Alcoa results disappoint; Europe bailout vote fails

Updated: 6:47 p.m. ET

Stocks finished essentially flat today as investors waited for third-quarter earnings from Alcoa (AA) and a parliamentary vote in Slovakia on whether to expand the eurozone's bailout fund.

The wait didn't result in good news. Alcoa missed Street estimates on its earnings. The company warned that business in Europe was hurting and stresses in the global economy were trimming demand. Shares moved lower after hours. Because of Alcoa, futures trading suggests a modestly lower open on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Slovakia rejected the bailout plan, and the government of Prime Minister Iveta Radicova appears to have fallen on a no-confidence vote. A vote on the plan may be taken up later this week.  

While the market was basically flat, technology shares had a strong day. Apple (AAPL) closed above $400 for the first time since Sept. 29. Energy, airline, mining and medical information stocks led the market.  Gold (-GC) moved lower. Interest rates were a touch higher.

The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) closed down 17 points to 11,416. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) , which smashed through several resistance levels on Monday, added 1 point to 1,196. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) was up 17 points to 2,583, and the Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX), which tracks the largest Nasdaq stocks, was up 16 points to 2,295.

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Apple, up 3% to $400.29, contributed 11 points to the Nasdaq-100's gain. The stock hasn't closed above $400 since Sept. 26 and is up 12.9% since bottoming on Oct. 4 and nearly 6% since Steve Jobs' passing the next day.

Research In Motion (RIMM) shares were up 5.1% to $24.41. There was excitement after activist shareholder Jaguar Financial issued a statement claiming additional support in its campaign against the company's current management team. At the same time, the company was experiencing network outages in Europe and Latin America.

RIM shares are down 58% this year as the company has struggled to compete against Apple's iPhone and devices built on Google's (GOOG) Android platform.

Futures trading suggests stocks may open modestly lower on Wednesday -- on the assumption of a successful Slovakian vote this week.

The market will be tested with how overseas markets judge the Slovakian situation. In addition, Federal Reserve will release minutes of the Sept. 20-21 Federal Open Market Committee meeting after a one-day delay. The release comes at 2 p.m. ET.

Pepsico (PEP) is the day's big earnings report.

Alcoa falls as results disappoint
Alcoa shares were off 4.4% to $9.85 after hours after third-quarter results missed Wall Street estimates. The shares had finished up 2.1% to $10.30.

Alcoa earned 15 cents a share excluding one-time charges on revenue of $6.4 billion. That was better than the Street estimate of $6.24 billion. Analysts had been expecting 22 cents a share. A year ago, the company earned 6 cents before one-time charges on $5.3 billion in revenue.

The stock is off some 42% since peaking in early April. That reflects a slowing global economy, including the after-effects of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Watch for its outlook on Europe and China as well as North America.

Aluminum for delivery in three months peaked at about $2,800 a ton in London in May and now is at about $2,200, a decline of 21%.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Tues.			Mon.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$85.81			$85.41			8.35%			-6.10%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$2.9041			$2.9039			4.49%			14.17%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$3.6160			$3.5410			-1.36%			-17.91%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$2.7476			$2.6953			8.25%			12.00%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$110.73			$108.95			7.76%			16.87%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.3960			$3.3950			-1.42%			10.55%
(per gallon; AAA)

Watching the vote in Slovakia
Financial markets spent the day watching what looked like an interminable parliamentary debate in Slovakia over extending the eurozone bailout fund. 

Slovakia was the 17th and last eurozone country that must approve the extension for it to take effect. Without an extension, efforts to stanch the financial bleeding in Greece may stall, and financial markets will be roiled.

The rejection of the fund would risk bringing about a new economic crisis, Finance Minister Ivan Miklos warned, adding, "This time even a worse one than the 2008 crisis after the collapse of Lehman Brothers."

The debate, however, was also over the future of conservative Prime Minister Iveta Radicova's government. The loss of the confidence vote may force new elections. But the vote on the extension may get taken up later this week.

The urgency of Europe's financial crisis has forced serious talk on how to recapitalize its largest banks to withstand the shocks of the debt crisis. Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, warned that the eurozone crisis has "reached a systemic dimension" and said governments must swiftly push through fiscal reforms and coordinate a recapitalization of banks.

Alcoa, Caterpillar lead the Dow
Fourteen of the 30 Dow stocks were higher, led by Alcoa, Caterpillar (CAT), up 1.9% to $80.66, and Bank of America (BAC), up 1.4% to $6.37. AT&T (T) was the laggard, down 1.4% to $28.77.

Fifty-three Nasdaq-100 stocks were higher, with Ctrix Systems (CTXS) the leader, up 5.5% to $61.19. Infosys (INFY) was  the laggard, down 2.2% to $52.66.

Meanwhile, 239 S&P 500 stocks were higher, led by Sprint Nextel (S), up 7.2% to $2.38, and Ctrix. First Solar (FSLR), down 6.5% to $55.91, and futures-market operator CME Group (CME), down 3.4% to $257, were the laggards.

Dollar's rise pushes gold, copper lower
Gold settled down $9.80 to $1,661 an ounce as the dollar was higher against the euro and other currencies.

Silver (-SI) settled up 1.8 cents to $31.998 an ounce. Copper (-HG) was off 8.6 cents to $3.282 a pound.

Crude oil (-CL) was up 40 cents to $85.81 a barrel. Brent crude was up $1.37 to $110.32 a barrel.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.16% from Monday's 2.076%.

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Tues.			Mon.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.0100%			0.010%			-50.00%			-91.67%
5-year Treasury note			1.135%			1.081%			17.62%			-43.70%
10-year Treasury note			2.160%			2.076%			12.27%			-34.64%
30-year Treasury bond			3.111%			3.024%			6.50%			-28.68%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			77.908			77.811			-1.48%			-1.74%
British pound			1.5620			1.5664			0.27%			0.09%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.640			£0.638			-0.26%			-0.09%
Euro in dollars			$1.36			$1.36			1.82%			1.55%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.736			€ 0.733			-1.79%			-1.53%
U.S. $ in yen			76.86			76.68			-0.34%			-5.53%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.40			6.34			0.28%			-3.31%
yuan
Canada dollar			$0.970			$0.974			1.54%			-3.36%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$1.032			$1.026			-1.44%			3.49%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,661.00			$1,670.80			2.39%			16.86%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.282			$3.368			4.12%			-26.20%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$31.9980			$31.9800			6.37%			3.43%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$6.6075			$6.1150			8.45%			-16.81%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$6.4500			$6.05			8.86%			3.61%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$1.0347			1.0334			3.27%			-28.55%
(per pound)
Coffee			$2.2675			2.296			-0.94%			-5.72%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$85.81			$85.41			8.35%			-6.10%
(per barrel)