The survey showed analysts slashed their outlooks for financial results for S&P 500 companies, now expecting earnings growth to fall 17.6 percent in the fourth quarter, down from a decline of 10.9 percent expected in the week-prior survey.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street analysts slashed their projections for fourth-quarter earnings growth as companies reported weak results, according to a weekly survey by Reuters Estimates.
The survey showed analysts slashed their outlooks for financial results for S&P 500 companies, now expecting earnings growth to fall 17.6 percent in the fourth quarter, down from a decline of 10.9 percent expected in the week-prior survey.
The financial sector is expected to show the steepest decline in earnings, with growth plunging 91 percent from the year-ago period. The embattled financial sector is followed by the basic materials sector where earnings growth is expected to decline 10 percent.
But analysts forecast a rosier outlook for the technology sector. Earnings are expected to have grown 26 percent.
!ADVERTISEMENT!The growth rate combines actual figures for companies that have already posted their financial results with estimates for companies that have yet to report.
So far this earnings season, which kicked off with Alcoa <AA.N> on January 9, more than 30 percent of the S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results.
When the fourth quarter started on October 1, 2007, analysts had expected S&P 500 companies to post earnings growth of 11.5 percent.
(Reporting by Lisa Lee, editing by Maureen Bavdek)
