Dow falls 128, with Chevron and Alcoa leading way

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By MATTHEW CRAFT

NEW YORK (AP) - Downbeat reports from Alcoa and Chevron at the start of corporate earnings season pulled stock indexes lower for a third straight day Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 128 points, its steepest loss since late June.

Alcoa, the aluminum producer, beat Wall Street's earnings estimates on Tuesday night but said it expects a slowdown in China to weaken demand for aluminum. Its stock fell 42 cents Wednesday to $8.71.

The company is often used as a weather vane for the global economy. "And judging by Alcoa's massive inventory of aluminum, it seems pretty anemic," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank.

Chevron, the country's second-largest oil company, warned late Tuesday that slumping oil prices and production would cause earnings to be "substantially lower." It blamed Hurricane Isaac for disrupting production at a Mississippi refinery.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20121010/DA1QTPRO0.html

---

In this Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, file photo, a Chevron station posts gasoline prices starting at $5.50 per gallon in downtown Los Angeles. Shares of Chevron Corp. plunged Wednesday after the oil giant said its third-quarter earnings are expected to be "substantially lower" than in the second quarter. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

[AdHocSolver]

1. If we manufactured more goods in the U.S., a slow down in China would not matter.

The concentration of industries in a small number of corporations magnifies not only upturns, but downturns as well.

Finally, the stock market is not the economy. The economy is the production and sales of goods and services.

The stock market is a gambling system of, by, and for the benefit of the wealthy. It is designed to separate the affluent from their money.

The counterpart of the stock market for the less affluent is the lottery.

As in any gambling system, the house always wins.