Wall St Muted As Investors Focus On Earnings, Fed Cues

• Wall Street's main indices showed little change on Monday as investors awaited more bank earnings and views from Federal Reserve policymakers that could provide cues on when the central bank will pause its monetary tightening.
• Wall Street closed lower on Friday after mixed economic data appeared to affirm another Fed rate hike in May, dampening investor enthusiasm after a series of big U.S. bank earnings launched the first-quarter reporting season.
• While banking heavyweights including JP Morgan Chase & Co windfalls from higher interest payments, the focus will be on smaller banks that were at the centre of last month's banking turmoil and forecasts from companies amid recession worries.
• Other major U.S. banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Bank of America Corp and Morgan Stanley will report through the week. "Regional bank earnings will come in slightly positive, while bigger banks will probably post surprisingly positive results," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.
• Analysts expect profits at S&P 500 companies to have declined 4.8% in the first quarter of 2023 from the year-earlier period, according to Refinitiv data, a slight improvement from last week’s forecast of a 5.2% decline.
• “Inflation fire has really been put out, but we’re going to continue to pour water over it until we feel confident that it is so,” Stovall said, adding that people were bracing for a deep recession that just might not come.

(Source: Reuters)