Wall St muted ahead of tech earnings, economic data

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 Coca-Cola up as Q1 results beat estimates
 

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 Bed Bath & Beyond tumbles on bankruptcy protection filing
 

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 US House to vote on Republican debt limit bill this week
 

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 Indexes up: Dow 0.02%, S&P 0.09%, Nasdaq 0.10%
 

 
 (Updates prices throughout; adds details)
 By Sruthi Shankar and Ankika Biswas
 April 24 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes
struggled for direction on Monday as investors awaited results
from megacap companies and key data that could shed light on the
U.S. economy and shape the Federal Reserve's monetary policy. 
 Major technology and growth companies Alphabet Inc
  , Microsoft Corp  , Amazon.com Inc  and
Meta Platforms Inc  , which constitute more than 14% of
the value of the benchmark S&P 500  , are scheduled to
report results this week.
 A rally in these stocks has supported Wall Street this year,
and investors are waiting to see if the gains can continue amid
a gloomy economic outlook.
 "Not only must these companies beat, but they must also
guide to a re-acceleration of EPS growth in the second quarter
and beyond ... that's what the Street is looking for," said
Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research.
 
 
 U.S. stocks have largely held steady through the start of
the earnings season on stronger-than-expected results from big
banks, allaying concerns about a contagion from the banking
crisis in March.
 Coca-Cola Co  gained 1% after the beverage giant beat
estimates for quarterly results on resilient demand for its
sodas despite multiple price increases.
 Of the 90 S&P 500 companies that have reported first-quarter
results so far, nearly 77% have topped analysts' profit
estimates, as per Refinitiv IBES data. The long-term average
beat rate stands at 66%. 
 Forecasts for earnings have also improved marginally, with
analysts expecting a quarterly profit contraction of 4.7% versus
a 5.1% decline estimated at the start of April.
 Early readings of first-quarter U.S. GDP, personal consumer
expenditure index (PCE) for March, consumer confidence numbers
for April are among the data scheduled for release this week. 
 Mixed economic numbers last week cemented bets of anotherЁ-basis-point rate hike by the Fed in May, with money market
traders pricing in a 92% chance of such a move, as per CME
Group's Fedwatch tool. 
 Meanwhile, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin
McCarthy said the House would vote on his spending and debt bill
this week amid lingering concerns that the U.S. government could
hit its debt ceiling sooner than expected.
 "Based mostly on history, we seem to resolve this before we
have a real crisis," said Hugh Johnson, chief economist of Hugh
Johnson Economics. "But it's not clear that the House Speaker
has a good plan out there and that it's going to be acceptable."
 At 9:37 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average  was
up 7.80 points, or 0.02%, at 33,816.76, the S&P 500  was
up 3.84 points, or 0.09%, at 4,137.36, and the Nasdaq Composite
  was up 12.43 points, or 0.10%, at 12,084.89.
 Bed Bath & Beyond Inc's  shares tumbled 26% as the
home goods retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
after it failed to secure funds to stay afloat.
 First Republic Bank  gained 4.7% ahead of its
quarterly report.
 Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.12-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.24-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
 The S&P index recorded 13 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 31 new highs and 51 new lows.

 
US tech stocks regain some lost ground 
 
 (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
 ((sruthi.shankar@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223𚣬 outside U.S. +91 80 6182 2787;))