Market Outlook

·            Asian stocks fell the most in two weeks after the Federal Reserve increased its discount rate for the first time in more than three years, triggering concern stimulus programs are winding down.

·            Options traders are paying the most to protect against a drop in Chinese stocks since the depths of last year’s global financial crisis as policy makers in Beijing take steps to cool economic growth.

·            ASX Ltd., which runs Australia’s largest stock exchange, said a new trading system it’s installing later this year will slash transaction times and allow more trades to be processed.

·            U.S. stocks rose, capping the market’s biggest three-day rally since November, as reports bolstering confidence in the economic recovery overshadowed disappointing sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

·            Brazil’s Bovespa stock index may drop 11 percent in the next month after climbing above its average close of the past 50 days, Auerbach Grayson & Co. said.

·            Shares of U.S. financial markets are due for a rebound because they are relatively cheap and trading in futures and options is accelerating, according to Jonathan Casteleyn, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP.

·            European stocks advanced for a fourth day as ABB Ltd. reported better-than-estimated earnings and Swiss Reinsurance Co. lifted its dividend, overshadowing an unexpected increase in U.S. jobless-benefit claims.

·            U.K. stocks rose for a fourth day after BAE Systems Plc said it will start buying back its shares and Kingfisher Plc said profit probably beat analysts’ estimates.

·            German stocks advanced for a fourth straight day as Deutsche Boerse AG and K+S AG climbed and the index of U.S. leading indicators rose in January for a 10th straight month.

·            Equita SIM SpA, an Italian brokerage firm, bought 33 million shares of Gemina SpA on behalf of an unidentified client, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

·         Japanese stocks fell the most in two weeks after the Federal Reserve raised the rate it charges banks for direct loans for the first time in more than three years.

Technical Levels