Alcoa Earnings Fails to Shake Off Wall Street Caution

Nichole Harper
09 Jul, 2014
New York City

U.S. stocks traded sideways and investors remained cautious after Alcoa Inc kicked off the latest earnings season with better than expected results. Citigroup is nearing a settlement of $7 billion for charges linked to mortgage securities fraud.

[R]11:45 AM New York – U.S. stocks traded sideways and investors remained cautious after Alcoa Inc kicked off the latest earnings season with better than expected results. Citigroup is nearing a settlement of $7 billion for charges linked to mortgage securities fraud.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street struggled after Alcoa reported better than expected quarterly results and kicked off the latest earnings season.

Citigroup is said to be nearing a settlement linked to mortgage securities fraud charges for $7 billion with the U.S. regulators.

S&P 500 index increased 3.82 to 1,967.53 and the Nasdaq Composite Index increased 14.48 to 4,405.92.

U.S. Stocks in Review

Alcoa Inc increased 4% to $15.49 after the struggling aluminum processor reported better than expected quarterly results as the company shifts to higher value products for auto and aerospace industry.

Bob Evans Farms Inc declined 2.9% to $48.36 after the family restaurants operator reported lower than expected quarterly sales.

The Container Store Group plunged 9.9% to $24.42 after the storage products retailer reported lower than expected quarterly results.

Gigamon Inc plunged 32% to $12.38 after the designer of networking products reported second quarter revenues of $35 million, less than the company estimate of as much as $42 million.

European Markets

European markets extended losses for the second day in a row ahead of earnings season this week and the slow progress on the economic stimulus in the euro zone.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slid 0.4% or 24.67 to 6,713.78 and in Frankfurt the DAX index gained 0.3% or 24.51 to 9,797.18.

In Paris, CAC 40 index rose 0.2% or 10 to 4,352.53.

Admiral Group first-half revenues declined to £1 billion. Sodexo third-quarter revenue slumped 3% to €14 billion.

The recently privatized UK Mail Group said first-quarter revenue jumped 3%.

Asian Markets

Stocks in Japan declined for the third day in a row and the Topix index extended 3-day losses to more than 1%. Shipping companies and financial brokers led the decline.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 11.76 to 15,302.65 and the broader Topix index slid 4.88 to 1,270.82.

The yen slipped and closed at 101.63 against one U.S. dollar.

New vehicle tire sales in Japan increased 4.5% in June. Meiko Network Japan said third quarter revenues increased 3.2%.

In Mumbai trading, the Sensex Index slipped 137.30 or 0.5% to close at 25,444.81 The CNX Nifty fell 38.20 to 7,585.

Bank of Baroda issued fixed rate senior unsecured notes of $250 million. GMR Infra raised Rs 1,477 crore through a secondary offering.

Infosys, the second largest software services provider estimated quarterly net profit to decline 11%.

Indusind Bank profit surged 26%. SpiceJet offered one million seats at a deep discount price of $18 for one way travel.