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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 23-Dec-11Although the traditional "Santa Claus rally" period didn't officially start until today, Santa came early this year with a greater than 3.5% gain in equities on the week, which recoups last week's loss and then some. The S&P is now roughly flat on the year as we approach the final week of 2011.

While the action was constructive, this week was relatively quiet in terms of news flow. The week did start with a big piece of international news - the death of North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Il. That event caused initial uncertainty across Asia as his son Kim Jong Un stepped into control. However, after initial weakness on Monday, most Asian markets spent the rest of the week advancing along with their western counterparts.

After a lackluster Monday performance, markets got a substantial lift on Tuesday following encouraging German sentiment data and a better-than-expected Spanish bond auction. After Tuesday's 3% gain, stocks edged higher on Wednesday and Thursday, amid relatively light corporate news flow and generally encouraging economic data. On Thursday, initial jobless claims data, the Michigan sentiment revision and leading indicators data all beat expectations, although the revision to Q3 GDP came in below expectations. Last night, Congress agreed to a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits, temporarily lifting some domestic political uncertainty. This morning, while the Nov. durable goods data beat expectations, spending came in below expectations and excluding aircraft, the durables orders weren't as strong as the headline number. However, markets managed to see follow-through strength to end the day higher by 0.7%.

Corporate news flow was light throughout the week. Oracle's (ORCL 26.06, +0.37) disappointing earnings report sent its stock down 12% on Wednesday, while American Greetings (AM 12.97, -0.42) fell 24% in the two days following its earnings report. There were a few pieces of M&A news announced, with WCA Waste Corp (WCAA 6.62, +0.23) being acquired by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners II for $6.50 per share in cash, representing a 33% premium. Delphi Financial (DFG 44.13, +0.12) gained more than 70% after announcing it would be acquired by Tokio Marine. Finally, Akamai (AKAM 31.93, +0.30) gained 15% after announcing it would acquire privately held content delivery company Cotendo for approximately $268 million.

 
 Index     Started Week  Ended Week  Change  % Change  YTD % 
 DJIA	    11866.39	 12294.00   427.61     3.6    6.2 
 Nasdaq	     2555.33	  2618.64    63.31     2.5   -1.3 
 S&P 500	     1219.66	  1265.33    45.67     3.7    0.6 
 Russell 2000  722.05	   747.98    25.93     3.6   -4.6

4:05PM ON Semiconductor enters into a $325 mln revolving credit facility (ONNN) 7.60 +0.14 : Co announced that it has entered into a senior revolving credit facility with a group of lenders. The facility enables the co to borrow up to $325 million under revolving loans. The new facility has a five year term that expires in December of 2016. Fees and interest expense under the revolving credit facility can vary based on the co's total leverage ratio. Based on the co's current total leverage ratio, the facility is expected to bear interest at LIBOR plus 175 basis points if drawn. If the facility is undrawn, as it is currently, there is a yearly commitment fee of 35 basis points. This can vary as well based on the total leverage ratio.

8:02AM SunPower announces Agreement to Acquire Tenesol SA from TOT for $165.4 mln in cash; Total has agreed to purchase 18.6 million shares of SunPower common stock in a private placement at $8.80 per share, a 50 percent premium to SunPower's December 22, 2011 closing price (SPWR) 5.86 : Co announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tenesol SA, a global solar provider headquartered in La Tour de Salvagny, France. Tenesol, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TOT, has operations in 18 countries and solar panel manufacturing facilities in France and South Africa. Under the terms of the agreement, SPWR will acquire Tenesol from TOT for $165.4 mln in cash. Concurrently with the closing of the acquisition, TOT has agreed to purchase 18.6 mln shares of SunPower common stock in a private placement at $8.80 per share, a 50 percent premium to SunPower's December 22, 2011 closing price. The transaction has been approved by an independent committee of SunPower's board of directors and is expected to close early in 2012 following the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. SPWR expects the acquisition will positively affect its financial position in 2012. After the sale of Tenesol, Total will own ~66% of SunPower's common share.

6:16AM Qualcomm announced earlier FCC approval of sale of $1.925 bln 700 mhz spectrum licenses to AT&T (T) (QCOM) 54.37 : Co announced that the FCC has approved the sale of its Lower 700 MHz D and E Block unpaired U.S. spectrum licenses to AT&T (T). The sale by Qualcomm to AT&T of the licenses for $1.925 bln was originally announced in December, 2010. The proposed transaction has been pending subject to the satisfaction of the conditions of closing. In connection with the announcement of the transaction in 2010, AT&T indicated that, as part of its longer term 4G network plan, it intends to deploy this spectrum as supplemental downlink, using carrier aggregation technology. This new technology is designed to deliver substantial capacity gains by enabling unpaired spectrum to be used in conjunction with paired spectrum for 4G services.

Last night, Qualcomm (QCOM $55.15 +2.98) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.80 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.78. while revenues rose 39.6% year/year to $4.12 billion versus the $4.0 billion consensus. The company issues upside guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.86-0.92 versus the $0.85 consensus and revenues of $4.35-4.75 billion versus the $4.25 billion consensus. The company issued mixed guidance for fiscal year 2012 with EPS of $3.42-3.62 versus the $3.48 consensus and revenues of $18.0-19.0 billion versus the $17.29 billion consensus.

Last night, ON Semiconductor (ONNN $7.60 +0.52) reported third quarter earnings of $0.24 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the consensus of $0.24, while revenues rose 49.5% year/year to $898 million versus the $898.6 million consensus. The company issued guidance for the fourth quarter with revenues of $740-780 million, includes impact from Thialand floor of $60 million, may not be comparable to the $834.95 millionconsensus.

Last night, Sierra Wireless (SWIR $6.14 -1.22) reported a third quarter loss of $0.03 per share, incl. items, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.03, while revenues fell 15.0% year/year to $146.8 million versus the $152.45 million consensus. The company issued downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.05-0.10 vs. $0.14 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $145-150 mln vs. $166.51 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

10:11 am Rambus Up Sharply After Announcing A Patent Agreement With BRCM (RMBS)
Rambus (RMBS $8.44 +1.12) is trading sharply higher this morning after announcing a patent license agreement after the close yesterday.

Late yesterday, the company announced it has signed a patent license agreement with Broadcom (BRCM). This agreement covers the use of Rambus patented innovations in a broad range of integrated circuit (IC) products offered by Broadcom. In addition, the two companies have settled all outstanding claims, including resolution of past use of Rambus' patented innovations. The term of this patent license agreement is five years. Other terms of the agreement are confidential.