As Earnings Season Kicks Off, Investors Hope for Optimistic Forecasts to Justify Record Stock Prices

Earnings season starts with a rare confluence of bullish factors: stocks at new highs, economic reports exceeding expectations, the vaccine rollout accelerating, an uber-dovish Fed, higher tax fears diminishing, and most importantly, expectations that CEOs will provide far more guidance than they did in 2020. While CEOs got away with...