late last week will struggle to hold, Morgan Stanley has warned, given the likelihood of slowing corporate profit growth in the second half of the year.P 500 index of US blue chips staged a robust 2.4 per cent advance on Friday, marking a pullback from the run of declines over the past few months. However, the daily gain failed to reverse a fall for the week, with the index notching its sixth consecutive weekly tumble.
Despite most companies beating consensus earnings-per-share estimates, Morgan Stanley noted that forecasts had been lowered more than usual during the quarter. The comments were broadcast on the same day as Goldman Sachs’ economists cut their forecasts for US growth this year to reflect the dramatic moves across financial markets amid the Federal Reserve’s tightening of policy.