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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Broad-based buying helped stocks bounce back from a dip at the open to log fresh highs for 2009, but the S&P 500 met resistance when it hit the 1100 mark, which was last seen just over one year ago.

Strong gains in overseas markets helped set a positive tone for participants in the early going, but weakness in the financial sector quickly undercut the broader market's opening gain. Regional banks (-1.7%) were the primary source of weakness for the financial sector. Their losses came after BB&T (BBT 27.03, -1.22) unveiled its latest quarterly results, which actually featured better-than-expected earnings of $0.23 per share. However, the regional lender also reported a sharp year-over-year rise in loss provisions and couldn't confirm whether its charge-offs have peaked.

Though stocks stumbled in early trade as a result of weakness among financial issues, it didn't take long for participants to step in and bid stocks higher. Ensuing gains were strong and broad-based and pushed all three major indices to new highs for the year.

Stocks in the S&P 500 weren't able to push through the psychologically significant 1100 level, but they didn't roll over after being rebuffed, either. Some of the best gains were had by consumer discretionary stocks and materials stocks. Both advanced 1.4%.

Gains by the consumer discretionary sector came even though Hasbro (HAS 28.42, -1.10) traded as a laggard. Shares of the company were sold off after the stock had pushed considerably higher in the sessions leading up to this morning's earnings report, which featured an upside earnings surprise.

Meanwhile, materials stocks benefited from both broader market interest and higher commodity prices, which sent the CRB Commodity Index to a fresh high for the year.

A weaker dollar proved beneficial for both commodities and stocks this session. The greenback shed 0.3% against a basket of major foreign currencies this session. That has left the Dollar Index fractionally above its 12-month lows.

Trading volume was unimpressive this session. Hardly 1 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE. Recent averages stand above 1.2 billion shares.

Advancing Sectors: Utilities (+1.5%), Materials (+1.4%), Discretionary (+1.4%), Energy (+1.2%), Health Care (+1.0%), Tech (+1.0%), Consumer Industrials (+0.9%), Telecom (+0.8%), Consumer Staples (+0.5%), Financials (+0.5%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +96.28 NASDAQ +19.52 NQ100 +1.0% R2K +1.0% SP400 +1.1% SP500 +10.23 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1715/1.97 bln/943 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2240/1.08 bln/799

4:38PM Volterra Semi misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line (VLTR) 18.40 +0.21 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.20; revenues fell 2.9% year/year to $29.7 mln vs the $29.7 mln consensus.

4:36PM Texas Instruments beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (TXN) 23.52 +0.77 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.42 per share, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $0.39; revenues fell 15.0% year/year to $2.88 bln vs the $2.82 bln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.42-0.50 vs. $0.40 consensus; sees Q4 revs of $2.78-3.02 bln vs. $2.78 bln consensus. Co reports gross margins of 51.4% vs. 49.1% street expectation. Analog revenue declined 8% y/y, while embedded revenue also fell 8%. Wireless revenue declined 26% y/y. The decline in Analog revenue from a year ago was due to lower high- volume analog & logic and high-performance analog revenue. Power management revenue increased slightly. The increase in Analog revenue from the prior quarter was due to growth in all three product categories. Co states, "Our performance in the quarter exceeded our expectations and was led by a second consecutive quarter of 20-percent growth in Analog. We are encouraged with the strong sequential increase in demand for our products over the past two quarters as our customers are winding down their inventory corrections and have begun to increase production levels in their factories. This revenue growth, combined with our early actions to pare costs so that we would not be dependent upon an uncertain rebound in the overall economy, has resulted in solid improvements in our profitability.

4:33PM Apple beats by $0.40, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (AAPL) 189.86 +1.81 : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $1.82 per share, $0.40 better than the First Call consensus of $1.42; revenues rose 25.0% year/year to $9.87 bln vs the $9.2 bln consensus. Co reports Q4 Mac sales of 3.05 mln vs ~2.8 mln Street est, 7.4mln iPhones sold vs ~7 mln Street est, and 10.2 mln iPods sold vs 10.5 mln iPods Street. Apple prelim reports gross margin 36.6% vs 35.5% consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $1.70-1.78 vs. $1.91 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $11.3-11.6 bln vs. $11.45 bln consensus. "We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We've got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010."

4:09PM SolarWinds beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SWI) 22.81 1.27 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.17 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.15; revenues rose 23.6% year/year and 20% sequentially to $32.4 mln vs the $31.1 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.15-0.16, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.16 consensus; sees Q4 revs of $32.8-34.2 mln vs. $33.18 mln consensus.

4:07PM Atheros Communications has shipped well over 10 million of its Align chips (ATHR) 27.80 +1.04 : Co announces that it has shipped well over 10 million of its Align chips based on the single-stream 802.11n standard. The company began shipping the popular Align AR9285 single-chip PCI Express (PCIe) solution in the fourth quarter of 2008, targeting value-class netbook, notebook and desktop PCs, wireless routers, and consumer electronics (CE) devices.

09:33 am Sunpower ests raised at Broadpoint AmTech ahead of earnings: . Broadpoint AmTech is moving its Q309 ests higher due to better than expected demand in Germany and Italy. In addition, firm now believes the risk to its FY10 ests is to the upside given an expanding utility-scale pipeline and strength in the US ahead of ITC grant expiration, along with an improving commercial installation financing environment. Firm is modeling revenue of $435 mln (consensus $418 mln) and pro-forma EPS $0.42 (consensus $0.39). Key inputs include a 52% q/q increase in total shipments against a 7% q/q decline in ASPs. Firm is modeling a 55% increase in MW installed for the Systems business against moderate ASP declines. Co reports 10/22.