Chart 1.
The title is "Corporate Profits Dropped Markedly in the First Half of 2001." The bar chart shows the year-over-year percentage growth in net income from continuing operations for S&P 500 companies. The rate of growth declined from 15.1 percent in first-quarter 1997 to minus 1 percent in third-quarter 1998. It rose steadily to 22.3 percent in fourth-quarter 1999. In 2000, the rate dropped in each of the first three quarters, to 17.5 percent in the third quarter, then to 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter. In the first quarter of 2001, it was minus 7.4 percent; in the second quarter, minus 19.2 percent.