Markets Daily

Risks to Stocks Keep Piling Up as Earnings Season Kicks Off

War, inflation threaten to undermine profit outlook for 2026.
The floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Goldman Sachs is scheduled to release earnings today.Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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The collapse of the Iran peace talks just adds to the headwinds facing corporate executives as they prepare to announce first-quarter earnings. For investors, it means the drumbeat of negative news is unlikely to end soon.

Data on Friday showed US inflation climbed in March by the most in nearly four years, and costs look to be headed higher still — see today’s jump in aluminum and natural gas prices. Meanwhile, consumer sentiment has weakened, the disruptive threat of AI looms, and there are concerns about excesses in private credit.