From Briefing.com: The equity markets again spent most of the morning session in the red, as the People's Bank of China held a press conference in the overnight session to attempt to calm investors of the uncertainty in the yuan adjustments. Officials noted that the currency modification was 'almost complete' as Asian markets rebounded in reaction to the quelling of the rumors that of a 10.0% devaluation was afoot.
US indices spent most of the morning session below flat lines, as pressure among commodities - particularly oil - held us below yesterday's closing values. However, all three major indices rebounded and by midday were enjoying healthy gains. Tech mirrored the broader market movements today as the SPDR Technology ETF (XLK 42.21, -0.12 -0.28%) spent the morning session in the red and rebounded midday. At the end of the session, we were split, as the Dow Jones (17408.25, +5.74, +0.03%) closed higher, the Nasdaq Composite ended today's session below flat lines (5033.56, -10.83 -0.21%) and the S&P 500 also ended lower on the session (2083.39, -2.66 -0.13%).
For its part, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector's (704.96, -1.70 -0.24%) trading session shaped up much like that of the broader market. Shares of Yahoo! (YHOO 35.94, +1.45 +4.20%) enjoyed a modest rebound today on the back of yesterday's losses, while notable laggards in the sector included ***.
Sector component Cisco (CSCO 28.70, +0.80 +2.87%) reported earnings last night, while Applied Materials (AMAT 17.06, -0.24 -1.39%) is set to report tonight.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Western Digital (WDC 81.57, -1.59 -1.91%) announced the retirement of Chairman Tom Pardun, with former Chairman Matthew Massengill appointed as his successor.
Qualcomm (QCOM 62.03, -0.55 -0.88%) has completed its acquisition of CSR plc (CSRE). The acquisition, which was completed at an enterprise value of approximately $2.2 billion ($2.4 billion equity value), complements the company's current offerings by adding a compelling portfolio of new products, sales channels and a large number of customers in the areas of IoE and automotive - both key growth priorities for Qualcomm Technologies.
IBM (IBM 155.07, -1.09 -0.70%) announced that its cloud-based MaaS360 platform is the first Enterprise Mobility Management solution to receive a Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) from the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Joint Authorization Board (JAB).
Akamai (AKAM 73.84, -0.08 -0.11%) received a favorable court ruling in the patent suit with Limelight Networks (LLNW 2.67, -0.59 -18.10%).
Elsewhere in the tech space:
Planar Systems (PLNR 6.13, +1.48 +31.83%) has entered into a merger agreement with Leyard Optoelectronic in which Leyard would acquire the company for $6.58 per share, valuing PLNR at $156.8 million. Closing of the acquisition, which is subject to specified conditions, is expected to occur in the fourth calendar quarter of 2015.
One Horizon (OHGI 1.68, +0.29 +21.73%) signed an agreement to be the exclusive supplier of Voice over IP services to KeyIdea Information Technology Co., Ltd, a renowned manufacturer of satellite equipment in China. KeyIdea will commence operations of their new maritime satellite service in the fourth quarter of 2015 and will supply their crew-calling services exclusively using the Aishuo platform.
SunEdison (SUNE 14.99, +0.74 +5.19%) announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Dominion (D 74.93, +0.44 +0.59%) establishing a joint venture (JV) for Four Brothers, a 420 megawatt (MW) DC, or 320 megawatt AC, solar project in Utah, developed by the company. The project is now under construction and fully financed with an expected commercial operation date of mid-2016. D will invest about $500 million to acquire 50% of the cash equity and 99% of the tax equity in Four Brothers, including funding of construction. SUNE will contribute the remaining portion of the capital required to complete the project, which it has fully financed through a $150 million four-year term loan with Deutsche Bank.
Sprint (S 3.88, 0.00 0.00%) announced Softbank's (SFTBY 30.15, -0.17 -0.58%) wholly owned US subsidiary, Galaxy Investment Holdings, acquired 22,873,301 shares at a weighted average price of $3.80.
Coupons.com (COUP 9.69, +0.24 +2.54%) announced Jennifer Ceran has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer, effective September 8, 2015. Ceran comes to COUP from Box, Inc., (BOX 14.56, +0.19 +1.32%) where she served as Vice President of Finance for the cloud-based, enterprise content management company.
Notable tech names with quarterly results:
Cisco (CSCO 28.70, +0.80 +2.87%) reported Q4 earnings of $0.59 per share on revenues which rose 3.9% year/year to $12.84 billion. Also issued in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.55-0.57 and sees Q1 revenues of +2-4% to ~$12.49-12.73 billion.
Luxoft (LXFT 67.57, +6.03 +9.80%) reported Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.61 per share on revenues which rose 31.9% year/year to $148.1 million; core verticals continued to produce healthy annual growth with financial services posting 38% growth, technology posting 59% growth, telecom posting 21% growth, and automotive and transport posting 24% growth. Also raised guidance for FY16, sees EPS to at least $2.55 from at least $2.52 on revenues to at least $640.3 million.
Notable earnings out tonight after the close: AMAT -1.45%, AZPN +0.79%, GLOB +2.22%, KING -2.75%, PCTY +5.16%, ANY -15.08%, YY -0.51%
Analyst actions:
YHOO was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Bernstein, MSFT was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel, QLIK was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank; PLNR was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Lake Street
4:09 pm Applied Materials reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides OctQ EPS below consensus, revs in-line (AMAT) : Reports Q3 (Jul) earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.33; revenues rose 9.9% year/year to $2.49 bln vs the $2.54 bln consensus. For Q4 (Oct), sees EPS of $0.27-0.31, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.33 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 rev growth to be flat to +7% sequentially which computes as $2.49-2.66 bln vs. $2.52 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Non-GAAP operating margin came in at 20.8% vs 21.1% in the prior year period and 19.5% in Q2 (Apr).
"Applied is focused on profitable growth and the results show in our third- quarter performance when we delivered our highest ever 300mm semiconductor equipment orders and record revenue in services...Our highly differentiated materials engineering products help customers accelerate major technology inflections including 3D NAND, and this quarter we generated the highest flash memory orders in our history."
4:05 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday session on a modestly lower note after spending some time on both sides of the unchanged level. The S&P 500 shed 0.1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a slight gain (+0.03%).
Before delving into the details of today's session, it is worth noting that the People's Bank of China tried to calm investor fears during overnight action by holding a press conference. During that conference, bank officials said the yuan adjustment "is almost complete" and called the rumors of a 10.0% devaluation "nonsense." Markets across Asia posted gains while European indices ended mostly higher.
Once the U.S. session got going, stocks slipped from their opening levels, but the early weakness was largely isolated to the energy sector (-1.4%), which retreated alongside crude oil. The energy component faced selling pressure throughout the day, notching a fresh six-year low under $42.00/bbl during intraday action before inching up to settle lower by 2.3% at $42.25/bbl.
The daylong weakness in the energy sector was not enough to keep the market in negative territory as the four largest sectors displayed modest strength at the start and helped the market climb out of the red; however, only two groups were still in the green once the closing bell rang. The consumer discretionary sector (+0.6%) and financials (+0.3%) held their gains throughout the day while technology (-0.2%), and health care (-0.2%) slipped ahead of the close.
Notably, the discretionary sector received broad support from automakers, homebuilders, and retailers after the Retail Sales report for July beat expectations. On the earnings front, News Corp (NWSA 15.19, +1.07) spiked 7.6% after reporting a two-cent beat on light revenue while other media names ended mixed. Meanwhile, the homebuilder group displayed notable strength with iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 28.66, +0.43) spiking 1.5%. Despite today's outperformance, the discretionary sector remains lower by 2.4% so far in August, which puts the group behind the other nine sectors.
Elsewhere, financials (+0.3%) displayed relative strength throughout the session as the sector rebounded from yesterday's underperformance. Heavyweights like Citigroup (C 57.30, +0.39) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 67.55, +0.31) gained near 0.6% apiece while the sector narrowed its week-to-date loss to 0.4%.
Also of note, the top-weighted technology sector (-0.2%) settled in-line with the market while chipmakers struggled, evidenced by a 1.0% decline in PHLX Semiconductor Index. Advanced Micro (AMD 1.79, -0.11) was a clear soft spot in the chipmaker index as the stock fell 5.8%.
As for large cap tech names, Cisco Systems (CSCO 28.70, +0.80) spiked 2.9% after beating bottom-line estimates on light revenue while other influential components ended in mixed fashion.
Treasuries retreated during overnight action and they added to their losses during the session. The benchmark 10-yr yield rose six basis points to 2.13%.
Today's participation was a bit below recent averages as 750 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included Initial Claims, Retail Sales, Import/Export Prices, and Business Inventories:
Weekly initial claims increased to 274,000 from a downwardly revised 269,000 (from 270,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 271,000
The four-week moving average fell to 266,250 from 268,000, representing the lowest level since April 2000, when it also reached 266,250
Continuing claims increased to 2.273 million from an upwardly revised 2.258 million (from 2.255 million) while the consensus expected a decline to 2.247 million
Retail sales increased 0.6% in July while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.5%
An upward revision lifted June sales to the flat line from -0.3%
Motor vehicle demand played a large part in the increase in sales growth as motor vehicle manufacturers reported unit sales increased to 17.6 million SAAR in July from 17.0 million SAAR in June. That gain pushed up sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers by 1.4% after declining 1.5% in May
Excluding autos, retail sales increased 0.4% in July after increasing an upwardly revised 0.4% (from -0.1%) in June
Export prices, excluding agriculture, decreased 0.4% in July after decreasing 0.1% in the prior reading
Excluding oil, import prices decreased 0.3%, which followed last month's decrease of 0.2%
Business inventories increased 0.8% in June after an unrevised 0.3% gain in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.3%
The inventory changes from manufacturers (0.6%) and merchant wholesalers (0.9%) were known prior to the release. The only new information was that retailer inventories increased 0.9% in June after a 0.2% gain in May
Retailer inventory growth was strong across the board as all sectors reported growth above 0.5%, with the largest gains coming from motor vehicles (1.4%), building materials (1.0%), and furniture (0.9%)
Tomorrow, July PPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%) will be reported at 8:30 ET while July Industrial Production (consensus 0.3%) and Capacity Utilization (expected 78.0) will both be released at 9:15 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for August (expected 93.7).
Nasdaq Composite +6.3% YTD
S&P 500 +1.2% YTD
Russell 2000 UNCH YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.3% YTD
DJ30 +5.74 NASDAQ -10.83 SP500 -2.66 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1259/1.52 bln/1595 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1215/747.8 mln/1836
3:45 pm :
The big story was in oil today.
WTI crude oil futures broke below the widely watched Mar. 2015 multi-year low print of $42.03 in the continuous futures contract.
At the end of today's pit trading session, Front-month Sept WTI crude oil closed -2.3% at $42.25/barrel.
In other energy, Sept nat gas dropped 5% to end at $2.79/MMBtu.
Precious metals pulled back some today, while copper ended unchanged at $2.35/lb
Dec gold slipped -0.7% at $1115.70/oz, while Sept declined -0.5% at $15.40/oz
11:41 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (168) outpacing new highs (67) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAOI, AAP, ABMD, AFG, AIZ, ALDW, ALJ, ALR, AVOL, AZO, BLKB, BR, BZC, CACB, CARA, CENT, CHMA, CINF, CIVI, CRH, DEI, DHI, DXCM, EBS, EFSC, ELLO, EROS, EXR, FBHS, FIS, FLO, FORTY, GPN, GRBK, HCKT, HD, HFC, HIG, IMPR, INGR, LGIH, LII, LXFT, MLM, MLVF, MRKT, NVR, OCR, ORLY, PBF, PFG, PPBI, PRA, PSA, RCPT, SRCL, STZ, TOWN, TSO, ULTI, USG, VLO, VNTV, W, WSM, XL, XRAY
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABEV, AEG, AETI, AGM, AMH, AP, ARCO, ARGS, ATI, AVAL, AVH, AVL, AXLL, BAP, BBD, BBDO, BGMD, BIOS, BIT, BITA, BLX, BOI, BOOM, BRS, BTE, CADC, CBD, CEE, CELP, CH, CJES, CKX, CMLS, CNIT, CPA, CPL, CRD.A, CRD.B, CSPI, CTRE, CXW, DAEG, DHF, DLB, DPW, DRAM, DTEA, DXPE, EAD, EBR, EDD, EDF, EDI, EFF, ELP, EMD, EMES, ENSV, ERC, EXAC, EXAR, FBZ, FCFS, FELP, FF, FMC, GDF, GGB, GHI, GLF, GLRI, GMCR, GOGL, GRAM, GRR, GSM, HBM, HHY, HIO, HLX, HUN, HWCC, HYB, HYT, IAE, ICA, IEP, IHD, IID, IKNX, IO, IPDN, ISIG, ITUB, IVH, JASN, JFR, JGH, KEX, KRO, KST, KVHI, LDF, LFL, MEMP, MIL, MJN, MOG.B, MRLN, NAVI, NCS, NDRO, NHLD, NRF, NRX, NTN, NTRA, OCAT, ONE, OXGN, PCM, PCN, PFN, PKO, PKX, PMCS, POT, PRXI, PSIX, PWE, RADA, RCMT, RELL, REXI, SBS, SFXE, SGNT, SID, SPP, STAR, SXC, SXE, TBBK, TG, THW, TIVO, TKC, TKF, TRCO, TRMB, TROX, TRT, TSU, TTM, TWIN, TWN, UNXL, VEDL, VIV, WCC, WEA, WFM, WLFC, WSCI, XHR, XONE, YNDX, ZA
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: EIS, XHB
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, DBC, DJP, ECH, ENZL, EPU, EWZ, GSG, ILF, OIL, USO
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