Market Wrap for Tuesday, February 5: Stocks Shrug Off Monday's Losses to Stage Rally

A day after falling the most in 2013, the U.S. stock market rebounded strongly on the back of good economic data. In the United States, the ISM Services Index for January was roughly in-line with expectations while a reading of Eurozone Composite PMI rose to a 10-month high last month. Investors are also focused on quarterly earnings results, which have been relatively strong. Risk assets are enjoying a very strong start to 2013, and market momentum and general optimism are also fueling gains. Major Averages The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 99 points, or 0.71 percent, to 13,979. The S&P 500 rose almost 16 points, or 1.04 percent, to close at 1,511. The Nasdaq Composite led the major averages, notching a gain of 40 points, or 1.29 percent, to just below 3,172. ISM Services The ISM non-manufacturing index fell from a downwardly revised 55.7 in December to 55.2 in January. This compared to consensus estimates which expected a decline to 55.6. The ISM services index is not a widely watched indicator because of its less cyclical nature versus the manufacturing index. Commodities Crude oil followed stocks higher on Tuesday. At last check, NYMEX crude contracts had risen around 0.45 percent and were trading at $96.60. Brent crude contracts had added around 0.80 percent to $116.46. Natural gas rose over 3 percent on the day to $3.42. Precious metals were mixed on the day. Gold was last down slightly to $1,673 while silver rose slightly to $31.83. Copper futures were also positive on the day, adding 0.17 percent at last check. In the agricultural complex, both corn and wheat fell less than 1 percent. Soft commodities were led by cocoa with a gain of well over 2 percent. Bonds Late in the trading session, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT was down around 0.80 percent to $116.09 after a big rally on Monday. Yields rose across the curve as traders sold bonds. The 2-Year yield added around one basis point to 0.26 percent while the 5-Year yield rose four basis points to 0.87 percent. The yields on the 10-Year Note and 30-Year Bond were both up five basis points to 2.01 percent and 3.21 percent, respectively. Currencies The U.S. dollar was close to flat on Tuesday with the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, trading down 0.05 percent to $21.70. The closely watched EUR/USD rose on the day, and was last up 0.56 percent to $1.3585. The Japanese Yen continued its sharp fall versus the greenback with the USD/JPY climbing around 1.30 percent. The GBP/USD fell 0.55 percent and trading in other major currency pairs was fairly quiet. Volatility and Volume The VIX slumped a day after rising more than 13 percent. The widely watched volatility index closed down almost 8 percent to 13.54. Volume remained very low. Only around 98 million SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY shares traded hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 138 million. Stock Movers Baidu.com BIDU fell over 10 percent after its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings results. McGraw-Hill MHP continued to plunge on the day after the Justice Department accused subsidiary Standard & Poor's of fraud relating to its ratings of CDOs heading up to the financial crisis. The news is also hurting competitor Moody's MCO for the second straight day with the stock trading down almost 9 percent. Shares of Virgin Media VMED surged over 18 percent after numerous reports indicated the company was close to being acquired by Liberty Global LBTYA. Virgin Media subsequently confirmed the reports. Yum! Brands YUM fell around 3 percent after releasing quarterly earnings results. Revlon REV jumped more than 19 percent in the wake of its fourth-quarter earnings results. Power Integrations POWI surged to a multi-month high after releasing fourth-quarter results. The stock closed up more than 14 percent.