I am looking for the quarterly reported earnings per share history for
the S&P 500 index going back into the 1960 area. I already have it
back to 1988.  My aim is to compare the growth of corporate profits of
public corporations to the National Income statistics of the federal
government over a longer period than than the well known study
covering the post-1988 period.

Smartmoney --

The data you need may not be available from free databases on the
Internet but is available from the University of Chicago's Center for
Research in Security Prices (CRSP) data.  The CRSP databases are
commonly available at many business schools for research.  A
description of the S&P index products is here in
"Indices Detail Data" (Nov. 11, 2002):
http://gsbwww.uchicago.edu/research/crsp/support/index.html

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Request for Answer Clarification by smartmoney-ga on 18 Nov 2002 15:19 PST

Unfortunately, the CRSP data "income return" information only refers
to the dividends, not the underlying company corporate earnings.  I am
seeking the actual net earnings figure, which could either be
calculated from the P/E data as available on the S&P Barra site going
back to 1977 or may be available in the S&P data books which come out
at the end of each year.  I don't have the data books, but am thinking
of checking the local library to see if they are available there or at
the local business school library.  I was hoping someone had kept old
records, pre-1981.

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Clarification of Answer by omnivorous-ga on 18 Nov 2002 15:53 PST

Smartmoney --

I'm surprised that the "S&P Composite Index level & associated
returns" in the CRSP database wouldn't include earnings information,
but I don't have direct access to it myself. Certainly earnings data
would be available from the more assembly of all of the S&P 500
companies, though it may be more painstaking.

I have access to S&P paper reports via the Bellevue Public Library and
the UW Foster Buisness Library and will try to chase down the exact
data that you need for 1960-1988 on Tuesday.

My apologies for missing on the first attempt here.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Answer by omnivorous-ga on 18 Nov 2002 16:23 PST

You may also find this useful -- a summary of ANNUAL S&P500 returns
back to 1960, prepared for an NYU Finance class course:
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/spearn.htm

Some of the data is scrunched; if you're having trouble reading it you
can see the raw data in the HTML page by using View/Source.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Answer by omnivorous-ga on 19 Nov 2002 17:06 PST

Smartmoney --

The data is from Standard & Poor's Statistical Service, "Security
Price Index Record," (2002 edition) which is probably available at a
good library.  Here are the numbers for the dates that you'd
requested.  These are in *.jpg format and will be moderately large,
making it easier for you to read the data:
http://www.mooneyevents.com/images/SP57to69.jpg
http://www.mooneyevents.com/images/SP70to81.jpg
http://www.mooneyevents.com/images/SP82to95.jpg

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

---

Clarification of Answer by omnivorous-ga on 20 Nov 2002 11:53 PST

Smartmoney --

Thanks for the kind rating.  I'm still astounded that the CRSP
database didn't have S&P EPS, as I did my master's thesis using it and
indexed everything to the S&P 500.  But there's no end to surprises
for what you can find on the Internet -- and what isn't available.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

I originally rated his as 1 star because it referred me to a place
without the answer, but a subsequent clarification provided the
researcher enough information for the answer to be right on target. 
Please change the rating to 5 stars.

The 2002 Economic Report of the President contains a table that might
be of use to you in your research:

Table B-15.--Output, price, costs, and profits of nonfinancial
corporate business, 1959-2001 [Quarterly data at seasonally adjusted
annual rates]

It's not the S&P, but it is a full time series of profit data, both
adjusted and raw.  You can find the full report at: 
http://w3.access.gpo.gov/eop/index.html

Thank you for reference to the President's report.  That's the other
side of the coin.  I already have that data from the NIPA report at
http://www.stls.frb.org/fred/data/gdp/cpatax going back to 1946
quarterly.