Equities

US equity markets advanced, although off their highs of the day, with jobless claims at three and a half year lows and the Philadelphia Fed’s Business Outlook for December surprised sharply to the upside. Corporate earnings from FedEx and the strong demand at the five-year Spanish notes auction also buoyed investor sentiment. VIX volatility index closed down 3.57 percent

The majority of S&P sectors were higher, lead by defensive sectors utilities and healthcare. Volumes were 10 percent below 20-day average.

In corporate news, FedEx rallied 8 percent as 2Q12 EPS was better-than-expected on lower non-operating expenses. Verifone declined 9.25 percent after posting inline 4Q11 results, but forecasting 1Q EPS and revenue below analysts’ expectations.

After hours, Research in Motion fell 6.5 percent as the company said a long-awaited product revamp would be delayed and its third-quarter earnings fell 71 percent. Accenture traded 2.1 percent lower after reporting poor first quarter earnings.

In Asia, stocks rose, snapping three days of losses, after U.S. data on jobless claims and manufacturing beat estimates; easing concern Europe’s debt crisis will drag the global economy into a recession. Chinese markets rallied 2 percent in last hour of trading on a rumour going around that the vice Premier of the Economic Council called an emergency meeting to deal with capital outflow and ways to support the market.

European indices opened higher this morning with little catalysts from Europe. The market will remain choppy among the options and futures expiries along the trading day. In the US, we will have the CPI reading for November at 14.30.