Over 90% of the S&P 500’s companies have reported 19Q3 earnings. Of those, 74.2% beat earnings and 18.8% missed. As companies beat expectations, the 19Q3 Y/Y earnings growth rate improved to a decline of 0.5% from a decrease of 2.2% on Oct. 1, 2019. With positive earnings growth so close, investors will eagerly await the reports from the index’s remaining 10%. One thing that may help push earnings growth positive is share repurchases. A comparison of the 19Q3 Y/Y net income to earnings shows that share repurchases are expected to add roughly 2.1 percentage points of growth.