DON'T HEAR MUCH ABOUT BUSHENOMICS:

Firms' Profits Keep Rising: S&P 500 companies post a 14th straight quarter of double-digit gains. 2006 looks promising (Tom Petruno, November 26, 2005, LA Times)

With nearly all of the companies in the blue-chip Standard & Poor's 500 index now having reported their earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30, the overall growth rate was 11.5% from a year earlier, S&P said this week.

That marked the 14th straight quarter of double-digit gains, an unprecedented streak, said Howard Silverblatt, who compiles S&P's earnings data.

Excluding the energy sector's huge gain, S&P 500 earnings were up 9.6% in the quarter.

The growth figures are for operating earnings, the results before one-time gains or losses.

Companies have reaped record earnings in the economic expansion since 2002 as sales have risen while managements have focused intently on keeping costs down, including by limiting hiring.

"What companies have done is they've been able to squeeze costs [and] they have great productivity," Silverblatt said.

Odd sort of Depression when the Hoovervilles are filled with McMansions....

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 26, 2005 10:03 AM