FKLI Related News

U.S. stocks advanced, rebounding from earlier losses in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as a rally in retail and transportation companies overshadowed concern about discussions on raising the debt ceiling. Consumer discretionary companies led the gains in the S&P 500 as data showed retail sales rose more than forecast in December.  The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 1,472.34 at 4 p.m. New York time, after falling as much as 0.5 percent earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 27.57 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,534.89. The Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 0.7 percent to a record 5,639.64.

About 5.8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, or 5.7 percent below the three-month average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The retail data is good news for economic expansion,” said Peter Jankovskis, who helps oversee $3 billion of assets as co-chief investment officer at Lisle, Illinois-based Oakbrook Investments LLC. He spoke in a telephone interview. “It’s encouraging. We have the earnings season going on, people are on wait-and-see mode. In addition, there’s a lot of rhetoric on the debt-ceiling front. Though it’s probably a bit early to start getting concerned about that.”  Retail sales rose more than forecast in December to end 2012 on a positive note, indicating Americans may be able to rise above Washington’s budget rancor to keep contributing to economic growth.

Manufacturing in the New York region contracted in January for the sixth straight month as the industry continued to face the effects of fiscal uncertainty in the U.S. and lackluster demand overseas.  With as little as a month until the U.S. runs out of money to pay its bills, President Barack Obama warned Republicans in Congress not to use the need for a debt-limit increase to force through new spending cuts. Obama insisted yesterday he won’t negotiate on raising the debt ceiling because the U.S. has no choice other than to pay for spending it has authorized. Many Republicans in Congress say a boost in borrowing authority must be linked to spending cuts.  

The Treasury Department has been using emergency measures since the end of December to prevent a breach of the $16.4 trillion debt limit. In a letter yesterday to House Speaker John Boehner, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the department expects to exhaust those measures “between mid-February and early March.” Investors also watched earnings reports. Almost 80 percent of the 30 S&P 500 companies which reported quarterly results beat analysts forecasts. Fourth-quarter profits at S&P 500 companies grew 2.5 percent, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That would be the second-slowest quarterly growth since 2009, the data show.

Three out of 10 groups in the S&P 500 retreated as phone and technology shares had the biggest losses. Apple, the world’s most valuable company lost 3.2 percent to $485.92. HP dropped 2.5 percent to $16.53. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, rose 0.2 percent to 13.55. The gauge ended last week at the lowest level since 2007.            [Bloomberg]

FKLI opened slightly lower  this morning at 1,686.5. Despite gains in the U.S market on solid retail sales data, investors are still cautious on concern over the ongoing US fiscal problems and weak corporate earnings for the first quarter. Today’s Support and Resistance for January contract is located around 1,674 and 1,688 respectively.