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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Equities began today's session on a slightly higher note. However, the bullish bias was dispelled during the opening hour. After marking its session high at 1,401, the S&P 500 reversed and slid to its 200-day moving average near the 1,380 area. The index followed the move with a seven point bounce, before late-day selling drove the index back below the 200-day moving average. As a result, the benchmark average settled lower by 1.2%.

Crude oil gained 0.6%, but the energy sector was the biggest laggard of the day. The SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF (XLE 69.57, -1.28) lost 1.8%. Among oil and gas stocks, Carrizo (CRZO 21.71, -1.77) dropped 7.5%. Meanwhile, providers of energy equipment also saw broad weakness. Ensco (ESV 55.12, -2.61) slid 4.5% and Diamond Offshore (DO 65.37, -2.41) lost 3.6%.

Yesterday's sell-off in coal stocks saw the Market Vectors Coal ETF (KOL 24.29, -0.16) drop 5.5%. Today, the ETF shed 0.7%. Among individual coal producers, James River Coal (JRCC 3.36, +0.07) outperformed, and settled higher by 2.1%. On the downside, Alpha Natural Resources (ANR 8.15, -0.30) lost 3.6%.

Looking at technology stocks, Apple (AAPL 537.75, -20.25) continued its recent weakness. The biggest tech component ended lower by 3.6%.

In tech earnings, QUALCOMM (QCOM 60.67, +2.54) advanced 4.4% after beating on earnings and revenue. The company's bottom line of $0.89 beat the Capital IQ consensus estimate by $0.07. Meanwhile, the revenue of $4.87 billion was also ahead of expectations. It should be noted that the company guided first quarter and full-year 2013 earnings and revenue above consensus.

Universal Display (PANL 23.12, -5.05) fell 18.0% after reporting disappointing earnings. During the third quarter, the manufacturer of organic LEDs lost $0.12 on $12.5 million in revenue. The company's earnings were $0.17 below expectations, while its revenue also fell short of estimates. In addition, PANL issued downside full-year 2012 revenue guidance.

Utility stocks which have seen considerable weakness since Hurricane Sandy, saw relative strength. PPL (PPL 28.73, +0.43) was the top performer among electricity providers. The stock added 1.5% after the company reported earnings of $0.72, which was $0.05 better than the Capital IQ consensus estimate. However, the revenue of $2.4 billion was below expectations. In addition, the company issued in-line guidance.

Meanwhile, FirstEnergy (FE 42.91, +0.61) advanced 1.4% after beating on earnings. In addition, the company lowered its full-year 2012 earnings guidance in-line with expectations and also guided full-year 2013 earnings in-line with estimates.

Elsewhere, Southern Company (SO 43.26, +0.46) slid 1.1% after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to ‘outperform' from ‘sector perform.'

Looking at the retail industry, the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 61.24, -1.36) underperformed the broader market and ended lower by 2.2%. Among individual retailers, Kohl's (KSS 51.55, -2.77) lost 5.1% after reporting third quarter earnings of $0.91 on $4.49 billion in revenue. The company's bottom line was $0.04 ahead of Capital IQ estimates, while the revenue was reported in-line with the November 1 preannouncement. However, the company's outlook was a point of concern as the retailer issued downside fourth quarter earnings guidance.

Elsewhere, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO 19.69, -0.90) finished lower by 4.4% and Aeropostale (ARO 12.69, -0.88) dropped 6.5% after Detweiler made cautious comments about the apparel retailer.

Also of note, McDonald's (MCD 85.13, -1.73) stumbled 2.0% after reporting a 1.8% decline in global same-store sales. The figure was below the expected decrease of 1.0%. In addition, this was the first time the fast food giant saw a monthly decline since 2003.

In today's economic data, the latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 355,000, which was lower than the 370,000 that had been expected. The tally was below the unrevised prior week count of 363,000. As for continuing claims, they fell to 3.127 million from 3.262 million.

The trade deficit narrowed to $41.5 billion during September after a downwardly revised prior month deficit of $43.8 billion. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected that the deficit would come in at $45.4 billion.

Tomorrow, October export prices ex-agriculture and import prices ex-oil will be reported at 8:30 ET. In addition, the November Michigan Sentiment and September wholesale inventories will be announced at 9:55 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.DJ30 -121.41 NASDAQ -41.71 SP500 -17.02 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 642/1.82 bln/1812 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 825/758.6 mln/2238

3:35 pm : Crude oil spent most of its floor session in positive territory despite a stronger dollar index. The energy component slid off its session high of $85.70 per barrel and brushed a session low of $84.22 per barrel. After very choppy action, crude settled 0.7% higher at $85.09 per barrel.

Natural gas came off its session low of $3.53 per MMBtu and popped into the black on bullish inventory data that showed a build of 21 bcf when a build of 25 bcf was expected. It continued to climb higher for the remainder of floor trade and closed at its session high of $3.61 per MMBtu for a 0.8% gain. Precious metals climbed higher in today's pit trade despite a stronger dollar index. The advance came on better-than-expected U.S. weekly initial jobless claims data and Eurozone debt concerns.

Gold came off its session low of $1712.60 per ounce and brushed a session high of $1726.90 per ounce moments before it settled with a 0.7% gain at $1726.00 per ounce. Silver fared even better as it settled 1.8% higher at $32.24 per ounce, or just below its session high of $32.25 per ounce.DJ30 -69.07 NASDAQ -32.48 SP500 -11.02 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 755/1507.6 mln/1681 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 957/513 mln/2059

4:50PM KLA-Tencor announces regular cash dividend and announces an additional 8 million share repurchase authorization (KLAC) 45.66 -1.26 : Co announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.40 per share on its common stock payable on December 3, 2012 to KLA-Tencor stockholders of record as of the close of business on November 19, 2012. KLA-Tencor further announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of an additional 8 million shares of the company's outstanding common stock. This 8 million share repurchase authorization is in addition to previous authorizations.

4:27PM Microchip reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides DecQ EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (MCHP) 31.88 -0.23 : Reports Q2 (Sep) earnings of $0.48 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.48; non-GAAP revenues rose 19.7% year/year and 15.7% sequentially to $407.8 mln vs the $407.5 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.37-0.41, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.49 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 non-GAAP revs of $396-426 mln vs. $429.6 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:12PM Brooks Automation beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (BRKS) 7.23 -0.19 : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $0.08 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.02; revenues fell 8.9% year/year to $119.4 mln vs the $115.97 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.15)-($0.07) vs. $0.01 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $85-95 mln vs. $114.51 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:03PM Microsemi reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (MSCC) 18.58 -0.09 : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $0.58 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.58; revenues rose 15.8% year/year to $263.1 mln vs the $265.63 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.50-0.54, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.61 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs down 2-6%, which equates to ~$247.3-257.8 mln vs. $271.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:02PM Diodes misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 revs in-line (DIOD) 14.97 -0.49 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.20 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.21; revenues rose 3.7% year/year to $166.6 mln vs the $166.69 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $160-167 mln vs. $165.67 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"Gross margin improved moderately in the quarter but remained under pressure primarily due to the effects of the generally weak global economy. Although we are gaining market share for our more advanced packages as supported by the capital investments we made in the second and third quarters, we are still underloaded on our standard packages. The unstable demand environment also caused pricing to weaken in the quarter and product mix to be less favorable than we had anticipated."
Outlook: For Q4, Gross margin is expected to be 25 percent, plus or minus 2 percent. Operating expenses are expected to be 23.5 percent of revenue, plus or minus 1 percent. The anticipated increase in operating expenses over the third quarter is due to the inclusion of PAM and a full quarter of Eris.

9:31AM Verizon to redeem the entire outstanding principal amount of its $750 mln 4.35% Notes, due Feb 15, 2013 (VZ) 43.10 -0.09 : Co announced that it will redeem the entire outstanding principal amount of its $750 million 4.35% Notes, due Feb 15, 2013 and that a subsidiary, Verizon Virginia, will redeem the entire outstanding principal amount of its $1 billion 4.625% Debentures, Series A, due Mar 15, 2013. The redemption date for the Verizon Securities will be Dec 11, 2012 and the redemption date for the Virginia Securities will be Dec 10, 2012. The redemption price for each series of Securities will be equal to the sum of the present values of the remaining scheduled payments of principal and interest on that series of Securities discounted to the applicable redemption date for that series of Securities on a semi-annual basis at the Treasury Rate plus 25 basis points, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the applicable redemption date, and will be payable on the applicable redemption date.

Sanmina-SCI (SANM) and Uros have collaborated to bring a new mobile hotspot device to market called Goodspeed. Sanmina-SCI is providing engineering and manufacturing services at its Haukipudas, Finland facility.

Brolis Semiconductors and Veeco Instruments (VECO) announced that Brolis has received shipment of a Veeco GEN200 Edge Molecular Beam Epitaxy production system for installation at their new epitaxial wafer production facility in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Qualcomm (QCOM $62.81 +4.69) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.89 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.82, while revenues rose 18.3% year/year to $4.87 billion versus the $4.66 billion consensus. Q4 metrics: MSMM chip shipments: 141 million units, up 11 percent y-o-y and even QoQ. June quarter total reported device sales: ~$46.5 billion, up 19 percent y-o-y and down 3% QoQ. June quarter estimated 3G/4G device shipments: approximately 210 to 214 million units, at an estimated average selling price of ~$216 to $222 per unit. THe company issued upside guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $1.08-1.16, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $1.01 consensus and revenues of $5.6-6.1 billion versus the $5.31 billion consensus. Co issued upside guidance for fiscal year 2013 with EPS of $4.12-4.32, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $4.14 consensus and sees revenues of $23-24 billion versus the $21.73 billion consensus.

12:58 pm S&P Information Technology Index trading today, underperforming the S&P

The tech sector is trading lower today as it underperforms the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness as well with the SOX trading 0.5% lower. Within the chip index, WFR (-5.0%) is a notable laggard. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.4% lower today, while the QQQ and the NASDAQ are both down 0.6%. Among tech bellwethers, AAPL (-2.0%) is once again showing notable weakness. Tech earnings continued rolling in last night. ATVI (-0.5%), QCOM (+6.5%) beat on EPS, revs, and issued upside guidance. CTL (+5.8%) beat on EPS, revs, and guided Q4 EPS above consensus. TRLA (-16.8%) beat on EPS and revs. PANL (-18.1%) missed on EPS, revs, and guided lower.

This morning, MWW (+17.5%) reported earnings which may not be comparable to estimates due to restructuring. EBIX (-5.5%) beat on EPS and revs. WIN (-8.9%) posted a slight EPS miss, but beat on revs. In news, AMZN (-1.1%) announced the launch of Amazon wine. In notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, USM (+0.9%) was upgraded to Outperform at Raymond James. JNPR (+0.3%) was upgraded to Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald with a $21 target. ADTN (+0.1%) was upgraded to Buy at Mizuho with a $22 target. Among downgrades, PANL (-18.2%) was downgraded to Neutral at Wedbush. IQNT (-13.0%) was downgraded to Underperform at Oppenheimer. ADSK (-2.4%) was downgraded to Hold at Jefferies. DLB (+0.9%), GRPN (+2.4%), FLTX (+0.7%), NVDA (+0.8%) are the notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.

08:48 am Universal Display shares plunge by 26% following worse than expected earnings
Universal Display (PANL $20.83 -7.35) reported third quarter loss of $0.12 per share, $0.17 worse than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.05, while revenues fell 42.7% year/year to $12.5 million versus the $19.2 mln consensus. Results for the third quarter of 2012 do not include the recognition of any revenue under a licensing agreement with Samsung Display Co. Ltd. (SDC), under which SDC is obligated to make payments to the Company of $15 million in each of the second and fourth quarters of this year. Had the Company recognized these payments on a pro rata quarterly basis over the year, it would have resulted in an additional $7.5 million of royalty and license fees revenue in the third quarter. The SDC licensing revenue is subject to a royalty fee of 3% payable to the Company's university partners, and 16.5% in South Korean taxes. "Material sales in the quarter were consistent with the first quarter of the year, reflecting what we believe to be a temporary slowdown in industry growth. We believe that a more indicative measure of our continued strong growth and the outlook for OLED technology is the 29 percent growth in year-over-year revenues over the first three quarters of the year despite having only received half of the year's Samsung licensing revenue." The company issued downside guidance for FY12, lowered fiscal year 2012 revenues of $80-82 million from $90-110 million versus the $99.84 million consensus -- with the caveat that the OLED industry is in the early stage of development and commercial adoption, where the delay or acceleration in the introduction of a commercial line or products by a small number of customers could have a material impact on the company's rev opportunities.