Investors are hoping a flood of US 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.
The S&P 500 has moved lower in April and was down 10.4% so far this year after a sharp selloff on Friday. One recent casualty has been Netflix , whose shares tumbled around 35% in a single session after the streaming giant reported its first drop in subscribers in a decade. Investors will zero in on results from Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet, which combined have a market value of about $8 trillion and make up one-fifth of the weight of the S&P 500.
Beyond the bottom line results and financial outlooks, investors also will be looking to see if companies can maintain their profit margins as inflation threatens to drive up their input costs.