The COVID-19 earnings recession is expected to remain, but an end may be in sight MarketWatch 1/19/2021 EARNINGS WATCH After the holiday quarter last year snapped an earnings recession, the same is not expected this year — but it isn’t impossible, and may happen three months late. Popular Searches Quarterly profits for the S&P 500 are expected to drop as fourth-quarter results roll in during the coming weeks, after declining in each of the first three quarters of 2020. Analysts predict an upswing throughout 2021, though, as well as fourth-quarter numbers that beat their average expectations. CFRA Chief Investment Strategist Sam Stovall told MarketWatch that beating expectations for fourth-quarter numbers would be in line with historical patterns. Earnings topped expectations for more than 30 quarters in a row before the first quarter of 2020, he said, when the pandemic first took a toll on corporate results. An overall earnings beat this quarter would help extend a new string of beats to three in a row.