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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market finished the Monday session on a modestly higher note, but the S&P 500 (+0.1%) could not keep pace with the Russell 2000 (+0.9%). Similar to the Russell 2000, the Nasdaq (+0.3%) displayed relative strength, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%) settled just ahead of the S&P 500.

Equity indices climbed out of the gate with the early sentiment boosted by a set of acquisitions in three influential sectors; however, the intraday strength did not last as participants opted to take some money off the table after the Dow Jones Transportation Average surrendered its morning gain after outpacing the broader market over the past few weeks.

The largest S&P 500 sector received early support from chipmakers after Hittite Microwave (HITT 77.87, +17.31) agreed to be acquired by Analog Devices (ADI 55.31, +2.62) for $78/share. Shares of HITT surged 28.6%, but the PHLX Semiconductor Index narrowed its gain to 0.2% by the close.

Meanwhile, the broader tech sector (+0.3%) also slipped into the close, but was able to eke out a modest gain with help from its largest component. Apple (AAPL 93.70, +1.48) rose 1.6% on its first day of trading after the recent 7:1 share split.

Outside of technology, the remaining cyclical sectors saw a mixed finish. Consumer discretionary and energy settled in line with the S&P 500, materials (-0.3%) lagged, while financials (+0.4%), and industrials (+0.5%) outperformed.

The industrial sector finished ahead of the broader market, but the strength among defense contractors (PHLX Defense Index +0.8%) masked the underperformance of transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average was up as much as 0.6% in the late morning, but could not hold its gain into the close, ending flat. It is worth mentioning that today's underperformance took place after the bellwether complex surged nearly 8.5% since the start of the quarter versus a 4.2% gain for the S&P 500 over the same period.

While most cyclical sectors finished in line with or ahead of the broader market, the same could not be said for the four defensive groups. The telecom services sector tacked on 0.1%, while consumer staples (-0.1%), health care (-0.5%), and utilities (-0.7%) settled in the red.

Consumer staples spent the bulk of the session in negative territory, but shares of Hillshire Brands (HSH 62.06, +3.14) jumped 5.3% after Tyson Foods (TSN 37.50, -2.62) confirmed its offer to acquire the company for $63/share.

Also of note, the health care sector diverged from biotechnology, with the latter receiving a boost from Merck's (MRK 57.94, +0.09) offer to acquire Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX 23.79, +16.56) for $24.50/share, which represents a gargantuan premium of 239% to Friday's closing price. Meanwhile, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 248.03, +1.94) advanced 0.8%.

On the fixed income side, Treasuries slumped overnight, but reclaimed a portion of their losses during the session. Ultimately, the 10-yr note shed five ticks, pushing its yield higher by two basis points to 2.61%.

Light participation continued to plague the market at the start of the week with only 595 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Tomorrow, the Wholesale Inventories report for April (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) and the April Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey will both be released at 10:00 ET.

S&P 500 +5.6% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +3.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.0% YTD

DJ30 +18.82 NASDAQ +14.84 SP500 +1.83 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1890/1.67 bln/871 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1864/595.1 mln/1165

3:35 pm :

Precious metals pulled back from their session highs set in early morning action as the dollar index gained strength.
Aug gold retreated from a session high of $1257.30 per ounce and brushed a session low of $1252.30 per ounce. It eventually settled with a 0.1% gain at $1253.80 per ounce.
July silver slipped from its session high of $19.17 per ounce and traded as low as $19.05 per ounce. Unable to regain momentum, it settled at $19.07 per ounce, or 0.4% higher.
July crude oil steadily trended higher after coming off its session low of $103.47 per barrel set in early morning pit trade. It settled 1.7% higher at $104.44 per barrel, just below its session high of $104.55 per barrel.
July natural gas chopped around in negative territory for most of today's floor trade. It brushed a session high of $4.72 per MMBtu in early afternoon action but gave up the momentum. It eventually settled 1.3% lower at $4.65 per MMBtu.

4:18 pm ON Semiconductor to acquire Aptina Imaging for ~ $400 mln in cash; transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings (ONNN) :

Co signed a definitive agreement to acquire Aptina Imaging, a provider of high-performance CMOS image sensors for automotive and industrial markets, which are the key areas of strategic focus for ON Semiconductor. Other markets addressed by Aptina's products include cameras, mobile devices, and computing and gaming platforms.
Under the terms of the agreement, ON Semiconductor will pay approximately $400 million in cash to acquire Aptina Imaging, subject to customary adjustments at closing. The acquisition will be funded by available cash on ON Semiconductor's balance sheet and its existing revolver credit facility.
Co expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to earnings, excluding any non-recurring acquisition related charges, the fair value step-up inventory amortization, and amortization of acquired intangibles.

2:44 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session- New highs (142) outpacing new lows (0) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AA, AAL, AAN, AAPL, ACE, ADI, ALLE, AMAT, AMP, AMT, APA, ARRS, ATML, AVGO, AXP, BEE, BHI, BIG, BLL, BMR, BPO, BRCM, BWA, CAT, CCK, CDNS, CE, CHTR, CL, CLR, CMI, CNQ, COF, COTY, CSX, CWH, CXO, DD, DDR, DFS, DG, DHR, DIS, DOV, DOW, DPS, DRE, EOG, EPE, ETE, FLEX, FOXA, FWLT, GD, GLNG, GPK, GRMN, HAL, HCBK, HES, HK, HOLX, HON, HSH, HSP, HST, HUM, HUN, IBN, INTC, IPG, IRM, ITMN, ITW, IVZ, JBLU, JOY, KR, KRFT, LMT, LRCX, LUV, MAR, MCHP, MHFI, MJN, MMC, MMM, MO, MU, MWV, MXIM, NFX, NOV, NSC, ORCL, PAY, PBI, PDM, PDS, PH, PKI, PNC, PTEN, RCL, RFMD, RGC, RHI, RSG, SAN, SAVE, SE, SHO, SLB, SPN, SRE, SWKS, SYNA, TAP, TEL, TIF, TQNT, TRV, TSM, TSU, TV, TWX, TXT, TYC, UNP, URI, VIPS, VSH, WFC, WFT, WIN, WMB, WSM, WWAV, XL, XRX, YUM

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: MDY, OEF, OIH, PPA, QQQ, SDY, SEA, SMH, SOXX, SPY, UYG, UYM, VTI, VWO, XES, XLB, XLE, XLF, XLI, XLK, XLP, XOP

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: SMN, VXX

Note: To reduce the list of stocks making 52 week highs/lows to a manageable size we have filtered out stocks below $2 bln in market cap and below 1 mln average volume. Without this filter 404 stocks made 52 week highs and 20 stocks made 52 week lows.

1:10 pm QLogic grieves sudden passing of HK Desai, Executive Chairman (QLGC) : Co annoounced that HK Desai, Executive Chairman, QLogic Corporation died Sunday night after suffering sudden cardiac arrest, at the age of 68. He had been with the company since August 1995. H.K. joined QLogic in 1995 as our interim Chief Executive Officer, President and Chief Technical Officer, and became our President and Chief Executive Officer in 1996 and became our Chairman of the Board in 1999. He continued to serve as our Chief Executive Officer until 2010 when he assumed his Executive Chairman role.

12:58 pm 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

DG (63.56 +9.60%): Trading higher in sympathy with Family Dollar (FDO); upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies; mentioned positively at tier 1 firm; co announced plans to expand its nationwide presence into three new states within the next year, increasing the co's presence to 43 states across the country
JD (28.75 +8.16%): Seeing reports that co plans for users to be able to prescription drugs online
ADI (55.46 +5.26%): Announced acquisition of Hittite Microwave (HITT) for $78 per share in cash, transaction expected to be accretive to ADI's non-GAAP EPS

Large Cap Losers

MPEL (30.65 -5.84%): Continued weakness following cautious mention at FBR Capital last Friday
TSN (38.26 -4.64%): Submitted a binding offer to acquire Hillshire Brands (HSH) for $63 per share (~$8.55 bln)
GILD (79.16 -3.92%): Trading lower following Merck's acquisition of hepatitis C treatment competitor Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX)

Mid Cap Gainers

FDO (69.03 +14.04%): Carl Icahn disclosed 9.4% active stake; upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies; mentioned positively at FBR Capital; upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Gilford
ALNY (66.09 +7.75%): Presented positive pre-clinical results with its Development Candidate for ALN-CC5, a subcutaneously administered investigational RNAi therapeutic targeting complement component C5 in development for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases
ARCO (10.2 +6.12%): Upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill

Mid Cap Losers

MMS (43.03 -6.62%): Downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
PPC (24.67 -6.08%): Withdrew proposal to acquire Hillshire Brands following a superior proposal from Tyson Foods (TSN)
ERF (22.91 -2.68%): Downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets, target $25

11:00 am Agilent announces collaboration with Nippon Avionics to develop enhanced thermal imager solutions (A) : Co announced its collaboration with Nippon Avionics (Avio) on the co-development of enhanced thermal imager solutions. The first product of their collaboration is the Agilent U5855A TrueIR thermal imager, a handheld thermal imager solution. The two companies jointly developed the unique U5855A, fusing the best of each company's technology and expertise.