Stocks Close Mixed; Alcoa Beats

(Updated with Alcoa earnings.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The major averages closed near the flat line ahead of Alcoa (AA) earnings in what one observer called "a breather day."

Immediately after the close, Alcoa reported a surprise profit of 4 cents a share, topping expectations for a 9-cent-a-share loss, on higher than expected revenue. Shares were advancing in post-market activity after rising 2.2% during the regular session.

Earlier in the day, Costco (COST) -- up 1.9% -- reported third-quarter earnings and September same-store sales topping of expectations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.67 points, or 0.06%, to 9725.58, while the S&P 500 advanced 2.85 points, or 0.3%, to 1057.57. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 6.76 points, or 0.3%, to 2110.33.

"This is the breather day, just taking it all in," says Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. "Really, the big news isn't going to be out until next week. The way earnings seasons typically goes is that you have a period where the markets rally into earnings, you get the coattails from the big releases in the first full week, and then the individual companies if they hit or miss tend to move stocks but not the group. Finally, get to where you sell the news regardless."

Click below to hear Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors, give his outlook for this earnings season, gold and the dollar.

Commodities were mixed Wednesday with gold reaching again for new highs, rising $4.70 to $1,044.40. Crude oil futures fell $1.31 to $69.57, despite a report by the Energy Information Administration showed oil inventories fell by 1 million barrels last week to 337.4 million barrels, surprising analysts who were expecting a 2.2 million barrel build.

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil (XOM) agreed to buy a $4 billion stake in an oil field off the coast of Ghana to gain a foothold in the major new oil-producing region.

Among other stocks making headlines, Banco Santander (STD) sold a 16% stake as Banco Santander Brasil (BSBR) in an IPO that raised 14.1 billion reais ($8.1 billion), making it both the biggest IPO in Brazil's history and the largest on a global basis since Visa (V) went public in March 2008. Shares of Banco Santander Brasil closed below their offer price of $13.42 a share, however.

In other news, Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) are introducing a program to help independent mortgage banks acquire short-term credit for financing home loans and also reduce risk exposure, the Journal reports.

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