From Briefing.com: 5:26 pm CenturyLink to sell $1 bln of newly-issued unsecured eight-year senior notes (CTL) : The senior notes due 2024 were priced at par with an annual coupon rate of 7.5%. The sale of these notes is expected to be completed April 6, 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. CenturyLink intends to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with additional borrowings under its revolving credit facility and available cash, if any, to provide the total amount of funds required to fully retire at maturity on June 1, 2016 all $1.184 billion aggregate principal amount of 7.082% Notes issued by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Embarq Corporation.
4:31 pm SolarCity closes new tax equity fund to finance over $131 mln in residential, commercial and military solar projects; financing partner was not disclosed (SCTY) :
4:19 pm Red Hat beats by $0.05, beats on revs; issues in-line/upside guidance but billings disappoint (RHT) :
Reports Q4 (Feb) earnings of $0.52 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.47; revenues rose 17.3% year/year to $544 mln vs the $537.5 mln Capital IQ Consensus. RHT reports Q4 Billings of $764 mln vs Street Expectations of approx $770 mln.Subscription revenue from Infrastructure-related offerings for the quarter was $391 million, an increase of 15% in U.S. dollars year-over-year and 18% measured in constant currency. Subscription revenue from Application Development-related and other emerging technologies offerings for the quarter was $89 million, an increase of 38% in U.S. dollars year-over-year and 43% measured in constant currency. Co issues guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.50, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.50 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $558-566 vs. $553.81 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues upside guidance for FY17, sees EPS of $2.22-2.26, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.18 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY17 revs of $2.38-2.42 bln vs. $2.36 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Broader market action was up and down today as marco news left investors racing to safe haven bonds and modestly avoiding equities in search for strength. Leading the session as the lone gainer, the Nasdaq Composite added 12.79 points (+0.27%) to close 4821.66. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 41.30 points (-0.23%) when the bell rang to end 17582.57. Somewhere in the middle (albeit in the red), the S&P 500 closed Tuesday down 1.80 points (-0.09%) to 2049.80. Today's gains brought the Nasdaq closer to break-even on the year, yet still a far cry from a stone's throw away.
Futures slipped in the early morning hours following reports of a pair of terror acts in Belgium's capital of Brussels. Two explosions were set off, one at the Brussels airport and the other taking place in the city's metro system. Currently, reports indicate that 30 people have been killed in the two attacks while 186 more were injured. The explosions occurred four days after the capture of Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in November's Paris attacks, and recently ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
As a result, the cash markets struck an initial defensive posture as all ten sectors began in negative territory. The way Technology (XLK 43.79, +0.05 +0.11%) began the session was not the way it ended as the sector managed to escape from the red and post slight gains. Component Western Digital (WDC 51.34, +2.05 +4.16%) was strong today following the company's announcement that Revera installed the HGST Active Archive System as its cloud-scale data repository for Revera Vault. Other sectors closed Tuesday XLV +1.00%, IYZ -0.10%, XLY -0.17%, XLF -0.31%, XLU -0.33%, XLE -0.55%, XLI -0.57%, XLP -0.59%, XLB -1.14% with Healthcare leading the strength and Materials lagging.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (727.20, +0.82 +0.11%) , trading ended just above flat lines as the morning saw the sector firmly in the red, but losses would not hold. Component Symantec (SYMC 18.82, -0.03 -0.16%) announced a $1 billion accelerated repurchase program as part of the $5.5 billion capital return program. Other sector components which finished in the green today included QRVO +2.19%, STX +1.37%, HRS +1.35%, FFIV +1.31%, AVGO +1.22%, RHT +1.08%, MSI +0.81%, AKAM +0.80%, CRM +0.79%, AAPL +0.76%.
Other notable news items among sector component:
Symantec (SYMC) started a $1 billion accelerated repurchase program. Today's announced program is part of $5.5 bln capital return program.
Salesforce.com (CRM 72.85, +0.60 +0.83%) announced that former European Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, was appointed to the company's Board effective May 1.
ScanSource's (SCSC 39.75, -0.07 -0.18%) ScanSource Networking and Security entered into a distribution agreement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 17.51, -0.20 -1.13%).
IBM (IBM 148.12, -0.51 -0.34%) opened Bluemix Garage in Nice, France to aid European organizations.
Adobe (ADBE 92.56, +0.06 +0.06%) and comScore (SCOR 30.54, +0.30 +0.99%) announced a global strategic partnership to provide new insights into the media consumption behaviors of digital audiences.
Western Digital (WDC) announced that Revera installed the HGST Active Archive System as its cloud-scale data repository for Revera Vault.
Elsewhere in the tech space:
CalAmp (CAMP 17.64, -1.59 -8.27%) announced the completion of the company's LoJack (LOJN) acquisition. Also, CAMP gave prelim Q4 results of EPS of about $0.32 and revenues of about $71 million. Additionally, CAMP gave guidance for the Q1 period for revenues in the range of $86-94 million. Management also commented on the pending patent lawsuit with Omega Patents.
Avnet (AVT 44.73, +0.73 +1.66%) priced its offering of $550 million aggregate principal amount of 4.625% Notes due 2026 in a registered offering.
Intelsat's (I 2.53, -0.28 -9.96%) Intelsat Jackson Holdings S.A. priced $1.25 billion aggregate principal amount of 8.00% senior secured notes due 2024 at an offering price of 100%.
Vivint Solar (VSLR 3.32, -0.04 -1.19%) closed a $200 million term facility to be used for residential solar projects.
Analyst actions:
VIVHY was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Exane BNP Paribas;
AMZN was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James,
YHOO was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup,
CAMP was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sidoti
4:15 pm : The major averages ended the Tuesday session on a mixed note as a rebound in the health care space (+0.9%) and the outperformance of the technology sector (+0.1%) outweighed the initial selling pressure following news of a terrorist attack in Brussels. Meanwhile, sustained strength from the energy sector (-0.3%) also helped support the move higher in the broader market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.2%) ended its day behind the S&P 500 (-0.1%) and the Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%).
Today's session began on a shaky note as investors turned to safe havens following reports of terror attacks in Belgium's capital of Brussels. Explosions at the Brussels airport and a crowded metro station resulted in at least 30 deaths and more than 200 injuries. Terrorist organization ISIS has since claimed responsibility for the attack. Because of the attack, the major indices all opened beneath their flat lines and risk averse assets received a bid.
The consumer discretionary space (-0.2%) and the industrial sector (-0.3%) showed early weakness as lodging names and airlines displayed heavy losses. However, an extended rally in the recovering health care group (+0.9%) and sector leadership from the influential technology space (+0.1%) helped support the broader market. As a result, the remaining sectors were lifted from their session lows.
Health care (+0.9%), technology (+0.1%), and materials (+0.1%) ended in the green while consumer staples (-0.8%), telecom services (-0.5%), and financials (-0.3%) ended with the largest losses.
The heavily-weighted health care space (+0.9%) boosted investor sentiment as biotechnology extended this week's rebound effort. To that point, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 263.10, +6.61) extended its weekly gain to 5.0%. Meanwhile, health care large caps also outperformed with AbbVie (ABBV 57.50, +1.49) and Pfizer (PFE 30.38, +0.31) gained 2.7% and 1.0%, respectively.
In the technology space, heavyweight component Apple (AAPL 106.72, +0.81) gained 0.8% in the wake of yesterday's flat showing following its product event. Separately, data storage names like Western Digital (WDC 51.34, +2.05) and Seagate Technology (STX 37.04, +0.50) outperformed while the PHLX Semiconductor Index (-0.1%) ended modestly lower.
The energy sector (-0.3%) was able to avoid larger losses despite a downturn in oil. WTI crude ended its day lower by 0.3% at $41.45/bbl after reports indicated that Libya will not take part in a proposed supply cut between OPEC and non-OPEC countries. To be fair though, oil and gas pipeline companies ended with the largest gains as the names likely benefited from the 1.6% jump in natural gas ($1.86/mmbtu).
The U.S. Dollar Index (95.63, +0.35) ended off its best level of the day, but the greenback still remained higher against the yen and the euro. The dollar/yen pair traded higher by 0.3% (112.31) after rallying off the 111.55 level. Meanwhile, the euro/dollar pair finished its day lower by 0.2% at 1.1219.
The yield on the 10-yr note slipped to 1.88% (-4 bps) at the beginning of today's session, but Treasuries sold off as stocks rallied. The yield on the 10-yr note ended higher by two basis points at 1.94%.
Once again, today's volume was on the lighter side as fewer than 819.21 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.
Today's economic data was limited to the FHFA Housing Price Index for January, which rose 0.5% month-over-month after increasing a revised 0.5% (from 0.4%) in December.
Tomorrow's economic data will include the 7:00 ET release of the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the February New Homes Sales Report (Briefing.com 511k), which will cross the wires at 10:00 ET. DJ30 -41.30 NASDAQ +12.79 SP500 -1.80 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1394/1.441 bln/1488 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1392/818.2 mln/1594
3:40 pm :
Despite the dollar rallying to new highs, commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, increased to 81.23
WTI crude oil futures spiked initially in morning trade and then dropped and consolidated for the rest of the day, erasing yesterday's gains
At the end of today's session, May crude closed -0.3% at $41.45/barrel
Natural gas initially declined in morning trading, but then rallied to close at a new high of the day
Apr natural gas finished floor trading +1.6% at $1.86/MMBtu
Apr gold dropped early and consolidated the rest of the day to close modestly up +0.4% at $1248.50/oz
May silver rallied in morning trade before dropping midday and consolidating the rest of the day to close +0.3% higher at $15.89/oz
Base metal copper rallied in the morning before consolidating at parity with yesterday's close to finish the day flat at $2.29/lb
Trina Solar (TSL) announces that the co's 40MW of solar PV modules has been operational in the largest solar project in the Philippines, which has started to generate clean & safe solar electricity. The Project was developed by Helios Solar Energy, a joint venture between local solar project developer Gregorio Araneta & Equis Pte, Asia's largest independent renewable energy developer & investor according to the co
Integrated Device Technology (IDTI) announces that IDT & Samsung (SSNLF) have teamed to deliver wireless charging for the Galaxy S7, Samsung's newest smartphone. According to Integrated, the IDT technology includes all of the hardware & software needed to enable mobile devices to be charged without a wired connection. Along with the Galaxy S7, IDT previously announced that it had joined with Samsung to provide wireless charging for the Galaxy S6 edge+ & Galaxy Note5 smartphones, as well as the Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch charging pad
JinkoSolar Holding (JKS) announces that it has supplied 24MW of high-efficiency PID-free Eagle modules to Gunkul Engineering Public Co, a power producer & EPC co in Thailand, for a project in southern Thailand. The project has been connected to the grid & is operating. According to JinkoSolar, The 'superior' performance of JinkoSolar's products, their adaptability to the local environment, & ability to prevent unnecessary power loss could protect the project from region's extreme environment effect & maximize the customer's return on investment
7:02 am Vivint Solar closes a $200 mln term facility to be used for residential solar projects (VSLR) :
The non-recourse facility is secured by the cash flows available to Vivint Solar from its portfolio of installed residential solar systems supported by long-term customer contracts.
The financing is accessible in two tranches, an initial, shorter-term tranche of $75 million priced at LIBOR plus 5.5%, and a second tranche of $125 million that can be drawn over time to fund future growth. If Vivint Solar elects to draw on the second tranche, pricing will increase to LIBOR plus 8.0% and the term will extend to 4 years on the entire $200 million facility.This financing structure was designed to provide immediate liquidity with the option to upsize and fund anticipated future growth beyond 2016. "This is the first step in a series of anticipated financing activities that were put on hold as a result of the now terminated SunEdison merger."
7:01 am Unwired Planet confirms UK High Court issues second judgment in favor of Unwired Planet; Samsung (SSNLF) and Huawei infringe another Unwired Planet standards-based patent (UPIP) :
Co announced the UK High Court once again ruled that cell phone manufacturers Samsung and Huawei infringe a valid standards-essential patent (SEP) held by Unwired Planet. The trial on this patent was held in February 2016. Justice Colin Birss ruled that Unwired Planet's patent EP (UK) 1 230 818 is valid and is infringed by wireless telecommunication networks which operate in accordance with the relevant GSM standards, 3GPP TS 45.008 release 5 (dated April 2006), and release 8 (dated September 2011).Unwired Planet received ~$1.9 million in initial reimbursements as a result of prevailing in the first case and paid ~$3.1 million due to a ruling for the defendants in the second case. The amount of reimbursement in this case is not yet known. Further, whether the defendants will ask the court for, or be granted, permission to appeal is also unknown at this time.
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
