From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Despite lackluster and listless action, stocks were able to advance modestly so that the S&P 500 extended its streak of gains to six straight sessions.
Stocks spent the majority of the session in a sideways drift. Buyers seemed absent, while downside moves were short and shallow due to technical support.
Action throughout the afternoon contrasted with the early going in that stocks had looked like they would make their way broadly higher during the opening minutes. The early move was led by natural resource plays like materials stocks and energy stocks. Both groups were up nearly 1% early on.
Strength among natural resource stocks stemmed from higher commodity prices, which were spurred by a weaker dollar after global participants learned that during December China saw its first increase in exports in more than one year. Though the buck spent the session mired in weakness and logged a 0.6% loss against competing currencies, commodity prices pulled back and left the CRB Commodity Index to lose 0.5%. Materials stocks closed with a 0.2% loss, while energy stocks eked out a 0.1% gain.
Metal mining giant and Dow component Alcoa (AA 17.45, +0.43) showed strength throughout the session, however. Its gains came ahead of its latest quarterly report and teamed up with other blue chips to help the Dow Jones Industrial Average outperform the other headline indices.
The Nasdaq Composite was the only headline index that failed to muster a gain this session. It lagged its counterparts for virtually the entire session, largely as a result of renewed weakness among large-cap tech.
News flow was slow and participants were without many trading cues this session, but the number of headlines aren't expected to pick up for another few days. Alcoa's report this evening marks the unofficial start to earnings season, but announcements don't begin in earnest until next week. Economic data will also remain sparse for a few more days, but Thursday's retail sales report and weekly jobless claims figures will be met with increased interest.
Advancing Sectors: Industrials (+1.2%), Utilities (+1.1%), Health Care (+0.4%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%), Energy (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Tech (-0.4%), Materials (-0.2%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.1%)
Unchanged: Telecom, FinancialsDJ30 +45.80 NASDAQ -4.76 NQ100 -0.3% R2K -0.1% SP400 -0.1% SP500 +2.00 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1307/2.09 bln/1367 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1808/967 mln/1220
6:09PM Cirrus Logic raises Q3 revs above consensus; guides Q4 revs above consensus (CRUS) 6.62 -0.06 : Co raises Q3 revs to $65 mln vs. $60.8 mln consensus, up from $58-62 mln. The increase over forecasted revenue was driven by stronger than anticipated demand for a broad range of audio products, as well as modest improvement in demand for energy products. Co sees Q4 revs of $53 mln vs. the 49.0 mln consensus.
5:52PM California Micro raises Q3 revs guidance to $12.5-12.6 mln, up from $12.5 mln (CAMD) 4.70 +0.01 : Co sees GAAP EPS of a loss of $0.03, vs. consensus of a loss of $0.03. Co raises Q3 revs guidance to $12.5-12.6 mln vs. $11.5 consensus, up from $12.5 mln.
5:49PM Bell Micro raises Q4 revs guidance above consensus (BELM) 3.45 +0.09 : Co raises Q4 revs guidance to $830-840 mln vs.$807.24 mln First Call consensus, up from $796-819 mln. Co said, "Sales have increased by close to 20% from Q2 of 2009. We have seen improvements in business in all geographies and most product categories. The product categories of storage components, storage systems, and computer systems have been strong contributors to our growth. We are optimistic that the improvement in demand in the last half of 2009 is an indicator of improved market conditions as we go forward in 2010." Preliminary net sales for each of the three major geographies consisted of the following: * Following a strong Q3, North American net sales increased 3% sequentially and 1% year-over-year. * Europe net sales increased 17% sequentially and 13% year-over-year. * Latin American net sales increased 6% sequentially and 19% year-over-year.
4:21PM Emulex sees Q2 EPS of $0.16-0.17 vs $0.12 First Call consensus; revs of $107-108 mln vs $90.68 mln First Call consensus (ELX) 11.14 -0.05 : The co announces preliminary results for Q2. Total net revenues of $107-$108 million vs. $90.7 mln First Call Consensus. Host Server Products (HSP) net revenues increased 28% sequentially, representing approximately 75% of net revenues. Non-GAAP diluted Earnings Per Share of $0.16 - $0.17 vs. $0.12 First Call Consensus... President and CEO Jim McCluney commented, "We executed very well to deliver the December quarter results, which were driven by broad customer demand across both our HSP and ESP product lines. I'm particularly pleased with the tangible benefits we are now seeing from our sales and marketing efforts over the past year to gain market share in Fibre Channel board level products, and this momentum has continued into the new year." "With an expanding portfolio of UCNA and embedded product design wins ramping in the first half of the year, combined with an improving IT spending environment, we are exceptionally well positioned to deliver meaningful revenue growth in 2010," concluded McCluney.
Mentor Graphics (MENT) announces that Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) has selected it as an ideal partner in the silicon test, yield analysis, physical verification and DFM technology areas...
9:01AM Rudolph Tech announces it has received multiple orders for its NSX and WaferScanner Inspection Systems from STATS ChipPAC (RTEC) 7.20 :
8:01AM Microchip announced it has acquired ZeroG Wireless; terms of the deal are confidential (MCHP) 28.50 :
6:46AM Solarfun Power awarded three PV module contracts totalling 12.65 MW in China (SOLF) 10.06 : Co announces that Jiangsu Linyang Solarfun Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Solarfun, has entered into three contracts to supply 12.65 MW PV modules to projects in China. The first contract was with Xuzhou Xie Xin PV Power Co., Ltd. to supply 10 MW PV modules for a project based in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. These modules were delivered during the fourth quarter of 2009. The other two contracts totaling 2.65 MW are for a government funded project in Anhui Province.
6:15AM Microsemi recoreceived the year's first orders for body scan subsystem, asserts ability to meet rapid increase in demand (MSCC) 17.91 : Co announces it has received the year's first orders for its Microsemi SecureWave millimeterwave security products that include transceivers and switch subsystems for use in whole body imaging systems to be deployed in airports and other public and government facilities. Microsemi, which received the orders from the industry leading supplier, said that it expected additional orders from this and other suppliers because of increased demand for whole body imaging systems. Government leaders around the world have called for significant increases in deployments of whole body imaging systems since the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day.
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