MARKET ROUNDUP (Source Bloomberg)

S&P 500 Pares Losses as House Sets Session for Dec. 30; as the House of Representatives planned a session on Dec. 30, fueling optimism a budget deal will be reached. The S&P 500 (SPX) dropped 0.1 percent to 1,418.10 at 4 p.m. in New York, after earlier retreating as much as 1.3 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 18.28 points, or 0.1 percent, to 13,096.31. Almost 5.2 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, or 15 percent below the three-month average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The S&P 500 has slipped 0.8 percent this week as talks between President Barack Obama and Congress dragged on beyond the Christmas holiday. The gauge has still rallied 13 percent this year. Obama is pushing lawmakers to agree on an interim deal to avert more than $600 billion of automatic tax increases and spending cuts, known as the fiscal cliff, that will otherwise come into effect next month.

European Stocks Little Changed as U.S. Data Offsets Reid; as U.S. jobless-benefit claims dropped and home sales climbed to a two-year high, offsetting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's comments that a budget deal is unlikely. France's CAC 40 (CAC) rallied 0.6 percent, Germany's DAX advanced 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s benchmark FTSE 100 was little changed.

Oil Heads for Biggest Weekly Gain Since August on U.S. Economy; amid signs of shrinking stockpiles and an economic recovery in the U.S., the world's biggest crude consumer. West Texas Intermediate oil for February delivery rose as much as 62 cents to $91.49 a barrel in electronic rading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $91.37 at 8:58 a.m. in Tokyo. Futures slipped 11 cents to $90.87 yesterday. Prices have declined 7.6 percent this year.

Source: Jupiter Securities Research - 28 December 2012