From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : An afternoon squeeze helped stocks slash losses, but neither the S&P 500 nor the Dow was able to turn a gain. In contrast, the Nasdaq managed to push into positive territory and settle at a session high.
A disappointing non-manufacturing PMI reading from China had dampened sentiment ahead of the open, but market participants became encouraged by a bounce by several of Europe’s bourses. The improved tone proved to be short lived, though; stocks made a modest uptick in the opening minutes of action, but quickly reversed into the red. The major equity averages were down with sizable losses that made for new multi-month lows before they were able to stabilize.
Tech offered leadership to an afternoon squeeze that took the S&P 500 just past the flat line. The broad market measure was unable to extend the move into a meaningful gain because of resistance there. Stocks made a final push into the close, but the S&P 500 was once again rebuffed where it began the session. The Dow also failed to extend its final push into positive territory, but the Nasdaq was able to book a nice gain. The Nasdaq 100 scored an even stronger gain
Although Tech takes most of the credit for leading the stock market’s afternoon rebound, Telecom was the best performing sector of the session. Telecom scored a 0.7% gain, helping to extend the near 3% advance that it achieved in May, when no other major sector was able to score a monthly gain.
Financials and Industrials were at the opposite end of things. Both sectors fell 1.0%. Financials were burdened by bank stocks, while Industrials were undercut by weakness in construction and farming machinery issues.
The CRB Commodity Index managed to snap a four session losing streak that saw it fall for a cumulative decline of nearly. The Energy complex was particularly helpful as crude oil scored a 0.9% gain at $83.95 per barrel. Shortly before the close it set a session high of $84.17 per barrel.
Little regard was given to a strong bounce by the euro while the stock market was in retreat mode this morning. The action contrasts with that of recent weeks, during which the euro was widely regarded as a primary cue for market participants. Nonetheless, the euro advanced about 0.7% against the greenback today.
Advancing Sectors: Telecom +0.7%, Financials +0.5%, Consumer Discretionary +0.5%, Utilities +0.4%, Health Care +0.3%, Consumer Staples +0.3%, Materials +0.1%
Unchanged: Energy
Declining Sectors: Financials -1.0%, Industrials -1.0%DJ30 -17.11 NASDAQ +12.53 NQ100 +0.8% R2K +0.0% SP400 -0.5% SP500 +0.14 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1245/1.75 bln/1267 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1288/824 mln/1734
4:06PM Aehr Test Systems receives additional FOX order (AEHR) 1.16 -0.09 : Co announced that it has received an order for an additional FOX-1 system to a leading flash memory manufacturer. "The FOX-1 system, using an Aehr Test Systems' WaferPak contactor, allows parallel testing of thousands of die on a 300mm wafer with only a single touchdown."
7:51AM Semiconductors - 2H12 outlook - another mid-year pullback, another buying opportunity? - Sterne Agee (SMH) : Sterne Agee says they did not hear much change in outlook from the companies in the Semi group through multiple conferences in May, there has been some cautious IT commentary. Nonetheless, as usual, semi stocks have corrected 25-35% while the SOX is down 20%+. As in 2010 and 2011, they believe we could have a rally into year end from these depressed levels, as key valuations approach 2010-2011 inflection levels and fundamentals better. The firm's potential shopping list includes QCOM, AVGO, ADI, RFMD, AMCC and also a second look at the Memory companies MU & SNDK.
Vitesse Semiconductor (VTSS) expanded its widely deployed E-StaX-III Enterprise Ethernet switch family with the VSC7431, the industry's lowest power and scalable 28-port Gigabit Ethernet switch with Layer 3 managed routing capabilities.
Analog Devices (ADI) introduced the ADuCM360, a fully integrated, 4-kSPS, 24-bit data acquisition system-on-a-chip incorporating dual, high-performance, multi-channel sigma-delta A/D converters, a 32-bit ARM CortexTM M3 MCU, and flash/EE memory.
KVH Industries (KVHI) will offer its mini-VSAT Broadbandsm service and TracPhone satellite communications terminals to maritime customers throughout South America through Tesacom, South America's leading mobile satellite service provider.
09:59 am Tech sector trading flat today in line with broader market
The tech sector is trading higher today, along gains in the overall market. Semiconductors are in line with the tech sector also trading flat on the session. MRVL (+2.1%) is a notable leader in that chip index. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.1% lower today, while the QQQ and the NASDAQ are trading at the flat line. Among tech bellwethers, FB (-2.2%) is again showing notable weakness after co was initiated with an Underperform at Bernstein.
In news, EPIQ (+6.5%) approved $35 mln share repurchase program.
In Broker Research, OVRL (-0.5%) was initiated with a Buy at Needham. IPHI (+9.8%) Inphi upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray. AUDC (+1.2%) initiated with an Outperform at Credit Suisse.
There are no notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.
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