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From Briefing.com: 4:25 pm : Stocks closed a relatively quiet session modestly higher as market participants continue awaiting Treasury's bank rescue plan. Though the advance was only modest, the takeaway from this session is largely positive.

Investors were made to wait one more day for Treasury's bank bailout plan. The plan will be announced at 11:00 AM ET Tuesday.

Though less likely to have an immediate impact on the financial sector or capital markets, market participants are also still waiting for the Senate to pass the more comprehensive economic recovery plan. Senators are expected to vote on an $827 billion spending and tax cut plan early this week. The plan still has to be reconciled with that which was already approved by the House of Representatives.

Financial stocks continue to benefit as investors move into the sector ahead of tomorrow's announcement from Treasury. The financial sector closed 1.3% higher with leadership from diversified financial services companies (+2.3%) and regional banks (+4.0%). Insurers (+5.1%) also showed strength after Treasury indicated insurers will have access to TARP funds.

Shares of General Electric (GE 12.64, +1.54) made their best-single session gain in years. There wasn't a particular news item underpinning the move, but many analysts point to the exposure of the firm's capital business to financial markets as a reason for the renewed interest. GE provided support to the Dow, S&P 500, and industrial stocks, which bested every other sector with a 2.6% gain.

Energy (+0.1%) and technology (+0.3%) were able to finish in the green.

Energy advanced even though crude oil futures prices closed 1.8% lower at $39.42 per barrel. Crude had been up as much as 5.6% after officials from OPEC indicated supply cuts could take place. Despite lower oil prices, select oil and gas equipment companies gained after Reuters reported analysts at Goldman Sachs issued upgrades on certain industry players. As a group, oil and gas equipment companies finished 0.8% higher.

Large-cap tech provided continued strength to the tech sector and the Nasdaq 100 (+0.3%). Their influence limited losses in the broader Nasdaq Composite (unch.), helping it preserve its year-to-date gain of 0.9%.

Earnings news was rather light and had little impact on the session's mood. Whirlpool (WHR 37.13, +0.74) announced lower earnings that were partly weighed down by charges. The company also issued downside guidance. Rohm and Haas (ROH 56.28, -0.22) announced better-than-expected fourth quarter adjusted earnings, and issued a statement that Dow Chemical (DOW 10.65, -0.23) has not been focusing on the necessary steps to complete its acquisition of ROH.

The major indices all finished the session near the neutral line. Though a quiet session, market participants should view it positively since stocks have thus far held on to gains registered in recent sessions. Stocks are still up 4.5% over the course of the last three sessions. DJ30 -9.72 NASDAQ -0.15 NQ100 +0.3% R2K -0.6% SP400 -0.2% SP500 +1.29 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1197/1.90 bln/1458 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1653/1.26 bln/1383

5:58PM Cisco prices $4 bln of senior unsecured notes (CSCO) 16.85 -0.19 : Co announced the pricing of two series of senior unsecured notes for an aggregate principal amount of $4 billion. The offering is expected to close on February 17, 2009. Of these notes, $2 bln will mature in February 2019 and will bear interest at an annual rate of 4.95%, and $2 billion will mature in February 2039 and will bear interest at an annual rate of 5.90%. The 4.95% notes due February 2019 and the 5.90% notes due February 2039 were priced to yield 4.979% and 5.916%, respectively. CSCO intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes and to repay $500 mln in aggregate principal amount of its floating rate notes due 2009.

4:34PM Veeco Instruments announces LG Innotek of Korea orders four Veeco TurboDisc K465 GaN MOCVD Tools for LED Production (VECO) 6.22 +0.03 : Co announces that LG Innotek has ordered an additional four TurboDisc K465 gallium nitride Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition Systems to make high brightness light emitting diodes (HB-LEDs). The orders were received in the fourth quarter of 2008.

4:06PM Veeco Instruments beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 below consensus (VECO) 6.22 +0.03 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.11 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $0.08; revenues rose 3.3% year/year to $110.3 mln vs the $109.8 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $(0.25)-(0.17), excluding non-recurring items, vs. ($0.07) consensus; sees Q1 revs of $60-70 mln vs. $88.5 mln consensus. Co anticipates a very weak start to 2009. Some of Veeco's key LED and data storage customers have pushed out approximately $30 mln of equipment deliveries originally slotted for revenue in Q1 due to current industry overcapacity, financing constraints and their weak business outlook. As a result, co says nearly half of its $147 mln end-of-year backlog is currently forecasted for revenue in 2H09. Also, co says it implemented a significant restructuring program in Q4 which included a 26% reduction in force, a majority having already occurred.

4:20PM Verigy issues downside Q1 rev guidance; implementing cost-cutting and restructuring actions (VRGY) 9.56 +0.01 : Co issues downside guidance for Q1 (Jan), sees Q1 (Jan) revs of $66-68 mln vs. $97.53 mln First Call consensus. The further deterioration of the global economic environment coupled with the sudden erosion of consumer demand have resulted in both memory and system-on-chip semiconductor manufacturers significantly cutting their capital expenditures. In addition, non-payment for several systems previously shipped to a large memory customer contributed to the sharp shortfall in revenues for Verigy's first quarter. While Verigy cannot predict the length of this downturn, the company expects its business will be negatively impacted through at least the first half of calendar 2009. Accordingly, Verigy is implementing cost-cutting and restructuring actions in addition to those announced last quarter. These actions include further cuts in regular and contract personnel, shortened work time and temporary salary reductions. The specific timing and scope of the restructuring actions will be based on business needs and local legal requirements and, when fully implemented, are expected to yield annual cost savings of approximately $90 to $100 million. The company expects that its workforce reduction plans will be substantially completed by the end of calendar 2009.

4:03PM Brooks Automation misses by $0.26, misses on revs (BRKS) 5.46 -0.40 : Reports Q1 (Dec) loss of $0.48 per share, excluding restructuring and impairment charges, $0.26 worse than the First Call consensus of ($0.22); revenues fell 50.3% year/year to $73.4 mln vs the $82.9 mln consensus. Co says, "The 31% sequential decline in revenues compared to the prior quarter mirrors declines reported by major semiconductor capital equipment OEMs in recent weeks. The rate of change in customer requirements over the past three months has been unprecedented and the resultant burden of excess capacity severely depressed our operating results.

1:01PM SMSC sees Q4 revs at high end of the prior guided range of $45-51 mln vs $47.15 mln First Call consensus (SMSC) 15.02 -0.53 : Co announced at the Thomas Weisel Annual Technology & Telecom Conference that it expects revenue for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 to be at the high end of the prior guided range of $45-51 million vs $47.15 mln First Call consensus. Co also stated that its book-to-bill ratio has been improving and is currently greater than one. Lastly, SMSC also commented that it continues to expect revenues in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 to be higher sequentially (consensus for Q1 is vs $53.32 mln

10:06AM Diodes misses by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus (DIOD) 7.75 -0.37 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.04 per share, $0.01 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.05; revenues fell 19.0% year/year to $87.1 mln vs the $90.9 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs declining 20% sequentially, which calc to ~$69.68 mln vs. $81.22 mln consensus. "Looking at Q1, we expect that the economy and global demand will continue to deteriorate and well beyond the typical seasonality associated with the quarter. As a result of these factors, we estimate that the first quarter revenue will decrease ~20% sequentially,. Furthermore, as a result of the weakened demand, we will reduce our 2009 capital authorizations to a maintenance level of ~2% of revenue, and we plan to reduce inventory, which will further reduce loading at our manufacturing facilities. As a result, we expect Q1 gross margin to be ~16 to 20% and expect to generate positive cash flow from operations as well as positive free cash flow for the quarter... We are implementing further cost reductions while working to maintain strong cash flow. In addition to the 7% headcount reductions initiated in the fourth quarter, we will be reducing headcount by an additional 17% in the first quarter, primarily at our manufacturing operations."

(AMKR) has paid Tessera $58.8 mln, as per the terms of the International Chamber of Commerce's International Court of Arbitration award to Tessera for Amkor's material breach of its license agreement. The remainder of the entire $64.1 mln award is due by Feb. 15, 2009.

12:43AM Linear Tech revises the charge taken for accelerating the vesting of all 'out-of-the-money' stock options and issues revised Q209 results increasing diluted EPS by $0.05 (LLTC) 25.77 : Co announces that its previously reported results for Q209 ended December 28, 2008 have been revised to exclude a non-cash charge of $15.0 mln pertaining to accelerating the vesting of stock options for 1.4 mln shares representing all of the "out-of-the-money" stock options previously awarded to its non-officer and non-director employees under its stock option plans. The effect of this change in the Consolidated Statements of Income for the second quarter and the first six month period of FY09 was to increase GAAP operating income by $15.0 mln, GAAP net income by $11.0 mln and to increase GAAP diluted earnings per share by $0.05. These revised results will be included in the co's Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended December 28, 2008 filed this afternoon.