Stocks in the News: Alcoa, Citigroup, Ford

The following is a round-up of news likely to affect stock prices today:

Alcoa (AA), the first of the Dow industrials to report, unofficially kicks off fourth-quarter earnings season after Monday's closing bell. Alcoa is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 6 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters, compared to a loss of 28 cents a share in the same quarter last year. In general, investors expect most companies to perform much better compared to that dismal quarter. Shares of Alcoa climbed over 2% ahead of the bell.