NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) – The rally on Wall Street faces a fresh test next week with a flood of earnings reports from major U.S. companies, including the tech and internet behemoths that have recently retaken leadership of the market.
More than one third of the S&P 500 is set to report quarterly results next week, headlined by Apple (AAPL.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O), the four largest U.S. companies by market value.
Those stocks have gained between 5-7% so far this month, as of Thursday’s close, while the S&P 500 (.SPX) had climbed just 1.6%. The S&P 500 equal-weight index (.SPXEW), a barometer of the average stock, had fallen 0.2%.
“The expectation level for these names is quite a bit higher than it was a month ago given the stock performance, so I think they are going to have to deliver,” said Walter Todd, chief investment officer with Greenwood Capital in South Carolina.
“It’s a…