From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Stocks made modest gains amid choppy trading that followed Alcoa's latest earnings announcement, disappointing retail sales data, and a mixed weekly jobless claims report.
Dow component Alcoa (AA 9.23, -0.23) kicked off earnings season last night with its second quarter earnings announcement. The company posted an adjusted loss of $0.26 per share, but that wasn't as bad as what had been expected. Alcoa showed strength in the early going and provided a boost to the materials sector, but the aluminum giant's shares inevitably faltered. Still, the broader materials sector was able to log a 1.0% gain as commodities prices rebounded amid a weaker U.S. dollar.
Crude oil futures prices rebounded from six straight losses to finish pit trading near $60.30 per barrel, up 0.2%. Though oil's advance was modest, energy stocks were able to log a 1.1% gain.
By climbing 1.4%, financial stocks saw the strongest gains of any major sector. However, the financial sector's strength failed to inspire a concerted buying effort in the broader market.
Semiconductor stocks also showed strength and helped the Semiconductor Index climb 2.8%. Strength among semiconductors did little to support the headline indices, though.
Retailers spent the entire session trading in-line with the broader market. Though their 0.4% gain appears modest, the upturn was a rather impressive since it came amid a barrage of disappointing June same-store sales reports that were highlighted by negative results.
The broader market was restrained a bit by news that continuing jobless claims marched to another new record high by coming in at 6.88 million. That feat overshadowed news that the latest initial jobless claims fell more than expected to 565,000. Though that marked the first time since January that initial claims came in below 600,000, participants recognized that the lower claims number came during a holiday week and that the number will likely be offset in coming weeks. DJ30 +4.76 NASDAQ +5.38 NQ100 +0.2% R2K -0.1% SP400 +0.3% SP500 +3.12 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1304/1.90 bln/1301 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1812/1.01 bln/1178
8:16AM Emulex guides Q4 EPS to high end of range, revs slightly above consensus (ELX) 9.70 : Co issues guidance for Q4 (Jun), sees EPS at the high end of $0.01-0.05 vs. $0.04 First Call consensus; sees Q4 (Jun) revs of $78-79 mln vs. $77.27 mln consensus. Co said, "I'm very pleased with the team's focus and execution during the quarter, coming in at the high end of our guidance. In addition to strong near term operational performance we expanded our design wins for both our core Fibre Channel HBAs and our CNAs further reinforcing the strength of the Company's future prospects."
SMSC (SMSC) announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire Tallika Corp, a team of approx 50 engineers located in design centers in Chennai, India and Phoenix, AZ. SMSC has agreed to pay approximately $3.4 mln to purchase Tallika. The acquisition is expected to be non-dilutive and to close in August 2009.
7:06AM Silicon Motion lowers Q2 revenue guidance below consensus (SIMO) 3.33 : Co lowers sequential revenue guidance from +5-15% to (5%)-(10%) which equate to roughly $19.39-20.46 mln vs. $23.54 mln First Call consensus. Co raises gross margin guidance to 47-48% from prior guidance of 44-46%. Co said, "The Company continued to be impacted by the effects of the global economic slowdown and the NAND flash shortage that our customers have been facing. We had anticipated an increase in NAND flash supply from chipmakers in the second quarter as a result of their higher fab utilization rates, but availability of supply to our customers remained limited and this in turn limited their procurement of controllers.. Our gross margins are however significantly higher than planned due to better product mix management, which partially offset our anticipated lower revenue. While our anticipated second quarter sales are weaker than expected, we remain optimistic about our long-term prospects and product roadmap, whether relating to flash controllers, mobile TV ICs, or other products."
1:13AM On The Wires : Photronics (PLAB) will close its its integrated circuit photomask manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China; closure is consistent with Photronics strategy to reduce costs and lower its operational breakeven point. Co expects to record an after tax charge of approx $10-14 mln in FY09; approx 90% of the total charges will be attributed to non-cash items...
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
