The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that the collapse of crude oil and other commodities have marred the Canadian earnings backdrop, with total fourth quarter earnings for companies in the S&P/TSX composite index falling by 20 per cent year-over-year, according to information out of Bloomberg. The Globe's Tim Shufelt writes that Canada's first quarter earnings will extend the pain, as profits over all are expected to decline by about 10 per cent from the prior year's first quarter, according to a National Bank Financial report. However, the global commodity complex has rebounded definitively from winter lows, leading to optimism that higher resource prices will soon filter through to the bottom lines of energy and mining companies. While Canada's Big Six banks have had to increase provisions to cover bad loans to the oil patch, the fallout is manageable so far, and bank profits have mostly proved resilient. "I think the banks are going to deliver and I think we're going to have a less awful quarter from resources," says Raymond James analyst Ryan Lewenza. Still, any material rebound in Canadian earnings is likely to be concentrated in the second half of the year.