Economy
Gold climbed above $1,300 an ounce today for the first time since August as worries over the global economy and hopes of stimulus measures from the ECB fueled safe-haven bids. After shunning gold for two years, investors are returning to the precious metal, boosting prices 4.7% just last week. The IMF and World Bank's weak global growth outlooks and SNB's abrupt removal of franc's euro cap last week are also prompting reasons to move into the commodity.

As widely expected, the Bank of Japan held off on expanding its massive stimulus program today and cut its core consumer inflation forecast for the year beginning in April to 1% from 1.7%. The BOJ unexpectedly expanded monetary stimulus in October last year as soft domestic demand and slumping oil prices slowed consumer inflation. However, oil prices have lost nearly half of their value since then, keeping the central bank under pressure.

"The verdict is clear — middle-class economics works. Expanding opportunity works. And these policies will continue to work as long as politics don’t get in the way," said President Obama in his State of the Union address last night. As he heads into his final two years in office, Obama called on Congress to impose new taxes and fees on high-income earners and large financial institutions and make community college free. Other topics included foreign policy, healthcare, the Internet and Keystone XL.

Stocks
Toyota stayed at the top in global vehicle sales in 2014, taking the auto industry crown for the third year straight, but expects vehicle production and sales to fall by 1% this year as demand stalls in emerging markets. Toyota (NYSE:TM) sold 10.23M vehicles in 2014, but with its less upbeat forecast, the Japanese automaker may hand over the crown this year. Volkswagen (OTCQX:VLKAY) sold 10.14M vehicles in 2014, up 4% from the previous year.

Confirming yesterday's report, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and Fidelity are investing $1B in rocket/spacecraft upstart SpaceX through a new funding round. With SpaceX stating Google/Fidelity will collectively have a stake that's "just under 10%," the round apparently features a $10B valuation. The Information said yesterday that the financing would be used to "support the development of SpaceX satellites that could beam low-cost Internet around the globe to billions who don’t have it."

Dealing a blow to Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) says it will not use the company's processors for its next version of the Galaxy S, Bloomberg reports. Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker, tested a new version of Qualcomm’s (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon chip, known as the 810, but decided not to use it. The new Galaxy S is expected to debut in the first half of this year.

Netflix +15.3% premarket, after reporting it added 4.3M net subscribers to its TV and movie streaming service worldwide in the fourth quarter. Net income rose to $83.4M from $48.4M a year earlier. Netflix, which plans to launch streaming services in Australia and New Zealand in March, is focusing on producing original series to counter Time Warner (NYSE:TWC), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Hulu, as well as on-demand offerings from pay TV providers.

Ending a tough year with further declines in quarterly profit and revenue, IBM (NYSE:IBM) issued a highly anticipated profit forecast that fell below Wall Street’s expectations. Big Blue forecast earnings for 2015 of $15.75-$16.50 per share, below the $16.51 consensus. Revenue fell 12% in Q4, dropping below analyst estimates and marking the 11th consecutive quarter IBM has failed to report a revenue increase, while net income sunk 11%. IBM -2.7% premarket.

Sony’s entertainment unit investigated its Indian operations for possible legal violations including bidding fraud and kickbacks, according to internal e-mails released by hackers, Bloomberg reports. The probes put a spotlight on the company's business practices in India, one of Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) key regions, where it generates more revenue from TV programming than in any other market.

BHP Billiton says it will shut down 40% of its 26 U.S. shale oil rigs by the end of its fiscal year, and will focus on drilling in the liquids-rich Black Hawk basin while cutting back in the Permian and Hawkville acreage. BHP (NYSE:BHP) says it will provide more details on its revised shale drilling budget, originally set at $4B for this financial year, next month.

Judge Carl Barbier has signaled that he may allow BP (NYSE:BP) to pay pollution fines over time rather than in a lump sum, raising the prospect that he could impose a significant penalty but lessen the immediate impact on BP by allowing it to pay in installments. The company is arguing for reduced fines, in part because it says it has been hurt by falling oil prices in recent months.

Senate Republicans blocked two attempts yesterday to amend legislation forcing approval of the Keystone XL pipeline that would have required the project be built with domestically produced steel and that the oil be used only in the U.S. More politically treacherous debates are set for today, with senators set to wade into heated discussions over climate change, refining byproducts and other environmental regulations.

After posting a 10% quarterly sales jump at its remaining rail arm, Alstom (OTCPK:ALSMY) announced that it struck additional commercial agreements with GE (NYSE:GE) worth €400M ($463.2M), which should help the group mitigate the impact of its recent $772M U.S. fine over bribery allegations. CEO Patrick Kron previously said the overall negative impact would only be around 1-2% of the GE deal, thanks to positive adjustments, including fees GE will pay to use the Alstom brand.

As part of a $60M settlement with the SEC, Standard & Poor's (NYSE:MHFI) will be suspended for a year from rating securities in the largest piece of the CMBS market, according to a Bloomberg source. The CMBS probe is separate from a lawsuit by the Justice Department tied to subprime home loans that S&P rated before the credit crisis. The ratings agency is expected to settle that matter as soon as this quarter for about $1B.

Today's economic calendar:

7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Housing Starts
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales

Notable earnings before today's open: AMTD, APH, ASML, FITB, NTRS, UNH, USB, VIVO

Notable earnings after today's close: AXP, BGG, BXS, CBU, CCI, DFS, DLB, EBAY, EWBC, FFIV, KMI, LOGI, PLXS, RJF, SLM, SNDK, TCBI, URI, XLNX