The first quarter earnings season is about to get underway and its worthwhile to review the latest earnings forecasts prior to the release of actual results. First, lets look at EPS guidance issued by companies since the first of the year. Earnings guidance updates are crucial to forecast accuracy as it ensure our models are more closely aligned with the views of company management. For example, 95 of 505 companies in the S&P 500 index issued EPS updates since the first of the year. Of those, 66 issued negative earnings guidance. The number of companies issuing negative outlooks is above the 5-year average of 59 firms. Moreover, this is the third quarter in a row where the number of negative guidance outlooks increased. Finally, we now have the highest number of negative outlooks since 4Q.2019.