Record Earnings Point to More Stock Market Gains

Record corporate profits and buying by individual investors may help extend a rally that has nearly doubled the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index since the market bottom in March 2009. Companies in the S&P 500 are expected to see their earnings for the preceding 12 months reach a record $91 a share by August, according to estimates compiled by S&P and Bloomberg.

If earnings reach that level, they would surpass the previous peak of $90 a share reached in 2007. The 50-month rebound in profits, following a 92 percent drop during the global financial crisis, would be faster than the 52 months it took to recover from the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000, when earnings fell 55 percent. Profits didn't recoup their 67 percent tumble during the Great Depression until 19 years later.