From Briefing.com: 4:28 pm Closing Market Summary: Equities End Tuesday Little Changed (:WRAPX) : Geopolitical tensions spooked investors on Tuesday, but the S&P 500's 50-day moving average provided support to keep losses in check. The Dow (unch) and the Nasdaq (-0.2%) settled on opposite sides of the benchmark index (-0.1%) while the small-cap Russell 2000 (+0.7%) outperformed.
Stocks retreated out of the gate, hitting their lowest levels of the day about an hour after the opening bell. By noon, equities had reclaimed about half of their earlier losses, but they still had difficulty shaking the risk-off sentiment until the final minutes of action. Even still, the late rally left the cash market short of its flat line.
Sector standings echoed the day's risk-off sentiment as countercyclical groups held the upper hand over their more-risky, cyclical peers. The real estate (+0.4%), consumer staples (+0.1%), and telecom services (+0.1%) spaces closed in the green while the utilities sector (unch) finished flat.
On the cyclical side, the heavily-weighted financials (-0.3%) and technology (-0.4%) sectors were hit the hardest. The financial group suffered from a flattening of the yield curve as increased buying interest within the Treasury market was unequally distributed; the 10-yr yield (2.30%) lost six basis points while the 2-yr yield (1.24%) gave up only four basis points.
For technology, the sector's top component by market cap, Apple (AAPL 141.63, -1.54), gave back some of its huge first quarter gain (+24.0%), falling 1.1%. Meanwhile, chipmakers showed relative weakness, evidenced by the 0.8% decrease in the PHLX Semiconductor Index, after Qualcomm (QCOM 55.35, -1.17) filed its Answer and Counterclaims to the January lawsuit brought by Apple against the company.
The energy sector (-0.1%) performed roughly in line with the broader market despite an uptick in crude oil. The energy component climbed out of negative territory following reports that Saudi Arabia favors extending the OPEC/non-OPEC production cut agreement beyond June. WTI crude settled 0.6% higher at $53.38/bbl, marking the commodity's sixth consecutive win.
Although the S&P 500 managed to close above its 50-day moving average (2349), the sharp rise in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 15.26, +1.21) provides evidence that investors are putting the pro-growth trade into question. The VIX Index now sits at its highest level since the presidential election.
Investor participation was a bit below average again today in light of the abbreviated week; 933.3 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.
On the data front, investors received only one economic report--February JOLTS--on Tuesday:
The February Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 5.743 million from a revised 5.625 million (from 5.626 million) in January.
Tomorrow, investors will receive a batch of economic data, including the MBA Mortgage Applications Index at 7:00 ET, March Export/Import Prices at 8:30 ET, and the March Treasury Budget at 14:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +9.0% YTD
S&P 500 +5.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +4.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.5% YTD
4:31 pm CalAmp confirms last week's court ruling in Omega patent infringement case; intends to challenge the judgment through all appropriate motions (CAMP) :
On April 5, 2017, the trial court judge awarded Omega trebled damages in the aggregate amount of $8.9 mln plus attorneys' fees in an amount to be determined, but denied Omega's request for an injunction. CalAmp recorded a reserve of $2.9 mln in February 2016 at the time of the jury verdict, and recorded an additional reserve of $6.0 mln in its financial statements for the year ended February 28, 2017 as a result of the judge's award of trebled damages. The $6.0 mln charge will impact fiscal 2017 GAAP-basis results of operations by $0.11 per diluted share but will not impact fiscal 2017 non-GAAP earnings per share or Adjusted EBITDA.
CalAmp's position has always been, and remains, that it does not infringe Omega's patents and that Omega's patents are invalid. CalAmp intends to challenge the judgment through all appropriate motions with the trial court, an appeal at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit if necessary, and the ongoing ex parte reexaminations of Omega's patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The broader market opened Tuesday with some modest losses, steepening the decline as the first two hours of the session progressed. Then, a modest recovery into the afternoon still saw the major averages in negative territory yet well off intraday lows. Ultimately, Tuesday ended with the Nasdaq Composite the worst performer, shedding about 14.15 points (-0.24%) to 5866.77. The S&P 500 lost 3.38 points (-0.14%) to 2353.78, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined just 6.72 points (-0.03%) to 20651.30.
The lone piece of economic data today was the February JOLTS number -- the February Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 5.743 million from a revised 5.625 million (from 5.626 million) in January.
The worst performing sector in the S&P today, the Technology (XLK 52.76,-0.20 -0.38%) sector closed off lows but still underperforming the broader market. Component Alliance Data (ADS 238.34, -9.32 -3.76%) was the worst performer today after the stock received an Underperform rating from analysts at Oppenheimer in an initiation report. The rest of the remaining 10 S&P sectors finished with US Telecoms at the top IYZ +0.51% followed by XLRE +0.47%, XLI +0.14%, XLE +0.04%, XLP +0.04%, XLU -0.04%, XLY -0.08%, XLV -0.13%, XLF -0.26%, XLB -0.27%.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology (895.64, -3.93 -0.44%) space, trading furthered the gap from the 900 level. Component Qualcomm (QCOM 55.35, -1.17 -2.07%) was a big reason the sector was so pressured; the stock was weaker today in reaction to an Answer and Counterclaims suit to Apple (AAPL 141.63, -1.54 -1.08%). Some of the bigger names in the space finished in the red today including AAPL -1.08%, FB -0.79%, IBM -0.36%, CSCO -0.27%, GOOGL -0.22%, MA -0.19%, INTC -0.17%, GOOG -0.17%, MSFT -0.08%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Qualcomm (QCOM) filed an Answer and Counterclaims to Apple (AAPL) lawsuit. The suit highlights breached agreements negotiations with QCOM.
Maxwell Tech (MXWL 5.97, +0.52 +9.54%) and 6.9% shareholder Viex Capital entered a cooperation agreement whereby John Mutch was appointed as an independent director. MXWL also signed a stock purchase agreement with SDIC Fund; purchase price is $6.32/share and is anticipated to represent about 19.9% of MXWL's common stock.
GoPro (GPRO 8.95, +0.26 +2.99%) launched a camera Trade-Up Program. For a limited time starting April 11, existing GoPro owners can receive $100 off a new HERO5 Black, or $50 off a HERO5 Session when they trade-in any previous-generation GoPro HERO camera.
Coupa Software (COUP 25.47, +0.97 +3.96%) announced the launch of a proposed follow-on public offering of 3,700,000 shares of its common stock; offering includes 91,535 shares to be offered by Coupa and 3,608,465 shares to be offered by certain selling stockholders.
Micron (MU 27.18, -0.46 -1.66%) executive Scott DeBoer entered into a prearranged trading plan providing for the sale of up to 120,144 shares of stock beginning in May. The company also confirmed that prosecutors in Taiwan have been conducting ongoing investigations.
In reaction to quarterly results:
MTS Systems (MTSC 46.70, -7.10 -13.20%) reported Q4 EPS of $0.55 on worse than expected revenues of $199.28 million. MTSC's EPS figure excludes acquisition integration, acquisition inventory step-up, China investigation and restructuring expenses. Additionally, MTSC issued in-line guidance for FY17 revenues in the range of $760-790 million.
Analyst actions:
WDC was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan,
STX was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Longbow,
YELP was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at Pacific Crest,
SBAC was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim,
RNG was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
ROG was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sidoti;
ON was downgraded to Underperform at Credit Suisse,
WIX was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Cantor Fitzgerald,
XCRA was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley & Co. and to Hold from Buy at Craig Hallum;
MULE was initiated at JP Morgan, Jefferies, Goldman, Barclays, Piper Jaffray, BofA/Merrill, William Blair and Canaccord Genuity,
BSFT was initiated with a Neutral at Robert W. Baird,
ADS was initiated with an Underperform at Oppenheimer,
FIVN and EGHT were initiated with Equal Weight ratings at Morgan Stanley,
AXTI was initiated with a Buy at BWS Financial
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