Good morning, market watchers. I'm senior editor, Max Adams, standing in for Phil Rosen today.
Earnings season continues apace, with a big week for first-quarter results rolling on. As of yesterday, S&P 500 companies were cruising toward their best start to an earnings season since 2012. However, S&P 500 futures are sharply down this morning.
If the trend returns to the upside, it'll buck many of the gloomiest predictions of a crushing earnings recession and a painful stock market sell-off — at least for now. Some of Wall Street's biggest bears are still adamant that more pain is in store and earnings will see deep cuts this year. We shall see.
Today we're turning our attention to a frustratingly frequent dilemma: the debt ceiling.