The market rallied yesterday afternoon in anticipation of January earnings. Alcoa, the first major company to report earnings, showed disappointing results after missing analysts’ estimates and reporting a loss of $0.27 per share.

Although revenue was up $818 million from last quarter, free cash flow was $761 million, and it projected aluminum consumption to grow 10% in 2010, investors were disappointed with the results it reported after the market closed yesterday and immediately erased Alcoa’s gains during market hours. In pre-market trading today, it is down more than 7% from yesterday’s close at $17.45.

European markets are down while Asian markets were mixed before trading begins in New York. The German DAX fell 1.17% and UK FTSE 100 fell 1.15%. While the Hong Kong Hang Seng is down 0.38% and Australia’s All Ordinaries index is down 1%, the Japan Nikkei 225 climbed 0.75% and Chinese indices are up, with the Shanghai Composite climbing 1.91%. S&P 500 futures dropped 9 points to 1,133.50 in pre-market hours.

Supervalu, a member of the S&P 500, reported a profit of 51 cents per share, beating the mean estimate of 40 cents per share, according to data compiled by FactSet. It climbed 7.97% in pre-market trading. Linear Technology, the next stock of the S&P 500, will announce its earnings after the market closes today. According to data compiled by FactSet, the mean analyst estimates for its second quarter earnings is 0.31.

Australia Down