From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market extended its March decline on Tuesday, but was able to end the first quarter in the green. The S&P 500 (-0.9%) lost 1.7% for the month, but added 0.4% during the first quarter. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (-0.9%) outperformed, losing 1.3% in March to narrow its Q1 gain to 3.5%. For its part, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-1.1%) lost 2.0% in March and shed 0.3% in Q1.
Equity indices started the day amid broad pressure while the Dollar Index (98.31, +0.33) added to yesterday's gain. The S&P 500 tried climbing off its opening low, but daylong weakness among heavily-weighted sectors like health care (-1.5%), industrials (-1.0%), and energy (-0.9%) prevented the index from turning positive. On the flip side, the consumer discretionary sector (-0.5%) held a modest gain into the afternoon, but slipped into the red during the final hour.
Still, the discretionary sector ended ahead of its peers with homebuilders contributing to the relative strength after DR Horton (DHI 28.48, +0.47) was upgraded to 'Positive' from 'Neutral' at Susquehanna. Shares of DHI gained 1.7% while the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 28.23, -0.03) surrendered its gain ahead of the close. Similarly, apparel and luxury retailers outperformed with Movado (MOV 28.49, +2.86) jumping 11.2% in reaction to better than expected results.
Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, industrials (-1.0%) were pressured by large cap names like Boeing (BA 150.08, -2.62) and General Electric (GE 24.81, -0.31) while the energy sector (-0.9%) lagged amid weakness in crude oil. WTI crude fell 1.9% to $47.72/bbl and locked in a 12.7% decline for the quarter. For its part, the energy sector lost 3.6% in Q1.
Once again, dollar strength was a headwind for oil as the Dollar Index added 0.3% for the day and ended the month higher by 2.7%. Furthermore, the index spiked more than 8.0% during the first quarter.
Nine of ten sectors ended the month in negative territory while health care (-1.5%) gained 0.8% in March. Biotechnology helped the sector end the month ahead of its peers, but the group contributed to today's underperformance. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 343.48, -7.84) lost 2.2%, but still added 1.8% in March.
Treasuries posted slim gains after a slow daylong climb. The 10-yr yield slipped two basis points to 1.93%. For the month, the benchmark yield fell seven basis points from 2.00%.
Today's participation was better than average with roughly 950 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included Chicago PMI, Consumer Confidence, and Case-Shiller 20-City Index:
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased to 101.3 in March from an upwardly revised 98.8 (from 96.4) while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to hold at 96.4
Labor market improvements catalyzed the increase in confidence as initial claims levels returned to their sub-300,000 trend over the past couple of weeks
The Chicago PMI increased to 46.3 in March from 45.8 in February while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 52.0
Chicago PMI fell from 59.4 to 45.8 in February, which was immediately blamed on extreme weather conditions. As weather conditions returned to normal in March, manufacturing activities were expected to return to their previous expansionary cycle, but that did not happen
Conditions did improve modestly, but the overall index remained firmly in contraction for a second consecutive month, meaning the pullback that began in February was likely not the result of temporary weather problems
The Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for January rose 4.6%, which is what the Briefing.com consensus expected
The previous month's increase was revised to 4.4% from 4.5%
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the ADP Employment report for March (Briefing.com consensus 225K) will cross the wires at 8:15 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the March ISM Index (consensus 52.5) and the Construction Spending report for February (expected -0.3%).
Nasdaq Composite +3.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.0% YTD
S&P 500 +0.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.3% YTD
DJ30 -200.19 NASDAQ -46.56 SP500 -18.35 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1103/1.65 bln/1770 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1254/948.2 mln/1797 3:40 pm :
WTI crude oil pulled back below $48/barrel in afternoon trading
May crude ultimately closed $0.93 lower at $47.72/barrel
May natural gas lost $0.01 to $2.64/MMBtu
Copper futures were in the red all day and finished floor trading $0.04 lower at $2.74/lb
June gold fell $2.30 to $1183.20/oz, while May silver lost $0.08 to $16.60/oz
4:01 pm SunEdison and TerraForm Power (TERP) interconnect four solar farms in North Carolina totaling 26 Megawatts; TERP reiterates its 2015 guidance of $214 million of CAFD and dividends of $1.30 per share. (SUNE) : TerraForm Power (TERP) announced it acquired solar power plants comprising 168 MW from SunEdison (SUNE) during the first quarter of 2015. All of these power plants were on TerraForm Power's 3.4 GW call right list of SunEdison power plants which TerraForm Power has the option to purchase once completed.
Together, the plants are expected to contribute $17 million in cash available for distribution in 2015, and generate annualized unlevered CAFD of $24 million. Installation has been completed for all 168 MW in the portfolio. TERP has used its existing balance sheet liquidity to fund the acquisition of these call right power plants, and reiterates its 2015 guidance of $214 million of CAFD and dividends of $1.30 per share.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
CHTR (196.65 +7.23%): Announced it will acquire Bright House for ~$10.4 bln.
CBG (38.41 +5.49%): Announced it will acquire the Global WorkPlace Solutions business of Johnson Controls (JCI) for $1.475 bln.
UA (81.28 +1.72%): Price target raised to $85 from $82 at Deutsche Bank; firm has a Buy rating on the name.
Large Cap Losers
LRCX (69.62 -3.56%): Sector-wide weakness in semiconductors (ADI, AVGO, QRVO also lower).
CELG (116.18 -3.2%): Various Biotech pulling back following strong gains during yesterday's broad market rally (ALXN, BMRN, MDVN also lower).
Mid Cap Gainers
JCP (8.26 +5.49%): Price target raised to $14 from $13 at Piper Jaffray; firm maintains Overweight rating.
SFM (35.22 +4.98%): Added to Best Ideas List at Morgan Stanley; Overweight.
RCPT (165.67 +3.51%): Favorable commentary on Monday's Mad Money.
Mid Cap Losers
TCK (13.84 -9.4%): Issued statement responding to rumors, reported that it is not in discussions with Antofagasta (ANFGY) in relation to any form of transaction, and there are no other corporate developments that justify any significant movement in its share price.
ICPT (281 -5.04%): Announced a secondary offering of 1.2 mln shares of common stock; co expects gross proceeds of ~$338.4 mln.
11:38 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (134) outpacing new lows (63) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACG, AFAM, ALG, ALV, AMBA, AN, ANAC, AOS, ATRA, AXL, AZO, BCV, BFIN, BR, BSET, BUSE, CAMB, CBG, CBM, CBPO, CBPX, CCK, CCL, CDXS, CGNX, CHDN, CHTR, CIVI, CMT, CNK, COBK, CTB, CTRN, CUK, DHI, DK, DOX, DPLO, DST, ELGX, FBR, FCE.A, FCE.B, FDS, FICO, FLEX, FRPT, FWP, GCI, GIS, GMAN, GRUB, GRX, HIFR, HMN, HOLX, HPS, HXL, HZNP, IDI, INAP, INCR, INFN, INUV, ITG, JFC, JUNO, KAI, KAR, KMX, KNL, KSS, LAD, LBRDA, LBRDK, LBY, LEN, LEVY, LH, LII, MDCA, MERC, MGLN, MHF, MHK, MKC, MKC.V, MLR, MMS, MOH, MRH, MSO, MTH, MTN, MUSA, NICE, NLNK, NWHM, PBF, PNK, PRSC, Q, RAD, RALY, RARE, RCPT, REV, ROLL, RYL, SCVL, SHLM, SJM, SKX, SMMT, SPF, SPR, SPTN, STON, SXT, TBNK, TGT, TIK, TREX, TRIL, TUMI, TWOU, UHT, VIPS, VRSN, WAT, WBC, WMS, WU, ZNH
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACTG, ADEP, ADGE, AMDA, ARCI, ATNM, BOSC, CANF, CEL, CEQP, CHEK, CLTX, CNNX, DSX, DWSN, EGI, EGL, EGLE, EGY, EOX, FENG, FF, FHCO, FNJN, FSAM, GOL, IMUC, IRG, ITEK, MILL, MIND, MPV, MSB, OHRP, OIBR.C, PHIIK, PKX, PM, PRGN, PTNR, RXII, SA, SHOS, SIFY, SJR, SNTA, SONS, SSYS, STN, TAOM, TCPI, TDW, TGC, UCTT, VALE.P, VSCI, VTG, WHLR, WPT, WRN, XPL, YGE, YOKU
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: ITB, PFF, QAI, XHB, XRT
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: VXX
9:26 am TerraForm Power acquires 168 mw of solar power plants from SunEdison (SUNE); reiterates its 2015 guidance of $214 mln of CAFD and dividend of $1.30/share (TERP) : The acquired portfolio includes US distributed generation power plants representing 15 MW and eleven utility-scale, ground mount plants in the UK comprising 153 MW. Together, the plants are expected to contribute $17 million in cash available for distribution in 2015, and generate annualized unlevered CAFD of $24 million. Installation has been completed for all 168 MW in the portfolio. TerraForm Power has used its existing balance sheet liquidity to fund the acquisition of these call right power plants, and reiterates its 2015 guidance of $214 million of CAFD and dividends of $1.30 per share.
8:33 am Emulex and Avago Technologies Limited announce a $8 per share cash tender offer for Emulex corporation shares (ELX) :
Avago Technologies Limited (AVGO) and Emulex Corporation (ELX) announced that Emerald Merger Sub, Inc., a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Avago, plans to commence its $8.00 per share cash tender offer for all shares of Emulex on April 7, 2015. The tender offer is pursuant to a merger agreement among Avago Technologies Wireless Manufacturing Inc., a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Avago, Purchaser and Emulex which provides for Avago USA to acquire Emulex in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $606 million, or $609 million net of cash and debt acquired. It is expected that the transaction will close in the second half of Avago's fiscal year ending November 1, 2015.
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