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From Briefing.com: 4:25 pm : Despite a slow, choppy start, stocks climbed in afternoon trading and finished with healthy gains. The Nasdaq outperformed the other headline indices as shares of large-cap tech stocks rebounded from their losses in the prior session.

Tech was the only sector to finish in the red Wednesday, but it bounded back this session to close with a 3.2% gain. The sector's rebound was led by large-cap tech holdings.

Though tech's move was impressive, consumer discretionary stocks staged the best advance. The sector closed 3.4% higher as 78 of its 81 components logged gains.

Financial stocks also closed higher, but they lagged the broader market. The sector made a late rally effort, which took it to a 2.4% gain, but the move lost momentum into the close. Financials finished with a gain of 0.6%.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM 33.24, +0.68) provided leadership to the financial sector for the entire session after the company announced first quarter earnings results of $0.40 per share, which bested the $0.32 per share that was widely expected. The company reminded investors that all isn't well just yet by reporting higher loss provisions.

Financial giant Citigroup (C 4.01, +0.68) also made strong gains. The company is scheduled to announce its latest results tomorrow morning.

Economic bellwether General Electric (GE 12.27, +0.44) also reports tomorrow morning. Interest in its shares helped send the industrial sector 2.9% higher.

In economic news, the latest jobless claims data suggest that the pace of layoffs is slowing, but that it isn't getting any easier to find work. Initial claims for the week ending April 11 totaled 610,000, which is down more than expected from the prior week, but continuing claims climbed more than expected to a new record of 6.02 million.

Separately, housing starts disappointed investors hoping to find signs of a recovery in home building. Housing starts for March totaled 510,000, which was below the 540,000 starts that were expected and down from the prior month. Meanwhile, building permits in March totaled 513,000, which is below the 549,000 permits that were expected, and down from February.DJ30 +95.81 NASDAQ +43.64 NQ100 +2.8% R2K +2.8% SP400 +2.7% SP500 +13.24 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1969/2.02 bln/743 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2430/1.60 bln/623

5:49PM Seagate Technology announces pricing of $430 mln of senior secured second-priority notes (STX) 6.35 +0.50 : Co announced the pricing of its previously announced offering of $430 mln aggregate principal amount of 10.00% Senior Secured Second-Priority Notes due 2014 (the "Notes"). The Notes will be issued by Seagate Technology International, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Seagate Technology, and guaranteed by Seagate Technology, Seagate Technology HDD Holdings and all of Seagate Technology's other subsidiaries that guarantee its senior secured credit facility, on a full and unconditional basis and secured by a second-priority lien on the assets that secure the senior secured credit facility.

4:06PM Google beats by $0.23, reports revs in-line (GOOG) 388.74 +9.24 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $5.16 per share, ex items, $0.23 better than the First Call consensus of $4.93; revenues after deducting TAC (traffic acquisition costs) rose 10.1% year/year to $4.07 bln vs the $4.08 bln consensus. Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of their AdSense partners, increased approximately 17% over the first quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 3% over the fourth quarter of 2008. Operating expenses, other than cost of revenues, were $1.52 billion in the first quarter of 2009, or 28% of revenues, compared to $1.65 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, or 29% of revenues.

9:38AM Additional details of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker : Last night, IDC came out with its Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. IDC says while the economic crisis continues to unfold, low-cost Portable PCs continue to appeal to Consumers and support growth in the PC market. Worldwide PC shipments were down 7.1% year over year in the first quarter of 2009 (1Q09) - slightly better than a projected decline of 8.2% - according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. While concern over the global recession and the fear of rising unemployment continues to weigh on commercial spending and consumer confidence, PC demand has nevertheless remained somewhat resilient compared to the last downturn. Falling prices, fueled in part by Mini Notebook PCs and added efforts in channel development, have helped to minimize the market contraction. The United States fared well, with shipments falling only 3% as HP, Acer, and Toshiba leveraged Portable sales into solid growth. Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia/Pacific excluding Japan also came in slightly better than expected. "Tight credit and economic concerns have certainly taken a toll on PC shipments in the last couple quarters, but the move to portables, fueled by Mini Notebooks and falling prices, has mitigated the impact," said Loren Loverde, program director for IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "Following a drawdown in inventory throughout the supply chain, we expect more stable production over the next couple quarters, with growth returning around the end of the year." (See yesterday's comment 16:38 for initial comment)

9:01AM Super Micro Computer lowers Q3 guidance; sees EPS of $0.05-0.06 vs $0.09 First Call consensus; revs $109-110 mln vs $117.52 mln First Call consensus (SMCI) 5.56 : Co issues downside guidance for Q3 (Mar), sees EPS of $0.05-0.06 vs. $0.09 First Call consensus previous guidance called for EPS of $0.11-0.14; sees Q3 (Mar) revs of $109-110 mln vs. $117.52 mln consensus, previous guidance called for a range of $115 to $125 mln. Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be approximately 15%. Gross margin was lower than expected principally due to greater price competition in light of the recent economic conditions and in advance of the release of new products incorporating Intel's new Nehalem CPU. Co says, "The March ending quarter was challenging principally due to the global economic recession. In addition, the third quarter was adversely impacted by customer order delays in advance of Intel Nehalem CPU launch."

8:36AM Xilinx: Credit Suisse raises estimates and tgt to $22 following opex cuts (XLNX) 20.59 : Credit Suisse raises their 2Q 09 to $0.21 from $0.19 (consensus $0.17) and also raises their tgt to $22 from $20 following the co's 6% global workforce reduction, which prompted an $11-13 mln onetime charge in C2Q09 but also a $4-5 mln per quarter opex reduction starting from C2Q09. The firm notes that the action was already factored into mgmt's comments to target cutting opex from the low $170 mln level to the low-mid $160 mln level over the next few quarters. However, the firm is trimming a further $8 mln from their 2009 opex but suspect street needs to cut even a bit more opex now that the actions are more concrete. The firm notes that they expect a flat calendar 2Q09 outlook - but an EPS boost from the lower opex when the co reports on April 22.

8:36AM On the Wires : Microsemi Corp (MSCC) announces that it acquired the Space Level Power Products business of Spectrum Microwave, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Spectrum Control (SPEC)...

8:16AM Ultratech misses by $0.03, misses on revs (UTEK) 13.05 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.01 per share, $0.03 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.04; revenues fell 17.4% year/year to $25.7 mln vs the $27.3 mln consensus.

8:05AM Cypress Semi beats by $0.01, beats on revs; gross margin below consensus, book-to-bill 1.12 (CY) 7.33 : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.22 per share, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.23); revenues fell 15.6% year/year to $139.3 mln vs the $123.5 mln consensus. Non-GAAP consolidated gross margin for the first quarter was 34.6% (consensus 40.1%), down 7.9 percentage points from the previous quarter due mainly to record low utilization levels and inventory reserves. Co said, "Cypress's gross margin fell short of our guidance as we proactively decreased inventory and drove factory utilization to an all-time low of 34%. We expect gross margin to increase significantly over the next two quarters as we ramp production to meet increased demand and continue to reduce costs. Pricing continues to be fairly stable. Our corporate average selling price (ASP) increased 10.9% sequentially to our highest level since Q304. Our semiconductor book-to-bill ended the first quarter at 1.12, with all divisions above unity. Ordering patterns began to stabilize in early Q1 and we entered the second quarter 62% booked. Customers are beginning to place backlog orders and to restock depleted inventory levels."

7:34AM Fairchild Semi beats by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q2 revs above consensus (FCS) 4.75 : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.32 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.34); revenues fell 30.4% year/year to $223.3 mln vs the $235.1 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $250-270 mln vs. $242.68 mln consensus. For this range of revenue, they anticipate gross margin to be between 21-24%. Gross margin was 15.2%, down 11 percentage points sequentially and 15 percentage points lower than in the 1Q08. Co says, "Our first quarter sales were well below customer consumption levels as the industry worked through the current inventory correction. The reduction in sales was broad-based across all end markets. However, order rates improved during the quarter and in the first weeks of Q2, enabling us to increase backlog. Overall product pricing was down about 2% sequentially which is slightly less favorable than prior quarters. We maintained lead times within a stable range of 4 to 6 weeks during the quarter."

7:06AM Plexus reaffirms second quarter fiscal 2009 guidance (PLXS) 16.04 : Co issues guidance for Q2 (Mar), sees EPS of above the high end of $0.17-0.24 vs. $0.19 First Call consensus; sees Q2 (Mar) revs of $375-405 mln vs. $385.13 mln consensus.The co also announced it recorded a non-cash charge in the amount of $5.7 mln in the second fiscal quarter ended April 4, 2009, to write off the entire carrying value of its goodwill. The impairment charge was driven by adverse macroeconomic conditions that contributed to an overall reduction in demand for the co's offerings in the Kelso, Scotland facility. These conditions led to interim goodwill impairment testing in connection with the preparation of Plexus' financial statements for the quarter, which resulted in the determination that the goodwill was impaired. This non-cash charge does not impact the Company's normal business operations, liquidity or availability under its credit facilities. Additionally, the co has implemented further cost-cutting measures in response to the difficult economic environment and incurred restructuring costs of approx $2.3 mln during the second fiscal quarter, higher than the $500,000 originally anticipated for the quarter. Restructuring costs were primarily related to severance costs and fixed assets written down as a result of the closing of the manufacturing facility in Ayer, Massachusetts in March 2009.

7:05AM Tessera Tech extends agreement With Motorola (TSRA) 13.55 : Co announces that Motorola (MOT) has extended its option agreement with Tessera that enables MOT to enter into a pre-negotiated license agreement with Tessera and settle all outstanding litigation between the companies. Motorola extended the option until 14 calendar days after the Final Determination in Tessera's ongoing U.S. International Trade Commission Investigation 337-TA-605. Other detailed terms of the agreements, including option fees, license fees and license royalties, are confidential.

6:42AM Nokia beats by Euro 0.01, misses on revs (NOK) 13.36 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of Euro 0.10 per share, Euro 0.01 better than the First Call consensus of Euro 0.09; revenues fell 26.7% year/year to Euro 9.28 bln vs the Euro 9.77 bln consensus. Nokia reports Q1 mobile device volumes of 93.2 million units, down 19% year on year and down 18% sequentially. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic volumes of 2.6 million units, with cumulative shipments of more than 3 million units since the smartphone's launch in late November 2008. Nokia estimated mobile device market share of 37% in Q1 2009, down from 39% in Q1 2008 and unchanged from Q4 2008. Nokia mobile device ASP of EUR 65, down from EUR 71 in Q4 2008. Devices & Services gross margin of 33.8%, unchanged from Q4 2008. Nokia operating cash flow of EUR 276 million. Total cash and other liquid assets of EUR 8.1 billion at the end of Q1 2009. Nokia expects industry mobile device volumes in the second quarter 2009 to be at approximately the same level or up slightly sequentially. Nokia expects its mobile device market share in the second quarter 2009 to increase sequentially. Nokia continues to expect 2009 industry mobile device volumes to decline approximately 10% from 2008 levels. Nokia continues to expect the decline to be greater in the first half than in the second half of the year. Nokia continues to target its annualized non-IFRS operating expense run rate in Devices & Services to be lower than EUR 6 billion by the end of 2010.

08:40 am Nokia (NOK)

Nokia (NOK 13.36) reported first quarter earnings that topped expectations, but the world's No. 1 mobile phone maker saw sales plunge.

Nokia reported first quarter earnings of euro 0.10 per share, euro 0.01 better than the First Call consensus of euro 0.09.

Revenues plunged 26.7% year-over-year to euro 9.28 billion, below the euro 9.77 billion consensus.

Nokia said Q1 mobile device volumes of 93.2 million units was down 19% year-over-year and 18% lower sequentially.

The Helsinki-based company estimated its mobile device market share at 37% in the first quarter, down from 39% in the same period the prior year and unchanged sequentially. The average selling price of its mobile devices dipped to euro 65, down from euro 71 in the fourth quarter.

Looking ahead, Nokia said it expects industry mobile device volumes in the second quarter 2009 to be at approximately the same level or up slightly sequentially. Nokia expects its mobile device market share in the second quarter to increase sequentially.

For the full year, the company continues to expect industry mobile device volumes to decline approximately 10% from 2008 levels, with the decline greater in the first half than in the second half of the year.

The company's report wasn't as bad as feared and has shares of NOK up 12.7% in premarket trading.