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From Briefing.com: 4:25 pm : The S&P 500 closed below its 50-day moving average for the first time since mid-July as sellers moved en masse ahead of tomorrow morning's advance third quarter GDP reading.

Stocks were mired in weakness for virtually the entire session as buyers stepped to the sidelines despite another batch of generally better-than-expected earnings. Stiff selling in overseas trade certainly didn't help the case for bulls, nor did disappointing new home sales data, which showed that new home sales for September fell 3.6% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 402,000 units. That was well below the rate of 440,000 units that was widely expected.

The disappointing report caused an immediate drop in stocks, though a premarket durable goods orders report that was largely dismissed. According to that report, durable goods orders were up 1.0% in September, in-line with expectations, while orders less transportation increased a stronger-than-expected 0.9%.

Partial to selling, participants pushed stocks to their worst loss since the start of the month and left the S&P 500 to trade below its 50-day moving average. The technical line initially provided some support, but persistent pressure took the stock market through the line and left it to finish near session lows.

Declines were steep and broad based as nine of the 10 major sectors posted losses.

Financials were among the worst performers this session. The sector dropped 3.2% amid ongoing weakness in bank stocks. Including this session's 3.2% decline, the KBW Banking Index has fallen more than 9% during the past four sessions.

Visa (V 76.57, +2.67) was one of the few financial issues to post a gain this session. The company garnered support after it posted last evening better-than-expected adjusted earnings of $0.74 per share.

Materials stocks were also wrought with weakness. The sector fell nearly 3.2% as the greenback gained 0.5% against a basket of major foreign currencies, causing weakness among basic materials stocks and commodities-related stocks.

With the dollar gaining ground for the fifth straight session, the CRB Commodity Index fell 2.0% in its worst single-session loss in one month. Both metals prices and energy prices weighed heavily on the CRB. Gold prices settled pit trade 0.5% lower at $1030.50 per ounce, below their 2008 high of $1033.90 per ounce, while crude oil prices dropped 2.8% to $77.44 per barrel following disappointing gasoline inventory data this morning.

Softer oil prices and broader market weakness took the energy sector to a 2.9% loss. Better-than-expected earnings from ConocoPhillips (COP 49.49, -1.41) did nothing for the sector.

Telecom stocks made up the only sector to advance. What's more, its 1.8% gain was the sector's best single-session advance in one month and came in the face of considerable weakness in the broader market. Its gain this session extended the previous session's advance. In the weeks preceding that point, telecom had been considerably underperforming the broader market.

Participation was strong this session. Specifically, nearly 1.7 billion shares exchanged hands on the NYSE. That's the highest level in more than one month and exceeds both the 50-day and 200-day moving average for trading volume.

Another round of Treasury auctions was met with solid turnout. An auction of 5-year Notes produced an above-average bid-to-cover ratio 2.6. Though Treasuries pulled back a bit following the announcement, weakness among equities helped Treasuries hold onto gains. In turn, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Note has fallen to roughly 3.4% from 3.5% in just two days.

Treasuries have performed well this week and stocks are now down more than 3% week-to-date, but both fixed income traders and equity market participants are turning their attention to the advance third quarter GDP report, which is a headline event for Thursday morning.

Advancing Sectors: Telecom (+1.8%)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-3.2%), Materials (-3.2%), Energy (-2.9%), Consumer Discretionary (-2.8%), Industrials (-2.2%), Tech (-1.8%), Health Care (-1.3%), Utilities (-1.0%), Consumer Staples (-0.4%)DJ30 -119.48 NASDAQ -56.48 NQ100 -2.4% R2K -3.5% SP400 -3.3% SP500 -20.78 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 411/2.75 bln/2290 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 322/1.68 bln/2779

6:46PM Teradyne beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (TER) 8.66 -0.48 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.14 per share, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $0.11. Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of 0.12-0.17 vs. $0.12 consensus; sees Q4 revs of 255-270 vs. $251.91 mln consensus.

4:23PM Cadence Design beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (CDNS) 7.03 -0.32 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.03 per share, $0.04 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.01); revenues fell 6.9% year/year to $216 mln vs the $214.8 mln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.02-0.04 vs. $0.01 consensus; sees Q4 revs of $215-225 mln vs. $220.63 mln consensus.

4:21PM Ixia beats by $0.01, beats on revs (XXIA) 7.11 -0.59 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.02 per share, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.01; revenues fell 1.9% year/year to $46.4 mln vs the $45 mln consensus. "Ixia delivered solid revenues and executed on multiple fronts during the quarter, including the Catapult integration and the release of our next generation IxNetwork Layer 2-3 test solution," commented Atul Bhatnagar, Ixia's president and chief executive officer. "The integration of Catapult is nearly complete with unified sales and engineering teams operating effectively around the globe. In our first full quarter of operating Ixia and Catapult as one business, we experienced meaningful sequential growth in orders, both for our core wired products as well as for our wireless offerings. In addition, sales of our 10 Gigabit Ethernet products hit a new high and our Asia Pacific business rebounded nicely. On the cost side, we are starting to see some benefits from the restructuring plan announced in the second quarter and have moved quickly to realize cost synergies related to the Catapult business. Going forward, we will continue to focus on improving our operating results while also executing on critical initiatives to strengthen our position in the market, such as our recently announced acquisition of Agilent Technologies' N2X Data Network Testing Product line. This acquisition, when completed on or about October 30, 2009, will further fortify Ixia as a global leader in Converged Ethernet IP and LTE testing."

4:17PM Advanced Analogic Tech beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs below consensus (AATI) 3.29 -0.02 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.02 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.01); revenues rose 2.8% year/year to $26.1 mln vs the $25.3 mln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q4, sees GAAP EPS of $(0.11)-(0.07), may not be comparable to ($0.02) consensus; sees Q4 revs of $19-23 mln vs. $23.93 mln consensus. The fourth quarter 2009 estimates include pre-tax quarterly share-based compensation expense in the range of $1.9-2.1 million.

4:17PM LSI Logic beats by $0.14, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (LSI) 4.99 -0.13 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.14 better than the First Call consensus of $0.04; revenues rose 10.9% year/year to $578 mln vs the $555.7 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.07-0.13, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.06 consensus; sees Q4 revs of $605-645 mln vs. $587.48 mln consensus. "With the economy demonstrating signs that a modest recovery is underway, our third quarter revenues exceeded our guidance range, supported by healthy sequential growth across our businesses overall. As businesses resume spending on information technology, we are now poised to realize the benefits of the winning recipe we have worked to put in place over the last several years."

4:13PM Newport beats by $0.06, beats on revs (NEWP) 7.47 -0.36 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.06 per share, $0.06 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.00); revenues fell 15.9% year/year to $88.3 mln vs the $87.1 mln consensus.

4:06PM First Solar beats by $0.05, misses on revs; guides FY09 revs in-line (FSLR) 151.58 +1.36 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.79 per share, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of $1.74; revenues rose 38.0% year/year to $480.9 mln vs the $528.8 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY09, sees FY09 revs of $1.975-2.025 bln vs. $2 bln consensus. Previous guidance was $1.95-2.0 bln.

4:04PM First Solar shares slide below 140 support which may act as technical resistance on any initial bounce (FSLR) 151.58 : FSLR printing 135. Previous Oct intraday lows stand @ 143.47.

12:04PM Semiconductors Hldrs Trust stabilizes at trendline support (SMH) 24.92 -0.07 : Noted the early relative strength in the Sector ETF but it was unable to build on those upticks. However, it has been able to work off the low after holding at trendline support (Click for chart). A continued hold at this support and a close at the mid to upper end of today's range would be a potential short term positive. Sustained gains above today's high (25.23) and its 50 day sma (25.40) would be needed thereafter to bolster the turnaround scenario.

9:54AM Semiconductors Hldrs Trust moves back into positive territory (SMH) 25.14 +0.14 : Noted the INTC test of its 50 day ema in the 09:31 update and after a very short term breach (50 day at 19.54, session low 19.48) it was able to stabilize helping to underpin the SMH. Also firmer are: ADI +0.3%, ALTR +0.6%, AMAT +0.7%, BRCM +0.4%, KLAC +0.7% (held at its 50 day), LLTC +0.8%, LSI +0.2%, MXIM +0.9%, NSM +1.4%, NVLS +1% (held at 20 day), TXN +3.4% (set new Oct high), XLNX +0.7%. ATML -0.2% is attempting to lift off its 200 day.

8:31AM Microsemi to close manufacturing facility, expects annual savings of $20 mln-$25 mln (MSCC) 14.05 : Co announces consolidation plans that will result in the closure of its manufacturing facility in Scottsdale, Arizona by April 2011. The co said that the action is part of its ongoing program to reduce inventory levels and improve its overall cost structure and business model as it grows in both new and existing markets. Microsemi expects that after the consolidation activities are completed in 18 months, annual savings benefiting operating income will range from $20 mln to $25 mln. The gross margin impact related to these savings would have equated to 400 to 500 basis points when applied to FY09 consensus revenue estimates. In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009, Microsemi expects to record one-time charges for restructuring and other reserves of between $24 mln and $26 mln for severance and related benefits, lease termination and facility closure costs. Additional consolidation costs of $3 mln may be incurred over the closure period. These costs will not impact the company's non-GAAP guidance for its fourth quarter of FY09. The co reiterates that the first quarter ending December 27, 2009 will be the final one in which transitional idle capacity will be used in describing financial performance.

8:00AM Silicon Labs beats by $0.07, beats on revs (SLAB) 41.38 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.67 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the First Call consensus of $0.60; revenues rose 10.9% year/year to $125.9 mln vs the $123.8 mln consensus.

Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS) announces that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Shanghai Guangdian Electric Group. Through this agreement, SGEG will market AE's expanding line of Solaron grid-tie photovoltaic inverters in China.

7:06AM Advanced Energy beats by $0.08, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (AEIS) 12.77 : Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.20 per share, $0.08 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.28); revenues rose 45.5% year/year to $51.8 mln vs the $45.5 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q4, sees EPS of ($0.14)-($0.07) vs. ($0.15) consensus; sees Q4 revs of $56-$62 mln vs. $57.45 mln two analyst est

3:48AM United Micro beats by $0.04, beats on revs (UMC) 3.53 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.08 per ADS, $0.04 better than the First Call consensus of $0.04; revenues rose 11.1% year/year to $853 mln vs the $808.6 mln consensus. Gross margin during 3Q was 27.9%; operating margin was 15.4%. For 4Q09, co expects wafer shipments to decrease by approximately 0-3%, wafer ASP in US$ to rise by approx 0-3%, and a capacity utilization rate in the mid-80%. Co sees gross margin in mid-20%. The consumer segment is expected to grow modestly while the computer segment is expected to show some weakness. CapEx budget of $500 mln is expected.