Chinese Economic Data Disappoints, AT&T (T) Partners With BlackBerry

Markets were trading slightly higher on Monday morning while the S&P 500 hit its highest intraday level since October of 2007. They index had been trading within roughly 1 point of its all-time closing high throughout the morning. The S&P is up nearly 8.7% this year and the Dow has pushed up roughly 10%. Alan B. Lancz, President of Alan B. Lancz Associates, said “There’s a lot of pent-up demand and people seem to be buying on weakness.”

China released their economic data reports that showed the country has had a weak start to 2013. Industrial output slowed to its weakest start since 2009, while lending and retail sales slowed. Production was up 9.9% in the first two months of the year. This was below the economists’ expectations of 10.6%. Retail sales climbed 12.3%. Economists were expecting retail sales to come in at 13.8% and this had been the smallest increase for the sector for this time frame since 2004. People’s Bank of China announced that new loans fell to 620 billion yuan, nearly $99.6 billion, from the 710.7 billion yuan this time last year. This was below economist expectations of 700 billion yuan. Louis Kuijs, Chief China Economist at Royal Bank of Scotland said that growth is showing “an old-fashioned pattern, relying especially on exports and investments with consumption lagging.”

Fitch Ratings announced that they had cut Italy’s credit rating. Their decision was largely attributed to inconclusive election results. The outcome of the election reduces the chances that a stable government can be formed in the coming weeks. Their rating was dropped to a “BBB+” from “A-“ while maintaining their negative outlook. Fitch released this statement “With fourth quarter 2012 data confirming that Italy’s ongoing recession is one of the deepest in Europe, the increased political uncertainty and non-conducive backdrop for further structural reform measures constitute a further adverse shock to the real economy.”

AT&T (T) announced that they will begin carrying the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone. The phone will be available for presale in the United States on March 12. They are currently already being sold in Canada, Britain and over 20 other countries. The delay of device in the U.S. had been attributed to a longer carrier-testing phase. AT&T said that the BlackBerry phones will run $199.99 with a two-year contract. The company said that sales have been outperforming expectations but are waiting to see how well sales do in the U.S. T-Mobile announced on Friday that they will begin selling the BlackBerry Z10, the version with the physical keyboard and powered by a new BB10 operating system, on Monday. Verizon will also be carrying the phones and has yet to announce when they will begin selling the Z10. News of this sent shares of BlackBerry up over 10%.