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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : Equities were broadly higher throughout the day before late afternoon selling sent the Nasdaq into negative territory. The dip also pushed the other indices lower, but they were able to hold most of their gains. The Dow finished higher by 0.5% while the Nasdaq ended flat.

The energy sector was the top performer as the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF (XLE 73.91, +0.78) finished higher by 1.1%. Within the group, Halliburton (HAL 35.35, +1.08) added 3.2%, while Anadarko Petroleum (APC 71.62, +1.22) and National Oilwell Varco (NOV 83.13, +2.11) gained between 1.7% and 2.6%.

Solar stocks were broadly higher with the Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN 17.52, +0.46) ending firmer by 2.7%. First Solar (FSLR 21.80, +1.01) rose 4.9% after signing a power purchase agreement with PG&E (PCG 43.32, -0.13) for 72 megawatts of solar electricity generated at two photovoltaic plants in central California. First Solar also announced that its Agua Caliente project achieved a peak generating capacity of 250 megawatts. Meanwhile, ReneSola (SOL 1.51, +0.09) jumped 6.3% after announcing the release of its Micro RePlus inverter module.

The financial sector outperformed the broader market. Within the space, Bank of America (BAC 9.03, +0.45) led the advancers with a 5.2% gain. Earlier today, Morgan Stanley (MS 17.25, +0.64) announced it will purchase the remainder of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney stake held by Citigroup (C 32.66, +0.83). Morgan Stanley and Citigroup finished higher by 3.9% and 2.6% respectively.

European banks continued their recent rally as Deutsche Bank (DB 42.62, +2.44) added 6.1% after announcing plans to cut costs by EUR4.5 billion in order to improve its capital position. The stock is up 55.9% since its 52-week low was hit on July 25th. Other European financials were also stronger as Barclays (BCS 13.72, +0.62) and Banco Santander (7.84, +0.24) posted gains of 4.7% and 3.2%, respectively.

Apparel and luxury retailers were under pressure after Burberry cut its profit expectations for the second half of the fiscal year. The lower guidance clouded the outlook for companies with a similar line of business. Ralph Lauren (RL 156.22, -4.09) and Coach (COH 61.48, -1.12) slid 2.6% and 1.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, Fossil (FOSL 84.95, -0.92) and Tiffany (TIF 62.26, -0.78) both shed near 1.2%.

Chipmaker AMD (AMD 3.75, +0.28) surged 8.1% after announcing a strategic licensing agreement with provider of 3D technology, RealD (RLD 9.82, -0.15). In addition, AMD announced an investment in CiiNOW, a provider of cloud gaming technology.

Facebook (FB 19.43, +0.62) advanced 2.6% as Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to speak at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at 17:00 ET. This will be Mr. Zuckerberg's first public interview since the company's initial public offering in May.

Another company which began trading recently, Groupon (GRPN 4.61, +0.34) finished higher by 8.0% after a reported increase in site traffic during the month of August. Shares of the online deals site have rebounded slightly after marking an all-time low at $4.00 last week.

The trade deficit widened to $42.0 billion during July after a downwardly revised prior month deficit of $41.9 billion. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected that the deficit for July would come in at $44.0 billion.

Tomorrow's economic data shows the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET. Also, export prices ex-agriculture and import prices ex-oil will be reported at 8:30 ET while wholesale inventory data will hit the wires at 10:00 ET.DJ30 +69.07 NASDAQ +0.51 SP500 +4.48 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1452/1.54 bln/994 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2027/667.1 mln/973

3:35 pm : Crude oil chopped around in positive territory for its entire floor session. It popped to a session high of $97.39 per barrel and brushed a session low of $96.61 per barrel. It then traded in a fairly consolidative pattern and settled 0.5% higher at $97.04 per barrel.

Natural gas took off as pit trade opened and trended higher as the session progressed. It touched the $3.00 per MMBtu level in afternoon action and settled with a notable 6.4% gain at $2.99 per MMBtu.

Precious metals rallied in early morning pit action as the dollar index fell following Moody's warnings of a one notch downgrade of the U.S. However, both gold and silver were unable to hold on to the momentum and pulled-back in late morning and afternoon action.

Gold eased to a session low of $1732.80 per ounce shortly after touching a session high of $1740.50 per ounce and settled with a 0.2% gain at $1735.10 per ounce. Silver brushed a session high of $33.88 per ounce but gave up the gains and closed 0.1% lower at $33.58 per ounce.DJ30 +69.75 NASDAQ -1.85 SP500 +4.13 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1333/1327.6 mln/1104 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1913/429 mln/1061

4:34PM Trina Solar announces plan to streamline its organizational structure to optimize business operations (TSL) 4.23 +0.13 : "In order to overcome the challenges of an increasingly competitive landscape in today's solar PV industry and achieve sustainable development, we are taking company-wide initiatives to streamline our organization. These initiatives include separating our PV module and systems business units and adopting an operating expense reduction program, which will involve some headcount reductions," said Mr. Jifan Gao, Chairman and CEO of Trina Solar, "These measures will enhance the Company's agility in responding to the needs of different customers and commercial opportunities. The Company also hopes that these initiatives will allow us to improve our competitiveness and elevate our standing as an industry leader in measures beyond cost leadership." "In bringing down our operating expenses, we will become a more competitive organization," said Mr. Terry Wang, CFO of Trina Solar. "This streamlining is planned to enhance management efficiency. Going forward, our continued success in the solar PV industry will largely depend upon our ability to strategically allocate our resources in the most efficient manner."

4:31PM Texas Instruments narrows revs outlook in-line with consensus, raises bottom end of EPS guidance (TXN) 28.58 -0.09 : Texas Instruments narrows revs outlook to $3.27-3.41 bln vs $3.3 bln consensus, raises bottom end of EPS guidance to $0.45-0.49, excluding $0.07 in charges (noted in the co's most recent earnings release) vs $0.45 consensus, up from $0.41-0.49, ex $0.07 in charges.

4:05PM Diodes maintains third quarter 2012 guidance (DIOD) 18.64 +0.08 : Co stated that it is maintaining its guidance for the third quarter of 2012, which includes the expectation that revenue will range between $162 and $170 mln vs $166.57 mln consensus. Gross margin is expected to be 28 percent, plus or minus 2 percent. Operating expenses are expected to be 21.4 percent of revenue, plus or minus 1 percent. The income tax rate for the third quarter is expected to range between 7 and 13 percent, and shares used to calculate GAAP EPS are anticipated to be approximately 47.2 million.

Intel (INTC) also announced the availability of the Intel Perceptual Computing SDK 2013 Beta, which includes the voice SDK components from Nuance, giving developers the ability to leverage the power of Dragon to create applications and experiences that drive natural, intuitive voice interactions.

LSI Corp. (LSI) announced that its HA-DAS solutions have been selected by Intel (INTC) to enhance its storage portfolio
AMD (AMD) announced an investment in CiiNOW, a provider of cloud gaming technology.

8:03AM MEMC Elec's SunEdison announces expansion of project finance revolving credit facility (WFR) 3.11 : Co announced today that it completed a $40 million expansion of its project finance revolving credit facility, bringing the total capacity of the facility to $150 mln.

Microsemi (MSCC) has teamed with Emcraft Systems to deliver a miniaturized system-on-module for embedded applications.

Integrated Device Technology (IDTI) announced a DDR4 register and temperature sensor that meet the industry's performance requirements.

AMD (AMD) announced it has entered into a strategic licensing agreement with RealD (RLD), which will pair AMD FirePro professional graphics with RealD's patented BlueLine technology to address the rapid adoption of 3D-capable displays and digital light processing projectors in corporate boardrooms, educational institutions and the media and entertainment industry.