S&P 500 Earnings Estimates Keep Falling This Quarter - Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ), SPDR S&P 500 (ARCA:SPY)

According to FactSet, fourth quarter earnings estimates continue trending lower.
Wall Street analysts as a whole are now expecting S&P 500 earnings per share to fall 4.4% year over year in the fourth quarter.
Wall Street analysts entered the fourth quarter with expectations for only a 0.7% decline in earnings per share.

US major indices are heading into the final trading days of December mixed. The

SPDR S&P 500 ETF TrustSPY

is now lower by nearly two percent since the start of 2015 but the

PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (ETF)QQQ

is higher by more than seven percent. Investors and traders have legitimate reasons to be concerned as some of the major indices are in the red for 2015. However, switching the calendar to 2016 doesn't imply 2015 is in the history books as companies still need to report their quarterly results – and Wall Street is turning more negative on the earnings prospects. Related Link:

Bernstein's Q3 Earnings Scorecard: S&P 500 Companies Overperforming On Earnings, Underperforming On Revenue According to FactSet, Wall Street analysts are now expecting S&P 500 earnings per share to decline 4.4% year over in the fourth quarter. This compares to a sentiment of a 0.7% decline which was expected at the beginning of the quarter. FactSet added that estimated earnings for the fourth quarter fell 3.6 percent since end of September. The Energy sector will likely be top concern for investors given the sector's 20.25 percent decline over the past one-year. The second worst performing industry, Utilities, lost more than 9%, followed by Materials' 8.51% decline The best performing sector over the past year has been the Consumer Discretionary segment which gained 11.74%. The second best performing sector, Information Technology, gained only 5.1%.

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