Stocks: Thursday’s review

Asian stocks swung between gains and losses on the busiest day of Japan’s earnings season after the country’s industrial production missed estimates and U.S. growth unexpectedly stalled. Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. jumped after raising its operating profit forecast.

Nikkei 225 11,138.66 +24.71 +0.22%

Hang Seng 23,729.53 -92.53 -0.39%

S&P/ASX 200 4,878.78 -17.91 -0.37%

Shanghai Composite 2,385.42 +2.95 +0.12%

Whitehaven Coal Ltd., subject of an unsuccessful takeover proposal from Nathan Tinkler last year, fell 5.5 percent after saying first-half earnings will drop on lower prices.

Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., a builder of power plants and residential buildings, slid 5.4 percent after its parent’s profit fell.

Kawasaki Heavy rose 7.2 percent.

Datang International Power Generation Co. jumped 6.9 percent after saying its 2012 profit probably more than doubled.

European stocks fell for a second day, paring their biggest monthly advance since July, as companies from AstraZeneca Plc to Banco Santander SA (SAN) slid after reporting earnings.

AstraZeneca lost 3.2 percent after the drugmaker forecast that profit and sales will slide this year. Santander and Royal Dutch Shell Group Plc both declined more than 2.5 percent as fourth-quarter earnings missed analysts’ estimates.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) retreated 0.5 percent to 287.22 at the close, as more than two stocks fell for every one that rose.

National benchmark indexes retreated in 15 of the 18 western-European markets today.

FTSE 100 6,276.88 -46.23 -0.73% CAC 40 3,732.6 -32.92 -0.87% DAX 7,776.05 -35.26 -0.45%

AstraZeneca (AZN) slid 3.2 percent to 3,053 pence, its biggest selloff in nine months, after forecasting falling profit because of increased competition from generic medicines.

Santander declined 3.5 percent to 6.18 euros as Spain’s largest lender set aside money for further loan losses in its home market. The bank reported fourth-quarter profit of 401 million euros ($545 million), missing the 801.6 million-euro average estimate of analysts.

Shell fell 2.8 percent to 2,241 pence after Europe’s biggest oil company reported fourth-quarter profit, excluding one-off items and inventory changes, of $5.6 billion. That missed the $6.2 billion average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Net income advanced 3 percent to $6.7 billion.

TeliaSonera AB (TLSN) slid 1.7 percent to 45.89 kronor as Sweden’s largest phone company said that fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and one-off items declined 3.2 percent to 8.97 billion kronor ($1.4 billion).

Lonmin Plc posted the biggest gain on the Stoxx 600, surging 14 percent to 360 pence. The mining company reported a 17 percent increase in platinum sales in the first quarter, saying it has successfully restarted and increased production.

Ericsson AB rallied 7.6 percent to 74 kronor. The world’s largest maker of wireless networks reported a 5 percent increase in revenue for the fourth quarter to 66.9 billion kronor, exceeding the average analyst estimate of 65.8 billion kronor. The company also reported a net loss of 6.46 billion kronor after writing off its wireless-chip alliance with STMicroelectronics (STM) NV.

Major U.S. stock indexes were down today, ending trading in the red, but the results showed a significant increase in January.

At the close of the growth of the major U.S. stock indexes in January range from 4% for the Nasdaq index is up nearly 6% for the index Dow, S & P index showed an increase of 5%. , Bloomberg said that the current January is the best since 1997.

Growth indices in the current month was largely justified solution to the question "budget cliff", as well as relatively strong quarterly reports of companies.

Despite the fact that both factors are positive can be called a stretch (the question "budget break" has not been solved completely, in fact - the main part of the issue has to be addressed in the coming months, and expectations for quarterly reports have been traditionally under-reported), they do less lead to redirection of capital flows to the bond market in the stock markets, with the result that stocks Wall Street renewed multiyear highs. This led to what is on the market by the end of the month intensified speculation repeat scenario in 1994, when the price of U.S. government bonds have fallen.

Market grew in January, also in spite of the signs of inhibition of recovery of the housing market in the U.S., as signaled virtually every report on this area, we leave for a month.

By the end of January on the market increased expectations approximation correction after recent gains.

On the last day of January, the major U.S. stock indexes are in a small minus, market participants estimate the mass of economic data released today in Japan, Europe and America. The data for the most part, went mixed.

I have not received today the market is also positive from the quarterly reports. Session report include data from Facebook (FB). Profits and revenues of the world's largest social network in the last reporting quarter was higher than the average forecast of analysts, but, despite this, the FB shares tumbled in early trading more than 6%. Later, they played almost fall.

Profit Facebook for the 4th quarter of 2012 was $ 64 million in the 4th quarter 2011 profit was at the level of $ 302 million in revenue for the 4th quarter increased compared with the same period of 2011 by 40% (to $ 1.6 billion).

Most of the components of the index DOW show negative growth (20 of 30). At the moment, the leader shares in AT & T (T, +0.99%). Maximum loss carry stock Intel Corporation (INTC, -1.54%).

Most sectors of the S & P is in the red zone. The maximum loss is the commodity sector (-0.5%). Looks better than other tech sector (+0.2%).

At the close:

Dow -49,84 13,860.58 -0.36%

Nasdaq -0.18 3,142.13 -0.01%