Now that it’s a new Quarter 3 in 2026, earnings season is about to get underway with the banks. And there’s a lot in the mix – a new Fed chair who seems committed to limited forward guidance. Interesting mixes of jobs and inflation data. And a little company called SpaceX that had the biggest IPO in history and is likely to land in broad market indices (cough Nasdaq cough) sooner than later.
So I want to get into keys to preparation focusing on what will actually help your trading.
Why I’m Focusing on Earnings
With the boom in AI investment — and the way it’s fueling revenue growth for large companies, including titans like Nvidia — I suspect this earnings season is going to show, in the numbers, substantial growth. And that growth is fueling the economic strength of the U.S.
And as I’ve always said: the S&P 500 is the leading indicator of the U.S. economy. So, long story short, overall things are pointing up.
Does that mean we won’t see some “sell in May and go away” summer weakness ? Of course not. That may happen. And I’ll stay on top of it in my day-to-day research I put out in the ES Futures Outlook.
But right now, I want to help you get prepared for earnings season.
You may have a trading edge, but it sharpens when you know what's coming on the calendar.
Where I’m Starting: S&P 500 Components
Since I’m an E-mini S&P 500 futures trader, I’m starting with the stocks in the S&P 500.
The S&P 500 is put together by S&P Global. You can piece the earnings information together from various sites, but it takes some digging. Here are some examples I got from ChatGPT when I was exploring this option:
- https://marketchameleon.com/Calendar/Earnings
- https://www.investing.com/earnings-calendar
- https://www.marketbeat.com/earnings/
- https://www.ii.co.uk/investing-with-ii/international-investing/us-earnings-season
Earnings Preparation Steps
Here’s how I’d prepare:
Step 1: Determine your world of stocks.
Pick a focus. It could be:
- A specific watchlist
- The Nasdaq 100
- The Dow 30
- The S&P 500 (what I’m doing)
- Or even international stocks
It’s kind of impossible to manually follow thousands of companies reporting earnings. Just pick a lane to start. You can always change it up later.
Step 2: Build your earnings release watchlist.
You can do this manually from the websites I listed above. An ideal earnings watchlist would include:
- The company/stock ticker symbol
- The expected earnings date
- The time of day of the release (before market open, after close, etc.)
- Whether the date of the release is confirmed (since these can change)
Step 3: Sort chronologically
Bring the tickers into an order corresponding to how soon that company is reporting (sooner versus later) to help you keep focus on the near-term opportunities versus getting bogged down but what’s weeks out.
Wrapping Up
Building a watch list is just the first step so that you’re better prepared when earnings season unfolds.
Imagine you wake up on a Thursday morning and Nvidia is down 8%. Was it earnings? Was guidance lowered? Did another company in the semiconductor space disappoint the night before? When you already know who is scheduled to report, you're much less likely to be surprised by price action.
Generally, earnings season kicks off with banks reporting, and rounds out with the big tech names. But it’s always fluid, so it’s important to stay aware.
Look forward to digging into this earnings season with you then!
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