- Fed Beige book points to economy growing modestly/moderately
- Rosengren (Fed) sees margin for expansion of QE
- Kocherlakota (Fed) says central bank should ease further

Dow Jones Industrials: -0.24%
Nasdaq Comp.: 0.33%
S&P 500: 0.04%

The major US equity averages are now trading in a 'mixed' fashion but off their lows. That following the release of similarly 'mixed' economic data and financial results in today's session.

Honey, what's for dinner? Fiscal cliff

Of the greatest importance from amongst the above, the Federal Reserve's Beige book, which was released this evening, showed that economic activity in the twelve Federal Reserve Districts expanded at either a modest or moderate pace since the last edition.

What was reigning the expansion back? At first glance it would seem to be the fiscal impasse on Capitol Hill. Whether it be in consumer spending and tourism, retail, real estate, services, business spending, wages and prices, manufacturing or agriculture, the common concern was - the fiscal cliff. In total the 'fiscal cliff' received at least 18 mentions in said document.

Possibly helping to soothe some frayed nerves, speaking on Bloomberg TV the President of the Boston Federal Reserve, Eric Rosengren, stated that talk of an 'exit' strategy from quantitative easing (QE) is premature. Nevertheless, he added that he does worry about the risks associated with QE.



Goldman Sachs unveiled fourth quarter earnings per share of $5.60 (Consensus: $3.66). At $9.24bn net revenues beat by a wide margin (Consensus: $7.83bn).

JP Morgan's fourth quarter earnings per share rose to $1.39 (pro-forma: $1.46), ahead of forecasts. Its shares however are now lower.

Some pundits are today pointing out that the fact that banks are still trading below book value shows that investors do not place much value in lenders' estimates of what their own assets are worth.

Also of possible interest, the largest US bank by market capitalisation, today revealed the results of an internal review of the bank's chief investment office, which found that he was responsible for the errors committed.

From a sector stand-point the best performers so far today are: Computer hardware (3.26%), Technology hardware (2.24%) and full line insurance (1.77%). Aerospace and Space are the biggest fallers.

Better than expected industrial production figures

The US consumer price index for the month of December rose at a 0.3% month-on-month pace (Consensus: 0%).

The so-called 'core' rate, however, has come in a tenth of a percentage point lower than expected, at a 0.1 per cent month-on-month rate of change.

Industrial production grew at a 0.3% month-on-month pace in December, as expected. That despite a 4.8% month-on-month drop in utility output.

The previous month's reading, however, was revised up to show a contraction of just 0.3% month-on-month, instead of the preliminary estimate of 0.7%.

The NAHB index of home builder sentiment remained unchanged at 47 points in January, slight below the 48 points expected by the consensus.

Small rise in crude futures
10 year US Treasuries are now falling by 2 basis points to the 1.82% mark.

Front month West Texas crude futures are now edging higher by 0.94% to the $94.17 level on the NYMEX.



S&P 500 - Risers
Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) $8.92 +9.72%
Constellation Brands Inc. Class A (STZ) $38.75 +6.43%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $508.48 +4.64%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $46.27 +4.64%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $17.24 +4.30%
Phillips 66 Common Stock (PSX) $54.45 +4.23%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $141.30 +4.21%
Comerica Inc. (CMA) $33.07 +3.77%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $20.11 +3.02%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $2.76 +2.99%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Northern Trust Corp. (NTRS) $49.82 -5.66%
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $280.91 -5.52%
Dell Inc. (DELL) $12.60 -4.33%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $97.80 -3.83%
Boeing Co. (BA) $74.05 -3.76%
Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) $29.81 -3.68%
Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) $67.22 -2.92%
Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) $26.01 -2.88%
Precision Castparts Corp. (PCP) $183.80 -2.82%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $169.74 -2.81%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $17.24 +4.30%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $11.72 +1.43%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $22.15 +1.23%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $51.57 +0.94%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $114.07 +0.56%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $46.60 +0.54%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $69.32 +0.49%
3M Co. (MMM) $97.64 +0.36%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $72.58 +0.29%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $21.01 +0.17%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Boeing Co. (BA) $74.05 -3.76%
AT&T Inc. (T) $33.33 -1.27%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $69.26 -0.89%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $42.61 -0.61%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $41.73 -0.56%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $45.99 -0.56%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $85.52 -0.51%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $95.20 -0.49%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.88 -0.45%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $91.12 -0.43%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $508.48 +4.64%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $46.27 +4.64%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $30.39 +3.61%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $20.11 +3.02%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $35.27 +2.71%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $34.98 +2.31%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $34.23 +2.24%
CA Inc. (CA) $24.11 +2.07%
Virgin Media Inc. (VMED) $38.65 +2.07%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $12.01 +2.04%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Dell Inc. (DELL) $12.60 -4.33%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $170.44 -2.52%
Starz Class A (STRZA) $15.65 -2.49%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $78.94 -2.18%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $25.60 -2.18%
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $53.97 -1.93%
Google Inc. (GOOG) $714.22 -1.48%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $88.52 -1.34%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $11.44 -1.12%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $68.94 -1.12%

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