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From Briefing.com: The markets ended the session in the red, in spite of opening gains which lasted until about midday. The markets ended with the Nasdaq Composite least in the red at -55.40 points to 4,756.53. The S&P 500 followed down 27.37 points to 1,942.04 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the worst performer, ending Wednesday trade down 239.11 points to 16,253.57. The three major indices all but erased yesterday's gains, as the Nasdaq reclaimed last week's levels, and the Dow and S&P 500 returned to the low end of yesterday's range. The last hour of trading saw heavy selling, as all three major indices surrendered early gains to finish near the lows of the day.

Also impacting trading today was the July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey which showed an increase in openings to 5.753 million from 5.323 million.

In terms of technology, it begins and ends with Apple (AAPL 110.15, -2.16) today, as the tech-giant hosted the all-important Fall update to an array of product lines. Most notably, AAPL announced a new version of the immensely popular iPhone line, introduced new iPad updates, unveiled an update to Apple TV, and an updated to the Apple Watch OS. Investor sentiment during the conference played out much like the broader market played out today. At the start of the conference, shares ticked to session highs, but gains were quickly given up as the buying gave way to what can only be explained as muted impressions.

Media coverage of the AAPL event was difficult to get away from, but there were other moves in technology today that were worth noting. For example, RBC Capital Markets was out mixed on communication names Finisar (FNSR 14.75, -0.62), Lumentum (LITE 18.79, +1.02) and Ciena (CIEN 22.71, -0.23). The firm posted an upgraded to CIEN to Outperform while downgrading both LITE and FNSR to Sector Perform citing limited catalysts and the distancing of possible consolidation as reasons for the move to the sidelines.

Also in the news today was the IRS' rejection of Yahoo!'s (YHOO 31.52, +0.62) tax-free spinoff of the company's Alibaba (BABA 64.04, +3.13) stake. The regulatory body noted that it has not concluded that the proposed spinoff was taxable and therefore was not ruling adversely on the request. Subsequently, certain analysts lowered their respective targets on the name citing uncertainty around the future of the spinoff and the current ruling.

For its part, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (664.11, -9.00) traded most of the day in the green, only to close as the broader market did - in the red. Components FB +1.02%, STX +0.99% led the early morning action to the upside, while names like MU -3.31%, MA -3.15%, QRVO -2.82%, FSLR -2.81%, LRCX -2.81%, XLNX -2.74%, ADI -2.60%, CA -2.46%, CRM -2.44% helped the sector finish lower on the day.

But the day cannot go by it seems anymore without talking at least a bit about China. The flavor of the day today was news in the overnight session the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to lower corporate tax rates by at least 3.3%. As such, the Shanghai Composite closed the session higher by 2.3% and Japan's Nikkei rallied 7.7% in overnight trade.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Micron (MU 16.95, -0.58) and Intel (INTC 29.24, -0.26) announced the amendment and restatement of existing supply agreements and a new supply agreement under which the price of 3D NAND flash memory products sold to Intel is determined on a cost-plus basis. The term of the agreement is for three years. Under one of the agreements, MU will supply INTC with 3D NAND flash memory products from MU's Singapore facility. Under an additional Wafer Supply Agreement, MU will supply INTC with a specified amount of 3D NAND flash memory each week for a period of one year.

Accenture (ACN 95.52, -1.60) announced it has been selected by Horizon Pharma plc (HZNP 28.43, -1.29) to support the transformation of its business operations and help enable strategic growth across the company's healthcare lines of business. As such, ACN will deploy the SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (SAP S/4HANA) solution as the digital foundation for Horizon Pharma's global enterprise resource planning system.

Accenture (ACN) also announced it is collaborating with Salesforce (CRM 69.03, -1.73) to extend the complete Accenture CAS software suite to the Salesforce Platform.

Cisco (CSCO 25.94, -0.36) Investments announced a $10 million investment into Monk's Hill Ventures' innovation fund for start-up companies.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Flex (FLEX 10.81, +0.26) announced the acquisition of NEXTracker for about $245 million. The transaction is expected to be accretive to FLEX's growth, margin, EPS and cash flow generation.

Arris (ARRS 27.48, +0.75) announced the company expects to see $0.60-0.65 EPS accretion from the previously announced Pace acquisition. The new expectations are about $0.20 higher than the original estimations.

Intersil (ISIL 10.63, -0.21) announced the acquisition of Great Wall Semiconductor for an initial consideration of $19 million. The transaction is expected to be neutral to 2015 non-GAAP earnings.

Alibaba (BABA) announced the establishment of sports groups. Together with Sina Corp (SINA 38.03, +0.24) and Yunfeng Capital, BABA's sports group expects to integrate e-commerce, media, marketing, video, home entertainment, cloud computing and other Internet-enabled technologies to form a sports platform that will participate in different aspects of the professional sports industry, including sports copyrights, sports media, events, ticketing, etc.

Partner Comms (PTNR 4.64, flat) announced the appointment of Yuval Keinan as Deputy CEO effective in 2016.

RADCOM (RDCM 10.90, +0.01) announced the order of $4.3 million from a Tier 1 service provider as the second tranche of a previously announced three-year, $13 million contract.

Code Rebel (CDRB 9.69, +0.06) announced Tom Moreno has been appointed President, replacting Christopher Sawicki.

Analyst actions:

FLEX was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS, CIEN was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets;
LITE and FNSR were downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets, MOBL was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman, JBL was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, SAP was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Societe Generale, FCS was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Longbow

4:08 pm Sigma Designs beats by $0.06, beats on revs (SIGM) :

Reports Q2 (Jul) earnings of $0.12 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.06; revenues rose 36.2% year/year to $58.3 mln vs the $55.69 mln consensus.

Non-GAAP gross margin in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 was 50.5%. This compares with a non-GAAP gross margin of 53.8% in the previous quarter, and 53.7% for the same period in fiscal 2015.The sequential decline in non-GAAP gross margin was expected as increasing sales in the SmartTV target market influenced the second quarter revenue mix.4:06 pm Agilent to acquire Seahorse Bioscience for $235 mln in cash; transaction expected to be accretive in FY16 (A) :

Co and Seahorse Bioscience announced they have signed a definitive agreement under which Agilent will acquire Seahorse Bioscience, a provider of instruments and assay kits for measuring cell metabolism and bioenergetics.

Agilent is acquiring Seahorse Bioscience for $235 million in cash. Seahorse's FY15 revenue is estimated to be $49 million. The transaction is expected to be accretive in FY16 to Agilent and will be debt financed.The acquisition is expected to be completed by Nov. 1, 2015.
4:10 pm : The stock market ended Tuesday on a defensive note despite enjoying an upbeat start to the session. The S&P 500 began the day with a 15-point gain, which morphed into a 27-point loss by the close. The benchmark index surrendered 1.4% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.2%) settled a bit ahead.

Equity indices hit their highs shortly after the opening bell with the early move fueled by strengthening risk appetite overseas. To that point, Asian markets posted solid gains with China's Shanghai Composite jumping 2.3% amid continued speculation about government involvement in the market while Japan's Nikkei soared 7.7%, registering its largest one-day gain since October 2008, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to lower the corporate tax rate by at least 3.3%.

The positive vibes carried into the European session, but the demand for equities began receding once the U.S. market opened. The S&P 500 spent the first 90 minutes of the day in a slow retreat from its high and hovered near its flat line into the early afternoon. The index then dipped into negative territory alongside Apple (AAPL 110.15, -2.16) as the largest stock by market cap slid to a session low in reaction to the company's underwhelming product refresh event. Shares of Apple settled lower by 1.9% while the broader technology sector (-1.3%) had a better showing than its leading component, ending just ahead of the market. Like Apple, most large cap components ended in the red, but Facebook (FB 90.44, +0.91) added 1.0%.

Staying in the tech sector, high-beta chipmakers struggled throughout the session, but despite today's 1.8% loss, the PHLX Semiconductor Index remains higher by 2.5% for the week. Meanwhile, another high-beta group-biotechnology-displayed relative weakness throughout the session. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 344.22, -7.55) lost 2.2%, trimming this week's gain to 2.1%. On a related note, the health care sector lost 1.6%.

Moving back to the cyclical side, the energy sector (-1.9%) struggled throughout the day as renewed weakness in oil prices took its toll on the commodity-sensitive sector. The energy space is now down 0.5% for the week while crude oil tumbled 3.9% today to $44.15/bbl.

Elsewhere, Treasuries retreated overnight, hitting their lows shortly after 9:00 ET; however, a daylong rally erased that entire loss. As a result, the 10-yr note settled on its high with the benchmark yield down one basis point at 2.18%.

Today's participation was slightly stronger than yesterday as more than 905 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the MBA Mortgage Index and JOLTS:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index fell 6.2% to follow last week's 11.3% spike
The July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed an increase in openings to 5.753 million from 5.323 million

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 275K) and August Import/Export Prices will be reported at 8:30 ET while the Wholesale Inventories report for July (expected 0.3%) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +0.4% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.6% YTD
S&P 500 -5.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -8.8% YTD

DJ30 -239.11 NASDAQ -55.40 SP500 -22.37 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 897/1.79 bln/1979 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 748/905.6 mln/2317 3:40 pm :

Commodities remained weak today with many holding losses despite in reversal in the dollar index in afternoon trade.
The dollar is now in the red, currently -0.02%. Oil prices slid lower late in today's session and currently remains near today's low. Oct WTI crude finished -3.7% at $44.16/barrel.
Natural gas slid lower in morning and afternoon trade and ended the day -2.2% at $2.65/MMBtu.
Gold and silver remained in the red in afternoon trade, finishing the day with losses. Dec gold closed -1.7% at $1102/oz, while Dec silver -1.1% at $14.58/oz.

3:30 pm Apple issues official press releases, confirming, expanding on today's product announcements (AAPL) :

Apple Watch: With Hermes (HESAF), Apple introduced Apple Watch Herms, a new collection of Apple Watch in stainless steel with leather bands in distinctive styles from HermsThe Single Tour with the 38 mm stainless steel case comes in fauve Barenia leather, noir box leather and capucine Swift leather, while the Single Tour with 42 mm stainless steel case comes in fauve Barenia leather and noir box leather. Apple also introduced new Apple Watch cases and bands, available starting today,
including new gold and rose gold aluminum Apple Watch Sport models. In addition, watchOS 2 arrives as a free update on September 16. Apple Watch Herms starts at $1,100 for the 38 mm stainless steel case with the Single Tour

iOS9: Apple announced its latest operating system would be available as a free download on September 16.

iPad Pro: Apple introduced the all-new iPad Pro, featuring a 12.9-inch Retina display with 5.6 million pixels, the most ever in an iOS device, and improved performance with the new 64-bit A9X chip, said to rival most portable PCs. Apple also introduced Apple Pencil for iPad Pro, a precision input device available for purchase separately, aimed to make drawing and sketching feel remarkably fluid and natural. In addition, Apple's new Smart Keyboard extends the utility of iPad Pro, offering a full-sized keyboard in a thin, durable design. iPad Pro starts at $799 for the 32GB with Wi-Fi model and $1079 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular 128GB model

Apple TV: Apple announced its all-new Apple TV. The new Apple TV's remote features Siri, so you can search with your voice for TV shows and movies across multiple content providers simultaneously. The new Apple TV will be available at the end of October starting at $149 for a 32GB model and $199 for a 64GB model

iPhone 6S/6S Plus: Apple announced iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the most advanced iPhones ever, adding a powerful new dimension to iPhone's revolutionary Multi-Touch interface. The new iPhones introduce 3D Touch, which senses force to enable intuitive new ways to access features and interact with content. iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus feature Retina HD displays made from the strongest glass on any smartphone and 7000 series aluminum, the same alloy used in the aerospace industry, in metallic finishes that now include rose gold.

12:20 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (63) outpacing new highs (55) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAN, AGX, AMWD, BEAT, BECN, BFAM, BLD, BLDR, BRSS, BWLD, BYLK, CASY, CBF, CBNJ, CDW, CENTA, CLBH, COMM, CVC, DSGX, DY, ECACU, EFOI, FIZZ, FSFG, GB, HIHO, HRB, INGN, JBLU, JE, LANC, LGIH, LJPC, LOXO, LPCN, MPB, MSI, NAVB, PAC, PLAY, POST, RCL, RYAAY, SFG, SLP, SPWH, SWHC, TE, TECD, TPX, UCBA, VMC, VNTV, VRTU

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAMC, ACC, AEZS, ANCI, APPS, ARTW, AUY, AVAV, BBGI, BBOX, BEBE, BUFF, CDI, CIG.C, CLW, CPA, CRTN, DFRG, EBR, ESEA, EVOL, EXAM, FARO, FPP, FSM, FSTR, GBSN, GPRO, GTY, KGC, LEE, LINC, LNG, MEIL, MHR, MOCO, PCH, PERF, PPP, PSUN, PWE, RCAP, RCON, RGLD, RMCF, RRMS, SBRA, SNC, SWAY, SXCP, SYNL, THST, TIGR, TKC, TTPH, UACL, VMEM, VXUP, WIA, WIW, WYY, YGE, ZAIS

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: TIP

9:15 am Xcerra agrees to sell its semiconductor test interface board business to Shenzhen Fastprint Circuit Tech Co for $23 mln (XCRA) : Co and Shenzhen Fastprint have signed a definitive agreement for the purchase and sale of the assets and certain liabilities exclusively and primarily related to the Interface Board Business, along with the transfer of the employees associated with that business for a purchase price of $23 million, $2.3 million of which is payable upon the first anniversary of the closing of the transaction. The deal is expected to close by October 30, 2015.


SUNE +2.7% (initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer),

7:15 am Kulicke & Soffa lowered Q4 rev guidance due to broad based industry softness (KLIC) :

Co lowered Q4 rev to $100-110 mln from $135-145 mln vs $140.03 mln Capital IQ Consensus due to broad-based industry softness. The industry has continued to experience high inventory levels and low equipment utilization rates. The Company believes this softer industry environment is largely driven by reduced demand within consumer and communication segments such as PCs, tablets and smartphones. This lower end market demand is anticipated to limit near-term semiconductor unit growth and decrease the industry's immediate need for incremental production equipment. The Company will continue to be vigilant in reviewing its cost structure and has initiated measures to address the current market situation, including execution of near-term operational improvements. The co expects to continue to return capital to shareholders through its existing repurchase program. Additional details on the progress of these initiatives will be provided during the Company's fourth fiscal quarter results conference call scheduled on Nov 17, 2015. 7:13 am Fairchild Semi follow-up: FCS cuts guidance citing incrementally weaker demand environment (FCS) :

Co issues downside guidance for Q3 (Sep), sees Q3 (Sep) revs of $340.00 mln vs. $364.33 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, down from prior guidance of $355-375 mln.

Adjusted gross margin is expected to be within the previous guidance range of 34.0% to 35.0%.
Operating expenses are now forecast to be $90 to $92 mln compared to the previous guidance of $95 to $97 mln.
FCS also announced today it has initiated a program to structurally reduce operating expenses by approximately $30 to $34 mln annually which is expected to be implemented by the middle of the fourth quarter of 2015.
"Given the incrementally weaker demand environment, we are taking decisive steps to reduce operating expenses to our target model of 25% of sales at the current revenue level."

Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) is driving next-generation, multi-gigabit broadband access toward mainstream adoption with the industry's first 10 Gbps Internet plus 10 Gbps Wi-Fi enabled home gateway solution.

We are working towards a retest of the bottom in my humble opinion. Once there if we see an 80% upside day I will buy something. I would like a clear 90% upside day. The Investors Intelligence Poll showing more bears than bulls is huge though. It's been years since that happened.

RtS