Market Summary

Stocks moved higher to start what will be a very busy news week on both the corporate and economic front. The market came into the week looking to break and hold new highs above 11K on the Dow and 1200 on the S&P. We went one for two as the blue chips gained 8.62, or 0.1 percent, to 11,005.97, the first close above 11K since September of 2008. The S&P 500 index rose 2.11, or 0.2 percent, to 1,196.48, finishing just shy of 1200, while the Nasdaq composite index advanced 3.82, or 0.2 percent, to 2,457.87.

It was a pretty mild ho hum day as investor’s paused to see how Alcoa sets the stage for the upcoming earnings season. Who cares about fundamentals, the market is in a full on rally with blinders on. Of course we are setting the stage to crash and burn, but hey, might as well make $$ on the way up as well!

Oil futures slipped for a fourth straight day as crude fell 58 cents to $84.34 per barrel on the NYMEX. Gold edged up 50 cents to a new 2010 high of $1,161.60 a troy ounce.

On the Corporate Front

And Here We Go…

Alcoa, Inc (AA) started the official kickoff to earnings season after the bell. The aluminum giant reported a net loss of $201 million, or 20 cents per share. That compares with a loss of $497 million, or 61 cents a share, a year ago. The loss was mainly due to a host of one time charges, and results include $295 million or 29 cents per share in one-time charges. Revenue rose nearly 20 percent to $4.9 billion. On the top line, the company missed analyst expectations of earnings of 10 cents a share and revenue of $5.24 billion.

Economic Rundown

The US government had a budget deficit of 65 billion dollars in March, compared to 65.39 billion dollars last month, a decline of 65 percent from a year ago. The government spent 218.74 billion dollars in March, I am sure the deficit hawks and Tea Party people love that.