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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : A loss of confidence in the economic recovery led to a deep, broad-based selloff that sent stocks reeling. Though the broader market suffered its worst loss of the past few weeks, it was able to secure support just above a key technical line.

Market participants turned pessimistic after China reported some weaker-than-expected retail sales figures and a slight dip in industrial production during July. Japan's lackluster machinery orders report and moderate economic outlook didn't help.

The Bank of England also failed to counter waning confidence in a steady global recovery with its statement that risks to growth are still to the downside.

Those announcements come after the Fed stated again yesterday that the economic recovery is likely to be more modest in the near term.

Coupling the underwhelming announcements with the stock market's inability to build on the gains of recent weeks, investors took the opportunity to rotate out of stocks. The selling effort was largely indiscriminate as 495 of the 500 members of the S&P 500 fell to a loss - Macy's (M 20.52, +1.14) was one of the few to stage a gain after it reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and raised its outlook.

Such widespread weakness caused the S&P 500 to slice through its 200-day simple average, but it held steady just above its 50-day average of 1088.

Treasuries ticked higher as participants sought safety. In turn, the benchmark 10-year Note dropped to a 14-month low and ended the day around 2.68%.

Treasuries showed a muted response to results from a $24 billion auction of 10-year Notes. Dollar demand for the auction was a solid $73 billion, up from the prior auction and above recent averages, but the bid-to-cover came in at 3.0, which is below the prior auction and recent averages. The yield on the auction came in at 2.73%.

The dollar also found favor among investors. After the close the Dollar Index continued to sport a 1.9% gain, its best performance of the past year. Most of that move came against the euro, which plummeted 2.4%. In contrast, the yen set a fresh 15-year high versus the dollar early this morning, but it eased back above the widely watched level of 85 yen per dollar in afternoon trade. DJ30 -265.42 NASDAQ -68.54 NQ100 -2.8% R2K -4.0% SP400 -3.4% SP500 -31.59 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 283/2.26 bln/2348 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 442/1.16 bln/2622

6:48PM Futures sharply lower after hours with S&P 500 futures 10.35 points below fair value of 1087.25 and Nasdaq 100 futures 25.76 points below fair value of 1844.51 :

5:30PM Cisco Systems trading over 8% lower in after hours trading at $21.80 following earnings results (CSCO) 23.73 -0.58 :

5:00PM Advanced Energy announces resignation of Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Firestone (AEIS) 15.96 -1.23 : John McMahon, Vice President and Corporate Controller, will handle financial reporting, accounting and finance responsibilities until a replacement for Mr. Firestone can be named.

4:08PM Cisco Systems beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (CSCO) 23.73 -0.58 : Reports Q4 (Jul) earnings of $0.43 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.42; revenues rose 27.1% year/year to $10.8 bln vs the $10.88 bln consensus. "This was yet another very strong quarter with a number of record financial results for Cisco, closing the fiscal year in a tremendous position of strength -- a compelling financial model, a well-tuned innovation engine and solid execution on our growth strategy... Whether the global economy continues to show mixed signals or not -- the strength of our financial model and profit generation serves us well... During fiscal 2010 we generated more than $10 billion in cash from operations and saw growth in our deferred revenue, working capital, backlog, and cash and investments. We will continue to use this strong financial position to expand our portfolio and deliver a compelling value proposition for our investors, partners, customers and employees."

9:42AM Hewlett-Packard signs multiyear application services agreement to develop dealer business system for Nissan North America (NSANY) (HPQ) 42.33 :

08:41 am Sunpower upgraded to Accumulate at Ardour Capital: . Ardour Capital upgrades SPWRA to Accumulate from Hold and raises their tgt to $17 from $16 on strong 2011 outlook and expected cost improvements. Firm's main concern about SPWRA is high manufacturing costs versus its Chinese peers. The Co indicated financing is very healthy with leading banks and equity investors showing new interest.

10:51 am SPWRA Guides Q3 EPS In-line (SPWRA)

Sunpower (SPWRA 12.98 +0.05) reported second quarter earnings of $0.15 per share, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.10.

Revenues rose 28.4% year-over-year to $384.2 million, worse than the $401.2 million consensus.

For the third quarter, the company expects to see earnings in the range of $0.08 to $0.15 per share, in-line with the $0.13 Thomson Reuters consensus. On the top line, the company expects revenues of $450 million to $490 million in-line with the $458.12 million Thomson Reuters consensus.

For the fiscal year 2010, the company expects earnings to fall in the range of $1.35 to $1.65 per share, above the $1.28 Thomson Reuters consensus. Revenue expectations are $2.0 billion to $2.25 billion versus the $2.1 billion Thomson Reuters consensus.

10:07 am CREE Guides Q1 EPS Above Consensus, Revs Below (CREE)

Cree (CREE 61.35 -7.61) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.55 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.51.

Revenues rose 78.7% year-over-year to $264.6 million versus the $264 million consensus.

For the first quarter, the company issued earnings guidance of $0.56 to $0.59 per share, above the $0.54 Thomson Reuters consensus. On the top line, the company expects revenues to be in the range of $270 million to $280 million, below the $283.96 million Thomson Reuters consensus.