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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : Equities climbed steadily throughout the day, and the S&P 500 ended higher by 1.4%.

For the most part, today's session served as a rebound from yesterday's broad-based selling. All ten economic sectors settled in the black, and nine groups ended with gains of at least 1.0%.

The materials sector, which lost nearly 4.0% yesterday, led today's rally as the SPDR Materials Select Sector ETF (XLB 37.99, +0.68) rose 1.8%. Gold miners saw intraday strength, but afternoon weakness in the underlying metal caused the group to slide into the red. Meanwhile, steelmakers acted in support of the sector as the Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 40.86, +0.63) rose 1.6%.

While the economically-sensitive materials space ended atop the leaderboard, the defensively-geared consumer staples were not far behind. Staple stocks received some support from Coca-Cola (KO 42.37, +2.28) after the beverage giant narrowly beat the Capital IQ earnings estimate.

The intraday performance of the leaders suggests a defensive trade played some part in today's action. After notching its highs during the opening minutes, the materials sector spent the remainder of the session near those levels. Meanwhile, consumer staples climbed throughout the day before settling on their highs.

A defensive bid also buoyed the health care sector where Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 83.44, +1.73) gained 2.1% after beating on earnings.

With the first quarter earnings season set to heat up in the coming days, Goldman Sachs (GS 144.10, -2.36) was among the handful of companies which reported earnings today. Although Goldman beat on earnings and revenue, its stock shed 1.6% as investors were unimpressed with the quality of the earnings beat. Meanwhile, the broader SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF 18.36, +0.28) advanced 1.6%.

Yesterday's selling caused significant weakness in homebuilders as well as the Dow Jones Transportation Average. Although the two groups were able to register gains, they remain in the red for the week.

Today's volume was slightly above average as 736 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Looking back at the economic data, the number of housing starts increased 7.0% in March from an upwardly revised 968,000 (from 917,000) in February to 1.036 million. That was the first time housing starts exceeded 1.00 million units since 2008. The Briefing.com consensus pegged the number of new housing starts at 930,000. However, the underlying trends were more mixed than the headline implied as multifamily construction, which tends to be highly volatile, made up the entire March gain. Those starts increased by nearly 100,000 from 318,000 in February to an unsustainable 417,000. As a result, multifamily construction is likely to retreat next month.

Industrial production increased 0.4% in March following an upwardly revised 1.1% gain (from 0.7%) in February. The Briefing.com consensus expected production levels to increase 0.3%.

The entire gain in production was due to a 5.3% increase in utilities usage. Colder-than-normal temperatures throughout March drove up heating demand.

Consumer prices fell 0.2% in March after increasing 0.7% in February. The Briefing.com consensus expected prices to decrease 0.1%.

Excluding food and energy, core prices increased 0.1% after rising 0.2% in February. The Briefing.com consensus expected core prices to increase by 0.2% for a second consecutive month.

Only two items of note can be found on tomorrow's economic calendar. The weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET while the Federal Reserve will release its April Beige Book at 14:00 ET. On the earnings front, Bank of America (BAC 12.28, +0.30) and Mattel (MAT 42.98, -0.04) will report their quarterly results ahead of the opening bell.DJ30 +157.58 NASDAQ +48.14 SP500 +22.21 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1926/1.46 bln/555 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2501/743.5 mln/539

3:30 pm :

May crude oil erased most of its early pit trade losses after coming off a session low of $87.60 per barrel. The energy component briefly broke into positive territory and to a session high of $88.94 per barrel in afternoon action but ultimately settled 0.1% lower at $88.69 per barrel.
May natural gas retreated from its session high of $4.19 per MMBtu set in early floor trade and fell into negative territory shortly after equity markets opened. Despite brushing a session low of $4.08 per MMBtu, it recovered back into the black and settled 0.5% higher at $4.16 per MMBtu.
June gold rose after two sessions of sharp losses with a weaker dollar index and broad market strength boosting prices. The yellow metal touched a session high of $1402.70 per ounce as floor trade opened and dipped to a session low of $1371.70 per oune in mid-morning action. It eventually settled at $1387.30 per ounce, or 1.9% higher. Gold sold off here after hours and is now at $1364.40.
May silver spent most of today's floor session in positive territory. It dipped into the red and to a session low of $23.24 per ounce in mid-morning action but quickly recovered back above the unchanged line. It traded in a consolidative pattern near the $23.60 per ounce level in afternoon pit trade and settled with a 1.3% gain at $23.66 per ounce.

4:15PM Intel: Highlights from CFO commentary on first-quarter 2013 results (INTC) 21.92 +0.54 :

"The worldwide PC supply chain saw a continued reduction in inventory levels in the first quarter as customers reduced inventory of older generation PCs ahead of the Haswell launch. In addition, our inventories decreased almost $400M from the fourth quarter."
"Increased demand from our customers allowed us to increase production of Haswell products prior to qualification for sale. The result of this was a higher than anticipated inventory write-off which we expect to get back throughout the rest of the year as the product qualifies for sale in the second quarter and starts shipping to our customers."
"In addition we saw higher than expected excess capacity charges on older generation process technologies. We are taking advantage of the excess capacity on older generation process technologies to take capacity offline and reuse more equipment and space for 14nm and beyond. The result of these actions allows us to lower our capital spending forecast for the year by $1B, down to $12B."
"We are forecasting revenue of $12.9B for the second quarter which is slightly higher than the average seasonal increase as we expect some pipeline inventory replenishment as we launch Haswell and in anticipation of a stronger second half."

4:10PM Intel reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q2 revs in-line; reaffirms low single digit FY13 rev growth, margin guidance (INTC) 21.92 +0.54 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.40 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.40; revenues fell 2.5% year/year to $12.58 bln vs the $12.6 bln consensus.

PC Client Group revenue of $8.0 billion, down 6.6% sequentially and down 6.0% year-over-year. Data Center Group revenue of $2.6 billion, down 6.9% sequentially and up 7.5% year-over-year. Other Intel Architecture Group revenue of $1.0 billion, down 3.9% sequentially and down 9.0% year-over-year. Gross margin of 56%, down 2%age points sequentially and down 8%age points year-over-year.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $12.4-13.4 bln vs. $12.87 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Gross margin%age: 58%, plus or minus a couple%age points.

Reaffirms FY13 low single digit rev growth (consensus +0.5%), 60% gross margin (+/- few % pts).

"Amidst market softness, Intel performed well in the first quarter and I'm excited about what lies ahead for the co. We shipped our next generation PC microprocessors, introduced a new family of products for micro-servers and will ship our new tablet and smartphone microprocessors this quarter. We are working with our customers to introduce innovative new products across multiple operating systems. The transition to 14nm technology this year will significantly increase the value provided by Intel architecture and process technology for our customers and in the marketplace."

4:08PM Yahoo! reports Q1 results (YHOO) 23.79 -0.19 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.38 per share excluding stock based compensation expense, $0.35 including $0.03 stock based compensation expense, vs. the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.25; revenues fell 0.3% year/year to $1.07 bln vs the $1.1 bln consensus.

Display:
GAAP display revenue was $455 million for the first quarter of 2013, an 11 percent decrease compared to $511 million for the first quarter of 2012.
Display revenue ex-TAC was $402 million for the first quarter of 2013, an 11 percent decrease compared to $454 million for the first quarter of 2012.
Price-per-Ad (excluding Korea) decreased approximately 2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2012.
Search:
GAAP search revenue was $425 million for the first quarter of 2013, a 10 percent decrease compared to $470 million for the first quarter of 2012.
Search revenue ex-TAC was $409 million for the first quarter of 2013, a 6 percent increase compared to $384 million for the first quarter of 2012.
Paid Clicks (excluding Korea) increased approximately 16 percent compared to the first quarter of 2012.
Price-per-Click (excluding Korea) decreased approximately 7 percent compared to the first quarter of 2012.
Cash Balance:
Cash, cash equivalents, and investments in marketable debt securities were $5.4 billion as of March 31, 2013 compared to $6 billion as of December 31, 2012, a decrease of $0.6 billion.

4:05PM LDK Solar provides update on the sale of LDK Hefei (LDK) 1.08 -0.04 : Co announced Anhui LDK New Energy Co., Ltd. signed an agreement to sell and transfer all its equity interest in its wholly owned subsidiary, LDK Solar High-Tech (Hefei) Co., Ltd., located in Hefei City of Anhui Province in China, to an affiliate of the Hefei City government, Hefei High Tech Industrial Development Social Service Corporation, for approximately RMB 120 million. Based on the Company's book value, LDK Solar expects to realize a net loss in the range of USD 80 million to USD 90 million for this transaction. Previously, LDK Solar announced a purchase agreement in January 2013 with Shanghai Qianjiang Group, with its consummation subject to relevant governmental approvals. Shanghai Qianjiang Group failed to secure such government approvals by the expiration date of March 30, 2013. "We will do our best to assure a smooth closing of this transaction."

NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) announced with ALIOTH, a Russian government and payment cards solutions provider, the launch of a contactless smart card solution product called SCOne

3:45AM LDK Solar announces partial nonpayment for convertible notes (LDK) 1.12 : Co announces that, due to a temporary cash-flow shortage, LDK Solar was not able to make full payments to the holders of its 4.75% convertible senior notes due 2013 in an aggregate principal amount of $23,793,000, plus interest, otherwise due and payable on their maturity date of April 15, 2013. LDK has, however, privately and individually negotiated with two holders of such convertible notes in the aggregate principal amount of $16,553,000, and reached settlement with them, shortly before the maturity date, through a partial payment in cash and effectively a loan facility to postpone the repayment of the remaining indebtedness.

Red Hat (RHT) announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $300 million of Red Hat's common stock from time to time on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. The new program replaces the previous $300 million repurchase program, the final $179 million of which was completed since February 28, 2013 at an average price of $49.15 per share, inclusive of commissions, for a total of 3.6 million shares. The repurchase program will be funded using Red Hat's working capital. As of February 28, 2013, Red Hat had cash and investments of approximately $1.3 billion.

NETGEAR (NTGR) announced that based on preliminary data available at this time, the Company expects net revenue for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 to be in the range of $290 million to $295 million (vs $299.99 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate), which is an update to the previously estimated range, of $290 million to $305 million provided on February 12, 2013. The Company expects GAAP operating margin for the first quarter to be in the range of 7.5% to 8%, and expects GAAP earnings per diluted share for the first quarter to be between $0.35 and $0.39. The Company expects non-GAAP operating margin for the first quarter to be in the range of 9.5% to 10%, below the previously estimated range of 11% to 12% provided on February 12, 2013. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share for the first quarter of 2013 is expected to be in the range of $0.45 to $0.50 (vs $0.58 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate). "During the first quarter, we experienced difficulty in the transitioning of our ReadyNAS line, which caused shipments to be lower than demand from our channel partners. We are planning for a full recovery of supply for the second quarter onwards. Lower than planned shipments of the new ReadyNAS resulted in an unfavorable mix of products shipped, which negatively impacted our gross margins," commented Patrick Lo, Chairman and CEO of NETGEAR.