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From Briefing.com: 4:14 pm IBM beats by $0.26, beats on revs; reaffirms FY16 EPS guidance (IBM) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $2.35 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.26 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.09; revenues fell 4.6% year/year (-2% ex-FX) to $18.68 bln vs the $18.29 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Cognitive Solutions (includes solutions software and transaction processing software) -- revenues of $4.0 billion, down 1.7%, up 0.4% adjusting for currency.
Global Business Services (includes consulting, global process services, application management) -- revenues of $4.1 billion, down 4.3%, down 2.3% adjusting for currency.
Technology Services and Cloud Platforms (includes infrastructure services, technical support services, integration software) -- revenues of $8.4 billion, down 1.5%, up 1.9% adjusting for currency.
Systems (includes systems hardware and operating systems software) -- revenues of $1.7 billion, down 21.8%, down 20.6% adjusting for currency.
Q1 revs from the company's strategic imperatives --- cloud, analytics and engagement --- increased 14% year to year (up 17% adjusting for currency).Total cloud revenues (public, private and hybrid) for the quarter increased 34% (up 36% adjusting for currency). Cloud revenue over the trailing 12 months was $10.8 billion. The annual exit run rate for cloud delivered as a service -- a subset of the total cloud revenue -- increased to $5.4 billion from $3.8 billion in the first quarter of 2015. Revenues from analytics increased 7% (up 9% adjusting for currency). Revenues from mobile increased 88% (up 93% adjusting for currency) and from security increased 18% (up 20% adjusting for currency).
Co reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees EPS of at least $13.50, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $13.54 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. IBM had previously expected a free cash flow realization of GAAP net income which implied a full-year free cash flow range of $11 billion to $12 billion. The company now expects free cash flow to be at the high end of that range at the same base level of operating (non-GAAP) EPS.
"In the first quarter, we invested $3.6 billion in acquisitions and capital expenditures, and returned $2.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and gross share repurchases."

4:09 pm Rambus beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 revs below consensus (RMBS) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.12; revenues fell 0.3% year/year to $72.7 mln vs the $73.25 mln Capital IQ Consensus, down 5% from the fourth quarter of 2015 primarily due to lower patent and technology royalty revenue from various customers. As compared to the first quarter of 2015, revenue was down slightly primarily due to lower patent royalty revenue, offset by higher revenue from security technology development projects, including revenue from the acquisition of SCS.
Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $72-77 mln vs. $78.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Achieving revenue in this range will require that the Company sign new customer agreements for mobile payments software and solutions licensing among other matters.

4:04 pm Applied Optoelectronics issues downside guidance for 1Q16 (AAOI) :

Co issues downside guidance, sees revenue of $50-$50.5 mln vs. the $52.8 mln Capital IQ Consensus, and compared to prior guidance of $50-$54 mln. Sees a loss per share of ($0.06)-($0.04) vs Capital IQ Consensus of $0.23. This is below the previous non-GAAP net income guidance range of $3.8-$5.0 mln, and non-GAAP fully diluted earnings per share guidance range of $0.21 to $0.28, which was based on approximately 17.8 mln shares.

Co states: "We expect first quarter revenue to be within our guided range, representing at least 65% year-over-year growth, however our bottom line results were impacted by higher than expected cost of goods sold and research and development costs. These additional costs were incurred due to lower than anticipated yields on certain longer-reach 40G light engines and redesign activities associated with manufacturing cost reduction efforts."

4:20 pm Netflix beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS below consensus (NFLX) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.06 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.03; revenues rose 24.5% year/year to $1.96 bln vs the $1.97 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.02, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.05 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
See 16:10 for Key Metrics

Key Excerpts from Shareholders Letter

US revenue rose 18% y/y, reflecting 14% growth in average paid memberships and a 3% increase in ARPU.
Our Q1 international contribution loss of $104 million came in better than forecast due to the timing of content spend.
Our established markets around the world are all growing, and in early Q1 we added 130 more countries. By expanding broadly at once, we are learning more quickly about how best to please consumers across a wide variety of cultures and markets. In most of these markets, so far, Netflix is offered only in English and payment methods are limited primarily to international credit cards. In the coming quarters, we will add more local languages, content, payment options and customer support.
In the US, our Q2 net adds forecast of 0.5 million is inline with prior years (0.5, 0.6, 0.6, and 0.9 million from 20122015), taking into account a modest impact from the beginning of ungrandfathering
We expect Q2 international contribution loss to improve sequentially primarily due to recent favorable currency movements. We anticipate that international contribution losses in the second half of 2016 will be similar to the first half, as ongoing investments offset improved profitability in our more mature markets.
The increase in ARPU will allow us to invest more in content next year, and we are taking up our expected spend from about $5B in 2016 to over $6B on a P&L basis in 2017 (more on a cash basis).
We are now turning our attention to mobile specific encodes, with a desire to deliver better video at lower bandwidth to these devices, which are increasingly important in our newest markets.
We currently have $2.4 billion of long term debt. With our low debt to enterprise value of 5%, our plan is to raise additional capital through the high yield market later in 2016 or in early 2017.

The broader market closed the session near highs of the day. Action was led to these highs by the S&P 500, which added 13.61 points (+0.65%) today to close 2094.34. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 106.70 points (+0.60%) when the session ended to 18004.16. The Nasdaq Composite posted the shallowest of gains today, ultimately ending up 21.80 points (+0.44%) to 4960.02.

The session began on a lower note as the major averages took a leg lower this morning following lackluster results from this weekend's oil producers meeting in Doha, Qatar. The meeting concluded without a supply cap resolution as Saudi Arabia refused to cap it output unless Iran agreed to the same terms. The three major US indices were able to stage an early reversal off the Doha weakness, however, as oil bounced off early lows, driving select sectors up. Economic data today came in the form of the NAHB Housing Market Index for April which marked 58 from an unrevised 58 in March.

Technology (XLK 44.53, +0.19 +0.43%) trading was much like the broader market -- a weak open did not last long, and the sector went red-to-green, only to end near highs of the day. Component Cvent (CVT 35.23, +13.93 +65.40%) saw some nice upside today following a deal which was announced this morning which took the company private for $36 per share, or $1.65 billion. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed the day XLE +1.65%, XLY +0.94%, XLV +0.93%, XLF +0.74%, IYZ +0.58%, XLP +0.58%, XLB +0.46%, XLU +0.39%, XLI +0.09% as all ended above flat lines.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (740.67, +2.89 +0.39%) sector, action closed Monday just off session highs. Component Qorvo (QRVO 47.16, -0.58 -1.21%) bucked the broader sector trend today following news of an acquisition by the company if privately-held GreenPack Technologies; financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the deal is expected to close in the current quarter. Other names in the space which closed the day higher included PYPL +2.75%, TSS +2.03%, MU +1.87%, V +1.71%, AKAM +1.61%, FIS +1.48%, ADBE +1.46%, MSFT +1.46%, FFIV +1.35%, WDC +1.33%, FSLR +1.29%, CRM +1.26%, ADSK +1.21%.
Other notable news items among sector components:

Open Text (OTEX 54.60, +0.58 +1.07%) to acquire certain customer experience software and services assets from HP (HPQ 12.67, +0.15 +1.20%) for $170 million. The Customer Experience software business being acquired is expected to generate between $85m and $95m of annualized revenues, be immediately accretive and be on the OpenText operating model within the first 12 months after closing. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 and is subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

Belden's (BDC 63.81, +0.31 +0.49%) Grass Valley entered into a MOU with Cisco (CSCO 28.19, +0.29 +1.04%) to develop IP workflow solutions for broadcast that will improve customers' business agility.

Qualcomm (QCOM 51.55, +0.49 +0.96%) signed a new 3G and 4G Chinese patent license agreement with Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific Co., Ltd., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Coolpad Group Limited. Under the terms of the agreement, Qualcomm has granted Yulong a royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture and sell 3G WCDMA and CDMA2000 and 4G LTE terminals for use in China.

Teradata (TDC 24.79, +0.10 +0.41%) announced the creation of its Global IoT Analytics unit within Teradata Labs, based in the United States, UK and India, and focused on developing innovations to derive the greatest value from the Analytics of Things (AoT).

Qorvo (QRVO) to acquire privately-held GreenPeak Technologies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the deal is expected to close in the current quarter.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Cvent (CVT) to be acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $1.65 billion or $36 per share in cash.

GoDaddy's (GDDY 30.70, +0.05 +0.16%) CTO Elissa Murphy announced her resignation effective May 17.

SuperCom (SPCB 4.41, +0.09 +2.08%) acquired PowaPOS. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

GigPeak (GIG 3.01, +0.08 +2.73%) filed for about 6.9 million common share offering by selling shareholders.

Newtech (NEWT 12.29, -0.09 -0.73%) upsized and priced $35 million aggregate principal amount (previously $25 million) of 7.00% Notes due 2021.

Names reporting quarterly results this week:

ADS, AFOP, AMD, AMTD, ANGI, APH, ARMH, ASML, BHE, CAMP, CHKP, CLGX, CLS, CTXS, DLB, DST, EFII, EMC, ERIC, ETFC, FCS, FFIV, FICO, GIG, GOOG, IBM, IMS, INTC, IQNT, LLTC, LRCX, MANH, MLNX, MRVL, MSFT, MTSN, MXIM, NFLX, NOW, PFPT, PLCM, PLXS, PTC, QCOM, RMBS, SILC, SPSC, SYNT, TEL, TZOO, UCTT, UIS, UTEK, V, VMW, VZ, YGE, YHOO

Analyst actions:

UCTT was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham, WDDYF was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse; AEIS was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham, ARMH was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, SYNT was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird, NTAP was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Sterne Agee CRT; IMMR was initiated with a Buy at Lake Street; QRVO, AVGO, SWKS were initiated at Cowen


4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Monday affair on a higher note as the major averages recovered from some early oil-fueled selling. Today's move higher was buttressed by the outperformance of the heavily-weighted health care (+0.9%), consumer discretionary (+0.9%), and financial (+0.7%) sectors. The S&P 500 (+0.7%) ended its day ahead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.6%) and the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%).

Today's session began on a lower note as investors ruminated over the inability of OPEC and non-OPEC members to come together and agree on a supply cap. Accordingly, oil slid overnight as crude for May delivery dropped to $37.61 while June delivery fell to $39.00. However, oil prices rebounded off these levels as news of an oil and gas worker strike in Kuwait boosted the energy component. To be fair though, it's likely that today's trade also featured a fair amount of short-covering. May delivery crude ended at $39.78/bbl (-1.2%) while the June contract finished at $41.17/bbl (-1.4%).

The energy sector (+1.6%) trimmed an opening 1.6% decline and passed heavily-weighted health care (+0.9%), consumer discretionary (+0.9%), and financials (+0.7%) on the leaderboard. As a result, the major averages spent the bulk of the afternoon trading near or establishing new intraday highs. On that note, the Dow Jones climbed above the 18,000 level for the first time in 2016.

In commodity-sensitive energy (+1.6%), ConocoPhillips (COP 45.00, +1.30) and Marathon Oil (MRO 13.36, +0.35) helped lead among independent oil and gas names. Meanwhile, Williams Companies (WMB 16.68, -0.87) declined 5.0% as concerns over the ability to close its merger with Energy Transfer Equity (ETE 9.87, +0.90) mounted. Elsewhere, refining names underperformed the broader sector.

The biotechnology sub-group outperformed in the health care space (+0.9%). Biotechnology moved higher with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN 422.38, +15.65) as the stock extended its April gain to 17.2%, compared to a gain of 4.2% in the broader sector. Meanwhile, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 284.97, +4.36) has gained 9.3% over that period of time. Separately, Dow components UnitedHealth (UNH 127.81, +0.48) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 110.93, +0.75) gained a respective 0.4% and 0.7% ahead of their earnings releases before tomorrow's open.

In the consumer discretionary space (+0.9%), auto names displayed relative strength as Ford (F 13.25, +0.31) and General Motor (GM 31.31, +0.75) benefited from some positive commentary from Barron's. Meanwhile, Disney (DIS 101.48, +2.89) climbed 2.9% after receiving an upgrade to "Buy" from "Hold" at Pivotal Research Group. On the flipside, Netflix (NFLX 108.40, -3.11) surrendered 2.8% ahead of this evening's earnings report.

Conversely, utilities (+0.3%), industrials (+0.3%), technology (+0.4%), and materials (+0.5%) rounded out the board. The technology sector (+0.2%) ended its day with a slim uptick as Dow component Apple (AAPL 107.48, -2.37) weighed. The tech giant was the worst performer in the price-weighted index. Elsewhere, IBM (IBM 152.53, +0.81) gained 0.5% ahead of its first quarter earnings release.

The U.S. Dollar Index (94.49, -0.20) ended above its session lows as the euro gained 0.2% against the greenback (1.1311). Meanwhile, the dollar/yen pair finished flat at 108.78.

The Treasury complex finished off its low as the yield on the 10-yr note climbed two basis points to 1.77%.

Today's participation was below the recent average as fewer than 830 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data was limited to the NAHB Housing Market Index for April:

The NAHB Housing Market Index for April came in at 58 from an unrevised 58 in March while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to come in at 59.0.

Tomorrow's economic data will include March Building Permits (Briefing.com consensus 1200k) and Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1170k), which will both cross the wires at 8:30 ET.

Dow Jones +3.3% YTD
S&P 500 +2.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.3% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -1.0% YTD



DJ30 +106.70 NASDAQ +21.80 SP500 +13.61 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1880/1.510 bln/949 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2221/829.9 mln/810

3:30 pm :

The dollar index bounces off its intra-day lows around 94.40 and is currently trending higher around the 94.49 level but not appearing to weigh on commodities
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are up +0.4% at 80.68
Crude oil initially opens notably lower before staging a morning rally before reversing from its intra-day high around $41.60/barrel to close still lower for the day
June Crude Oil futures fell $0.58 (-1.4%) to $41.17/barrel
The Doha, Qatar meeting caused increased volatility in the crude oil futures markets, crude was initially down -6% before recovering most of those losses
Major oil producers at The Doha, Qatar meeting failed to come to an agreement to freeze oil output at Jan levels
A big catalyst in the meeting was the political tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran
Previously, Saudi Arabia said it would cut production without Iran's involvement, now Saudi Arabia said it would be willing to freeze output only if all OPEC members did as well
Iran decided not to show up to Sunday's meeting at the last minute. What Iran is saying is that it will continue to increase oil production after economic sanctions were lifted earlier in the year and continue to do so until the country has a similar level of pre-sanction market share
Mohammed Saleh al Sada, Qatar's oil minister, said that the group needs more time, so, we will have to see what may come of this
The next OPEC meeting will be held this June
In addition, Kuwaiti oil and gas workers went on strike, which has slashed oil production by almost 2/3, as workers are protesting proposed wage cuts
Output was cut, at least temporarily, to 1.1 mln barrels/day from a more normal 3 mln barrels/day
Crude oil futures have switched their front month to June, as indicated by the active amount of volume in the contracts
Natural gas spikes and consolidates higher in afternoon pit trading
May Natural Gas closed $0.04 higher (+2.1%) at $1.94/MMBtu
In precious metals, gold sees a brief rally above the previous session's close before consolidating lower, closing pit trading nearly unchanged
June gold ended today's session up $0.60 (+0.1%) to $1235.10/oz
Silver continues its downtrend in afternoon pit trading
May silver closed today's session $0.06 lower (-0.4%) at $16.26/oz
Base metal copper inches up in afternoon pit trading
May copper closed $0.01 higher (+0.5%) at $2.16/lb

9:05 am Rubicon Tech confirms that Paragon Technologies submitted notice to nominate two candidates for its Boards (RBCN) :

Co confirmed that Paragon Technologies which owns 30,000 (~0.1%) of the outstanding shares of Rubicon, has submitted notice to nominate two candidates, Hesham Gad and Jack Jacobs, to stand for election to the Rubicon Board of Directors at the Company's 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
The Nominating and Governance Committee previously interviewed and thoroughly vetted Paragon's proposed director candidates and indicated willingness to appoint Jacobs to the Rubicon Board to avoid a costly proxy contest.

Unfortunately, Paragon rejected the offer and instead demanded the appointment of both of its nominees.

7:31 am Qualcomm signs new 3G & 4G Chinese patent license agreement with Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific Co (QCOM) :

Co announces that it has signed a new 3G and 4G Chinese patent license agreement with Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Coolpad Group Limited.
Under the terms of the agreement, Qualcomm has granted Yulong a royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture and sell 3G WCDMA and CDMA2000 and 4G LTE terminals for use in China. The royalties payable by Yulong are consistent with the terms of the rectification plan submitted by Qualcomm to China's National Development and Reform Commission.

Qorvo (QRVO) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held GreenPeak Technologies, a leader in ultra-low power, short range RF communication technology. Terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the current quarter.