Refinitiv data show smaller decline in US earnings view

Refinitiv data show smaller decline in US earnings view

Business

Refinitiv data show smaller decline in US earnings view

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The estimated decline in first-quarter S&P 500 company earnings is smaller than analysts had expected at the start of the month, with a host of big names including Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) reporting upbeat results this week, according to Refinitiv data Wednesday.

Analysts now expect first-quarter earnings to have fallen 3.2% year-over-year for S&P 500 (.SPX) companies. They had forecast a 5.1% decline in earnings for the quarter at the start of April.

The latest forecast is based on results from 163 of the S&P 500 companies as of Wednesday morning and estimates for the rest of the components.