- Goldman Sachs cuts Q4 GDP view
- Plosser wants Fed to stop bond buying
- Boeing under investigation
- Wells Fargo falls after results
- Some technical analysts anxious

Dow Jones Industrials: 0.04%
Nasdaq Comp.: 0.01%
S&P 500: -0.14%

The major US equity market averages have begun the day on a 'mixed footing' and just below very relevant technical resistance in the case of the S&P 500 towards the 1,471/1,475 point area.

That after the release of considerably worse than expected international trade numbers this morning which led economists to lower their forecasts for economic growth in the last three month of 2012. This was the case with Goldman Sachs, who now believes that the US economy grew by just 1.3% instead of the 1.8% previously foreseen.

Also acting as a backdrop, the worse than expected Chinese consumer price inflation numbers out earlier this morning may have taken some of the shine off of the market.

Worth noting as well, some market commentary has been calling attention to what appears to be a certain anxiousness recently from technical analysts, with some pointing to potentially negative price patterns and others to the risk of increased volatility (and losses).

In this regard, some of those analysts linked those fears to the recently very rapid increase in 'bullishness' amongst investors - be they hedge funds or retail. In that regard, the most recent weekly AAII survey shows bullishness rising by 7.7 percentage points to stand at 46.4% for individual investors, with the rest evenly split between those who are neutral or bearish.

Looking at it from another angle, data from Bank of America Merrill Lynch showed an enormous surge in the amount of funds entering equities in the first week of the year ($19bn); at a pace not seen since 2008 and 2000 no less. The worry is that such a flood of money could prove fickle and volatile. Commodity funds were the only ones to see an outflow.

As always, time will tell, but this is what Zak Mir, Senior Analyst, Institute of Trading and Portfolio Management, had to tell Sharecast: "This may be rather esoteric technical analysis, but if you look at the way that the S&P 500 has jumped up in January it is almost identical to the two stage jump seen at the beginning of September.

If we repeat the type of aftermath of that then the S&P will deliver a fresh leg up to the top of a 2012 price channel towards 1,500 - 1,520, but then sell off as we saw from September to November. Indeed, in September the peak occurred on the 14th, which means we could see the peak for January some time next week - you have been warned!"

Buffett goes solar

Bloomberg TV is today commenting on Warren Buffet's recent investments in the solar arena and on some of the different ETF's available.

Goldman Sachs has added Ford to its Conviction Buy list.

Boeing is moving lower after regulators said they will investigate a recent fire on a Japanese 787 Dreamliner.

The latest quarterly earnings per share numbers out of Wells Fargo came in above forecasts, but mortgage applications waned and margins decreased.

The weakest sectors now are: Coal (-4.49%), Tires (-2.99%), Non-ferrous metals (-1.75%), Mining (-1.68%) and Full insurance (-1.66%).

US consumer doing well
The US trade deficit widened by an enormous 15.8 per cent last November, to hit 48.7bn dollars (Consensus: 41.3n dollars), apparently due - mainly - to a large rise in consumers' spending before the arrival of Christmas.

The US budget deficit fell to $260m (Consensus: -$1bn) in December after a shortfall of $86bn in the previous month.

US import prices fell by 0.1% month-on-month (Consensus: 0.1%) in December.

Bonds up as budget deficit figures fall
Front month West Texas crude futures are now down by 0.192 dollars to the 93.64 dollar mark on the NYMEX.

10 year US Treasury yields are now falling by 2 basis points to 1.87%.



S&P 500 - Risers
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $14.23 +16.58%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $78.54 +4.65%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $50.76 +4.10%
Janus Capital Group Inc. (JNS) $9.50 +3.71%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $34.31 +3.46%
Coach Inc. (COH) $58.95 +2.54%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $100.41 +2.46%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $33.17 +2.30%
TE Connectivity Ltd (TEL) $37.99 +2.11%
Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) $89.13 +2.11%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Perrigo Company (PRGO) $103.32 -6.27%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $25.21 -5.23%
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $36.17 -4.16%
Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (WPI) $84.65 -3.80%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $9.40 -3.74%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $29.85 -3.40%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $24.88 -3.30%
VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) $37.62 -3.22%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $18.58 -2.98%
Boeing Co. (BA) $74.90 -2.84%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $26.77 +1.19%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $111.68 +1.10%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $43.24 +1.09%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $194.37 +0.77%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $21.96 +0.73%
American Express Co. (AXP) $61.19 +0.65%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $85.47 +0.59%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $74.76 +0.42%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $68.62 +0.38%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $89.42 +0.35%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Boeing Co. (BA) $74.90 -2.84%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $15.95 -2.00%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $11.56 -1.87%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $52.69 -0.79%
3M Co. (MMM) $96.23 -0.68%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.91 -0.67%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $50.46 -0.65%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $26.60 -0.60%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $45.88 -0.59%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $43.34 -0.57%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $11.45 +4.73%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $78.54 +4.65%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $50.76 +4.10%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $33.17 +2.30%
Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $34.26 +2.21%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $97.60 +1.97%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $112.71 +1.94%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $46.44 +1.85%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $19.32 +1.71%
Liberty Global Inc. Series A (LBTYA) $67.49 +1.37%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Perrigo Company (PRGO) $103.32 -6.27%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $179.12 -2.53%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $100.22 -2.29%
Catamaran Corp (CTRX) $51.52 -2.09%
Dell Inc. (DELL) $10.85 -1.72%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $33.13 -1.63%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $38.00 -1.61%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $48.52 -1.56%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $95.15 -1.47%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $56.57 -1.27%

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