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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : Today's lackluster session saw equities hover within points of the unchanged line for the majority of the day. Economic data was mostly positive, but did little to inspire investor confidence. As a result the S&P 500 ended higher by 0.1% on light volume.

The Federal Reserve has released its August Beige Book which aggregates economic condition reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts. The Book suggested "economic activity continued to expand gradually in July and early August." It also noted an improvement has taken place in credit conditions and the housing market. Sales and construction continue to rise gradually while employment is holding steady or showing only marginal improvement. Several Districts cited declining demand for staffing services while most Districts indicated that retail activity, including auto sales, had increased since the last Beige Book.

Healthcare stocks were higher as a handful of names advanced on upgrades. Genetic Technologies (GENE 3.93, +0.81) soared 26.0% after positive comments were made by boutique firm Lodge Partners. PROLOR Biotech (PBTH 4.88, +0.19) ended higher by 4.1% following the initiation of coverage at Oppenheimer where the stock was given an ‘outperform' rating with a $7.00 price target. Elsewhere, Cyberonics (CYBX 49.67, +3.31) advanced 7.1% as the shares were upgraded from ‘hold' to ‘buy' at Canaccord Genuity. In addition, analysts at Piper Jaffray elevated the price target for Cyberonics from $44.00 to $52.00.

For-profit education stocks slumped after Lincoln Educational Services (LINC 4.27, -0.09) was downgraded from ‘outperform' to ‘perform' at Oppenheimer. The downgrade was attributed to slowing enrollment as well as seven campus closures. As a result, shares of Lincoln slid 2.1%. Other for-profit education stocks were also lower as slowing enrollment will likely affect all providers. Career Education (CECO 3.22, -0.11) and DeVry (DV 18.60, -0.52) slipped 3.3% and 2.7%, respectively.

Yelp (YELP 22.37, +4.11) surged 22.5% as the share lock-up expired today. The event was anticipated by short sellers as it often leads to insider selling. However, Yelp was able to buck the trend and instead made an advance. Other social media names were mixed as Groupon (GRPN 4.31, -0.06) fell 1.4% and Pandora Media (P 10.08, -0.10) slipped 1.0% ahead of its earnings release after the close.

Energy stocks trailed behind the broader market as crude oil fell over 1.0%. Halliburton (HAL 33.51, -0.57) lost 1.7% while Schlumberger Limited (SLB 72.96, -1.14) ended lower by 1.6%. Meanwhile, GreenHunter Energy (GRH 2.24, +0.08) climbed 3.7% after eliminating all outstanding convertible preferred shares.

The second estimate of second quarter GDP pointed to a 1.7% increase, up from the 1.5% increase that was featured in the preliminary reading. The upwardly revised increase was better than the 1.6% improvement that economists polled by Briefing.com had expected. Also, the second quarter GDP Deflator was left unrevised to reflect a 1.6% increase.

Pending home sales for July increased by 2.4%, which was better than the unchanged reading that had been expected. The rise also made for a positive turn from the 1.4% decrease that was experienced in the prior month.

Tomorrow's economic data includes initial and continuing claims as well as personal income and spending. All data points will be released at 8:30 ET.

The U.S. Treasury will hold a $29 billion 7-yr note auction.DJ30 +4.49 NASDAQ +4.05 SP500 +1.19 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1467/1.23 bln/966 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1781/509.4 mln/1168

3:35 pm : Crude oil touched a floor session high of $96.37 per barrel moments after pit trade opened but quickly fell back into the red. It trended lower and dipped to a session low of $94.76 per barrel in late morning action. Buyers stepped in during the afternoon floor session and brought prices up slightly and the energy component finally settled with a 0.8% loss at $95.50 per barrel. Crude's weakness came on weaker-than-anticipated inventory data that showed a build of 3.778 mln when a draw of 1.8 mln was expected. Expectations that disruption in oil production in the Gulf of Mexico from Hurricane Isaac will be limited also played a role in the decline.

Natural gas came off its pit session low of $2.61 per MMBtu that was set in morning action and trended higher for the remainder of floor trade. It booked a gain of 1.9% as it closed at $2.68 per MMBtu, just below its session high of $2.70 per MMBtu. A stronger dollar following better-than-expected U.S. GDP data put pressure on precious metals in today's floor trade.

Gold tumbled to a session low of $1654.40 per ounce in morning action and spent the remainder of the session working on erasing the loss. Despite inching higher, the yellow metal settled with a 0.4% loss at $1663.10 per ounce. Silver fell off its session high of $30.91 per ounce and brushed a session low of $30.52 per ounce. It then trended higher and closed just 0.2% lower at $30.83 per ounce.DJ30 +25.25 NASDAQ +6.06 SP500 +2.92 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1445/1037.7 mln/956 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1839/342 mln/1098

10:23AM Intel: INTC -1.3% ticks to new multi-month range lows @ 24.67 (INTC) 24.67 -0.33 :

8:03AM Axcelis Tech wins high volume, follow-on order for Integra RS Plasma Dry Strip Systems from chipmaker (ACLS) 1.01 : Co announced that it has received a multiple system, follow-on order from one of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers for the Company's IntegraTM RS plasma dry strip system. The systems will be used in production of 3x nm and below NAND Flash devices at leading edge fabs in Asia and the US. The systems began shipping this month.

6:38AM JA Solar misses by $0.23, misses on revs; sees Q3 shipments lower QoQ; lowers FY12 shipment guidance (JASO) 1.07 : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.37 per share, $0.23 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.14); revenues fell 32.3% year/year to $284.4 mln vs the $289.18 mln consensus. Shipments were 418 MW, in line with the low end of the Company's previous guidance of 420 MW, and an increase of 14.2% from 366 MW in 1Q12. For Q3, the co expects total cell and module shipments to be between 350 MW and 370 MW. For the full year 2012, the co now expects total cell and module shipments to be between 1.5 GW and 1.8 GW, compared with the previously provided full year guidance of 1.8 GW to 2.0 GW. The revised estimates reflect the Company's prioritization of maintaining a healthy financial position over short-term shipment gains.

6:31AM Integrated Device and Intel (INTC) partner to develop integrated silicon solution for Intel's wireless charging technology (IDTI) 5.17 : IDT announced that Intel has selected IDT to develop an integrated transmitter and receiver chipset for Intel's wireless charging technology based on resonance technology. Intel, along with IDT, aims to deliver validated reference designs that are targeted for deployment in Ultrabooks, all-in-one PCs, smartphones, and standalone chargers. IDT is targeting samples of a resonance receiver IC by the end of the year, and the transmitter IC is expected to sample in the first half of 2013.

LTX-Credence (LTXC $5.84 +0.00) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.04 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.03, while revenues fell 30.8% year/year to $43.4 million versus the $44.2 million consensus. The company issued downside guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.01-0.05 versus the $0.11 consensus and revenues of $42-46 million, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $48.2 million consensus. "Our outlook for the first fiscal quarter is supported by strength in the mobility and automotive markets plus initial revenue contributions from the Diamondx. While macroeconomic conditions have caused some customers to hold off on capital purchases, others remain in a steady pace of capacity expansion. As we begin the new fiscal year, our product lineup, focus on key market segments and new business development opportunities should lead to year-over-year growth."

10:12 am S&P Information Technology Index trading slightly higher today

The tech sector is trading just higher today, ahead of a flat broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness, however, with the SOX trading 0.1% lower. Within the chip index, WFR (-1.8%) is a notable laggard. Among other major indices, the SPY is flat on the day, while the QQQ and the NASDAQ are trading modestly higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, INTC (-1.0%) is showing notable weakness.

There were no earnings of note in the tech space last night or this morning. In news, ZNGA's (-1.6%) Chief Creative Officer is leaving the company to head a startup company. ZNGA, however, is backing the new company, according to reports. In notable analyst research this morning in the tech space, Oppenheimer upgraded ANGI (+5.6%) to Outperform. There are no notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.