Market Review By TraderXP:
The yen fell against the dollar and the euro ahead of the data this week that may show Japan has a current account deficit in November, support the case for increasing the stimulus at the next meeting of the central bank. The euro is due to the loss of the previous day about the prospects of the European Central Bank officials are meeting tomorrow, will refrain from lowering borrowing costs. The Australian dollar slipped against most peers after data showed that retail sales unexpectedly fell and vacancies.
"The weakness of the yen trend has not changed," said Yoshiko Takayasu, Tokyo-based head of corporate sales of National Australia Bank Ltd. "There's a good chance yen will be discussed below, the Japanese government is expected to announce economic measures and the Bank of Japan held a meeting."
Market News
Wall Street slips as earnings season gets under way
Stocks fell on Tuesday, retreating from the rally last week about "financial cliff" deal in Washington, as the company began to report the results for the fourth quarter.
After a 4.3 percent jump in the two sessions of the negotiations surrounding the closure of the financial cliff, S & P was down slightly, with investors find few catalysts to extend the rally that took the benchmark for five-year highs.
"We had a short break, courtesy of what happened in the financial transaction rocks and flip calendar with new money coming into the market," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president of asset management BB & T in Birmingham, Alabama.
Shares of AT & T Inc fell 1.7 percent to $ 34.35, making it one of the biggest drags on the S & P 500, after the company said it sold more than 10 million smartphones in the quarter.
This figure beat the same quarter of 2011, but it also means an increase in the cost of your wireless service provider. Providers like AT & T to pay large subsidies for handset manufacturers, so that they can offer discounts to customers who commit to two years of the contract.
The fourth-quarter earnings are expected to beat the lackluster results of the previous quarter, but analyst estimates fell sharply in October. Quarterly earnings are expected to grow by 2.7 percent, according to Thomson Reuters. Component Dow Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, reported results after the closing bell.
Index Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.44 points, or 0.41 percent, to 13,328.85. 500 Index Standard & Poor fell 4.74 points, or 0.32 percent, to 1,457.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 7.01 points, or 0.23 percent, to 3,091.81.
"The harsh reality of the uncertainty of revenues, as well as talks on the debt ceiling, there is that does not give investors plenty of reasons to take bets on the long side," Hellwig said.
With the collapse of AT & T, in the S & P telecom servicesindex was the worst of the top 10 S & P sector, down 2.7 percent.
Sears Holdings shares fell 6.4 percent to $ 40.16 a day after the company said Chairman Edward Lampert to take on the role of CEO Louis D'Ambrosio, who has resigned due to health issues in the family. U.S. retailer also reported a 1.8-percent decline in the quarter to-date sales at stores open at least a year.
Markets went lower, some of the first reported earnings were weak.
"It does not seem to bounce back, it could stay here and sell a little further," said Stephen Carl, head of U.S. equity trading at Williams Capital Group in New York.
Shares of restaurant chain operator Brands Yum Incfell 4,2 percent to $ 65.04 a day after it warned parents KFC sales in China, its largest market, fell more than expected in the fourth quarter.
GameStop was one of the worst performers on the S & P 500, as shares fell 6.3 percent to $ 23.19 after the video game retailer reported lower customer traffic during the holiday season and cut its guidance.
Shares of Monsanto Co gained 2.5 percent to $ 98.42after achieve a four-year high of $ 99.99. The largest seed company in the world has increased its profit forecast for the fiscal 2013 and posted strong first-quarter results.
Volume was below average in 2012, 6.42 billion shares traded per day, and 6.19 billion were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE and Nasdaq MKT.
Declines outnumbered those for promotion theNYSE from 1495 to 1458, and the Nasdaq decliners beat advanced in 1305 to 1158. Reuters.com
Currencies
Dollar against the yen firms as buyers appear after rollback
The dollar rose against the yen on Wednesday after its retreat this week from 2-1/2 year high to lure buyers who are waiting for an opportunity to buy on dips, with the prospect of more Japanese monetary easing is expected to weigh on yen.
The dollar rose 0.3 percent to 87.38 yen after it fell to an intraday low of 86.83 yen, near its lowest level in nearly a week and a loss of about 1.9 percent from the peak last Friday at 88.48 yen, which was its highest level since July 2010.
"With the fall that we have seen in the dollar / yen, the dollar had a lot of customers coming in," said Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign exchange strategy for Credit Agricole in Hong Kong.
"So it seems, some U.S. buyers are out there looking for a dip in the dollar / yen to pick it up," he said.
Traders also said demand for dollars in the 0100 GMT Tokyo fixing, which is often a sign of dollar buying by Japanese importers.
However, the risk of further dollar near rollback can not be ruled out, Kotecha Credit Agricole said. Possible support for the dollar is at 86.54 yen, its intraday low on January 2, and the breach of this level could open the way for a fall to around 85.90 yen, he added.
The euro rose about 0.3 percent to 114.19 yen, but was still at some distance from the 18-month high of 115.995 yen set on trading platform EBS on January 2.
The dollar and the euro came under pressure against the yen earlier in the week, as investors locked in profits as a result of steep profits compared to the Japanese yen over the past couple of months.
At its peak against the yen on Friday, the dollar has gained nearly 12 percent from its bottom in early November, and traders said the rally was about to pause for breath.
"At the end of last year, the yen weakened sharply in thin conditions. If you were to take the position in the market, you could not see any reason to buy the yen No, because the yen was sold," said Kimihiko Tomita, head of foreign exchange State Street Global Markets in Tokyo.
"But markets can not go a week on the same factors, even if the overall trend remains the same, and in the short term, the yen began to move again."
Japan's new government, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rushes this week to finalize a new agreement policy of the Bank of Japan and the economic stimulus package, which will be the first test of whether it can meet its ambitious economic agenda aimed at pulling the country out of deflation.
Sources familiar with the thinking of the Bank of Japan said the central bank is likely to take 2 percent inflation target at its January 21-22 rate review, double its current goal, and to make a statement to the government, pledging to pursue bold monetary easing steps.
The Bank of Japan will also consider easing monetary policy again this month, with any weakening likely in the form of another increase in its 101 trillion yen ($ 1.2 trillion) in assets purchase and lending programs, sources said.
The euro was almost flat against the dollar since the end of the U.S. level, hands at $ 1.3075, with support at $ 1.30 after the European unit fell to a three-week low of $ 1.2998 on EBS on Friday.
The euro is likely to be supported this week expected the European Central Bank will hold off on cutting interest rates at its next policy meeting on Thursday, although some investors and economists believe the reduction will come later this year. Reuters.com
