Market Wrap: Markets Gain on Data; Yahoo!'s Yang to Move On; Citi, Wells Fargo Show Mixed Results

Market wrap-up for January 17th

End of the Day: Dow Jones up 60.0 to 12,482.07; Nasdaq up 17.4 to 2,728.08; S&P 500 up 4.6 to 1,293.67

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• Data lifts markets: U.S. stocks were higher on the session following the MLK holiday Monday. Data out of Germany showed overall economic sentiment rose 21.6 points to (32.2) points in January, while China saw an 8.9 percent growth in GDP for its fourth quarter, besting views calling for just 8.7 percent.
  
  In the U.S., Empire Manufacturing rose to 13.48, besting views calling for 10.0, and up from 8.19 in the prior month.
  
  
• Yahoo! loses the Yang to its yin: Late in the session, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) reported co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from all positions within the company. From the release: "Yang co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in 1995 with David Filo and served as a member of the Board of Directors since March 1995 and as Chief Executive Officer from June 2007 to January 2009. The Company went public in 1996."
  
  Shares of Yahoo! moved higher after hours Tuesday on the news.
  
  
• Two more financial giants report mixed Q4 numbers: Both Citi (NYSE: C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) reported fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday, with mixed results. Citi reported earnings of 38 cents per share on revenue of $172 billion, both missing Street views. Wells Fargo also reported a drop in revs to $20.61 billion and earnings of 73 cents per share, beating views on the top and bottom.
  
  
• Kraft cuts out the cheese: Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) said it is aiming to realign the U.S. Sales organization, consolidating U.S. management centers and streamlining the corporate and business unit organizations. These actions will result in the reduction of approximately 1,600 positions in North America throughout 2012, about 40 percent of which are due to the realignment of U.S. Sales.
  
  The company also issued preliminary fiscal 2011 sales guidance.
  
  
• Carnival estimates loss from cruise ship catastrophe: Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE: CCL) said it expects the impact to 2012 earnings for loss of use from the Costa Concordia cruise tragedy to be approximately $85 million to $95 million or 11 cents to 12 cents per share. In addition, the company anticipates other costs to the business that are not possible to determine at this time. About 11 passengers have been counted as deceased, while 24 are still missing.

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