Rob Armstrong

Pushkin.

It's true.

I'm a bad boy and I move around a lot when I talk.

And so our producer, Jake, has gotten me a chair that doesn't move so I will sit still.

And if this doesn't work, what restraints are coming next is an open question.

Like he's going to zip tie my wrists to the arms of the chair.

Whatever it takes.

It's true.

At 54 years old, I'm still the wiggly boy at the back of the class.

I have never seen an earnings season like this.

Average S&P 500 earnings growth so far is...

And it's been amazing.

I'm ashamed I didn't see this dramatic change coming, but there are a couple of fairly commonsensical explanations for this we could go through.

It's just happening.

I mean, just to put the size of what we're seeing right now in context, over the very long term, the average earnings growth rate for the S&P 500...

in real inflation-adjusted terms, is something like 7%, 7.5%.

So we're going along maybe tripling or quadrupling the standard rate of growth this quarter.

It is like an amazing event we're seeing.

And it goes a long way to justify the dizzy heights that markets have hit.

Each dollar of profits costs you the same thing, right?