From Briefing.com: The broader market closed today's pre-Thanksgiving holiday session mixed following a late-day selloff. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed, closing higher by 13.33 points (+0.26%) to 5116.14 while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average traded in-line with one another the entirety of today's session, ultimately closing flat.
Market data was heavy today in light of tomorrow's market closure, with important economic data including weekly initial and continuing claims, monthly personal income and spending results, durable goods, and weekly crude inventories being released. October's durable goods data came ahead of estimates showing a 3.0% gain vs. the 1.5% Briefing.com consensus while the weekly initial and continuing claims were in-line with expectations.
Technology (XLK 43.81, -0.41) underperformed, having traded lower nearly the entire day despite broad market strength. Component Electronic Arts (EA 69.51, +2.45) was a top gainer as video game producers outperformed in today's session. The move higher coincides with the broad strength seen in retail ahead of the heavy shopping weekend, as well as this morning's announcement from Sony (SNE 26.51, -0.45) that its PlayStation4 had cumulatively sold through more than 30.2 mln units worldwide as of November 22. The other sectors closed as follows, XLV +0.54%, XLY +0.50%, XLP +0.26%, XLF +0.08%, XLI 0.00%, IYZ -0.30%, XLK -0.32%, XLU-0.61%, XLB -0.63%, & XLE -0.81%.
The S&P IT (737.29, -2.80) sector closed lower this evening, dragged down by HP (HPQ 12.64, -2.00) which reported quarterly results last night. The report, which was HP's last quarterly report as a consolidated company following this month's spin-off of its enterprise business, fell short of street expectations across the board. Conversely, its spin-off, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 14.12, +0.43) led the sector higher after its individual results exceeded estimates.
As a reminder, the U.S. markets are closed tomorrow in observance of Thanksgiving, and will re-open Friday for a shortened session.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Integrated Silicon (ISSI 22.90, +0.14) announced the receipt of various Taiwan, Chinese approvals for its pending acquisition by Uphill Investment, and that it expects the closing of the transaction on or prior to December 10
Computer Sciences (CSC 29.46, -0.10) announced it had entered into a binding scheme agreement to acquire UXC Ltd for ~$308 mln. The announcement follow's last month statement that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with UXC to conduct due diligence ahead of a formal, agreed upon offer
OmniVision (OVTI 29.17, +0.28) announced it had received all necessary approvals from governmental authorities in Taiwan in connection with the proposed acquisition by a consortium led by Hua Capital. OmniVision expects the acquisition to close in the third or fourth fiscal quarter of 2016
United Online (UNTD 11.32, +0.30) rejected B. Riley's unsolicited $12.50/share takeover proposal and announced it would undertake a 'comprehensive' review of strategic alternatives
comScore (SCOR 42.02, +1.08) released a report forecasting 14% growth in 2015 US holiday digital commerce spending via desktop and mobile devices
Diodes (DIOD 21.79, +1.08) announced it had completed its ~$413 mln acquisition of semiconductor peer
Pericom Semi following a brief bidding war with Montage Technology Group
The FTC issued a ruling, requiring NXP Semiconductors (NXPI 84.48, +1.14) to divest its RF Power amplifier assets as a condition of its pending acquisition of Freescale Semi (FSL 35.90, +0.35)
Earnings reports:
Veeva Systems (VEEV 28.73, +1.37) reported Q3 earnings of $0.12 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.11; revenues rose 27.6% year/year to $106.9 mln vs the $103.62 mln Capital IQ Consensus. The company issued guidance for Q4, saying it sees EPS of $0.11, vs. $0.10 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Q4 revs of $109-111 mln vs. $110.01 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
QAD (QADA 23.31, -2.69) reported Q3 earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.21; revenues fell 8.1% year/year to $68.04 mln vs the $72.03 mln Capital IQ Consensus. The co lowered guidance for FY16, saying it now sees EPS of $0.68 (Prior 0.84) vs. $0.84 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $279 mln (Prior $295 mln) vs. $295.05 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
HP reported Q4 earnings of $0.93 per share, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.97; revenues fell 9.5% year/year to $25.71 bln vs the $26.72 bln Capital IQ Consensus. The co issued downside guidance for Q1, saying it sees EPS of $0.33-0.38 vs. $0.42 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. It also lowered its guidance for FY16, saying it now sees EPS of 1.59-1.69 (Prior guidance $1.67-1.77) vs. $1.71 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
TIVO (TIVO 9.77, +0.46) reported Q3 earnings of $0.06 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.08; revenues rose 16.7% year/year to $102.8 mln vs the $101.17 mln Capital IQ Consensus and $100-103 mln guidance. Tivo issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $101-104 mln vs. $102.61 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise reported Q4 revenues of $14.1 bln vs $13.5 bln Capital IQ consensus; reported FY15 Non-GAAP EPS of $1.84 vs $1.86 Capital IQ consensus. Offered guidance saying it sees Q1 EPS of $0.37-0.41 vs $0.43 Capital IQ consensus and reaffirmed its FY16 outlook of $1.85-1.95 vs $1.91 Capital IQ consensus
Notable Analyst Actions:
SunEdison (SUNE 3.25, -0.87) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS
Netease.com (NTES 169.43, +4.45) was initiated with a Buy at Goldman; tgt $190
Alliance Data (ADS 286.40, +0.95) was upgraded/resumed to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray
Palo Alto Networks (PANW 182.21, -0.64) was upgraded to Buy at Argus
4:34 pm NXP Semi confirms FTC approval for its merger with Freescale (FSL) (NXPI) :
Co announces it has received approval from the FTC of the United States to complete its merger with FSL.4:10 pm : The stock market ended Wednesday on a flat note with trading volume running well below average as some market participants got an early jump on the Thanksgiving holiday, which will keep capital markets in the U.S. closed on Thursday. The S&P 500 settled just below its flat line while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%) outperformed.
Investors received a boatload of economic data this morning, but there was little response in the market as stocks opened flat and inched higher to establish narrow trading ranges that held throughout the day. For instance, the S&P 500 spent the session in a seven-point range with seven sectors offsetting gains in three groups that outperformed throughout the day.
Heavily-weighted health care (+0.5%) and consumer discretionary (+0.5%) seized the lead in the early going and held their ground into the close. The health care sector received support from biotechnology, evidenced by a 1.1% spike in iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 338.85, +3.58).
Biotechnology was not the only high-beta group that displayed relative strength as chipmakers also outperformed the broader technology sector (-0.3%) with the PHLX Semiconductor Index adding 0.1% after showing a larger gain intraday. As for the tech sector, the top-weighted group was weighed down by several large names. Apple (AAPL 118.03, -0.85) lost 0.7%, but more notably, HP (HPQ 12.64, -2.00) sank 13.7% after missing estimates and guiding Q1 earnings below analyst expectations.
Similar to technology, industrials (unch) lagged during the trading day, but the market came back to the economically-sensitive sector in afternoon action. The industrial sector ended flat even though Deere (DE 80.00, +3.66) soared 4.8% after beating earnings expectations and issuing upside Q1 net sales guidance.
Also of note, the consumer discretionary sector received broad support with apparel retailers getting a boost after Guess? (GES 20.86, +1.32) beat bottom-line estimates. Elsewhere in the sector, homebuilders rallied throughout the day even though the October New Home Sales report came in below estimates (495,000; Briefing.com consensus 504,000). The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 28.84, +0.27) surged 1.0%.
Similar to stocks, Treasuries spent the day inside narrow ranges, ending with slim gains that pressured the 10-yr yield to 2.23% (-1 bp).
To little surprise, trading volume was well below average with 661 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included Initial Claims, Personal Income/Spending, Durable Orders, Michigan Sentiment, New Home Sales, and FHFA Housing Price Index:
Initial claims for the week ending November 21 were 260,000, down 12,000 from the prior week's revised level of 272,000 (from 271,000) while the Briefing.com consensus estimate expected no change at 272,000
There were no special factors influencing the weekly initial claims reading, which has been bounded between 250,000 and 300,000 since July 2014
Continuing claims increased to 2.207 million from a downwardly revised reading of 2.173 million (from 2.175 million)
October personal income rose 0.4%, which is what the Briefing.com consensus expected
Personal spending increased 0.1% while the consensus expected a reading of 0.3%
Core PCE prices were flat while the consensus expected an increase of 0.2%
The October Durable Goods Orders report showed a 3.0% gain and a 0.5% increase in durable orders excluding transportation while Briefing.com consensus estimates for those measures were 1.5% and 0.5%, respectively
The report was driven primarily by transportation orders, which featured an 81% increase in nondefense aircraft and parts orders that followed on the heels of declines in both August and September
The final reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for November was lowered to 91.3 from a preliminary reading of 93.1 (consensus 93.1)
The Current Economic Conditions Index was 104.3 versus 102.3 in October while the Index of Consumer Expectations rose to 82.9 from 82.1 in October
New home sales in October rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 495,000 (consensus 504,000) from a downwardly revised September reading of 447,000 (from 468,000)
The FHFA Housing Price Index for September rose 0.8%, which followed an increase of 0.3% in August
Tomorrow, bond and equity markets will be closed for Thanksgiving while Friday's session will end at 13:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +8.0% YTD
S&P 500 +1.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.4% YTD
DJ30 +1.20 NASDAQ +13.33 SP500 -0.27 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1872/1.44 bln/956 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1847/661.2 mln/1184 3:40 pm :
WTI crude oil and natural gas futures recovered off of today's lows
However, gains were limited as the dollar index remained in positive territory today
By the end of today's session, Jan crude oil closed +0.2% at $43.00/barrel
Dec natural gas lost 0.9% to finish at $2.30/MMBtu
Dec silver ended the day back near the flat line at $14.16/oz, while gold remained in the red. Dec gold closed -0.3% at $1070.30/oz
Dec copper ended unchanged at $2.05/lb
12:45 pm Index Changes Reminder: Phibro Animal Health (PAHC) will replace Pericom Semi (PSEM) in the S&P SmallCap 600 after the close of trading (:INDXCH) :
11:34 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (119) outpacing new lows (77) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AC.WD, AEPI, ALRM, AMWD, ANGI, AOS, AVD, AYI, AZZ, BANC, BECN, BFAM, BHBK, BUD, BWXT, CALD, CASY, CCRN, CIA, CINF, CNCR, CORE, CPB, CPRT, CTMX, CVT, DEA, DHIL, EBIX, EGBN, EME, EPAY, ESLT, EW, EXR, EXTR, FBC, FBHS, FCB, FIBK, FIVN, FLXS, FMBI, FNLC, FPRX, FR, FSB, FSV, FXCB, GCI, GDEN, GT, HAWK, HD, HLI, HRL, HUB.A, IBOC, IDTI, IIIN, IMKTA, INGR, INST, KRNY, LAD, LDOS, LMAT, LMT, LOW, LXFT, MDWD, MNST, MPWR, MRCY, MTN, MXL, MYOK, NBBC, NBTB, NCTY, NEO, NKE, NSA, NTES, NUAN, NUTR, OCAT, ORIT, OVTI, PBF, PBSK, PBY, PCL, PRTA, PSA, RBCAA, ROP, SBGI, SBNY, SFBS, SHOR, SIX, SRI, STBA, STBZ, STL, STZ, TCBK, THFF, TSN, TSS, TTS, UBSH, VGR, WDFC, WST, XRS, ZAGG, ZIXI
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABGB, ABY, ACP, AHGP, ANGO, APU, ARCI, BBL, BBOX, BPI, CBAY, CDRB, CGG, CNXR, CPST, CVO, DDC, DXI, EMMS, ESBK, ESEA, EVAR, FELP, FULL, FWM, FXCM, GLBL, HIE, HIFR, HNP, HRT, I, KED, KMF, KYE, KYN, LBTYA, LBTYK, LLEX, MIL, MOSY, MT, NAO, NBY, NMBL, NMM, NRT, NXTD, OCIP, OOMA, OTIV, PBT, PQ, PRGN, PRKR, PSTI, PXS, QKLS, RBS, RESI, ROYL, SAUC, SXC, TCK, TERP, TLP, TPLM, TYG, UPL, USEG, VALE, VALE.P, VXUP, WMLP, WPZ, WRES, YLCO
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EPOL, FXF, KOL, PPLT
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
