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From Briefing.com: 4:24 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Slide Amid Geopolitical Concerns (:WRAPX) : The stock market finished the Thursday session on a lower note with the Russell 2000 (-1.5%) posting its third consecutive loss that took the small-cap index below its 200-day moving average (1140.82). For its part, the S&P 500 fell 1.2%, which represented the first move in excess of 1.0% over the past 63 trading days.

The benchmark index spent the entire session in the red with the early weakness attributed to concerns about the impact of the latest set of U.S. sanctions against Russia. The sanctions targeting two banks (Gazprombank and VEB), two energy companies (Rosneft and Novatek), and several defense contractors were announced shortly after yesterday's closing bell and they pressured markets in Europe as well.

Despite the lower start, the S&P 500 was on the brink of turning positive at the end of the opening hour, but slid to fresh lows after it was reported that a Malaysian Airlines jet, with nearly 300 passengers and personnel on board, crashed in Ukraine near the border with Russia.

After the initial reports crossed the wires, subsequent headlines indicated that the plane did not crash due to mechanical reasons, but instead, was shot down. One pro-Russian rebel group in the east denied having any involvement, while Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said that the country's army has not taken any action "against airborne targets" either.

With no clarity regarding who was responsible for bringing down the jet, airlines in France and Germany said they will avoid Ukrainian airspace, while the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited U.S. carriers from flying in the area as well.

Equities attempted an afternoon rebound, but fell to new lows during the last hour of action in reaction to reports indicating Israel has launched a ground offensive in Gaza.

The pair of worrisome reports ensured a lower finish for equities, while safe-haven assets like gold, Treasuries, and the yen rallied. Gold futures rose 1.5% to $1319.70/ozt, while Treasuries ended on their highs with the 10-yr yield down seven basis points at 2.46%. For its part, the dollar/yen pair fell to 101.25, less than 60 pips away from the lowest level of the year for the risk-sensitive pair.

All ten sectors ended in the red with influential cyclical groups like energy (-1.6%), industrials (-1.6%), and technology (-1.3%) finishing at the bottom of the leaderboard. The energy sector diverged from crude oil, which rallied 2.1% to $103.29/bbl, while the industrial sector saw weakness among airline stocks. Delta Air Lines (DAL 36.57, -1.30) and United Continental (UAL 43.35, -1.55) both lost near 3.5%, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average lost 1.4%.

Elsewhere, the tech sector was pressured by chipmakers as evidenced by a 2.5% decline in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. The high-beta group ended broadly lower after SanDisk's (SNDK 93.21, -14.62) cautious guidance overshadowed its above-consensus results.

Staying on the earnings theme, eBay (EBAY 51.03, +0.33) and SAP (SAP 80.68, +1.04) added 0.7% and 1.3%, respectively after beating bottom-line estimates.

While most sectors posted losses larger than 1.0%, materials (-0.5%) outperformed thanks to a boost from mining shares that sent the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 26.99, +0.71) higher by 2.7%.

Another big move took place in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 14.71, +3.71), which surged more than 33.0% off a depressed base to levels not seen since late April as participants rushed for volatility protection.

Despite the news-filled day, participation remained below average with 690 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Economic data included weekly initial claims, June Housing Starts and Building Permits, and the Philadelphia Fed Survey for July:

The initial claims level dropped to 302,000 from an upwardly revised 305,000 (from 304,000), while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 311,000 After stabilizing in the 310,000 -- 320,000 range, the initial claims level has moved another leg down over the last couple of weeks. If these trends hold, we would expect to see monthly payroll growth close to 300,000 The continuing claims level fell to 2.507 million from an upwardly revised 2.586 million (from 2.584 million), while the consensus expected the level to fall to 2.563 million Housing starts fell 9.3% in June from a downwardly revised 985,000 (from 1.001 million) in May to 893,000. The Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 1.020 million. The drop in starts brought new residential construction levels to their lowest point since 863,000 homes were started in September 2013 Concerning was the new downward trend in single-family construction. This sector tends to produce stable trends yet starts have now fallen precipitously in both May (-2.6%) and June (-9.0%). Construction levels for new single-family homes are at their lowest point since 569,000 homes were started in November 2012 The Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook Survey strengthened in July, increasing to 23.9 from 17.8, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 23.9. That was the best reading since March 2011 with nearly all sub- indices showing significant improvement in July Tomorrow, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for July (Briefing.com consensus 84.0) will be released at 9:55 ET, while the Leading Indicators report for June (consensus 0.5%) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.
S&P 500 +5.9% YTD Nasdaq Composite +4.5% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.4% YTD Russell 2000 -2.6% YTD3:30 pm :

Precious metals gained strength today on new US Treasury Department sanctions imposed on entities in Russia's financial, energy and defense sectors and headlines that a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet was shot down over Ukraine near the Russian border.
Aug gold advanced to a session high of $1325.90 per ounce and settled with a 1.3% gain at $1316.90 per ounce.
Sep silver rose as high as $21.30 per ounce in late morning action after touching a session low of $20.81 per ounce earlier in the session. It eventually settled at $21.44 per ounce, or 1.8% higher
Aug crude oil also extended yesterday's gains on the geopolitical concerns surrounding Russia and Ukraine as well as news of the plane crash.
The energy component rose as high as $103.32 per barrel after touching a session low of $101.86 per barrel in morning action and settled with a 1.9% gain at $103.15 per barrel.
Aug natural gas, on the other hand, retreated from its session high of $4.07 per MMBtu set in early morning floor trade and slid deeper into negative territory on bearish inventory data.
The EIA reported that for the week ending July 11, natural gas inventories grew by 107 bcf when a smaller build of 98-100 bcf was anticipated. Natural gas traded as low as $3.93 per MMBtu and settled with a 3.9% loss at $3.96 per MMBtu.

4:25 pm Vishay Board recommends shareholders tender their shares (VSH) : Co announced that the board of Taiwan-based Capella Microsystems Inc., which Vishay intends to acquire, has determined that the price per share offered by Vishay in a tender offer is reasonable and has recommended that shareholders of Capella tender their shares. A special offer review committee of Capella separately has made the same determination and recommendation.

On July 11, 2014, Vishay entered into an agreement to acquire Capella for ~NT$6,051 mln or $205 mln.

Vishay intends to acquire Capella first through a tender offer of up to 100 percent of Capella's outstanding shares at a price of NT$139/share.

4:22 pm Advanced Micro misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 revs below consensus (AMD) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.02 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.03; revenues rose 24.1% year/year to $1.44 bln vs the $1.44 bln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs -1 to +5% QoQ to ~$1.43-1.51 bln vs. $1.57 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

"Our transformation strategy is on track and we expect to deliver full year non-GAAP profitability (consensus $0.19) and year-over-year rev growth (consensus +13%). We continue to strengthen our business model and shape AMD into a more agile company offering differentiated solutions for a diverse set of markets."

4:20 pm Skyworks beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (SWKS) : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.83 per share (Co raised EPS guidance last month to $0.80 from $0.73), $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.80; revenues rose 34.6% year/year to $587 mln (Co raised rev guidance last month to $570 mln from $535 mln) vs the $570.02 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $1.00 vs. $0.87 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $680 mln vs. $606.59 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:17 pm Google misses by $0.15, beats on revs (GOOG) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $6.08 per share, $0.15 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $6.23; revenues rose 13.1% year/year to $15.96 bln vs the $15.61 bln consensus.

Sites Revenues - $10.94 billion, or 69% of total revenues, in Q2, +23% y/y. Network Revenues - $3.42 billion, or 21% of total revenues, in Q2, +7% y/y. Other Revenues - $1.60 billion, or 10% of total revenues, in Q2, +53% y/y. International Revenues - $9.33 billion, representing 58% of total revenues in Q2, compared to 57% in Q1 and 55% in 2Q13.

Clicks
Paid Clicks increased approximately 25% y/y (In line with expectations) and increased approximately 2% q/q. Sites paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads we serve on Google owned and operated properties across different geographies and form factors including search, YouTube engagement ads like TrueView, and other owned and operated properties like Maps and Finance, increased approximately 33% y/y and 6% q/q. Network paid clicks increased ~9% y/y and decreased 5% q/q. Cost-Per-Click decreased approximately 6% y/y and remained constant q/q. Cost-per-click for Google sites decreased ~7% y/y and decreased approximately 2% q/q.

TAC
Traffic acquisition costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google's partners, increased to $3.29 billion in the second quarter of 2014, compared to $3.01 billion in the second quarter of 2013. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 23% in the second quarter of 2014, compared to 25% in the second quarter of 2013.

Cash Flow and Capital Expenditures
Net cash provided by operating activities in the second quarter of 2014 totaled $5.63 billion, compared to $4.71 billion in the second quarter of 2013. In the second quarter of 2014, capital expenditures were $2.65 billion, the majority of which was for data-center construction, real estate purchases, and production equipment. Free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. In the second quarter of 2014, free cash flow was $2.98 billion. We expect to continue to make significant capital expenditures.

Cash
As of June 30, 2014, cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $61.20 billion, which excludes cash classified as held for sale, compared to $58.72 billion as of December 31, 2013.

4:12 pm IBM beats by $0.01, beats on revs; reaffirms FY14 EPS guidance (IBM) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $4.32 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $4.31; revenues fell 2.2% year/year to $24.36 bln vs the $24.1 bln consensus.
Co reaffirms guidance for FY14, sees EPS of at least $18.00 vs. $17.87 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"In the second quarter, we made further progress on our transformation. We performed well in our strategic imperatives around cloud, big data and analytics, security and mobile. We will continue to extend and leverage our unique strengths to address the emerging trends in enterprise IT and transform our business, positioning ourselves for growth over the long term."

4:07 pm Hewlett-Packard announces Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer, has been appointed chairman of the board of directors (HPQ) : Co announced that Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer, has been appointed chairman of the board of directors, and current director Pat Russo has been appointed lead independent director. Additionally, Klaus Kleinfeld, chief executive and chairman of Alcoa, has been appointed to the board, bringing the total number of board members to 12.

Whitman also serves as a director of The Procter & Gamble Company (PG).

4:03 pm Seagate Tech reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (STX) : Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $1.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.10; revenues fell 3.6% year/year to $3.3 bln vs the $3.33 bln consensus.

12:33 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


HUM (132.36 +3.87%): Healthcare names trading higher following UNH earnings (AET, CI also higher).
SHW (209.03 +3.62%): Missed on EPS by $0.03, reported revs in-line; guided Q3 EPS above consensus; raised FY14 EPS guidance.
UNH (86.58 +3.37%): Beat on EPS by $0.17, beat on revs; raised FY14 EPS and revs guidance.

Large Cap Losers

SNDK (94.21 -12.63%): Beat on EPS by $0.02, beat on revs; reported Q2 Non-GAAP gross margin 48.0% vs guidance of 47-49%; sees Q3 revs of $1.68-1.73 bln vs $1.74 bln est; sees Q3 gross margin of 47-49%. YUM (77.2 -6.66%): Beat on EPS by $0.01, reported revs in-line; reaffirmed FY guidance of at least 20% EPS growth.
MAT (36.7 -5.97%): Missed on EPS by $0.15, missed on revs.

Mid Cap Gainers

DRC (66.75 +10.48%): Siemens (SIEGY) considering bid for Dresser-Rand, according to overseas article in Manager Magazin.
BURL (31.45 +8.64%): Announced launch of debt refinancing transaction; raised comp. store sales guidance for 2Q2014; for the 13 weeks ending Aug 2, 2014 vs 13 weeks ended Aug 3, 2013, co expects comp. store sales to increase between 3% and 4%.
RSPP (30.3 +5.61%): Reported Q2 production, increased 2014 outlook and provided operational update; Q2 2014 average daily production increased 15% sequentially over Q1 2014 production to 10,714 Boe/d and increased 43% over Q2 2013 production; tgt raised to $42 from $38 at Howard Weil.

Mid Cap Losers

AN (56.26 -7.51%): Missed on EPS by $0.04, reported revs in-line.
CFX (68.46 -5.83%): Missed on EPS by $0.18, missed on revs.
IGTE (38.67 -4.96%): Tgt raised to $50 from $48 at Needham.

11:39 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (88) outpacing new lows (63) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AB, ABT, ABY, AET, AKS, ALSN, AMTX, AVB, BBEP, BKD, BMO, BURL, CAM, CBEY, CBG, CCE, CENX, CI, CMRE, CMSB, CNI, CONE, CORR, CP, CTP, DCM, DFS, DMLP, DRC, DVA, EA, EDR, EDUC, EQR, ESC, F, FDX, FES, FISV, GLP, GPRK, HCA, HES, HH, HUM, HURC, IBCA, KOG, LE, LEA, LVLT, MANU, MEP, MIC, MRO, MSFT, MUR, NAVI, NEO, NFX, NOV, NSC, NTCT, PBCP, PHX, PKY, QEP, R, RES, ROYL, RY, SHW, SLCA, SNA, SOCB, SPN, SWC, TGP, TIME, TRP, TRW, TWTC, TWX, UNH, URI, WLB, WLL, WLP

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACXM, ADGE, ALCS, ALDX, AMBT, AMDA, AQXP, BAXS, BECN, BTH, CBPX, CGA, CGG, CHCI, CHUY, CLRX, COCO, CPHC, CYOU, DCTH, EOPN, ESI, ESIO, ETH, FHCO, GFIG, GOMO, INFA, INTX, ITI, KELYA, KOSS, LPTN, MBLX, MCRI, MDWD, NDLS, NPTN, NUS, PDII, PERI, PGEM, PT, PULS, PVH, QRM, ROST, RUBI, SCL, SPWH, STML, TCS, TLYS, TROV, TSE, USMD, UUU, VOLC, VVUS, WFM, WSTL, WWW, ZIXI

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: AFK, DIA, IHF, PALL

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: TBT

8:32 am Advanced Semi priced $300 mln guaranteed bonds due 2017 offered by subsidiary Anstock II Limited (ASX) : The proceeds will be used to fund certain eligible projects to promote the Company's transition to low-carbon and climate resilient growth.

8:03 am Cypress Semi beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line (CY) : Reports Q2 (Jun) adj. earnings of $0.16 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.12; revenues fell 5.1% year/year to $183.6 mln vs the $183.84 mln consensus.

"book-to-bill ratio was 0.99, due to a mild, but broad, softening in the consumer electronics sector. However, based on the strength of the automotive and industrial sectors, we remain on track to attain our 2014 revenue forecast, which I communicated to shareholders in our 2013 Annual Report. Those two sectors account for 43% of revenue, more than double our TrueTouch touchscreen revenue."

7:53 am Advanced Photonix, Inc. continue industrial market penetration; received over $400K in orders (API) : Co announced that it has received over $400K in orders from our value added resellers for multiple T-Gauge online terahertz sensor systems in three different market segments; extruded plastics, carpet, and paper. The co expects these initial design wins will lead to multiple system sales in each market segment over the next several years. The T-Gauge system, manufactured by API, is the only fully hardened THz system that is suitable for online gauging applications.

7:33 am Fairchild Semi beats by $0.09, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs in-line (FCS) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.11; revenues rose 4.2% year/year to $371.6 mln vs the $365.55 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $370-385 mln vs. $378.32 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."We expect adjusted gross margin to be 34-35% due primarily to higher sales and factory loadings as well as improved product mix. We anticipate R&D and SG&A spending to be $97 to $99 million due to higher variable compensation expenses and lack of the one-time cost benefit in the prior quarter offset by seasonal spending reductions. The adjusted tax rate is forecast at 15 percent plus or minus 3 percentage points for the quarter.

"Plexus (PLXS) reported third quarter earnings of $0.74 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 8.5% year/year to $620.5 million which is in line with estimates. The company issued guidance for the fourth quarter with EPS of $0.74-0.80 which is line with estimates and revenues of $645-675 million which is higher than expected.

SanDisk (SNDK) reported second quarter earnings of $1.41 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 10.7% year/year to $1.63 billion which is higher than expected. SNDK reported Q2 Non-GAAP Gross Margins of 48.0% vs guidance of 47-49%, expectations were for the co to come in at the high end of 47-49%. The company sees Q3 revs of $1.68-1.73 billion which below estimates.

eBay (EBAY) reported second quarter earnings of $0.69 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 12.6% year/year to $4.37 billion which is line with estimates. Payments PayPal net total payment volume (TPV) grew 29% to $55.05 bln (vs $53.09 bln Briefing consensus) with Merchant Services volume up 35% and on-eBay volume up 13%. Revenue grew to $1.9 billion. PayPal gained 4.0 million new active registered accounts to end the quarter at 152 million (vs 153.8 mln Briefing consensus), up 15%. Global on-eBay penetration increased to 79.8%. Marketplaces: eBay Marketplaces gross merchandise volume (GMV) grew 12% to 20.49 bln (vs $20.26 bln Briefing consensus), with the U.S. up 10% and International up 14%. Revenue grew to $2.2 billion. Marketplaces gained 3.8 million new buyers to end the quarter with 149 million active buyers, up 14%. Enterprise: eBay Enterprise gross merchandise sales (GMS) grew 15% to $940 mln. Revenue grew to $267 million. Non-GAAP operating margin decreased to 24.4% in the second quarter (vs 24.4% Briefing consensus), compared to 26.3% for the same period last year. The company repurchased 32.4 million shares of its common stock for approximately $1.7 billion in the second quarter of 2014. As of June 30, 2014, the company's remaining share repurchase authorization was approximately $2.2 billion. The company issued guidance for the third quarter with EPS of i$0.65-0.67 & revenues of $4.3-4.4 billion which is worse than expected. The company issued guidance for the fiscal year 2014 with EPS of $2.95-3.00, excluding non-recurring items, which is line with estimates and revenues of $18.0-18.3 billion (narrowed from $18.0-18.5 billion) which is line with estimates.