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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 24-Aug-12

Dow +100.51 at 13163.08, Nasdaq +16.39 at 3069.79, S&P +9.05 at 1411.13

After beginning the session in the red, stocks rallied after rumors suggested the European Central Bank is considering setting a yield band target as part of the new bond buying program. The news broke 15 minutes before the European close and caused a 50 pip spike in the euro as well as a rise to session highs by the major indices. The euro ended up giving up those gains, while U.S. stocks managed to build on the strength. At the end of the day, the S&P 500 closed higher by 0.7% on below average volume.

Durable goods orders were reported this morning, showing an increase in July by 4.2%, which was better than the 2.5% increase that had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com. This comes after the prior month's reading was revised up from 1.3% to 1.6%. Excluding transportation related items, durable goods orders decreased in July by 0.4%, which is worse than the 0.6% increase that had been broadly anticipated. The prior month's reading was revised from -1.4% to -2.2%.

Telecom was the top performing sector as major players made considerable advances. Verizon (VZ 43.17, +0.92) advanced by 2.2% while Sprint Nextel (S 4.88, +0.10) and Frontier Communications (FTR 4.63, +0.07) ended higher by 2.1% and 1.7%, respectively.

The healthcare space also outperformed with two major names making headlines. Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI 83.31, +4.68) gained 6.0% after its generic substitute for the Lidoderm pain patch was approved. Lidoderm's original manufacturer Endo Health (ENDP 32.17, +0.29) rose by 0.3%. Meanwhile, Eli Lilly (LLY 43.86, +1.46) climbed 3.4% after announcing the results of its clinical trials focused on patients with Alzheimer's disease. Even though the trials did not meet the top goals, the company highlighted some positive outcomes.

In the utilities sector, Black Hills (BKH 33.42, +2.41) surged 7.8% after the company sold its Williston Basin oil and gas assets for $243 million. Peers MDU Resources Group (MDU 22.07, +0.31) and AES Corporation (AES 11.51, +0.13) added 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively.

Major financials traded mostly in-line with the broader market. The SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF 15.13, +0.08) gained 0.5%. American Express (AXP 57.49, +1.07) and Goldman Sachs (GS 104.96, +0.88) were the top performers as they closed higher by 1.9% and 0.9%, respectively. However, European financials did not share the optimism as Barclays (BCS 11.86, -0.19) slipped 1.6% and UBS (UBS 11.20, -0.10) slid 0.9%.

Two names managed impressive reversals off lows brought on by disappointing earnings. After being down more than 4.0% in pre-market, Salesforce (CRM 148.54, +1.77) rallied by nearly 6.0% after reporting an earnings beat and in-line revenues. Autodesk (ADSK 30.13, -5.58) also saw a significant reversal. The early weakness was brought on by a disappointing quarterly report which showed a miss on earnings and revenues as well as downside guidance. Shares of the technology company have rallied more than 7.0% off lows but the stock ended down by 15.6%.

The euro was lower today but up on the week, after a weeklong rally took the common currency from 1.2295 to 1.2560. The euro began showing weakness in the early part of the session, but the rate cap rumor made rounds just ahead of the European close and led to an initial pop in the currency. The talks were viewed as risk-positive and lifted the euro to 1.2560 before fading to 1.2510.

Treasury yields had been rising steadily since marking all-time lows in late July. After reaching 1.835%, treasuries hovered near the level for a few days before turning lower again. The 10-yr yield had declined to 1.650% over the course of this week before today's selling put an end to the streak and lifted the 10-yr to 1.678%.

Weekly Review: FOMC Minutes Highlight Slow Week

On Monday, equities endured a day of lackluster action headlined by thin volume. After reaching lows during the first hour of trade, stocks staged a slow, session-long recovery. As a result, the major indices ended flat. Coventry Health Care (CVH 41.74, -0.13) as it surged 20.3% after being acquired by Aetna (AET 38.72, -0.58) in a $7.3 billion deal.

Tuesday's session got off to a strong start but stocks could not hold their gains into the afternoon. The S&P 500 briefly touched a 4-year high before retreating to session lows. Total volume was better than what has been seen in recent days, but remained well below average. The Dow underperformed and finished lower by 0.5% while the S&P 500 shed 0.4%. European financials outperformed as Deutsche Bank (DB 34.05, -0.29) gained 4.2%.

On Wednesday, equities spent the majority of the session in the red. After a lower open, stocks traded in a tight range until the release of FOMC minutes, which indicated that the Federal Reserve could provide additional easing if general economic conditions deteriorate further. After breaking through the unchanged line, stocks could not push much higher as they registered a flat close. The Nasdaq outperformed and ended higher by 0.2%. Dell (DELL 11.26, +0.02) slid 5.4% after delivering mixed earnings.

Thursday opened slightly lower and equities spent the remainder of the session in negative territory. July home sales were reported at an annualized rate of 372,000. Meanwhile, initial unemployment claims data before the open came in a little worse than expected, as the reading increased to 372,000 from the 368,000 observed in the prior week. United States Steel (X 20.81, -0.38) slid 7.0% after Dahlman Rose downgraded the steel sector.

 
 Index	  Started Week  Ended Week  Change  % Change  YTD % 
 DJIA	    13275.20	 13157.97  -117.23    -0.9    7.7 
 Nasdaq	     3076.59	  3069.79    -6.80    -0.2   17.8 
 S&P 500     1418.16      1411.13    -7.03    -0.5   12.2 
 Russell 2000  819.89	   809.19   -10.70    -1.3    9.2

7:08AM ReneSola misses by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs below consensus; reaffirms FY12 shipment guidance (SOL) 1.79 : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.40 per share, $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.34); revenues fell 6.5% year/year to $233 mln vs the $220.31 mln consensus. Total solar wafer and module shipments in Q2 2012 were 503.7 megawatts, exceeding Company guidance and representing an increase of 8.1% from 466.0 MW in Q1 2012. Q2 2012 gross profit was US$1.3 million with a gross margin of 0.6%, compared to a gross loss of US$8.0 million with a gross margin of negative 3.8% in Q1 2012.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $200-220 mln vs. $238.25 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The co expects total solar wafer and module shipments to be in the range of 510 MW to 530 MW; solar module shipments are expected to be in the range of 150 MW to 170 MW. The co maintains its previously announced full year 2012 guidance of 2.2 GW to 2.4 GW of total solar wafer and module shipments.

Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) is adding an entry-level device family designed primarily for the automotive instrument cluster market to its S12 MagniV mixed-signal microcontroller (MCU) portfolio.

1:12AM Amkor: Federal Circuit Court issues favorable ruling in Amkor's patent case against Carsem (AMKR) 4.80 : Co announces the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a favorable ruling in Amkor's appeal in its patent infringement case against Carsem before the U.S. International Trade Commission. In the underlying ITC proceedings, the Administrative Law Judge had ruled that certain Carsem Dual and Quad Flat No-Lead Packages infringe certain claims of one of Amkor's patents relating to MicroLeadFrame technology. However the ITC subsequently ruled that the infringed claims were invalid and terminated the proceedings. The Federal Circuit Court has now reversed the ITC's determination of invalidity, and remanded the matter to the ITC for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.

Aruba Networks (ARUN $19.46 +2.54) target raised to $17 from $11 at Mizuho. Firm sees evidence of a lengthening sales cycle and potential competitive headwinds. While consensus FY13 estimates are likely to remain intact for now, sparking a near-term relief rally in the shares, they continue to remain on the sidelines, particularly given what they view as aggressive growth expectations and premium valuation at 25x EPS (well above peers and growth rate).

Autodesk (ADSK $29.65 -6.03) reported second quarter earnings of $0.48 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.49, while revenues rose 4.2% year/year to $569 million versus the $593.63 million consensus. The company issued downside guidance for the third quarter with EPS of $0.40-0.45 versus the $0.50 consensus and revenues of $550-570 million versus $602.08 million consensus. Net revenue for fiscal 2013 is now expected to increase by 4-6% compared to fiscal 2012 (consensus calls for 9.8% rev growth). Autodesk now anticipates fiscal 2013 GAAP operating margin to decrease by approximately 210 basis points and non-GAAP operating margin to increase by approximately 150 basis points compared to fiscal 2012. "Our own execution challenges, combined with an uneven global economy, resulted in disappointing revenue results for the quarter... Organizational changes we made within the company earlier this year slowed us down during the quarter."

Salesforce (CRM $143.97 -2.08) reported second quarter earnings of $0.42 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.39, while revenues rose 34.1% year/year to $732 million versus the $728.14 million consensus. Geographic Breakdown- Americas $507 mln compared to $367 million in prior year up 38%; Europe revenues were $124 mln compared to $102 mln in prior, up 22%, and Asia Pacific revenues were $99 million compared to $77 million in prior year, up 22%. Deferred revenue- On the balance sheet as of July 31, 2012 was $1.34 billion, an increase of 43% on a year-over-year basis. Current deferred revenue increased by 38% year-over-year to $1.27 billion, benefited in part by longer invoice durations. Non-current deferred revenue increased by 293% year-over-year to $69 million. Unbilled deferred revenue, representing business that is contracted but unbilled and off balance sheet, ended the second quarter at approximately $2.8 billion, up from approximately $2.7 billion at the end of the fiscal first quarter. The company issued mixed guidance for the third quarter with EPS of $0.31-0.32, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.34 consensus and revenues of $773-777 million versus the $769.40 million consensus. The company issued mixed guidance for fiscal year 2013 with EPS of $1.48-1.51, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $1.50 consensus and revenues of $3.025-3.035 versus the $3.02 billion consensus.

Mentor Graphics (MENT $16.36 +0.12) reported second quarter earnings of $0.21 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.17; revenues rose 12.7% year/year to $240.8 million versus the $239.51 million consensus. The company issued in-line guidance for the third quarter with EPS of approximately $0.28, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.28 consensus and revenues of approximately $265 million versus the $265.85 million consensus. The company issued guidance for fiscal year 2013 with raised EPS by $0.01 to approximately $1.38, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $1.38 Capital IQ consensus, reaffirmed fiscal year 2013 revenues of approximately $1.1 billion versus the $1.1 billion consensus. During the quarter, the co continued its share buy-back, repurchasing 1.4 million shares for $20 million "Revenues and earnings were an all-time record for a second quarter, and bookings were at the second highest level for any second quarter in company history. A weak euro, a weak rupee, and a strong yen worked to our advantage."

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.