The report showed that existing home sales fell 5.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.60 million units in December from an upwardly revised rate of 7.00 million units in November. Economists had expected existing home sales to fall to a 6.90 million unit rate.

Despite the decrease in December, existing home sales for all of 2005 came in at 7.072 million, up 4.2 percent from 6.784 million in 2004. With the increase, existing home sales reached their fifth consecutive annual record.

The report also showed that total housing inventory levels fell 4.4 percent in December to 2.80 million existing homes available for sale. NAR said that this represents a 5.1-month supply at the current sales pace.

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS NEWS

Asian-Pacific benchmarks finished in the positive ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday with easing oil prices and institutional share buying. The leading gainers were South Korea’s Kospi, rising 1.2% and Taiwan’s Weighted index, up 1.2%. Shanghai Composite advanced 0.5% on better-than-expected economic data and institutional buying of large-capitalized stocks. The Nikkei finished flat at 0.01%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was the only decliner, down 0.07%.

European stocks rebounded from yesterday’s declines, supported by higher close of U.S. markets, upbeat outlook from software company SAP and multi-year high for German business sentiment. The German DAX 30 climbed 0.7%, the French CAC 40 advanced 0.6%, and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.8%.

OIL, METALS, CURRENCIES

Crude oil prices fell below $67 on mild winter weather in the U.S. and expectations of fuel inventories increase. Light sweet crude for March delivery fell 50 cents to $66.56 a barrel. Heating oil lost 1 cent to $1.8050 a gallon. Gasoline declined 2 cents to $1.7255. Natural gas gained 2 cents to $8.705 per 1,000 cubic feet. London Brent declined 46 cents to $64.88.

European gold continued its upward march on strong demand from consuming industries and retailers. In London gold traded at $562.25, up from $556.50. In Zurich the precious metal traded at $561.85, up from $556.15. In Hong Kong gold dropped $5.20 to close at $551.20. Silver opened at $9.24, up from $9.13.

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against other major currencies. The euro was quoted at $1.2296, up from $1.2288. The dollar bought 114.82 yen, up from 114.59. The British pound stood at $1.7883, up from $1.7864.

EARNINGS NEWS

ConocoPhillips, (COP: chart), crude oil, natural gas manufacturer, reported Q4 net income of $2.61 a share, compared with $1.72 a share in the year-earlier quarter on revenue growth. From continuing operations alone, the company would have earned $2.69 a share, compared with $1.76 a share, in Q4 of 2004. Analysts expected earnings of $2.62 a share.

Piper Jaffray Companies, (PJC: chart) brokerage firm, reported Q4 net income of 87 cents a share, up 39% from net income of 61 cents a share on 6.4% revenue growth and strong capital markets performance and robust"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" activity in advisory services.

Affiliated Managers Group, (AMG: chart), asset management services provider, reported Q4 net income of 90 cents a share, up 67% from 58 cents a share in the year-earlier period on 48% revenue growth. Cash earnings were $1.42 a share, up from $1.08 a share in the comparable period the previous year, beating on that basis analyst’s expectations of $1.29 a share.

Abbott, (ABT: chart), health care products manufacturer, reported Q4 earnings of 63 cents a share, up 0.2% from 62 cents a share in the year-ago period. If not for items, earnings were 76 cents a share, up 12.7% from 67 cents a share in the year-ago period, matching on that basis analyst estimate. Revenue jumped 7% to $6.05 billion. Abbott expects Q1 earnings of 62-64 cents a share, excluding items and stock compensation expense under GAAP.

Nova Chemicals Corp (NCX: chart), reported Q4 loss of 82 cents a share, down from a profit of $1.78 a share a year-ago, missing analyst estimate of a loss of 3 cents a share. Q4 results include a charge of $70 million related to an outage at its Corunna, Ontario flexi-cracker location, and a charge of $46 million from the closure of a Chesapeake, Va., site. Revenue advanced to $1.43 billion from $1.37 billion in the same period a year earlier.

BellSouth, (BLS: chart), local phone company, reported that Q4 net income dropped to 34 cents a share down from 74 cents a share in the year-ago period, as the company incurred large hurricane-related costs. Adjusted for onetime items and other special factors, the company recorded income of 53 cents a share, up from 39 cents in the year-ago period. Analysts expected the company to earn 45 cents a share. Revenue advanced 1.9% to $5.24 billion from a year ago, excluding the company''s wireless business. Cingular Wireless, the company''s venture with AT&T Inc., added a net 1.8 million wireless subscribers. BellSouth owns a 40% stake. Including Cingular''s share of revenue, the company saw a 9.2% increase in sales to $8.66 billion.

Lear Corporation, (LEA: chart), automotive interior systems suppliers, reported Q4 net loss of $8.88 per share, including impairments, restructuring and other special charges, down from a net income of $1.70 per share in the year-ago period. Operating performance went down, reflecting the adverse platform mix in North America, higher raw material and energy prices, as well as continuing cost pressures throughout the entire supply chain.

Colgate-Palmolive Company, (CL: chart), reported Q4 net income of 65 cents a share, up from 50 cents a share in the comparable period in 2004. Excluding restructuring charge and other items earnings would have been 69 cents a share. The company announced a continuation of the strong momentum that built throughout 2005. Sales and unit volume, as reported including divestments, advanced 3.5%. Worldwide sales, excluding divestments, were up 5.5% on unit volume growth of 4.5%, on top of 9.0% volume growth in the comparable quarter the previous year.

Ameritrade Holding Corp, (AMTD: chart), online-brokerage operator, reported Q1 net income advanced 1.9% to 21 cents a share, up from 20 cents a share in the year-ago period on 5.8% higher revenue, missing analyst estimate by a penny.