Sector Investing

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: There was some early skittishness in the stock market that was attributed to concerns about Greece announcing it is going to refrain from offering the Eurogroup new reform proposals this week. The early weakness proved to be short-lived, however, as the buy-the-dip crowd emerged again, offering support at the lower bound of the 2080-2120 range the S&P 500 has been confined to mostly since early April.

Every sector finished higher in what was a deliberate buying effort that saw the indices creep higher throughout the day and end the session with gains between 0.5% and 0.7%.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.6%) performed in-line with the broader market.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Adobe Systems (ADBE 79.94, +1.04, +1.3%): After Tuesday's close, reported Q2 (May) earnings of $0.48 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 8.8% year/year to $1.16 bln, meeting estimates. For Q3, sees EPS of $0.45-0.51, excluding non-recurring items, which is below analysts' average estimate, and revenues of $1.175-1.225 bln. For FY15, sees EPS of $2.05, excluding non-recurring items, which is three cents shy of expectations, and revenues of $4.845 bln. Separately, company launched Adobe Stock, the industry's first stock content service to be integrated directly into the content creation process and the tools creatives use every day. Available through Adobe Creative Cloud, this new service radically simplifies buying and using stock content, including photos, illustrations and graphics.

Apple (AAPL): FT details news that Apple plans to hire journalists for news app

Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH 62.72, -0.26, -0.4%): Announced that it has partnered with NTUC FairPrice, a major supermarket retailer in Singapore, to digitally transform its business and provide customers with a seamless multichannel shopping experience.

IBM (IBM 166.84, +0.58, +0.4%): Announced that it has opened its first cloud data center in Italy MasterCard (MA 94.15, +0.85, +0.9%): Filed mixed securities shelf offering for an undisclosed amount

Microchip Technology (MCHP 47.74, +0.15, +0.3%): Announced that Kia Motors Corporation is enriching its infotainment system with smart-phone connectivity in its flagship Kia K900 luxury sedan, using Microchip's OS81110 Intelligent Network Interface Controller

Yahoo (YHOO 40.63, +0.16, +0.4%): Marissa Mayer on BloombergTV said Yahoo is proceeding with the Alibaba (BABA 86.09, -0.03, -0.03%) spinoff as planned based on its understanding of a few key things: The IRS proposed changes do not apply to previously-approved rulings It doesn't seem that these proposed IRS changes are contemplating changing the applicable law; rather they are focused on the processes around these situations They were reassured that this was nothing specific to YHOO or in response to this transaction Elsewhere in the technology space:

Amazon.com (AMZN 427.76, +3.59, +0.9%): Amazon reportedly is looking in to crowd-sourced delivery. The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon is testing an app that would pay people to deliver packages.

Applied Micro (AMCC 7.07, +0.08, +1.1%): TheDeal.com ran an article suggesting the addition of long-time shareholder Christopher Zepf of Kingdom Ridge Capital to the Board of Directors raises the prospect of the company being more open to being acquired. The Deal said industry sources indicated Applied Micro could be an especially appealing target for Qualcomm (QCOM 66.46, -0.17, -0.3%).

Arrow Electronics (ARW 59.03, +0.34, +0.6%): Announced it has been selected as a global distribution partner for Macronix International, a provider of non-volatile memory semiconductor solutions.

Baidu.com (BIDU 205.00, -0.73, -0.4%): iQIYI, an independently operated subsidiary of Baidu, announced that the company's paid streaming subscribers have reached five million as of June 15, 2015, a 765% annual increase.

Ciena (CIEN 25.61, -0.29, -1.1%): Company and Cyan (CYNI 5.66, -0.04, -0.7%) announced that early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the "HSR Act") has been granted, effective June 15, 2015, for Ciena's planned acquisition of Cyan. The parties continue to expect that this transaction will close during the third quarter of calendar year 2015.

Dot Hill Systems (HILL 7.19, +0.01, +0.1%): Announced that it has been awarded a patent for its AssuredSAN hybrid array method of protecting metadata.

Nokia (NOK 7.14, +0.13, +1.9%): LG Electronics has agreed to take a royalty-bearing smartphone patent license from Nokia Technologies. The Korean company is the latest of more than 60 licensees for Nokia's 2G, 3G and 4G mobile communication technologies and the first major smartphone manufacturer to join the licensing program since Nokia divested its Devices & Services business to Microsoft in 2014. The detailed royalty payment obligations will be subject to commercial arbitration, expected to conclude within a 1-2 year timeframe.

SAP SE (SAP 72.96, +0.49, +0.7%): Unveiled innovations to its analytics portfolio with the 2.2 version of SAP Predictive Analytics software, now generally available, which extends the power of predictive analytics by enabling customers to get predictive insights on ultra-wide datasets to help make fast and accurate predictions in real time.

Analyst Action:

Corning (GLW 20.90, +0.52, +2.6%): upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets

Micron (MU 24.24, unch, 0.00%): target lowered to $37 from $39 at Mizuho

Twitter (TWTR 34.82, +0.15, +0.4%): MKM Partners downgrades to Neutral from Buy; target to $39 from $57

Zebra Tech (ZBRA 113.68, -0.58, -0.5%): Initiated with a Neutral at Robert W. Baird; target $125
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo)

4:14 pm Adobe Systems beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY15 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (ADBE) : Reports Q2 (May) earnings of $0.48 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.45; revenues rose 8.8% year/year to $1.16 bln vs the $1.16 bln consensus. Digital Media Annualized Recurring Revenue grew to $2.35 billion exiting the quarter, driven by an increase in Creative ARR of $230 million to $2.02 billion.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.45-0.51, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.54 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $1.175-1.225 bln vs. $1.24 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Q3 Guidance: Expect Digital Media segment revenue to grow on a sequential basis. Expect Adobe Marketing Cloud revenue to grow approximately 21% on a YoY basisCo issues downside guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $2.05, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.08 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $4.845 bln vs. $4.88 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. FY15 Guidance: Expect Digital Media ARR of ~$2.925 billion by FY15 year-end. Expect Adobe Marketing Cloud annual bookings growth of ~30%. Expect Adobe Marketing Cloud second half FY15 YoY revenue growth of ~24%.

4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Tuesday session on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 adding 0.6%. In addition to posting a solid gain, the benchmark index reclaimed its 100-day moving average (2,089) after settling below that mark on Monday.

Equity indices began the day near their flat lines and rallied throughout the day, unperturbed by the lack of progress between Greece and its creditors. Furthermore, the rhetoric in Athens intensified with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras saying the International Monetary Fund bears "criminal" responsibility for the current state of the Greek economy. Mr. Tsipras' remarks were made in front of the Greek parliament with the premier adding that another round of elections is not in the cards.

Similar to U.S. equities, European stocks were able to rally despite the lack of positive developments. Meanwhile, Germany's 10-yr bund climbed, sending its yield lower by three basis points to 0.80% while the U.S. 10-yr note also rallied with its yield slipping four basis points to 2.32%.

All ten sectors posted gains with consumer staples (+1.1%) leading the advance. The sector rebounded from yesterday's underperformance amid broad strength while other countercyclical groups ended mixed with respect to the broader market. Similar to consumer staples, the telecom services sector (+0.8%) outperformed while health care (+0.5%) and utilities (+0.4%) settled behind the broader market.

The health care sector ended a bit behind the S&P 500 with biotechnology contributing to the underperformance. Still, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 364.38, +0.70) added 0.2%.

Moving to the cyclical side, the top-weighted technology sector (+0.6%) outperformed throughout the session while three of the remaining five growth-sensitive groups also displayed relative strength. The energy sector (+0.8%) rallied alongside crude oil, which rose 0.8% to $60.00/bbl.

Also of note, the industrial sector (+0.1%) turned positive during the late afternoon, but still ended behind the remaining nine sectors as transport stocks weighed. The Dow Jones Transportation Average lost 0.3%, extending this week's decline to 0.8%. United Continental (UAL 51.23, -1.02) was the weakest performer, falling 2.0%, while Con-way (CNW 40.30, -0.96) lost 1.6% after peer Oshkosh (OSK 46.71, -3.59) lowered its guidance.

Once again, today's participation was below average with roughly 640 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Housing Starts and Building Permits:


Housing starts declined 11.1% in May to 1.036 million from an upwardly revised 1.165 million (from 1.135 million) in April while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 1.100 million
In April, housing starts rose 22.1%, which was a historic, multi-decade high. It was only natural for housing starts to pull back following such a large increase
Even after the decline, May starts were above Q1 averages (978,000) and in-line with trends from Q4 2014 (1.055 million)
Building permits rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.275 million in May from a revised 1.140 million for April (from 1.143 million) while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 1.100 million

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

Nasdaq Composite +6.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +5.4% YTD
S&P 500 +1.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.5% YTD

DJ30 +113.31 NASDAQ +25.58 SP500 +11.86 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1681/1.55 bln/1177 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1964/637.9 mln/1111 3:40 pm :

Following a +5% run higher yesterday, natural gas futures ended the day on a dull note
July nat gas futures closed floor trading flat at $2.89/MMBtu
Overall, in the energy space, the tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico is providing some uncertainty
This helped oil futures today, which rose modestly
July crude oil gained $0.45 at $60.00/barrel
Metals fell today as the dollar index remained higher
Aug gold lost $4.50 to $1181.10/oz, while July silver fell $0.11 at $15.97/oz
July copper declined $0.04 today to $2.61/lb

2:27 pm Solar3D receives $3 mln via two new agricultural solar contracts (SLTD) : Co announced today that it has just secured a $2 mln contract for the design and installation of an agricultural solar project for Payne Brothers Ranches in Woodland, California; and an approximately $1 mln contract to design and install a photovoltaic system for a large rice farm based in Pleasant Grove, California.

12:00 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (157) outpacing new lows (123) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACET, ACGL, ACUR, ADAP, ADMS, AET, AGEN, AHS, ALDR, ALN, AMED, AMSG, AMWD, ANN, ANTH, APOG, ASB, ATAI, AVHI, BBT, BHBK, BKYF, BLKB, BOH, BOOT, BSTC, CBM, CBSH, CDK, CHE, CLBH, CNC, CNOB, CNR, COF, COLB, COT, COTY, CPIX, CRI, CYBR, CYNI, CYT, CZFC, DST, EGBN, EGRX, ENFC, ENSG, ENTG, ESNT, ESXB, FCAP, FCB, FCCY, FCSC, FEYE, FLXS, FNB, FRSH, FTNT, GEVA, GIL, GRBK, GTT, HBK, HBOS, HELE, HF, HNT, HRTX, IBKR, IMAX, IMPV, INDB, INFN, INGN, INSY, IXYS, KALU, KFY, KYTH, LBY, LGF, LMAT, LSBK, LTXB, MATW, MLAB, MNE, MNTA, MOFG, MSBF, MSFG, MTG, MXL, MYCC, NBIX, NHTC, NLS, NPTN, NTES, NYCB, OMCL, OPB, PANW, PBCT, PBH, PBIP, PCTY, PFPT, PGTI, PLMT, POZN, PRTA, PSCH, PSCT, QABA, QADA, RDN, RELY, RGA, RMTI, RNG, ROCK, ROL, RPTP, SBNY, SC, SGU, SHOP, SIMO, SOHO, SP, SPB, SPU, SPWH, SSNI, STI, SUSQ, TCB, TCX, TFSL, TILE, TPX, TRAK, UCBI, UEPS, UMPQ, VDSI, WAFD, WBS, WIBC, WMS, WTFC, XNCR, ZIXI

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, AAVL, ACP, ADAT, AHC, APOL, ARLP, AUMN, AUY, BDN, BGR, BJZ, BKH, BOI, BSMX, BTU, CBK, CCG, CHEK, CLD, CNP, CNX, CRT, CRVP, CSTM, CTP, CVSL, CVX, DDD, DDR, DELT, DNI, DPG, DXM, EE, EGO, EOD, ERC, FCEL, FGB, FMY, FSC, FSNN, FSTR, GDP, GFI, GG, GGB, GHM, GNL, GOGL, GTY, HGT, HIE, HOV, HTGC, HTR, IEP, IO, IRT, ISD, ISH, JRI, KEM, KODK, LF, LFL, LOR, LPL, LXP, MEIP, MFV, MGF, MHGC, MHR, MIN, MNR, MTR, NETE, NFJ, NGD, NOR, NSM, NWPX, NWS, NWSA, OAKS, OKS, ONDK, ORN, PFIE, PHT, PKX, PLTM, PTNR, RAS, RESN, RITT, RLJE, SBGL, SBLK, SINO, SIR, SJI, SNR, SPH, SRC, SRF, SRSC, STDY, SVBL, SXC, SXCP, SYNL, TRX, TUTI, TWTR, VXUP, WHLR, WLT, YUMA, ZQK, ZSAN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IHF, KBE, KRE

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: KOL, PPLT, SGG

9:03 am JinkoSolar Holding enters into a Memorandum of Understanding with Andalay Solar (JKS) : Co has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Andalay Solar, whereby JinkoSolar intends to license and manufacture solar modules using Andalay's Instant Connectframe technology. JinkoSolar is targeting to offer the new Jinko-branded modules in the second half of the year. JinkoSolar will be offering a 60 cell polycrystalline solution equipped with a black Andalay frame, which has passed the UL1703 Type 1 Fire Classification.

AEHR +3.2% (announced order for ABTS burn-in and test system from mobile chipset manufacturer in China)