OREANDA-NEWS. October 20, 2011. US stocks fell on Wednesday with Basic Materials (-3.08%) and Technology (-2.11%) as laggards. S&P 500 index lost 1.26%, Russell 2000 Index – was down by 2.11%. VIX jumped 9.13% to 34.44.  Of 56 companies reported so far 45 topped analysts’ expectations.

CPI rose 0.3% m/m and 3.9% y/y, meeting consensus forecasts.

Housing starts unexpectedly rose 15% in September to 658K.

EURUSD closed near 1.375.

Asian stocks declined on Thursday as European spokesmen said solution for the new EFSF would be found no earlier than 2012. Shanghai stock indices lost 2% on average. S&P/ASX was down by 1.63%. Korean Kospi slumped 2.74%. Nikkei was down by 1.03%.

The European stock indices futures fell in the morning - Dow Jones Stoxx 50 futures was down by 1.38% while Dax futures lost 1.45%. S&P futures lost 0.23%.

In the US, weekly jobless claims, Philadelphia Manufacturing Index for October, Leading indicators, housing sales for September will be in focus today. 32 S&P 500 companies are to present quarterly earnings reports.