OREANDA-NEWS. February 22, 2012. The US indices slightly higher on Tuesday. S&P 500 Index added 0.07% while Russell was down by 0.66% with Oil&Gas (+0.83%) as the leaders and Healthcare (-0.65%) as the laggards. Put/call ratio went up to 1.26 and 90-110% skew went up to 11.01%. Wal-Mart, Dell results trailed expectations while Macy’s profits beat estimates.

Of 400 S&P 500 Index constituents the EPS of 277 and revenues of 226 companies beat expectations so far. In Europe 81 DJ Stoxx 600 companies topped expectations while 91 missed estimates.

Speculations on China local real estate market liberalization initiatives drove markets higher on Wednesday. HSBC Manufacturing Index went up to 49.7 from 48.8. Chinese indices rose on average by 1.12%.

Hang Seng lost 0.02%, Kospi – went down by 0.02%, Japanese Nikkei rose by 0.94%. S&P/ASX 200 added 0.04%.

PMI Indices for Europe and the Existing Home sales will be in focus in the US today.

Earnings season will go on in the US with 18 S&P 500 companies and 17 DJ Stoxx 600 companies to report.