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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Continued concerns over problems facing countries in the Eurozone periphery couldn't stop the major US equity averages from settling at session highs with strong gains today.

During the prior session stocks rolled over to suffer sizable losses in what many pundits believed was the stock market saying that Spain's request over the weekend for $125 billion to bailout its banks is too little too late. Today, though, stocks staged an impressive advance that saw the major equity averages score strong, broad-based gains. The effort came despite a bailout request by Cyprus, which is the third smallest country in the eurozone with a population of less than 1 million people and an economy that accounts for 0.2% of eurozone GDP, but perhaps more alarmingly that Italy might need financial support and that Spain may need more than a bailout for its banks. Such concerns sent the countries' debt yields higher this morning -- in fact, the yield on Spain's 10-year Note climbed to a record high above 6.8%.

Some stepped in with a bid ahead of the open to lift equity futures, but action in the opening minutes was generally choppy. That gave way to an early slip that sent both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to slight losses while the Dow danced narrowly above the neutral line. Before long, though, buyers began to make their way back into the fold. Their efforts took the S&P 500 up to 1320 before resistance interrupted the move. Some selling ensued, but stocks remained resilient and were even squeezed higher into the close.

All 10 major sectors finished the session in positive territory, but the best gains were booked by Materials, Financials, and Industrials. Gains among those sectors ranged from 1.6% to 1.8%. Utilities were at the opposite end of the spectrum. They settled with a gain of only 0.2% after they had spent all morning and early afternoon in the red.

Texas Instruments (TXN 28.24, +0.59) was a strong among the better individual performers following its revised earnings forecast. Company management now expects earnings to range from $0.38 to $0.42 per share after it had previously forecasted that earnings would range from $0.36 to $0.44 per share.

Domestic data was limited to the latest monthly Treasury budget and monthly import and export price data. None was of meaningful concern to market participants, especially when Europe remains in such sharp focus.

The euro also attracted buyers in the face of the persistently precarious conditions facing the eurozone; it mustered a 0.3% gain against the greenback. Treasuries traded lower for the entire session.

The selling effort lifted the yield on the benchmark 10-year Note back above 1.65%. Results from an auction of 3-year Notes failed to inspire a positive response. The offering attracted a Bid-to-Cover of 3.53, Dollar Demand of $113.1 billion, and an Indirect Bidder participation rate of 27.0%. For comparison, the prior auction drew a Bid-to-Cover of 3.65, Dollar Demand of $116.8 billion, and an Indirect Bidder rate of 35.7%, while an average of the past six auctions results in a Bid-to-Cover of 3.52, Dollar Demand of $112.5 billion, and an Indirect Bidder rate of 35.9%.

Advancing Sectors: Materials +1.8%, Financials +1.7%, Industrials +1.6%, Energy +1.3%, Consumer Discretionary +1.2%, Tech +1.1%, Telecom +1.0%, Health Care +0.9%, Consumer Staples +0.6%, Utilities +0.2%
Declining Sectors: None DJ30 +162.57 NASDAQ +33.34 NQ100 +1.2% R2K +1.3% SP400 +1.1% SP500 +15.25 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1727/1.58 bln/763 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2360/723 mln/652

4:02PM Dell says enterprise solutions strategy is delivering on financial commitments; adopts quarterly dividend beginning in Q3 (DELL) 11.97 +0.11 : Michael Dell, chairman and CEO, will tell analysts at 2012 Analyst Meeting (starts today), that it executed on its commitment to grow profitability and op income while expanding its enterprise solutions and services. Co also announced that its Board of Directors has adopted a dividend policy under which the company intends to pay quarterly cash dividends on its common stock beginning in the third quarter of the current fiscal year. Dell expects the initial dividend rate to be $0.32 per share per year, or $0.08 per share quarterly. "Our efforts to streamline our operations and shift the mix of our business over the past several years have resulted in sustainably strong cash flow from operations, enabling us to increase the percentage of capital we've allocated to research and development, capital expenditures and acquisitions while maintaining an ongoing share repurchase program, the payment of a quarterly cash dividend to Dell's shareholders adds another element to our disciplined capital allocation strategy." The company expects that through the dividend and share repurchases, it will increase its target range for distribution of capital to shareholders from 10-30 percent of free cash flow to 20-35 percent. Gladden said that Dell is confident in its continuing ability to make the necessary investments to grow its portfolio of enterprise solutions and services while initiating the quarterly dividend and continuing share repurchases. Co projects its enterprise solutions, software and services business will grow at a 10 percent compounded annual growth rate through fiscal year 2016 and represent an increasing percentage of Dell's operating income margin. Gladden said that while Dell has become a solutions and services company, it remains committed to a profitable end-user computing business. "By exercising discipline and being selective on the business we pursue, we expect to continue to run a profitable end-user business, we've gained share in the high-value portion of the industry for six of the last seven quarters and see this part of our business continuing to contribute operating income in excess of 5% of revenue."

9:58AM Vishay Precision signed Richwood International as an authorized distributor of its Vishay Foil Resistors brand products in Korea (VPG) 14.11 +0.10 :

O2Micro International (OIIM) was issued 15 claims under U.S. patent for its LED Driving methodology.

NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) and Giesecke & Devrient announced an agreement enabling G&D to integrate NXP's MIFARE technology into its portfolio of secure SIM products.

5:50AM Cypress Semiconductor (CY) proposes to acquire Ramtron for $2.48 per share in cash (RMTR) 1.81 : Cypress Semi (CY) announces that it has submitted a proposal to Ramtron (RMTR) to acquire all of its outstanding stock for $2.48 per share in cash. This offer represents a 37% premium to Ramtron's closing stock price on June 11, 2012. "We believe that our offer provides compelling value to Ramtron's stockholders," said T.J. Rodgers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cypress. CY adds "Last year, we attempted to negotiate an acquisition of Ramtron, but our offer of $3.01 per share--which represented the same 37% premium to Ramtron's then-current stock price as we are offering today--was summarily rejected. Soon thereafter, Ramtron sold almost 20% of its stock in a dilutive public offering at a net price of $1.79 per share."

LitePoint, a wholly owned subsidiary of Teradyne, (TER), announced that leading provider of networking products, TP-Link, is using the IQxel for 802.11ac networking product development.

Juniper Networks (JNPR) announced the immediate availability of the Juniper Networks QFX3000-M QFabric System, that extends the full benefits of Juniper's first QFabric System, the QFX3000-G, to mid-sized data centers. Also, Juniper has added enhancements to its EX8200 switches running Virtual Chassis technology, enabling customers for the first time to manage up to four data center cores as a single switch.

Seagate Technology (STX) introduced Backup Plus storage devices, its reinvented consumer storage product family that delivers the easiest setup, one-click backup and the ability to save and share your content on Facebook and Flickr.

Adobe Systems Incorporated (ADBE) announced Adobe Connect 9, the latest version of the company's Web conferencing software for enterprises and government agencies worldwide. Adobe Connect 9 delivers an all-in-one solution for producing webinars, as well as innovations in mobile-to-mobile collaboration and mobile learning.

Stifel believes Texas Instruements (TXN $28.27 +0.62)'s 2Q12 mid-quarter update supports its view that current back-end and test capacity buys remain on track for the June/July quarters. The firm also believes that overall IC trends will continue to trend higher in September, which should help maintain the current buying spree. Firm believes the two biggest beneficiaries from TI's comments are Teradyne (TER) and LTX-Credence (LTXC). In its view, both companies are likely tracking to plan on the SoC test front. Firm also expects this positive momentum to carry into their respective September/October quarters.

Finisar (FNSR $13.69 +0.22) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.21, while revenues rose 1.3% year/year to $239.9 million versus the $244.04 million consensus. The company issued downside guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.11-0.15, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.24 consensus and revenues of $218-233 million versus the $251.80 million 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."

Juniper Networks (JNPR $16.54 +0.14) 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."

10:48 am Tech sector trading nearly flat today, in line with broader market

The tech sector is trading just higher today, inline with slight gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are also showing relative strength with the Philly Semi Index trading 0.6% higher. RBCN (+2.0%) is a notable leader in that chip index. Among other major indices, the SPY, the QQQ, and the NASDAQ are all trading 0.1% lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, TXN (+1.8%) is showing notable strength, while GOOG (-1.5%) is under pressure.

In earnings last night, TXN (+1.8%) narrowed its Q2 guidance inline with consensus. Also, FNSR (+1.1%) posted a mixed quarter and guided lower. In news, JNPR (-0.2%) announced a $1 bln stock repurchase plan. Elsewhere, CY (+2.1%) announced that it has submitted a proposal to RMTR (+36.5%) to acquire all of its outstanding stock for $2.48/share. FIO (+2.6%) confirmed it entered into an OEM relationship with CSCO (+0.6%). PAY (-6.8%) disclosed update on trial, noting the jury completed its deliberations and returned an unfavorable verdict.

Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, National Securities upgrades TXN (+1.8%) to Buy. While in downgrades, GAME (+1.0%) was downgraded to Neutral at Lazard. There are no notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.