From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Stocks managed to muster a second day of gains in the face of some disappointing economic data. Leadership was also lacking.
News that initial jobless claims for the week ended May 14 fell from 438,000 to 409,000, which is less than the 420,000 that had been widely expected, helped support a positive tone among morning participants. However, a dose of disappointing data shortly after the open caused the tone of trade to sour.
The Philadelphia Fed Index for May came in at 3.9, which is well below the 18.0 that had been widely expected. The May reading is also down sharply from the 18.5 that had been posted in April.
Leading Indicators for April fell by 0.3%. The consensus among economists surveyed by Briefing.com had called for no change.
Existing home sales fell to an annualized rate of 5.05 million in April. They had been expected to come in at a pace of 5.23 million units following the prior month's rate of 5.09 million units.
A negative response to the data caused stocks to retreat into the red for a while, but a downturn by the dollar helped renew support for the equity market. Although the dollar remained near its session low and closed with a loss of about 0.4%, stocks were unable to make anything more than a modest gain.
Industrial stocks staged the strongest advance, but their lack of weight in the overall market limited their ability to lead. Nonetheless, the industrial sector put together a 0.7% gain.
Social media play LinkedIn (LNKD 94.25, +49.25) was a top performer in its debut session. The stock achieved a gain of more than 100%, even though it settled more than 20% off of its session high.
Retailers had a rough session. Sears Holding (SHLD 73.86, -1.99), Limited (LTD 40.81, -1.64), Buckle (BKE 41.19, -6.71), Hott Topic (HOTT 7.25, -0.41), and Advance Auto Parts (AAP 63.49, -7.17) all tumbled in the wake of their latest quarterly reports. Discount retailer Dollar Tree (DLTR 63.11, +1.78) was one of the few names that moved higher, thanks mostly to an upside earnings surprise.
Advancing Sectors: Industrials +0.7%, Telecom +0.6%, Consumer Staples +0.5%, Consumer Discretionary +0.3%, Utilities +0.2%, Financial +0.1%, Tech +0.1%, Materials +0.1%, Energy +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Health Care -0.2%DJ30 +45.14 NASDAQ +8.31 NQ100 +0.3% R2K +0.2% SP400 +0.2% SP500 +2.92 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1308/1.76 bln/1294 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1764/871 mln/1210
4:15PM LDK Solar announces postponement of proposed offering of senior notes (LDK) 8.21 -0.38 : Co announced the postponement of its proposed offering of U.S. dollar-denominated senior notes due to recent market conditions. LDK Solar originally planned to use the funds to pay down its short-term debts, but the recent increase in interest rates exceeded its original expectations. "Despite the postponement of this bond offering, we still expect to generate sufficient operating cash flow to support our business plan."
4:06PM Brocade beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line (BRCD) 6.26 +0.08 : Reports Q2 (Apr) earnings of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.10; revenues rose 9.8% year/year to $550 mln vs the $550 mln consensus.
4:03PM Aehr Test Systems received over $2 mln in additional orders for FOX-1 WaferPak contactors and support services (AEHR) 1.60 +0.03
07:26 am Suntech Power downgraded to Neutral at Collins Stewart; tgt lowered to $8: . Collins Stewart downgrades STP to Neutral from Buy and lowers their tgt to $8 from $10 due to a combination of poor solar demand, falling prices and STP's relatively average cost structure by China standards.
2:36 pm S&P 500 Tech Sector; Goldman Downgrades Semi Equip Sector
The tech sector is trading higher today, along with gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are also showing relative weakness in the tech space, however, with the Philly Semi Index trading 0.8% lower. Among chips in the index, KLAC (-3.8%) is a notable laggard. Among other major indices, the S&P 500 is trading 0.2% higher while the NASDAQ and the QQQ are trading 0.4% higher. Among tech bellwethers, ORCL (-1.3%) is showing relative strength while INTC (-1.5%) is under pressure.
In earnings last night, SNPS (-3.0%) reported an inline Q2 and guidance. This morning, NTES (+1.6%) reported an EPS beat and inline revenues.
In news last night, it was reported that BIDU (+3.0%) has been targeted in lawsuit for its censorship. This morning, LNKD (+139.4%) opened up at $83, well above its already increased IPO pricing of $45.
In rumors, we are hearing CSCO (-0.2%) could consider the sale of Linksys, AAPL's (+0.4%) upcoming iCloud offering will use LLNW (+1.6%), SCON (+17.9%) takeover chatter, and CSCO (-0.2%) for APKT (+1.3%) making the rounds.
Among the more notable analyst upgrades this morning, LRCX (-1.1%) was upgraded to Buy at Goldman. In downgrades this morning, Goldman downgraded the Semi Equipment sector to Cautious.
In addition the firm downgraded INTC (-1.5%) and KLAC (-3.9%) to Sell, and AMAT (-1.5%) to Neutral. Elsewhere, SMT (-27.1%) was downgraded at Piper Jaffray and Cowen and NETL (-4.5%) was downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
CRM (+1.2%), BRCD (+1.5%), ADSK (+1.0%) and INTU (+1.9%) are the notable tech names set to report results today after the close.
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