EmailEquities began the day on a down note after Moody's cut France's sovereign rating to ‘Aa1' from ‘Aaa.' In addition, disappointing earnings from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 11.71, -1.59) contributed to the cautious sentiment. The major averages managed to break into positive territory by midday, but tumbled to fresh lows as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke in front of the Economic Club of New York. During his remarks, Mr. Bernanke commented on the fiscal cliff by saying that if a resolution is not reached, the economy would slide into recession. In such case, the Federal Reserve would be powerless as the Chairman does not believe the Fed has the tools necessary to deal with that eventuality. The S&P 500 followed the early afternoon slide with another climb towards the unchanged level before ending with a gain of 0.1%.
Today after the close the following companies are scheduled to report earnings: CRM, TLYS, ZLC, FENG, ANFI, QADA, CERE, BAMM
Futures are mixed after hours: S&P 500 futures are +1.03 from fair value of 1385.27 and Nasdaq100 futures are -0.20 from fair value of 2593.20.
Tomorrow morning before the open two economic reports are scheduled to be released: 1) MBA Mortgage Index, and 2) Initial Claims (Consensus 423k), and Continuing Claims (Consensus 3400k).
Tomorrow before the open the following companies are scheduled to report earnings: DE, DCI, GLOG, KID, TNP
