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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : After four consecutive losing sessions, U.S. indices and their European counterparts ended the day firmly in the black.


European trading was uneventful during the early part of the session. However, markets took off immediately after comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. The central bank's president said officials are "ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro." Following the statement, risk assets spiked and never looked back. Spain's IBEX closed 6% higher, and Italy's MIB posted a 5.6% gain. Furthermore, France's CAC and German DAX also rose by 4% and 2.8% respectively.

Spain's 10-yr yield declined 44 basis points to 6.93% while the yield on Italy's 10-yr debt fell 39 basis points to 6.06%.

The risk rally contributed to a higher open in U.S. equities which sustained the opening levels throughout the day. The three main indices closed near session highs.

The energy sector led the charge as the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF (XLE 69.00, +1.91) advanced nearly 3% while the materials and retail sectors lagged the broader market gains.

Major financials were one of the main beneficiaries of today's market advance. The SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF 14.49, +0.22) was up over 1.5%. American Express (AXP 57.76, +1.71) was higher by 3% while Citigroup (C 26.28, +0.49), and Bank of America (BAC 7.17, +0.10) advanced 2% and 1.4% respectively.

Communication solutions provider MetroPCS (PCS 8.59, +2.31) surged 37%. The advance came on the heels of a positive second quarter earnings report. In addition, the company expects to launch 4G service before quarter's end. Sprint Nextel (S 4.05, +0.68) also posted a considerable gain, climbing 20%. The firm's earnings beat expectations on increased iPhone sales.

Zynga (ZNGA 3.18, -1.90) was one of the weakest performers following a second quarter loss and slowing revenue growth. Its shares fell almost 40%. The significant weakness spilled over to Facebook (FB 26.85, -2.50) which receives 11% of its revenues from the company. Facebook was down more than 6% ahead of its after-hours earnings release.

Crude oil spent its entire floor session in positive territory, touching a session high of $90.47 per barrel. It gave up some of its gains as the day progressed, and settled with a 0.4% gain at $89.40.

Today's rally adversely impacted the dollar index which fell to near-term support at 82.67 before rebounding to 82.85. The British pound was the strongest performer against the dollar, up over 1.2% at 1.5685. The euro also rallied against the greenback, posting a 1.1% advance to 1.2285.

The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 353,000, which is better than the 381,000 that had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com. The latest tally is also down from the upwardly revised prior week count of 388,000. As for continuing claims, they fell to about 3.287 million from 3.300 million.

Roughly 115 companies are set to report their results after-hours. Some notable names include: Amazon (AMZN 220.01, +2.96), Coinstar (CSTR 59.22, -0.05), Facebook (FB 26.85, -2.50), and Starbucks (SBUX 52.41, +2.00).

The busy earnings schedule continues before Friday's open with names like AON (AON 46.48, +0.34), Chevron (CVX 108.27, +2.21), and Merck (MRK 43.33, +0.71) set to report.

Friday's economic data includes second quarter GDP at 8:30 AM ET and University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment at 9:55 AM ET.DJ30 +211.88 NASDAQ +39.01 SP500 +22.13 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1615/1.88 bln/852 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2247/898.1 mln/823

3:30 pm : Crude oil spent its entire floor session in positive territory, touching a session high of $90.47 per barrel moments after pit trade opened. It gave up some of its gains as the day progressed and settled with a 0.4% gain at $89.40 per barrel.

Natural gas popped to a pit session high of $3.13 per MMBtu following better-than-expected inventory data that showed a build of 26 bcf when a build of 30 bcf was anticipated. Moments later, it slid into the red to a session low of $3.02 per MMBtu. However, buyers stepped in and pushed prices back up such that natural gas settled with a 1.0% gain at $3.10 per MMBtu.

Gold extended yesterday's gains following a slide by the dollar on renewed hopes of monetary easing after ECB President Mario Draghi stated that "sharing national sovereignty on EU level to come" and that the ECB is "ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro." The yellow metal climbed to a pit session high of $1620.00 per ounce and despite briefly dipping into negative territory, it managed to settle 0.5% higher at $1615.00 per ounce. Silver, on the other hand, lost steam after brushing a floor session high of $27.72 per ounce and fell into the red as it headed into afternoon pit action. It eventually settled for a 0.1% loss at $27.44 per ounce. DJ30 +202.94 NASDAQ +36.68 SP500 +20.77 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1580/1536.5/893 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2173/617 mln/858

4:56PM Microsemi beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (MSCC) 18.22 +0.70 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.55 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.53; revenues rose 19.6% year/year to $259.2 mln vs the $258.8 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.57-0.60 vs. $0.57 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $262-268 mln vs. $264.79 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:32PM Ingram Micro beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs below consensus (IM) 15.43 +0.02 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.39 per share, excluding $0.01 in non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.38; revenues rose 0.3% year/year to $8.78 bln vs the $8.66 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $8.78 bln vs. $8.97 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, with gross margins to remain under pressure. The company will also incur incremental interest costs of ~$2 million in the third quarter associated with the bridge financing facility entered into at the time of the BrightPoint acquisition announcement.

4:18PM Maxim Integrated increases quarterly dividend by 9% to $0.24 per share from $0.22 per share (MXIM) 25.99 +0.47 :

4:17PM KLA-Tencor beats by $0.18, beats on revs (KLAC) 49.66 +0.72 : Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $1.49 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.18 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.31; revenues were unchanged from the year-ago period at $892.5 mln.

4:17PM QLogic misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line (QLGC) 12.60 +0.44 : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.27; revenues fell 9.8% year/year to $130.4 mln vs the $131.1 mln consensus.

4:09PM Nanometrics beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (NANO) 14.32 +0.08 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.13 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.06; revenues fell 17.4% year/year to $53.2 mln vs the $51.92 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.07)-$0.02 vs. $0.06 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $40-45 mln vs. $49.84 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. For Q3 management expects non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 46% to 49%, and operating expenses to increase between $0.4 million and $0.7 million from the second quarter.

4:05PM Ixia beats by $0.02, beats on revs (XXIA) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.16; revenues rose 33.8% year/year to $92.3 mln vs the $88.87 mln consensus.

4:02PM Veeco Instruments misses by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides FY12 revs in-line (VECO) 33.74 +2.98 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.37 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.38; revenues fell 48.4% year/year to $136.6 mln vs the $134.0 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.22-0.38 vs. $0.34 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $120-140 mln vs. $133.9 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues in-line guidance for FY12, sees FY12 revs of $520-560 mln vs. $546.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate

4:01PM Coherent beats by $0.09, beats on revs (COHR) 44.85 +1.25 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.83 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.74; revenues fell 6.9% year/year to $196.4 mln vs the $194.14 mln consensus.

1:22PM Cohu correction: Beat by $0.01; beat on revs; guided Q3 rev below consensus (COHU) 8.78 +0.06 : Las night we compared GAAP EPS to non-GAAP estimates. The previous comment has been removed and should have read as follows.

Reports Q2 (Jun) non-GAAP loss of $0.01 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ two estimate average of ($0.02); revenues fell 26.6% year/year to $59.4 mln vs the $58.5 mln est. Co sees Q3 rev of ~$60 mln vs. the $65.4 mln two est avg. Orders were $69.8 mln for Q2 and $53.0 million for Q1. Orders for semi equipment were $59.5 million in Q2 compared to $41.4 million in Q1. Total consolidated backlog was $62.0 mln at June 30, 2012 compared to $51.6 million at March 31, 2012.

7:24AM Benchmark Elec beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (BHE) 13.89 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.32 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.28; revenues rose 7.5% year/year to $630 mln vs the $607.35 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.27-0.32, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.30 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $595-625 mln vs. $620.15 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "We are very pleased with the solid execution of our team for the second quarter in a weakening environment. Notably, our revenue and margin improvements were achieved while supporting numerous program ramps from previous quarters' bookings as well as the ongoing Thailand recovery efforts. Looking forward, the second quarter business development efforts provided strong bookings which is meaningful as these upcoming program launches together with the programs recently introduced will drive positive momentum in the face of a challenging macro environment."

Rambus (RMBS) announced that the ITC has issued its notice of final determination in the action brought by Rambus against LSI Logic, ST Microelectronics and other Respondents. ITC affirmed the initial determination of Administrative Law Judge Theodore R. Essex that there was no violation of Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 with respect to the asserted patents

6:19AM Cabot Micro beats by $0.01, beats on revs (CCMP) 29.49 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.55 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.54; revenues rose 3.5% year/year to $115.7 mln vs the $113.32 mln consensus.

TriQuint Semi (TQNT $5.30 +0.37) reported second loss of $0.09 per share, $0.03 better than the consensus of ($0.12), while revenues fell 22.2% year/year to $178 million versus the $177.59 million consensus. The company issued mixed guidance for the third quarter with EPS of $0.00, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.00 consensus Estimate, with revenues of $195-205 million versus the $205.28 million Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Citrix Systems (CTXS $72.58 -2.48) reported second quarter earnings of $0.71 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.59, while revenues rose 15.9% year/year to $615.2 million versus the $612.68 mln consensus. The company issues mixed guidance for the third quarter with EPS of $0.64-0.66, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.71 consensus and revenues of $645-655 million versus the $645.42 million consensus. The company issued upside guidance for fiscal year 2012 with EPS of $2.78-2.81, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $2.77 consensus and revenues of $2.56-2.58 billion versus the $2.55 billion consensus. Fiscal year 2012 guidance is slightly raised from mgmt's ests from the prior qtr.

Akamai Tech (AKAM $33.26 +5.05) reported second quarter earnings of $0.43 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.37, while revenues rose 19.6% year/year to $331.3 million versus the $326.48 million consensus. "Akamai's very strong second quarter results were driven on the top line by increased adoption of our cloud infrastructure solutions as well as continued growth of content delivery solutions," said Paul Sagan, President and CEO of Akamai. "Our bottom line performance was the result of significant benefits we have begun to realize from improvements we are making to scale our network operations."

Western Digital (WDC $38.64 +6.17) reported fourth quarter GAAP earnings of $2.87 per share, $0.39 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.48, while revenues rose 97.8% year/year to $4.75 billion versus the $4.25 bln consensus. "In the June quarter, demand was in line with our forecast as industry shipments reached 157 million units, bringing total HDD shipments for the year to 599 million units. Our WD and HGST subsidiaries both performed ahead of plan in Q4, delivering great products with consistent execution, resulting in strong revenue growth, gross margin and cash flows."

Zynga (ZNGA $3.05 -2.03) reported second quarter earnings of $0.01 per share, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.05, while revenues rose 19.1% year/year to $332.5 million versus the $338.63 million consensus. The company issues downside guidance for fiscal year 2012 with EPS of $0.04-0.09 versus the $0.26 consensus. Bookings are projected to be in the range of $1.15-$1.225 billion. The company states, "We are lowering our outlook to reflect delays in launching new games, a faster decline in existing web games due in part to a more challenging environment on the Facebook web platform, and reduced expectations for Draw Something." Bookings increased by 10% year/year to $302 million. Daily Active Users (DAUs) grew by 23% to 72 million from 59 million a year ago. Monthly Active Users (MAUs) were up 34% year/year to 306 million. Average Daily Bookings per User (ABPU) dropped to $0.046 from $0.051 a year ago.