Live Markets-Second-quarter US earnings growth now set to surpass Q1 level

• Main U.S. indexes lose some steam: Dow up ~0.9%, S&P 500 ~flat, Nasdaq off ~0.5%
• Materials lead S&P 500 sector gainers; Comm Svcs weakest group
• Dollar slips; U.S. crude down >1%; bitcoin rises; gold rallies >4%
• U.S. 10-year Treasury yield edges up to ~4.64%

Expectations for second-quarter S&P 500 .SPX earnings gains have now surpassed first-quarter growth, which was the highest quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 2021, said Tajinder Dhillon, head of earnings research at LSEG.

Overall S&P 500 earnings are on pace to rise 31.1% on an adjusted basis from a year ago as of Wednesday, he said.

"If you exclude recession/pandemics, the (latest) adjusted growth rate is the highest in over 40 years," Dhillon said.

Wednesday's growth estimate is based on actual results from the 382 companies that have reported along with estimates for the rest.

The estimate excludes "mark-to-market gains" from both Alphabet GOOGL.O, which reported results on July 22, and Amazon AMZN.O, which reported last week. Including those gains, the latest growth estimate for the S&P 500 would be 49.6%, Dhillon said.

About 85% of companies are exceeding analysts' earnings expectations, compared with an average 80% that beat estimates over the past four quarters.