Earnings season typically occurs in the month immediately after the calendar quarter ends. Specifically, that is January, April, July, and October. Each earnings season has historically kicked off with the earnings report from Alcoa, however more recently investors have considered the week that most of the big U.S. banks report as the beginning of earnings season. There is no official ending to earnings season, but in general it lasts for six weeks, or until most companies have reported their earnings and the number of daily releases returns to pre-earnings season levels of just a handful a day.