Daily Times

SAN FRANCISCO: US President Donald Trump’s administration is only hours old, but already a small parade of S&P 500 companies’ chiefs have voiced optimism that his promised tax cuts, stimulus spending and deregulation will boost corporate profits.

In the days ahead of Friday’s inauguration, senior executives from Morgan Stanley, Delta Air Lines and other major US corporations said the Trump White House has already sparked a brighter outlook for business.

“There is certainly more reason to be optimistic as we enter 2017 than there was at the beginning of 2016,” Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said on Tuesday after his bank said profit doubled in the fourth quarter. He pointed to factors including a surge in consumer confidence after the Nov. 8 election and lower taxes promised by Trump.

Just under way, fourth-quarter earnings reporting season is providing a glimpse of what major large companies expect under Trump, and their take is largely positive so far.

Over a dozen S&P 500 companies reporting results in the last week have signaled optimism about potential tax cuts, infrastructure spending, employee benefit costs and reduced regulation.

With corporate earnings already on the mend after a slump in oil prices and a strong dollar last year, S&P 500 companies are expected on average to grow their earnings by 6.3 percent in the December quarter and 13.6 percent in the March quarter, according to Reuters.

Since the November election, the S&P 500 has rallied 6 percent to record highs, in part due to expectations Trump will pass policies that stimulate the economy.