Earnings Will Lead Market Higher Says Nuveen's Bob Doll

Now that Brexit is history the fate of the stock market hinges on a single variable: corporate earnings. 'If earnings do not improve, we can't see how equity prices will be able to advance,' said Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen. 'If earnings do improve, it should pave the way for better market performance.' Doll oversees the Nuveen Large Cap Core Fund (NLCDX) - Get Report , Nuveen Core Dividend Fund (NCCDX) and the Nuveen Equity Market Neutral Fund (NMECX) - Get Report . The three funds recognized their three year anniversaries in June and each received a four star rating from Morningstar (MORN) - Get Report . Earnings were down five percent in the first quarter, but the level of earnings beats over Wall Street analyst estimates thus far in second quarter earnings season has been impressive, according to Doll. If the economy grows slowly and oil prices remain stable, Doll believes earnings will grow somewhere in the low single digits in the third quarter and in the mid-single digits in the fourth.