The markets have been looking for some good news and they found it in Alcoa, an international aluminum company that is a major employer in the Goose Creek area.

According to Bloomberg, Alcoa's sales rose to $6.01 billion, beating the $5.77 billion average of 12 estimates. (Bloomberg also has a pretty cool photo from the Goose Creek plant.)

The earnings were “driven by higher-than-expected profitability from every operating segment,” Brian Yu, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in San Francisco who estimated a 6- cent loss, said in a note. “Good cost control likely played a major role.”

Interesting that Yu would bring up cost control, because Alcoa is still in the thick of electric bill negotiations with provider Santee Cooper. The local plant employees 650 and, according to the company, provides $110 million in state and local revenue and has a $900 million economic impact in the state.

After a five-day slump, the market rose yesterday on the good news from Alcoa, according to The Motley Fool's Dan Dzombak.

Alcoa is largely regarded as a bellwether for the economy, so a good performance from the company bodes well.