From Briefing.com: The broader market closed the session at lows of the day as selling took hold on a day with light volume. The Nasdaq Composite led losses, down about 42.09 points (-0.82%) to 5065.85. The S&P 500 was down 15.00 points (-0.72%) to 2063.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted the most tame losses today, shedding only 117.11 points (-0.66%) to 17603.87. Market data today was limited to the November Pending Home Sales report which showed a 0.9% decline in the month, following a revised increase of 0.4% from 0.2% in October.
In the Technology (XLK 43.44, -0.34 -0.84%) sector, trading closed at session lows as a sell-off into the close exacerbated losses which the sector was already experiencing. Other sectors closed XLE -1.35%, IYZ -1.32%, XLB -0.93%, XLI -0.84%, XLY -0.80%, XLF -0.70%, XLV -0.42%, XLP -0.35%, XLU -0.09% with not a single sector managing gains.
Solar (TAN 30.60, -0.13 -0.42%) names were in play today as component SunEdison (SUNE) announced both the acquisition of a 33% ownership in a 3336 megawatt DC portfolio from Dominion (D), and the elimination of all outstanding $336 million 3.75% Senior Notes due 2020. Other solar names in play today included SEDG +4.00%, SCTY +2.13%, TERP +1.64%, SOL -5.85%, YGE -4.62%, DQ -3.69%, JASO -2.40%.
For its part, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (731.94, -5.75 -0.78%) also closed at session lows as we close in on the final day on trading for the year. Other components closed the session QRVO -2.51%, YHOO -1.97%, PYPL -1.62%, TXN -1.51%, ADI -1.33%, AAPL -1.31%, INTC -1.27%, MU -1.26% V -1.09%.
Notable news items among sector components:
India's CCI approved the acquisition of Broadcom (BRCM 58.22, -0.10 -0.17%) by Avago Tech (AVGO 147.37, -0.57 -0.39%).
BRCM later announced a tender offer for $1.6 billion in Senior Notes.
Fairchild Semi (FCS 20.75, +0.74 +3.70%) disclosed in 14D9/A filing that it received a revised, unsolicited proposal from the Party G Group to acquire all of the outstanding common stock at $21.70 per share.
FCS then later confirmed the receipt of the revised, unsolicited $21.70 per share proposal.
SunEdison (SUNE 5.06, +0.04 +0.80%) acquired a 33% ownership interest in a 336 megawatt DC portfolio of operating solar power plants from Dominion (D 68.70, +0.06 +0.09%), transfers interest to Terra Nova Renewable Partners.
SUNE also announced an agreement to extinguish all of its outstanding $336 million aggregate principal amount of 3.75% Guaranteed Exchangeable Senior Secured Notes due 2020.
Transcat (TRNS 9.57, +0.47 +5.16%) acquired Spectrum Technologies for $11.25 million in cash.
Wi-LAN (WILN 1.30, +0.01 +0.78%) entered into a patent license agreement with Toshiba (TOSBF 2.06, +0.12 +5.98%) relating to image sensing technology.
Echo Global Logistics (ECHO 20.89, +0.54 +2.65%) authorized a $50 million repurchase program of common stock and 2.50% convertible senior notes due 2020 through December 31, 2017.
Anadigics (ANAD 0.60, +0.01 +1.69%) announced that GaAs Labs has matched the $0.54 per share offer price of a competing bidder.
Perion Network (PERI 3.70, -0.02 -0.54%) filed an offering for about 4.436 million ordinary shares by selling shareholders.
Logitech Intl SA (LOGI 15.54, +0.13 +0.84%) announced that its Lifesize division has separated from the company to become Lifesize, a private entity.
Jupai Holdings (JP 9.83, +0.04 +0.41%) entered into a share purchase agreement with Julius Baer (JBAXY 9.78, +0.38 +4.04%) and SINA Hong Kong (SINA 49.31, -0.79 -1.58%).
Cheetah Mobile (CMCM 16.06, -0.12 -0.74%) entered into a new strategic cooperation agreement with
Tencent (TCEHY 19.44, -0.19 -0.97%).
Siliconware Precision (SPIL 7.78, -0.12 -1.52%) announced it formally received a public tender offer prospectus and relevant documents from Advanced Semiconductor (ASX 5.61, -0.13 -2.26%) to acquire up to 24.71% of the common shares.
China Telecom's (CHA 46.61, -0.66 -1.40%) CEO and Chairman Chang Xiaobing resigned following an investigation by regulators over 'suspected serious disciplinary violations'.
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo!)
4:20 pm : The major indices ended Wednesday on a negative note after the market faced substantial selling pressure into the close with all the major indices settling near their lows. Despite the retreat today, the S&P 500 (-0.7%) was able to stay in positive territory for the year (+0.2%). The benchmark index outperformed the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-0.8%), which narrowed its 2015 advance to 7.0%.
Equity indices slipped into the open after overnight selling pressure in oil drove the commodity below the $37.00/bbl price level. This price action came after the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude stockpiles rose by 2.9 million barrels versus a decrease of 3.6 million barrels last week. An hour after the open, the Energy Information Administration disclosed a build of 2.629 million barrels on their weekly crude inventory report versus an expected draw of 2.457 million barrels. The commodity fell 2.9% on the day, ending at $36.80/bbl.
Accordingly, the commodity-sensitive energy (-1.5%) and materials (-1.0%) sectors posted the largest losses while utilities (-0.2%), consumer staples (-0.4%), healthcare (-0.5%), industrials (-0.8%), technology (-0.8%), consumer discretionary (-0.8%), and financials (-0.8%) outperformed.
In the energy space, large-components Exxon Mobil (XOM 78.11, -1.05) and Chevron (CVX 90.09, -1.16) kept pace with the decline in the broader sector, while pipeline and equipment companies such as Kinder Morgan (KMI 14.54, -0.56) lead the losses thanks to a corresponding drop in natural gas. The other energy component declined 5.3% today and ended at $2.25/MMbtu.
Elsewhere, in the health care group (-0.5%), the influential sector was helped by large-cap components Merck & Co. (MRK 53.22, -0.09) and AbbVie, Inc. (ABBV 59.80, +0.35) as the two helped the sector stay ahead of the broader market. Merck lost 0.2% and AbbVie added 0.8%. Meanwhile, biotechnology finished behind the sector, evidenced by a 0.7% decline in iShare Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 340.86, -2.25).
In Treasuries, the benchmark note spent most of its day near its low, but investor participation was well below average, leaving the 10-yr yield unchanged at 2.30% On a somewhat related note, Puerto Rico's Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla stated that the island will default on a $35.90 million payment due to the Infrastructure Finance Authority and a $1.40 million payment due to its Public Finance Corporation. However, Puerto Rico will pay $328.70 million to settle its general obligations, thus avoiding fallout from defaulting on debt backed by constitutional guarantees.
Once again, today's participation was very light with fewer than 600 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
It was a quiet day with economic data limited to November Pending Home Sales, which fell 0.9% from a revised increase of 0.4% (from 0.2%) in October. The Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.5% in November.
Tomorrow's economic data includes, weekly Initial (Briefing.com consensus 270,000) and Continuing Claims (Briefing.com consensus 2213k), which will be released at 8:30 ET while the Chicago PMI for December (Briefing.com consensus 50.1) will cross the wires at 9:45 ET.
Nasdaq +7.0% YTD
S&P 500 +0.2% YTD
Dow Jones -1.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.7% YTD
DJ30 -117.11 NASDAQ -42.09 SP500 -15.00 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 828/1.144 bln/2032 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 907/545.6 mln/2177
3:45 pm :
Oil prices sold off overnight following the bearish API data. Prices remained in the red today with the front-month Feb crude oil ending -3.4% at $36.60/barrel
Nat gas futures sold off sharply following new weather reports that showed warmer than expected outlooks
Feb nat gas ultimately ended the day -7% at $2.21/MMBtu
Metals lost some steam today with the dollar index trading higher
Feb gold slipped a little, closing at $1059.60/oz and Mar silver closing -0.6% at $13.44/oz
Mar copper fell one cent to $2.13/lb
1:01 pm Ascent Solar provides clarification on article; says 'was incorrectly included in a SeekingAlpha post dated 12/29/15' (ASTI) : The SeekingAlpha article incorrectly stated that Ascent Solar had entered into a legal settlement and patent license agreement with Reflectix Inc. The article has since been amended to correctly state that Acacia Research Corporation, not Ascent Solar, has entered into an agreement with Reflectix. On December 29th, Ascent Solar did announce the Company was awarded its second patent of December 2015, pertaining to the Company's solar manufacturing process, and continued leadership in thin-film CIGS solar technology; this information is correctly presented on the company's website and now on SeekingAlpha .
1:01 pm Broadcom announces the tender offer for $1.6 bln in Senior Notes (BRCM) : Co announces that it is offering to purchase for cash any and all of its outstanding $500 mln 2.7% Senior Notes due 2017, $500 mln 2.5% Senior Notes due 2022, $350 mln Senior Notes due 2024, and $250 mln 4.5% Senior Notes due 2034.
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