S&P Earnings Forecasts

Standard & Poor's regularly publishes the earnings report on the S&P 500 here. This includes a forecast of upcoming quarterly earnings. Here's a chart of the current (1/22/2009) forecasts:

First, note that during the last recession (.com bubble), it took 3 full years for earnings to recover to the previous peak.

Right now, earnings are at 1999 levels, a 55% drop from the peak in mid-2007. The current forecasts go through the end of 2010, and predict a modest gain, but not a recovery.

Forecasts are, of course, largely backwards looking, and are revised constantly. However, this probably captures as best as anything the prevailing thinking on the economy: i.e. that it's going to be a long hard road for a while.