MARKETS AT A GLANCE

(Data as of approximately 5 p.m. ET)

 
                      LAST    CHANGE   % CHG 
DJIA                 16262.6    89.32   0.55% 
Nasdaq               4034.16    11.47   0.29% 
S&P 500              1842.98    12.37   0.68% 
Japan: Nikkei 225    13996.8    86.65   0.62% 
Hang Seng            22671.3  -367.54  -1.60% 
Shanghai Composite    2101.6   -29.94  -1.40% 
S&P BSE Sensex       22484.9  -144.03  -0.64% 
Australia: S&P/ASX    5388.2     29.3   0.55% 
UK: FTSE 100         6541.61   -42.15  -0.64% 
 
 
                    PRICE CHG  YIELD% 
U.S. 2 Year              0/32   0.371 
U.S. 5 Year             -1/32   1.620 
U.S. 10 Year             5/32   2.631 
Australia 10 Year       -7/32   4.009 
China 10 Year            0/32   4.540 
India 10 Year            4/32   8.967 
Japan 10 Year            0/32   0.607 
German 10 Year          16/32   1.475 
 
 
                          LAST(MID)  CHANGE 
Australia $ (AUD/USD)         0.936  -0.0002 
Yen (USD/JPY)                101.92     0.01 
S. Korean Won (USD/KRW)      1041.5     0.02 
Chinese Yuan (USD/CNY)       6.2208  -0.0003 
Euro (EUR/USD)               1.3813  -0.0002 
WSJ Dollar Index              72.97     0.01 
 
 
               LAST   CHANGE  % CHG 
Crude Oil     103.75    -0.3  -0.29% 
Brent Crude   109.38    0.31   0.28% 
Gold          1302.6   -24.9  -1.88% 
 

SNAPSHOT

U.S. stocks ended broadly higher after a volatile session marked by disappointing economic data, some upbeat earnings and geopolitical tensions. A clash at a military airport in Ukraine gave Treasurys a boost. The dollar edged up on U.S. inflation data. Gold dropped on China demand fears, and oil prices slipped as supplies were seen ample.

OPENING CALL

Asian market watchers will be focused Wednesday on growth data out of China. Economists expect China's economy to post a 7.3% increase for the first three months of the year, below the official 7.5% expansion target. Tang Yonggang, analyst with Hongyuan Securities, says despite expectations for a not-so-great number, "the market's response may actually be positive if sentiment grows positive on the roll out of reform measures."

EQUITIES

U.S. stocks ended a volatile session with broad gains, erasing a sharp midday swoon that saw the Nasdaq Composite Index fall to nearly five-month lows before recovering.

The intraday volatility came as investors digested disappointing economic data, upbeat earnings from blue-chip companies and a flare-up of tensions in Ukraine.

"It is a sloppy market," said Frank Cappelleri, a sales trader at brokerage firm Instinet. "Overall, the market's pattern is still fragile. The overall risk people are willing to take is lower given the damage that has been seen" in the market of late, he said.

Mr. Cappelleri added that lighter volumes during a holiday-shortened week increased the intraday volatility. The Jewish holiday of Passover began this week, while the stock market is closed Friday for Good Friday.

Stocks started strong Tuesday following upbeat quarterly reports from components of the Dow industrials. Coca-Cola climbed 3.7% after first-quarter adjusted earnings met estimates, while revenue rose slightly above forecasts, amid an increase in world-wide case volume. Johnson & Johnson rose 2.1% after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and raising its full-year outlook.

Fellow Dow member Intel, which reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings after the close, gained 1.7% in after-hours trading.

Disappointing economic data contributed to the intraday swoon, as they marked a stark change from the recent string of upbeat data on the labor market and retail sales. The New York Federal Reserve's Empire State index of manufacturing activity for April fell to 1.3 from 5.61 in March, versus expectations of a rise to 8.0. Readings above zero indicate improving conditions.

Data also showed that home-builder confidence improved less than economists expected, while consumer prices rose a touch more than forecast in March.

Traders said news of military activity in Ukraine also weighed on sentiment in midday trading. A clash erupted at a military airport in Eastern Ukraine Tuesday, with two pro-Russian militants apparently wounded.

In other corporate news, Zebra Technologies slumped 10% after the barcode-printing and asset-tracking company announced an agreement to buy Motorola Solutions' enterprise business for $3.45 billion in cash. Shares of Motorola Solutions slipped 0.6%.

Yahoo surged 8.3% in after-hours trading after reporting first-quarter earnings and revenue that topped analyst forecasts. Yahoo has been one of the harder hit stocks during the recent market weakness. Through Tuesday's close, the stock had lost 4.7% so far in April and 15% this year.

Charles Schwab rose 3.2% after the discount brokerage reported first-quarter earnings that rose above analyst forecasts, as new assets and profit margins increased.

In Asian trading Tuesday, Chinese stocks shot lower amid growing concerns over excess credit in the region's largest economy, while Japan and Australia recovered from heavy selling in recent sessions.

FOREX

The dollar edged higher against major currencies after U.S. inflation data encouraged investors to think the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than expected.

Inflation rose 0.2% in March from the previous month, the Labor Department said. Consumer prices also increased 1.5% from a year ago, approaching the central bank's target of 2%.

The Fed has said it is watching inflation to gauge when the U.S. economy has recovered and it can raise interest rates. Investors are attracted to dollars and dollar-denominated assets when interest rates climb, as they would gain in value against the currencies of countries whose interest rates don't.

But while March inflation was a positive signal for the Fed, a survey of New York manufacturers, generally considered second-tier data for the currency market, came in below economists' forecasts, capping the dollar's gains.

BONDS

Treasury bond prices strengthened as rising geopolitical tensions in Ukraine boosted demand for haven assets and sent the benchmark 10-year yield to a six-week low.

Ukraine represents "the scare factor" that propped up U.S. bond prices, said Thomas Roth, executive director in the U.S. government bond trading group at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities USA in New York.

The crisis in Ukraine returned to the market spotlight after taking a back seat in recent weeks. Anxiety has risen again after pro-Russian activists and militants extended their grip across eastern Ukraine over the weekend, prompting the government to mobilize the military as it struggles to prevent a replay of Russia's takeover of Crimea.

Mary Ann Hurley, vice president of trading in Seattle at D.A. Davidson, said one of the concerns is that the escalating crisis between Ukraine and Russia could cast a cloud over the global growth outlook at a time when uncertainty persists about whether the U.S. economy will shake off its recent weakness and accelerate its growth later this year.

"If a civil war breaks out in Ukraine, it would be reasonable to expect growth would slow in Europe," said Ms. Hurley. "Weaker growth there would have ramifications on global growth," which would boost demand for Treasury debt.

COMMODITIES

Gold locked in its largest one-day percentage drop since December as worries about weaker demand from China prompted some investors to reduce their gold holdings.

The drop came as traders considered data showing weaker-than-expected money supply growth in China, the world's top gold consumer. China's money supply grew 12.1% in March from a year earlier, missing the People's Bank of China's target of 13% growth for the first time since April 2012.

China is due to release its first-quarter economic growth report on Wednesday, and some traders are worried that that report will also leave the market disappointed, said Graham Leighton, a metals broker with Marex Spectron in New York.

"People are a bit nervous about the figure coming out from China, especially after the money supply data we got today, and they just wanted to take some money off the table," Mr. Leighton said.

U.S. oil prices fell from a six-week high as traders expected supplies to remain ample.

TODAY'S HEADLINES

Clash Erupts at Military Airport in Eastern Ukraine

Two pro-Russian militants were apparently wounded in a clash at a military airfield as armored Ukrainian units began moving into the restive east, part of a military operation to take back control of cities seized by separatists.

Yahoo Shows Signs of Growth

Yahoo reported its revenue, minus commissions paid to partners for Web traffic, rose 1% in the first quarter after four straight quarters without growth. Overall, Yahoo reported earnings of $311.6 million, or 29c a share. Adjusted earnings were flat at 38c.

Intel's Profit Slides as PC Market Shrinks

Intel reported a 4.8% decline in first-quarter profit to $1.95 billion, or 38c a share, as the Silicon Valley chip maker continues to share the pain of the shrinking personal-computer market. Results beat Street views.

Yellen Sees Room for Stronger Capital Rules

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said the largest and most complex financial institutions may be able to strengthen their balance sheets further by raising more capital than regulators have required to date.

U.S. Home Builder Confidence Still Subdued in April

An index of builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes rose one point to a seasonally adjusted 47 in April, the National Association of Home Builders said. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected it would rise in April to 50.

U.S. Consumer Prices Rise 0.2% in March

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The consumer-price index advanced a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in March from the prior month. Core prices, which strip out volatile food and energy costs, also rose 0.2%. Both gauges were expected to increase by 0.1%.

Coke's Profit Drops But Volumes Improve

Weak soda volumes, foreign-exchange headwinds and bottling divestments shrank Coca-Cola's profit and revenue, even as the company staged a rebound in key emerging markets and sales of non-carbonated drinks picked up.

Credit Suisse Subpoenaed in Tax-Evasion Probe

New York's top financial regulator is said to have sought numerous documents from Credit Suisse in an ongoing tax-evasion probe of the Swiss bank.

Foreign Investors Step Up Treasury Buys

Foreign investors scooped up Treasury notes and bonds in February at the fastest pace in more than two years, a sign of continued confidence in the world's ultrasafe and most liquid bond market.

No Signs of Missing Jet in Seabed Search

Initial data from an unmanned submersible launched to scan the Indian Ocean seabed for wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 revealed nothing related to the missing plane, authorities said.

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TODAY'S CALENDAR

(Times in GMT, followed by country and event)

0030 AUS Feb Westpac-Melbourne Institute Indexes of Economic Activity

0200 CHN Q1 GDP

0200 CHN Mar Fixed Assets Investment

0200 CHN Mar Industrial Output

0200 CHN Mar Retail sales

0430 JPN Feb Revised Industrial Production

0800 ITA Feb Foreign Trade EU

0800 EU Feb Euro area balance of payments

0830 UK Mar UK monthly unemployment figures

0900 EU Mar Harmonised CPI

0900 EU Q4 Balance of payments - 2nd release

1100 US MBA Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey

1230 US Mar New Residential Construction - Housing Starts and Building Permits

1230 CAN Feb International transactions in securities

1230 CAN Q1 Investment in non-residential building construction

1315 US Mar Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization

1400 CAN Bank of Canada interest rate announcement

1430 US EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report

1625 US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speech at the Economic Club of New York

1645 US FRB Dallas President Richard Fisher speech at the 'Texas at Turning Point' event

1800 US U.S. Federal Reserve Beige Book

2245 NZ Q1 CPI

2301 UK Mar Knight Frank House Price Sentiment Index

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