From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Challenged by thin volume, equities endured yet another day of lackluster action. After reaching lows during the first hour of trade, stocks staged a slow, session-long recovery. As a result, the major indices ended flat.
Healthcare was one of today's top performers. The space was lifted by Coventry Health Care (CVH 42.04, +7.10) as it surged 20.3% after being acquired by Aetna (AET 40.18, +2.14) in a $7.3 billion deal. Other healthcare components received a lift from the acquisition as Bio-Reference Laboratories (BRLI 29.71, +0.31) gained 1.1% and Humana (HUM 68.23, +0.43) added 0.6%.
Technology stocks posted gains as the group's biggest component, Apple (AAPL 665.15, +17.04), advanced by 2.6%. As shares marked a new all-time high above $665.00, the company achieved a milestone market cap of $623.14 billion. This made Apple the most valuable company in history. Competitors Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 20.09, +0.57) and Dell (DELL 12.56, +0.34) gained 2.9% and 2.8%, respectively. The two computer makers are scheduled to release their earnings later in the week.
Airline stocks outperformed after Southwest Airlines (LUV 9.44, +0.31) announced a $10 increase in the price of nearly a third of its flights. Shares of the discount airline ended higher by 3.4%. Other carriers followed the announcement with fare hikes of their own. United Continental Holdings (UAL 19.45, +1.05) and JetBlue (JBLU 5.27, +0.21) jumped 5.7% and 4.2%, respectively.
The consumer discretionary sector underperformed with some of the biggest losses observed in homebuilder stocks. The group retreated after making a broad advance resulting from Thursday's positive new housing permit data. KB Home (KBH 10.59, -0.45) was down 4.1% while NVR (NVR 811.59, -32.17) and DR Horton (DHI 18.41, -0.57) ended lower by 3.8% and 3.0%, respectively.
The telecommunications sector was the day's biggest laggard. Stocks within the space have been on a strong run recently and today's weakness appeared to be due to profit-taking rather than a sector-wide sell-off. Sprint (S 5.11, -0.08) shed 1.5% and MetroPCS (PCS 9.91, -0.12) was off by 1.2%.
Lowe's (LOW 26.26, -1.61) fell 5.8% on heavy volume. Shares of the hardware retailer are under pressure after the company delivered disappointing results which showed both earnings and revenues misses, and lowered guidance. Competitor Home Depot (HD 56.57, -0.16) slipped 0.3%.
Best Buy (BBY 18.16, -2.11) slumped 10.4% after Hubert Joly was named as the new Chief Executive Officer. Shares of the technology retailer are under pressure as the board of directors steps up its battle with founder Richard Schulze over an attempted buyout. Best Buy will report earnings tomorrow before the bell.
There is no notable economic data scheduled for release tomorrow.DJ30 -3.56 NASDAQ -0.38 SP500 -0.03 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 999/1.41 bln/1435 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1322/550.9 mln/1671
3:30 pm : Crude oil spent the majority of its floor session in negative territory. The energy component fell to a session low of $95.32 per barrel in morning action and then worked on erasing the loss. It dipped again in the afternoon pit session but a rally heading into the close helped push prices up briefly into the black to a session high of $96.45 per barrel. The late effort had crude settle just 3 cents lower at $96.29 per barrel.
Natural gas fell into the red in morning pit action, but investors quickly stepped in and brought prices back into positive territory. The momentum continued for the remainder of pit trade, and natural gas settled 2.2% higher at $2.78 per MMBtu, or just below its session high of $2.79 per MMBtu. Precious metals got a boost during today's pit trade from a weakening dollar.
Gold came off its floor session low of $1611.80 per ounce and broke into positive territory by late morning action. It then brushed a session high of $1624.50 per ounce and settled at $1622.90 per ounce for a gain of 0.2%. Silver dipped to a session low of $27.88 per ounce but quickly recovered back into the black. Prices began to see real strength as the metal rallied in late morning action and touched a session high of $28.65 per ounce. Silver then consolidated in afternoon action and settled at $28.60, or 2.2% higher.DJ30 -9.29 NASDAQ -3.10 SP500 -1.11 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 925/1157 mln/1515 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1197/350 mln/1757
11:00AM Agilent secures patent for market-leading CGH assays (A) 36.76 -0.46 : Co announced that it was awarded a significant patent for comparative genomic hybridization methods. CGH methods help researchers study genetics and cancer in both basic and clinical research. The U.S. patent (No. 8,232,055) has claims for measuring copy number changes in genomic DNA, covering both one-color and two-color assays using oligonucleotide probes and samples with high-sequence complexity, such as human genomic DNA samples.
8:04AM Ramtron: Cypress Semiconductor (CY) extends offer to acquire Ramtron International to Aug 24 from Aug 17 (RMTR) 2.65 :
McAfee, a unit of Intel (INTC) announced enhancements to its McAfee Mobile Security software, providing Android smartphone and tablet owners with additional privacy features that help them ensure apps are not accessing their personal information without their knowledge.
5:40AM Chipmos Technology authorizes A new $10 mln shares repurchase program (IMOS) 14.55 :
Tessera Tec (TSRA $14.71 -0.09) announced today that Tessera, Inc. has received an initial payment of ~ $20 million from Amkor Technology related to the interim award the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce issued on July 6, 2012, in favor of Tessera in its dispute with Amkor.
09:23 am Seagate Tech downgraded to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus: . Stifel Nicolaus downgrades STX to Hold from Buy as they see a more balanced risk/reward profile at current levels. Firm says this is not a negative call on Seagate nor the HDD industry, but rather a reflection of their effort to maintain discipline and capitalize on what has been strong share performance.
09:23 am Facebook upgraded to Buy at Capstone Investments; tgt $26: . Capstone Investments upgrades FB to Buy from Hold and sets target price at $26 saying they believe that the FB shares' 16X '13E EV/EBITDA multiple provides investors with upside to the Company's core business and potential returns from new businesses the stock price currently does not give the Company credit for.
10:23 am Tech Sector shares are trading lower in line with the broader market
The tech sector is trading lower today, inline with losses in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness, however, with the SOX trading 1.0% lower. Within the chip index, VECO (-4.6%) is a notable laggard. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.3% lower today, while the QQQ and the NASDAQ are trading 0.4% lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, only AAPL (+1.2%) is showing strength. There were no earnings of note in the tech space. In news, the ZAGG (-14.0%) CEO stepped down, the board appoints Randy Hales as interim CEO and the co reaffirmed FY12 revenue guidance.
Among notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, Capstone Investments was upgraded FB (-0.3%) to Buy. In downgrades, RDA (-3.0%) was downgraded to Neutral at UBS, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded STX (-1.9%) to Hold, and TI (-4.8%) was downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan. FN (-0.9%) is the only notable name in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.
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