Updated Aug 24, 2026 – 7.33am, first published at 7.29amKey Posts23 mins ago — 7.29AMEarnings calendar this week23 mins ago — 7.29AMASX to rise, but investors brace for plenty of profit downgrades23 mins ago — 7.28AMMarket highlightsGo to latestPinned post – 7.29AMASX to rise, but investors brace for plenty of profit downgradesAlex GluyasA wave of profit downgrades looms in the final week of the annual reporting season as boardrooms respond to a slowing economy with conservative outlook statements and guidance.Major retailers, including JB Hi-Fi, Myer and Nick Scali, have all reported difficult trading conditions, while the major banks have detailed a pessimistic outlook for the local property market. Investors will focus on results from the big supermarkets, Wesfarmers, Harvey Norman and Qantas this week for clues on how the Reserve Bank of Australia’s rapid-fire interest rate rises and a spike in oil prices are affecting the economy.Those concerns have already prompted analysts to cut their earnings forecasts for the 2026-27 financial year by 2 per cent – roughly double the typical pace at this point in the reporting season, according to Goldman Sachs. The market is revising its projections for this financial year, downgrading three companies for every two it upgrades.“From this broad perspective, the reporting season so far has been weak,” said MST Marquee senior analyst Hasan Tevfik. “Companies are being conservative and adopting the strategy of ‘don’t promise much and then beat it’, and analysts are also being conservative given nervousness about the consumer and softer assumptions for commodity prices.”While more companies are beating projections compared to missing, this is misleading given that expectations coming into reporting season were already subdued, according to UBS strategist Richard Schellbach.However, the number of companies beating earnings forecasts is expected to decline this week as more smaller businesses hand down their results.“Momentum in earnings revisions is certainly now in downgrade mode, with all sectors now seeing reductions in the profit estimates which analysts are forecasting,” Schellbach said.Read more here.Fetching latest articles