Global Weekly Kickstart Earnings Season Arrives with a High Bar

Portfolio Strategy Research 12 October 2026 | 12:23PM BST

Earnings Season Arrives with a High Bar

Global equities gained 0.6% last week (Exhibit 1), alongside Earnings season kicks off and the bar is high Guillaume Jaisson | strength in Copper (+2.5%) and Brent (+2.1%) (Exhibit 4). n US earnings growth remains strong but Goldman Sachs International Energy and Defensives led, Cyclicals lagged, with Industrials concentrated. Consensus expects S&P 500 EPS growth Peter Oppenheimer weakest (Exhibit 3). The S&P 500 hit another all-time high, of 27% year-on-year, versus 33% in Q2 excluding | up 14% YTD (Exhibit 15). STOXX Europe is up 7%, earnings accounting distortions, with AI infrastructure Goldman Sachs International

driven and resilient despite the Energy and Rates shock. beneficiaries generating more than half of this quarter’s Sharon Bell | growth. Goldman Sachs International

Macro data this week n Our US team expects companies to beat consensus John Kwon | US: CPI and retail sales report. There are several speaking again. Strong economic data and positive Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte engagements with Fed officials scheduled this week, earnings-revision breadth remain supportive, although Elena Porfidia including an event with Chairman Warsh. median-stock EPS growth slows from 14% to 9%; most | hyperscalers report during October’s final week, by Goldman Sachs International Europe: UK August monthly GDP and industrial production, which point roughly 70% of S&P 500 market cap will Jacinta Feng Euro Area August industrial production and September | have reported. inflation, and Sweden’s September unemployment rate and Goldman Sachs International

inflation. n Europe also appears positioned for a solid season. Consensus expects 23% EPS growth, or 16% excluding Japan: September domestic corporate goods price index Commodities; positive revision momentum, improving (CGPI). PMIs and euro weakness support results broadly in line AEJ: Money, credit, inflation and trade data in China, CPI with expectations or a modest beat. inflation in India, and advance Q3 GDP in Singapore and See more: US: Q3 2026 earnings season preview, Europe: 3Q-26 Malaysia. Earnings Preview: The Hurdle Has Moved Higher Pricing is as of the close of Friday, October 9.

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Goldman Sachs Global Weekly Kickstart

The week at a glance — Global markets and indices

Exhibit 1: Global market performance Exhibit 2: World equity indices MSCI Indices, 1-week price return (USD, %) USD, indexed price performance

Source: Datastream, Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research Source: Datastream, STOXX, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

Exhibit 3: MSCI AC World sector performance Exhibit 4: Cross-asset performance MSCI Indices, 1-week price return (USD, %) MSCI Indices, 1-week price return (USD, %)

Source: Datastream, Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research Source: Datastream, Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research