S&P Earnings Forecasts Continue To Tumble

As repeated here ad nauseam earnings forecasts have been too high and are now coming down. The table above shows the sharp revision made to 4Q07 S&P500 Operating earnings going from a positive 2.9% just 5 weeks ago to negative -5.4% as of Wednesday this week.

Earnings growth for the 1H08 looks tepid at under 5% whilst the FY08 number still looks healthy at 15.4% down just over 1% from 5 weeks ago. The week earnings figure for 3Q07 and 4Q07 make the comparable quarter's growth in 2008 look good. However I suspect they will come in for revision as we get further into 2008.

I'd hate to be accused of ignoring good news so I think it's only fair to acknowledge the strong results coming from the tech sector this week via Oracle (ORCL) and Research In Motion (RIMM). Can they continue to deliver in 2008? With P/E of 70 RIMM will need to.