Earnings and Home Prices and Confidence - Oh My!

Market Performance - The Nasdaq and S&P 500 opened positively, with the S&P 500 reaching a new all-time closing high of 6978, up by +0.41% [1] - The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by -408.99 points, or -0.83%, primarily due to a -19% loss in UnitedHealth (UNH) following mixed Q4 results [1] Economic Reports - The Case-Shiller Home Prices for November showed a slight improvement, with a +1.4% increase, and house prices rose +0.6% month over month and +1.9% year over year, although these figures lag behind the +2.7% inflation rate [2] - Consumer Confidence for January dropped significantly to 84.5, down nearly 10 points from a revised December figure of 94.2, indicating levels typically associated with an impending recession [4][5] Company Earnings - Texas Instruments (TXN) reported Q4 earnings of $1.27 per share, missing estimates by 3 cents, with revenues of $4.42 billion also falling short of expectations [6] - F5 (FFIV) exceeded earnings expectations with $4.45 per share on revenues of $822 million, leading to a +13% increase in after-hours trading [7] - Seagate Technologies (STX) reported fiscal Q2 earnings of $3.19 per share on revenues of $2.83 billion, surpassing estimates, although shares fell -1.3% after a significant year-to-date increase of nearly +35% [9]