LONDON (ShareCast) - - Stocks lower following consumer confidence numbers
- Morgan Stanley and GE impress

Dow Jones Industrials: 0.10%
Nasdaq Comp.: -0.25%
S&P 500: 0.02%

The major US equity averages were still trading mixed about an hour away from the close, but off their lows of the session.

In a somewhat surreal manner, some market reports ascribed that improvement to remarks from Congressional majority leader Eric Cantor, according to whom Congressmen will not get paid if an agreement on the budget has not been reached by the time that a proposed three month extension on the federal debt ceiling has been passed.

All of the above followed the release of weaker than expected consumer confidence data and a rather poor news-flow as regards fourth-quarter results from some of Wall Street’s top-tier outfits, such as Intel or Capital One Financial.

Of note, volatility levels –as measured by the VIX gauge – retreated to levels not seen since June 2007, when markets began their downwards spiral soon after the first symptoms of the financial crisis had begun to become apparent.

US markets will remain closed on January 21st, in observance of the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

GE and Morgan Stanley impress; Intel and Capital One don't

General Electric is on the rise after announcing adjusted earnings of 44 cents a share which narrowly beat the 43 cent analyst estimate.

Banking giant Morgan Stanley was also higher after swinging to a higher-than-expected profit in the fourth quarter.

That release followed on from the mixed results from other banking heavyweights seen earlier in the week. Both Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan smashed expectations on Wednesday, while Bank of America and Citigroup disappointed markets on Thursday.

However, semiconductor manufacturing titan Intel was lower after its fourth-quarter results, which were released after the market-close last night.

The chipmaker reported its second consecutive quarter of falling sales. The company seems to be finding it difficult to achieve a transition towards the mobile sector.

Capital One Financial plummeted by 7% after disclosing lower than forecast fourth quarter profits.

State Street moved sharply higher after the custodian’s quarterly results showed a 15% rise in earnings.

Analysts at Robert W.Baird downgraded Visa to ‘neutral’ from ‘outperform’.

Piper Jaffray upgraded Caterpillar to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral.’

The latest edition of The Economist calls attention to the importance for GM (or Government Motors as some now call it) of the line-up of new models that it will bring to the market over the next year or so.

Don’t lower my salary

The University of Michigan's preliminary sentiment index for the month of January came in at 71.3, versus a reading of 72.9 for the previous month and a consensus estimate of 75. The expectations sub-index dropped to 62.7, after 63.8 in the previous month (Consensus: 65.2).

The fall was ascribed by observers to the forthcoming expiry of the payroll tax holiday. Nevertheless, "it is only a slight fall, but consumers' sentiment is being watched for signs that spending may retrench," commented economists at Digital Look.

Small falls in yields and oil futures

10 year US Treasury yields fell by 3 basis points to 1.85%.

Front month West Texas crude futures were down by 0.27% to the 95.22 dollar per barrel level on the NYMEX.

S&P 500 - Risers
Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) $60.65 +10.33%
Morgan Stanley (MS) $22.36 +7.76%
State Street Corp. (STT) $53.35 +5.90%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $31.89 +4.24%
Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) $76.24 +3.90%
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $15.63 +3.68%
General Electric Co. (GE) $22.05 +3.52%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $18.76 +3.42%
Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) $44.13 +3.28%
Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) $21.86 +2.99%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $2.47 -9.85%
Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) $57.04 -7.38%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $21.15 -6.75%
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) $102.28 -4.77%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $47.50 -4.70%
Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) $30.72 -3.88%
First Horizon National Corp. (FHN) $9.88 -3.80%
Tesoro Corp. (TSO) $42.50 -2.70%
JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) $13.26 -2.57%
Corning Inc. (GLW) $12.00 -2.45%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
General Electric Co. (GE) $22.05 +3.52%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $97.44 +1.82%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $46.76 +0.85%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $42.37 +0.57%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $86.85 +0.52%
3M Co. (MMM) $98.54 +0.47%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $92.13 +0.41%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $42.92 +0.40%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.98 +0.39%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $90.47 +0.30%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $21.15 -6.75%
American Express Co. (AXP) $59.54 -1.98%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $11.12 -1.42%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $26.52 -1.16%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $51.99 -0.80%
Boeing Co. (BA) $74.73 -0.70%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $17.06 -0.30%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $54.36 -0.07%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $27.24 -0.04%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) $60.65 +10.33%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $48.07 +2.47%
BMC Software Inc. (BMC) $43.71 +2.22%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $37.23 +2.17%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $12.63 +1.85%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $46.32 +1.56%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $99.63 +1.47%
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $35.04 +1.21%
CA Inc. (CA) $24.51 +1.20%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $79.35 +1.06%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $21.15 -6.75%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $47.50 -4.70%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $29.49 -2.17%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $166.61 -1.76%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $48.32 -1.73%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $97.15 -1.39%
Starz Class A (STRZA) $15.68 -1.35%
Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $34.36 -1.29%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $34.72 -1.20%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $82.95 -1.18%

AB

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