NEW YORK (Reuters) - The estimated decline in first-quarter S&P 500 company earnings is smaller than analysts had expected at the start of the month, with a host of big names including Microsoft Corp and Alphabet reporting upbeat results this week, according to Refinitiv data Wednesday.

Analysts now expect first-quarter earnings to have fallen 3.2% year-over-year for S&P 500 companies. They had forecast a 5.1% decline in earnings for the quarter at the start of April.

The latest forecast is based on results from 163 of the S&P 500 companies as of Wednesday morning and estimates for the rest of the components.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch)