No buzzer beater... .....and its the elimination game. Recession, of course. How steep is now the question.
Q2 earnings seasons is now (with 93% of firms reporting) over, and it is time for post mortem. The bottom line for those strapped for time is the following: In order to salvage the 2012 earnings consensus for the S&P, the sell side crew and asset managers, as bitterly wrong but hopeful as ever, are now expecting Q4 2012 earnings to grow 15% versus 4Q 2011, which is more than twice as fast as any other quarter. Indicatively, Q2 2012 earnings rose at a rate of 3% compared to Q2 2011. Elsewhere, revenues came 2% lower than consensus estimates at the start of the earnings season.
And the kicker: The S&P 500 bottom-up consensus EPS estimate for 3Q fell 4% during the past five weeks and management guidance has been more negative than usual. Consensus expectations imply no earnings growth for the S&P 500 versus 3Q2011. This number will certainly drop more and will be the first Y/Y EPS decline since the Lehman failure.
In other words, the entire year is now a Hail Mary bet that in Q4, the time when the presidential election, its aftermath, as well as the debt ceiling and fiscal cliff acrimony will hit a peak, a Deus Ex Machine will arrive and lead to a 15% rise in earnings. Why? Because global central bankers will have no choice but to step in and thus lead to a surge in EPS multiples even if the underlying earnings are collapsing.
With the presidential election around the corner making Fed QE before 2013 now virtually impossible, with Spain (and Italy) refusing to be bailed out and cede sovereignty thus precluding ECB intervention, and with China spooked by what may be a surge in food costs, and heading toward a hard landing, this intervention, and any hope that the Hail Mary pass will connect, all look all but impossible. Batten down the hatches. Own gold and silver.