Market Wrap: Caterpillar Becomes Butterfly; Markets Feel the Data; If You Like Cash Bonuses, You're Not BofA

Market wrap-up for January 26th

End of the Day: Dow Jones down 22.3 to 12,734.63; Nasdaq down 13.0 to 2,805.28; S&P 500 down 7.6 to 1,318.43.

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

• Chuggin' on ahead: Industrial giant Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) reported solid fourth-quarter results, with earnings of $2.32 and revs of $17.24 billion, versus Street views calling for sales of $16.05 billion and EPS of 1.73. Caterpillar also is bullish on the outlook for 2012, for more color, click here.
  
  Caterpillar ended the session up about 2 percent.
  
  
• Ugh, economic data: To put it succinctly, economic data today wasn't great -- bad might be a better word. Left, right, up or down, nothing seemed to be working. Initial claims rose to 377,000, missing views. Durable orders fell to 3 percent (expected), leading indicators at 0.4 percent missed views, and new home sales of 307,000 were shy of the consensus, and so on.
  
  If you were sick to work today or just felt like sleeping in, that might've been a good decision in retrospect.
  
  
• Now just take the cinder block off the other lung..: Late news has Transocean (NYSE: RIG) getting some relief from the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. According to reports Thursday night, BP plc (NYSE: BP) will need to indemnify Transocean, but isn't required to protect Transocean from punitive damages or civil penalties.
  
  Transocean won't be held for damage claims made by third parties for oil spilled under the surface of the ocean. Ruling on possible contract breach by Transocean has been deferred for now.
  
  Shares of Transocean are up in late trading.
  
  
• Hopefully bankers are also good at saving: Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is going to put the kibosh on 'fat cat' paychecks, looking to trim bonuses to investment bankers and traders in 2012. According to reports, BofA will cap cash bonuses on those set to receive $1 million in year-end bonuses, with the other portion to be paid in stock. Employees can sell some of the stock starting February 15th, sources told Bloomberg.
  
  The news comes on top of reports BofA will cut investment bankers pay by 25 percent this year, as the beleaguered bank looks to firm up books and get capital on the fast-track to Basel III success.

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