Ho Hum - Another Stellar Earnings Season

Yawn…another quarter, another double-digit rise in corporate earnings. This is the 13th in a row, in fact. What a bore. All this profitability gives us nothing to do except sit back and watch our holdings rake in the profits as stock prices continue to rise. Twiddle your thumbs with us and read the agonizingly drawn out details of this stellar earnings season: (Data as of November 6th)

• In the US, the peak weeks of earnings season are now over with reports from 407 companies in the S&P 500. The blended growth rate is 19% from a year ago. Well above the 15% expected at the beginning of the quarter.
• 73% of companies reported earnings above analyst estimates for an average "surprise" factor of 6%.
• Europe is doing well too - over 60% of European companies that have reported third quarter earnings beat analyst estimates.
• Even in Japan - of the 161 companies that have reported first half earnings, 115 exceeded estimates by at least 5%, 15 fell short by more than 5% and 31 were in between. Earnings for the July to September period are up 12% from the same period a year ago.

And if that wasn't enough, here's one more uninteresting fact:

• Over $1.9 trillion in Global M&A so far in 2006 – up from $1.7 trillion in all of 2005.

Same old, same old. Higher profits, robust economy, strong stock returns. Ho-hum.