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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : A stronger dollar dampened the mood of participants for the entire session, resulting in broad-based losses for stocks.

Stocks had spent the first part of the session chopping around listlessly, but began to slide as the U.S. dollar was able to further extend its rebound from the previous session, when the Dollar Index registered a fresh 52-week low. Though the greenback made a couple of pullbacks in the early going, it never left positive territory. That induced some short covering, which helped it finish the session with a 0.8% gain, its best single-session percentage advance in more than one month.

Stocks chopped along in listless action during the early going and briefly made their way to modest gains amid momentary pullbacks by the greenback, but stocks soon fell into the red as the dollar firmed up its gains. Amid the dollar's strong advance, the S&P 500 logged its worst performance by percent of this month, though to be fair, the only other loss this month took place earlier this week when the broader market slipped less than 0.01%.

Energy stocks were the worst performers this session. Their weakness was worsened by sharply lower oil prices, which dropped 3.0% to settle pit trade at $76.91 per barrel. Oil prices had started pit trade lower amid gains in the greenback, but its slide was exacerbated by disappointing weekly inventory data. Both crude oil and gasoline had surprisingly large builds.

Strength in the dollar weighed on other commodities, too. In turn, the CRB Commodity Index fell 1.6%. That didn't hurt materials stocks too much, though. The materials sector settled a relatively tame 0.6% lower, but that is owed to a strong run up in shares of Dow Chemical (DOW 28.60, +1.89), which announced today a handful of divestitures and business agreements.

Among the other corporate announcements, Wal-Mart (WMT 53.24, +0.27) posted better-than-expected third quarter earnings of $0.84 per share and raised its fiscal 2010 forecast to range from $3.57 to $3.61 per share, which still brackets the consensus estimate of $3.58 per share, but allows for more of an upside surprise. On a similar note, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 49.70, -0.30) issued upside guidance for the fourth quarter, saying that it expects to bring in $1.14 per share, and also raised its forecast for fiscal 2010 to the range $4.25 to $4.35 per share so that there is more room to exceed the current consensus of $4.28 per share. HP's announcement was made in conjunction with news that it will acquire 3Com (COMS 7.46, +1.77) for some $2.7 billion in cash. Applied Materials (AMAT 12.82, -0.43) reported that it brought in better-than-expected adjusted earnings of $0.11 per share. It went on to issue a strong revenue forecast that predicts top line growth in excess of 30% for fiscal 2010.

Improved jobless claims data did little to lift the mood of participants. The latest initial jobless claims tally drifted to a lower-than-expected 502,000, which is the lowest weekly total since January. Meanwhile, continuing claims came in at 5.63 million, which is the lowest level since March. That decline is owed to the expiration of unemployed benefits, not new hiring, however.

Treasuries had a solid session, despite an initially negative response to news that a $16 billion auction of 30-year Bonds produced a lower-than-expected bid-to-cover ratio of 2.26 and a lower-than-expected yield of almost 4.47%. The 30-year Bond finished the session up some 14 ticks, while the benchmark 10-year Note advanced 12 ticks. Their respective yields stand at 4.39% and 3.44%.

Separately, the Treasury budget for October came in with a $176 billion deficit, which is worse than the $165 billion deficit that had been widely forecast. According to CNBC, that is the steepest October deficit on record.

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-2.0%), Financials (-1.8%), Utilities (-1.3%), Industrials (-1.0%), Consumer Discretionary (-1.0%), Telecom (-0.8%), Materials (-0.6%), Health Care (-0.5%), Consumer Staples (-0.5%), Tech (-0.4%)DJ30 -93.79 NASDAQ -17.88 NQ100 -0.6% R2K -2.1% SP400 -1.5% SP500 -11.27 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 625/2.23 bln/2034 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 626/1.05 bln/2398

4:08PM Microsemi beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (MSCC) 14.66 -0.27 : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.23; revenues fell 18.6% year/year to $109.7 mln vs the $109.4 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.24-0.26 vs. $0.25 consensus; sees Q1 revs to increase 1-4% sequentially, which equates to ~$110-114 mln vs. $112.20 mln consensus.

4:02PM Emcore awarded solar panel manufacturing contract from Dutch Space (EMKR) 0.98 -0.07 : Co announces that they have been awarded a contract by Dutch Space of Leiden, The Netherlands to manufacture, test, and deliver the solar panels to power the Cygnus spacecraft being developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (ORB) for NASA's Commercial Resupply Service project. With all options exercised the total value of the contract would be in excess of $15 mln.

9:19AM Intel updates Q4 guidance, expense for legal settlement with AMD to be taken in Q4 (INTC) 19.84 : Co announces as a result of the legal settlement announced today with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel Corporation adjusted its fourth-quarter financial expectations to reflect the impact of the $1.25 bln settlement payment. Intel now expects spending (R&D plus MG&A) in the fourth quarter to be approx $4.2 bln, up from $2.9 bln. In addition, the effective tax rate is expected to be approx 20%, down from 26%. All other expectations are unchanged. (stock is halted)

9:03AM Brooks Automation beats by $0.03, beats on revs (BRKS) 7.44 : Reports Q4 (Sep) loss of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.25); revenues fell 40.0% year/year to $64.1 mln vs the $62.1 mln consensus. "We continue to see a sharp and continuing ramp in requirements from our semiconductor OEM customers. As previously announced, on top of the 46% increase in sales just reported we anticipate another increase in revenues in the December ending quarter that will exceed 45%. Based on current order booking activity and discussions with our major customers we have gained a growing confidence in projecting strong sales growth well into calendar year 2010. In addition, we presently anticipate converging on at least break even results in the current quarter and positive earnings for our full fiscal year."

RF Micro Devices (RFMD) announces that it has received its first purchase order from a tier-one wireless base station original equipment manufacturer for a product featuring RFMD's gallium nitride process technology...

10:07 am Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 49.81, -0.19) took a major step toward expanding its business Wednesday when it announced that it will acquire 3Com (COMS 7.46, +1.77), a provider of networking switching, routing and security solutions, in a deal valued at approximately $2.7 billion. Hewlett-Packard also issued an upside forecast for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Hewlett-Packard said it will acquire 3Com for $7.90 per share in cash. The $2.7 billion deal represents a nearly 39% premium on Wednesday's closing price of COMS.

"By acquiring 3Com, we are accelerating the execution of our Converged Infrastructure strategy and bringing disruptive change to the networking industry," said Dave Donatelli, executive vice president of Enterprise Servers and Networking at HP.

Separately, Hewlett-Packard announced its preliminary fourth quarter results. The company said it expects Q4 earnings of $1.14 per share, ahead of the $1.12 First Call consensus. HP forecasts revenue of $30.8 billion while the consensus estimate expects $29.79 billion.

HP also issued guidance for the first quarter of 2010, saying it expects earnings of $1.03 to $1.05 per share (First Call consensus is $1.03) on revenues of $29.6 billion to $29.9 billion (First Call consensus of $29.24 billion).

For fiscal 2010, Hewlett-Packard expects earnings of $4.25 to $4.35 per share, up from its earlier estimate of $4.20 to $4.30; the consensus currently expects $4.28. HP projects fiscal 2010 revenues of $118 billion to $119 billion, up from an earlier range of $117 billion to $118 billion. The consensus anticipates $118.1 billion.

The company said that both the first quarter and full fiscal year 2010 estimates do not reflect the potential impact of the acquisition of 3Com.

09:35 am Applied Materials (AMAT)

Applied Materials (AMAT 13.04, -0.21) reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings and revenue that easily topped analyst estimates as improved demand gave a lift to the top and bottom lines. The company also announced a cost reduction and restructuring plan that includes an approximately 10-12% cut in its workforce over the next 18 months.

Applied Materials reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings of $0.11 per share, excluding nonrecurring items, $0.08 better than the First Call consensus of $0.03.

Revenues fell 25.3% year-over-year to $1.53 billion, but still managed to top the $1.32 billion consensus.

The company's gross margin of 36.5% easily topped the First Call consensus of 33.2%.

On its earnings conference call, Applied Materials said that it expects earnings in the first fiscal quarter of 2010 to range from $0.04 to $0.08 per share; the First Call consensus currently stands at $0.07. Applied Materials expects revenues in the first quarter to grow between 10% and 25%, which equates to approximately $1.45 billion to $1.65 billion; the consensus estimate expects $1.41 billion.

For fiscal 2010, Applied Materials said it expects revenues to grow more than 30%, which equates to more than $6.52 billion in revenues compared to the $6.2 billion consensus estimate.

Despite the upturn in demand for its products, Applied Materials said it is implementing various cost reduction initiatives and a restructuring plan that is expected to achieve total annualized cost savings of $450 million when completed.

Under the plan, approximately 1,300 to 1,500 positions will be eliminated, or 10-12% of its workforce, over a period of 18 months. The pretax cost of the plan is expected to range from $100 million to $125 million, most of which will be recognized in the first quarter of fiscal 2010, the company said.