STOCKS FINALLY RISE: Here's What You Need To Know

After a five-day losing streak, stocks climbed amid a busy day of economic data.

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 15,928.69 (+90.81, +0.57%)
• S&P 500: 1,792.48 (+10.92, +0.61%)
• Nasdaq: 4,097.96 (+14.35, +0.35%)

And now the top stories:

• December durable goods orders plunged. The headline index came in at -4.3% when a 1.8% rise was expected. "Bottom line - This was a very weak report, and it suggests that the U.S. economy ended the year on very weak footing," TD Securities' Millan Mulraine wrote clients after the report.
• Apple stock fell 8% today following lackluster iPhone sales numbers for the final quarter of 2013. Activist investor Carl Icahn is using the slump as a buying opportunity. This afternoon, he tweeted that he's buying another $500 million worth of Apple and told CNBC that the stock is misunderstood.
• Consumer confidence climbed to 80.7 in January, higher than analyst expectations of 78.0. "The Labor Differential, an indicator that does a reasonable job tracking the unemployment rate, improved to a cycle high of -19.9," Renaissance Macro's Neil Dutta wrote to clients. "This implies an ongoing decline in the unemployment rate from its current level of 6.7% and adds pressure on the Fed to adopt a more qualitative approach to forward guidance. Despite the improvement in confidence, buying intentions, which are admittedly volatile, softened for both homes and appliances."
• The Richmond Fed manufacturing index declined slightly to 12. Analysts were expecting a print of 13. "Manufacturers were less buoyant about their future business conditions than they were in December," according to the report.
• S&P/Case-Shiller home prices were up 0.88% month-over-month in November. That's 13.71% on the year.
• A New York state banking regulator has said the state will propose regulating virtual currency firms and may require them to get a BitLicense. "The regulations would be aimed at preventing misconduct such as money laundering without derailing a fledgling technology, said Lawsky, the state's superintendent of financial services," Reuters reported.
• This morning, a 39-year-old JP Morgan employee died after falling from the roof of the company's London office.
• Yahoo will report Q4 2013 earnings results after the bell today. Analysts are expecting $1.2 in revenue and EPS of $0.38.
• The Turkish central bank is expected to announce a rate hike at an emergency meeting tonight. "Of course Turkey's problems go beyond political uncertainty. Like the other 'Fragile Five' nations, Turkey has a current account deficit problem," explains our Mamta Badkar. "And there is the fact that its economic growth has largely been driven by construction which is bound to get more expensive as interest rates are rising."
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