Stocks indexes fall ahead of earnings season kickoff
BY Wire Reports
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
1/09/13 at 2:12 AM
Stocks closed lower Tuesday as traders awaited the start of the corporate earnings season.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 55.44 points, or 0.4 percent, to 13,328.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4.74, or 0.3 percent, to 1,457.15. The Nasdaq composite index shed 7.01, or 0.2 percent, to 3,091.81.
Alcoa reported its fourth-quarter financial results after the market closed, marking the unofficial kickoff to weeks of earnings announcements from U.S. companies. The aluminum maker said its revenue results exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts, while per-share earnings were roughly in line with expectations. Alcoa rose 20 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $9.30 in late trading.
Alcoa is traditionally the first of the 30 companies in the Dow average to report earnings.
