Earnings Pessimism Jumps as Oil Drop Hits S&P 500 Growth
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While stock investors wait for the benefits of cheaper oil to seep into the economy, all they can see lately is downside.
Forecasts for first-quarter profits in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index have fallen by 6.4 percentage points from three months ago, the biggest decrease since 2009, according to more than 6,000 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Reductions spread across nine of 10 industry groups and energy companies saw the biggest cut.