Strong Bank Earnings Needed To Sustain Market Momentum, Analyst Says

Angel Mata, managing director of equity trading at Stifel, Nicolaus Capital Markets, told CNBC’s “Power Lunch” that investors should keep an eye on bank earnings next week.

“On Monday and Tuesday, a lot of the banks reporting,” Mata said Friday. “The banks have clearly been one of the most underperforming groups since the beginning of the year. I have a hard time believing that the market can sustain any kind of upward momentum without the banks turning around.”

John Miller, portfolio manager at Nuveen Investments, said next week’s report on retail sales is “likely to show that the consumer is still spending at a fairly strong clip.” But he expects this to be offset by the Consumer Price Index that’s likely to “exacerbate concerns about inflation.”

Raymond Carbone, a trader at Paramount Options, said worsening tensions in the Middle East could drive the price of oil above last summer’s high of $78 a barrel.

“I am pessimistic,” he said. “If Iraq goes, the region will go with it and we will see prices go much higher.”

Many analysts say that anything above $70 a barrel will drag down the economy and stoke inflation.