Earnings Optimism Sparks Rally on Wall Street

Originally posted on Fox Business.FOX Business: The Power to ProsperStocks zipped higher on Tuesday, propelled by Alcoa's fourth-quarter revenue beat, a weaker dollar and a round of upbeat developments from around the world.Today's MarketsAs of 9:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 97.6 points, or 0.79%, to 12490, the S&P 500 rallied 12.6 points, or 0.98%, to 1293 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 30.8 points, or 1.2%, to 2707.The markets have had a strong start to the year; indeed, the Dow is trading at its highest level since July 26, according to data compiled by FOX Business. Alcoa (AA: 9.54, +0.11, +1.17%) kicked off earnings season after the closing bell on Monday. The aluminum giant posted a quarterly loss of 3 cents per share, which came in-line with analysts' expectations, but its revenue of $6 billion topped forecasts of $5.7 billion. The company also said it expects demand for aluminum to increase by 7% this year. Continue reading this article here.