• 
• See all for Zacks.com
• View Print Version

• Is the Market Over-Reacting? - Ahead of Wall Street
• Prediction Contest: S&P 500 on Dec. 31st - Real Time Insight
• The Fed is the Only Game in Town - Ahead of Wall Street

• DIA 67% Rate It
• IWM 50% Rate It
• SPY 54% Rate It
• TLT 0% Rate It

Name one of the strongest patterns of this earnings season. That's right, weaker revenues.

Below are 3 charts that Goldman Sachs Global Economics, Commodities and Strategy Research team published on Friday after 120 companies in the S&P reported. ZeroHedge made these public on Saturday.

Again, this is only about a quarter of the S&P and we have 170-some companies reporting this week. But it is good early evidence of something Sheraz has been seeing in the data for weeks: declining margins.

How long can "lean and mean" corporate America keep squeezing more profits from fewer dollars?

There have also been some FX-related issues (stronger dollar) with earnings, but let's not get into that since FX flows are always part of the stormy seas corporations must endure. And the positive correlation between strong stocks/weak dollar will endure too as the S&P v the buck floats around +0.5.

Another interesting aspect of this earnings picture is how much a strong company and stock like Apple can carry the day, or the year. Goldman researchers also track the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index to seperate out the effects of mega-caps.

I have been watching the chart of this index (SPXEW) for a month now and it is fighting to stay above its 200-day moving average.

So, do you think this week's 173 reports can turn the tide of falling revenues (or, rather "raise" the tide)?

Or, given the weakening macro backdrop, is this due to continue and does this mean lower stock prices are inevitable -- especially as estimates are only due to come down?

Related Earnings Articles

• 
  Pre-Market Earnings Report for May 24, 2013 : FL, ANF, HIBB, TNP
  5/23/2013 04:00 PM
• 
  Dollar Tree's Earnings Beat, Rev Misses - Analyst Blog
  5/23/2013 02:29 PM
• 
  Ralph Lauren's 4Q Earnings Beat - Analyst Blog
  5/23/2013 02:10 PM