From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Large-cap tech issues gave a modest lift to the Nasdaq, but the broader market finished flat after interest in a better-than-expected consumer confidence report dissipated.
A stronger-than-expected improvement in the May Consumer Confidence Index to 52.5 further improved what was already a generally positive tone in the early going. Though gains were modest, the morning advance was broad based.
However, the mood among market participants deteriorated as the dollar made a move up from negative territory to finish with a 0.3% gain against competing currencies. The greenback's gain was somewhat restricted by strength in the British pound, which garnered support amid news that Britain's fourth quarter GDP was upwardly revised to reflect a 0.4% increase.
Still, credit analysts at S&P remain concerned about Britain's fiscal deficit. Such concern offers another reminder that even historically stable global economies face sovereign debt challenges. To its credit, though, France's AAA rating was affirmed by Fitch analysts, who also said the outlook for France's grade is stable.
Strength in the dollar dragged down the broader market, but tech stocks showed resilience. That gave the sector a 0.5% gain and helped the Nasdaq edge out its counterparts.
Apple (AAPL 235.83, +3.44) was a primary leader in its space after reports indicated that the company is developing a network that will enable its highly coveted iPhone to team with more companies than just AT&T (T 25.95, -0.56). The news dropped shares of T, but Verizon (VZ 31.23, +0.78) staged a strong gain.
Financials were part of the reason that the broader market struggled to post a gain. The sector, which is second to tech by market weight, finished with a 0.7% loss. That made it the worst performing sector in the S&P 500. Diversified financial services stocks (-1.3%) were the weakest performers in the sector; they were also among the most actively traded names by volume in the entire market.
Overall trading volume was underwhelming once again as fewer than 1 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE. The low-volume trade has been consistent in recent weeks as participants continue to take a cautious stance, wary of jumping in or out of the market for fear of a correction or missing further gains.
Advancing Sectors: Tech (+0.5%), Materials (+0.2%), Industrials (+0.2%), Health Care (+0.1%), Consumer Staples (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-0.7%), Telecom (-0.4%), Utilities (-0.2%)
Unchanged: Energy, Consumer Discretionary DJ30 +11.56 NASDAQ +6.33 NQ100 +0.3%% R2K +0.3% SP400 +0.1% SP500 +0.05 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1446/2.07 bln/1246 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1552/907 mln/1462
5:00PM FEI files suit to collect ~$2.4 mln of receivables owed by Cambridge Global Systems (FEIC) 23.12 +0.33 : Co announced that it has filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to collect approximately $2.4 mln of receivables owed to FEIC by Cambridge Global Systems of Chantilly, VA. Cambridge Global Systems, a subsidiary of Cambridge Systems, purchased three systems from FEIC on behalf of a U.S. Federal agency and a prime contractor through a set-aside program. FEIC has delivered the systems to its end-user customers. The government agency and its contractors have paid Cambridge Global Systems, but Cambridge has not paid FEIC. FEIC expects to increase its reserve for uncollectible receivables for the full amount of the Cambridge receivable in its first quarter, which ends on April 4, 2010.
4:31PM O2Micro announces that is has adopted a program to repurchase up to $10 mln worth of ADSs (OIIM) 6.89 +0.26 :
3:25PM Applied Materials details plans for growth at analyst meeting, expects FY10 net sales more than 60% higher than FY09 (AMAT) 13.37 +0.06 : Co today held an analyst meeting to outline its plans for growing revenue and profitability over the next several years. Applied's executive team shared the company's goals of capitalizing on an expected multi-year expansion in the semiconductor industry, increasing market share across its businesses, and driving operational improvements. Applied is seeing growth in demand across a number of its businesses, and the company now expects fiscal 2010 net sales to be more than 60% higher than in fiscal 2009 - compared to its previous forecast of up more than 50%. Sees revs growth of more than 60% (calc to $8.02 bln vs $8.29 bln Thomson Reuters consensus)
6:32AM White Elec Designs to be acquired by Microsemi Corporation for $7/share (WEDC) 5.46 : Microsemi Corporation (MSCC) announces it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire White Electronic Designs (WEDC) through a cash tender offer at $7.00 per share for a net transaction value of approx $100 million, net of White Electronic's projected cash balance at closing. Microsemi will finance the acquisition using its cash on hand and there will be no acquisition debt incurred in connection with the transaction. Microsemi expects that there will be significant cost synergies from the transaction and that Microsemi can drive gross profit levels to its own corporate target as Microsemi exits lower margin business, drives a richer product mix, and realizes operational and other cost synergies by Microsemi's fourth fiscal quarter, ended October 3, 2010. Based on current assumptions, Microsemi further expects the acquisition to be $0.08 to $0.12 accretive in its full fiscal year 2011.
Avago Technologies (AVGO) announces that on March 15, 2010 Avago filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against STMicroelectronics (STM). Avago alleges that certain STMicroelectronics products infringe four of Avago's patents covering optical navigation technology and is seeks cash compensation and an order preventing further infringement of the technology...
1:40AM Amkor announces initial determination in ITC patent infringement case against Carsem (AMKR) 7.11 : Co announces that the Administrative Law Judge in Amkor's patent infringement case against Carsem in the International Trade Commission has issued a Supplemental Initial Determination. Although the ALJ's ruling did not disturb the prior finding that Carsem Dual and Quad Flat No-Lead Packages infringe some of Amkor's patent claims relating to MicroLeadFrame technology, the ALJ found that some of Amkor's patent claims are invalid and, as a result, the ALJ did not find a statutory violation of the Tariff Act.
09:48 am LDK Q4 Earnings Fall Short of Expectations
LDK Solar (LDK 6.47, -0.58) reported fourth quarter earnings this morning, which fell short of Wall Street expectations. In addition, the company provided its revenue outlook for the first quarter, which is in-line with consensus.
The company reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.12. Revenues fell 28.6% year-over-year to $304.6 million, slightly higher than the $301.9 million consensus.
For the first quarter, the company expects to earn revenue of $310 million to $330 million, in-line with the $321.03 million Thomson Reuters consensus, with wafer shipments between 370 MW to 400 MW and module shipments between 25 MW to 30 MW.
During the fourth quarter, the company shipped 340.4 MW of wafers, up 33.8% year-over-year. Gross margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 was 9.9%, compared to 20.1% in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 and negative 49.6% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008. Operating margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 was negative 1.1% compared to 13.2% in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 and negative 59.0% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.
The company said, "We continue to make progress in ramping polysilicon production. Our 1,000 MT plant is producing near capacity. We continued ramping up operations for the first 5,000 MT train of our 15,000 MT plant during the quarter and increasing output on a monthly basis. We made significant progress in diversifying and integrating our business. We are now able to serve our global customer base with a new line of solar module products via the acquisition of the module assembly assets from Best Solar. We are encouraged that we will be able to expand our sales throughout Europe, North America and Asia. We continue to be excited by the long-term growth opportunities in the solar industry."
09:31 am AAPL Plans Production of New iPhone This Year - WSJ
The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple (AAPL 232.39) plans to begin producing this year a new iPhone that could allow U.S. phone carriers other than AT&T (T) to sell the iconic gadget, said people briefed by the company.
The Journal said the new iPhone would work on a type of wireless network called CDMA, these people said. CDMA is used by Verizon Wireless (VZ), AT&T's main competitor, as well as Sprint Nextel (S) and a handful of cellular operators in countries including South Korea and Japan. The vast majority of carriers world-wide, including AT&T, use another technology called GSM.
Separately, the Journal reported that Apple plans to release a new version of its current iPhone this summer, continuing its practice of annual upgrades at about the same time of year, said people briefed on the matter.
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