Earnings news may be overshadowed by Fed fears, keeping stocks choppy.

• In the upcoming week, seven Dow stocks will release earnings, yet strategists anticipate that the market will continue to focus on the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike plans, inflation concerns, and uncertainty surrounding Ukraine.
• The strategist predicted that guidance will remain poor, and companies will continue to complain about cost pressures despite reporting improved results, which may result in sloppier price action.
• Jerome Powell and Christine Lagarde will appear on an International Monetary Fund panel on Thursday.

The upcoming earnings season may divert investors' attention from other matters, but it is unlikely to significantly influence the overall market in the upcoming week.

Instead of focusing on company commentaries, investors will closely monitor interest rates, inflation, and the war in Ukraine to assess their impact on the bottom line.

The International Monetary Fund panel on Thursday, featuring Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, among others, is a must-watch event. Moderated by CNBC's Sara Eisen, the panel will discuss the global economy.

Several economic reports are released this week, including the National Association of Home Builders’ survey on Monday, housing starts on Tuesday, and existing home sales on Wednesday. Additionally, the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey is released on Thursday, and manufacturing and services PMI surveys are issued on Friday.

According to Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. equity strategist at Credit Suisse, the market's focus on the Fed, inflation, and other factors will result in a weak response to earnings, and the market will not fully credit companies for their performance.

Seven Dow blue chips will release their earnings next week, with reporting on Tuesday, on Wednesday, and on Thursday, all after the market closes.

Both banks and transportation companies, including trucking firms, railroads, and others, will release their earnings numbers on Monday.

Even if companies report improved results, they will continue to complain about cost pressures, resulting in poor guidance and sloppier price action, according to Golub.

I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv indicates that strategists anticipate a potential increase of 6.3% in earnings for the first quarter, despite the possibility of more misses and fewer beats.

Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer and chief market strategist at Truist, predicted that there will be more differences and variations among companies in the future. He anticipates that some companies will perform well while others will face profit pressures. He expects to see more extreme differences compared to the broad-based strength experienced over the past two years.

The Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates again in early May and tighten policy this year is expected to keep the market volatile, according to strategists.

Lerner stated that our perspective is to remain in the large, volatile range for the next few months, with no significant gains or losses.

The S&P 500 experienced a 2.1% decline over the four-day week, with markets remaining closed on Good Friday.

The stock market was affected by rising bond yields this week, with the yield reaching a high of 2.83% on Wednesday from 2.70% on the previous Friday. The yield was at 2.82% on Thursday.

Powell's comments on Thursday will be the main focus for the bond market.

Michael Schumacher, director of rates strategy at Wells Fargo, believes that Powell will be hawkish and emphasize the need to hike interest rates, balance the sheet, and move forward.

Neutral on stocks

Lerner downgraded the stock market from attractive to neutral this past week due to uncertainty about the Fed, rising yields, and the defensive positioning he sees in the market.

The outperformance of stocks versus bonds has decreased from double digits to an average of 3.5% as yields have increased, according to him.

Sectors like consumer staples, health care, energy, and REITS have been performing better defensively, according to Lerner.

The financials, transportation, and home builders sectors are lagging, indicating that the market is concerned about slower growth. Despite this, our view is that recession risk is still relatively low over the next year. However, this suggests that we are more likely to experience a slowdown in the economy, which may be due to the Fed and the sticky inflation numbers.

Week ahead calendar

Monday

Earnings: FNB

8:30 a.m. Business leaders survey

10:00 a.m. NAHB home builders survey

4:00 p.m. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard

Tuesday

Netflix, Travelers, Interactive Brokers, Citizens Financial, Prologis, Earnings.

8:30 a.m. Housing starts

12:05 p.m. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans

Wednesday

The earnings of Nasdaq, Abbott Labs, Anthem, Comerica, GATX, Sleep Number, Alcoa, Equifax, Steel Dynamics, and Equifax are not specified.

10:00 a.m. Existing home sales

10:30 a.m. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly

11:30 a.m. Chicago Fed’s Evans

2:00 p.m. Beige book

Thursday

Blackstone, Snap, Intuitive Surgical, Keycorp, Freeport McMoRan, Pentair, Tractor Supply, Huntington Bancshares, Philip Morris Intl, Genuine Parts, Pentair.

8:30 a.m. Initial claims

8:30 a.m. Philadelphia Fed manufacturing

1:00 p.m. Fed Chair Jerome Powell and ECB President Christine Lagarde on IMF panel

Friday

SAP, Regions Financial, Newmont Goldcorp, HCA Healthcare, Earnings.

9:45 a.m. Manufacturing PMI

9:45 a.m. Services PMI