From Briefing.com: The broader market closed the first trading day of December with all three major US indices at moderate gains. The S&P 500 led U.S. markets, closing +1.1% to 2,102.63, while the Nasdaq and Dow Jones closely trailed at +0.9% to 5,156.31 and +1% to 17,888.35 respectively. Broad sector strength was seen across the S&P 500, with Healthcare, Consumer Discretionary and Financials leading into the positive close.
Economic data was light today, with the US ISM Index coming in slightly below estimates at 48.6 (vs. a 50.4 consensus). On the horizon, the market will look toward tomorrow's release of EIA inventory data for WTI and of the Fed's Beige Book for language regarding a potential December rate hike.
For its part, Technology (XLK) closed today's action +0.9% to $44.35, with familiar names Alphabet (GOOG) (+3.5% to $767.04) , Facebook (FB) (+2.7% to $107.09), Microsoft (MSFT) (+1.5% to $55.22) and Oracle (ORCL) (+0.7% to $39.23) being among the largest gainers. Weakness in the sector predominated in the Domestic Telecom segment, with AT&T (T) (+0.3% to $33.77) and Verizon (VZ) (+0.3% to $45.58) showing moderate losses. Other sectors closed as follows: XLF +1.1%, XLB +0.7%, XLU +0.8%, XLP +0.9%, XLI +0.5%, XLV +1.7%, XLE +0.8%, XLY +1%,
The S&P 500 Information Technology sector closed higher +1.1% to $746.82 for the session, in-line with strength in the broader market.
Notable news items among sector components:
Harris (HRS) (+1% to $83.99) received a $113 million US Navy radar upgrade contract.
FLIR Systems (FLIR) acquired DVTEL, a video surveillance tech company, for about $92 million.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) (+5.1% to $15.61) announced HPE Synergy, the first platform designed to run both traditional and cloud native applications for organizations seeking the benefits of running a hybrid infrastructure.
EDF Renewable Energy's 175--megawatt Pilot Hill wind project located in Kankakee and Iroquois Counties in Illinois has closed structured equity financing from GE (GE) unit, GE Energy Financial Services, and
MetLife (MET). Pilot Hill Wind Project, which has achieved commercial operations and is located about 60 miles southwest of Chicago, will power 100% of the energy needs of Microsoft (MSFT) Chicago data center. Microsoft has committed to purchase the output under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Microsoft (MSFT) formed a partnership w/ Microsoft Azure as a preferred public cloud partner for HPE customers, while HPE will serve as a preferred partner in providing infrastructure and services for Microsoft's hybrid cloud offerings.
Vonage Holdings (VG) (+0.3% to $6.47) was granted 3 patents by the USPTO
Corning (GLW) (+0.5% to $18.82) announced it will invest in a Gen 10.5 LCD glass substrate facility in Hefei.
Cornerstone OnDemand (CSOD) (-0.8% to $35.63) and ADP (ADP) (+1.5% to $87.56) expanded their partnership. As part of the agreement, Cornerstone's learning and performance management solution for small businesses, Cornerstone Growth Edition, is expected to be made available to ADP customers via the ADP Marketplace in early 2016.
Elsewhere in the technology space:
AT&T (T) was awarded a 5-year blanket purchase agreement from the General Services Administration's Office of Fleet Management, to offer fleet management services to federal agencies.
Citrix Systems' (CTXS) (+1.5% to $77.83) Director by Deputization, Elliot Mgmt Corp. bought 31,550 shares at $76.61-76.63 worth ~$2.4 mln
Straight Path Comms (STRP) (-9.7% to $10.84) confirmed a favorable patent ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, while giving commentary on allegations regarding renewal of spectrum licenses.
In reaction to quarterly results:
NQ Mobile (NQ) (-17.1% to $3.49) reported Q3 EPS in-line with expectations at $0.01 per share on worse than expected revenues of $87.9 million. The company also suspended the practice of providing revenue guidance.
Infoblox (BLOX) (+22% to $18.35) reported Q1 EPS and revenues which were better than anticipated at $0.13 per share and $94 million, respectively. The company also guided Q2 EPS and revenues better than anticipated at $0.12-0.14 and $93-95 million, respectively. BLOX also issued upside guidance for FY16 revenues in the range of $370-380 million, in addition to the announcement of a $100 million share repurchase program.
Quarterly earnings on the docket for tonight/tomorrow morning: APIC, GWRE/SAIC
Analyst actions:
ALU and NOK were upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse,
RAX was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Mkts,
WIN was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James,
CPSI was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank,
TSM was upgraded to Buy from Hold at HSBC,
KKPNY was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura;
ERIC was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse,
CSC was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey,
TLEIY was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts,
SMGZY was downgraded to Reduce from Hold at HSBC
4:19 pm Microchip provides the break-out of its net sales derived from organic growth versus growth derived from acquisitions (MCHP) :
"Over a six year period from CY2009 to CY2015, with our December 2015 quarter net sales projected at our guidance mid-point, Microchip's total net sales grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.3%, including acquisitions. Over the same period, excluding acquisitions, Microchip's net sales grew at a CAGR of 8.3%, versus the semiconductor industry's CAGR of 6.7%. Thus, Microchip's organic net sales grew at a higher rate than the industry over this period and our acquisitions augmented our organic growth, resulting in more than doubling our growth rate. We have also posted on our website a comparison of Microchip's results compared to the results of many of our microcontroller and analog/mixed signal competitors. Our organic net sales grew faster than all of them except for one, despite most of them also having acquisition growth. In fact, our total net sales grew at more than twice the rate of any of our competitors included in our analysis....Our growth rate evidences the success of our "elbow-out" acquisition strategy that we have often shared with investors, where our organic sales growth is better than the market and acquisitions are adding further growth and not replacing the organic growth."
"From an earnings perspective, our non-GAAP earnings per share grew at a CAGR of 17.3% over the same six year period. Additionally, the earnings per share derived from our organic growth excluding acquisitions grew at a CAGR of 11.6% per year"
4:10 pm : The stock market began December on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 climbing 1.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%) settled just behind.
All in all, the Tuesday session was very quiet as the S&P 500 marked its high during the opening hour and inched above that level during afternoon action. The index briefly slipped from the morning high after today's economic data showed that the ISM Index (48.6; Briefing.com consensus 50.4) registered its first contractionary reading (below 50) in 36 months.
The disappointing report was met with a spike in Treasuries that sent the 10-yr note to a fresh high. The benchmark instrument settled on its best level of the day, pressuring its yield six basis points to 2.15%.
All ten sectors posted gains with heavily-weighted groups like health care (+1.7%), technology (+1.1%), consumer discretionary (+1.0%), and financials (+1.3%) ending in the lead.
Interestingly, the health care sector settled well ahead of the broader market as strength in hospital names like Tenet Healthcare (THC 34.93, +1.74) and Universal Health Services (UHS 125.30, +3.78) masked relative weakness in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 336.16, +1.79) added 0.5% after being down nearly 1.0% at the start of the trading day.
Elsewhere among influential groups, technology (+1.1%) settled in-line with the broader market, overshadowing a 0.8% decline in the shares of Apple (AAPL 117.34, -0.96), which slipped to a one-week low. Meanwhile, high-beta chipmakers outperformed throughout the day, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index higher by 1.4%.
Staying on the cyclical side, the industrial sector (+0.6%) held a modest gain throughout the day as relative strength in transport stocks overshadowed losses among heavy machinery names. The Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 1.3% while Caterpillar (CAT 71.56, -1.09) and Joy Global (JOY 13.33, -2.02) posted respective losses of 1.5% and 13.2% after Joy Global was downgraded to 'Underperform' from 'Neutral' at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.
Today's advance took place amid trading volume that was close to average as 845 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data was limited to Construction Spending and ISM Index:
Construction spending increased 1.0% month-over-month in October while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.7%
Construction spending is up a solid 13.1% year-over-year, which is the sixth straight month of double-digit growth
The strength in October was fueled by a 0.8% increase in private construction spending and a 1.4% increase in public construction
The ISM Index for November indicated a decline to 48.6 from 50.1 while the Briefing.com consensus expected an uptick to 50.4
This was the first below-50 reading in 36 months, indicating contraction in activities
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while November ADP Employment Change (Briefing.com consensus 185,000) will be reported at 8:15 ET. Q3 Productivity (consensus 2.2%) and Unit Labor Cost data (expected 1.2%) will be released at 8:30 ET and the Federal Reserve's December beige book will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +8.9% YTD
S&P 500 +2.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.4% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.2%
DJ30 +168.43 NASDAQ +47.64 SP500 +22.22 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1676/1.84 bln/1197 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2196/844.8 mln/890
3:40 pm :
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, traded higher today while the dollar index remained in negative territory
Jan WTI crude oil was volatile in the afternoon session, closing up the day +0.4% at $41.78/barrel
Dec nat gas recovered some, ending the day unchanged at $2.23/MMBtu
Precious metals recovered some as well in afternoon trade with Feb gold closing today's session -0.2% at $1063.40/oz and Mar silver -0.1% at $14.07/oz
Mar copper rose 0.5% to $2.07/lb
11:40 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (146) outpacing new lows (77) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AFG, AFH, ALLE, ALTR, AOSL, ATVI, BANC, BKCC, BWXT, BXS, BYM, CACI, CBNJ, CBU, CCF, CMPR, CNO, COBZ, CPB, CPS, CSBK, CYT, DHIL, DSGX, EBAY, EDUC, EFX, EGBN, ELS, EMKR, EPAY, ERIE, EXLS, EXR, FCF, FFG, FFIC, FIBK, FISV, FIZZ, FMBI, FNLC, FR, FRBK, FULT, FXCB, GABC, GDEN, GIGA, GT, GVA, GVP, HELE, HFFC, HLI, HNNA, HRL, HSIC, HUB.A, IDLB, IDTI, INWK, IPCC, IPHI, IT, JBL, JKHY, KCLI, KFY, LDOS, LEA, LGIH, LXFT, MANH, MBWM, MCBC, MDRX, METR, MGPI, MKC, MKC.V, MLVF, MNRO, MPWR, MSFT, MXL, NAII, NAZ, NBBC, NBTB, NFBK, NRIM, NSA, NUTR, NVDA, NVRO, NWBI, NWL, ORIT, OVTI, PAYX, PCL, PE, PEN, PGI, PLAB, PRE, PROV, PSB, RENX, RIVR, RNR, SASR, SBCF, SFNC, SGBK, SHBI, SKYY, SLCT, SMG, SNA, SSRG, STBA, STBZ, STL, SWI, TLMR, TOWN, TOWR, TSS, TTI, TYL, UBSH, USLB, VLY, VNTV, VR, VTN, WINS, WK, WSBF, WSFS, WTR, XLNX, XUE, YDKN
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: APU, ARCB, ARLP, ATLS, AVNW, BBEP, BDL, BSPM, CAMT, CAR, CEN, CHCI, CLRB, CLUB, CMI, COG, COMT, CPST, CVGI, CVRS, DCIX, DSX, DTRM, EMITF, EMMS, ENLK, EPIX, EQT, ESBK, FTSM, FWM, GDP, GER, GSI, HIFR, HKTV, I, ICA, JOY, KED, LLEX, MGIC, MTBC, NFG, NGLS, NS, NTN, NWPX, NXTD, NYH, OCIP, OTIV, PCO, PEGI, PETX, PRKR, PTSI, REXX, RLOG, ROSG, ROYT, RPD, RPRX, SMT, SPH, STV, TEAR, TRGP, TWER, URRE, VALE, WPRT, WPZ, WRES, WRN, WSCI, ZX
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IGV, KIE, SKYY
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EPOL, UNG
ST (STM) has now delivered more than one billion general- purpose STM32 microcontrollers based on ARM (ARMH) Cortex cores; co has passed the 500 mln milestone for shipments of ST33 secure microcontrollers built around the ARM SecurCoreSC300 processor.
6:52 am Corning announces it will invest in a Gen 10.5 LCD glass substrate facility in Hefei (GLW) :
The firm announced that with the support of the Hefei government, Corning will locate a Gen 10.5 glass manufacturing facility adjacent to the BOE Technology Group Co. plant in the Hefei XinZhan General Pilot Zone in Anhui Province, China. Glass substrate production from the new facility is expected to support BOE's plan to begin mass production of LCD panels for large-size televisions by the third quarter of 2018.
The total investment for the facility is $1.3 billion. Corning's investment will be composed primarily of equipment and precious metals. Corning's net outlay of $460 million, which is net of government and commercial incentives, is expected to be $290 million in cash and $170 million of currently owned precious metals. As part of this investment, Corning and BOE have entered into a long-term supply agreement that commits BOE to the purchase of Gen 10.5 glass substrates from the Corning manufacturing facility in Hefei.
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