CABRERA: Business is booming on Wall Street. Companies are showing strong earnings as August trading winds to a close this week. CNN's Christine Romans has this week's "Before the Bell."</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, as the summer winds down here, the most important thing for investors about the economy is interest rates and earnings. And so far, we've been hearing from companies, they have had very strong results in the second quarter. Ninety-one percent of S&P 500 companies have reported their quarterly report cards. And, you know, 79 percent have done better than expected. That shows us that companies are making a lot of money. Earnings growth is more than 24 percent. That's the second best quarter since the recession. We're also going to get a second look at second-quarter GDP, economic growth. That's coming up this week. So again, really important to gauge how well the economy is doing here. The initial reading showed growth of a whopping 4.1 percent. That's the fastest pace in four years. So we'll be looking to see if that number is revised higher.
Companies Post Strong Earnings for Second Quarter.