Share Trading Tips

The US markets witnessed their worst loss in four weeks on JPMorgan results. The CRB Index was down over 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 101 points or 0.94% at 10,610; it was down 0.08% for week while up 1.74% YTD (year-to-date). The Nasdaq Composite was down 29 points or 1.24% at 2,288. It was down 1.26% for week while up 0.8% YTD. The S&P 500 was down 12.5 points or 1.08% at 1,136. It was down 0.78% for week while up 1.9% YTD. US Banking Index was down over 2% post weakness in JPMorgan, worst percentage loss in one month. NYSE- Advance:Decline ratio stood at 2:5. US declining sectors were Financial Index, down 2%, Telecom, down 1.4% and Tech, down 1.3%.

Asian markets opened weak. The Nikkei 225 was down 1.6%. Taiwan Weighted and Kospi fell 0.3%. Straits Times was down 0.1%. SGX Nifty was down 0.2%. European markets ended lower. The CAC was down 1.5%, DAX down 1.9% and FTSE down 0.8%. US markets will be closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Junior Day.

Global Movers & Shakers:

JPMorgan declined 2.2%, as its 4Q results were above street expectations but the company remain cautious toward consumer credit, loan losses continued to rise. In other US banking stocks, BoA was down 3.3%, Wells Fargo was down 3.1% and Citi was down 2.5%. In European banks, Deutsche Bank was down 3.7%, UBS was down 4% and Barclays was down 2.3%. Intel lost 3.2%; the company saw profit booking after reporting better-than-expected results.

US Economic News:

December CPI increased 0.1% MoM against forecast of increase of 0.2%. December Industrial production increased 0.6%, as expected. December Capacity utilization was at 72%, as expected. Preliminary January Consumer Sentiment came in at 72.8 versus 72.5 in December, market expected 74.

Commodity:

CRB Commodity Index was down 1.1%. February crude oil was down 1.8% at $ 77.95/bbl. It declined for the fifth consecutive session. IAE held 2010 projections for world oil demand virtually unchanged from their December forecast of 1.7%. February gold was down 1% at $ 1131/ounce. March silver was down 1.2% at $ 18.44/ounce.

Currencies:

Dollar Index was up 0.8%. Dollar rose 62 bps versus Euro at 1.433. Yen was up 32 bps versus USD at 90.78.