Alcoa shares jump on positive CEO comments

* CEO optimistic as China, parts of US recover - Bloomberg * Shares had dropped 6 pct Monday; earnings out Wednesday SAN FRANCISCO, July 7 (Reuters) - Shares of Alcoa Inc rose more than 4 percent on positive comments from its CEO on Tuesday, bucking a falling U.S. stock market a day ahead of the U.S. aluminum producer's quarterly earnings report. Klaus Kleinfeld, chief executive of the U.S. industry leader, told Bloomberg Television he was "very optimistic" on sales as the Chinese economy and some U.S. industries start to recover. "China is clearly out of the woods," Kleinfeld said in the interview in Moscow, where he and other U.S. executives were traveling with President Barack Obama [ID:nL6246868]. "Its economy has come back and is growing again," Alcoa shares, which tumbled 6 percent on Monday and are down 15 percent in 2009, were 4.5 percent higher at $9.68 on the New York Stock Exchange at mid-afternoon. Kleinfeld said China had reverted to being a net importer of aluminum this year, buying 700,000 metric tons of the metal in the first six months, while demand was also strengthening in the U.S. and Europe. "Things are bottoming out and they are even coming back in some sectors," he said, singling out an improving automotive sector in particular. Alcoa, whose results have traditionally been viewed as an indicator of U.S. economic health, is expected to post a third consecutive quarterly loss on Wednesday. [ID:nN0595620] (Reporting by Braden Reddall; Editing by Richard Chang)