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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : Stocks began today's session on a negative note after two technology bellwethers reported disappointing earnings. However, the cautious sentiment was short-circuited when today's housing starts report revealed its highest reading since July 2008. The major averages reacted by staging a steady climb to their respective session highs. A brief afternoon stumble followed, but the move was promptly retraced as the S&P 500 returned to its prior level, and closed higher by 0.4%.

The technology sector was the worst performing group in the S&P 500. Intel (INTC 21.79, -0.56) slipped 2.5% despite beating its earnings and revenue expectations. It should be noted this quarter marked the first time Intel reported a decline in year-to-year revenue since the third quarter of 2009. In addition, Sterne Agee lowered its price target for Intel to $20 from $22.

IBM (IBM 200.63, -10.37) slid 4.9% after reporting a slight earnings beat and a revenue miss. Following the earnings release, the stock was downgraded by Janney Montgomery Scott and Societe Generale. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered IBM's rating to ‘buy' from ‘neutral' while Societe Generale downgraded the company to ‘sell' from ‘hold.'

Networking stocks also saw weakness. Cisco Systems (CSCO 18.70, -0.15), F5 Networks (FFIV 97.33, -3.86), and Juniper Networks (JNPR 17.31, -0.17) all lost between 0.8% and 3.8%. Earlier, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Cisco to ‘hold' from ‘buy' with a $19.50 price target.

On the upside, Cree (CREE 28.92, +2.73) settled higher by 10.4% after beating on earnings and reporting in-line revenues. In addition, the company issued in-line earnings and revenue guidance for the second quarter.

In M&A news, ASML Holdings (ASML 50.08, -3.50) will acquire Cymer (CYMI 71.45, +23.62) in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at EUR1.95 billion. The total price reflects a 61.0% premium to Cymer's 30-day volume-weighted average price. Following the report, ASML shed 6.6% while Cymer surged 49.4%.

The financial sector was among the top performers of the day. Bank of America (BAC 9.44, -0.02) shed 0.2% after exceeding its earnings expectations. The financial giant reported breakeven earnings for the third quarter, which was $0.06 better than the Capital IQ consensus. Meanwhile, other major financials moved higher. Citigroup (C 38.43, +1.18), Goldman Sachs (GS 124.92, +1.70), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 43.32, +0.49) all recorded gains between 1.1% and 3.2%.

European financials outperformed their U.S. peers. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA 8.67, +0.43) and Banco Santander (SAN 7.97, +0.33) settled higher by 5.2% and 4.3%, respectively.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average outperformed the remaining industrials and added 0.6%. Airlines displayed relative strength within the 20-stock complex. Delta Air Lines (DAL 10.19, +0.20) and United Continental (UAL 20.62, +0.27) saw respective gains of 2.0% and 1.3%.

Railroads stocks were mixed following earnings from CSX (CSX 21.19, -0.44). The rail operator slipped 2.0% after its earnings exceeded Capital IQ estimates by $0.01. Meanwhile, the revenues were reported below Capital IQ consensus. Peer Norfolk Southern (NSC 67.21, -0.50) lost 0.7% while Union Pacific (UNP 123.73, +0.33) added 0.3%.

Meanwhile, Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG 3.40, -0.36) sank 9.6% to extend its recent streak of weakness which stemmed from concerns about the company's cash position.

Homebuilder stocks were broadly higher after this morning's housing starts data was reported at its best level since July 2008. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB 25.88, +0.49) settled higher by 1.9% in response to the report. Meanwhile, KB Home (KBH 16.76, +1.34), Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV 4.13, +0.35), and PulteGroup (PHM 17.44, +0.88) gained between 5.3% and 9.3%.

In today's economic data, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index showed a 4.2% decrease in new mortgage applications during the past week. This follows last week's 1.2% decline.

Separately, housing starts hit an annualized rate of 872,000 units during September. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected for housing starts to hit an annual rate closer to 815,000. Prior month figures were revised upward to reflect an annual rate of 758,000 housing starts. As for building permits, they increased from the prior month's rate of 801,000 to 894,000 for September. That is above the pace of 815,000 building permits that had been expected among economists polled by Briefing.com.

Tomorrow, weekly initial and continuing claims will be reported at 8:30 ET. In addition, October Philadelphia Fed Survey and September leading indicators will be released at 10:00 ET.DJ30 +5.22 NASDAQ +2.95 SP500 +5.99 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1486/1.72 bln/946 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2067/688.3 mln/915

3:30 pm : Crude oil climbed to a floor session high of $92.85 per barrel in early morning action but tumbled on weaker-than-anticipated inventory data that showed a build of 2.86 mln barrels when a build of 1.5 mln barrels was expected. The energy component brushed a session low of $91.53 per barrel and spent the remainder of pit trade working on getting out of negative territory. The effort left crude to settle at $92.04 per barrel, or just 4 cents below the unchanged level.

Natural gas came off its session low of $3.41 per MMBtu and trended higher during morning action. It pulled-back slightly after touching a session high of $3.50 per MMBTu and settled with a 0.9% gain at $3.47 per MMBtu. Precious metals extended yesterday's gains on a weaker dollar as Moody's held Spain's credit rating at Baa3, but placed the country on a negative outlook.

Both gold and silver dropped following strong housing data but recovered earlier gains. Gold came off its pit session low of $1744.00 per ounce and climbed higher to settle with a 0.4% gain at $1753.10 per ounce. Silver also trended higher after dipping to a session low of $32.88 per ounce. It closed with a 0.8% gain at $33.23 per ounce, or just below its session high of $33.30 per ounce.DJ30 +1.98 NASDAQ +4.24 SP500 +6.54 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1408/1437.7 mln/1027 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2005/440 mln/956


4:18PM Lam Research beats by $0.12, reports revs in-line (LRCX) 33.57 +0.14 : Reports Q1 (Sep) earnings of $0.53 per share, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.41; revenues rose 33.3% year/year to $906.9 mln vs the $903.61 mln consensus. "Despite a more uncertain industry environment, Lam Research achieved strong financial performance in the September quarter, delivering gross margin and operating profits above the high end of our guidance,"

4:10PM Mellanox Tech beats by $0.25, beats on revs (MLNX) 98.12 -6.80 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.37 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.25 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.12; revenues rose 129.6% year/year to $156.5 mln vs the $152.8 mln consensus and vs prior guidance of $150-155 mln. Non-GAAP operating margin came in at 38.9%. As usual, co does not provide guidance, should guide for Q4 revs on the call at the top of the hour.

1:30PM First Solar confirms it will build 13MW solar power plant for Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (FSLR) 25.60 +1.49 : Co announced it has been selected by the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) to construct a 13 megawatt (MWDC) solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Seih Al Dahal, approximately 50 kilometers south of Dubai. Under the terms of the agreement, First Solar will provide engineering, procurement and construction services, as well as its advanced thin-film PV modules. The 13MW solar PV power plant is the first phase of the landmark Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, named after the leader of the Emirate of Dubai, an AED 12 billion project that is expected to eventually cover 48 square kilometers and produce 1,000MW of clean energy for the nation's capital using both PV and solar thermal technology.

Cypress Semiconductor (CY) announced that Pantech Co. has selected the Gen4 TrueTouch touchscreen controller for its flagship Vega R3 smartphone.

1:14AM Cymer: ASML to acquire Cymer for transaction value of EUR1.95 bln (CYMI) 47.83 : ASML Holding NV (ASML) and Cymer (CYMI) announce they have entered into a definitive agreement under which ASML will acquire all outstanding shares of Cymer in a cash-and-stock transaction currently valued at EUR1.95 bln. The purpose of the acquisition of Cymer is to accelerate the development of Extreme Ultraviolet semiconductor lithography technology. The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of ASML and Cymer, would entitle each Cymer shareholder to receive $20.00 in cash and a fixed ratio of 1.1502 ASML ordinary shares per Cymer share. The total price reflects a premium of 61% over Cymer's 30-day volume-weighted average price. Excluding non-cash purchase price accounting adjustments, the transaction is expected to be accretive to ASML's EPS in the second year after closing.

Intel (INTC $21.29 -1.06) reported third quarter GAAP earnings of $0.58 per share, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ consensus Estimate of $0.49 (non-GAAP $0.60 vs. $0.52 consensus), while revenues fell 5.5% year/year to $13.46 billion versus the $13.2 billion consensus. The company lowered revenue guidance to $12.9-13.5 billion from $13.8-14.8 billion on Sept 7. PC Client Group revenue of $8.6 billion, flat sequentially and down 8 percent year-over-year; Data Center Group revenue of $2.7 billion, down 5 percent sequentially and up 6 percent year-over-year. Co reports Q3 GAAP gross margin of 63.3% vs guidance lowered 100 bps to 62% on Sept 7. The company issued in-line guidance for fourth quarter with revenues of $13.1-14.1 billion versus the $13.74 billion consensus, with gross margin percentage: 57%, and 58% Non-GAAP, both plus or minus a couple of percentage points.

IBM (IBM $201.81 -9.19) reported third quarter earnings of $3.62 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $3.61, while revenues fell 5.4% year/year to $24.75 billion versus the $25.36 billion consensus Gross Profit (non-GAAP 48.1% up 12 bps y/y. The company reaffirmed guidance for fiscal year 2012 with EPS of at least $15.10, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $15.15 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Segments: Software revenue down 1 percent, up 3 percent adjusting for currency. Services revenue down 5 percent, flat adjusting for currency; Services backlog of $138 billion, up 1 percent. Systems and Technology revenue down 13 percent, down 12 percent adjusting for currency; Growth markets revenue down 1 percent, up 4 percent adjusting for currency; BRIC countries up 4 percent, up 11 percent adjusting for currency; Business analytics revenue up 14 percent year to date; Smarter Planet revenue up more than 20 percent year to date; Cloud revenue year to date has exceeded full-year 2011 revenue. The Americas' third-quarter revenues were $10.4 billion, a decrease of 4 percent from the 2011 period. Revenues from Europe/Middle East/Africa were $7.2 billion, down 9 percent. Asia-Pacific revenues increased 1 percent to $6.5 billion. OEM revenues were $538 million, down 28 percent compared with the 2011 third quarter. Revenues from the company's growth markets decreased 1 percent and 35 countries had double-digit revenue growth, adjusting for currency. Revenues in the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — increased 4 percent. The estimated services backlog at September 30 was $138 billion, up 1 percent year over year at actual rates (up 1 percent, adjusting for currency). Revenues from the Software segment were $5.8 billion, down 1 percent compared with the third quarter of 2011. Software pre-tax income increased 6 percent and pre-tax margin increased to 35.6 percent. Revenues from IBM's key middleware products, which include WebSphere, Information Management, Tivoli, Lotus and Rational products, were $3.6 billion, down 1 percent. Revenues from the Systems and Technology segment totaled $3.9 billion for the quarter, down 13 percent from the third quarter of 2011. Excluding Retail Store Solutions (RSS), revenues were down 11 percent.

Cree (CREE $28.03 +1.96) reported first quarter earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ consensus Estimate of $0.26, while revenues rose 17.4% year/year to $315.8 million versus the $317.6 mln consensus. The company issued in-line guidance for the second quarter with EPS of $0.27-0.31, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.30 consensus and revenues of $320-340 million versus the $333.8 million consensus.

Fortinet (FTNT $20.79 -4.01) reported third quarter earnings of $0.14 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ consensus of $0.14, while revenues rose 17.0% year/year to $136.3 million versus the $136.4 mln consensus.

Linear Tech (LLTC $31.75 -0.81) reported first quarter earnings of $0.45 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.46, while revenues rose 1.6% year/year to $335.1 million versus the $334.7 million consensus. Co sees Q2 revs down 5-10% sequentially, versus the consensus expectations for a +1% increase from Q1 revs. This equates to Q2 revenues of $301.6-318.3 million versus the $338.94 million consensus

11:17 am Tech Sector trading lower today following reports from several key names

The tech sector is trading lower today, trailing gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing slight relative strength with the SOX trading 0.2% higher. Within the chip index, CREE (+12.3%) is a notable standout. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.4% higher today, while the QQQ is roughly flat and the NASDAQ is trading 0.1% lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, T (+1.1%) and VZ (+1.1%) are rebounding off of recent losses, while IBM (-4.3%) and INTC (-2.6%) are showing notable weakness following earnings. In tech earnings last night, INTC (-2.6%) reported Q3 results that topped the company's earlier downside preannouncement and IBM (-4.3%) posted a slight Q3 EPS beat, although sales missed the mark once again. Elsewhere, MANH (+6.0%) posted a beat and raise, while FTNT (-17.9%) reported an inline qtr and LLTC (-0.2%) posted a mixed Q1 and guided lower. This morning, ASML (-3.8%) reported a mixed Q3 and guided to the lower end of its previous estimate, APH (+2.3%) posted a modest beat and issued guidance above consensus and CHKP (-12.9%) posted a slight Q3 beat. In news, ASML (-3.8%) announced it will acquire CYMI (+57.3%) for EUR1.95 bln. Among rumors, AAPL (-0.3%) may put its iPad Mini on sale Nov. 2.

In notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, Wunderlich upgraded FTNT (-17.9%) to Buy and Argus upgraded S (+1.2%) to Buy. Among downgrades, AMT (-0.1%) was downgraded to Equal Weight at Barclays, DBD (-0.9%) was downgraded to Underweight at JP Morgan, IBM (-4.3%) was downgraded at Janney and Societe Generale, ADTN (+3.7%) was upgraded from Sell at Goldman, and Cantor downgraded CSCO (-0.9%) to Hold. LRCX (+0.2%), MLNX (-1.7%) and XLNX (+1.2%) are the notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.