From Briefing.com: The three major US indices closed the session modestly higher. Gains were led by the Nasdaq Composite which added 25.55 points (+0.55)% to 4674.38. The S&P 500 closed up 10.00 points (+0.51%) to 1989.26, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 36.26 points (+0.21%) to close 17000.36. Action was mostly positive in the indices today as we are in the middle of a nearly seven year bull market. The recovery began back in 2009, post the housing market crash in 2008 -- the S&P is up about +130% since that time, while the Dow +135% and the Nasdaq +220% post similar strong gains since that time.
Trading in the Technology (XLK 42.26, +0.40 +0.96) sector was mostly in the green today. Posting notable weakness today was component Frontier Communications (FTR 5.17, -0.38 -6.76%), which was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup ahead of today's opening bell. Other sectors closed the day XLE +1.62%, XLP +0.75%, XLB +0.63%, XLU +0.46%, XLI +0.32%, XLY +0.20%, XLV +0.18%, XLF +0.14%, IYZ -0.93% as Tech and Energy led the advance and Telecoms were the notable laggard.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector ( 696.27, +7.09 +1.03%), trading closed near the session high while component Qualcomm (QCOM 51.95, -0.51 -0.97) posted modest losses in spite of the company being denied a petition by the PTAB for IPR against claims of three Parkervision (PRKR 0.26, +0.04 +18.74%) patents. Other components which finished the day higher included SYMC +3.78%, XRX +2.83%, HPQ +2.81%, FSLR +2.42%, RHT +2.37%, QRVO +2.31%, MSFT +2.30%, WDC +2.15%, AMAT +2.08%, CSCO +2.07%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.61, +0.56 +2.07%) acquired Synata. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Intel (INTC 30.86, +0.31 +1.00%) acquired Replay Technologies for immersive sports. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Juniper Networks (JNPR 25.23, +0.20 +0.80%) and Lenovo (LNVGY 16.43, -0.02 -0.12%) announced a collaboration & global partnership.
Hilton Worldwide (HLT 20.77, -0.16 -0.76%) and IBM (IBM 140.41, +1.38 +0.99%) announced a collaboration to pilot "Connie" -- the first Watson-enabled robot concierge in the hospitality industry. Connie draws on domain knowledge from Watson and WayBlazer to inform guests on local tourist attractions, dining recommendations and hotel features and amenities.
Towergate is undertaking an IT infrastructure transformation across its entire business to address challenges posed by legacy systems and lack of integration and has chosen Accenture (ACN 103.40, +0.78 +0.76%) as its strategic service provider.
Parkervision (PRKR) announced the PTAB has denied Qualcomm's (QCOM) petitions for IPR against various claims of three ParkerVision patents.
Elsewhere in the technology space:
CSG Systems (CSGS 40.90, +2.50 +6.51%) to offer $200 million aggregate principal amount of Convertible Senior Notes due 2036.
IDT Corp (IDT 14.29, +0.40 +2.88%) announced that its Zedge subsidiary has filed for planned spin-off.
Vivint Solar (VSLR 4.22, +0.05 +1.20%) to seek damages for willful breach of merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE 1.91, -0.08 -3.77%).
SUNE confirmed VSLR's lawsuit and stated that prior to the termination it and VSLR commenced discussions regarding a possible negotiated termination of their proposed merger.
Air Transport Services Group (ATSG 13.73, +1.96 +16.65%) confirmed a deal with Amazon (AMZN 559.47, -0.79 -0.14%) to operate the company's air transport network. AMZN was also granted rights to purchase ATSG equity.
Unisys (UIS 7.96, -3.07 -27.87%) proposed an offering of $150 million of its Convertible Senior Notes due 2021.UIS also announced its Australian subsidiary signed a two-year contract extension worth about $54 million with the Australian Department of Defence to provide IT support.Dangdang (DANG 7.18, +0.57 +8.62%) received a non-binding proposal to be acquired by iMeigu Capital for $8.80 per ADS.
First Data (FDC 188.95, +0.60 +0.32%) announced a $500 million offering of 5.00% senior secured first lien notes due 2024.
Toshiba (TOSBF 1.83, -0.01 -0.71%) granted exclusive rights to Canon (CAJ 29.68, +0.54 +1.85%) to negotiate over a potential acquisition of Toshiba's Medical Systems unit.
In reaction to quarterly results:
Atento (ATTO 7.26, -1.57 -17.78%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS of $0.31 and revenues which fell 17.5% versus last year to $457.8 million.
SunEdison Semiconductor (SEMI 7.30, +0.44 +6.41%) reported worse than expected Q4 GAAP EPS and revenues of $0.74 and $181.7 million, respectively.
Phoenix New Media Limited (FENG 4.23, +0.28 +7.09%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.10 and $66.5 million, respectively. For the Q1 period, FENG sees revenues between RMB290-305 million.
Analyst actions:
FEYE was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray,
BITA was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse,
CHU was upgraded to Buy from Outperform at Credit Agricole;
GRPN and YELP were downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS,
FTR was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup,
ATTO was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill
4:15 pm : The major averages ended their midweek affair on a higher note as a leg higher in oil supported a modest gain in the stock market. Additionally, leadership from the heavyweight technology sector (+1.0%) countered some choppy trade from the likes of the financial (+0.1%), consumer discretionary (+0.1%), and health care (+0.2%) sectors. Today's action preceded tomorrow's policy statement from the European Central Bank, which is widely believed to call for additional stimulus measures. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) settled ahead of the S&P 500 (+0.5%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.2%).
Equities displayed modest gains in the early going, reaching their best levels shortly after the release of the Department of Energy's weekly inventory report. The report showed that crude oil inventories rose in-line with analyst estimates, but that gasoline inventories experienced a larger-than-expected draw (4.53 million; consensus 1.39 million). This echoed the results of the API report and led to a bid in crude oil, as investors believed that drawdowns in gasoline inventories would drive increased demand in oil for future refining. As a result, WTI crude ended its day higher by 4.8% at $38.23/bbl.
Commodity-sensitive energy (+1.5%) was able to take advantage of this swing in oil prices, climbing the leaderboard. Meanwhile, the top-weighted technology sector (+1.0%) finished in the second spot.
In the energy sector (+1.5%), oil and gas refining names were able to outperform as Marathon Petroleum (MPC 37.06, +1.89) gained 5.4%. Meanwhile, Dow component Chevron (CVX 92.82, +4.08) managed to top the price-weighted index as it climbed 4.6%. The energy space managed to re-enter positive territory for the year with today's trade, as the group shows a gain of 0.7% over that period.
Heavily-weighted technology (+1.0%) received a boost from large-cap component Microsoft (MSFT 52.84, +1.19), which managed to reclaim its 50-day moving average (52.24). Separately, Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.61, +0.56) benefited from some M&A news as the company announced that it would be acquiring Synata for an undisclosed amount.
On the bottom of the leaderboard, telecom services (-0.3%) led the downside while heavily-weighted financials (+0.1%), consumer discretionary (+0.1%), and health care (+0.2%) underperformed. Biotechnology weighted on the health care space as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 257.13, 3.00) surrendered 1.2%.
In the economically sensitive financial sector (-0.1%), Morgan Stanley (MS 24.61, -0.40) surrendered 1.6%. The company has plunged 4.8% since Monday whereas the broader sector has lost 1.6% over that period. Meanwhile, Franklin Resources (BEN 37.41, -0.59) tumbled 1.6% after the company reported that preliminary month-end assets under management totaled $714 billion compared to the $728.1 billion under management in January.
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 506.63, -18.06) displayed relative weakness in the consumer discretionary space (+0.1%) after it was confirmed that one of the sick employees at its Billerica, Massachusetts location was infected by norovirus. The location has been cleared to open on Thursday. Separately, large-cap Home Depot (HD 126.03, -0.69) fell 0.5%.
The Dollar Index (97.17, -0.03) ticked up off its session low as the euro/dollar pair backed away from its high of 1.1029 to trade lower by 0.1% at 1.1002. Separately, the dollar/yen pair rose 0.7% to 113.40.
The Treasury complex traded broadly lower throughout the day as the yield on the 10-yr note slipped five basis points to 1.88%.
Today's participation was below the recent average with fewer than 933 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Today's economic data included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the January Wholesale Inventories Report:
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index was showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 0.2% in mortgage applications.
Wholesale inventories increased 0.3% in January from an upwardly revised unchanged reading (from -0.1%) for December. The Briefing.com consensus estimate called for a 0.2% decline in January wholesale inventories, which are up 2.0% year-over-year.
The gain in January was driven by a 1.1% increase in nondurable inventories. Inventories of durable goods actually declined 0.3%.
The uptick in nondurable inventories was driven by drug (+3.3%) and farm products (+2.9%) inventories. The biggest increase was in paper inventories (+4.2%), although they make up just 3.6% of total nondurable inventories.
With respect to durable inventories, the biggest weights were the declines in electrical (-3.6%) and metals (-1.8%) inventories. Machinery inventories, which account for 29% of total durable inventories, rose 0.2% after a 0.4% decline in December.
Wholesale sales dropped 1.3% in January after a 0.6% decline in December. Durable sales were down 1.9% while nondurable sales fell 0.8%.
The wholesale inventories to sales ratio jumped to 1.35 in January from 1.33 in December. This ratio stood at 1.28 in the same period a year ago.
Tomorrow's economic data includes weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 275k) and the Treasury Budget for February, which will cross the wires at 8:30 ET and 14:00 ET, respectively. DJ30 +36.26 NASDAQ +25.55 SP500 +10.00 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1756/1.634 bln/1140 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2110/932.4 mln/896
3:40 pm :
Oil ran higher today, extending gains heading into the close of floor trading
Apr crude oil finished today's floor trading session +4.8% at $38.23/barrel and is just below that level in electronic trade
In other energy, Apr natural gas finished +2.7% at $1.76/MMBtu
Metals finished the day mixed with precious metals closing in the red and copper rising
Apr gold closed -0.5% to $1257.20/oz, while May silver slipped -0.3% to $15.36/oz
May copper closed today +0.5% at $2.23/lc
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