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From Briefing.com: The broader market today closed mixed, as the Nasdaq Composite finished modestly lower and the Dow and S&P staved-off selling pressure to finish in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 52.12 points (+0.32%) today to close 16398.57. The S&P 500 finished modestly higher, up 1.64 points (+0.09%) to 1923.67, and the Nasdaq Composite was under pressure, ending Monday in the red down 5.64 (-0.12%) to 4637.99.

Volatility in the Chinese markets was again the talk of the overnight session as the Shanghai Index declined again, dipping 5.3% on Monday despite receiving limited data, which fell in-line with expectations. China's December CPI rose 0.5% month-over-month moving the year-over-year average growth to +1.6% as expected.

Technology (XLK 40.35, +0.26 +0.65%) was higher when the bell rang as in the final half hour of the session, the sector gained ground of the losses of the day and ultimately finished with gains. Other sectors closed the session XLP +0.94%, XLY +0.79%, XLU +0.53%, XLF +0.14%, IYZ +0.11%, XLI +0.06%, XLV -1.19%, XLB -1.70%, XLE -2.14% with Consumer Staples leading the charge and Energy leading the decline.

Notably lower this session, Chinese Tech (QQQC 20.22, -0.78 -3.71%) names saw pressure as the aforementioned broader country action took the majority of names into the red. Components which displayed pressure included ATHM -8.72%, VNET -5.70%, SOHU -5.36%, WB -4.42%, NQ -3.08%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (675.09, +4.21 +0.63%) grabbed gains as the final half hour of the day came to a close. The majority of the afternoon, the sector displayed weakness, but a broader market rally took some names into the green. Other components which closed the session lower included FLIR +2.91%, ADI +2.38%, CSCO +1.98%, INTC +1.75%, ADBE +1.74%, EA +1.71%, TXN +1.69%, AAPL +1.62%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

SAP SE (SAP 78.56, +1.66 +2.16%) and Accenture (ACN 99.23, +1.03 +1.05%) are joining forces in the core and industry development and go-to-market of SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA, the next-generation business suite from SAP built on the industry's most advanced in-memory platform.

Computer Sciences (CSC 29.57, +0.07 +0.24%) Xchanging updated on the recommended cash offer from CSC and stated that despite discussions, the Board is currently unable to express any confidence in the likelihood of a superior cash offer from Ebix (EBIX 29.91, +0.56 +1.91%).

Citrix Systems (CTXS 68.87, -0.81 -1.16%) Privately-held Accelerite announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Citrix CloudPlatform. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.CTXS also acquired Comtrade's SCOM Management Packs IP. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

NICE Systems (NICE 56.42, +0.88 +1.58%) acquired Nexidia for about $135 million. The company expects the acquisition be accretive to earnings on a non GAAP basis in 2016.

Schmitt Industries' (SMIT 2.40, -0.11 -4.38%) President and CEO resigned effective immediately. The company appointed David Hudson as its interim President and CEO.

United Online (UNTD 10.99, -0.02 -0.18%) appointed Jeff Goldstein as Interim CEO effective January 11. Howard Phanstiel has resigned as the company's Principal Executive Officer effective January 10.

Glu Mobile (GLUU 2.46, +0.05 +2.07%) announced its intention to implement a $50 million stock repurchase program.

Zayo Group Holdings (ZAYO 25.66, -0.09 -0.35%) announced a new $400 million term loan offering.

Nokia (NOK 7.42, +0.09 +1.23%) redeemed $1.85 billion senior notes issued by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 4.06, +0.06 +1.50%) as part of the company's planned capital structure optimization program.

Digital Ally (DGLY 5.64, -0.15 -2.59%) announced the sale of DVM-800 in-car digital/audio systems to a distributor to begin a pilot program with one of the largest metropolitan police forces in South America.

Varonis (VRNS 16.61, +0.31 +1.90%) appointed Eric Mann as Chief Operating Officer.

Microsemi (MSCC 30.85, +1.85 +6.38%) announced it expects Q1 revenues to be near the high end of the prior range between $325-329 million. The company also announced the completion of financing commitments for PMCS acquisition.

Connecture (CNXR 2.72, -0.80 -22.73%) filed $50 million mixed securities shelf offering.

Science Applications (SAIC 44.15, +0.27 +0.62%) received a $485 million contract to provide all services necessary to operate the NASA Enterprise Applications Competency Center in Huntsville.

Analyst actions:

AAPL was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Mizuho,
ADI was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo,
MLNX was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse,
AUO, SYNT were upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan,
IMPV was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim,
CEVA was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Ladenburg Thalmann;
WBMD was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey,
CUDA was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Imperial Capital

5:36 pm VOXX Intl beats by $0.20, misses on revs (VOXX) :

Reports Q3 (Nov) earnings of $0.32 per share, $0.20 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.12; revenues fell 13.8% year/year to $192.5 mln vs the $200.33 mln Capital IQ Consensus EBITDA for Q3 was $16.8 million as compared to EBITDA of $22.2 million reported in the Fiscal 2015 third quarter.The gross margin for the Fiscal 2016 third quarter came in at 29.0% as compared to 30.9% for the same period last year, a decline of 190 basis points.

4:36 pm Cray raises FY15 revenue guidance; reaffirms FY16 revenue guidance (CRAY) :

Co issues raised guidance for FY15 (Dec), sees FY15 (Dec) revs of $720-725 mln from $715 mln vs. $716.79 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co reaffirms guidance for FY16 (Dec), sees FY16 (Dec) revs of $825 mln vs. $817.98 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."Separately, we recently entered into an expanded credit agreement with Wells Fargo Bank for a $50 million revolving line of credit. The facility is intended to support general corporate purposes."

4:10 pm Alcoa beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; sees 2016 aluminum demand up 6%; business separation in 2H16 on track (AA) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.04 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.01; revenues fell 17.8% year/year to $5.25 bln vs the $5.28 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Organic growth in aerospace and acquisitions increased revenue 7%, which was more than offset by a 25% revenue decline from lower alumina and aluminum prices, the impact of divested, curtailed or closed facilities, and unfavorable currency. The Value-Add businesses reported strong performance, while the Upstream remained profitable despite lower alumina and aluminum prices. Every segment delivered productivity gains.Strong productivity gains were more than offset by lower alumina and aluminum prices. In 2015, the Midwest transaction price for primary aluminum fell $657 per metric ton, or 28%, and the Alumina Price Index dropped $154 per metric ton, or 43%.In 2016, Alcoa expects a global aluminum deficit of 1.2 million metric tons and a global alumina deficit of 2.8 million metric tons due to global curtailments. The Company also projects record global aluminum demand in 2016 of 60.5 million metric tons, up 6% over 2015. Global aluminum demand is expected to double between 2010 and 2020; so far this decade, global demand growth is tracking ahead of this projection.Alcoa's plan to separate into two publicly traded cos is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016.

4:09 pm Ultra Clean Holdings reaffirms Q4 revs guidance at the high end of $98-103 mln vs. $99.8 Capital IQ Consensus Est (UCTT) : Co reaffirmed its fourth quarter 2015 revenue guidance. The Company expects revenue for the fourth quarter of 2015 to be at the high end of the range of $98.0 million to $103.0 million. Based on its current outlook, the Company also expects a sequential increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2016 (Capital IQ consensus is $96 mln).

4:08 pm Silicon Graphics sees Q2 EPS and revenue above estimates (SGI) :

Co issues upside guidance for Q2 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.12-0.14 vs. $0.03 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 (Dec) revs of $150-152 mln vs. $140.11 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."We continue to make significant progress in our HPDA business and are very excited about our most recent and largest win in weather, part of the earth sciences vertical."

4:15 pm : The stock market began the week on a flat note with the S&P 500 adding 0.1% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-0.1%) trailed the benchmark index. Falling oil prices in the face of global growth concerns continued to weigh on the overall sentiment, short-circuiting a rebound attempt.

Looking overseas, China's Shanghai Composite surrendered 5.3% despite reporting economic data that was largely in-line with analyst expectations. In economic data, China's December CPI increased 0.5% month-over-month (expected 0.4%), moving its year-over-year growth to an increase of 1.6%, as expected. Additionally, December's Producer Price Index fell 5.9% year-over-year versus an expectation of a 5.8% decrease. Despite the slide in Asia, investor sentiment improved once the attention shifted to Europe. However, a morning retreat in crude oil weighed on the stock market as a whole. By the end of the energy-component's pit session, WTI crude had slipped 5.3% to end at $31.41/bbl.

On the leaderboard, commodity-sensitive energy (-2.1%) and materials (-1.6%) claimed the bottom two rungs followed by health care (-1.2%), industrials (+0.1%) and financials (+0.4%). Looking at the flipside, consumer staples (+1.0%), consumer discretionary (+0.9%), telecom services (+0.8%), and technology (+0.6%) lead the pack.

The health care space underperformed the other countercyclical sectors throughout the day as drug wholesalers faced pressure. McKesson (MCK 163.55, -18.84) fell 10.3% after the company narrowed its guidance for FY 2016, citing weaker pricing on generics in the second half of the fiscal year. Fellow drug wholesalers AmerisourceBergen (ABC 94.06, -9.90) and Cardinal Health (CAH 79.27, -4.59) also declined, falling 4.0% and 5.5%, respectively. Elsewhere in the space, biotechnology demonstrated relative weakness evidenced by a 3.5% dive in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 291.69, -10.51).

Looking at energy, Dow components Exxon Mobil (XOM 73.69, -1.00) and Chevron (80.77, -1.36) outperformed the sector but still sustained substantial losses, with respective declines of 1.3% and 1.7%. Independent oil and gas companies were hit harder by plummeting oil prices with Anadarko Petroleum (APC 37.75, -2.81) and ConocoPhillips (COP 41.12, -2.17) sporting losses of 6.9% and 5.0%.

In Treasuries, the benchmark note moved closer to its morning low as the afternoon session progressed with the yield on the 10-yr higher by six basis points at 2.17%.

Investor participation was above average with more than a billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

No economic data was released today and tomorrow's data will be limited to the November Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey, which will be released at 10:00 ET.

Russel 2000 -8.2% YTD
Nasdaq -7.4% YTD
S&P 500 -5.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -5.9% YTD

DJ30 +52.12 NASDAQ -5.64 SP500 +1.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1129/2.147 bln/1799 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1064/1.047 bln/2013

3:30 pm :

Commodities continues to feel pressured today, partially driven by strength in the dollar index
WTI crude oil broke below $31/barrel today as no bottom appears to be in sight. Front-month Feb crude finished the day -5.3% at $31.41/barrel
Feb nat gas futures felt some pain too, finished today's session -3.6% at $2.39/MMBtu
Precious metals saw very modest losses, while copper futures sunk 2%, closing at $1.97/lb
Feb gold slipped -$1.50 to $1096.00/oz, while Mar silver ended -0.2% at $13.88/oz

12:42 pm Semiconductor Hldrs ETF back below flat line (SMH) : Strong start to the session/week for the SMH with it up as much as 1.7% off the open. It has underperformed the S&P since the first hour push with it recently slipping back below the flat line (session low 48.44). Weighing on the sector are: (LSCC -8.9%, MU -6%, CRUS -2.5%, AMAT -1.5%, AVGO -1.4%.
10:25 am Nokia redeems $1.85 bln senior notes issued by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) as part of co's planned capital structure optimization program (NOK) :

Co announces $1.85 bln redemption of senior notes issued by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), comprising the $650 million 4.625% notes due July 2017, $500 million 8.875% notes due January 2020 and $700 million 6.750% notes due November 2020, will be redeemed in accordance with terms and conditions of the notes.

Concurrent with the redemption of the Notes, Nokia will provide Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. with a temporary revolving liquidity support facility until Nokia gains 100% ownership of Alcatel-Lucent.The redemption is part of Nokia's planned EUR 7 billion capital structure optimization program announced on October 29, 2015

10:11 am Intel tests Friday's high and pauses (INTC) : The stock broke and close under its 200 day sma (31.70) on Friday but has maintained a firmer tone thus far this morning. Important short term levels to breach and hold above are at Friday's high (32.22) and its 200 day ema (32.33) -- session high 32.22.