Tuesday, October 15, 2019 As we await news reports from companies reporting Q3 results this morning, we see the October Empire State Index — which had been expected out this morning — was released in error yesterday, with a headline of 4.0. This is better than the 2.0 expected, and between recent highs (+24.3 in August 2018) and lows (-8.6 in June 2019). Clearly, these results tend toward the more volatile, although interestingly, the estimates for this New York state production survey are almost always higher than the actual — though not for this month. This index looks to be bouncing off those recent lows; the end of the year will be key for this metric. JPMorgan Chase JPM, a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company, outperformed expectations on both top and bottom lines: $2.68 per share versus $2.44 expected. Revenues came in at $29.3 billion, above the $28.4 billion analysts were looking for. Fixed Income, working off a relatively weak year-over-year comp, was up 25% in Q3 2019, while Credit Loss Provisions rose 60% from the year-ago quarter. Shares at this hour in the pre-market are up 1.9% on the news, and +7% year to date. JPMorgan has only come up short of earnings estimates once since Q1 2016. For more on JPM’s earnings, click here. Johnson & Johnson JNJ, a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell)-rated stock ahead of its earnings report, beat estimates on both top and bottom lines this morning: $2.12 per share amounted to a 12-cent positive surprise, on sales of $20.73 billion which surpassed the $20.08 billion expected. Sales in its important Pharma space rose 5.1%. J&J raised earnings guidance for full-year 2019 — up 9 cents on the bottom end of the range and +4 cents on the top, to $8.67 per share. Shares are up 1.66% at this moment of pre-market trading, coming up from its near-lows year to date. For more on JNJ’s earnings, click here. These amount to just a sample of what we are about to see in the days and weeks ahead. Will Q3 bear out better than expected, or are we destined for an earnings recession? For a comprehensive view on the subject, check out this interview with Zacks Director of Research Sheraz Mian: Are We In an Earnings Recession? Mark VickerySenior Editor Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>> Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit PotentialThe biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +98%, +119% and +164% in as little as 1 month. The stocks in this report could perform even better.See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>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 JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM): Free Stock Analysis Report Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): 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