NASDAQ

• Tunisian opposition politician shot dead, protests erupt (Reuters)
• China says extremely concerned after latest North Korea threats (Reuters)
• Postal Service to cut Saturday mail to trim costs (AP)
• Debt Rise Colors Budget Talks (WSJ)
• Obama proposes short-term budget fix, Republicans swiftly object (Reuters)
• S&P Analyst Joked of Bringing Down the House Before Crash (BBG)
• Dell’s Bigger Challenge Ahead in Turnaround After Buyout (BBG)
• Some of the Mark Carney Gloss Is Coming Off (WSJ)
• Japan Official Says BOJ Tools Sufficient as Shake-Up Looms (BBG)
• S&P Lawsuit Undermined by SEC Rules That Impede Competition (BBG)
• Heavy Clashes Erupt in Syrian Capital (WSJ)

Bob Janjuah may nt have rvrted to his RBS wrtng style of yore, yet, but the New Nrml appears to also fnly b getting to 1 of our fvrte strategists, who has finally gone bold, ALL CAPS. "IF I AM WRONG AND WE TRULY HAVE FOUND ECONOMIC AND MARKET NIRVANA SIMPLY THROUGH THE CENTRAL BANK PRINTING PRESS AND ENORMOUS INDEBTEDNESS, THEN I WILL HAVE NO HESITATION IN ENJOYING THE FUTURE, THINKING ABOUT THE FUNNY MONEY MIRACLE, NEVER NEEDING TO WORRY ABOUT ECONOMIES OR GROWTH EVER AGAIN (all hints of sarcasm entirely intentional)....Real wealth can only be created by innovation and hard work in the private sector, with policymakers, the financial sector and financial markets there to aid and encourage/incentivise. Real wealth is not created by the printing press and by excessive government spending. We simply cannot turn wine into water – after all, if it were that easy, why have we not done this before (with any lasting success, as opposed to abject failure, for which there is plenty of evidence)! "

More and more in fashion lately in the financial world is companies taking huge write-downs of some flopped acquisitions....

Because humor is always the best and only cure to pervasive central planning that has made a mockery of traditional investing and capital allocation, and because nobody delivers unlimited sheer, unadulterated humor quite as well as one James J. Cramer when he is "recommending" stocks, here is the full text of Jim Cramer's "The Winners of the New World" speech delivered in February 2000. Because it really never is different this time.

No problemo....

At this point it has gotten painfully tedious, and the one phrase to describe trading is - Same Pattern Different Day. With equity futures closing decidedly weak on earnings reality after US market close, the slowly, steady overnight ramp seen every single day for the past month has returned as always, this time on yet another largely expected German confidence indicator beat (following the just as irrationally exuberant ZEW some time ago, and yesterday's far better than expected PMI), this time the IFO Business Climate, which printed at 104.2, on expectations of 103 and up from 102.4. This was driven by both the current assessment rising from 107.1 to 108 and the Expectations rising from 97.9 to 100.5. Naturally, all confidence indicators will be skewed in a way to prevent the market from doubting for a second that Germany may actually succumb to the same recession that has gripped all other European countries (which Germany is an inch away from after its negative Q4 GDP). In other words: there is hope. As for reality, UK Q4 GDP came in at -0.3% on expectations of a far lower drop to -0.1%, and down from the olympics-boosted 0.9% in Q3. The UK certainly can't wait for Mark Carney to come and show them how cable devaluation is really done, cause this time it will be different, if only it wasn't different for everyone else.

Updated for the summary of MSFT, SBUX and T earnings.

Amid the deafening screams of hundreds of hedge fund managers looking for any hedging port in an AAPL storm, stock indices (expect the Nasdaq) surged to new highs from the moment the US day-session began until POMO was complete and European markets closed. Volume and block size was large as we took out S&P 500 highs up to 1500 and it appeared we ran out of the short-term proverbial great fool. In general, risk-assets and stocks were well correlated though the big disconnect today was a rising VIX. HY Credit did not play along with the exuberance early on either - as it seemed relatively clear that any and every trick in the book was being used to enable more out of the AAPL boat as we ramped up to VWAP. Once Europe had closed, AAPL slid, stocks slid (with S&P 500 dropping its most of 2013 so far), and risk-assets in general slid lower. JPY weakness and EUR strength helped support risk but Treasury yields falling back and a drop in commodities overall (Gold -0.9% on the week) had the opposite effect. The typical late-day ramp failed despite the best efforts of vol compression as stocks closed almost unch, at VWAP, in line with risk-assets (ahead of tomorrow's LTRO news). AAPL at lows as ramp failed...

iBubble goes iPop bringing the iNaz down for the iFall. You know I just can't help myself...

With the world and his mum applauding day-after-day as the nominal price of the major equity indices push to either i) all-time highs, or ii) post-crisis highs; and any and every measure of 'fear' (e.g. volatility and credit spreads) is repressed to limit-zero; there is an annoying glitch in the new market-based reality that has become our barometer of how we feel. Since the 2009 lows, every new market high has been confirmed by the Nasdaq - until now that is - as the divergence between the tech-dominated 'new normal' index and the rampacious Dow Transports or Industrials (dominated by one or two names each and every day) has grown significantly. The worrying chart below, perhaps suggests that the broad Nasdaq index is about to begin the down leg of a major head-and-shoulders pattern - helped by none other than 'most-held' Apple. Are non-Nasdaq indices being driven by the hedge unwinds against this mega-holding?

While the main topic of conversation overnight was the Apple implosion after earnings (which was mercifully spared inbound calls from repo desk margin clerks who had all gone home by the time the stock hit $460), there was some macro data to muddle up the picture, which, like everything else in this baffle with BS new normal came in "good/bad cop" pairs. In early trading, all eyes were focused on Japan, whose trade and especially exports imploded when the country posted a record trade gap of 6.93 trillion yen ($78.27 billion) in 2012 and the seventh consecutive monthly drop in exports which showed that improved sentiment has yet to translate into hard economic data. Finance ministry data on Thursday showed that exports fell 5.8 percent in the year to December, more than economists' consensus forecast of a 4.2 percent drop. Trade with China was hit particularly hard following the ongoing island fiasco, which means that all the ongoing Yen destruction has largely been for nothing as organic growth markets simply shut off Japan. This ugly news was marginally offset by a tiny beat in the HSBC China manufacturing PMI which came slighly above consensus at 51.9 vs exp. 51.7, the highest print in 24 months, but as with everything else coming out of China one really shouldn't believe this or any other number in a country that will not allow even one corporate default to prevent the credit-driven illusion from popping.

An overview of the key factors and events that are shaping the investment climate in the week ahead.  It looks at some emerging market developments as well.  These are the main talking points and considerations that ought to be on your radar screen as investors or pundits.  

From the start of 2012, AAPL was the beta-transforming game in town. Fund after fund claimed their stock-picking excellence when really, they were just running a higher beta fund being overweight AAPL. Today saw that come to an end (for now). AAPL and Nasdaq have recoupled (both +19.5% from 12/30/11) as the former fell to 11-month lows. One thing is clear, given strength in the indices today, everyone and their mom appeared to be in the long AAPL, short index trade isolating their performance. S&P 500 futures pushed inexorably higher all afternoon (even as bonds rallied, and the USD went bid on Juncker's verbal intervention) - testing unchanged on the week. From soon after this morning's POMO, US equities disconnected almost entirely from the rest of risk assets. Gold and Silver rose, Oil and copper slid, HY Credit snapped lower and recovered in the afternoon as the VIX term structure yawns ever wider across the debt-ceiling deadline, CHF was offered all day, and the short-term T-Bill curve is now inverted (stressed) across the debt-ceiling deadline.

In the last two weeks we have pointed out that not only are equity futures traders the most net long in six years but NYSE Margin Debt is also near four year highs. Add to this the fact that VIX futures are the most net short they have ever been - crushed by an all too visible hand - and it appears that equity market participants were critically unafraid of the fiscal cliff uncertainty. What is even more concerning, at least for those who care to be modestly contrarian that is, is that the market appears to be running out of greater fools in every asset class as JPMorgan's speculative position indicator - which combines net positioning across 8 'risky' and 7'safe' assets - is at its most risk-on since just before the crash began in Q3 2007. So, for all those taking heads who expect a flood of new money, who still believe there is money on the sidelines that wants to be put to work, the fact is in the last decade we have been more speculatively positioned long only once - and that marked the top in stocks (and risk-assets everywhere).

• After the worst post-Christmas market performance since 1937, we had the largest surge to kick off any year in recorded history
• The myth is that we are now seeing the clouds part to the extent that cash will be put to work. Not so fast It is very likely that much of the market advance has been short-covering and some abatement in selling activity
• As equities now retest the cycle highs, it would be folly to believe that we will not experience recurring setbacks and heightened volatility along the way
• The reality is that the tough choices and the tough bargaining have been left to the next Congress and are about to be sworn in
• The myth is that the economy escaped a bullet here. The reality is that even with the proverbial "cliff" having been avoided, the impact of the legislation is going to extract at least a 11/2 percentage point bite out of GDP growth

Shit breaks again.  It's been covered plenty of times.  The fragmentation within the US equities market its beyond management.  It gets old repeating the same tune.  The SEC is inept, the HFT industry is selfish, and the Academic research on the topic is conflicted and corrupted.  The exchanges offer unpublished orders to top bidders and the integrity of the market has vanished.