The second quarter reporting period begins next week with Alcoa's (AA) earnings release, and below we highlight the Q2 consensus earnings growth expectation for the S&P 500.  As shown, analysts currently expect S&P 500 earnings to decline 33.5% versus Q2 2008.  While this is an ugly number, it's a little less ugly than it was in May and early June.  Sign up for Bespoke Premium to get in-depth earnings analysis for indices, sectors, and stocks on a regular basis.