From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : The major equity averages worked their way up from session lows, but still settled with losses on the order of 1%. Negativity was initially the result of weakness among Europe's bourses, but it was then exacerbated by news that S&P lowered its outlook on U.S. debt to negative.
Stocks opened trade sharply lower. The initial sell-off came as a culmination of concerns stemming from speculation about debt restructuring for less fiscally responsible eurozone nations like Greece, Ireland, and Portugal and news that analysts at S&P lowered their outlook on U.S. debt to Negative. The AAA rating currently held by the U.S. was affirmed, though.
Those headlines completely overshadowed the latest round of earnings results, which included upside earnings surprises from Citigroup (C 4.42, +0.00), Halliburton (HAL 47.14, +0.32), and Eli Lilly (LLY 35.62, -0.39). As has been the case since the start of earnings season one week ago, strong announcements didn't necessarily translate to gains, especially in the face of broad market selling interest.
At the depths of this session's slide, the Dow was down more than 200 points and the S&P 500 was down more than 20 points so that it traded below the 1300 line at 1295.
Stocks gradually worked their way higher in afternoon trade. There wasn't a single sector that made its way back to the flat line, but tech stocks and consumer staples stocks did the best job of limiting losses. Each sector finished with a loss of 0.7%. Tech's relative strength came even though only three stocks in the sector -- Akamai Tech (AKAM 39.73, +1.64), Apple (AAPL 331.85, +4.39), and Qualcomm (QCOM 53.29, +0.15) -- managed to make gains. Meanwhile, grocers propped up consumer staples stocks after Supervalu (SVU 10.67, +0.05) issued upside guidance.
News of the change to the U.S. debt outlook caused knee-jerk selling among Treasuries this morning, but their ability to rebound to solid gains suggested that the news was largely priced in.
The dollar was also dropped in morning trade, but it quickly reclaimed gains and then some. In turn, the Dollar Index climbed to a 0.9% gain. Most of the advance came against the euro, which was quoted 1.3% lower at $1.423 as of the close of today's trade.
Despite the dollar's advance, precious metals were able to put together strong performances amid this session's volatility. Gold settled with a 0.5% gain at $1492.90 per ounce after it set a record high of $1498.60 per ounce. Silver settled 0.9% higher at $42.98 per ounce after it hit $43.56 per ounce, which is its highest level in more than 30 years.
Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Consumer Staples (-0.7%), Tech (-0.7%), Utilities (-0.9%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.9%), Health Care (-1.2%), Telecom (-1.3%), Materials (-1.3%), Industrials (-1.3%), Financials (-1.4%), Energy (-1.5%)DJ30 -140.24 NASDAQ -29.27 NQ100 -0.7% R2K -1.6% SP400 -1.7% SP500 -14.54 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 531/1.80 bln/2089 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 577/1.04 bln/2445
4:45PM FSI International receives multiple ANTARES system orders (FSII) 3.86 -0.09 : Co announced that it received orders for multiple ANTARES Cryokinetic cleaning systems. The logic and foundry chip providers that placed these orders currently use the ANTARES system for various BEOL particle removal processes including particle removal after in-line wafer testing and other high defectivity steps to focus on improving overall device yield. Unlike aqueous technologies, Cryokinetic cleaning technology is uniquely qualified for these applications because of its all-dry defect removal method. FSI has over 150 ANTARES process modules in production at foundry and logic device producers worldwide. The systems are expected to ship in the second half of fiscal 2011.
4:33PM Texas Instruments misses by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 revs in-line, Q2 EPS Expected to see Negative 5 Cent Impact from Japan Earthquake (TXN) 34.79 -0.20 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.55 per share, $0.03 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.58; revenues rose 5.8% year/year to $3.39 bln vs the $3.4 bln consensus. TXN reports Q1 Gross Margin of 50.9 % vs 52.8% Street Expectations. Co issues guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.52-0.60, which includes a $0.05 negative impact from the impact of the Japanese earthquake and aftermath, may not be comparable to $0.63 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $3.41-3.69 bln vs. $3.53 bln Thomson Reuters consensus.
4:16PM Silicon Graphics announces that Japan's Semiconductor Energy Laboratory has purchased a high performance computing solution consisting of an SGI Altix ICE 8400 to accelerate the research and development of semiconductor technology (SGI) 17.50 -1.17 :
4:15PM Hewlett-Packard announced that Thomas E. Hogan, executive vice president, Enterprise Business Sales and Marketing, has decided to leave the company (HPQ) 39.75 -0.51 :
8:01AM Trident Microsystems has divested five patents to Innovus Prime; financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed (TRID) 1.02 :
Microsemi Corporation (MSCC) has been granted Class H & K certifications as prescribed by the MIL PRF 38534 specification, defined by the Defense Logistics Agency.
Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) announced the immediate availability of the new LatticeECP3 Versa Development Kit, which is ideal for developing leading edge applications in a variety of markets such as industrial networking, industrial automation, computing, medical equipment, defense and consumer electronics.
3:16AM LDK Solar repurchases its 4.75% convertible senior notes due 2013 at an aggregate principal amount of $351,775,000 (LDK) 11.21 :
09:49 am C Tops Q1 EPS Expectations by $0.01 (C)
Citigroup (C $4.47 +0.05) reported first quarter earnings of $0.10 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.09; Citigroup net income was $3.0 billion, compared to $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter and $4.4 billion in the first quarter 2010.
Revenues rose 7.4% year/year to $19.73 billion versus the $20.55 billion consensus. Revenues were down 22% q/q; The year over year decline was mainly driven by lower revenues in Fixed Income Markets and North America Regional Consumer Banking, as well as negative CVA. Citicorp revs of $16.5 billion were up 16% sequentially, driven by a 70% increase in Securities and Banking. Citi Holdings revs of $3.3 billion declined 17% sequentially, driven primarily by the impact of the asset transfer in Special Asset.
Citicorp generated 62% of its revenues and 72% of its net income from its international operations in the first quarter. Citicorp end of period loans grew 10% year-over-year, with 6% growth in consumer loans and 16% growth in corporate loans.
In the first quarter 2011, Citigroup transferred $12.7 billion of assets in the Special Asset Pool in Citi Holdings from HTM to trading. This transfer permits the sale of those assets, which have disproportionately higher risk-weightings under Basel III. The transfer resulted in a net $709 million pre-tax charge to revenues, from the recognition of $1.7 billion in pre-tax losses ($1.0 after-tax) which were previously reflected in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI), partially offset by $946 million of mark-to-market and realized gains on those assets.
Credit continued to improve during the quarter, as Citigroup net credit losses declined for the seventh consecutive quarter to $6.3 billion. In addition, the current quarter included a net $3.3 billion release of allowance for loan losses and unfunded lending commitments. Citigroup expenses of $12.3 billion were down 1% sequentially. Expenses increased 7% year over year reflecting higher legal and related costs, the impact of foreign exchange2, continued investment spending and increased business volumes, partially offset by productivity saves and a decline in Citi Holdings. Citigroup provisions for credit losses and for benefits and claims improved by $5.4 billion, or 63%, year over year to $3.2 billion. Consumer net credit losses declined 32% from the prior year period. Citi continued to improve its capital strength, with a Tier 1 Common ratio of 11.3%, book value per share of $5.85 and tangible book value per share of $4.69, each as of the end of the first quarter 2011.
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