Falling banks hold back S&P 500 as earnings season launches
NEW YORK (AP) — A sharp drop for bank stocks overshadowed gains elsewhere in the market, and the S&P 500 dipped in early afternoon trading on Friday as a highly anticipated earnings reporting season got underway.
Analysts have high expectations for how much corporate earnings grew in the first three months of the year, and the hope is that the coming barrage of profit reports will provide a steadying force for the market following its shaky run in recent weeks. Wall Street came into this reporting season forecasting the strongest profit growth in seven years for S&P 500 companies.