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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : Stocks finished the day with modest losses after disappointing data provoked selling. This morning's retail sales numbers fell short of estimates while business inventories registered a larger than expected build. The data was not all bad as Empire Manufacturing topped forecasts.

Citigroup (C 26.81, +0.16) gained 0.6% following its mixed quarterly results. The company announced earnings per share of $0.95 which topped the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.90, but revenues were light at $18.64 billion. Elsewhere on the earnings front, Woodward (WWD 34.54, -1.51 -2.13) guided third quarter revenue and earnings per share below consensus. The industrial company also lowered its full-year 2012 outlook. On the other hand, j2 Global (JCOM 28.47, +2.24) rallied 8.5% after it guided second quarter earnings per share and revenue above consensus.

The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 58.87, -0.35) lagged after June retail sales came in below expectations.

Gilead Sciences (GILD 51.94, +0.77) announced the FDA approval of Truvada, an oral drug for reducing the risk of acquiring HIV.

Shares of Par Pharmaceutical (PRX 50.00, +13.42) rose on news the company will be taken private at $50.00 per share in cash which is a 37% over Friday’s closing price. The transaction values the company at $1.9 billion. Today’s gains have the stock trading at levels last seen in April 2004.

Visa (V 127.15, +3.06) and Mastercard (MA 436.89, +7.29) both added close to 1.7% after settling merchant litigation. The settlement removes an overhang with the two companies on the hook for a $6.6 billion settlement. Visa’s share represents approximately $4.4 billion while Mastercard will pay roughly $2.2 billion.

The grain complex climbed as the worst drought since 1988 continues put upward pressure on prices. Teucrium Corn (CORN 49.85, +1.82) and iPath Dow Jones-UBS Gains Sub-Index (JJG 61.01, +2.48) once again saw outperformance with both holding gains of close to 4.0%. The two names are both up close to 40% over the past month.

Treasuries ended at post-data lows as traders moved out of the complex amid a rebound in risk assets. This morning’s buying dropped the 5-yr yield to a record low 0.577% while the 10-yr yield narrowly escaped a record low print as it hit 1.442% (1.440% record low). Slight flattening of the yield curve saw the 2-10-yr spread narrow to 123.5 bps.

Tuesday will see CPI and core CPI released at 8:30 am ET, net long-term TIC flows cross the wires at 9 am ET, industrial production and capacity utilization announced at 9:15 am ET, and the NAHB Housing Market Index at 10 am ET. Also of note is Chairman Bernanke’s semi-annual “Monetary Policy Report to the Congress” in front of the Senate Banking Committee at 10 am ET. DJ30 -49.88 NASDAQ -11.53 SP500 -3.14 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 879/1.40 bln/1603 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1359/601.8 mln/1670

3:35 pm : The dollar index extended losses in the afternoon session, which would typically boost all commodities. However, it only seemed to give crude oil strength, which rose as high as $88.55/barrel. After rallying over $2/barrel off its LoD, WTI crude oil finished the day over 1% higher at $88.42/barrel. After selling off in early morning action, Aug natural gas futures continued to trade in a tight consolidated pattern for the rest of today's session, just above its session low. At the end of the day, nat gas closed 2.4% lower at $2.80/MMBtu.

Precious metals, on the other hand, traded in a tight pattern following its morning rally. Aug gold ended its floor trading session 10 cents lower at $1591.90/oz, while Sept silver lost 4 cents to $27.32/oz.

Grains really showed solid gains on a continuation of hot/dry weather in the Midwest. Dec corn rose 5% to $7.77/bushel, Sept wheat rose 4.6% to $8.87/bu and Nov soybeans rose 2.5% to $15.91/bu.DJ30 -39.77 NASDAQ -10.12 SP500 -2.65 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 922/1168.8 mln/1524 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1377/419 mln/1620

4:05PM Agilent & AT4 wireless announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Agilent to acquire the assets of AT4 wireless' Test Systems business (A) 36.83 -0.21 : Co and AT4 wireless today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Agilent to acquire the assets of AT4 wireless' Test Systems business. Privately held AT4 wireless, based in Malaga, Spain, is a global provider of testing services and solutions for wireless communications. The acquisition is expected to be completed by early August, subject to customary closing conditions. Financial details were not disclosed.

Spreadtrum Communications (SPRD) announced that Spreadtrum's SC8810 smartphone platform was selected by Mozilla to showcase its HTML5 operating system, Firefox OS, running on low-cost smartphone devices.

Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) announced version 2.0 of its Lattice Diamond design software, the flagship design environment for Lattice FPGA products.

12:31AM Research In Motion receives verdict against co in patent case brought by Mformation (RIMM) 7.24 : Co announces that a jury returned a verdict against RIMM in the amount of $147.2 mln in an action brought by Mformation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. RIMM is disappointed by the outcome and is evaluating all legal options. Additionally, the trial judge has yet to decide certain legal issues that might impact the verdict. RIMM will await those rulings before deciding whether to pursue an appeal.

FBR Capital downgrades Texas Instruments (TXN $28.52 -0.50) to Underperform from Mkt Perform and lowers their tgt to $24.50 from $30 as they think more downside risks exist for TXN shares versus other chip stocks trading near trough valuations. TI's 3Q12 revenue guidance could be worse than the Street (like many peers) and with risk to the Street's 2013 estimates. Further, they are concerned about challenges in TI's wireless business, gross margin impacts from its 1Q12 die bank inventory build-ahead, and whether TI has too much capacity following its National acquisition.

10:02 am Tech Stocks Trading lower today along with broader market

The tech sector is trading lower today, roughly inline with losses in the broader market. Semiconductors are also showing relative weakness, however, with the Philly Semi Index (SOX) trading 1.3% lower. VECO (+4.3%) is a notable laggard in the chip index. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.5% lower today, while the QQQ and the NASDAQ are trading 0.6% lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, FB (-3.1%) is showing notable weakness.

In earnings, JCOM (+5.5%) increased its Q2 guidance. In news, PRGS (-1.4%) announced the appointment of Melissa Cruz as Chief Financial Officer and the election of Phil Pead as Non-Executive Chairman. Also of note, MSFT (-1.0%) announced it will make an announcement at 12:00 Pacific Time (3:00 pm ET). Among rumors, AAPL's (+0.3%) iPhone 5, with design changes, has entered into production according to reports from AppleInsider.

Among notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, Oppenheimer upgraded WNS (+4.2%) to Outperform and QCOM (-1.7%) was upgraded to Hold at Societe Generale. In downgrades, SNDK (-1.5%) was downgraded to Neutral at Robert W. Baird, FBR Capital downgraded TXN (-1.7%) to Underperform, and SSNC (-2.0%) was downgraded to Outperform at Raymond James. There are no notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.