Wall Street analysts expect S&P 500 companies to post 6.9% earnings growth in the third quarter, up from 6.7% at the end of May, Bloomberg Intelligence data show. The improving sentiment is a sign of rising confidence in the businesses’ ability to withstand Trump’s tariffs.

Among the biggest optimists, 3M Co. raised its profit expectations and said it has put measures in place to mitigate tariff-related costs, including production shifts and pricing changes. Expedia Group Inc. lifted its full-year outlook based on stronger demand from consumers. And just last week, Oracle Corp. gave a robust forecast for its cloud-infrastructure business, sending its stock soaring to its best day in the market since 1992.

Conservative Expectations

Investors are getting out in front of these numbers as corporate earnings outlooks tend to be on the conservative side, even when they’re rising. Actual results have exceeded end-of-quarter estimates in 63 of the last 65 quarters, data from CFRA show. The actual-versus-estimate margin was 7.1 percentage points last quarter, and over the last 65 quarters the median outperformance was 4.8 percentage points, according to CFRA.

There are other bullish catalysts for profits, in particular the Federal Reserve embarking on a new interest-rate cutting cycle. With the economy remaining resilient, lower borrowing costs are expected to improve margins for Corporate America, which should spill over into their results.