Wall Street Bulls Energized: S&P 500 Earnings Growth Hits 30-Year High

S&P 500 second-quarter earnings rose 31% year-over-year, the strongest growth since Bloomberg Intelligence's tracking began in 1992, excluding recession recovery periods, far exceeding the 23% expectation. AI-driven profit margins jumped from 14% to nearly 16%, while valuations reset from 26 times to below 22 times. Earnings expansion has spread to small- and mid-cap stocks as well as markets in Europe and Asia-Pacific.