(eToro Blog) Wall Street took a tumble today as J.P. Morgan posted 23% drop in fourth quarter earnings as revenues shrank. Investor look at J.P. Morgan to set the tone for the rest of financials as it is the first major bank to post quarterly results. The Dow is down 153 points, the Nasdaq is down 33 points and the S&P 500 is down 17 points at the time of writing this report. Traders on OpenBook are primarily short the Dow (DJ30) with average limits at 12,200 and stops at 12,500.
The United States trade deficit increased 10.4% to $47.8 billion in the month of November. The data was higher than analyst expectations of a deficit of $44.8 billion. Exports of American manufactured goods fell and at the same time the U.S. imported more crude oil and cars. Higher prices of crude oil drove up the amount paid for imports in the month of November.
Imports grew 1.3% to the tune of $225.6 billion in November. Imports of crude oil amounted to $27.3 billion alone. Imports of consumer goods declined however imports of capital goods increased to $43.8 billion. Imports of cars rose to $22.3 billion. U.S. exports dropped to $177.8 billion. Exports to Europe declined as expected on account of the debt crisis sweeping through the continent. The U.S. made some head wind with exports to emerging countries and China. The trade deficit with European countries widened to $9.7 billion.
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment reached 74 in January an increase of 4.1 points over December’s reading. This is the highest level seen since May. A rising consumer sentiment index indicates that Americans are more optimistic about their personal finances. A higher consumer sentiment translates to more purchases made by consumers. Consumers are more likely to tighten their purses when sentiment is low.
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