Macquarie is listing a new warrant over UOB this morning.

Macquarie’s UOB warrants

UOB underperforms in January
UOB was off to a good start in 2013, nearly crossing $20.00. It closed at $19.95 on the 3rd January and the rally failed to sustain, falling 5.5% in three weeks as at last Friday’s close. In comparison, the STI had added 1.4% for the same period.

UOB is not the only bank to underperform the broader index. Both OCBC and DBS ended lower even when the STI climbed higher. OCBC lost 1.6% while DBS declined 0.8% for the period of 3 January to 25 January. However, UOB’s performance was the worst between the three local banks.

Major US equity indexes attain recent highs
Last week’s focus was on developments in the US and as of Friday, the S&P had added gains for the past eight days, climbing 2.2% in total. This is the longest rally the index has had since November 2004. Both the S&P and the Dow Jones traded at their highest levels since 2007, closing at 1,502.96 and 13,985.98 respectively.
 
US economic data and corporate earnings looking up
The rally came at the back of the House voting to temporarily suspend the federal debt limits on Wednesday. Economic data and many of the companies reporting earnings also came in better than expected, hence pushing the S&P 1.1% higher for the week.
 
The index is poised for its third consecutive month of gains after advancing 5.4% so far this month and according to Bloomberg, the measure of consumer discretionary and financial shares rose the most among the 10 groups in the S&P last week, gaining more than 1.8%. Technology shares were the only group in the red, declining 0.5% after Apple weighed down the index by tumbling 12%.
 
Apple's weekly fall was the worse since 2008 and lost its title of the world's most valuable company to Exxon Mobil. Yet, Starbucks, P&G, IBM and Google jumped 3.7%, 4.7%, 5.4% and 7% respectively after reporting unexpectedly positive results.
 
In macro data, jobless claims unexpectedly fell to a five year low for the week ended 19 January while the index of American leading indicators rose the most in three months.

Key Macro Data this week
Mon 28 Jan: US durable goods orders, pending home sales
Tues 29 Jan: US S&P home price index, consumer confidence
Wed 30 Jan: US GDP, personal consumption; Eurozone economic confidence
Thurs 31 Jan: US FOMC rate decision, PCE; Eurozone CPI; HK retail sales; Singapore unemployment rate
Fri 01 Feb: US non-farm payroll, ISM manufacturing, construction spending; Eurozone PMI, unemployment rate; China manufacturing PMI