading into its earnings call, earning a poor 2/5 technical attributes as it tests its negative trend line. While there is still plenty of resistance in the upper-$80’s, further upside action could lead to a change in trend as the name attempts to get back to even on the year.
Remember, unlocking the full picture of any investment includes judging the technicals and the fundamentals of a security. Earnings can be a valuable opportunity to look behind the curtain from a fundamental perspective but can certainly impact price action that will affect NDW’s view from a purely technical vantage point. Best practices around earnings will be to identify notable support and resistance points that names could drift towards after results. From there, set alerts to be notified of large price action that would be considered more than just “noise”.
