Monday, July 15, 2019The opening salvo on busy season for Q2 earnings reports was supplied by Citigroup C, which outperformed expectations on both top and bottom lines during today’s pre-market hours. Earnings of $1.95 per share easily beat the $1.80 expected and the $1.62 in the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $18.758 billion topped the $18.31 billion in the Zacks consensus.Beating earnings estimates is nothing new for Citi — it’s last negative quarterly surprise was way back in Q4 2014. Loans were up 3% in the quarter while deposits rose 5%, though credit costs were up 16%. Investment booking revenues were down 10% year over year.So far, so good in Q2 earnings season. Expectations have been for a slow down this quarter, as you can see in Zacks Director of Research Sheraz Mian’s latest Earnings Preview here.We look forward to other big banks reporting this week: JPMorgan Chase JPM and Wells Fargo WFC will post results tomorrow morning, while we’ll hear from Bank of America BAC Wednesday, and so on. No fewer than 57 S&P 500 companies will have been heard from this week, following two dozen or so companies that have already reported quarterly results.After the closing bell today, we look forward to earnings results from trucking and transportation firm J.B. Hunt JBHT and Midwest regional bank Wintrust WTFC. In short, this is a big week for getting a rough illustration what we can expect from quarterly performance overall.The Empire State survey for July surprised to the upside this morning, posting +4.3 on the headline — above the 1.0 expected and the -8.6 disappointment reported in June. This is a regional manufacturing index that includes the largest city in the U.S., New York. Count this as another piece of incremental good news for the economy.Mark VickerySenior EditorQuestions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>Today's Best Stocks from ZacksWould you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.See their latest picks free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT): Free Stock Analysis Report Citigroup Inc. (C): Free Stock Analysis Report Bank of America Corporation (BAC): Free Stock Analysis Report JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM): Free Stock Analysis Report Wells Fargo & Company (WFC): Free Stock Analysis Report Wintrust Financial Corporation (WTFC): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report