From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market endured a quiet midweek session, but the light participation did not stop the S&P 500 from rising 0.3% to register its third consecutive gain. The benchmark index extended its weekly advance to 1.0% with materials (+0.7%) and industrials (+0.7%) ending in the lead. Market participants turned some lemons into lemonade today after the World Bank served up some lemons by lowering its 2016 global GDP growth forecast to 2.4% from 2.9% and slashing the U.S. growth outlook to 1.9% from 2.7%. The downgrade did not pressure stocks as investors interpreted the news as a sign that domestic and global monetary policy may remain highly accommodative for longer.
The S&P 500 marked its morning high within the first 30 minutes of action, but the index followed that move with a short-lived retreat to its flat line. Early weakness in sectors like consumer discretionary (+0.1%), financials (+0.2%), and technology (+0.4%) fostered that slip, but the S&P 500 proved resilient thanks to strength in heavily-weighted sectors like industrials (+0.7%) and health care (+0.5%). Furthermore, the technology sector overcame its early weakness thanks in part to Alphabet (GOOGL 742.93, +11.84). The stock climbed 1.6% after a few analysts made positive comments about the company.
To be fair, there were some weak spots among tech shares as the PHLX Semiconductor Index ended flat with Micron (MU 12.58, -0.42) falling 3.2% after announcing that its acquisition of Inotera, which was expected to complete in mid-July, will not be completed in the timeframe that was specified previously.
Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, the energy space (-0.2%) jumped out to an early lead, but could not hold its ground even though crude oil climbed 1.7% to $51.23/bbl, settling at a fresh 2016 high. The energy component posted a solid gain even though the latest weekly inventory report from the Department of Energy showed that gasoline inventories increased by 1.01 million barrels against expectations for a draw. As for crude inventories, they declined by 3.226 million barrels (consensus draw of 2.700 to 3.400 million barrels). Despite today's downtick, the energy sector is still up 4.0% for the week, which puts the group well ahead of the remaining nine sectors.
In other commodities, gold (+1.2% to $1262.20/ozt) and silver (+3.7% to $17.00/ozt) also rallied, benefiting from the fourth consecutive decline in the Dollar Index (93.61), which slipped 0.2% to levels from early May.
Treasuries climbed early on and maintained their gains into the close with the 10-yr yield slipping two basis points to 1.70%.
Today's participation was below average as fewer than 870 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and JOLTS:
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index increased 9.3% to follow last week's 4.1% decline
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for April pointed to an increase in openings to 5.788 million from last month's 5.757 million (revised from 5.670 million)
Tomorrow's data will feature weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 265K) and April Wholesale Inventories (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%), which will be released at 8:30 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.
Russell 2000 +4.7% YTD
S&P 500 +3.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +3.3% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -0.7% YTD
DJ30 +66.77 NASDAQ +12.89 SP500 +6.99 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1920/1.57 bln/1004 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2040/863.2 mln/977 3:30 pm :
The dollar index drops, down -0.3% around the 93.60 level, boosting commodities across the board
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are up +1.9% at 89.94
Crude oil closes at new 8-month highs for the second consecutive trading session, buoyed by a weak dollar and production drops in parts of the world
July crude oil futures rose $0.85 (+1.7%) to $51.23/barrel
Crude oil inventories had a draw of -3.226 mln (consensus called for a draw between -2.7 to -3.4 mln)
Monthly IEA data is scheduled to be released June 14
API data released yesterday after the close showed a draw of -3.6 mln barrels
Nigerian crude oil output is at 20-year lows, a contributing factor boosting oil prices
Natural gas futures close unchanged ahead of tomorrow's EIA storage data
July natural gas closed flat at $2.47/MMBtu
EIA natural gas storage data is scheduled to be released tomorrow at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold closes near highs of the day as the dollar shows marked weakness
August gold ended today's session up $15.20 (+1.2%) to $1262.20/oz
Silver surges to highs not seen since Mid-May 2016 as the dollar holds its early morning losses
July silver closed today's session $0.61 higher (+3.7%) at $17.00/oz
Base metal copper inches higher in afternoon pit trading
July copper closed $0.01 higher (+0.5%) at $2.06/lb
The market indices opened the session on a modestly firmer note but the pushed stalled out after the first 30 minutes of action. Helping to underpin in the early going were strength in oil/energy and emerging market gains. While it did push above Tuesday's high (by less than one point) it again stalled near this zone with backtracking into mid-morning following weaker jobs openings data and a slip in oil. The choppy and limited action persisted into the bell.
Market participants helped the situation following the World Bank's lowering of the 2016 global GDP growth forecast to 2.4% from 2.9% and slashing the U.S. growth outlook to 1.9% from 2.7%. The downgrade did not pressure stocks as investors interpreted the news as a sign that domestic and global monetary policy may remain highly accommodative for longer.
The market data which came across today included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index which increased 9.3% to follow last week's 4.1% decline. Additionally, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for April pointed to an increase in openings to 5.788 million from last month's 5.757 million (revised from 5.670 million).
Broader market action capped off the Wednesday session with modest gains as the Dow turned above 18,000 for the first time since April. On that note, the Dow Jones Industrial Average led the charge higher today, adding 66.77 points (+0.37%) to 18005.05. The S&P 500 was next, up 6.99 points (+0.33%) to 2119.12, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 12.89 points (+0.26%) to 4874.64.
When the day was done, the Technology (XLK 44.32, +0.12 +0.27%) sector closed near the top of the day's trading range. Components GOOGL +1.62%, CTSH +1.47%, CSC +1.37%, MA +1.35%, MSI +1.34%, V +1.30%, HPQ +1.24%, TDC +1.08%, CA +1.07% were among the best performers today. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed the day XLI +0.63%, XLU +0.60%, XLP +0.60%, XLB +0.58%, IYZ +0.35%, XLV +0.35%, XLY +0.11%, XLF +0.08%, XLE -0.23%, led higher by Industrials, as Energy lagged.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology (733.70, +2.62 +0.36%) sector, action also culminated near session highs. Component Micron (MU 12.58, -0.42 -3.23%) was a notable under-performer today as the company announced an updated timeline for the Inotera acquisition. The company noted it does not see the deal closing by mid-July 2016, as previously thought; rather, MU sees the deal closing in the latter part of calendar 2016. Other names in the space which closed higher included CTXS +1.02%, ADP +1.02%, QRVO +0.99%, SYMC +0.93%, TXN +0.84%, FISV +0.84%, WU +0.76%, FSLR +0.75%, APH +0.72%, YHOO +0.65%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Symantec (SYMC 17.43, +0.16 +0.93%) introduced Symantec Anomaly Detection for Automotive to protect against zero-day attacks and never-before-seen issues facing modern connected vehicles.
Micron (MU) announced an update regarding its effort to acquire the remaining interest in Inotera. While the acquisition was initially expected to close in mid-July 2016, the parties have concluded that closing the transaction on this timeframe is not possible. Micron now expects to provide an update toward the latter part of calendar 2016.
The U.S. International Trade Commission institutes Section 337 investigating certain mobile and portable electronic devices incorporating haptics and components thereof. The USITC identified Apple (AAPL 98.94, -0.09 -0.09%) and AT&T (T 39.86, +0.07 +0.18%) as respondents in the investigation.
Apple (AAPL) announced changes to the App Store. The company launched Search Ads, a way for the user to promote an app directly within the U.S. App Store search results, helping customers discover or reengage with an app, while respecting their privacy. Starting this summer, customers will be able to participate in the Search Ads beta and see the ads in action. Additionally, the company is opening auto-renewable subscriptions to all app categories including games, increasing developer revenue for eligible subscriptions after one year, providing greater pricing flexibility, and more.
Elsewhere in the tech space:
MTS Systems (MTSC 44.01, -5.55 -11.20%) commenced an underwritten public offerings of common stock and common units.
Liberty TripAdvisor (LTRPA 23.91, +0.14 +0.59%) agreed to the terms of a variable postpaid forward transaction on 7.0 million TripAdvisor (TRIP 69.24, +0.61 +0.89%) common shares.
AT&T (T) reached a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America in benefits negotiations covering all CWA-represented Mobility employees nationwide.
Polycom (PLCM 12.08, +0.12 +1.00%) received a revised, non-binding proposal from a private equity sponsor that was previously described as 'Sponsor 1' for $12.25/share in cash.
Monster Worldwide (MWW 2.90, +0.06 +2.11%) acquired Jobr. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Trimble Navigation (TRMB 26.17, +0.01 +0.04%) sold its Advanced Public Safety business to Aptean. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Sohu.com (SOHU 41.03, -0.08 -0.19%) announcesd CFO Carol Yu will retire July 31. Joanna Lv will assume the position of acting CFO upon Yu's retirement.
Finjan (FNJN 1.81, +0.23 +14.56%) announced a license and settlement agreement with Proofpoint (PFPT 64.40, +0.87 +1.37%).
In reaction to quarterly results:
HealthEquity (HQY 29.12, +1.51 +5.47%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.15 on revenues which also came in ahead of expectations and were up 47.4% versus last year to $44.01 million. For the FY17 period, HQY issued guidance better than expected EPS and revenues of $0.47-0.49 (versus prior guidance for $0.45-0.47) and $173-177 million (versus prior guidance of $170-174 million), respectively.
SeaChange (SEAC 3.48, -0.04 -1.14%) reported in-line Q1 EPS at a loss per share of $0.20 on revenues which fell 6.9% versus last year to $21.6 million. The company also guided Q2 EPS and revenues lower than expected at ($0.15)-($0.10) and $23-25 million, respectively. Further, SEAC guided FY17 EPS better than expected at $0.05-0.10 on revenues of $110-120 million.
VeriFone (PAY 21.27, -6.96 -24.65%) reported worse than expected Q2 EPS of $0.47 on in-line revenues which rose 8.6% versus last year to $532 million. For the Q3 and FY16 period, PAY announced worse than expected guidance. For Q3, the company sees EPS of $0.40 on revenues of $515 million.
Verint Systems (VRNT 36.71, +1.67 +4.77%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.46 on in-line revenues of $249 million. For the FY17 period, the company expects EPS to be similar to FY16 which equates to about $3.04. The company also sees FY17 revenues similar to FY16, plus or minus 2%, which calculates to about $1.11-1.16 billion.
Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight: CMTL
Analyst actions:
IVAC was upgraded to Buy from Hold at The Benchmark Company;
PAY was downgraded at Barclays, Monness Crespi & Hardt, JP Morgan, Pacific Crest and Compass Point, SNX was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James,
MKTO was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Bernstein;
HIVE and NTGR were initiated with a Buy at Wunderlich,
ZBRA was initiated with a Neutral at Goldman,
NTDOY was initiated with an Overweight at JP Morgan
Ultratech (UTEK) announces that its Cambridge Nanotech biz unit Ultratech-CNT has entered into a Joint Development Program with IMEC in the field of Area-Selective Deposition technology. The ASD project will concentrate on the study and use of Self-Assembled Monolayers as a means of functionalizing surfaces to selectively inhibit ALD-grown films.
Trina Solar (TSL) announces that its cumulative shipments of solar modules to India have exceeded 1 GW to date with around 20% market share in the region in 2015.
6:03 am Micron provides an update on its closing date for the acquisition of Inotera, expects to provide an update toward the latter part of 2016 (MU) :
The acquisition was initially expected to close in mid-July 2016. The parties have concluded that closing the transaction on this timeframe is not possible.As previously announced, the co agreed to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Inotera pursuant to a share swap agreement dated Feb 3, 2016.
6:02 am Chipmos Technology reports May revs of $47.6 mln (-7% y/y) (IMOS) :
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