Alcoa (AA) earnings are the traditional kick off of every quarterly earnings season. I don't really follow this name much simply because, while it's a basic material, aluminum is not exactly my favorite. But I'd like to show readers the reality behind the numbers, while the seals on CNBC were clapping and hooting and hollering about the "beat". I'd also like to show you a trend you will be seeing this earnings season, and the ones coming - higher input costs. And squeezed profit margins - we've been warning about this "era" coming since last summer. It's now here.First to the "great news" - Alcoa "beat" estimates - 66 cents versus 65 cents. So the seals cheer "better than expected". It's a joke. 90 days ago Alcoa was expected to do 77 cents, 60 days ago that was lowered ...

By William Patalon III Executive Editor Money Morning/The Money Map Report Can it be earnings season already? It sure is, but don’t expect too much. With its report tomorrow (Tuesday), Alcoa Inc. (AA) leads off what is expected to be a pretty dismal series of profit reports. Thomson Reuters now estimates that second-quarter earnings declined by 11.1%, which is significantly worse than the projected 2% decline that was made back in April. Of course, financials will lead the charge in terms of these dire expectations, followed closely behind by consumer discretionary (which reflects the lagging confidence measures).  Technology is also expected to struggle; these days management must think long and hard about investing in any major systems upgrades. But the real key to the stock market’s future may well lay with major multinationals. In recent quarters, many multinational companies - we often ...

The earnings season couldn't have got off to a worse star with Alcoa and GE both disappointing. But one has to question why the market reacted so violently this week to these 2 behemoths. After all, over the last 5 years, both stocks have made absolutely no money for investors. I am the first to agree that a weak economy would certainly impact these companies, but then they didn't exactly outperform during economic expansion either. All I am saying is that we need to get away from being jolted by the stocks of yesteryear. They are old news and I am not influenced by their earnings. I am still concerned about the recession and the markets but these companies are not a good measure of our broader markets. -- Faisal Laljee Full Disclosure: I do not own GE or AA but my position can change anytime without notice. ...