Stocks advance on earnings hopes

Dow rose 50, advancers modestly ahead of decliners & NAZ recovered to post a gain of 10.  Bank stocks never broke into the black after an unsatisfactory earnings report from Citi (C).

S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX

Value	223.68
Change	-1.74  (-0.8%)

The MLP index fell ½ to 372 while the REIT index went up almost 2 to the 227s.  The REIT index continues flat longer term & the MLP index keeps pushing higher.  Junk bond funds were down a tad & Treasuries also were lower.  The yield on the 10 year Treasury bond rose 3 basis points to 3.36+%.  For over a month the yield has been sideways, near 3.4%.

Treasury yields:

U.S. 3-month		0.15%
U.S. 2-year		0.58%
U.S. 10-year		3.35%

Alerian MLP Index   ---   1 year



Dow Jones REIT Index   ---   1 year



10-Year Treasury Yield Index   ---   1 year




Oil fluctuated after the Intl Energy Agency said supplies are ample, particularly in North America, while boosting its forecast for global oil consumption. It reported stockpiles in the most developed economies still “looks relatively comfortable.” Worldwide oil consumption will climb 1.4M barrels a day to 89.1M in 2011 amid growing momentum in the economic recovery. Gold rose as this month’s price drop stoked demand from individual investors for bars & gold coins.

CLG11.NYM

...Crude Oil Feb 11

...91.29

... 0.25  (0.3%)

GCF11.CMX

....Gold Jan 11

......1,365.50 .....

5.00  (0.4%)

$$$Gold Super Cycle$$$  

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The Trans Alaska Pipeline, which carries 11% of US oil production, is being monitored as the flow rate on the line was little changed after increasing from a restart yesterday. The target rate for today is 510K barrels a day, The pipeline, which was started yesterday after a bypass around a leak was installed, carried 641K barrels a day in Dec.  The 800-mile pipeline runs from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in the US.  Oil futures rose 4% last week, the most in 6 weeks, after the pipeline’s closure on Jan 8.  Stockpiles in Alaska have dropped 50% since the disruption.  The US produced 5.58M barrels a day of crude & held 333M barrels in commercial storage in the week ended Jan 7.

Alaska Pipeline Crude Oil Flow Rate Little Changed


Confidence among US homebuilders stagnated in Jan, reflecting a lack of credit that threatens to hold back construction this year.The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo sentiment index registered a reading of 16, the same as the past 2 months (readings below 50 mean more respondents said conditions were poor).  The gauge, first published in 1985, reached a record low of 8 in Jan 2009 after averaging 54 in the 5 years before the recession began in Dec 2007.  Housing remains very weak because demand is weak.

U.S. Builder Confidence Held Back by Lack of Credit


The Federal Reserve is giving no indication that signs of an accelerating recovery will dissuade it from carrying out its $600B Treasury bond purchase program. Apple (AAPL) had been down over 20 early in the day but ended with a loss of almost 8 (but weakness going into the close).  Earnings are due after the close & hopes are riding high as usual.  Citi (C) remained lower all day on its disappointing earnings release.  More big bank earnings are due this week, starting with Wells Fargo (WFC), & investors are very nervous.

Dow Jones Industrials   ---   1 year

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