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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : The major averages opened today's session on a strong note after weekly initial claims and housing starts were reported ahead of expectations. Meanwhile, a disappointing Philadelphia Fed Survey was not enough to cool optimism. Key indices spent the duration of the day in a steady upward climb, and the S&P 500 made its biggest advance in more than a week to end higher by 0.6%.

The market saw notable support from homebuilders after December housing starts data indicated the demand for fresh construction projects remains strong. Among individual builders, PulteGroup (PHM 20.37, +1.03) and Lennar (LEN 41.94, +1.42) saw respective gains of 5.3% and 3.5%. Meanwhile, the SPDR Homebuilders ETF (XHB 28.15, +0.51) settled higher by 1.9%.

While builder shares registered broad gains, Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV 5.95, -0.05) shed 0.8%, and was a notable laggard. In addition, the stock has seen heavy option activity with February $6.00 puts garnering interest.

The strength in homebuilders helped discretionary stocks outperform the remaining S&P 500 sectors. On the downside, financials lagged after Bank of America (BAC 11.28, -0.50) and Citigroup (C 41.24, -1.24) reported earnings which did not please the market. The two lost 4.2% and 2.9% as a result. Though most sector components have already delivered their quarterly results, a handful of names have yet to report. Following today's close, American Express (AXP 60.74, +0.12) will announce its fourth quarter earnings. In addition, the market will receive Morgan Stanley's (MS 20.75, +0.21) report ahead of tomorrow's open.

A familiar storyline was revisited today when morning reports indicated that European authorities along with the Federal Aviation Administration have ordered all Boeing (BA 75.26, +0.26) 787 flights to be halted. Boeing shares sold off on the news, but turned higher after Bloomberg reported that faulty batteries may have been the cause of electrical issues aboard the Dreamliner.

While the market displayed strength all around, Apple (AAPL 502.68, -3.41) did not participate in the rally. The largest tech stock shed 0.7% after yesterday's comments from technical analyst Tom Demark sent the stock higher by 3.0%.

In acquisition news, K-Swiss (KSWS 4.71, +1.52) soared 47.7% after the footwear manufacturer agreed to be acquired by E.Land World for $4.75 per share. The transaction price represents a 49.0% premium to K-Swiss' Wednesday closing price.

Crude oil rose by 1.1% and settled above $95.00 after a hostage situation in Algeria fueled supply concerns.

Another item of note lied in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 13.67, +0.25), which added 1.9%. The volatility measure spent the majority of the session in the red before crossing into positive territory during the last hour of trade as the S&P 500 slipped off its highs.

Today's NYSE floor volume was just north of 700 million shares, which lied in-line with its 100-day average.

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the January Michigan Sentiment, which is scheduled for a 9:55 ET release. Among notable earnings, General Electric (GE 21.30, +0.18) and Schlumberger (SLB 73.37, +0.15) will report their quarterly results prior to the opening bell.DJ30 +84.79 NASDAQ +18.46 SP500 +8.31 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1640/1.71 bln/790 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2285/710.0 mln/719

3:30 pm : Feb crude oil advanced steadily on better-than-anticipated initial claims and Dec housing starts data released this morning and on news of a hostage situation at a BP (BP)/Statoil (STO) gas facility in Algeria. Prices rose as high as $96.04 per barrel in afternoon action and settled with a solid 1.3% gain at $95.50 per barrel.

Feb natural gas opened pit trade in negative territory at its session low of $3.40 per MMBtu. However, prices rallied into positive territory following strong inventory data that showed a draw of 148 bcf when a draw of 136 to 137 bcf was anticipated. Natural gas advanced to a session high of $3.53 per MMBtu and settled with a 1.5% gain at $3.49 per MMBtu.

Feb gold slid to a floor session low of $1666.40 per ounce following the bullish economic data. However, the yellow metal gained steam and rallied into positive territory about half hour into the equity market open. It popped again to a session high of $1697.80 per ounce in afternoon action, but a pull-back heading into the close left gold to settle with a 0.4% gain at $1690.50 per ounce.

Mar silver also fell to a pit session low of $31.05 per ounce moments after floor trade opened, and as gold, popped into the black in morning action. It brushed a session high of $31.93 per ounce and eventually settled at $31.82 per ounce, or 0.9% higher. DJ30 +100.01 NASDAQ +18.76 SP500 +9.97 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1610/1.33 bln/809 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2283/436.2 mln/709

4:32PM Micron amends Inotera Memories joint venture with Nanya Technology Corporation (MU) 7.81 +0.14 : Co announced that it has entered into agreements with Nanya Technology Corporation to amend their joint venture relationship involving Inotera Memories, Inc., a leading Taiwanese DRAM memory manufacturer, and to amend their joint development arrangement. The new agreements are effective immediately. The amendments include a new supply agreement between Micron and Inotera pursuant to which Micron is transitioning to purchase all of Inotera's manufacturing output, with Micron purchasing substantially all of such output beginning in early 2013. Additionally, Nanya will no longer participate in the DRAM technology joint development program with Micron, which was initiated when Micron and Nanya entered into the Inotera joint venture in 2008. Micron will also provide Nanya with a royalty-bearing technology license.

4:25PM Xilinx beats by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q4 revs below consensus (XLNX) 36.44 +0.24 : Reports Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.38 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.37; revenues fell 0.3% year/year to $509.8 mln vs the $527.33 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs +2-6% QoQ to ~$520-540 mln vs. $545.21 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; with gross margin of ~66%, in-line with ests.

"New Product sales increased 17% sequentially in the December quarter, driven by robust adoption of Kintex-7 and Virtex-6 FPGAs. Strength from New Products is an encouraging sign in the face of macroeconomic conditions that remained challenging during the quarter. Exiting calendar 2012, I believe we have the strongest product portfolio in our history, a generation ahead of the competition. Our 28-nm products have gained significant momentum across a broad base of applications with clear leadership in performance, power and integration. Sales from these product families increased nearly 20% sequentially in the December quarter, exceeding expectations."

4:10PM Intel beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs in-line with upside gross margin; sees FY13 rev growth in the low single digits, ~in-line with upside gross margin (INTC) 22.68 +0.57 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.48 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.45; revenues fell 3.0% year/year to $13.48 bln vs the $13.53 bln consensus. Q4 GAAP gross margin 58% vs guidance of 57% (+/- couple of percentage points)

PC Client Group revenue of $8.5 billion, down 1.5% sequentially and down 6% YoY. Data Center Group revenue of $2.8 billion, up 7% QoQ and up 4% YoY. Other Intel architecture group revenue of $1.0 billion, down 14% sequentially and down 7% year-over-year.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $12.2-13.2 bln vs. $12.93 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 gross margins in the range of 58% +/- vs Street expectations of 56.6%.

Co sees FY13 rev up in the low single digits vs. the +1.9% consensus, with gross margin of 60% plus or minus a few % pts vs. expectations of ~59%.

4:01PM Rainmaker Sys appoints Mallorie Burak Chief Financial Officer (RMKR) 0.93 -0.00 : Co announced that Mallorie Burak, 42, has been appointed as the Company's Chief Financial Officer, effective January 24, 2013. Ms. Burak most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Foodlink Holdings, Inc. from August 2012 to January 2013. Prior to Foodlink, Ms. Burak held the roles of Vice President of Finance and Corporate Secretary, as well as Acting CFO, of Southwall Technologies Inc. from September 2007 to July 2012. Ms. Burak holds an MBA and B.S. in Business Administration from San Jose State University.

9:04AM Agilent authorizes repurchase of up to $500 million of the company's common stock during fiscal 2013; increases quarterly dividend 20% to $0.12 per share from $0.10 per share (A) 43.05 : The new repurchase authorization replaces Agilent's existing stock repurchase program, which authorized the repurchase of shares to reduce or eliminate share dilution from equity programs.

Trina Solar (TSL) has supplied PV modules totaling 61MW for the Green Tower project in the German federal state of Brandenburg.

4:35AM Taiwan Semi reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 revs above consensus (TSM) 17.80 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.61 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of NT$1.61; revenues rose 25.4% year/year to NT$131.31 bln vs the NT$131.39 bln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of NT$127-129 bln vs. NT$123.73 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Q4 Highlights:

Gross margin for the quarter was 47.2%, operating margin was 35.2%, and net margin was 31.7%.
Shipments of 28-nanometer process technology reached 22% of total wafer revenues. 40-nanometer accounted for 22% of total wafer revenues, and 65-nanometer was 19%.
These advanced technologies accounted for 63% of total wafer revenues.

Q1 guidance assumptions

Gross profit margin is expected to be between 43.5% and 45.5%
Operating profit margin is expected to be between 31.5% and 33.5%
TSMC further expects the capital expenditures for 2013 to be about $9 bln.

Plexus (PLXS) reported first quarter earnings of $0.47 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ consensus Estimate of $0.48. Co lowered EPS guidance to $0.45-0.47 from $0.50-0.55 on Jan 7, while revenues rose 0.2% year/year to $530.5 million versus the $542.33 mln consensus -- co lowered revenue guidance to $531 million from $550-580 mln. The company issued in-line guidance for the second quarter, sees EPS of $0.50-0.55, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.51 consensus and revenues of $550-580 million versus the $559.49 million consensus. "Relative to our original expectations, manufacturing demand softened across all of our sectors during the quarter, particularly for our Networking/Communications sector in the final few weeks."

eBay (EBAY) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.70 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ consensus Estimate of $0.69, while revenues rose 18% year/year to $3.99 billion versus the $3.98 billion consensus. The company issued downside guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.60-0.62, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.63 consensus, sees Q1 revs of $3.65-3.75 billion versus the $3.8 billion consensus. The company issued in-line guidance for fiscal year 2013 with EPS of $2.70-2.75, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $2.75 consensus and sees revenues of $16.0-16.5 billion versus the $16.31 billion consensus. The company's PayPal business continued to expand its leadership position in global payments. PayPal's active account growth accelerated to 15% and ended the year with ~123 mln registered accounts. PayPal added nearly 2 million accounts a month in the fourth quarter, representing the company's fastest active account growth rate in years. PayPal Q4 net total payment volume +24% vs +20% in Q3. The company's Marketplaces business delivered a record $2 billion revenue in the fourth quarter, propelled by strong performance in the U.S. Revenue for the full year was driven by continued investments in the customer experience and efforts to bring the world's inventory to global buyers. Active user growth accelerated two points to 12%, driven by mobile, site enhancements designed to streamline the shopping experience on eBay and emerging markets. Fixed price GMV, excluding vehicles, increased 21% and contributed to a 16% increase in GMV, excluding vehicles. U.S. GMV growth, excluding vehicles, accelerated three points to 19%. Mobile commerce volume in 2012 grew more than 120% to $13 billion driven primarily by increased adoption of eBay's mobile apps and increased engagement from product innovation. eBay's suite of mobile apps attracted more than 4 million new customers in 2012.

11:05 am S&P Information Technology index trading +0.3% and ahead of broader market
The tech sector is trading higher today, inline with gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative strength, however, with the SOX trading 1.3% higher. Within the chip index, KLAC (+5.4%) is a notable standout. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.5% higher today, while the QQQ and the NASDAQ are trading 0.4% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, TXN (+1.4%) is showing notable strength, while CSCO (-0.6%) is under pressure.

In tech earnings last night, EBAY (+2.6%) posted slightly better-than-expected Q4 results and guided just below consensus. Meanwhile, PLXS (+1.4%) and ASML (+6.4%) reported results in-line with expectations, whereas NTCT (-4.4%) topped consensus and APH (0.0%) missed estimates. In news, A (+1.7%) authorized the repurchase of up to $500 mln of stock and increased its quarterly dividend 20% to $0.12 per share from $0.10 per share. Among rumors, Silver Lake is close to $15 bln financing for DELL (+1.2%) LBO, according to reports. Among notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, JNPR (+1.6%) and INFN (+6.4%) were upgraded to Overweight at JP Morgan, ADTN (-4.6%) was upgraded to Neutral at Citigroup, and ASML (+6.5%) was upgraded to Buy at BofA/Merrill. Among downgrades, ITRI (-1.4%) was downgraded to Hold at Jefferies, SAP (-0.6%) was downgraded to Neutral at Citigroup, CSCO (-0.7%) was downgraded to Underweight at JP Morgan, INFA (-2.1%) was downgraded to Neutral at Wedbush, LEAP (-6.3%) was downgraded to Underperform at Jefferies and RBC downgraded GLW (-1.4%) to Sector Perform. INTC (+1.1%), XLNX (+1.1%), and WIT (+2.2%) are the notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.