US mkts make fresh 2-year high post JPM, Intel nos

By Varinder Bansal, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

The US markets made fresh 2-year high post better-than-expected results from JPM and Intel. China raised banks' reserve requirement ratio by 50 bps & higher PPI numbers from UK. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 55.5 points at 11787. The Nasdaq Composite was up 20 points at 2755 and S&P 500 Index rose 9.5 points at 1293. KBW Bank Index surged 2.3% to a six-month high post JPMorgan Chase results US Advancing Sectors: Financials rose 1.7%, Energy went up 1.2%, Tech gained 0.9% Asian markets opened marginally in the green: Nikkei was up 0.5% and Kospi up 0.2%. Taiwan and Straits Times were flat. Sensex underperformed global peers for second week running; which was down 4.2% versus gain of 3% by CAC. European markets ended flat: CAC was up 0.21% while FTSE down 036%. CBOE VIX fell 5.7% at 15.46. Alert: US markets closed today on account of Martin Luther King Junior Day Global News China raised banks' reserve requirement ratio by 50 bps; raised its bank reserve requirements for the seventh time since early 2010 December UK PPI spiked to 3.4% versus 0.9%, market expected 1.7% US Economic News December CPI increased 0.5%, against expected 0.4% December retail sales increased 0.6% versus 0.8% (MoM) December Industrial production increased 0.8%, against expected 0.4% Preliminary consumer sentiment for January at 72.7 versus 74.5 (MoM), against expected 75.5 November business inventories increased 0.2%, against expected 0.8%  Global M&S JPM was up 1%, as its 4Q PAT jumped 47% at USD 4.8 billion or USD 1.12/share from USD 3.3 billion or 74 cents/share as the company set aside less money to cover loan losses Other US banking stocks: Bank of America was up 3.2%, Wells Fargo up 2.7%, American Express up 2.6% and Morgan Stanley up 2.4% Currencies Dollar was down 10 bps versus Euro at 1.33 Yen fell 33 bps versus USD at 82.95 Korean Won rose 1.65% versus USD Commodities CRB Commodity ended flat, gained 2.8% for the week Crude Oil jumped 0.1% at USD 91.53/barrel Natural gas was up 1.6% at USD 4.48 per MMBtu Gold ended down 2% at USD 1359/ounce Silver was down 3.4% at USD 28.27/ounce