Earnings season snapshot
- Market summaries show S&P 500 Q1 EPS growth estimates around +12–18% with roughly 91% of reports beating forecasts. ( ) - Banks are holding up while analysts keep an eye on AI‑related tech names like TSLA, NOW and INTC. ( ) - Commentators warn oil, war and inflation risks could still tilt near‑term market direction despite current resilience. (x.com)
The first batch of S&P 500 earnings is beating Wall Street’s forecasts, giving investors fresh support even as oil and war risks hang over markets. (factset.com) FactSet said on April 17 that the S&P 500’s blended earnings growth rate for the first quarter of 2026 was 13.2%, unchanged from March 31 and up from 12.8% at the start of the quarter. The same update said 88% of the companies that had reported so far beat earnings-per-share estimates, above the five-year average of 77%. (factset.com) LSEG data published April 17 showed 48 S&P 500 companies had reported first-quarter results, with 87.5% beating analyst estimates and 8.3% missing. That compares with a long-run average beat rate of 67% since 1994, according to the same LSEG weekly report. (lseg.com) Banks opened the season with solid numbers. JPMorgan Chase reported first-quarter net income of $16.5 billion, or $5.94 a share, on April 14, while Citigroup reported $5.8 billion, or $3.06 a share, the same day. (jpmorganchase.com; citigroup.com) Charles Schwab reported first-quarter revenue of $6.5 billion, up 16% from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings of $1.43 a share on April 16. Schwab also said daily average trading volume hit a record 9.9 million and total client assets rose 19% to $11.77 trillion. (content.schwab.com) The next test is whether strong results spread from banks to the big technology names tied to the artificial-intelligence trade. FactSet said the “Magnificent 7” were expected to post 22.8% earnings growth in the first quarter, versus 10.1% for the other 493 companies in the index. (factset.com) Several of the most-watched reports land on Wednesday, April 22. ServiceNow said it will release first-quarter results after the close that day, and Tesla is also scheduled to report after the market closes. (investor.servicenow.com; ir.tesla.com) Intel is also on investors’ radar after a rough stretch in its core chip business and a broader market push to identify the next winners from artificial-intelligence spending. FactSet said Nvidia was expected to be the single biggest contributor to S&P 500 earnings growth in the first quarter. (factset.com) Markets have been willing to look past some macro threats for now. Reuters reported on April 15 that the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs as investors were encouraged by earnings and hopes for progress in Middle East talks. (reuters.com) That calm is not guaranteed to last through guidance season. Reuters reported on April 8 that large U.S. banks were expected to post higher profits, but investors were focused on forecasts as geopolitical tensions involving Iran added to uncertainty around inflation, oil prices and the economic outlook. (reuters.com) For now, the scoreboard favors the bulls: double-digit earnings growth, a beat rate near 88%, and early strength from financial firms. The next few days will show whether that resilience holds once Tesla, ServiceNow and other large technology companies set the tone for the rest of the quarter. (factset.com; lseg.com)
