9 stock market charts to consider as earnings season kicks off 📊

History reveals some patterns 📈

Earnings are expected to fall. (Source: Goldman Sachs)

Earnings season kicks off this week with the big banks revealing how their businesses performed during the first three months of the year. They’ll also be sharing thoughts on what the outlook for the rest of the year — and beyond — looks like from their perspectives.

The big headline going into this period is that S&P 500 earnings per share (EPS) is expected to have contracted for the second quarter in a row, as illustrated in the chart above from Goldman Sachs.

As companies open up their books and face scrutiny from analysts, everyone will be interested to answers to the big questions driving markets, including:

• How is demand? Are businesses and consumers continuing to spend?

• How is inflation? How is it affecting how goods and services are priced? How is it affecting costs?

• How are supply chains? Are there still longer-than-normal delays?

• What are the plans for hiring? Is a hiring freeze or layoffs in the cards? If you’re hiring, how is labor supply and how is that affecting wages?

• How are borrowing and lending conditions, and how is it affecting operations? How is it affecting financing costs?

The answers to these questions could influence how we think about inflation, what we expect for the economy, and where stocks are headed in the near-term.

With all that in mind, below are nine charts to consider as earnings season kicks off.