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Market heavyweights including Alphabet Inc, Microsoft Corp,
Amazon.com Inc and Meta Platforms Inc, whose shares have
supported markets this year, are scheduled to report results
this week. Whether the rally continues could depend on the
companies beating already-lowered first-quarter estimates.
Wall Street has largely held steady through the start of the
earnings season as results from the big banks came in stronger
than expected, allaying concerns about a contagion from the
banking crisis in March.
Coca-Cola, set to report before the opening bell on Monday,
edged up 0.3% in premarket trading.
Of the 88 S&P 500 companies that reported results through
Friday, nearly 76% beat analysts' first-quarter profit
estimates, as per Refinitiv IBES data, above the long-term
average of 66.3%.
Forecasts for earnings have also improved marginally, with
analysts now expecting a profit contraction of 4.7% versus a
5.1% decline estimated at the start of April.
Early readings of first-quarter U.S. GDP, personal consumer
expenditure index (PCE) for March, consumer confidence numbers
for April are among the data scheduled for release this week.
Investors will scrutinize these reports for signs of an economic
slowdown after mixed data last week cemented bets of another
25-basis-point rate hike by the Federal Reserve in May and
tempered expectations of rate cuts later this year.
Money market traders have priced in an 85% chance of the Fed
hiking rates by 25 bps next month, as per CME Group's Fedwatch
tool.
At 06:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 80 points, or 0.24%, S&P
500 e-minis were down 9 points, or 0.22%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis
were down 19.5 points, or 0.15%.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc's shares tumbled 41.5% as the home goods
retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after it
failed to secure funds to stay afloat.
First Republic Bank slipped 0.1%. The regional bank, whose
shares have sunk 88% this year triggered by the U.S. banking
crisis, is set to report results after market closes on Monday.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay
Dwivedi)
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