UPDATE 1-Q1 earnings for S&P 500 seen falling 4.8% vs yr ago -Refinitiv

(Updates with details on PNC Financial, upcoming reports)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, April 14 (Reuters) - With quarterly U.S. earnings just getting under way Friday with upbeat results from JPMorgan Chase & Co and other major banks, estimates for the first quarter have improved slightly from a week ago, according to Refinitiv data released Friday.

Including actual results for 30 of the S&P 500 companies and estimates for the rest, analysts now expect earnings in aggregate to have declined 4.8% in the first quarter of 2023 from the year-ago period. That compares with their week-ago forecast for a 5.2% decline in the quarter.

S&P 500 earnings fell 3.2% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2022, based on Refinitiv data, which means the first quarter still would mark a second straight quarterly decline in U.S. earnings, or a profit recession.

Investors have been eagerly awaiting quarterly results from banks following the collapse of two U.S. regional banks in March.

While shares of JPMorgan and other big banks rallied following Friday's results, shares of regional bank PNC Financial Services Group Inc were little changed after it posted a quarterly profit beat but missed expectations on net interest income.

A slew of other regional banks are still due to report in the coming weeks, while quarterly results are due next week from Goldman Sachs Group and Netflix. (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Alistair Bell)