Shares in the early spotlight: Sears Holdings, Celgene and Boeing
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks began mildly lower Tuesday as Wall Street looked to quarterly results from Alcoa Inc., with the aluminum producer expected to report a rebound from year-ago losses.
“With what we believe will be a so-so earnings season immediately ahead and the debt ceiling debate looming next month, we now see the stock market running into occasional pullbacks or periods of consolidation during the next six to eight weeks,” noted Fred Dickson, chief investment strategist at Davidson Cos.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.29% fell 39.46 points to 13,344.83.
The first Dow component scheduled to report earnings, Alcoa AA +0.66% was expected to report a fourth-quarter profit of 6 cents a share, compared to a year-ago loss of 3 cents, in results due out after Tuesday’s U.S. close.
Alcoa’s shares added 0.2% in the early going, while fellow blue chip Boeing Co. BA -0.58% fell 0.9% after BB&T Capital markets downgraded the aerospace manufacturer to hold from buy.
The S&P 500 index SPX -0.38% declined 4.14 points to 1,457.75.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.26% lost 2.85 points to 3,095.95.
Sears Holding Corp. SHLD -6.29% shares fell 2.9% as investors reacted to word that Lou D’Ambrosio is stepping down as the retailer’s chief executive officer and that hedge-fund manager and Chairman Edward Lampert would take the job, starting Feb. 2.
In economic news, the National Federation of Independent Business said its small-business-optimism index for December edged higher, but it was still the second-worst reading since March 2010. Read: Small-business sentiment edges up from lows: NFIB
Also Tuesday, the Federal Reserve will release consumer-credit data for November at 3 p.m. Eastern. Led by student and car loans, credit grew 6.2%, or by $14.2 billion, in October.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, will present his economic outlook to the South Carolina Business and Industry Political Education Committee, also at 3 p.m. Eastern. Lacker, who this year isn’t a voting member on the Federal Open Market Committee, said last week that he expects U.S. growth of around 2% for 2013.
The outlook for fourth-quarter earnings is looking somewhat flat, given sharply scaled-back forecasts for companies in the technology and financial sectors. Read: Tech, bank forecasts slashed in run-up to earnings
Some jitters ahead of earnings season were evident on Monday as the S&P 500 backed off a five-year high, falling 4.58 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 1,461.89. Read: U.S. stocks retreat after last week's climb
Also of note to investors, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas got under way on late Monday.
Chip makers like Nvidia Corp. NVDA -0.47% , Intel Corp. INTC +1.07% , Qualcomm Inc. QCOM +0.18% and Advanced Micro Devices AMD +2.06% Inc. and electronics manufacturers like Sony SNE -2.23% , Samsung Electronics Co. KR:005930 -1.32% , LG Electronics Inc. KR:066570 -0.38% and Panasonic Corp. PC -2.30% , along with dozens more companies in many sectors, will fight for a share of the spotlight. Read: Qualcomm kicks off CES with Snapdragon
Also Tuesday, shares of Celgene Corp. CELG +3.51% added 3.6%. The biopharma group was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital Markets. Read: Celgene lifted to outperform, $100 target, at RBC .
Shares of Destination Maternity Corp. DEST +0.56% saw fractional gains. The retailer reported that for the first quarter ended Dec. 31, comparable sales rose 1.9% and earnings should come in near the middle of its estimated range. That range, provided Nov. 15, was 25 cents to 32 cents a share, compared with 17 cents in the year-earlier quarter. Also see: 9 stocks that may disappoint on earnings
In commodities futures, crude-oil prices CLG3 -0.02% reversed, last trading up 20 cents to $93.39 a barrel, while gold GCG3 +0.52% rose $9.80 to $1,656.10 an ounce.
Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.
