From Briefing.com: The broader market traded positive all day, and ended the session with all three major indices gaining more than 1% on the day with the Dow (17976.31, +263.65) up 1.49% leading the way.
The Dollar Index also went higher on the day and pending home sales came out during the day +3.1% M/M.
Among notable news today, albeit not aiding the stocks to follow the broader market into positive territory today, it was announced that large cap leaders Microsoft (MSFT 40.96, -0.11) and Yahoo! (YHOO 44.95, -0.15) would extend their Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement partnership.
The Electronic retailers were mostly higher on the day, driven by Best Buy's (BBY 38.75, +0.27) news over the weekend that it would consolidate its Canadian stores, Future Shop and Best Buy Canadian stores under the Best Buy brand. In addition, the company announced its intent to invest up to $200 million to further it's consolidation to the tune of expanding its workforce, which will be cut by the consolidation by 1,500 total full and part-time staff, the expansion of appliances to be offered at all locations, and upping the online shopping experience.
Semiconductors (SOX 703.74, +9.42) also saw relative strength on the day, as the index traded positive all day on the heels of last weeks INTC/ALTR acquisition news. Most notably, bullish analyst comments on Analog Devices (ADI 64.81, +5.97) pushed the stock up and drove the index higher. Barclays was out positive on the stock, upping its target to $70 from $55 while upgrading shares to Overweight.
Software/Programming name Catamaran (CTRX 59.83, +11.51) was also a large gainer on the day, up 23.8%, as it was announced that UnitedHealth Group's (UNH 121.00, +2.99) OptumRx would acquire the company for $61.50 per share in cash. UNH affirmed its $6.00 to $6.25/share earnings outlook assuming the absorption of all merger costs.
Among technology bellwethers, BRCD +2.88%, QCOM +2.77%, AAPL +2.53%, TXN +2.18%, EMC +1.86%, ORCL +1.88%, and CSCO +1.92% all outpaced the broader market (S&P 500 2086.20, +25.18).
In other news among technology names:
Nimble Storage (NMBL 21.37, -0.14) entered into a written settlement agreement with NetApp (NTAP 35.38, +0.28), effective March 16, 2015, that resolves all remaining claims in the parties' outstanding litigation matters. Both cases were formally dismissed with prejudice by the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California and Santa Clara County Superior Court on March 23, 2015.
Fujifilm (FUJIY 35.48, +0.12) announced the acquisition of Cellular Dynamics (ICEL 16.42, +8.48) for $16.50 per share. FUJIY aims to acquire all issued and outstanding shares of CDI's common stock for $ 16.50 per share or ~$ 307 million (on a fully diluted basis). It is anticipated that the tender offer will close during the second calendar quarter of 2015.
ChinaNet Online (CNET 1.67, +0.16) announced that it entered a service partner agreement with Baidu (BIDU 210.54, +3.21) to cross-sell branded services and products.
Spherix (SPEX 0.91, -0.03) announced updates with its cases with VTech, Uniden, and Verizon (VZ 49.12, +0.56) in which the Verizon case has been rescheduled from May 18, 2015 to August 10, 2015. Concerning the company's cases against VTech and Uniden, on March 19, 2015, judge Barbara Lynn issued a 106-page claim construction order, following the Markman Hearing which had been held on November 21, 2014.Among analyst actions:
GoPro (GPRO 43.58, +0.88): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Dougherty & Company; tgt $55
Xilinx (XLNX 42.68, +0.36): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at MKM Partners following last week's INTC/ALTR news
Oracle (ORCL 43.44, +0.80): Upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Mkts; tgt $50
Broadcom (BRCM 44.12, +1.21): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura
4:10 pm : The major averages rallied throughout the Monday session with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.5%) ending in the lead while the S&P 500 (+1.2%) and Nasdaq (1.2%) followed not far behind.
The key indices began the week on an upbeat note, aided by overnight news indicating China has loosened its lending requirements for purchases of second homes. In addition, Friday's dovish remarks from Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who said the Fed will move cautiously when raising rates, provided another measure of support.
All ten sectors ended the day with solid gains while the S&P 500 narrowed its March loss to 0.9%. Despite the month-to-date loss, the benchmark index will enter tomorrow's session with a quarter-to-date gain of 1.3%.
Overall, cyclical sectors had the best showing, but countercyclical groups held their own. Health care and telecom services ended at the bottom of the leaderboard, but both groups still gained close to 1.0% apiece.
The health care sector settled behind most other groups despite showing early strength that was fueled by biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 351.32, +3.86) ended higher by 1.1% after being up more than 1.5% at the start. On the M&A front, UnitedHealth (UNH 121.00, +2.99) gained 2.5% after agreeing to acquire Catamaran (CTRX 59.83, +11.51) for $61.50/share.
Over on the cyclical side, five of six groups ended ahead of the S&P 500 while the consumer discretionary sector (+1.0%) underperformed.
Interestingly, the energy sector (+2.1%) ended in the lead even as crude oil spent the bulk of the day in negative territory. The energy component tested the $47.75/bbl level before settling lower by 0.5% at $48.65/bbl. WTI crude will enter tomorrow's session down 11.5% for the first quarter versus a 2.7% decline for the energy sector.
Elsewhere, the technology sector (+1.2%) caught up to the broader market during the final hour, but Intel (INTC 31.46, -0.54) weighed. The heavyweight lost 1.7%, retracing a portion of its 6.4% spike from Friday afternoon that occurred amid reports the company has approached Altera (ALTR 42.82, -1.57) about a potential takeover. However, it was reported earlier today that the deal remains on track. For its part, the PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 1.4%.
Treasuries registered slim gains after spending the day in narrow ranges. The 10-yr yield slipped one basis point to 1.96%. On a related note, the Dollar Index (98.05, +0.76) spiked 0.8%, but the greenback strength had little impact on today's equity rally.
Today's participation was well below average with fewer than 660 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included Personal Income/Spending data and Pending Home Sales:
Personal income increased 0.4% in February after increasing an upwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.3%) in January while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.3%
The increase was in-line with the 0.4% increase in aggregate earnings that was reported in the February employment report
Spending rose just 0.1% in February after declining 0.2% in January while the consensus expected an increase 0.2%
Core PCE Prices rose 0.1%, as expected
Pending home sales for February rose 3.1% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.4%
Tomorrow, the Case-Shiller 20-City Index for January will be released at 9:00 ET (Briefing.com consensus 4.6%) while March Chicago PMI (consensus 52.0) and March Consumer Confidence (expected 96.4) will be reported at 9:45 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.
Nasdaq Composite +4.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.3% YTD
S&P 500 +1.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.9% YTD
DJ30 +263.65 NASDAQ +56.22 SP500 +25.22 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1891/1.64 bln/886 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2297/659.3 mln/803 3:35 pm :
Heading into the close, WTI crude oil rallied sharply, rising over $1/barrel to around $48.69/barrel
By the time floor trading ended, May crude was down $0.22 at $48.65/barrel
May natural gas futures ended the day $0.01 higher at $2.65/MMBtu
Strength in the dollar index, helped weigh on precious metals all day
Apr gold ended the day $14.40 lower at $1185.50/oz, while May silver closed $0.40 to $16.68/oz
12:48 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
CTRX (59.9 +23.97%): To be acquired by UnitedHealth Group's (UNH) OptumRx business for $61.50 per share in cash.
ADI (64.58 +9.76%): Upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
NXPI (103.89 +3.97%): Favorable commentary on Friday's Mad Money.
Large Cap Losers
MYL (58.99 -4.28%): Announce the public offering of 35 mln ordinary shares held by subsidiaries of Abbott Laboratories (ABT).
MPEL (21.26 -2.05%): Downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill; tgt lowered to $21.40 from $26.40.
ALTR (42.38 -4.53%): Shares pulling back following a late-day surge on Friday on reports it may be acquired by Intel (INTC).
Mid Cap Gainers
ASPX (100.5 +41.73%): To be acquired by Teva Pharma (TEVA) for $101.00 per share in cash, representing ~$3.5 billion in equity value.
HZNP (25.18 +15.45%): Announced it will acquire Hyperion Therapeutics (HPTX) for $46.00 per share in cash or ~$1.1 bln on a fully diluted basis; expects combination to be immediately accretive to adjusted EPS.
DYN (30.57 +8.06%): Received final approval to acquire Duke Energy's (DUK) Midwest Commercial and Retail Business and Energy Capital Partners Asset Portfolios.
Mid Cap Losers
PLT (51.85 -3.9%): Lowered guidance for Q4 , sees Q4 (Mar) revs of $200 mln from $205-215 mln vs. $207.42 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees EPS below prior range of $0.67-0.75 vs $0.69 Capital IQ consensus.
LINE (11.06 -4.43%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
AEM (27.9 -3.29%): Miners under pressure with Gold futures declining $15 on the day to $1184/ozt. (GFI, AU, KGC also lower).
12:07 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (189) outpacing new lows (60) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAON, ABG, ACG, ADI, ADS, AIN, AIR, ALG, ALLE, ALOG, ALV, AMAG, AMOT, AMSF, AOS, ASPX, AYI, AZO, BANR, BFIN, BHLB, CAF, CASS, CATY, CBPO, CCK, CCL, CDXS, CEA, CFI, CHDN, CHMT, CI, CNC, CNK, CNXR, COKE, COL, COLM, CTB, CTRN, CTRX, CUK, CUNB, CW, DEI, DHI, DHIL, DK, DOOR, DOX, DRRX, DSPG, DVCR, EA, EBSB, EGBN, EIG, ESLT, ESSA, FBR, FCBC, FCHI, FDP, FFG, FIX, FLO, FRP, FRPT, FSFG, GB, GIS, GLOB, GMAN, GNC, GRUB, GRX, GY, HBNK, HBOS, HDS, HEI.A, HIFR, HLT, HMPR, HPTX, HRC, HW, HXL, HZNP, ICEL, IESC, IMH, INFN, INT, INUV, ITG, JFC, JRN, KAI, KFY, KMG, KMX, KNL, KONA, KSS, LARK, LEVY, LFC, LII, LNCE, LWAY, MDCA, MEI, MGLN, MHF, MKC, MKC.V, MLR, MOH, MRH, MSCI, MSG, MTH, MTS, MYRG, NCFT, NCLH, NVO, OLED, ORLY, PANW, PATK, PBF, PBH, PETS, PKI, PRFT, QUNR, RAD, RH, RHT, ROP, RYL, SABR, SBCF, SBH, SCHL, SCVL, SFNC, SHI, SHLM, SHOO, SIG, SJM, SOR, SPF, SPTN, SSP, STBZ, SUPN, SXT, TEVA, TGT, THOR, TIK, TJX, TOL, TRIL, TTC, TWOU, UAM, UFI, UNH, USAT, UWN, VASC, WAT, WBC, WBS, WDFC, WMS, WSO, WST, WU, WWAV, WWW, XL, ZNH
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACRX, ACTG, APOL, ARCW, ARLP, ATNY, AXPW, CANF, CHEK, CHOP, DARA, DCTH, DWSN, EGL, ERII, ESBK, ETRM, EVAR, FF, FREE, FUEL, FULL, GOL, IMUC, INTX, ITEK, JMI, MDW, MEIP, MIND, MSB, MTGE, MYOS, NBS, NCTY, NNVC, OIBR, OIBR.C, ONVO, OPXA, PFIN, PKX, PTNR, PTNT, RCPI, RDC, RLJE, RTGN, SA, SHOS, SMTX, TAOM, TDW, VALE, VALE.P, WIN, WRN, XPL, YOKU, YUMA
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: FXI, GXC, ITB, PFF
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: PALL, SGG, VNM
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