DOW + 10 = 16,256Â
SPX + 6 = 1851
NAS + 33 = 4112
10 YR YLD – .01 = 2.68%
OIL – .28 = 102.28
GOLD + 11.10 = 1309.00
SILV + .20 = 20.16
Every now and then the planets align. Tonight is one of those times; Mars, the Sun, and Earth will be aligned in opposition. And Mars is closer than normal, although still about 92 million miles away. I have no idea what this means in the cosmic scheme of things, but when the sun sets in the West, Mars will rise in the East; and it will be overhead around midnight. You should be able to spot it easily as it will look light a bright star with a red or burnt orange color. If you can’t watch tonight, you can look to the skies for the next week.  On April 14, there will also be a total lunar eclipse causing the full Moon to turn as red as the Red Planet itself.
Investor sentiment remains upbeat ahead of earnings and despite the smack-down in prices Friday and Monday. On Friday, the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, dropped down to a multi-month low of 12.6 and even after a few days of triple digit declines the VIX has only edged back into the mid-14 range. And although Alcoa is the official start of earnings season, a few companies have already reported, including Oracle, Nike, and Fed Ex; without inspiration. The floodgates on profit reports don’t open until April 15. A few retailers and banking names are due out with results this week.
Now we’ll see if the stars align for earnings season, which kicked off this afternoon with Alcoa. The aluminum producer was a long-time member of the Dow Industrial Average until last September, and with the ticker symbol AA, they held the alphabetical honor of the first blue chip company to report earnings each season. Today, after the close of trade, Alcoa reported profit of 9 cents per share on revenue of $5.45 billion. Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimates called for 5 cents per share. Alcoa was up in after-hours trading.
Now, let’s dig down. The earnings excluded restructuring costs and other one-time items, also known as the cost of doing business; including those costs, Alcoa posted a net loss of 16 cents per share compared with earnings of 14 cents per share for the same quarter last year. Sales fell to $5.45 billion from $5.83 billion a year earlier, trailing the $5.55 billion average estimate. So, revenue down and below estimates; earnings were actually losses but with a clever accounting team they show as profit and they beat estimates; stock price goes up. Now you know the Wall Street earnings game.
