-Poor Chicago NAPM data
-Sandy distorted personal income figures

Dow Jones: -0.13%
Nasdaq Composite: -0.28%
S&P 500: -0.19%

The main US equity averages turned lower following weaker than forecast economic figures out on Friday afternoon.

Acting as a backdrop, investors had to digest the negative – and sometimes conflicting – remarks out from some leading Republican politicians last night, although some are also criticising what they see as President Obama’s inflexibility.

Speaking early in the evening the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Republican John Boehner, said that his party wants to reach a bipartisan solution in the next few days. However, he accused Democrats of stalling only to then present proposals which were not serious.

Both Tellabs and Whole Foods Markets today announced special dividends.

Games designer Zynga was falling sharply after modifying the terms of a long-standing alliance with Facebook.

Blackstone will purchase Apple REIT for $1.26bn.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded their view on shares of Brown Forman to sell.

Weak economic data

US personal income was flat month-on-month in October (Consensus: 0.2%) whereas spending fell by 0.2% month-on-month (Consensus: 0.0%).

According to economists at Barclays Research: ‘It appears likely that Hurricane Sandy had a significant negative effect. While the Bureau of Economic Analysis were unable to quantify the significance with regard to spending, the effect is clearer on the income side – an estimated $18.2bn reduction in wages and salaries at an annualized rate as a result of disruption to workers on the east coast.’

The Chicago NAPM’s regional manufacturing index for the month of November has come in at 50.4, just below the 50.5 expected but above the 49.9 registered last month.

The new orders sub-index dropped to 45.3 from 50.6 (probably impacted by Sandy), while the prices paid gauge shot higher, to 70.1 from 59.3.

Treasuries little changed

10 year US Treasury yields are now flat, at 1.61%.

Front month West Texas crude futures are now gaining by 0.90% to the 88.86 dollar per barrel mark on NYMEX.

S&P 500 – Risers
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $2.13 +4.66%
Metropcs Communications Inc. (PCS) $10.52 +3.75%
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) $86.45 +2.99%
Washington Post Co. (WPO) $367.01 +2.97%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $7.39 +2.96%
Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) $27.48 +2.61%
Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC) $52.60 +2.51%
McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (MHP) $52.91 +2.32%
Leucadia National Corp. (LUK) $22.06 +1.92%
Leggett & Platt Inc. (LEG) $27.68 +1.91%

S&P 500 – Fallers
VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) $33.95 -13.70%
Yum! Brands Inc. (YUM) $66.97 -10.06%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $41.72 -3.20%
Coach Inc. (COH) $57.48 -3.17%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $17.01 -2.97%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $68.31 -2.90%
Citigroup Inc. (C) $34.36 -2.41%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $61.04 -2.41%
PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $16.72 -2.39%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $31.19 -2.38%

Dow Jones I.A – Risers
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $71.83 +1.41%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $64.82 +0.91%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $69.72 +0.72%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $25.00 +0.60%
AT&T Inc. (T) $34.07 +0.41%
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) $86.82 +0.38%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $19.59 +0.32%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $12.93 +0.31%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $79.99 +0.29%
3M Co. (MMM) $90.84 +0.21%

Dow Jones I.A – Fallers
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $26.54 -1.52%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $85.11 -1.32%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $44.24 -1.05%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $43.14 -0.92%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $40.85 -0.90%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $189.94 -0.83%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $18.87 -0.74%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.34 -0.71%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $70.80 -0.53%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $49.48 -0.48%

Nasdaq 100 – Risers
Virgin Media Inc. (VMED) $35.10 +1.71%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $103.48 +1.57%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $34.55 +1.35%
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (SIRI) $2.78 +1.28%
O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $94.00 +1.24%
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $37.47 +1.22%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $34.58 +0.93%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $52.68 +0.92%
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $32.12 +0.88%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $45.97 +0.83%

Nasdaq 100 – Fallers
VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) $33.95 -13.70%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $95.75 -3.28%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $41.72 -3.20%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $61.04 -2.41%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $19.11 -2.37%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $38.95 -2.11%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $29.49 -1.86%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $14.80 -1.53%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $26.54 -1.52%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $527.83 -1.33%

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