The corporate earnings picture continues to deteriorate, with companies exposed to tariffs taking a particularly strong hit.

As profit reports just start to trickle in, the expectations are getting worse. Forecasters already were indicating negative earnings growth for the second quarter, but the outlook also has swung into red numbers for the third quarter, according to the latest FactSet calculations.

The data firm now estimates that the third quarter outlook has changed from a slight gain of 0.2% as recently as June 7 to a slight decline of 0.3% as of late last week. Including the Q1 0.3% decline and an expected drop of 2.6% in Q2, that would mark the first three-quarter pullback in profits in three years, during the earnings recession from Q4 2015-Q2 2016.

While earnings usually come in substantially ahead of expectations — as much as 4 or 5 percentage points is not unusual — the downward direction in the outlook doesn't speak well for what lies ahead. FactSet Q3 estimates have dwindled from expectations for a 3.4% gain to the negative number now in the forecast.

The primary culprit for the downward trend has been weakness for multinational companies. FactSet recently estimated that companies that do more than half their business outside the U.S. likely will see an earnings decline of 9.3% in Q2. Those that do a majority of sales domestically were projected to see a 1.4% growth rate.

In similar fashion, the lowered Q3 estimates are coming from sectors that have large international exposure — energy (-13% decline expected) and information technology (-9%). Tech is ranked first on the S&P 500 in international exposure while energy is fourth.