US stocks fall ahead of earnings season kickoff

U.S. stocks closed lower Tuesday as traders awaited the start of the corporate earnings season.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 55.44 points, or 0.4 percent, to 13,328.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4.74, or 0.3 percent, to 1,457.15. The Nasdaq composite index shed 7.01, or 0.2 percent, to 3,091.81.
Alcoa reported its fourth-quarter financial results after the market closed, marking the unofficial kickoff to weeks of earnings announcements from U.S. companies. The aluminum maker said its revenue results exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts, while per-share earnings were roughly in line with expectations. Alcoa rose 20 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $9.30 in late trading.
Alcoa is traditionally the first of the 30 companies in the Dow average to report earnings.
Market-watchers expect the quarter's results could include many surprises because of events like Superstorm Sandy, the presidential election, and the narrowly avoided tax increases and spending cuts known collectively as the "fiscal cliff."
"Earnings is going to be the big driver for the next couple of weeks, and we're just sitting around waiting for it to begin," said Kim Caughey Forrest, vice president and senior analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group, an investment management firm.
The European debt crisis continued to cast a pall over the market. Unemployment in the 17 countries that use the euro hit a new high, leading the European Union to warn about the risk of fraying social welfare systems in southern Europe.
Trading has been cautious in the week since Congress and the White House struck a deal to maintain lower tax rates and postpone sweeping cuts in government spending. Enthusiasm about the compromise pushed the Dow up 300 points last Wednesday, its biggest gain since December 2011.
In corporate news:
— Agriculture products giant Monsanto rose $2.56, or 2.7 percent, to $98.50 after saying its profit nearly tripled in the first fiscal quarter, helped by strong seed sales in Latin America. Monsanto raised its earnings guidance for the year.
— Video game seller GameStop lost $1.56, or 6.3 percent, to $23.19 after reporting weak holiday-season sales and cutting its revenue guidance.
— Yum Brands, operator of the KFC and Taco Bell fast food chains, plunged after saying a key sales metric in China fell more than expected in the fourth quarter. The decline was related to problems at two of its small chicken suppliers; nearly half of the company's revenue came from China in 2011. Yum lost $2.85, or 4.2 percent, to $65.04.
— In Korea, electronics giant Samsung said it expects record earnings for the fourth quarter as shoppers continue to embrace its smartphones and tablets. But there were signs its momentum is slowing, and the company's stock closed down 1.3 percent in Seoul.

Read More..

TSX flat as Goldcorp offsets softer energy stocks

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index finished little changed on Tuesday, with weakness in the energy sector offset by Goldcorp Inc stock, following an update on the company's production outlook and a plan to be more transparent on how it reports mining costs.
Investor sentiment was cautious at the start of the U.S. earnings season with U.S. stocks retreating from last week's rally to five-year highs. Investors anticipate lukewarm quarterly results and analyst estimates are down sharply from October.<.n>
"It's cautious in part because the comparables versus a year ago will be difficult. More importantly investors are looking for insight on the outlook for the next three months or 12 months," said Robert McWhirter, president and portfolio manager at Selective Asset Management.
Shares of Goldcorp, Canada's second largest gold miner, rose 3.23 percent, to C$35.81, making it the index's most influential positive stock. The overall materials sector, home to miners, gained 0.24 percent.
Barrick Gold Corp shares, however, were down 1.28 percent at C$33.14 after the world's top gold miner said it had ended talks to sell a stake in its African Barrick Gold subsidiary to a Chinese buyer.
"There is a disappointment with that as it could have freed up some capital for them," McWhirter said.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> closed up 5.26 points, or 0.04 percent, at 12,504.81. Six of the index's 10 main sectors edged higher.
Investors were approaching earnings season with a mixture of hope and caution, said Irwin Michael, portfolio manager at ABC Funds.
"People are hoping that 2013 will be a better year than it was in 2012, particularly in Canada. But there's still a lot of confusion, a lot of cash on the sidelines," he said.
The heavily weighted financials group advanced 0.12 percent, led by Manulife Financial Corp , which saw Barclays raise its price target. The large insurer rose 2.57 percent to C$14.39.
Energy stocks retreated 0.4 percent and the mining subgroup fell 1.17 percent.
Oil and gas companies tracked softer U.S. crude prices, with Canadian Natural Resources Ltd falling 1.48 percent to C$29.34, the biggest drag on the index. Encana Corp was off 1.86 percent to C$19.55.
Diversified mining firm Teck Resources Ltd fell 2.56 percent to C$36.20.
Talisman Energy Inc said it may seek partners for its Canadian shale-gas holdings. The company's shares rose 1.20 percent to C$11.76.

Read More..

Alcoa earnings as expected, revenue tops forecasts

NEW YORK (AP) — Alcoa Inc. on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that met Wall Street's expectations, and the company said it expects slightly higher demand for aluminum this year.
The sluggish global economy has weakened prices for aluminum used in everything from airplanes to soda cans.
But Alcoa forecast demand growing 7 percent in 2013, up from a 6 percent gain in 2012. It sees the best prospects in aerospace but slower improvement in demand for autos, packaging, and building and construction materials.
Separately, the company announced that Chief Financial Officer Charles D. McLane Jr., 59, will retire and be replaced by William F. Oplinger, the chief operating officer of Alcoa's primary-products business unit. The change will happen April 1.
Oplinger, 45, joined Alcoa in 2000 and has held several finance and planning jobs. He is on the executive council, which plots company strategy.
In the fourth quarter, Alcoa's net income was $242 million, or 21 cents per share. That includes one-time gains like income from selling a hydroelectric project on the Tennessee-North Carolina border.
Without those gains, the company would have made 6 cents per share — exactly what analysts expected, according to FactSet — on revenue of $5.90 billion. Sales were higher than the $5.58 billion that analysts predicted.
A year ago, the company posted a fourth-quarter loss of $191 million, or 18 cents per share, on revenue of $5.99 billion, and a loss after special items of 3 cents per share.
The company said it hit record profits in its aluminum-rolling and product-making businesses while cutting costs in its mining and refining or "upstream" segment.
Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said the company overcame volatile aluminum prices and global economic weakness and was in "strong position to maximize profitable growth" in 2013.
Kleinfeld said aerospace sales were helped by aircraft-order backlogs at Airbus and Boeing, plus improved profits at the world's airlines.
The price that Alcoa received for aluminum fell 2 percent from a year ago but rose nearly 5 percent from the third quarter. Shipments were flat from a year ago.
The low prices were a factor in the announcement last month by Moody's Investor Service that it could downgrade Alcoa's credit rating to junk status. Alcoa has been trying to reduce debt to keep its investment-grade rating. In the fourth quarter, it cut spending by 12 percent to $6.23 billion.
Alcoa is the first company in the Dow Jones industrial average to report fourth-quarter earnings. Because it makes aluminum for so many key industries, investors study Alcoa's results for clues about the health and direction of the overall economy.
Alcoa shares ended regular trading where they began, unchanged at $9.10. In after-hours trading following the earnings report, the stock rose 8 cents to $9.18.

Read More..

Lilly 2013 profit forecast tops expectations

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Eli Lilly and Co. unveiled a better-than-expected 2013 earnings forecast Friday, in part because the pharmaceutical company expects growth from several established drugs to help make up for revenue lost to generic competition.
The Indianapolis drug developer saw sales for its all-time best-selling drug, the antipsychotics Zyprexa, crater in 2012 after it lost U.S. patent protection. Lilly will take another hit next December when it loses patent protection for its current top seller, the antidepressant Cymbalta.
But company executives told analysts Friday they still expect Cymbalta and another product that loses patent protection in 2013, the insulin Humalog, to help drive revenue growth along with products like the cancer treatment Alimta and the erectile dysfunction drug Cialis.
Lilly also expects more growth from Japan, developing countries and its animal health business.
All told, the drugmaker forecast 2013 adjusted earnings of between $3.75 and $3.90 per share on $22.6 billion to $23.4 billion in revenue.
That topped analyst expectations, on average, for per-share earnings of $3.72, according to FactSet. Analysts also expected $22.87 billion in revenue.
Company shares climbed $1.84, or 3.7 percent, to close at $51.56 Friday, while broader indexes rose less than 1 percent.
Lilly said it expects operating expenses will be flat or drop slightly compared with 2012, and that was slightly better than what Edward Jones analyst Judson Clark expected.
He called Lilly's 2013 forecast "a pleasant surprise," but he also noted that plenty of long-term concerns remain. Lilly won't feel the brunt of the Cymbalta patent loss until 2014, and Clark expects the company's earnings to shrink then. What remains to be seen, he said, is whether the drugmaker is willing to preserve its dividend and cut expenses enough to tame that loss.
"We think the real question marks are in 2014," he said.
Lilly also expects to counter the patent expirations by developing new drugs, and the company said Friday it has 13 experimental drugs in late-stage testing, the last phase before a company seeks regulatory approval.
Lilly reiterated on Friday that it expects at least $3 billion in net income and revenue of at least $20 billion through 2014. It also expects to keep paying its dividend and to buy back $1.5 billion in shares this year.
Zyprexa once brought in more than $5 billion in annual revenue for Lilly, but its sales sank 66 percent through the first nine months of 2012 after generic competition entered the market. The company expects revenue from Cymbalta, which topped $4 billion in 2011, to start falling in this year's fourth quarter.
Humalog, Lilly's best-selling insulin, brought in about $1.4 billion in U.S. revenue in 2011. That product may take less of a sales hit after it loses U.S. patent protection in May because it's a biologic drug made from living cells instead of a chemical formula. Those are harder for generic drugmakers to replicate.
Lilly should not expect to replace blockbuster drug revenue with another round of blockbusters, said WBB Securities analyst Steve Brozak. He said the company's success will depend on a combination of drug development, partnerships with other companies and acquisitions that help stoke its product pipeline.
But that approach will be difficult because other drugmakers also are facing patent expirations and will be competing with Lilly on those deals.
"If (Lilly executives) think that business as usual applies, their shareholders are going to vote with their sell orders," he said.

Read More..

IMF cuts Malawi 2013 growth forecast on inflation, drought

The International Monetary Fund expects Malawi's economy to grow by 5.5 percent this year, more than double the rate estimated for 2012, but slightly lower than the 5.7 percent the IMF had previously projected.
IMF head Christine Lagarde said a spike in inflation, lower-than-expected foreign exchange earnings and a drought that has cut into farm production have hurt the economy. But she was optimistic reforms would restore financial stability.
"Malawi has already made significant progress in addressing the serious imbalances that were hampering economic growth just a few months ago," she said at the weekend, wrapping up a two-day visit to the country.
Malawi President Joyce Banda, who took office less than a year ago, has been trying to rebuild an economy sent into a tailspin by her predecessor, but prices have soared since she devalued the currency on International Monetary Fund advice.
Lagarde said investors were set to return and inflation, running at about 33 percent in December, was poised to drop this year because of Banda's economic policies.
"Following these reforms, the economic wheels started spinning again," Lagarde said, urging the country to stay on course.
But many economists do not share her optimism, saying the drought has severely damaged the maize crop while earnings from tobacco, a major source of hard currency for the destitute country, have dropped by more than 50 percent since 2010.
The economy of the aid-dependent country had been teetering under former President Bingu wa Mutharika, who picked fights with donors. The cut in aid, which has traditionally accounted for 40 percent of the budget, coincided with a steady decline in tobacco sales.
Banda, who took office in April 2012 after Mutharika died of a heart attack, has restored aid flows, but soaring commodity prices have made her unpopular, pushing inflation to 33.3 percent in December, far higher than the forecast of around 18 percent for 2012.

Read More..

RIM shares fall at the open after earnings

TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd fell in early trading on Friday following the BlackBerry maker's Thursday earnings announcement, when the company outlined plans to change the way it charges for services.
RIM, pushing to revive its fortunes with the launch of its new BlackBerry 10 devices next month, surprised investors when it said it plans to alter its service revenue model, a move that could put the high-margin business under pressure.
Shares fell 16.0 percent to $11.86 in early trading on the Nasdaq. Toronto-listed shares fell 15.8 percent to C$11.74.

Read More..

Walgreen fiscal 1Q profit sinks nearly 26 pct

Walgreen's fiscal first-quarter earnings sank nearly 26 percent as costs tied to a couple big deals and Superstorm Sandy helped put a bigger-than-expected dent in the drugstore chain's performance.
CEO Greg Wasson told analysts he saw the quarter as a "turning point" for the Deerfield, Ill., company, which has been working to recapture customers it lost during a contract dispute with Express Scripts Holding Co. But investors didn't buy that message at least initially, as the stock fell deeper than broader market declines in Friday trading.
Walgreen Co. spent $4 billion in cash earlier this year to buy a stake in Alliance Boots, a Swiss company that runs the largest drugstore chain in the United Kingdom. It also spent $438 million on a drugstore chain focused on the mid-South under the USA Drug, Super D Drug and Med-X names.
Costs tied to those deals totaled $23 million in the quarter, and Walgreen said it only counted a small portion of the gains it received from Alliance Boots. It is reporting those gains a quarter after they occur to address audit and regulatory requirements.
The storm system that swept up the East Coast in late October also cost $24 million in the quarter, as it forced Walgreen to temporarily close hundreds of stores.
Overall, Walgreen earned $413 million, or 43 cents per share, in the three months that ended Nov. 30. That compares with net income of $554 million, or 63 cents per share, a year ago. Walgreen said earlier this month revenue fell nearly 5 percent to $17.34 billion.
Excluding one-time costs, adjusted earnings were 58 cents per share.
Analysts forecast, on average, earnings of 70 cents per share, according to FactSet.
Shares dropped 3.3 percent, or $1.24, to close at $36.31 Friday, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1 percent.
Walgreen runs more than 8,000 drugstores in all 50 states as the nation's largest drugstore chain. The company's revenue has slumped through 2012 after it started the year stuck in a contract squabble with Express Scripts, for which it fills prescriptions.
The companies had let a contract between them expire last December, and their new agreement didn't start until September. The split meant many Express Scripts customers migrated to new drugstores for their prescriptions.
Walgreen is trying to bring those customers back, but competitors like CVS Caremark Corp. and Rite Aid Corp. are pushing aggressively to keep them.
Walgreen said prescriptions filled at stores open at least a year fell nearly 5 percent in the quarter, a smaller decrease than the 8 percent drop it reported in the previous quarter. The drugstore chain saw that improvement as a sign that customers are returning.
"We think we can redeem significant portion of these customers over time," Wasson said.
Walgreen said prescription revenue from stores open at least a year fell 11.3 percent, while revenue from the front end, or rest of the store, dropped 2 percent. Revenue from stores open at least a year is considered a key indicator of retailer health because it excludes stores that recently opened or closed.
Generic drugs have squeezed revenue for Walgreen and other drugstores this year because they are cheaper than brand-name drugs. But they help profitability because they come with a wider margin between the cost for the pharmacy to purchase the drugs and the reimbursement it receives.
Walgreen launched a customer loyalty program called Balance Rewards during the quarter. It allows shoppers to gain points at both Walgreen and Duane Reade stores and for online purchases that translate into cash rewards they can then use at the stores.
Walgreen executives said the program will encourage customers to visit their stores more frequently and to buy more.
"We now have a new kind of currency in place that will help drive our front-end business," Wasson said.

Read More..

Nigeria's Dangote Cement expects 38 pct rise in Q1 profit

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's biggest listed company, Dangote Cement, expects pretax profit to rise 38.9 percent year-on-year to 42.09 billion naira in the first three months of next year, it said in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Dangote Cement, Nigeria's biggest cement producer, said it expected turnover of around 81.6 billion naira in the first quarter, compared with 64.1 billion naira it achieved in the same period in 2012.
The company which is majority owned by billionaire tycoon Aliko Dangote earlier this month shut down a fifth of its production capacity because of a glut in the market caused by imported cement from Asia.
It is yet to release its 2012 full year results.

Read More..

Fed split on stimulus plans nudges stocks lower

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are fading into the close of trading on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve revealed a split among its policymakers over how long to continue an economic stimulus program.
The market started on a weak note Thursday following mixed holiday sales reports from retailers and the prospect of another fiscal fight looming in Congress over the nation's borrowing limit.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished down 21 points at 13,391. The Dow surged 308 points the day before, its biggest gain in more than a year.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost three points to end at 1,459. The Nasdaq composite lost 11 to end at 3,100.
Rising stocks outnumbered falling ones on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was 3.8 billion shares, above the recent average.

Read More..

Fed becoming worried about stimulus side effects

Federal Reserve officials are increasingly concerned about the potential risks of the U.S. central bank's asset purchases on financial markets, even if they look set to continue an open-ended stimulus program for now.
In a surprise to Wall Street, minutes from the Fed's December policy meeting, published on Thursday, showed a growing reticence about further increases in the central bank's $2.9 trillion balance sheet, which it expanded sharply in response to the financial crisis and recession of 2007-2009.
"Several (officials) thought that it would probably be appropriate to slow or to stop purchases well before the end of 2013, citing concerns about financial stability or the size of the balance sheet," the minutes said, referring to the narrower group of voting Fed members.
Investors picked up on the report's hawkish tone, with stock prices drifting lower after the announcement, while the U.S. dollar extended gains against the euro. Yields on the 30-year Treasury bond hit 3.12 percent, their highest levels since May.
"The minutes of the Federal Reserve's December monetary policy meeting revealed a somewhat surprising level of concern among the ranks of central bankers regarding the long-term impact of the bank's asset purchase program, or quantitative easing," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington D.C.
Still, the Fed appeared likely to continue buying assets for the foreseeable future, having announced in December it was extending monthly purchases of $40 billion in mortgage securities and also buying $45 billion in Treasuries each month.
A few of the voting members on the central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee thought asset buying would be warranted until about the end of 2013. A few others highlighted the need for further large-scale stimulus but did not specify an amount or time frame.
Fed officials generally agreed that the labor market outlook was not likely to improve without further nudging from the monetary authorities.
QE "HEEBIE-JEEBIES"
The U.S. economy expanded a respectable 3.1 percent in the third quarter on an annualized basis, but growth is believed to have slowed sharply to barely above 1.0 percent in the last three months of the year.
Data on Thursday showed a solid gain of 215,000 new private sector jobs for December, while analysts polled by Reuters last week were looking for a rise of 150,000 new jobs in the Labor Department's official survey, due out on Friday.
Still, the minutes indicated worries about quantitative easing policies were spreading beyond the usual regional Fed hawks who, like Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, have opposed additional Fed easing.
"What's clear from these minutes is that there is little consensus among the members of the FOMC on how long asset purchases should carry on," said Jason Conibear, trading director at Cambridge Mercantile.
"Some members want more accommodation for as long as it takes, some want more but to start winding it down while others have got the heebie-jeebies about the size of the balance sheet."
In the December meeting, the Fed also launched a new framework of policy thresholds, numerical guideposts that are supposed to give markets and the public a clearer idea of how policymakers will react to incoming economic data.
Officials say they will keep interest rates near zero until the unemployment rate falls to 6.5 percent for as long as estimates of medium-run inflation do not exceed 2.5 percent.
The minutes suggested it took officials some time to build a consensus around the idea.
"A few participants expressed a preference for using a qualitative description of the economic indicators influencing the Committee's thinking," the minutes said.
U.S. unemployment has come down steadily after hitting a peak of 10 percent in late 2009, but remains elevated at 7.7 percent.
Fed officials noted worries about the looming "fiscal cliff," which was dealt with only partly in an agreement earlier this week, were hurting the confidence of businesses and households.

Read More..

Stocks fade after Fed discloses split on stimulus

A two-day rally in the stock market came to an end Thursday afternoon when an account of the Federal Reserve's last meeting revealed a split between bank officials over how long the Fed should keep buying bonds to support the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index treaded water for much of the day, then slid into the red around 2 p.m. Eastern, after the Fed released the minutes from its December meeting.
The Dow ended with a loss of 21.19 points at 13,391.36.
The S&P 500 lost 3.05 points to 1,459.37 and the Nasdaq composite fell 11.70 to 3,100.57.
At last month's meeting of the Federal Reserve's policy-making committee, the central bank pledged to buy $85 billion of Treasurys and mortgage-backed bonds and also keep a benchmark interest rate near zero until the unemployment rates drops below 6.5 percent.
On Thursday, the minutes from that meeting showed Fed officials were divided over the bond purchases. Some of its 12 voting members thought they should continue through this year, while another group thought they should be slowed or stopped much earlier. Just "a few" members saw no need for a time frame, according to the minutes.
"It's pretty surprising," said Thomas Simons, market economist at the investment bank Jefferies. "I think everybody thought there was broad agreement on policy, but now it seems like few of them really wanted to vote for it."
The stock market opened on a weak note after retailers reported mixed holiday sales and as the prospect of a new budget battle in Congress loomed. UnitedHealth Group led the Dow lower. The insurance giant's stock fell $2.55 to $51.99 after analysts at Deutsche Bank and other firms cut their ratings on the stock.
"It's natural to relax a bit after such a huge day as yesterday," said Lawrence Creatura, who manages a small-company fund at Federated Investors.
The Dow soared 308 points Wednesday, its largest point gain since December 2011. The rally was ignited after lawmakers passed a bill to avoid a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases called the "fiscal cliff."
That deal gave the market a jump start into the new year. The Dow and the S&P 500 are already up more than 2 percent.
"We're off to a very strong start," Creatura said. "The dominant reason is the resolution of the fiscal cliff. But January is usually a strong month, as investors all shift money into the market at the same time. When the calendar flips, it's as if you're allowed to begin the race anew."
Economists had warned that the full force of the fiscal cliff could drag the country into a recession. The law passed late Tuesday night averted that outcome for now, but other fiscal squabbles are likely in the months ahead. Congress must raise the government's borrowing limit soon or be forced to choose between slashing spending and paying its debts.
In other Thursday trading, prices of U.S. government bonds fell, sending their yields higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.90 percent from 1.84 percent late Wednesday, a sign that some bond traders believe the Fed minutes hinted at an early end to its bond buying.
Family Dollar Stores sank 13 percent after reporting earnings that fell short of analysts' projections. The company also forecast a weaker outlook for the current period and full year. Family Dollar's stock lost $8.30 to $55.74.
Nordstom Inc. surged 3 percent after the department-store chain reported strong holiday sales, especially in the South and Midwest. Nordstrom's stock was up $1.64 to $55.27.
Among other stocks making big moves:
— Transocean jumped $2.96 to $49.20. The owner of the oil rig that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 after an explosion killed 11 workers reached a $1.4 billion settlement with the Justice Department.
— Hormel Foods, known for making Spam and other meat products, said that it's buying Skippy, the country's No. 2 peanut butter brand, from Unilever for about $700 million. Hormel's stock jumped $1.19 to $33.20.

Read More..

How the Dow Jones industrial average fared

A two-day rally in the stock market came to an end Thursday afternoon when an account of the Federal Reserve's last meeting revealed a split between bank officials over how long the Fed should keep buying bonds to support the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 21.19, or 0.2 percent, to 13,391.36.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 3.05, or 0.2 percent, to 1,459.37.
The Nasdaq composite index lost 11.70, or 0.4 percent, to 3,100.57.
For the week:
The Dow is up 453.25, or 3.5 percent.
The S&P 500 is up 56.94, or 4.1 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 140.26, or 4.7 percent.
For the year:
The Dow is up 287.22, or 2.2 percent.
The S&P 500 is up 33.18, or 2.3 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 81.06, or 2.7 percent.

Read More..

Data-feed glitch leaves some traders in dark on Nasdaq prices

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A technical glitch caused an outage of around 15 minutes on real-time prices for Nasdaq listed stocks, including Apple Inc and Google Inc , for many investors on Thursday, traders and multiple industry sources said.
Nasdaq said at 1:42 p.m. in an alert to traders that it was investigating an issue involving the Universal Trading Platform's (UTP) centralized securities information processor (SIP) data feeds, which consolidate and display market data for Nasdaq-listed securities from all trading venues.
Shortly after, Direct Edge, the No. 4 U.S. equities exchange, said it had halted trading in all Nasdaq order books. It said about 10 minutes later that all trading had resumed.
U.S. exchanges and alternative trading systems use UTP to quote and trade Nasdaq stocks. Those that do so must provide their data to the SIP for data consolidation and dissemination to traders that subscribe to the data feed.
The outage meant that continuous quotations and continuous last sale information from all market centers trading Nasdaq-listed securities was unavailable to as many as 2.5 million traders, said Eric Hunsader, founder of trading software and technology firm Nanex.
NYSE-listed securities, which are on a different data feed, were unaffected.
Hunsader said the reason behind consolidated feeds was to make market data affordable to the average investor.
Traders can also subscribe to direct data feeds from exchanges, rather than relying on the consolidated feeds. The direct feeds were unaffected by the UTP outage.
"This is a great example of the two-tiered market that we have developed," said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of trading at Themis Trading.
"There are the 'haves,' who subscribe to all of the private data feeds and various hardware and software and spend a ton of money, and then there are the 'have-nots,' which are the public who rely on the SIP," he said.
Data on quotes from the UTP SIP were stopped showing from 13:37.24 to 13:48.19, and data on trades were out from 13:36.55 to 13:51.14, said Hunsader, who maintains a blog where he posts frequently on sudden, computer-driven moves in markets.
A Nasdaq spokesman declined to comment. Spokesmen for Direct Edge and NYSE Euronext had no comment, and a spokesman for BATS Global Markets, the No. 3 U.S. equities exchange, was not immediately available.
In September, Big Board operator NYSE said it would pay $5 million to settle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after software issues and compliance failures allegedly led to some of the exchange's customers receiving access to market data faster others.
The SEC said at the time that early access to market data can lead to "a real and substantial advantage."
An SEC spokeswoman declined to comment on the UTP issue on Thursday.

Read More..

Wall Street ends 2012 riding high on "cliff" deal optimism

 U.S. stocks closed out 2012 with their strongest day in more than a month, putting the S&P 500 up 13.4 percent for the year, as lawmakers in Washington closed in on a resolution to the "fiscal cliff" negotiations.
The S&P 500's gain for the year marks its best performance since 2009, as stocks navigated through debt crises in Europe and the United States that dominated the headlines. Still, with numerous issues involving budget talks unresolved, markets could still be open to a shock should the deal break down unexpectedly.
Fittingly, in the last session of the year, stocks bounced back and forth on the headlines out of Washington, as both President Barack Obama and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell issued statements indicating a deal to avert the cliff was close.
"The worst news could have been the president coming out and saying, 'We don't have a deal and we've giving up,' and he didn't say that," said Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank, based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
"My personal skepticism, I don't trust anything out of Washington until it is signed, sealed and delivered, and it is not signed, sealed and delivered."
While a deal on the cliff is not yet official, investors may be ready to take on more risk next year in hopes of a greater reward.
McConnell said an agreement had been reached with Democrats on all of the tax issues in the potential deal, removing a large hurdle in the talks. An agreement is needed in order to avert a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts that many believe could push the U.S. economy into recession.
A source familiar with the matter said an emerging deal, if adopted by Congress and President Barack Obama, would raise $600 billion in revenue over the next 10 years by increasing tax rates for individuals making more than $400,000 and households earning above $450,000 annually.
Despite the uncertainty, the market encountered only occasional bouts of volatility this year. For the first time since 2006, the CBOE Volatility Index or VIX <.vix>, the market's favored indicator of anxiety, did not surpass the 30 level, a threshold that usually signals heightened worry among investors.
"Given all the threats in 2012, the VIX was relatively tranquil," said Bill Luby, the author of the VIX and More blog in San Francisco, citing the crises in Spain and Greece, along with constant intervention from the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 166.03 points, or 1.28 percent, to end at 13,104.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> gained 23.76 points, or 1.69 percent, to finish at 1,426.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> gained 59.20 points, or 2.00 percent, to close at 3,019.51.
Monday's gains enabled the S&P 500 to snap a five-day losing streak, its longest skid since September.
The S&P 500 closed out 2012 with a 13.4 percent gain for the year, compared with a flat performance in 2011. The Dow rose 7.3 percent in 2012 and the Nasdaq climbed 15.9 percent.
Financials <.gspf> were the strongest of the S&P's 10 industry sectors this year, gaining more than 26 percent, led by Bank of America , which more than doubled in 2012, and was the best performer of the Dow industrials.
Of the S&P's 10 sectors, only defensively oriented utilities <.gspu> ended the year lower, falling 2.9 percent.
Gains in Apple Inc , the most valuable U.S. company, helped lift the Nasdaq. The stock rose 4.4 percent to $532.17, lifting the S&P information technology sector index <.gspt> up 2.2 percent. For the year, Apple rose 31.4 percent, ending with a market value of about $501.4 billion.
Each of the Dow's 30 components finished the session in positive territory, led by a 3.2 percent climb in Caterpillar Inc to $89.58.
Volume was modest, with about 6.06 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, slightly below the daily average of 6.42 billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 6 to 1, while on the Nasdaq, four stocks rose for every one that fell.

Read More..

Stocks open lower as lawmakers doubt budget deal

Stocks are opening lower on Wall Street amid concern that lawmakers will fail to reach a deal to stop the U.S. going over the so-called fiscal cliff.
The Dow Jones industrial average is down 39 points at 13,151. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is off four points at 1,426. The Nasdaq composite is down six points at 3,013.
Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday that it is now "more likely we'll go over the cliff than not," following the collapse late Thursday of House Speaker John Boehner's plan to allow tax rates to rise on million-dollar-plus incomes.
Failure to agree on a plan to cut the budget deficit by Jan. 1 would lead to simultaneous government spending cuts and tax hikes that could push the economy back into recession.

Read More..

Stocks fall as lawmakers doubt budget deal

Stocks are down Wall Street amid concern that lawmakers will fail to reach a deal to stop the U.S. going over the so-called fiscal cliff.
The Dow Jones industrial average is down 32 points at 13,158. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is off four points at 1,426. The Nasdaq composite is down nine points at 3,012.
Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday that it "It's the first time that I feel it's more likely we'll go over the cliff than not," following the collapse late Thursday of House Speaker John Boehner's plan to allow tax rates to rise on million-dollar-plus incomes. Wyoming Sen. Jon Barrasso, a member of the Republican leadership, predicted the new year would come without an agreement.

Read More..

New Jersey pension fund sues NYSE Euronext on ICE deal

 A pension fund that holds shares of NYSE Euronext has sued the exchange operator over its proposed $8.2 billion sale to IntercontinentalExchange Inc , saying the deal undervalues the company's stock.
The New Jersey Carpenters Pension Fund late on Friday filed a complaint in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan contending that NYSE Euronext breached its duty to maximize returns for shareholders. The lawsuit seeks class action status on behalf of other NYSE Euronext shareholders and aims to block the sale.
It is the second such lawsuit filed against the exchange operator since the deal was announced on Thursday. An individual shareholder, Samuel Cohen, filed a proposed class action in Delaware Chancery Court on Friday that also seeks to prevent the buyout from going forward.
Under the deal, NYSE Euronext, which operates the New York Stock Exchange, will sell itself to Atlanta-based ICE. The stock-and-cash deal is expected to close in the second half of 2013.
At $33.12 per share, ICE's offer represents a 28 percent premium to NYSE Euronext's closing price last Wednesday.
In court papers, the New Jersey pension fund said the deal was based on a "hopelessly flawed process" that would favour NYSE Euronext Chief Executive Duncan Niederauer and several members of its board of directors.
The sale was "designed to ensure the sale of NYSE Euronext to ICE on terms preferential to ICE and designed to benefit NYSE Euronext's insiders," the pension fund said.
A spokesman for NYSE Euronext declined to comment. A spokeswoman for ICE, which is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not return a call seeking comment.
The lawsuit also names as defendants Niederauer, NYSE Euronext Chairman Jan-Michiel Hessels, and other executives and board members.
The buyout is expected to help ICE compete in derivatives trading against U.S.-based CME Group, owner of the Chicago Board of Trade. Derivatives trading is highly profitable for the exchanges, and new rules next year will dramatically expand the demand for clearing over-the-counter contracts.
NYSE Euronext's stock market businesses are less valuable to ICE, and the company said it will try to spin off the Euronext European stock market businesses in a public offering, generating speculation it may also have little interest in the NYSE trading floor.
Profits from stock trading have been significantly eroded by new technology and the rise of other places for investors to trade, including venues known as "dark pools."
The cases are New Jersey Carpenters Pension Fund et al. v. NYSE Euronext et al., Supreme Court of the State of New York, No. 654496/2012, and Cohen v. NYSE Euronext et al, Delaware Court of Chancery, No. 8136.

Read More..

U.S. may expand mortgage refinance program: WSJ

The U.S. government is considering expanding its mortgage refinancing program to include borrowers whose mortgages are not backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. (http://link.reuters.com/mej84t)
The refinancing program now being considered also seeks to include "underwater" borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth, the Journal said.
The proposal would also transfer potentially riskier loans held by private investors to the government-sponsored mortgage entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the paper said.
Such a move would require congressional authorization to temporarily change the charters of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the Journal.
About 22 percent of all homes with a mortgage, or around 10.8 million homes, down from 12.1 million last year, were worth less than the outstanding balance at the end of June, the Journal said, citing data from CoreLogic.
Under the proposal, Fannie and Freddie would be allowed to charge higher rates to borrowers in order to compensate for the risk of guaranteeing refinanced loans that are underwater and more likely to result in default.
Officials at the U.S. Treasury could not be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours.
Combined with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy loans and repackage them as securities for investors, Washington's footprint in the market has grown to account for nearly nine of every 10 mortgages.

Read More..

TEXT-S&P summary: Chartis Singapore Insurance Pte. Ltd.

Dec 26 -
===============================================================================
Summary analysis -- Chartis Singapore Insurance Pte. Ltd. --------- 26-Dec-2012
===============================================================================
CREDIT RATING: Country: Singapore
Local currency A/Stable/--
===============================================================================
Credit Rating History:
Local currency Foreign currency
28-Feb-2011 A/-- --/--
22-Dec-2010 A+/-- --/--
===============================================================================
Rationale
The ratings on Chartis Singapore Insurance Pte. Ltd. reflect the company's
core status to the Chartis group (we rate the Chartis group's core operating
companies A/Stable/--). Chartis Singapore is a regional hub for the group's
Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) operations and the company's operations in
Singapore are substantial and profitable. Chartis Singapore has strong
integration with, and support from, the group. Chartis Singapore's exposure to
increased competition and softening rates in its domestic market partly
offsets these strengths.
We view Chartis Singapore's stand-alone credit profile as strong, reflecting
the company's strong business position in the local non-life insurance market
(with a 13% share) and conservative investment portfolio.
Chartis Singapore is an indirect subsidiary of Chartis Inc., which is
ultimately owned by American International Group Inc. (AIG; A-/Negative/A-2).
Chartis Singapore benefits from access to its group's resources, expertise,
and extensive reinsurance support. As part of the Chartis group's efforts to
simplify its legal and organizational structure, Chartis has established three
geographic segments, of which one covers the Asia-Pacific region. The majority
of branch operations in Asia-Pacific have converted to locally domiciled
subsidiaries, with regional oversight by Chartis Singapore.
We view Chartis Singapore's capitalization as strong. Moreover the Chartis
group provides strong reinsurance support to the company. As part of the
group's capital management strategy, risk from volatile lines of business,
such as energy, financial lines, and commercial property, are ceded to the
Chartis group. The local entity retains the risk on less volatile business
lines, such as accident and health, and motor. Chartis Singapore's
conservative investment portfolio supports its capital position. About 94% of
invested assets are in cash, deposits, and bonds.
Continued softening in premium rates and continued pursuit of multinational
business by competitors have added to the challenges for Chartis Singapore. In
addition, the increasing cost of vehicle ownership has dampened growth
opportunities in motor insurance, where the company has a significant market
share. Chartis Singapore's operating performance has been good in the past few
years, although its underwriting performance has moderated somewhat in
2011-2012. We expect Chartis Singapore's remediation efforts on unprofitable
business and continued efforts to leverage its distribution capabilities to
improve its operating performance.
Enterprise risk management
In our view, Chartis Singapore's risk controls over factors such as insurance,
investment, and operations are adequate relative to the nature of the
company's overall risk as well as local standards.
Our view of Chartis Singapore's enterprise risk management reflects our
assessment of the risk characteristics of its ultimate parent, AIG.
Outlook
The stable outlook on Chartis Singapore is in line with the outlook on the
Chartis group.
The outlook on the Chartis group in turn reflects the stable outlook on its
ultimate parent, AIG. We view the Chartis group as strategically important to
AIG. We could lower our ratings on AIG and Chartis if the group's performance
were to fall short of our expectations, particularly with regard to earnings,
capitalization (currently strong), liquidity, or leverage. On the other hand,
we could raise the ratings if the consolidated group were to improve its
operating performance, particularly at the Chartis level, to above the
industry average while continuing to improve AIG's risk profile.
The ratings on Chartis Singapore are at the same level as that on the Chartis
group. If we upgrade Chartis group, we could upgrade Chartis Singapore if our
view of Chartis Singapore's status within the group remains unchanged.
We could raise Chartis Singapore's stand-alone credit profile if the company
improves its business position while maintaining its financial profile. We
could lower the stand-alone credit profile if the company's operating
performance deteriorates, thereby affecting its capital position.
Related Criteria And Research
-- Refined Methodology And Assumptions For Analyzing Insurer Capital
Adequacy Using The Risk-Based Insurance Capital Model, June 7, 2010
-- Interactive Ratings Methodology, April 22, 2009
-- General: Group Methodology, April 22, 2009
-- Summary Of Standard & Poor's Enterprise Risk Management Evaluation
Process For Insurers, Nov. 26, 2007

Read More..

Ugandan shilling steady, seen weaker after Christmas holiday

KAMPALA (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling was unchanged against the dollar on Friday but traders said they expected it to weaken once more active trading resumed next year. At 1238 GMT commercial banks in Kampala quoted the currency of east Africa's third-largest economy at 2,645/2,655, unchanged from Thursday's close. "The market is pretty flat because (dollar) demand is not there but going into 2013 we anticipate some small depreciation for the shilling," said Shahzad Kamaluddin, trader at Crane Bank. "Considering the negative factors like a growing current account deficit, aid cuts and the central bank's loose policy stance I reckon the shilling will weaken when business resumes." The shilling has lost 6.4 percent against the dollar this year but it has been strengthening since late November, lifted by decreased demand for the hard currency ahead of the year-end festivities. Traders say the central bank's cuts to its key lending rate will keep yields on Ugandan government securities low and possibly erode the interest of offshore investors - whose dollar flows partly support the shilling's exchange rate. At the last auction on November 29, the yield on the benchmark 91-day Treasury bill was unchanged from the previous auction at 9.8 percent. Bank of Uganda is due to sell 110 billion shillings' worth of Treasury bills of all maturities on December 27. The bank cut its key lending rate by 50 basis points to 12 percent this month, extending its policy easing cycle aimed at resuscitating economic growth. "Because of low demand, market sentiment favours limited shilling appreciation for the remaining trading sessions of this year beyond which it (shilling) will come under pressure," said a trader at a leading commercial bank. The central bank says Uganda's projected growth rate of about 4.3 percent for the 2012/13 (July-June) fiscal year is below the country's potential growth rate of around 7 percent.

Read More..