(ORCL) Economic Data Turns Market Bearish – Earnings Preview

The market’s mood appears to have shifted following the recent run of weak economic data, with investors grudgingly acknowledging that the economy may not be in as good a shape as everybody had expected. May be it’s the typical seasonal weakness that we have become accustomed to in recent years, or maybe it’s the delayed impact of the budget sequester and other tax law changes. It will take the market some time to figure that one out, but we have the 2013 Q1 earnings season to keep us busy. The Q1 earnings season has started already, with reports from 22 S&P 500 companies already out. It has been a mixed bag thus far, with a few notable misses from the likes of Oracle (ORCL), FedEx (FDX), ConAgra (CAG) and others.