From Briefing.com: The broader market closed the session with notable gains. Strongest on the session, the Nasdaq Composite added 131.65 points (+2.89%) to 4689.60. The S&P 500 was up 46.12 points (+2.39%) to 1978.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 348.58 points (+2.11%) to 16865.08. The session began strong as weaker data overseas and subsequent stimulus chatter, oil/energy gains, dovish commentary from a Fed member, above consensus data at 10 ET, generally strong auto sales and strong leadership (finance/technology) allowed the markets to finish the session at highs of the day.
Market data today included the ISM Index for February which checked in at 49.5, up from 48.2 in January. Also, total construction spending was up 1.5% month-over-month in January.
Technology (XLK 42.19, +1.22 +2.98%) was also higher for the entirety of the session as component Cisco Systems (CSCO 26.83, +0.65 +2.48%) announced its intent to acquire cloud platform firm CliQr Technologies for $260 million. Other sectors closed the session XLF +3.37%, XLY +2.65%, XLE +2.62%, XLB +2.56%, XLV +2.15%, XLI +1.96%, IYZ +1.05%, XLP +0.96%, XLU -0.50% with the advance led by Financials and Tech, while Utilities were the only sector in the red.
Component Workday (WDAY 71.74, +11.29 +18.68%) propped Software (IGV 96.36, +3.43 +3.69%) names today as the company reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues. The company also guided Q1 revenues worse than expected and guided FY17 revenues in-line with expectations. Other IGV names which displayed relative strength today included MSTR +7.15%, PFPT +6.66%, DATA +6.46%, IMPV +6.43%, CTXS +6.27%, MANH +5.70%, SPLK +5.48%, ZEN +5.46%.
Internet (FDN 67.35, +2.02 +3.09%) stocks were strong today as component Ebix (EBIX 41.22, +4.19 +11.32%) reported better than expected Q4 results Friday night after the market closed, thus driving the stock higher in today's action. Other FDN names which were higher today included ETFC +6.05%, TRIP +5.56%, NFLX +5.23%, AMTD +5.11%, AMZN +4.80%, TRUE +4.05%, EXPE +3.92%, ELNK +3.90%, GOOGL +3.48%.
Cyber-security (HACK 22.72, +0.66 +2.99%) names were also higher today as component Widepoint (WYY 0.64, +0.07 +12.51%), which albeit is thinly traded, posted gains of % following the company's unification of certain subsidiaries under a main brand. Other HACK names which displayed strength today included QLYS +6.41%, AVG +5.22%, FEYE +4.31%, FTNT +4.26%.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (696.43, +20.80 +3.08%), trading ended at the highs of the day as component Qualcomm (QCOM 52.11, +1.32 +2.60%) posted gains in spite of an agreement to pay $7.5 million to the SEC to settle charges the company violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Other components which finished the session higher included STX +5.96%, SWKS +5.94%, WDC +5.90%, QRVO +5.06%, SYMC +5.02%, ADSK +4.97%, RHT +4.65%, NVDA +4.43%, MU +4.14%, AAPL +3.97%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Qualcomm's (QCOM) Qualcomm Life, and UnitedHealthcare (UNH) are collaborating to develop and deliver connected health solutions to consumers across the United States.QCOM also agreed to pay $7.5 million to the SEC to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.The Italian Ministry of Interior has selected Accenture (ACN 103.45, +3.19 +3.18%) to provide IT services under a four-year contract. Accenture will provide application development and maintenance services to help the Ministry evolve the Italian voting system. The contract was secured following a competitive European Union wide public tendering process.
ACN also took an equity position in Endgame. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Cisco Systems (CSCO 26.83, +0.65 +2.48%) announced the intent to acquire CliQr for $260 million.
Autodesk (ADSK 54.31, +2.57 +4.97%) and Siemens (SIEGY 94.99, +2.39 +2.58%) announced an interoperability agreement aimed at helping manufacturers decrease the costs associated with incompatibility among product development software applications and avoid potential data integrity problems.
Red Hat (RHT 68.39, +3.04 +4.65%) and Eurotech announced a collaboration to simplify IoT integration and accelerate implementations of IoT projects.
Elsewhere in the technology space:
In addition to reporting quarterly results, TriNet Group (TNET 12.28, -0.81 -6.19%) increased the company's share repurchase program by $50 million.
GoPro (GPRO 11.89, +0.01 +0.08%) announced agreements to acquire mobile video editing apps Replay and Splice. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.GPRO also disclosed an update in its Form 10-K. The company expects to record a substantial net loss in Q1 2016 vs the prior year.Cinemark's (CNK 33.88, +0.78 +2.36%) President and COO Robert Copple resigned to pursue personal interests.
WEX (WEX 67.92, +2.62 +4.01%) named Roberto Simon as CFO effective immediately.
SunEdison (SUNE 1.50, -0.48 -24.24%) filed to delay its 10-K. The company intends to file the Form 10-K within the 15 calendar day period.
Rovi (ROVI 23.44, +0.66 +2.90%) entered into an entertainment discovery patent license agreement with LG Uplus.
WidePoint (WYY) has changed the names of two of its primary subsidiaries to expand its visibility in all of its target markets. Another expected benefit of the unified branding will be a broader and expanded perception of WYY's unique expertise and solution sets in identity and telecommunications/mobility management.
In reaction to quarterly results:
TriNet Group (TNET) reported in-line Q4 EPS of $0.31 on worse than expected revenues of $725.7 million.
Workday (WDAY) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of a loss per share of $0.01 and better than expected revenues which rose 42.9% year-over-year to $323.4 million. The company also issued downside guidance for Q1 revenues of $3337-339 million. For the FY17 period, WDAY expects revenues in the range of $1.54-1.55 billion.
Carmike Cinemas (CKEC 25.18, +3.24 +14.77%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.27 and $220.7 million, respectively.
RigNet (RNET 11.69, -1.51 -11.44%) reported cash earnings of $0.03 on better than expected revenues of $61.8 million.
Opower (OPWR 6.35, -1.92 -23.22%) reported in-line Q4 EPS at a loss per share of $0.14 on better than expected revenues which rose 16.4% year-over-year to $40.55 million. The company also guided Q1 EPS and revenues worse than expected at ($0.16)-($0.14) and $36.2-37.0 million, respectively. For the FY16 period, OPWR guided EPS in-line at ($0.45)-($0.36) and revenues worse than expected at $157-165 million.
Companies reporting quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: BV, DMD, EPIQ, GWRE, NPTN, TIVO, VEEV, WK/INXN, MTLS, TPUB
Analyst actions:
WDAY was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan;
SNDK was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel,
WIN was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James,
LLTC was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill,
ASCMA was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray
4:10 pm : The stock market began March with a broad-based rally as the major averages responded to a better-than-expected reading of the ISM Index for February. Additionally, today's rally was supported by key sector leadership from the financial (+3.5%) and technology (+3.1%) sectors, positive trade from the oil pit, dovish remarks from New York Fed President William Dudley, and new monthly inflows. The Nasdaq Composite (+2.9%) was able to end ahead of the S&P 500 (+2.4%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+2.1%).
The major indices were able to rally off their opening levels after the ISM Index report showed a smaller contraction in manufacturing during February (49.5; Briefing.com 49.0) than was reported in January (48.2). Improvement in U.S. economic data, as well as hopes for further economic easing in the wake of weaker-than-expected economic data from overseas, helped bolster sentiment in global equities.
Sector leadership from the heavily-weighted technology (+3.1%) and financial (+3.5%) sectors helped maintain and extend today's rally. The groups outperformed throughout the session, even during a momentary downturn in crude oil. For its part, the energy component ended the Tuesday affair higher by 1.7% at $34.39/bbl.
In the economically-sensitive financial sector (+3.5%), money center banks showed relative strength, as Citigroup (C 41.27, +2.42) and Bank of America (BAC 13.19, 0.67) jumped 6.2% and 5.4%, respectively. Despite today's showing, the two names remain down a respective 22.1% and 23.7% in 2016. Meanwhile, the broader financial sector is down 8.7% during that same period.
In the influential technology space, large-cap names like Facebook (FB 109.82, +2.90), Alphabet (GOOGL 742.17, +24.95), and Oracle (ORCL 37.99, +1.21) climbed between 2.7% and 3.5%. Meanwhile, Dow component Apple (AAPL 100.53, +3.84) surged 4.0%. The high-beta chipmakers also outperformed the broader market as the PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 2.9%, trimming its year-to-date loss to 3.6%.
On the flipside, the countercyclical sectors showed the worst performances for the day. Utilities (-0.5%), consumer staples (+1.0%), and telecom services (+1.3%) finished behind the broader market. To be fair though, the three sectors show the best and only positive performances among the S&P sectors on a year-to-date basis. To that point, the groups show respective gains of 5.8%, 1.6%, and 9.8%.
The heavyweight health care space managed a 1.9% gain despite the underperformance of Medtronic (MDT 74.18, -3.21), which plummeted 4.2% after reporting results that fell in-line with analyst estimate. Separately, biotechnology showed relative strength as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 265.27, +11.18) gained 4.4% today. For the year, the ETF remains down 22.7%.
Adding to today's optimistic mood were dovish remarks from New York Fed President and FOMC voting member William Dudley, who acknowledged that the balance of risks to growth and inflation outlooks for the U.S. might be starting to tilt slightly to the downside.
The Treasury complex plunged after the release of the ISM Index reading with the 10-yr yield ending higher by six basis points at 1.82%.
On the currency front, the U.S. Dollar Index (98.35, +0.14) retreated from its best level of the day as the yen and the euro sought to make up some ground. The dollar/yen rose 1.1% to 113.91 after reaching a session high of 114.14. Meanwhile, the euro/dollar ticked down 0.1% to 1.0866 after hitting a session low of 1.0841.
Trading volume was roughly in-line with the recent average as 1.09 billion shares changed hands on the floor of the NYSE.
Today's economic data included Construction Spending for January and the ISM Index for February:
The ISM Index for February checked in at 49.5, up from 48.2 in January and above the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 49.0.
A number below 50.0 denotes contraction. What the improvement from January says, then, is that manufacturing activity on a national basis contracted in February but at a slower rate than January..
This is the fifth straight month the ISM Index has been below 50.0. That hasn't happened since the throes of the financial crisis in 2009.
The uptick in February wasn't a broad happening, as revealed by the sub-indices. The New Orders Index held steady at 51.5; the Imports Index dropped from 51.0 to 49.0; the Exports Index slipped from 47.0 to 46.5; the Supplier Deliveries Index fell from 50.0 to 49.7; and the Customers' Inventories Index declined from 51.5 to 47.0.
Where there was improvement was in the Production Index (from 50.2 to 52.8), the Employment Index (from 45.9 to 48.5), the Backlog of Orders Index (from 43.0 to 48.5), the Prices Index (from 33.5 to 38.5), and the Inventories Index (from 43.5 to 45.0).
The report stipulated that the average PMI reading for January and February (48.9) corresponds to real GDP growth of 1.8% on an annualized basis.
Total construction spending was up 1.5% month-over-month in January (Briefing.com consensus +0.5%). Furthermore, construction spending in December was revised up to a 0.6% increase from a previously reported 0.1% gain.
Total construction spending is up 10.4% year-over-year, with private construction spending up 9.5% and public construction spending up 13.0%.
The strength in January was driven by public construction spending, which increased 4.5% on the back of a 4.6% jump in nonresidential spending. Public residential spending, which accounts for a tiny portion of total construction spending, was down 1.9%.
The uptick in public construction spending was driven by increases in most categories, but none more prominent than highway and street spending, which surged 14.7%. The only areas experiencing a decline in spending were office (-4.2%), health care (-5.0%), educational (-1.9%), and transportation (-3.7%).
On the private side, construction spending increased 0.5% in January. That improvement also flowed from the nonresidential side of things, which saw a 2.5% increase in spending. There, too, highway and street spending led the way with a 14.6% gain. The weakest area in private nonresidential spending was commercial (-4.3%). Private residential spending was flat in January.
Tomorrow's economic data includes the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which will be released at 7:00 ET. Meanwhile, the February ADP Employment Change report (Briefing.com consensus 190k) and the Fed's Beige Book for March will be released at 8:15 ET and 14:00 ET, respectively.
Russell 2000 -7.3% YTD
Nasdaq -6.4% YTD
S&P 500 -3.2% YTD
Dow Jones -3.2% YTD
DJ30 +248.58 NASDAQ +131.65 SP500 +46.12 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2319/1.916 bln/699 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2553/1.099 bln/537 3:40 pm :
Natural gas futures put in nice rally starting in late morning trade and extending into early afternoon trade
NG held its gains pretty well, closing today's session +1.8% at $1.74/MMBtu
WTI crude oil rallied in morning trade, holding most of its gains as well
At the end of today's floor session, Apr crude finished +2% at $34.39/barrel
Precious metals slid lower today, only recovering modestly off of today's lows
Apr gold finished -0.3% at $1230.70/oz, while May silver ended -1% at $14.75/oz
May copper rallied 0.5% to $2.14/lb
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