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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The headlines generally favored Tuesday being another good day for the stock market. Instead, it was just a mixed day with modest point changes on either side of the unchanged mark for the major indices.

For the most part, the stock market was a sideshow. The main trading events were seen in the commodity and Treasury markets, both of which saw some decent-sized losses within their respective complex.

Dollar strength was at the heart of the weakness in the commodity arena, which saw a 4.2% drop in natural gas futures to $3.90/btu, a 3.1% decline in oil prices to $92.96/bbl, and a 1.7% slide in gold prices to $1266.10/troy ounce.

The US Dollar Index increased 0.3% to 82.99 -- a 13-month high -- as the yen hit its weakest level (105.15) against the greenback since January; meanwhile, the euro was probing the 1.31 level, which was seen in September 2013.

The drop in commodity prices, and especially oil and natural gas, are positives for the consumer if they persist and should lead to more benign inflation readings that will provide a line of defense for the Federal Reserve's policy outlook. That is a positive consideration for longer-dated Treasuries. The fact that they traded down sharply on Tuesday went to show that the impetus for Tuesday's weak showing was primarily profit taking.

The 10-yr note (-20/32) settled at its low for the day and saw its yield jump seven basis points to 2.42%. Presumably, a holiday weekend that did not feature a flare-up of geopolitical conflict also led to some unwinding of safety trades that had been established ahead of the weekend.

The latter point notwithstanding, it was not a "risk-on" trade in the stock market. It tried to run early. The S&P 500 even set a new intraday high at 2006.15 shortly after the start of trading. The follow-through was lacking, however, as participants were battling the notion that the market has gotten overextended on a short-term basis, as well as the recognition that some key, market-moving events are waiting at the back half of the week.

Specifically, the Bank of Japan, Bank of England, and ECB will all be holding policy meetings on Thursday and the US employment report for August will be released on Friday.

The specter of those items overshadowed another spate of M&A news, which featured Dollar General (DG 64.36, +0.37) raising its all-cash bid for Family Dollar (FDO 80.22, +0.39) to $80 per share, the favorable impact on the consumer of lower energy prices, and some encouraging economic data that included the highest reading in the ISM Index (59.0) since March 2011 and a report that construction spending increased 1.8% in July.

Those things didn't go entirely unnoticed, however. The financial (+0.3%), industrial (+0.2%), and consumer discretionary (+0.2%) sectors all exhibited relative strength and helped keep losses in check. Remarkably, a weak earnings report electronics and appliance retaile
Conns (CONN 31.00, -13.83) that was blamed in large part on weak credit trends did not take down the consumer discretionary sector.

The information technology sector (+0.1%) also outperformed. It got a boost from Apple (AAPL 103.30, +0.80), which shot down accusations its iCloud service got hacked, noting instead that certain celebrities were targeted in a direct attack on their user names and passwords.

Separately, there were some rumblings that there may have been a customer data breach at Home Depot (HD 91.15, -1.88) stores. That allegation sent the home improvement retailer lower and left it as one of the Dow's worst-performing components along with Chevron (CVX 127.54, -1.91), Boeing (BA 125.48, -1.32), and ExxonMobil (XOM 98.49, -0.97).

Losses in Chevron and Exxon weighed heavily on the energy sector (-1.3%), which was the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500. It was followed by the utilities sector (-1.0%), which traded lower as Treasury yields moved higher.

Volume remained on the light side with just 578 mln shares traded at the NYSE.

Wednesday's session will feature the Mortgage Applications, Factory Orders, Beige Book, and Auto Sales reports.


DJIA +3.0% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +10.1% YTD
S&P 500 +8.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.4% YTD

DJ30 -30.89 NASDAQ +17.92 SP500 -1.09 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1628/1.70 bln/1126 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1482/578 mln/1592 3:30 pm :

A stronger dollar index weighted on the commodities space today.
Dec gold and Dec silver fell deeper into negative territory, trading as low as $1263.10 per ounce and $19.11 per ounce, respectively.
Unable to gain momentum, both metals settled with 1.7% losses, with gold closing at $1264.90 per ounce and silver closing at $19.16 per ounce.
Oct crude oil fell below the $93 per barrel level. It trended lower after pulling back from a session high of $94.99 per barrel set at pit trade open. The energy component brushed a session low of $92.68 per barrel moments before settling with a 3.1% loss at $92.91 per barrel.
Oct natural gas also slipped further into the red after touching a session high of $3.98 per MMBtu in early morning action. It settled 4.4% lower at $3.89 per MMBtu, just above its session low of $3.88 per MMBtu.

4:05 pm Aehr Test Systems receives a follow-on order for its Advanced Burn-in and Test System; system shipped in 1Q15 (AEHR) : Co announced it has received a follow-on order for its Advanced Burn-in and Test System from a leading manufacturer of advanced logic integrated circuits for automotive, embedded processing, digital signal processing and analog applications.

The order includes down payments to lock in a delivery slot and volume pricing discount. This system shipped in Q1 of AEHR's fiscal 2015.

4:02 pm Flextronics received shareholder approval to purchase up to 20% of its outstanding shares; also, co's Board of Directors authorized management to purchase the co's shares in an aggregate amount of up to $500 mln (FLEX) : Co received shareholder approval to purchase up to 20% of its outstanding shares.

Additionally, the co's Board of Directors authorized management to purchase the Company's shares in an aggregate amount of up to $500 mln. The co continues to return value to its shareholders as it has purchased ~ $1.7 bln or 247 mln of its shares over the last four years.

2:30 pm Apple provides update to investigation into the theft of photos of certain celebrities: 'certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions' (AAPL) : Co announced, "We wanted to provide an update to our investigation into the theft of photos of certain celebrities. When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilized Apple's engineers to discover the source. Our customers' privacy and security are of utmost importance to us. After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet. None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple's systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved. To protect against this type of attack, we advise all users to always use a strong password and enable two-step verification. Both of these are addressed on our website at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4232.";

12:02 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


TSLA (284.76 +5.58%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel; tgt $400; California lawmakers did not agree on TSLA incentives, according to reports.
BIDU (223.65 +4.26%): Co to invest $10 mln in startup IndoorAtlas Ltd, according to reports.
REGN (363.15 +3.62%): Co and Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) announced presentation of detailed positive results from four pivotal alirocumab trials; tgt raised to $400 from $340 at Credit Suisse; tgt raised to $436 from $389 at Leerink Partners.

Large Cap Losers

MPEL (26.91 -5.11%): Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reported August gross gaming rev -6.1% YoY (LVS, WYNN, MGM also lower).
GG (26.9 -4.17%): Weakness in metals/mining stocks (NEM also lower).
MPC (89.09 -2.11%): Co announced proposed offering of senior notes.

Mid Cap Gainers

CPWR (10.48 +12.09%): Co to be acquired by Thoma Bravo; shareholders will receive an aggregate value of ~ $10.92 per share.
NCLH (37.21 +11.71%): Co agreed to acquire Prestige Cruises International for $3.025 bln; acquisition immediately accretive to earnings without synergies; initial $25 mln of synergies will result in high single-digit percentage adjusted EPS accretion.
ACAD (26.29 +9.63%): Announced the FDA has granted BTD to NUPLAZID for the treatment of Parkinson's disease psychosis.

Mid Cap Losers
EMES (136.12 -5.58%): Downgraded to Neutral at Robert W. Baird on valuation.
FNSR (19.23 -5.32%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
OIBR (0.64 -3.93%): Co disclosed Moody's update.

11:49 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (256) outpacing new lows (30) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, AAPL, ACCO, ACHN, ADM, AFG, AGX, AI, AIG, ALX, AMGN, AMOT, AMP, AMSG, AMX, ANAC, ANDE, ARCW, AVGO, AVNR, BDR, BDSI, BG, BKS, BLL, BLT, BMO, BR, BURL, CAM, CDNS, CDXS, CELG, CENX, CFN, CHA, CHH, CHKP, CHL, CHU, CNI, CNSL, CNW, COO, CP, CSWC, CTAS, CTO, CW, CYS, DGLY, DK, DLX, DOC, DPS, DRH, DVA, EBR, ECHO, EEFT, EIX, ELS, ENZ, ERIE, EVEP, EW, EXH, EXP, FDO, FFG, FFIV, FISH, FL, FRF, FSFG, FTNT, GBX, GGP, GPK, GPRK, GPRO, GPS, GPT, HCC, HCLP, HCN, HEES, HGSH, HIG, HMLP, HRL, HSII, IBN, ICD, IESC, IFN, IHS, IMS, INGR, INVE, IRM, ITMN, ITUB, IVZ, KALU, KED, KLAC, KR, LAZ, LEA, LEG, LG, LHO, LNC, LNG, LOXO, LQ, LUV, LVNTA, LYB, MAG, MAR, MC, MCRL, MDVN, MEP, MGPI, MITT, MKSI, MMI, MNR, MPAA, MPW, MPWR, MRD, MRO, MTD, MTSI, MWE, NATI, NCLH, NEU, NEWM, NHI, NI, NMFC, NOC, NOV, NRF, NTCT, NTRS, NVGS, NVS, NWL, NXPI, ODFL, OKE, OKS, ORLY, OTIC, PANW, PBA, PBR, PEB, PEIX, PFG, PFNX, PHII, PIP, PLNR, PLOW, PMBC, PNX, PRE, PRI, PSEM, PSX, QEP, QRE, R, RAIL, RCMT, RDY, RE, REGN, RFMD, RGA, RGP, RIGP, RLJ, RPAI, RPM, RRMS, RTIX, RUSHA, RUSHB, SCI, SCLN, SEIC, SEMG, SERV, SIG, SIMO, SKM, SLCA, SLGN, SLI, SNCR, SPCB, SPR, SRE, STE, STRT, STX, SWIR, SWKS, SXL, SYA, TECH, TER, TFSL, THRM, THS, TMH, TPL, TQNT, TRN, TRNO, TROX, TSLA, TSQ, TTM, UBSI, UGI, UNM, UNP, URI, UTHR, UTSI, VGR, VOYA, VSH, WCN, WLK, WMB, WRB, WRE, WTS, WWAV, WYN, XRSC, XRX, ZEN, ZFC, ZFGN, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AMPE, CBMX, CONN, CRRS, CTG, CWST, DLA, DO, DWSN, END, EXEL, GKNT, IDI, IMRS, INTX, LODE, LPDX, MAT, MPEL, NDLS, NSPH, NUS, RLJE, SKY, SOQ, SPU, SVA, WWWW, XNY, XUE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: AMJ, EGPT, IBB, IGV, IHF, IWF, IYF, IYH, IYK, IYT, KIE, OEF, PIN, PSK, QQQ, RTH, SDY, SMH, SPY, THD, UYG, VNM, VTI, XLB, XLF, XLK, XLV, XLY

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FXE, FXS, FXY

Rudolph Technologies (RTEC) announced that the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering Albany, NY, has selected its Discover Enterprise Yield Management Software to provide an integrated data warehouse and analytics system for the Global 450 Consortium equipment development program

7:07 am Canadian Solar announces it supplied Conti / SunDurance with 11 MW of solar modules during 2Q2014 (CSIQ) :

Co announced that it supplied Conti / SunDurance with 11 MW of solar modules during the second quarter of 2014. For this 11MW order, Canadian Solar delivered to the Conti Group in total 37,202 pieces of CS6X solar modules in 6 x 12 cell matrix with UL 1000V certificate. During their 25 year life span, these modules will turn solar energy into 360,000 MWh of electricity, and reduce CO2 emissions by 67,000 tons, the equivalent to taking 11,800 cars off of the roads; or equivalent to creating a forest of 6,200 hectares with 237,000 trees.

6:58 am Microchip further announcement regarding CSR (CSRE) (MCHP) : Microchip Technology (MCHP) announces that, further to its announcement of August 28, 2014, that it has had preliminary mutual discussions with CSR plc (CSRE) regarding ways in which its relationship with CSR could be advanced, including possibly an acquisition of CSR, any offer for CSR is likely to be solely in cash, although Microchip reserves the right to vary the form of the consideration in any offer if one were to be made.