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US stock market, economy and companies update (January 10, 2013)

Contributed by Trade The News

- After opening higher markets have slid back into the red in mid market trading, while European indices are giving up all their session gains to close at their lows. Early strength in the US followed overnight gains in Asia and Europe that followed the stronger-than-expected December China trade numbers. However, sentiment has turned negative.

- There were no surprises in either the BOE or ECB rate decisions as both banks left key rates unchanged. At the ECB press conference, Mario Draghi revealed that the decision to hold rates steady was unanimous, unlike at the December meeting when there was "wide discussion" about whether to ease further, including the concept of negative interest rates. Today's more hawkish tone has boosted the euro, with EUR/USD testing 1.3220 while EUR/JPY approached 116.50, its highest since July 2011. The EUR/CHF cross moved back above 1.21 level as more Swiss banks were said to start charging for certain deposit accounts.

- WTI crude had been pivoting around the $93 level for the last five or six sessions before rapidly breaking out to six-week highs around $94.50 earlier this morning. The immediate catalyst was Saudi Arabia reporting December oil production at 9.02M bps, versus 9.49M bps in November. This marks Saudi's second consecutive month of sub-10M bpd production. Front month crude has dropped back below $94 in mid morning trading.

- Multi-level marketing firm Herbalife is much in focus as the company holds an analyst event this morning in order to present its case rebutting the case made by Pershing Square's Bill Ackman. Analysts are highly skeptical, however legendary curmudgeon Carl Icahn has decided to go long HLF and is building a stake in the firm. With Loeb and Icahn now long the name, one hedge fund manager commented that "it's going to be an Ackman sandwich." HLF is up 2.6% this morning.

- Apparel retailer Aeropostale cut its Q4 outlook in half this morning, warning that its holiday season comps were a nasty -8% y/y. Despite the firm's strong Black Friday weekend, sales and traffic trends deteriorated significantly in December. ARO is -8.7%.

- Upscale jeweler Tiffany dropped 5% after it warned full-year earnings would be at the lower end of its forecasted range.

- Shares of US rare earth miner Molycorp are down more than 20% this morning after the firm warned that its FY13 revenue and cash flow would be lower than expected.

- Supermarket name Supervalu is up more than 11% despite some sub-par Q3 numbers. The firm has also reached a deal to sell off five retail grocery chains to an investor group led by Cerberus Capital.

- Ford is up 2.5% after hiking its quarterly dividend by 100%.

***Looking Ahead***
- 12:00 (DE) ECB's Asmussen (Germany) speaks in Berlin
- 12:20 (DE) German Chancellor Merkel attends Trade Chamber Event in Baden-Wuerttemberg
- 13:00 (US) Treasury to sell $13B in 30-Year Bonds Reopening
- 13:10 (US) Fed's George speaks on Economic Outlook in Kansas City
- 13:30 (US) President Obama to formally nominate Jacob Lew for Treasury Secretary
- 14:00 (US) Fed's Bullard speaks on Economy in Madison, Wisconsin
- 16:00 (CA) Bank of Canada Dep Gov Macklem
- 18:00 (PE) Peru Central Bank Interest Rate Decision: Expected to leave the Reference Rate unchanged at 4.25% ; Trade Balance: -831.0Be v -450.3B prior
- 18:50 (JP) Japan Nov Total Current Account: -¥17.1Be v +¥376.9B prior; Adj Current Account: ¥277.4Be v ¥414.1B prior
- 20:00 (US) Fed's Kocherlakota speaks in Town Hall Meeting in Minneapolis
- 20:30 (CN) China Dec Consumer Price Index Y/Y: 2.3%e v 2.0% prior; Producer Price Index Y/Y: -1.8%e v -2.2% prior

***Economic Data***
- (BR) Brazil Dec IBGE Inflation IPCA M/M: 0.8% v 0.7%e; Y/Y: 5.8% v 5.8%e
- (ZA) South Africa Nov Manufacturing Production M/M: 2.3% v 1.3%e; Y/Y: 3.4% v 1.1%e
- (PT) Portugal Nov Construction Works Index: 53.6 v 55.2 prior
- (RU) Russia Gold & Forex Reserve w/e Jan 4th: No est v $532.0B prior
- (UK) Bank of England (BOE) left both Interest Rates and Asset Purchase Target (APT) unchanged at 0.50% and £375B respectively (as expected)
- (EU) ECB Interest leaves Main Refi Rate unchanged at 0.75% and leave Deposit Facility Rate unchanged at 0.00% (as expected)
- (US) Jan RBC Consumer Outlook Index: 48.0 v 46.9 prior
- (US) Initial Jobless Claims: 371K v 365Ke; Continuing Claims: 3.109M v 3.228Me
- (CA) Canada Nov New Housing Price Index M/M: 0.1% v 0.2%e; Y/Y: 2.2% v 2.4%e
- (CA) Canada Nov Building Permits M/M: -17.9% v -5.0%e
- (MX) Mexico Oct Gross Fixed Investment: 9.5% v 8.1%e
- (MX) Mexico Oct Global Economic Indicator: 4.3% v 3.9%e
- (US) Nov Wholesale Inventories: 0.6% v 0.2%e
- (US) Nov JOLTs Job Openings: 3.676M v 3.683Me