U.S. Markets Sell Off

The U.S. stock markets continue to see
some weakness in mid-afternoon trading on Friday, although the major averages
have moved off their worst levels of the day.

The weakness in the market is partly due
to the release of stronger than expected December employment data, which has led
many traders to believe that the Federal Reserve is not likely to lower interest
rates in the near future.

The price of oil regained some ground
during trading on Friday, with crude for February delivery closing up $0.72 at
$56.31 a barrel after closing down $2.73 a barrel in each of the two previous
sessions.

The relatively modest rebound by the price
of oil came as some traders bought back into oil at reduced levels after it
ended Thursday’s trading at its lowest closing level in well over a year.
Lingering concerns about heating oil demand helped to keep buying interest
somewhat subdued.

After closing lower in the two previous
sessions, the price of gold saw some further downside during trading on Friday.
Gold for February ended the session sharply lower, closing down $19.30 at
$606.90 an ounce.

Stocks on the Move

Motorola
(
MOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Slashes Q4 Forecast On Weaker Than Expected Mobile
Sales (full
story).  MOT shares drop 8%.

Broadcom
(
BRCM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Receives Downgrade from Credit Suisse from
Outperform to Underperform.  Shares of BRCM fell 3.3%.

Tractor Supply
(
TSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Lowers Full Year Profit
Forecast, Says Unseasonably Warm Weather Hurt Q4 Sales (full
story).  TSCO shares rose by nearly 4%.

Nokia
(
NOK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Receives Downgrade from Credit Suisse from Outperform
to Neutral.  Shares of NOK fall by over 5%.

Circuit City
(
CC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Dec. Comps Up 4.2%, Net Sales
Rise 5.9%; Lifts FY07 Sales Forecast (full
story).  CC shares drop by 3.5%.

For more stories as they happen, go to our
Breaking News section.

Market Snapshot

Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Economic News

Natural Gas Inventory fell 47 bcf to 3074 bcf

Unemployment Rate 4.5% vs 4.5% consensus

Nonfarm Payrolls 167K vs 115K consensus, 100K Bloomberg consensus

Hourly Earnings m/m +0.5% vs +0.3% consensus

Average Workweek 33.9 vs 33.9 consensus

Darren Wong
darrenw@tradingmarkets.com

P.S.

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