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US stock market, economy and companies update (January 15, 2013)

Contributed by Trade The News

- President Obama's forceful words on the debt ceiling fight and House Speaker Boehner's firm response yesterday morning continue to unsettle markets. With both sides seeming to entrench in their respective positions ahead of the ceiling, risk aversion is the order of the day. In his talk yesterday evening, Fed Chairman Bernanke struck a dovish tone, insisting once again that the Fed is still not out of ammunition. The DJIA is down 0.12%, the S&P500 is down 0.2% and the Nasdaq is down 0.48%.

- The sudden spate of yen strengthening that followed Bernanke's dovishness and Japan Economic Minister Amari's verbal intervention against excessive yen weakness have had repercussions for USD pairs. EUR/USD was forced lower on EUR/JPY cross selling, although EUR/USD managed to hold its key hourly support at 1.3310 while the EUR/JPY cross held above its 100-hour moving avg at 117.60 area.

- Two major data reports out this morning seem to have cancelled each other out. The January Empire State manufacturing survey saw its sixth month of contraction, although analysts highlight that the Empire survey lags the official ISM factory index by several months. US retail sales continued their slow but steady gains in December, reflected the strong individual SSS reports out at the beginning of the month. Retail sales increased 0.5% after rising 0.4% in November.

- Most of the tech world is boiling with speculation about what Facebook is planning to talk about in its first major product event since going public. Rumors are all over the map, although several of the leading ideas are not very credible. Some say a phone or music service are in the offing, although Facebook would be very late to the game in both spheres. Search is also touted as a possibility, and Facebook executives have highlighted this as an essential area in the past. A major new e-commerce or content play are definite possibilities as well. Shares of FB are up 2% this morning.

- SAP's preliminary look at its Q4 results disappointed investors this morning, with both earnings and revenue below consensus. Analyst suggest that the unfavorable comparison with Oracle's excellent Q4 results, announced back on Dec 18th, are exacerbating SAP's decline this morning. SAP's ADRs are down 5% this morning.

- Dell is up another 2% or so this morning after rocketing up approx 15% yesterday afternoon on unconfirmed reports the company was holding talks with at least two PE firms to go private. Dell has not commented on the rumores.

- Krispy Kreme has adopted a poison pill in the form of a special tax asset protection plan. The Plan is designed to discourage any person from becoming a 5% shareholder. Shares had risen yesterday on takeover chatter, and have given up most of those gains this morning.

- Apparel name Express is up nearly 20% after hiking its Q4 and FY12 earnings guidance.

***Looking Ahead***
- 11:30 (US) Treasury to sell 4-Week Bills
- 11:30 (IS) Israel Dec Consumer Prices M/M: 0.0%e v -0.5% prior; Y/Y: 1.4%e v 1.4% prior
- 12:30 (US) Fed's Plosser speaks on Economic Outlook in Rochester, NY
- 14:00 (AR) Argentina Dec Wholesale Price Index M/M: No est v 0.9% prior; Y/Y: No est v 13.0% prior
- 14:00 (AR) Argentina Dec Consumer Price Index M/M: 0.9%e v 0.9% prior; Y/Y: 11.2%e v 10.6% prior
- 16:30 (US) Weekly API U.S. Crude Oil Inventories

***Economic Data***
- (EU) OECD Q3 GDP +0.3% v +0.2% prior
- (BR) Brazil Nov Retail Sales M/M:0.3% v 0.2%e; Y/Y: 8.4% v 8.3%e; Broad Retail Sales Y/Y: 7.2% v 5.9%e
- (IC) Iceland Dec Unemployment Rate: 5.7% v 5.4% prior
- (US) ICSC/GS weekly chain store sales w/e Jan 13th w/w: -0.6%; y/y: +3.3%
- (PL) Poland Dec CPI M/M: 0.1% v 0.1%e; Y/Y: 2.4% v 2.5%e
- (US) Jan Empire Manufacturing: -7.8 v 0.0e
- (US) Dec Advance Retail Sales:0.5 % v 0.2%e; Retail Sales Less Autos: 0.3% v 0.2%e; Retail Sales Ex Auto & Gas: 0.6% v 0.4%e
- (US) Dec Producer Price Index M/M: -0.2% v -0.1%e; Y/Y: 1.3% v 1.4%e
- (US) Dec PPI Ex Food & Energy M/M: 0.1% v 0.2%e; Y/Y: 2.0% v 2.1%e
- (US) Redbook Retail Sales w/e Jan 13th: +1.9% y/y prior; Jan MTD: -0.3% m/m prior, Jan MTD: +2.0% y/y prior
- (CA) Canada Dec Existing Home Sale M/M: -0.5% v -1.7% prior
- (BE) Belgium Nov Trade Balance: -€0.8B v -€0.3B prior
- (EU) ECB weekly Forex Reserves w/e Jan 13th: €218.4B v €218.8B prior
- (US) Nov Business Inventories: 0.3% v 0.3%e