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From Briefing.com: 4:25 pm : Equities ended little changed after spending the vast majority of today's session in the red. The major averages began the day on a cautious note as European indices retreated in anticipation of an update from Monte dei Paschi regarding the size of derivative-related losses suffered by the world's oldest bank. Recent reports have suggested the bank's losses will exceed the original estimate of EUR720 million. This caused selling of the Italian 10-yr as its yield climbed 13 basis points to 4.58%, its worst level since mid-December 2012.

The S&P 500 staged a morning recovery with the help of Apple (AAPL 457.35, -0.49). The largest tech stock spiked off its lows after rumors suggested the company may raise its quarterly dividend. However, with little substance behind the speculation, Apple followed the jump with a steady slide back near its flat line.

While tech shares displayed intraday strength, the discretionary sector hovered in the black throughout the session. Upbeat earnings from Polo Ralph Lauren (RL 174.63, +9.72) as well as Times Warner (TWX 52.01, +2.05) and Walt Disney (DIS 54.52, +0.23) supported the space. In addition, Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 322.46, +17.45) added 5.7% after reporting revenue in-line with its January 16 preannouncement.

Elsewhere, the materials sector outperformed the broader market thanks to the relative strength among steel producers. Reliance Steel (RS 70.25, +5.56) surged 5.9% following an agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of Metals USA (MUSA 20.65, +2.35) for $20.65 per share. The purchase price represents a 12.8% premium to Metals USA's Tuesday closing price, and the total transaction value is estimated at $1.2 billion. Meanwhile, the broader MarketVectors Steel ETF (SLX 49.38, +0.74) added 1.5%.

On the downside, the Dow Jones Transportation Average trailed behind the broader market. The bellwether complex shed 0.2% after CH Robinson (CHRW 60.50, -6.51) reported mixed earnings. The freight carrier fell 9.7%, and was the worst performer within the S&P 500.

Relative strength among airlines prevented transportation stocks from registering further losses. Alaska Air (ALK 47.42, +0.56) and United Continental (UAL 25.32, +1.06) saw respective gains of 1.2% and 4.4%. This morning, Alaska Air reported an 11.8% increase in traffic on a 12.2% rise in capacity, as compared to January 2012.

Today's trade was centered mostly around the unchanged line. Technology (-0.2%) and health care (-0.1%) sectors weighed on sentiment. Meanwhile, telecoms (+0.3%), utilities (+0.2%), materials (+0.2%), and consumer discretionary (+0.2%) shares outperformed.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 13.42, -0.30) spent the bulk of the day in the black, but the near-term volatility measure turned lower into the close.

Volume was slightly below average as just over 680 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which rose 3.4% to follow last week's 8.1% decline.

Tomorrow, weekly initial and continuing claims as well as preliminary fourth quarter productivity and unit labor costs will all be reported at 8:30 ET. Finally, December consumer credit will be announced at 15:00 ET. Among notable earnings, Credit Suisse (CS 29.55, +0.22) and Sony (SNE 15.82, -0.01) are scheduled to report their results ahead of the opening bell.DJ30 +7.22 NASDAQ -3.10 SP500 +0.83 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1335/1.91 bln/1088 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1767/681.3 mln/1217

3:30 pm :

Mar crude oil pushed off its session low of $95.14 per barrel and broke into positive territory as it headed into afternoon floor trade. Support came on slightly better-than-anticipated inventory data that showed a build of 2.623 mln barrels when a build of 2.725 mln barrels was expected. The energy component brushed a session high of $96.99 per barrel and settled just 2 cents below the unchanged line at $96.64 per barrel.
Mar natural gas traded higher for a third consecutive session. It climbed to a session high of $3.46 per MMBtu in late morning action but lost momentum as it headed into afternoon floor trade. Natural gas settled at its session low of $3.42 per MMBtu, or 0.6% higher.
Apr gold came off its session low of $1672.90 per ounce set in early morning floor action and inched higher for most of the session despite a stronger dollar index. The yellow metal settled 0.3% higher at $1678.60 per ounce ahead of tomorrow's ECB meeting.
Mar silver dipped to a session low of $31.60 per ounce shortly after pit trade opened. However, prices inched higher for the remainder of the session and settled just 0.1% lower at $31.85 per ounce.

4:27PM Monolithic Power reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 revs in-line (MPWR) 23.22 +0.02 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.21 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.21; revenues rose 1.5% year/year to $48.2 mln vs the $48.23 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $49-53 mln vs. $49.37 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Sees Q1 gross margin between 52.8-53.8%.

4:24PM Atmel reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (ATML) 7.14 +0.08 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.07 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.07; revenues fell 10.0% year/year to $345.1 mln vs the $341.95 mln consensus. Non-GAAP gross margin was 41.6% in the fourth quarter of 2012 as compared to 43.7% in the immediately preceding quarter and 48.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011.

4:09PM Ixia beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line with prior upside preannouncement (XXIA) 19.80 +0.25 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.23; revenues rose 48.3% year/year to $124.1 mln vs the $124.07 mln consensus. On 1/14, XXIA raised guidance for Q4, with EPS at or slightly above the $0.20-0.22 prior range and revs of $123.5-124.5 mln.

"Looking forward into 2013, we intend to continue building on our momentum and growing our presence among service providers and enterprises as we help them optimize their networks and datacenters worldwide to accelerate, secure and scale application delivery."

4:07PM TriQuint Semi beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (TQNT) 5.34 +0.03 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.04 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.02; revenues rose 2.9% year/year to $233.6 mln vs the $222.76 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.14)-(0.12), excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.00 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $180-190 mln vs. $205.28 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

O2Micro International (OIIM) was issued 20 claims under U.S. patent for its Multi-cell Battery Pack Monitoring systems and methods.

8:03AM Spreadtrum Comms announces expansion of its partnership with Facebook (FB) (SPRD) 17.20 : Co announced the expansion of its partnership with Facebook to enable users around the world outside of China to access Facebook on Android smartphones designed with Spreadtrum's smartphone chipsets.

With this partnership, Spreadtrum will collaborate with Facebook on platform testing and optimization of the user's application experience on Spreadtrum's mobile platform prior to the release of new versions of Facebook software.
Spreadtrum already distributes Facebook software as a pre-loaded application as part of its turnkey smartphone platform.
The distribution agreement covers handsets shipped to global end markets with the exception of China.

7:31AM Photronics narrows first quarter fy 2013 revenue guidance to the high end of the range (PLAB) 6.04 +0.14 : Co sees Q1 revs of $99-100 mln, prior $96-100 mln, vs. $98.49 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "High-end semiconductor orders began to strengthen late in the quarter and flat panel display (FPD) photomask demand gained momentum as the quarter progressed," stated Constantine ("Deno") Macricostas, Photronics' chairman and chief executive officer. "The IC business was soft at the beginning of the quarter, as we anticipated, but demand for high-end masks accelerated in January."

7:05AM ATMI reports EPS in-line, misses on revs (ATMI) 20.24 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.32 per share, excluding a gain of $0.07 per diluted share for a contingent consideration adjustment, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.32; revenues rose 10.9% year/year to $100.1 mln vs the $101.22 mln consensus.

Commentary:

Q4
"Fourth quarter revenues grew as the incremental contribution from our SDS Direct transaction last year more than offset the negative effects of lower wafer starts. Demand for other products in Microelectronics was down as lower wafer starts were coupled with our customers' efforts to manage inventory at the end of the year. LifeSciences revenues grew 20% over the prior year quarter as customers continue to make progress toward launching high-volume manufacturing using our single-use technologies."
FY13
"We expect wafer starts to grow modestly for the full year of 2013, with most growth occurring during the second half of the year after declining sequentially in the first quarter due to seasonal patterns."

ASML Holding NV (ASML) announced that Cymer (CYMI) stockholders voted to approve the previously announced merger agreement, dated October 16, 2012, among Cymer, ASML Holding NV and certain affiliates of ASML, at the special meeting of Cymer stockholders held on 5 February 2013.

1:24AM MagnaChip Semi prices 5,000,000 shares of common stock at a price per share of $14.50 (MX) 14.82 :

10:49 am S&P Information Tech Sector trading higher today by 0.4%
The tech sector is trading lower today, trailing narrrower losses in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing slight relative strength with the SOX trading only 0.2% lower. Within the chip index, POWI (+3.3%) is a notable standout. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.2% lower today, while the QQQ is down 0.5% and the NASDAQ is trading 0.4% lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, FB (+1.0%) is showing notable strength, while ORCL (-0.9%) and AAPL (-0.9%) are under pressure.

In tech earnings last night, CSGS (+4.5%) posted a beat and offered upside guidance, game makers ZNGA (+3.5%) and TTWO (+10.4%) both reported beats and guided lower, and TRMB (-4.9%) posted a beat with downside guidance. In news, TTWO (+10.4%) announced a share repurchase program in addition to earnings. Among rumors, HPQ (+1.5%) was mulling breaking up the business, according to reports. Among notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, EA (+0.4%) was upgraded to Buy at Sterne Agee and Argus upgraded ITRI (+3.6%) to Buy. Among downgrades, TRMB (-4.9%) was downgraded to Neutral at JP Morgan, GOOG (+0.4%) was downgraded to Neutral at Hilliard Lyons and CCOI (-2.8%) was downgraded to Mkt Perform at Raymond James. AKAM (+1.4%) and DRIV (-1.0%) is a notable name in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.