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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Today's session began with an extension of the bullish sentiment observed in overseas action. Following a higher open, U.S. equities got an additional boost from the ISM Index which was reported at 51.5 against the expectations of a 49.7 reading. After rallying to session highs, the Dow held the bulk of its gains, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq spent the remainder of the session in a slow retreat towards the unchanged line. As a result, the Dow climbed 0.6%, the S&P 500 added 0.3%, and the Nasdaq slipped 0.1%.

The financial sector was one of the day's top performers. The SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF 15.66, +0.07) advanced 0.5% as major names within the sector all showed gains. Goldman Sachs (GS 116.86, +3.18) ended higher by 2.8%, while Bank of America (BAC 8.96, +0.13) added 1.5%. Meanwhile, Citigroup (C 32.75, +0.03) finished flat after its shares were downgraded from ‘buy' to ‘neutral' at Sterne Agee.

European financials also rallied. Credit Suisse (CS 21.67, +0.52) advanced 2.5%, while Barclays (BCS 14.14, +0.27) and Deutsche Bank (DB 40.21, +0.56) registered gains near 1.7% each.

Despite the outperformance of financials, those names specializing in real estate investment trusts were relatively weaker. The iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate ETF (IYR 63.92, -0.46) slipped 0.7%. Among individual names, Prologis (PLD 34.58, -0.45), Vornado (VNO 80.29, -0.76), and Weingarten (WRI 27.66, -0.45) all fell between 0.9% and 1.6%.

The health care space also displayed relative strength as a handful of stocks moved on analyst comments. Healthcare Services Group (HCSG 23.81, +0.95) gained 4.2% after UBS initiated coverage of the stock with a ‘buy' rating. Meanwhile, Allscripts (MDRX 12.84, +0.42) advanced 3.4% following an upgrade from ‘neutral' to ‘outperform' at Cowen. In addition, Allscripts was also upgraded by ISI Group.

Blyth (BTH 26.77, +0.78) added 3.0% after announcing that it bought back 283,300 shares between September 26-28.

Tenet Healthcare (THC 6.48, +0.21) rose by 3.4% after unveiling a four-point plan to drive shareholder value creation. A $500 million authorization to repurchase common stock in open market transactions was one of the key points of the plan. In addition, effective October 11, 2012, a reverse stock split will occur. As a result of the reverse split, one new Tenet share will be issued in exchange for every four existing shares.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average trailed the broader market. The bellwether group added 0.1% as trucking and shipping stocks weighed on the complex. Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG 6.49, -0.11) and Matson (MATX 20.16, -0.75) lost 1.7% and 3.6%, respectively.

All five airlines listed in the transportation average showed relative outperformance. Alaska Air (ALK 35.17, +0.11) added 0.3% while Delta (DAL 9.47, +0.31), JetBlue (JBLU 4.86, +0.07), Southwest (LUV 8.86, +0.09), and United Continental (UAL 19.79, +0.29) posted gains between 1.0% and 3.4%.

Chinese internet stocks were broadly weaker today. Baidu (BIDU 112.77, -4.12) shed 3.5% after its shares were downgraded from ‘buy' to ‘hold' at Jefferies. In addition, the price target was lowered from $135 to $125. Peers, Sohu.com (SOHU 41.33, -0.76) and Qihoo (QIHU 21.81, -0.24) slipped 1.8% and 1.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, Youku (YOKU 18.70, +0.31) rose by 1.7% as it outperformed its peers.

August construction spending fell 0.6% month-over-month, against the expected increase of 0.4%.

Tomorrow's economic data is limited to just two releases. Auto and truck sales will be reported at 14:00 ET.DJ30 +77.98 NASDAQ -2.70 SP500 +3.82 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1397/1.71 bln/1073 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1886/672.7 mln/1166

3:30 pm : Crude oil traded higher during today's pit trade following stronger-than-anticipated ISM data. The energy component touched a session high of $93.33 per barrel moments after floor trade began but pulled-back as it headed into afternoon action. It chopped around just above the unchanged line for the remainder of the session and settled 0.3% higher at $92.44 per barrel.

Natural gas took off from its session low of $3.38 per MMBtu and trended higher for most of its pit session. It closed at its session high of $3.48 per MMBtu for a 4.8% gain.

Gold and silver rallied to their respective session highs of $1794.40 per ounce and $35.44 per ounce following dovish comments from Chicago Fed President Charles Evans noting that more accommodation is needed to reach a more appropriate unemployment rate of 5-7%.

However, both precious metals slid to the unchanged level as the equity market opened. Gold spent the remainder of floor trade trading in choppy fashion and settled 0.5% higher at $1782.80 per ounce. Silver trended slightly higher and closed with a 1.0% gain at $34.94 per ounce.DJ30 +68.68 NASDAQ -8.62 SP500 +2.10 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1308/1414.0/1173 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1781/436 mln/1250

4:38PM Extreme Networks announces $75 mln share buyback plan (EXTR) 3.30 -0.05 : Co announced its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of common stock worth up to $75 million which may be purchased over the next three years from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. Extreme Networks will fund the share repurchases from cash on hand, which was approximately Co announced its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of common stock worth up to $75 million which may be purchased over the next three years from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. Extreme Networks will fund the share repurchases from cash on hand, which was approximately $200 million as of September 30, 2012. As of August 6, 2012, there were approximately 95 million shares of common stock outstanding.00 million as of September 30, 2012. As of August 6, 2012, there were approximately 95 million shares of common stock outstanding.

11:34AM Intel sets new session high of 23.07, the first thrust high off its Sep low is at 23.14 (INTC) 23.05 +0.40 : Stock has significantly lagged behind the overall market for the last five months. It set an 11 month low last week before rebounding to 23.14 on Thursday. The new session high of 23.07 leaves it mildly under this first thrust high.

8:04AM MEMC Elec announces $200 million financing (WFR) 2.75 : Co announced it closed a new $200 million term loan on September 28, 2012. The term loan is secured by a second priority lien on substantially all of the company's assets, including a pledge of all the equity interests of each of its domestic subsidiaries, other than certain project subsidiaries, and 66% of the voting equity interests of its first-tier foreign subsidiaries. Each of the company's subsidiary guarantors under its first lien revolving credit facility is also a guarantor under this term loan. The term loan, which was fully drawn at the closing, has a maturity of five years.

7:31AM Qualcomm implements new corporate structure (QCOM) 62.47 : Co completed its previously announced plans to modify its corporate structure. As previously stated, the corporate structure changes have been implemented, among other reasons, in order to enhance Qualcomm's ability to quickly deliver products to its customers, while further protecting and insulating its valuable patent portfolio from any claims resulting from actions and activities by portions of the company other than the Qualcomm Technology Licensing Division (QTL). Qualcomm did not undergo this restructuring in anticipation, or as part, of spinning out either the QTL or QCT businesses, nor was this change in response to any third party actions or claims.

The new corporate structure features the parent company, Qualcomm Incorporated, which includes QTL and corporate functions, as well as most of Qualcomm's patent portfolio, and a wholly owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies (QTI), which, along with its subsidiaries, now operates substantially all of Qualcomm's research and development activities, as well as product and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT.

10:37 am S&P Information Technology Index trading higher today along with the broader market

The tech sector is trading higher today, along with gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness, however, with the SOX trading only 0.7% higher. Within the chip index, AMD (-3.0%) is a notable laggard. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 1.0% higher today, while the QQQ is up 1.0% and the NASDAQ is trading 0.9% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, FB (+3.5%) is a standout, while MSFT (-1.9%) is showing notable weakness. In tech earnings, ALVR (-7.2%) lowered FY12 guidance below consensus. In news, Workday set an IPO range of $21-24, which values the company at ~$3.6 billion. Among rumors, we are hearing TWTC (+4.2%) M&A chatter making the rounds.

In notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, RTEC (+3.4%) was upgraded to Outperform at Credit Suisse and BCOV (+7.0%) was upgraded to Top Pick at RBC. Among downgrades, SYNA (-0.9%) was downgraded to Sector Perform at Pacific Crest, QSII (-2.5%) was downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley, MSFT (-0.3%), RP (-1.8%), FTNT (+0.2%), CVLT (-1.4%), CHKP (-0.9%) & VMW (+1.0%) were downgraded at RBC, CCOI (-0.6%) & S (-2.9%) were downgraded to Mkt Perform at Raymond James, MRCY (-4.7%) & BIDU (-2.4%) were downgraded to Hold at Jefferies, ALU (-3.5%) was downgraded to Sell at UBS, NOW (-3.4%) was downgraded to Sell at UBS and BRKS (-2.4%) & NOK (+5.6%) were downgraded to Underperform at Credit Suisse. There are no notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.