From Briefing.com: 4:25 pm : Stocks looked as if they were going to trim losses amid some afternoon buying, but sellers redoubled their efforts late in the session to ensure that the stock market would log its third straight loss, which hasn't happened for three weeks.
Stocks initially looked as if they would firm up after sliding nearly 2% during the course of the previous two sessions, but the mood among participants dampened amid a surprise 2.4% drop in durable goods orders during August. Economists had expected a 0.4% increase. Excluding transportation, orders were flat, which missed the consensus forecast for a 1.0% gain.
Meanwhile, annualized new home sales figures for August came in at 429,000 units, which is a bit below the consensus call of 440,000 units. Though the sales rate was softer than expected, it still reflected a 0.7% monthly increase, but that didn't help stocks garner support.
Instead, broad-based weakness weighed on stocks for nearly the entire session. At their session lows, the S&P 500 was down nearly 1%, while the Nasdaq was down slightly more than 1%. Though the extent of their losses at session lows was similar, the Nasdaq lagged the other headline indices for most of the session, primarily due to weakness among large-cap tech issues. Large-cap tech was hampered by a rather conservative revenue forecast from Research In Motion (RIMM 68.91, -14.15) and the company's failure to quell concern regarding falling handset prices. Shares of RIMM responded by making their worst single-session percentage drop this year.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 47.02, +0.15) also issued its latest outlook, which was in-line with the consensus 2010 forecast, but that won it limited favor.
Meanwhile, McDonald's (MCD 56.95, +0.83) helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average hold up better than its counterparts against the efforts of sellers for the second straight session. McDonald's won support by lifting its quarterly dividend 10% to $0.55 per share.
Despite support from McDonald's, the Dow still lost 1.6% since last week. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.0% this week, while the S&P 500 logged a weekly loss of 2.2%. Their collective losses made for the stock market's worst week since July.
Amid weakness in the equity market, Treasuries ticked higher. Gains were especially strong at the long end of the yield curve. As such, the 30-year Bond gained more than one full point while the benchmark 10-year Note tacked on 16 ticks. The 2-year Note slid three ticks.DJ30 -42.25 NASDAQ -16.69 NQ100 -0.9% R2K -0.5% SP400 -0.6% SP500 -6.40 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1145/2.38 bln/1520 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1358/1.20 bln/1633
4:09PM Pericom Semi beats by $0.01; guides Q1 revs in-line (PSEM) 9.81 +0.15 : Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.04 per share, $0.01 better than the First Call dual-analyst est of $0.03; revenues rose 22.0% year/year to $29.7 mln vs the $30.07 mln consensus. Co sees Q1 revs of $31.5-32.5 mln vs $32.4 mln consensus. Net income from unconsolidated affiliates PTI and JCP of $0.4-0.5 mln. Co says, "Our bookings have continued to grow during the June quarter, and resulted in our having an improved backlog as we entered the September quarter. We believe our revenues are now better aligned with end user demand, which we believe will gradually strengthen in the coming months."
12:32PM Daily Momentum Movers (TECHX) : Research in Motion (RIMM): Company reported earnings last night and the stock is down about 13 points and is trading in a tight range around $70 support. If it breaks that level, there is some support at $68 and more at $66 and $64. Last trade at 69.91
Applied Micro Circuits (AMCC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) announced a collaboration enabling AppliedMicro's Power Architecture microprocessors to be manufactured on TSMC's industry-leading technology platform first at 90nm then moving to 65nm and 40nm soon after... Ascent Solar Technologies, (ASTI) announced the signing of a definitive Cooperation Agreement with Energy Technologies of Mansfield, Ohio. The agreement focuses on the development of new photovoltaic products intended for the U.S. military...
08:53 am Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 46.87) issued in-line guidance for fiscal 2010 at an analyst meeting Thursday afternoon, saying that it expects the IT industry to return to growth in 2010.
HP said it expects fiscal 2010 earnings of $4.20 to $4.30 per share, excluding $0.60 in charges. The company's forecast is in-line with the First Call consensus of $4.25.
Hewlett-Packard's revenue projections are also in-line with the consensus as the company sees fiscal 2010 revenue between $117 billion and $118 billion; the consensus stands at $118 billion.
"We expect the IT industry to return to growth in 2010 and believe that HP will outpace the market," said CEO Mark Hurd.
Shares of HPQ are 29% higher year-to-date.
08:37 am Research In Motion (RIMM)
Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM 83.06) are plunging more than 13% ahead of Friday's opening bell after the company's most recent quarterly report and forecast raised fears of slow growth.
Research In Motion reported fiscal second quarter earnings of $1.03 per share, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $1.00.
Revenues rose 36.8% year-over-year to $3.53 billion but fell short of the $3.62 billion consensus.
The company added 3.8 million net subscribers in the quarter, at the low end of its guidance of 3.8 million to 4.1 million.
RIM issued mixed guidance for its fiscal third quarter, saying it expects earnings of $1.00 to $1.08 per share; the consensus currently stands at $1.05.
The company's sales forecast disappointed investors, as Research In Motion forecast third quarter revenues of $3.60 billion to $3.85 billion, shy of the $3.92 billion consensus. Net subscriber additions in the third quarter are expected to be in the range of 4.0 million to 4.3 million.
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