Market Outlook - 9th - 13th January

Market Outlook

- WALL STREET:
US indices closed higher last week. On the economic data front, non farm payrolls rose 200K (+155K exp.) in December while the unemployment rate fell to 8.5% from an upwardly revised 8.7% in November. Looking at corporate news, Alcoa said it will reduce global smelting capacity by 12%. Yahoo! appointed Scott Thompson as CEO, effective January 9, 2012, at which time Tim Morse will resume his role as CFO. Also, the Federal Reserve will start providing target for Federal Funds rate at January meeting according to FOMC minutes. Shares in most sectors gained ground last week. Automobiles (+7.32%), diversified financials (+4.5%) and banks (+3.77%) rose most, while telecommunications and utilities lost more than 2.5%. From a technical perspective, the S&P500 index is still on the upside above its 20D & 50D MAs, and will probably challenge its next resistance at 1290 before further advance to 1320.

- EUROPE:
...