From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Financial stocks were whipsawed to a strong gain that helped the broader market recover from a modest loss to make a strong finish.
Early gains were quickly challenged as participants reapplied pressure to financial shares. That sent the financial sector from a gain of more than 1% down to a loss of nearly 1% at its session low. However, the sector was able to stage a rebound amid news that an SEC decision to press on with charges of fraud against Goldman Sachs (GS 163.32, +2.62) was only secured with a 3-to-2 vote, which suggested that the case might not be so strong. Shares of GS finished near their session high, while the broader financial sector settled with a 1.1% gain.
Citigroup (C 4.88, +0.32) recouped all of its losses from the prior session with a 7.0% surge. The move followed better-than-expected earnings.
While renewed strength in the financial sector provided a necessary lift to the broader market, technicals played a part, too. As such, support surfaced for the S&P 500 around 1186 and the Dow brought in buyers when it breached 11,000.
Most of the better performing blue chips in the Dow were buoyed by anticipation for their earnings. IBM (IBM 132.23, +1.60), Coca-Cola (KO 55.32, +0.35), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 66.03, +1.01) were atop the list.
A pullback by the greenback boosted the afternoon bid. The buck settled with a gain of less than 0.2% against competing currencies.
Despite the dollar's diminished strength, commodities succumbed to selling. That left the CRB Commodity Index to fall 1.1%. Oil prices were pushed 2.2% lower to close pit trade at $81.45 per barrel. That marked the third straight loss for crude oil prices.
Trading volume was strong this session. In fact, with nearly 1.3 billion shares trading hands on the NYSE this session, it was one of the most actively traded non-options expiration sessions this year.
Advancing Sectors: Financials (+1.1%), Telecom (+1.1%), Health Care (+0.8%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.3%), Materials (0.2%), Tech (+0.2%), Utilities (+0.2%), Energy (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: (None)
Unchanged: Industrials DJ30 +73.39 NASDAQ -1.15 NQ100 +0.00% R2K -0.5% SP400 -0.3% SP500 +5.39 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1009/2.15 bln/1672 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1324/1.26 bln/1681
4:48PM Evergreen Solar sees Q1 revs of $78.5 mln vs $73.60 mln Thomson Reuters consensus (ESLR) 1.18 +0.06 : The co announces preliminary unaudited selected financial results for the first quarter of 2010, ended April 3, 2010. Shipments for the first quarter of 2010 increased to a new Company record of approximately 35.4 megawatts. Revenues for the quarter were approximately $78.5 million vs $73.60 mln Thomson Reuters consensus and average selling price was approximately $2.20 per watt. Manufacturing costs were approximately $2.05 per watt, which is consistent with the fourth quarter of 2009. Richard M. Feldt, Chairman, CEO and President stated, "Operationally, our Devens facility is performing very well, and as a result, we expect production and sales to increase to between 37 to 38 megawatts for the second quarter of 2010. Overall, demand for our product in the first quarter was strong and our selling prices decreased modestly by approximately 4% from the fourth quarter of 2009, mostly due to the stronger US dollar. Furthermore, our ongoing dialog with customers indicates that overall demand for our products in 2010 is expected to be consistent with the initial forecast of 175 megawatts we provided in February." Mr. Feldt added, "Our progress in Wuhan, China is on schedule and we expect to begin production in mid 2010. I am particularly pleased to report that we produced our first wafers from Quad furnaces initially being used for training purposes, which were installed in Wuhan in mid-March."
4:15PM IBM beats by $0.04, reports revs slightly above consensus; raises FY10 EPS guidance above consensus (IBM) 132.23 +1.60 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.97 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.93; revenues rose 5.3% year/year to $22.86 bln vs the $22.75 bln consensus. IBM reports Q1 gross margins of 43.6% vs Street est of 44.3%. Co raises guidance for FY10, sees EPS of at least $11.20 vs the $11.12 consensus; up from guidance for at least $11 previously. The company also said it expects constant-currency revenue growth for IBM and for its total services, software and hardware businesses in the second quarter. "Looking ahead, we are confident in our ability to grow revenue, and given our mix of higher-value business and productivity we will expand margins, grow profit, cash and EPS, and increase returns to shareholders"... Segment info: Total Global Services revenues increased 4% (down 2%, adjusting for currency). Global Technology Services segment revenues increased 6% (flat, adjusting for currency) to $9.3 bln. Global Business Services segment revenues were flat (down 5%, adjusting for currency) at $4.4 bln. Consulting services signings were up 18%, with 25% of signings related to Smarter Planet and Business Analytics... IBM ended the first-quarter 2010 with $14.0 billion of cash on hand and generated free cash flow of $1.4 billion, up approximately $400 million year over year.
4:05PM Atheros Communications beats by $0.06, beats on revs (ATHR) 39.76 -0.50 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.57 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.51; revenues rose 144.3% year/year to $214.7 mln vs the $201.2 mln consensus. "We experienced broad-based strength across our PC OEM and Networking channels, including strong momentum for our newly acquired PLC business..."
11:12AM Semiconductor Hldrs displays relative weakness but holding near initial supports (SMH) 29.60 -0.42 : The SMH generally underperformed the S&P in the wake of its early Jan advance but it provided leadership last week following its technical breakout. It has displayed relative weakness today as the pullback has been extended as low as 29.64 in recent trade but there is room for a pause without any technical damage. The 38% retracement of the advance off the early month reaction low of 27.95 is at 29.54 has been probed in recent trade (session low 29.57) with the 50% level at 29.24 (Click for daily chart).
8:04AM Silicon Labs and Arrow Electronics establish global franchise agreement (SLAB) 52.05 : Arrow Electronics (ARW) and SLAB announced a distribution agreement for Silicon Labs' broad portfolio of mixed-signal products.
2:50AM STMicroelectronics Board to propose increase annual dividend to $0.28/share from $0.12/share (STM) 10.25 :
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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