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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : Today proved to be a one-sided affair as equities climbed throughout the session. As a result, the S&P 500 settled higher by 0.7% to notch a fresh record close while the Nasdaq rose 0.9%.

The Nasdaq displayed relative strength from the onset as technology stocks paced today's advance. Major sector components Apple (AAPL 430.12, +12.92), Google (GOOG 819.06, +17.64), and Microsoft (MSFT 32.61, +0.82) all settled with gains of at least 2.5%.

Chipmakers also displayed broad strength as the PHLX Semiconductor Index ended higher by 1.3%.

Although the tech sector was able to register a firm gain, the group was unable to overcome its month-to-date losses as it still holds a loss of 0.3%.

Meanwhile, strength in basic materials producers helped the sector erase its April losses. Steelmakers saw gains across the board and the Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 41.96, +0.61) ended higher by 1.5%. Metal prices also provided support as gold rose 1.2% to $1470.70 per troy ounce while copper added 0.7% to $3.211 per pound.

Gains in commodities also helped the energy sector as crude oil rose 1.4% to end at $94.32 per barrel.

Even though three cyclical sectors ended atop today's leaderboard, other growth-oriented groups trailed behind the broader market.

The discretionary sector underperformed as homebuilders and retailers weighed. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 73.02, 0.00) ended flat even as J.C. Penney (JCP 17.19, +0.19) advanced 1.1% as reports indicated two hedge funds bought shares of the retailer.

With all ten sectors registering gains, defensively-geared consumer staples and telecom were the weakest performers as both settled higher by 0.3%.

Today's volume was well below average as 598 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

In the Treasury market, the 10-yr note ended flat with its yield at 1.670% after bouncing around a two point range for the duration of the day.

Looking back on today's economic data, personal income and spending both rose 0.2% in March. The Briefing.com consensus expected income to increase 0.3% and spending to rise 0.1%. The March income and spending data were already incorporated in the first quarter GDP report that was released last Friday. The only new information was that January income growth was revised up to -3.6% from -3.7% and that January spending growth was revised down to 0.3% from 0.4%. The February growth rates were unrevised.

In addition, pending home sales for March rose 1.5%, which was better than the 0.1% increase forecast by the Briefing.com consensus. Today's reading follows last month's decline of 0.4%.

Tomorrow, the first quarter employment cost index will be reported at 8:30 ET while February Case-Shiller 20-city Index and April Chicago PMI will be released at 9:00 ET and 9:45 ET, respectively. The day's economic data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of April consumer confidence. On the earnings front, Marathon Petroleum (MPC 82.41, +1.06) and Pfizer (PFE 30.43, +0.34) will report their quarterly results prior to the opening bell.DJ30 +106.20 NASDAQ +27.76 SP500 +11.37 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1680/1.47 bln/789 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2215/598.7 mln/791

3:30 pm :

June crude oil advanced during today's pit trade, gaining support from a weaker dollar index. The energy component lifted off its session low of $93.18 per barrel and trended higher as the session progressed. It booked a gain of 1.6% as it settled at $94.46 per barrel, slightly below its session high of $94.69 per barrel.
June natural gas extended Friday's gains as it came off its session low of $4.29 per MMBtu and trended upwards for its entire session. It settled 3.8% higher at its session high of $4.39 per MMBtu.
June gold traded higher during today's floor trade as the weaker dollar index boosted prices. Investors are also awaiting Wednesday's FOMC statement. The yellow metal traded as high as $1476.60 per ounce in early morning floor trade and settled with a 1.0% gain at $1467.70 per ounce. o July silver also spent its entire pit session in the black. It climbed to a session high of $24.48 per ounce and ultimately booked a gain of 1.6% as it settled at $24.17 per ounce.
July corn rose by the daily exchange limit (+ $0.40) today to $6.60 per bushel as planting delays continue, booking a 6.5% gain for the session. The advance also came ahead of the USDA's weekly crop progress report which will be released today at 4:00pm ET.

5:11PM Advanced Energy beats by $0.12, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (AEIS) 18.47 +0.25 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.17; revenues fell 88.8% year/year to $11.8 mln vs the $110.64 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.18-0.28, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.22 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $132-145 mln vs. $131.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:11PM Riverbed Technology misses by $0.01, misses on revs (RVBD) 14.85 -0.04 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.24; non-GAAP revenues rose 38% year/year to $253 mln; GAAP rev +35% to $246 mln; not clear which is comparable to $261.21 mln consensus.

"Non-GAAP revenue grew thirty-eight percent over the prior year and ten percent without the benefit of $52 million contributed by OPNET in the quarter. Despite weak government spending and general economic softness impacting results, WAN optimization revenue increased six percent year-over-year. Our market expanding products outside of WAN optimization and OPNET generated more than 40% year-over-year growth. Over the long-term, we believe our multi-product strategy to deliver unmatched application performance will allow us to accelerate the company's revenue growth."

4:06PM Intl Rectifier beats by $0.11, misses on revs; guides Q4 revs above consensus (IRF) 19.64 +0.40 : Reports Q3 (Mar) loss of $0.29 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.40); revenues fell 9.6% year/year to $224.3 mln vs the $229.03 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $255-265 mln vs. $251.10 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Sees Q4 gross margin 28% to 30%; Research and development expense (14-week quarter) $32 million; Sales, general and administrative expense (14-week quarter) $47 million; Asset impairment, restructuring and other charges $1 to $2 million; Amortization of acquisition related intangibles $1.7 million Other expense, net $1 million Tax expense $4 million

4:04PM Peregrine Semi beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (PSMI) 10.65 -0.07 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.01 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.04); revenues rose 27.0% year/year to $46.6 mln vs the $44.35 mln consensus.

Gross margin on a non-GAAP basis for the first quarter of 2013 was 42.9% of revenue, compared to 31.0% of revenue for the same period in 2012. Gross margin on a GAAP basis for the first quarter of 2013 was 42.5% of revenue, compared to 30.6% of revenue for the same period in 2012.

Guidance: Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $48-$50 mln vs. $49.42 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Second quarter GAAP gross margin is expected to be in the range of 39% to 41%.

4:03PM Integrated Device reports EPS in-line, beats on revs (IDTI) 6.93 : Reports Q4 (Mar) earnings of $0.01 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.01; revenues fell 8.9% year/year to $108.5 mln vs the $107.12 mln consensus.

"Despite a challenging fiscal year 2013, revenue from new product categories grew 56 percent year-over-year and represented 18 percent of total revenue, in line with our projections from our analyst day a year ago. This highlights the success we are seeing in these new areas but that growth was offset by declines in our base and core businesses, reflecting a difficult demand environment across all of our end markets. We also drove gross margins to 10-year highs in fiscal 2013 by adopting a fabless model and focusing on higher margin products. As we enter fiscal 2014, we believe that the continued momentum of new product adoption, recovery in our core and base businesses, continued strength in gross margins and planned reductions in operating expenses will enable us to expand our operating margins throughout the year."

4:02PM Anadigics reports EPS in-line, misses on revs (ANAD) 1.97 +0.05 : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of ($0.20); revenues fell 6.8% year/year to $26.4 mln vs the $26.9 mln consensus.

4:02PM Monolithic Power beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 revs in-line (MPWR) 23.29 +0.22 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.17 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.16; revenues rose 2.0% year/year to $51.5 mln vs the $51.14 mln consensus. Gross margin was 53.2% compared with 53.0% in the fourth quarter of 2012 and 52.3% in the first quarter of 2012.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $55-59 mln vs. $56.81 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees Gross margin between 53% and 54%. Sees GAAP research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses between $25.0 million and $27.5 million. Non-GAAP(1) research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses between $20.5 million and $22.5 million. This excludes an estimate of stock-based compensation expense in the range of $4.5 million to $5.0 million.

Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) announced that GLOBALFOUNDRIES has collaborated with Cadence to provide pattern classification data for manufacturing processes of 20 and 14 nanometers.

Rudolph Technologies (RTEC) has purchased selected assets, including a strong patent portfolio, relating to metrology capability from Tamar Technology, Newbury Park, Calif

Micrel (MCRL) announced that they have signed Phoenics Electronics, a fully franchised, technically supportive, stocking distributor of semiconductor and board level solution

Kopin (KOPN) announced the partnership with Edmund Optics to distribute the RUBY Module, an SVGA (600 x 800) microdisplay module offered in full-color and monochrome versions.

Extreme Networks (EXTR) announced that the co's Open Fabric data center switching portfolio was tested and turned in 'remarkable' results following the latest round of Lippis Report's evaluation of data center Ethernet switches and "Active-Active" cloud fabric technology. Participants in the test included Extreme Networks, Arista, Brocade and Avaya.

MidAmerican Solar and SunPower (SPWR) marked the start of major construction at the Antelope Valley Solar Projects - two projects co-located in Kern and Los Angeles counties in California - with a community celebration.