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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market ended the midweek session on a mixed note. Blue chip listings bolstered the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.4%) and S&P 500 (+0.3%), while the Russell 2000 (-0.4%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.02%) underperformed.

Equity indices began the day in the red, but wasted no time regaining their flat lines. Small-cap stocks were not as fortunate as the Russell 2000 spent the day in the red.

Upon returning into positive territory, the key indices were confined to narrow ranges until the minutes from the July FOMC meeting crossed the wires. The minutes revealed that many officials saw recent job gains as a potential reason to bring forward the first fed funds rate hike; however, most officials showed preference for waiting for more evidence before changing their outlook on rates.

The minutes were followed by a retreat among equities, but the slide was not sustained. The S&P 500 was trading at a fresh session high within an hour of the release. Treasuries, meanwhile, slumped in reaction to the discussion on rates. The 10-yr note fell seven ticks with its yield climbing three basis points to 2.43%.

Eight sectors ended in the green with industrials (+1.0%) spending the entire session in the lead. The cyclical sector was supported by Dow components Boeing (BA 127.35, +1.77) and General Electric (GE 26.36, +0.31) as the two added 1.4% and 1.2%, respectively. Despite the strength in the two names, the broader PHLX Defense Index (+0.9%) ended just behind the sector. Similarly, transport stocks could not keep pace with the sector as the Dow Jones Transportation Average added 0.6%.

Also of note, shares of Hertz (HTZ 30.33, -1.23) endured quite the roller coaster ride. The stock settled at $31.56 yesterday, but fell all the way to $27.47 this morning after the company said it expects to fall short of its full-year guidance, which was withdrawn. The stock spent the bulk of the day inching off its low with a big boost coming after Carl Icahn disclosed a stake in the company and said he may seek a seat on the board. Hertz ended the session with a 3.9% decline.

The consumer discretionary sector (+0.5%) finished in second place after a handful of retailers reported their quarterly results. American Eagle (AEO 12.98, +1.39), Lowe's (LOW 52.33, +0.81), and PetSmart (PETM 70.52, +0.82) all reported better than expected results, while Target (TGT 60.33, +1.08) and Staples (SPLS 11.32, -0.30) met expectations, but issued cautious guidance. For its part, the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 87.68, +0.63) gained 0.7%.

Elsewhere, the financial sector (+0.3%) was the only outperformer of note, while the remaining sectors finished near their respective flat lines. Bank of America (BAC 15.52, +0.07) was in the headlines after the Wall Street Journal reported the bank is nearing a $17 billion settlement with the Department of Justice over the sales of mortgage-backed securities.

Participation remained on the light side with just under 530 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which rose 1.4% to follow last week's 2.7% decline.

Tomorrow, weekly initial claims will be reported at 8:30 ET (Briefing.com consensus 308K), while Existing Home Sales for July (consensus 5.00 million), August Philadelphia Fed Survey (consensus 15.5), and July Leading Indicators (expected 0.7%) will all be released at 10:00 ET.


Nasdaq Composite +8.4% YTD
S&P 500 +7.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +http://www.siliconinvestor.com/reply.aspx?subjectid=37144&replytoid=29679232&replytype=Pub&OrigType=Pub2.4% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.5% YTD

DJ30 +59.54 NASDAQ -1.03 SP500 +4.91 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1024/1.39 bln/1709 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1544/529.3 mln/1462 3:30 pm :

Dec gold traded below the $1300 per ounce level today as investors awaited the release of the FOMC minutes from the July policy meeting. The yellow metal pulled back slightly from its session high of $1299.00 per ounce set in early morning action and dipped to a session low of $1293.40 per ounce.
It eventually settled with a 0.1% loss at $1295.00 per ounce.
Gold slipped further in electronic trade after the release of the FOMC minutes and is currently trading at $1290.80 per ounce, or 0.5% lower.
Sep silver touched a session high of $19.58 per ounce shortly after equity markets opened but retreated to a session low of $19.45 per ounce as the session progressed. It chopped around near the $19.50 per ounce level in afternoon action and settled at that price, booking a gain of 0.4%.
Oct crude oil traded in positive territory today, advancing as high as $96.61 per barrel following inventory data. The EIA reported that for the week ending Aug 15, crude oil inventories had a draw of 4.47 mln barrels when a draw of 1.2-1.8 mln barrels was anticipated.
The energy component briefly dipped below $93 per barrel in early afternoon action but eventually settled with a 0.6% gain at $93.40 per barrel.
Sep natural gas, on the other hand, spent its entire session in negative territory. It brushed a session low of $3.79 per MMBtu and settled with a 1.5% loss at $3.82 per MMBtu.

5:22 pm Micrel increases share repurchase authorization by an additional $25 mln (MCRL) : Co announced that its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of an additional $25.0 million of Micrel's common stock. This new authorization is in addition to the approximately $17.7 million of the Board of Directors' previous authorization remaining as of August 19, 2014.

4:31 pm Semtech beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SMTC) : Reports Q2 (Jul) earnings of $0.42 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.39; revenues fell 11.7% year/year to $145.7 mln vs the $141.95 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.42-0.48, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.46 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $142-152 mnln vs. $152.22 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:08 pm Hewlett-Packard reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line (HPQ) : Reports Q3 (Jul) earnings of $0.89 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.89; revenues rose 1.0% year/year to $27.59 bln vs the $27.06 bln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $1.03-1.07, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.05 Capital IQ Consensus -- narrows FY14 EPS to $3.70-3.74 from $3.63-3.75 vs. $3.72 Consensus.

Segment results:


Personal Systems revenue was up 12% YoY with a 4.0% operating margin. Commercial revenue increased 14% and Consumer revenue increased 8%. Total units were up 13% with Desktops units up 9% and Notebooks units up 18%. Printing revenue was down 4% YoY with an 18.4% operating margin. Enterprise Group revenue was up 2% YoY with a 14.0% operating margin. Enterprise Services revenue was down 6% YoY with a 4.1% operating margin. Software revenue was down 5% YoY with a 21.2% operating margin.

12:34 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

ILMN (174.5 +2.35%): Upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush
GRMN (57.25 +2.03%): Co announced the fleet 660 and 670, two new fleet navigators that, "combine the simplicity of Garmin navigation with the unique customization options of Android"
CELG (92.88 +1.66%): Co and Bristol-Myers Squibb announced the establishment of a clinical trial collaboration to evaluate the a combination regimen of Bristol-Myers Squibb's investigational PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, OPDIVO (nivolumab), and Celgene's nab technology-based chemotherapy ABRAXANE in a Phase 1 study; multiple tumor types will be explored

Large Cap Losers

HTZ (28.53 -9.58%): Co disclosed it expects to be well below the low end of its previously provided guidance due to operatinal challenges; downgraded at Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan
CRH (23.1 -3.14%): Reported 1H EPS of EUR 0.061 vs EUR (0.078) in prior year; sales revenue increased by 4%; like-for-like sales up 5%
SLXP (158.49 -1.44%): Sell off following strong gains seen yesterday on reports that co is being pursued by Allergan (AGN)

Mid Cap Gainers

HAIN (96.27 +10.74%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.01 ($0.90 vs $0.89 estimate), revs rose 26.0% yoy to $583.8 mln vs $577.73 mln estimate; sees FY15 EPS of $3.72-3.90 vs $3.73 estimate, revs of $2.725-2.80 bln vs $2.51 bln estimate
AEO (12.45 +7.42%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.03 ($0.03 vs $0.00 estimate), revs fell 2.2% yoy to $711 mln vs $688.93 mln estimate; sees Q3 EPS of $0.17-0.19 vs $0.18 estimate
JBLU (12.76 +3.45%): Upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen, target raised to $15 from $10

Mid Cap Losers

YOKU (19.43 -9.71%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.06 (-$0.07 vs -$0.01 estimate), revs rose 27.0% yoy to $154.54 mln vs $158.67 mln estimate; sees Q3 revs of RMB 1.09-1.13 bln vs ~RMB 1.15 bln estimate
IDXX (125 -2.94%): Hearing downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Northcoast
GTAT (17.9 -2.72%): Downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Credit Agricole, target to $19 from $18

12:06 pm Intl Rectifier (halted): Infineon (IFNNY) to acquire International Rectifier (IRF) for $40/share (IRF) : Infineon Technologies AG (IFNNY) and International Rectifier announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Infineon will acquire International Rectifier for $40 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at ~ $3 bln. By the integration of International Rectifier, Infineon complements its offerings and will be able to provide customers with an even broader range of innovative products and services. Infineon will also benefit significantly from greater economies of scale as well as a larger regional footprint.

Infineon will pay $40 per share in cash for all of IR's outstanding shares, representing a fully diluted enterprise value of ~ $2.4 bln. The transaction price represents a premium of ~ 48% over the average share price of IR during the last three months and a premium of ~ 51% over the closing share price of IR on Aug 19, 2014.Infineon will fund the transaction using cash-on-hand and fully underwritten credit facilities of Euro 1.5 bln in total. Upon closing of the transaction, Infineon's capital structure should stay well within the previously communicated targets of 30-40% gross cash-to-revenue, no more than 2x gross debt-to-EBITDA and a positive net cash position.Transaction expected to be accretive to pro-forma EPS within the first fiscal year of closing and margin contribution should be at least in line with Infineon's average-cycle target of 15 percent at the latest within the second full fiscal year after closing.

11:44 am Intl Rectifier: Follow-up on IRF halt (IRF) : If IRF ends up being the one acquired by Infineon (IFNNY), watch the others that were bid up on M&A speculation for potential reaction...

As mentioned earlier, Bloomberg reported that Infineon (IFNNY) is nearing a buyout of a U.S. semi co for around $2 billion. While no specific buyout candidate was named, several stocks in the space are moving higher in the wake of the reports. For those considering possibilities, the current market cap of the potential target may be lower than the $2 bln price range named in the reports, as an acquisition would most likely involve some sort of premium to current prices. Stocks in the semi space around that market cap that are seeing the most action this morning include the following:

Power Integrations (POWI traded up +10%); mkt cap $1.722 bln Semtech Corporation (SMTC +9%); mkt cap $1.57 bln Fairchild Semi (FCS +6%) mkt cap $1.92 bln Spansion (CODE +5%); mkt cap $1.18 bln
Intersil Corporation (ISIL +3%); mkt cap $1.73 bln
Others include: CY +1.8%, SEMI +1.4%, MPWR +1.3%, AMBA +1.3%, OVTI +1.3%, PMCS +0.7%, CRUS +0.6%, AEIS +0.6%, MCRL +0.5%, LSCC +0.3%, DIOD +0.2%, SLAB +0.1%, TSRA +0%, BRKS -0.2%, MTSI -0.2%, ENTG -0.3%, VECO -0.3%, CCMP -0.6%

POWI, ISIL, SMTC, CODE are all pulling back already on the halt.

11:40 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (133) outpacing new lows (35) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAPL, ACHN, ACM, AGX, AKR, ARE, AVB, BBD, BLT, BMR, BRX, BXP, CAVM, CDW, CDZI, CELG, CENX, CM, CP, CPL, CTRN, CYBE, DDR, DKL, DLB, DLR, DRH, ECHO, ECL, EEQ, EFX, EIX, ENPH, EQR, EVEP, EW, EXAS, EXP, FCS, FDS, FFIV, FISV, FL, FOLD, FRF, FRP, FRT, FSI, GBX, GCO, GD, GGP, GILD, GLNG, GPRK, HD, HRB, IBN, IDTI, ITMN, ITUB, IVZ, JBLU, JBSS, KED, KMP, KMR, KRC, LEJU, LMT, LPL, LRAD, LUV, LYB, MATW, MCRL, MGA, MGPI, MNDL, MPWR, MSG, MUSA, NEU, ODFL, PEB, PFG, PHI, PKX, PLNR, RCL, RCMT, REG, REV, REX, ROP, RSG, RWC, SAVE, SCLN, SCOK, SERV, SIAL, SLI, SNCR, SRC, ST, SUSP, SVU, SWIR, SWKS, SXL, TPL, TRUE, TSRA, TTM, TWOU, UDR, UGI, UNP, URS, VOYA, WFBI, WLK, WM, WMS, WNR, WPX, WRB, WY, XRX, ZSPH, ZTS, ZUMZ

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACY, ANGI, APO, AREX, CTG, CTIB, DWSN, EVOK, FWM, GIMO, IKAN, ISSC, KING, KIOR, KIPS, LDR, LPI, MDWD, NBY, PER, PERI, PLX, PULS, RITT, SDR, SDT, SUNS, SUTR, SYNC, TIGR, TRC, UUU, VIEW, VPCO, XXIA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: AMJ, BKF, EPP, EWH, ICF, IWF, IYH, QQQ, TAO, VNQ, XLV, XLY

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: JJA, SMN

Broadcom (BRCM) announced that Netatmo has selected the Broadcom Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices Wi-Fi technology to enable its smartphone-controlled thermostat by French designer Philippe Starck.

Micron Technology (MU) and Inspur Group today announced that Micron's 8Gb DDR3 SDRAM components will be used in a wide range of Inspur's computing products.

7:29 am JA Solar misses by $0.06, reports revs in-line; raises FY14 shipment guidance (JASO) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.14 per share, $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.20; revenues rose 52.9% year/year to $390.5 mln vs the $393.98 mln consensus.

Growth was driven by the ongoing shift in sales to modules, which were 65.4% of shipments, as well as penetration of our key geographies, most notably China and Japan.Total shipments were 681.8 MW, within the range of previous announced guidance of 670 to 700 MW. Shipments grew 6.8% sequentially and 47.0% year-over-year. In addition, the Company shipped 43.7 MW of modules to its downstream projects. Gross margin was 15.2%, which compares to 8.1% in the year-ago quarter, and 16.7% in the first quarter of 2014. The gross margin increase y/y was due to improved overall market conditions. The sequential decline was primarily due to a higher percentage of module shipments to China, where the module ASP declined slightly, and an adjustment of the minimum import price in European Union. For Q3, the co expects total cell and module shipments to be in the range of 730 MW to 760 MW.

For the full year 2014, the co revised up its previous shipment guidance. The Company now expects to ship between 2.9 GW and 3.1 GW, higher than previous guidance of a range of 2.7 GW to 2.9 GW. Consistent with the previous guidance, the new guidance includes 200 MW of module shipments to the Company's downstream projects.

7:00 am ReneSola to supply 5.4MW in solar modules for India utility project (SOL) : Co announced it will provide 5.4 megawatts in solar modules to Welspun Energy Pvt. Ltd., a New Delhi-based engineering, procurement and construction firm, for a utility-scale project in India.

Under the terms of the agreement, this month the co will provide 240W and 245W versions of its popular Virtus II solar PV modules, which were manufactured at the company's India-based OEM facilities, thereby satisfying the project's domestic content requirements, which call for certain solar projects to incorporate locally manufactured components.

It was a pretty non-descript day of trading for the information technology sector, which ended unchanged and trailed the S&P 500 (+0.3%). Still, unchanged isn't all that bad coming off a 4.3% gain over the previous eight sessions.

The technology sector held its ground, aided by a steady showing from Apple (AAPL 100.57, +0.04), a gain in Intel (INTC 34.50, +0.16) after reports of M&A activity in the semiconductor industry, and a generally agreeable response to the minutes from the July 29-30 FOMC meeting.

Altogether, there wasn't a lot of headline information to move the information technology sector with any real panache. Some ascribed that to a wait-and-see stance in front of Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ 35.12, -0.36) earnings report after the close and ahead of a Friday speech on the labor market by Fed Chair Yellen at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

One could also pin the lackluster action on vacation schedules that either took participants off trading desks or at least kept them on the sidelines in a thinly-traded market. To that end, volume at the NYSE was just 529 mln shares, which was the lowest total this week and one of the lowest totals this year.

A glimpse of the 66 components comprising the sector showed only 12 components with trading volume that exceeded their three-month daily average: Adobe Systems (ADBE 71.02, -1.03), Autodesk (ADSK 53.59, -0.16), Cognizant Technology (CTSH 46.01, -0.21), Corning (GLW 20.70, +0.36), F5 Networks (FFIV 122.57, +2.55), Fidelity National Information Services (FIS 57.19, +0.28), FLIR Systems (FLIR 34.00, +0.01), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 35.12, -0.36), TE Connectivity (TEL 62.34, -0.46), Qualcomm (QCOM 76.44, +1.31), SanDisk (SNDK 97.68, +2.38), and Xerox (XRX 13.54, +0.09).

In most cases, there wasn't any news to account for the higher-than-average volume.

F5 Networks was one of the few exceptions as it moved on an ISI Group upgrade to Strong Buy from Buy. Qualcomm, meanwhile, fared well after an Investor's Business Daily article indicated BMO Capital Markets thinks the market's view could be too pessimistic regarding the company's royalty-payment dispute with Chinese smartphone makers.

Elsewhere, International Rectifier (IRF 39.10, +12.54) was a huge gainer on Wednesday. It soared 47% following the news that it is going to be acquired by Infineon (IFNNY 11.35, -0.22) in an all-cash deal valued at $3 billion or $40 per share.

Word that Infineon might be looking to make an acquisition leaked prior to the aforementioned announcement and set off some speculative trading activity in the semiconductor space. That benefited components like Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS 16.74, +0.75), Power Integrations (POWI 59.22, +2.01), and Semtech Corporation (SMTC 24.00, +0.64).

Not surprisingly, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which jumped 0.8%, outperformed in Wednesday's session.

On the flip side, Chinese Internet company Youku Tudou (YOKU 19.52, -2.00) underperformed in a big way after the company came up short of earnings expectations for the June quarter. That cast a pall on its peer group as most related stocks ended the day lower.

Postscript: After the close, Hewlett-Packard reported fiscal third quarter earnings in-line with expectations on a 1.0% jump in revenue. Additionally, its fourth quarter and full-year guidance ranges were generally in-line with expectations.

Shares of HPQ were trading down 1.2% in extended action.