ECONOMY & MARKETS

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, First Place Financial, Cytokinetics, Photronics, FX Energy, Ultralife, Healthways, Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group, optionsXpress Holdings, and SuperMedia.

British construction products supplier Wolseley said trading profit rose 39 percent in the first quarter, helped by revenue growth in the US and Canada as well as cost control measures.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury said it plans a public offering of its remaining 2.4 billion shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) common stock.

Stocks, which fell early in the session on some gloomy remarks on the economy from Federal reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, pared much of their losses later in the day on hopes that The Republicans and Democrats in Congress can hammer out a compromise on extending the Bush tax cuts as well as unemployment benefits.

Wikileaks revealed that Li Keqiang, a senior Chinese politician with many economic-related duties, doubts the country's economic data.

If the pair consolidates above 1.56 levels, it might help confirm an intermediate short-term upward trend, and in that case, next important target for GBP/USD will be 1.5838 (R2), a medium term support-turned resistance for the pair.

S&P 500 Index slid 3.63 points, or 0.31 percent, to trade at 1,220.95 at 09:55 a.m. EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 30.08 points, or 0.26 percent, to trade at 11,352.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.28 percent to trade at 2,584.64.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: LTX-Credence, BroadSoft, Cninsure, YRC Worldwide, Human Genome Sciences, Celgene, Identive Group, Randgold Resources, Qiagen, and Corinthian Colleges.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Verigy, Radware, Rambus, Nova Measuring Instruments, ASM International, VIVUS, optionsXpress Holdings, Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Geron, and DryShips.

Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) said chief executive David Mackay announced his plans to step down, and he will be succeeded by chief operating officer John Bryant, effective January 2, 2011. The cereal giant also reaffirmed its 2010 and 2011 sales and profit forecasts.

Despite a dovish Bernanke, EUR/USD's attempt to break above the upper limit of a downward channel from early November highs on the back of a weak non-farm payrolls data proved unsuccessful as debt-related worries of euro-zone continued to weigh on the single currency.

The brokerage reiterated its 'outperform' rating on shares of the industrial products maker, while increasing its price target to $62 from $60.

The crisis-hit peripheral countries have more of a 'solvency problem' than a liquidity problem and their public finances cannot be brought to order without leading to a deep and prolonged recession, as long as they are part of the eurozone, analysts have said.

Momentum indicators MACD and RSI on 4-hour chart suggest the pair is in oversold zone and up for a rebound. The first stop up (R1) for USD/JPY could be 83.40 as indicated by 100-day SMA and 23.6 percent Fibonacci and further higher, the pair has resistance near 83.7 (R2), as shown by the 50-day SMA.

Futures on the S&P 500 are down 0.30 percent to 1,219.80, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 0.21 percent to 11,340.00 and Nasdaq100 futures are down 0.19 percent to 2,183.00.

Shanghai in China dropped to second place in the list of most favorable destinations for property investments in Asia, said a survey on Monday.

Pfizer Inc. announced that its chief executive Jeffrey Kindler has retired from the company and he will be replaced by Ian Read, currently head of its global biopharmaceutical operations.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Nova Measuring Instruments, China Biologic Products, MannKind, GT Solar International, and DDI. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: SuperMedia, Human Genome Sciences, China Electric Motor, Neutral Tandem, and ArQule.

The global economic recovery is being led by large metropolitan cities accounting for about half of the global gross domestic product (GDP), said a report.

As the tablet market is being crowded each day with more and more devices, time is ripe for Microsoft to unveil a new operating system exclusively for tablets.

Increased broadband access worldwide has meant a rise in demand for online media services and this could have implications for a society that is living within environmental limits. The researchers found the current energy demand for bandwidth to be four watt-hours per MB.

A late-session rally pushed stocks modestly into the black after a very disappointing November jobs report battered equities earlier in the day.

Weaker-than-expected US jobs data helped the EUR/USD break above its 100-day SMA and pair is now heading toward key long-term resiatnce of 1.3446 (R1 on daily chart).

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Smart Technologies, Orexigen Therapeutics, Coldwater Creek, Powerwave Technologies, Rediff.com India, Ku6 Media, SPS Commerce, Aruba Networks, Huntington Bancshares, and Marvell Technology Group.

Oppenheimer has lowered its fiscal 2011 earnings forecast for chip maker Qualcomm, saying that margins at the company's CDMA unit will decline to drive share gains.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to lower on Friday after a government report showed that the unemployment rate unexpectedly increased in November.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Ascent Media, Cninsure, PMC-Sierra, Conn's, Hutchinson Technology, VIVUS, DryShips, Power-One, and Yongye International.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices remained range-bound on Friday as investors await for key U.S. monthly non-farm payrolls and unemployment data from the government.

USD/CAD is technically poised for a bounce back from current levels just above parity, but given the uncertainty about key data due later in the day, one should also be prepared for a move on the other side, which could easily take the pair to 0.9976 (S1) support.