Wall Street heads into a busy week Monday with earnings results from mega cap tech giants and the latest inflation print out of Washington in the queue.
The S&P 500’s most heavily-weighted components – Microsoft (MSFT, Alphabet (GOOGL), Facebook parent company Meta (FB), Apple (AAPL), and Amazon (AMZN) – are among 180 companies scheduled to report first quarter earnings figures through Friday.
Traders will also get a fresh read on the personal expenditures index (the Federal Reserve’s most closely-monitored inflation print) Friday, just as market expectations for a more aggressive, faster rate hike cycle rise.
One-fifth of companies in the S&P 500 have reported results for the first quarter so far, with 79% reflecting an earnings beat for the period – above the five-year average of 77%, according to the latest data from FactSet. The magnitude of the upside surprise, however, is below the five-year average: 8.1%, compared to 8.9%.
“The lower earnings growth rate for Q1 2022 relative to recent quarters can be attributed to both a difficult comparison to unusually high earnings growth in Q1 2021 and continuing macroeconomic headwind,” FactSet Senior Earnings Analyst John Butters said in a note.
