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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Strong, broad-based buying amid hope that Ireland will accept financial aid boosted stocks today, but failure to push through resistance caused stocks to stagger a little bit into the close.

Despite the tenuous state of finances in Ireland, the country's officials have insisted in recent days that they do not need aid. However, reports have suggested that representatives have taken on a more open tone ahead of scheduled talks with the European Union, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund. The indication that Ireland is open to funding has helped calm contagion concerns, though troubles linger for the rest of the PIGS contingent.

With global participants feeling more secure and accepting of risk, Europe's bourses bounced big. That helped perpetuate a positive tone set overnight by Asia's major averages, which got some relief from the steep slides endured amid speculation about actions to stem inflation in recent sessions.

The rotation back into stocks left the dollar to drop about 0.5% and boost some 90% of the issues in the S&P 500 to a gain. Natural resource plays like energy (+2.2%) and materials (+1.9%) attracted the most support. Stocks still failed to generate the momentum necessary to take the S&P 500 back above 1200, however. The benchmark index spent most of the session hugging the psychologically significant line before wavering a bit into the close. Stocks still finished with their best gain in two weeks, though.

Trading volume was heaviest in shares of General Motors (GM 34.24, +1.24), which returned to the NYSE for the first time in more than a year following its post-restructuring initial public offering. GM garnered an IPO price of $33 per share, but the stock opened trade at about $35 per share before it pulled back.

Action surrounding shares of GM helped bolster broader market share volume, such that 1.21 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE today. Average volume for the past 50 sessions stands at 1.04 billion shares.

There were a few doses of data today, but the latest Philly Fed Index was the only item to actually induce a positive response among participants. The Philadelphia Fed Index for November improved to 22.5 from 1.0 in October. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected the reading to improve to just 5.0.

Leading Economic Indicators for October increased 0.5%, which is a bit less than the 0.6% increase that had been widely expected after a 0.5% increase in the prior month.

Initial jobless claims for the week ended November 13 totaled 439,000, down 2,000 week-over-week. That is not a surprise since 442,000 initial claims had been expected, on average, among economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Meanwhile, continuing claims fell to a near two-year low just below 4.30 million, which is down from the 4.34 million recorded for the prior week.

Advancing Sectors: Energy (+2.2%), Materials (+1.9%), Industrials (+1.8%), Tech (+1.8%), Telecom (+1.5%), Financials (+1.4%), Health Care (+1.3%), Consumer Staples (+1.3%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.9%), Utilities (+0.6%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +173.35 NASDAQ +38.39 NQ100 +1.7% R2K +1.9% SP400 +1.4% SP500 +18.10 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1979/2.06 bln/662 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2448/1.21 bln/568

4:31PM Semtech reports grants of inducement awards (SMTC) 22.99 +0.51 : Co announces that as an inducement to enter into employment with Semtech, it has made awards effective November 17, 2010 of restricted stock units to eight recently hired employees under the Semtech 2009 Long-Term Equity Incentive Inducement Plan. An aggregate of 58,000 restricted stock units have been awarded for these Inducement Awards. Pursuant to the terms of Inducement Awards, each of the Inducement Awards is subject to time-based vesting and will vest annually over a four-year period.

4:30PM Conexant names New President and Chief Operating Officer (CNXT) 1.37 +0.02 : Co announced that Sailesh Chittipeddi has been named president and chief operating officer. Chittipeddi joined CNXTin 2006 and served most recently as co-president, with responsibility for global engineering, operations, quality, IT, and associated infrastructure activities. He continues to report to Scott Mercer, Conexant's chairman and chief executive officer.

4:15PM Dell beats by $0.12, misses on revs; raises FY11 operating income guidance above consensus; reaffirms FY11 rev guidance at midpoint (DELL) 13.66 +0.31 : Reports Q3 (Oct) earnings of $0.45 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.33; revenues rose 19.4% year/year to $15.39 bln vs the $15.76 bln consensus. Co raises operating income guidance and reaffirms rev guidance at mid-point for FY11, sees operating income +23-28% to ~$3.66-3.81 bln vs. the $3.53 bln consensus, up from +18-23% previously, sees FY11 revs at mid-point of +14-19% to ~$60.31-62.95 bln vs. $62.38 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Large Enterprise rev was $4.3 bln, up 27% YoY. Public revenue was $4.4 bln, a 20% increase (including Perot); small and medium biz rev +24% to $3.7 bln; consumer rev +4% to $3 bln. Commercial and enterprise sectors continue to be solid. Q3 gross margin 19.5% vs. the 17.5% consensus. "With solid demand in our commercial segments, we executed well and that led to record profitability for the co and especially in our important enterprise solutions and services business."

4:10PM Nanometrics CFO informed co of his intention to retire (NANO) 11.82 +0.48 : Co announced today that James P. Moniz, chief financial officer, has informed the company of his intention to retire on April 1, 2011. The company has retained an executive search firm to identify an appropriate successor and Mr. Moniz will remain in his role to ensure a seamless transition of the CFO role next year.

4:09PM Marvell beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line (MRVL) 18.94 +0.20 : Reports Q3 (Oct) earnings of $0.45 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.43; revenues rose 19.4% year/year to $959 mln vs the $949.9 mln consensus.

8:02AM Sunpower issued in-line FY11 EPS guidance and revs guidance slightly below consensus (SPWRA) 13.31 : Co sees FY11 EPS of $1.75-2.05 vs $1.86 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees revs $2.65-2.85 bln vs $2.87 bln Thomson Reuters consensus and non-GAAP gross margin of 20-22%. SunPower also announced that Allianz Renewable Energy Partners signed a definitive sale and purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the equity in SunPower's wholly owned subsidiary, Orsa Maggiore PV Srl, which owns the 15-megawatt (MWp) Solare Roma photovoltaic power plant. The power plant is located in the municipality of Anguillara, Province of Rome, Lazio region, Italy. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2010, subject to the fulfillment of standard closing conditions. SunPower designed and is building the power plant and will provide ongoing operations and maintenance services for the new owner.

Juniper Networks (JNPR) announced it has acquired the intellectual property assets of Blackwave, an innovator in Internet video storage and delivery infrastructure, further enhancing the company's solutions for delivering Internet video content with exceptional scale, performance and efficiency. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed...

3:22AM LDK Solar arbitration award upheld in Venice court of appeal (LDK) 10.97 : The Venice Court of Appeal upholds that the "take or pay" clause in the wafer supply contract entered into in October 2008 between co and Helios is valid and effective throughout its duration and at terms and conditions related to quantities and prices set forth therein. The arbitration award orders Helios to pay to LDK Solar an amount of ~$31 mln plus interest, costs for the arbitration proceedings and lawyers' fees.

3:17AM Verigy merges with LTC Credence (LTXC); authorizes increase in share repurchase program (VRGY) 8.91 : Co announces that it and LTC Credence (LTXC) have entered into a definitive merger agreement that would create a semiconductor test co with the scale and presence to provide comprehensive solutions to customers across most major semiconductor market segments. The transaction will either be effected through a reorganization where co and LTXC would be wholly owned subsidiaries of Holdco, a newly created subsidiary, or through a merger where LTXC would become a wholly owned subsidiary of co. LTXC shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.96 shares of co stock or Holdco stock for each share of LTXC stock. Upon closing, co or Holdco, as applicable, will issue ~49 mln shares on a fully diluted basis to complete the transaction. At that time, co and LTXC shareholders will own ~56% and 44%, respectively, of the combined co. The combined co also expects to realize substantial synergies within one year of the close of the deal, with annual cost savings expected to reach at least $25 mln, primarily from increased efficiencies in manufacturing and reduced operating expenses. Co also announced its board has authorized an odd lot program that will result in the purchase of ~2.3 million shares, or 4% of co's current outstanding shares, from shareholders holding less than 100 shares of the combined company following the transaction. In addition, co's board has authorized an annual stock repurchase program of up to 10% of the co's current outstanding shares, effective for ~12 months following the transaction.

1:11AM Oracle policies anticompetitive asserts SIA in appeal filed with the US department of justice (ORCL) 27.91 : The Service Industry Association has filed an appeal to the U.S. Department of Justice about what it considers as Oracle's anticompetitive policies pertaining to hardware maintenance of Oracle's Sun Microsystems products. The SIA contends the new policies are directed at the $2.4 bln dollars of Sun hardware maintenance business currently contracted to Independent Service Organizations. SIA believes co's new hardware maintenance policies are the most onerous of all within the IT service and maintenance industry and are created solely to monopolize the Sun hardware maintenance business.

10:07 am AMAT Guides Q4 In-line (AMAT)

Applied Materials (AMAT 12.59 +0.21) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.31.

Revenues rose 88.9% year-over-year to $2.89 billion, above the $2.59 bln consensus.

For its first quarter, the company expects to see earnings in the range of $0.30 to $0.34 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the $0.32 Thomson Reuters consensus; expects net sales to be down in the range of 8% to 15% quarter over quarter, equates to approx. $2.46 billion to $2.66 billion, in-line with the $2.62 billion Thomson Reuters consensus.

The company said, "We are seeing strong momentum in our business as we enter 2011, fueled by accelerated innovation and market share gains... In 2010, Applied generated $1.7 billion in cash from operations after investing more than $1.1 billion in research and development."

09:42 am NTAP Guides Q3 EPS Below Consensus (NTAP)

NetApp (NTAP 52.61 +3.37) reported second quarter earnings of $0.52 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.49.

Revenues rose 32.6% year-over-year to $1.21 billion versus the $1.19 billion consensus.

For the third quarter, the company guided third quarter earnings in the range of $0.48 to $0.50 per share, excluding non-recurring items, below the $0.51 Thomson Reuters consensus. Revenues are expected to be $1.24 billion to $1.29 billion, in-line with the $1.26 billion Thomson Reuters consensus.

The company said, "NetApp produced 49% year over year growth in product revenue and our highest non-GAAP operating margin in over a decade, while simultaneously investing aggressively in our future."

08:28 am Motorola initiated with a Buy at Stifel Nicolaus; tgt $11: . Stifel Nicolaus initiates MOT with a Buy and price target of $11 based on improving competitive position in the high-growth smartphone market is not reflected in valuation. They expect the Mobile Devices business (42% of 3Q10 revenue) to support a CY10-12 revenue CAGR of 25% in the company's continuing operations, driving average EPS growth of more than 50% over that period as operating margin improves from 7.1% to 11.8% following recent cost rationalization.