Investors may look past earnings this week

2009 is easy to improve upon, but can companies continue profit growth
NEW YORK - For stock market investors, everything outside of what companies earn is pretty much noise.

Profit reports for the January-March quarter will start to trickle in this week and they are sure to look good. That's because business is improving, but also because the economy was so bad last year that it won't take much for companies to post better numbers. What investors want to know now is whether companies can keep the good news coming.

The early recovery in earnings came from heavy cost-cutting. By shearing away expenses, companies could generate profits on far less business than before the recession began at the end of 2007. Then, the newly slimmed down companies got a boost from heavy government stimulus spending and record-low interest rates. Investors will be looking for signs that companies can continue to do better even after the government removes emergency supports and businesses do more than just replace depleted inventories.