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4:25 pm : The major market averages closed just off their worst levels of the session, unable to hold their midday gains. The Dow (-0.7%) paced today's decline with the S&P (-0.4%) and Nasdaq (-0.1%) faring a little better.

Netflix (NFLX 266.91, -14.62) closed lower by 5.2% after beating by $0.14 in the second quarter, but on slightly weaker-than-expected revenues of $788.6 million (Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $791.2 million). The co issued downside third quarter guidance, seeing earnings per share of $0.72-1.07 (consensus $1.08), revenues of $799.5-828.5 million (Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $845.6 million) and domestic operating margin of 13.6%. The weak guidance was attributed to the negative price impact of the its decision to separate DVD by mail and streaming.

Steelmaker AK Steel (AKS 12.81, -2.71) ended down 17.5% after posting disappointing third quarter results. The company missed the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.49 per share by $0.17 and saw revenues climb 12.3% YoY to $1.79 billion. However, that number was short of the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.81 billion. As for the third quarter, the company expects shipments to be between 1.4-1.45 million tons with an average per-ton selling price lower by about 1.0%. It also expects raw material costs to tick higher from the previous quarter. Shares of competitor United States Steel Corp. (X 40.62, -3.67) lost 8.3%.

Broadcom (BRCM 38.20, +3.29) gained 9.4% after posting earnings per share of $0.72 which topped the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.63. Revenues jumped 12.5% YoY to $1.8 billion which was in-line with forecasts. Product gross margin was 51.1%. Looking ahead to the third quarter the company sees revenues climbing to a range of $1.90-2.0 billion with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate at $1.93 billion. Several firms came out today and upgraded the stock after yesterday's results.

Food Retailer SuperValu (SVU 9.11, +0.59) added 6.9% today after reporting earnings per share of $0.35 which were better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.33. Revenues posted a slight miss, falling 3.7% YoY to $11.11 billion (Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $11.16 billion). The company reaffirmed its full year 2012 forecast in which it sees revenues of $37 billion versus the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $36.04 billion.

Shares of Simon Property Group (SPG 122.39, +1.92) hit their best level since February 2007, and are just off their all-time highs after announcing earnings of $1.65 per share which was better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.58 per share. Revenues rose 11.5% YoY to $1.04 billion to slightly better the $1 billion consensus. The property group issued in-line guidance for full year 2011 saying it expects earnings per share of $6.65-6.73 versus the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $6.71 per share.

Treasuries finished at their best levels of the session after the $35 billion 2-yr note auction saw solid but not spectacular results. The auction drew 0.417% and saw a 3.14x bid/cover (3.37x 12-auction average) as indirect bidders took down just 27.7% of the offering. Direct bidders showed up in force, taking down 20.0% of the auction (14.6% 12-auction average). The 10-yr yield ended the day near 2.95% after seeing an overnight high of 3.04%.

The dollar index ended the day near its worst levels of the session, hammered lower by the little progress that has been made in the debt ceiling talks. A gain of 140 pips pushed the euro through the 1.45 level and to its best close since July 4. The Swiss franc punctured the .8000 level for the first time ever as it remains the currency of choice among participants. Other notable movers included the yen which strengthened to better than 78 per dollar and the Canadian dollar which hit a 3.5-yr high against the greenback.DJ30 -91.50 NASDAQ -2.84 SP500 -5.49 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 889/1.69 bln/1683 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1035/837.4

4:28PM Zoran beats by $0.09, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (ZRAN) 8.44 -0.02 : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.36 per share, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.45); revenues fell 11.2% year/year to $82.9 mln vs the $82.6 mln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.12)-($0.07) vs. ($0.15) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $100-105 mln vs. $102.01 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:20PM FormFactor beats by $0.13, beats on revs (FORM) 9.63 +0.04 : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.16 per share, $0.13 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.29); revenues fell 19.1% year/year to $46.6 mln vs the $45.9 mln consensus.

4:13PM Juniper Networks misses by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS, revs below consensus (JNPR) 31.17 +0.50 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.31 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.33; revenues rose 14.6% year/year to $1.12 bln vs the $1.15 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.26-0.30, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.38 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $1.07-1.12 bln vs. $1.22 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Non-GAAP gross margin of 65.6% vs. guidance range of 66-68%; operating margin for the second quarter of 2011 decreased to 21.6% from 22.3% in the first quarter of 2011 and from 23.9% in the prior year second quarter. Days sales outstanding in accounts receivable ("DSO") was 39 days in the second quarter of 2011, compared to 38 days in the prior quarter and 36 days in the same quarter of the prior year. Juniper repurchased ~3.9 million shares in the second quarter of 2011, at an average price of $38.94 per share, or ~$150 million dollars.

4:03PM RF Micro Device beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (RFMD) 6.45 +0.11 : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.07; revenues fell 21.8% year/year to $214.2 mln vs the $207.4 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of +65% QoQ to ~$227.1 mln vs. $226.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. RFMD expects non-GAAP gross margin to increase ~50 basis points and non-GAAP operating expenses to be ~flat to up $1 million QoQ

1:00PM QuickLogic receives first high volume production order from Pantech for tablet phone (QUIK) 3.53 -0.06 : Co announcd the receipt of the first volume production order for VEE and DPO technologies for the new Pantech Tablet Phone dual-core Snapdragon smartphone which has been released this month in South Korea.

Microchip Technology (MCHP) announced its first high-accuracy, stand-alone six-channel analog front end for three-phase energy metering. NTT America, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of NTT Communications announced the release of Global Virtual Link, the next evolution of its Ethernet solution that offers customers such as content providers and Internet service providers direct connectivity among their multiple locations.

8:14AM Axcelis Tech major design win for Optima HDx High current implanter from major foundry (ACLS) 1.80 : Co announced that a major foundry has selected the Optima HDx high current implanter for their new, flagship manufacturing facility. The system is expected to ship in September, where it will be used in 28nm logic manufacturing.

7:45AM STEC Inc disclosed that the SEC is conducting a formal investigation involving trading in the co's securities (STEC) 17.71 : Co disclosed that the SEC is conducting a formal investigation involving trading in the co's securities. The co and certain of the co's officers and employees, including its CEO and President, have received subpoenas in connection with the SEC's investigation. The Company is fully cooperating with the SEC in regards to this matter. On July 19, 2011, the Staff of the SEC notified the Company, its CEO and President that they are considering recommending that the SEC initiate a civil injunction action against the Company, its CEO and President, charging them with violations of the antifraud and reporting provisions of the federal securities laws.

SMSC (SMSC) announced it is breaking new ground in USB port power charging with the industry's first programmable USB power controller.

7:08AM DSP Group reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides FY11 revs below consensus (DSPG) 8.31 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.08 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.08; revenues fell 3.8% year/year to $58.5 mln vs the $58.1 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for FY11, sees FY11 revs of $200-207 mln vs. $236.00 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, down from prior guidance for $227-245 mln. In the past few weeks we have experienced a slowdown in bookings, due to what appears to be a near-term softening of the consumer electronics market, resulting in weaker demand for cordless telephony products. As a result of these macro-economic conditions, we are experiencing a decrease in customer projections... "Despite our lower revenue guidance for the year as a result of this near-term, temporary market slowdown, we are seeing strong evidence that our past R&D investments in new product areas are gaining significant market traction and delivering revenue growth that we expect to accelerate over the long-term. For 2011, we expect new products revenue of approximately $25 million, representing a 56% increase over 2010." The Company's Board has unanimously authorized a 1 million share increase in the number of shares of Common Stock the Corporation is authorized to repurchase pursuant to its stock repurchase plan, bringing the total authorization to 2.6 million shares.

09:15 am NVIDIA downgraded to Sell at Needham: . Needham downgrades NVDA to Sell from Hold and they see downside for the shares in the $9-11 range. Firm says their downgrade is not based primarily on near term trends, which are soft, but rather on the following long term concerns: secular challenges in core graphics as integrated graphic offerings from Intel's Sandybridge and AMD's Llano fully ramp in the mainstream desktop/notebooks; reductions in their Tegra forecast owing to near term overbuild from Non-Apple tablets, intensifying competition in 2012 from TI and QCOM, and shrinking addressable smartphone TAM; and decline in core gross margins (ex-Intel) due to pricing pressure in GPUs and Tegra GM trending below 50%.

09:15 am Sunpower downgraded to Sell at Stifel Nicolaus: . Stifel Nicolaus downgrades SPWRA to Sell from Hold following lowered guidance. The firm says the co's cost structure has always been higher than the competition; however, the margin squeeze that many have feared has finally arrived given the preannounced results last night. While downgrading after a negative preannouncement is difficult, they were surprised by the magnitude of the gross margin miss versus their expectations, and don't see any near term fixes for SunPower this year as they scramble to reallocate modules from Europe to the United States and other markets.

1:35 pm S&P 500 Tech Sector Shows Modest Gains; FFIV Upgraded, NVDA Downgraded (FFIV)

The tech sector is trading modestly higher today, ahead of losses in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative strength in the tech space with the Philly Semi Index trading 1.2% higher. Among chips in the index, BRCM (+9.7%) is the notable leader, while STM (-9.7%) is underperforming. Among other major indices, the S&P 500 is trading lower (-0.4%), while the NASDAQ is trading 0.2% lower. The QQQ, meanwhile, is trading up around 0.2%. Among tech bellwethers, AAPL (+1.3%) is again showing relative strength, while ORCL (-0.1%) is under pressure.

In earnings last night, TXN (+0.9%) reported a slightly better-than-expected qtr with inline guidance, BRCM (+9.7%) and SANM (+22.2%) posted a beats with upside guidance, and STM (-9.7%) missed and guided lower. This morning, ARMH (-1.9%) reported a slight beat and issued inline guidance and LXK (+17.4%) and ACIW (+3.6%) posted a beat with inline guidance.

In news, IDCC (+2.8%) filed a complaint against NOK (+2.3%), Huawei and ZTE with International Trade Commission. In rumors, we are hearing AMD (+1.3%) takeover chatter making the rounds.

Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, Ticonderoga upgraded FFIV (+2.3%) to Buy, VLTR (+15.6%) and VCLK (-0.8%) were upgraded to Overweight at Piper Jaffray, S (-0.7%) was upgraded to Outperform at RBC Capital, and FNSR (+9.5%) was upgraded to Buy at Citigroup. In downgrades this morning, Needham downgrades NVDA (-2.2%) to Sell.

10:36 am Broadcom Tops Second Quarter Expectations (BRCM)

Broadcom (BRCM $38.10 +3.19) reported second quarter earnings of $0.72 per share, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.63.

Revenues rose 12.5% year/year to $1.8 billion versus the $1.8 billion consensus.

Product gross margin was 51.1%. The company stated, "Looking forward, we see strong demand for our communications solutions, reinforcing that innovation is driving customer demand. We expect solid growth in revenue and profitability in the third quarter.