Stocks try to stay afloat

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks remained narrowly higher in morning trade Tuesday as investors braced for the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting and for the kickoff of the third-quarter earnings reporting period.

The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) edged higher an hour into the session.

Both the broader S&P 500 (Charts) and the tech-fueled Nasdaq (Charts) rose about 0.1 percent.

Investors were eagerly awaiting the 2 p.m. ET release of the minutes from the Fed's Sept. 18 meeting, where central bankers slashed interest rates by a half a percentage point - its first rate cut in four years.

Investors will be looking for clues about whether the central bank will continue to cut rates at its next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 31.

Also in focus for Wall Street was the start of the earnings reports. Aluminum manufacturer Alcoa (Charts, Fortune 500) is the first Dow component scheduled to report quarterly earnings, when it delivers results after the closing bell. Traders will be watching the aluminum maker's results for signs of how corporate profits are holding up amid the economic slowdown.

In related news, the fast food chain YUM Brands (Charts, Fortune 500) reported higher quarterly profit late Monday, sending its shares 4.5 percent higher in morning trade.

On the corporate front, Sprint Nextel (Charts, Fortune 500) said late Monday that Gary Forsee would step down as CEO and warned it would not meet its earlier forecast for full-year operating revenue.

Beer brewers SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing (Charts, Fortune 500) said they would enter a joint venture, combining their U.S. operations in an effort to take on brewing leader Anheuser-Busch (Charts, Fortune 500).

Shares of mortgage lender Thornburg Mortgage (Charts), which was hard hit by this summer's subprime mortgage meltdown, tumbled nearly 10 percent after the company increased the size of its quarterly loss estimate.

The college loan provider Sallie Mae (Charts, Fortune 500) filed a lawsuit seeking to force its private equity buyers to follow through with the $25 billion deal or pay a $900 million breakup fee. A group of buyers led by J.C. Flowers has balked at completing the deal at its original price.

Treasury prices gained, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.61 percent from 4.64 percent late Friday. Treasury markets were closed Monday for the Columbus Day holiday.

The dollar retreated against the euro and eased versus the yen.

In commodity trading, oil prices gained 93 cents to $79.95, after falling more than $2 a barrel in Monday trade.

COMEX gold for December gained $3.70 to $742.40 an ounce.

Overseas, Asia markets ended mixed Tuesday after hitting new highs the previous session. In Europe, stocks were mostly higher in midday trading.