ECB's Trichet, Coke (NYSE: KO), Iran, Small Business Optimism

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ECB's Trichet Scrambles, Coke Reports, Iran Ups Enrichment, Small Business Optimism Sags

A Small Business Optimism Index stuck depressed this morning, while same-store sales were reported revived in the latest check. Meanwhile, the European scramble continues, as ECB Chief Trichet canceled plans in order to attend a debt crisis summit Thursday. Iran announced a step up in enrichment activity, supporting energy prices. Coca-Cola reported strong profits in line with consensus expectations, while Pulte Homes narrowed its quarterly loss. Stocks started the morning higher, with the Dow up 1.0% on Coke's news, and the S&P 500 rising 1.2%.

Overseas Market Activity

Asia:

1. MSCI Asia APEX 50: +1.81%


2. Japan NIKKEI 225: -0.19%


3. Hong Kong Hang Seng: +1.22%


4. China CSI 300: +0.58%


5. India BSE SENSEX 30: +0.67%

Europe:

1. DJ Euro STOXX 50: +0.28%
   


2. UK FTSE 100: +0.52%


3. France CAC 40: +0.17%


4. Germany DAX: +0.35%


5. Athens Composite: +3.9%

(Prices as of hour of publishing, which may not be the close)

Last week's International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) data produced a change in the fact that it changed very little. Illustrating what we're talking about:

Week |	Wk/Wk Change	| Yr/Yr Change
Jan 30	+0.1%	+0.4%
Jan 23	-2.5%	+1.9%
Jan 16	+2.0%	+2.6%

Recent same-store sales have been volatile week-to-week, but this data is not a market mover. Monthly changes, rather, tend to drive broader index activity.

A return to volatility for the February 6 period! The latest data, released this morning, showed sales rose 1.4% on a week-to-week basis and 1.8% on year-over-year trend.

The National Federation of Independent Business Optimism Index came due for the month of January today. The index has been close to a historic low for 15 months now. President Obama must be paying attention, given the administration's design to inspire small business hiring. The NFIB Index fell 0.3 points in January, to 88.0, as reported this morning.

The Wholesale Trade Report is due for December at 10:00 AM. November's report showed a rise of 1.5% for inventories, driven by a 29.8% increase in farm product raw materials and a 7.0% increase in petroleum products. Those increases were reflective of price spike, which was conveyed to sales prices. Sales rose 3.3%, driven by a 29.6% increase in farm product raw materials and a 7.5% rise on petroleum products. The inventory-to-sales ratio eased to 1.14, from 1.17 in October.

Overseas News

ECB Chief Jean-Claude Trichet cut his trip to Australia in order to return to attend a debt summit in Europe this week. Trichet will attend Thursday's meeting of the Europen Council. Amazingly, Mr. Trichet was only invited to the meeting Monday. The council is expected to announce some action to ease the debt crisis of several member states, including Greece.

The European Parliament will vote on the new European Commission. After a three-month long delay, the 27-member college led by Portugual's center right Jose Manuel Barroso is near certain to get the votes it needs to run the show for the next five years. Mr. Barroso's commissioners had a rough go of it in the hearing process, and opposing political parties seized on the weakness. That said, Barroso's group looks set to take their seats now with this confidence vote.

Iran's state media reported that it had begun enriching uranium to a higher level before International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors. Iran's Natanz plant is the focal point of this latest defiance. The government told media on Monday that it would enrich to a level of 20%, in order to fuel a medical nuclear reactor. A U.S. Defense Department spokesman said the US wants a fourth round of sanctions passed against Iran within weeks, not months.

Corporate News Drivers

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) reported in-line results Tuesday morning, driven by strong overseas business that offset weakness in North America. Sales rose 5% overall and EPS amounted to $0.66, in line with the consensus view. KO shares were up about 2% in morning trade.

Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC) will spin off its Madison Square Garden operations. Textron (NYSE: TXT) has an analysts meeting scheduled, and the EPS day includes news from Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE: AKR), Active Power (Nasdaq: ACPW), AECOM Technology (NYSE: ACM), AGCO (Nasdaq: AGCO), Agrium (NYSE: AGU), Allied Healthcare (Nasdaq: AHCI), Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR), Alumina (NYSE: AWC), American Fin'l Group (NYSE: AFG), American Science & Engineering (Nasdaq: ASEI), Aspen Insurance Holdings (NYSE: AHL), Astronics (Nasdaq: ATRO), ATC Technology (Nasdaq: ATAC), Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB), BJ Services (NYSE: BJS), BWAY Holding (NYSE: BWY), Cameron (NYSE: CAM), Capstone Turbine (Nasdaq: CPST), CareFusion (NYSE: CFN), Cascade Microtech (Nasdaq: CSCD), Celanese (NYSE: CE), Centene (NYSE: CNC), Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN), Church & Dwight (NYSE: CHD), Cognizant Tech (Nasdaq: CTSH), Compugen (Nasdaq: CGEN), Corporate Executive Board (Nasdaq: EXBD), Corrections Corp. of America (NYSE: CXW), Coventry Health Care (NYSE: CVH), Cynosure (Nasdaq: CYNO), Diodes Inc. (Nasdaq: DIOD), Douglass Emmitt (NYSE: DEI), Drugstore.com (Nasdaq: DSCM), Edgar Online (Nasdaq: EDGR), Energy Conversion Devices (Nasdaq: ENER), EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG), Gartner (NYSE: IT), Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET), Gildan Activewear (NYSE: GIL), IAC/Interactive (Nasdaq: IACI), Integrated Electrical Services (Nasdaq: IESC), Int'l Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE: IFF), Itau Unibanco Holding (Nasdaq: ITUB), Kforce (Nasdaq: KFRC), Knightsbrigde (Nasdaq: VLCCF), Kubota (NYSE: KUB), KVH Industries (Nasdaq: KVHI), LCA-Vision (Nasdaq: LCAV), Learning Tree Int'l (Nasdaq: LTRE), Lion's Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE: MLM), Max Capital (Nasdaq: MXGL), Mediware Information (Nasdaq: MEDW), Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP), Multimedia Games (Nasdaq: MGAM), National Financial Partners (NYSE: NFP), Net 1 UEPS (Nasdaq: UEPS), Netgear (Nasdaq: NTGR), NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX), Peerless Manufacturing (Nasdaq: PMFG), Potlach (NYSE: PCH), Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM), QuickLogic (Nasdaq: QUIK), RenaissanceRe (NYSE: RNR), RG Barry (NYSE: DFZ), RTI Biologics (Nasdaq: RTIX), Rubicon Tech (Nasdaq: RBCN), Seattle Genetics (Nasdaq: SGEN), Taubman Centers (NYSE: TCO), Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Triple-S Management (NYSE: GTS), UBS (NYSE: UBS), UDR, Inc. (NYSE: UDR), Ultimate Software (Nasdaq: ULTI), USANA Health Sciences (Nasdaq: USNA), Valence Tech (Nasdaq: VLNC), Vishay Intertechnology (NYSE: VSH), Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC), Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG), Web.com (Nasdaq: WWWW), XL Capital (NYSE: XL) and Zebra Technologies (Nasdaq: ZBRA).


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