PITTSBURGH — In an unofficial opening to the earnings season, Alcoa reported another quarterly loss but beat Wall Street expectations and said some markets for the metal might be stabilizing.

The aluminum giant's loss of $454 million was narrower than analysts expected, and company executives attributed that outcome to recent efforts to slash costs and raise cash. They said some aluminum markets showed signs of improvement, but reiterated a forecast that worldwide aluminum consumption will shrink 7 percent this year amid the global recession.

It was the company's third straight quarterly loss and fresh evidence of slumping orders from key customers in the aerospace, automotive, commercial transportation and construction industries. Alcoa and other aluminum makers have struggled since last year with sharply lower orders for the metal used in products ranging from beer cans to jumbo jets.

The anemic demand has driven up stockpiles and depressed prices of the metal, and many aluminum makers have responded by curbing production. Analysts say demand is picking up, but excess supplies will keep prices relatively low in the months ahead.

Alcoa, the first of the Dow Jones industrial average companies to post results and a bellwether of industrial health, has scaled back its production by about 20 percent. It has undertaken a campaign to cut costs and raise cash, announcing 13,500 job cuts and the planned sale of four business units earlier this year.

In April, Alcoa said it had agreed to sell one of its businesses, which makes electrical systems for automobiles, to Platinum Equity, a Los Angeles-based private-equity firm, for an undisclosed amount.

Alcoa's president and CEO, Klaus Kleinfeld, said the company's efforts to cut costs and generate cash "are working."

Kleinfeld said Alcoa was well-positioned to grow as the broader economy recovers, and that some end markets — such as the U.S. beverage can and auto markets — showed signs of stabilizing.