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From Briefing.com: In the wake of the midterm election results, the stock market turned in a winning session -- most of the market anyway.

The major indices all ended the day higher with the exception of the Nasdaq, which slipped slightly less than three points -- a proverbial drop in the bucket after advancing more than 400 points, or 9.7%, from its October 13 close.

The Russell 2000 eked out a small gain while the Dow and S&P 500 led the way with gains of 101 and 11 points, respectively.

An upturn in oil prices and energy stocks helped drive the advance, as did Visa (V 249.53, +6.56), which accounted for approximately half of the Dow's point gain and a portion of the 0.3% gain for the S&P 500 information technology sector.

The strong move by Visa followed a Bloomberg report that said Visa is going to replace MasterCard (MA 85.99, +2.00) as the credit card processor for Best Buy (BBY 34.64, +0.28). Bloomberg cited "two people briefed on the matter" for its report.

Visa wasn't the best-performing sector component, however. That distinction belonged to Cognizant Technology (CTSH 52.40, +3.91), which rallied 8.1% after reporting better than expected third quarter results and issuing reassuring fourth quarter guidance.

Most stocks in the S&P 500 information technology sector gained ground on Wednesday, yet decent-sized losses in a number of widely-held stocks contributed to the sector's underperformance.

Akamai Technologies (AKAM 59.01, -0.62), Facebook (FB 74.83, -0.93), First Solar (FSLR 56.22, -0.61), Google (GOOG 545.92, -8.19), Intel (INTC 33.76, -0.78), Motorola Solutions (MSI 64.46, -2.30), and Salesforce.com (CRM 61.91, -1.66) all fell more than 1.0%.

Most didn't have any company-specific news to account for their weakness. Intel, however, dropped after Bernstein downgraded the stock to Underperform from Market Perform, while Motorola Solutions sold off following the news that it has entered into a stock purchase agreement with ValueAct Capital Master Fund to buy 11.3 million shares of its common stock at a price of $66.26 per share (approximately $750 million).

Notwithstanding the weakness in Intel, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index remained flooded with buying interest. The only other component that didn't move higher in the SOX Index was SunEdison (SUNE 18.88, -0.77).

Altogether the SOX Index advanced another 0.9%, leaving it 18.1% higher from its October 13 closing level.

Broad-based gains in the semiconductor and semiconductor equipment stocks, which featured a 2.4% increase for Applied Materials (AMAT 22.61, +0.53), provided some influential support for the information technology sector.

Looking outside the S&P 500 sector, weakness in high-multiple stocks like LinkedIn (LNKD 218.18, -20.25), which announced a $1.15 billion convertible notes offering, Amazon.com (AMZN 296.52, -6.29), which hedge fund manager David Einhorn said he added to his "bubble basket" short, and TripAdvisor (TRIP 71.95, -11.84), which got hit following its disappointing earnings report, were a drag on investor sentiment.

Alibaba Group (BABA 108.67, +2.60), meanwhile, registered its thirteenth gain over the last sixteen sessions after several analysts raised their price targets in the wake of the company's fiscal second quarter results. BABA has risen 27% since October 15.

Postscript: After Wednesday's close, Qualcomm (QCOM 77.20, +0.09) reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings of $1.26 per share that fell shy of analysts' average estimate.

Qualcomm issued downside guidance for the first quarter and fiscal 2015, citing the issues related to its licensing business that it is facing in China.

For its fiscal first quarter, QCOM sees EPS of $1.18-1.30, excluding non-recurring items, while FY15 EPS is expected to be between $5.05 and $5.35.

Shares of QCOM were trading down 6.0% in after-hours trading as of this posting.

4:13 pm Closing Market Summary: S&P 500 Marks Record High With Help From Energy (:WRAPX) : The stock market registered a midweek gain with the S&P 500 climbing 0.6% to a fresh record high at 2,023.57. The benchmark index maintained a ten-point range while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) spent the bulk of the day near its flat line.

Equities climbed at the start after yesterday's midterm elections in the U.S. altered the balance of power in Washington. The GOP picked up seven Senate seats to claim a 52-seat majority while also adding ten seats to their majority in the House of Representatives.

In addition to giving a small overnight boost to index futures, the news helped the Dollar Index (87.45, +0.47) climb to a new multi-year high at the expense of the yen (-105 pips) and the euro (-60 pips).

Strikingly, the dollar strength did not get in the way of a rally in crude oil. The energy component surged 2.0% to $78.73/bbl with an intraday boost following reports of a diesel pipeline explosion in Saudi Arabia. However, follow-up headlines indicated the pipeline did not explode, but caught fire during maintenance work.

The spike in oil served as a supportive factor for the energy sector (+1.7%), which outperformed from the start of the session. Better than expected results from EOG Resources (EOG 96.10, +5.82) also factored into the strength, sending the stock higher by 6.5%.

Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical groups were not nearly as strong. The materials sector (+0.9%) outperformed while financials (+0.6%) and industrials (+0.6%) caught up to the S&P 500 during the final hour of the session. For its part, technology (+0.3%) was limited to a small gain as large cap names like Facebook (FB 74.83, -0.93), Google (GOOGL 555.95, -8.24), and IBM (IBM 161.82, -0.83) weighed. Intel (INTC 33.76, -0.55) also lagged, falling 1.6%, but the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 0.9%.

Even though chipmakers displayed strength, that was not enough to keep the Nasdaq out of negative territory. Biotechnology pressured the index and the group's weakness caused the health care sector (-0.2%) to finish in the red. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 288.54, -4.80) settled lower by 1.6%.

Elsewhere among countercyclical sectors, consumer staples (+0.7%) and utilities (+2.3%) displayed strength while the telecom services sector (+0.2%) ended little changed. Consumer staples were underpinned by better than expected earnings from Mondelez (MDLZ 37.15, +2.12) while utilities rallied with help from Duke Energy (DUK 83.50, +1.27). The stock gained 1.5% despite missing earnings and revenue estimates.

Treasuries spent the bulk of the session in the red, but returned to their flat lines by the end of the day. The 10-yr yield ended at 2.34%.

Participation was ahead of average with more than 770 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included ADP Employment, ISM Services, and the MBA Mortgage Index:


The ADP National Employment Report revealed that employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose 230K in October while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 220K

The September reading was revised up to 225,000 from 213,000

The ISM Services Index dropped to 57.1 in October from 58.6 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 58.0

Even though the services sector data softened more than expected, the index remains at an elevated position and in-line with expansionary trends

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index fell 2.6% to follow last week's 6.6% drop
Tomorrow, the Challenger Job Cuts report for October will be released at 7:30 ET while weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 285K) and Q3 Productivity/Unit Labor Costs data will cross the wires at 8:30 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +10.6% YTD S&P 500 +9.5% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +5.5% YTD Russell 2000 +0.3% YTD

4:36 pm Sierra Wireless beats by $0.11, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (SWIR) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.24 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.13; revenues rose 27.6% year/year to $143.3 mln vs the $138.7 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.25-0.28, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $145-148 mln vs. $142.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:32 pm Exar beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides DecQ EPS below consensus, revs in-line (EXAR) : Reports Q2 (Sep) earnings of $0.05 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.04; non-GAAP revenues rose 27.4% year/year to $43.3 mln vs the $43.2 mln consensus. For Q3 (Dec), co sees EPS of $0.04-0.06, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.07 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 non-GAAP revs of $43-45 mln vs. $44.3 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:31 pm Western Digital announces secondary offering of 5,434,783 shares of its common stock by Hitachi (HTHIY) (WDC) : Co announces today an underwritten secondary public offering of 5,434,783 shares of its common stock by Hitachi, Ltd. (the "Selling Stockholder"). The Selling Stockholder has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 815,217 shares.

An aggregate amount of 25 mln shares of the co's common stock were issued to the Selling Stockholder in connection with WDC's acquisition of Viviti Technologies Ltd., formerly known as Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, in Mar 2012. The Selling Stockholder sold 12.5 mln of these shares on Nov. 6, 2013 in an underwritten offering. Upon completion of this offering, the Selling Stockholder will beneficially own 7,065,217 shares of the co's common stock (6.25 mlnshares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares).

The co will not receive any of the proceeds from the offering of the shares (including any shares sold pursuant to the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares).4:24 pm Axcelis Tech reports Q3 results, misses on revs (ACLS) : Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.04 per share, including $2.3 mln in restructuring charges. May not compare to ($0.04) CapIQ Consensus. Revenues fell 21.1% year/year to $38.5 mln vs the $40.53 mln consensus.

Co states: "We made strong progress with the Purion platform, reduced our cost structure and took actions that we expect will strengthen our balance sheet. We now have the full Purion product family in place, and are well positioned to increase our market share as industry dynamics improve."

4:19 pm SolarCity reports Q3 (Sep) results, misses on revs (SCTY) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.19 per share, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($1.07); revenues rose 20.0% year/year to $58.3 mln vs the $60.37 mln consensus.

Total MW Booked increased 154% Y/Y to 230 MW and total MW Deployed grew 77% Y/Y to 137 MW with residential MW deployed up 100% Y/Y to 119 MW.Total blended cost declined (11%) Y/Y to $2.90 per watt.Remain on track to reach goal to roughly double volume every year and lower total cost to $2.50 per watt by 2017. Cumulative MW Deployed of 894 MW (up 93% Y/Y)Estimated Nominal Contracted Payments of $4.1 billion (up 137% Y/Y).At our goal of one million customers by mid-2018, we would have accumulated solar assets operating with an annual revenue run rate of over $1 billion contracted for 20-30 years thereafter and poised to grow even further."Our efforts to further differentiate SolarCity through technology also continued to make progress in the third quarter. Following our June announcement of the agreement to acquire Silevo, we officially closed the acquisition in September and broke ground on what is expected to be the largest solar manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere in partnership with the state of New York. We continue to expect our first 1 GW facility to be operating at full capacity in 2017, and to lay the groundwork for a step-change reduction in the cost of solar energy"."We now have more than 168,000 customers, up 105% from over 82,000 a year ago".

4:14 pm Qualcomm misses by $0.06, misses on revs; guides Q1 below consensus; guides FY15 below consensus (QCOM) :

Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $1.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.32; revenues rose 3.3% year/year to $6.69 bln vs the $7.04 bln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $1.18-1.30, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.43 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $6.6-7.2 bln vs. $7.41 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Co issues downside guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $5.05-5.35, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $5.56 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $26.8-28.8 bln vs. $29.12 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"We are forecasting continued growth of global 3G/4G device shipments in calendar year 2015, particularly in emerging regions. Our fiscal 2015 outlook reflects continued LTE leadership in our semiconductor business and is tempered by the issues we are facing in China related to our licensing business. Through this time, we remain focused on building our technology leadership in smartphones, while pursuing opportunities to extend our solutions into adjacent areas."

4:10 pm SunEdison misses by $0.41, misses on revs (SUNE) : Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.68 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.41 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.27); revenues fell 19.6% year/year to $540.5 mln vs the $607.99 mln consensus.

For the fourth quarter 2014:


Solar energy systems total non-GAAP sales volume in the range of 84 MW to 124 MW Solar energy systems MW retained on the balance sheet of between 251 MW and 361 MW Solar energy systems MW completed of between 335 MW and 485 MW Fully developed solar energy systems average project pricing between $2.50/watt and $2.75/wattFor the full year 2014:
Solar energy systems total non-GAAP sales volume in the range of 260 MW to 300 MW Solar energy systems MW retained on the balance sheet of between 740 MW and 850 MW Solar energy systems MW completed of between 1,000 MW and 1,150 MW Fully developed solar energy systems average project pricing between $2.50/watt and $3.00/watt

12:54 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

DVN (61.62 +9.99%): Reported Q3 earnings of $1.34 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.23; revenues rose 96.6% year/year to $5.34 bln vs the $4.6 bln consensus; raised full-year production outlook.
EOG (96.43 +6.82%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.02, beat on revs; raised production growth guidance; Upgraded at Miller Tabak.
MDLZ (37.19 +6.17%): Report Q3 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.11, reported revs in-line; raised FY14 EPS above consensus; reaffirmed organic net rev.

Large Cap Losers

TRIP (72.46 -13.52%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.48 per share, $0.12 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.60; revenues rose 38.8% year/year to $354 mln vs the $348.85 mln consensus; Downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at Pacific Crest.
LNKD (230.69 -3.25%): Announced a $1.15 bln convertible notes offering.
PBA (39.5 -1.81%): Reported Q3 adjusted cash flow from operating activities of $0.48 vs 0.61 in the yr-ago; revs rose 11% to $1.4 bln.

Mid Cap Gainers

NICE (45.28 +10.17%): Reported Q3 results that beat bottom line single estimate, beat on revs; guided Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line.
KAR (33.22 +10.04%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.08, beat on revs; guided FY14 EPS above consensus; authorized share repurchase of up to $300 mln.
AXLL (42.11 +8.25%): Reported Q3 EPS of $0.72 vs $0.61 CIQ est; revs increased 6% YoY to $1.27 bln vs $1.16 bln CIQ est.

Mid Cap Losers

ZU (29.05 -19.22%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.06, reported revs in-line; issued in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $391-416 mln vs. $411.28 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Tgt lowered at Canaccord, RBC Capital.
NUS (42.56 -15.59%): Reported Q3 results that beat both top and bottom line consensus estimates; Issued downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.80-0.85, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.01 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $590-610 mln vs. $659.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
AWAY (29.65 -12.15%): Reported Q3 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.04, reported revs in-line; guided Q4 revs below consensus; Tgt lowered at Canaccord Genuity.

11:51 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (290) outpacing new lows (115) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, AAT, ABAX, ABC, ABCB, ACE, ACT, ADP, AEP, AFG, AGU, ALGT, ALK, ALL, ALSN, ALXN, AMED, AMP, ANIP, ATLO, ATNI, ATO, AUXL, AWR, AZO, BABA, BBW, BERY, BG, BGCP, BIDU, BJRI, BLE, BLK, BOTJ, BR, BRK.A, BRK.B, BSET, BURL, BUSE, BXP, CACI, CAH, CALD, CB, CBOE, CBRL, CHD, CHFN, CHSP, CI, CLNY, CME, COKE, COR, COST, CTB, CVA, CVS, CXW, DDR, DFT, DHX, DIN, DLTR, DOC, DPLO, DPS, DRE, DTSI, ED, EDR, EGP, EIGI, EPAM, EQY, ERIE, ESS, ESYS, FARM, FDEF, FDS, FDX, FFNW, FISV, FNF, FR, FRGI, FRT, GBNK, GD, GEO, GPC, GPN, GSBC, GTT, HA, HALL, HBOS, HCKT, HCN, HIG, HIW, HKTV, HNT, HOLX, HR, HRL, HSIC, HSNI, HT, HTBK, HUBS, HUM, HVB, IBKR, IBN, IDTI, IDXX, INFN, INFY, INTU, ITW, JACK, JAZZ, JBHT, JKHY, JLL, JNJ, JOUT, KAR, KITE, KMB, KR, KRC, KW, LBY, LEAF, LEG, LG, LHO, LLY, LM, LMCA, LOW, LSTR, LTC, LUV, MA, MAC, MCO, MCY, MDT, METR, MLI, MMC, MMM, MNK, MNR, MNRK, MO, MSFG, MSFT, MUSA, NAVG, NEE, NHI, NICE, NJR, NKE, NNI, NNN, NP, NU, NVDA, NVEC, NZH, O, OABC, OCR, ODP, ORLY, PAHC, PAYC, PAYX, PDM, PEB, PEG, PEP, PG, PLKI, PLL, PNRG, PPL, PRAA, PRE, PRI, PSA, PVTB, QTM, QVCA, RAI, RCPT, RDI, RE, REG, RFMD, RGA, RHI, RJET, RLJ, ROG, ROL, ROX, RPT, RYAAY, SAIC, SAPE, SAVE, SCG, SCOR, SCS, SEB, SEIC, SFG, SFST, SHW, SJW, SLG, SMCI, SNE, SO, SONC, SPG, SPNC, SRE, STAG, STBA, STE, STRA, STT, SWKS, SWX, SYKE, TAX, TDY, TE, TEG, TFX, THG, THS, TNET, TQNT, TRV, TTGT, TXN, TXRH, TXT, UBA, UCFC, UDR, UIHC, UIL, UNH, UPS, UTL, V, VAL, VASC, VDSI, VFC, VIPS, VNO, VTR, WEC, WERN, WGL, WHR, WLP, WOOF, WRB, WSBF, WTR, XNPT, XRAY, XWES, Y, YHOO, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAU, ABX, AE, AEM, AG, AGI, AKBA, AKG, AMZG, ANV, ARES, ASA, AUQ, AUY, AXPW, AXR, BAMM, BBGI, BIO, BPZ, BTG, BVN, BVSN, CCUR, CDE, CEF, CEL, CERE, CGG, CHUY, CLH, COH, CRCM, DDD, DNN, DNR, DRD, DRNA, EC, ECOM, EGI, EGO, EMITF, EXK, FCX, GLRI, GOMO, GORO, GSS, GSV, GTU, GURE, HL, IAG, IMRS, KELYA, KGC, LEI, LEU, LIQD, LPG, LRN, LTRPA, LVS, MCHX, MDGN, MDW, MEP, MOSY, NCQ, NEM, NGD, NTLS, NUS, NWY, OAS, OIIM, P, PAAS, PANL, PGH, PME, PPP, PTNR, PWE, PZG, RCPI, RGR, SA, SAND, SARA, SC, SD, SDLP, SLW, SN, SSE, SSRI, SVLC, SVM, TCK, TEAR, TESO, TGB, TGD, TLP, TLR, TPUB, TRCH, TRIP, TRX, VALE, VGGL, VIEW, YUMA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DIA, DVY, ICF, IGV, IYF, IYG, IYK, IYR, IYT, KIE, PPA, PPH, PSK, QQQ, RTH, SDY, SPY, URE, UUP, UYG, VNQ, XLF, XLK, XLP, XLU, XLV

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BNO, BWX, DBC, DJP, FXA, FXC, FXE, FXY, GDX, GDXJ, GLD, GSG, IAU, PPLT, REMX, SGG, SIL, SIVR, SLV

7:34 am Vishay Precision beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q4 rev midpoint below consensus (VPG) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.16; revenues rose 9.9% year/year to $63.4 mln vs the $61.41 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $60-65 mln vs. $65.33 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.