US Mid-Morning market recap by TradeTheNews - Equity futures were heading lower in the pre-market on the back of weak overseas trade and a plethora of big-name downgrades. December non-farm payrolls came in more than 50k jobs above estimates and average hourly earnings increased by 0.5% rekindling inflation awareness. US Treasuries immediately slipped to session lows with yields on the short end of the curve rising faster. Fed Fund futures have all but priced out completely a rate cut in Q1, and they now see a cut more likely in the 2nd half of 2007. The Dollar pushed to new highs on the data with the EUR/USD back at the 1.30 level. The Dollar strength has helped Gold futures push to new 3-month lows after moving below some key technical levels. Silver futures are off more than 4% as well and weakness has been confirmed in the related equities as the XAU is off 2%. - Technology stocks have been under some pressure since MOT â7% lowered guidance overnight to be followed by a slew of downgrades. NOK is off 5% in sympathy. Bellwethers INTC, DELL, and BRCM were also cut before the open. XOM has rallied from a lower open after it was cut from overweight at Lehman. BBY is still up more than 1.5% after reporting final SSS figures for Dec while CC â1.2% is not fairing as well following theirs. - Crude futures have rebounded some after dipping below $55 ahead of the open of pit trading. Natural gas futures are up marginally after weekly inventory data. The OSX +0.3% looks find some traction after coming off hard in the last two sessions. Copper is off another 1.5% after Goldman cut their view on base metals.