Earnings season officially begins this week with a triad of major banks set to report their quarterly performance on Friday. And last month’s banking crisis will likely weigh heavily on corporate outlooks, balance sheets, and guidance.
Total earnings for S&P 500 companies may have declined as much as 6.8% during the first quarter relative to the same period last year, according to estimates by financial data firm FactSet published last week. That would represent the largest drop for the index since the second quarter of 2020, when the early waves of COVID-19 infections and pandemic lockdowns wreaked havoc on U.S. GDP and shaved nearly 32% from total earnings.
