Monsanto’s really ugly earnings today do point to where the problems are in third quarter earnings growth–Surprise! profits aren’t equally bad across the economy

Monsanto’s really ugly earnings today do point to where the problems are in third quarter earnings growth–Surprise! profits aren’t equally bad across the economy

What’s that you say—you didn’t know there is a debate over earnings for the calendar third quarter? Earnings per share for the stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500 are projected by Wall Street analysts to fall by 6.9% in the quarter. There’s a good possibility, though, that the projected decline in S&P 500 earnings overstates the weakness in the quarter. The index over-weights the energy sector

The odds for an earnings season dip just increased

Disturbing background for the third quarter earnings season that starts this week raises the odds for a dip on earnings news over the next few weeks. Wall Street analysts cut their estimates for 2011 earnings for the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 in September, according to Bloomberg. That’s the first decline in quarterly earnings estimates since June 2009.

An unexpected thing that could stop this rally

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