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From Briefing.com: The broader market finished Tuesday action slightly higher. Leading the way, the S&P 500 closed the session up 2.55 points (+0.12%) to 2089.14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also edged higher, up 19.51 points (+0.11%) to close 17812.19. The Nasdaq Composite rounded out the bunch barely higher on the session, adding only 0.33 points (+0.01%) to 5102.81. Market data today came in the form of Q3 GDP, Consumer Confidence and Case-Shiller 20-City Index. The GDP report showed an upward revision to 2.1% from the advance estimate of 1.5%. The Consumer Confidence reading checked in at 90.4 for November, down from the upwardly revised 99.1 for October. Case-Shiller 20-City Index rose 5.5%, following the previous increase of 5.1%.

In Technology (XLK 43.95, +0.01 +0.02%), the session closed with only slight gains as the broader market action caused the sector to eke out above flat lines. Component Analog Devices (ADI 60.42, +3.62 +6.37%) reported better than expected Q4 results, and ended near the top of the best performers in the sector. Other sectors finished the day XLE +2.14%, XLB +0.83%, IYZ +0.44%, XLV +0.31%, XLP +0.26%, XLU -0.14%, XLI -0.16%, XLY -0.21%, XLF -0.28%.

For its part, the S&P 500 Information Technology (740.09, +0.11 +0.01%) sector edged slightly higher at the close on a day which had most of the trading action in the red. Component HP (HPQ 14.65, +0.42 +2.95%) ended higher on the session ahead of the company's first reported quarter as a separate company.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Micron's (MU 15.63, +0.31 +2.02%) Scott DeBoer entered into a prearranged trading plan for the sale of up to 111,250 shares of the company's stock beginning in January 2016.

Xerox (XRX 10.61, -0.14 -1.30%) Carl Icahn disclosed a 7.13% active stake in a 13D filing. Icahn noted he intends to have discussions with management relating to improving operational performance and pursuing strategic alternatives.

Skyworks (SWKS 79.72, +2.00 +2.57%) terminated its offer to acquire PMC-Sierra (PMCS 11.60, -0.26 -2.19%).

VeriSign (VRSN 88.54, -1.64 -1.82%) previewed its December presentation at the Credit Suisse Technology, Media and Telecom Conference. The company noted there was a higher volume of gross additions during Q3 in international markets and in particular Asia.
everBe, a management consulting and cloud services company, has been selected by Unibail-Rodamco to lead its deployment of Workday Human Capital Management and provide subsequent support services. everBe is a Workday (WDAY 82.70, +2.22 +2.76%) Services Partner.

Fiserv (FISV 95.23, -1.03 -1.07%) announced that National Bonds, the leading sharia'a-compliant savings and investments company in the United Arab Emirates, has selected AML Risk Manager for the effective detection, investigation and resolution of financial crimes and to ensure regulatory compliance.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Silicon Labs (SLAB 52.99, +1.61 +3.13%) acquired wireless mesh networking firm Telegesis for $20 million. The company expects the acquisition to be slightly accretive on a non-GAAP basis.

GSI Technology (GSIT 4.20, +0.05 +1.20%) acquired privately held MikaMonu Group for $5 million in cash.

Maxim Integrated (MXIM 38.72, +0.26 +0.68%) entered into a supply agreement with Tower Semiconductor (TSEM 15.69, -0.12 -0.76%) to procure minimum quantities of silicon wafers.

TASER (TASR 19.31, +1.07 +5.87%) secured a bid to outfit 22K London metropolitan police officers with axon body cameras.

Uni-Pixel (UNXL 0.71, -0.76 -51.65%) priced its offering of 9.6 million units at $0.85 per unit.

Leidos (LDOS 57.58, +0.65 +1.14%) received a contract with a total ceiling value of $661.8 million by the U.S. Army.

BCE Inc (BCE 56.49, -1.51 -2.60%) announced a CAD$750 million bought deal offering.

SunEdison (SUNE 4.12, +1.12 +37.33%) amended its Margin Loan and Letter Agreement, reducing and waiving for a specified time period the market value trigger price of the Class A common stock of TerraForm Power (TERP 8.83, +0.46 +5.50%).

West Corp (WSTC 25.51, +0.17 +0.67%) reported entering into an incremental $250 million term loan due 2021.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Tech Data (TECD 68.09, -7.64 -10.09%) reported Q3 EPS and revenues which missed expectations at $1.28 per share and $6.43 billion, respectively. The company also issued downside guidance for Q4 revenues as they see the period ending with $7.05-7.25 billion.

Brocade (BRCD 9.31, -0.78 -7.73%) reported Q4 EPS and revenues which beat expectations at $0.26 per share and $588.83 million. The company also issued downside guidance for the Q1 period of EPS in the range of $0.23-0.25 per share on revenues of $550-570 million.

Analog Devices (ADI) reported Q4 EPS and revenues which beat expectations at $1.03 per share and $978.7 million, respectively. The company also guided Q1 EPS and revenues in-line at $0.65-0.73 and $805-855 million, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: VNET, HPE, HPQ, QADA, TIVO, VEEV/DATE

Analyst actions:

NMBL was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at DA Davidson,
BOX was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill;
BLOX was downgraded at Deutsche Bank and Needham,
TSYS was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Northland Capital,
BRCD was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan

4:17 pm SolarCity names COO Tanguy Serra to the new role of President, CFO Brad Buss to retire in 2016 (SCTY) : Buss will remain as CFO through the completion of SolarCity's financial reporting for the fiscal year 2015-expected in early February-and will remain in an advisory role until later in 2016 to ensure a smooth transition.

4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Tuesday session on a flat note, overcoming an opening retreat that was fueled by a military incident, which is likely to invite geopolitical implications going forward. The S&P 500 added 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (unch) underperformed.

Early this morning, it was reported that the Turkish military shot down a Russian fighter jet, which allegedly violated Turkish airspace on the country's border with Syria. This marked the first time that a NATO member downed a Russian plane since the 1950s and Russian military officials said that both pilots were killed by Syrian opposition fighters after ejecting from the plane. The Russian defense ministry called the incident a "hostile act" while President Vladimir Putin has terminated all Russian military cooperation with Turkey. Mr. Putin denied the incursion into Turkey, saying the action represented "backstabbing by accomplices of terrorists" and that it "goes beyond [the] fight against terror."

The news was met with a spike in Treasuries and the 10-yr note then notched a new high shortly after the release of the second estimate of Q3 GDP (+2.1%; Briefing.com consensus +2.0%); however, the 10-yr note spent the rest of the day in a slow retreat from morning highs to end with a small gain that lowered the benchmark yield one basis point to 2.24%.

Meanwhile, stocks opened in the red and fell to new lows after a disappointing November Consumer Confidence report crossed the wires (90.4; consensus 99.6); however, a turnaround ensued shortly thereafter with the rally uninterrupted by late-morning news of another terrorist attack in Tunisia, which prompted the country to invoke a State of Emergency. The market climbed into the green during early afternoon action, but briefly slipped back to unchanged in a knee-jerk reaction to reports of a hostage situation in Northern France, which was later said to have no connection to the Paris attacks. The S&P 500 climbed to a new high during the final hour, but slipped back to its flat line into the close.

Nine sectors started the day in negative territory, but only four groups--financials (-0.3%), consumer discretionary (-0.2%), industrials (-0.2%), and utilities (-0.1%)--remained in the red when the closing bell rang. On the upside, the energy sector (+2.1%) spent the day well ahead of its peers thanks to strength in crude oil. To that point, WTI crude surged 2.7% to $42.91/bbl after marking a session high at $43.45/bbl.

Elsewhere, the materials sector (+0.8%) also settled well ahead of the broader market while other pockets of strength included health care (+0.3%), materials (+0.8%), and consumer staples (+0.3%). In the staples sector, Campbell Soup (CPB 51.33, +1.54) surged 3.1% after the company reported better than expected earnings and boosted its earnings guidance; however, the sales outlook was lowered due to currency headwinds.

Over on the cyclical side, the consumer discretionary sector (-0.2%) could not keep pace with the market as restaurant and media names weighed while apparel and luxury retailers fared well after two components reported their results. Tiffany & Co (TIF 79.32, +2.77) erased an opening loss to settle higher by 3.6% after reporting a one-cent beat on below-consensus revenue combined with lowered earnings guidance. Meanwhile, Signet Jewelers (SIG 134.89 -5.76) lost 4.1% after missing estimates and guiding Q4 earnings towards the low end of expectations.

Today's session invited above-average participation as more than 893 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data released today included second estimate of Q3 GDP, Consumer Confidence, and Case-Shiller 20-City Index:

The second estimate for third quarter GDP showed an upward revision to 2.1% from the advance estimate of 1.5% while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 2.0%
The upward revision was the result of the decrease in private inventory investment being smaller than previously estimated. Accordingly, the change in private inventories subtracted only 0.59 percentage points from third quarter GDP growth versus 1.44 percentage points as indicated in the advance estimate
There was a downward revision, though, to personal consumption expenditures, which increased 3.0% versus a previously estimated 3.2%
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index checked in at 90.4 for November, which was down sharply from an upwardly revised 99.1 reading for October (from 97.6) and well below the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which stood at 99.6
The downturn was driven by a drop in both the Present Situation Index (from 114.6 to 108.1) and the Expectations Index (from 88.7 to 78.6)
The September Case-Shiller 20-City Index rose 5.5% (Briefing.com consensus +5.2%) to follow the previous increase of 5.1%

Tomorrow will be very busy on the economic front starting with the 7:00 ET release of the weekly MBA Mortgage Index. At 8:30 ET, investors will receive weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 272,000), October Personal Income/Spending Data, and October Durable Orders (consensus 1.5%). The September FHFA Housing Price Index will be released at 9:00 ET while the final reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for November (consensus 93.1) and October New Home Sales (consensus 504,000) will both be reported at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +7.7% YTD
S&P 500 +1.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -1.2% YTD

DJ30 +19.51 NASDAQ +0.33 SP500 +2.55 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1671/1.79 bln/1137 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1886/893.3 mln/1165

3:40 pm :

Oil and natural gas futures displayed a nice recovery from its early morning lows,
Jan crude oil finished the day +2.7% at $42.91/barrel
The dollar index remained in the red today, which helped give an overall boost to commodities today
Metals saw a benefit from the weakness in the dollar today
Gold and silver remained mostly consolidated, but closed higher
Dec gold rose +0.7% to $1073.80/oz, while Dec silver rose +0.9% at $14.15/oz
Dec copper ended +1.5% at $2.05/lb

11:52 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (139) outpacing new highs (56) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABCB, AFCO, AMWD, BBCN, BECN, BHBK, CASM, CIA, CPB, CPE, CPRT, DY, EBS, ESLT, EXTR, FIVN, FNWB, FSB, FSV, FXCB, GVA, HD, HRL, IBCP, IMPV, INST, IROQ, JBL, LDOS, MATW, MKL, MXL, MYOK, NBBC, NCTY, NUAN, PBF, PBH, PBSK, SFBS, SMBC, STZ.B, TATT, TSN, TSO, TTI, TTS, UFPI, UHAL, USCR, VGR, VLO, VTN, VYGR, XRS, XUE

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACP, ACTG, AGI, AMFW, ANGO, ARCX, ARDC, ARDM, ARLP, ASYS, BBBY, BBOX, BCS, BDCV, BGB, BGX, BID, BLOX, BRCD, BSL, BSPM, CAR, CCM, CCO, CEQP, CGG, CHCI, CHOP, CHS, CMI, CNP, CNXR, COG, CTRN, CVGI, DAKT, DB, DCIX, DOM, DTRM, EMMS, ENBL, EQT, ERB, ESEA, ESSX, EVLV, EVOL, EXC, FELP, FTSL, FULL, FUR, FXCM, GLP, GLPI, GNOW, GOGL, GPOR, GPRO, GROW, GTIM, HHY, HIE, HTS, I, IDT, INTT, INVT, IPI, JSD, KEN, KIN, LBTYA, LBTYK, LHO, LIFE, LUK, LYG, MCC, MEMP, MOKO, NAO, NBY, NMBL, NMIH, NNI, NRZ, NWPX, NXTD, OBCI, OEC, OGE, OPY, PEB, PERF, PFMT, PSTI, QKLS, R, RACE, RAS, RBCN, RBS, RESI, RICE, RLJ, RMGN, RNO, ROYL, RTIX, RVP, RWT, RYI, SATS, SCOR, SGNT, SNMX, SRF, STML, SVVC, SXE, SYRX, TAS, TCI, TCS, TERP, TMST, UNXL, USEG, UTG, VGGL, VHC, VKTX, WMLP, X, XBIT, XCRA, XRA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EPOL, KOL, PPLT, UNG

9:26 am SunEdison sells the equity interests in a 425 MW portfolio of solar projects located in India to TerraForm Global (GLBL) for $231 mln (SUNE) :

The co and TerraForm Global (GLBL) announced that they have entered into an agreement for SunEdison to sell TerraForm Global a series of projects located in India for the aggregate equity consideration of $231 mln subject to purchase price adjustments in favor of both SunEdison and TerraForm Global. These projects will replace a portion of the projects and the associated CAFD that were part of TerraForm Global's initial portfolio, which have subsequently been terminated acquisitions.

Commenting on the transaction, GLBL stated "We are pleased to be able to add these accretive assets with 20 year contracted cash flows to TerraForm Global's portfolio and believe they are critical to achieving our 2016 dividend guidance.""

8:04 am Analog Devices beats by $0.20, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (ADI) :

Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $1.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.20 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.83; revenues rose 20.2% year/year to $978.7 mln vs the $910.14 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.65-0.73, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.71 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $805-855 mln vs. $838.66 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Co notes that Q1 is their seasonally slower quarter


SunEdison (SUNE) signed 20-year PPAs w/ LA County in a deal that will see nine government facilities powered with 6.2 megawatts DC of solar energy. Construction for all nine projects is targeted for completion during the second half of 2016.

7:09 am Xcerra misses by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (XCRA) :

Reports Q1 (Oct) loss of $0.01 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.01; revenues fell 23.2% year/year to $78.4 mln vs the $88.12 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of ($0.13)-($0.08) vs. ($0.06) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $70-75 mln vs. $77.70 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."We see business conditions continuing to remain challenging through our fiscal second quarter, but overall, we expect calendar 2016 to be a growth year for the Company. Several factors contribute to this outlook including customer feedback, share gains in our core businesses, and expected revenues from new market opportunities. While we continue to keep tight control over expenses, our resources are deployed to aggressively compete and win the new business opportunities currently underway."

7:02 am Canadian Solar announces it will supply 112 MW of Canadian Solar CS6P-265P PV modules to Sunrun (RUN) (CSIQ) :

7:01 am PMC-Sierra: Microsemi Corporation (MSCC) enters into a definitive agreement to acquire PMC-Sierra for $9.22 in cash and 0.0771 shares of MSCC stock (PMCS) :

Microsemi Corporation (MSCC) and PMC-Sierra announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsemi will acquire PMC for $9.22 in cash and 0.0771 of a share of Microsemi common stock for each share of PMC common stock through an exchange offer. The transaction is valued at $2.5 billion.

The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Microsemi's non-GAAP EPS and free cash flow. Microsemi anticipates achieving more than $100 million in annual cost synergies with greater than $75 million of those expected to be realized in the first full quarter of combined operations. Microsemi currently estimates approximately $0.60 of non-GAAP EPS accretion in the first full year after closing the transaction. Microsemi intends to fund the transaction and repay its existing credit facility with existing cash, $2.7 billion in new transaction debt and $0.6 billion in Microsemi common stock. The transaction is expected to close in 1Q16

5:19 am Skyworks reaffirms guidance following termination of merger agreement with PMCS (SWKS) :

Co reaffirms guidance for Q1 (Dec), sees EPS of $1.60 vs. $1.60 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Skyworks' upwardly revised mid-term target operating model remains unchanged from the annualized non-GAAP earnings per share of $8.00 it provided on its Q4 FY2015 earnings conference call on November 5, 2015.Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS) announced it will unveil the Thyro-PX SCR thyristor power controller at the annual SPS IPC Drives event in Nuremberg

3:06 am PMC-Sierra: Skyworks (SWKS) terminates offer to acquire PMC-Sierra (PMCS) :

Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) announced that it decided not to modify its amended and restated merger agreement with PMC-Sierra (PMCS), entered into on October 29, 2015.

PMC terminated the amended and restated merger agreement and, as a result, Skyworks is entitled to an $88.5 million termination fee from PMC