View from the Observation Deck  

1. Today's blog post is an update of a previous post. Investors can compare today's snapshot to the one we did on 6/9/15 (click here to view). 
2. The S&P 500 closed the trading session on 8/26/15 at 1940.51. It stood 8.93% below its all-time high of 2130.82 (5/21/15), according to Bloomberg.
3. While there have been some significant downward adjustments to 2015 revenue projections since 2/6/15 (excluding Health Care), the projections for 2016 indicate that a rebound in revenue growth is anticipated.   
4. As indicated in the chart, the estimated revenue growth rate for the S&P 500 for 2015 was 0.0%, as of 8/21/15. When you exclude Energy, however, the rate jumps to 3.6%, according to Bloomberg.
5. The first revision of real GDP for Q2'15 was released on 8/27/15 and it showed the U.S. economy grew by an annualized 3.7%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Its initial estimate was 2.3%.

This chart is for illustrative purposes only and not indicative of any actual investment. There can be no assurance that any of the projections cited will occur. The illustration excludes the effects of taxes and brokerage commissions or other expenses incurred when investing. Investors cannot invest directly in an index. The S&P 500 Index is a capitalization-weighted index comprised of 500 stocks used to measure large-cap U.S. stock market performance, while the 10 major S&P 500 Sector Indices are capitalization-weighted and comprised of S&P 500 constituents representing a specific sector.

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