Surging commodity prices over the past two months have helped bolster the profit outlook for the Australian sharemarket by more than $4 billion, helping to halt three years of shrinking earnings.

Analysts now expect companies on the S&P/ASX 200 Index to grow earnings by 7.1 per cent for the 2026 financial year, which is more than double the forecasts at the end of the recent reporting season of just 3.1 per cent growth. In dollar terms, analysts have increased profit forecasts by $4.1 billion to $148 billion.