From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Another round of highly volatile trade brought broad-based losses, but this session's slide wasn't as bad as the prior session's selloff. Still, many market participants seem to have grown increasingly skittish.
The prior session's 2.4% slide was the worst single-session percentage loss since February, but stocks failed to quickly snap back as they had so many other times. Instead, sellers stepped right back in to drop the S&P 500 another 1% in the early going. The pressure pushed the benchmark index well below its 50-day moving average, which hadn't been broken for two months.
Early weakness was partly owed to persistent concerns about the fiscal health of Greece and the rest of the PIIGS contingent, which includes Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Spain. Moody's reminded investors of their risk with news that Portugal's debt has been placed on review for possible downgrade.
Lost support for the euro and an interest in safety drove the U.S. dollar sharply higher once again. The greenback set a new 11-month high against a collection of competing currencies before it eased back. Still, it closed with a 1.0% gain and is now up 8.0% year-to-date.
With many global participants turning away from riskier assets and riskier markets the Dow Jones World Index fell 1.3%. The World Index dropped 1.7% when excluding the U.S., given that U.S. stocks were able to trim losses.
The S&P 500 had been down as much as 1.3% at its session low, but support from a technical trend line through 1158 triggered a rebound that took stocks all the way to positive territory. The gain proved unsustainable and stocks drifted lower into the close, though.
Of the major sectors, consumer staples (+0.3%) and health care (+0.2%) were the only two that managed to stage gains. Telecom limited its loss to just 0.1%.
Some of the worst losses were found in the energy sector, which was weighed down by broader market weakness and another sharp drop in oil prices. Crude oil prices had dropped 4% in the prior session and then surrendered 3.3% this session. Oil prices now stand at $79.97 per barrel, below the $80 per barrel mark for the first time in more than one month. The latest bout of selling was exacerbated by a larger-than-expected build in weekly oil inventories.
Financials had offered some midsession support to the broader market by making a swing from a near 2% loss to a near 1% gain. However, the sector succumbed to pressure as sellers redoubled their efforts; it finished with a 0.5% loss.
Volatility spiked once again. Amid early selling the Volatility Index spiked roughly 14% to a new three-month high, but it pulled back to settle nearly 5% higher.
Treasuries garnered support amid the highly volatile action. In fact, strong gains in the benchmark 10-year Note dropped its yield below 3.50% for the first time this year. The gain moderated so that the Note's yield climbed to 3.55% into the close.
Heightened participation helped trading volume on the NYSE hit 1.5 billion shares for the second straight session. That's the first time this year that volume has hit 1.5 billion shares on back-to-back sessions.
Economic data has done little for trade for the second straight session, but that's mostly due to a lack of surprise as the April ISM Service Index came in at 55.4, which was just below the 56.0 that had been widely forecast. The ADP Employment Report for April showed a slightly greater-than-expected 32,000 private payroll additions.
Advancing Sectors: Consumer Staples (+0.3%), Health Care (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-1.5%), Industrials (-1.5%), Consumer Discretionary (-1.4%), Materials (-0.8%), Utilities (-0.7%), Tech (-0.6%), Financials (-0.5%), Telecom (-0.1%) DJ30 -59.94 NASDAQ -21.96 NQ100 -0.5% R2K -1.6% SP400 -1.1% SP500 -7.73 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 675/2.94 bln/2039 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 625/1.50 bln/2461
5:29PM Kulicke & Soffa misses by $0.02, reports revs in-line (KLIC) 7.99 -0.23 : Reports Q2 (Mar) GAAP earnings of $0.28 per share, $0.02 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.30; revenues rose 510.3% year/year to $153.8 mln vs the $152.9 mln consensus.
5:07PM Methode Electronics announces investment in Eetrex (MEI) 11.00 -0.03 : Co announced it has become an investor in Eetrex, a developer and manufacturer of chargers, inverters, and battery systems for hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Co has acquired 15% of Eetrex's stock, and pursuant to the investment, co will appoint two board members.
4:34PM Microchip beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus; raised quarterly dividend to a record $0.342 (MCHP) 28.99 +0.16 : Reports Q4 (Mar) GAAP earnings of $0.40 per share, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.37; revenues rose 60.4% year/year to $278 mln vs the $269.9 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees GAAP EPS of $0.43 vs. $0.39 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q1 revs of $300 mln vs. $279.28 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
4:34PM Maxim Integrated reaches agreement in principle to settle class action stock option litigation (MXIM) 18.70 -0.32 : Co announced that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding reflecting an agreement in principle to settle all claims asserted against all defendants in the putative class action concerning the co's stock option accounting practices. The agreement in principle provides for the payment of $173 mln by the co. The after-tax cash impact is estimated to be $110 mln.
4:06PM ON Semiconductor beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs above consensus (ONNN) 7.75 -0.20 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.17; revenues rose 10.7% year/year to $550.2 mln vs the $520.9 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $565-580 mln vs. $534.16 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
4:01PM Virage Logic beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (VIRL) 9.27 -0.04 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.08 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.06; revenues rose 111.8% year/year to $25.2 mln vs the $24.9 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.10-0.13 vs. $0.12 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q3 revs of $26.0-27.0 mln vs. $26.55 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
8:02AM EMS Tech misses by $0.02, misses on revs; reaffirms FY10 EPS guidance (ELMG) 25.90 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.07 per share, $0.02 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.09; revenues fell 10.2% year/year to $82.9 mln vs the $84.9 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $0.75-0.90 vs. $0.81 Thomson Reuters consensus.
8:02AM Vishay beats by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (VSH) 10.18 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.22; revenues rose 42.5% year/year to $640.5 mln vs the $657.2 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $660-700 mln vs. $676.93 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
Applied Materials (AMAT) announced that its Esatto Technology is expected to be used in more than 2 gigawatts of annual cell manufacturing capacity in the next few months at customer sites in China, Taiwan and Europe...
7:35AM O2Micro beats by $0.08, beats on revs (OIIM) 7.06 : Reports Q1 (Mar) GAAP earnings of $0.11 per share, $0.08 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.03; revenues rose 50.8% year/year to $34.9 mln vs the $33.6 mln consensus. GAAP gross margin was 61.6% in Q110 vs 60.6% in 4Q09 and 55.5% in 1Q09.
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