Good morning Traders,US Market Report:"Stocks could struggle for...

Good morning Traders,

US Market Report:

"Stocks could struggle for direction in the week ahead, with relatively little economic data on the agenda and few top-tier companies scheduled to release quarterly reports.

But investors remain bullish about the outlook for stocks this year, as the economy continues to improve and the Federal Reserve looks poised to keep its easy money policies in place.
"We expect the market to trade in a relatively narrow range for the next few weeks," said Paul Zemksy, head of asset allocation at ING Investment Management. "But we think stocks are ultimately headed higher." The gains last week came on the back of strong manufacturing data released Tuesday, which stole the spotlight from the normally all-important payrolls report from the Labor Department on Friday.

Investors also cheered fourth-quarter results from several U.S. companies that largely beat analysts' expectations. Of the 308 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 72% came in better than expected, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

Corporate earnings have been on the rise for several quarters, but sales growth had been lackluster, suggesting that cost-cutting was driving profitability. In the fourth quarter, however, that trend seems to have shifted.

As of last week, 70% of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported sales above analysts' expectations, up from 61% over the past four quarters.

In the week ahead, investors will get results from 62 companies in the S&P 500." [Source: cnnmoney.com]

Market Reflections - Friday, 4th February, 2011

"Weather effects and new population estimates made January's employment report impossible to read, let alone make sense of the results which show alarmingly weak payroll growth together with a very positive drop in the unemployment rate. The Dow was little changed, edging higher to just over 12,090.

But demand for bonds dipped immediately on the results. Other than technical factors within the Treasury market, the move apparently was a focus on the four tenths drop in the unemployment to nine percent. The 10-year yield rose nine basis points to end the week at 3.64 percent.

The rise in yields helped the dollar which rose nearly a half percent on the dollar index to 78.05. Oil slipped back two percent toward the $89 area, still up $4 from the initial unrest in Egypt. Gold is steady near $1,350." [Source: bloomberg.com]

Market Focus in the US this evening

"Watch for weekend developments in Egypt." [Source: bloomberg.com]
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The DJIA Index last finished the last trading session Up 29.89 points; and
The SPI Futures are currently: Up 8 points atm.
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Of note in the US this evening:

Consumer Credit (Dec) [ Moderate volatility expected]

...AND...

Of note in Australia today:

Retail Sales Trend (MoM) (Dec) [ Moderate volatility expected]
[The Retail Sales released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is a survey of goods sold by retailers is based on a sampling of retail stores of different types and sizes and it''s considered as an indicator of the pace of the Australian economy. It shows the performance of the retail sector over the short and mid-term. Positive economic growth anticipates bullish trends for the AUD, while a low reading is seen as negative or bearish.]

ANZ Job Advertisements (Jan)
[The ANZ job advertisements released by the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) presents the number of job advertisements in the major metropolitan newspapers and on the internet sites. It is used for forecasting employment growth in Australia as it indicates future labor market conditions.A high reading is seen as bullish (or postive) for the AUD, whereas a low reading is seen as bearish (or negative).]

AiG Performance of Construction Index (Jan)
[Based on 120 interviews to companies, the HIA/AiG Performance of Construction Index, released by the Australian Industry Group and the Housing Industry Association, is considered as an indicator that measures the conditions on the short and medium term in the construction market. Companies answer questions related to production, employment, prices supplier deliveries, inventories and new orders. A high reading is seen as positive, or bullish for the AUD, while a low reading is seen as negative, or bearish.]

[Sources used: bloomberg.com; dailyfx.com; fxstreet.com; nasdaq.com]

Gold is currently trading Down $7.00 & is sitting at US$1,348.60/oz atm [Source: Kitco]
Oil is currently trading Down $1.51 & is sitting at US$89.03/bbl atm [Source: Bloomberg]
The Dollar: The AUD is currently trading @ $1.0141c against the US Dollar[Source: Forex. Live]

Have a great day trading today all.

Cheers, Tweets

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