Major US stock indices mainly increased, while Wall Street is preparing to publish a huge number of quarterly reports by companies this week, which is expected to be the busiest corporate reporting season.

More than 140 S & P 500 companies plan to publish their quarterly results later this week, including Coca-Cola (KO), Verizon (VZ) and Procter & Gamble (PG) on Tuesday; AT & T (T), Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT), Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook (FB) on Wednesday; Amazon (AMZN) and Intel (INTC) on Thursday; Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) on Friday.

According to Refinitiv, analysts expect that in the last quarter of the S & P 500 companies will show a decline in profits by 1.7% year on year, which could be the first decline in the indicator since 2016. According to CNBC, the profit figures of most companies that have already submitted their reports turned out to be higher than the analyst had predicted. According to FactSet, 76.5% of the S & P 500 companies that have reported, have shown higher-than-expected earnings. At the beginning of the reporting season, analysts predicted a drop in profits of 4.2%.

In addition, market participants closely followed the situation on the oil market: oil prices rose by more than 2.5% after the Trump administration announced that it would finally ban Iranian oil, which is expected to lead to a reduction in world oil supplies. According to analysts, this step can take about 1 million barrels per day of oil from the market. Shares of energy companies are rising along with oil prices.

The focus was also the data of the National Association of Realtors USA, which showed that sales of housing on the secondary market in March declined after February growth. According to the data, the total sales of existing homes, including single-family houses, townhouses, condominiums and cooperatives, fell by 4.9% from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.21 million. Sales overall declined by 5.4% compared to last year.

Most of the components of DOW finished trading in the red (17 out of 30). The outsider was DowDuPont Inc. (DWDP; -1.85%). The growth leader was UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH; + 2.49%).

Most sectors of the S & P recorded a decline. The largest decline was in the industrial goods sector (-0.5%). The raw materials sector grew the most (+ 1.1%).

At the time of closing:

Dow 26,511.32 -48.22 -0.18%

S&P 500 2,907.98 +2.95 +0.10%

Nasdaq 100 8,015.27 +17.20 +0.22%

U.S. stock-index declined on Monday, as investors returned from their Easter break and took a cautious stance ahead of a busy week for corporate earnings.

Global Stocks:

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

April 23

Before the Open:

Coca-Cola (KO). Consensus EPS $0.46, Consensus Revenues $7892.67 mln

Procter & Gamble (PG). Consensus EPS $1.04, Consensus Revenues $16365.65 mln

Twitter (TWTR). Consensus EPS $0.15, Consensus Revenues $774.82 mln

United Tech (UTX). Consensus EPS $1.72, Consensus Revenues $18010.52 mln

Verizon (VZ). Consensus EPS $1.16, Consensus Revenues $32136.76 mln

After the Close:

eBay (EBAY). Consensus EPS $0.63, Consensus Revenues $2580.74 mln

Snap (SNAP). Consensus EPS -$0.12, Consensus Revenues $306.24 mln

April 24

Before the Open:

AT&T (T). Consensus EPS $0.87, Consensus Revenues $45204.80 mln

Boeing (BA). Consensus EPS $3.26, Consensus Revenues $23189.02 mln

Caterpillar (CAT). Consensus EPS $2.87, Consensus Revenues $13356.50 mln

After the Close:

Facebook (FB). Consensus EPS $1.63, Consensus Revenues $14965.81 mln

Microsoft (MSFT). Consensus EPS $1.00, Consensus Revenues $29859.42 mln

Tesla (TSLA). Consensus EPS -$0.75, Consensus Revenues $5365.08 mln

Visa (V). Consensus EPS $1.24, Consensus Revenues $5464.29 mln

April 25

Before the Open:

3M (MMM). Consensus EPS $2.50, Consensus Revenues $8024.97 mln

Altria (MO). Consensus EPS $0.93, Consensus Revenues $4599.52 mln

Freeport-McMoRan (FCX). Consensus EPS $0.09, Consensus Revenues $3771.09 mln

Int'l Paper (IP). Consensus EPS $0.93, Consensus Revenues $5734.70 mln

Yandex N.V. (YNDX). Consensus EPS RUB18.53, Consensus Revenues RUB36179.02 mln

After the Close:

Amazon (AMZN). Consensus EPS $4.73, Consensus Revenues $59732.17 mln

Ford Motor (F). Consensus EPS $0.27, Consensus Revenues $37378.21 mln

Intel (INTC). Consensus EPS $0.87, Consensus Revenues $16030.13 mln

Starbucks (SBUX). Consensus EPS $0.57, Consensus Revenues $6326.43 mln

April 26

Before the Open:

Chevron (CVX). Consensus EPS $1.31, Consensus Revenues $37432.80 mln

Exxon Mobil (XOM). Consensus EPS $0.74, Consensus Revenues $67354.44 mln