Far from having a nice, relaxing January to ease into 2017, accountants and auditors up and down the country have been working their fingers to the bone. Earnings season is once again upon us and this year has seen some incredible movements from some of the largest blue chip companies in the UK.

As the amount of companies reporting increases and the depth of numbers intensifies, now is a perfect time to highlight the how much the market can be impacted during this all-important period barely a month into the new year.

I’ve no doubt you’ll have heard all about BT this week – the UK 100 stalwart fell 20% in a single day for the worst session in the company’s history – however, did you know that the announcing of the Italian accounting scandal was not even scheduled and the fact that they were reporting full year results today? How about the news that brokers in the City have retained an average target price that’s 40% above the current market price?

With BT stealing the headlines during the week, you may have missed some of the movements of other UK blue chips that reported this week that could have also resulted in some attractive returns on both long and short positions.

Airline EasyJet reported on Tuesday, falling up to 8.5% over the course of the day as forward guidance failed to take off against market expectations, while global drinks maker Diageo rallied over 3.5% as investors continued to order more and more rounds of shares from the bar.

Other movers included well known names such as Miners Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Fresnillo, Retailers Dixons Carphone and Unilever, and oil behemoth BP.

But the impact of the week’s earnings results wasn’t limited to just those reporting numbers. BT’s sector peer Vodafone has fallen by around 6% this week in reaction to the profits warning, heading towards fresh 2-year lows. This just goes to show the importance of earnings for the county’s biggest companies.

Fear you might’ve missed out? Think again.

Next week is even more packed than this week, most notably on Thursday, where no less than seven UK 100 companies all report before the market opens, including the aforementioned Vodafone.

The last time the companies reporting next week released their results, some moved by over 5% on the day, as markets viewed the numbers with varying opinion. An example of this includes the Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, which on November 10 reported its third quarter results. The company’s shares fell as much as 7% on the day of reporting, before closing over 3% down. This time around, might Astra be in for a change of fortunes?

This all makes next week an incredibly exciting one to trade before you even add into the mix American giants Apple, Amazon and Facebook; you simply can’t afford to miss the next five days of trading action!

Would you like access to a comprehensive list of companies reporting next week? How about data with how they performed last time they reported? You can have access to all of that and be informed of their results before the market even opens! Sound too good to be true? Let us prove you wrong. Sign up here to trial our research for free and let us help you to make the most of one of the most exhilarating periods of the year.

Tom Robertson, Senior Trader, 27 January 2017