At the market: Stocks wandered between small gains and losses early today as traders looked ahead to Alcoa Inc.’s fourth-quarter results, the unofficial start of corporate earnings season. Alcoa will release its financial results after the market closes. The aluminum company is seen as an economic bellwether because many industries use its products. Alcoa rose 2.2%, the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average. It fell 2.1% on Friday after Alcoa announced it would reduce its smelting capacity by 12% by closing smelters in the United States and Europe. An analyst predicted that Alcoa will post its first quarterly loss since the recession. The Dow rose 4% to 12,364 in the first half-hour of trading. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1, or 0.1%, to 1,278. The Nasdaq composite index rose 6, or 0.2%, to 2,679. The Nasdaq is now up 2.9% for the year, compared to 1.2% for the Dow and 1.7% for the S&P 500.
Preservation: Fending off pressure from the mining industry and congressional Republicans, the Obama administration is moving forward with a plan to ban new uranium mining claims on 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to finalize a 20-year ban on new mining claims on public land surrounding the Grand Canyon at an event in Washington, D.C., today. Salazar, who twice imposed temporary bans on new uranium claims, said last year that uranium remains an important part of a comprehensive energy strategy. But he said the Grand Canyon is a national treasure that must be protected. The Grand Canyon attracts more than 4 million visitors a year and generates an estimated $3.5 billion in economic activity, Salazar says. Moreover, millions of Americans living in cities such as Phoenix and Los Angeles rely on the Colorado River, running through the canyon, for clean drinking water. Read more here.
