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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Stocks overcame morning selling pressure to stage a steady advance that continued into the close, giving stocks substantial gains. The move was broad based, but for the most part financials led the way.

Market participants bid stocks higher in the opening minutes of trade, but sentiment soured before long. Subsequent selling pressure came as traders shrugged off impressive gains by Europe's major bourses because of questions about how easily eurozone members can establish a unified political front capable of completing and implementing bailout plans.

A lack of follow through selling pressure enabled stocks to stabilize and even slowly work their way back to the flat line, but they bounded once it was reported that the prime minister of Italy will resign after the country's budget plans are passed into law. Concerns about the inability of the Italian government to shore up the country's precarious fiscal and financial conditions have driven the country's debt yields to record heights. There is currently no definitive reading on who will step in as prime minister of Italy, but Greece is expected to name Lucas Papademos to the position of prime minister.

The euro also bounced in response to the headlines about a new political makeup in Italy. At session's end the euro was up 0.6% to $1.384.

All 10 major sectors managed to score gains, but financials staged the strongest moves, scoring a collective a gain of nearly 2%. The financial sector's bounce actually marked a resumption of early leadership efforts. In the early going the sector was up well in excess of 1% before surrendering almost all of that gain amid broad market weakness.

Small-cap stocks and mid-cap stocks staged some sharp reversals of their own. Both the Russell 2000 and the S&P 400 were down in excess of 1% at their session lows, but settled with gains of about 1% or better.

The improved tone to afternoon trade helped push down the Volatility Index for the fifth day in a row. The VIX is still above its 10-day low, though.

Advancing Sectors: Financials +1.9%, Energy +1.4%, Tech +1.2%, Consumer Discretionary +1.1%, Materials +1.1%, Consumer Staples +1.0%, Industrials +1.0%, Health Care +0.9%, Utilities +0.5%, Telecom +0.3%
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +101.79 NASDAQ +32.24 NQ100 +1.2% R2K +1.4% SP400 +1.0% SP500 +14.80 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1844/1.85 bln/717 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2231/879 mln/769

5:10PM Adobe Systems also provides future growth strategy in seperate release (ADBE) 30.42 +0.50 : Co reports moving into FY2012, they will focus its research and development and sales and marketing investments on these two opportunities. In Digital Media, the company expects to attract new customers and increase recurring revenue through its new subscription offering. In order to drive increased Digital Marketing bookings, which are recognized as recurring revenue, the company will reduce its investment, and expected license revenue, in certain enterprise solution product lines. These changes will reduce FY2012 revenue growth by approximately four to five percentage points. As a result, the company expects annual revenue growth of approximately four to six percent in FY2012 (current consensus calls for 8.7% FY12 rev growth). However, the company expects non-GAAP operating margins in FY2012 to be similar to those it will achieve in FY2011. Beyond FY2012, the company anticipates double-digit revenue growth with an increasing percentage of recurring revenue. "We believe that by focusing resources on two large initiatives and shifting our business model, we can drive faster and more predictable growth in FY2013 and beyond..."

5:04PM Adobe Systems reaffirms Q4 revenue target, restructures to align business around Digital Media, Digital Marketing (ADBE) 30.42 +0.50 : Co provided a business update for its fourth quarter fiscal year 2011, ending Dec. 2, 2011. The company also announced plans to further align its business around the explosive growth categories of Digital Media and Digital Marketing solutions. Adobe is investing aggressively in Digital Media and Digital Marketing, two growing market areas. In Digital Media, the company is the industry leader in content authoring solutions, enabling customers to create, distribute and monetize digital content. In Digital Marketing, the company intends to be the leader in solutions to manage, measure and optimize digital marketing and advertising. In order to better align resources around Digital Media and Digital Marketing, Adobe is restructuring its business. This will result in the elimination of approximately 750 full-time positions primarily in North America and Europe. The co expects to record in the aggregate approximately $87 million to $94 million in pre-tax restructuring charges. They expect to record approximately $73 million to $78 million of these charges in the fiscal quarter ending Dec. 2, 2011. See separate release issued today for more information regarding the company's strategy and goals with its business realignment. With approximately four weeks remaining in the quarter, the company believes it will achieve fourth quarter revenue within the $1.075 billion to $1.125 billion range it previously provided on Sept. 20, 2011 (current consensus is $1.086 bln). Based on the impact of the restructuring charge discussed above that the company expects to take in the fourth quarter, Adobe updated its targeted GAAP diluted earnings per share range to be $0.30 to $0.38 in the quarter. The company had previously targeted a fourth quarter diluted earnings per share range of $0.41 to $0.50 on a GAAP basis. Adobe continues to target a diluted earnings per share range of $0.57 to $0.64 on a non-GAAP basis in the fourth quarter. Consensus is $0.60.

4:38PM Photronics lowered Q4 revs guidance to $120-122 mln vs $128.91 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, from $125-130 mln; lowers EPS to $0.11-0.13, vs. $0.17 consensus, down from $0.14-0.18 (PLAB) 6.36 +0.28 : PLAB lowers Q4 guidance. Co plans to provide guidance for Q1 of fiscal 2012 during its regularly scheduled Q4 financial results conference call on December 7, 2011. Fourth quarter revenue is expected to be lower than anticipated due to customers scaling back purchases in response to increased softness in both the integrated circuit and flat panel display markets. The company had anticipated a modest slowdown of orders for mainstream IC and FPD photomasks, but did not expect the weakness to continue throughout the quarter. In addition, late in the quarter, Photronics experienced a similar and unexpected slowdown in high-end IC orders. The co noted that Q4 FPD sales declined more significantly than IC orders. For the full fiscal year 2011, Photronics expects to report record annual sales for both IC and FPD photomasks.

4:08PM Action Semi announced that Dr. Zhenyu Zhou will replace Mr. Niccolo Chen as Chief Executive Officer (ACTS) 2.17 +0.03 : In his current role as Senior Vice President at co, he leads the effort for the company's Android-based product line. Dr. Zhou spent the last six years in Shanghai, China as Founder and CEO of Mavrix Technology, a developer of multimedia and mobile TV SOCs for brand name and non-branded cell phone makers in China. He founded Mavrix technology in 2005 and the company was acquired by Actions Semiconductor in 2010.

4:08PM STEC Inc beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (STEC) 11.70 -0.02 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.14 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.10; revenues fell 15.8% year/year to $72.5 mln vs the $70.81 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of ($0.02)-0.00, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.11 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $55-57 mln vs. $72.47 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

10:48 am OmniVision downgraded to Perform at Oppenheimer: . Oppenheimer downgrades OVTI to Perform from Outperform after the co posted reduced guidance. Firm notes obviously, Sony's image sensor in the iPhone 4s is a factor, so too is reduced sales of PCs amplified by flooding in Thailand, as well as the prior reduced iPad forecast in CY4Q and soft sales on non-Apple tablets. In addition to yield issues with BSI-2 at TSMC, checks hint at some material compatibility issue with encapsulant materials during packaging of image sensor lenses.

2:42 pm S&P Tech Sector Trading One Percent Higher, Slightly Outperforming the Broader Market
The tech sector is trading higher today, just ahead of broader market. Semiconductors are showing modest strength in the tech space with the Philly Semi Index trading 0.2% higher. Among other major indices, the S&P 500 is trading 1.0% higher, while the NASDAQ is trading 0.9% higher and the QQQ is trading up 1.0%. Among tech bellwethers, T (-0.2%) is underperforming, while AAPL (+1.6%) is showing strength.

In earnings last night, RAX (+7.5%) reported a slight beat, while TWTC (-2.3%) and LLNW (+4.8%) posted inline quarters, although LLNW guided lower.

In news, HPQ (-0.1%) is looking to sell its WebOS unit according to reports.

Among rumors, we are hearing ALTR (-0.2%) for XLNX (+0.6%) takeover chatter making the rounds. Separately, there were reports of private equity speculation surrounding WBMD (+5.3%).

Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, ALU (+0.9%) was upgraded to Market Perform at Bernstein and Kaufman upgraded RAX (+7.5%) to Buy. In downgrades, RIMM (-0.6%) was downgraded to Equal Weight at Barclays, ALU (+0.9%) was downgraded to Neutral at BofA/Merrill, RHT (-0.3%) was downgraded to Neutral at UBS, and Oppenheimer and Wedbush downgraded OVTI (+1.6%).

ATVI (+1.2%) is the notable name in tech set to report results today after the close.