S&P firms' profits top estimates at fastest pace in four years

New York

STANDARD & Poor's 500 Index companies are beating analysts' estimates at the fastest pace in four years, underscoring the strength of the US economy's recovery from the longest recession since the Great Depression.

More than 81 per cent of the 410 S&P 500 members that have reported results so far this quarter have topped projections, led by companies from Caterpillar Inc and Time Warner Inc to ExxonMobil Corp. That's the highest rate since the first quarter of 2010 and exceeds the 58 per cent ratio for members of the Stoxx Europe 600 Index and the 52 per cent for the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Recent economic data point to improvements in the US labour market and consumer sentiment, which, combined with the lowest costs at the gas pump in four years and the fastest pace of payroll gains in more than a decade, are projected to help lift consumer spending. While rivals in Europe and Asia grapple with slowing growth, US companies are taking advantage of technologies such as fracking, 3-D printing, apps and cloud comput…