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From Briefing.com: 4:25 pm : An aggressive selling effort in the final hour of trade took the stock market from a solid gain to a considerable loss. The downturn was broad based and left many of the major sectors to settle at session lows.

Stocks had been showing moderate weakness ahead of the opening bell, but jumped out to a strong gain in the early going. The S&P 500 even made its way to a near 1% gain so that it fractionally set a new high for 2009.

Financials underpinned the stock market's early advance. The sector traded to a gain of 1.3% following strong earnings from Morgan Stanley (MS 34.08, +1.56) and U.S. Bancorp (USB 24.43, +0.63). However, financials rolled over in late trade and settled with a 1.9% loss as pressure intensified against Wells Fargo (WFC 28.90, -1.56), which was hit with a midday downgrade by widely-followed analyst Dick Bove. Bove, and others, were unimpressed with Wells Fargo's report, even though it featured better-than-expected earnings.

As financials fell under a strong fit of selling pressure, the broader market also buckled.

Even energy stocks couldn't hold their gains into the close. The sector overcame an early loss of roughly 0.9% to climb to a gain of nearly 2% before falling back into the red to finish with a 0.2% loss. Energy stocks had been helped by higher oil prices, which reached new 2009 highs around the $82 per barrel mark following the latest oil inventory data. Crude oil inventories increased 1.31 million barrels, which is below the 1.5 million barrel build that had been expected. Gasoline inventories had a draw of 2.21 million barrels, which is larger than the draw of 850,000 barrels that was widely expected. Oil futures prices closed at $81.37 per barrel, up 2.9%.

Stocks and commodities paid little attention to a weaker dollar in the early going, but the greenback garnered more attention as it extended its slide. The dollar's drop came amid comments from a British central bank governor that suggested higher interest rates could be in the offing. That strengthened the British pound, but helped send the Dollar Index to a fresh 12-month low.

Nine of the 10 major sectors fell to a loss -- only utilities (+0.2%) posted a gain.

Health care stocks had lagged for virtually the entire session as participants shrugged off better-than-expected earnings and an upside forecast from Eli Lilly (LLY 33.66, -1.58). They finished with a 1.3% loss.

Consumer discretionary stocks also settled with a steep loss. They shed 1.5% as retailers fell to a 1.9% loss. Retailers had actually been up as much as 1.3%.

Trading volume was higher this session than in recent sessions, but still shy of longer-term averages. Nonetheless, trading volume spiked into the close, which is when this session's selling effort intensified.

Advancing Sectors: Utilities (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-1.9%), Consumer Discretionary (-1.5%), Health Care (-1.3%), Materials (-1.3%), Consumer Staples (-0.9%), Industrials (-0.9%), Energy (-0.2%), Tech (-0.2%)
Unchanged: TelecomDJ30 -92.12 NASDAQ -12.74 NQ100 -0.2% R2K -1.4% SP400 -1.1% SP500 -9.66 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 869/2.58 bln/1806 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 995/1.41 bln/2031

5:31PM Amkor reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (AMKR) 6.74 -0.09 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.19; revenues fell 14.4% year/year to $616.2 mln vs the $603.5 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.17-0.23 vs. $0.16 consensus; sees Q4 revs plus or minus 2% from Q3 revs, which equates to ~$603.9 -628.5 mln vs. $592.23 mln consensus.

4:39PM Actel beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs above consensus (ACTL) 12.00 -0.15 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.09 per share, $0.10 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.01); revenues fell 11.3% year/year to $47.2 mln vs the $45.5 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $48.1-50.0 mln vs. $47.75 mln consensus.

4:35PM Molex beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (MOLX) 21.20 -0.01 : Reports Q1 (Sep) earnings of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $0.15; revenues fell 19.7% year/year to $674 mln vs the $661 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.18-0.22 vs. $0.19 consensus; sees Q2 revs of $680-720 mln vs. $683.62 mln consensus. "We continue to see month over month improvements in revenue and orders in virtually all of our key markets. The increase in orders of 26% from the June quarter was the second consecutive quarter of increasing orders and gives us strong momentum going into the December quarter. Order rates in two key markets, consumer electronics and data, surpassed prior year levels. As in the June quarter, we saw significant operating leverage as gross margin benefited from the increase in revenue and ongoing cost containment actions. This is strong evidence that our restructuring program is yielding the intended results. Looking forward, we are assessing the sustainability of the recovery as well as the impact of rising raw material costs and the weaker dollar."

4:18PM Anadigics beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (ANAD) 3.44 -0.12 : Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.10 per share, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.15); revenues fell 36.8% year/year to $36.7 mln vs the $34.4 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q4, sees EPS of ($0.10)-($0.08) vs. ($0.10) consensus; sees Q4 revs of $38.5-39.6 mln vs. $38.03 mln consensus.

4:03PM Integrated Device beats by $0.05, beats on revs (IDTI) 6.14 -0.02 : Reports Q2 (Sep) earnings of $0.07 per share, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of $0.02; revenues rose 20.3% year/year to $139.5 mln vs the $131.3 mln consensus.

11:01AM Dell and Juniper Networks confirm plan to collaborate on Next-Generation Networking (DELL) 15.34 -0.03 : Dell (DELL) and Juniper Networks (JNPR) confirm an agreement to offer networking solutions under Dell's PowerConnect brand that enable customers to deploy a common network management platform and network operating system to help reduce operating expenses. In addition, the companies plan to work together on open, standards-based solutions for virtualized data centers and deliver technology solutions using Converged Enhanced Ethernet, also known as Data Center Bridging and iSCSI to improve network economics.

10:41AM IBM Board approves quarterly cash dividend; authorizes $5.0 bln for stock repurchase (IBM) 121.50 +1.50 : Co announces its board of directors today declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.55 per common share, payable December 10, 2009 to stockholders of record November 10, 2009. The board today also authorized $5 billion in additional funds for use in the company's stock repurchase program. IBM said it will repurchase shares on the open market or in private transactions from time to time, depending on market conditions. This amount is in addition to approximately $4.2 billion remaining at the end of September 2009 from a prior authorization. With this new authorization, IBM will have approximately $9.2 billion for its stock repurchase program. IBM expects to request additional share repurchase authorization at the April 2010 board meeting.

8:30AM GT Solar announces that it has received final acceptance for the design, installation and commissioning of one of the most technologically-advanced turnkey wafer fabrication lines in Spain (SOLR) 5.48 :

8:01AM Emulex announces that it has entered into a technology agreement with IBM (ELX) 11.19 : Co announces it has entered into a technology agreement with IBM to deliver storage and networking solutions, including 10Gb/s Ethernet Network Interface Cards and 16Gb/s Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters for the entire IBM Power Systems product line.

7:33AM Vishay announces intention to spin off measurements and foil resistor businesses to stockholders (VSH) 6.86 : Co announced that it intends to spin-off its measurements and foil resistor businesses into an independent, publicly-traded company to be named Vishay Precision Group. The spin-off is expected to take the form of a tax-free stock dividend to Vishay's stockholders and it is anticipated that holders of Vishay common stock will receive common stock of Vishay Precision Group and holders of Vishay Class B common stock will receive Class B common stock of Vishay Precision Group. Vishay has not yet finalized details of the spin-off.

7:12AM DSP Group beats by $0.07, beats on revs (DSPG) 7.00 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the First Call consensus of $0.11; revenues fell 25.1% year/year to $65.5 mln vs the $64.7 mln consensus. "Our financial results for the third quarter were at the higher end of our forecast and reflect solid execution in what remains a challenging environment in which our customers' visibility remains limited."

7:04AM Benchmark Elec beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (BHE) 17.45 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.27 per share, $0.07 better than the First Call consensus of $0.20; revenues fell 20.4% year/year to $510.5 mln vs the $493.6 mln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.22-0.26, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.22 consensus; sees Q4 revs of $520.0-560.0 mln vs. $518.23 mln consensus.

7:03AM Silicon Motion issues statement regarding US ITC non-infringement ruling (SIMO) 3.71 : Co confirms it was informed on October 23, 2009 that the United States International Trade Commission had issued its final determination that the Company's flash memory controllers and products containing these controllers do not infringe upon SanDisk Corporation's patents as previously alleged by SanDisk. The US ITC's final determination upholds an earlier determination by the administrative law judge in April 2009 that the Company's controllers and products containing them do not infringe SanDisk's (SNDK) patents.

3:36AM LDK Solar updates 3Q09 outlook (LDK) 7.13 : Co issues upside guidance for Q3 (Sep), sees Q3 (Sep) revs of $270.0-290.0 mln (prior range $240.0-270.0 mln) vs. $249.89 mln First Call consensus. Co expects wafer shipments of 310-330 MW and module shipments of 5-10 MW. Previous estimates called for wafer shipments of 260-300 MW and module shipments of 10-20 MW.

3:22AM ARM Holdings reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of 1.34 pence/share vs 1.38 3Q08; revenues declined 8% year/year to $123.0 mln vs $120.16 mln two-analyst consensus (ARMH) 7.37 : Co reaffirms FY09 revenue guidance will be at least in line with market expectation (two-analyst consensus $492.01 mln).