From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : A better-than-expected ADP Employment reading and a stronger-than-expected ISM Service Index gave stocks a lift, but caution ahead of other pivotal jobs data limited gains until an afternoon bid lifted the major averages out of their trading ranges to a solid finish.
The July ADP Employment Change showed that 42,000 jobs were added to private payrolls last month. Given that the increase was greater than the 25,000 additions that had been widely expected, some hope that the official nonfarm payrolls figures will be stronger than currently forecast when they are released Friday morning. Before that, participants must digest the latest weekly initial jobless claims count, which is due tomorrow morning.
While the ADP data gave stocks a positive start this session, gains grew when the July ISM Service Index came in at 54.3, which bested the 53.0 that had been expected.
However, gains were dashed when stocks ran into resistance near the stock market's weekly high and rumors surfaced that China's regulators have requested stress tests of their banks. The alleged tests would consider a 60% decline in residential property prices. That prompted some concern about how the possibility of plummeting property prices in China would hurt the global recovery.
Though there was no real leadership to speak of, stocks fought off efforts to take them into the red. They then chopped along with modest gains before gradually climbing into the close.
Retailers outperformed with a 2.2% gain. The space was spurred higher by better-than-expected earnings and upside guidance Priceline (PCLN 281.30, +50.63) and news that Barnes & Noble (BKS 15.31, +2.47) will pursue strategic alternatives. The near 20% surge in shares of BKS helped lead both the Russell 2000 and the S&P 400 to a 1.1% gain.
For the most part, other corporate announcements had little influence on overall trade, but Goldman Sachs (GS 156.41, +3.22) garnered support for itself amid word from CNBC that the firm might spin out its prop trading arm. Some see the move as one that would promote earnings growth. As for the broader financial sector, it lagged for most of the session and finished just 0.3% higher.
Defensive-oriented plays in the utilities and telecom sectors were also laggards. Utilities eked out a 0.1% gain, while telecom fell 0.1% to finish as the only major sector to log a loss.
Lacking participation kept trading volume on the NYSE below 1 billion shares. That's well below the 50-day average of 1.28 billion shares that are usually exchanged on the Big Board.
Advancing Sectors: Consumer Discretionary (+1.5%), Health Care (+0.9%), Materials (+0.8%), Industrials (+0.7%), Tech (+0.6%), Energy (+0.5%), Consumer Staples (+0.3%), Utilities (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Telecom (-0.1%) DJ30 +44.05 NASDAQ +20.05 NQ100 +0.9% R2K +1.1% SP400 +1.1% SP500 +6.78 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1744/2.04 bln/868 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2248/975 mln/777
5:53PM Kulicke & Soffa beats by $0.12, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs in-line (KLIC) 7.20 +0.30 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.65 per share, $0.12 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.53; revenues rose 324.8% year/year to $221.3 mln vs the $205.3 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $250-260 mln vs. $226.88 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. "while it is too early to provide December quarter guidance, we can say that we expect that quarter's revenue to be about comparable to September."
4:30PM Atmel beats by $0.05, beats on revs (ATML) 5.19 +0.05 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.11 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.06; revenues rose 38.2% year/year to $393.4 mln vs the $374.2 mln consensus.
4:26PM ON Semiconductor beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs in-line (ONNN) 6.95 +0.16 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.22; revenues rose 38.9% year/year to $583.3 mln vs the $573.8 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $585-$610 mln vs. $593.90 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Sees Q3 gross margins of 42.5%-43%. "Backlog levels at the beginning of the third quarter of 2010 were up from backlog levels at the beginning of the second quarter of 2010 and represent over 90 percent of our anticipated third quarter 2010 revenues. We expect that average selling prices for the third quarter of 2010 will be approximately flat when compared to the second quarter of 2010."
11:21AM Research In Motion: Brightstar expands distribution relationship with Research In Motion in Hong Kong (RIMM) 53.74 -1.80 : Brightstar, has expanded its existing global distribution relationship with Research In Motion to Hong Kong. Brightstar will distribute BlackBerry smartphones to multiple retail channels in Hong Kong. Supported smartphone models include BlackBerry Bold(TM) 9700 in black and white and BlackBerry Curve 8520.
10:13AM Intel confirms U.S. Federal Trade Commission reach tentative settlement (INTC) 20.56 -0.15 : Co stated "Intel and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have reached a tentative settlement in the antitrust suit filed by the Commission December 16. The FTC sued Intel alleging Intel had violated Section 5 of the FTC Act. The settlement agreement expressly states that Intel does not admit either any violation of law or that the facts alleged in the complaint are true."
8:50AM Fairchild Semi reduces debt by another $122 mln (FCS) 8.82 : Co announces that on 7/30/2010 it voluntarily prepaid its B-1 incremental term loan of $121.6 million. The incremental B-1 loan, under its existing senior credit facility, had an interest rate of Libor + 2.50 percent. At current interest rates, this reduction in debt saves approximately $3.2 million annually in net interest expense.
6:33AM Sunpower completes largest solar power trackign system in Australia (SPWRA) 12.78 : Co announces it has completed a 505-kilowatt solar power installation for Horizon Power, a government-owned utility providing power to remote and regional communities and resource operations in Western Australia.
6:21AM United Micro beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (UMC) 3.14 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.07 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.06; revenues rose 34.3% year/year to $927 mln vs the $919.4 mln consensus.
08:52 am Advanced Micro initiated with a Neutral at Sterne Agee: . Sterne Agee initiates AMD with a Neutral, saying servers continue to be strong but AMD's new platform launch should be incrementally positive in late 4Q10. While near-term PC sentiment has been overall negative with U.S.-Europe and China being weaker and July shipments down M/M, firm believes August shipments will see a 10%-20% M/M rebound. Firm says OEMs still appear to prefer sea shipments to offset component costs. But key to AMD and PC market near-term will be Back to School sales and retail picking up in Europe, with near-term retail sales sentiment negative in U.S. & Europe.
10:04 am STEC Guides Q3 EPS Well Above Consensus (STEC)
STEC (STEC 15.94 +0.29) reported second quarter earnings of $0.09 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.00).
Revenues fell 29.1% year-over-year to $61.3 million, better than the $50.1 million consensus.
For the third quarter, the company expects to see earnings of $0.18 to $0.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, well above the $0.13 Thomson Reuters consensus. Revenues are expected to be $78 million to $80 million, also well above consensus, which is $68.28 million.
09:59 am IOSP Reports Q2 EPS Well Above Last Year's Q2 (IOSP)
Innospec (IOSP 12.53 +0.77) reported diluted EPS of $0.66 for its second quarter, which is well above last year's EPS of $0.32.
On the top line, net sales grew 23% year-over-year to $168.4 million.
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