with 96 of us companies reporting results and 97 of european firms also done so it’s clear that earnings on both sides of the atlantic have been stellar according to societe generale stoxx europe 600 corporate earnings per share for 2021 are expected by analysts to be 11 above 2019 levels while that’s not as strong as the us sp 500 earnings are expecting to be 26 above 2019 levels the european momentum has been strong with secondquarter eps 28 above expectations which is better than the 17 beat in the us on sales however european companies haven’t delivered as much per socgen the us consensus is for sales to be 12 higher than before covid compared to europe where sales are seen being 1 below their 2019 levels the strategists continue to favor construction materials utilities technology and healthcare sectors european stocks slipped on friday as banking stocks fell ahead of federal reserve chair jerome powell’s speech the stoxx europe 600 sxxp fell 01 to 46976 with insurer prudential pru  bank bnp paribas bnp and plane maker airbus air retreating of the major regional indexes the german dax dax declined 01 the french cac 40 px1 declined 03 and the uk ftse 100 ukx slipped 02