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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : The broad market spent the session bouncing along in negative territory. Its inability to push into positive territory left it to book a modest loss.

Stocks slid at the open of trade as market participants responded to weakness among Europe's major bourses, which were imbued by renewed concerns about Spain's financial health. The S&P 500 tried to trim its loss, but twice it retested the low that it set in the early going. Although support there invited buyers back into the fold, the move lost momentum when both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached their morning rebound highs. That left stocks to drift lower into the close.

Financials staged a mid-morning rebound that fizzled out when the sector came in contact with the flat line. It fell from there and spent the rest of the day dragging along with a sizable loss. It settled the day down 0.8%. BlackRock (BLK 196.01, -5.80) was among the poorer performers in the Financial sector following the firm's latest quarterly report. PNC Financial (PNC 63.78, +0.37) surrendered some of its gain, but still settled in positive territory following the release of its latest earnings results. Both outfits reported upside earnings surprises.

Both Intel (INTC 27.95, -0.52) and IBM (IBM 200.13, -7.32) bested what Wall Street had expected of their earnings results, but neither attracted buyers. Instead, their weakness weighed on the Tech sector, which suffered a 0.8% loss. Better-than-expected bottom line results helped both Seagate Technology (STX 28.96, +1.07) and Yahoo! (YHOO 15.49, +0.48) stage impressive advances, though.

Energy stocks managed to finish the day with only a 0.2% loss, despite lower oil prices. Crude oil futures contracts closed pit trade with the energy component priced at $102.67 per barrel, which makes for a 1.5% loss. Oil prices had actually pared losses in the minutes that immediately followed a bearish weekly inventory report. Oilfield services outfit Halliburton (HAL 34.17, +1.51) was a standout in the space, thanks largely to a positive response to its better-than-expected earnings report.

Earnings from Abbott Labs (ABT 60.46, +0.03) were also in play today. The stock experienced some whipsaw swings in the first half of the day, but ultimately finished a few cents higher.

Select shares of hotels, resorts, and casinos players helped the Consumer Discretionary sector put together a 0.2% gain, while Internet retailer eBay (EBAY 35.87, -0.21) traded lower ahead of its quarterly report. Consumer Discretionary stocks made up the only major sector that was able to settle in positive territory, but their general lack of weight undermined their ability to lift the rest of the market.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Discretionary +0.2%
Declining Sectors: Consumer Staples -0.1%, Energy -0.2%, Materials -0.3%, Utilities -0.3%, Health Care -0.3%, Industrials -0.4%, Telecom -0.5%, Tech -0.8%, Financials -0.8% DJ30 -82.79 NASDAQ -11.37 NQ100 -0.3% R2K -0.9% SP400 -0.4% SP500 -5.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 746/1.59 bln/1734 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 988/721 mln/2002

4:19PM Lam Research beats by $0.05, beats on revs (LRCX) 42.04 -0.74 : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.50 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.45; revenues fell 18.6% year/year to $658.9 mln vs the $643.07 mln consensus. "We continue to make substantive progress in advancing the capabilities of our core products in etch and single-wafer clean to help our customers address next-generation process challenges. Additionally, we are moving steadily towards the expected completion of our acquisition of Novellus Systems, with integration planning well underway. These activities combine to make calendar 2012 a transformative year for the Company, and we are excited about the opportunities we see ahead."

4:11PM Qualcomm beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS, revs in-line; raises low end of FY12 EPS, below consensus, reaffirms FY12 revs guidance (QCOM) 66.99 -0.24 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $1.01 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.96; revenues rose 27.7% year/year to $4.94 bln vs the $4.81 bln consensus. Metrics -- MSM chip shipments: 152 million units, up 29% y-o-y and down 3% sequentially. December quarter total reported device sales: ~$51.7 billion, up 29% y-o-y and 25% sequentially. December quarter estimated 3G/4G device shipments: ~239 to 243 million units, at an estimated average selling price of ~$211 to $217 per unit. Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.83-0.89, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.89 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $4.45-4.85 bln vs. $4.76 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues mixed guidance for FY12, raises EPS to $3.61-3.76, excluding non-recurring items, from $3.55-3.75 vs. $3.78 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; reaffirms FY12 revs of $18.7-19.7 bln vs. $19.4 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:03PM Plexus beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (PLXS) 33.08 -0.41 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.56 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.54; revenues rose 1.0% year/year to $573.5 mln vs the $567.94 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.60-0.66, excluding any unanticipated non-recurring items and including option expense, vs. $0.63 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $590-620 mln vs. $603.71 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

LTX-Credence (LTXC) announced that SWINDON Silicon Systems, a supplier of analog and mixed-signal ASICs for the automotive, industrial and consumer markets, has added multiple Diamond test systems to its production base of Diamond testers.

Research In Motion (RIMM) announced its most affordable BlackBerry 7 smartphone for customers in India, the new BlackBerry Curve 9220 smartphone.

SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) announced the activation of a 25 Megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant located within a multi-developer, multi-facility.

Intel (INTC $27.66 -0.82) reported first quarter earnings of $0.56 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.53; revenues rose 0.5% year/year to $12.91 bln vs the $12.84 bln consensus. PC Client Group revenue of $8.5 billion, down 7 percent QoQ. Data Center Group revenue of $2.5 billion, down 10 percent QoQ. Other Intel architecture group revenue of $1.1 billion, down 2% QoQ. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $13.1-14.1 billion versus the $13.41 billion consensus, with non-GAAP gross margin of 63% plus or minus a couple percentage points. Company sees FY12 GM 65%, +/- a couple percentage points.

IBM (IBM $202.34 -5.11) reported first quarter earnings of $2.78 per share, $0.15 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $2.63; revenues rose 0.4% year/year to $24.7 billion versus the $24.81 bln consensus. The company issued upside guidance for fiscal year 2012 with EPS of at least $15.00 versus the $14.90 consensus. Prior guidance was for "at least $14.85". IBM reports Q1 GAAP gross margins of 45.1%; Street Expectations approx 45.3%. Net income margin increased 0.8 points to 12.4 percent. Total operating (non-GAAP) net income margin increased 1.1 points to 13.2%. Global Technology Services segment revenues increased 2 percent (up 3 percent, adjusting for currency) to $10.0 billion. Global Business Services segment revenues were down 2 percent (down 1 percent, adjusting for currency) to $4.6 billion. IBM's tax rate was 20.1 percent, down 4.9 points year over year; operating (non-GAAP) tax rate was 20.6 percent, down 4.4 points. The lower tax rate was due to a one-time benefit associated with a tax restructuring in Latin America. The benefit offset the company's first-quarter workforce rebalancing expense, similar to first-quarter 2011 when a one-time gain from asset sales offset workforce rebalancing expenses. The company expects its full-year 2012 effective tax rate on a GAAP and operating (non-GAAP) basis to be in the range of 24 percent; and excluding the one-time benefit in the first quarter, the rate is expected to be in the range of 25 percent. "In the first quarter, we drove strong profit and earnings per share growth. We delivered another excellent software performance, expanded services margins, and continued the momentum in our growth initiatives... Our investments in growth market countries continued to generate strong revenue growth across software, hardware and services while contributing to the company's ongoing margin expansion."

Seagate Tech (STX $29.03 +1.11) reported third quarter earnings of $2.64 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.54 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.10, while revenues rose 65.1% year/year to $4.45 billion versus the $4.36 billion consensus. Gross margin came in at 37% vs 31.6% in DecQ.

Yahoo (YHOO $15.46 +0.45) reported first quarter earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.17, while revenues rose 1.2% year/year to $1.08 billion versus the $1.05 billion consensus. The company issued in-line guidance for the second quarter with revenues of $1.03-1.14 billion versus the $1.07 billion consensus. Total operating expenses less TAC for the second quarter of 2012 is expected to be in the range of $915 million to $945 million, which includes $40 million to $50 million of transition-related expenses. Income from operations for Q2 is expected to be in the range of $115-195 million.

Cree (CREE $30.07 -1.83) reported third quarter earnings of $0.20 per share, $0.01 worse than the consensus of $0.21, while revenues rose 29.9% year/year to $284.8 million versus the $300.57 million consensus. The company issued downside guidance for the fourth quarter EPS of $0.20-0.26, excluding non-recurring items versus the $0.28 consensus and revenues of $295-315 million versus the $323.61 million consensus. Co sees GAAP gross margin targeted to be 35% +/- and non-GAAP gross margin targeted to be 36% +/-; Operating expenses are targeted to increase by +/- $5 million on a GAAP basis and +/- $4 million on a non-GAAP basis. The tax rate is targeted at 13.0% for fiscal fourth quarter.

09:43 am Seagate Technology shares rise by nearly 4% following better than expected earnings
Seagate Tech (STX $28.68 +1.00) reported third quarter earnings of $2.64 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.54 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.10, while revenues rose 65.1% year/year to $4.45 billion versus the $4.36 billion consensus. Gross margin came in at 37% vs 31.6% in DecQ.

09:40 am Yahoo shares rise by 2% following beat on revenues

Yahoo (YHOO $15.35 +0.34) reported first quarter earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.17, while revenues rose 1.2% year/year to $1.08 billion versus the $1.05 billion consensus. The company issued in-line guidance for the second quarter with revenues of $1.03-1.14 billion versus the $1.07 billion consensus.

Total operating expenses less TAC for the second quarter of 2012 is expected to be in the range of $915 million to $945 million, which includes $40 million to $50 million of transition-related expenses. Income from operations for Q2 is expected to be in the range of $115-195 million.

09:38 am Intel shares fall 3% following in line revenues and guidance

Intel (INTC $27.51 -0.96) reported first quarter earnings of $0.56 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.53; revenues rose 0.5% year/year to $12.91 bln vs the $12.84 bln consensus. PC Client Group revenue of $8.5 billion, down 7 percent QoQ. Data Center Group revenue of $2.5 billion, down 10 percent QoQ.

Other Intel architecture group revenue of $1.1 billion, down 2% QoQ. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $13.1-14.1 billion versus the $13.41 billion consensus, with non-GAAP gross margin of 63% plus or minus a couple percentage points. Company sees FY12 GM 65%, +/- a couple percentage points.

09:36 am IBM shares decline nearly 4% following slightly weaker than expected revenues

IBM (IBM $202.78 -4.68) reported first quarter earnings of $2.78 per share, $0.15 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $2.63; revenues rose 0.4% year/year to $24.7 billion versus the $24.81 bln consensus. The company issued upside guidance for fiscal year 2012 with EPS of at least $15.00 versus the $14.90 consensus. Prior guidance was for "at least $14.85". IBM reports Q1 GAAP gross margins of 45.1%; Street Expectations approx 45.3%. Net income margin increased 0.8 points to 12.4 percent.

Total operating (non-GAAP) net income margin increased 1.1 points to 13.2%. Global Technology Services segment revenues increased 2 percent (up 3 percent, adjusting for currency) to $10.0 billion. Global Business Services segment revenues were down 2 percent (down 1 percent, adjusting for currency) to $4.6 billion. IBM's tax rate was 20.1 percent, down 4.9 points year over year; operating (non-GAAP) tax rate was 20.6 percent, down 4.4 points. The lower tax rate was due to a one-time benefit associated with a tax restructuring in Latin America. The benefit offset the company's first-quarter workforce rebalancing expense, similar to first-quarter 2011 when a one-time gain from asset sales offset workforce rebalancing expenses. The company expects its full-year 2012 effective tax rate on a GAAP and operating (non-GAAP) basis to be in the range of 24 percent; and excluding the one-time benefit in the first quarter, the rate is expected to be in the range of 25 percent.