U.S. stocks turn lower as investors await wave of earnings, including big tech

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were muted but trading lower as investors braced for a wave of earnings from big technology firms as well as consumer product, media, industrial and pharmaceutical companies.

At 10:56 ET (14:56 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 13 points or 0.04%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.1% and the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.5%.

Investors are also waiting on economic data, including a look at first quarter gross domestic product and a key inflation reading later this week.

Alphabet, Inc. Class C (NASDAQ:GOOG), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) are all slated to report results this week, starting on Tuesday.

Earnings held up as banks kicked off the season over the past week, reporting mostly stronger than expected results. Investors are looking for signs of an economic slowdown pressuring profit margins. Analysts are expecting first quarter profit to fall 4.7% for the S&P 500 group, slightly less pessimistic than they were before the start of earnings season.

Shares of Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) rose 0.6% after the soft drink maker reported strong demand despite raising prices. Struggling retailer Bed Bath&Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY), which filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, fell 23% in early trading.

The Federal Reserve will be closely watching trends with earnings as well as this week's economic data as it heads into its next interest rate policy meeting at the beginning of May. Futures traders are expecting it to raise rates another quarter of a percentage point.

Oil was rising. Crude Oil WTI Futures was up 0.6% to $78.36 a barrel while Brent Oil Futures crude was up 0.7% to $82.05 a barrel. Gold Futures rose 0.2% to $1994.