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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 25-Apr-14

Dow -140.19 at 16361.46, Nasdaq -72.78 at 4075.56, S&P -15.21 at 1863.4

The major averages spent the last session of the week in a steady retreat despite receiving a round of better than expected earnings from the technology sector. The Nasdaq lost 1.8%, widening its April decline to 2.9%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.8%, swinging to a month-to-date loss to 0.5%. The benchmark index notched a session low not far above its 50-day moving average (1858) and closed just north of its 20-day moving average (1862).

Market participants received an avalanche of earnings since yesterday's closing bell, with a large portion coming from companies that belong to the technology sector (-1.4%). Even though 32 of 40 tech companies met or beat expectations, the broader sector was the second-weakest performer, finishing only ahead of the consumer discretionary sector (-1.7%).

In large part, the discretionary space was pressured by the shares of Amazon.com (AMZN 303.83, -33.32), which fell 9.9% after the online retail giant missed earnings estimates by one cent and issued cautious guidance. Amazon.com factored into the underperformance of the Nasdaq, while noteworthy losses in high-beta names like Netflix (NFLX 322.08, -21.99) and Priceline.com (PCLN 1157.24, -59.79) also weighed on the index and the discretionary sector.

Staying on the momentum theme, high-beta tech components like Facebook (FB 57.71, -3.16), FireEye (FEYE 41.18, -3.27), LinkedIn (LNKD 158.17, -13.42), and Yelp (YELP 57.63, -5.07) endured a forgettable session, falling between 5.2% and 8.1%.

Today's weakness in high-growth names resembled the aggressive selling that took place at the start of the month, which is likely to invite concerns that the sell-off seen a few weeks ago has not run its full corrective course.

The recent sell-off featured significant weakness in the biotech space and that was the case once again today. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 223.96, -5.66) lost 2.5%, ending right above its 200-day moving average (221.37), which has acted like a magnet for the past couple weeks. Interestingly, the health care sector (-0.7%) held up relatively well, ending just ahead of the broader market.

While the losses in biotech and other high-beta areas fueled the early selling, dip-buyers were reluctant to step in amid continued worries about the situation in Ukraine. Earlier, Ukrainian officials demanded a statement from Russia, explaining the purpose of its troops massed at the border of the two countries. Additionally, President Obama spoke with his counterparts from France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, agreeing to introduce another round of sanctions against Russia for failure to observe the Geneva accord that was signed last Thursday.

The geopolitical concerns did fuel some safe-haven flows as Treasuries and gold futures posted gains. The 10-yr note added four ticks, pressuring its yield to 2.67%, while gold futures added 0.5% to $1290.80/ozt.

With stocks ending near their lows, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 14.12, +0.80) climbed 6.0%, suggesting participants hedged their bets.

Participation was a bit below average as less than 700 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.

Today's economic data was limited to the final reading for the April University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, which was revised up to 84.1 from a preliminary reading of 82.6. The Briefing.com consensus expected the Consumer Sentiment Index to remain at 82.6. Consumer sentiment increased to its highest level since July 2013 when the index reached 85.1. Layoff trends and equity prices both improved over the second half of the month, which contributed to the overall improvement in sentiment. The Current Conditions Index was revised up to 98.7 in the final reading from 97.1 in the preliminary report. That is up from 95.7 in March. The Expectations Index was also revised up, to 74.7 from 73.3.

On Monday, the Pending Home Sales report for March will be released at 10:00 ET.

Week in Review: Nasdaq Remains Volatile

The trading action in the stock market on Monday left a lot to be desired, yet that didn't stop the market from finishing the day higher. Led by the health care (+1.2%), energy (+0.7%), and technology (+0.4%) sectors, the S&P 500 jumped 0.4% and closed the session with its fifth consecutive gain -- a first in 2014. The U.S. market reopened after the three-day Easter weekend, but for all intents and purposes, it continued to operate in holiday mode. Trading conditions were thin, no doubt kept that way by the lack of activity out of Europe where markets remained closed for the Easter holiday. NYSE volume totaled just 591 mln shares, which was well below a recent average of 725 mln shares.

Equity indices strung together a daylong rally on Tuesday, giving the S&P 500 its sixth consecutive advance. Some selling during the final hour of action pressured the indices from their highs, but they still ended with the bulk of their gains. The benchmark index added 0.4% with eight sectors finishing in the green, while the Nasdaq (+1.0%) outperformed throughout the session. Although the stock market began the day on a flat note, the major averages quickly took the lead from two heavily-weighted sectors-consumer discretionary (+0.8%) and health care (+1.0%)-that displayed strength out of the gate. The health care sector spent the entire session in the lead due, in part, to the relative strength of biotechnology. M&A activity also contributed to the sector's outperformance as Allergan surged 15.3% after Valeant proposed a merger for $48.30 in cash and 0.83 shares of Valeant for each share of Allergan.

The stock market finished the Wednesday session on a modestly lower note, but it is worth mentioning the retreat took place after six consecutive gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.1%) and S&P 500 (-0.2%) settled not far below their flat lines, while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.8%) lagged throughout the session. Equity indices started the day in the red, with the Nasdaq showing early weakness as large cap tech names and biotechnology weighed. The technology sector (-0.9%) slumped amid profit-taking in listings like Apple , Google, Microsoft, and Intel, while biotech names retreated following quarterly reports from three major industry players.

On Thursday, the major averages posted modest gains, but not before enduring a morning dip into the red, which took place in reaction to reports indicating Russia has commenced military exercises on the Ukrainian border. The news from Europe knocked the key indices from their early highs, while giving a boost to safe-haven assets like gold futures (+0.5% to $1290.80/ozt), Treasuries (10-yr yield -1 bps to 2.69%), and the Japanese yen (102.30 vs USD); however, the morning spike in safety flows was retraced partially, while equities rallied off their lows with the technology sector (+1.1%) setting the pace. Tech shares (and the Nasdaq) received significant support from the shares of Apple, which surged 8.2% after the top-weighted tech company handily beat earnings expectations. In addition, Apple increased its share buyback to $90 billion and announced a 7:1 stock split, which will go into effect on June 2.

 
 Index	   Started Week   Ended Week    Change	% Change   YTD % 
 DJIA	     16408.54	  16361.46	-47.08	   -0.3	  -1.3 
 Nasdaq	      4095.52	   4075.56	-19.96	   -0.5   -2.4 
 S&P 500	1864.85	   1863.40	 -1.45     -0.1	   0.8 
 Russell 2000  1137.90	   1123.03	-14.87	   -1.3	  -3.5

4:33PM This week's biggest % gainers/losers (SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Technology: CBEY (9.82 +39.46%), SANM (21.03 +23.99%), SPWR (34.18 +19.7%), VDSI (11.17 +18.41%), SWKS (41.46 +17.73%), TWOU (14.86 +17.41%)
Services: SHLD (41.81 +28.63%), TEDU (8.91 +28.41%)
Healthcare: SRPT (36.7 +57.61%), GWPH (62.12 +52.11%), CYTK (4.59 +43.22%), PRTA (38.58 +41.15%), RVNC (34.33 +33.25%), ANIP (31.24 +32.03%), AGN (168.15 +26.74%)
Financial: XOOM (22.3 +18.72%)
Consumer Goods: RDEN (35.68 +29.17%), MOD (16.22 +20.31%)
Basic Materials: HGT (9.61 +21.58%), SYRG (12.2 +18.4%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Technology: HEAR (9.28 -24.72%), CSLT (14.06 -24.42%), MDSO (39.77 -18.65%), PLUG (5.37 -15.11%), ATEN (12.75 -14.51%), GRUB (31.26 -13.7%), WIT (11.8 -13.2%), ATHN (127.81 -12.38%), UIS (25.03 -11.87%)
Services: BEBE (5.2 -17.96%)
Healthcare: RARE (35.25 -16.34%), XLRN (32.5 -15.74%), KPTI (25.63 -14.94%), IPCM (41.66 -13.32%), ONVO (5.55 -13.09%), QDEL (20.95 -11.68%)
Financial: MGI (13.5 -24.46%), TBBK (15.92 -13.11%)
Consumer Goods: MYE (19.93 -12.05%)
Basic Materials: EROC (4.38 -16.39%)

4:04PM NASDAQ announces mid-month open short interest positions in NASDAQ stocks as of settlement date April 15, 2014 (NDAQ) 36.05 -0.22 : Short interest in all 2,784 NASDAQ securities totaled 8,309,872,995 shares at the April 15, 2014 settlement date, compared with 2,777 issues and 8,294,206,693 shares at the end of the previous reporting period. This is 3.66 days average daily volume, compared with an average of 3.70 days for the previous reporting period.

3:36PM Earnings Preview for the week of April 28 - May 2 (SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of April 28 - May 2 some of the bigger names include:

Monday:
Pre Market - NOV, ECL, GLW, CHTR, BEN, TEN, CNA, LH, ROP, SOHU, L
After Hours - SU, HIG, JEC, AMP, VLRS, RKT, OMI, STM, PRE, HLF, BWLD, QCOR, N
Tuesday:
Pre Market - BP, VLO, LYB, MRK, ABB, HCA, S, ETN, GT, TRW, CMI, PCAR, BMY, PH, NOK, HUN, MGM, AGCO, GAS, BSX, OSK, EME, ROK, LKQ, AXE, MHFI, HRS, ESV, COH, MGLN, FRX, FDP, CNX, XYL, CIT
After Hours - ESRX, BSAC, AFL, X, EBAY, STX, ACE, MAR, CHRW, EIX, GNW, AXS, OI, NCR, TRN, FISV, THG, WSH, MEOH, GPRE, PNRA, BXP, TWTR, DWA,
Wednesday:
Pre Market - PSX, AUO, WLP, IP, TWX, EXC, CVE, PBF, SO, NEE, D, ADP, TRI, GIB, ABX, ACT, HES, TX, NI, SEE, LVLT, INGR, MWV, WEC, SPW, ENR, H, HSP, JLL, CG, SLGN, ADT, GRMN,
After Hours - MET, INT, TSO, FLEX, WDC, LNC, FNF, PPC, ASH, CBG, TEX, WMB, BGC, WPZ, CNW, MUR, POL, FBHS, MDU, CBT, CACI, DOX, BKD, YELP,
Thursday:
Pre Market - XOM, CAH, NVO, MPC, BG, EPD, MFC, CI, TMUS, TEVA, CTRX, PCG, K, PPL, VIAB, PEG, TXT, LLL, XEL, RRD, CNP, CVI, AVP, MA, BDX, BWA, NGLS, CVRR, BLL, MSI, MYL, PTRY, JAH, PWR, FIS, CLX, SHPG, CPN, ARG, HST, HAR, IVZ, YRCW, RFP, ANR, Q, GG, CHD, CME, IRM, LM, ITT,
After Hours - FLR, KRFT, DVA, TS, MOH, XL, MHK, NU, ALJ, TEG, WU, MRC, NSIT, EXPE, MTZ, MTW, ONNN, DRC, CVD, OUTR, LNKD, AKAM, AEM, VRTX, CHGG,
Friday:
Pre Market - CVX, CVS, MMC, SRE, TRP, EL, SPR, BPL, GEL, NWL, TDS, XLS, USM, AXL, CTB, MSG

12:13PM 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
WFT (20.4 +10.81%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.02 ($0.13 ex items vs $0.11 estimate), revs fell 6.3% yoy to $3.60 bln vs $3.71 bln estimate; reaffirmed FY14 EPS of $1.10-1.20 ex items vs $1.00 estimate; hearing upgraded at Morgan Stanley
DCM (16.07 +5.38%): WSJ reporting that co will sell its Tata Teleservices stake
PFG (46.91 +4.73%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.014 ($1.06 ex items vs $0.92 estimate), revs rose 11.7% yoy to $2.5 bln vs $2.42 bln estimate

Large Cap Losers

AMZN (307.82 -8.7%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.01 ($0.23 vs $0.24 estimate), operating income $146 mln vs ($200)-200 mln guidance and $205 mln estimate, revs rose 22.8% yoy to $19.74 bln vs $19.42 bln estimate; sees Q2 revs of $18.1-19.8 bln vs $19.03 bln estimate
KLAC (64.05 -5.45%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.12 ($1.23 vs $1.11 estimate), revs rose 14.1% yoy to $832 mln vs $822.47 mln estimate; sees Q4 EPS of $0.75-0.95 vs $1.16 estimate, revs of $700-760 mln vs $831.79 mln estimate; target lowered to $62 from $69 at Northland Capital; downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley & Co
TWTR (42.15 -5.96%): Mentioned negatively in blog article

Mid Cap Gainers

DV (46.33 +14.79%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.11 ($0.86 vs $0.75 estimate), revs fell 1.5% yoy to $496.1 mln vs $493.52 mln estimate; upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray
OTEX (49.9 +8.3%): Filed a shelf registration statement in resposne to the demand and piggyback registration requests received pursuant to the registration rights agreement entered into in connection with the acquisition of GXS Group, and to provide future financial flexibility to the company
HBI (80.07 +6.15%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.18 ($0.76 vs $0.58 estimate), revs rose 12.0% yoy to $1.06 bln vs $1.08 bln estimate; raised FY14 EPS guidance to $4.80-5.00 from $4.60-4.80 vs $4.73 estimate, reaffirmed FY14 revs of slightly less than $5.1 bln ex items vs $5.09 bln estimate; target raised to $88 from $84 at FBR Capital

Mid Cap Losers

CVLT (49.58 -27.7%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.05 ($0.52 ex items vs $0.47 estimate), revs rose 13.4% yoy to $156.8 mln vs $160.16 mln estimate
P (24.36 -13.6%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.01 (-$0.13 ex items vs -$0.14 estimate), revs rose 68.8% yoy to $194.3 mln vs $181.43 mln estimate; sees Q2 EPS of $0.00-0.03 ex items vs $0.05 estimate, revs of $213-218 mln; sees FY14 EPS of $0.14-0.18 ex items vs $0.16 estimate, revs of $880-900 mln
FSL (22.72 -12.21%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.03 ($0.27 vs $0.24 estimate), revs rose 14.9% yoy to $1.13 bln vs $1.09 bln estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.14-1.20 bln vs $1.13 bln estimate; appointed Dan Durn CFO following decision to retire by current CFO Alan Campbell

11:29AM Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (63) outpacing new lows (54) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADGE, AEP, AGN, ASX, ATO, AVA, CMS, CNL, CPK, CWEI, DTE, DV, EDN, EGAS, ESXB, FET, FWLT, GAS, GBR, GLDC, HBI, HITT, JJSF, KED, KFS, LPNT, LSCC, LSI, LSTR, MC, MDU, MJN, MO, NRG, NU, ODFL, ORM, PAC, PEBO, PEG, PGI, PNM, PPL, PSX, PTSI, QTS, ROIC, RRMS, SAIA, SIR, SMLP, SPN, SYNA, SYX, TFSL, UNT, UTL, VDSI, VLO, WBC, WFT, WR, XEL

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AMRC, AQXP, ARQL, ATEN, ATV, AVD, BNFT, BTX, CACH, CFFI, CNCE, CNSI, COUP, CREE, CSLT, CVLT, CVT, CYTK, DMD, DSCI, EGRX, ESIO, FLXN, FUEL, GHDX, GOOG, HEAR, HELI, HMC, HSTM, IMPV, IPCM, ISLE, LQDT, MDWD, MRLN, NEWL, NMBL, NMR, PBPB, QLIK, QSII, RAX, RMGN, RNG, SFM, SUNS, TIGR, TXTR, UNXL, VEEV, VSTM, YNDX, ZNH

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: JJA, XLP, XLU

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none


ANADIGICS (ANAD) announced high-volume production shipments of the AWT6530 quad-band ProVantage power amplifier.

8:43AM Nokia announces potential holdings by Microsoft (MSFT) in co have decreased below 5% as a result of the redemption of convertible bonds at the closing of the sale of substantially all of Nokia's Devices & Services business to MSFT (NOK) 7.30 :

Co announced that the potential holdings by Microsoft (MSFT) in Nokia have decreased below 5% as a result of the redemption of convertible bonds at the closing of the sale of substantially all of Nokia's Devices & Services business to Microsoft.
Nokia has on April 25, 2014 received flagging notification in accordance with Chapter 9, Section 5 of the Finnish Securities Markets Act from Microsoft Microsoft Asia Island and Microsoft Mobile Oy. The holdings notified relate to EUR 1.5 billion financing in the form of three convertible bonds issued by Nokia and subscribed for by Microsoft on September 2013. The conversion of the Bonds would have resulted in the acquisition of Nokia shares and related voting rights. If all the Bonds had been converted into shares of Nokia this arrangement could have led to bondholder's holdings in Nokia to be altogether 367 524 324 shares and voting rights, representing 8.9 % of all the shares and voting rights in Nokia as calculated based on current amount of shares added with shares from conversion of the Bonds.

KLAC -5.5%, (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley & Co.)

BRCM -2.1%, (also downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham ),

AMAT -0.6% and ASML -0.4% (following KLAC results),

7:07AM Plug Power prices registered offering of 22.6 mln shares of its common stock at $5.50 per share (PLUG) 6.01 :

6:59AM Nokia completes sale of substantially all of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft (MSFT), as expected (NOK) :

Co confirmed that it has completed the sale of substantially all of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft (MSFT). The transaction, which also includes an agreement to license patents to Microsoft, was originally announced on Sep 3, 2013.
As earlier communicated, the transaction was subject to potential purchase price adjustments. The estimate of the adjustments made for net working capital and cash earnings was slightly positive for Nokia, and co currently expects the total transaction price to be slightly higher than the earlier-announced transaction price of EUR 5.44 biln after the final adjustments are made based on the verified closing balance sheet.
Additionally, as is customary for transactions of this size, scale and complexity, Nokia and Microsoft made certain adjustments to the scope of the assets originally planned to transfer. These adjustments included Nokia's manufacturing facilities in Chennai in India and Masan in the Republic of Korea not transferring to Microsoft. These adjustments have no impact on the material deal terms of the transaction and Nokia will be materially compensated for any retained liabilities.

VeriSign (VRSN) reported first quarter earnings of $0.64 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 5.2% year/year to $248.8 million which is in line with estimates. The operating margin was 56.1 percent for the first quarter of 2014 compared to 56.4 percent for the same quarter in 2013. "Results of the first quarter demonstrate the fundamental soundness of our strategy and discipline in execution," commented Jim Bidzos, executive chairman, president and chief executive officer.
Microsoft (MSFT) reported third quarter earnings of $0.68 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues fell 0.4% year/year to $20.4 billion vs $20.0-20.5 bln guidance which is line with estimates. Devices and Consumer revenue grew 12% to $8.30 bln vs. $7.8-8.1 bln guidance.Windows OEM revenue grew 4%, driven by strong 19% growth in Windows OEM Pro revenue.Office 365 Home now has 4.4 million subscribers, adding nearly 1 million subscribers in just three months.Microsoft sold in 2.0 million Xbox console units, including 1.2 million Xbox One consoles.Surface revenue grew over 50% to ~$500 million.Bing U.S. search share grew to 18.6% and search advertising revenue grew 38%.Commercial revenue grew 7% to $12.23 bln vs. the $1.2-12.4 bln guidance. Office 365 revenue grew over 100%, and commercial seats nearly doubled, demonstrating strong enterprise momentum for Microsoft's cloud productivity solutions. Azure revenue grew over 150%, and the company has announced more than 40 new features that make the Azure platform more attractive to cloud application developers. Windows volume licensing revenue grew 11%, as business customers continue to make Windows their platform of choice.Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange, our productivity server offerings, collectively grew double-digits. Microsoft expects to close the acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business on April 25, 2014. "We are making good progress in our consumer services like Bing and Office 365 Home, and our commercial customers continue to embrace our cloud solutions. Both position us well for long-term growth."
Broadcom (BRCM) reported first quarter earnings of $0.51 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues fell 1.0% year/year to $1.98 billion which is higher than expected. The company issued guidance for the second quarter with revenues of $2.0-2.1 billion which is line with estimates..Non-GAAP product gross margin of up ~75 to ~175 basis points from 1Q14Broadcom delivered overall results ahead of expectations in the March quarter," said Scott McGregor, Broadcom's President and Chief Executive Officer.The upside was driven by strength in Broadband and Infrastructure, stronger-than-expected gross margins and continued operating expense discipline."In the current quarter, we expect momentum in Infrastructure and Broadband to continue, driven by service provider spending on network build outs and technology upgrades."
Baidu.com (BIDU) reported first quarter earnings of $1.24 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 59.0% year/year to $1.53 billion which is below estimates. Online marketing revenues were $1.509 billion, representing a 57.5% increase from the corresponding period in 2013. Baidu had about 446,000 active online marketing customers, representing an 8.8% increase y/y and a 1.1% decrease q/q. Revenue per online marketing customer was approximately $3,362, a 44.1% increase y/y and flat q/q. Traffic acquisition cost as a component of cost of revenues was $190.1 million, representing 12.4% of total revenues, as compared to 10.2% in the corresponding period in 2013 and 12.3% in 4Q13. The year-over-year increase mainly reflects increased contextual ads contributions and the promotion of Hao123 through the Company's network.Bandwidth costs as a component of cost of revenues were $103.9 million, representing 6.8% of total revenues, compared to 6.8% in the corresponding period in 2013. Content costs as a component of cost of revenues were RMB393.6 million ($63.3 million), representing 4.1% of total revenues, compared to 1.6% in the corresponding period in 2013, and 3.8% in the previous quarter. The increase was mainly due to iQiyi's increased content costs. The company issued guidance for the second quarter with revenues of $1.901-1.948 billion which is higher than expected.