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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : After running into some headwinds early on, amid more news tied to lingering credit concerns, additional evidence to suggest Wednesday's widespread sell-off was overdone helped stocks recover some ground.

However, the major averages closed off their highs, volume was light again, and market gains were modest at best as investors weren't willing to place huge bets ahead of tomorrow's influential jobs report.

Since the market sees the August employment report as crucial to the Fed's policy decision on September 18 (or before), payroll growth averaging a strong 132,000 over the last six months doesn't leave investors overly convinced that Friday's jobs data will play into the Fed rate cut that Wall Street has priced into the market since policy makers shifted their stance last month.

Among the handful of encouraging news items giving participants a reason to recoup some of yesterday's losses, the bulk of back-to-school sales results checking in better than expected offered some reassurance that the consumer is holding up rather well.

Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart later saying there are no signs that the housing and subprime mortgage market woes are spilling over into other sectors of the economy lent further validation that consumer spending remains healthy.

St. Louis Fed President and voting Fed official Poole, though, said that he sees evidence for a 'further leg down' in housing, that there was "no question" financial problems would worsen, and that the Fed won't be pushed into a decision.

Of the nine sectors finishing in positive territory, Utilities turned in the best performance, but that also speaks to the more risk-averse mindset that has contributed to the S&P 500 losing 5% of its value since peaking in mid July.

The Materials sector (+1.1%) was the next best performer, due largely to a 2.0% rally in gold prices.

The Industrials sector (+0.9%) got a lift late in the day after Dallas Fed President Fisher said he doesn't see the dynamics of a very strong economy changing overnight in the face of the financial turmoil that we've recently seen.

The Financial sector was the only sector that failed to participate in today's recovery; but its decline was minimal despite a slew of negative developments -- from the three-month Libor rate climbing for an 11th straight session to foreclosures rising to their third consecutive record high -- that continue to plague the heavily weighted sector. DJ30 +57.88 NASDAQ +8.37 SP500 +6.26 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1329/1643/1.75 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1270/1997/1.16 bln

4:20PM Xilinx Sept quarter sales are expected to be approx flat sequentially (XLNX) 26.31 0.07 : Co announces Sept quarter sales are expected to be approx flat sequentially. This is a slight revision from previous guidance calling for sales to be flat to slightly down sequentially. Sequential sales growth by geography is tracking as expected with sales from Japan expected to be up, sales from Asia Pacific expected to be approx flat and sales from North America and Europe expected to be down slightly sequentially. (Q1 revs were $445.9 mln, consensus is for Q2 revs of $443.6 mln)

4:10PM National Semi beats by $0.05; issues in line Q2 rev guidance (NSM) 26.58 +0.08 : Reports Q1 (Aug) earnings of $0.30 per share, $0.05 better than the Reuters Estimates consensus of $0.25; revenues fell 12.9% year/year to $471.5 mln vs the $468.7 mln consensus. Q1 gross margin increased to 63.0%, driven by the co's portfolio of higher-value analog products, together with strong execution in manufacturing. Co issues in line Q2 guidance, sees Q2 revs up 4-7% sequentially, or roughly $490.4-504.5 mln vs. $497.98 mln consensus. NSM says Q2 gross margin is expected to improve while operating expenses are also projected to increase. "Looking forward, the theme of energy efficiency is becoming more and more pervasive beyond just handsets. We see this as a major opportunity." National's bookings in Q1 increased by 6% sequentially over Q4. This increase was primarily driven by higher orders from the co's OEM customer base. Regionally, the first quarter bookings improvement was most prominent in Asia Pacific and Europe. From a product perspective, new orders for interface and power management products grew at a higher rate than the overall company average. Total company bookings exceeded billings in the first quarter. (Stock is halted)

4:01PM Maxim Integrated announces receipt of additional notice from Nasdaq regarding sock listing (MXIM) 30.81 +0.12 : Co announces that due to its failure to timely file a Form 10-K with the Securities Exchange Commission for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2007 as required by Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(14), it received an Additional Staff Determination letter from Nasdaq on August 31, 2007 stating that this filing delinquency will serve as an additional basis for the delisting of Maxim's common stock from The Nasdaq Stock Market. Timely filing of periodic reports with the SEC is a requirement for continued listing under Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(14).

3:59PM Market View: Choppy, confined action (TECHX) : The market spent most of the day in positive territory but trading action was very choppy and tightly confined with the indices trading range on the day well below average. Early data was initially well received with news from the Retail sector also providing a lift. Opening strength proved fleeting but a second round of data (ISM Services-- improved business conditions, prices paid fell) helped boost the market modestly but broadly higher into midday. However, follow through failed to develop with participants taking a more cautious approach in front of tomorrow's employment data which could be crucial to the Fed's interest rate decision on Sep 18. The choppy/confined trade led to consolidative inside days (higher low, lower highs) for both the Dow and S&P 500 with the Nasdaq Comp accomplishing virtually the same feat for the second day in a row. Solid gains were posted in Energy (XLE +1.2%, Coal +4.9%), Gold/Silver +5.2%, Biotech +1.3%, Steel +1.3%, Utility +1.2% and Paper +1.1%. Weakness was noted in Home Construction -1.4%, Tobacco -1% and Airline -1%.

8:31AM FormFactor says Korea Supreme Court affirms patent court decision invalidating some claims of two FormFactor Korea patents (FORM) 46.50 : Co announces the Korea Supreme Court issued a ruling affirming a 2005 Korea Patent Court decision invalidating certain claims of FormFactor's Korea Patent Nos. 278342 and 399210. The Korea Supreme Court ruling does not address 27 claims of Patent No. 278342 and 77 claims of Patent No. 399210 that were upheld by the Korean Intellectual Property Office and outside of the scope of the Patent Court decision.

8:07AM Transmeta receives letter from Nasdaq confirming compliance with minimum bid price rule (TMTA) 7.85 : (TMTAD)

6:16AM Methode Electronics beats by $0.06; reaffirms FY08 guidance (METH) 15.00 : Reports Q1 (Jul) earnings of $0.22 per share, $0.06 better than the Reuters Estimates consensus of $0.16; revenues rose 20.7% year/year to $125 mln vs the $112.2 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY08, sees EPS of $0.65-0.75 vs. $0.75 consensus; sees FY08 revs of $455-475 mln vs. $482.03 mln consensus.

08:57 am Apple (AAPL)

Ahead of the strongest selling season of the year, Apple (AAPL, 134.15) slashed the price of its newly-released iPhone from $599 to $399. The price cut for the 8GB iPhone is sure to set off an upset from early adopters who acquired the hottest product of 2007 at full price only 10 weeks ago. And while the cut does stray from Apple's typical pricing strategy, particularly this early in the product cycle, we think the move will only further stimulate holiday demand in what is a high margin segment of its business.

Market participants, eyeing Apple's hefty profit margins, were less than thrilled with the news. The cut also increased speculation that sales weren't meeting expectations. The stock took a tumble Wednesday, closing at $136.76, down $7.40. In extended trading, the stock price dropped another dollar. We think the reaction is overdone and creates a buying opportunity.

Apple, which also discontinued the 4GB phone which sold for $499, is on track to sell 1 million units by September. But the iPhone wasn't the only news released yesterday. Apple also announced fresh updates for its iPod media players, including the iPod Touch for $399. This is essentially the iPhone without camera and phone that incorporates the tough-screen and adds the ability to download songs wirelessly directly from iTunes WiFi stores (a long awaited feature). The Nano, the top selling iPod, also got a boost with the creation of a 160 GB version that plays videos, dubbed the iPod Classic.

Also announced was a partnership with Starbucks (SBUX, 27.28), whose icon will appear on the screen every time a user nears a shop that has Wi-Fi access. Users can download the song that's playing in that Starbucks or get a list of the 10 most recent songs played.

Apple is heading into its strongest holiday selling season in years with a fully vamped, integrated product line compelling to a wide user base. It will no doubt be an Appleicious holiday with the larger iPod screens, touch-iPods, WiFi capabilities and a more compellingly priced iPhone. But what we think will really be the swing factor this season will be the ramp in iMac demand. After years of languishing in the low single digits in PC market share, the "halo effect" will be in full force.

We continue to hold the opinion that Apple remains one of the best growth stories around. Earnings have risen over the past three years from $0.38, to $1.55, to $2.27 per share and are expected to hit $3.73 this fiscal year, which ends in September. For FY08, the street anticipates earnings of $4.33 per share (equating to a 16% growth rate), followed by $5.36 (23%) in FY09.

Growth stocks are inherently difficult to value as earnings tend to overshoot expectations. Apple's estimates are continuously being revised higher by the street. Currently, APPL trades at 36x FY07 and 31x FY08 earnings, which may seem rich to some but speaks to Apple's growth rate. We think a 35x multiple is applicable, a discount to its 2-year average PE ratio, which puts the price around $150.

--Kimberly DuBord, Briefing.com