US markets witness first positive finish for Jan since 2007

By Varinder Bansal, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

The US markets witnessed first positive finish for January since 2007. Oil prices jumped to two-year highs on Egypt tension on Monday.

Brent crude exceeded USD 100 a barrel for the first time since 2008. Moody's cut Egypt's credit rating, citing government spending in the wake of the crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 68 points at 11,892. The Nasdaq Composite rose 13 points at 2,700 and S&P 500 Index went up 10 points at 1,286.

US Advancing Sectors: Energy went up 2.6%, Materials gained 1.6%, Financials rose 1%.

Asian markets opened marginally in the green; Kospi was up 0.7%. Taiwan and Straits Times were up 0.5%. Nikkei went up 0.3%.

European markets ended flat: CAC was up 0.08% while DAX was down 0.36% and FTSE down 0.31%.

US Economic News

Chicago PMI for December came in at 68.8 - best reading since 1988

Personal income for December increased 0.4% while market expected 0.5% increase

Personal spending during December increased 0.7% whereas market expected 0.6%

Global M&S

US Energy Stocks: BP shot up 2.7%, Exxon Mobil up 2.14%, Chesapeake Energy Corp up 8%, Devon Energy up 4.2%, EOG Resources up 3.7%, Imperial Oil up 4.5% and Anadarko Petroleum up 3.9%

Massey Energy surged 10% after Alpha Natural Resources agreed to buy the coal producer for USD 7 billion

Currencies

Dollar was down 82 bps versus Euro at 1.3715

Yen was flat versus USD at 82

Pound rose 1.17% versus USD

Korea Won went up 50 bps versus USD

Commodities

CRB Commodity Index gained 1.8%, best single-session surge in eight weeks

CRB Index traded near 28-month high

Crude oil surged 3.2% at USD 92.19/barrel

Natural gas was up 2.3% at USD 4.24 per MMBtu

Gold prices fell 0.5% at USD 1334.50 per ounce

Silver prices gained 0.9% at USD 28.17 per ounce

Data to watch

Auto sales, ISM manufacturing index, construction spending; Earnings from BP, Pfizer, UPS, Broadcom