Market Review By TraderXP:
Oil traded near the highest level in four months in New York on signs of economic growth in the U.S. and after OPEC Secretary General Abdalla El-Badri said prices are not likely to fall this year.
Futures were little changed after rising 0.6 percent yesterday. U.S. durable goods orders last month rose more than the highest forecast in the poll Bloomberg, the Commerce Department data showed. Federal Reserve policy makers begin a two-day meeting to discuss the ongoing asset purchases to stimulate the economy. The oil market is well balanced and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries "do not imply a collapse in prices" in 2013, El-Badri said in London.
"You look at the trend over the past few months, orders for durable goods to be consistent with many other pieces that are pointing to a decent, moderate level of growth in the U.S.," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. "OPEC statement seems to imply that they did not see any action."
Market News
S & P 500 diseases, ends a long winning streak at eight
S & P 500 fell slightly on Monday after eight days of run profits, while the Nasdaq was up as Apple, shares jumped.
The index remained above 1500, however, after closing above that level on Friday for the first time in more than five years. S & P 500 for eight sessions of gains was the longest winning streak in eight years.
Caterpillar shares helped limit losses on the Dow industrial even the company posted a 55 percent drop in quarterly profit due to chargeconnected with accounting fraud in the Chinese subsidiary and weak demand among its dealers. Shares of Caterpillar, by 2.2 per cent in the past three sessions, rose by 2 per cent Monday to $ 97.45.
"I think it is a perennial high indeed something that the game is for short-term traders and people with money on the sidelines," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president of asset management BB & T in Birmingham, Alabama.
Bargain hunters lifted after Apple, the giant technology shares fell 14.4 percent in the previous two sessions. With Apple's stock up 2.3 percent to $ 449,83, IPad and iPhone maker reclaimed the title of the largest U.S. companies by market capitalization of Exxon Mobil fell 0.7 percent to $ 91.11 and climbed to second place.
On the down side, Boeing fell 1.4 percent to $ 74 on concerns over a potential hit by delays in its program 787 Dreamliner.
Index Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 14.05 points, or 0.10 percent, to 13,881.93. Standard & Poor 's 500 Indexwas to 2.78 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1,500.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 4.59 points, or 0.15 percent, to 3,154.30.
Investors have invested $ 55 billion in new money in stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in January, the largest monthly inflow on record, research provider TrimTabs Investment Research said.
"What we have seen this year, it seems, an individual investor allocatingsome 401 (k) money in stocks. Hopefully this decision, which will be with us for some time," said Hellwig.
Data on Monday pointed to the growing economic momentum as companies feel improvedconsumer demand.
U.S. durable goods orders jumped 4.6 percent in December, at a pace that far outstripped growth expectations of 1.8 per cent. Pending home sales, however, fell unexpectedly by 4.3 percent. Analysts were looking for an increase of 0.3 percent.
Corporate profits are still largely been stronger than expected. Thomson Reuters data showed that of the 150 companies in the S & P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 67.3 percent have beaten analysts' expectations that the greater proportion than in the last four quarters and above theaverage since 1994.
After the bell, Yahoo shares rose 4.4 percent to $ 21.21 after the publication of its results.
During the regular session, Hess Corp shares soared 6.1 percent to $ 62.48 after the company said it would exit its refining business, freeing up to $ 1 billion of capital. Separately, hedge fund Elliott Associates seeks approval to buy about $ 800 million more shares of Hess.
Stocks also got a boost from the recent agreement in Washington to extend the borrowing power of the government. On Monday, Fitch Ratings said the agreement removed the short-term risk to the country's rating of "AAA."
Volume was about 6.1 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, compared with 2012 average daily volume of about 6.45 billion closing.
Outpaced decliners on the NYSE advanced by 4 to 3, and advanced beat decliners on the Nasdaq about 7 to 5. Reuters.com
Currencies
Yen approaching 2-1/2 year low against the dollar, stronger Australian
The yen slipped on Tuesday to 2 1/2 year low hit earlier in the day against the dollar, have suffered from symptoms of optimism in relation to risky assets, while the Australian dollar rose on data showing a rebound in Australian business confidence.
The dollar rose 0.1 percent against the yen to 90.99 yen, not far from the high theprevious day at 91.26 yen, the strongest level of the U.S. currency against the Japanese currency since June 2010.
The dollar fell as low as 90.40 yen earlier, pressured by dollar sales, possibly from Japanese exporters, ahead of 0100 GMT Tokyo fixing. Traders also said the dollar offers from option players.
The dollar, however, later turned higher against the yen as Asian stocks and Tokyo stocks rebounded, traders said, adding that the upward trend of the U.S. currency against the yen appeared intact.
"I still think the dollar / yen will head higher," said a trader at a European bank in Tokyo. "In the near future, I think the dollar will trade in a range from 90 yen to 92 yen," he said.
Selling the yen was one-sided trade in mid-November, based on expectations that the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to push the Bank of Japan for more drastic easing of monetary defeat deflation.
"Everyone thinks only about where to buy (dollars) on dips," said a trader at a Japanese bank in Bangkok, referring to the dollar against the yen.
The Australian dollar rose 0.2 percent to $ 1.0438, having the momentum after a survey showed that Australian business confidence rose sharply in December.
The euro rose 0.1 percent against the yen to 122.32 yen, not far from Monday's high of about 122.90 yen, the strongest level of the euro against the Japanese currency since April 2011.
Against the dollar, the single currency was at $ 1.3452, hovering near 11-month high of $ 1.3480 set on Monday on trading platform EBS.
The euro received a boost last week on news of eurozone banks prepayment of three-year loans to the European Central Bank, which suggested that the part of the banking system of the euro area may be on the mend.
Euro, however, faces a number of major resistance level at around $ 1.35, including the 2012 level of $ 1.34869, 50 percent retracement of its May 2011 to July 2012 fall of around $ 1.3491, and the psychologically important high of $ 1.3500.
Sterling was at $ 1.5700, having hit a five-month low of $ 1.5675 on Monday.
Sterling was weighed down by concerns about weak UK economy and the prospects for more monetary easing Bank of England.
"The prospect of a more active monetary policy is not very encouraging one for the GBP, of course, as it is on top of a number of other negative - the economy, which is a triple-dip, a government that is trying to reduce its deficit, and self-examination of the role of the UK in Within the EU, "wrote JPMorgan analysts in a note. Reuters.com
