friday trading, page-21

The US is definitely more expensive than us though it always has been. The 2009 estimated operating PE for S&P 500 is 11.8 though 2008 as reported earnings put it on a PE of 29. The discrepancy is between reported earnings which include asset write-downs, impairment charges, provisions etc, and operating earnings which are (in a nutshell) how much the company is making from normal business activities. I'm not sure which of these people tend to use when they look at historical PE valuations.

Of course with some sectors earnings projections are still fairly much guesswork.