Wall Street was set for a flat start on Wednesday with disappointing earnings from aluminium producer Alcoa seen weighing on blue-chip stocks and results from Yahoo also in the spotlight. Dow-component Alcoa said after the close on Tuesday earnings for the quarter more than doubled on higher aluminum prices and strong sales to car and plane makers. However, its shares fell five percent in after-hours trading after the company's earnings fell short of Wall Street's target. Higher than expected energy costs and lagging sales in its cans and packaging business also worried some analysts. "I think we're going to see a bit more on the downside today with investors using any sign of weak earnings as an opportunity to sell stocks," said Angus Campbell, head of sales and marketing at Finspreads. "Alcoa will certainly put pressure on the Dow," he added. By 1025 GMT, U.S. stock index futures were pointing to a flat start to New York trading. Technology issues will be eyed ahead of quarterly results from Internet company Yahoo after the close of trade. Investors are expected to pay close attention to Yahoo's advertising sales and earnings outlook for signs its stock is not overpriced. The stock has risen about 100 percent over the past year and hit a new one-year high of $50.99 during Monday's session. Elsewhere, chipmaker Texas Instruments (TI) may come under continued pressure, after investment bank JP Morgan downgraded the stock to "underweight" from "neutral".
The move comes after Nokia , TI's largest customer, trimmed its first quarter earnings forecast on Tuesday. General Electric will also be in the spotlight ahead of its earnings on Thursday, after it won a big commercial engine contract along with Britain's Roll Royce , to supply engines for Boeing's proposed 7E7 jetliner. Analysts have estimated the twin-engine 7E7 could bring in $40 billion to the engine makers including years of airline support and spare parts work, assuming a potential market of 2,000 aircraft. But the deal may knock shares in United Technologies Corp.'s , leaving its Pratt & Whitney division out of the running for what would be the first all-new plane offered by Boeing in a decade. In other corporate news Kerr-McGee Corp. said on Wednesday it has agreed to buy Westport Resources Inc. in a $3.4 billion all stock deal, to create a major independent oil and natural gas producer. The economic data diary is light with only import and export prices for March scheduled for release at 1230 GMT. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> closed up 0.12 percent at 10,570.81, while the technology-studded Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> ended down 0.92 percent at 2,059.90 points.///