Stocks fluctuate amid anxiety over profits

NEW YORK — Wall Street showed little direction early Tuesday as investors awaited further signals from companies about where the economy might be headed.

Stocks fluctuated in a narrow range as investors shied from placing big bets following several days of selling and after aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. reported late Monday that it lost $1.19 billion during the fourth quarter as demand for aluminum plunged. Investors saw the report as a troubling example of the range of companies that are being hit hard by the recession.

"Alcoa is a harbinger of things to come," said Jeff Buetow, senior portfolio manager at Portfolio Management Consultants. "It was a horrible report."

There was some upbeat news. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the trade deficit fell to its lowest level in five years. The deficit narrowed 28.7 percent to $40.4 billion in November from $56.7 billion in October as demand for oil dropped by a record amount.

But questions about corporate earnings are likely to dominate trading in the coming weeks. Investors are watching closely for companies' expectations for business conditions in 2009. Computer chip maker Intel Corp. and drug company Genentech Inc. are among the companies reporting results this week.

The market also will get an earlier-than-expected reading on the financial sector this week when JPMorgan Chase & Co. reports earnings on Thursday — nearly a week ahead of schedule. Investors are fearful of another year of multibillion dollar losses among financial companies, as analysts forecast mounting problems in credit card and commercial real estate portfolios.

Meanwhile, Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley are expected to announce a deal as soon as Wednesday to combine their brokerage operations as Citi struggles to raise additional cash.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 25.33, or 0.30 percent, to 8,499.30 after briefly moving lower.

Broader indexes also rose but at times dipped into losses. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 2.55, or 0.29 percent, to 827.81, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 12.67, or 0.82 percent, to 1,551.46.