Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Indications: Alcoa miss sends U.S. stock futures lower

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software Alert Email Print

By Steve Goldstein & Kate Gibson, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Alcoa Inc.'s disappointing kickoff of the fourth-quarter earnings season sent U.S. stock futures lower on Tuesday.

S&P 500 futures fell 8 points to 1,134.5 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 11.75 points to 1,871.75. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 68 points to 10,536.

Stock futures maintained their losses after the government reported the U.S. trade deficit widened sharply in November. Read about rising demand in the U.S. for foreign goods.

But Alcoa /quotes/comstock/13*!aa/quotes/nls/aa (AA 15.54, -1.91, -10.95%) fell more than 7.4% in premarket trade after the aluminum producer and Dow component reported a $277 million loss that, excluding charges, was worse than analysts had anticipated. CFO Charles McLane Jr. said on a conference call that the company willingly sacrificed earnings to preserve cash.

TODAY'S INTERNATIONAL MARKET STORIES

Global Dow

• MarketWatch Topics: The Dubai Crisis • Asia Markets | Europe Markets | LatAm Markets • Canadian Markets | Israel Stocks | London • U.S.: Market Snapshot | After Hours

Tools• Latin American/Canadian indexes • European indexes | Asian indexes

More on the Markets • Bond Report | Oil News | Earnings Watch • Currencies | U.S. Economic Calendar

/conga/story/misc/international.html 45984

"My point is that we had to pull back capacity at many locations to meet the decreased demand," McLane said. "And the way we were going to manage our cash is to take all of the variable cash costs out as quick as possible. When you do that, you've got all your fixed costs and it's going to be over a lower volume and it's going to hurt profitability."

But analysts said Alcoa is facing the impact of currency turbulence and growing energy costs, in addition to the possibility that aluminum prices could fall.

A move by the People's Bank of China to lift the reserve requirements for banks by a half point also made an impact.

"To the extent the Chinese have been major suppliers of global liquidity, aggressive tightening is going to be very detrimental to risk assets," said Jamie Dannhauser, economist at Lombard Street Research.

Elsewhere, shares of KB Home /quotes/comstock/13*!kbh/quotes/nls/kbh (KBH 15.57, -0.81, -4.95%) fell nearly 3% after the home builder said it swung to a fourth-quarter profit but revenue dropped nearly 30% from the year-ago period.

Video games publisher Electronic Arts Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!erts/quotes/nls/erts (ERTS 16.75, -1.52, -8.32%) warned on fiscal 2010 earnings, blaming weakness in Europe as well as a shift toward lower-margin products in Europe. Shares of Electronic Arts fell 8.5% in preopen trading. Europe's top video games retailer, Game Group, separately warned on its annual earnings.

Tiffany & Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!tif/quotes/nls/tif (TIF 46.15, -0.53, -1.14%) , by contrast, upped its earnings view after better holiday sales than forecast.

Supervalu /quotes/comstock/13*!svu/quotes/nls/svu (SVU 13.56, +0.64, +4.95%) rallied 7.4% in pre-market trade after reporting a stronger-than-forecast fiscal third quarter earnings. KB Home /quotes/comstock/13*!kbh/quotes/nls/kbh (KBH 15.57, -0.81, -4.95%) slipped 1% as a tax benefit helped the home builder return to profitability.

Overseas, Infosys Technologies /quotes/comstock/15*!infy/quotes/nls/infy (INFY 57.60, +2.77, +5.05%) led Indian stocks higher on an upbeat profit forecast and the Shanghai Composite rose 1.9% for its third straight rise. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 traded 0.9% lower, by contrast, with the metals sector lower on the Alcoa result as well as the PBoC action.

The dollar dipped 0.5% to 91.54 yen, and oil futures lost more than $1 a barrel.

Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds dropped 8 basis points to 3.736%. Yields move in the opposite direction to prices.

U.S. stocks were generally stronger on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 45 points and the S&P 500 gaining 2 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 4 points. Strong Chinese economic data and confidence ahead of earnings season helped buoy stocks.

Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief. Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.


NYSE Arca Morning Update - 08:30:00 ET

NYSE Arca Morning Update for Tuesday, Jan 12, 2010 :

STOCKS TRADING ON NYSE Arca AT A PRICE 15% OR MORE AWAY FROM
THE PREVIOUS TRADE DAY'S CONSOLIDATED CLOSE PRICE (AS OF 08:30:00 ET)

Stock Monday's Close Current Price Pct Change Current NYSE ARCA Vol
FIF $27.86 $3.06 (89.0%) 599


10 MOST ACTIVE STOCKS ON NYSE ARCA AS OF 08:30:00 ET

BASED ON DOLLARS TRADED: | BASED ON SHARES TRADED:
Stock $ Volume Price PctChg | Stock Share Vol Price PctChg
SPY $106081693 $113.80 ( 0.8%) | C 2,349,684 $3.58 ( 1.1%)
AA $24,461,494 $16.29 ( 6.6%) | AA 1,495,210 $16.29 ( 6.6%)
QQQQ $17,725,738 $46.05 ( 0.7%) | SPY 931,387 $113.80 ( 0.8%)
GLD $17,385,265 $112.45 ( 0.3%) | BAC 500,233 $16.72 ( 1.2%)
SDS $9,524,315 $33.58 1.6% | F 389,757 $11.93 ( 1.6%)
C $8,403,382 $3.58 ( 1.1%) | QQQQ 385,102 $46.05 ( 0.7%)
BAC $8,377,637 $16.72 ( 1.2%) | MGM 297,873 $11.43 5.2%
IWM $7,422,863 $63.69 ( 0.9%) | ASBC 292,500 $11.60 0.9%
BHP $6,562,642 $79.22 ( 3.1%) | SDS 283,717 $33.58 1.6%
EWZ $5,451,282 $75.78 ( 1.9%) | KFN 223,557 $6.07 ( 9.2%)


Price changes may be affected by symbol splits and dividends.

Consolidated close price is the last print (excluding prints with trade
conditions) prior to 4PM ET.

This information is also updated on our web page every morning at 8:35ET:
http://www.tradearca.com/data/volume/daily_update.asp

This material is for informational purposes only.
NYSE Euronext and its affiliates ("NYSE Arca") are not soliciting any action based upon it.
This material is not to be construed as an offer to buy or sell any security in any jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation would be illegal.
Any opinions expressed in this material are NYSE Arca opinions only.
NYSE Arca undertakes no obligation to update any of the information contained in this material in light of new information or future events.
THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED BY NYSE ARCA "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
NYSE ARCA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY, TITLE, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AS TO THIS MATERIAL.
IN NO EVENT SHALL NYSE ARCA BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, TRADING LOSSES AND DAMAGES THAT MAY RESULT FROM THE USE
OF THIS MATERIAL, ANY DELAY OR INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE OR OMISSIONS OR INACCURACIES IN THE MATERIAL) WITH RESPECT TO THIS MATERIAL.

Copyright [2010] by NYSE Euronext. All rights reserved. Reproduction and redistribution prohibited without prior express consent.

Subscribe to "The $t0ckman" via email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner