Bank of America refers to the number of stocks where consensus earnings estimates have risen is advancing relative to the number where estimates have fallen.
BoA have their proprietary Global Earnings Revision Ratio, its rise is bullish for stocks, particularly for firms closely tied to economic cycles:
- its ratio rose to 0.90 in August from 0.77
- highest level in 18 months
- the ratio rose most notably in the US and Japan
(This chart is from our charting app, which is free and can be found at this link)