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From Briefing.com: 4:26PM MagnaChip Semi beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line (MX) 10.20 +0.47 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.26 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.20; revenues fell 3.2% year/year to $180.8 mln vs the $179.98 mln consensus. Co states, " "Smartphones, tablet PCs, AMOLED displays and Ultrabooks are some examples of growth drivers for MagnaChip in 2012 as well as our rapidly expanding customer base and new product introductions for the power solutions segment... Looking ahead, we believe there are indications that the first quarter of 2012 could be the bottom of our revenue downturn based on the strength of orders for new products coming from our smartphone and tablet PC customers."

4:21PM Intersil beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (ISIL) 11.67 +0.41 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.16 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.13; revenues fell 14.5% year/year to $165.8 mln vs the $166.45 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.05-$0.09 vs. $0.14 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $152-160 mln vs. $169.82 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:20PM Qualcomm beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus; guides FY12 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (QCOM) 59.56 +0.74 : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.97 per share, excluding $0.01 loss per share attributable to the QSI segment, $0.11 loss per share attributable to certain share-based compensation and $0.03 loss per share attributable to certain acquisition-related items, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.90; revenues rose 39.8% year/year to $4.68 bln vs the $4.58 bln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.91-0.97 vs. $0.89 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $4.6-5 bln vs. $4.5 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co raised guidance for FY12, sees EPS of $3.55-3.75 up from $3.42-3.62 vs. $3.60 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY12 revs of $18.7-19.7 bln up from $18-19 bln vs. $18.45 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co reported MSM shipments of 156 million units, up 32 percent y-o-y and 23 percent sequentially.

4:15PM Mattson beats by $0.05, beats on revs (MTSN) 2.39 +0.12 : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.07 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.12); revenues rose 1.0% year/year to $41.7 mln vs the $35.38 mln consensus.

4:14PM JDS Uniphase beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs in-line (JDSU) 13.13 +0.44 : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.15 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.10; revenues fell 13.4% year/year to $413.1 mln vs the $391.01 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $410-425 mln vs. $417.43 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:11PM Cadence Design beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs above consensus; guides FY12 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (CDNS) 10.80 +0.24 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.17 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.15; revenues rose 23.7% year/year to $308 mln vs the $300.47 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.14-0.16, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.14 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $305-315 mln vs. $292.87 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues mixed guidance for FY12, sees EPS of $0.60-0.70, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.64 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY12 revs of $1.24-1.28 bln vs. $1.23 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:30 pm : Stocks settled shy of their session highs, but still booked big gains on the day. Not only did that free the broad market from its recent funk, but it gave stocks one of their best performances in the past couple of weeks.

In the early going market participants maintained their bullish bias in the face of a relatively disappointing ADP Employment Change. The report suggested that private payrolls increased by 170,000 in January, rather than by 200,000, as had been broadly expected. The report is widely regarded as a preview of the official payrolls report that is due Friday.

Positive sentiment in Europe was a primary underpinning of the stock market's early strength. Market participants made note of a successful debt offering from financially precarious Portugal. While mixed manufacturing data from China was shrugged off by many, news that a handful of PMI Manufacturing readings from the eurozone made incremental improvements were also regarded as a positive. Notably, a compromise with creditors continues to elude Greece.

Strength in the euro reflected sentiment in Europe. It led the greenback for the entire session and was up about 0.5% as of the closing bell.

Morning trade got a little choppy with the release of the latest ISM Manufacturing Index and some monthly construction spending numbers. The ISM Manufacturing Index improved in January to 54.1 from 53.1 in the prior month, but many had expected it to make a slightly stronger climb to 54.5. Construction spending during December increased by 1.5%, which is far better than the 0.4% that had been expected. Spending in the prior month had increased by 0.4%.

Leadership from financials helped lift the broader market. The sector climbed to a gain greater than 2% before momentum stalled. As a group, financials finished with a 1.7% gain, which is better than what any other sector achieved.

The S&P 500 also drifted lower in afternoon trade, but before doing so it came in contact with the 1330 line, which stands just a few points below the 52-week intraday high that it set last week.

Earnings, generally positive overall, provided an encouraging backdrop to trade today. Seagate Tech (STX 25.53, +4.39) surged in response to an upside earnings surprise and strong guidance. Fellow tech play Broadcom (BRCM 37.13, +2.78) also attracted strong buying interest on the back of a better-than-expected earnings report. Whirlpool (WHR 61.64, +7.32) shares set a new multi-month high in response to an upside earnings surprise of their own.

Amazon.com (AMZN 179.46, -14.98) failed to attracted buyers following its quarterly report. The company's bottom-line beat was overshadowed by a light revenue figure and a disappointing forecast. Even with AMZN shares in such weak shape the Nasdaq managed to outperform its counterparts. Still, its performance still wasn't as strong as that of either the Russell 2000 or the S&P 400, which climbed 1.7% and 1.8%, respectively.

Advancing Sectors: Financials +1.7%, Industrials +1.1%, Materials +1.1%, Health Care +1.0%, Tech 0.9%, Consumer Staples +0.8%, Telecom +0.7%, Energy +0.5%, Utilities +0.4%, Consumer Discretionary +0.3%
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +83.55 NASDAQ +34.43 NQ100 0.9% R2K +1.7% SP400 +1.8% SP500 +11.67 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1939/2.11 bln/605 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2504/893 mln/521

Research In Motion (RIMM) announced that BlackBerry smartphones running on the BlackBerry 7 and BlackBerry 7.1 Operating Systems have been awarded FIPS 140-2 certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Communications Security Establishment Canada, certifying the phones for government use.

7:00AM ATMI beats by $0.06, beats on revs (ATMI) 23.38 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.20 per share, excluding a contract termination charge of $1.68 per diluted share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.14; revenues fell 5.9% year/year to $90.3 mln vs the $87.59 mln consensus. "We ended 2011 with $114 million in cash and marketable securities, after spending $95 million for the SDS Direct transaction and $3 million for SDS inventories, giving us ample flexibility to pursue additional strategic growth opportunities. Despite the uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment and the anticipated softness in the first quarter, we are excited about our opportunities for growth given the incremental revenues and cash that are expected to be generated from the SDS Direct transaction and new product revenues in both our Microelectronics and LifeSciences product lines as our customers continue to ramp to volume production."

Broadcom (BRCM $36.05 +1.69) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.68 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.65, while revenues fell 6.7% year/year to $1.82 billion versus the $1.8 billion consensus.

Seagate Tech (STX $24.17 +3.06) reported second quarter earnings of $1.32 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.24 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.08, while revenues rose 17.5% year/year to $3.19 billion versus the $3.13 billion consensus.