Earnings Growth - Historical Growth Rates

Historical Growth Rates

According to economist Robert Shiller, earnings per share on the S&P 500 grew at a 3.8% annualized rate between 1874 and 2004 (inflation-adjusted growth rate was 1.7%). Since 1980, the most bullish period in U.S. stock market history, real earnings growth according to Shiller, has been 2.6%.

The table below gives recent values of earnings growth for S&P 500.

Date Index P/E EPS growth (%) Comment
12/31/2007 1468.36 17.58 1.4
12/31/2006 1418.30 17.40 14.7
12/31/2005 1248.29 17.85 13.0
12/31/2004 1211.92 20.70 23.8
12/31/2003 1111.92 22.81 18.8
12/31/2002 879.82 31.89 18.5
12/31/2001 1148.08 46.50 -30.8 2001 contraction resulting in P/E Peak
12/31/2000 1320.28 26.41 8.6 Dot-com bubble burst: March 10, 2000
12/31/1999 1469.25 30.50 16.7
12/31/1998 1229.23 32.60 0.6
12/31/1997 970.43 24.43 8.3
12/31/1996 740.74 19.13 7.3
12/31/1995 615.93 18.14 18.7
12/31/1994 459.27 15.01 18.0
12/31/1993 466.45 21.31 28.9
12/31/1992 435.71 22.82 8.1
12/31/1991 417.09 26.12 -14.8
12/31/1990 330.22 15.47 -6.9 July 1990-March 1991 contraction.
12/31/1989 353.40 15.45 .
12/31/1988 277.72 11.69 . Bottom (Black Monday was October 19, 1987)

The Federal Reserve responded to decline in earnings growth by cutting the Intended federal funds rate (from 6.00 to 1.75% in 2001) and raising them when the growth rates are high(from 3.25 to 5.50 in 1994, 2.50 to 4.25 in 2005).

Read more about this topic:  Earnings Growth

Famous quotes containing the words historical, growth and/or rates:

    “Yet the companions of the Muses
    will keep their collective nose in my books
    And weary with historical data, they will turn to my dance tune.”
    —Ezra Pound (1885–1972)

    “You know that the nucleus of a time is not
    The poet but the poem, the growth of the mind
    Of the world, the heroic effort to live expressed
    As victory. The poet does not speak in ruins
    Nor stand there making orotund consolations.
    He shares the confusions of intelligence.”
    —Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)

    “One of the most important findings to come out of our research is that being where you want to be is good for you. We found a very strong correlation between preferring the role you are in and well-being. The homemaker who is at home because she likes that “job,” because it meets her own desires and needs, tends to feel good about her life. The woman at work who wants to be there also rates high in well-being.”
    —Grace Baruch (20th century)