Stocks slip in early going

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks slipped Wednesday morning as investors welcomed Alcoa's upbeat earnings, but played it safe ahead of comments from Fed chair Ben Bernanke and the release of the minutes from the last central bank policy meeting.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 23.00 to 12,550.85, Charts) lost 0.2 percent, after having risen for 8 sessions in a row, its longest up streak since 2003. The broader S&P 500 (down 3.39 to 1,445.00, Charts) index and the Nasdaq (Charts) composite both lost 0.2 percent.

Stocks had barely budged Tuesday ahead of the start of the quarterly earnings reporting period, which got underway after the close with Alcoa (Charts).

The Dow component reported higher quarterly earnings and revenue that topped estimates, thanks to higher metal prices. Shares gained 1 percent Wednesday.

Other big names due to report results this week include Genentech (Charts) after the close tonight and General Electric (Charts) Friday morning, although the earnings reports don't really start pouring until later in the month.

In other news, Citigroup announced that it will cut 17,000 jobs, or about 5.2 percent of its workforce as part of a broad restructuring geared to save the company billions over the next three years.

Investors focused on the economy and the direction of interest rates will hear from three Fed officials today, including Chairman Ben Bernanke, who is due to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET on market discipline.

At 2:00 p.m. ET, the minutes from the last central bank policy meeting are due to be released.

At that March meeting, the bankers held a key short-term interest rate steady at 5.25 percent for the sixth meeting in a row, as expected, and continued to say that the economy is moderating at a reasonable pace and that inflation is still too high.

In comments since that time, Bernanke and other officials have indicated that they are more concerned about the pace of the economic slowdown than in the past.

U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell 4 cents to $61.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead of the weekly oil inventory report.

Treasury prices rose modestly, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 4.71 percent from 4.2 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the euro and the yen.

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