As we noted in our last post, the absolute level of EPS growth estimates has fallen to the lowest level since 2009 in North America and Europe, but has remained fairly stable in Asia and EMs.
What may be even more concerning than the level of those earnings growth estimates is the fact that they have fallen off so quickly. Indeed, the average EPS growth rate for companies in the MSCI North America and MSCI Europe has fallen by the most in any rolling three month period since late 2008. Whether this is thanks to the strong USD, weak commodities, or just plain slow growth is debatable. What is not debatable is that this trend is ugly.