It's the same for retailer JB Hi-Fi, which hit yet another record high after it delivered a strong result on Monday and then outlined a positive outlook and said it was still in the running to buy rival The Good Guys.

Or look at Domino's Pizza, which on Tuesday reported 29 per cent jump in profit for 2015-16 and promised growth of 30 per cent for the 2017 year. The shares initially dived about 7 per cent on Tuesday, but rallied late in the day and then soared more than 8 per cent on Wednesday.

In a lower-for-longer world, investors are always going to love real growth stories. The fact that valuations look particularly stretched for some of these stocks – Domino's is trading on an earnings multiple of around 90 – doesn't seem to matter so much.

With the returns from alternatives such as cash and bonds looking so anaemic, the punters just have to believe – even if less than half of companies reporting so far (46 per cent) have actually beaten expectations on numbers from AMP Capital.

With about 60 per cent of the market having reported, here are four more lessons from reporting season so far:

Banks and insurers feel the burn

Moody's decision to put the big four banks on negative ratings outlook on Thursday evening emphasises the headwinds they face – slowing revenue growth, tighter margins and the early signs of a deterioration in credit quality. None of these are a surprise, but the slew of results and trading updates from the banks have reminded investors that they are real.

The insurance sector appears to be under similar pressure. QBE's result was unexpectedly messy, with competition in the Australian market whacking margins. Suncorp too outlined a new direction around reinsurance after being been buffeted again by natural disasters, while AMP will need to redouble efforts to get its life insurance business back on track.


Slashing and sweating drives growth

It's not everyday you hear a chief executive who has just delivered the biggest loss in history sound upbeat, but so it was with BHP Billiton chief Andrew Mackenzie. Behind the company's $US6.4 billion loss, BHP and its great rival Rio are leading epic cost cutting and productivity drives to keep growing through the commodity downturn. It's a smart strategy and one that is being played out across the sector, but as always the question is: How low can those costs go?

Small is beautiful

Listed invested company managers who focus on small and mid cap stocks have all reported that their world is being invaded by bigger fund managers hunting entrepreneurial growth stocks in a world where the big blue chips are struggling. The hunt seems to be continuing in profit season, and the little guys are getting a better reception than their larger counterparts. Over the first three weeks of reporting season, the Small Ordinaries is up 0.63 per cent (that equates to a 14.8 per cent annualised growth rate) while the ASX 200 is down 1.27 per cent (or -16.3 per cent annualised).

A solid base

The reporting season has been marked by a lack of growth activity – no major deals, little in the way of major capital spending (Telstra's $3 billion network push excepted) and a big focus on organic growth. That's not great news for the economy, but it does say to investors that companies are being very careful with their money so they can maintain or grow dividends – so far 70 per cent of companies in reporting season have lifted payouts. And in a lower for longer world, that might be the best we can hope for.