Chart of The Day - S&P 500 Earnings (Inflation-Adjusted)

Chart Courtesy of ChartofTheDay.com

With 4th-quarter earnings largely in the books (over 79% of S&P 500 companies have reported for Q4 2009), today's chart provides some long-term perspective to the current earnings environment by focusing on 12-month, as reported, S&P 500 earnings.

Today's chart illustrates how earnings declined over -92% from its Q3 2007 peak to Q1 2009 low -- the largest decline on record (the data goes back to 1936).

Since its Q1 2009 low, S&P 500 earnings have surged (up over 600%) and currently come in at a level that has only been exceeded during the latter years of the dot-com and credit bubbles.