MARKET ROUNDUP (Source Bloomberg)

U.S. Stocks Fall as Retailers Slump Amid Budget Deadline; as President Barack Obama and Congress prepared to resume budget talks and retailers slumped after the Christmas holiday. The S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent to 1,419.83 at 4 p.m. in New York. The index's three-day losing streak is the longest since Nov. 15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 24.49 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,114.59 today. More than 4 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges today, 34 percent below the three-month average. European markets remained closed for a second day.
Oil Trades Near Two-Month High on Budget Talks, Terror Arrests; as U.S. lawmakers prepared to resume budget talks and the United Arab Emirates said it arrested members of a terror cell that was planning attacks on crude-exporting nations. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was at $90.92 a barrel, down 6 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 8:46 a.m. in Tokyo. Futures advanced $2.37 to $90.98 yesterday, the highest close since Oct. 18, and have fallen 8 percent this year.

Source: Jupiter Securities Research - 27 December 2012