Foreign Markets
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 1.9% to 8,051.74 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed up 0.6% at 12,657.99.
In the afternoon in Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 benchmark index was 2.1% higher at 4,144.69. Germany’s DAX advanced up 2.1%, at 4,350.71, while France’s CAC 40 rose 2.0% at 2,964.08.
U.S. Futures
U.S. futures pointed to a decline after major advances well over 3% yesterday. Dow Jones industrial average futures are down 45, or 0.55%, to 8,133. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures declined 2.90, or 0.35%, to 833.90, while Nasdaq 100 index futures gained 5.75, or 0.49%, to 1,187.25.
Currencies and Commodities
With big gains in equities, crude is holding its ground at $43.38 in electronic trading. The dollar weakened to 88.88 yen, down from 89.13 yen, and the euro rose to $1.3013 compared to $1.3009. The pound remained weak, at $1.3812, just above the 24-year lows reached Wednesday. Gold fell slightly alongside the dollar, a 0.31% decline to $847.50.
Corporate News
Sony plans on announcing their first annual net loss in 14 years with a loss of $1.7 billion. Last month, the company announced cost cutting measures including layoffs of 8,000 of its 185,000 employees around the world.
Southwest Airlines lost $56 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with a gain of $111 million, or 15 cents per share, a year ago.
United Health reported net income of $726 million, or 60 cents per share, compared with $1.22 billion, or 92 cents per share, from the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 9 percent to $20.45 billion from $18.71 billion. Analysts had only expected revenue of $20.4 billion.
Economic News
8:30 AM
Housing Starts: Measures initial construction of residential units for the month of December. Housing construction impacts so many other segments of the economy, from consumer spending on appliances and material to labor. The consensus figure is 615,000 units, down from 625,000 in November; a figure down 47% from a year ago.
8:30 AM
Jobless Claims: New unemployment claims for the week of January 17th, to show the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance. The fewer people filing for unemployment benefits, the more have jobs, the more income in the consumer’s pocket, as well as a forecast on the strength of the economy. The consensus is for 610 thousand, up from last weeks reading of 524 thousand.
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