From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Participants kept stiff and steady pressure on stocks all session. Their efforts came amid news that military tension has intensified between North Korea and South Korea, and ongoing contagion concerns for Europe.
Each of the major equity averages tumbled more than 1% today. Downside momentum took the Dow below the 11,000 before it settled on its 50-day moving average and the S&P 500 moved below 1180 before it recovered to that point. Sell-offs of a similar degree were made abroad. Collective weakness left the Dow Jones World Index to drop 1.9% in its worst single-session slide since August.
The push to dump stocks came in response to news that artillery fire was exchanged overnight between North Korea and South Korea. Though tension between the two nations has been persistent, the latest episode marks a dramatic escalation of the tone between them.
That development added to the distress of market participants, who have long held concern for the fragile state of finances among countries in the European Union periphery. Even Ireland remains a point of worry as it has yet to completely structure a bailout package and implement austerity measures.
Distress and uncertainty moved many into the relative safety of the dollar, which was up 1.3% against competing currencies at the close of trade. The advance marked its biggest one-day bounce in a month and put the currency at its best level in almost two months.
Only a few pockets of strength were seen this session. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 44.19, +0.94) was the only blue chip in the Dow to post a gain. Its strength was owed to better-than-expected earnings and upside guidance.
J.Crew (JCG 43.99, +6.34) registered a big gain in response to news that it will be taken private for $43.50 per share, a premium of about 15% relative to the prior session's closing price. It helped limit pressure against other retailers, but the group still booked a 0.8% loss.
Upward revisions to third quarter GDP failed to provide fodder for buyers. The data indicated that GDP grew 2.5% from July through September. Advance data had initially indicated that GDP had increased 2.0% in that time. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected the revised data to reflect growth of 2.4%.
Reflective of the GDP data, minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting generally indicated that the economic recovery has proceeded at a modest rate in recent months. However, there has been only a gradual improvement in labor market conditions. Also, inflation remains low.
Among meeting members, most saw the risks to growth as broadly balanced, but some saw the risks as tilted to the downside. A majority saw the risks to inflation as balanced, but some saw downside risks. Members also differed in their assessments of the likely benefits and costs associated with the latest program of quantitative easing.
Treasuries displayed strength in the early going as participants sought their relative safety, but they gave up a chunk of their gains following results from an auction of 5-year Notes. The auction attracted a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.65, dollar demand of $92.8 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 31.5%.
Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-1.9%), Materials (-1.7%), Financials (-1.6%), Tech (-1.5%), Consumer Discretionary (-1.4%), Industrials (-1.3%), Health Care (-1.3%), Utilities (-1.1%), Consumer Staples (-1.1%), Telecom (-0.9%)DJ30 -142.21 NASDAQ -37.07 NQ100 -1.6% R2K -1.0% SP400 -1.1% SP500 -17.11 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 662/1.90 bln/1994 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 671/1.02 bln/2356
4:08PM Verigy beats by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (VRGY) 8.45 +0.27 : Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.28; revenues rose 63.9% year/year to $159 mln vs the $164.3 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $(0.03)-0.02, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.17 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q1 revs of $115-120 mln vs. $144.83 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
4:07PM Verigy initially falls ~8% to $7.78 following weak Q1 guidance in earnings report (VRGY) 8.45 +0.27 :
6:57AM LTX-Credence beats by $0.05, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (LTXC) 7.65 : Reports Q1 (Oct) earnings of $0.42 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.37; revenues rose 80.4% year/year to $75.6 mln vs the $77.3 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.11-0.16, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.26 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $53-58 mln vs. $67.42 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
Acacia Research Corporation (ACTG) announced that its subsidiary Microprocessor Enhancement Corporation has entered into a settlement and license agreement with ARM Holdings Plc (ARMH). This agreement resolves patent litigation pending review by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This patented technology generally relates to an architecture employed in advanced pipeline microprocessors...
Mattson Technology (MTSN) announced that it received a repeat order for the Alpine etch system from a leading semiconductor manufacturer. The system, which is scheduled to ship in November 2010, will be used in the customer's leading-edge 300 millimeter (mm) packaging facility in Asia for advanced wafer-level packaging.
SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR), has successfully interconnected a 70 megawatt photovoltaic power plant in Northeast Italy, near the town of Rovigo.
07:57 am Ixia ests and target raised to $19 at Wunderlich: . Wunderlich believes most of the upside of Ixia's recent results and guidance represents the early stage of a demand cycle that will be lengthier and larger than what the company has experienced in the past. This is because demand for data has multiplied since the 3G test equipment spending cycle and is expanding to emerging markets. On the enterprise side, the integration of computing and network functions combined with implementation of Ethernet for storage networks is bringing opportunities with new customers. Firm is raising its forecast and increasing its target to $19.00 from $15.50.
09:44 am HPQ Raises FY11 Guidance (HPQ)
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 44.19 +0.94) reports fourth quarter earnings of $1.33 per share, $0.06 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.27.
Revenues rose 8.1% year-over-year to $33.28 billion versus the $32.75 billion1 consensus.
HPQ reports fourth quarter operating margins of 12.0%, in-line with Thomson Reuters consensus of 12.0%.
For the first quarter, the company guided first quarter earnings in the range of $1.28 to $1.30, above the $1.22 Thomson Reuters consensus. Revenues expectations are between $32.8 billion to $33.0 billion versus the $32.74 billion Thomson Reuters consensus.
For the fiscal year 2011, the company sees earnings guidance in the range of $5.16 to $5.26, above the $5.11 Thomson Reuters consensus. On the top line, the company is guiding revenues to be between $132.0 billion to $133.5 billion versus the $132.41 billion Thomson Reuters consensus (prior guidance was for fiscal year 2011 EPS of $5.05-5.15; revenues of $131.5 billion to $133.5 billion).
The company cites "Broad-based year-over-year growth in the commercial segment driven by ESS growth of 25% and growth in commercial PC Clients and Printers of 20% and 22%, respectively, in the fourth quarter.
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