According to data collected by Refinitiv analyst David Aurelio, the average expectation is for a first-quarter earnings per share decline of 18% followed by a 9% second-quarter decline.

"Looking forward, analysts expect third-quarter EPS growth of 6.9% for the S&P 600 and 23.3% growth for the fourth quarter, according to Refinitiv’s Aurelio. For small caps to pick up and resume their outperformance we need to see better trends in the economic data in the second half, which would lead to better earnings growth in the third and fourth quarter, which the Street is expecting,” he said.