Investors cautious as they await earnings
Dow component Alcoa, kicking off earnings season, reported its best quarterly profit in nearly three years.
April 11th, 2011
10:28 PM ET

Investors cautious as they await earnings

Some highlights from the day's business news:

Stocks under pressure ahead of earnings

U.S. stocks gave up an early advance and closed little changed Monday as investors looked ahead to corporate reports due throughout the week.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1 point, or less than 0.1%, to close at 12,381. The S&P 500 slipped about 4 points, or 0.3% to 1,324. The Nasdaq Composite sank 9 points, or 0.3%, to 2,771.

Stocks posted broad-based gains earlier in the session on a spate of deal news and a drop in oil prices following talk of a cease fire in Libya. But the tone turned more cautious in the afternoon, as investors were awaiting the early results of the first-quarter reporting period.

After the market closed, Alcoa said it earned 28 cents per share in the first quarter - its best quarterly profit in nearly three years - beating analysts' estimates by a penny.

Fed's No. 2: Don't blame us for oil spike

The Federal Reserve's efforts to pump money into the U.S. economy are not to blame for the rise in oil and other commodity prices, according to the No. 2 official at the central bank.

Fed Vice Chairman Janet Yellen, in a speech to the Economic Club of New York Monday, said that rapid growth in demand by emerging economies such as China are driving up prices. And she argued that the Fed should not need to pull back on its stimulus efforts in order to rein in prices.

Yellen said the Fed's current program of buying up to $600 billion in additional long-term Treasuries and keeping its key interest rate near 0% "continues to be appropriate because unemployment remains elevated."

She added that measures of inflation are still lower than what the Fed usually considers to be stable for the long-term.

- CNNMoney.com reporters Ben Rooney and Chris Isidore contributed to this report

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Filed under: Business • Economy
soundoff (9 Responses)
  1. Triumph

    I just want you to know that I sent this story to my owner's printer, printed it out, put it on the floor next to my food dish and read it again. And you know what?
    It was really good.....
    FOR ME TO POOP ON!

    April 12, 2011 at 1:21 am | Report abuse |
  2. Greatest countryonearth

    i heard that a family of twelve eats better than a family of one in most of the world..is that true or is walking a hardship when the very newest petrol comsumption device not available? Investors? Are we not all investors or did i miss something?

    April 12, 2011 at 2:09 am | Report abuse |
  3. Greatest countryonearth

    consumption..consumer.. Are these terms inherently dehumanising? I see the "consumer" units everyday but not one wants to be referred to as such. Wonder why?

    April 12, 2011 at 2:14 am | Report abuse |
  4. Greatest countryofnuns

    speaking with reals nuns of eastern europe they openly declared no real affinity for american nuns with guns or capital gains for world arms sales..or education for kansas k.u. blackwater job creation. Wonder why?

    April 12, 2011 at 2:35 am | Report abuse |
  5. Greatest countryofnuns

    fact is ...american religion on every front is based in corporate ascents for more invasion to convert all into the consumption units of r.o.t.c. And contractor based Drinking perfection.

    April 12, 2011 at 2:40 am | Report abuse |
  6. r. m. pitts

    Gas prices are set on speculation which means they always go up. What about speculation on going down?

    April 12, 2011 at 3:54 am | Report abuse |
  7. Setup

    "These lucky corporate chiefs took home the most pay in 2010. Some saw their compensation more than double – even triple! – from a year earlier." And they DEMANDED that the Bush Era tax cuts be kept or else no new jobs would be created in the US. Where are these jobs? McDonald's just began hiring 50,000 employees! Trying paying the rent and paying bills on $8.25/hr...

    April 12, 2011 at 8:03 am | Report abuse |
  8. leeintulsa

    I think the McDonald's hiring spree is a good sign. They have to be building more stores to need that many. That's construction work, too.

    April 12, 2011 at 10:20 am | Report abuse |
  9. really?

    No new store or constructions, just more darn sorry fat asses to feed

    April 12, 2011 at 5:29 pm | Report abuse |
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