- Senate Democratic Majority leader Reid supports House bill
- US House approves increase in debt ceiling
- Dow rises wholly on the back of gains in IBM
- IMF Chief Economist wary of rise in equity markets

Dow Jones Industrials: 0.51%
Nasdaq Composite: 0.35%
S&P 500: 0.19%

So far today the major US equity averages have repeated the pattern which has been predominating throughout the last handful of sessions, with weakness early on followed by an improvement later in the day, which has so annoyed some observers.

That after this evening's vote in the US House of Republicans which saw the approval of the proposed temporary increase in the federal debt ceiling. Also worth noting is the support shown by the US Democratic leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, to the above. In his own words, "I want to give credit where credit is due, and thank Speaker Boehner for his leadership here in defusing another fight over the debt ceiling. The middle class has been telling us they do not want another crisis, and this bill gives them the security they deserve."

Even so, and in parallel, Reid has been forced to indefinitely extend the first session of the Senate so as to keep open the constitutionally established option which grants him the power to change procedural rules in the Senate with a view to avoiding what some term the current 'paralysis' in the upper chamber of Congress. Democrats however will support the above House bill.

Worth noting, some equity strategists have turned a tad wary on the stock market given that some of the traditional tactical indicators are flashing either warning signals or mixed ones. Some of these are the recent drop in volatility levels, the currently modest trading volumes or the sharp improvement in 'bullish' sentiment of late, amongst others.

Picking up on that theme, the International Monetary Fund's Chief Economist, Olivier Blanchard, this evening stated that "it is clear that financial markets are ahead of the real economy (...) the question is whether they are too much ahead or not, whether we are seeing a bubble (...) at this stage, it is difficult to say."

Helping stocks higher were the positive results out overnight from the likes of Google and IBM. The initial reaction to Mc.Donald's quarterly results has also been positive, with investors cheering the fast-food giant's better than expected US same-store sales figures.

Other companies moving higher following the release of better than expected results or guidance include St.Jude's Medical, United Technologies and US Airways.

Luxury hand bag maker Coach, on the other hand, dropped sharply after disappointing investors with its latest quarterly results, much as other sector peers - such as Tiffany or Richemont - have of late.

US house prices rose by 0.6% month-on-month in November, according to the latest FHFA numbers.

Global investors say the state of US finances is the greatest risk to the world economy and almost half are curbing their investments in response to budget battles. 36% of respondents cited the nation's fiscal woes as the biggest threat, compared with 29% who chose Europe's sovereign debt crisis and 15% who named a slowing Chinese economy, according to the Jan. 17th survey of Bloomberg subscribers.

From a sector stand-point the best performance can now be seen in the following industrial groups: Alternative energies (4.99%), Internet (4.89%) and Computer services (3.70%).

Apple is due to report after the close of trading.

Front month West Texas crude futures are now falling by 1.50% to the $95.23 per barrel level on the NYMEX.

10 year US Treasury yields are now down by 1 basis point to the 1.83% mark.

S&P 500 - Risers
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $2.73 +11.63%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $566.91 +9.34%
Google Inc. (GOOG) $746.66 +6.23%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $103.12 +5.43%
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $16.67 +5.31%
Safeway Inc. (SWY) $19.78 +4.99%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $205.62 +4.87%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $21.80 +4.76%
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) $107.53 +3.47%
Textron Inc. (TXT) $27.94 +3.18%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Coach Inc. (COH) $51.17 -15.67%
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. (RRD) $9.36 -6.54%
Quest Diagnostics (DGX) $58.31 -5.69%
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $37.29 -2.92%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $36.85 -2.74%
Molex Inc. (MOLX) $27.89 -2.72%
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LH) $87.89 -2.67%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $14.09 -2.36%
Airgas Inc. (ARG) $92.86 -2.20%
Ford Motor Co. (F) $13.86 -2.19%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $205.62 +4.87%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $54.00 +2.41%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $27.49 +1.23%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $66.31 +0.84%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $70.46 +0.72%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $93.57 +0.67%
AT&T Inc. (T) $33.83 +0.65%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $88.01 +0.61%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $11.39 +0.35%
3M Co. (MMM) $99.58 +0.26%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $42.68 -1.20%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $17.05 -1.19%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $20.66 -1.01%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $97.05 -0.69%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $47.50 -0.66%
American Express Co. (AXP) $59.01 -0.66%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $115.27 -0.55%
General Electric Co. (GE) $21.90 -0.50%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $42.75 -0.44%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $55.78 -0.43%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $566.91 +9.34%
Google Inc. (GOOG) $746.66 +6.23%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $21.43 +2.73%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $49.08 +2.30%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $69.09 +2.25%
Starz Class A (STRZA) $16.11 +2.19%
CA Inc. (CA) $24.97 +1.71%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $31.23 +1.63%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $98.22 +1.58%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $28.30 +1.47%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $36.85 -2.74%
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $104.09 -1.75%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $45.02 -1.72%
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $12.95 -1.52%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $96.15 -1.28%
Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) $38.40 -1.26%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $77.04 -1.12%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $20.66 -1.01%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $54.44 -1.00%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $48.06 -1.00%

AB

Related share prices
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