Earnings this week from General Electric Co., Honeywell International Inc. and Starbucks Corp. underscored the U.S. economy’s strength amid a slowdown in global growth.
About 77 percent of Standard & Poor’s 500 Index companies that have reported so far have beaten analysts’ profit estimates, with Netflix Inc. as the biggest positive surprise, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. GE today topped projections as sales from its power and water business blunted the impact of falling oil prices, and Honeywell benefited from demand for security systems. Starbucks has attracted customers with new food and holiday coffee drinks.
Improving consumer confidence and a lower jobless rate are helping make the U.S. a bright spot in the world economy, as cheaper fuel prices leave more money in shoppers’ pockets and boost profits for airlines. Earnings next week from Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips may show whether energy producers can weather the drop in oil, and investors will also get results from some of the world’s largest technology companies: Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
Airlines are one obvious beneficiary of cheaper fuel. United Continental Holdings Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. on Thursday posted higher-than-expected profits and predicted that fuel costs will hit their lowest in more than five years this quarter, a boon for investors.

Oilfield Impact
Oilfield-services providers Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc., which are merging, and world leader Schlumberger Ltd. posted higher earnings for 2014’s final quarter as they prepare for a downturn in the industry with oil prices near 5 1/2-year lows.
Schlumberger will cut 9,000 jobs, while Baker Hughes plans to eliminate 7,000 positions. The reductions boosted the number of job cuts announced this year to about 31,000, almost double the same period last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. American Express Co., one of the 20 S&P 500 companies that missed earnings estimates for last quarter, said this week it would trim its workforce by more than 4,000.
Among the shortfalls was United Parcel Service Inc., which lowered its outlook today after a costly overexpanded program to handle a deluge of holiday shipments left its network underused on some days. Rival FedEx Corp. maintained its 2015 profit forecast, signaling that demand for package deliveries will remain healthy.
Morgan Stanley, owner of the world’s largest brokerage, missed earnings estimates as fixed-income trading revenue slid to the lowest since the financial crisis. Verizon Communications Inc., the biggest U.S. wireless carrier, also came in short because a surge in sales of deeply discounted phones squeezed margins.

Global Turmoil
To Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, the earnings season so far has been disappointing because results would have been much better without the turmoil in the rest of world.
“Finally the U.S. economy is going well but the results are weaker because the rest of the world is going south while we’re going north,” said Paulsen, who helps manage $351 billion in assets.
One company that didn’t disappoint was Netflix. The video- streaming company surprised investors this week, saying it will profitably reach all 200 of the countries that have broadband Internet service within two years. The outlook sent Netflix’s shares up 17 percent on Jan. 21. Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, topped estimates on earnings and sales thanks to orders from the auto and aerospace industries.

我居然看完了。。

美帝是不是真的在进行资产回流啊～～刚才看15年美帝国情咨文，好像渗透的思想就是就业率，基础建设，保险。还有一点就是加强产品竞争力，从中国迁回制造业。。。这会不会是美帝经济和纸币走强的原因～天朝zf一边放开经济，一边提倡创新，会不会就是为了阻滞美国迁回资产的步伐、减少美帝资产回流的影响。我真是机智