From Briefing.com: The markets closed the session mixed. Leading the way higher on the session, the S&P 500 finished the day up 3.79 points (+0.20%) to 1923.82. The Nasdaq Composite also posted gains today, as the index closed up 6.92 points (+0.15%) to 4627.08, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the lone laggard, shedding 12.69 points (-0.08%) at the close to end 16272.01. The markets spent most of the session in the red, as Initial Claims data increased to 277,000 from an unrevised 267,000. Despite this increase, the four-week moving average declined to 271,000 from 272,000.
Notable weakness today in Semiconductors (SOX 595.62, -7.11 -1.18%) stemmed from a cautious DigiTimes story regarding concerned Integrated Circuit (IC) suppliers to the new Apple (AAPL 109.58, -0.72 -0.65%) iPhones. The article suggested concerns that despite the opening success of the phones, that suppliers fear AAPL may downwardly adjust its chip orders for the smartphones for the fourth quarter. Names in the space experiencing weakness today were QRVO -3.15%, ASML -2.28%, MXIM -2.19%, TXN -2.18%, MRVL -2.10%, MCHP -2.09%, NVDA -1.95%.
On the other hand, strength in tech today came from the Software (IGV 95.79, +1.16 +1.23%) sector. The sector was propped up by the Tyler Tech's (TYL 164.39, +15.17 +10.17%) acquisition of New World Systems Corporation for $670 million in cash and stock. Other components posting notable strength on the day were CRM +5.01%, WDAY +4.85%, NOW +3.07%, DATA +3.03%, FEYE +2.73%, VMW +2.32%, SSNC +2.31%, ZEN +2.08%, CUDA +1.99%, ADBE +1.86%.
The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (663.26, -0.29 -0.04%) finished the session about flat. Names which traded higher on the session included EBAY +1.92%, ADBE +1.86%, RHT +1.82%, PYPL +1.42% while STX -4.33%, QRVO -3.15%, TDC -2.90%, ADI -2.61%, AVGO -2.30% edged the sector lower.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Microsoft (MSFT 44.62, +0.36 +0.81%) and Google (GOOG 611.29, +2.87 +0.47%) reportedly agree to drop about 20 patent lawsuits related to smartphone/Xbox, according to a Bloomberg report.
Apple (AAPL) announced that former Boeing (BA 130.61, -0.34 -0.26%) CFO James Bell will join its Board of Directors.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 25.35, -0.26 -1.02%) priced certain offerings by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) of nine series of senior unsecured notes in an aggregate principal amount of $14.6 billion. The Board of Directors of Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) approved the previously announced separation of HP into two independent companies: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Company and HP Inc. The separation is expected to be completed on November 1, 2015. Following the split, each HP stockholder will receive one share of HPE common stock for every one share of HP common stock held. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares will begin trading on the NYSE November 2, 2015.
Elsewhere in the technology space:
Tyler Tech (TYL 164.39, +15.08 +10.10%) acquired New World Systems Corporation for $670 million in cash and stock. The company expects the deal to be immediately accretive to non-GAAP EPS.
Insight Enterpr (NSIT 25.04, -0.81 -3.13%) acquired BlueMetal, a design, application development, and data visualization firm. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Wi-LAN's (WILN 1.86, +0.04 +2.29%) Collabo Innovations announced a license agreement with ON Semiconductor (ON 9.29, -0.11 -1.17%). The license resolves litigation pending in the District of Delaware.
Newtech (NEWT 18.21, +1.78 +10.83%) declared a special dividend of $3.29 per share.
ReneSola (SOL 1.08 +0.11 +11.11%) repurchased $36 million of its convertible notes due March 2018 with a put option. The company also repurchased about 807,000 ADSs.
MaxLinear (MXL 12.00, -0.44 -3.54%) announced that it has emerged favorably from an international trade patent investigation.
China Techfaith Wireless (CNTF 0.57 +0.00 +0.92%) received a letter from private investors, requesting the implementation of a broad plan to maximize shareholder value.
Viavi (VIAV 5.50, +0.13 +2.42%) announced the settlement agreement with Sandell Asset Management. Sandell owns about 5.1% of outstanding shares, and as part of the agreement will include two new candidates joining the Board. The company also renounced share repurchase program for proceeds of $100 million. The company also agreed that it will propose equity compensation updates based on stock price appreciation.
Atlantic Tele-Network (ATNI 73.56, -0.37 -0.50%) agreed to acquire all of the membership interests of Caribbean Assets Holdings for $145 million. The company expects the transaction to be modestly accretive to net income for the first full year post-close.
Pericom Semi (PSEM 17.98, -0.27 -1.48%) said it was evaluating Montage Tech's (MONT) revised unsolicited offer.
Acacia Research (ACTG 8.62, -0.46 -5.07%) entered into a settlement and patent license agreement with
Alcatel Lucent (ALU 3.59, -0.06 -1.64%). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
FXCM (FXCM 8.01, -0.69 -7.93%) commented on a cybersecurity incident involving the company. Specifically, the company was a victim of a cyber-attack involving the unauthorized access to customer information. Also, the company enacted a 1-10 reverse split today.
Interphase (INPH 0.04, -0.12 -70.75%) announced it has ceased operations and commenced bankruptcy proceedings to initiate liquidation of the assets of the company.
TheStreet.com's (TST 1.63, -0.04 -2.40%) CFO John Ferrara to resign effective Oct. 15, 2015.
Evolving Systems (EVOL 5.93, -0.07 -1.08%) acquired privately held Sixth Sense Media for $10 million in cash. The company expects accretion of said deal to revenues by about 20% in 2016.
EarthLink (ELNK 7.77, -0.01 -0.13%) extended its high-speed service agreement with Time Warner Cable (TWC 181.85, +2.48 +1.38%) until Oct. 31, 2017.
Interdigital Comm (IDCC 50.30, -0.30 -0.59%) announced the expansion of the Convida Wireless joint venture with Sony (SNE 24.72, +0.22 +0.90%) to include 5G technologies.
HealthEquity (HQY 28.96, -0.59 -2.00%) elects Robert Selander as non-executive Chairman of the Board.
Action Semi (ACTS 1.77, +0.22 +14.19%) reported prelim results from its tender offer for the purchase of up to 84 million of outstanding shares. The company further expects the offering to be fully subscribed at $2.30 per ADS.
WPCS Intl (WPCS 1.39, +0.01 +0.72%) filed for an approximate 2.13 million share common stock offering by selling shareholders.
Elephant Talk (ETAK 0.42, -0.01 -2.33%) retained Dawson James Securities as advisor to the Special Committee of the Board in connection with the previously announced strategic alternatives in respect to the subsidiary ValidSoft UK.
Analyst actions:
TYL was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Maxim Group,
WDC was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Argus,
MSFT was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill,
SNDK was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley;
EZCH was downgraded to Hold from Buy at The Benchmark Company
6:03 pm Microsoft and ASUSTeK announce expansion of an earlier patent licensing agreement (MSFT) : Co and ASUSTeK Computer (ASUUY) announce the expansion of an earlier patent licensing agreement between the companies. The deal includes a broad cross-license covering, for example, ASUS Android-based phones and tablets and Microsoft software, devices and services. It paves the way for closer integration between the two companies, including pre-installation by ASUS of Microsoft Office productivity services on ASUS Android smartphones and tablets. The agreement also facilitates technology sharing toward the development of new, innovative product solutions.
5:21 pm Barracuda Networks announces its Board has authorized the purchase of up to $50 mln of its common stock through September 30, 2017 (CUDA) :
4:04 pm CalAmp beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line; narrows FY16 rev guidance in-line with consensus (CAMP) :
Reports Q2 (Aug) earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.26; revenues rose 17.9% year/year to $69.81 mln vs the $68.06 mln consensus.
Consolidated gross margin was 36.2% in the fiscal 2016 second quarter, compared to 34.6% in the second quarter last year.Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.26-0.30, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.28 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $71-76 mln vs. $72.94 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of $281-289 mln (narrowed from $280-290 mln) vs. $283.00 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "Our increasing scale, impressive roster of global enterprise customers and ongoing strategic investments position us well to sustain our momentum into fiscal 2017 and beyond."
4:04 pm Micron beats by $0.05, beats on revs (MU) :
Reports Q4 (Aug) earnings of $0.37 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.32; revenues fell 14.8% year/year to $3.6 bln vs the $3.56 bln consensus.
Revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 were 7 percent lower compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2015 primarily due to a 7 percent decline in DRAM average selling prices and relatively flat DRAM sales volume. Non-Volatile trade revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 also declined 7 percent compared to the third quarter primarily as a result of lower sales volume. The company's overall consolidated gross margin of 27 percent for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 was 4 percent lower compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2015 primarily due to lower average selling prices for DRAM.
4:10 pm : The stock market ended Thursday on a modestly higher note after climbing off its intraday low. The S&P 500 (+0.20%) settled within four points of its unchanged level while the Dow (-0.08%) and Nasdaq (+0.15%) underperformed.
Equities began the first session of Q4 just above their flat lines after a pre-market retreat caused S&P 500 futures to surrender a 25-point gain. The early morning slide from pre-market highs gathered steam following a Bloomberg report indicating the Bank of Japan does not plan to introduce additional stimulus at this time.
In addition to pressuring stocks, the report gave a boost to the yen, sending the dollar/yen pair to a session low near 119.50; however, the currency pair was able to claw its way back into the 120.00 range in the afternoon while stocks also climbed off their lows.
Five sectors ended the day in the green with the health care sector (+0.9%) finishing among the leaders. Biotechnology, meanwhile, struggled to keep pace with the broader sector, but a late rally in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 305.60, +2.27) helped the ETF end higher by 0.8% after being down as much as 2.1% at its lowest point.
The early underperformance in biotechnology kept the Nasdaq behind the broader market into the afternoon while the technology sector also struggled. To be fair, the tech sector trimmed its loss to 0.1% during the afternoon, while high-beta chipmakers could not follow suit, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index lower by 1.2%. As for top-weighted tech names, Apple (AAPL 109.58, -0.72) lost 0.7% while Google (GOOGL 642.00, +3.63) added 0.6%.
Elsewhere among cyclical groups, the materials sector (+1.1%) held the lead throughout the session while the consumer discretionary space (+0.7%) rallied behind automakers and homebuilders. Ford (F 13.67, +0.10) and General Motors (GM 30.67, +0.65) posted respective gains of 0.7% and 2.2% after reporting solid September sales while the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 26.45, +0.35) climbed 1.3%.
Also of note, the energy sector (+0.1%) settled just behind the broader market after being up more than 2.0% at the start. That early strength was brought on by a sharp morning spike in crude oil, but the energy component surrendered its entire gain, ending lower by 0.9% at $44.75/bbl after briefly crossing above $47.00/bbl. The intraday turnaround developed shortly after it was reported the Senate Banking Committee approved a bill to roll back the ban on crude oil exports.
Treasuries registered slim gains after spending the day near their flat lines with the 10-yr yield ticking down one basis point to 2.04%.
Today's participation was ahead of recent averages with more than 950 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included Initial Claims, Construction Spending, and ISM Index:
Weekly initial claims increased to 277,000 from an unrevised 267,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 270,000
Despite the larger-than-expected increase, the four-week moving average declined to 271,000 from 272,000, which is a level consistent with an employment sector nearing full employment
The continuing claims level declined to 2.191 million from an upwardly revised 2.244 million (from 2.242 million), representing the lowest reading since November 2000
The ISM Manufacturing Index declined to 50.2 in September from 51.1 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 50.6
If there is one bit of solace in the data, it is that manufacturing conditions -- nationally -- managed to stay in an expansion mode, albeit barely. The same could not be said for the regional data from the Federal Reserve manufacturing surveys, which showed sharp contractions in every area of the country.
With the exception of Customer Inventories -- which are reportedly too high -- all of the sub-indices either declined or were unchanged in September. That included a notable drop in both the Production (51.8 from 53.6) and New Orders (50.1 from 51.7).
Construction spending increased 0.7% in August after increasing a downwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.7%) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.5%
Private construction spending increased 0.7% in August, down from a 1.1% increase in July
Most of the August private construction gain came from the residential sector as residential construction spending rose a solid 1.3% in August after increasing 0.6% in July
Tomorrow, the September Nonfarm Payrolls report will be released at 8:30 ET (Briefing.com consensus 205,000) while August Factory Orders (consensus -1.0%) will be reported at 10:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite -2.3% YTD
S&P 500 -6.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -8.7% YTD
Russell 2000 -8.9% YTD
DJ30 -12.69 NASDAQ +6.92 SP500 +3.79 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1210/1.94 bln/1794 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1500/960.3 mln/1544
3:45 pm :
The dollar index traded lower today, but this only helped select commodities
WTI oil futures sold off rapidly from today's high and finished the day in the red
Nov crude ultimately ended -0.9% at $44.75/barrel.
In other energy, Nov natural gas slid sharply lower today, ending -3.6% at $2.44/MMBtu
Metals lost steam as well
Dec gold dropped -0.2% to finish the day at $1113.60/oz, while Dec silver fell -0.3% to close at $14.49/oz
Copper lost recent momentum, falling -1.7% today to $2.30/lb
12:01 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (221) outpacing new highs (20) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, ABCB, CBNJ, CBOE, CVC, FCVA, GSBC, HRB, JAXB, JE, LABL, LKFN, NCI, NVDA, PACEU, PSEM, RAI, SLP, TYL, ULBI
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACAT, ACPW, ACTA, ADSK, AEGR, AEY, AIN, AIQ, AIRM, AJX, AMBC, AMBR, ANGO, APPY, ARAY, ARCO, ARG, ARTW, ASEI, ASTE, ASYS, AT, ATEC, ATRO, AVNW, AXE, AXLL, BBEP, BCC, BCEI, BGX, BITI, BLT, BLX, BNTCW, BOBE, BRKR, BRS, BWINB, CATB, CBK, CBYL, CDI, CECE, CETC, CG, CGG, CHSP, CIR, CKP, CLCD, CLMS, CLNT, CNFR, CNX, COHR, CPST, CRDC, CRR, CSAL, CSG, CSLT, CVGI, DAR, DCA, DCIX, DDS, DE, DNAI, DO, EFF, ESL, EVH, EYES, FBRC, FDEU, FENX, FES, FHY, FLXN, FNSR, FOE, FRGI, FSYS, FULL, FXCM, GCO, GGN, GI, GIGM, GLDD, GSIT, GSM, HCLP, HH, HMY, HNSN, HSGX, HSNI, HWCC, HY, HYF, I, IGT, IILG, IMN, INPH, IO, JCTCF, KAMN, KEG, KHI, KKD, KND, KONA, KSS, LNN, LORL, LXU, MAT, MCRB, MITL, MOS, MSM, MT, NANO, NAV, NAVI, NC, NEWS, NNI, NSM, NSPR, OUT, OXGN, OZM, PCO, PCRX, PDFS, PEBO, PETX, PGH, PHIIK, PIR, PJC, PLM, POZN, PPG, PPSI, PRSN, PRTY, PSTI, PVA, PW, QLTI, QUAD, R, RAIL, RAX, RBC, RCG, RCII, REDF, RELV, RESI, RGLS, RIBT, RKDA, RMGN, ROYT, RRTS, RTK, RWT, RXN, SAIA, SBLK, SCON, SFE, SFY, SGNL, SIF, SIFY, SKUL, SKY, SLM, SMT, SMTC, SONS, SSE, SSYS, STV, SWFT, TBIO, TBPH, TCS, TDY, TEF, TESO, THR, TKC, TTHI, TTPH, TUMI, UCP, UEIC, USLM, UTI, VECO, VGGL, VLT, VMI, VSI, VTA, WGO, WING, WSTC, WWW, X, YECO, YLCO, ZINC
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: HYG, JNK, UNG
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
