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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : The major averages finished higher despite showing indecision in the early part of the session. The fiscal cliff remained the focal point, and investors showed optimism in Washington's ability to get a deal done. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle continued to exchange jabs, and Speaker Boehner said the President and the Democrats have not done enough to avoid falling off the cliff. Mr. Boehner touted the proposal he put forth, which is expected to face a House of Representatives vote tonight around 19:30 ET. The S&P 500 gained 0.6% ahead of this evening's vote.

The financial sector was the top performing space in the S&P 500 and the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF 16.70, +0.23) settled higher by 1.4%. Of the majors, Bank of America (BAC 11.52, +0.33) gained 3.0%, and was the top advancer.

NYSE Euronext (NYX 32.25, +8.20) surged 34.1% after agreeing to be acquired by IntercontinentalExchange (ICE 130.10, +1.79) for $33 per share. The transaction price represents a 37.2% premium to NYSE Euronext's Wednesday close.

On the downside, Discover Financial (DFS 38.41, -1.36) slid 3.4% following mixed earnings. During the fourth quarter, the company earned $1.07, which was $0.04 below the Capital IQ consensus estimate. However, Discover's revenue of $2.00 billion exceeded expectations.

Technology stocks lagged the broader market and Apple (AAPL 521.73, -4.57) lost 0.9%.

Among notable tech earnings, technology consultant Accenture (ACN 69.02, -1.38) slid 2.0% after reporting its quarterly results. While the company beat on earnings, its revenue reflected a slowdown in corporate spending.

On the upside, Jabil Circuit (JBL 19.95, +1.38) surged 7.4% after beating on earnings and revenue. In addition, Jabil issued downside second quarter earnings guidance while revenue is expected to be in-line with analyst estimate.

The health care space was the weakest performer, and a handful of names moved on news. Allscripts Healthcare (MDRX 9.14, -1.54) sank 14.4% after the company concluded the review of its strategic alternatives, and decided against a sale. In addition, Allscripts named Paul Black as its Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Black will replace Glen Tullman, who will resign. Also of note, Lee Shapiro will step down from his current function of president.

Elsewhere, Merck (MRK 42.15, -1.50) shed 3.4% after its trial for TREDAPTIVE yielded disappointing results.

On the upside, The Medicines Company (MDCO 23.71, +1.42) surged 6.4% following the announcement of positive trial results for oritavancin in the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections.

The November existing home sales report saw its annualized rate increase to 5.04 million units. An improvement in the sales of existing homes suggests new homes may face an increase in demand as well. Homebuilders responded generally well to the news. MDC Holdings (MDC 36.87, +1.24) advanced 3.5% and DR Horton (DHI 20.10, +0.15) rose by 0.8%.

Elsewhere, KB Homes (KBH 15.60, -1.06) slid 6.4% despite beating on earnings and revenue. During the fourth quarter, the homebuilder earned $0.10, which was $0.04 better than the Capital IQ consensus estimate. Meanwhile, its revenue of $578.2 million also exceeded expectations.

The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 361,000, which was worse than the 345,000 that had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. The tally was above the revised prior week count of 344,000. As for continuing claims, they rose to 3.225 million from 3.213 million.

The third estimate of third quarter GDP showed growth of 3.1%, which was better than the 2.7% that had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. However, the third quarter GDP Deflator was left unrevised at 2.7%.

The November Housing Price Index from the FHFA increased by 0.5%, which follows a 0.2% increase observed during the prior month.

The Philadelphia Fed Survey ticked up to +8.1 for December. This comes after November's reading of -10.7. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected that the Survey would improve to a reading of -1.3.

Also of note, leading indicators for October decreased by 0.2%, which followed the prior month's increase of 0.2%.

European markets ended today's session on a mixed note. The United Kingdom's FTSE shed 0.1% while France's CAC and Germany's DAX both added 0.1%.

In the United Kingdom, Carnival (CCL 36.99, -2.07) was the weakest performer. The cruise-line operator lost 6.1% after reporting disappointing earnings. On the upside, media company ITV gained 3.1%.

In France, financials AXA and Credit Agricole led the index with respective gains of 1.1% and 1.3%. Software company Cap Gemini was the weakest index component, and lost 2.7% following disappointing earnings from Accenture.

German stocks eked out slim gains and drug makers led the way. Bayer and Merck both added near 1.0%. Meanwhile, ThyssenKrupp was the weakest performer. The steelmaker lost 2.1% after railroad Deutsche Bahn filed a lawsuit which named ThyssenKrupp as one of the defendants.

Tomorrow, November personal income, personal spending, core PCE prices, durable orders, and durable orders ex-transportation will all be reported at 8:30 ET. Lastly, the final December Michigan Sentiment Survey will be released at 9:55 ET. Note that quadruple witching will take place tomorrow.DJ30 +59.75 NASDAQ +6.02 SP500 +7.88 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1502/1.65 bln/961 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2066/682.6 mln/962

3:35 pm : Following the morning sell-off in precious metals, both gold and silver managed to come back a little and erase some losses. Both still ended the day much lower, but neither closed very close to session lows. By the end of today's session, Feb gold has finished 1.3% lower at $1646.50/oz, while silver ended down 4.3% at $29.80/oz.

Feb crude oil spent the afternoon session in positive territory and rose as high as $90.52/barrel. At the end of the day, crude oil finished today's session up 18 cents at $90.18/barrel.

Natural gas futures posted solid gains today. The energy component was in positive territory all session and rose as high as $3.46/MMBtu. When floor trading closed, nat gas finished up 4.2% at $3.46. Mar copper futures ended the day 2% higher at $3.54/lb.DJ30 +22.84 NASDAQ +2.24 SP500 +4.52 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1384/1395.1 mln/1073 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1871/463 mln/1137

4:41PM Research In Motion resumes trading; stock now at $14.94 after hours (RIMM) 14.13 +0.50 :

4:18PM Research In Motion beats by $0.13, beats on revs; announces BB10 launch Jan 30, 2013; CIO to retire; sees operating loss in Q4 (RIMM) 14.12 +0.49 : Reports Q3 (Nov) loss of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.13 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.35); revenues fell 47.2% year/year to $2.73 bln vs the $2.67 bln consensus. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was ~60% for hardware, 36% for service and 4% for software and other revenue. During the quarter, RIM shipped ~6.9 million BlackBerry smartphones and ~255,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

Outlook:
The co expects that there will be continued pressure on operating results as it gets set to launch its BlackBerry 10 platform in the fourth quarter. The co intends to continue to consider using pricing initiatives on BlackBerry 7 devices and service fees in some markets as a way to maintain our subscriber base and drive more BlackBerry users. The timing of the BlackBerry 10 launch event for January 30, 2013 could also impact sales of current BlackBerry 7 products as some customers may defer purchasing decisions and wait for BlackBerry 10 devices. All these factors are expected to impact unit volumes, subscribers, margins and service fees. In addition, the co will be significantly increasing its marketing spending this quarter as expected, to support the global launch of BlackBerry 10, and the co expects to report an operating loss for the fourth quarter.

RIM also announced today that Robin Bienfait, Chief Information Officer for RIM has made the decision to retire at the end of this year following 6 years of service to the Company. Robin has committed to continue supporting RIM in an advisory capacity to enable a smooth launch and seamless transition.

"During the third quarter, we continued to demonstrate our strong financial position, generating $950 million in cash flow from operations, and increasing our cash position significantly to more than $2.9 billion."

4:41PM SanDisk expands stock repurchase program by $750 mln (SNDK) 44.23 +0.37 : Co announced that its Board of Directors has authorized an additional $750 million for common stock repurchases. This increases the total amount authorized for stock repurchases under the current program to $1.25 billion. The current repurchase program was established on Oct. 27, 2011 and will expire on Oct. 26, 2016. To date under this program, the company has used approximately $234 million for stock repurchases and approximately $1.016 billion remains available.

4:08PM CalAmp beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q4 in-line (CAMP) : Reports Q3 (Nov) earnings of $0.17 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.16; revenues rose 35.1% year/year to $44.3 mln vs the $43.27 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.14-0.18 vs. $0.18 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $44-48 mln vs. $45.54 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "We expect continued strong customer demand within our key verticals to drive significant year-over-year expansion of revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013... We anticipate Wireless Datacom revenue in the fourth quarter will be significantly higher year-over-year and relatively flat on a sequential quarter basis. Satellite revenue in the fourth quarter is expected to be up on a sequential quarter basis but down on a year-over-year basis. We expect that our fourth quarter operating results will be slightly impacted by acquisition-related expenses arising from the Wireless Matrix transaction."

4:05PM Micron misses by $0.07, misses on revs (MU) 6.79 -0.03 : Reports Q1 (Nov) loss of $0.27 per share, $0.07 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.20); revenues fell 12.2% year/year to $1.83 bln vs the $2.01 bln consensus.

Revenues from sales of NAND Flash products were 4 percent lower in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, due to a 9 percent decrease in sales volume, partially offset by a 5 percent increase in average selling prices. Trade NAND Flash sales volume in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 decreased compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 primarily as a result of lower production of NAND Flash products.

Revenues from sales of DRAM products in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 were 9 percent lower compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 primarily due to an 11 percent decrease in average selling prices. Sales of NOR Flash products were relatively unchanged for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012.

The company's consolidated gross margin of 12 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 was up slightly from 11 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012. Improvements in margin from sales of NAND Flash and NOR Flash products were offset by slight declines in margins from sales of DRAM products. Cash flows from operations for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 were $236 million. During the first quarter of fiscal 2013, the company invested $538 million in capital expenditures and ended the quarter with cash and investments of $2.8 billion.

4:02PM Adobe Systems acquires privately held Behance, an online social media platform that enables creatives to showcase and share their work; terms not disclosed (ADBE) 37.87 -0.22 :

4:01PM CalAmp to acquire Wireless Matrix Corp. (CAMP) 8.58 +0.11 : Co to acquire the operations of Wireless Matrix, a wireless data communications company. CalAmp expects to leverage Wireless Matrix's mobile workforce management and asset tracking applications for customers in its core verticals, while also expanding its turnkey offerings to address new markets. The transaction is expected to be accretive to CalAmp's non-GAAP EPS in FY14 and beyond, and to significantly improve CalAmp's competitive positioning and growth prospects.

Wireless Matrix is a provider of fleet tracking applications and satellite communications services to the utility, oil and gas, rail and municipal verticals. Its SaaS-based high margin recurring revenues account for approximately 85% of their total sales, with total revenues of approximately $30 mln a year. CAMP will make a cash payment of $53 mln.

8:32AM O2Micro receives patent for power source detection topology (OIIM) 3.04 : Co announced that it was issued 17 claims under United States patent number 8,242,742 for its Power Source Detection chargers, systems and methods. This invention, as part of a charger IC, compares a detection voltage to a predetermined reference voltage to identify whether the power source is a USB host or an AC adapter.

3:03AM Atmel establishes strong position in ultra-low power Wi-Fi market with agreement to acquire Ozmo (ATML) 6.17 : Co announces it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ozmo, a provider of ultra-low power Wi-Fi solutions that will expand Atmel's wireless offerings and further enhance developers ability to design smart, connected devices. Financial terms were not disclosed. According to market research data, the overall wireless peripheral market is expected to reach 1 billion units by 2015 with Wi-Fi Direct as the fastest growing segment at over 100% CAGR through 2015. Atmel expects the transaction to close by year end and to be accretive to Atmel's earnings in 2014.

3:00AM PLX Tech and IDT (IDTI) announce termination of proposed transaction; IDT withdraws exchange offer for PLX Technology Shares (PLXT) 3.70 : Integrated Device Technology (IDTI) and PLX Technology (PLXT), a developer of I/O interconnect silicon and complimentary software, today announced that they have mutually agreed to terminate their merger agreement pursuant to which IDT would acquire PLX Technology. Concurrently, IDT also announced that it is withdrawing its related exchange offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock, of PLX Technology and instructed Computershare, the exchange agent for the exchange offer, to promptly return all previously tendered shares. As of the close of business on December 19, 2012, 21,876,215 shares were previously tendered in the exchange offer. The decision to terminate the merger agreement and withdraw the exchange offer was made in response to a determination by the United States FTC to file an administrative complaint challenging IDT's proposed acquisition of PLX Technology and the absence of a clear path for the parties to complete the proposed transaction.

Jabil Circuit (JBL) reported first quarter core earnings of $0.61 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.56;, while revenues rose 7.2% year/year to $4.64 billion versus the $4.41 billion consensus. For the second quarter the company sees core EPS of $0.50-0.58 versus the $0.59 consensus and revenues of $4.30-4.50 billion versus the $4.38 billion consensus. "Expectations for [FebQ] are consistent with seasonal patterns of demand...End market demand remains muted in business sectors exposed to government and business spending. Although environmental conditions continue to be uncertain, we maintain our expectation that fiscal 2013 will be another record year for Jabil."

10:56 am S&P Information Tech sector is trading near the flat line today
The tech sector is trading lower today, behind slight gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness as well with the SOX trading 0.5% higher. Within the chip index, AMD (-2.8%) is a notable laggard. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.1% higher today, while the QQQ is down 0.3% and the NASDAQ is trading 0.1% lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, GOOG (+0.4%) is showing notable strength, while INTC (-0.6%) is under pressure.

In tech earnings last night, JBL (+7.0%) reported a Q1 beat and guided just below consensus. Elsewhere, ACN (-3.6%) posted a slight beat and raise, while PAYX (-1.5%) reported a slight miss and reaffirmed guidance. In news, ORCL (+0.2%) will acquire ELOQ (+31.1%), a provider of cloud-based marketing automation and revenue performance mgmt software, for $23.50/share. ET (+6.7%) is up on sympathy. Also, ARRS (+4.9%) will acquire GOOG's (+0.4%) Motorola Home Business for $2.35 bln in cash and stock. It's expected to be significantly accretive to ARRIS' Non-GAAP earnings starting in the first full year after closing. In notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, FLIR (+1.8%) was upgraded to Buy at Sterne Agee. Among downgrades, Hudson Securities downgraded RIMM (+1.0%) to Hold and ARRS (+5.0%) was downgraded to Hold at Jefferies. MU (-1.2%), RHT (+0.4%), TIBX (-1.1%), and RIMM (+1.0%) are the notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.