The Bad Earnings News Will Dominate

Earnings growth scare in Q1?

For the S&P 500 companies in aggregate, consensus estimates call for earnings to rise y/y for an eighth straight quarter, albeit at a slower “back-to-trend” rate. The consensus growth forecast for S&P 500 Q1-2024 earnings has dropped to 6.8% as of the March 6 week from over 11% at the beginning of the quarter. The steep decline in recent weeks is typical of quarters’ final weeks, when bad earnings news tends to dominate estimate revisions activity.