S&P 500 profits haven’t been this rich in at least 15 years — but there’s more to the story

the s&p 500 posted its richest profit margins in at least 15 years during the first quarter. but three big tech companies — alphabet, amazon, and microsoft — drove most of that strength. without them, the picture looks less impressive. those three alone added roughly 10 percentage points to the index's overall earnings growth. their combined market cap now makes up a bigger slice of the s&p 500 than at any point in the last decade. the rest of the index, by contrast, saw profit margins barely budge from last year. so the headline number is real, but it's concentrated. the broad market isn't suddenly more efficient — a handful of giants are pulling the average up.