U.S stocks slip ahead of earnings season kickoff

US stocks slide ahead of unofficial start to earnings season; Alcoa to report after the close

1/8/2013

NEW YORK -- Stocks closed lower on Wall Street today as the U.S. corporate earnings season gets under way.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 55 points to close at 13,328 today. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost four points to close at 1,457 and the Nasdaq composite fell seven points to 3,091.

Aluminum maker Alcoa reported its financial results shortly after the closing bell. Its earnings were in line with analysts’ estimates but revenue was better than expected. The stock rose 2 percent in after-hours trading.

KFC's parent company Yum brands fell 4 percent after reporting problems with a supplier of chicken meat that hurt its China sales.

Rising and falling stocks were split on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was in line with the recent average, 3.6 billion shares.