Ask Matt: What's making investors so nervous?

Q: What's making investors so nervous?

A: Investors are braced for the worst quarter for corporate profits since the third quarter of 2009. What's the problem? There are two: Energy and overseas.

The problems on the oil patch are no surprise. Investors are expecting energy companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 to report 66% lower profit during the third quarter. That sector's profit implosion alone is the big reason why analysts are calling for S&P 500 companies' profits to fall 5%.

But there's another area of concern that goes beyond the falling price of oil. Following energy, stocks in the materials, consumer staples and industrial sectors have been hit with the most negative profit revisions compared with the positive ones, says Bespoke Investment Group. Each of these sectors have a common thread - they all get a large slice of their revenue from outside the U.S., Bespoke says. Meanwhile, the sectors that get the smallest amounts of revenue from outside the U.S., including utilities and health care, have been hit with fewer negative revisions compared with positive ones, Bespoke says. It's becoming increasingly clear how concerned investors and analysts are getting about the health of economies outside the U.S.

Paste BN markets reporter Matt Krantz answers a different reader question every weekday. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com or on Twitter @mattkrantz.