From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Despite a strong start on the back of a better-than-expected batch of earnings, stocks finished with varied gains. Trading volume was exceptionally high, but not very telling of the broader market's mood.
Oracle (ORCL 24.34, +1.46) and Research In Motion (RIMM 69.99, +6.53) both announced last evening earnings results that exceeded analysts' expectations for the latest quarter. The positive surprises helped bring buyers back into the action after they had stepped to the sidelines in the previous session's sell-off.
Accenture (ACN 41.37, -0.29) and Nike (NKE 64.42, +1.17) helped keep a positive vibe with better-than-expected earnings of their own, but it was financials that assisted tech stocks in providing leadership to the broader market.
Both tech stocks and financial stocks had been beaten down during the previous session, but rebounded to respective gains of 1.6% and 1.4% this session. Tech helped the Nasdaq outperform its counterparts, but the two sectors teamed up to provide leadership to the broader market --the two sectors were the best two performing sectors and combine to make up nearly 35% of the total weight in the S&P 500.
This session's action wasn't all positive, though. Stocks came under pressure midsession as the dollar made its way to a fresh three-month high against competing currencies. The greenback's gain caused the stock market to temporarily retreat into negative territory.
Stocks recovered to finish at afternoon highs as the dollar's advance proved unsustainable. The greenback finished flat for the session.
Despite the modest gain by the broader market, it wasn't enough to keep stocks from a weekly loss of 0.6%, which makes for the stock market's worst weekly performance in seven weeks. Meanwhile, stocks have shed 0.7% in the past month.
Trading volume on the NYSE hit its highest level of the year by eclipsing 3 billion shares, but that was largely the result of this year's last quadruple witching options expiration. The S&P 500 is also due to be rebalanced. Ordinarily high trading volume suggests heavy participation and a sense of conviction among participants, but since the surge in volume this session was fueled by traders concerned with squaring their positions the general mood of the market isn't so easily discerned.
Advancing Sectors: Tech (+1.6%), Financials (+1.4%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.5%), Utilities (+0.5%), Energy (+0.3%), Health Care (+0.3%), Telecom (+0.2%), Materials (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Consumer Staples (-0.3%), Industrials (-0.2%)DJ30 +20.63 NASDAQ +31.64 NQ100 +1.6% R2K +1.1% SP400 +0.5% SP500 +6.39 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1663/2.86 bln/1094 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1774/3.16 bln/1242
10:28AM LDK Solar confirms pricing of follow-on public offering of 16.52 mln american depositary shares at $7/ADS (LDK) 6.96 -0.86 : Co expects to use approximately $90.0 million of its net proceeds to pay down short-term debt and the remaining proceeds to fund the polysilicon production plant and the expansion of the solar module business, and for general corporate purposes.
9:00AM North American semiconductor equipment industry posts November 2009 book-to-bill ratio of 1.06 : North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $790.5 million in orders in November 2009 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.06, according to the November 2009 Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI. The three-month average of worldwide bookings in November 2009 was $790.5 million. The bookings figure is up 4.5 percent from the final October 2009 level of $756.3 million, and nearly 1 percent higher than the $783.8 million in orders posted in November 2008. The three-month average of worldwide billings in November 2009 was $743.7 million. The billings figure is 7.1 percent greater than the final October 2009 level of $694.1 million, and nearly 8 percent less than the November 2008 billings level of $806.8 million. "After a slight flattening of bookings in October 2009, both bookings and billings growth remained relatively slow but steady into November," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "This trend reinforces our view of an improving spending forecast as the industry heads into 2010."
Micron Technology (MU) announces that it will voluntarily transfer its stock exchange listing from The NYSE to the NASDAQ Global Select Market, effective Dec. 30, 2009...
09:18 am Oracle (ORCL)
Oracle (ORCL 22.88) reported better-than-expected fiscal second quarter results, news that has shares of the company more than 4.5% higher in Friday's premarket trading.
Reports Q2 (Nov) earnings of $0.39 per share, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $0.36;
Revenues rose 3% year-over-year to $5.87 billion vs. the $5.69 billion consensus.
"We delivered results which were substantially better than we expected on both the top and bottom line, growing non-GAAP operating margins by 280 basis points to 49%, the highest Q2 non-GAAP operating margin in our history," said CFO Jeff Epstein.
08:31 am Research In Motion (RIMM)
Research In Motion (RIMM 63.46) reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings and issued upside guidance for the fourth quarter, news that pleased investors and sent shares of the company more than 10% higher in after-hours trading Thursday.
Research In Motion reported earnings of $1.10 per share, $0.06 better than the First Call consensus of $1.04.
Revenues rose 11.2% year-over-year to $3.92 billion vs. the $3.78 billion consensus.
The BlackBerry maker said it added 4.4 million net subscribers at the end of the quarter, better than the 4.0 million to 4.3 million that Wall Street analysts expected.
Research In Motion issued upside earnings guidance for the fourth quarter, saying it expects earnings of $1.23 to $1.31 per share, well ahead of the current consensus estimate of $1.12. The company projects revenues to range from $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion; the consensus estimate stands at $4.11 billion.
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
