Weldon: Why US corporate profits have not yet peaked

ON NORTH AMERICA

Threadneedle's head of US equities, Cormac Weldon, challenges analysts' forecasts that US corporate profits have peaked and are set to decline.

Recent US data has been encouraging and we believe will continue in the long term as America undergoes an industrial rejuvenation driven, in part, by the shale energy revolution. In February, jobless benefit claims fell to their lowest level in four years. Meanwhile, purchases of new homes exceeded forecasts in January after climbing a month earlier to a one-year high,adding to signs the beleaguered real estate sector is stabilising, five years after it reached its peak. Critically, a surge in job creation led by the rise of shale energy could finally cure the hangover caused by th...