From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : In the absence of any broader market catalysts, financials and tech issues led the major indices to varied gains in the face of choppy trade.
This morning's mood was generally subdued, but stocks were able to stage an early advance as financials garnered support in the face of news that some Senate Democrats will propose to expand the Volker Rule with new limits on proprietary trading by banks and nonbank financial firms.
Citigroup (C 3.96, +0.14) was a strong performer amid news that it has issued a $2 billion trust preferred offering. Renowned analyst Dick Bove also issued positive comments on the stock. Meanwhile, widely-followed financial analyst Meredith Whitney gave positive grades to Visa (V 91.52, +1.37) and MasterCard (MA 249.60).
Banks were among the best overall performers in the sector as regional banks scored a 2.9% gain and diversified banks climbed 1.8%. The KBW Bank Index closed 2.2% higher.
Tech stocks also displayed relative strength, which helped take the Nasdaq Composite to a fresh 52-week high. The Nasdaq has advanced in eight of the past nine sessions, outperforming its counterparts in each of the past three sessions.
The S&P 500 has also advanced in eight of its last sessions, but it ran into resistance when it came within striking distance of its 52-week high, which was set in mid-January. Failure to push through resistance left stocks to roll over and surrender gains.
Buyers stepped in to help stocks recover from their slide, but the broad-based S&P 500 remains roughly five points shy of its high.
In the week's first dose of data, wholesale inventories for January slipped 0.2% when a 0.2% increase had been expected. Though the decline can undermine GDP, some suggested that it could be indicative of stronger-than-expected demand.
The Treasury's budget statement for February showed a deficit of $220.9 billion, which was essentially in step with the $222.0 billion consensus, but deeper than the $193.9 billion deficit that was recorded in February 2009.
Neither the Treasury statement nor the wholesale inventory data did anything for stocks.
In a widely-watched $21 billion auction of 10-year Notes, bidders showed up in strong numbers, such that the bid -to-cover ratio was just shy of 3.5, which is well above recent averages. The indirect bid was relatively modest, though; it came in at 35.1%. The benchmark 10-year Note settled slightly lower, but that kept its yield a few basis points above 3.70%.
A mixed finish for commodities gave the CRB Commodity Index a fractional loss. Gold was a primary source of weakness -- it settled 1.3% lower at $1108.20 per ounce. Oil prices gained 0.7% to close pit trade at $82.09 per barrel. Oil prices had traded around $83 per barrel, which marked a multiweek high, in the wake of a smaller-than-expected inventory build of 1.43 billion barrels.
Trading volume on the NYSE hit its highest level in nearly two weeks by totaling 1.14 billion shares. That also put it above its 50-day moving average of 1.09 billion shares.
Advancing Sectors: Financials (+1.1%), Tech (+0.8%), Energy (+0.6%), Industrials (+0.4%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.3%), Health Care (+0.1%), Utilities (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Consumer Staples (-0.2%), Telecom (-0.1%), Materials (-0.1%)DJ30 +2.95 NASDAQ +18.27 NQ100 +0.8% R2K +0.8% SP400 +0.8% SP500 +5.16 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1724/2.49 bln/957 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2040/1.14 bln/985
4:34PM Semtech beats by $0.08, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (SMTC) 17.35 +0.16 : Reports Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the First Call consensus of $0.22; revenues rose 35.6% year/year to $85 mln vs the $77 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1 (Apr), sees EPS of $0.27-0.30, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.21 consensus; sees Q1 revs up 7-13% sequentially, which computes to $91-96 mln vs. $79.5 mln consensus.
F5 Networks (FFIV 63.07 +1.41) showed strength after it was rumored that Hewlett Packard (HPQ 51.70 -0.18) could be interested in the co.
8:00AM Trina Solar signs sales agreement with U.S. wholesale distributor Essco (TSL) 22.77 : Co announces that its subsidiary, Changzhou Trina Solar Energy, has signed a sales agreement with Essco Wholesale Electric. Under the terms of the agreement, Trina Solar is expected to supply Essco with approximately 25 MW of PV modules and an additional 4 MW at the option of Essco, to be delivered during 2010. With the signing of this sales agreement, the Company has now secured a total of approximately 40 MW of PV modules from customers in the United States during 2010, all with agreed prices.
7:06AM On The Wires : CalAmp (CAMP) announces that it has entered into an agreement with Space Data Radio, LLC to lease a 100 KHz portion of licensed 900 MHz radio frequency spectrum across the entire United States, subject to execution of a definitive agreement and FCC filings...
09:38 am Advanced Micro upgraded to Buy at Broadpoint AmTech Research; tgt raised to $10: . Broadpoint AmTech Research upgrades AMD to Buy from Neutral and raises their tgt to $10 from $5.80 as the recent positive events (Analyst Day/INTC settlement/capital structure) lead the firm to believe that AMD's risk/reward is now compelling. The firm notes that AMD's capital structure improved as a result of INTC's $1.25 bln settlement and yesterday's announcement of debt restructuring actions. The firm believes that AMD's debt of ~$3.7 bln will be reduced by ~25%, while also lowering interest expense slightly less, ~20%. Should Global Foundries and ATIC's chartered purchase be consolidated, the firm believes that they could see deconsolidation in the following 3-6 months. Furthermore, the firm feels that revenue growth in the coming quarters will prove to be stronger than the Street is modeling, driven by: a healthy Win7 cycle; leadership in the Evergreen GPU platform; more focused marketing; and possible tailwind from INTC settlement headlines entering the selling season.
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