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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Equities began today's session on a slightly higher note after the Bank of Japan raised its asset purchase target in an attempt to inject additional liquidity into the market and to weaken the yen. Stocks were also boosted slightly by positive economic data which indicated an uptick in existing home sales as well as building permits. However, late day selling pushed the major averages off their best levels of the session as the S&P 500 settled higher by 0.1%.

Consumer discretionary stocks were the top performer of the day. Two names within the group advanced after reporting earnings. AutoZone (AZO 369.95, +12.11) added 3.4% after delivering a mixed quarterly report. The auto parts retailer beat on earnings, but missed on revenues and reported an increase in inventory. General Mills (GIS 40.02, +0.71) advanced 1.8% after beating on earnings and missing on revenues. The company issued in-line guidance and the management sees "a slow improvement in price and volume trends across [the company's] retail food categories."

Elsewhere within the sector, Chiquita Brands (CQB 7.32, +0.87) and Del Monte (FDP 25.40, +1.37) jumped 13.5% and 5.7%, respectively. The two listings rallied after BB&T upgraded shares of both companies from ‘hold' to ‘buy.'

The energy sector underperformed the broader market with oil sliding another 3.6% to continue its recent weakness. The energy component has fallen nearly 9.0% since last week. In addition, the Department of Energy reported that during the past week oil inventories saw a build of 8.534 million barrels against expectations of a build of 1.4 million. Northern Oil and Gas (NOG 17.91, -0.66) shed 3.6% and increased options activity was spotted in the stock. The October 19 puts have traded 1310 contracts against an open interest of just 100.

Meanwhile, PDC Energy (PDCE 30.99, -1.93) slumped 5.9% after announcing it is no longer looking to develop its Utica Shale as part of a joint venture. Instead, the company will continue to work independently on the southeast Ohio property. Approach Resources (AREX 30.77, -1.88) was another notable laggard which slid 5.8% after announcing an offering of five million shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering.

Groupon (GRPN 5.34, +0.65) surged 13.9% after the company launched a mobile payment service which it claims is "the lowest-cost option" available to merchants. According to reports, merchants who have active deals with Groupon will pay 1.8% of the total transaction price plus a 15 cent surcharge when using Visa, MasterCard, or Discover. Payments made with American Express will be subject to a 15 cent surcharge as well as 3.0% of the total transaction. In addition, Groupon Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Mason appeared on CNBC where he said the company is growing 50% year-over-year and described Groupon as "more than just a coupon company."

Questcor (QCOR 26.35, -24.17) plunged 47.8% after reports indicated insurer Aetna denied coverage of the company's Acthar gel. The rejection was followed by a negative research report released by Citron. Shares of Questcor responded to the comments with an initial drop of nearly 56.0%. Following a trading halt, the stock has been able to recover some of its losses after Piper Jaffray suggested Aetna's comments are not a blanket statement of ‘no coverage.' Instead, coverage may be available after a patient is subject to a steroid treatment first.

Existing home sales for August hit an annualized rate of 4.82 million units, which was stronger than the rate of 4.58 million units that had been generally expected among economists surveyed by Briefing.com. The pace for August is up from the prior month rate of 4.47 million units.

Housing starts hit an annualized rate of 750,000 units during August. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected for housing starts to hit an annual rate closer to 770,000. Prior month figures were revised downward to reflect an annual rate of 733,000 housing starts.

As for building permits, they slipped from the prior month's downwardly revised rate of 811,000 to 803,000 for August. That is above the pace of 800,000 building permits that had been expected among economists polled by Briefing.com.

In tomorrow's economic data, weekly initial and continuing claims will be reported at 8:30 ET. Also of note, the September Philadelphia Fed Survey and leading indicators will be released at 10:00 ET.DJ30 +13.32 NASDAQ +4.82 SP500 +1.73 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1167/1.78 bln/1299 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1741/644.1 mln/1259

3:30 pm : Crude oil extended yesterday's losses as it fell off its pit session high of $95.09 per barrel. It continued to tumble deeper into negative territory following weaker-than-anticipated inventory data that showed a large build of 8.534 mln barrels when a build of 1.4 mln barrels was expected. Crude dipped to a session low of $91.54 per barrel moments before settling with a 3.5% loss at $92.26 per barrel.

Natural gas traded up to a session high of $2.86 per MMBtu in morning action but lost the momentum. Prices trended lower for the remainder of pit trade and natural gas gave up the entire gain as it settled 0.4% lower at $2.77 per MMBtu.

Gold hovered near the unchanged line during today's pit trade. The yellow metal slid to a session low of $1764.20 per ounce following building permits and housing starts data, but the move quickly corrected. Gold finished the session just 30 cents higher at $1771.50 per ounce.

Silver brushed a session low of $34.32 per ounce in morning action but managed to trade back up to the breakeven level. It briefly broke into positive territory and touched a session high of $34.83 per ounce but retreated to trade just below the unchanged line for the remainder of the session. Silver eventually settled 0.5% lower at $34.58 per ounce.DJ30 +32.51 NASDAQ +7.56 SP500 +3.73 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1191/1488.7 mln/1266 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1760/413 mln/1241

4:52PM TTM Tech announces new $540 mln credit facility (TTMI) 10.48 -0.02 : Co announced that it and certain of its foreign subsidiaries in Hong Kong have entered into a new credit facility dated September 14, 2012, with a syndicate of eight banks led by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. The new credit facility totals $540 mln and consists of three tranches as follows: 1) a $370 mln four-year term loan facility with interest payable at a rate of LIBOR plus 2.38 percent per year; 2) a $90 mln three and one half-year revolving credit facility with interest payable at a rate of LIBOR plus 2.38 percent per year; 3) an $80 mln or equivalent in other currencies four-year letters of credit facility granting up to 540 days for the purpose of equipment purchases and up to 150 days for other general purposes. TTM Technologies plans to use the proceeds from this credit facility to repay in full the outstanding loans under its existing $582.5 mln multi-tranche credit facility and for the purpose of working capital for its Asia Pacific operations. The Company expects to draw the full $370 mln term loan before the end of its current fiscal quarter.

4:50PM Ascent Solar announces public offering of common stock, size not disclosed (ASTI) 1.68 +0.01 : Co announced its intention, subject to market and other conditions, to commence a public offering of its common stock. Ascent intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operations and other general corporate purposes.

4:07PM Adobe Systems reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS, revs below consensus (ADBE) 33.12 +0.55 : Reports Q3 (Aug) earnings of $0.58 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.58; revenues rose 6.7% year/year to $1.08 bln vs the $1.1 bln consensus. During the quarter, the Company drove faster adoption of Creative Cloud subscriptions than originally projected. As Adobe customers migrate from a legacy Creative Suite perpetual licensing model to new Creative Cloud subscriptions, revenue is recognized over time as opposed to at the time of purchase. This overachievement in subscriptions during the third quarter effectively transitioned ~$29 million more perpetual revenue than expected to Creative Cloud. In addition, the effect of currency impacted Q3 revenue negatively by ~$9 million. Adjusting for these amounts in Adobe's reported results would have enabled the Company to achieve third quarter revenue towards the high-end of its targeted range.

Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.53-0.58, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.67 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $1.075-1.125 bln vs. $1.21 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. These targeted ranges factor in the addition of 125,000 new Creative Cloud subscriptions in the quarter, which represents ~$94 million in Q4 perpetual revenue which would effectively move to subscription and ratable monthly recognition.

10:38AM Applied Materials has been a Nasdaq laggard on a percentage basis but thus far it is holding at its 50 sma at 11.37 -- session low 11.36 (AMAT) 11.45 -0.26 :

LSI Corporation (LSI) announced a collaboration with Microsemi (MSCC) to lower the costs of mobile backhaul by integrating the Microsemi IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol into the LSI Axxia product family of multicore communication processors.

8:06AM Ramtron to resume trading at 8:30am ET (RMTR) 2.87 :

8:01AM Cypress to acquire Ramtron for $3.10 per Share in Cash...RMTR halted (RMTR) 2.87 : Cypress Semi (CY) and Ramtron (RMTR) have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Cypress will acquire all outstanding stock of Ramtron at $3.10/sh in cash. The transaction represents a premium of 71% to Ramtron's closing price of $1.81 on June 11, the day before Cypress publicly disclosed its offer for Ramtron. The Boards of Directors of both Cypress and Ramtron have approved the transaction. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the calendar year.

7:47AM Hewlett-Packard resolves ink cartridge patent infringement lawsuit with Brazil's Maxprint (HPQ) 18.25 : Co announced that it has amicably resolved patent litigation with Brazil-based Rio Branco Ltda., distributor of the Brazilian brand Maxprint, relating to HP's integrated printhead inkjet cartridges. As part of the settlement, Maxprint acknowledges that HP's patents are valid and enforceable. Maxprint has agreed to stop selling the cartridges in question in Brazil and in other countries where Maxprint-brand cartridges are sold. HP and Maxprint have agreed to allow Maxprint to sell any remaining inventory until Dec. 1, 2012, after which all infringing product sales by Maxprint must cease. Maxprint also will reimburse part of the litigation costs to HP. The settlement is based on litigation filed by HP in the Brazilian State Court of Sao Paulo on April 12, 2011, alleging the importation and sale of HP-compatible inkjet print cartridges in Brazil that infringe on HP patents.

Dell (DELL) unveiled new additions to its portfolio of business-class computers. The three new devices include the Latitude 10-inch touch-enabled tablet, the Latitude 6430u Ultrabook, and a touch-enabled OptiPlex 9010 All-in-One desktop.

NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) announced the availability of its LPC408x and LPC407x microcontrollers, featuring advanced signal processing capabilities and a wide range of connectivity options, including USB 2.0, Ethernet and CAN 2.0B.

JDSU (JDSU) announced an agreement to sell its holographic security business to OpSec Security. The holographic security product line primarily addresses the transaction card market segment and generates revenue of ~$5 mln per quarter.

1:06AM Amkor prices $300 mln of its 6.375% Senior Notes due 2022 (AMKR) 4.84 : Co announces it has priced its offering of $300 mln aggregate principal amount of its 6.375% Senior Notes due 2022. Co expects to use a portion of the net proceeds of the Notes offering to repay ~$224.9 mln of debt of certain of our subsidiaries. Any remaining net proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes

Microsoft (MSFT $31.09 -0.09) raised quarterly dividend 15% ($0.03) to $0.23 (yield at close: 3.0%). The ex-dividend date will be Nov 13, 2012. The co also announced that Raymond Gilmartin, former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Merck & Co, has decided that after 11 years of service, he will retire from and not seek re-election to Microsoft's board of directors at the co's 2012 annual meeting of shareholders.

Riverbed Technology (RVBD $22.50 +0.21) target raised to $26 from $23 at Wunderlich. The firm notes they are adjusting their model slightly upward and elevating price target as they believe improved execution is being sustained and that the co may have incremental opportunity associated with upgrades of older product and adjacent market segments as enhanced quality of service features are brought to market. They also find the co attractively valued relative to peers. FBR notes recent checks suggest that iPhone 5 component suppliers

Broadcom (BRCM $36.61 -0.31) and Qualcomm (QCOM $65.20 +0.21) are seeing among the strongest fundamental trends in the semiconductor space at present as AAPL ramps production sharply, and while the rest of the world suffers through a continuing/worsening macro malaise. While investors have already turned to BRCM and QCOM shares as a safe haven investment during these weak macro times, FBR thinks shares will continue to outperform most other chip stocks with iPhone 5 sales likely to ramp meaningfully, and with a possible iPad Mini launching before Christmas.