Wall Street is now bracing for its worst 2 years since the financial crisis

Business Insider
Myles Udland
August 5, 201614 Comments
It's official: Wall Street thinks earnings growth in 2016 will be negative.

And if this forecast comes to bear, it will mark the first time since 2008-09 that earnings for the S&P 500 declined in two straight years.

This time around, however, the year-on-year declines would be far less than the cratering of profits we saw during the crisis, with 2015 earnings dropping 0.8% and 2016 earnings now forecast to fall 0.3%.

In contrast, earnings in 2008 and 2009 dropped 25.4% and 8%, respectively, during the heart of the crisis.