US Mid-Morning Recap by TradTheNews Staff - Equity futures are fighting to make it to positive territory after a lower open, as overseas markets traded generally lower across the board. AAPL is again buoying the NASDAQ as the iPhone momentum continues pushing the stock up another 4%. RIMM is getting a little relief rebounding about 2% after several firms came out in defense of the stock in the pre-market. The entire tech group was upped at Bear ahead of the open while the firm suggested moving away from some of the more defensive sectors like healthcare and consumer staples in the near term. The energy complex is again weighing on the S&P. Feb crude futures are just off new session lows at $54.13 after the release of weekly inventory data. OIH â0/8% XOM â0.7% CVX â1.8% COP â1.8% Alcoa is up close to 4% after signaling the arrival of earnings season by beating consensus estimates on both the top and bottom line. Other names moving higher include SHLD +2% after raising guidance and select airline stocks after several pre-market upgrades and news LCC was raising its bid for Delta. CAL +1.75% JBLU +3% AMR +2.5% LCC +2% AAI +5% - The US Nov trade balance came in ahead of expectations pushing bond yields and the Dollar higher. 30-year â14/32 at 4.767%; 10-year â7/32 at 4.682%; 2-year â1/32 at 4.808% Currency traders are watching the USD/JPY as it looked set to make a run at the 1.20 earlier in the session. The pair was unable to break the Oct intraday high but is still higher by 0.2% at 119.60. The Euro and the Pound have each given back more than 0.25% against the Dollar as well. Feb gold moved to session lows of $606.20 after the release of the trade data buy has since recovered back above $610. Silver is off 2% in sympathy while copper is up more than 2%.