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Citi strategist expects a 'beat and hold' earnings season

Nearly three-fourths of the S&P 500 companies (^GSPC) that have reported their first-quarter results so far have posted positive earnings surprises, according to FactSet data. When speaking to Yahoo Finance last week, Evercore ISI's Julian Emanuel described the broader markets (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) as having "digestion problems" this earnings season around positive results. Citi Director of US Equity Strategy Drew Pettit sits down with The Morning Brief in-studio to weigh in on earnings results, plainly stating that markets haven't "fully reset [the] risk/reward [ratio]" even when factoring in positive earnings data. "The overall theme we expect for this quarter is beat-and-old. That's not really exciting at this point. I think a lot of companies are going to use the run we've had year-to-date, especially in a lot of the growth names that have outperformed, to maybe temper expectations," Pettit tells Yahoo Finance. "Because we think the back half, it's going to get a little bit harder to beat, especially when we get to Q4." For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.