and this is going to be a story for 2013 for alcoa.elerate, in particular china. >> now we've talked with analysts on this program, chad, about whether to really believe that this is going to happen given some of the overcapacity issues plaguing alcoa. are these companies specific issues, is there a read-through from results or as we've seen in prior quarters, is it the case that, you know, as alcoa goes, everyone else tends to go the other way? >> right. you know, alcoa's a global growth story. it's a base metal company. so as you start to see global growth reaccelerate where 2012 it was decelerating, then alcoa will go higher. now, you know, look, they have their problems. they have a product mix that they're trying to get to a higher margin, more stable business to balance out their business line. but really it is a global macro play. and it's a high beta stock. that's why investors want to be in that company if they think the global economy's going to reaccelerate. >> yeah. we've got to see whether the price goes up, as well. chad,

alcoa posts a quarterly profit and says it's in strong shape to make money this year. alcoa c.e.o. klaus kleinfeld joins us for an exclusive interview. >> tom: good evening. i'm tom hudson. from record high unemployment in europe to political dysfunction here in the u.s., we'll talk about the biggest risks for global investors this year. >> susie: and can the man who rescued sears do it again? chairman eddie lampert tacks on c.e.o. duties at the struggling retailer. >> tom: that and more tonight on "n.b.r." >> susie: alcoa kicked off earnings season with a profit and better than expected revenues. the aluminum giant also said it expects global demand to rise by 7%. that's a slight pick up from last year. after the closing bell, alcoa said it earned six cents a share in the fourth quarter. that was right in line with analyst estimates. revenues came in stronger than expected at nearly $6 billion, but they were down a bit from a year ago. alcoa is the first dow component to report earnings, and the stock rose more than 1.5% in after hours trading. on wall street, worries about earnin

we have now heard from alcoa. what kind of expectations do you have, mark newton, in terms of earnings for the fourth quarter, and does this tell us anything about what to expect from the s&p 5 hundred in terms of fourth-quarter numbers? >> well, i think they can be bit are a subdued and people have been taking down earnings estimates for quite some time and a lot of companies have begun to prepare for this, for obama care and this and that in the fourth quarter. the bottom line is it technically the market still acts quite well. we've seen -- four of the ten sectors needed some highs so the last couple of days of condating has not done everything. a lot of people saying it was overput. my think is a lot of the market movement will be pred kated on this budget ceiling that will come to fruition later january. >> it's self-inflicted, and that's what we keep hearing, the debt ceiling debate. gentlemen, thank you very much. appreciate your time and we'll be watching this market. see you again. another big problem, dr

care about alcoa. i would get that report out of the way before a head long dive into copper, steel. give that a chance to marn eight. if the all clear is sounded, you'll have plenty of time. >> why doesn't it matter, pete? >> it's the least important of all of these earnings. we all talk about it because it kicks off the earnings. to me alcoa tells me nothing. >> it doesn't tell you about the strength in the airlines or cars or global economy or china or anything else. >> they're in every vertical. >> u.s. steel has had a nice move, it's a name we've been watching for that reason. if china is going to start to pick up, you're going to see u.s. steel going a lot higher than 25. >> the evidence is the actual math, the earnings. significant contraction in eps and sales growth in materials. what sector will have the biggest snap back? it's going to be materials. they're going to see positive eps and positive sales growth. what does that mean? all the analyst expectations that were taken down significantly

all right, then, there's alcoa. okay. give me a break. serial disappointers, they're supposed to disappoint. supposed to cast a pall in the action. what does alcoa do? it raises its forecast. it cites strength in, yes, china. the country that's supposed to have a hard landing. remember that hard landing? i'm going to speak more about alcoa later, but come on, your job is to make us feel worse about things, not better. shame on you. maybe they didn't get the memo. you know what? hey, listen, the gloomsters did come out, the stock did not go up today. but in the end, i think this market doesn't want to take its cue from the good. you know what it wants to do? it wants to wallow in the quagmire of worry. it wants to sell off whenever it can, because we all know that things are actually quite worse than expected. don't they have to be? you know what? to quote marshall sam gerard, when confronted with richard kimball's i didn't kill my wife defense, in "the fugitive," i don't care about the negativity. i don't care about the pessimism, i've go

saying this would not be good for alcoa. options markets with a 40-cent move, don't know what the stock is doing but it seems i am wrong and the market is wrong, it must be higher. sandra: global aluminum demand forecasting it to be up 7%, larry, in 2013. that is a big turnaround from the demand we have seen. it is a really good indication to the economy pointing to an improvement in the economy. >> they are implying 6% to 7% demand growth. what is more important is supplies are even higher and beyond that it is really strong. aluminum still not trading. we will still see the utmost production of aluminum creating a bigger supply, longer and longer to see stocks. ashley: after hours up about $0.16 on the bid. do you see a lot of movement to the upside when it opens tomorrow? >> probably so. given the options market implied $0.40 move it seems a little bit more upside. i would still be a seller right now, a little rich given the price of aluminum will stay low. a little more upward momentum is in order for tomorrow morning. s

so, alcoa has lost a lot of its importance. i really think you can get a key as to what's going on with what wells fargo says, financials and housing. >> we talk about bio-tech all the time. one of the more interest egg, somewhat bio-tech stocks, monsanto. if you look at that release, they crushed. margins were better than 300 basis points. we talk about the name often. i want to say it printed 100, it probably didn't. within an eyelash of 100 bucks. people have gone against this on valuation, i understand that. i wouldn't say go racing into monsanto tomorrow, but i think this is a name that's been working for awhile. i think i will continue to work. i would love to see it pull back to the mid-90s, but that name should be on your radar. >> $99.99. good for you, guy. let's move on here. another 787 dreamliner grounded today. this time, a fuel lake in boston. it is the second incident in two days for a plane that is crucial to boeing's feature earnings. can boeing bounce back and should you be buying the dip? joining us now is ca

how much money alcoa can make.ith your analysis, unfortunately. because i like the company so much. rick santelli in chicago. go ahead, rick. >> thanks, jim. before we get to the charts, i didn't put a currency chart up, but obviously the dollar and many currencies are resuming, upward trajectory against the yen. keep a close eye on the 88 level of the dollar/yen. two-day chart of 10s clearly shows you we're losing altitude in terms of higher rates, lower prices. as a matter of fact, one of the reasons many are now putting forth that we had so much selling pressure early in the year and towards the end of last year was the huge corporate issuance calendar. about $15 billion yesterday. let's look at the markets from that perspective. if you look at the lqd etf and look back to november, you can clearly see that it is definitely not holding up towards the highs. but if you look at the high yield i yielding, different story. even though corporates are moving very well, in terms of issuance, there still seems to be the

that's what our 60,000 employees in alcoa have shown. we are prepared to use the opportunities that come up. i hope there will be quite a number of opportunities. at the same time, we do it in a way we continue to have a strong balance sheet and continue to generate cash. >> susie: all right, talking about cash and your strong balance sheet, you have about $2 billion of cash. we hear a lot about how companies are sitting on a pile of cash and really not doing much with it. what can we expect alcoa to do with that $2 million, maybe not all of it, but some of it. >> we already are doing something. we are using opportunities. automotive we talked about. in general, that is exciting. specifically for an aluminum company is exciting. because we see here in the u.s. with a new emission regulation, people are going for lightweighting. they replace steel with aluminum, which is good for us. we put our money behind that, and expanding in davenport and building an automotive company in davenport. and the second thing is aerospace. we come out with

as alcoa reports after the bell today.s up as samsung forecasts a record operating profit in the fourth quarter and aig reportedly considers legal action against the u.s. after its massive got bailout. >>> and so aig has brought this meeting tomorrow to consider whether to sue the government $182 million bailout. the suit doesn't argue that the bailout wasn't necessary, but it argues about the nature of the bailout. the united states government made whole wall street's clients. they claim it violates the fifth amendment. well, i am not sure about the fifth amendment, whether we've -- but as a principal, bob, when the shareholders take the risk -- >> they take the hit if things go wrong. and a company goes into loss or is at the point of bankruptcy, the shareholders are the first people to take the hit. i suppose an issue that might be at debate here is what price the taxpayers paid for taking over the company compared to what its value was. one question. and the second question is, was it necessary for u.s. taxpayers to ba

joe, everybody said alcoa doesn't matter. pete said it means nothing. i have 78 reasons on the dow today why it does matter. the tone is set and looks good off the start. >> yes. it does matter and for the industrial space and also pete flagged yesterday to his credit an told you that you were going to see significant appreciation. you're getting that today. now, why is that important? it's important because we go back to, again, where are you going to get the positive contribution? from financials. from materials. now if you can get it from industrials, as well, that just solidifies the reason that the vix is trading right now at 13.5 and you could buy cheap protection in this marketplace and that means the market continues to move higher. >> brian, the significance of getting out of the earnings gate strong. expectations have come down. we know that. this was a decent report. the outlook is better than people were looking for, as well. it's a nice rebound today. >> the outlook on the auto industry, too, much better than expected. one thing that really

to alcoa because you want to see who is buying aluminum but you don't trade alcoa as an earnings approxim s. >> i think klaus is a great ceo, but there's overcapacity in aluminum. this is a story about cost cutting and refinding a balance sheet which was totally impaired, one of those hazard stocks we pointed to. >> but in terms of, i presume the auto sector, aerospace, users of aluminum. >> listen, at the end of the day, it's a great long-term story and there will be an economic pickup around the world, but what you're doing here right now is, we're trading markets in a lot of volatility for these names but i like that name long-term. >> really quick, what you said about the auto sector, these are moving towards more aluminum -- the frame is steel but everything else is aluminum. people are choosing mpgs over the stability of the cars in a lot of these -- >> frightening. >> it is. >> let's move to amazon, soaring to an all-time high, after morgan stanley upgraded the stock. is the trend your friend? should you be dumping the stock? we've got a street fight here. steve is the bull, tim is

alcoa will show their earnings. they are expecting good revenue.numbers to go positive for early trading. we will follow the numbers drop the day. >> lower manhattan is a live look at all the people who are on stretchers. if there was a scary old that came into manhattan and it slammed into the docks. all of these people are injured. it is about 17 of them. they have neck braces on and they are covered with blankets so they can keep warm. all of the fire department personnel is owned the city. most of them were standing on the ferry. you can see that they slammed into the docks to hard. though both the just with open. the damage to the boat is shown. 17 people have been injured and this is the latest report with this ferry that hit the docs. >ks. >> big stories that we are following this morning. a violent mmorning in san francisco supports for a role hill neighborhood. a man was stabbed and left for dead in the middle of the street near connecticut and 25th street. a separate shooting also happen within the same neighborhood. oakland police will n

. >> we had this yesterday from alcoa beating revenue, but it is just alcoa, we have a long ways to goreal headwind toward the fourth quarter that could make stocks not that advertising. why are people responding so positively? >> regards to alcoa, we started to see gradual deceleration of earnings. they tend to work in a four year cycles we have seen alcoa tends to beat earnings of a topline and maybe hit the earnings midline. you can't make too much of this, eventually they will turn back the downside, my thinking as it is important right now to follow the technicals and the debt ceiling will be a bigger drive for stocks. that is important to note. adam: what about gold? it has been surprising given a lot of people think all of its funding from the federa federale and the other central banks should be running from gold, why aren't they? >> there are a couple of issues in gold right now. we haven't been able to hold below the 1650 level for any amount of time at all. again, looks like we will see 1700 range. we have japan stepping in. also china coming in picking up. one thing that we

larry levin of trading advantage is among the many traders awaiting earnings coming from alcoa after the close. good morning to you, and what is your expectation? > > i definitely think that we are going to see the market at least move higher on the earnings that we get out as we go into later today. i think traders really- i don't want to say have got inside information, but have got a pretty good idea. yesterday we kind of saw a little bit of a sell-off in the morning and then really kind of recovered. so i think traders really kind of got in front of that feeling that the earnings season is going to get off to a good start. > i have been really surprised about how dry the options paper has been on alcoa going into the earnings tonight. that has been a big surprise. let's move on to the debt threat. a lot of lawmakers, of course, talking about the debt ceiling. does this threaten what's happening with the stock market? > > if it does, it threatens it for very short periods of time, and then we get buyers who come in and buy those breaks or those drops in the market. the fiscal clif

alcoa posted its numbers after wall street closed. dow dropped 55 points to 13,328 and the nasdaq also fell 7 points. >> and if you're going to fire your taxes early, you'll have to wait until january 30. filing was supposed to start january 22nd but it was moved up because of the fight over the fiscal cliff. some are worried the upcoming fight over the debt ceiling could force the treasury department to delay sending out tax refunds. >>> and on march 1st, the treasury department will stop sending social security checks through the mail. recipients have to switch to electronic payments, either direct deposit or debit card. the change is expected to save taxpayers $1 billion over the next ten years. terrell? >> erica ferrari, thank you so much. >>> coming up next your wednesday morning weather and how lance armstrong allegedly bullied his critics into keeping quiet. scott pelley spoke with the person in charge. living with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis means living with pain. it could also mean living with joint damage. help

alcoa is expected to report a profit of $0.06 a share on revenue of $5.6 billion.he aluminum giant's performance has been hindered by the struggling global economy which has cut demand for aluminum and depressed prices, lower growth in china and the debt crisis in europe are taking a toll. two weeks ago moody's warned it might downgrade alcoa which could put the company's credit in junk territory. consumer credit rose for a fourth straight month in november. most of that increase was in on revolving credit which includes auto loans as well as government-backed student loans. revolving credit which includes credit cards climbed by modesty hundred seventeen million dollars. we continue "countdown to the closing bell" with nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole: we are taking a look at retailers at actually didn't do too bad during the holiday season. a couple headlines going along with sears, you can see the stock selling off dramatically. you have a changing of the guard, the c e l stepping down, family medical issues, he had to step d

alcoa reported better than expected.m demand up 6% from last year. >>> and clearwire received an offer from dish after already having and agreement with sprin sprint. >> and flower downgraded to out-perform, talking about more promotional activity in 2013 and less profitable sales mix. seagate raised its revenue to $3.5 billion and adjusted grandmothgross margin impacted by soft demand and economic global weakness. proctor and gamble has named terry lundgren to its board of directors. the current director, jonathan rogers decided not to seek re-election at this year's annual meeting in october. terry, for years, i think, toiled at federated, which was based in cincinnati for a while, i think. knows people well. >> i read a story in "the new yorker" yesterday. i read it online and talked about how tide has become basically street -- on the street, it's become a form of currency. >> the pods, you mean? >> no. the big red -- >> really? why? >> it's something you can bring in and trade and people really look at it as an aspi

alcoa, right now it can wait. >> alcoa can wait. >> there was recently a note about how their balancelance sheet is fine. that's no reason to sell it. it's the possible commodity in not coming back. i used to think it was a chinese glut. it's not china. china has a lot of flexibility to use aluminum. i believe in this company. i don't know if i believe in the stock. but i certainly wouldn't sell it here, because i think at $8.48, we're starting all over again. >> it almost sounds like you're talking about apple. >> wow. alcoa -- >> apl. >> you said you believe in the company but you don't necessarily believe in the stock. >> i like apple stock. >> exactly. exactly. >> alcoa is not a reasonable multiple. if the glut in aluminum ends the stock in '15, you're betting that the warehouses of aluminum in the midwest, will one day be needed. and we'll find a demand. remember, there are millions of screws in place. that's something that dominates, called fasteners. alcoa is a lowered cost dra patticly. in the end, they're in the aluminum business. >> pushing tin. let's get to bob pisani on th

alcoa today and the banks next week. >> we'll be back. with klaus kleinfeld after this break. >> closing counterdown is coming back after these messages. >> stay with us. eam... ♪ into a scooter that talks to the cloud? ♪ or turn 30-million artifacts... ♪ into a high-tech masterpiece? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. how did i know? well, i didn't really. see, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive... but when i started losing energy and became moody... that's when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. we discussed all the symptoms... then he gave me some blood tests. showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number -- not just me. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1.62% (testosterone gel). the #1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy, increases testosterone when used daily. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early pubert

earnings parade will kick off after today with alcoa. a lot wondering what the next leg for stocks will be, a critical time for the market. >> the biggest week will be the week the banks report, as always in the last quarters. coming up. that's going to be critical. right now we seem to have slowed down, stalled a little bit. if we have a new leg, on the backs. i agree with joe. >> i wonder what the fourth quarter earnings would show for banks, one of the better days ahead. >> they are going to be strong, look at the sectors, expectations for banks, goldman sachs. >> there's a lot of tail winds. >> have a great day. "power lunch" starts now. >> halftime is over. second half of trading day begins now. >> thanks. our top three stories have a common theme and it is fear. first up the fear of flying after boeing runs into even more trouble with the dreamliner. then there is fear of the flu. it is spreading coast-to-coast like -- well, like the flu. but since we're cnbc, we have found ways to profit. the fear of earning season. alcoa kicks it

low aluminum prices expected to way on alcoa's results. after three consecutive quarters of beats ending in october. shares up in the last quarter. not great for the full year. wall street is looking for earnings of six cents a share. but also on tuesday, ahead of the bell we're going to hear from monsanto. it will be reporting results. looking for earnings of 37 cents a share. that's up 60% from a year ago from the chemical giant. on revenues of about $2.6 billion, an 8% increase. on wednesday consolation brands pops the cork ahead of the bell. up 10% from a year ago. on $726 million in revenues. and wells fargo will kick off on friday. analysts looking for 89 cents a share. on just over $2.1 billion in revenues. but wells fargo is among the ten banks with the robosigning. they'll take a charge in nar fourth quarter. wells fargo declining to comment because they are in the quiet period. we'll have to wait until friday to hear how it will impact them. >> thanks so much. >>> so what should we expect out of earnings this season? how much of

a big improvement in earnings for alcoa.way, monsanto, ruby tuesday, supervalu, these are all the earnings that we are gearing up for this week. we will have more to look at in the next hour. connell: notre dame or alabama? sandra: i am rooting for alabama connell: i didn't know people rooted for alabama. dagen: i keep seeing this live poster on facebook and twitter. it is catholics versus cousins. connell: that is funny. dagen: i am a redneck. connell: obamacare gone to the dogs, apparently. dagen: coming up in the next hour, cheryl casone unlike your pet next visit to the vet will cost you more money. ♪ >> coming up on noon eastern time, markets now. i'm cheryl casone. looks like president obama is about to pick another fight with congress. this time it is over two controversial nominees to his cabinet. the president is set less than on hour to no , nominate both. we have a live report from washington and how that hits your defense stocks. workplace productivity is down, and you can blame the flu. an early outbreak sweepin

alcoa.to lose sight of the gigantic health care conference that continues through the week. this is where the biotech and pharmaceutical companies tell their stories, like celgene, one of our favorites, vaulted $3.64 on its positive performance. i want to give a peek at an intriguing story you'll hear a lot about on wednesday. i'm talking about nps pharmaceutical, npsp, this is an orphan drug developer that's been a roller coaster of late. i first recommended nps back in mid-september when the stock was trading at $8.24. it spiked up to $10.86 in october, giving you a quick 31% gain. i told you to ring the register because there was an important fda panel meeting coming and any potential upside already seemed to be baked in. since then the stock pulled back, just $8.95. about 70 cents above where i initially got behind it. even though the stock hasn't rallied much, there have been some major positive developments. for starters on, december 21st, nps received fda approval for a treatment for

in today's first look: alcoa turns a profit. the first dow component to report in the fresh earnings season posted a profit of $242 million despite weak prices for aluminum. the sell-off in the market continues. the major indicies all fell yesterday. telecom stocks were among the biggest losers. gold rallied, while oil flatlined. president obama is expected to soon name his next treasury secretary. white house chief of staff jack lew is said to be high on the list. the irs will accept 2012 tax returns starting january 30th, 8 days later than planned due to tax law changes in the fiscal cliff bill. now for an early look at how alcoa's earnings could affect today's trading. larry shover of sfg alternatives joins us. and what do you think here larry? > > yesterday's number was good. most people weren't expecting them to beat on revenue. but they beat by quite a bit. people were maybe thinking earnings per share, that could be better. but that is a good thing for the market, a good thing for the materials sector. i think it is going

alcoa has so much going for it. turbines, autos, construction, aerospace. but it has to deal with the glut of the raw product -- aluminum. that can constrain progress as the ceo has done his very best to improve the company and its balance sheet. i wouldn't bet against alcoa. no matter what i need you to give a listen. clause tells you how each market is doing. he's brilliant and tells it to you in a witty way. it's the drol east german sense of humor perhaps. on wednesday we'll take a break from earnings and listen to walgreens symbol wag. the drug star, the cohort has been significant of late. i'm waiting for the multi country initiative now that the tiff with express scripps is in the rear-view mirror. given the strength of global markets its go international strategy might be just right for investors. by the way, the stores, i would sleep in them if they let me. they're fabulous. i like the story. thursday, oh, boy. oh, man. claymation death match coming. herbalife telling you why they are dead wrong for shorting it. to be fair it has to put up great nu

alcoa posts a quarterly profit and says it's in strong shape to make money this year. alcoa c.e.o. klaus kleinfeld joins us for an exclusive interview. >> tom: good evening. i'm tom hudson. from record high unemployment in europe to political dysfunction here in the u.s., we'll talk about the biggest risks for global investors this year. >> susie: and can the man who rescued sears do it again? chairman eddie lampert tacks on c.e.o. duties at the struggling retailer. >> tom: that and more tonight on "n.b.r." >> susie: alcoa kicked off earnings season with a profit and better than expected revenues. the aluminum giant also said it expects global demand to rise by 7%. that's a slight pick up from last year. after the closing bell, alcoa said it earned six cents a share

alcoa posts a quarterly profit and says it's in strong shape to make money this year. alcoa c.e.o. klaus kleinfeld joins us for an exclusive interview. >> tom: good evening. i'm tom hudson. from record high unemployment in europe to political dysfunction here in the u.s., we'll talk about the biggest risks for global investors this year. >> susie: and can the man who rescued sears do it again? chairman eddie lampert tacks on c.e.o. duties at the struggling retailer. >> tom: that and more tonight on "n.b.r." >> susie: alcoa kicked off earnings season with a profit and better than expected revenues. the aluminum giant also said it expects global demand to rise by 7%. that's a slight pick up from last year. after the closing bell, alcoa said it earned six cents a share

better-than- expected earnings news from alcoa. taking a look at the big boa >>> welcome back. the marketed are making their first gains of the week after some better-than-expected earnings news from alcoa. take a look at the live board right there. and so far, so good. we're up 38 points with an hour and a half of trading to go. >>> car lovers start your engines and head down to san jose. the 2013 silicon valley international auto show starts tomorrow. hundreds of hot new cars, trucks, suvs, from electric to exotic all on display. that looks like a nice ride. crews have been busy all morning moving them into the mcenery convention center. the show runs through the weekend. so go check it out. >>> a consumerwatch warning for new parents. fisher-price is recalling 800,000 infant sleepers. they look like this. the problem prompting the recall, mold can build up under the seat cushion making your baby sick. fisher-price has 600 reports about the mold so far. >>> a growing number of doctors, therapists and other professionals are now charging clients who fail to show up for appoint

alcoa keeping with tradition. first out of a gate. for a preview of that, we turn things over to courtney reagan live at cnbc world headquarters. good morning, courtney. >> reporter: good morning to you, jon. futures relatively flat right now after stocks starting out the week on a down note but closed off their lows on monday. investors are waiting for the start of earnings season that starts tonight with release from alcoa. we'll get data this afternoon on consumer credit. the dow fell 50 points monday to 13,384. the nasdaq lost two points to 3098. >>> aig's board meets tomorrow to reportedly consider whether to sue the u.s. government over the bailout which it just finished paying off. aig may join a $25 million suit filed by former ceo hank greenburg. the suit argues the nature of the bailout. the u.s. took a 92% stake in the company and funneled thousands to aig's wall street clients deprived shareholders of cash. it also violated the fifth amendment which bans seizure of private property without just compensation. back to you. >

earning season is under way and dow component alcoa picked off, profits were in line at alcoa while revenues were better than analysts expected. wells fargo beat expectations as did american express. apple is said to be considering a cheaper version of the iphone. the iphone5 costs about $200 with a contract with a wireless carrier. the less expensive version would have a plastic body. >>> the debt ceiling, new treasury secretary, will washington be an on stockles to the market and the economy or will washington be a help? joining me now is geg i and author of "the economist" and jerry webman, chief economist at oppenheimer funds. thanks for joining us. >> hi. >> greg, let me kick this up with you. president obama's pick for treasury secretary, chief of staff, jack lew, will take over for timothy geithner. is this a missed opportunity to be friendly to business, the business community, or is this a new call since it appears that nobody on earth knows this better than mr. lew. >> well, i think jamie dimon would build business between the community which feels a little bit alienated by the adm

alcoa is also forecasting higher demand this year. the first company in the dow industrials to report 4th quarter earnings. on wall street, the dow was down 55, and the nasdaq down 57. shares of boeing dropped 3.6% today after another problem on one of its 787 dream liners. officials reported a fuel leak on a japan airline 787. just yesterday, a fire broke out in the belly of a different 787 dream liner that had just arrived from tokyo. the cabin filled with smoke just minutes after passengers got off the plane. >>> they're a big hit in san francisco. now more so-called curb cafes are coming to san jose. city leaders approved the pilot program today allowing restaurants to expand onto sidewalks and build patios for outdoor seatings. the restaurant vs to pay about $20,000 to widen the sidewalks. they like the idea of bringing european flare to the south bay. >> it has the energy of chicago but doesn't have the density of it. >> if this pilot program is a success, the city's expected to open a city-wide application process for more curb

tomorrow, aluminum giant alcoa will be the first dow component this period to report quarterly results. it's expected to show decent profit growth, but on the whole corporate america has seen far better quarters. suzanne pratt reports. >> reporter: after weeks of fiscal focus, wall street could use a more fundamental topic to chew on. earnings season could provide that distraction, but, it may not be a positive one. s&p 500 firms are expected to post on average only a 2.8% increase in q4 profits. just a few months ago, analysts were hoping for a much healthier 10% gain. so what happened? >> it's just a continued slow growth environment. you know in the third quarter earnings were basically flat. so this is actually an improvement over last quarter, even though earnings growth is still expected to be very low. >> reporter: specifically, businesses felt after effects from hurricane sandy, and they were unwilling to spend with all the fiscal cliff uncertainty. on top of that, demand from europe as well as china was weak. but, here's the good news. a low earnings hurdle ultimately makes it

but when you talk about aluminum and alcoa, what is the chinese looking like. but as we go through the earnings season, you will see that story more and more and investors will pay attention to it. >> thank you so much. see you later. >>> breaking news. ten-year notes up for auction. 30 years tomorrow. ricky, how did we do? >> 9-year 10-month notes. the grade is c minus. here is why, and i was kind. wi has been at 185 1/2, offered at 185. and surveys thought it would price in the 184 camp. they are even more disappointed. but i think c mine us is the right grade. 3.8. been to cover. 10 auction average np is 283. 10e 10 auction average. on direct, 21% this one. 14.8. what was it last month? an historic 42.7. that dropped dramatically. so all in all dealers took 56.7% of the auction. they have a pocket full of ten-years. sue, back to you. >> thank you very much, rick. rick santelli in chicago. a terrifying compute this morning for fairy riders working in lower manhattan. right near where i am here on wall street. two blocks from where we are. at least 50 people h

let me ask you about alcoa. earnings season about to launch this week. looking at that one? > > it is trading strong. in lot of these stocks have been trading strong. it is trading above the 50-, 150-, and 200- day moving averages. it is trading around $9.22. i am going to play this very simple: today is monday. i am going to look at how it is today and tomorrow. if it gets up to that $9.70, $9.80 level, which has been previous resistance, then i will look to get short it. if it pulls back to this $8.75, $8.80 level, i will look to get long it. it is always the first dow component to report. it is the least important of the dow components, but it also gives us a global growth story, it gives us chinese demand on aluminum. it has sold off the last two times on earnings. so very, very simple, if i get a pullback to those moving averages, i will look to get long. if it continues to rally, i think it is overbought, and i will look to short it. > andrew keene, you have a good day out there today. > > thank you. that's all the time we have for today on first b

everybody is talking about alcoa kicking off tomorrow, wells fargo on friday. seems a bit of a concern as we head into the big reports coming out. are you getting a sense traders are concerned about the fourth quarter? >> i would have taken today as good indicator if we sell off, got below the 1450. down 100 points on the dow instead of 50 or so and recovered most of this afternoon. i think traders are ready for some maybe decent numbers. that can boost market a little bit. i would have thought today we would be down a lot more and giving back a lot of gains. we haven't really done that. traders are getting a positive idea what we're seeing with earnings numbers. ashley: larry, i heard arguments on both sides. do you think stocks are fundamentally well-priced right now? >> i do think they are well-priced because unfortunately our government is always going to step in and backstop whatever situation we have. we've seen that obviously for many, many years. because of that traders know you can be safely long these markets because if something bad happens our gover

earnings season is under way, and dow component alcoa kicked off.enues were better than analysts expected. financial giant, wells fargo, beat expectations, as did american express. apple is said to be considering a cheaper version of the iphone. the iphone 5 costs about $200 with a contract with a wireless carrier. the less expensive version would have a plastic body. >>> the debt ceiling, the new treasury secretary, so will washington be an obstacle to the markets and the economy, or will washington actually be a help? joining me now, greg ip, u.s. economists editor of "the economist" and author of "the little book of economists" and jerry webman. gentlemen, good to see you. thank you so much for spending the time. >> hi, maria. >> president obama's pick for treasury secretary we learned officially this week. his chief of staff, jack lew, will take over for timothy geithner. is this a missed opportunity to be friendly to business, the business community, or is this a good call, since it appears nobody on earth knows the budget better than mr. lew?

alcoa makes them, the biggest aluminum producer in the world.stock that's basically done nothing over the past year, $9 15, and it's been flat over the past year, but the past week, the stock has gone up 6% in an missing -- ananticipation of the earns aftr the bell tonight. there's a dow component, so there's a big impact on the market leading up to the earnings, and it's considered a gauge of the global economy because that aluminum not just goes into the soda cans we drink out of, but automobiles and other things because it's a gauge of the overall economy. shares down 1% today, and here's what we are # looking for in the report after the bell tomorrow, six cents a share, a loss experienced in the same quarter last year, and revenues are supposed to be down by 6% to 5.61 billion for the quarter. by the way, two straight declines in revenue, two straight declines in revenue so a turn there would be a welcomed story for investors, who, again, look at a chart where the stock struggled to go anywhere over the past year so alcoa after the bell toni

alcoa will report after the bell today. the dow is down 66 points. will likely cost the insurance industry billions of dollars. the company says the complexity of accepting insurance losses over a wide region has created uncertainty in estimating losses. hospitals uncompensated care cost rose to more than a billion dollars last year. those cost should decline a year from now once broader health coverage is available under the affordable care act. that is the latest from the foxo business network. giving you the power to prosper. ♪ like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions s

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