Reports » US

US stock market daily report (January 15, 2013, Tuesday)

At the request of the SEC Chairman Elisse Walter, the Financial Stability Oversight Council on Tuesday extended the comment period of a proposal urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to impose new regulations on the $2.7 trillion money-market fund industry from January 18 to February 15. The extension gives interested groups and firms additional time to present their comments to the SEC. The SEC may renew efforts to impose new rules on the industry. Efforts by the SEC to impose new regulations on the money-fund industry have so far, been blocked. The FSOC proposed a recommendation that the SEC consider three options, including one that would have the SEC approve rules that would impose capital restrictions on the funds combined with limitations or fees on redemptions by consumers. The council's proposal also offered the option to have the industry abandon what's known as a stable Net-Asset-Value for money-market funds and permit a floating NAV instead. A third option would require money funds to maintain a capital buffer of 3% to absorb losses that could be reduced if the fund has limited risk.

In early December, the number of Americans using Facebook fell by nearly 1.4 million. Either users are tiring of the social media method or, the ongoing experimental fees by Facebook is wearing on their nerves thus, turning users away. When Facebook debuted, it was hard for anyone who uses Facebook to 'not' hear of Zuckerberg becoming an instant billionaire and then...the company starts charging fees? Its not like the fees Facebook began charging would be going toward a reduction of the national deficit, they would end result to fatten Zuckerbergs' wallet and this irritated a lot of former users. An announcement out on Tuesday is that Facebook unveiled a new feature called Graph Search. The feature is in its very early stage and one concern is that of getting the privacy settings correct. The company will continue to try various ideas in efforts to justify its current, very high market valuation.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported Tuesday that U.S. producer prices fell a seasonally adjusted 0.2% during December, led by lower food prices with a drop by 0.9% that struck the largest decline since May 2011. Core producer prices, which exclude volatile categories of food and energy, rose 0.1% during December, led by cigarettes. Energy prices fell 0.3% in December, with the drop led lower by gasoline. During 2012, wholesale prices increased by the smallest growth amount during a calendar year since 2008, rising only 1.3%.

As Americans evidently shrugged off the bitter battle between lawmakers in Washington over taxes and spending, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday that U.S. retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% during December, striking the highest increase since September. During December: apparel outlets sales rose 1.0%; auto sales rose by 1.6%; bars and restaurants sales rose by 1.2%; home-furnishing stores experienced a rise in sales by 1.4% and Internet stores such as Amazon saw an increase of 0.5% rise in sales. The sale of electronics and appliances fell 0.6% during December. On a positive note for consumers, fuel prices fell for a third straight month during December, moving gas sales lower by 1.6%.

The New York Federal Reserve Bank said Tuesday, the Empire State manufacturing index contracted for the sixth month in a row. In January the index fell to negative 7.8 from a revised negative 7.3 in December, originally reported as negative 8.1. From original negative 3.4 reading, the key new orders sub-index fell to negative 7.2.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday U.S. business inventories rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in November to $1.62 trillion and business sales gained 1.0%. The inventory-to-sales ratio, an indication of demand, remained unchanged at 1.28. From November 2011 levels, inventories are up 5.5% which is generally, a good sign for the economy. Increased inventories can indicate an uptick in demand or, an indication that companies are unable to sell goods and services as fast as they expected.