Stocks End Week Higher As Rhetoric Spurs Oil Rally

Stocks ended the week higher after oil rallied as the ministers of several oil producing nations, particularly Saudi Arabia and Russia, made suggestions about potentially capping their production at recent levels. While the rally stalled a bit late in the week as Iran failed to get in-line with its peers, the early gains in oil, and stocks, mostly remained after two days of consolidation.

MACRO NEWS: In the U.S., the Producer Price Index rose 0.1% in January, versus expectations for a decrease of 0.2%. The core reading, which excludes food and energy, was up 0.4%, versus expectations for an increase of 0.1%. Housing starts dropped 3.8% to a 1.099M rate in January, versus expectations for an increase of 2%. Building permits dipped 0.2% to a 1.202M rate, versus expectations for a decrease of 0.3%. The Consumer Price Index was flat in January, versus expectations for a month-over-month decline of 0.1%. The core CPI, excluding food and energy components, increased 0.3% last month, which was its biggest gain since August 2011...

The Federal Reserve released the minutes from last month's FOMC meeting, which stated that "many members" of the committee judged that uncertainty about the medium-term outlook had increased... In Asia, mainland Chinese markets slumped mildly on their first day back from the New Year holiday on Monday, but Japanese markets surged while U.S. markets were closed. Japanese stocks extended those gains Tuesday and China's Shanghai composite added over 3% after China released money supply growth data for January that exceeded expectations. Later in the week, it was reported that China's consumer price index rose 1.8% in January from a year earlier and the producer price index fell 5.3%, which was mostly in line with expectations.

Japan's trade surplus hit its highest level in four years, as exports rose 0.6% and imports fell 1.1% in January compared to the previous month. Additionally, the Wall Street Journal reported that China's top securities regulator, Xiao Gang, is stepping down as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Despite declines on Friday, most Asian averages saw weekly gains, with Japan's Nikkei ending the week nearly 7% higher and stocks in Shanghai rising over 3%... In Europe, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron struck a deal that paves the way for Britons to vote on whether to remain in the European Union.

COMPANY NEWS: Apple (AAPL) is opposing an order by the U.S. government to help the FBI break into an iPhone belonging to one of the suspected shooters in the mass murders in San Bernadino, California. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a letter to customers that opposing the order is "not something we take lightly," but cautioned that creating a new version of the iPhone's operating system, as ordered, would leave a "backdoor" that could be used to unlock any iPhone and "expose its customers to a greater risk of attack." On Friday, the Department of Justice filed a motion to urge Apple to comply with the order to assist the FBI by proving access to data... Wal-Mart (WMT) slid 3% on Thursday despite better than expected quarterly profits, as the retail giant also lowered its sales outlook for the coming fiscal year on account of store closures and the continued strengthening of the U.S. dollar... Hospital operator Community Health (CYH) plunged 22% on Tuesday after reporting a surprise earnings and revenue miss for the fourth quarter, including a 3.4% drop in admissions, which was followed by its stock being downgraded by no less than four Wall Street research firms.

Among other companies reporting earnings this week, Priceline (PCLN), Garmin (GRMN), Fossil (FOSL), Arista Networks (ANET) and Applied Materials (AMAT) advanced, while high-end department store operator Nordstrom (JWN), railcar maker Trinity Industries (TRN), television service provider DISH Network (DISH) and beverage maker Dr. Pepper Snapple (DPS) declined in the wake of their reports... Kinder Morgan (KMI) jumped nearly 10% on Wednesday after Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) revealed it has taken a new stake in the company. Elsewhere in the energy space, Devon (DVN) slumped 4.37% to $20.33 after reporting a revenue miss for the fourth quarter, announcing plans to sell its 50% interest in the Access pipeline, and slashing its quarterly dividend 75% to 6c per share... ADT (ADT) surged nearly 5O% higher on Monday to close at $39.63 after the home-security company agreed to be acquired for $42 per share, or about $6.9B, by private equity firm Apollo Global Management (APO). Apollo is buying ADT in order to merge it with competitor Protection 1, which the firm also owns. Meanwhile, Ingram Micro (IM) advanced more than 22% to $36.32 on Thursday after agreeing to be acquired by China's Tianjin Tianhai for $38.90 per share. Elsewhere on the M&A front, SunEdison Semiconductor (SEMI) gained more than 50% after announcing it will explore strategic alternatives, while United Online (UNTD) rose after CEO Jeff Goldstein revealed the company is engaged with potential interested parties...

Groupon (GRPN) jumped after Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) disclosed that it owned nearly 33M shares of the company's stock as of the end of last year... SunEdison (SUNE) sunk after announcing the sale of its production facility in Malaysia and closure of its plant in Texas. The share slump also followed news that Hawaiian Electric (HE) has terminated certain power purchase agreements with SunEdison, citing the company's "apparently precarious financial condition" and failure to hit various development milestones.

INDEXES: Over the holiday-shortened four-day week, the Dow (DIA) gained about 2.6% to close at 16,391.99; the S&P 500 (SPY) rose about 2.9% to close at 1,917.78; and the Nasdaq (QQQ) advanced about 3.9% to close at 4,504.43.