From Briefing.com: 4:35 pm : Efforts to prevent contagion in Europe helped the stock market stage its best single-session rally in more than one year. And even though the move was both broad and strong and accompanied by high volume trade, some question its sustainability.
A positive mood permeated global trade for the entire session, thanks to a decision by leaders of the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pledge financial support to eurozone countries. In turn, Greece and other countries on tenuous financial footing will be able to tap a pool of 500 billion euros from the EU, while the IMF stands ready with another 250 billion euros. In addition to those measures, the European Central Bank announced that it will make eurozone bond purchases via the secondary market. Such a move should help facilitate credit markets by providing a deep pocketed buyer. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve has reopened swap lines with foreign institutions.
That series of efforts helped tighten credit default swap spreads for the likes of Greece and Portugal, and also sent the euro up sharply. The euro gave ground against bounce by the greenback, though; in turn, the dollar settled trade with a loss of little more than 0.2% after it had been down as much as 1.8% against a basket of competing currencies.
Stocks traded with strong gains for the entire session, especially those in Europe, where all 30 names in Germany's DAX advanced and all 40 components of France's CAC climbed. French banks booked some of the best gains as the bailout news helped relieve concerns related to their loan exposure to Greece.
Many market pundits questioned whether this session's surge was anything more than a relief rally for the broader market, especially after the S&P 500 fell almost 8% during the course of the four previous sessions.
Bets on further moves to the downside caused some to cover their positions this session. That sort of short covering only squeezed stocks higher and ushered in higher trading volume.
With some 1.8 billion shares exchanging hands on the NYSE this session, trading volume surpassed its 200-day moving average for the fifth time in a row.
Though some may discount the conviction behind this session's move and attribute it to relief buying and short covering, nearly 98% of the names in the S&P 500 advanced to take the stock market to its best percentage gain in more than 52-weeks. Such broad-based strength sent the Volatility Index, or "fear gauge," to a 30% drop.
Advancing Sectors: Industrials (+5.7%), Financials (+5.6%), Consumer Discretionary (+5.3%), Tech (+5.0%), Materials (+4.8%), Energy (+4.0%), Utilities (+3.0%), Consumer Staples (+2.8%), Health Care (+2.7%), Telecom (+2.4%)
Declining Sectors: (None) DJ30 +404.71 NASDAQ +109.03 NQ100 +5.0% R2K +5.6% SP400 +5.2% SP500 +48.85 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2209/2.78 bln/327 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2988/1.86 bln/157
4:14PM LDK Solar beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs above consensus; guides FY10 revs above consensus (LDK) 6.96 +0.78 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.06 per share, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.01; revenues rose 14.1% year/year to $347.6 mln vs the $325.9 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $460-490 mln (with wafer shipments between 460 MW and 480 MW, and module shipments between 60 MW and 70 MW) vs. $382.30 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY10, sees FY10 revs of $1.6-1.7 bln (with wafer shipments between 1.7 GW and 1.8 GW and module shipment between 200 MW and 300 MW) vs. $1.39 bln Thomson Reuters consensus.
4:04PM Nuance Communications beats by $0.01, beats on revs (NUAN) 17.38 +0.96 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.28 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.27; non-GAAP revenues rose 22.6% year/year to $292.8 mln vs the $282.9 mln consensus.
7:31AM Adaptec announces $34 mln sale of RAID Storage business to PMC-Sierra Inc. (ADPT) 2.94 : Co announced the signing of a definitive agreemnt to sell certain assets to PMC-Sierra for ~$34 mln in cash. Following the sale, the co will retain its Aristos ASIC technology business, certain real estate assets, more than 200 patents, and approximately $400 million in cash and marketable securities.
6:33AM Amtech Systems announces $15 mln in new solar orders, reports fiscal YTD solar orders reach $98 mln (ASYS) 8.60 :
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