From Briefing.com: The stock market tried to make its way higher in early action, yet that move got snuffed out by a rebound in the U.S. Dollar Index (+0.1% at 97.15) and renewed weakness in some of the market's best-performing areas this year, namely the biotech and semiconductor groups.
Weakness in the latter two areas left buyers reluctant to get involved as the loss of their leadership was viewed as a profit-taking signal in general.
Every sector in the S&P 500 ended Tuesday lower despite investors learning that new home sales in February were much stronger than expected. Like Monday, selling interest picked up in late trading and the major indices closed at their lows for the day.
The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.3%) and the basic materials sector (-0.3%) fared the best among the ten economic sectors on an otherwise slow day for corporate news.
Notable news items from sector components included the following:
EMC (EMC 25.81, -0.44, -1.7%): Disclosed that it has entered into a $2.5 bln commercial paper program
Fiserv (FISV 79.60, -0.64, -0.8%): Announced that it has completed its first tokenized transactions via its Accel debit payments network.
Google (GOOG 570.39, +11.58, +2.1%): Confirmed that Ruth Porat, currently Chief Financial Officer at Morgan Stanley (MS), will join its management team as CFO.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 33.31, -0.14, -0.4%): Announced the availability of the HP Helion Rack, a new pre-configured and pre-tuned private cloud solution, based on OpenStack and Cloud Foundry technologies integrated with HP server hardware
Qualcomm (QCOM 68.97, -1.10, -1.6%): Digitimes details news that Qualcomm is trying to win orders for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Elsewhere in the technology space:
Amazon.com (AMZN 374.09, -1.02, -0.3%): Twitch says that there may have been unauthorized access to some Twitch user account information
Rambus (RMBS 12.76, +0.12, +1.0%): Company announced it has signed both patent and technology license agreements with IBM. The patent license agreement authorizes IBM to integrate Rambus memory controller and serial link interface technologies. The technology license agreement will have Rambus develop and deliver high-performance memory interface design IP to enhance IBM systems and semiconductor offerings. Specific terms of the agreements are confidential.
Sonus Networks (SONS 8.74, -4.42, -33.7%): Lowered Q1 revenue guidance to $47-50 mln from previous guidance of $74 mln; sees Q1 EPS in the range of ($0.34)-($0.29) versus previous guidance $0.03. The Company said it no longer expects to receive certain orders this quarter that had been expected to be received at the back end of the first quarter, and believes its planned cost reduction initiatives will help better align the Company's cost structure in light of these longer decision cycles. The Company expects to announce the results of its cost reduction review when it reports its financial results for the first quarter on April 22, 2015. Sonus currently anticipates that revenue for the full year will be up to 25% below the midpoint of its previous annual guidance of $326-$330 million.
Analyst Action:
Blackberry (BBRY 9.52, 0.00, unch): Rosenblatt initiated with a Sell rating
NICE Systems (NICE 59.28, -0.52, -0.8%): JMP Securities downgrades to Market Performfrom Market Outperform
Sonus Networks (SONS 8.74, -4.42, -33.7%): Barrington Research downgrades to Market Perform from Outperform... Wells Fargo downgrades to Market Perform from Outperform
4:10 pm : The stock market registered its second consecutive decline on Tuesday with the S&P 500 retreating 0.6%. The benchmark index ended in-line with the Dow Jones Industrial Average while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) outperformed slightly.
Equity indices traded near their flat lines through the first half of the session before sliding to lows during afternoon action. All ten sectors finished the day in negative territory with technology (-0.3%) registering the slimmest loss.
Also of note, the Dollar Index (97.15, +0.12) was on track for its third consecutive decline, but an early morning rebound following an in-line CPI report (+0.2%) helped the Index finish with a slim gain. Meanwhile, crude oil endured some intraday volatility before settling higher by 0.1% at $47.51/bbl.
Strikingly, crude's flat finish could not stop the energy sector (-0.8%) from ending the day among the laggards. Notably, Whiting Petroleum (WLL 30.91, -7.48) sank 19.5% after pricing a secondary share and note offering.
Elsewhere among influential sectors, financials (-0.9%) and health care (-0.9%) lagged while the remaining groups settled closer to their flat lines.
The top-weighted countercyclical group-health care-slumped during afternoon action after showing early strength that was fueled by biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 355.95, -2.33) was up more than 1.0% in the early going, but settled lower by 0.7% to extend this week's decline to 2.9%.
The afternoon pullback in biotechnology sent the Nasdaq into negative territory, but the index still finished ahead of the broader market thanks to the relative strength among several large cap names. Google (GOOGL 577.54, +12.17) was a clear standout, surging 2.2%, after announcing that Ruth Porat will become the company's new CFO after holding the same position at Morgan Stanley (MS 36.24, -0.07).
Similar to Google, social media names displayed strength with Facebook (FB 85.31, +0.88), LinkedIn (LNKD 264.16, +2.32), and Twitter (TWTR 51.47, +3.01) gaining between 1.0% and 6.2% with Twitter surging to its best level since late October.
In the Treasury market, the 10-yr note spent the bulk of the day near its flat line before spiking to a fresh high in the afternoon. The benchmark yield fell four basis points to 1.87%.
Today's participation was below average with roughly 735 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included CPI, FHFA Housing Price Index, and New Home Sales:
The CPI increased 0.2% in February after decreasing 0.7% in January, which is what the Briefing.com consensus expected.
An uptick in energy prices catalyzed the first monthly increase in consumer prices since October. Energy prices rose 1.0% in February after declining 9.7% in January. A 2.4% increase in gasoline prices was a main contributor to higher energy prices.
Food prices increased 0.2% in February after reporting no change in January.
Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.2% for the second consecutive month while the consensus expected an increase of 0.1%
The FHFA Housing Price Index for January rose 0.3%, which followed a revised increase of 0.7% (from 0.8%) in December
New home sales increased 7.8% in February to 539,000 from an upwardly revised 500,000 (from 481,000) in January while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 465,000
Higher mortgage rates didn't seem to harm sales as 593,000 new homes were sold, representing the highest rate since February 2008
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the Durable Orders report (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%) will be reported at 8:30 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +5.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +5.0% YTD
S&P 500 +1.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.1% YTD
DJ30 -104.90 NASDAQ -16.25 SP500 -12.92 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1307/1.49 bln/1457 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1331/733.8 mln/1717
3:35 pm :
WTI crude oil consolidated near the unchanged line in afternoon trade, ultimately closing pit trading $0.09 higher at $47.53/barrel.
May natural gas was in positive territory all day, finished the session $0.08 higher at $2.81/MMBtu
Apr gold climbed back to today's high in afternoon trade, ending pit trading $3.80 higher at $1191.50/oz.
May silver rose $0.04 to $16.94/oz.
Copper inched lower in late-day trade, ending floor trading $0.01 higher at $2.80/lb
5:36 pm STMicroelectronics Correction - Co did not increase quarterly dividend (STM) : We earlier reported that the co's Supervisory Board approved an increase to the quarterly dividend. This comment was incorrect and has been deleted. See STM's announcement below:
STMicroelectronics has announced that its Supervisory Board has approved the Managing Board proposal to the 2015 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Shareholders to declare this year a cash dividend of US$0.40 per outstanding share of the Company's common stock, to be distributed in quarterly installments of US$0.10 in each of the second, third and fourth quarters of 2015 and first quarter of 2016 to shareholders of record at each respective date. The AGM will be held on May 27, 2015. Furthermore, ST's Supervisory Board resolved that the Company's dividend distributions, more recently decided on a semi-annual basis, will now be decided on an annual basis at ST's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.
5:17 pm American Superconductor announces 1-for-10 reverse stock split (AMSC) : Co announced that a 1-for-10 reverse stock split has become effective, and that trading in the Company's common stock on a post-split basis will begin on Wednesday, March 25, 2015. Immediately following the reverse stock split, there will be approximately 9.6 million shares, par value $0.01 per share, of the Company's common stock issued and outstanding.
5:08 pm Photronics enters into strategic supply and technology license agreements with Micron (MU) (PLAB) : Co announced that it has entered into strategic supply and technology license agreements with Micron Technology (MU) whereby Photronics will receive outsourced photomask supply volume from Micron. Micron and Photronics will not renew their existing MP Mask joint venture after May 5, 2016, which is the ten year anniversary of its formation. The new agreement places the company in the majority merchant supplier position for Micron. Upon the conclusion of the MP Mask joint venture, Micron may elect to purchase the MP Mask assets or Photronics' equity interest in MP Mask, in which case Photronics will receive a payment based upon net book value as of May 5, 2016, which was approximately $93 million as of December 4, 2014.
Large Cap Gainers
NFLX (440.7 +3.69%): Price target raised to $500 from $450 at Cantor Fitzgerald; Firm has a Buy rating on the name.
GILD (102.74 +2.47%): Positive view profiled in Barron's.
CCE (44.16 +1.68%): Added to US 1 List at BofA/Merrill.
Large Cap Losers
OKE (47.37 -2.57%): Initiated with a Underperform at BofA/Merrill; tgt $45.
TSN (38.84 -2.41%): Poultry producers under pressure following a USDA report on chicken & egg production.
FCX (19.08 -1.29%): Cut its quarterly dividend to $0.05/share from previous $0.3125/share.
Mid Cap Gainers
ABMD (70.84 +15.32%): Announced its Impella 2.5 received FDA approval for elective and urgent high risk percutaneous coronary intervention procedures.
LINE (11.96 +5.73%): Announced a $1 bln equity commitment from Quantum Energy Partners to form strategic acquisition alliance.
NSM (30.94 +4.74%): To acquire $25 bln portfolio of mortgage servicing rights from Ocwen Financial (OCN).
Mid Cap Losers
WLL (31.03 -19.17%): Announced offering of 35 mln shares of common stock which priced at $30/share; also announced offering of $1.0 bln of 1.25% convertible senior notes due 2020.
IHS (111.25 -6.5%): Reported Q1 EPS in-line, missed on revs; lowered FY15 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus.
DO (26.56 -4.47%): Price target lowered to $30 from $40 at FBR Capital.
11:44 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (171) outpacing new lows (36) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABC, ABCD, ABG, ABMD, ACG, AFAM, AHL, AHS, ALOG, ALV, AMOT, AMWD, ASML, ATE, ATRA, ATRC, AVB, AZO, BABY, BHLB, BRLI, BSET, BTX, CBMG, CHCO, CHE, CI, CIZ, CMN, CMT, CNK, COLM, COTY, CRWN, CSII, CSV, CTB, CUNB, CVGW, CVS, DGX, DHI, DTSI, DVAX, DW, EBSB, EFSC, EGBN, EL, ELLI, ENL, ENSG, EXLS, FB, FFG, FIX, FLEX, FLTX, FONE, FRSH, GIII, GNCMA, GRX, GY, HASI, HBNK, HCHC, HELE, HIFR, HILL, HMN, HNI, HXL, IART, IBP, ICFI, ICUI, IDTI, INDB, ING, INUV, IPCC, ITEK, JACK, JEQ, JOF, KEYS, KMG, KVHI, KYO, LABL, LCI, LH, LNCE, LOGM, LOW, LUX, LVNTA, LXFT, MCRL, MEI, MKC, MKC.V, MKL, MRH, MTG, MTSC, NTRI, NVO, OA, OLED, OVAS, PFNX, PINC, PKI, PLUS, PNK, POOL, PRMW, PSCD, PSCH, PSG, PSO, PZE, Q, QRVO, QUNR, REV, ROIC, ROST, RRGB, RTRX, RUTH, SBFG, SBH, SBRA, SCI, SCS, SCVL, SGC, SIGM, SONC, SPF, SPOK, SSB, STDY, STE, SUNE, SUPN, TA, TMO, TREE, TRVN, TSLF, TSYS, UHT, USAT, UWN, VASC, VG, VLGEA, VRSN, VTWO, WCIC, WDFC, WFD, WMS, WSO, WST, WWAV, WWW
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AMCF, ARLP, AXPW, BIOD, BRS, BV, CARV, CHOP, DWSN, DXM, EGAN, ETRM, FPP, GLF, HEAR, HOS, IKAN, LOCM, LOOK, MICT, MILL, OXGN, PCM, PERF, PFIE, PW, RELL, RLJE, SMTX, SNOW, SONS, SPDC, SWSH, TAOM, TDW, WTW
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IHF
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: SGG, VNM, VXX
7:31 am Solar Power has entered into a Joint Development Agreement with SG Panama Solar LLC to develop, build, own and operate solar assets (SOPW) : The agreement calls for SPI to provide technical and financial support to complete the development and implementation of over 100 megawatts of identified solar projects in the Republic of Panama by establishing a joint venture with SG Panama Solar LLC, in which SPI will hold a controlling interest.
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