From Briefing.com: The broader market began the abbreviated week spiking into the close as all three major US indices turned modest gains into near highs of the day. The Nasdaq Composite led the way, up 45.84 points (+0.93%) to 4968.92. The S&P 500 closed higher 15.60 points (+0.78%) to 2021.15, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 123.07 points (+0.72%) to 17251.62.
Technology (XLK 42.60, +0.50 +1.19%) ended Monday at the highs of the day, as broader market buying took the sector into positive territory and never dipped into the red. Component Intel (INTC 34.24, +0.38 +1.11%) closed the session slightly higher as the company received a written notice from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce that it has approved the acquisition of Altera (ALTR 53.92, +1.07 +2.02%). Other sectors closed the session XLP +1.13%, XLF +0.99%, IYZ +0.92%, XLV +0.91%, XLB +0.90%, XLI +0.77%, XLY +0.50%, XLE +0.10%, XLU -0.07% with only Utilities closing below flat lines.
The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (717.73, +7.50 +1.06%) regained some of the late-week losses from last week today, albeit still lower than Friday's open mark. Component Avago Tech (AVGO 145.80, +5.60 +3.99%) closed Monday's action near session highs as shares were upgraded this morning to a Top Pick rating from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts. Other components which finished notably better than the broader market today included FSLR +3.67%, PYPL +3.14%, MU +2.88%, QCOM +2.80%, NVDA +2.35%, CSC +2.35%, HRS +1.98%, STX +1.76%, XLNX +1.68%, MCHP +1.65%, TXN +1.60%, CTSH +1.50%, XRX +1.48%, CSCO +1.39%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Ericsson (ERIC 9.51, +0.38 +4.16%) and Apple (AAPL 107.33, +1.30 +1.23%) have agreed on a global patent license agreement between the two companies. The agreement includes a cross license that covers patents relating to both companies' standard-essential patents, and grants certain other patent rights. In addition, the agreement includes releases that resolve all pending patent-infringement litigation between the companies.
Microsoft (MSFT 54.83, +0.70 +1.29%) acquired technology from mobile app maker Talko, and subsequently, employees from Talko will join the Skype team. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Oracle (ORCL 36.42, +0.07 +0.19%) agreed to settle FTC charges which asserted that it deceived consumers about Java software updates.
Salesforce (CRM 77.29, +0.26 +0.34%) signed a 12-year wind energy agreement for 40 megawatts of a new West Virginia wind farm through a virtual power purchase agreement. The electricity generated under the agreement is expected to be 125,000 megawatt hours annually. The wind farm is expected to be operational by December 2016.
Yahoo! (YHOO 32.97, +0.01 +0.05%) and NBC Sports Group announced a renewal of their digital sports partnership.
Intel (INTC) received written notice from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce that it has approved the proposed acquisition of Altera (ALTR).
Harris (HRS 84.35, +1.64 +1.98%) received $66 million in orders to provide a Middle East nation with Falcon III wideband tactical radios and accessories
Elsewhere in the technology space:
Cimpress (CMPR 81.66, -0.24 -0.29%) to acquire WIRmachenDRUCK GmbH, a German web-to-print company, for about 140 million, plus potential earnouts.
CSRA (CSRA 27.36, -0.10 -0.36%) won a $115 million contract to develop software for the US Courts Case Management Office.
Netsol (NTWK 8.36, +1.96 +30.62%) signed contract currently valued at more than $100 million.
HollySys (HOLI 22.21, +1.02 +4.81%) filed about 776.8K ordinary share shelf offering by a selling stockholder.
Siliconware Precision (SPIL 7.81, +0.29 +3.86%) issued a preliminary response to Advanced Semi's (ASX 5.54, +0.11 +2.03%) proposal letter.
Analyst actions:
AVGO was upgraded to Top Pick from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts,
FARO was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham,
CIEN was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies
4:10 pm : The stock market began the trading week a higher note thanks to a final-hour rally that lifted the market back to its opening high. The S&P 500 added 0.8% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%) outperformed slightly.
Overnight, Asian markets had a mixed showing with China's Shanghai Composite (+1.8%) outpacing other regional indices thanks to stimulus hopes. Meanwhile, European indices flashed solid intraday gains, but they slid into the close with Spain's IBEX diving 3.6% due to political uncertainty stemming from general elections that took place over the weekend. Mariano Rajoy's Partido Popular came out on top, receiving 123 votes, but forming a lasting coalition government may be a challenge considering the runner-up Socialist party has ruled out forming a joint government with PP. Spain's 10-yr note sold off in response, sending its yield higher by nine basis points to 1.79%.
Once the attention shifted to the U.S., equity indices spiked out of the gate, hitting their session highs during the opening hour of the trading day. All ten sectors took part in the rally, but the market ran into some resistance that coincided with renewed selling in crude oil, which ended the day lower by 1.3% at $35.79/bbl. Furthermore, the intraday selling in oil may have rekindled concerns about the high-yield debt space. To that point, the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate ETF (HYG 79.28, -0.25) opened in the green, but slumped to lows, dragging the broader market with it.
The late morning pullback returned the market into the bottom half of its trading range where action was confined until the final hour rally placed the S&P 500 just below its early high. The energy sector (+0.1%) ended the day just above its flat line while the remaining cyclical groups posted stronger gains.
The top-weighted technology sector (+1.1%) spent the day among the leaders thanks to a strong showing from high-beta microchip names. Avago Technologies (AVGO 145.80, +5.60) spiked 4.0% after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock while the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index rallied 1.9%.
Similar to technology, industrials (+0.8%) and financials (+0.9%) had a strong showing while the consumer discretionary sector (+0.4%) underperformed. Dow component Disney (DIS 106.59, -1.13) lost 1.1% despite a strong opening weekend for the latest installment of the Star Wars franchise while Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 522.01, -19.07) surrendered 3.5%, dropping to a new low for the year amid reports the Center for Disease Control is investigating new E. coli cases at company restaurants.
Treasuries showed losses overnight, but climbed into the green during morning action. The 10-yr note eked out a modest gain, pressuring its yield to 2.20% (-1 bp).
Today's participation was in line with recent averages as roughly 900 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.
Investors did not receive any economic data today, but tomorrow, the third estimate of Q3 GDP will be released at 8:30 ET (Briefing.com consensus 2.0%) while October FHFA Housing Price Index and November Existing Home Sales (Briefing.com consensus 5.30 million) will be reported at 9:00 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.
Nasdaq Composite +4.9% YTD
S&P 500 -1.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -3.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -6.1% YTD
DJ30 +123.07 NASDAQ +45.84 SP500 +15.60 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1835/1.51 bln/1108 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2009/898.7 mln/1040
3:15 pm :
The dollar was pressed to session lows in mid-day trade, breaking down to near the 98.7 level, as both strength in the Euro and Yen won out against the struggling dollar.
Underwhelming BOJ stimulus measures, and a firming Euro (as the market re-assessed the outcome of Spanish elections) were primary drivers of index weakness.
The dollar closed at modest losses into the commodity closes, and is now -0.4% to 98.39
WTI traded in in a moderate, negative range for most of the session, as a lack of fresh catalysts failed to give price momentum a solid direction.
Media coverage was bearish for most of the day, with articles focusing on potentially depressed heating oil demand, and potential increases in both US/Russian production.
The February contract finished at the mid-point of its daily range (between $36.10 - $35.35) at -1.3% to $35.79/barrel
Natural gas rallied sharply mid-morning, on a more bullish revision to near-term national weather forecasts. The close of +7.9% to $1.91/MMBtu established one of the largest gains of the year for the depressed commodity.
Metals closed broadly higher- aided by a fledgling dollar and potentially bullish production cuts (for copper) out of China. Gold closed +1.5% to $1080.70/oz, silver +1.5% to $14.30/oz and copper at +1.4% to $2.14/lb
9:49 am Aixtron cautious of 'false news release', reaffirms FY15, FY16 guidance (AIXG) : The co announced that the news circulated on purpose by unidentified sources today is false. AIXTRON says it has not published any news today regarding an upcoming short-term change of guidance among others. The 2015 and 2016 guidance published with the ad-hoc announcement of December 9, 2015 remain in place. For investigation of this incident, the company is in contact with the Federal Financial Supervisory Authorit
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