Another busy week of earnings on tap. A very strong earnings season continues this week with 127 S&P 500 companies reporting. With about two-thirds of companies having reported, S&P 500 earnings for the first quarter of 2017 are now tracking for a 13.6% year-over-year increase, well above the 10.2% increase expected. The 77% earnings beat rate thus far, should it hold, would be the best since 2010. (LPL Research)

U.S. factory activity slowed in April . The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) index of national factory activity dropped to a 54.8 last month, the weakest reading since December. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion.  Manufacturing accounts for about 12% of the U.S. economy. (Reuters)

Mondelez International, the maker of Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolate and Trident gum, reported first-quarter profits of $630 million, or 41 cents per share. The company had sales of $6.41 billion in the period.
Mondelez shares are down more than 1% since the beginning of the year. (AP)

The ADP jobs report says the economy added 177,000 private sector positions in April.

With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor I am Troy Reinhart.