The Dow industrials closed down a day after the blue-chip index scored its biggest gain in two months. The earnings season is under way as Alcoa posted their results after the close.
Bad news for Mayor Bloomberg who makes every decision on generating a dollar of revenue for NYC-Wall Street is expected to pare thousands of high paying jobs which will reduce Bloomberg's tax revenue coffers.
Steve Jobs death hasn't stopped the lines from forming as Preorders for Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4S topped one million in a single day, surpassing the company's previous records and setting the stage for another successful launch from the U.S. electronics giant.
Here are the top financial stories of the day:
1) Wall Street holds steady, ready for earnings-From Reuters
U.S. stocks took a breather on Tuesday after the best five days for the S&P 500 in more than two years as investors look to earnings for a reason to extend the market's rebound.
Stocks wavered between gains and losses throughout the session. Markets have been reacting to news from the euro zone where officials are trying to contain a debt crisis that threatens large European banks and global financial stability.
The focus now will shift to earnings season, which begins with Alcoa Inc's (NYSE:AA - News) report after the close of trading. U.S. economic indicators have shown signs of slow growth and investors are waiting to see how this has affected company profits.
"Earnings are always important but even more so here after several quarters of solid earnings across many industry sectors. I think investors are going to want to see that continuing or solidifying itself.
Otherwise you could see further selloffs," said Michael Cuggino, president and portfolio manager of Permanent Portfolio Funds in San Francisco.
Materials stocks fell throughout the third quarter on worries about global growth slowing. Alcoa gained 2 percent to $10.30 in regular trading but is down 35 percent since the beginning of the third quarter.
After the market closed, Alcoa said third-quarter profit jumped from a year ago, but earnings and revenue slipped from the second quarter as economic growth slowed from the first half of this year.
A delay in a key vote by Slovakia on expanding the euro zone rescue fund has also kept investors cautious.
With 16 of 17 euro zone states having ratified a pact to boost the size and powers of the European Financial Stability Facility bailout fund, all eyes turned to Slovakia. The country's finance minister said the country was expected to approve the changes this week.
Any more delays in coming up with a plan intended to head off crisis could give the market an excuse to sell. Stocks have reached the top of a recent range, hitting resistance around 1,195 on the S&P 500.
Another area of resistance is seen at 1,215 on the S&P 500, said Larry Peruzzi, senior equity trader at Cabrera Capital Markets Inc in Boston.
"The bounce we've had is kind of getting us close to resistance levels ... we're looking to see if it can break through," he said.
Apple (NasdaqGS:AAPL - News), which gained 3 percent to $400.29, lifted the Nasdaq and S&P 500.
The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI:^DJI - News) was down 16.88 points, or 0.15 percent, at 11,416.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - News) was up 0.65 point, or 0.05 percent, at 1,195.54. The Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq:^IXIC - News) was up 16.98 points, or 0.66 percent, at 2,583.03.
After the close, Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum company, dipped slightly $10.03 after it posted results.
In the past week, analysts have lowered their consensus earnings estimates for Alcoa, citing a precipitous drop in metals prices in recent months sparked by global economic concerns.
About 6.90 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq for the day, well below the year's daily average so far of 8.03 billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of roughly 16 to 13, while on the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by about 3 to 2.
2) Wall Street Could Face 10,000 Additional Job Losses-From The New York Times
The sovereign debt crisis and bank failures may be happening on the other side of the Atlantic, but they continue to take their toll on New York.
More than 4,000 people lost their jobs in the city’s securities industry between April and August, as the anemic domestic economy and fresh fears over European debt hurt the financial sector, according to a report released on Tuesday by the New York State comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli. An additional 10,000 jobs could be eliminated by the end of 2012, bringing the total losses on Wall Street to 32,000 since 2008, the report said.
“It now seems likely that profits will fall sharply, job losses will continue, and bonuses will be smaller than last year,” DiNapoli said in a statement on Tuesday. “As we know, when Wall Street slows, New York City and New York State’s budgets feel the impact, and that is a concern.”
With the broader United States economy continuing to sputter, Wall Street has become a focal point of Main Street’s anger.
Protestors at Occupy Wall Street, the demonstrations in downtown New York, are set to march past the homes of big finance chiefs like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase.
But Wall Street staff members are feeling the fallout from the financial uncertainty. Banks like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, which are to report third-quarter earnings in the coming days, have announced major job reductions in anticipation of weaker profits.
The downturn will most likely have an immediate effect on the city’s coffers. According to the comptroller’s annual report, tax receipts from companies tied to the securities industry will total nearly $2.6 billion in 2011. That represents roughly 7 percent of the city’s overall tax revenue, well below the prerecession level of 13 percent.
The reduced tax bill comes as New York Stock Exchange member firms’ broker and dealer operations report reduced profit. According to Mr. DiNapoli, pretax profit was $27.6 billion in 2010, an 18 percent drop from the previous year.
Worse could be in store this year. The comptroller estimates that N.Y.S.E. member firms may not even muster $18 billion in pretax profit. The city expects earnings to start recovering next year, rising to $20 billion.
For those able to hold onto their jobs, Wall Street remains a lucrative place. Compensation at N.Y.S.E. member firms totaled $37.2 billion for the first half of 2011, an increase of almost 19 percent from the previous year.
Industry salaries also continue to outstrip other sectors. Mr. DiNapoli said the average pay packet in New York City grew 16.1 percent, to $361,330, in 2010. That is almost six times greater than the average salary for the rest of the private sector.
The disparity has been growing for 30 years. In 1981, the average salary in the securities industry was twice that of the rest of the private sector.
3) Apple iPhone 4S Preorders Top One Million in Single Day-From The Wall Street Journal
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203499704576622723825723668.html#ixzz1aUzt2EDM
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