S&P Price Diverges from S&P Growth

The blended earnings growth rate for Q4 2011 stands at 5.5%. However, two companies account for most of the earnings growth in the S&P 500 for the quarter: Apple and AIG.  If these two companies are excluded from the index, the Q4 2011 earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 drops from 5.5% to 0.8%....[T]he estimated earnings growth for [Q1 2012] fell to 0.0% this week. The estimated growth rate for Q1 2012 has declined from an estimate of 8.0% on September 30 and an estimate of 3.0% on December 30.

--- Factset