From Briefing.com: The broader market action took us higher on Thursday, rebounding from back-to-back losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with the best gains today, edging up 82.45 points (+0.47%) to 17574.75. The Nasdaq Composite was closed behind, higher by 22.31 points (+0.44%) on Tuesday to 5045.17. The S&P 500 rounded out the bunch higher by 4.61 points (+0.23%) to 2052.23. Economic data reported Thursday included Initial Claims and Export Prices. Initial Claims for the week ending December 5 increased by 13,000 to 282,000 while continuing claims for the week ending November 28 jumped by 82,000 to 2.243 million. Export prices, excluding agriculture, declined 0.6% in November after declining 0.3% in the prior reading.
For Technology (XLK 43.71, +0.12 +0.28%), trading ended just above flat lines as trading nearly dipped into the red at the close but resisted last minute selling and ultimately grabbed modest gains. Shares of component IBM (IBM 136.78, +0.17 +0.12%) were slightly higher on the session as the company announced an agreement with SK Holdings to develop cloud solutions. Other sectors ended Thursday XLV +0.75%, XLE +0.64%, XLI +0.47%, XLY +0.34%, XLP +0.12%, XLF +0.08%, IYZ -0.34%, XLB -0.75%, XLU -1.65% with Healthcare leading all gains.
Social Media (SOCL 20.02, +0.17 +0.86%) names were strong from start to finish on Thursday. Component Twitter (TWTR 25.91, +1.60 +6.58%) traded strong today as the company confirmed plans to test promoted tweets on logged-out user experience.
The S&P 500 Information Technology (734.86, +1.51 +0.21%) sector closed today modestly higher as last minute selling almost took the sector into the red. Shares of Alphabet (GOOG 749.46, -2.15 -0.29%) were slightly lower today as the company's Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences) division announced the formation of Verb Surgical with Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ 102.64, +0.49 +0.48%) Ethicon.
Other notable news among sector components:
Wind River, a unit of Intel (INTC 34.77, -0.04 -0.11%), has introduced a reference design for a virtual business customer premises equipment, following extensive collaboration with four Network Functions Virtualization software partners including Brocade (BRCD 8.83, -0.05 -0.56%), Check Point (CHKP 84.80, -0.49 -0.57%), InfoVista and Riverbed (RVBD 20.99, -0.01 -0.05%).
IBM (IBM) and Korean IT services company SK Holdings C&C announced an agreement to develop cloud solutions and services for enterprises across a variety of industries. Jointly, the companies intend to drive over $200 million as a result of this collaboration over the next five years.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced the formation of Verb Surgical, an independent surgical solutions company, in collaboration with Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google (GOOG) Life Sciences). In the coming years, Verb Surgical aims to develop a comprehensive surgical solutions platform that will incorporate robotic capabilities and medical device technology for operating room professionals.
Pandora (P 13.05, +0.02 +0.15%) announced its availability on Apple (AAPL 116.17, +0.55 +0.48%) TV.
Elsewhere in the technology space:
LoJack (LOJN 5.20, +1.72 +49.64%) received offer to be acquired by CalAmp (CAMP 20.59, +2.03 +10.94%) for $5.50 per share, or about $113 million.
Twitter (TWTR) confirmed plans to test promoted tweets on the logged-out user experience.
Digital Ally (DGLY 5.34, +0.79 +17.36%) reported that the USPTO has rejected a challenge by Taser International (TASR 17.73, +1.10 +6.61%) aimed at the firm's '292 patent.
Inventergy (INVT 2.47, +1.16 +88.55%) provided an update outlining current strategy. The company's current assets cover various market segments totaling over $200 billion in relevant annual revenue of potential licensees.
Spark Networks (LOV 3.93, -0.07 -1.75%) announced the appointment of Shailen Mistry as Chief Technology Officer effective January 4, 2016.
Atlassian (TEAM -- Nasdaq 27.99, +6.99 +33.29%) priced its 22 million share IPO at $21/share, above the revised expected range of $19-20. Shares began trading today at $27.67.
In reaction to quarterly results:
Methode Electronics (MEI 30.55, -3.50 -10.28%) reported Q2 EPS which beat expectations at $0.54 on revenues which missed, and fell 9.3% year-over-year to $208.4 million. The company also lowered their FY16 EPS and revenue guidance.
Ciena (CIEN 20.04, -4.07 -16.88%) reported Q4 EPS and revenues which beat expectations at $0.42 and $692 million, respectively. The company also guided Q1 and FY16 revenues worse than expected.
Comtech Telecom (CMTL 19.63, -1.27 -6.08%) reported Q1 EPS and revenues which were worse than anticipated; EPS was $0.15 and revenues fell 16.1% year-over-year to $64.12 million. Management guided FY16 EPS in-line and reaffirmed FY16 revenue guidance.
Analyst actions:
CYBR was upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at JP Morgan,
CIEN was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Northland Capital;
AMAT was downgraded to Outperform from Buy at Credit Agricole,
QLYS was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan,
SCMWY was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman
4:10 pm : The stock market ended Thursday on a higher note, putting an end to its three-day skid. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2%, but could not hold posture above its 50-day moving average (2,054). Meanwhile, the Dow (+0.5%) and Nasdaq (+0.4%) settled ahead of the benchmark index.
The Thursday advance did not occur without some theatrics as the S&P 500 marked a morning high during the first 90 minutes of the day and followed that with a return to its flat line. The benchmark index charged to a fresh high in the early afternoon, but backtracked from that level to end in the lower third of today's range.
Equity indices spent the first hour of action near their flat lines, but the energy sector (+0.6%) displayed relative strength from the start, which underpinned today's advance. The sector narrowed this week's loss to 3.2%, ending in the lead even though crude oil fell 1.0% to $36.80/bbl. The energy component continued sliding in electronic trade, which forced some backtracking in the sector. It is worth noting that the prolonged weakness in oil prices prompted Chevron (CVX 89.30, +1.70) and ConocoPhillips (COP 49.22, +0.75) to cut their respective capital expenditure budgets for 2016 by 24.0% and 25.0%, respectively.
The energy sector was the only pocket of strength in the early going, but the growth-sensitive group held its ground even as the S&P 500 retreated from its opening high during the early afternoon. The benchmark index approached its flat line around 12:15 ET, but did not dip below its opening levels thanks to late morning strength in high-beta groups. Specifically, biotechnology, chipmakers, and transport stocks got off to a sluggish start, but all three areas settled ahead of the broader market, which contributed to the afternoon push to a fresh session high.
The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 329.41, +4.21) spiked 1.3% while the broader health care sector gained 0.8%, narrowing this week's loss to 0.6%. Elsewhere, the Dow Jones Transportation Average climbed 0.6% with airlines rebounding from recent weakness, helping the industrial sector (+0.5%) end among the leaders.
For its part, the PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 0.6% with all but eight components ending in the green; however, that strength was overshadowed by a mixed showing from large cap members of the technology sector (+0.2%).
On the downside, materials (-0.8%) and utilities (-1.7%) spent the day in negative territory with the materials space pulling back after yesterday's 3.1% surge.
Treasuries spent the day inside narrow ranges, slipping to lows just ahead of the close. The 10-yr note settled on its low with the benchmark yield rising two basis points to 2.23%.
Today's participation was relatively light with fewer than 850 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included Initial Claims, Import/Export Prices, and Treasury Budget:
Initial claims for the week ending December 5 increased by 13,000 to 282,000 (Briefing.com consensus 269,000) while continuing claims for the week ending November 28 jumped by 82,000 to 2.243 million (Briefing.com consensus 2.167 million)
There were no special factors influencing initial claims, which have remained bounded between 250,000 and 300,000 since July 2014
Export prices, excluding agriculture, decreased 0.6% in November after decreasing 0.3% in the prior reading
Excluding oil, import prices decreased 0.3%, which followed last month's decrease of 0.3%
The November Treasury Budget showed a deficit of $64.60 billion
The Treasury data are not seasonally adjusted, so the November deficit cannot be compared to the October deficit of $136.50 billion
Total receipts in November were $205.00 billion while total outlays were $269.50 billion
Receipts were $13.50 billion more than November 2014 receipts while total outlays were $21.30 billion more than November 2014
Tomorrow, November CPI (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) and November Retail Sales (consensus +0.3%) will be reported at 8:30 ET while October Business Inventories (expected +0.1%) and the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for December (consensus 91.6) will both be released at 10:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +6.5% YTD
S&P 500 -0.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.4% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.3% YTD
DJ30 +82.45 NASDAQ +22.31 SP500 +4.61 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1598/1.62 bln/1317 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1493/848.9 mln/1537
3:10 pm :
The dollar rallied higher all session, seeing only a brief pause following the release of underwhelming US unemployment and import/export price data
Heading into the commodity closes, the index continued to trend higher and is now near its HoD at +0.6% to 97.96
Crude fell below the flat-line in early trade- pressed by the stronger dollar and mixed interpretations of OPEC's December Monthly Oil Report.
WTI gradually extended that sell-off into the close, finishing the day at losses of -1% to $36.80/barrel
Natural gas spiked to moderate positives early in the session (following a larger-than-expected build of 76 bcf), but failed to hold those gains in subsequent trading.
The January contract slumped back to strong losses shortly after the initial spike, which it held into the close. Nat gas ended -1.9% to $2.02/MMBtu
Precious metals fell to the consistently strengthening dollar, with gold closing -0.4% to 1072.20/oz and silver finishing -0.4% to $14.12/oz
Copper trended in a moderate range all session on a lack of immediate catalysts, closing at $2.07/lb
7:32 am LoJack receives offer to be acquired by CalAmp (CAMP) for $5.50/share, or ~$113 mln (shares halted) (LOJN) :
CalAmp (CAMP) announced that it has made an offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of LoJack for $5.50 per share in cash, in a transaction valued at approximately $113 million.
"For nearly two years, we have tried to engage with LoJack in friendly discussions regarding a combination of our two companies, and in the past 14 months we have made three all-cash offers to LoJack. To our disappointment, and to the detriment of LoJack's shareholders, LoJack has not demonstrated willingness to move toward actively negotiating a transaction with us. We are excited by the prospect of combining our two businesses and believe our $5.50 per share cash offer provides LoJack shareholders with a substantial premium for their investment in LoJack, while also eliminating the risks associated with LoJack continuing to operate on a standalone basis...The Board of Directors of CalAmp unanimously supports this offer and believes, with close cooperation and focus among our respective teams, we can move expeditiously to complete due diligence and execute a definitive agreement. We look forward to LoJack's careful and serious consideration of our offer and remain ready to engage with LoJack's Board of Directors to complete this transaction."
7:31 am CalAmp goes public with offer to acquire LoJack (LOJN) at 58% premium; raises Q3 guidance (CAMP) :
Co raises Q3 EPS to $0.29-0.31 from $0.26-0.30 vs $0.29 Capital IQ Consensus; revs $74-75 mln from $71-76 mln vs $73.69 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co has made an offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of LoJack (LOJN), a provider of vehicle theft recovery systems and advanced fleet management solutions, for $5.50 per share in cash, in a transaction valued at ~$113 million. "For nearly two years, we have tried to engage with LoJack in friendly discussions regarding a combination of our two companies, and in the past 14 months we have made three all-cash offers to LoJack. To our disappointment, and to the detriment of LoJack's shareholders, LoJack has not demonstrated willingness to move toward actively negotiating a transaction with us... We look forward to LoJack's careful and serious consideration of our offer and remain ready to engage with LoJack's Board of Directors to complete this transaction."
7:06 am Ciena beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q1 and FY16 revs below consensus (CIEN) :
Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.42 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.38; revenues rose 17.1% year/year to $692 mln vs the $683.53 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Gross margin 44.9% vs. ~44% guidanceCo issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $555-590 mln vs. $634.75 mln Capital IQ Consensus; adj. gross margin ~44%. Co issues downside guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs +8-9% to ~$2.64-2.67 bln vs. $2.77 bln Capital IQ Consensus; adj. gross margin in mid-40% range and adj. operating margin 11-12%.
SunEdison (SUNE) announced that it has signed a 10-year agreement with Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator to supply 5 megawatt-20 megawatt-hours-of battery storage to the province.
6:35 am Methode Electronics beats by $0.01, misses on revs; lowers FY16 EPS, revs guidance (MEI) :
Reports Q2 (Oct) earnings of $0.54 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.53; revenues fell 9.3% year/year to $208.4 mln vs the $213.11 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co lowers guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $2.06-2.18 (Prior $2.07-2.22) vs. $2.18 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $805-825 mln (Prior $830-865 mln) vs. $837.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.The Company expects earnings in the third quarter to be lower than in the fourth quarter due to the effect of the holidays and continued weakness in its non-automotive businesses. Additionally, it anticipates fourth-quarter earnings will be in line with the second quarter.
6:02 am Chipmos Technology reports November revenues of NT 1.58 bln, -19.1% Y/Y (IMOS) :
3:47 am SunPower prices $400 mln of its 4.00% Senior Convertible Debentures due 2023 (SPWR) :
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
