The Ministry of Economic Affairs reported that Taiwan industrial production dropped over 8% in December.

The question is whether this weakness will find its way to mainland China, as over 40% of Taiwan's exports go to Taiwan and Hong Kong. (The U.S. is the next largest trading partner with almost 12%.)






I believe that the reallocation out of bonds and into equities has now begun.

The 10-year U.S. note is now yielding over 2%.






GE - When one takes into account Shinsei charges, corporate items and a lower tax rate, the company missed by $0.01.

Industrial equipment orders were a touch light. Most segments -- including transportation and GE Capital home/business were strong, but energy, aviation and health care saw sizeable misses.






The news flow was on fire over the last day or so:

1. Last night's earnings at MSFT (good), INTC (good), IBM (good), AXP (weak), COF (bad) and GOOG (awful)
2. ANOTHER Republican debate: Romney (weak), Gingrich (strong)
3. This morning's earnings at GE (weak)
4. Last night was the announcement of the preliminary HSBC PMI manufacturing for China (so so)