Amazon Fuels S&P 500 Earnings Growth to Near-Highest Level Since 2021

The S&P 500 earnings growth rate for Q2 2026 increased to 47.4% from 38.0%, marking the highest year-over-year earnings growth rate reported by the index since Q2 2021, when it reached 91.6%. Eight sectors are now reporting double-digit earnings growth for Q2 2026, led by Energy (135.3%), Communication Services (109.8%), Consumer Discretionary (90.7%), and Information Technology (69.4%).

The largest contributor to this increase was Amazon.com's positive EPS surprise, with a reported $5.75 vs. an estimated $1.82. This company alone accounted for 76% of the net dollar-level increase in earnings for the S&P 500 over this period.

While Amazon.com has historically only reported EPS numbers on a GAAP basis, its inclusion of non-operating pre-tax other income of $53.4 billion, primarily from investments in Anthropic, was used as the comparable number to analysts' estimates.