Alcoa Inc. (AA) said Monday it turned a first-quarter profit on stronger sales at higher prices that were offset by a weaker dollar and higher costs for energy and raw materials.

Alcoa said business improved from a range of customers, including aerospace, automotive, commercial transportation and packaging industries. It marked the fourth consecutive quarterly profit for Alcoa as it pulled out of two difficult years hit by the recession.

The Pittsburgh aluminum manufacturer also expects business to continue to improve, reaffirming its forecast of a 12 percent increase in global aluminum demand this year.

The earnings season ramps up this week. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters foresee strong reports from such big names as Apple (AAPL), eBay (EBAY), IBM (IBM), General Electric (GE), Google (GOOG), Schlumberger (SLB) and Southwest Airlines (LUV). And fast on the heels of last week's big earnings beat from JPMorgan Chase (JPM), there will be plenty more results from the financial sector to peruse this week.

Among the financials expected to post double-digit earnings growth this week are Capital One Financial (COF), Morgan Stanley (MS), SLM Corp. (SLM) and U.S. Bancorp (USB), but the week's biggest earnings winner may be Wells Fargo (WFC).

Alcoa (AA), Marriott (MAR) and Yum! Brands (YUM) kick off the new earnings season this week. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for moderate year-over-year earnings and revenue growth in the third quarter from each of these dividend payers.

Note that Marriott and Yum! Brands have exceeded consensus estimates in recent quarters and have First Call consensus buy recommendations as well. They are also trading near their 52-week highs, while Alcoa shares are closer to the 52-week low despite a 22% rise in the past three months.

For better or worse, the earnings crunch is on this week, with many companies scheduled to report their second quarter 2010 results. Here's a quick run down of what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting to see in the way of this week's earnings results, as well as a closer look at three of the week's biggest anticipated earnings gainers: American Express Co. (AXP), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) and Apple Inc. (AAPL).

Analysts expect the following companies to have more than doubled their earnings per share from a year ago.

The new earnings season kicks off when Alcoa Inc. (AA) releases its second-quarter results Monday. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expect Alcoa to report that it swung to a profit from a year-ago net loss.

Intel Corp. (INTC) is likewise forecast to have swung into positive territory, while Google Inc. (GOOG) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) are expected to be among the week's biggest earnings gainers.

This was one of those market days that you could try to blame on earnings season starting out, but it may be nothing more than valuations catching up to stocks at DJIA 11,000 and after the huge stock gains in 2009 and 2010. Investors and traders alike are still using DJIA 11,000 as the battleground. Today's Treasury Budget Deficit came out at -$65.4 billion versus $62 billion expected.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 11,019.50 +13.53 (0.12%)
S&P 500 1,197.27 +0.79 (0.07%)
Nasdaq 2,465.99 +8.12 (0.33%)

Earnings season will kick off after the bell on Monday when the first of the Dow Jones companies Alcoa (AA) reports its quarterly results. The Street expects the metal magnate to report earnings of 11 cents per share. But this morning, ahead of the earnings report J.P. Morgan felt it prudent to downgrade Alcoa to neutral from overweight. The broker also removed the company from its focus list and lowered its price target on the stock from $21.50 to $16.50.

JPMorgan wrote in a note it believes that AA "will still struggle to generate attractive returns at our strategist's 2011 aluminum price forecast of 92 cents/pound." J.P. Morgan did state that the business "has taken significant costs out of its business by closing high cost operations and through additional procurement and productivity savings."

Alcoa (NYSE: AA) surprised the market this afternoon by posting its first quarterly profit of the year.

The company credited recent cost cutting measures as the main reason for its profit of $77 million during the quarter (75.8% lower than the same period last year), or 4 cents per share excluding certain items. This was a nice surprise to Wall Street, which had expected to see the company show a loss for the quarter of 9 cents per share.

Wall Street appears ready to claim a third straight day of gains as stocks continue a rally cheered by brighter economic news and expectations of higher corporate profits. All three major U.S. indexes -- the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite -- were higher in premarket trading Wednesday morning.

Yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average had its second-straight day of double-digit point gains, picking up 131.50 to end at 9,731.25 after Australia boosted interest rates citing an improved economy and earnings expectations that rose for the just-concluded third quarter.

The past two weeks we have seen oil prices steadily trade higher, but the sellers came out today in reaction to rising concern over consumer confidence and pushed prices lower.

Oil dropped under $67 a barrel today as Wall Street learned that consumer confidence had dropped for the second straight month in July. A major reason for low consumer confidence can be attributed to rapidly rising unemployment in the country.

Alcoa Inc. (AA) must have drawn the short straw to be the economic canary in the coal mine decades ago, but for many investors the aluminum maker's earnings are seen as a harbinger of things to come. Judging from Wall Street estimates, expectations are so low, they are almost laughable.

Analysts expect the Dow component to lose 56 cents per share on revenue of $4.08 billion compared with $303 million, or 37 cents, a year earlier on revenue of $7.38 billion, according to estimates by Thomson Reuters. The Pittsburgh-based company reported its first loss in six years in January. Its shares are down about 30 percent this year, even with the recent surge in the stock market.

I've never used a motorcycle before in my life and don't know much about the vehicles, but I recognize that Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) is an American icon whose product represents an aspirational brand. Even so, the company and its stock finds itself on hard times. The company's latest earnings report is reflective of the current economic malaise.

The first paragraph of the Q2 release tells me almost all I need to know. Revenues declined almost 3% to $1.57 billion. Net profit on a dollar basis dropped sharply by 23%, coming in at $222.8 million. Diluted earnings per share decreased by nearly 17% to $0.95. These numbers are not good. Also, in terms of cash flow, cash was used to fund operations for the first six months of the fiscal year as opposed to being generated. Yet another negative.

As I write this, Harley-Davidson's stock is up well over 7%. Am I impressed? Not enough to buy. Undoubtedly some of this rise can be attributed to the retreat in oil futures. But do I believe the economy will now be nice to Harley-Davidson? Not yet. The company, like General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), will still have a rough time selling things that require fuel to run. According to this article, Harley-Davidson did better than expected, but that's little comfort to me. You can make an argument that the stock is cheap, but at the very least, anyone interested in buying it (again, I'm not) better wait till the euphoric rally of the day has faded.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Classic blue-chip tech company IBM (NYSE: IBM), whose colleagues include Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), is due to report earnings on Thursday after the market closes up shop. What are investors looking for? Growth, of course. Should they expect it?

Well, according to Trey Thoelcke's earnings data, Wall Street is looking for IBM to deliver earnings per share around the $1.82 mark for the second quarter. Revenues should be near $25.9 billion. If Big Blue hits both of these numbers, it would show that the company is coming along fine and that the current level of the stock price is justified. Of course, Wall Street doesn't want IBM to merely hit those numbers. Oh no, that would be too easy. Wall Street wants IBM to beat those expectations. In terms of the bottom line, there is positive recent history for an earnings beat. The company handily beat estimates in the last two quarters, and met expectations in the two quarters previous to that time frame.

Will the company beat expectations? I think it will. The momentum seems to be favorable for such an outcome. In fact, in a relative sense, the stock isn't signaling a terrible report by any stretch of the imagination. The 52-week low is $97.04 and the 52-week high is $129.99. IBM closed up on Wednesday over 2% to a share price of $125.94. Doesn't sound like the market is worried, does it?

As the second quarter earnings crunch begins in earnest this week, the bear market has investors jittery and prognosticators spinning out dire warnings. In the wake of mixed results from Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) kicking things off last week, here's a look at what Wall Street is expecting from many of the companies scheduled to report this coming week.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are expecting the following companies to report a rise in earnings when compared to the same period of the previous year.

• Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE): $1.80 EPS (36.6%) on sales of $6.4 billion (+53.0%)
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG): $4.74 EPS (24.9%) on sales of $3.9 billion (+41.6%)
• Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK): 56 cents EPS (23.2%) on sales of $19.9 billion (+17.8%)
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX): 90 cents EPS (21.1%) on sales of $2.9 billion (+12.8%)
• Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR): 27 cents EPS (18.5%) on sales of $346.7 million (+8.4%)
• IBM (NYSE: IBM): $1.82 EPS (+17.6%) on sales of $25.9 billion (+9.0%)
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY): 41 cents EPS (17.1%) on sales of $2.2 billion (+18.0%)
• W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW): $1.46 EPS (17.1%) on sales of $1.7 billion (+8.0%)
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT): 47 cents EPS (17.0%) on sales of $15.7 billion (+17.0%)
• Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON): 94 cents EPS (17.0%) on sales of $9.2 billion (+7.9%)

Update July 7, 2008: Aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) will post second quarter 2008 results after the close on Tuesday, July 8. Read our preview.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) will officially kick off earnings season when it reports its fourth quarter figures Wednesday following the market close.

When we get Wednesday's report, analysts are expecting to see the numbers impacted by a lower dollar and falling metal prices. Estimates for the quarter are running at 39 cents per share. During the fourth quarter last year Alcoa posted earnings per share of 74 cents.

The market can definitely use some positive news from Alcoa when it reports. With this mornings employment data stoking fears of an upcoming recession, the market could definitely benefit from a injection of positive earnings news.