Stocks modestly higher ahead of Alcoa report

Stocks are modestly higher in early trading Wednesday as investors wait for aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. to provide some guidance about the economy.
Investors worried that the world economy may take longer to emerge from recession than originally hoped are turning their focus this week to companies' financial results and, more importantly, to what they have to say about business conditions for the rest of the year.
Alcoa kicks off earnings season Wednesday with its second-quarter report, to be released after the market's close.
"(Their report) gives an indication if we are moving out of the doldrums and potentially into more recovery, or are we potentially falling backward, again," said Doug Lockwood, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth Management.
Wall Street analysts expect Alcoa to post a quarterly loss of 38 cents per share. In the same period a year earlier, Alcoa earned 66 cents per share on revenue of $7.6 billion.
In the first half hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrials rose 36.88, or 0.5 percent, to 8,200.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 4.58, or 0.5 percent, to 885.61 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 11.31, or 0.7 percent, to 1,757.48.
After sending stocks soaring this spring on the belief that the economy was turning around, investors have put their buying on hold since mid-June amid an increasing number of disappointing economic reports.
The slight gains in the market Wednesday follow a sharp drop the day before. World markets, meanwhile, were little changed.
Analysts say the light volume that has marked trading in recent days shows little conviction behind the selling.