From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : The stock market spent the session chopping along listlessly in low volume trade before booking a flat finish. The lackluster action precedes the latest FOMC Policy Statement tomorrow.
Mixed action abroad and an absence of consequential headlines left stocks to open with modest losses. A lack of leadership then left the broad market to muddle along in the early going.
The highly influential Financial sector was an early source of weakness. Weighed down by diversified and regional banks it fell to a loss of about 1% before support was secured. Financials were able to fight off some of the selling to slash losses, but they still ended the day down 0.3%.
Tech stocks, collectively the largest sector by market weight, stayed close to the flat line for most of the session, but were able to book a 0.2% gain. That said, semiconductor plays traded with weakness, resulting in a 1.0% loss for the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Losses by semiconductor plays hampered the tech-rich Nasdaq so that it lagged its counterparts by a narrow margin.
Defensive in nature, Utilities (+1.1%), Telecom (+0.5%), and Consumer Staples (+0.5%) all benefited from a steady bid, but their lack of market weight did little to lift the broad market.
The dollar spent the day trailing a basket of major foreign currencies. By session's end it was off by about 0.2%.
Treasuries had attracted a solid bid in the early going, but support faded as trade progressed. That left the benchmark 10-year Note to drift down to the flat line by session's end. Results from an auction of 3-year Notes had little bearing on intraday action -- the offering drew a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.44, dollar demand of $110.1 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 34.6%. For comparison, the an average of the past six auctions results in a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.42, dollar demand of $109.4 billion, and an indirect bidder rate of 36.2%.
Without any announcements or headlines of great consequence many traders saw little reason to take a position ahead of the FOMC Policy Statement tomorrow afternoon. The apathetic attitude resulted in abysmally low share volume, which failed to surpass 650 million shares on the NYSE.
Advancing Sectors: Utilities +1.1%, Consumer Staples +0.5%, Telecom +0.5%, Tech +0.2%, Industrials +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Health Care -0.1%, Financials -0.3%, Consumer Discretionary -0.3%, Energy -0.3%, Materials -0.6%DJ30 +37.69 NASDAQ -4.68 NQ100 +0.00% R2K -0.4% SP400 -0.4% SP500 +0.22 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1088/1.33 bln/1432 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1368/643 mln/1629
4:27PM Cypress Releases Ericsson (ERIC) from ITC complaint regarding SRAM patent infringement by GSI Technology (GSIT) (CY) 15.67 -0.27 : Co announced that it has filed a joint motion to release Ericsson (ERIC) from Cypress's complaint to the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) regarding alleged infringement of Cypress's SRAM patents by GSI Technology (GSIT). Cypress's complaint seeks an exclusion order from the ITC that will prevent the importation of all infringing GSI SRAMs. The ITC action against GSI lists known importers of products that incorporate the accused GSI SRAMs. Cypress has reached an agreement with Ericsson which resulted in the removal of the company from the ITC action.
9:38AM Advanced Photonix, Inc. signs agreement with value-added reseller for its T-Gauge measurement system (API) 0.76 +0.03 :
9:16AM Flextronics to acquire Stellar Microelectronics, terms not disclosed (FLEX) 7.17 : Co announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Stellar Microelectronics, a full service Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) provider based in Valencia, Calif., specializing in advanced custom packaging solutions utilizing the latest microelectronics technologies for the aerospace, defense and medical manufacturing markets. Stellar Microelectronics' annual revenue run rate is just under $100 mln. Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.
8:02AM First Solar and NRG Energy (NRG) announced an agreement for First Solar to construct NRG's 26 megawatt Avra Valley solar project near Tucson, Ariz (FSLR) 27.48 : Electricity from the Avra Valley solar project will be sold to Tucson Electric Power under a 20-year power purchase agreement. The project will utilize First Solar's advanced thin-film photovoltaic technology, mounted on the company's single-axis tracker system, which rotates the solar modules to follow the sun throughout the day. The tracker system extends the peak energy production period, providing more electricity in the afternoon, when energy demand is greatest.
7:04AM DSP Group announces entering into a share repurchase program for up to 750,000 shares of its common stock (DSPG) 6.48 : As of today, 1,220,000 shares of co's common stock remained available for repurchase under its board authorized share repurchase program, of which 750,000 shares are now subject to this share repurchase program.
11:23 am S&P Tech Sector Modestly Lower, In-line With Market
The tech sector is trading lower today, in line with losses in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness in the tech space, however, with the Philly Semi Index trading 1.1% lower. WFR (-3.1%) is a notable laggard in the chip index. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.1% lower, while the NASDAQ and the QQQ are 0.2% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, QCOM (+1.3%) is showing notable strength today.
There were no notable names in tech to report earnings this morning.
In news, YOKU (+12.0%) and TUDO (+146.3%) announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Tudou to combine with Youku in a 100% stock-for-stock transaction.
Among rumors, there's DELL (-0.9%) for RVBD (-2.9%) takeover chatter making the rounds.
Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, CHL (+1.2%) was upgraded to Overweight at HSBC, FSL (-1.0%) was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC, and LPS (+1.3%) was upgraded to Overweight at Barclays.
Among downgrades, ORCL (-2.2%) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
There are no notable names in tech scheduled to report results today after the close.
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