Industries Showing Great Resilience This Earnings Season

Industries Show Great Resilience This Earnings Season

“Resilience” was this week’s theme as better-than-expected market data came to light. Earnings season has begun, and so far reports have proven the doomsayers wrong. Even industries that have been hardest hit by the economic downturn, including air travel, are expressing optimism that we’re at the “end of the beginning” in terms of recovering from the worst health crisis in 100 years.

That was the opinion of United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, who quoted Winston Churchill this week during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Dino Michael, global head of Hilton Worldwide, is likewise optimistic, believing yearend to be the start of travel’s turnaround.

For their part, retail sales in the U.S. have shown great resilience, increasing for five months straight. In September, sales grew at a forecast-busting 1.9 percent over the previous month, the fastest such rate since June.

US retail sales jumped the most in three months in September 2020
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All but one of 13 categories improved, with clothing, sporting goods and automobiles leading the way. Sales at home improvement stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s were also strong.

If you participated during this year’s Amazon Prime Day, this probably doesn’t come as a shock. The two-day sales event, which concluded on Wednesday, was the biggest ever for small and medium-size businesses, according to the retail giant. “Sellers saw record-breaking sales, surpassing $3.5 billion in total across 19 countries,” Amazon said in a press release.