Investors are punishing companies that report disappointing earnings or outlooks with unusually harsh share price declines, in an illustration of the tougher attitude emerging in the high interest rates environment.
During the current third-quarter results season, stocks in S&P 500 companies whose earnings per share fell short of analyst expectations, have dropped by an average of 5.5 per cent in the days following their results, according to figures from FactSet. The five-year average is 2.3 per cent.
Corporate earnings on both sides of the Atlantic have so far broadly kept pace with expectations, but analysts say markets are becoming more discerning about which stocks could be vulnerable to higher borrowing costs and the risk of slowing growth.