By Carlos Guillen

Equity markets are making a nice move to the upside so far into the trading session today, as investors get a positive vibe from Alcoa's (AA) most recent financial results and await the release of the minutes from the latest meeting of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Although no longer a bellwether for the economy as a whole, aluminum maker Alcoa has given investors a bit of hope that at least there is one more sign that the economic backdrop is holding on to growth. The company delivered earning per share of nine cents, which was nicely above the Street's consensus of five cents. On the other hand the earning result was lower than that posted in the year-ago quarter, and revenue of $5.45 billion did fall 6.5 percent on a year-over-year basis and was a bit below the Street's estimate calling for $5.55 billion. Nonetheless, looking forward, Alcoa is expecting aluminum demand will rise approximately 7 percent this year and forecasted that sales to carmakers will increase six-fold as auto-sheet revenue could reach $1.3 billion by 2018 as a growing number of carmakers turn to aluminum over steel.

On the other side of the world, Japanese stocks took a major hit, with the Nikkei 225 dropping 2.1 percent after comments from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor raised doubts over whether the BOJ will ease its policy stance anytime soon. The Governor dismissed market expectations that the BOJ could ease again soon to soften the blow from the tax rise that took effect April 1, stressing a short-term disruption was unlikely to derail a steady recovery already underway. This in turn strengthened the yen, which makes for a rather unfavorable backdrop for exports.

With very little in terms of economic data releases today, investors have nothing but FOMC notes to look at latter in the session. Quite interestingly, FOMC minutes have been becoming more and more influential in shaking equity markets in recent times. As it stands, the Street will be looking for some insight to the Fed's decision to discard the 6.5 percent unemployment rate threshold for interest-rate increases. Moreover, Fed officials have publicly conveyed that the first interest-rate increase will not happen until the second half of 2015 at the earliest, and the Street expects this as well. Any other interpretation today could shake markets, so let us stay tuned.

Pardon Me, Would You Have Any Grey Poupon?
By David Urani

Say what you want about the economy, but it seems like the well-off crowd is still living it up these days as illustrated by some of the world's luxury car makers. As it turns out a few high end automakers, BMW, Mercedes and Audi, just posted record sales results in March. Of course, this speaks well for the fat cats of the world but also for the rebound in the European economy as well as China's swelling mid-upper class.

BMW's March sales were up 11% year over year to a record high 212,908 units (BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands). It was also a record Q1 after a 9% increase year over year. Audi's March sales were up 15% year over year to a record 170,450 cars. Mercedes' sales were up 13% in March to 158,523 cars, ending a record Q1 that was up 15% to 374,276 units. These companies' results are telling too, as the three brands make up almost 80% of the global premium auto market.

Business is also going so well for Ferrari that the company announced today it will be giving an extra $5,650 bonus to all of its employees after record 2013 profits. Ferrari says its financial position is the best it's ever been. Porsche also recently proclaimed that they will sell 200,000 cars in 2015, a benchmark that is three years ahead of their previous schedule. And it's not just the speed demons, but the sophisticated ultra-luxury crowd getting their fill as well, as Bentley is coming off a record 2013 with a 17% increase in Q1 sales at 2,580 units.

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