Lee Munson and Patrick Kirts comment the S&P 500 price-to-earnings ratio. Part one of two. Published on Seeking Alpha

Standard and Poor’s is predicting that, for the first time, the S&P 500 will have a negative twelve-month trailing price-to-earnings ratio in the third quarter of 2009. The following chart compares five sets of data for the S&P 500 and its financial sector constituents, with actual earnings for 2007-8 and estimated earnings for 2009-10, in both as reported diluted earnings per share (with top-down estimates) and operating earnings per share (with bottom-up estimates).

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Tags: lee munson, PE, S&P 500, SDS, SPY, SSO, Standard and Poor's earnings