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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : The major averages spent the Thursday session in a daylong retreat that placed the Nasdaq (-3.1%) below its 100-day moving average, while the S&P 500 (-2.1%) finished below its 50-day average. The Dow Jones Industrial Average held up a bit better, but the price-weighted index posted a sharp loss (-1.6%) nonetheless.

Even though the major averages finished yesterday's session on an upbeat note, the sentiment began deteriorating during the overnight session when China reported a surprise trade surplus of $7.71 billion, which was due to disappointing import (-11.3% versus expected 2.4%) and export (-6.6% versus expected 4.0%) figures. This renewed some of the concerns about the strength of the Chinese economy, which have been present since the start of the year. Strikingly, markets in Hong Kong (+1.5%) and China (+1.4%) outperformed, but that was likely due to the announcement that Beijing would allow as much as CNY23.50 billion of cross-border equity trading.

Another major equity index, Japan's Nikkei, ended flat after starting with a solid 1.3% gain. The retreat from highs took place as the Japanese yen strengthened, sending the dollar/yen pair into the 101.50 area.

The caution that was exhibited in the foreign exchange market appeared to have faded by this morning, but the yen began strengthening ahead of the New York open, and returned to the overnight lows not long after.

Meanwhile, equities began their retreat shortly after the opening bell, with the Nasdaq Composite leading the slide.

By and large, there was some indiscriminate selling taking place as the lack of follow through from yesterday's rally piqued concerns about a larger scale correction being under way. In turn, the sharp price pullbacks started to raise worries about collateral damage among highly leveraged accounts that could be facing some margin calls. As those worries percolated, participants reduced their risk exposure with a sell-first-ask-questions-later disposition.

All ten sectors ended in the red with the largest four groups-technology (-2.5%), financials (-2.4%), health care (-3.2%), and consumer discretionary (-2.5%)-posting the largest losses.

Health care spent the duration of the trading day at the bottom of the leaderboard, with continued weakness in biotechnology exacerbating the decline. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 221.89, -13.19) tumbled to its 200-day moving average before inching up from that level into the close for a loss of 5.6%.

Elsewhere, technology and discretionary shares suffered from noteworthy weakness among momentum names. Amazon.com (AMZN 317.11, -14.69), Google (GOOG 540.95, -23.19), Facebook (FB 59.16, -3.25), and Netflix (NFLX 334.73, -18.30) surrendered between 4.1% and 5.2%, while smaller momentum-favorites fared even worse. FireEye (FEYE 49.75, -6.64), Tableau Software (DATA 65.52, -7.35), and Yelp (YELP 63.47, -7.78) all plunged more than 10.0% apiece.

The financial sector also ended among the laggards, with JPMorgan Chase (JPM 57.40, -1.87) and Wells Fargo (WFC 47.71, -1.39) falling 3.2% and 2.8%, respectively ahead of tomorrow morning's quarterly reports.

While seven sectors posted losses of 1.0% or more, defensively-oriented consumer staples (-0.9%), telecom services (-0.1%), and utilities (-0.4%) outperformed.

With stocks ending on their lows, demand for volatility protection sent the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 15.77, +1.95) higher by 14.1%, but the near-term volatility measure ended below highs established earlier in the week.

Treasuries posted gains, but finished below their midday highs. The benchmark 10-yr yield fell five basis points to 2.65%.

Participation was a bit above average as 786 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.

Looking back at today's data:

The weekly initial claims level fell to 300,000-its lowest point since May 2007-from an upwardly revised 332,000 (from 326,000), while the Briefing.com consensus expected the claims level to fall to 325,000. The size of the drop in claims was unusual, and while the Department of Labor did not issue any statements explaining the decline, there tends to be normal seasonal volatility over the first few weeks of April due to yearly calendar shifts in the Easter holiday.
Export prices, excluding agriculture, increased 0.5% in March after increasing 0.6% in the prior reading. Excluding oil, import prices rose 0.3%, which follows last month's downtick of 0.1%.
The Treasury Budget for March showed a deficit of $36.90 billion, which followed the prior month's deficit of $106.50 billion. The Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to hit $36.00 billion.

Tomorrow, March PPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%) and Core PPI (consensus 0.1%) will be released at 8:30 ET, while the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment survey for April (consensus 81.0) will cross the wires at 9:55 ET.

S&P 500 -0.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.5% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -2.9% YTD
Russell 2000 -3.0% YTD

DJ30 -266.96 NASDAQ -129.79 SP500 -39.10 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 352/2.15 bln/2707 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 663/785.7 mln/2408

3:35 pm :

Precious metals traded higher today as the dollar index retreated into negative territory.
June gold brushed a session high of $1324.90 per ounce in early morning action and spent most of the session chopping around near the $1320.00 per ounce level. It eventually settled with a 1.2% gain.
May silver touched a session high of $20.40 per ounce moments after pit trade opened and settled with a 1.7% gain at $20.10 per ounce.
May crude oil chopped around in negative territory as OPEC lowered its demand forecast for crude oil in 2014. The energy component dipped to a session low of $103.10 per barrel and settled with a 0.2^ loss at $103.38 per barrel.
May natural gas dipped to a session low of $4.52 per MMBtu in early morning floor trade but rallied sharply into positive territory following bullish inventory data that showed a build of 4 bcf when a larger build of 13-15 bcf was anticipated. It rose as high as $4.70 per MMBtu and closed with a 1.5% gain at $4.65 per MMBtu.

12:29PM Notable movers of interest (SCANX) : The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).

Large Cap Gainers

HPQ (33.47 +2.29%): Initiated with a Buy at Deutsche Bank; tgt $40.
SLM (24.94 +0.75%): Co's Board approved strategic separation of Navient.
KMP (78.3 +0.93%): Mentioned favorably on Mad Money.

Large Cap Losers

BBBY (63.64 -6.29%): Reported EPS at high end of lowered guidance range (in-line with consensus); revs fell 5.8% y/y to $3.2 bln vs the $3.23 bln consensus; guided Q1 and FY15 EPS below consensus; tgt lowered to $62 from $72 at Canaccord Genuity; downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill; tgt lowered to $70 from $78 at Credit Suisse; tgt lowered to $68 from $79 at TAG; tgt lowered to $80 from $85 at Argus; tgt lowered to $62 from $72 at Canaccord Genuity.
GILD (66.56 -5.79%): Announced results from study of Sovaldi for retreatment of Chronic Hepatitis C in patients not cured with prior antiviral therapy - 74% of patients (37/50) achieved SVR12; announced Phase 2 results for two investigational all-oral sofosbuvir-based regimens for the treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C.
COG (32.64 -4.25%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

Mid Cap Gainers

RAD (6.95 +8.66%): Beat on EPS by $0.05, revs rose 2.2% y/y to $6.6 bln (~ in-line with preannouncement) vs the $6.51 consensus; guided FY15 EPS in-line, revs above consensus.
VC (88.27 +1.22%): Initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $103; closed $600 mln term loan B and $200 mln revolving credit facility.

Mid Cap Losers

FEYE (51.09 -9.4%): Trading lower following IMPV Q1 warning (FTNT also lower)
PSMT (92.23 -9.48%): Beat on EPS by $0.08, reports revs in-line; reported Mar same store sales +1.9% vs +6.0% Retail Metrics consensus.
DDD (51.04 -6.65%): Taiwan to begin 3D printing program in May, according to reports.

12:22PM S&P -20 extends back near flat line for the year and 50 ema (TECHX) : Steady slide after an early lateral drift has reached back to support noted here earlier (The Technical Take) at 1848/1847 (unch for the year, congest, 50 ema) -- session low 1847.86.

12:05PM Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (68) outpacing new lows (48) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAV, ADM, AEP, AGRO, ALGT, AMKR, ASMI, ATO, AXAS, BAS, BPL, BUD, BXE, CAT, CDW, CNX, DE, DMLP, DTE, DYN, ECA, EIX, EPD, ERF, FTK, FWLT, GAS, HIL, HPQ, IMOS, JOY, KMB, KND, LFUS, LNG, LNT, MAR, MED, MMP, MRK, NED, NOA, NU, NYLD, ONNN, ORAN, PES, PF, PSXP, RAD, REI, RNR, SEM, SGY, SIF, SLGN, SNP, SPCB, SPIL, SPN, SRE, SYX, TI.A, TTHI, TTM, UL, USAK, VET

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AEPI, AFFY, AMRK, ARQL, ASTI, ATOS, AVNW, AXR, CAW, CHCI, CRCM, CTC, CTHR, CTRX, DMD, DSCI, EGAN, FCFS, FOR, FSYS, GIMO, GMAN, HTBX, IIVI, IMPV, INTG, JRCC, LIWA, LMOS, NEWL, NMR, NSR, ONE, OVRL, PIP, PKT, PRAN, SAR, SMLR, STRL, TEAR, TEDU, TEU, TM, TRVN, TWMC, VVUS, XONE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DJP, EWH, GULF, USCI, XLP, XLU

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: UUP

Sigma Designs (SIGM) reported fourth quarter loss of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which is worse than expected, while revenues fell 12.9% year/year to $38.5 million which is worse than expected. Q4 GAAP EPS was $0.04 vs a single analyst estimate of ($0.09). The company announced that the Board of Directors of the Company appointed Elias Nader the Company's Chief Financial Officer effective immediately. Mr. Nader had been serving as the Company's Interim Chief Financial Officer since March 2013. Mr. Nader, 51, served as corporate controller for the Company from October 2012 to March 2013.
Gartner said Worldwide PC shipments totaled 76.6 million units in the first quarter of 2014, a 1.7 percent decline from the first quarter of 2013, according to preliminary results by Gartner. The severity of the decline eased compared with the past seven quarters. "The end of XP support by Microsoft on April 8 has played a role in the easing decline of PC shipments," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "All regions indicated a positive effect since the end of XP support stimulated the PC refresh of XP systems. Professional desktops, in particular, showed strength in the quarter. Among key countries, Japan was greatly affected by the end of XP support, registering a 35 percent year-over-year increase in PC shipments. The growth was also boosted by sales tax change. We expect the impact of XP migration worldwide to continue throughout 2014." "While the PC market remains weak, it is showing signs of improvement compared to last year. The PC professional market generally improved in regions such as EMEA. The U.S. saw the gradual recovery of PC spending as the impact of tablets faded." Ms. Kitagawa said. Lenovo experienced the strongest growth among the top five vendors. Its shipments grew 10.9 percent.
Rudolph Tech (RTEC) announced another favorable ruling in its ongoing patent infringement suit against Israeli manufacturer, Camtek, Ltd. On March 31, 2014, Judge John R. Tunheim ruled in Rudolph's favor finding that Camtek's Falcon products infringed Rudolph's US patent no. 6,826,298, which covers continuous inspection of wafers using strobing illumination. Rudolph will petition the court to reinstate a permanent injunction against the sale by Camtek of its infringing semiconductor inspection systems. Rudolph also anticipates that the damages originally awarded by the jury in 2009 will be reinstated, as well as related interest and all subsequently awarded damages. A subsequent lawsuit has additionally been filed by Rudolph, alleging infringement of Rudolph's US patent no. 7,729,528, also for an Automated Wafer Defect Inspection System And A Process Of Performing Such Inspection, by each of Camtek's current inspection tool offerings.