Earnings Season

In the U.S., almost all public companies report their results quarterly. So...think: "Life runs from Jan 1 to Mar 31; then again, each 91-ish days from there..." So if a given quarter ends, say, September 30, and it takes a month-and-a-half for companies to get their stuff in order, then they "all" seem to report around the second or third week of the second month following the end of the quarter.

In this case, that'd be a whole host of companies reporting results in mid-November. This, our dear friends, is earnings season. Pro investors scramble, trying to hear 15 company conference calls a day for a week or two, and then calm returns to the battlefield.