Investing.com -- The first-quarter earnings season starts in earnest Friday, with a series of major banks set to report. The U.K. economy has returned to growth, while the crude market is set to end the week lower despite elevated Middle East tensions.The first quarter earnings season is set to kick into overdrive, with a number of reports due from the all-important U.S. banking sector due later in the session.
Earnings from a number of major banks will dominate sentiment this session, although there are also a number of Fed officials, including, released earlier in the week, has contributed to U.S. large cap stocks suffering their largest weekly outflow since December 2022. Britain fell into recession in the second half of last year, but the first quarter of 2024 is likely to show some growth, as the three-month average growth rate rose to 0.2% in February from zero in January - the highest such reading since August.
There remains the risk that Iran, the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is dragged into the conflict between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, potentially hitting crude supplies from the region.