The major indexes finished mixed on Monday prior to the kickoff of the first quarter 2011 earnings season. After hours, Alcoa beat expectations for earnings but disappointed on sales growth. On Tuesday both the market and crude oil fell sharply on concerns that raw materials are becoming too expensive to allow the recent economic growth to continue. On Wednesday tech stocks led the way on an otherwise largely unchanged market that failed to respond to President Obama’s plan to cut the US deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years. A negligible increase in stocks on Thursday resulted after an early-day slump was erased in the afternoon on news that the US House of Representatives approved the funding for the rest of fiscal year 2011. On Friday, stocks had their first good day of the week, as good news on consumer sentiment, inflation, and regional manufacturing more than offset disappointing earnings by Google.

The major indexes lost ground again this week as the market searches for direction.

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