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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : Equities settled with strong gains as the S&P 500 climbed 1.0%.

Although stocks ended near their highs, an afternoon headline from a hacked Twitter account of the Associated Press suggested two explosions occurred at the White House, sending the S&P lower by 15 points and back to its flat line before returning to session highs. The entire episode unfolded within the matter of five minutes.

Overseas developments primed U.S. equities for an upbeat start to the session. Although economic data from the old continent was largely disappointing, commentary from the region overshadowed the data.

Manufacturing and Services PMI reports from France and Germany came in below 50, a level which indicates contraction. This fueled speculation about a possible European Central Bank rate cut at its upcoming policy meeting. In addition, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was quoted as saying the policy of austerity "has reached its limits."

The talk of further monetary easing combined with Mr. Barroso's comments buoyed European indices, and contributed to an upbeat start to the U.S. session.

Financials and technology led today's advance with bank stocks outperforming notably. The SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF 18.42, +0.32) settled higher by 1.8% after Discover Financial Services (DFS 44.34, +0.73) and Dow component Travelers (TRV 86.35, +1.77) reported better-than-expected earnings.

Elsewhere, the tech space saw broad gains and Netflix (NFLX 216.99, +42.62) surged 24.4% following its bottom-line beat. Chipmakers also rallied on the back of above-consensus quarterly results from ARM Holdings (ARMH 46.32, +6.08) and Texas Instruments (TXN 35.70, +0.89). Meanwhile, the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index advanced 2.1%. Also of note, the largest tech stock, Apple (AAPL 406.13, +7.46), gained 1.9% ahead of its quarterly report, which will be released this evening.

The discretionary space was another group which displayed considerable strength thanks to retailers and homebuilders. Coach (COH 55.55, +4.96) jumped 9.8% after beating on earnings while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 71.56, +0.84) climbed 1.2%.

Also of note, the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB 29.65, +0.74) rose 2.6% after five builders were upgraded at Barclays. In addition, today's economic data contributed to the sector outperformance.

New home sales increased 1.7% in March to 417,000. There was no revision to the February report, which indicated 411,000 new homes were sold. That March number is still down from the recent January peak when 445,000 homes were sold. The Briefing.com consensus expected sales to increase to 415,000.

Inventory levels inched higher, rising from 150,000 in February to 153,000 in March. That represents a 4.4-month supply and is still well below levels considered normal. Like existing homes, new home inventories should trend around a 6.0-month supply when the industry is in good shape.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET while March durable orders and durable orders ex-transportation will be announced at 8:30 ET. On the earnings front, Boeing (BA 88.18, +1.24) and Ford Motor (F 13.36, +0.30) will shed light on their first quarter results before the opening bell.

The U.S. Treasury will auction off $35 billion in 5-yr notes.DJ30 +152.29 NASDAQ +35.78 SP500 +16.28 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1898/1.63 bln/563 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2424/683.7 mln/607

3:30 pm :

June crude oil erased most of its earlier losses as it lifted off its session low of $88.00 per barrel and trended higher for most of today's floor trade. The energy component touched a session high of $89.30 per barrel in afternoon pit action and eventually settled at $89.16 per barrel, or just 0.1% lower.
May natural gas rose to a session high of $4.32 per MMBtu in late morning action but lost momentum in late afternoon floor trade. It gave up all of its gains and settled 0.5% lower at $4.24 per MMBtu.
June gold traded lower today but held above $1400 per ounce as a stronger dollar pressured prices. The yellow component retreated from its session high of $1423.10 per ounce set at pit trade open and dipped as low as $1404.00 per ounce. It settled at $1409.20 per ounce, booking a loss of 0.9%.
May silver also traded in negative territory during today's floor trade. It pulled-back from its session high of $23.02 per ounce and touched a session low of $22.69 per ounce in morning pit action. It eventually settled 2.3% lower at $22.80 per ounce

4:38PM Apple beats by $0.09, beats on rev; guides Q3 rev, gross margin below consensus; raises buyback 5x to $60 bln; raises quarterly dividend 15% -- stock will resume trade at 16:40 (AAPL) 406.13 +7.46 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $10.09 per share, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $10.00; revenues rose 11.3% year/year to $43.6 bln vs the $42.4 bln consensus.

Q2 gross margins of 37.5% vs Street est of 38.5% and 37.5-38.5% guidance

Products: 37.4 mln iPhones sold in Q2 vs Street est of ~35 mln; 19.5 mln iPads sold in Q2 vs Street est of ~18 mln; sold just under 4 million Macs in Q2 vs Street est of ~4 mln.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $33.5-35.5 bln vs. $38.44 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; co sees Q3 gross margin between 36-37% vs. ests of ~38.8%.

Co announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a significant increase to the co's program to return capital to shareholders. The co expects to utilize a total of $100 billion of cash under the expanded program by the end of calendar 2015. This represents a $55 billion increase to the program announced last year and translates to an average rate of $30 billion per year from the time of the first dividend payment in August 2012 through December 2015.

As part of this program, the Board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the $10 billion level announced last year. This is the largest single share repurchase authorization in history and is expected to be executed by the end of calendar 2015. Apple also expects to utilize about $1 billion annually to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units.

Additionally, the Board has approved a 15% increase in the Company's quarterly dividend and today has declared a dividend of $3.05 per common share, payable on May 16, 2013 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 13, 2013. Apple is among the largest dividend payers in the world, with annual payments of about $11 billion.

4:30PM Apple more than doubles capital return program: total of $100 bln to be returned to shareholders by end of 2015 (AAPL) 406.13 +7.46 : Co announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a significant increase to the Company's program to return capital to shareholders. The Company expects to utilize a total of $100 billion of cash under the expanded program by the end of calendar 2015. This represents a $55 billion increase to the program announced last year and translates to an average rate of $30 billion per year from the time of the first dividend payment in August 2012 through December 2015.

As part of this program, the Board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the $10 billion level announced last year. This is the largest single share repurchase authorization in history and is expected to be executed by the end of calendar 2015. Apple also expects to utilize about $1 billion annually to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units. Additionally, the Board has approved a 15% increase in the Company's quarterly dividend and today has declared a dividend of $3.05 per common share, payable on May 16, 2013 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 13, 2013. Apple is among the largest dividend payers in the world, with annual payments of about $11 billion.

In conjunction with the expanded return of capital program, the Company plans to borrow and expects to announce more details about this in the near future. The management team and Board of Directors will continue to review each element of the capital return program on an annual basis.

4:28PM Harmonic misses by $0.03, misses on revs; guides Q2 revs below consensus (HLIT) 6.02 +0.13 : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.02 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.01; revenues fell 12.6% year/year to $101.7 mln vs the $113.88 mln consensus. Non-GAAP gross margins and operating expenses for the second quarter of 2013, which will exclude stock-based compensation and the amortization of intangibles, are anticipated to be in the range of 51.5% to 52.5% and $54 million to $55 million, respectively. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $105-115 mln vs. $123.95 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:14PM Super Micro Computer beats by $0.03, misses on revs (SMCI) 9.90 +0.25 : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.20; revenues rose 15.7% year/year to $278 mln vs the $284.13 mln consensus.

Gross margin for the third quarter was 14.0% compared to 17.0% in the same period a year ago. Non-GAAP gross margin for the third quarter was 14.1% compared to 17.0% in the same period a year ago.

"The typical March quarter seasonality was evident in the lower sequential revenue. However, we are pleased that revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% from last year. Our revenue growth this quarter outpaced the industry's growth and we expect this trend will continue,"

4:06PM Cree reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (CREE) 57.69 +2.15 : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.34 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.34 and inline with the March 5 guidance of $0.31-0.36, which was raised slightly from the prior guidance of $0.30-0.35. Revenues rose 22.5% year/year to $348.9 mln vs the $343.6 mln consensus and vs March 5 guidance of $335-350 mln. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4 (Jun), sees EPS of $0.34-0.40, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.37 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $365-385 mln vs. $368.4 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Cree is reporting non-GAAP gross margin of 38.8% vs guidance of 39.5%+/-.
Non-GAAP operating margin came in at 12.9% vs 8.6% last year and 13.7% in DecQ.

4:05PM Flextronics announces opening of medical design center in Milan, Italy (FLEX) 6.82 +0.13 : Co announced the opening of its new showcase medical design center located in Milan, Italy. This Design and Industrialization Center, which provides services to customers in the medical industry, is ISO 13485 certified and provides world-class expertise for FDA class II and III medical devices, drug delivery devices, medical equipment and disposables. The Center provides services across design, program management, industrialization and design transfer.

4:03PM AdCare Health Systems announces notice of noncompliance with NYSE MKT listing standards (ADK) 5.86 +0.14 :

4:03PM RF Micro Device beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (RFMD) 5.45 +0.15 : Reports Q4 (Mar) earnings of $0.06 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.05; revenues rose 49.3% year/year to $280.6 mln vs the $252.68 mln consensus. The increase in sequential revenue reflected increased adoption of RFMD's best-in-class cellular RF solutions and broad-based growth in high-performance WiFi, broadband/CATV, and standard products applications. On a non-GAAP basis, gross margin totaled 34.4%.

Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.07-0.08, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.07 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $285-290 mln vs. $267.00 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

sTec (STEC) announced that its s840 Series Enterprise SAS SSDs have been certified for MSFT's Windows Server 2012, which includes use with Windows Server 2012 Cluster in a Box systems.
Ingram Micro (IM) announced electronic service delivery for select Microsoft Office (MSFT) products including Office 2013 and Windows 8 Pro Pack.
Smith Micro Software (SMSI) announced Getac is offering the QuickLink Mobility connection management solution to enable simple, secure, and reliable wireless network access on select Getac devices.

9:02AM Riverbed Technology appoints David Wu Chief Technology Officer (RVBD) 14.14 : Co announced that David Wu has been appointed Chief Technology Officer. Before joining the Riverbed founding team, Wu was the Director of Engineering at netVmg, acquired by Internap Corporation (INAP).

SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR), announced that its affiliate, MEMC Singapore, entered into a photovoltaic module manufacturing services agreement with Fox Energy, whereby Fox Energy will manufacture up to 350 megawatts of solar modules for SunEdison.

Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) announced it is supporting Samsung's (SSNLF) GALAXY S 4 smartphone platforms with multiple high-performance analog and front-end solutions

VECO +7.8% (reports Q1 bookings/metrics; shipments declined sharply QoQ in MOCVD and Data Storage),

AIXG +7.4% (following ARMH results and VECO guidance)

7:21AM Celestica beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS, revs in-line (CLS) 7.65 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.16 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.15; revenues fell 18.8% year/year to $1.37 bln vs the $1.38 bln consensus, relatively flat after excluding revenue from Research In Motion Limited (BBRY) for the first quarter of 2012.

"Celestica delivered first quarter revenue consistent with our expectations, while achieving profitability at the high end of the guidance range driven through solid execution and disciplined cost management. With the overall economic outlook expected to remain challenging, we continue to focus our efforts on delivering value to our customers through strong operational performance, and on improving our financial performance through productivity improvements and effectively managing our costs and resources, while making the necessary investments to support our longer term objectives."

Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.13-0.19, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.16 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.375-1.475 bln vs. $1.40 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate

2:56AM ARM Holdings beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (ARMH) 40.24 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of GBP0.05 per share, GBP0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of GBP0.04; revenues rose 28.5% year/year to GBP170.3 mln vs the GBP160.33 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of in-line with expectations (qualatative commentary) vs. GBP161.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Q1 Highlights:

Growth in adoption of ARM technology
22 processor licenses signed across multiple end markets from smartphones and mobile computing to digital TVs and wearable technology
Advanced technology enables higher royalty percentage per chip
9 Cortex-A processor licenses and another ARMv8 architecture license signed3 further partners enabled with ARM's v8 big.LITTLE technology
3 Mali graphics processor licenses signed, including a license for Skrymir, ARM's most advanced graphics processor
POP IP helps optimise ARM processor implementations. ARM signed 2 further POP IP licenses in Q1
Growth in shipments of chips based on ARM processor technology
2.6 billion ARM-based chips shipped, up 35% year-on-year
Strong year-on-year shipment growth across all segments; mobile chips up 25%, embedded up 50% year-on-year
Continued penetration of Mali graphics processors with shipments up more than 5 times year-on-year

Gross margins:
Gross margins in Q1 2013, excluding share-based payments charges of GBP0.5 mln (see below), were 94.3% compared to 95.1% in Q4 2012 and 94.4% in Q1 2012.

License revenues

Total dollar license revenues in Q1 2013 increased by 24% year-on-year to $94.9 mln, representing 36% of group revenues. License revenues comprised $80.8 mln from PD and $14.1 mln from PIPD.
Group order backlog at the end of Q1 2013 was up 5% sequentially.

Royalty revenues

Royalties are recognised one quarter in arrears with royalties in Q1 2013 generated from semiconductor unit shipments in Q4 2012.
Total dollar royalty revenues in Q1 2013 increased year-on-year by 32% to $140.0 mln, representing 53% of group revenues.
Royalty revenues comprised $123.4 mln from PD and $16.6 mln from PIPD.

Outlook
"ARM has made an encouraging start to 2013 with more leading companies choosing to deploy ARM technology in their products and we therefore expect group revenues for the full-year 2013 to be at least in line with current market expectations. Relevant industry data for Q1 2013, being the shipment period for ARM's Q2 royalties, points to a sequential decrease in industry-wide revenues of around 10%. In this context we expect group revenues for the second quarter to be in line with current market expectations." Q2 consensus for revs and EPS calls for GBP161.9 mln.

AMD (AMD) announced the new AMD Embedded G-Series System-on-Chip platform, a single-chip solution based on the AMD next-generation "Jaguar" CPU architecture and AMD Radeon 8000 Series graphics.

11:05 am Technology Sector +1.1% outpacing the broader market
The tech sector is trading higher today, just ahead of gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative strength as well with the SOX trading 1.4% higher. Within the chip index, VECO (+14.2%) is a notable standout following its announcement of upside metrics. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 1.0% higher today, while the QQQ is up 1.1% and the NASDAQ is trading 1.0% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, TXN (+3.3%) is showing notable strength, while MSFT (-0.2%) is under pressure.

In tech earnings last night, SANM (+12.5%) posted a modest Q3 beat and guided inline, TXN (+3.3%) reported Q1 results at the high end of previous guidance and offered Q2 guidance inline with consensus, NXPI (-1.8%) posted a beat and raise, and STM (+8.8%) reported a miss but offered constructive guidance. This morning, ARMH (+10.2%) and LXK (+12.8%) both posted a beat and offered inline guidance, while XRX (-1.2%) reported a mixed qtr and guided Q2 below consensus and CLS (+3.2%) posted a slight beat and guided inline. In news, AAPL (+1.0%) won a case brought on it by GOOG's (+1.7%) Motorola. In rumors, we are hearing HIMX (-4.4%) may not have won the LCoD design in GOOG (+1.7%) Glass. Among notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, Oppenheimer upgraded VECO (+14.2%) to Outperform and INFA (+4.5%) was upgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse. Among downgrades, WU (+0.2%) was downgraded to Neutral at Citigroup, RCI (-2.3%) was downgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse following earnings and CHKP (-0.5%) was downgraded to Sector Perform at Pacific Crest. AAPL (+1.0%), T (+0.3%), BRCM (+0.1%), FTI (+0.7%), JNPR (+2.6%), and VMW (+1.5%) are the notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.

Volterra Semi (VLTR) reported first quarter earnings of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.25, while revenues fell 5.2% year/year to $39.9 million versus the $40.35 million consensus. "Revenue this quarter came in about as expected. We believe the strategic decision we made to de-emphasize our notebook activities is the right one as we focus our resources on significant growth opportunities in cloud servers, new communications equipment applications and energy."

Sanmina (SANM) reported second quarter earnings of $0.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.29, while revenues fell 2.4% year/year to $1.43 billion versus the $1.42 billion consensus. Cash flow from operations was $64.7 million for the quarter. Co reports Q2 Non-GAAP gross margin of 7.1% versus guidance of 7.0-7.4% and 7.4% in Q2 of 2012. The company issued in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.32-0.38, excluding non-recurring items versus the $0.36 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $1.45-1.5 billion versus the $1.47 billion consensus. "Our second quarter results were in line with our expectations as we continued to manage through a soft market environment ... We continue to invest in technology and services that enhance the value we provide to our customers around the world. We remain encouraged by new program ramps and increased forecasts from our customers that should drive improvement in the second half of the year."

Texas Instruments (TXN) reported first quarter earnings of $0.32 per share, better than the Capital IQ consensus GAAP Estimate of $0.30, while revenues fell 7.6% year/year to $2.88 billion versus the $2.85 billion consensus. The company on March 7 raised EPS guidance to $0.28-0.32 from $0.24-0.32; revenue to $2.80-2.91 billion from $2.68-2.91 bln. The company issued guidance for the second quarter with EPS of $0.37-0.45 versus the $0.38 GAAP consensus and revenues of $2.93-3.17 billion versus the $3.04 billion consensus. Revenue from legacy wireless products is expected to decline by about $60 million QoQ at the middle of this range. The co previously announced that it is winding down investment in these products for the smartphone and consumer tablet markets. TI will update its second-quarter outlook on June 10, 2013. For the full year of 2013, TI expects ~the following: R&D expense: $1.5 billion, down from the prior estimate of $1.6 billion Capital expenditures: $0.5 billion, unchanged "Our revenue and earnings ended the quarter at the high end of our expected range. Customers continued to operate in a real-time mode, maintaining minimal component inventory and ordering parts as they were needed. Our short product lead times, well-positioned inventory and ready manufacturing capacity allow us to respond rapidly to changes in demand... TI is now firmly rooted in Analog and Embedded Processing, and in the first quarter these segments contributed 77 percent of our revenue -- a full five points more than a year ago... Our business model generates strong cash flow from operations. Free cash flow* for the trailing 12 months was almost $3 billion, up 16 percent compared with a year ago. Further, free cash flow comprised 23 percent of revenue, which is consistent with our target of 20-25 percent. Free cash flow is well in excess of net income, and we expect it to remain so for some time as non-cash expenses are included in net income."

PLX Tech (PLXT) reported first quarter earnings of $0.09 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ consensus Estimate of $0.06, while revenues rose 6.9% year/year to $26.2 million versus the $26.01 million consensus. The company issued downside guidance for the second quarter with revenues of $25.5-27.5 million versus the $27.42 million consensus.

Netflix (NFLX) reported first quarter earnings of $0.31 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.20; revenues rose 17.7% year/year to $1.02 billion the $1.02 billion consensus. The company issued in-line guidance for the second quarter with EPS of $0.23-0.48 versus the $0.29 Capital IQ consensus. In Q2, guidance implies net income roughly flat with Q1 (absent the loss on extinguishment of debt). Co had a tax benefit in Q1 related to the retroactive reinstatement of the 2012 R&D tax credit that will not repeat in Q2, so higher sequential operating profit will be partially offset by higher sequential taxes. absent USPS rate increases, NFLX has been able to maintain DVD contribution margin as members and shipment volume decline. Co is anticipate continuing to be able to maintain the margins it sees in the first half of 2013 throughout the full year. Consistent with view last quarter, it does not foresee USPS service changes that will have a material negative impact upon us or our members for the remainder of 2013. With the fundraising, NFLX finished the quarter with a little over $1 billion in cash and equivalents. Market conditions were attractive and it was pleased to add cash to increase reserves and afford the flexibility to invest in additional Originals. NFLX will convert the 2011 TCV $200 million convertible notes tomorrow (April 23rd) into the corresponding 2.3 million shares. NFLX reports diluted EPS as if the debt was converted, so guidance for Q2 EPS already accounts for these shares, and there is no change to cash on hand from this conversion.