Below we highlight the estimated year-over-year earnings growth for the S&P 500 for the next three quarters, along with expected growth ex financials. While ex-financials growth was low in Q4 '09, it is also beginning to pick up again. For the first quarter, S&P 500 earnings are expected to be up 28.7% versus Q1 '09. Earnings are expected to grow 28.6% in Q2 '10, and then drop a little to 22.3% in the third quarter.

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Since mid-February, we have made numerous comments regarding the market's strong breadth off the February lows. While the S&P 500 remains below its January highs, breadth breezed right through those levels early last week. But how has breadth fared within sectors? In the charts below, we provide the cumulative advance-decline (A/D) lines for each of the ten S&P 500 sectors. However, given that the number of stocks in each sector varies, the A/D lines below are based on the daily net percentage of stocks rising in each sector. This allows us to make apples to apples comparisons between sectors.

While cumulative breadth for the S&P 500 is well above its January levels, individual sectors have fared differently.

The bull market is one year old today. In the past year the S&P 500 had gained 68%. Financials, consumer discretionary, and industrials have been the strongest sectors.

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