Stocks are mixed at midday as investors look 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 on Monday. The global aluminum company is seen as an economic bellwether because many industries use its products. Alcoa's stock rose 2.6 percent, the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average.
The Dow is up 2 points at 12,362. The S&P 500 is down a fraction. The Nasdaq is down 1 point at 2,673. The indexes wavered between gains and losses all morning.
European leaders were meeting to flesh out a fiscal treaty they agreed to pursue late last year. The plan would impose stricter budget oversight on countries that use the euro.
Shares