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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Stocks started the session at the flat line, but were able to put together a steady ascent that took the broad market to its best level in several months.

Participants initially assumed a positive posture ahead of the open as they took into consideration mixed action abroad and word that the International Monetary Fund would like to expand its lending capacity, reportedly in the range of $600 billion to $1 trillion, in order to be able to meet a perceived financing shortfall. Strikingly, the news came the same day that the World Bank lowered its global growth forecast. The World Bank now expects an increase of 2.5%, down from a 3.6% increase, for 2012 and growth of 3.1%, down from 3.6%, for 2013.

However, support for stocks waned with the approach of the open. That left the major equity averages to start the session on a flat note, but technology stocks, which collectively represent the largest sector by market weight, were quick to offer leadership. They scored a 1.6% gain and helped keep the tech-rich Nasdaq out in front of its counterparts for virtually the entire day.

Yahoo! (YHOO 15.92, +0.49) was among the Nasdaq's better performers following news that the Internet search firm's co-founder Jerry Yang will be departing from the company. Still, semiconductor stocks shined the brightest in the Nasdaq; they climbed 5.0%, as measured by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Not to be overshadowed, financials rallied back from an early slip to score a 1.7% gain as a group. The move was led by investment bank and brokerage play Goldman Sachs (GS 104.31, +6.63), which proved itself a deft navigator of murky market conditions and persistently precarious conditions in Europe by posting an upside earnings surprise that likely fueled some short-covering among those who had been pessimistic about the firm's prospects in the face of formidable headwinds. By extension, shares of Morgan Stanley (MS 17.35, +1.10) bounced ahead of the firm's quarterly report tomorrow morning. Strength in the sector came even though a handful of other financial outfits, including U.S. Bancorp (USB 29.08, +0.31) and Northern Trust (NTRS 41.22, -0.71), offered up results that were more mixed overall.

A stronger euro helped perpetuate a positive tone among market participants. As of the closing bell, the currency had climbed 0.9% against the greenback. It now sports a week-to-date gain of 1.4%.

Although the broad market was able to work its way up to a sizable gain and settle at its highest level since this past summer, many defensive-oriented issues failed to follow the action. Instead, utilities and consumer staples stocks settled at the flat line, while telecom mustered a mere gain of 0.3%.

Economic data was pretty much shrugged off by market participants. Producer prices for December slipped by 0.1%, but core producer prices increased by 0.3%. Many economists had expected that each price measure to increase by 0.1%. Industrial production during December increased by 0.4%, which is only slightly less than the 0.5% increase that had been broadly anticipated.

Advancing Sectors: Financial +1.7%, Tech +1.6%, Consumer Discretionary +1.6%, Energy +1.5%, Materials +1.1%, Industrials +0.9%, Health Care +0.5%, Telecom +0.3%
Unchanged: Utilities, Consumer Staples
Declining Sectors: NoneDJ30 +96.88 NASDAQ +41.63 NQ100 +1.4% R2K +1.8% SP400 +1.6% SP500 +14.37 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1948/2.01 bln/603 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2406/798 mln/632

5:52PM Trident Microsystems (TRIDQ) common stock expected to trade on OTC markets beginning Jan. 19, 2012 (TRID) 0.16 +0.02 : Co announced that it anticipates that its common stock will begin trading under the symbol "TRIDQ" on the OTCQB marketplace, operated by OTC Markets Group, on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012.

4:26PM Xilinx beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs above consensus (XLNX) 35.30 +1.95 : Reports Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.41 per share, excludes $0.06 tax benefit, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.37; revenues fell 9.9% year/year to $511.1 mln vs the $496.82 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs up 2-6% QoQ, which equates to ~$521.3-541.8 mln vs. $504.92 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Gross margin is expected to be approximately 64% to 65%.

4:20PM eBay beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS, revs below consensus; guides FY12 EPS below consensus, revs above (EBAY) 30.34 -0.19 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.60 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.57; revenues rose 35.5% year/year to $3.38 bln vs the $3.32 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.50-0.51 vs. $0.54 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $3.05-3.15 bln vs. $3.16 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues mixed guidance for FY12, sees EPS of $2.25-2.30 vs. $2.32 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY12 revs of $13.7-14.0 bln vs. $13.67 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Non-GAAP operating margin decreased to 28.7% for the quarter, compared to 29.5% for the same period last year. The decrease in non-GAAP operating margin was due primarily to the impact of acquisitions and business mix. PayPal ended the quarter with 106.3 million active registered accounts, a 13% increase year over year. On average, PayPal added a million new accounts every month in 2011. PayPal revenue for the quarter increased 28% year over year driven primarily by continued merchant and consumer adoption as well as increased penetration on eBay. In the fourth quarter, revenue from PayPal's international markets exceeded revenue from the U.S. for the first time, reflecting the co's strong global footprint and growth in emerging markets. PayPal's net total payment volume (TPV) grew 24% to $33.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011. The company's mobile payment volume reached $4.0 billion in 2011, more than five times the mobile payment volume in the prior year, as more consumers used their smartphones and tablets to pay online.

4:10PM Sanmina-SCI misses by $0.03, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SANM) 10.50 +0.34 : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.28 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.31; revenues fell 9.6% year/year to $1.5 bln vs the $1.56 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.24-0.30, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.30 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.45-1.55 bln vs. $1.53 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "The revenue decline in the first quarter was caused by weakness in the Communications Networks segment and the Thailand floods that impacted shipments to some Enterprise Computing & Storage, and Multimedia customers... our second quarter remains challenging, input from our customers indicates we should see improvements in the second half of 2012." The Company also announced that it intends to redeem up to $150 million of its 8.125% notes due in 2016. The Company expects to use cash on hand for the redemption and expects the call date to be March 1, 2012.

4:09PM Plexus beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (PLXS) 33.25 +0.61 : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.51 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.48; revenues fell 6.4% year/year to $529.7 mln vs the $527.57 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.51-$0.58 vs. $0.50 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $550-$580 mln vs. $548.41 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:09PM F5 Networks beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS, revs above consensus (FFIV) 108.46 +2.15 : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $1.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.01; revenues rose 19.9% year/year to $322.4 mln vs the $319.06 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.05-1.07, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.05 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $332-337 mln vs. $330.70 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "Strong sales in APAC, Japan, and particularly North America offset the seasonal slowdown that typically characterizes the first quarter of a new fiscal year. We were also pleased that sales in the EMEA region exceeded our expectations. Strength in product sales was driven in part by growing demand for VIPRION 2400, our recently introduced midrange chassis product, across all regions and vertical markets. As a result, sales of all VIPRION products nearly tripled compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2011. In addition, sales of our vCMP (Virtual Clustered Multiprocessing) module, which enables customers to run multiple virtual BIG-IPs on a single VIPRION, were very strong during the quarter. Increasing attach rates for Application Security Manager, Access Policy Manager and other BIG-IP software modules also boosted sales, and demand for BIG-IP virtual editions continued to outpace our expectations." Q1 non-GAAP operating margin of 37.8%.

10:34AM Semiconductor Hldrs ETF extends gap higher start near its Oct/five month high at 32.74 -- session high 32.69 (SMH) 32.67 +1.04 : TSM +2.9% (stalled just shy of last wk/52-wk high from June at 13.98/14.05), TXN +6.5%, BRCM +4.4% (200 ema/sma at 34.00/33.96), ALTR +6.3% (200 sma at 39.84), AMAT +1.3% (testing its 200 ema at 11.97), ARMH +1.6%, ADI +5.3%, XLNX +3.3%.

9:08AM Agilent initiates quarterly dividend at $0.10 per share (A) 39.99 : Dividend to be paid on April 25 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 3.

1:50AM ASML beats by $0.16, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus; guides Q2 (Jun) revs above consensus; intends to increase dividend by 15% (ASML) 42.59 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of EUR0.69 per share, EUR0.16 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of EUR0.53; revenues fell 20.4% year/year to EUR1.21 bln vs the EUR1.14 bln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of EUR1.2 bln vs. EUR982.92 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues upside guidance for Q2 (Jun), sees Q2 (Jun) revs of EUR1.2 bln vs. EUR1.01 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. With regard to outlook, co states Sales are expected to have a gross margin in Q1 2012 of about 43%. R&D costs for Q1 are expected at EUR145 mln to support our strategic investments. SG&A costs are expected at EUR 54 mln. Co intends to increase the dividend by 15% compared with last year. Therefore, co will submit a proposal to declare a dividend in respect of 2011 of EUR0.46 per ordinary share, compared with a dividend of EUR0.40 per ordinary share paid in respect of 2010. Co expects first half 2012 net sales of about EUR2.4 bln. Net bookings in Q4 2011 of EUR 710 mln; Q1 2012 bookings expected at a level above Q4 2011 bookings.

Cree (CREE $23.44 +0.11) reported second quarter earnings of $0.25 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.26, while revenues rose 18.3% year/year to $304.1 million versus the $309.61 million consensus, non-GAAP gross margin of 35.3%. The company issued downside guidance for the third quarter with EPS of $0.18-0.25, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.30 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate with revenues of $290-310 million versus the $320.64 million consensus.

Linear Tech (LLTC $32.07 +2.20) reported second quarter earnings of $0.38 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.39, while revenues fell 23.3% year/year to $294.33 million versus the $293.07 million consensus. The company issued upside guidance for the third quarter with revenue growth of 4-8% sequentially, which calculates to approximately $306.10-317.9 million versus the $302.76 million consensus. "This was an encouraging quarter in a difficult global economic environment. We met the mid point of our guidance and we believe that we are at an inflection point in our business. Bookings, which started slowly, strengthened in December and continued strengthening in January. In these challenging times we maintained strong profitability, reporting operating margins at 45% of sales. Given the improvement in our bookings and our current outlook for the March quarter, we are estimating that we will grow quarterly revenues sequentially in the 4-8% range for our Q3. As we announced earlier, we have acquired Dust Networks, a provider of wireless sensor networks. Although Dust will initially have minimal impact on our quarterly financial results, we are optimistic about growth prospects for Dust in its emerging markets and the synergies between Dust and Linear in bringing rugged, low power, wireless solutions to the industrial and other end-markets."

ASML (ASML $42.89 +0.30) reported fourth quarter earnings of EUR0.69 per share, EUR0.16 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of EUR0.53, while revenues fell 20.4% year/year to EUR1.21 billion versus the EUR1.14 billion consensus. The company issued upside guidance for the first quarter with revenues of EUR1.2 billion versus the EUR982.92 million Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The company also issued upside guidance for the second quarter with revenues of EUR1.2 billion versus the EUR1.01 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

12:59 pm S&P Tech Sector Up 1.5%, Well Above The Broader Market
The tech sector is trading higher today, ahead of gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative strength in the tech space, however, with the Philly Semi Index trading 4.8% higher. NXPI (+11.3%) and POWI (+11.0%) are standouts in the chip index. Among other major indices, the S&P 500 is trading 0.7% higher, while the NASDAQ is trading 1.1% higher and the QQQ is 1.0% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, ORCL (+2.1%) is showing strength, while VZ (-0.3%) and MSFT (-0.3%) are notable underperformers.

In earnings, LLTC (+9.4%) reported a roughly inline Q2, but guided higher. This morning, APH (+10.2%) posted a Q4 beat and guided FY12 ahead of consensus.

In news, YHOO (+2.7%) announced that Jerry Yang has resigned from its Board of Directors. Among rumors, we are hearing Samsung is not interested in RIMM (-2.9%) following yesterday's reports the two might working together.

Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, CHKP (-0.2%) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James. Among downgrades, GOOG (+0.1%) was downgraded to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

EBAY (-1.1%) and SANM (+2.9%) are two notable names in tech scheduled to report results today after the close.

11:05 am Cree Trading 4% Higher Following Earnings/Guidance (CREE)
After the close yesterday, the Cree (CREE $24.28 +0.95) reported second quarter earnings of $0.25 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.26.

Revenues rose 18.3% year/year to $304.1 million versus the $309.61 million consensus, non-GAAP gross margin of 35.3%.

For the third quarter the company issued earnings guidance of $0.18 to $0.25, excluding non-recurring items, versus $0.30 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees third quarter revenues of $290 millon to $310 million versus $320.64 million Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, non-GAAP gross margin 35-36%. Inventory decreased $16.3 mln from the first quarter of fiscal 2012 to $187.4 million and represents 85 days of inventory.

10:05 am Goldman Sachs Trading Over 3% Higher Following Earnings Results (GS)

09:55 am Manufacturing Production Rebounds in December
After declining 0.3% in November, industrial production rebounded in December and increased 0.4%. The Briefing.com consensus expected industrial production to increase 0.5%.

The drop in industrial production in November was related to a 0.4% decline in manufacturing production. As we expected, the fall in manufacturing was not the start of a downturn in the sector as production rose 0.9% in December.

Production of durable and nondurable goods increased at nearly the same rate, 0.9% and 0.8% respectively.

Motor vehicles and parts production increased 0.6% in December after falling 2.6% in November. This was the result of a slight increase in motor vehicle assemblies -- 8.91 mln SAAR from 8.77 mln SAAR. Assemblies remain below the recent October peak of 9.17 mln SAAR. Auto assemblies increased from 3.20 mln SAAR in November to 3.29 mln SAAR in December. Light truck assemblies increased to 5.35 mln SAAR from 5.29 mln SAAR.

Mining production increased a modest 0.3% in December while utilities production declined 2.7% as unseasonably warm weather reduced demand for heating.