S&P 500 Earnings Season Update: October 16, 2026

At this early stage, the third quarter earnings season for the S&P 500 has seen a mixed start relative to expectations. While the percentage of S&P 500 companies reporting positive earnings surprises is above recent averages, the magnitude of earnings surprises is below recent averages. As a result of this mixed performance and downward revisions to EPS estimates for companies in the Health Care sector, the index is reporting lower earnings for the third quarter today relative to the end of last week and relative to the end of the quarter.