If oil prices have bottomed and the dollar has peaked, then forward earnings should be moving forward again. Until recently, the S&P 500 forward earnings were tracking 7% annualized growth, the historical trend for this series.
If so, then forward earnings are currently predicting that the four-quarter trailing average of S&P 500 earnings, which was $119.20 per share during Q1, will rise to around $125 early next year. I am forecasting $130 for all of 2016, up from $120 this year.
Of course, this optimistic outlook requires that the economy finds some traction to get out of its current soft patch with both business sales and industrial production rebounding from their recent dips and moving to new highs again.
Today's Morning Briefing: Reenergized Earnings? (1) From “peak oil” to “cheap oil” to bad oil data. (2) Will the real Phil please stand up? (3) What are oil inventories doing? (4) EIA gets authority to require oil drillers to fill out a monthly supply survey. (5) Fewer railcar loadings of oil. (6) Lots in storage still. (7) World oil demand/supply ratio remains bearish. (8) Oil earnings may have stopped weighing on S&P 500. (9) Profit margins rebounding from recent dip. (10) Brighter outlook for earnings depends on soft patch as well as oil patch. (11) Focus on market-weight-rated S&P 500 Energy industries.