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US stock market, economy and companies update (January 14, 2013)

Contributed by Trade The News

- US equities are under pressure this morning, with all three major indices in the red. European markets dropped from decent gains into negative territory on the US open and remain not far off session lows. Gold and silver both slid hand in hand with European stocks, giving up some earlier gains. President Obama is due hold a press conference at 11:15ET, to discuss the debt ceiling. Press reports out yesterday suggest the House Republicans are willing to risk a shutdown in the debt ceiling fight.

- In FX, EUR/USD managed to take out the key 1.3310 level and trade as high as 1.3400 on Sunday evening, although the pair has moved sideways in choppy trading since then. Dealers say stops are building up below 1.3310.

- UPS has withdrawn its $6.9 billion offer to buy the Dutch delivery business TNT Express, after the European Commission said it would block the deal due to antitrust concerns. This spikes the firm's big international expansion plans: at present, only 26% of UPS revenues come from outside the US, which the deal would have boosted to 36%. Investors seem happy with the development: shares of UPS were up 2% in early trading, though they have come in during the mid morning slide.

- Shares of Apple are down more than 3% but off their worst pre-market levels after Nikkei News reported over the weekend that Apple has asked suppliers to roughly halve supplies of LCD panels from an initial plan for about 65M screens for the January-March period. Recall that back in mid December, a Jefferies analyst trimmed his iPhone shipment estimates for the January-March quarter on Dec. 14, saying that Apple had started cutting orders to suppliers to balance excess inventory.

- HHGregg is down more than 10% after cutting its FY13 forecast and offering a soft look at its Q3.

- JCPenny is down nearly 4% after the NY Post reported that the firm's holiday comps may have fallen by more than 30%.

- The US ADR of Canadian diamond firm Harry Winston is up nearly 9% after the firm sold all of its watch and jewelry operations to Swatch for $750M.

- MLM firm Herbalife is up 5% in the early going after a tumultuous week of trading.

***Looking Ahead***
- 11:15 (US) President Obama press conference on raising the debt limit
- 11:00 (US) Fed to purchase $1.25-1.75B in Notes
- 11:30 (US Treasury to sell 3-Month and 6-Month Bills
- 11:55 (US) Fed's Williams speaks in Half Moon Bay, California
- 12:40 (US) Fed's Lockhart to speak on U.S. Economy in Atlanta
- 13:00 (DE) German Chancellor Merkel at Lower Saxony State Election Rally: Hildesheim
- 14:30 (EU) ECB member Praet to speak
- 15:30 (NZ) New Zealand Dec Housing Price Index: No est v 3544.4 prior
- 16:00 (US) Fed Gov Bernanke in Ann Arber, MI
- 16:00 (NZ) New Zealand Q4 Business Opinion: No est v 8 prior
- 16:45 (NZ) New Zealand Dec Food Prices M/M: No est v -0.8% prior

***Economic Data***
- (EU) OECD Nov Leading Indicators: 100.2 v 100.2 prior
- (PL) Poland Dec M3 Money Supply M/M: 2.2% v 2.3%e
- 09:30 (EU) ECB call for bids in Main 7-day Refi Tender
- 09:30 (EU) ECB announces amount to be drain in next 7-Day Term Deposit Tender to offset Govt Bond purchases
- 10:30 (CA) Bank of Canada Q4 Senior Loan Officer Survey: -3.4 v -15.8 prior; Business Outlook Future Sales: 16.0 v 10.0e