All three market indices rose slightly on Monday.
|
Index |
Change |
Ending Value |
|---|---|---|
| Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) | +32.77 [+0.27%] | 12,359.92 |
| Nasdaq (IXIC) | +2.34 [+0.09%] | 2,676.56 |
| S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC) | +2.89 [+0.23%] | 1,280.70 |
Alcoa (NYSE: AA), traditionally the first Dow stock to report during earnings season, announced a small fourth-quarter loss. But what caught my eye was its announcement that it expects global demand for aluminum to increase 7% this year.
That continues the string of economic data suggesting that manufacturing demand may be remaining resilient despite the crisis in Europe. Last week saw reasonably strong December jobs figures -- 200,000 net jobs gained -- as well as upbeat sales reports from each of the "Big 3" automakers.
Alcoa's projection is good news for Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) and General Electric (NYSE: GE), each of which rose more than 1% to put them among today's top Dow gainers. Conglomerates, manufacturing, energy, and transportation had the biggest gains today.
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