The main US equity benchmarks are now being called to start the day ever so slightly higher ahead of this evening's State of the Union address from President Obama.

Also worth noting, at least three members of the US Federal Reserve are scheduled to speak today.

Acting as a backdrop, Bloomberg is commenting on how the risk of the automatic defence cuts associated with 'sequestration' could conceivably exact a heavy toll on economic activity.

In that regard, they point out that approximately 800,000 civilian workers could face furloughs as a result. Perhaps more surprisingly even, some reports are calling attention to the fact that the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier Harry S.Truman's redeployment to the Persian Gulf from its base in Norfolk has been postponed due to the threat posed by the impending spending cuts.

Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein have downgrade shares of Facebook.

Avon Products is jumping after the release of better than expected profit figures.

Front month West Texas crude futures are rising by 0.58% to the 97.59 dollar per barrel mark on the NYMEX.

10 year US Treasury yields are now rising by 2 basis points to the 1.985 mark.

AB

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