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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : The major equity averages descended to varied losses after they had spent the first half of the session chopping along listlessly in mixed fashion.

Momentum from the prior session's broad-based bounce was lost this morning as reports regarding plans to boost bailout funds in the EFSF were contradicted. Headlines indicative of conflicting goings on at meetings between eurozone officials played a part in an afternoon sell-off that left stocks to end the session at lows.

Of the major averages, the Nasdaq suffered the worst loss today. Its outsized decline came as Apple (AAPL 398.62, -23.62) shares dove in response to an earnings miss, which has been a rare occurrence in recent years. Shares of AAPL booked their worst percentage loss in three years. Given the weight of AAPL shares in the Nasdaq, its weakness offset strength in shares of Intel (INTC 24.24, +0.84) and Yahoo! (YHOO 15.94, +0.47), both of which reported a better-than-expected bottom line for the latest quarter.

Materials stocks were actually the worst performers. Challenged to find support, the sector slumped to a 3.0% loss.

Morgan Stanley (MS 16.64, +0.01) posted an upside surprise for the latest quarter, but its shares ended the day only a penny above where they began. In contrast, Travelers (TRV 54.39, +2.93) came short of the consensus earnings estimate, but its shares still rallied to a two-month high. Following its 5% spike yesterday, the financial sector failed to sustain an early bounce that left them to trade flat before descending alongside the rest of the market in late trade. They finished with a collective loss of 1.7%.

Homebuilders failed to sustain buying interest that had the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB 15.18, -0.17) up nicely on the back of news that housing starts climbed in September to an annualized clip of 658,000, which is the fastest pace since April 2010. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for a slower rate more on the order of 595,000. Meanwhile, building permits slid to a rate of 594,000 from 610,000 in the prior month. An annualized rate of 610,000 permits had been generally expected.

There weren't any surprises to consumer price data for September. Overall consumer prices increased by 0.3%, just as had been broadly expected, while core prices increased by 0.1%, which is even less than the consensus call for a 0.2% increase. Just yesterday it was learned that overall producer prices increased by 0.8% in September, while core producer prices increased by 0.2% for the month.

There were no surprises to the Fed's latest Beige Book, which indicated that economic activity in many districts expanded at a modest or slight pace during September. A weaker or less certain outlook for business conditions was also generally noted.

Just as stocks wrestled with sellers this afternoon, oil futures came under pronounced pressure. The energy component benefited from an unexpected draw in weekly inventories and even traded as high as $89.69 per barrel before it dropped to $86.11 per barrel for a 2.5% loss. Other commodities were also clipped, resulting in a 1.3% loss for the CRB Commodity Index.

Amid the afternoon selling, the Volatility Index, often euphemistically labeled the Fear Gauge, spiked. At the close it was up more than 9% to trade above 34.

Advancing Sectors: Utilities +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Health Care -0.3%, Consumer Staples -0.4%, Telecom -0.6%, Energy -0.9%, Industrials -1.2%, Consumer Discretionary -1.5%, Financials -1.7%, Materials -3.0%DJ30 -72.43 NASDAQ -53.39 NQ100 -2.0% R2K -2.1% SP400 -1.6% SP500 -15.50 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 619/1.97 bln/1942 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 837/964 mln/2190

4:43PM STMicroelectronics/Ericsson Joint Venture post Q3 results (STM) 7.06 -0.36 : ST-Ericsson, a joint venture of STMicroelectronics (STM) and Ericsson (ERIC), reported financial results for the third fiscal quarter ending October 1, 2011. "Sales in the third quarter came in slightly ahead of expectations, even when excluding $20 million of revenue from IP licensing to a third party," said Gilles Delfassy, president and CEO of ST-Ericsson. "Revenue from new products continued to grow, making up more than half of our total sales. Net sales were $412 mln compared to $565 mln in prior year quarter. Net loss for the joint venture was $211 mln compared to $121 mln in the prior year. For the fourth quarter 2011, ST-Ericsson expects net sales to be slightly up sequentially

4:32PM MKS Instruments beats by $0.09, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (MKSI) 24.63 -0.28 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.58 per share, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.49; revenues fell 12.1% year/year to $194.5 mln vs the $189.5 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.18-$0.31 vs. $0.39 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $145-165 mln vs. $172.00 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co states, ""Order levels began to decline in May and continued to decline until the middle of the third quarter. However, since then, orders have remained fairly stable. In conditions like these, our proven strategy is to remain nimble, aggressively identify and pursue new opportunities while simultaneously controlling costs."

4:25PM Xilinx beats by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q3 revs below consensus (XLNX) 29.60 -1.21 : Reports Q2 (Sep) earnings of $0.47 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.45; revenues fell 10.4% year/year to $555.2 mln vs the $567.2 mln consensus. Xilinx sees Q3 revs down 3-8% sequentially vs. Capital IQ Consensus Estimates of +2.5%. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs down 3-8% sequentially, which equates to ~$510.8-538.5 mln vs. $571.61 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:19PM Lam Research misses by $0.02, beats on revs (LRCX) 42.63 -0.88 : Reports Q1 (Sep) earnings of $0.63 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.65; revenues fell 15.6% year/year to $680.4 mln vs the $670.8 mln consensus. Gross margin for the September 2011 quarter was $283.9 mln, or 41.7%, compared to gross margin of $338.5 mln, or 45.0%, for the June 2011 quarter. The sequential decrease in gross margin was primarily due to less favorable product mix and reflects the impact of lower factory utilization as a result of the decline in business volumes. Deferred revenue and deferred profit balances at the end of the September 2011 quarter were $179.5 mln and $112.5 mln, respectively.

4:14PM Cirrus Logic beats by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q3 revs below consensus (CRUS) 17.01 -0.99 : Reports Q2 (Sep) earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.32; revenues rose 1.0% year/year to $101.6 mln vs the $103.5 mln consensus; GM 53.5%. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $102-108 mln vs. $109.98 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; with GM of 53-55%. "While we are seeing softness in some areas of our business due to issues in the global economy, we still expect significant year over year revenue growth in Q3, and we are well positioned to capitalize on some extraordinary growth opportunities that we believe will enable Cirrus Logic to be a great company for many years."

4:13PM Cohu beats by $0.13, beats on revs (COHU) 11.01 -0.68 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.21 per share, $0.13 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.08; revenues fell 16.6% year/year to $71.8 mln vs the $71 mln consensus. Orders were $61.4 million for the third quarter of 2011 and $80.6 million for the second quarter of 2011. Orders for semiconductor equipment were $48.5 million in the third quarter of 2011 compared to $69.1 million in the second quarter of 2011. Total consolidated backlog was $74.5 million at September 24, 2011 compared to $84.9 million at June 25, 2011. Cohu expects fourth quarter 2011 sales to be approximately $65 million.

4:06PM Riverbed Technology -- Earnings Mover (RVBD) 22.52 : Stock jumps roughly 1.5-pts in initial reaction, currently up along the $24.00 level. Stock is through its 50-day ema here ($23.58), with some resistance overhead near $25.50-26.00. This is the first time the stock has been above its 50-day ema since mid July.

4:09PM Riverbed Technology beats by $0.03, beats on revs (RVBD) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.21; revenues rose 29.0% year/year to $190.6 mln vs the $185.5 mln consensus.

12:01PM Freescale Semi licenses ARM Cortex-A7 and Cortex-A15 processor cores (FSL) 12.30 -0.40 : Co plans to incorporate ARM Cortex-A7 and Cortex-A15 processors in single-core and multicore i.MX devices that feature software and pin compatibility and target embedded, automotive infotainment and smart mobile device applications.

10:00AM Semiconductor Hldrs ETF mildly weaker (SMH) 30.38 -0.12 : Although a key component is up substantially (INTC +4.1%), the sector ETF is in the red. Weighing this morning are: LLTC -4.8%, SNDK -2.5%, ADI -2%, AMAT -1%, AMKR -1%, BRCM -2%, LSI -2.5%, MXIM -1.2%, TXN -1.7%, XLNX -1.7%. Short term support for the SMH if follow through is noted is at 30.15/30.05 (The Technical Take). Resistance above this wk/last wk highs (30.64/30.63) is at 30.85/30.90.

Marvell (MRVL) announced Samsung has launched the new S5820, a China 3G TD-SCDMA Android smartphone for China Mobile (CHL).

7:02AM ON Semiconductor updates impact of Thailand flood; co believes that its SANYO Semiconductor division's Thailand operations have been severely damaged by the flood (ONNN) 8.04 : Co believes that its SANYO Semiconductor division's Thailand operations, including buildings and equipment, located at the Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya, Thailand have been severely damaged by the flood. Operations at this location remain suspended. Co has not yet been able to enter its site and buildings and is uncertain as to when it will be able to gain access, due to the extensive flooding. Based on currently available information and given the extent of the potential damage, the company believes it will be unable to re-start probe, assembly and test operations at the Rojana Industrial Park for an indefinite period. The future of this site will be evaluated once the company is able to gain access to its facility.

7:00AM ATMI beats by $0.01, misses on revs (ATMI) 18.47 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.25 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.24; revenues were unchanged from the year-ago period at $95 mln.

11:13 am S&P Tech Sector Down Almost One Percent, Trailing Broader Market (AAPL)
The tech sector is trading lower today, trailing slight gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness in the tech space with the Philly Semi Index trading 0.8% lower. CREE (-7.8%) is a notable laggard in that chip index. Among other major indices, the S&P 500 is trading up 0.1%, while the NASDAQ is trading 0.4% lower. The QQQ, meanwhile, is trading 0.5% lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, following earnings AAPL (-4.1%) is under notable pressure, while INTC (+4.1%) is outperforming.

In a busy night of earnings in tech last night, AAPL (-4.1%) reported a rare quarterly miss, although it offered uncharacteristically upside guidance. INTC (+4.1%) reported a Q3 beat on both revs and EPS, in addition to offering upside guidance and increasing its buyback. YHOO (+4.3%) posted a Q4 EPS beat with inline revs and guidance. JNPR (-1.0%) reported a top line beat and inline EPS and guidance. LLTC (-5.2%) posted a Q1 miss and guided below consensus. Also, CKP (-23.3%) and PWAV (-43.2%) issued downside guidance.

In news, ONNN (-11.8%) updated the impact of Thailand flood stating it believes that its SANYO Semiconductor division's Thailand operations have been severely damaged by the flood.

Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, Needham upgraded CTXS (+1.9%) to Buy. In downgrades, ALU (-9.4%) was downgraded to Underperform at Jefferies, JNPR (-1.0%) was downgraded to Market Perform at Wells Fargo, and Stifel Nicolaus downgraded RNOW (-3.8%) to Hold.

WDC (-7.2%) and LRCX (-1.2%) are two notable names in tech set to report results today after the close.

11:02 am Intel Tops Third Quarter Expectations; Sees Fourth Quarter Revenue Above Consensus (INTC)
Intel (INTC $24.33 +0.93) reported third quarter earnings of $0.69 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.63.

Revenues rose 28.2% year/year to $14.23 billion versus the $13.84 billion consensus; non-GAAP gross margin -170 bps year/year to 64.4%.

For the fourth quarter, the company expects to see revenue of $14.2 billion to $15.2 billion versus the $14.21 billion Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; gross margin percentage: 65%, plus or minus a couple percentage points.

Third quarter PC Client Group revenue of $9.4 billion, up 22 percent year/year. Data Center Group revenue of $2.5 billion, up 15% year/year. The company generated approx. $6.3 billion in cash from operations, paid cash dividends of $1.1 billion, and used $4.0 billion to repurchase 186 mln shares of common stock. Intel's board of directors also voted to increase the company's buyback authorization by $10.0 billion, raising the total unused balance to $14.2 billion at the end of the third quarter. The company also completed a senior notes offering of $5.0 billion primarily for the purpose of repurchasing stock.