While the CBO had forecast a rosy second half of 2013 (and markets are forward looking so rising in expectation of same), it's now increasingly becoming a curiosity just where the expansion is going to come from.
Second-quarter earnings started off strongly, with companies in the first half posting 7.1 percent earnings growth and 4.5 percent revenue gains, the latter number in sharp contrast to a flat top-line forecast ahead of the reporting period.
In the second half, though, things turned sour.
Earnings per share growth slid to 5.6 percent, and sales improved just 1 percent.
Moreover, the outlook ahead turned even gloomier, with revisions at negative 2.65 percent, the worst all year. Projected earnings for materials suffered most, with a minus 6.2 percent revision decline.
Source: CNBC
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