4:20 pm : Equities ended February on a negative note as the S&P 500 settled with a slim loss of 0.1%. The key averages saw some morning indecision but late afternoon buying pushed the benchmark index to session highs before the index surrendered its gains.

Stocks opened the session amid some initial chop which followed a worse-than-expected second estimate of fourth quarter GDP. The slim 0.1% annualized growth followed a 0.1% contraction reported in the preliminary reading. However, the reading missed expectations as the Briefing.com consensus had expected growth of 0.5%. One positive element could be found in real final sales, which were revised up to 1.7% from the 1.1% reported in the advance reading.

In addition to the GDP report, J.C. Penney's (JCP 17.57, -3.59) quarterly earnings caught the attention of investors in early trade. Shares of the retailer plunged 17.0% after the company reported a loss of $1.95 on below-consensus revenue. In response, S&P cut the company's debt rating to 'CCC+' from 'B-' and assigned a negative outlook.

In other retail earnings, Kohl's (KSS 46.10, -0.51) and Limited (LTD 45.52, +1.02) beat on their respective bottom lines. However, both names issued cautious guidance.

The consumer discretionary sector ended little changed, which was good enough to outperform the broader market. However, the space was not joined by the remaining cyclical sectors. Instead, defensively-oriented telecom and utilities garnered buying interest throughout the session.

The cyclical basic materials space was an exception as the sector continued its rebound from the weakness dating back to last Wednesday. The SPDR

4:02AM Tesco beats by $0.12, beats on revs (TESO) 12.71 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.34 per share, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.22; revenues fell 15.6% year/year to $137.6 mln vs the $119.98 mln consensus.

3:31AM European Markets update : Indexes

• CAC +0.2%
• DAX +0.2%
• FTSE +0.2%
• SP Futures -0.1%

• USDJPY 92.64 +0.1%
• Euro 1.3090 +0.3%
• Aussie 1.0229 +0.2%

2:01AM AEGON N.V. determines share price for conversion of preferred shares (AEG) 5.92 :  On February 15, 2013, Aegon and Vereniging Aegon announced their agreement to cancel all of Aegon's preferred shares, of which the Association is the sole owner. Under the agreement, all preferred shares will be exchanged for EUR400 mln in cash, the equivalent of EUR655 mln in common shares and EUR83 mln of dividends on the preferred shares. The number of common shares to be received by the Association is based on the volume-weighted average price of Aegon common shares on Euronext Amsterdam from February 15 up to, and including, February 28, 2013. The volume-weighted average price over this period was EUR4.86. Based on this share price, the preferred shares will be converted into 121 mln common shares and 566 mln common shares B. As a result of the conversion, the number of common shares outstanding will increase by 7%. However, the dilutive effect on earnings per share is limited to 3% as there will be no preferred dividend payments following the transaction.