From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Stocks settled with solid gains after spending the first part of the session mired near the neutral line. Natural resource plays provided leadership as commodities kicked higher.
An initially positive tone ahead of the open this morning was offset as Europe's major bourses moved lower amid concerns that Greece may need more bailout funding. The country's flagging finances earned its debt another downgrade by analysts at S&P. Greece's debt is now rated B/C with a Negative outlook.
Although stocks were flat for the first couple of hours of the session, buyers flocked back into commodities following their dive last week. Sharp selling last week caused the CRB Commodity Index to drop 9%, but it bounced to a 2.0% gain today. Oil prices led the way with a 5.4% advance to $102.55 per barrel.
Oil's rebound underpinned interest in the energy sector, which steadily outperformed for virtually the entire session. Energy stocks closed with a 1.6% gain, collectively. An appetite for natural resource plays helped basic materials stocks win favor. In turn, the materials sector staged a 1.5% gain.
The broader market was slow to follow the leadership of energy or materials stocks. In actuality, it didn't move higher until the dollar turned downward to trade with a loss. The dollar had been up with a solid gain in morning trade as participants pressured the euro in response to the Greece headlines, but the greenback gradually gave back its gain. Pressure caused the dollar to extend its slide so that it ended the session with a 0.4% loss against a basket of major foreign currencies.
Broad market strength failed to lift financials out of the red. The sector's 0.2% loss is mostly because bank stocks fell out of favor, giving the KBW Bank Index a 0.4% loss. No other sector settled in the red.
The absence of bellwethers and blue chips from the latest round of earnings announcements made for a relatively slow news day. Data were also lacking. The case is expected to be the same tomorrow.
Without any major headlines to trade, participation suffered. In turn, fewer than 800 million shares traded hands on the NYSE. That anemic number comes after a reverse split of Citigroup (C 44.16, -1.04), formerly the most frequently traded stocks by share volume, cut into the total.
Advancing Sectors: Energy (+1.6%), Materials (+1.5%), Health Care (+0.6%), Industrials (+0.4%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%), Telecom (+0.3%), Tech (+0.2%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.2%), Utilities (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Financial (-0.2%)DJ30 +45.94 NASDAQ +15.69 NQ100 0.3% R2K 1.1% SP400 0.9% SP500 +6.09 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1710/1.64 bln/895 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2099/777 mln/906
4:05PM Integrated Device beats by $0.02, beats on revs (IDTI) 8.22 +0.16 : Reports Q4 (Mar) earnings of $0.13 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.11; revenues rose 6.8% year/year to $147.3 mln vs the $145 mln consensus. "As we enter fiscal year 2012, we believe that continued growth in our new and core businesses, driven by cloud computing and the ongoing deployment of 4G/LTE wireless infrastructure, will drive continuing top line improvement."
4:04PM Vishay to offer $150 mln of convertible senior debentures due in 2041 (VSH) 16.24 -0.58 :
4:03PM Diodes reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs above consensus (DIOD) 33.67 +0.78 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.47 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.47; revenues rose 18.1% year/year to $161.6 mln vs the $159.8 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $170-178 mln vs. $167.97 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co expects gross margin to be comparable to the first quarter. Operating expenses are expected to be down slightly from the first quarter levels on a percent of revenue basis. They expect income tax rate to range between 17 and 23%. Shares used to calculate GAAP EPS for the second quarter are anticipated to be approximately 47.5 million.
9:07AM NVIDIA to acquire Icera for $367 million in cash (NVDA) 19.32 : The acquisition, for $367 million in cash, has been approved by both companies' boards of directors and is expected to be completed, subject to customary closing conditions, in approximately 30 days. The transaction is expected to be slightly dilutive on an operating basis through the first half of calendar 2012, and accretive on an operating basis in the second half of calendar 2012. This expectation does not take into account significant revenue synergies that the companies anticipate.
HP (HPQ) expanded its notebook PC line with products and services. Part of HP's consumer notebooks launch unveiled on May 9, 2011, the redesigned HP Mini 210 features vibrant new colors and HP Beats Audio, creating the ideal mobile companion. The company also launched HP DataPass, a pre-paid 3G mobile broadband service available in the United States across HP's business notebook lineup, and expanded HP Beats Audio technology to a business notebook and consumer Mini PC. HP furthered its "FORGE" business notebook design framework with the HP ProBook m-series and HP EliteBook p-series models and built upon its "MUSE" consumer notebook design philosophy with the HP Mini 210, HP Pavilion dv4 and HP ENVY 14.
1:51AM Broadcom intends to acquire SC Square for ~$41.9 mln; expects transaction to be dillutive to earnings for the remainder of 2011 by ~$0.01 (BRCM) 34.14 : Co announces it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SC Square based in Israel. In connection with the acquisition, co expects to pay ~$41.9 mln to acquire all of the outstanding shares of capital stock and other equity rights of SC Square. The purchase price will be paid in cash, with a portion of the consideration placed into escrow pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement. Co expects the acquisition of SC Square to be dilutive to earnings for the remainder of 2011 by ~$0.01.
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