From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : Equities spent the bulk of today's session in negative territory before afternoon buying lifted the major averages out of the red. As a result, the S&P 500 settled higher by 0.6%.
Although stocks finished with gains, leadership was mixed, suggesting a certain level of indecision was present among market participants. Both consumer sectors ended ahead of the broader market with the defensively-oriented staples in the lead.
Staple stocks outperformed amid broad strength in beverage and tobacco producers. Coca-Cola (KO 40.86, +0.78) rose 2.0% and Philip Morris (PM 94.44, +1.72) advanced 1.9%.
Meanwhile, the growth-sensitive discretionary space outperformed on the back of homebuilders as the group rallied broadly. PulteGroup (PHM 19.73, +0.60) gained 3.1% while the broader SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB 29.49, +0.58) added 2.0%.
Elsewhere in discretionary shares, quick-service restaurants ended on a mixed note. Yum! Brands (YUM 67.33, +0.36), who owns the KFC brand, was under early pressure amid concerns the Chinese bird flu outbreak will impact KFC sales. However, the stock was able to shake off the early weakness, and end higher by 0.5%.
In addition to consumer stocks, the Dow Jones Transportation Average outperformed, and settled with a gain of 0.9%. While most index components settled in the black, airlines displayed notable strength. Delta Air Lines (DAL 14.93, +0.54) and United Continental (UAL 30.05, +0.78) climbed 3.8% and 2.7%, respectively.
On the downside, the health care sector lagged after outperforming last week. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX 1.92, +0.22) was an exception as the stock surged 12.9% after Chinese authorities approved the company's peramivir flu treatment in light of the recent bird flu outbreak.
In M&A news, Lufkin Industries (LUFK 87.96, +24.03) surged 37.6% after the company agreed to be acquired by General Electric (GE 23.12, +0.19) for $3.3 billion or $88.50 per share. The transaction price represents a 38% premium to Lufkin's Friday closing price.
Today's volume was well below average as less than 600 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Reviewing the day's final sector performance, consumer staples (+1.1%), consumer discretionary (+1.1%), financials (+1.0%), and utilities (+0.8%) traded ahead of the broader market. Meanwhile, telecom (-0.5%), health care (+0.2%), and technology (+0.4%) lagged.
There was no notable economic data released today.
Tomorrow, February wholesale inventories will be reported at 10:00 ET.
The U.S. Treasury will auction off $32 billion in 3-yr notes.DJ30 +48.23 NASDAQ +18.39 SP500 +9.79 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1463/1.28 bln/987 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2069/582.8 mln/933
3:30 pm :
May crude oil dipped into negative territory and to a session low of $92.46 per barrel in late morning action but quickly recovered into the black and trended higher for the remainder of pit trade. It booked a gain of 0.7% as it settled at $93.36 per barrel, slightly below its session high of $93.46 per barrel.
May natural gas began pit trade in the black but lost momentum in mid-morning action. It pulled back from its session high of $4.18 per MMBtu and fell into negative territory. It brushed a session low of $4.05 per MMBtu and eventually settled with a 1.2% loss at $4.08 per MMBtu.
June gold fell during today's floor trade as a stronger dollar index weighed on prices. The yellow metal dipped to a session low of $1566.60 per ounce in late morning action and settled with a 0.2% loss at $1572.60 per ounce.
May silver also chopped around in negative territory for most of its session. It touched a session low of $27.07 per ounce and closed 0.2% lower at $27.16 per ounce.
4:09PM Alcoa beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; Alcoa reaffirms 2013 aluminum demand growth of 7% (AA) 8.40 +0.16 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.11 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.08; revenues fell 2.9% year/year to $5.83 bln vs the $5.89 bln consensus.
Alcoa reaffirms 2013 aluminum demand growth of 7%.
"This was a strong quarter led by record profitability in our downstream business, improved results in our midstream business, and remarkable upstream performance in the face of weak metal prices. Our mid and downstream businesses now account for 72% of our total after-tax operating income while our upstream business continues to move down the cost curve."
Continued Growth Across End Markets
Alcoa continues to project 7% global aluminum demand growth in 2013 and essentially balanced alumina and aluminum markets. However, the co sees a slightly tighter market as supply contracts. Co reduced its surplus projection for aluminum from 535,000 metric tons in Q4 to 155,000 metric tons this quarter, driven by curtailments. Alcoa projects global growth this year across the aerospace (9-10%), automotive (1-4%).
Alba Update
Alcoa continues to actively negotiate with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reach a resolution of their investigations of the Alba matter; however, we have not reached any agreement with either agency. Given the uncertainty regarding whether a settlement can be reached and, if reached, on what terms, we are not able to estimate a range of reasonably possible loss with regard to any such settlement. If a settlement of the government investigations is reached, we believe that the settlement amount would be material to Alcoa's results of operations for the relevant fiscal period. If a settlement cannot be reached, Alcoa will proceed to trial with the DOJ and the SEC and under those circumstances is unable to predict an outcome or to estimate its reasonably possible loss. There can be no assurance that the final outcome of the government's investigations will not have a material adverse effect on Alcoa.
4:04PM Marvell: Greenlight Capital discloses selling shares (MRVL) 10.47 +0.19 : In 2 SEC filings, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital reported selling MRVL stock. The firm last reported owning 9.7% on Feb. 14.
The 1st filing reported the sale of 1.27 mln shares at $10.09-10.24 on 4/4, worth ~$12.9 mln.
The 2nd filing reported the sale of 430K shares at $10.16 on 4/5, worth ~$4.4 mln. (INSID)
LSI Corp. (LSI) has entered into an expanded original equipment manufacturer relationship with Intel (INTC), whereby LSI Nytro MegaRAID technology will be available as part of the Intel RAID product family.
Altera (ALTR) achieved a significant milestone in transceiver technology by demonstrating the industry's first programmable device with 32-Gbps transceiver capabilities.
09:15 am Juniper Networks upgraded to Buy at Argus on valuation; tgt $22: . Argus upgrades JNPR to Buy from Hold and sets tgt at $22. In its view, the decline in JNPR shares overstates the co's challenges and fails to reflect the EPS recovery now underway after several difficult quarters. JNPR's core routing business has suffered over the past year from weak carrier spending trends, product cycle timing, and internal distractions. However, the spending environment is now improving, Juniper's product cycle is turning, and comparisons will become easier over the next few quarters. JNPR's historical valuation premium to the peer group has reversed, creating an attractive entry point.
09:15 am Flextronics upgraded to Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts; tgt raised to $8: . RBC upgrades FLEX to Outperform from Sector Perform and raises its tgt to $8 from $7 as it believes the Co is positioned to begin surprising on the upside with regard to operating margins and EPS over the next several quarters. As operating margins expand from ~2% to 3%+ over the next 4 quarters firm should see not only EPS growth but also multiple expansion driving stock appreciation.
U Optronics (AUO) reported consolidated March 2013 revenue of NT$37,917 mln, up by 36.7% month-over-month and 20.6% year-over-year. The co's March revenue increased by over NT$10 bln compared to the previous month, which recorded the highest monthly sales over the past 30 months. For the first quarter of 2013, AUO's unaudited consolidated revenues totaled NT$94,244 mln vs NT$91,636 mln CIQ est. For March 2013, Large-sized panel shipments, with applications on desktop monitor, notebook PC, LCD TV and other applications, were around 10.59 mln units, an increase of 34.4% from the previous month. As for small-and-medium-sized panels, the shipments nearly reached 12.39 mln units, up by 33.5% month-over-month.
Needham initiated Perion Network (PERI) with a Buy and price target of $14. The firm expects the uncertainty surrounding Perion's renewal of its agreement with Google (GOOG), as well as the impact of the recent AdSense policy changes on its model, to clear. Ultimately, they believe the company's adjustments to these policy changes, as well as new search and distribution partners could increase Life-Time-Value and decrease customer acquisition costs over time. They also believe Perion has a strong pipeline of product launches and is strongly positioned to expand aggressively into mobile, further its product portfolio on the desktop, and explore new monetization opportunities in its vast and rich data.
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