From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Strong earnings and a slide in the dollar sent stocks to fresh five-month highs this session. Some of the gains were surrendered into the close, though.
Buying was initially stirred by better-than-expected earnings from bellwethers Intel (INTC 19.24, -0.53) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 39.84, -0.56). Though neither name actually advanced, their announcements were enough to add to the stock market's recent momentum, which has seen the S&P 500 close higher for four straight sessions.
JPM wasn't the only name that was rejected among banks. Their general weakness left the financial sector to finish flat.
Tech (+0.9%) was actually led by Apple (AAPL 300.14, +1.60), which broke above the $300 mark to set a record high.
Rail carrier CSX Corp (CSX 59.66, +2.40) was one of the session's best performers, thanks to an upside earnings surprise of its own. The stock's strength helped the industrials sector advance 1.5%, but materials stocks advanced 1.7% to book the biggest gain of any sector.
Basic materials stocks, as well as the broader market, were helped by renewed weakness in the dollar. The dollar dipped 0.4% to test its eight-month lows.
Weakness in the dollar and a broadly positive mood among traders sent the CRB Commodity Index to a new two-year high. The CRB finished with a 0.6% gain, about half of what it had sported at its session high.
Positive market breadth had taken the Volatility Index (VIX) down to its lowest level since April, but the VIX rebounded as stocks drifted lower into the close.
Though stocks finished off of their session highs, advancing issues still outnumbered advancers by 4-to-1 in the S&P 500. Share volume was also strong, in that nearly 1.3 billion shares were traded on the NYSE today. Outside of the final session of the third quarter, today's total is the greatest of the past month.
Treasuries retraced their slide as stocks eased lower into the close. In turn, the benchmark 10-year Note finished a few ticks for the better even though dollar demand at a $21 billion auction of 10-year Notes was the lowest since December 2009.
Advancing Sectors: Materials (+1.7%), Industrials (+1.5%), Energy (+1.1%), Tech (+0.9%), Consumer Staples (+0.8%), Health Care (+0.7%), Utilities (+0.3%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Telecom (-0.1%)
Unchanged: FinancialsDJ30 +75.68 NASDAQ +23.31 SP500 +8.33 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1946/2.31 bln/707 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2289/1.27 bln/712
4:04PM Universal Display announces "significant advances" in solution-processible phosphorescent OLED material systems for potential low-cost OLED manufacturing (PANL) 25.50 +0.79 : Co announced significant advances in the performance of its UniversalP2OLED solution-processible, phosphorescent OLED material systems for use with solution-based manufacturing processes. In a paper delivered today, Dr. Kwang Ohk Cheon, Senior Research Scientist at Universal Display, reported that the performance of Universal Display's solution-processible P2OLED technology and materials have advanced significantly through the continued development of enhanced materials and device structures using its proprietary solution-processed, small-molecular emitter systems. These systems are now approaching the performance of PHOLEDs made by vacuum-evaporated techniques.
3:01PM Intel has lagged since its firmer open, testing support zone (INTC) 19.26 -0.51 : A steady slide has followed the firmer start with it pulling back to a support zone marked by its 20 ema and 38% retrace of the Aug-Oct run at 19.22/19.11 (session low 19.16). Initially need to see sustained action above 19.30/19.35 to begin to begin to improve the negative pattern.
8:03AM Broadcom has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Beceem Communications; expects the acquisition of Beceem to be neutral to earnings in 2011 (BRCM) 36.73 : Co announces it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Beceem Communications. Co expects to pay ~$316 mln to acquire all of the outstanding shares of capital stock and other equity rights of Beceem. The purchase price will be paid in cash, except that portion attributable to unvested employee stock options will be paid in stock options exercisable for shares of co's common stock. Co expects the acquisition of Beceem to be neutral to earnings in 2011. The transaction is expected to close in co's 4Q10 or by the end of co's 1Q11.
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