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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : Stock closed with a 1.1% loss on the day. The market showed some resilience intraday as the S&P 500 bounced about 0.6% from this morning's low to the afternoon high, but late-day weakness put a dent in that recovery effort. The S&P 500 is down around 2.6% over the past four days. As discussed throughout the day, today's decline follows Friday's disappointing employment data and precedes the Q1 earnings reporting season, which is expected to show more sluggish earnings growth than recent years.

As discussed in today's Page One report, expectations are for the S&P 500 in aggregate to post an increase in earnings of only about 3% compared to the first quarter of 2011. Reports in the end tend to come in above expectations, but the first quarter gain will undoubtedly be lower than the 14% gain for all of 2011, or the 9% gain for the fourth quarter of 2011.

Alcoa (AA 9.60, -0.03) kicks off earnings season with its earnings report tomorrow night, although AA's earnings should not be viewed as a barometer for the rest of earnings season. More importantly, we get reports from Google (GOOG 630.84, -1.48) on Thursday afternoon, followed by JP Morgan (JPM 43.89, -0.45) and Wells Fargo (WFC 33.42, -0.31) Friday morning.

Although there weren't any major earnings announcements today, there were several pieces of influential corporate news. Molina Healthcare (MOH 25.65, -9.36) fell 27% after the company was informed it was not selected to participate in the Ohio Medicaid Managed Care Plan Request for Applications. The company's contract with the state will expire without renewal at the end of 2012. Competitor, Centene (CNC 42.97, -7.83) is lower by 15% on similar news.

Shares of Eli Lily (LLY 39.72, -0.76) are down 1.6% despite the company announcing the Food and Drug Administration has approved Amyvid for use in patients under evaluation for Alzheimer's and other diseases related to cognitive decline.

Shares of AOL (AOL 26.40, +7.98) are one of the few bright spots, trading up 42% after the company announced a $1 billion patent deal with Microsoft (MSFT 31.10, -0.42). The deal pays AOL $1.056 billion in cash for more than 800 of its patents and their related applications. Today's announcement includes the sale of stock of an AOL subsidy upon which the company expects to see a capital loss for tax purposes.

Finally, it was also reported that Facebook will buy mobile photo sharing company Instagram, for $1 billion. This initially led to weakness in Shutterfly (SFLY 28.21, -1.26), due to competitive concerns, but it has since recovered the majority of its headline-driven decline.

Looking at fixed income, treasuries saw gains for a fourth consecutive session and have now erased all of their losses following the March 13 FOMC meeting. Today's buying has dropped the 10-yr yield to a low of 2.019% but closing near 2.037%. Flattening persists along the yield curve with the 2-10-yr spread tighter at 171.5 basis points.

Finally, volume was relatively light today, with Europe still closed for Easter.DJ30 -130.55 NASDAQ -33.42 SP500 -15.88 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 462/1.33 bln/2080 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 636/724.8 mln/2415

Apple (AAPL $627.76 -5.98) was downgraded to Neutural from Buy at BTIG Research and the firm is removing their price target of $600 which was surpassed. The firm's downgrade is based on their belief that investors should pause to consider: the changing dynamics in the post-paid wireless industry, which has seen margins squeezed by the frequent upgrade activity of iPhone customers, the sustainability of a $600 iPhone and possible need for a price cut, and the elevated expectation that the company will deliver another revolutionary product into the market.

AOL (AOL $26.42 +8.03) and Microsoft (MSFT $31.15 -0.36) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell over 800 of its patents and their related patent applications to Microsoft (MSFT) and to grant Microsoft a non-exclusive license to its retained patent portfolio for aggregate proceeds of $1.056 billion in cash. AOL also received a license to the patents being sold to Microsoft. The patent sale includes the sale of the stock of an AOL subsidiary upon which AOL expects to record a capital loss for tax purposes and as a result, cash taxes in connection with the sale should be immaterial. Additionally, AOL expects to utilize approximately $40 million of its existing deferred tax assets, representing approximately 20 percent of its total deferred tax assets, to offset any ordinary income taxes resulting from the license of its remaining patent portfolio. AOL management and its Board of Directors intend to return a significant portion of the sale proceeds to shareholders and will determine the most efficient and effective method to do so prior to the closing of the transaction. Pro forma for the sale and license, as of December 31, 2011, AOL would have had approximately $15 per share of cash on hand. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.

10:19 am Technology stocks trading lower today along with broader market

The tech sector is trading lower today along with losses in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness in the tech space, however, with the Philly Semi Index trading 1.9% lower. RBCN (-4.9%) is a notable laggard in the chip index, while IDCC (+3.2%) is bucking the trend. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 1.3% lower today, while the QQQ is 1.2% lower and the NASDAQ is trading 1.4% lower on the session.

Among tech bellwethers, ORCL (-1.7%) and INTC (-1.6%) are under notable pressure. In earnings, CKSW (-13.1%) lowered Q1 rev guidance. In news, AOL (+42.5%) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell over 800 of its patents and their related patent applications to MSFT (-1.4%) and to grant Microsoft a non-exclusive license to its retained patent portfolio for aggregate proceeds of $1.056 billion in cash. IDCC (+3.2%), VHC (+1.2%), and RIMM (+3.5%) are getting picked up as sympathy plays on the news.

Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, SBAC (+0.1%) was upgraded to Buy at Citigroup. While in downgrades, BTIG Research downgraded AAPL (-0.9%) to Neutral, PLCM (-2.5%) was downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC, MITK (-6.5%) was downgraded to Market Perform at JMP Securities and Stifel Nicolaus downgraded FFIV (-3.3%) to Hold. There are no notable names in tech scheduled to report results today after the close.

09:35 am AOL surges over 35% following $1 bln patent deal with Microsoft (MSFT)

AOL (AOL $24.88 +6.46) and Microsoft (MSFT $31.17 -0.37) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell over 800 of its patents and their related patent applications to Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and to grant Microsoft a non-exclusive license to its retained patent portfolio for aggregate proceeds of $1.056 billion in cash. AOL also received a license to the patents being sold to Microsoft. The patent sale includes the sale of the stock of an AOL subsidiary upon which AOL expects to record a capital loss for tax purposes and as a result, cash taxes in connection with the sale should be immaterial.

Additionally, AOL expects to utilize approximately $40 million of its existing deferred tax assets, representing approximately 20 percent of its total deferred tax assets, to offset any ordinary income taxes resulting from the license of its remaining patent portfolio. AOL management and its Board of Directors intend to return a significant portion of the sale proceeds to shareholders and will determine the most efficient and effective method to do so prior to the closing of the transaction. Pro forma for the sale and license, as of December 31, 2011, AOL would have had approximately $15 per share of cash on hand. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.