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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Spain’s first step toward shoring up its banking system brought about a bid that gave the major equity averages a positive open, but support waned steadily throughout the session, leaving stocks to settle at session lows with sizable losses.

Market participants initially applauded news that Spain has requested $125 billion for its banks since that would help provide confidence and security to the rest of Europe’s banking system, in which domestic financial outfits are heavily invested. However, any form of euphoria that remained by the time US markets opened dithered away throughout the trading day as focus returned to the persistently precarious conditions facing the rest of Europe.

Strength in the euro also faded. It was up modestly in morning action, but by the afternoon it was trailing the dollar. Unable to recover, the euro fell about 0.3% against the greenback.

While selling was broad, Financials, Tech, and Materials were hit the hardest. Each sector slid to a loss of almost 2%. Spanish banking outfit Banco Santander (STD 5.92, -0.19) slumped – the firm had its rating cut by analysts at Fitch. Meanwhile, Apple (AAPL 571.17, -9.15) also reversed into the red to cause a heavy drag. The company’s latest developers conference failed to inspire sustainable gains in the stock.

Telecom scored the only gain of the session. The sector was up about 1% at its session high, but settled only narrowly above the neutral line. Telecom stocks outperformed during the month of May, but were relatively quiet last week. AT&T (T 34.59, +0.04) was a source of strength as it traded up to $35 per share for the first time since 2008 before being imbued by broad market weakness.

A few key commodities were also caught up in the selling effort. Crude oil prices were up in early pit trade, but settled with a 1.8% loss at $82.59 per barrel, just above its session low of $82.51 per barrel. Selling even extended into electronic trade so that prices were below $82 per barrel after the close of pit trade. However, gold prices were able to recover from an early retreat into the red to push its way back above the breakeven line. Gold managed to settle 0.3% higher at $1596.70 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Telecom +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Utilities -0.2%, Consumer Staples -0.4%, Health Care -0.9%, Industrials -1.2%, Energy -1.2%, Consumer Discretionary -1.6%, Tech -1.7%, Materials -1.8%, Financials -1.9%DJ30 -142.97 NASDAQ -48.69 NQ100 -1.6% R2K -2.4% SP400 -2.0% SP500 -16.73 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 566/1.47 bln/1931 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 617/740 mln/2411

6:03PM Diodes reaffirms Q2 revenue guidance of $155-164 mln vs Capital IQ Consensus estimate of $159.6 mln (DIOD) 19.06 -0.84 : Co stated that it is maintaining its guidance for the second quarter of 2012, which includes the expectation that revenue will range between $155 mln and $164 mln, or up 7 percent to 13 percent sequentially. Gross margin is expected to be 26 percent, plus or minus 2 percent. Operating expenses, without consideration of any gain on the sale of assets in the first quarter of 2012, are expected to be down slightly from first quarter on a percent of revenue basis. The income tax rate for the second quarter is expected to range between 7 and 13 percent, and shares used to calculate GAAP EPS are anticipated to be approximately 47.2 mln.

4:30PM Juniper Networks announces new common stock repurchase authorization of up to $1 bln (JNPR) 16.40 -0.49 : Co announced a new stock repurchase program which enables the Company to purchase up to $1 billion of the Company's common stock. This new authorization is in addition to the $1 billion stock repurchase program approved in 2010. As of March 31, 2012, there was approximately $162.2 million of remaining authorized funds under the 2010 stock repurchase program. "This authorization will enable the Company to continue its on-going share maintenance plan which is designed to reduce dilution from the issuance of shares related to its employee stock plans."

4:05PM Finisar beats by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS, revs below consensus (FNSR) 13.47 -1.41 : Reports Q4 (Apr) earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.21; revenues rose 1.3% year/year to $239.9 mln vs the $244.04 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.11-0.15, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.24 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $218-233 mln vs. $251.80 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; non-GAAP op. margin ~5.5-7.0%. "Continued strength in datacom revenues were offset by lower telecom revenues. The lower telecom revenues were primarily the result of sluggish carrier capital expenditures and the full three month impact of annual price reductions for telecom products. We were pleased that our gross margin for the quarter exceeded our guidance, resulting in earnings per diluted share which was at the upper end of our guidance range."

2:15PM Apple confirms Mountain Lion will be available in July from Mac App Store (AAPL) 580.79 +0.51 : OS X Mountain Lion will be available in July from the Mac App Store for $19.99. Mountain Lion requires Lion or Snow Leopard (OS X v10.6.8 or later), 2GB of memory and 8GB of available space.

1:51PM Apple confirms introduction of new MacBook Pro with retina display (AAPL) 581.17 +0.85 : Co unveiled an all new 15-inch MacBook Pro featuring a stunning Retina display, all flash storage and quad-core processors in a radically thin and light design. It measures a mere 0.71 inches and weighs only 4.46 pounds. Featuring an engineered aluminum unibody design and an all flash storage architecture, the all new MacBook Pro is the lightest MacBook Pro ever and nearly as thin as a MacBook Air. Flash storage that is up to four times faster than traditional notebook hard drives enables the all new MacBook Pro to play four simultaneous streams of uncompressed 1080p HD video from internal storage. The flash storage architecture also delivers improved reliability, instant-on responsiveness and 30 days of standby time. The 15-inch MacBook Pro is available with a 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3 GHz, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage starting at $2,199; and with a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz, 8GB of memory and 512GB of flash storage starting at $2,799. Configure-to-order options include faster quad-core processors up to 2.7 GHz, up to 16GB of memory and flash storage up to 768GB.

1:30PM Apple confirms updated MacBook Air with Intel (INTC) Core processors, faster graphics and flash storage that is up to twice as fast as the previous generation (AAPL) 584.83 +4.51 : Co updated MacBook Air with the latest Intel (INTC) Core processors, faster graphics and flash storage that is up to twice as fast as the previous generation. The current generation 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro have also been updated with the latest Intel Core processors and graphics from NVIDIA (NVDA).

First Solar (FSLR) announced it will design, construct and maintain two utility-scale solar photovoltaic power projects totaling 159 megawattsAC for AGL Energy as part of Australia's Solar Flagships Program.

8:26AM First Solar and Intermolecular (IMI) announce joint program to accelerate solar PV roadmap (FSLR) 12.80 : Co and Intermolecular (IMI) announced a collaboration and licensing agreement aimed at accelerating the efficiency roadmap for First Solar's cadmium-telluride photovoltaic technology. Under a newly signed collaborative development program, First Solar will leverage Intermolecular's High Productivity Combinatorial platform in the development of its advanced, CdTe-based, thin film PV manufacturing technology. The program addresses new opportunities in certain critical materials and processes that may significantly influence the conversion efficiency of CdTe technology. Technical work is to be performed jointly at Intermolecular's San Jose, Calif., facility and in First Solar's research and development labs.

Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) announced power management solutions that will greatly simplify and increase the reliability of power failure protection circuitry in Solid State Drives.

NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) introduced the SSL21101, the first in a new family of GreenChip LED driver ICs featuring Smart Digital Control technology.

Cantor Fitzgerald upgrades EMC (EMC $24.68 +0.04) to Buy from Hold and lowers their tgt to $30 from $31. The upgrade is part of a broader analysis on estimate and valuation risk across their coverage group. EMC carries the highest quality and most predictable earnings in the group. The high end refresh this quarter and Isilon software upgrade later this year are expected to extend EMC's competitive lead in the market. With no company owning more than 35% share today, we view the pace of consolidation as likely to accelerate to the "80/20" rule over the next 3-5 years. We view EMC as best positioned to garner the lion's share of this consolidation wave.

Cantor Fitzgerald upgrades Brocade (BRCD $4.70 +0.05) to Buy from Hold and raises their tgt to $6 from $5.50. The firm says, share gains in high-margin Fibre Channel are expected throughout the year, given time to market lead in 16Gb. They say it appears increasingly likely the company will seek to monetize part of its San Jose campus, which will dramatically (positively) impact the balance sheet.