The strong earnings report from AutoZone (AZO – Analyst Report) started the Q4 earnings season for us, though we are still a few weeks away from the from the earnings season taking the spotlight. Companies with fiscal quarters ending in November are reporting these days and all of these get counted as part of the Q4 earnings tally. We have 39 companies reporting results this week, including 12 S&P 500 members. This week's list of reporters includes a number of industry bellwethers like FedEx (FDX – Analyst Report), Nike (NKE – Analyst Report),Oracle (ORCL – Analyst Report) and others.

The market has plenty of domestic economic data to digest this week in a backdrop of persistent oil market weakness. On the docket this week are a host of housing, inflation, and manufacturing sector reports, but the focus will be on the FOMC meeting, particularly Fed Chairwoman Yellen's press conference. It will be interesting to see if the Fed will finally come around drop the ‘considerable time' phrase from its post-meeting statement.

Estimates Keep Coming Down

Estimates for 2014 Q4 started coming down at an accelerated pace as companies predominantly guided lower on the 2013 Q3 earnings calls, consistent with the trend we have been seeing for almost two years now. Total Q4 earnings for companies in the S&P 500 are currently expected to be down +3.3% from the same period last year, a material decline from the +9.6% growth expected at the start of the quarter in early October.

The table below presents the summary picture for Q4 contrasted with what companies actually reported in the Q3 earnings season. Please note that the Q3 earnings season isn't officially over yet, as one S&P 500 member has yet to report results for that quarter – Joy Global (JOY – Analyst Report) reporting this week will be the last S&P 500 member to report Q3 results.