U.S. stocks snap losing run on Alcoa surprise Equities

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Apr 11, 2012 at 8:25 PM

U.S. stocks snap losing run on Alcoa surprise
Equities bounce back after 4% retreat

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks gained Wednesday, rebounding from an extended losing run after Spanish and Italian bond yields fell and aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. reported a surprising profit.

“The Alcoa report really helped key the rally. In general, the tone of the earnings season will be positive,” said Andrew Fitzpatrick, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates Inc. in Hinsdale, Ill.

The market will keep a close watch on weekly jobless claims data Thursday morning.

“As long as it’s under 400,000, and shows not much of an increase from last week and last month, that will alleviate some concerns on the jobs front” that came with last week’s monthly jobs, which was likely a “one-time anomaly,” Fitzpatrick added.

On Wednesday, The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.70% rose 89.46 points, or 0.7%, to 12,805.3, halting a five-day losing streak, its longest since an eight-day run that ended Aug. 2, 2011.

Alcoa AA +6.22% rallied the most among the index’s 30 components, up 6.2%.

The aluminum maker’s surprise profit “speaks to what is happening elsewhere,” such as in China and Brazil, said Frances Hudson, an Edinburgh-based strategist at Standard Life Investments. “The world might be moving into a sustainable recovery even if China’s growth is slowing.”

That said, “the market is not trading on high volumes or great convictions, so the things moving the market seem to be relatively flimsy. We’ve got a long way to go from Alcoa’s earnings figures to having the whole of the S&P 500 reporting,” she commented.

The S&P 500 Index SPX +0.74% gained 10.12 points, or 0.7%, to 1,368.71, with financial firms leading and energy the poorest performeramong its 10 major industry groups.

The bar for first-quarter earnings results has been “set so low, it will be very difficult to not have upside earnings growth,” according to Art Hogan, a strategist at Lazard Capital Markets in New York, who points out that less than 30 of the S&P 500 pre-announced.

Just two S&P 500 sectors are expected to have positive earnings growth: technology and consumer staples, Hogan said.

The Nasdaq Composite COMP +0.84% added 12.24 points, or 0.8%, to 3,016.46.

For every stock declining, roughly four rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where nearly 590 million shares traded. Composite volume topped 3.7 billion.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-op...2012-04-11

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