19 July 2018 ( Lagos ) :Asian equities followed Wall Street higher on Thursday, as investors cheered strong quarterly results from corporate America that have taken away the focus from trade jitters, for now at least.

Out of the 55 companies that announced results, 87% managed to beat earning estimates while only 7% missed the mark. With EPS growth exceeding 22% we are obviously heading towards the best earning season in 8 years. More interestingly, we started seeing rotation from non-cyclical to cyclical sectors over the past couple of days in a clear sign that investors are willing to take more risk. If this earnings momentum continues at its current pace the S&P 500 may take out the record high posted on 26 January; at the moment, the Index is just 57 points away from this record.

Source: Hussein Sayed, Chief Market Strategist at FXTM

Reporting for EasyKobo on Thursday, 19 July 2018 in Lagos, Nigeria