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Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is coming under some selling pressure this morning. The stock is trading lower by 0.60 cents to $38.10 a share. Day trade…

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is coming under some selling pressure this morning. The stock is trading lower by 0.60 cents to $38.10 a share. Day traders should watch for intra-day support around the $37.90 level. This is an area where the stock could stage a minor intra-day bounce.

Nicholas Santiago

www.InTheMoneyStocks.com

A strong year for gay-marriage advocates ends with a surprise

We’ll always have… Utah?

When scholars write the history of America’s gay-marriage battles, they may declare 2013 the year the balance tipped. For in the past 12 months the president has compared the campaign to America’s other great civil-rights struggles, the Supreme Court has declared that the federal government has no business denying equal treatment to legally wedded gay couples, and the number of states in which people may marry whom they please has doubled, from nine to 18 (plus Washington, DC), covering 39% of the population.

Most of the 18 are the sorts of progressive places one might expect. The last is anything but; as home to the Mormon church, a firm foe of gay marriage, Utah is among America’s most conservative states. Yet on December 20th Robert Shelby, a federal judge, gave Utah’s gay couples an early Christmas present by scrapping the state’s same-sex marriage ban, approved by 66% of voters in 2004. Caught out, state officials are appealing against the ruling, but Judge Shelby and an appeals court declined to suspend his decision in the meantime. (Utah has asked the Supreme Court to do so, and was awaiting its decision as The Economist went to press.) Hundreds of couples flocked to the altar.

If the decision stands Utah will become the seventh state to have gay marriage delivered by judges (the day before Judge Shelby’s ruling, New Mexico’s Supreme Court legalised gay marriage in that state). Eight legislatures have passed pro-marriage laws, as have voters in three states. But, says Fred Sainz of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group, “all the low-hanging fruit is gone”. Most of the 32 outstanding bans are in state constitutions and cannot be overturned by legislatures. So bar a few states, mainly in the West, which may hold public votes in the coming years, advocates are likely to enjoy most of their advances, and surely some setbacks, in courtrooms. And that could mean more Utah-style surprises.

Altared states: a world map of gay marriage rights

At least 35 lawsuits are making their way through federal courts in various states—including the curious case of two gay couples married in Massachusetts now seeking divorce in Texas, which does not allow gay marriage. Many plaintiffs have drawn succour from the Supreme Court’s decision in June to strike down Section 3 of the Defence of Marriage Act, which had denied federal benefits to married gay couples. Anthony Kennedy’s decision said nothing about the legality of state bans, but its anti-discrimination argument strengthened the case for opposing them.

Ultimately one or other of the state cases will make it to the Supreme Court. When that will happen is anyone’s guess. In June the justices declined to hear a challenge to California’s gay-marriage ban on procedural grounds; they may prefer to let the issue unfold further in lower courts before taking on another case with national implications. Meanwhile, the court of public opinion appears to have reached its verdict; in July 54% of voters said gays should be granted the same marriage rights as heterosexuals, 12 percentage points higher than when Utah passed its ban.

BofAML: Buy Any Dip In Treasuries; Stock Bulls “Watch-Out”

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Lazard Agrees to Increase Disclosure of Managed Assets

Lazard Ltd. (LAZ), the independent merger adviser that earns about half of its revenue from asset management, agreed to boost disclosures about that business after a request from regulators.

Lazard said it will include tables showing inflows and outflows, as well as changes in market value for specific asset classes, including equities and fixed income, in future filings, according to correspondence between the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company and the Securities and Exchange Commission released today.

Lazard’s revenue from the business climbed 13 percent to $248 million in the third quarter from a year earlier as assets under management surged to a record $176 billion at Sept. 30, according to an Oct. 24 statement. Lazard’s proposed table shows the results were aided by a $9.06 billion appreciation in the market value of managed equities.

Judi Mackey, a spokeswoman for Lazard, declined to comment on the filings.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-10/lazard-agrees-to-increase-disclosure-of-assets-under-management.html

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said there’s “no immediate need” to increase borrowing costs and indicated a debate has begun on forward guidance after U.K. unemployment fell faster than anticipated.

Continued

Since mid-September, when former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers withdrew his name from consideration to replace Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve next year, market participants have become increasingly interested in the policy views of current Fed vice-chair Janet Yellen, who is now set to take the reins at the central bank when Bernanke’s term expires in January.

Continued

VIDEO: What Does the Jobs Report Mean for the Economy?

Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist at Prudential Fixed Income, offers additional analysis…

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Cheezborger! Cheezborger! Salad? The Billy Goat quietly opens a nicer outpost in the Loop with a new menu. Via DNAinfo

6 tips from Jack Bogle on teaching your kids how to invest

Vanguard group founder Jack Bogle has some advice for you on instilling investing principles in your children.