Today investors punish companies that did not meet expectations in regards to earnings to a larger degree than they reward those meeting set financial targets, Bloomberg reports.

Shares of companies included into index S&P 500 and reaching earnings forecasts exceeded average growth of 1,5%, while shares of losers lost 3,6%. This is the biggest gap between winners and losers in seven quarters.

Meanwhile, it gets harder and harder for companies to meet expectations of Wall Street's economists, not mentioning exceeding them.  

Last quarter earnings results exceeded expectation by 6,6%. So far only about half of S&P 500 companies reported their results for the second quarter. As of Monday, earnings exceeded forecasts by 5,2%. On average shares rose by 0,5% after reports.