According to Standard and Poors, Q4 earnings for the 500 S&P 500 companies are expected to rise some 21% on average on a GAAP basis and 8% on an adjusted or operating basis compared to Q4 2014. That would be very welcome news especially since Q3 earnings had been down about 15% on both a GAAP and an operating basis.
I am not sure the extent to which this strong earnings growth will in fact materialise. Given the market losses of this week it does not appear that the market is pricing in such a Q4 gain.
If the Q4 earnings are going to be as strong as Standard and Poors expects then the sooner they get reported, the better. The first earnings reports for the some of these companies including for the big banks will be out in the next week to ten days. Hopefully, the results will give the market something better to focus on.
The data also indicates that Standard and Poors expects strong earnings gains throughout 2016.
This forecast data is available from Standards and Poors.