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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : Major stock market averages started the day on a mixed and uneventful note and that's pretty much how they traded the rest of the day. There were plenty of storylines, which we will introduce shortly, but there just wasn't any conviction on the part of buyers or sellers outside of some individual stock stories.

The broader market's languor has been a familiar site this week. Including today's action, the S&P 500 is basically unchanged since last Friday. That's actually not a bad sign considering the S&P 500 had surged 3.2% in the first two weeks of trading. The sideways action, therefore, is being deemed a consolidation phase by technical analysts and perhaps just a boring phase by the rest of us.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 traded in a six-point range that was skewed mostly to the downside, the bulk of which was seen shortly after the market opened. Some early storylines that triggered the initial downside move included the following:

Weakness in Boeing (BA 74.34, -2.60) after two Japanese carriers suspended their Dreamliner flights due to safety concerns
News that the World Bank cut its 2013 global GDP growth forecast to 2.4% from 3.0%; and
The muted response to a blowout earnings report from Goldman Sachs (GS 141.09, +5.50), which topped the Capital IQ consensus estimate by $1.96, and a better-than-expected earnings report from JPMorgan Chase (JPM 46.82, +0.47), which topped the Capital IQ consensus estimate by twenty cents.

The market soon found its footing, however, when Apple (AAPL 506.09, +20.17) got going in the wake of a bullish call from technical analyst Tom Demark who accurately called the slide in Apple back in September when Apple was trading at $700. Demark's call on CNBC last night was that Apple has bottomed and should run to the $600 area in the next couple of weeks.

Apple's strength was a staying factor for the broader market and triggered the outperformance of the Nasdaq versus the other major averages. Still, in a broader context, everything unfolded in moderation today as the Nasdaq gained just 0.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped just 0.2%.

In a certain respect, market participants were in deliberation mode, showing little reaction to reports of a terrorist attack on a natural gas facility in Algeria that resulted in 41 hostages being taken, including several Americans.

Oil prices increased 1.0% to $94.19 per barrel, garnering added support from an EIA inventory report that showed a draw of 950,000 barrels from last week. Commodities overall traded somewhat mixed, although there was broad-based weakness in the industrial metals that coincided with the World Bank's tempered growth outlook.

Notably, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 13.40, -0.15) continued its slide, reflecting an ongoing sense that the market isn't going to experience any dramatic moves up or down in the next 30 days. Many observers, though, see the low level of the VIX as a sign of complacency that could be a harbinger of more concerted selling interest for the cash market.

For today, there wasn't much concerted selling interest outside of individual stocks like Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 280.94, -16.38), which issued a fourth quarter earnings warning, or much concerted buying interest for that matter.

Volume at the NYSE totalled 600 mln shares with the last hour producing a good chunk of today's trading volume.

The technology sector (+0.7%) led today's gainers and was followed by the energy (+0.3%) and financial (+0.1%) sectors. On the flip side, the telecom services sector (-1.2%) brought up the rear along with the low-weighted materials (-0.6%) and utilities (-0.5%) sectors.

Treasuries held a bid throughout the day, but ended off their highs. The 10-year note finished up six ticks and its yield dipped to 1.82%.

Today's economic data featured the CPI, Industrial Production, and NAHB Housing Market Index reports. None produced any major surprises, so they were largely overlooked as trading catalysts. The same can be said for the Fed's Beige Book report, which noted all 12 districts are experiencing modest to moderate growth and that fiscal cliff uncertainties were delaying hiring decisions in a number of areas.

Tomorrow's economic lineup includes the Initial Claims, Housing Starts, and Philadelphia Fed Index reports. On the earnings front, financial names will again be in focus with Bank of America (BAC 11.78, +0.23) and Citigroup (C 42.48, -0.09) headlining the reporting activity.DJ30 -23.66 NASDAQ +6.77 SP500 +0.29 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 985/1.64 bln/1473 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1357/600 mln/1619

3:35 pm :

Feb crude oil rose as high as $94.35 per barrel during today's floor trade on strong inventory data that showed a draw of 951K barrels when a build of 2.25 mln barrels was anticipated. Prices held steady near that level for the remainder of the session, leaving crude to settle with a 1.0% gain at $94.24 per barrel.
Feb natural gas fell for the first time in five sessions ahead of tomorrow's inventory data. Prices dropped to a session low of $3.36 per MMBtu but managed to inch higher in afternoon action. Natural gas eventually settled 0.6% lower at $3.44 per MMBtu.
Feb gold fell for the first time this week, dropping as low as $1674.50 per ounce in early morning floor action. However, the yellow metal managed to erase most of the loss as it trended higher for the remainder of its session and settled nearly flat at $1683.00 per ounce.
Mar silver also trended higher after lifting off its session low of $31.16 per ounce set at pit trade open. Unlike gold, silver broke into positive territory moments before the close and closed at $31.53 per ounce, booking a slight gain of 0.1%.

1:01PM Intel and Facebook (FB) collaborate on future data center rack technologies (INTC) 22.02 +0.14 : Co announced a collaboration with Facebook (FB) to define the next generation of rack technologies used to power the world's largest data centers. As part of the collaboration, the companies also unveiled a mechanical prototype built by Quanta Computer that includes Intel's new, innovative photonic rack architecture to show the total cost, design and reliability improvement potential of a disaggregated rack environment.

7:31AM Research In Motion receives approval from Visa (V) for mobile payment solution (RIMM) 14.47 : Co announced that its Secure Element Manager solution for NFC mobile payments has been approved by Visa (V). RIM's SEM is the backend solution for carriers that can securely manage credentials on SIM cards installed in all types of NFC-capable mobile devices.

TTM Tech (TTMI) announced it expects to report both revenue and earnings per share at or somewhat above the high end of its previous guidance for the fourth quarter of 2012. The company provided fourth quarter guidance of revenue from $360 million to $380 million (vs $366.14 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate), GAAP earnings attributable to stockholders of $0.07 to $0.14 per diluted share and non-GAAP earnings attributable to stockholders of $0.14 to $0.21 per diluted share (vs $0.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate). TTM Technologies will announce its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2012 results after the market closes on February 5, 2013.

Linear Tech (LLTC) reported second quarter earnings of $0.38 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.40, while revenues rose 3.7% year/year to $305.3 million versus the $310.33 million consensus. During the second quarter the Company's cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities decreased by $20.6 million to $1.299 billion from the first quarter of fiscal year 2013.

ADTRAN (ADTN) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.11 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.09, while, revenues fell 20.3% year/year to $139.76 mln vs the $139.59 mln consensus. Co states: "Our fourth quarter results came in largely as expected with both our carrier and enterprise divisions performing to forecast." WNS (WNS) reported third quarter earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.27, while revenues (non-GAAP) rose 16.8% year/year to $113.5 million versus the $109.26 mln consensus. The company narrowed guidance for fiscal year 2013 with revenues of $437-439 million from prior guidance of $420-440 million versus the $432.53 million consensus. Adjusted gross margin* for the quarter was 34.7%, as compared to 36.3% in Q3 of last year, and 35.5% reported last quarter. "We are pleased with the top line progress made during the quarter, as revenue was positively impacted by the start of several new projects and broad-based growth across verticals, services and geographies. While some of this new project revenue came with higher costs in the short term, we are confident that as the processes and relationships mature, our margins will expand. At a macro level, overall demand for BPO services remains stable and healthy as we enter calendar 2013.."The updated fiscal 2013 guidance is based on current visibility levels and exchange rates. Guidance for the year reflects top line growth of approximately 11%, with over 99% visibility to the midpoint of the range. We will continue to focus on growing revenue and improving operating margin in the fourth quarter and beyond."

Cantor Fitzgerald notes, CREE (CREE) will report its 2Q:FY13 results after the close on January 22. The firm is expecting Cree to report a strong December quarter with results above consensus and in-line with our estimates. They look for continued strength in Lighting Products. They are expecting 3Q:FY13 to be seasonally down, and guidance could be below consensus, primarily due to Street estimates that have not adequately reflected normal seasonality. Beyond the first calendar quarter, they expect continued strengthening in the company's business as streetlights and indoor LED lighting continue to gain momentum.

09:02 am Dell downgraded to Hold at Argus on takeout speculation: . Argus downgrades DELL to Hold from Buy following a spike in the stock price on reports that Dell may be acquired by private equity firms. Dell has not officially commented on the speculation, which drove the shares up 13% on 1/14/13. In its view, DELL will now trade less on the company's operating prospects than on acquisition speculation.

10:51 am Tech Sector is trading higher by +0.6% today
The tech sector is trading higher today, ahead of slight losses in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative strength as well with the SOX trading 0.7% higher. Within the chip index, CRUS (+4.6%) is a notable standout. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.1% lower today, while the QQQ is up 0.5% and the NASDAQ is trading 0.2% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, AAPL (+3.6%) is showing notable strength, while GOOG (-0.9%) is under pressure.

In tech earnings last night, LLTC (+0.6%) posted a miss and guided lower, while TTMI (+1.2%) guided at the high end of its previous range. This morning, WNS (+2.3%) reported slighter better-than-expected qtrly results and guidance. In news, CRM (-2.6%) is trading lower attributed to filings from the company in response to SEC comments/questions regarding last year's 10-K filing that was filed on 3/9/2012. Among notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, SNCR (+3.9%) was upgraded to Outperform at Credit Suisse. Also, DCM (+1.5%) was added to the Conviction Buy list at Goldman. Among downgrades, VOD (-2.2%) was downgraded to Hold at Deutsche Bank, ARMH (-0.1%) was downgraded to Neutral at UBS, AAPL (+3.4%) was downgraded to Sector Perform at Pacific Crest, YELP (-3.0%) was downgraded to Under Perform at Northland and ARW (-2.8%) was downgraded to Mkt Perform at Raymond James. EBAY (-0.3%) is the only notable name in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.