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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Strong, broad-based buying one day after the Fed unveiled plans for further quantitative easing sent stocks sharply higher, such that the three major equity averages set fresh 2-year highs.

Yesterday's unveiling of the Fed's plan to purchase another $600 billion of longer-term Treasuries reflected its accommodative stance. That helped spur overseas markets higher and drove down the dollar, which fell to a new 2010 low before it was quoted with a 0.5% loss at the close of trade.

Such supportive themes for stock prices helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite make their biggest spike in about four weeks. The Dow booked its best gain in two months.

Commodity and resource-linked stocks led for most of the session. Strength in that space helped the energy sector climb 3.0% and the materials sector ascend 3.3%.

Their strength was shared in the commodity pits, where December contracts for silver surged 6.2% to settle at $26.04 per ounce. Prior to that silver set a fresh 30-year high at $26.10 per ounce. December contracts for gold rallied 3.4% to close at $1383.10 per ounce. It set a new all time high of $1384.80 per ounce. Such strength helped the CRB Commodity Index hit a new two-year high with a 2.4% spike. That was its third biggest spike by percent this year.

Financials boasted the biggest gains of the session, however. The sector surged 3.4% as bank stocks bounded in response to broader market support and headlines that the Fed will give stronger, better capitalized banks the ability to raise dividends, even though many already have the ability to raise dividends.

Many investors were also pleased to hear that President Obama is open to discussing an extension of former President Bush's tax cuts for all incomes. There was not a dramatic reaction among stocks, though, since stocks had already moved sharply higher by the time the headline crossed newswires.

Earnings had no real influence over broader market action this session, mostly because there were no bellwethers or stalwarts in the bunch. That will likely be the case again tomorrow.

Economic data was generally disregarded, too. Initial jobless claims for the week ended October 30 totaled 457,000, which is greater than the 445,000 initial claims that had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com. The latest tally marked a week-over-week increase of 20,000. As for continuing claims, they fell to 4.34 million from 4.38 million in the prior week. The weekly data precedes tomorrow's official nonfarm payrolls report for October.

Nonfarm productivity in the third quarter increased by 1.9%, which is better than the 0.9% increase that had been widely expected. Third quarter unit labor costs actually fell 0.1% when they were expected to increase 1.0%.

Trading volume on the NYSE hit its highest level in two weeks as money moved in from the sidelines. However, it is still too early to tell whether this session's surge was enough to attract retail investors back to action.

The positive tone to trade caused the Volatility Index (VIX) to drop for the third straight session for a cumulative loss of 15%. That has the VIX back near the six-month low that it set just a couple of weeks ago.

The benchmark 10-year Note had another strong session, thanks to momentum from news yesterday that the Fed's plan to purchase Treasuries will include those with maturities that range from two years to 10 years. The yield on the 10-year Note is now down to 2.48% after it had been almost as high as 2.73% just last week.

Advancing Sectors: Financials (+3.4%), Materials (+3.3%), Energy (+3.0%), Industrials (+2.2%), Tech (+1.6%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.6), Telecom (+1.4%), Consumer Staples (+1.2%), Utilities (+1.0%), Health Care (+0.4%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +219.71 NASDAQ +37.07 NQ100 +1.4% R2K +2.6% SP400 +1.9% SP500 +23.10 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2002/2.53 bln/662 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2515/1.38 bln/492

5:09PM Microchip declares record quarterly cash dividend; increases dividend to 34.4 cents per share; accelerates dividend for the following quarter (MCHP) 33.95 +1.08 : Co announces that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock of 34.4 cents per share. The dividend is payable on December 2, 2010, to stockholders of record on November 18, 2010. Microchip will accelerate its dividend payment from March 2011 into late December 2010. The Board of Directors has declared this cash dividend on its common stock of 34.5 cents per share. This dividend is payable on December 27, 2010, to shareholders of record on December 13, 2010. After this payment, Microchip's next dividend payment is expected to be in June 2011.

4:29PM Microchip reports Q3 results (MCHP) 33.95 +1.08 : Reports Q2 (Sep) earnings of $0.63 per share, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.58; revenues rose 68.6% year/year to $382.3 mln vs the $341.9 mln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.55-0.59 vs. $0.59 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q3 revs of $351.7-374.6 mln vs. $347.31 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.

5:09PM Skyworks beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides DecQ EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (SWKS) 23.68 +0.93 : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $0.43 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.40; revenues rose 37.3% year/year to $313.3 mln vs the $309.7 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.44, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.42 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q1 revs of $330-335 mln vs. $326.9 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.

4:25PM Atmel beats by $0.06, beats on revs (ATML) 8.93 +0.08 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.12; revenues rose 39.8% year/year and 13% sequentially to $444.3 mln vs the $427.6 mln consensus.

4:17PM ON Semiconductor to Further Expand Facility in Pocatello, Idaho; $15.7 million expansion further increasing capacity and production at the eight-inch wafer fab (ONNN) 8.00 +0.15 : Co announces plans to install another $15.7 million worth of production equipment in its eight-inch Pocatello, Idaho, wafer manufacturing facility during the next six months. This investment is in addition to the company's announcement in June of an $11 million equipment expansion.

4:10PM Coherent beats by $0.05, reports revs in-line (COHR) 44.46 +0.12 : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $0.69 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.64; revenues rose 54.6% year/year to $166.4 mln vs the $168 mln consensus.

4:08PM TTM Tech beats by $0.15, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (TTMI) 11.40 +0.52 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.43 per share, $0.15 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.28; revenues rose 15.3% year/year to $357.8 mln vs the $350.2 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.35-0.42 vs. $0.31 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q4 revs of $351-367 mln vs. $362.38 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.

4:02PM Rubicon Tech beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (RBCN) 25.31 +0.92 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.35 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.31; revenues rose 259.6% year/year to $20.5 mln vs the $20.7 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.47-0.49 vs. $0.39 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q4 revs of $25-27 mln vs. $24.98 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.

8:09AM Vishay prices of its offering of $275 million principal amount of 2.25% convertible senior debentures due 2040 (VSH) : Co announces the pricing of its offering of $275 mln principal amount of 2.25% convertible senior debentures due 2040. The sale is expected to close Nov. 9, 2010. Interest will be payable on the debentures semi-annually at a rate of 2.25% per annum. In addition to ordinary interest, beginning on Nov. 15, 2020, contingent interest will accrue in certain circumstances relating to the trading price of the debentures and under certain other circumstances. The debentures will be initially convertible, subject to certain conditions, into cash, shares of VSH's common stock or a combination thereof, at VSH's option, at an initial conversion rate of 72.0331 shares of common stock per $1,000 principal amount of debentures. This represents an initial effective conversion price of approx $13.88/share. This initial conversion price represents a premium of 12.5% to the closing price of VSH's common stock on Nov 3, which was $12.34/share.

09:36 am Apple initiated with a Outperform at Robert W. Baird; tgt $410: . Apple was initiated with a Outperform at Robert W. Baird; tgt $410. Firm notes co has established itself as the unabashed premium provider in the burgeoning smartphone market. It expects the co to further expand its market position, while also capitalizing on a number of newer growth initiatives, including the iPad, which is opening another huge market. It views co as having an attractive valuation, despite the strong stock move.

09:34 am Qualcomm upgraded to Neutral at MKM Partners; tgt raised to $55: . MKM Partners upgrades QCOM to Neutral from Sell and raises their tgt to $55 from $30 based on 4QFY10 results and strong guidance for 1QFY11 and FY11. Firm says they clearly underestimated QCOM's ability to shrug off LG's and Sony Ericsson's volume weakness and overestimated the impact of Samsung's baseband orders from Infineon.

09:49 am QCOM Guides FY11 Above Consensus (QCOM)

Qualcomm (QCOM 49.03 +3.34) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.68 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.59.

Revenues rose 9.7% year-over-year to $2.95 billion versus the $2.85 billion consensus.

For the first quarter, the company guides earnings in the range of $0.70 to $0.74 per share, excluding non-recurring items, versus $0.64 Thomson Reuters consensus. On the top line, the company expects to earn revenues of $3.05 billion to $3.35 billion versus the $2.99 billion Thomson Reuters consensus.

For fiscal year 2011, the company expects earnings to fall between $2.63 to $2.77, excluding non-recurring items, above the $2.59 Thomson Reuters consensus, while revenues are expected to be $12.4 billion to $13.0 billion versus the $12.1 billion Thomson Reuters consensus.