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Dow Jones: 15,988.08 (-3.2%)
NASDAQ: 4,488.42 (-3.3%)
S&P 500: 1,880.29 (-2.2%)
Gold: 1,089.40 (-1.7%)
Copper: 194.35 (-4.0%)
Crude Oil: 29.69 (-10.1%)
Industrial production fell 0.4% in December compared to the 0.9% decline recorded in November, 2015. Specifically, manufacturing production fell 0.1% as a result of declines in mining (down 0.8%) and utilities (down 2%). The total industry capacity utilization (an index used to gauge sustainable maximum output) fell 0.4% from 76.9 percent to 76.5 percent. Overall, while industrial production rose 4.8% in 2014, it fell 1.5% in 2015.
Crude Oil declined 10.4% this week closing below $30 at $29.59 per barrel. Commercial crude oil inventories (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by 0.3 million barrels to 482.6 million barrels in the week ended January 8 from 482.3 million the previous week. The national average retail regular gasoline price fell below $2 to $1.996 from $2.028 per gallon the preceding week.
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand (PPI-FD) fell 0.2% in December after increasing 0.3% in November, 2015. The PPI-FD decrease was driven by falling prices for final demand goods (index down 0.7%) as gasoline prices continue to fall but was countered by higher prices for final demand services (index up 0.1%) such as securities brokerage and hospital inpatient care. Overall, the PPI-FD was down 0.4% for the year 2015.
JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) reported a 0.4% increase in net revenue for Q4 2015. Net income rose 10.2% whereas EPS increased 10.9% to $1.32 from $1.19 the same quarter last year. Net income declined 59% for the corporate segment, 6% for asset management, and 31% for commercial banking but was offset by a 10% rise for consumer and community banking, and an 80% increase for the corporate and investment bank segment.
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) revenue for Q4 2015 grew 1.3% but net income fell 1.3% YoY. Diluted earnings per share at $0.74 were unchanged from the same quarter last year. The revenue increase was driven by rising sales from the data center (+5.3%) and internet of things (+5.75%) business segments but weighed down by falling earnings in client computing (-1.24%).
Alcoa (NYSE: AA) recorded a 5.7% decline in total revenue and a 145.2% decrease in net income YoY for Q4 2015. Consequently, diluted EPS fell 171.4% to -$0.15 from $0.21 the same quarter last year. Alumina production fell 7.3% while aluminum production fell 4.4% YoY driven down the fall in alumina and aluminum prices.
IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) reported a revenue increase of 2.7% while net income went up 50.5% YoY. The high increase in net income was driven by proceeds from discontinued operations consequently diluted earnings per share for Q4 2015 rose 51.7% to $1.32 from $0.87 the same quarter last year. Revenue from the resources segment is down 9% YoY while transportation and CMS revenues are up 12% and 13% respectively.
Looking ahead to next week, the following companies will be releasing their earnings results.
