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From Briefing.com: 4:12 pm Closing Market Summary: Crude Oil Leads Stocks Lower (:WRAPX) : The major averages began the new week amid some old concerns. The S&P 500 settled lower by 0.6% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.0%) underperformed, but most of the attention was directed to crude oil trading pits once again.

After plunging nearly 4.0% on Friday and inviting questions about macroeconomic implications of the continued weakness, crude oil enjoyed an overnight rebound before resuming its downtrend. The energy component ended the pit session lower by 3.2% at $55.96/bbl and continued its retreat into the $55.50/bbl area in electronic trade.

Similar to oil, European equities and U.S. equity futures rebounded in overnight action, but accelerated their retreat from highs once the U.S. cash market opened. All ten sectors finished the day in negative territory with heavily-weighted financials (-0.9%), health care (-0.9%), and consumer discretionary (-0.6%) keeping the market under pressure.

Notably, financials and health care finished at the bottom of the leaderboard with the health care sector enduring significant weakness in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 297.66, -8.44) plunged 2.8% and contributed to the underperformance of the Nasdaq.

Although the Nasdaq finished behind the broader market, the tech-heavy index was prevented from sliding deeper into the red by relative strength among some influential components like Accenture (ACN 81.88), Oracle (ORCL 41.11, +1.16), and Qualcomm (QCOM 70.37, -0.21). Of the three, Oracle rallied 2.9% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to 'Overweight.'

Elsewhere, the energy sector (-0.9%) held up well during morning action, but retreated to lows after crude oil locked in a decline for the day. Dow component ExxonMobil (XOM 86.90, +0.30) bucked the trend, climbing 0.4% after BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock to 'Market Perform' from 'Underperform.'

When the dust settled, the industrial sector (-0.3%) represented the top performer on the cyclical side. The sector benefitted from gains among transport stocks with the group likely responding to cheaper fuel. The Dow Jones Transportation Average ended just above its flat line with Alaska Air (ALK 57.65, +1.84) climbing 3.3%.

Likewise, retailers rallied in response to lower oil prices as evidenced by a 0.2% advance in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 92.47, +0.19). However, the broader discretionary sector ended in-line with the market as quick-service restaurants weighed. McDonald's (MCD 88.46, -2.16) and Yum! Brands (YUM 70.63, -2.22) lost 2.4% and 3.1%, respectively.

Treasuries ended the day modestly lower with the 10-yr yield higher by two basis points at 2.12%. On a related note, the Dollar Index registered a slim gain of 0.1%, but the greenback retreated more than 100 pips against the yen to 117.70.

Participation was ahead of average with more than 940 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Empire Manufacturing, Industrial Production, and NAHB Housing Market Index:


The Empire Manufacturing Survey for December registered a reading of -3.6, which was below the prior month's reading of 10.2 and below the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which was pegged at 14.0 Industrial production increased 1.3% in November after increasing an upwardly revised 0.1% (from -0.1%) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.7% That was the largest increase since a 1.6% gain in May 2010 o Manufacturing production increased a solid, and perhaps unexpected, 1.1% in November after increasing an upwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.2%) in October Capacity utilization exceeded 80% for the first time since March 2008 and increased to 80.1% in November from 79.3% in October
The NAHB Housing Market Index for December slipped to 57 from 58 while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to hold at 58
Tomorrow, November Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.035 mln) and Building Permits (consensus 1.06 mln) will be reported at 8:30 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +10.3% YTD S&P 500 +7.6% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +3.6% YTD Russell 2000 -1.8% YTD5:43 pm FuelCell Energy reports EPS in-line, beats on revs (FCEL) : Reports Q4 (Oct) loss of $0.02 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.02); revenues fell 1.4% year/year to $54.41 mln vs the $52.16 mln consensus.


Total backlog was $333.9 million at October 31, 2014 compared to $355.4 million at October 31, 2013. The recently announced 3.4 MW utility contract adds approximately $31 million to total backlog for the first quarter of 2015.
Service backlog was $196.8 million at October 31, 2014. This compares to $166.8 million at October 31, 2013. The average term for service agreements now exceeds 10 years.
Advanced technologies contracts

4:32 pm VeriFone announces partnership with First Data, a payment technology company, to combat consumer payment data theft (PAY) :

First Data and Verifone (PAY) one of the world's leading providers for secure payment acceptance, announced a partnership to help U.S. merchants reduce exposure to large-scale consumer payment data breaches and expedite merchant acceptance of EMV-enabled credit and debit cards.First Data will now offer Verifone's Secure Commerce Architecture (SCA.V) solution to its U.S. merchant clients who use Verifone equipment within an integrated point of sale (IPOS) system.SCA helps to solve the difficulties of EMV compliance by eliminating the flow of consumer payment data into the IPOS.4:26 pm Rubicon Tech names William Weissman to the permanent position of President and CEO (RBCN) : Co announced that the Board of Directors has appointed William Weissman, 56, to the permanent position of President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Weissman had served as Interim CEO and President since September 17, 2014, and as Chief Financial Officer of Rubicon since 2007. Mr. Weissman has also been appointed a member of the Board of Directors.

4:00 pm Solar Power announced the entry into definitive agreements relating to a new private placement of up to $140 mln (SOPW) :

Co announced the entry into definitive agreements relating to a new private placement of up to $140 mln. Under the terms of the definitive agreements, SPI agreed to issue to special purpose vehicles controlled by Shi, Dongxiang and other investors, respectively, a total of $35 mln of its common stock and $35 mln of convertible promissory notes, as well as to grant the SPV of Shi, Dongxiang and other investors options to purchase an aggregate of $70 mln of SPI's common stock.

12:52 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

ORCL (41.04 +2.73%): Upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
ADS (280.62 +2.29%): The co provided an update on its Private Label segment for November 2014; Average receivables up 31% y/y to $10.1 bln; Delinquency rate fell to 4.1%, down from 4.3%.
WFM (48.77 +0.93%): Renewed M&A chatter.

Large Cap Losers

F (14.51 -3.2%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
REGN (401.91 -3.49%): Unfavorable mention on Friday's Mad Money.
SBUX (81.1 -2.58%): Cautious comments out of ITG on the name.

Mid Cap Gainers

OPK (8.97 +9.66%): The co and Pfizer (PFE) entered into global agreement for OPKO's long-acting human growth hormone; OPK to receive upfront payment of $295 mln.
RVBD (20.29 +8.27%): Announced it will be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $21 per share in cash.
RRC (57.92 +6.9%): Announced its 2015 capital budget and record Utica Well Results; sets 2015 capital spending at $1.3 bln, down 18% YoY; positive view profiled in Barron's.

Mid Cap Losers

ISIS (58.68 -5.84%): Unfavorable mention on Friday's Mad Money.
ARCP (8.4 -6.62%): Announced a number of changes to its management and corporate governance; David Kay has stepped down as CEO and from the ARCP Board of Directors; Lisa Beeson has also stepped down as President and COO; Managing Partner, Nicholas Schorsch resigned as Executive Chairman and Director.
OGE (33.35 -2.84%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies; tgt lowered to $35.50 from $42.

11:44 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session- New lows (91) outpacing new highs (13) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AFSI, AXTA, CY, DG, FTNT, LC, OCR, ODP, PETM, ROST, SPLS, TJX, TTWO

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABEV, APC, AU, BBL, BBVA, BHP, BP, BSMX, CAM, CBI, CCJ, CIG, CLR, CMLP, CNO, CNQ, CNV, COP, CVE, CVX, CX, DDD, DOV, ECA, ESV, FCX, FLS, FSLR, FTI, GGB, GME, GSK, HES, HFC, HMC, HP, HSBC, IBM, JEC, KOS, LINE, MBT, MCD, MDU, MEOH, MRO, MT, NBL, NBR, NRG, OIBR, OII, OKE, OKS, OUT, PAA, PBR, PBR.A, PSX, PWR, QEP, RDS.A, RGP, RIG, RIO, SBS, SDRL, SFUN, SID, SMFG, SNY, SPN, SPWR, SSYS, STO, SU, TOT, TRQ, TS, UPL, VALE, VALE.P, VIP, VIV, VMW, VZ, WLK, WLL, WPZ, YNDX, ZU

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, AMJ, BJK, BNO, DBC, DIG, DJP, ECH, EEB, EPOL, EWA, EWC, EWI, EWM, EWU, EWW, EWZ, FXA, FXC, GSG, HYG, IGE, ILF, IXC, IYE, JNK, KOL, MES, OIL, PBD, PBW, RSX, SLX, UGA, USCI, USO, XES, XLE, XME, XOP

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 60 stocks made 52 week highs and 453 stocks made 52 week lows.
8:32 am Corning announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire TR Manufacturing; terms not disclosed (GLW) : Co announces that it has reached an agreement to acquire TR Manufacturing. The terms of the agreement were not released. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of 1Q15. TR Manufacturing is a provider of fiber-optic and copper cable/component interconnects and electro-mechanical assemblies to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in a wide range of technology industries. "We are excited about the opportunity to expand Corning's capabilities to service the growing bandwidth demand of all network operators."

8:32 am Riverbed Technology to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $21 per share in cash; stock is halted (RVBD) : Co announced it will be acquired by leading private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo and Teachers' Private Capital, the private investor department of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.


Under the terms of the agreement, Riverbed stockholders will receive $21.00 per share in cash, or a total of approximately $3.6 billion. The agreement was unanimously approved by Riverbed's Board of Directors following a comprehensive review of strategic and financial alternatives that the Company announced in October, 2014.
Riverbed CEO Jerry Kennelly will remain with the Company in the same capacity. There are no financing conditions associated with the proposed agreement. 7:33 am SunEdison announced that the National Energy Commission in Chile has awarded SunEdison a contract to supply 570 gigawatt hours of clean energy a year; SunEdison to invest more than $700 mln (SUNE) :

Co announced that the National Energy Commission in Chile has awarded SunEdison a contract to supply 570 gigawatt hours of clean energy a year. To meet the demand, SunEdison will be investing more than $700 mln to develop 350 megawatts of utility scale solar photovoltaic power plants throughout the country. The plants will be added to the call right list of TerraForm Power (TERP), a owner and operator of renewable energy power plants.