Growth in corporate profits may not be as strong as it seems

By STAN CHOE
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street’s big gains this summer have been spread widely across industries. The profit growth underpinning those gains? Not so much. While the energy sector has seen profits nearly quadruple amid sky-high prices for gasoline, overall earnings per share for the rest of the S&P 500 actually fell in the second quarter. That hasn’t stopped investors from bidding up prices on all stocks, not just the ones with strong profits.