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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Up In Smoke" data-source="post: 5252172" data-attributes="member: 79702"><p>So far 275 of the S&P 500 companies have reported first quarter earnings.  The earnings are up 10.1% year over year and much higher than the 6.4% expected.  80.4% of those companies have beaten estimates which is higher than the 66% average but lower than the 83% from the past four quarters.  Higher labor and capital costs are high on these companies concerns list.  I can echo their concerns when looking at our own books.  Small to medium businesses rely so heavily on affordable and available capital to make month to month purchases and payroll.  The big boys have big pockets and shareholders to even out the rough parches but small businesses rely on their creditors.</p></blockquote><p></p>