From Briefing.com: The broader market ended Wednesday action with notable gains. Leading the way higher today, the S&P 500 added 25.32 points (+1.24%) to 2064.29. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 185.34 points (+1.06%) to 17602.61, and the Nasdaq Composite was higher by 44.82 points (+0.90%) to 5045.93 when the bell rang.
Today's economic data came in the form of durable goods orders which were unchanged in November following a downwardly revised 2.9% increase in October (from 3.0%). The Personal Income and Spending report for November showed a 0.3% increase in spending, as expected, driven by a 0.6% increase in goods spending. New home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 490,000 in November, up 4.3% from a downwardly revised 470,000 (from 495,000) in October. The final reading for December University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index was revised up to 92.6 from a preliminary reading of 91.8.
When the bell rang, Technology (XLK 43.27, +0.34 +0.79%) closed near the highs of the day, as the broader market gains pushed the sector higher. Component Computer Sciences (CSC 33.04, +0.83 +2.58%) closed among the leaders in the sector as the company acquired 9.99% of Xchanging plc. Other sectors closed XLE +4.35%, XLB +2.36%, IYZ +2.18%, XLU +1.54%, XLF +1.18%, XLI +1.17%, XLV +1.08%, XLP +0.73%, XLY +0.51% led by a surge in the Energy sector as WTI Crude Oil Futures rallied about +3.8%.
Shares of Semi (SOX 671.78, +4.68 +0.70%) names were mostly higher today, in spite of component Micron's (MU 14.30, -0.31 -2.12%) mixed quarterly results which were reported last night. Components which finished in positive territory today included MRVL +3.00%, SUNE +1.51%, CREE +1.50%, TER +1.46%, ASML +1.02%, AVGO +0.97%, SWKS +0.97%, XLNX +0.95%, ARMH +0.94%, ADI +0.83%, BRCM +0.82%, SNDK +0.79%, INTC +0.78%.
The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (728.45, +5.87 +0.81%) was also strong on Wednesday, ending the session near highs. Components like QRVO +3.82%, STX +3.30%, CSC +2.55%, PAYX +2.35%, FIS +2.24%, GLW +2.15%, TXN +1.96%, CSCO +1.90%, FSLR +1.82%, CA +1.81%, AMAT +1.81% ended the session outperforming the broader market on a light day of news by all accounts.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Oracle (ORCL 36.93, +0.33 +0.90%) acquired StackEngine. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Nvidia (NVDA 33.06, +0.12 +0.38%) commented on a judge's ruling that it infringed three of Samsung's (SSNLF 1025, flat) patents. The company noted it will seek a review by the full ITC, which it expects to take several months to issue its ruling.
Apple (AAPL 108.62, +1.39 +1.30%) amended bylaws to implement proxy access. The Bylaws include a new Section 5.15 that permits a shareholder, or a group of up to twenty shareholders, owning at least 3% of Apple's outstanding shares of common stock continuously for at least three years to nominate and include in Apple's annual meeting proxy materials director nominees constituting up to twenty percent of the Board, provided that the shareholder(s) and nominee(s) satisfy the requirements specified in the Bylaws.
Computer Sciences (CSC) acquired 9.99% of Xchanging plc. Xchanging also disclosed that CSC's pending offer remains the only firm offer which has been made and was unanimously recommended by the Board.
Elsewhere in the technology space:
Rovi (ROVI 14.66, +3.31 +29.16%) and AT&T (T 34.78, +0.38 +1.10%) agreed to a seven-year renewal and expansion of the existing license agreement.
Wi-LAN (WILN 1.31, +0.14 +11.97%) entered into a patent license agreement with Netflix (NFLX 118.16, +1.92 +1.65%). The consideration which is to paid to WILN was not disclosed.
Black Box (BBOX 9.09, -0.92 -9.19%) announced Michael McAndrew will be stepping down as the President and CEO effective upon the appointment of his successor.
Anadigics (ANAD 0.54, +0.07 +15.35%) announced a 'Superior Offer' of $0.54 per share after GaAs Labs matches the $0.48 per share offer price of the competing bidder.
Wipro (WIT 11.80, +0.01 +0.08%) acquired the Viteos Group for $130 million.
Monotype Imaging (TYPE 23.71, +0.12 +0.51%) appointed COO Scott Landers as President and CEO effective January 1.
NII Holdings (NIHD 4.88, -0.06 -1.21%) disclosed certain workforce reductions at its corporate headquarters. As such, the Board of Directors have approved a Form of Separation and Release Agreement for certain executive officers of the company, including Steven Shindler, Chief Executive Officer, and Daniel Freiman, Chief Financial Officer.
In reaction to quarterly results:
Micron (MU) reported Q1 earnings per share which beat expectations at $0.24 and revenues which fell 26.7% year-over-year to $3.35 billion and were worse than expected. The company also guided Q2 EPS and revenues worse than expected at ($0.12)-($0.05) and $2.9-3.2 billion, respectively.
CalAmp (CAMP 20.88, +1.42 +7.33%) reported Q3 EPS which beat expectations at $0.31 on revenues which came in in-line at $74.7 million, and rose 18.2% year-over-year. The company also guided Q4 EPS and revenues in-line at $0.28-0.32 and $73-78 million, respectively.
Analyst actions:
SCSC was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Northcoast,
EEFT was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Monness Crespi & Hardt,
SPIL was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman;
MU was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James
4:10 pm : The major averages enjoyed a broad-based rally on Wednesday and the steady climb was undoubtedly facilitated by light trading volume ahead of tomorrow's abbreviated Christmas Eve session. The S&P spiked 1.2%, ending right above its 50-day (2,063) moving average (2,062), and the Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%) followed not far behind.
Equity indices registered roughly half of their gains right at the open, rallying behind the energy sector (+4.4%), which held a solid lead throughout the day thanks to a rally in crude oil. The energy component surged 3.8% to $37.50/bbl, catching a second wind from bullish inventory data; however, it wasn't just energy, as every other sector ended the day comfortably in the green.
The materials sector (+2.4%) was a distant second while heavily-weighted financials (+1.2%), industrials (+1.2%), and health care (+1.1%) settled near the broader market. Meanwhile, the top-weighted technology sector (+0.8%) spent the day behind the S&P 500 as several large cap components like Alphabet (GOOGL 768.51, +1.38), Qualcomm (QCOM 49.04, -0.02), and Facebook (FB 104.63, -0.88) lagged.
Elsewhere in the technology sector, high-beta chipmakers benefitted from the overall rally in the market, but the PHLX Semiconductor Index underperformed with a 0.7% gain as Micron (MU 14.29, -0.32) weighed. Shares of MU flirted with a new low for the year, settling lower by 2.2% after the company's below-consensus revenue and disappointing guidance masked a one-cent beat.
Staying on the earnings theme, Nike (NKE 128.71, -3.14) beat earnings estimates on below-consensus revenue and its stock surged to a fresh all-time high at the open, but that was followed by daylong selling that left the Dow component lower by 2.4% when the closing bell rang. Furthermore, the consumer discretionary sector (+0.5%) as a whole struggled to keep pace with the market amid weakness in select retailers and homebuilders, with the latter stumbling after the release of a disappointing November new home sales report that contained a downward revision to October data.
Trading volume was well below average for the second consecutive day as fewer than 820 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.
Treasuries hit their lows in morning action, erasing about a third of their losses into the afternoon. The 10-yr yield rose two basis points to 2.26% after testing 2.28% intraday.
Economic data included Durable Orders, Personal Income/Spending data, New Home Sales, Michigan Sentiment, and MBA Mortgage Index:
Durable goods orders were unchanged in November (Briefing.com consensus -0.7%) following a downwardly revised 2.9% increase in October (from 3.0%)
Orders, excluding transportation, declined 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus 0.0%) following an unrevised 0.5% increase in October
The Personal Income and Spending report for November caused a stir since the spending data was inadvertently released early. It showed a 0.3% increase in spending, as expected, driven by a 0.6% increase in goods spending and a 0.2% increase in services spending
Real PCE increased 0.3%, which is a positive input for fourth quarter GDP computations
Personal income rose 0.3% in November (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) following a downward revision to unchanged (from +0.1%) in October. The income growth was driven by a 0.5% increase in wages and salaries and a 0.8% increase in rental income
The PCE Price Index, which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, was flat in November while the core PCE Price Index, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%)
New home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 490,000 in November (Briefing.com consensus 505,000), up 4.3% from a downwardly revised 470,000 (from 495,000) in October
The large downward revision to October, as well as slight downward revisions to September and August sales made the report a disappointment
From a regional perspective, the Northeast and the Midwest were the biggest drags in November as new home sales there declined 28.6% and 8.6%, respectively
The West region, however, saw a robust 20.0% increase in new home sales while the South saw a 4.5% increase
The final reading for the December University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index was revised up to 92.6 (Briefing.com consensus 92.0) from a preliminary reading of 91.8
The Current Economic Conditions Index jumped to 108.1 from 104.3 while the Index of Consumer Expectations dipped to 82.7 from the final reading of 82.9 for November
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index rose 7.3% to follow last week's 1.1% decline
Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the 8:30 ET release of the weekly Initial Claims report (Briefing.com consensus 271,000) and light trading volume is expected with NYSE set to close at 13:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +6.5% YTD
S&P 500 +0.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.1% YTD
DJ30 +185.34 NASDAQ +44.82 SP500 +25.32 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2106/1.46 bln/819 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2679/820.3 mln/431
3:45 pm :
Front-month Feb crude oil rallied in morning trade today and then extended gains following the weekly EIA storage data
Oil has continued to be under pressure largely due to supply issues.
However, following recent weakness, oil gained back some steam today. Feb crude closed the day +3.8% at $37.50/barrel
Natural gas futures recently fell well below $2.00/MMBtu as unusually warm weather continues to pressure prices
Today, Jan nat gas recovered back to the $2/MMBtu level, but officially ended floor trading +5.3% at $1.98/MMBtu
Precious metals closed in the red today, while industrial metals like copper finished higher
Feb gold fell -0.5% to $1068.30/oz today, while Mar silver slipped one cent to $14.30/oz
Mar copper rose one cent to end the day at $2.12/lb
3:55 pm SolarCity announces that it will cease solar sales and installation in Nevada, following the decision by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (SCTY) : Co stated:"This is a very difficult decision but Governor Sandoval and his PUC leave us no choice. The people of Nevada have consistently chosen solar, but yesterday their state government decided to end customer choice, damage the state's economy, and jeopardize thousands of jobs. The PUC has protected NV Energy's monopoly, and everyone else will lose. We have no alternative but to cease Nevada sales and installations, but we will fight this flawed decision on behalf of our Nevada customers and employees."
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