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From Briefing.com: 4:38 pm Nanometrics achieves record 3D-NAND Bookings Quarter (NANO) :

Co announced record 3D-NAND bookings totaling over $38 million for the first quarter of 2016.
Strong follow-on orders by a key customer account for its next phase of 3D-NAND build-out drove a large portion of the overall record, while the announcement and rapid ramp of a 3D-NAND fab from the newest entrant to the sector, along with orders from a key memory customer for Nanometrics, each represented all-time high 3D-NAND bookings for these customer accounts.

Broader market action was relatively tepid today as volume came in light ahead of the Fed Chair tomorrow. The markets ended split today as the action was taken lower by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which lost 6.72 points (-0.14%) to closed 4766.79. Modest gains were had by both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 with the former gaining 19.66 points (+0.11%) to closed 17535.39 and the latter adding 1.11 points (+0.05%) to close 2037.05. Easter Monday ended as only about 707 million shares traded hands on the NYSE and only 1,375 million share exchanged on the NASDAQ floor versus averages near 1,138 million and 2,084 million, respectively.

Technology (XLK 43.52, -0.10 -0.23%) trading was mostly in the red following the modestly positive start as component Qualcomm (QCOM 50.19, -0.67 -1.32%) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays. The firm noted a 'harder road ahead' for the company and also took the target down to $50. Other sectors closed the session XLP +0.54%, XLY +0.45%, XLB +0.43%, IYZ +0.40%, XLF +0.31%, XLI +0.04%, XLV -0.28%, XLU -0.37%, XLE -0.53% with Consumer Staples leading the positive action and Energy posting a notably weaker finish.

Social Media (SOCL 18.01, -0.18 -0.99%) names were notably weaker in comparison today , ending near session lows as component Pandora Media (P 9.60, -1.33 -12.17%) dictated action in other names following an executive shake-up. Pandora Founder Tim Westergren was named CEO, ousting Brian McAndrews. The company also reaffirmed certain Q1, FY16 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance. Other names which were weak today included NTES -3.10%, YELP -2.92%, RENN -2.46%, TWTR -1.95%, LNKD -1.72%, JIVE -1.66%, YNDX -1.16%, ZNGA -0.91%, GRPN -0.76%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (721.73, -2.05 -0.28%), trading ended slightly off lows as component Yahoo! (YHOO 35.23, +0.37 +1.06%) displayed relative strength following a weekend report suggesting Microsoft's (MSFT 53.54, -0.67 -1.24%) interest in financing a potential PE bid for YHOO. Other components which displayed relative weakness today included SYMC -1.28%, MU -1.14%, ORCL -0.85%, MA -0.73%, CRM -0.68%, PYPL -0.46%, AAPL -0.45%.
Other notable news items among sector components:

Yahoo! (YHOO) displayed relative strength following a report out during the weekend detailing Microsoft's (MSFT) interest in financing a potential PE bid for YHOO.

Visa (V 74.12, -0.02 -0.03%) signed a Cooperation Plan with the China National Tourism Administration, establishing Visa as a strategic partner of the U.S.-China Tourism Year. The landmark collaboration between the CNTA, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Visa will provide for a year-long series of events designed to enhance tourism, trade cooperation, and cultural understanding between China and the United States.

Costco (COST 152.67, +1.24 -0.82%) announced the Anywhere Visa (V) Card by Citi (C 41.92, -0.02 -0.05%) will start being accepted on June 20, 2016. Co advises to keep American Express (AXP 60.28, -0.19 -0.31%) Cards until June 19.

Littelfuse (LFUS 118.69, -0.38 -0.32%) completed its acquisition of the circuit protection business of TE

Connectivity (TEL 61.03, +0.07 +0.11%) for $350 million in cash.

eBay (EBAY 24.12, -0.21 -0.86%) sold its Enterprise Marketing Solutions' Studio Division to Industrial Color Brands. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Pandora Media (P) names founder Tim Westergren as CEO effective immediately, replacing Brian McAndrews. Additionally, management noted expectations that results would come in at the high end range of revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for the quarter (Q1), and also reaffirmed FY16 targets.

First Data (FDC 179.00, -0.45 -0.25%) received affirmative responses from new and existing lenders to provide about $3.7 billion of term loans due March 2021.

Violin Memory (VMEM 0.41, -0.03 -8.48%) named Ebrahim Abbasi as Chief Operating Officer.

Abengoa (ABGB 1.50, +0.08 +5.63%) reached a standstill contract with 75.04% of lenders.

Trina Solar (TSL 9.93, -0.11 -1.10%) signed a facilities agreement for an aggregate amount of about $143 million.

Analyst Actions:

QCOM was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays,
EIGI was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

4:15 pm : The stock market began the week on a flat note as the S&P 500 added 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) underperformed. Today's action featured a slide in crude oil, a noteworthy revision to economic data from January, and relative strength from the consumer discretionary space (+0.5%).

Overall, the Monday affair was very quiet as post-holiday trade failed to garner much interest ahead of a data-heavy week. To that point, fewer than 688 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor, versus last week's average of 833.8 million shares.

A cautious tone was set this morning as a tumble in oil helped drag the major averages to opening lows. Meanwhile, some mixed data readings clouded sentiment as investors weighed a cooler-than-expected reading of Core PCE Prices for February (0.1%; Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) and an above-consensus reading of February Personal Income (+0.2%; Briefing.com consensus +0.1%). The former is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, and investors will be on the lookout for any implications this may hold for future fed funds rate hikes.

The major indices hit their highs around 14:00 ET as WTI crude ended its rally off its low. The energy component would end its pit session near those levels, ticking down 0.3% to $39.38/bbl.

Four sectors ended beneath their flat lines with energy (-0.5%), utilities (-0.4%), technology (-0.3%), and health care (-0.3%) leading to the downside. Meanwhile, consumer discretionary (+0.5%), consumer staples (+0.5%), materials (+0.4%), and financials (+0.3%) outperformed.

Lodging names outperformed in the consumer discretionary space following reports that Starwood Hotels (HOT 83.75, +1.62) received a revised non-binding offer from the Chinese consortium headed by Anbang Insurance Group. Elsewhere, Time Warner (TWX 72.54, +2.53) rallied 3.6% following the release of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice', which resulted in the third largest global opening for a March release in IMAX (IMAX 30.38, +0.20) theaters.

The top-weighted technology space (-0.3%) spent most of its day behind the benchmark index as Microsoft (MSFT 53.54, -0.67) weighed on the sector. The tech giant underperformed following headlines that it may be interested in acquiring Yahoo! (YHOO 35.23, +0.37). Meanwhile, Oracle (ORCL 40.62, -0.35) underperformed among software names while Qualcomm (QCOM 50.19, -0.67) displayed relative weakness in the PHLX Semiconductor Index (-0.1%).

The industrial sector (UNCH) finished above its flat line, as a rally in large cap General Electric (GE 31.49, +0.38) outweighed the underperformance of rail names in the Dow Jones Transportation Average (-0.9%). Elsewhere in the Transportation Average, JetBlue (JBLU 20.79, +0.55) spiked after reports indicated that the company put in a bid for Virgin American (VA 37.70, +3.53).

Biotechnology endured a choppy session as the iShare Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 252.08) swung from a 1.5% loss to a 0.9% gain. The ETF ended its day down 1.3% despite strength from constituent Gilead Science (GILD 92.46, +1.14). The biotech name ended higher by 1.6% after a ruling in a patent dispute case was deemed better than feared.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.97, -0.20) finished lower as the greenback lost ground to the euro. The euro/dollar pair ended higher by 0.3% at 1.1200. For its part, the dollar gained 0.2% against the yen to end at 113.38.

Treasuries ended in the green, but off their best levels. The yield on the 10-yr note settled lower by three basis points at 1.88% (-1 bps) after dipping into the 1.86% area.

Today's economic data included PCE Prices for February, Personal Income for February, Personal Spending for February, and Pending Home Sales for February:

The Personal Income and Spending report for February was released to little fanfare as the report came in right around expectations. Income increased 0.2% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%), spending increased 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%), and the core PCE Price Index, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%).
Overall, this set of figures is not expected to do much in terms of strengthening or weakening a rate-hike argument, but it is worth noting that a 0.5% increase in January Personal Spending was revised down to an increase of just 0.1% in today's report.
The Federal Reserve is looking for 2.0% year-over-year inflation as expressed by the core PCE Index. Following today's report, the index remains unchanged at 1.7% year-over-year.
The personal savings rate edged up to 5.4% from 5.3%.
Pending home sales for February climbed 3.5% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 1.1%. Meanwhile, the January reading was revised to -3.0% from -2.5%.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the Case-Shiller 20-city Index for March (Briefing.com consensus +5.7%) and Consumer Confidence for March (Briefing.com consensus 94.5), which will be released at 9:00 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Separately, Fed Chair Janet Yellen will speak at the Economic Club of New York at 12:20 ET.DJ30 19.66 NASDAQ -6.72 SP500 +1.11 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1294/1.273 bln/1575 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1739/687.3 mln/1285

3:35 pm :

The dollar index initially consolidated near the lows for the day before heading slightly higher in the afternoon but ultimately giving back those gains and settling in around the lows
Commodities as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity index were further boosted by the lower-trending dollar, trading up +0.3% at 79.48
WTI crude oil futures saw a steep drop this morning before smoothly trending upwards the rest of the day to end just below last week's closing price
May WTI crude oil futures closed down -0.3% at $39.38/barrel
Natural gas futures were particularly volatile, briefly falling below last week's previous closing price before spiking off those lows to consolidate and close near the high of the day
May natural gas closed up +3.2% at $1.94/MMBtu
In precious metals, gold initially traded lower before bouncing off the $1216/oz level, still closing slightly in the red for the day
April gold futures closed down -0.1% at $1220.30/oz
Silver futures teeter-tottered slightly between gains and losses with no meaningful direction, eventually settling just below last week's close
May silver futures closed down -0.1% at $15.19/oz
Base metal copper had a notable mid-day jump before dropping slightly and then consolidating higher
May copper futures closed up +0.9% at $2.25/lb

6:52 am Trina Solar signs facilities agreement for an aggregate amount of ~$143 mln (TSL) :

Co announces the launch of operations at its new manufacturing facility in Thailand. Co also announced that it has signed a financing facilities agreement for an aggregate amount of ~$143 mln with a consortium of banks led by The Siam Commercial Bank Public Company.

So far, the facility has achieved every milestone on schedule, from groundbreaking to production to serving its overseas markets, which is expected to occur by the end of March.
To finance the capital expenditure of the new production facility, co has signed a syndicated loan agreement for a total of $100 mln w/ SCB and China Minsheng Banking Corporation, maturing in June 2020.
In addition, according to the agreement, the co has been granted a line of credit by SCB for ~$43 mln, which will be used for working capital.