Every three months, we take a snapshot of the expectations for future earnings in the S&P 500 at approximately the midpoint of the current quarter, shortly after most U.S. firms have announced their previous quarter's earnings. Today's snapshot of the trailing year earnings per share for the S&P 500 confirms that the stock market's earnings have continued to rebound off their 2016-Q3 bottom, where they will likely recover to their pre-earnings recession levels during the current quarter of 2017-Q2.
The recovery in the S&P 500's earnings has been a significant factor in boosting the value of the S&P 500 since the index bottomed at 1829.08 on 12 February 2017. The index has since gone on to set its all time record closing value of 2402.67 earlier this week (on 15 May 2017).
Data Source
Silverblatt, Howard. S&P Indices Market Attribute Series. S&P 500 Monthly Performance Data. S&P 500 Earnings and Estimate Report. [Excel Spreadsheet]. Last Updated 4 May 2017. Accessed 18 May 2017.