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From Briefing.com: 5:13 pm Integrated Device issues statement regarding U.S. Department of Commerce ruling on ZTE (ZTCOF) (IDTI) :

Co provided a statement regarding the publication by the United States Department of Commerce in the Federal Register of a "final rule" amending the Export Administration Regulations to add four entities to the "Entity List" maintained by the Department for actions contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. The four entities added to the "Entity List" include Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corp and its subsidiaries, ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd., Beijing 8-Star, and ZTE Parsian. This amendment became effective immediately. Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corp ("ZTE") is a communications infrastructure customer of IDT.IDT's ZTE-related revenue has historically ranged between ~$3-4 million per quarter

IDT expects this event to have minimal impact to its current fiscal Q4, ending April 3, 2016.Co believes this ruling could cause changes to revenue trends beginning in its first fiscal quarter of 2017, ending July 3, 2016The magnitude and longevity of any impact will depend on the timing and specific rebalancing that may occur across the co's customer base for related applications in similar end marketsThe co currently believes that any adverse impact will be transitory, as IDT is strongly positioned across a wide range of customers and applications in communications infrastructure.

4:35 pm SunEdison Semiconductor misses by $0.35, misses on revs; No update on previously disclosed strategic alternatives evaluation (SEMI) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) GAAP loss of $0.74 per share, $0.35 worse than the Capital IQ GAAP Consensus of ($0.39); revenues fell 3.9% year/year to $181.7 mln vs the $186.86 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Full year 2015 gross margin increased to 9.9% from 9.4% despite 7.5% lower net salesThe Company ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $83.5 million, down $7.3 million compared to the prior quarter, and down only $4.7 million year-over-year."Despite tough market conditions in the second half of 2015, we executed well to grow our Adjusted EBITDA over 12% in 2015, and we continue to work towards our long-term EBITDA goals. We are also evaluating various strategic alternatives and will provide updates when appropriate."

Broader market trading took the three major US indices to average losses. Leading the action lower, the Nasdaq Composite lost 59.43 points (-1.26%) to 4648.83. The S&P 500 followed, down 22.50 points (-1.12%) to 1979.26. The most modest losses today were turned in by the Dow Jones Industrial Average which shed 109.85 points (-0.64%) to 16964.10. Action in the Dow briefly turned green today near 1:10 p.m. ET, but the slight upside did not last long as indices pared midday gains to end at lows of the session.

Indices bounced off morning lows as the session began with heavy selling pressure as signs of slowing out of China reigned in the major averages following their three-week winning streak. Last night's growth concerns regarding China's economy took center stage after the country reported that its February trade surplus came in at $32.59 billion versus the previous month's reading of $63.29 billion. The session ended with a flurry of selling into the bell, taking indices to their lows of the day as the bell rang.

In the Technology (XLK 41.86, -0.30 -0.71%) sector, trading was mostly negative, but turned to the green a few times during the session. Gains did not last, and the sector closed just shy of lows of the day as component Qualcomm (QCOM 52.46, -0.84 -1.58%) was slightly weaker in spite of the company raising its quarterly dividend payout to $0.53 per share. Other sectors closed the session XLU +0.99%, XLP +0.29%, IYZ -0.72%, XLY -0.79%, XLV -1.22%, XLI -1.41%, XLF -1.62%, XLB -1.96%, XLE -4.20% as Utilities led the way higher, and the Energy complex was notably weak.

Solar (TAN 24.11, -0.57 -2.31%) names were particularly weak today as component Vivint Solar (VSLR 4.17, -1.04 -19.96%) announced the termination of the merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE 2.00, +0.10 +5.26%). Other components in action today included TERP +3.82%, SCTY +3.68%, CSIQ -6.03%, SPWR -6.98%.

Select Software (IGV 95.25, -0.86 -0.89%) names were higher today in spite of the broader sector weakness as component Red Hat (RHT 68.28 +1.35 -2.02%) was strong following a Mizuho research note that called for better than expected Q4 results for the upcoming print on March 22, after the close. Other IGV names that displayed strength included NOW +3.64%, MSFT +1.21%, FDS +0.30%.

When the bell rang, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (689.19, -5.36 -0.77%) was near session lows as component Western Digital (WDC 46.44, -3.63 -7.25%) felt pressure following a morning press release that discussed the company's Hitachi and SanDisk (SNDK 76.00, -0.68 -0.89%) merger synergies. Other names in the space which displayed weakness included STX -3.49%, NTAP -3.42%, AMAT -3.40%, FSLR -3.34%, ADS -3.33%, YHOO -3.03%, GLW -2.76%, AVGO -2.70%, FLIR -2.65%, XLNX -2.48%, TDC -2.44%, HPQ -2.30%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Qualcomm (QCOM) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.53 per share from $0.48 per share.

MasterCard (MA 86.87, -1.39 -1.57%) disclosed executive officers Gary Flood and Robert Reeg entered into pre-arranged stock trading plans to sell a limited amount of the shares of Class A common stock.

Western Digital (WDC) discussed its Hitachi and SanDisk (SNDK) merger synergies. The company has been able to identify up to about $650 million of annual run rate cost synergies from new China approvals of the Hitachi merger to be achieved over a two year period. In regards to the SNDK acquisition, WDC expects to achieve annual run-rate synergies of approximately $500 million within 18 months post-closing and annual run-rate synergies of approximately $1.1 billion by 2020.

IBM (IBM 139.07, -1.02 -0.73%) acquired ecx.io, a full-service digital agency headquartered in Germany. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.05, -0.09 -0.33%) announced a $500 million investment in Germany during the next three years to help accelerate the country's digitization.

Intuit (INTU 99.27, -0.11 -0.11%) sold its QuickBase business to private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Geoswift and Western Union (WU 19.11, -0.41 -2.10%) Business Solutions have announced the inclusion of Tenpay, a third-party online payment platform in China, as one of the payment channels in the proprietary online tuition payment portal www.paytuitionnow.com.

KPMG LLP and IBM (IBM) announced plans to apply IBM's Watson cognitive computing technology to KPMG's professional services offerings. The agreement, including a focus on auditing services, builds on several recent successful KPMG initiatives demonstrating the promise of cognitive technologies in transforming the firm's ability to deliver innovative and enhanced business services.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Agilent (A 38.09, -1.35 -3.42%) acquired a 48% interest ownership in biotech firm, Lasergen, for $80 million. The company's prior guidance unchanged. The investment will result in $0.02-$0.03 EPS dilution impact on both FY16 and FY17.

Wins Finance's (WINS 11.40, -0.10 -0.87%) co-President, Hary Gu, has resigned.

Vivint Solar (VSLR) terminated its merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE) on SUNE's 'failure to consummate the merger when required.'

Level 3 (LVLT 49.94, -1.00 -1.96%) commenced a $500 million debt offering of senior notes due 2026.

SolarCity (SCTY 25.08, +0.89 +3.68%) and Whole Foods (WFM 33.57, -0.04 -0.12%) announced a plan to install solar power systems on locations across the US.

Smith Micro Software (SMSI 0.64, -0.00 -0.77%) to acquire Birdstep Technology in an all-cash transaction. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Intelli-Check (IDN 1.19, +0.01 +0.85%) sued Honeywell (HON 107.58, +0.11 +0.10%) for infringing on several Intellicheck patents.

In reaction to quarterly results:

John Wiley & Sons (JW.A 44.89, -0.28 -0.62%) reported worse than expected Q3 EPS and better than expected revenues of $436.4 million. JW.A also reaffirmed its FY16 outlook of flat revenue and flat adjusted EPS on a constant currency basis and excluding the adverse transitional impact of shifting to time-based journal subscriptions.

Bitauto Holdings (BITA 24.71, +1.16 +4.93%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.25 on revenues which rose 21.7% YoY to $191.3 million. The company also guided Q1 revenues better than expected t $162.4-167.8 million.

ReneSola (SOL 1.45, -0.01 -0.68%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.07 and $296.4 million, respectively. For the Q1 period, SOL expects revenues in the range of $260-270 million; for the FY16 period, SOL sees revenues of $1.0-1.2 billion.

Analyst actions:

SHOP was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at Pacific Crest,
TI was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse;
SUNE was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan,
SCOR was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie

4:10 pm : The S&P 500 snapped a five-day win streak on Tuesday as the U.S. market reacted to rekindled growth concerns out of China. Meanwhile, a tumble in oil prices, consolidation after the recent leg higher in the major averages, and the underperformance of the heavyweight financial sector (-1.7%) also contributed to today's decline. The Nasdaq Composite (-1.3%) settled behind both the S&P 500 (-1.1%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.6%).

Equity indices started their day beneath their flat lines as a weaker-than-expected reading of China's February trade data weighed on the market. The report showed that exports fell 25.4% (consensus -12.5%; last -11.2%) while imports declined 13.8% (expected -10.0%; previous -18.8%). The headline figure showed that the country's trade surplus came in at $32.59 billion (expected $50.15 billion) against the previous month's reading of $63.29 billion.

Stocks climbed off their lows for the bulk of the trading day, but the rally in equities lost steam shortly after the Nasdaq 100 flashed a brief gain. After crude oil's pit session ended, the averages tumbled back towards their lows, reaching their lowest point in the last half hour of trade.

The energy sector (-4.1%) rounded out the leaderboard as a plunge in crude oil weighed on the sector. WTI crude ended its day lower by 3.8% at $36.48/bbl. Meanwhile, the broader energy sector trimmed its March advance to 5.3% as independent oil and gas names demonstrated relative weakness. To that point, Anadarko Petroleum (APC 41.14, -3.96) plummeted 8.8%, but still remains up 5.1% in the month of March.

The materials space (-2.0%) followed energy on the leaderboard as the sector pulled back from its 3.0% gain so far in March. Meanwhile the heavyweight financial sector (-1.7%) followed the pair in the back of the pack.

In the economically-sensitive financial sector, money center banks demonstrated relative weakness while Goldman Sachs (GS 151.60, -3.75) was the second worst performer in the Dow Jones. Life insurance companies underperformed today as MetLife (MET 41.78, -1.07) and Prudential (PRU 70.32, -1.81) fell 2.5% apiece. The two names have climbed a respective 4.5% and 4.6% in March, compared to the 3.8% advance in the broader sector.

The heavily-weighted technology (-0.8%) and consumer discretionary (-0.8%) spaces outperformed throughout today's session as large cap names continued to garner buying interest. Facebook (FB 105.93, +0.20) and Alphabet (GOOGL 713.53, +0.73) managed to recover from early weakness while Nike (NKE 59.81, +0.56) rebounded from yesterday's 3.3% decline.

Biotechnology weighed on the health care sector (-1.3%) as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 260.13, -9.63) surrendered 3.6%. The sub-group continues to show relative weakness with the ETF surrendering 21.5% since the beginning of 2016 while the broader sector has declined 7.1%.

Utilities (+0.8%), consumer staples (+0.3%), and telecom services (UNCH) were the only three sectors able to end the day in positive territory, as the groups benefited from an early and sustained safe haven bid.

The U.S. Dollar Index (97.19, +0.12) ended its day in positive territory as the euro returned its gain against the greenback while the yen trimmed its advance. The euro/dollar pair slipped 0.1% (1.1007) after falling from a session high of 1.1056. Meanwhile, the dollar/yen pair fell 0.7% to 112.64 after trading as low as 112.44.

The Treasury complex climbed higher to begin the session, but backed away from its high. The yield on the 10-yr note ended lower by eight basis points at 1.82%.

Today's participation was true to the recent average as more than 1.08 billion shares changed hands at the New York Stock Exchange floor.

There was no economic data of note released today.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the January Wholesale Inventories Report (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%), which will cross the wires at 7:00 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq -7.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -6.0% YTD
S&P 500 -3.2% YTD
Dow Jones -2.7% YTD

DJ30 -109.85 NASDAQ -59.43 SP500 -22.50 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 637/1.804 bln/2294 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 736/1.088 bln/2310

3:40 pm :

Apr WTI crude oil prices lost steam today and sold off following the strength seen in recent session
Apr crude finished pit trading -3.8% at $36.48/barrel. However, in electronic trading, oil prices are extending losses
In other energy, Apr natural gas futures gained 1.2% today to $1.71/MMBtu.
Metals lost steam today as well, partially hurt by the dollar index, which reversed higher today
Apr gold slipped 0.1% to $1263.20/oz, while May silver fell -1.5% to $15.40/oz
Apr copper dropped 3% to $2.22/lb

12:01 pm Cisco Systems announced $500 mln investment in Germany over the next three years, to help accelerate the country's digitization (CSCO) : The program is called "Deutschland Digital" and focuses on innovation, security and education. Planned investments foresee funds for specific digitization projects, research projects, an expansion of the Cisco Networking Academy, and direct investments in venture funds, as well as to human resources and infrastructure spending

9:21 am American Superconductor and BASF (BASFY) form strategic relationship to develop lower cost superconductor wire - AMSC to host call March 10 at 10am ET to detail strategic relationship (AMSC) :

The cos have entered into a set of agreements to jointly develop an advanced low cost manufacturing process for second generation high temperature superconductor wire. In the joint development, AMSC's manufacturing know-how for its Amperium superconductor wire and BASF's chemical solution deposition production technology will be combined. As part of the agreements, AMSC and BASF also entered into a royalty-bearing, non-exclusive license under which AMSC will provide BASF a specified portion of AMSC's second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire manufacturing technology. AMSC intends to continue its focus on HTS system-based solutions, such as its Resilient Electric Grid and Ship Protection Systems and to provide wire for those solutions as well as to AMSC's strategic partners. The parties expect these agreements to result in the development of a potentially low cost manufacturing process at BASF and to enable AMSC to focus resources on driving down the total system cost. If the development is complete and successful, AMSC may utilize wire produced by this advanced manufacturing process for its systems business.

M&A news: SUNE +33.2% (Vivint Solar terminates merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE)),VSLR +1%,TERP +15.3% (Vivint Solar terminates merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE))

8:46 am Marvell: Nasdaq determines co will not meet the terms of the previously granted extension, which expires on March 8; co intends to request a hearing on/before March 11 to request further extension (MRVL) :

Co intends to request a hearing before the Nasdaq Hearings Panel on or before March 11, 2016 to request a further extension.

The Panel has the authority to grant Marvell an extension of up to 360 days from the due date of the first missed periodic report, or September 5, 2016. Such request will automatically stay any suspension or delisting action until March 28, 2016, and the Company will request a further stay of any suspension or delisting action pending the issuance of the Panel decision following the hearing. The Panel will notify Marvell no later than March 28, 2016 whether its request for a stay of suspension or delisting action pending the hearing has been granted.

Axcelis Tech (ACLS) received multiple system orders from several leading chipmakers in China for the Purion XE high energy implanter. The systems will be used to support the design and volume production of both 3D NAND Flash and custom planar logic devices in multiple fabs across China. The systems are scheduled to ship in the first quarter.