From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Though stocks were quick to recover from an early slide, the broader market stagnated near the neutral line until word of possible quantitative easing pushed stocks into positive ground for a solid finish.
Moderate, yet widespread weakness had dropped the stock market for a loss in the early going. Near-term support provided a floor for a rebound, but the S&P 500 struggled to turn positive with the dollar holding out in positive territory.
The dollar finally dipped into the red following the release of the minutes from the FOMC's meeting on September 21. According to the minutes, members are prepared to provide additional accommodation, if needed, to support the economic recovery and to return inflation, over time, to levels consistent with the FOMC mandate. While such accommodation may be appropriate before long, members made clear that any decisions would depend upon future information about the economic situation and outlook.
Relative to competing currencies, the dollar ended the day with a 0.1% loss after it had been up as much as 0.6% in overnight trade.
The dollar's decline helped induce enough buying to lift the broader market into positive ground. Financials made the biggest move, such that the sector settled with a 1.3% gain. Shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM 40.40, +0.67) showed leadership ahead of its quarterly report tomorrow morning.
Tech stocks were also strong ahead of the latest from chip bellwether Intel (INTC 19.77, +0.21). Shares of INTC were atop the list of most actively traded names by volume this session, though overall volume on the NYSE was generally unimpressive again.
There were only a few headlines ahead of the latest round of earnings. Among them, Pfizer (PFE 17.48, +0.10) will acquire King Pharmaceuticals (KG 14.14, +3.99) for $14.25 per share, which makes for a 40% premium to the stock's prior session closing price.
Disappointing guidance from global steelmaker Posco (PKX 114.47, -5.03) weighed on domestic steel plays (-0.9%).
Among other commodity-backed plays, oil and gas drillers had been down 1.4% at their session low, but were able to book a 1.1% gain following news that the government lifted the moratorium on deepwater drilling after imposing stricter safety and operating requirements.
The U.S. Treasury market reopened from a Columbus Day holiday to solid support, which dropped the yield on the 2-year Note to a new record low. Early gains were eventually given back, though. It didn't help that dollar demand at the latest auction of 3-year Notes was the lowest since mid-2009. The $32 billion auction produced a bid-to-cover of just 2.95 on dollar demand of $94.4 billion and an indirect bidder participation rate of 29.0%.
Advancing Sectors: Financials (+1.3%), Tech (+0.7%), Consumer Staples (+0.3%), Materials (+0.3%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.2%), Health Care (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Utilities (-0.3%), Energy (-0.1%), Industrials (-0.1%)
Unchanged: TelecomDJ30 +10.06 NASDAQ +15.59 NQ100 +0.7% R2K +0.4% SP400 +0.4% SP500 +4.45 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1521/1.98 bln/1085 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1659/922 mln/1293
5:05PM Linear Tech misses by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (LLTC) 31.56 +0.32 : Reports Q1 (Sep) earnings of $0.61 per share, excluding $0.02 in non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.62; revenues rose 64.6% year/year to $388.6 mln vs the $383.8 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs flat to down 4% sequentially, which calculates to ~$373.1-388.6 vs. $384.14 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co reports 1Q11 operating margin of 52.6% vs. 51.8% Thomson Reuters consensus.
4:20PM Intel beats by $0.02, reports revs and margins in-line; guides Q4 revs in-line, margins above consensus (INTC) 19.77 +0.21 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.52 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.50; revenues rose 18.2% year/year to $11.1 bln vs the $10.99 bln consensus (guidance was for $10.8-11.2 bln in revs). Intel reports Q3 gross margins of 66% vs 66.1% consensus and guidance of 65-67%. Q3 PC Client Group revenue was up 3% sequentially and Q3 Data Center Group revenue was up 3% sequentially... Co issues in-line rev guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $11.0-11.8 bln vs. $11.32 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Intel guides Q4 gross margins to 67%, plus or minus a couple percentage points, vs 65.6% consensus. "Intel's third-quarter results set all-time records for revenue and operating income... These results were driven by solid demand from corporate customers, sales of our leadership products and continued growth in emerging markets. Looking forward, we continue to see healthy worldwide demand for computing products of all types and are particularly excited about our next-generation processor, codenamed Sandy Bridge, and the many new designs around our Intel Atom processors in everything from the new Google TV products to a wide array of tablets based on Windows, Android* and MeeGo operating systems."
12:20PM Semiconductor Hldrs edges above morning recovery to set minor new session high of 28.65 (SMH) 28.64 +0.15 : The new high in midday trade leaves it slightly under its five week high from yesterday is at 28.71. The next area of note at its July and June peaks at 28.90 -- ALTR +1.4%, AMAT +1.1%, AMD +1.2%, KLAC +1%, LLTC +1.4%, LSI +1.5%, MU +2%, NVLS +1.3%, XLNX +1%.
12:01PM SMTC announces manufacturing partnership with Vocera Communications (SMTX) 3.32 +0.02 : Co announces the commencement of a manufacturing relationship with Vocera Communications, Inc. SMTC began manufacturing the Vocera communications badge at their Chihuahua, Mexico facility in the third quarter and expects to achieve full production volumes during the first quarter of 2011.
8:30AM Emcore appointes Mark Weinswig, as CFO, effective October 11, 2010 (EMKR) 0.95 : Co names Mark Weinswig as CFO effective October 11, 2010. Prior to joining co, he held various leadership positions as Controller, EVP of Business Development, and Interim CFO with technology companies including Coherent and Avanex.
8:16AM On The Wires (WIRES) : SunPower Corp. (SPWRA, SPWRB) announced that construction is underway on a 3.5-megawatt SunPower solar power system at Macy's, Inc. online fulfillment center in Goodyear, Ariz. The system will deliver the equivalent of 70 percent of the 600,000-square-foot building's electricity demand, and is expected to be the largest solar system on a single rooftop in the U.S. when it is completed in March of 2011... TCF National Bank, a subsidiary of TCF Financial Corporation (TCB), announced that today it is filing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Durbin Amendment. Congress included this Amendment, without hearings, in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, also known as the Dodd-Frank Act.
8:10AM Silicon Labs acquires ChipSensors, maker of single-chip CMOS Sensors (SLAB) 36.54 : Co announced the acquisition of Ireland-based ChipSensors Limited, an early stage technology company creating single-chip CMOS sensors designed to detect temperature, humidity and gases. ChipSensors' technology complements Silicon Labs' touch, proximity sensing and recently acquired MEMS technology, expanding the company's capabilities in CMOS-based sensors.
8:02AM TriQuint Semi sees Q3 non-GAAP EPS and rev above consensus (TQNT) 9.09 : Co sees Q3 EPS of $0.27, ex-items, vs $0.20 Thomson Reuters consensus; revs $238 mln vs $221.17 mln Thomson Reuters consensus "strong demand combined with outstanding execution in operations led to revenues well above our earlier expectations. I'm very pleased with our third quarter earnings and sequential revenue growth of ~15%." Co expects solid Q4 sequential rev growth (consensus +5.4% QoQ growth).
6:25AM Solarfun Power completes capacity expansion plan and further expansion plans (SOLF) 12.19 : Co announces that it has already reached its 2010 year-end target of 360 MW in ingot manufacturing capacity, 400 MW in wire saw capacity, 500 MW of cell capacity and 900 MW in module capacity. This represents increases of 100 MW in cell capacity and 200 MW in module capacity compared to the end of the 2Q10. The co expects to ramp production of the new cell, wire saw and ingot lines in the 2Q11 and complete the expansion by 3Q11. The total capital expenditures required for this expansion, including the construction of new buildings and related infrastructure, are ~$130 mln.
6:21AM Lattice Semi appoints Darin Billerbeck President and CEO (LSCC) 4.92 : Co announces its Board has appointed Darin Billerbeck as President and CEO, effective November 8, 2010. He most recently served as the CEO of Zilog, which was acquired by IXYS.
GT Solar (SOLR) opened its new Asia operations headquarters in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong headquarters better serves the needs of its customers throughout the Asia Pacific region...Osaka Securities Exchange, operator of the JASDAQ market, and The NASDAQ (NDAQ) today announced a strategic alliance for OSE to be the first Asian exchange marketing partner of GlobeNewswire and the NASDAQ OMX suite of products. OSE and NASDAQ OMX will further explore adding additional services to this mutually beneficial partnership...
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