U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

Market took a breather today.

It was a day when earnings news dominated the economic data from the government. Earnings from Dell (DELL: chart) and Intuit (INTU: chart) failed to excite the market despite both companies exceeding the best estimates. It was the weaker guidance for the current quarter that disappointed the market.

However, earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA: chart) and current quarter forecast that cheered the investors. There was other negative news for the tech stocks. Investors reacted negatively to the news that Dell did not comment on details of the possibility of deal with semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: chart) driving its stock lower.

Guess Inc (GES: chart), Whole Foods Market (WFMI: chart), Constellation Brands (STZ: chart) and home builder stocks topped the list of decliners for the day.

Oil rose 2% as fears of oil installation attacks in Nigeria rose.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc (RRGB: chart), restaurant chain, reported Q4 net income declined 2.9% to $5.5 million, or 33 cents a share from $5.7 million, or 34 cents, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 19% to $116.5 million. Same-restaurant sales rose 2.7%. The stock jumped 10%.

PXRE Croup (PXT: chart), reinsurer, lost almost two-thirds of their value Friday morning after the company reported huge costs related to recent hurricanes and its credit rating was cut. The company estimated net income of $758 million to $788 million before taxes in 2005, up from a previous estimate of between $462 million and $477 million.

Silicon Image (SIMG: chart) swung to profit in Q4, reporting net income of $12.6 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with a loss of $80,000, or break-even per share a year ago. Adjusted net was 16 cents exceeding estimates of 15 cents. Revenue advanced to $61.4 million, compared with $46.1 million, above expectations of $60 million. The stock dropped 15.7%.

Guess (GES: chart) shares fell 7.2% after analysts voiced concern about the company''s forecast for fiscal 2006. Brean Murray lowered its rating on the stock to accumulate from strong buy.

ECONOMIC NEWS

The Department of Labor released its report on producer prices in the month of January on Friday, showing that prices rose in line with economist estimates. At the same time, the report showed a bigger than expected increase in core prices.

The Labor Dept. said that its producer price index rose 0.3 percent in January following a 0.6 percent increase in December. Economists had been expecting the index to increase by about 0.3 percent.

The relatively modest increase in prices came as energy prices were unchanged in January after surging up by 2.0 percent in December. Food prices edged up by 0.2 percent in January following a 0.8 percent increase in the previous month.

The report also showed that core prices, which exclude food and energy prices, rose 0.4 percent in January after edging up by 0.1 percent in each of the two previous months. The increase marked the biggest rise in core prices in a year and exceeded economist estimates of 0.2 percent growth.

The bigger than expected increase in core prices may raise some concerns about inflation and the possibility of further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Subsequently, traders are likely to keep a close eye on next week''s report on January consumer prices.

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS NEWS

Asian-Pacific benchmarks ended Friday session mixed. The Nikkei sharply dropped 330 points, or 2.06%, despite higher-than-expected GDP growth. Across the region South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2%, while the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive index suffered a steep decline of 1.13%.

European stocks closed at a new four-and-a-half year high on gains for miners and automakers, while the U.K.’s Daily Mail & General Trust tumbled after backtracking on selloff plans. The German DAX 30 added 0.1%, the French CAC 40 rose 0.5%, and London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3%.

OIL, METALS, CURRENCIES

Crude oil prices advanced on concerns over Iran and prospects of shortage in gasoline supplies when the U.S. driving season begins. Light sweet crude for March delivery rose $1.44 to $59.88 a barrel. London Brent climbed $1.01 to $59.80. Gasoline added 9 cents, heating oil rose 3 cents and natural gas rose 4 cents at close in New York.