From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : Thanks to leadership from the financial sector, the broader stock market was able to overcome an early fit of selling pressure and march higher for the remainder of the session. Stocks finished at session highs in what was their best single-session percentage advance in six weeks.
Well regarded Wall Street analyst Meredith Whitney encouraged buying in the financial sector by indicating that bank stocks have strong potential in the near-term and by stepping out to upgrade Goldman Sachs (GS 149.44, +7.57) ahead of its latest quarterly earnings announcement, which is scheduled for tomorrow. Expectations are high for Goldman, given its best-of-class status.
Strength among regional banks (+6.3%) and diversified banks (+8.0%) helped the KBW Banking Index spike 6.5%. Meanwhile, the broader financial sector also surged 6.5% in its best single session advance by percent in almost two months.
Financials have been challenged in recent weeks to provide leadership to the broader market. Participants have been allowing the sector to consolidate after surging approximately 120% from its March low to its May high. However, the financial sector's renewed strength induced buying in the broader market this session; that led all 10 major sectors to finish with gains of at least 1%.
The financial sector had an easier time taking center stage amid a dearth of data. Data picks up tomorrow, though, as earnings announcements, corporate forecasts, June PPI, June retail sales data, and business inventory data for May hit news wires.DJ30 +185.16 NASDAQ +37.18 NQ100 +2.0% R2K +2.6% SP400 +2.4% SP500 +21.92 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1927/1.93 bln/705 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2526/1.19 bln/489
6:04PM Teradyne, AATI announce multiple system order for ETS-88 (TER) 6.62 +0.29 : TER and Advanced Analogic Technologies (AATI) announced that AATI has placed a multiple system order for the ETS-88 test system from Teradyne's Eagle Test business unit. The first unit, which will test power management, battery chargers, regulators and LED driver devices, has been delivered and accepted.
5:05PM Kulicke & Soffa Chief Financial Officer Maurice Carson resigns (KLIC) 3.15 +0.04 : Co announced that Maurice E. Carson, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer, has resigned to accept a position with a semiconductor company in Northern California. Michael J. Morris, Vice President of Finance and Treasurer, has been appointed interim Chief Financial Officer and Ran Bareket, Vice President and Corporate Controller, has been appointed interim Principal Accounting Officer. Mr. Carson's last day is scheduled to be August 4, 2009, and both interim appointments will be effective on August 5, 2009.
4:09PM Novellus misses by $0.03, reports revs in-line (NVLS) 18.66 -0.67 : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.41 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the First Call consensus of ($0.38); revenues fell 53.7% year/year to $119.2 mln vs the $119.2 mln consensus. Bookings in Q2 were $111.2 million, up $33.4 million or 42.9% from Q1. Q2 shipments of $120.0 million were up by $27.9 mln or 30.2% from $92.1 million reported for 1Q09. Deferred revenue at the end ofQ2 was $43.8 million, an increase of $3.6 million or 8.9% from $40.2 mln at the end of 1Q09. Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments as of June 27, 2009 were $476.3 mln, a decrease of $21.4 mln or 4.3% from 1Q09 ending balance of $497.7 million. Long-term investments and restricted cash and cash equivalents as of June 27, 2009 were $223.4 million, an increase of $19.0 million or 9.3% from the first quarter 2009 ending balance of $204.4 million.
4:00PM Ascent Solar announces the appointment of Dr. Farhad Moghadam as the company's President and CEO effective Aug 3, 2009 (ASTI) 7.74 :
10:49AM EZchip provides investor update ahead of its earnings release (EZCH) 11.58 +0.39 : "As we have always said, in-house designs at our tier-1 customers are our biggest competition. Our chips are incorporated in customers' strategic products, and we expect that they will want to maintain in-house chip development to provide options for alternative solutions. The analyst report suggests that Juniper (JNPR) will be announcing new line cards fairly soon, using in-house solution for these line cards. This is obviously disappointing, but as noted we do not expect that our customers will cease in-house ASIC designs... On the subject of Juniper, I want to provide an update to our first quarter 2009 release, which spoke of an expected drop in sales to Juniper in the second quarter of 2009. I am pleased that shipments of our NP-2 to Juniper returned to previous levels in June 2009, and are forecast to grow further in the second half of the year."
9:26AM STEC Inc announces deployment of Solid State Drives into U.S. Military project with $28 mln supplier contract (STEC) 23.53 : Co announces that it has partnered with a defense systems contractor and will supply its MACH8 Solid State Drives (SSD) for integration into a platform designed on behalf of the U.S. Military. Shipments of the MACH8 SSDs will begin during the third quarter of 2009 as part of a 12 month, $28 mln supply contract.
9:01AM MIPS Techs announces planned retirement of CEO John Bourgoin (MIPS) 2.90 : Co announces that long-time President and CEO John Bourgoin intends to retire at the end of the calendar year. The Co's board of directors plans to begin an immediate search for a successor, which is expected to take three to six months. Bourgoin will remain president and CEO through the end of the calendar year unless his successor is appointed earlier.
12:59AM Hoku Scientific and Suntech amend supply agreement to adjust milestone and shipping schedules (HOKU) 2.28 : Hoku Materials, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoku Scientific (HOKU) and Suntech Power Holdings (STP) announce that they have amended their polysilicon supply contract to delay the deadlines for Hoku to achieve three polysilicon plant operation milestones. The effectiveness of the amendment is contingent on Hoku entering into a definitive agreement that would result in a change of control of Hoku, and the closing of any such transaction by March 31, 2010. Hoku Scientific confirmed that it has retained Deutsche Bank Securities as its financial advisor to seek a possible sale of Hoku Materials. Before the amendment becomes effective, Suntech has the right to terminate the contract if Hoku is unable to successfully complete a polysilicon reactor test demonstration, ship the first monthly quantity of polysilicon, or achieve a trichlorosilane plant operation milestone, by September 30, 2009, December 31, 2009, and December 31, 2009, respectively. As amended, Hoku's deadlines to achieve these milestones may be moved to December 31, 2009, March 31, 2010, and December 31, 2010, In exchange for Suntech extending these deadlines, Hoku has agreed in the amendment to reduce Suntech's aggregate prepayment obligation. The prepayment reduction is effected through the elimination of the TCS plant operation milestone payment. In addition, Hoku has authorized Suntech, prior to the effectiveness of the amendment, to immediately replace its cash-collateralized, stand-by letter of credit that was issued by ABN AMRO NV, with a stand-by letter of credit issued by a bank in China, which may be collateralized with non-cash assets. Suntech expects that this will have the immediate impact of freeing Suntech's restricted cash.
10:22 am Suntech Power (STP)
Suntech Power (STP 14.38, +0.03) announced that it recently entered into a number of strategic agreements with each of Shaanxi provincial government, Shizuishan city government, Ningxia province, Qinghai provincial government and Panzhihua city government, Sichuan province to develop 300MW, 500MW, 500MW and 500MW of solar projects respectively. These projects, with an aggregate of 1.8 gigawatts, are expected to be developed in several stages.
The company said the implementation of these projects is subject to the satisfaction of a number of conditions including obtaining related permits from the National Development and Reform Commission and other relevant government bodies; drafting project designs; and attracting the necessary investment and project financing to implement the projects. Suntech also said these provinces enjoy significant solar resources making them ideal locations to generate solar electricity.
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