Wall St Week Ahead Stakes are high as megacap companies highlight big earnings week – Reuters

Wall St Week Ahead Stakes are high as megacap companies highlight big earnings week – Reuters

NEW YORK, April 22 (Reuters) - Investors are hoping a flood of U.S. quarterly reports next week, including those from megacap growth titans, will confirm a solid profit outlook for corporate America and bolster the case for stocks after a rocky start to the year.

Nearly 180 companies in the S&P 500, worth roughly half of the benchmark index's market value, are due to report results next week. They include the four biggest U.S. companies by market capitalization: Apple (AAPL.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O).

The latest round of earnings comes amid a backdrop of hawkishness from the Federal Reserve and a rapid rise in bond yields that has sparked unease about whether policymakers will damage the economy as they fight the worst inflation in nearly four decades. The S&P 500 has moved lower in April and was down about 9.5% so far this year as of Friday afternoon. read more