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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Equities ended the day with slim gains and the S&P 500 settled higher by 0.1%.

Like the previous two sessions, today's action got off to a lower start before bargain hunters stepped in and helped the major averages climb to fresh highs.

After turning positive in early afternoon trade, equities stumbled briefly before ending near their highs.

As the broader market climbed off its early lows, industrials and discretionary stocks paced the rebound.

The industrial sector outperformed as transportation-related stocks saw broad strength. The Dow Jones Transportation Average climbed 1.6% with 19 of 20 components registering gains. Airlines and truckers were among the index leaders as Alaska Air (ALK 59.46, +2.43) and JB Hunt (JBHT 74.44, +3.94) settled with respective gains of 4.3% and 5.6%.

Including today's advance, the transportation average has added more than 17.0% since the start of the year.

In addition to transports, defense stocks also supported the industrial sector. The PHLX Defense Index gained 1.1%.

Elsewhere, discretionary shares garnered buying interest after the February retail sales report exceeded expectations. As a result, retailers received a day-long bid, and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 70.19, +0.92) advanced 1.3%. Though most retail stocks benefitted from today's economic data, Express (EXPR 18.25, -0.60) did not partake in the rally. The apparel retailer slid 3.2% after its cautious first quarter and full-year earnings guidance provided some worry to investors.

While cyclical industrials and consumer stocks fueled the morning rebound, the defensively-oriented utilities also finished among the leaders. This suggests some indecision was present as the market struggled to find direction. The SPDR Utilities Select Sector ETF (XLU 38.13, +0.17) rose 0.5%.

On the downside, the materials sector ended with a slim loss as steelmakers weighed. The Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 44.81, -0.91) lost 2.0%.

Today's trading volume was well below average as 585 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Notably, today's tally was the second lowest total observed this year, taking the back seat only to the February 11 session.

Reviewing today's economic data, retail sales increased a solid 1.1% in February after rising an upwardly revised 0.2% (from 0.1%) in January. The Briefing.com consensus expected retail sales to increase 0.5%.

Notably, the report suggests the effect of the tax increases following the fiscal cliff deal has not stunted overall demand. The strong gains in wages that were detailed in the February employment report also played an important part in keeping consumption levels higher than expected. Those gains allowed consumers to spend more while also adding to their savings.

Export prices, excluding agriculture, increased by 0.6% in February after they had increased 0.5% during the prior month. Excluding oil, import prices were unchanged, which follows the 0.2% increase experienced in the prior month.

Total business inventories increased 1.0% in January after increasing an upwardly revised 0.3% (from 0.1%) in December. The Briefing.com consensus expected business inventories to increase 0.3%.

The February Treasury Budget showed a deficit of $203.50 billion, ahead of the deficit of $205 billion expected by the Briefing.com consensus.

In tomorrow's economic data, weekly initial and continuing claims, February PPI, core PPI, as well as the fourth quarter current account balance will all be reported at 8:30 ET.DJ30 +5.22 NASDAQ +2.80 SP500 +2.04 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1384/1.52 bln/1046 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1689/584.7 mln/1300

3:30 pm :

Apr crude oil advanced to a session high of $93.40 per barrel shortly after floor trade opened. However, prices retreated and fell into negative territory in afternoon action as a stronger dollar index and weaker than anticipated inventory data that showed a build of 2.624 mln barrels when a build of 2.3 mln barrels was anticipated put pressure on the energy component. Crude oil dipped to a session low of $91.91 per barrel and eventually settled with a 0.1% loss at $92.46 per barrel.
Apr nautral gas traded higher for its entire floor session. It touched a session high of $3.70 per MMBtu in afternoon floor trade and settled with a 1.1% gain at $3.68 per MMBtu.
Apr gold fell into negative territory despite trading as high as $1598.80 per ounce in early morning action. A stronger dollar index following upbeat retail sales data put pressure on the yellow metal. Gold dipped to a session low of $1584.40 per ounce and eventually settled with a 0.2% loss at $1588.00 per ounce.
May silver also slid into the red and brushed a session low of $28.83 per ounce. After chopping around slightly above that level for the remainder of pit trade, it settled with a 0.7% loss at $28.96 per ounce.

4:31PM IPG Photonics acquires Mobius Photonics to accelerate UV laser development (IPGP) 62.68 +0.43 : Co announced the acquisition of privately held Mountain View, California-based Mobius Photonics to accelerate its entry into the UV laser market and deepen IPG's development team. Mobius provides high-power pulsed UV fiber lasers for micromachining, such as dicing and scribing of wafers, and VIA drilling and solar hybrid panel processing. In the acquisition, IPG acquired an exclusive license of U.S. Patent No. 5,745,284, an early and broad patent claiming pulsed fiber lasers with frequency conversion into UV light, as well as other Mobius patents, licenses and trade secrets. The employees from Mobius will become part of the IPG Silicon Valley Technology Center. Mobius had revenue from operations of approximately $1.4 million for 2012.

4:03PM Anadigics announces proposed public offering of common stock; size not disclosed (ANAD) 2.21 +0.01 : Needham & Company, LLC is acting as the sole bookrunning manager of the offering. Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC is acting as co-manager. Co intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Cree (CREE) announced the release of its second generation SiC MOSFET enabling systems to have higher efficiency and smaller size at cost parity with silicon-based solutions.

8:34AM MEMC Elec guides Q1, FY13 semi rev, solar shipments (sees growth in both segments in FY13); proposes name change to SunEdison (WFR) 5.43 : Co sees Q1 semi rev $228-235 mln, FY13 $940-990 mln (FY12: $918 mln). Slower 1H 2013, stronger 2H 2013 expected based on industry recovery.

Sees Q1 adj. solar energy systems MW sold: 10-38, FY13 420-490 (FY12: 383). 2H 2013 stronger due to stronger development spend in 2H 2012.

The co also announced today its plan, subject to shareholder approval, to change its name to SunEdison, Inc. The full proposal will be outlined in a preliminary proxy statement filing to be made on or about March 28, 2013. If approved by shareholders, the name change would be effective after the company's annual meeting of shareholders on May 30, 2013.

09:19 am Integrated Silicon initiated with a Buy at The Benchmark Company; tgt $13: . The Benchmark Company initiates ISSI with a Buy and price target of $13. The firm's investment thesis recognizes that the company does not have to be on the forefront for memory chip development in order to generate superior returns on invested capital. ISSI has a four-pronged strategy to grow the business. As ISSI has proven, this strategy can be very profitable, and as the number of memory IC suppliers has consolidated, ISSI's growth opportunities have expanded.