Last Updated: February 13th, 2009: 11:50 AM ET---The major US equity indices are trading in volatile fashion, but are now hugging the unchanged level, as investors have little data to give the market direction.

To summarize the morning's earnings, PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) reported core Q4 earnings of $0.88 per share, inline with analyst estimates. Abercrombie and Fitch (NYSE:ANF) reported diluted Q4 earnings of $0.78 per share, missing analyst estimates for earnings of $1.00 per share. Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) reported Q4 earnings of $0.41 per share, ex-items, beating analyst estimates of $0.38. The company sees Q1 2009 revenue of at least $735 million, vs. consensus estimates for $746.6 million. Cognizant also offered full year 2009 EPS guidance of at least $1.54, vs. estimates of $1.59 per share. The company expects revenue for 2009 to be at least $3.10 billion, compared to consensus estimates of $3.07 billion.

In corporate news, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) announced plans to start offering a new instant coffee, Via, for $1 a cup. The company's CEO Howard Schultz says that the new instant one-cup coffee product has been 20 years in the making. Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha downgraded shares of Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) from Neutral to Underperform with a price target of $37. For the first time since its inception in 1897, embattled Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) announced it will cut its dividend in order to boost cash following the failure of its $17.4 billion Kuwait petrochemicals venture which then caused the collapse of its buyout of Rohm & Haas (NYSE:ROH). Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) said it will cut its monthly dividend by 64% from 42 cents in the third quarter to 15 cents in the fourth. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Liberty Media is in talks with Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) over a potential investment in the company, however, the talks are friendly and do not involve a buyout. However, an alternate source has said another company EchoStar Corp is involved with the talks and these are more hostile in nature, so the recent development with Liberty may be a last ditch effort to fend off a takeover. Analysts say that a Sirius may face bankruptcy should the company fail find funding. In reaction to rapidly declining car sales, Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) announced Thursday that it will be cutting its US production further as well as slashing executive's pay by 30% and offering buyouts to 18,000 employees. The company is also instituting a shorter work week at a number of its facilities, however, unionized plants in the US and Mexico won't be affected. The executive pay cut will include a 5% salary cut as well as an no bonus. The $20,000 buyout offer includes 10 weeks of pay, and two weeks of pay for every year of service.

In economic news, the University of Michigan released its reading on consumer sentiment Friday, showing a decline to 56.2 in February, worse than January's 61.2 and worse than the expected 61.1 figure. According to preliminary figures from the European Union statistics agency Eurostat, the economy of the nations that use the euro contracted by a record 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008. The decline in output was the largest since the euro's inception in 1999 as well as the third consecutive decline. In other overseas economic news, Japan's economy, which is heavily dependent on exports, is now expected to contract to an annual pace of 11.7% in the fourth quarter, according to analysts, as the nation tries to cope with an almost complete collapse in global demand. Japan's Cabinet Office will release its reading on gross domestic product (GDP) Monday, which economists expect to show a 11.7% contraction, making it the largest decline since 1974.

At the time of this report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 33 points to 7,900, the S&P 500 is trading 2 points lower to 833 and the Nasdaq is trading 3 points higher to 1,544.

Contact Chip Brian

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