ADVFN III World Daily Markets Bulletin (January 7th, 2013).

	ADVFN III	World Daily Markets Bulletin
	Daily world financial news

Monday, January 7 2012.

US Market

Profit Taking Leads To Early Weakness On Wall Street Stocks moved to the downside at the start of trading on Monday, giving back some ground after moving sharply higher last week. The major averages have slid firmly into negative territory but are holding on to the bulk of their recent gains. The major averages have not seen much follow-through on their initial downward move but remain stuck in the red. The Dow is down 68.87 points or 0.5 percent at 13,366.34, the Nasdaq is down 12.70 points or 0.4 percent at 3,088.96 and the S&P 500 is down 7.03 points or 0.5 percent at 1,459.44. Profit taking is contributing to the moderate weakness on Wall Street, with traders cashing in on the recent strength in the . Last week's strong gains lifted the S&P 500 to its best closing level since late December of 2007, while the Dow ended last Friday's trading at a two-month closing high. Nonetheless, trading activity is somewhat subdued amid a lack of major U.S. economic data as well as a relatively quiet day on the corporate news front. Traders may also be reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the release of quarterly results from aluminum giant Alcoa after the close of trading on Tuesday. The release of Alcoa's results is seen as the unofficial start of the quarterly earnings season. Gold stocks have shown a notable move to the downside, however, dragging the NYSE Arca gold Bugs Index down by 1.2 percent. The weakness among gold stocks comes amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal. Natural gas, oil, and utilities stocks have also come under pressure, while most of the other major sectors are showing more modest moves. Among individual stocks, Citigroup (C) is trading modestly lower after the financial services giant announced that it has appointed Jamie Forese and Manuel Medina-Mora as Co-Presidents. Citigroup said Forese will be responsible for all of the company's Institutional es, while Medina-Mora will continue to oversee Global Consumer Banking and Citi's franchise in Mexico. Meanwhile, drug giant Eli Lilly has moved to the upside after the company maintained its earnings outlook for fiscal year 2012 and forecast fiscal 2013 earnings higher than analyst estimates. In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. While Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed just below the unchanged line, Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.8 percent. The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has fallen by 0.4 percent, while the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are down by 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively. In the bond market, treasuries have moved modestly higher, regaining some ground following recent weakness. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, has edged down by 1.2 basis points to 1.903 percent. Canadian Market CADUSD Oil Gold Allbanc Please click on the images to view our interactive charts Commodities Drag TSX Lower Monday Morning - Canadian Commentary Canadian stocks were lingering in the red Monday morning as commodities faltered amid anxiety over future action from the U.S. Federal Reserve and after last week's data revealed that the U.S. unemployment rate little changed. Selling was seen across a variety of sectors, with commodities turning in particularly poor performances. The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 67.91 points or 0.54 points to 12, 472.90. The price of gold was little changed after recent steep losses Monday morning even as the U.S. dollar was steady versus a basket of currencies. gold for February eased $1.70 to $1,647.20 an ounce. Among gold plays, Agnico-Eagle Mines was down 2 percent. Detour Gold and Seabridge gold lost close to 1 percent each. Fertilizer makers Potash Corp. and Agrium Inc. were down around 1 percent each. The price of Crude oil was ticking higher Monday morning with Crude for February adding $0.18 to $93.27 a barrel. In the oil patch, Pacific Rubiales Energy lost about 4 percent. Baytex Energy Corp. and Suncor Energy were down just over 1 percent each. Oil and gas company Bankers Petroleum shed close to 2 percent after providing operational update. The company said its average production for the fourth quarter was 16,163 bopd, representing a 3.5 percent increase from 15,616 bopd in the third quarter. While late November and early December production volumes were impacted by heavy rains, production continued to grow steadily. Average oil production for 2012 was 15,020 bopd, 15 percent higher than 2011 average production of 13,051 bopd. Among financial stocks, Royal Bank , TD Bank and Scotiabank slipped close to 1 percent each. Meanwhile, Air Canada rose close to 5 percent after reporting a record system load factor of 82.1 percent, versus 81.0 percent in December 2011, an increase of 1.1 percentage points. In economic news, industrial producer prices in euro zone declined for the first time in five months in November, data from Eurostat showed. The producer price index fell 0.2 percent month-on-month in November compared to 0.1 percent rise in the previous month. The outcome was in line with economists' forecast. Elsewhere according to media reports, Japan's new government is planning to set up schemes worth nearly $5 billion to boost es, including helping them buy foreign companies, according to a draft economic stimulus package. European Market FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts European Markets Weak, But Banks Gain The European are trading weak on Monday, as investors continued to be haunted by growth worries and concerns about the debt ceiling in the U.S. Sentiment was also impacted by some broker recommendations. Banks were higher after regulators on Sunday granted more flexibility in bank liquidity rules. The Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision, the oversight body of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, unanimously endorsed the committee's amendments to the Liquidity Coverage Ratio as a minimum standard. The agreement is expected to ensure that banks hold sufficient liquid assets to prevent central banks becoming the "lender of first resort," the regulator said in a statement. Lenders are now allowed to use an expanded range of assets as high quality liquid assets, including corporate debt securities, certain unencumbered equities and some residential mortgage-backed securities. In economic news, Eurozone investor sentiment improved sharply in January, beating forecasts, data released by the think-tank Sentix showed. The Sentix Index rose to -7 in January from -16.8 in December. Economists had forecast an improvement in the reading to -14.2. The euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 0.27 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. Companies, is falling 0.10 percent. The German DAX, the French CAC 40, the UK's FTSE 100 and Switzerland's SMI are trading marginal to moderately lower. In Frankfurt, Infineon Technologies is dropping 2.7 percent. Merrill Lynch cut the stock to ''Underperform'' from ''Neutral.'' Utilities RWE and E.ON were downgraded at Deutsche Bank. Both stocks are notably lower. Merck is falling 1.7 percent after Merrill Lynch reduced its rating on the stock. SAP was cut to ''Neutral'' from ''Buy'' at UBS. The stock is down 1 percent. AirBerlin is losing 1.8 percent. The airline named a new chief executive. Following the news of dilution to banking liquidity rules, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are gaining 3.4 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas are gaining between 3.6 percent and 2.3 percent in Paris, while in London, Barclays is gaining 3.4 percent and Lloyds Banking is advancing 1.2 percent. Daimler is adding 1.3 percent after a report emerged that sovereign-wealth fund China Investment Corp. is looking to buy a 10 percent stake in the car maker. Volkswagen and BMW are moderately lower. Citigroup cut European Auto sector to ''Neutral.'' United Internet is gaining 1.6 percent. The Internet services provider has resolved to cancel 15 million treasury shares, purchased in the course of share buyback programs, and thus reduce its capital stock by 15 million euros, from 215 million euros to 200 million euros. The capital reduction is targeted at optimizing the company's balance sheet and capital structure. In Paris, Essilor International and Unibail-Rodamco are losing 1.4 percent each. Vivendi is down 1.1 percent. Japan's Sony has joined BMG, a joint venture of Bertelsmann and KKR, to bid for Parlophone from Vivendi's Universal Music, the Financial Times reported. EDF is losing 1.2 percent. Deutsche Bank cut the stock to ''Sell'' from ''Hold.'' In London, silver producer Fresnillo is losing 2 percent. Antofagasta and Rio Tinto are notably lower. Wm Morrison Supermarkets reported a decline in sales and like-for-like sales for the 6-week period ended December 30, amid a challenging market environment. The board believes that the company's full-year performance would be broadly in line with its expectations. The stock is modestly up. EasyJet is gaining 2.1 percent. The budget airline reported growth in passengers and load factor for the month of December 2012. Across Asia/Pacific, markets ended mostly lower. Australia's All Ordinaries slid 0.1 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 0.8 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended unchanged with a negative bias while China's Shanghai Composite index managed to advance 0.4 percent. In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages finished the day in positive territory, although the Nasdaq closed only just above the unchanged line. While the Nasdaq inched up less than a tenth of a percent, the Dow rose 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 climbed 0.5 percent. In the commodity space, Crude for February delivery is losing $0.37 to $92.72 per barrel while February gold is advancing $5.5 to $1654.4 a troy ounce. Asia Market Asian Markets Trade Mixed Asian stock are exhibiting a mixed trend on Monday, with some of the markets paring initial gains on profit taking. Most of the markets saw some buying early on in the session, tracking the positive cues from Wall Street on Friday where stocks closed higher on the back of encouraging economic data. The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employment increased in line with estimates in December, rising by 155,000 jobs following an upwardly revised increase of 161,000 jobs in November. Economists had expected an increase of about 155,000 jobs compared to the addition of 146,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment rate came in at 7.8 percent, unchanged from the previous month's revised figure. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said that economic activity in the U.S. service sector unexpectedly expanded at a faster rate in December. The Australian market opened higher as encouraging economic data from the U.S. on Friday boosted investor sentiment. However, the market has now pared most of its gains, dragged down by heavyweight stocks in the mining sector. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is currently up 4.50 points or 0.10 percent to 4,728.30, after touching a high of 4,750.70 in early trades. The broader All Ordinaries index is adding 6.60 points or 0.14 percent to 4,749.50. Among miners, BHP Billiton (BHP, BBL) is down 0.40 percent, Rio Tinto is losing 0.80 percent and Newcrest Mining is declining 0.96 percent, while Fortescue Metals is gaining 2.06 percent thanks to higher spot iron prices. Lynas Corp. is trading higher by 7.6 percent after the rare earths miner reported strong progress in its controversial Malaysian processing plant. The company said it expects to have commercial rare earth products available in the next few weeks and will ramp up production over the next few months. In the banking sector, ANZ is gaining 0.40 percent, National Australia Bank is up 0.47 percent and, Westpac Banking is adding 0.50 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is losing 0.32 percent. Among energy stocks, Woodside Petroleum is up 0.32 percent and Origin Energy is gaining 0.34 percent, while Santos is losing 0.35 percent and Caltex Australia is down 1.00 percent. In the currency market, the Australian dollar was trading higher against the U.S. dollar on Monday following the release of strong U.S. employment figures. In late-morning trades, the local unit was quoted at $1.0478, up from $1.0443 on Friday. The Japanese market opened on a firm note, with investors tracking the positive cues from Wall Street and picking up stocks from across various sectors. However, due to profit-taking at higher levels, the market retreated subsequently and drifted into negative territory. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index, which rose to 10,723 in early trades, is currently down 21.69 points or 0.20 percent to 10,666.42. Among exporters, Canon Inc. is losing 1.02 percent and industrial robotics company Fanuc Corp. is trading lower by 2.72 percent. Toyota Motor Corp. is declining 0.23 percent, while Honda Motor Co. is adding 0.76 percent. Marine shipper Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is gaining 4.3 percent. The company said Friday it will reduce its valuation losses on securities investments on a group basis for the quarter through December. However, brokerage Nomura Holdings is losing 2.86 percent on profit-taking. On the economic front, the Bank of Japan said Monday that the monetary base in Japan spiked 11.8 percent on year in December, standing at 131.98 trillion yen. That follows the 5 percent annual increase in November. Seasonally adjusted, the monetary base soared 39 percent on year to 129.930 trillion yen. For the fourth quarter of 2012, the monetary base was up 9.2 percent on year. For all of 2012, the base climbed 7.0 percent. Later in the day, Japan is also scheduled to release December figures for vehicle sales as well as November numbers for loans and discounts. In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 88 yen-range on Monday. In late-morning trades, the dollar was quoted in a range of 88.02-88.04 yen, down 0.06 yen from Friday's close of 88.08-88.10 yen in Tokyo. Among other markets in the region, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, China and Hong Kong are trading higher, while South Korea and Taiwan are trading in negative territory. On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday, although buying interest was somewhat subdued. The markets benefited from a positive reaction to the release of some relatively upbeat economic data. While the Nasdaq inched up 1.09 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 3,101.66, the Dow rose 43.85 points or 0.3 percent to 13,435.21 and the S&P 500 climbed 7.10 points or 0.5 percent to 1,466.47. With the gain, the S&P 500 reached its best closing level since December of 2007. The major European averages also closed higher on Friday. The DAX of Germany climbed 0.26 percent, the CAC 40 of France rose 0.24 percent, the FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.49 percent and the SMI of Switzerland advanced 0.55 percent. U.S. Crude oil ended higher Friday, after fluctuating for much of the day, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration weekly oil report indicating a huge decline in Crude inventories. Oil was also supported by some upbeat macroeconomic data out of the U.S., rekindling hopes of demand growth. Crude oil futures for February delivery, the most actively traded contract, moved up $0.17 or 0.2 percent, to close at $93.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday. Commodities USDCAD USDEUR USDGBP USDJPY Please click on the images to view our interactive charts Crude Slips Below $93 The price of Crude oil was ticking lower Monday morning amid anxiety over future action from the U.S. Federal Reserve and after last week's data revealed that the U.S. unemployment rate little changed. Light Sweet Crude oil futures for February delivery, eased $0.43 to $92.66 a barrel. Last week, oil gained over 2 percent to settle near a four-month high as the U.S. budget agreement stoked hopes of an increase in oil demand. Investor concerns eased after the U.S. Congress passed the fiscal cliff deal, shedding fears that recovery in the world's biggest may be derailed. Friday during market hours, the EIA said US Crude oil inventories dived 11.10 million barrels, while gasoline stocks added 2.60 million barrels in the weekended December 28. Analysts expected Crude oil inventories to dip one million barrels and gasoline stocks to add 2.3 million barrels last week. This morning, the U.S. dollar was extending its three-week high versus the euro and sterling. The buck was hovering around its 2-year high versus the yen and ticking higher against the Swiss franc. In economic news, industrial producer prices in euro zone declined for the first time in five months in November, data from Eurostat showed. The producer price index fell 0.2 percent month-on-month in November compared to 0.1 percent rise in the previous month. The outcome was in line with economists' forecast. During this week, traders focus will be on the Commerce Department's trade balance report for November and the weekly jobless claims data. Also, focus will be on the Crude oil inventories data from the API, due out Tuesday after the market hours, and the EIA due out the subsequent day.