we re just minutes away from the start of the all-important earnings season. it is one of the most crucial times of the year, and investors are focusing on today s key results from dow component, alcoa. we ve got it all covered for you on this crucial day. how should you position your money as earnings season gets under way? live from the new york stock exchange, this is the final and most important hour of the trading day. and hi, everybody. welcome to the closing bell. i m maria bartiromo down on the floor of the nyse. mixed market today on wall street, and we are, indeed, counting down to that crucial time the year, fourth quarter earnings period. of course alcoa kicking things off after the close tonight. we ll give you the numbers as soon as alcoa reports. the last three months were for the company, as well as what the stock is doing and what you need to know in terms of owning alcoa and companies that are related to that business. first, take a look at where we
how the bas make money and the big question on investors inds is what theyl say about credit quality and demand. i m hoping for good news. susie: and alsorom the technolo sector. intel rerts on thursday. at do you like the tech sector? like the tech sector for two key reasons. first of all, techlogy s important and i see upading as a basis f them cutting costs d staying competitive themselves and secolyhere s a product cycle underway which i think ought be positives. the ocks have gone up a lot anthe estimates with them. it will be changing beatnd i think the tech secto will continue ctinue to beat expectations susie: and a seor not doin asell, energy stocks energy companies. energy a tale of two cities. you have high oil prices benefitting the explorati of and servic comnies but you havehe refiners. at the gasump whe the crude pric have gone u the price haven t gone upper portion talie show refiners are getting hurt. susie: real quickly, in vefrtzounting on goo
people s biggest enemy. but, no, that s no longer the case. we are pushing forward with the next hour of cnn newsroom with kyra phillips. we are pushing forward with goals. and from new boots on the ground to corruption in kabul and critics on capitol hill, we are covering every angle right now in the cnn newsroom. a veterans new fight. he s cooking up a super sized lawsuit after a restaurant refuses to let his service dog in. and that s just the beginning. plus, tricked and then trapped. forced to work for free in a strange country. human trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world and it s happening right here in the usa. we ve got lots of bases to cover and we re going to push forward on the war today. but, first, a developing story out of the pacific northwest where a man hunt is under way for finding a convict. today he s proving to be elusive as well as brazen. patrick, police thought they had their man? reporter: they closed in on there was not