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US stock market daily report (February 13, 2013, Wednesday)

Contributed by Millennium Traders

Scientists at Deep Space Industries have put a value on an asteroid - 2012 DA14 - to the tune of $195 billion. The asteroid, nearly half a football field in size at 150-feet-wide (45 meters), is set to flyby Earth on February 15 and pass within the orbits of the Earth's ring of geosynchronous satellites. The estimated value is derived from recoverable water on the asteroid with a range in value of $65 billion as fuel in space. Additionally, the value of iron, nickel and other metals that make up the asteroid have an estimated value of $130 billion as construction materials. At its nearest approach on Friday at 2:24 p.m. EST, the asteroid will be 17,200 miles (27,000 kilometers) from Earth, for the closest encounter of such a large space rock that researchers have ever known about in advance. 2012 DA14 will be passing directly above the eastern Indian Ocean off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Here is what NASA says about the visibility of 2012 DA14: 'On [February 15, 2013], the asteroid will travel rapidly from the southern evening sky into the northern morning sky with its closest Earth approach occurring about 19:26 UTC when it will achieve a magnitude of less than seven, which is somewhat fainter than naked eye visibility. About 4 minutes after its Earth close approach, there is a good chance it will pass into the Earth’s shadow for about 18 minutes or so before reappearing from the eclipse. When traveling rapidly into the northern morning sky, 2012 DA14 will quickly fade in brightness.' While projections are that it will not hit Earth, if it were to strike our planet, it would not be Earth-destroying but, it has been estimated that it would produce the equivalent of 2.4 megatons of TNT.

Within five years, U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said his agency is on a path for a $45 billion taxpayer bailout, if Congress fails to take action to reverse growing financial losses for the United States Postal Service. "Time is not on our side," he said during testimony to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. "To preserve our mission to provide secure, reliable and affordable, universal delivery service and do so without burdening the American taxpayer, the Postal Service needs urgent reform to its business model." Donahoe said Wednesday, the shortfall is likely to grow worse without the ability to make significant cost cuts, including ending Saturday delivery and placing postal workers on a private health-care plan. A majority of last year's loss was tied to defaults on required prepayments for future retirees' health care. Donahoe said even if those payments were not required, it will soon record operating deficits of between $10 billion and $15 billion annually. When the announcement was made last week that the USPS would end Saturday delivery of mail but not packages, anger was evident from Senator Jon Tester (D., Mont.) who said the move could mean residents in rural Montana must wait five or six days to receive excepted mail. He said the change disproportionately hurts remote communities. "If we're going to have a Postal Service that works for urban America, it damn well better work for rural America," he said at the hearing. The Postal Service recorded a nearly $16 billion loss during its last fiscal year.

The U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday that U.S. retail sales barely grew in January, suggesting a tax increase at the beginning of the year constrained consumers. Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in January or, excluding the auto sector, by 0.2%. The auto sector accounts for about one-fifth of total sales and can obscure broader trends in the retail segment. Sales at department stores, general-merchandise outlets and Internet retailers rose in January. Sales at auto dealers, drug stores, and home furnishings and clothing stores, fell. For all of 2012, retail sales rose by 4.4%, more than twice the rate of consumer inflation.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Wednesday that prices paid for goods imported into the U.S. - led by fuel - increased 0.6% during January. Over the past 12 months, import prices have declined 1.3%, indicating that imports won't be a large factor behind near-term inflation for consumers. Fuel import prices rose 2.4% in January, striking the largest increase since September. Non-fuel import prices rose 0.2% in January and showed no growth. Prices paid for U.S. made goods exported to other nations rose 0.3% in January.