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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : Despite some headwinds right out of the gate, it didn't take long for yesterday's momentum to resurface and silence the naysayers still making bets that the market remains overbought. As a result, sellers' attempts to fight the tape again came up short. The Dow posted its 21st advance in 24 tries and the S&P 500 came within a point of hitting the psychologically important 1,500 mark, a level not seen since 2000.

For the 17th time this year the Dow closed in record territory. However, for the first time in weeks, the blue-chip index's gains weren't the direct result of solid earnings reports from some of its components but rather anticipation of an earnings surprise from General Motors (GM 32.49 +1.19) tomorrow morning. The latter paced the way among the 28 Dow stocks posting gains and was just one of many components that helped Consumer Discretionary (+0.9%) provide some notable leadership to the upside.

Some more deal-making news provided additional sector support and contributed to today's decidedly bullish market breadth. The Dolan family confirming it will acquire 100% of the public interest in Cablevision Systems (CVC 35.80 +3.13) for $36.26 per share (or $10.5 bln) in cash earmarked Broadcasting & Cable TV (+1.3%) as a bright spot for buyers.

Movies & Entertainment (+1.1%) was also in focus amid speculation News Corp's (NWS 23.40 +0.41) unsolicited bid Tuesday for Dow Jones (DJ 56.32 +0.12) may start a bidding war. NWS, a suggested holding in the Briefing.com Active Portfolio, recouped nearly half of yesterday's 4.2% sell-off. Restaurants got a boost after Yum! Brands (YUM 66.80 +3.68) beat analysts' expectations and raised its 2007 earnings outlook.

Aside from M&A news and better than expected earnings reports across a wide array of industry groups, investors also rallied around some encouraging economic data. Albeit not typically a market mover, March Factory Orders rising a stronger than expected 3.1% (consensus 2.1%), the biggest gain in a year, gave an added boost to stocks and lifted the industrial-heavy Dow even further into unchartered territory.

Even though the surprisingly strong rise was due to a modest upward revision to last week's durable goods new orders component, and the one month increase does not necessarily mean that manufacturing is back on track, a market concerned about the pace of economic growth and looking for something other than earnings to support market gains embraced the data.

Technology was another influential leader to the upside. Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.67 0.81) surging 3.0% after Goldman Sachs urged investors to buy the stock ahead of its Q3 earnings report next Tuesday was the biggest source of sector support. Financials was also in focus after Dow component American Express (AXP 62.67 +1.35) climbed noticeably after competitor MasterCard (MA 126.15 +11.30) posted a blowout quarter.

With prices at the pump up 11% over the past month and expected to hit all-time highs by the end of the month, according to AAA, another pullback in crude futures helped ease worries about inadequate supplies with less than a month until the official start to the summer driving season.

More noteworthy was the fact that the Energy sector did not sacrifice much in the way of leadership in the face of another oil downturn.

Oil & Gas Drillers (+1.2%) were among the day's best performers after Transocean (RIG 89.15 +2.88), a suggested holding in the Briefing.com Active Portfolio, handily topped Wall Street forecasts last night after Q1 profits more than doubled. Refiners were another bright spot as shares of Sunoco (SUN 77.21 +1.45) ran up ahead of its report tonight with investors reflecting on the 30% jump in earnings from rival Valero Energy (VLO 72.94 +1.79) last Thursday. DJ30 +75.74 DJTA +1.0% NASDAQ +26.31 NQ100 +0.9% R2K +1.5% SOX +0.9% SP400 +1.1% SP500 +9.62 XOI +1.1% NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 949/2132/2.11 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 842/2447/1.58 bln

5:12PM Sirenza Micro beats by $0.02 (SMDI) 9.16 +0.35 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.12 per share, ex items $0.02 better than the Reuters Estimates consensus of $0.10; revenues rose 87.2% year/year to $39.1 mln vs the $36.7 mln consensus.

5:04PM Maxim Integrated announces acquisition of Wafer Fab facility in Irving, Texas (MXIM) 32.34 +0.41 : Co announces its has acquired a wafer fabrication facility in Irving, Texas from Atmel for approx $38 mln.

4:48PM Luminex beats by a penny (LMNX) 14.35 +0.60 : Reports Q1 (Mar) net of breakeven, $0.01 better than the Reuters Estimates consensus of ($0.01); revenues rose 27.8% year/year to $16.6 mln vs the $15 mln consensus.

4:41PM JDS Uniphase misses by $0.03, revs above consensus; guides Q4 revs below consensus (JDSU) 16.64 +0.42 : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.06 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Reuters Estimates consensus of $0.09; revenues fell 1.2% year/year to $361.8 mln vs the $346.2 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $325-345 mln vs. $355.01 mln consensus.

4:24PM Genesis Microchip beats by 1 cent, issues inline Q1 rev guidance (GNSS) 8.68 : Reports Q4 (Mar) loss of $0.29 per share, $0.01 better than the Reuters Estimates consensus of ($0.30); revenues fell 36.6% year/year to $38.6 mln vs the $37.6 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $39-$44 vs. $39.34 mln consensus. "While our fourth quarter results were in line with our guidance, we are disappointed with our overall fiscal 2007 revenues and are continuing to invest in product development to introduce new TV solutions to the market and to ramp up our DisplayPort capabilities..."

4:18PM Trident Microsystems announces resignation of two directors: Special Committee recently became aware that a conflict of interest may have arisen (TRID) 21.19 -0.27 : Co announces Mr. Yasushi Chikagami and Mr. John Luke have decided to resign from the Board of Directors, effective May 1, 2007. As previously announced, a Special Committee of Trident's Board of Directors, composed of Messrs. Ostby and Phelps, has been conducting an investigation of the co's historical stock option granting practices. In connection with this investigation, the Special Committee recently became aware of information that, when reported to the independent members of the Board, led the Board to believe that a conflict of interest may have arisen between Trident and each of Messrs. Chikagami and Luke, individually, in their capacity as directors. While the Board of Directors has not made any findings of wrongdoing, the independent members of the Board and each of Messrs. Chikagami and Luke concluded that it would be in the best interests of Trident and its shareholders for them to resign from their positions as members of the Board of Directors.

3:01PM Motorola: Carl Icahn responds to MOT's letter to shareholders (MOT) 17.59 +0.13 : Icahn says: "Since December 3, 2004 Motorola has achieved negative 0.3% annualized returns. Said another way, $100 invested in Motorola common stock on December 3, 2004 would be worth $99.28 today. Over the past 2 1/2 years shareholder value has been destroyed. There are two reasons why Motorola's statement does not tell the story First, in its May 1 letter Motorola takes full credit for the performance of Freescale subsequent to its spin-off on December 3, 2004. Let me tell you, I wish I could take credit for the stocks or businesses that trade up after I sell or spin them off. I doubt that any of you include the increased value of stocks that you have sold when considering how well your portfolio is doing! Secondly, Motorola selectively chose a date of April 2003, a date which represented a share price near a 15 year low for the stock and 9 months before Ed Zander joined the company."

9:05AM TTM Tech beats by $0.05; issues Q2 guidance (TTMI) 9.18 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.20 per share, $0.05 better than the Reuters Estimates consensus of $0.15; revenues rose 143.3% year/year to $176.9 mln vs the $169.4 mln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.13-0.19 vs. $0.19 consensus; sees Q2 revs of $158-167 mln vs. $174.03 mln consensus.

5:00AM United Microelectronics reports Q107 results and anticipates a gradual recovery in Q207 (UMC) 3.30 : Co announces revenue declined 11.8% sequentially to NT$23.03 bln ($696 mln). Net income was NT$1.46 bln ($44 mln). Revenue from 90 nm technology and below was 21% of total revenue. EPS of NT$0.08; EPADS of $0.012. This compares with Q406 EPS of NT$0.33 and EPADS of $0.050.

09:43 am TranSwitch: Dawson James initiates Speculative Buy. Target $2.5. Dawson James initiates TXCC with a Speculative Buy and a $2.50 tgt saying they believes that the I.C semiconductor industry, in particular system-on-chip vendors, will experience high growth during in 2008 and 2009 due to Teleco's and C.A.T.V providers' rapid rollout of triple-play services. The firm says British Telecom's 21st Century Network is only the first of many end-to-end fiber optic IP telecommunications networks which will be built over the next decade.