From Briefing.com: The stock market got hit hard Tuesday on the back of earnings concerns and emerging market worries that were tied to a strengthening dollar. To that end, the U.S. Dollar Index (+1.0% at 98.60) traded at levels last seen in 2003 as the euro traded below 1.07 against the greenback and the dollar-yen cross moved above 121.
Concerns that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates too soon and some technical selling pressure that took the S&P 500 below its 50-day simple moving average (2062/2060) also weighed on sentiment and kept buyers sidelined.
Every sector ended the day lower. The information technology sector (-2.2%) teamed up with the financial sector (-2.1%) to pace Tuesday's losses.
Every component in the S&P 500 information technology sector other than NVIDIA (NVDA 23.05, +0.44, +1.9%), which was upgraded at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, closed the day with a loss. Out of the 65 components that lost ground, 57 declined at least 1.0%.
Notable news items from sector components included:
Accenture (ACN 88.06, -2.73, -3.0%): Company and Adobe announced the expansion of their alliance to deliver greater marketing ROI to companies through the launch of Accenture Customer Engagement, a cloud-based managed service that simplifies the development, execution and measurement of digital marketing.
Adobe Systems: (ADBE 76.12, -1.81, -2.3%): Company and IBM announced IBM Interactive Experience will build specialized enterprise consulting capabilities for Adobe Marketing Cloud.
Cognizant Technology (CTSH 60.75, -1.15, -1.9%): Announced that it has engaged with Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Limited, a financial services provider in India, to digitally transform its vehicle finance business operations, from loan origination through recovery, in order to reduce costs, improve business agility, and deliver an integrated customer experience.
Facebook (FB 77.76, -1.68, -2.1%): FriendBlog confirmed it will shut down April 9
First Solar (FSLR 59.94, -1.12, -1.8%): Company and SunPower (SPWR 32.46, -0.71, -2.1%) filed S-1 for YieldCo venture. Company name is 8point3 Energy Partners. Proposed maximum aggregate offering is $50 mln and underwriters are Goldman and Citigroup
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 32.67, -0.28, -0.9%): Announced a new portfolio designed specifically for the needs of service providers to create differentiated services, increase speed and agility, and drive business growth. HP innovative portfolio includes servers, networking and Service Provider Ready solutions to help service providers create differentiated services.
IBM (IBM 157.81, -2.96, -1.8%): Announced the opening of its newest SoftLayer cloud center in Drummondville, just outside of Montr al, Qu bec, Canada. The Montr al facility is part of IBM's $1.2 billion investment to expand its global cloud services portfolio.
Qualcomm (QCOM 72.07, -0.64, -1.1%): The company's Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $15 billion of its common stock. The $15 billion program replaces the previous program, which had a $2.1 billion authorization remaining. Qualcomm intends to repurchase $10 billion of its common stock within approximately twelve months of the date of this announcement. The Board also approved a 14 percent increase in Qualcomm's quarterly cash dividend, raising the annualized dividend payout to $1.92 per share of common stock. Separately, Qualcomm disclosed that on March 5, 2015, it entered into definitive documentation to establish an unsecured commercial paper program pursuant to which it may issue short-term, unsecured commercial paper notes not to exceed $4 bln.
TE Connectivity (TEL 71.47, -0.66, -0.9%): Names Terrence Curtin as President. Mr. Curtin was most recently President of the company's Industrial Solutions segment which includes TE's Aerospace, Defense, Oil and Gas business
Xilinx (XLNX 39.88, -0.77, -1.9%): Raised quarterly dividend $0.02 per share to $0.31, effective in the June quarter
Elsewhere in the technology space:
Alibaba (BABA 82.97, +0.44, +0.5%): Named Jeff Zhang head of marketplace websites, according to reports. Separately, its subsidiary Alibaba Cloud Computing confirmed that China's Central Government Procurement Center moved its official site to AliCloud over a year ago, according to reports.
Aruba Networks (ARUN 24.40, -0.03, -0.2%): Announced that the Houston Airport System has deployed Aruba's 802.11ac solution to enable free Wi-Fi service to customers and guests in its two public passenger airports.
Cypress Semiconductor (CY 15.27, -0.24, -1.7%): Announced that networking equipment maker Exablaze has selected Cypress's QDR-IV SRAM for its ExaLINK Fusion networking switch.
Priceline (PCLN 1194.30, -22.70, -1.9%): Announced its intention to offer Senior Notes in an underwritten public offering; size not disclosed. The co plans to use the net proceeds from the offering of the notes for general corporate purposes, which may include share repurchases, repayment of debt and acquisitions, among other uses.
Qihoo 360 Technology (QIHU 45.16, -2.46, -4.9%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.75 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 94.6% year/year to $431.21 mln, which also exceeded estimates. For Q1, sees revenues of $375-380 mln, which is ahead of expectations. Company also noted that its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $200 million of the Company's American Depositary Shares.
Taiwan Semi (TSM 23.05, -0.40, -1.8%): Company said its revenues for February 2015 on a consolidated basis were approximately NT$62.65 billion, a decrease of 28.1% from January 2015 and an increase of 33.8 % over February 2014. Revenues for January through February 2015 totaled NT$149.77 billion, an increase of 52.4% compared to the same period in 2014.
Twitter (TWTR 45.84, -1.75, -3.7%): ReCode discussed that Twitter plans to acquire Periscope, a video startup.
Analyst Action:
Amazon.com (AMZN 369.87, -8.69, -2.4%): upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research
Apple (AAPL 125.02, -2.12, -1.9%): target raised to $160 from $140 at Evercore ISI; Buy Monness Crespi & Hardt raised its target to $145 from $125
Cree (CREE 38.85, +0.04, +0.1%): target raised to $34 from $29 at Canaccord Genuity; Hold
Electronic Arts (EA 55.17, -1.50, -2.7%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham
Fairchild Semi (FCS 17.84, -0.01, -0.1%): initiated with a Buy at Drexel Hamilton; target $25
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 32.67, -0.28, -0.5%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS; target to $40 from $37.25
NVIDIA (NVDA 23.05, +0.44, +1.9%): upgraded to Buy at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch
Qualcomm (QCOM 72.07, -0.64, -1.1%): target raised to $76 from $75 at Cowen; Outperform target raised to $87 from $84 at Canaccord Genuity; Buy target raised to $87 from $80 at Brean Capital; Buy
Symantec (SYMC 23.86, -0.61, -2.5%): upgraded to Buy from Hold at Standpoint Research4:10 pm : The stock market endured a daylong selloff on Tuesday with the S&P 500 (-1.7%) sliding below its 50-day moving average. The benchmark index surrendered its Q1 gain and is now down 0.7% since the end of 2014 while the Dow (-1.8%) underperformed.
Equities stumbled out of the gate after the Dollar Index (98.60, +1.01) continued its charge, climbing to a fresh 12-year high during overnight action. The index spent the morning near its overnight high and built on that gain into the afternoon. The greenback strength sent the euro into the 1.0700 area while the Dollar Index extended its March gain to 3.4%.
The continued greenback strength fueled concerns about the earnings prospects of multinational companies while also putting pressure on overseas entities that conduct their dealings in dollars. As a result, a wave of recent downward earnings revisions has lowered 2015 EPS growth expectations to just 1.1% from 9.8% on December 1, according to S&P Capital IQ.
The diminished prospects for solid earnings growth broadsided the six growth-sensitive sectors while countercyclical groups did not fare much better. Sellers remained in control throughout the day with the two largest sectors by weight-technology (-2.2%) and financials (-2.1%)-pacing the retreat.
Large cap tech names like Apple (AAPL 124.56, -2.58), Google (GOOGL 559.85, -14.25), and Facebook (FB 77.57, -1.87) lost between 2.0% and 2.5% while Qualcomm (QCOM 71.88, -0.82) outperformed, falling 1.1%, after announcing a $15 billion repurchase program and increasing its quarterly cash dividend to $0.48/share from $0.42/share.
Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, the consumer discretionary space ended in-line with the broader market, but that masked an 11.5% surge in the shares of Urban Outfitters (URBN 44.06, +4.55) after the apparel retailer beat bottom-line estimates and reported revenue in-line with its warning from February 9.
Also of note, the energy sector (-1.4%) represented the lone outperformer on the cyclical side even though crude oil fell 3.1% to $48.40/bbl.
On the countercyclical side, the utilities sector (-0.2%) settled just below its flat line after failing to hold its intraday gain. Still, the group ended atop today's leaderboard, benefitting from bond strength that pressured the 10-yr yield to 2.13% (-6 bps).
Today's participation was ahead of recent averages with more than 830 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data was limited to Wholesale Inventories and JOLTS:
Wholesale inventories increased 0.3% in January after a downward revision revealed no change (from +0.1%) in December
The Briefing.com consensus expected a decline of 0.1%
Surprisingly, the sharp drop in petroleum prices did not lead to a large decline in petroleum inventories. These inventories only declined 1.1% in January after declining 7.2% in December. Altogether, nondurable goods inventories declined a modest 0.1% in January.
The January Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 4.998 million from 4.877 million
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the Treasury Budget for February (Briefing.com consensus -$192 billion) will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +2.6% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.4% YTD
S&P 500 -0.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.9% YTD
DJ30 -332.78 NASDAQ -82.64 SP500 -35.26 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 668/1.73 bln/2241 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 840/832.8 mln/2276 3:35 pm :
The dollar index continues to hold its gains, which has been weighing on most commodities today
Natural gas futures traded higher all day today and ended pit trading $0.06 higher to $2.73/MMBtu
WTI crude oil slid lower and fell as low as $48.20/barrel. Apr crude closed near that LoD, ending $1.56 lower at $48.40/barrel
Apr gold finished floor trading $6.50 lower at $1160.10/oz, while May silver lost $0.15 to $15.64/lb
May corn gained $0.05 to $3.88/bushel following bullish USDA WASDE numbers.
4:05 pm SolarCity has opened its second Las Vegas-area operations center in North Las Vegas (SCTY) : This latest expansion pushes SolarCity's total Nevada staffing to more than 1,100 people.
4:04 pm VeriFone beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 below consensus; lowers FY15 guidance (PAY) : Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.44 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.41; revenues rose 11.4% year/year to $487 mln vs the $483.23 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.41-0.42, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.46 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $485-489 mln vs. $505.11 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Co issues downside guidance for FY15, lowers EPS to $1.78-1.82, excluding non-recurring items, from $1.85-1.90 vs. $1.90 Capital IQ Consensus; lowers FY15 revs to $1.99-2.00 bln from $2.02-2.04 bln vs. $2.03 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
11:47 am 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
CS (25.07 +6.5%): Announced Prudential (PUK) CEO Tidjane Thiam will become its new CEO.
NVDA (22.94 +1.46%): Upgraded to Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Large Cap Losers
EEP (36.25 -4.43%): Announced and priced an underwritten public offering of 8 mln of its Class A Common Units, representing limited partner interests, at $36.70 per Class A Common Unit.
EA (55 -2.94%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham.
Mid Cap Gainers
URBN (43.15 +9.21%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.03, revs in-line with last month's preannouncement; Upgraded at Janney, William Blair, others.
SVU (10.66 +4.61%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank; tgt to $13 from $8.50.
LEAF (48.04 +2.23%): Upgraded to Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Mid Cap Losers
AKRX (45.08 -13.04%): Underperforming following Actavis (ACT) launch of generic version of Temovate (clobetasol cream).
UNFI (75.8 -6.97%): Missed Q2 consensus EPS estimates by $0.02, reported revs in-line; guided FY15 EPS in-line, revs below consensus; Price target lowered at Oppenheimer and Canaccord Genuity.
TRN (29.76 -6.24%): Downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at a boutique firm.
11:42 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (208) outpacing new highs (39) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AEO, ANAC, ASX, BLUE, BWINA, CBMG, CEMP, CFRX, COL, CPRX, CRL, ESLT, ETFC, FCS, FNRG, FSFG, GTT, GY, HPTX, IMKTA, INAP, MDVX, MMS, NVDA, OCUL, PAM, PNK, PRQR, RCKY, SCAI, SCMP, SMMT, SSP, SVU, SWKS, URBN, VRX, WBB, ZAGG
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACRX, ACTG, ADGE, AGNC, AHC, AKG, AMDA, AMZG, ANDE, AOI, ARCO, ARLP, ASRV, ATLS, ATV, AUQ, AVAL, BALT, BBD, BICK, BIOS, BONT, BPT, BSBR, CBD, CECE, CHK, CHNR, CIB, CKP, CNX, CPAH, CPL, CPPL, CTRL, CUZ, CVGI, CVSL, DNN, DO, DPG, DRWI, DSCI, DWSN, DXM, EAC, EBR, EC, ECA, EDD, EEML, EGAN, EGI, EGP, EJ, ELP, ERII, ESSX, ESV, ETAK, EXK, FCO, FDML, FENG, FHCO, FIVE, FOSL, FPP, FTEK, FUEL, FULL, GAS, GEF, GEF.B, GEOS, GES, GFA, GLF, GLRI, GPL, GRAM, GRC, GSOL, GSV, GUID, HNR, HOS, HSBC, HTS, HWCC, I, IGOV, IO, IPI, IRET, ISH, ISHG, ITUB, JIVE, JOEZ, JONE, JOY, KEYW, KOF, LAQ, LFL, LFVN, LODE, MDSY, MDU, MERU, MLHR, MNTX, MPO, MRIN, MSM, MTGE, MX, MXE, MXPT, NAO, NE, NFG, NGD, NGG, NGS, NLY, NOR, NRP, NWPX, OCRX, OESX, ONVO, ORIG, ORN, OTIV, PAAS, PBR, PBR.A, PGN, PHIIK, PLTM, PN, PPP, PQ, PRGN, PRIM, PRXI, PVH, PW, QIHU, RAVN, RCI, RDC, RIG, RL, RLJE, RLOG, RNET, ROYT, RSO, RUSHA, RYAM, SB, SEED, SGF, SIF, SJR, SJT, SMLP, SNOW, SPDC, SSE, STB, SWN, TC, TDW, TGC, TGD, TIF, TKC, TKF, TRX, TSU, TTF, TU, UG, ULTR, UPIP, UUUU, VALE, VALE.P, VBLT, VIV, VMEM, VNCE, VRA, WHLR, WILN, WIN, WRES, WYNN, XGTI, XNET, XOM, XRA, YNDX, ZINC
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: UUP
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BWX, DBA, EPU, EWZ, FUD, FXA, FXE, ILF, KOL, NLR, RJA, SGG, SIL, XME
8:38 am Taiwan Semi announces its net revenues for February 2015 (TSM) : On a consolidated basis, revenues for February 2015 were approximately NT$62.65 billion, a decrease of 28.1% from January 2015 and an increase of 33.8 % over February 2014. Revenues for January through February 2015 totaled NT$149.77 billion, an increase of 52.4% compared to the same period in 2014.
8:02 am JinkoSolar Holding signs RMB 320 mln loan agreement with China Development Bank (JKS) : JKS announced that JinkoSolar Power Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Company, has signed a RMB320 million loan agreement with China Development Bank. The loan will be used for PV solar power plant projects in Henfeng County, Jiangxi Province, China. According to the terms of agreement, the Jiangxi Branch of CDB will provide a 15-year loan totaling RMB320 million to finance a 50MW PV solar power plant project developed by Jinko Power in Yangjia Village, Lianhe Township, Hengfeng County, Jiangxi Province. The project was connected to the grid in February of 2015.
8:02 am Microvision reports EPS in-line, misses on revs (MVIS) : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.08 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.08); revenues fell 42.6% year/year to $0.7 mln vs the $1.7 mln consensus.
2015 Objectives and Outlook:
"2015 is expected to be a transformational year for MicroVision. We expect to achieve significant year-over-year growth by focusing attention on making our customers successful whether providing high quality components or assisting them with their go-to-market efforts," said Alexander Tokman, president and CEO of MicroVision.
8:01 am Xilinx raises quarterly dividend $0.02 per share to $0.31, effective in the June quarter (XLNX) :
Rudolph Technologies (RTEC) announced that a major outsourced assembly and test manufacturer has selected the JetStep Advanced Packaging Lithography System for evaluation. The tool, which ships this week, will be used to develop copper pillar bumping and through silicon via processes used in the development of next-generation flip chip technology.
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