Aluminum producer Alcoa is slated to post numbers after Wall Street closes. Analysts polled by Reuters forecast the Dow component to post earnings of 6 cents a share for the second quarter of 2013 on revenue of $5.83 billion, down from sales of $5.96 billion a year ago.
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"We expect the company to record soft earnings, but most investors will watch out for any cues on its outlook. Aluminum prices are constantly going downhill and demand remains sluggish. Also,aluminum inventory continues to remain high relative to demand, keeping a lid on London Metal Exchange (LME) prices for aluminum," according to research company Trefis in a note.
Financial giants JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are scheduled to post earnings later in the week.
So far, earnings pre-announcements have been very negative. As of last Friday, the ratio of negative-to-positive corporate comments stood at 6.5 to 1, according to Reuters, more than 2.5 times the normal pace and the most negative reading since 2001.
"We're a little more optimistic than the consensus right now, but any way you slice it, it's not going to be a good earnings season," said BTIG chief global strategist Daniel Greenhaus."Guidance is particularly important since you're going to have much less Federal Reserve accommodation."
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The CNBC Fed Survey, taken right after Friday's jobs report, showed that on average, analysts now forecast the Fed will start scaling back its asset purchasing program in November. An earlier survey, taken a little over two weeks ago, showed the average forecast was for December.