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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Stocks finished near session highs as the recent flight into risk produced the third day of gains in the past four. Today’s 0.7% advance has the S&P 500 back near its early July highs and 8.5% above the June 1 low. The Nasdaq was the top performer among the major averages, ending the day with up 1.1%.


The Fed’s Beige Book was released this afternoon and suggested “overall economic activity continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace in June and early July.” Excerpts from the Beige Book hinted that reports on residential housing were “largely positive” and drought caused “stress to crops and livestock” while indicating employment grew at a “tepid pace.”

Earnings season is now in high gear with Intel (INTC 26.21, +0.83) and financials dominating the landscape over the past 18 hours. Results from financials have been 'better than feared,' but it is notable that the group was a laggard. Bank of America (BAC 7.53, -0.39) beat on the bottom line but missed on revenues. This caused some selling in the stock as investors view the bottom line beat was due to cost cutting and not a strengthening of the business. Some other notable financials reporting included Bank of New York (BK 21.69, -0.03), Blackrock (BLK 175.05, -1.10), Credit Suisse (CS 18.35, +0.65), and U.S. Bancorp (USB 33.48, +0.53).

Homebuilders finished in-line following this morning’s mixed housing starts and building permits data. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB 21.56, +0.14) gained 0.7% with action holding just below the almost four-year high set back in May. Pulte Group (PHM 10.80, -0.37) and KB Home (KBH 9.89, -0.06) saw relative underperformance.

Vivus (VVUS 29.00, +2.54) rose 9.6% after receiving Food & Drug Administration approval for its obesity drug Qsymia. The announcement has shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA 9.98, -1.07) under pressure as the approval allows for competition with its obesity drug Belviq.

Proctor & Gamble (PG 64.82, +0.03) slumped to session lows after the Board of Directors announced it anonymously supports the recently disclosed plan to return the company to levels that “produce the best long-term value for shareholders” and Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald as he leads the implementation of the plan. The stock was able to rebound off its worst levels and finish slightly in the green.

Treasuries finished with modest gains during what turned out to be a relatively quiet session. Yields in the belly of the curve saw the biggest declines with the 7-yr sliding 3.3 bps to 0.960% while a 2.2 bp decline dropped the 10-yr yield to 1.479%. Little change along the yield curve saw the 2-10-yr spread hold at 126 bps.

Data concludes for the week tomorrow with initial and continuing claims crossing the wires at 8:30 AM ET and existing home sales, the Philly Fed, and leading indicators due out at 10 AM ET. DJ30 +103.16 NASDAQ +32.56 SP500 +9.11 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1476/1.74 bln/1129 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1889/727.4 mln/1129

3:35 pm : Crude oil found buying support during today’s pit trade on a number of catalysts that included tension in Syria, better-than-anticipated inventory data, and comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that toned down the risk of a double-dip recession. Crude climbed out of negative territory and touched a session high of $90.04 per barrel. Although it pulled-back slightly in early afternoon action, it settled with a 0.9% gain at $89.89 per barrel.

Natural gas steadily climbed higher during its floor session. It popped to a session high of $3.02 per MMBtu but quickly corrected the move. Nevertheless, it settled pit trade 6.1% higher at $2.97 per MMBtu.

Gold and silver dipped to their respective floor session lows of $1567.20 per ounce and $26.85 per ounce following better-than-expected housing data. The metals then trended upwards to their session highs of $1582.90 per ounce for gold and $27.30 per ounce for silver as the dollar lost steam, but once again pulled-back in afternoon action. Gold settled pit trade 1.2% lower at $1570.70 per ounce while silver settled with a 1.0% loss at $27.08 per ounce. DJ30 107.21 NASDAQ 31.53 SP500 9.08 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1457/1487.5/1011 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1872/506.1/1120

4:10PM IBM beats by $0.08, misses on revs; raises FY12 EPS above consensus (IBM) 188.25 +4.60 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $3.51 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $3.43; revenues fell 3.3% year/year to $25.78 bln vs the $26.34 bln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY12, raises EPS to at least $15.10, excluding non-recurring items, from at least $15.00 vs. $15.05 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The Americas' second-quarter revenues were $11.1 billion, a decrease of 1% (up 1%, adjusting for currency) from the 2011 period. Revenues from Europe/Middle East/Africa were $7.9 billion, down 9% (flat, adjusting for currency). Asia-Pacific revenues increased 2% (up 4%, adjusting for currency) to $6.3 billion. OEM revenues were $512 million, down 24% compared with the 2011 second quarter. Software revenue, flat, up 4% adjusting for currency; Services revenue down 3%, up 1% adjusting for currency: Services pre-tax income up 18%; Services backlog of $136 billion, down 6%, flat adjusting for currency; Systems and Technology revenue down 9%, down 7% adjusting for currency; Growth markets revenue up 2%, up 8% adjusting for currency; Business analytics revenue up 13% in the first half; Smarter Planet revenue up more than 20% in the first half; Cloud revenue doubled first-half 2011 revenue.

5:06PM IBM conference call summary (call is currently in Q&A) (IBM) 188.20 +4.60 :

Mgmt noted that deadwinds included currency fluctuations and volatility for translation and hedging dynamics. Total operating expense and other income was down 6%. Co is dealing with significant currency dynamics which impacted its revenue lines by ~ $1 bln, or almost 4 points.
Co had $150 mln of workforce balancing in the quarter primarily in Europe.
Co should see ongoing benefits to the GTS portfolio.
GBS returned to a more typical level of profitability.
Co saw strength in Russia and China. China was up over 20% this quarter, gaining share again. Co is continuing to build its capabilities there. They expanded the number of branch offices and now have 68 face-to-face and over 100 virtual branch offices open across all of China.
Europe saw mixed performance as Italy and France were down.

4:34PM Skyworks beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SWKS) 28.65 +1.12 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.45 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.44; revenues rose 9.2% year/year to $389 mln vs the $383.02 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of 0.50-0.51, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.51 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of 415-420 mln vs. $418.03 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "Our strategic diversification across OEMs and chipset partners is enabling us to produce consistently strong operating results despite the macro economy. Specifically, we are gaining share within adjacent vertical markets including automotive, medical, avionics, military, location services and broadband communications. At the same time, our innovative solutions are powering the world's most popular smartphones, tablets, home automation platforms and network infrastructure systems. In short, we have created a differentiated business model that is delivering demonstrable, best in class mobile internet growth with analog semiconductor shareholder returns."

4:24PM Xilinx beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs below consensus (XLNX) 32.01 +1.12 : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.47 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.45; revenues fell 5.3% year/year to $582.8 mln vs the $574.03 mln consensus. Co says sales for Q2 are expected to be down 4% to 8% sequentially, this calculates to ~$536.17 -559.48 vs. $587.33 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co also says Q2 gross margin is expected to be approximately 66%. Operating expenses are expected to be approximately $220 million, including $2 million of amortization of acquisition-related intangibles. Other income and expense is expected to be an expense of approximately $8 million. Fully diluted share count is expected to be approximately 274 million. September quarter tax rate is expected to be approximately 16%.

4:22PM eBay beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs just below consensus; reaffirms FY12 EPS, revs guidance (EBAY) 40.46 +1.39 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.56 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.55; revenues rose 23.1% year/year to $3.4 bln vs the $3.36 bln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.53-0.55, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.55 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $3.3-3.4 bln vs. $3.41 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co reaffirms guidance for FY12, sees EPS of $2.30-2.35, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.35 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY12 revs of $13.8-14.1 bln vs. $14 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Q2 non-GAAP op margin of 27.3% vs 26.9% last qtr and 27.6% year ago; Q2 active users of 104.8 mln vs 102.4 mln last qtr. PayPal ended the quarter with 113.2 million active registered accounts, a 13% increase over the second quarter of 2011. PayPal revenue increased 26% year over year, driven primarily by increased penetration on eBay as well as continued merchant and consumer adoption and strong growth in Bill Me Later. "Our entire company is strong, but we're particularly pleased with eBay Marketplaces, which delivered its strongest organic growth in gross merchandise volume, excluding vehicles, since 2006. And mobile continues to be a game changer. We now expect eBay and PayPal mobile to each transact $10 billion in volume in 2012 -- that's more than double 2011, a staggering surge in mobile shopping and payments on devices that did not exist just a few years ago. Retail is at an inflection point, and we are helping to reshape how people around the world shop and pay."

4:08PM F5 Networks reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 (Dec) EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (FFIV) 98.59 +6.83 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $1.14 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $1.14; revenues rose 21.3% year/year to $352.6 mln vs the $353.16 mln consensus. "Overall, revenue growth slowed in Q3, but revenue by region was generally consistent with historical patterns; 57 percent for the Americas (primarily the United States) and 43 percent for EMEA and APJ, with EMEA contributing 21 percent of the total.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1 (Dec), sees EPS of $1.16-1.19, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.24 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 (Dec) revs of $360-370 mln vs. $383.97 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Lowered guidance is due to 'cautious spending environment'.

4:05PM Qualcomm misses by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY12 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (QCOM) 56.05 +1.59 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.85 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.86; revenues rose 27.8% year/year to $4.63 bln vs the $4.68 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.78-0.84 vs. $0.89 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $4.45-4.85 bln vs. $4.9 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues downside guidance for FY12, sees EPS of $3.61-3.67 vs. $3.74 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, down from prior guidance of $3.61-3.76; sees FY12 revs of $18.7-19.1 bln vs. $19.21 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, down from prior guidance of $18.7-19.7 bln.

"Looking forward, our growth estimates for 3G/4G device shipments in calendar 2012 have moderated slightly, and we now expect the demand profile of the calendar year to be more back-end loaded as new devices are launched for the holiday season. Although our outlook for semiconductor volumes in the fiscal fourth quarter has been reduced from our prior expectations, we are ramping supply of our 28 nanometer chipsets to help enable what we expect to be a strong December quarter for our semiconductor business."

4:03PM Plexus beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides for Q4 (PLXS) 27.45 +0.76 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.66 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.63; revenues rose 8.9% year/year to $608.81 mln vs the $606.77 mln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.60-0.66 vs. $0.66 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $590-620 mln vs. $624.29 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co says "Looking further ahead, we anticipate that the macro-environment will continue to be challenging, making longer-range growth projections exceptionally difficult. Our optimism about longer-term growth is anchored in our strong new wins performance over the past year that should result in revenue growth strengthening in fiscal 2013. However, with this difficult macro backdrop, we currently anticipate that the end-market environment will continue to be challenging for many of our customers, resulting in muted growth for mature production programs. Optimizing results under our financial model relies on a balanced mix, where growing mature programs yield typically better operating performance, and offset the production startup costs we experience in the earlier phases of new programs. While we believe that our current level of operating margin performance is industry leading, it is below our target, which we believe may be difficult to achieve in an environment where our revenue growth is heavily biased to ramping new program wins versus end-market growth of mature programs."

7:01AM Silicon Labs announced it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against MaxLinear (MXL) in the Southern District of California (SLAB) 35.85 : Co announced it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against MaxLinear in the Southern District of California, San Diego Division. This lawsuit continues patent litigation against MaxLinear (MXL) that now involves 20 Silicon Laboratories patents related to RF and mixed-signal design.

Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) announced that its low cost, ultra-low power iCE40 mobileFPGA family has been named a finalist in the highly regarded e-Legacy Awards competition sponsored by Electronic Product Design magazine.

3:59AM ASML beats by EUR0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 revs in-line (ASML) 51.50 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.71 per share, EUR0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of EUR0.68; revenues fell 1.9% year/year to EUR1.23 bln vs the EUR1.23 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of ~EUR1.2 bln vs. $1.23 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. With regard to Outlook, co states: "We executed H1 2012 as planned and expect sales to remain steady in the second half. The second half revenue level is expected to be between EUR 2.2 billion and 2.4 billion and looks sustained by an increase of NAND memory critical layer systems shipments, stability of DRAM memory systems sales, and slower 28/32 nm Logic in the second half compared with the first half. The exact level of sales achieved in the second half will depend on the strength of NAND pick up, itself fueled by new ultrabook PCs and new smartphone ramps. The mid-pt of H2 guidance is below current aggregate estimate of ~EUR2.46 bln.

Intel (INTC $26.12 +0.74) reported second quarter GAAP earnings of $0.54 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.52, while revenues rose 3.6% year/year to $13.5 billion versus the $13.56 bln consensus. The company issued in-line guidance for the third quarter with revenues of $13.8-14.8 billion versus the $14.64 billion consensus. PC Client Group revenue of $8.7 billion, up 3 percent sequentially. Sees Q2 gross margin percentage: 63-64% Non-GAAP (excluding amortization of acquisition-related intangibles), both plus or minus a couple of percentage points. Intel sees fiscal year 2012 revenue up between 3 percent and 5 percent year over year, down from the prior expectation for high single-digit growth (consensus is for +4.7%)... "The second quarter was highlighted by solid execution with continued strength in the data center and multiple product introductions in Ultrabooks and smartphones... As we enter the third quarter, our growth will be slower than we anticipated due to a more challenging macroeconomic environment. With a rich mix of Ultrabook and Intel-based tablet and phone introductions in the second half, combined with the long-term investments we're making in our product and manufacturing areas, we are well positioned for this year and beyond."

Yahoo (YHOO $15.96 -0.00) reports second quarter earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.26, while revenues rose 0.5% year/year to $1.08 bln vs the $1.09 bln consensus. Display revenue ex-TAC was $473 million, a 1 percent increase compared to $467 million for the second quarter of 2011. Search revenue ex-TAC was $385 million, a 4 percent increase compared to $371 million for the second quarter of 2011. Cash flow from operating activities for the second quarter of 2012 was $275 million, a 17 percent decrease compared to $331 million for the same period of 2011. Free cash flow was $93 million for the second quarter of 2012, a 2 percent decrease compared to $96 million for the same period of 2011. Cash, cash equivalents, and investments in marketable debt securities were $2,401 million at June 30, 2012 compared to $2,530 million at December 31, 2011, a decrease of $129 million.

EMC (EMC $25.04 +2.13) announced it sees Q2 EPS $0.39 versus the $0.40 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, with revs $5.31 billion versus the $5.30 billion consensus. The company continues to expect to achieve its full-year 2012 goals of $22 billion in revenue and non-GAAP EPS of $1.70 (versus consensus of $22.1 billion & $1.73, respectively). EMC also announced a series of senior executive appointments: David Goulden, Executive Vice President and CFO, has been appointed President and COO of EMC Corporation, reporting to Tucci. Pat Gelsinger, EMC President and COO of Information Infrastructure Products, has been appointed CEO of VMware (VMW), effective September 1st, and will also join the VMware Board of Directors. Paul Maritz, VMware's present CEO, is joining EMC as Chief Strategist, reporting to Tucci, effective September 1st. Maritz will remain on the VMware Board of Directors.

10:37 am Information Technology sector rises and outpacing broader market

The tech sector is trading higher today, ahead of gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative strength with the SOX trading 2.6% higher. NXPI (+5.5%) is a notable leader in the chip index. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.4% higher today, while the QQQ is up 0.9% and the NASDAQ is trading 0.7% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, only AAPL (-0.1%) and VZ (-2.3%) are showing any weakness. In earnings, there appears to be an early trend: INTC (+2.9%), YHOO (+0.1%) and FIS (-5.0%) all reported mixed Q2 results, beating on EPS and missing on revs.

Elsewhere, ROVI (-41.2%) guided down and EMC (+9.3%) and VMW (+9.2%) issued largely inline guidance. This morning, ERIC (+3.5%), ASML (+4.3%), and CHKP (+5.4%) posted a slight beats. APH (+12.7%), on the other hand, topped estimates and raised guidance. In news, EMC (+9.3%) and VMW (+9.2%) announced that EMC divisional COO will become the CEO of VMW and that current VMW CEO will be joining EMC as a strategist. Among rumors, BGR reports that AAPL's (-0.1%) iPhone is set for a fall launch equipped with LTE and NFC (NXPI +5.5%). There were no notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space. Yet in downgrades, ROVI (-41.2%) was downgraded at a host of firms including JPM and Piper. Elsewhere, AMT (-2.8%) was downgraded to Neutral at Citigroup, DLB (-2.5%) was downgraded to Underweight at JP Morgan, and CYMI (-0.1%) was downgraded to Equal Weight at Barclays. IBM (-0.8%) and QCOM (+2.2%) are the most notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.