As profit recession hits, Wall Street hopes it’s the bottom

By STAN CHOE
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Companies across the S&P 500 are expected to report the biggest drop in earnings since the spring of 2020 when first-quarter results begin rolling out this week. The only question for many on Wall Street is how much worse they will get. Still-high inflation, a struggling manufacturing industry and signs of slowdown elsewhere in the economy mean analysts expect S&P 500 companies to report a 6.6% drop in earnings per share from a year earlier.