Wall St crunch as figures flood in

THE next two weeks, when two-thirds of Standard & Poor's 500 companies report quarterly results, could be make-or-break time for the US stock market, which was spooked last week by fears of an imminent interest rate rise.

Among the 174 S&P companies reporting this week alone are technology heavyweights such as Microsoft, Amazon, eBay, Nokia and Motorola. Non-tech companies such as Pfizer, Eli Lilley and Coca-Cola also report.

Investors will watch the earnings figures for signs of a firmly-based economic recovery. Analysts believe that many companies will report better-than-expected results, distracting the markets from interest rate worries.

Profits are at last coming through from increasing sales rather than from the cost-cutting that has driven earnings rises for more than a year.

The US Federal Reserve has been calming fears it was about to raise interest rates. But traders say the market is in a fragile state because of the Iraq war and other international concerns, as well as interest rates.

'Some disappointing results from big companies could hit the market very hard at this stage,' a dealer said. 'But really strong results from some of the market leaders could kick off another rally.'

John Lynch at Evergreen Investment Management said: 'The market wants to be surprised to the upside, and that really is going to be the key going forward.'