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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : Equities began the day on a slightly higher note. The early gains were doubled after an erroneous report on the Cincinnati Enquirer Website suggested Mr. Romney had a considerable lead over Mr. Obama in Ohio. The newspaper promptly retracted the claim, and said that the page accidentally showed a template with dummy data. However, the S&P 500 held the bulk of its gains into the late afternoon before ending higher by 0.8%.

The materials sector was among the top performers, and gained 1.1%. Looking at earnings within the space, Martin Marietta (MLM 86.98, +1.97) settled higher by 2.3% after the company's earnings of $1.36 exceeded Capital IQ consensus estimate by $0.08. Martin's revenue of $593.90 million also beat expectations. When commenting on future outlook, management said: "For full year 2012, we anticipate high single-digit volume growth in our nonresidential end-use market, driven primarily by increased energy shipments." Other providers of building materials saw similar strength. Texas Industries (TXI 45.59, +1.15) and Vulcan Materials (VMC 48.48, +1.88) advanced 2.6% and 4.0%, respectively.

Elsewhere, Louisiana-Pacific (LPX 15.70, -0.35) slipped 2.2% after reporting disappointing earnings. The paper producer's earnings of $0.20 were $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ consensus estimate. Meanwhile, the company's revenue of $467.8 also missed analyst expectations. Other paper manufacturers participated in the sector-wide rally. Neenah Paper (NP 26.78, +1.13) advanced 4.4% and International Paper (IP 35.62, +0.25) added 0.7%.

The consumer discretionary sector saw a flurry of earnings this morning. Two providers of satellite television service were among those who reported. DIRECTV (DTV 50.51, -0.15) slipped 0.3% after revealing third quarter earnings of $0.90, which was $0.04 below the Capital IQ consensus. Meanwhile, the company's revenue of $7.42 billion was ahead of the $7.31 billion expected by analysts. Management commented on the quarter by saying: "DIRECTV U.S.' third quarter results reflect successful execution of our long-term strategy to strike a more optimal balance between our top and bottom lines while DIRECTV Latin America continues to profitably increase market share in the rapidly growing Latin America pay-TV market." Peer DISH Network (DISH 36.00, +1.17) rose by 3.4% after reporting a loss of $0.35 on revenue of $3.52 billion. The bottom line may not be comparable to analyst estimates due to high litigation costs, while the top line missed expectations.

Office Depot (ODP 2.99, +0.48) and OfficeMax (OMX 8.33, +0.89) both reported mixed third quarter results. The two office store operators beat on their respective bottom lines, and fell short of the consensus revenue expectations. However, it should be noted that a Bloomberg article discussed a possible merger between the two. As a result of the M&A speculation, Office Depot and OfficeMax settled higher by 19.1% and 12.0%, respectively.

Luxury retailer Fossil (FOSL 84.24, -9.86) lost 10.5% after reporting mixed earnings. During the third quarter, the luxury retailer earned $1.26, which was $0.09 ahead of the Capital IQ consensus estimate. However, the company's revenue of $684.20 million was below analyst expectations. In addition, Fossil guided fourth quarter earnings in-line with expectations, while revenues are expected to show weakness and come in below consensus estimates. The results weighed on other higher-end apparel retailers. Coach (COH 57.75, +0.15), Ralph Lauren (RL 160.44, -0.79), and Macy's (M 41.38, +0.22) were all down around 1.0% at the start of the session before recovering their losses during the late-morning surge.

Utilities have seen considerable weakness in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Since October 31, the SPDR Utilities Select Sector ETF (XLU 35.69, +0.02) is down over 3.0%. Most notably, electricity providers have been pressured as repair costs continue to rise. In addition, the failures in the Northeast are likely to result in calls for more regulatory oversight and better backup systems, which would translate to increased costs for electricity providers.

Today, the sector was the weakest performer, and major electricity providers weighed on the group. Southern Company (SO 44.14, -0.48) slid 1.1% and Edison International (EIX 45.68, -0.34) slipped 0.7%.

The Presidential election is today's headline event and first exit polls are expected after east coast voting ends at 19:00 ET. Hopefully, the results will be counted without issues and the outcome will be known before tomorrow's open.

In tomorrow's economic data, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET. In addition, September consumer credit will be announced at 15:00 ET.

The U.S. Treasury will auction off $24 billion in 10-yr notes.DJ30 +133.24 NASDAQ +12.27 SP500 +11.13 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1590/1.73 bln/853 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2138/673.0 mln/872

3:30 pm : Crude oil and precious metals trended higher alongside the equities market as the U.S. votes for a President and the dollar index inched lower. Crude climbed to a session high of $89.22 per barrel in afternoon action. The energy component then pulled-back slightly and settled with a 3.5% gain at $88.60 per barrel.

Gold came off its pit session low of $1688.20 per ounce and climbed as high as $1720.90 per ounce. Even with a slight pull-back heading into the close, the yellow metal closed 1.9% higher at $1714.50 per ounce.

Silver spent morning floor trade near the unchanged line but picked up momentum heading into afternoon action. It brushed a session high of $32.28 per ounce and eventually settled with a 2.9% gain at $32.03 per ounce.

Natural gas spent morning pit trade chopping around just above the breakeven line. However, it gained momentum in late afternoon action and managed to book a 2.0% gain as it closed at $3.62 per MMBtu.DJ30 +126.98 NASDAQ +8.96 SP500 +10.19 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1517/1447.9 mln/888 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2084/459 mln/890

4:07PM STEC beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (STEC) : Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.24 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.28); revenues fell 41.9% year/year to $42.1 mln vs the $40.77 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of ($0.35)-($0.31) vs. ($0.22) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $36-40 mln vs. $45.32 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:06PM Alterra Capital announces regular dividend and $100 mln share repurchase plan increase (ALTE) 23.88 +0.24 :

4:02PM Plexus announces disengagement with Juniper Networks (JNPR) (PLXS) 27.96 +0.35 : Co announced its disengagement as a supplier to Juniper Networks (JNPR). Plexus was informed of the disengagement on Monday, November 5, 2012. The timing of the transition of Juniper business from Plexus is not yet known, although it is currently expected to occur by the end of our current fiscal year. Commenting on the disengagement, Dean Foate, President and CEO said, "This is very surprising news to us given our recent communications and activities with Juniper, including the recent award of Juniper programs and our collaboration with Juniper on activities to support their competitiveness. Plexus has been an important strategic supplier to Juniper for more than a decade. While this is a significant event for us in the near term, our new business wins of $956 million during fiscal 2012, including in the networking/communications sector, provides us continued optimism in our strategy." Plexus will host a conference call on Wednesday, November 7, 2012, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the disengagement further.

Shares are scheduled to resume trading at 16:30.

6:37AM MIPS Tech announced earlier it agreed to a sale of patent properties to AST and acquisition by Imagination Technologies for net proceeds of ~ $7.31 per share in cash (MIPS) 7.02 : Co announced it has entered into separate definitive agreements with Bridge Crossing, an acquisition vehicle of Allied Security Trust ("AST"), and Imagination Technologies Group with net proceeds of ~ $7.31 per share in cash to each holder of MIPS common stock. The total value of the transaction represents a 40% premium to the closing price on April 11, 2012, the day prior to the first public rumor of a potential sale of MIPS. Bridge Crossing will acquire 498 of MIPS' total 580 patent assets for gross proceeds of $350 mln. MIPS will retain the remaining 82 patent properties that are directly relevant and key to the MIPS architecture, and will also be granted a royalty-free, perpetual license under all of the patent properties sold to Bridge Crossing. MIPS will also provide a restricted license to Bridge Crossing under the 82 retained patent properties. Subject to consummation of the Bridge Crossing transaction, Imagination will acquire the operating business of MIPS, the 82 aforementioned patent properties, and license rights to all of the remaining patent properties of MIPS for $60 mln. The proceeds of the transactions, which are subject to a holdback of ~ $100 mln to cover tax and other liabilities, will be distributed to MIPS shareholders on a pro-rata basis through a recapitalization of MIPS common stock.

3:26AM LDK Solar and Sumitomo agree to terminate contract (LDK) 0.87 : LDK Solar announces that it has reached an agreement with Japan-based Sumitomo to terminate their long-term solar wafer supply agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, originally signed in Sep 2008, LDK was to supply multicrystalline silicon wafers to Sumitomo over an eight-year period, beginning in 2009 and extending through 2016. As part of the original agreement, Sumitomo made an advanced payment representing a portion of the contract value to LDK. In exchange for LDK's agreement to terminate the supply agreement, Sumitomo has agreed to pay LDK Solar a settlement amount totaling $33.4 mln. LDK is assessing the financial impact on its full year 2012 earnings of the Sumitomo termination and related contract termination charges.


Analog Devices (ADI) introduced a series of non-volatile single-, dual- and quad-channel digital potentiometers that improve component matching in industrial and communication control systems by featuring resistance tolerance of 1%.