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From Briefing.com: Oil prices were down and then they were up. Longer-dated Treasury prices were down and then they were up. Stock prices were down a smidgen early, then they were up for the majority of Tuesday's trade before some late selling drove them back into negative territory.

All in all, it was a fairly wishy-washy day for the capital markets, with the exception of the currency market where the dollar exhibited strength overnight and continued to strengthen during U.S. trading. It did so primarily at the expense of the euro and the yen whose weakness against the greenback drove a 1.2% gain in the U.S. Dollar Index.

The S&P 500 information technology sector for its part was up for most of the day, sporting modest gains, but followed form with the broader market and sold off late to finish with a loss (-0.2%) that was in-line with the S&P 500.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Adobe Systems (ADBE 75.69, -0.54, -0.7%): Announced the availability of its newest cloud offering, Adobe Document Cloud, a modern way to manage documents at home, in the office and across devices.

Altera (ALTR 41.34, +0.13, +0.3%): Company and TSMC (TSM 23.39, -0.15, -0.6%) announced that they have produced an innovative, UBM-free WLCSP technology that provides enhanced quality, reliability and integration for Altera's MAX 10 FPGA products.

Cisco (CSCO 27.40, +0.16, +0.7%): Announced new models of Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services, the industry's first threat-focused next-generation firewall, providing midsize companies, branch offices and industrial environments with the same advanced malware protection and threat detection capabilities deployed by large enterprise organizations.

Electronic Arts (EA 57.80, +0.68, +1.2%): Announced a new multi-title partnership along with Illumination Entertainment and Universal Partnerships & Licensing to bring the Minions and other characters from upcoming Illumination films to life in all-new mobile games.

FLIR Systems (FLIR 31.20, +0.06, +0.2%): Announced the availability of FLIR FX, a compact, versatile Wi-Fi-enabled HD camera that integrates unique cloud-based analytics and flexible application-specific mounts.

IBM (IBM 162.07, +0.03, +0.02%): Announced it has signed a multi-million dollar agreement with Coca-Cola Amatil to move its Asia Pacific customer planning and relationship management systems to the IBM Cloud.

Intel (INTC 31.25, +0.22, +0.7%): Will revise the presentation of its operating segments to reflect the combination of the PC Client Group and the Mobile and Communications Group to create the Client Computing Group. The new group was created to address all aspects of the client computing market segment and utilize Intel's intellectual property to offer compelling customer solutions. In addition, when the company reports its Q1 results on Tuesday April 14, it will also provide commentary on its goal to improve mobile profitability by $800 million in 2015.

Microsoft (MSFT 41.53, -0.01, -0.04%): Business Insider details news that Microsoft is developing a payment service.Elsewhere in the technology space:

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 2.69, -0.01, -0.4%): Announced that the AMD Embedded R-Series accelerated processing unit has been chosen to power the latest set-back-box (SBB) digital media players from Samsung Electronics

Arrow Electronics (ARW 60.68, -0.60, -1.0%): Announced a North American distribution agreement with Violin Memory (VMEM 3.79, -0.03, -0.8%), a global provider of flash storage platform solutions. The agreement will provide Arrow resellers with access to Violin's Flash Storage Platform solutions, all-flash product portfolio and enterprise data services. In turn, Violin Memory will leverage Arrow's sales support and technical expertise to continue its expansion into the all-flash array market in North America.

Twitter (TWTR 52.87, +2.03, +4.0%): Strength attributed to speculation that company has hired advisers to fend off a takeover.

Unisys (UIS 23.26, +0.04, +0.2%): Announced that the Forward! by Unisys Model 4150B server has been certified for operating the SAP HANA platform.

Analyst Action:

Paychex (PAYX 49.14, -0.08, -0.1%): target raised to $56 from $53 at Argus; maintain Buy

Salesforce.com (CRM 68.20, +0.26, +0.4%): target raised to $80 from $75 at Oppenheimer; maintain Outperform

Splunk (SPLK 62.10, +1.92, +3.2%): Piper Jaffray upgrades to Overweight from Neutral; target $77(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Microsoft)

4:15 pm : Equity indices halted their two-day win streak on Tuesday with the S&P 500 shedding 0.2%. The benchmark index surrendered its modest intraday gain during the final hour while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) settled just ahead.

The major averages climbed out of the gate and hit their session highs during the initial 90 minutes; however, relative weakness among influential sectors like consumer discretionary (-0.5%), financials (-0.4%), and consumer staples (-0.4%) prevented the market from eclipsing the early high. Instead, equities spent the afternoon in a sideways drift and slid into negative territory shortly ahead of the close.

Only two sectors finished the day in the green with health care (+0.3%) holding the lead into the afternoon. The countercyclical group underperformed yesterday, but today's strength was fueled by biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 341.92, +3.07) jumped 0.9% and helped the Nasdaq Composite display relative strength throughout the day.

In addition to receiving support from biotechnology, the tech-heavy Nasdaq benefited from strength among chipmakers. That being said, the PHLX Semiconductor Index ended just above its flat line after being up more than 0.8%. Similarly, the broader technology sector (-0.15%) settled just ahead of the broader market while its largest component-Apple (AAPL 126.01, -1.34)-lost 1.1%.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, energy (+0.3%) outperformed, narrowing its 2015 decline to 1.2% as crude oil soared 3.5% to $53.89/bbl. Strikingly, oil spent the day in a steady climb even as the Dollar Index (97.95, +1.18) jumped 1.2%. Most notably, the greenback rallied 1.1% against the euro, sending the single currency to 1.0815.

Also of note, the industrial sector (-0.1%) could not stay out of the red, but that masked relative strength among transport stocks after FedEx (FDX 171.16, +4.49) announced it will acquire TNT Express (TNTEY 8.26, +1.71) for $4.8 billion. The Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 0.5% while FedEx spiked 2.7%, helping the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.03%) finish ahead of other indices.

On the downside, the consumer discretionary sector (-0.5%) was the weakest performer among cyclical groups. Homebuilders struggled throughout the day while retail names slumped during the afternoon. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 28.01, -0.50) lost 1.8% while SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 100.63, -0.88) settled lower by 0.9%.

Treasuries retreated throughout the morning, but backtracked from their lows throughout the afternoon. The benchmark 10-yr yield ticked down one basis point to 1.89%.

Today's participation was well below average with fewer than 650 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey and Consumer Credit:


The February Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 5.133 million from a revised rate of 4.965 million (from 4.998 million)
The Consumer Credit report for February was showed an increase of $15.50 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of $12.50 billion
The prior month's credit growth was revised to $10.80 billion from $11.60 billion

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET while the FOMC minutes from the latest policy meeting will be released at 14:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +3.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.0% YTD
S&P 500 +0.9 YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.3% YTD

DJ30 -5.43 NASDAQ -7.08 SP500 -4.29 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1324/1.46 bln/1483 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1359/647.2 mln/1710
3:45 pm :

Oil futures extended gains to above $54/barrel in afternoon trading activity
May crude ultimately closed $1.85 higher at $53.96/barrel.
may natural gas gained $0.03 to $2.68/MMBtu today.
Strength in the dollar index continued to weigh on select commodities such as gold and silver
June gold finished today's session -$8.10 to $1210.60/oz, while May silver closed $0.27 at $16.84/oz

12:40 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

SHPG (239.38 +4.16%): Announced a clear regulatory path forward for SHP465, an investigational treatment for adults with ADHD.
RYAAY (66.27 +3.67%): Reported March Traffic grew 28% to 6.67 mln customers; upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
FDX (171.33 +2.8%): Announced an offer to acquire Dutch pack delivery service TNT Express (TNTEY) for $4.8 bln.

Large Cap Losers

VTR (75.05 -2.41%): Sector wide weakness in REITs (GGP, PLD, VNO also lower).
GM (36.06 -1.65%): Canada GEN Investment Corporation filed to sell ~73.4 mln shares of General Motors common stock in an unregistered block trade.

Mid Cap Gainers

IGT (20.01 +13.15%): GTECH (GTKYY) And International Game Technology (IGT) announce completion of their combination; today marks first day trading under the unified IGT ticker.
CLVS (75.15 +9.48%): Received breakthrough therapy designation for Rucaparib for monotherapy treatment of advanced ovarian cancer in patients with BRCA-mutated tumors.
AXTA (30.53 +7.77%): Announced that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement to purchase 20 mln shares of Axalta stock from The Carlyle Group (CG) at $28.00 per share.

Mid Cap Losers

WWD (48.57 -5.54%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
ATHN (116.42 -4.7%): Shares under pressure after David Einhorn reiterated his bear case on Athena.
GEL (44.81 -4.56%): Announced and priced a 4 mln common unit public offering at $44.42/unit.

11:33 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (129) outpacing new lows (26) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABG, ACH, ACN, ACWI, ADXS, AEO, AFAM, AGO, AHL, AHS, ALR, ANAC, ANSS, AOS, ATRO, AXTA, BAM, BAMM, BCV, BIO, BIP, BLKB, BLMT, BONA, CAF, CBPX, CBZ, CCL, CDXS, CEA, CEB, CFI, CFRX, CGNX, CHA, CI, CIZ, CMN, CNC, CRRC, CSF, CSII, CTB, CUK, CWST, CYNO, DEG, DKS, DRA, DST, DTSI, DXJS, DYAX, EGRX, ELNK, ELOS, EPAM, ERI, EVHC, FCHI, FICO, FMD, FMS, FNRG, FRP, FRPT, FSRV, GILT, GRX, HBIO, HDS, HMN, HNI, HOFT, HOLX, HPI, HTLF, ICLN, INFA, ING, INSM, INUV, IPXL, JOF, KAI, KNL, KTWO, LEVY, LFC, M, MKC, MKC.V, MLR, MMS, MNTA, MOH, MRGE, NAT, NRZ, NYCB, OMAM, PAG, PRFZ, RMD, ROL, RXDX, SHI, SIGM, SIX, SMED, SPNS, SXT, SYKE, TA, TECH, TEVA, TGT, TREE, TRI, TXT, UTHR, VLGEA, WAT, WDFC, XL, XRM, YZC, ZBRA, ZNH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AXPW, BANX, BIOD, CACQ, EAC, ELTK, IEC, IGT, IKAN, IMUC, ITEK, KCAP, MYOS, OHRP, PRGX, RESN, SHOS, SPDC, STRM, TACT, THTI, TKC, TSU, VPCO, VRS, XGTI

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: EWJ, FXI, GXC, HAO, TAN

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: VXX

9:17 am Flextronics announces partnership withSunedison (SUNE) to manufacture its solar modules in Mexico (FLEX) : Flextronics will begin the full volume manufacturing in the first quarter of calendar 2015 at its center of excellence for solar module manufacturing facility in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

8:02 am Axcelis Tech announces follow on 'Purion Xe' high energy implanter order from 300mm foundry (ACLS) :

Co announced that it has received a follow on order for the Purion XE single wafer, high energy implanter. The system will support a capacity expansion at the customer's new 300mm foundry in Asia. The system is scheduled to ship in the second quarter.