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US stock market, economy and companies update (January 22, 2013)

Contributed by Trade The News

- The risk-off tone has carried over into the US session from Asia and Europe overnight. Few traders seem to be looking to push stocks higher with markets right around five-year highs and Apple's fraught earnings report due on Wednesday after the close. Analysts are saying that Japan PM Abe's new government got most of what it wanted from the BoJ, although the central bank delayed the additional asset purchases until next year and dissention was seen in the ranks. Spot gold has been testing six-week highs above $1,690, the DJIA is flat on the day, S&P500 was down 0.2% and Nasdaq was down 0.3%.

- The slow, steady housing market recovery has been a real source of strength over recent months, and one month of softness in existing home sales is not being seen as anything but a slight bump in the road. December existing home sales fell 1.0% following a 4.8% rise in November (revised from 5.9%). Shares of the homebuilders are down in line with markets, with the exception of HOV, which spiked down as much as 3% before recovering. The

- EUR/USD saw some initial strength during the New York session following the positive ZEW Survey and strong Spain issuance, although the pair didn't even get close to making highs above 1.3370. USD/JPY continued to consolidate below 88.75 level following the BOJ decision.

- Shares of Verizon are back to unchanged after some initial post-earnings gains. After charges, the company racked up steep losses in its Q4, and even before charges EPS was well below the consensus view. Note that there was solid growth in net subscriber adds, driven by very good postpaid adds. On the conference call, executives said they are feeling confident about EPS growth in FY13 and said wireless margins could rise to as much as 49-50%.

- Shares of mining giant Freeport-McMoran have gained more than 3% after the firm met expectations and disclosed big gains in gold and copper production, up 39% and 22%, respectively. The firm said gold production from its Grasberg mine would be "extraordinary," helping to push up gold sales in FY13 by as much as 39%.

- Dupont has eked out minor share gains on slightly better-than-expected Q4 results and a strong FY13 forecast.

- Johnson & Johnson is under pressure after the firm offered sub-par FY13 earnings and revenue guidance. The firm's Q4 report was free of any surprises.

- TD Ameritrade has sustained gains of more than 4% after comfortably beating top- and bottom-line expectations thanks to a big gain y/y in the firm's operating margins. On the call, the CEO said that January trading activity is improving but still sluggish compared to normal trends.

***Looking Ahead***
- 11:30 (US) Treasury to sell $60B in 3-Month and 6-Month Bills
- 13:00 (EU) ECB chief Draghi speaks at Industrie-Handelskammer in Frankfurt
- 14:45 (UK) BOE Gov King speech at CBI Northern Ireland dinner
- 19:00 (AU) Australia Q3 Consumer Prices Q/Q: 0.4%e v 1.4% prior; Y/Y: 2.4%e v 2.0% prior
- (IS) Israel Holds National Elections

***Economic Data***
- (PT) Portugal Nov Current Account: No est v -€268.8M prior
- (UK) Jan CBI Industrial Trends Total Orders: -20 v -11e; Selling Prices: 21 v 16e; Business Optimism: 0 v -10e
- (IE) Ireland Dec Property Prices M/M: -0.5% v 1.1% prior; Y/Y: -4.5% v -5.7% prior
- (EU) OECD Q3 Employment: 65.0% v 65.0% prior
- (TR) Turkey Central Bank left Benchmark Repo Rate unchanged at 5.50% (as expected); cut both ; Overnight Lending Rate and Borrowing Rates by 25bps to 8.75% and 4.75% respectively (not expected)
- (CA) Canada Nov Retail Sales M/M: 0.0%e; Retail Sales Less Autos M/M: 0.1%e
- (US) Dec Chicago Fed National Activity Index: 0.02 v 0.27 prior
- (EU) ECB weekly Forex Reserves w/e Jan 20th: €219.2B v €218.4B prior
- (US) Jan Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index: -12 v +5e
- (US) Dec Existing Home Sales: 4.95M v 5.10Me