-Plosser (Philly Fed) sees need to proceed with caution on policy.
-GM vehicle sales fell by 6.1% in January (Forecast: -7.3%).

DJI: 1.19%
Nasdaq Comp.: 0.86%
S&P 500: 1.12%


The major US equity benchmarks are trading comfortably higher today. Although at first glance today's macroeconomic releases might look a bit mixed at best upon closer examination they may actually not be so downbeat, particularly the most important of those, the ISM manufacturing survey.

Very much worth highlighting as regards the latter, the improvement seen in several of the main sub-indexes, such as those linked to new orders, order backlogs and exports.

Against that backdrop, and still amongst the main movers in the market are shares of internet retailer Amazon.com, after it unveiled a slowdown in its sales growth rate last night.

Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, is trading up sharply on news that it has been chosen to manage Facebook's initial public offering (IPO).

Seagate Technologies is flying 13% higher on news of an upgrade from broker Stifel and following the announcement of a tripling in its quarterly earnings. The company's sales were helped by a reduced supply of hard drives following the flooding in Thailand.

Whirlpool is another big gainer after it provided better than forecast 2012 sales guidance.

Hershey is up following an increase in its dividend policy.

Quarterly results from Thermo Fisher and Northrop Grumman have come in better than expected.

MACROECONOMY

US private sector payrolls rose by 170,000 in January (Consensus: 185,000), according to the latest ADP report, while the previous month's reading has been revised down to 292,000 from a preliminary estimate of 325,000.

The ISM manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index for the month of January rose to 54.1 points (Consensus: 54.5) from 53.1 the month before (revised down from 53.9). For economists at Barclays Capital, "All in all, a positive report - the increase in new orders suggests solid output growth in coming months and the dip in the production level is likely indicative of the recent mini-inventory cycle, rather than a notable drop in demand."

Construction spending grew by 1.5% on the month in December (Consensus: 0.7%). The better than expected reading, however, seems to have been more than made up for by a downwards revision to the previous month's data.

OTHER MARKETS

Front month West Texas crude futures are now rising by 0.61% to the $90.07/barrel mark in NYMEX trading.

10 year US Treasuries are now down by 11/32 dollars, with yields at 1.84%.

S&P 500 - Risers
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) $59.96 +10.38%
Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) $41.69 +9.08%
Avery Dennison Corp. (AVY) $28.76 +5.93%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $36.22 +5.44%
Morgan Stanley (MS) $19.57 +4.93%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $21.76 +4.87%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $38.11 +4.84%
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) $55.19 +4.33%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $35.46 +4.00%
SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) $21.36 +3.84%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $176.12 -9.42%
CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (CHRW) $64.32 -6.57%
AFLAC Inc. (AFL) $47.10 -2.34%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $31.79 -1.37%
ONEOK Inc. (OKE) $82.13 -1.24%
Expeditors International Of Washington Inc. (EXPD) $44.11 -1.21%
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) $81.69 -1.19%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $20.90 -1.11%
Hershey Foods Corp. (HSY) $60.54 -0.88%
Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) $60.99 -0.80%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $7.31 +2.52%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $28.59 +2.18%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $80.00 +2.11%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $38.98 +1.86%
General Electric Co. (GE) $19.05 +1.82%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $62.47 +1.81%
Boeing Co. (BA) $75.50 +1.78%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $37.95 +1.74%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $110.90 +1.63%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $10.32 +1.57%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $21.33 -0.35%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $98.78 -0.27%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $24.75 +17.08%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $36.22 +5.44%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $21.76 +4.87%
Logitech International S.A. (LOGI) $7.89 +4.23%
Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT) $23.22 +3.38%
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. ADS (TEVA) $46.21 +2.37%
News Corp. Class A (NWSA) $19.26 +2.28%
Express Scripts Inc. (ESRX) $52.30 +2.23%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $43.16 +2.08%
Warner Chilcott Plc (WCRX) $17.22 +2.05%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $176.12 -9.42%
CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (CHRW) $64.32 -6.57%
Qiagen N.V. (QGEN) $15.90 -1.73%
Expeditors International Of Washington Inc. (EXPD) $44.11 -1.21%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $12.21 -1.05%
Priceline.Com Inc. (PCLN) $526.17 -0.63%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $126.89 -0.49%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $47.71 -0.44%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $51.76 -0.19%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $456.14 -0.07%

AB

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