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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The S&P 500 advanced 0.5% to begin the third quarter on an upbeat note. Although the S&P registered a solid gain, the index closed almost 12 points below its session high after being rejected by its 20- and 50-day moving averages.

Stocks climbed at the open, taking a cue from gains in major markets across the world. Global investors favored equities despite mixed PMI data out of China as the country's Manufacturing PMI declined to 50.10 from 50.80 (50.00 expected) and the HSBC Manufacturing PMI remained in contraction with a downtick to 48.2 from 48.3 (48.3 forecast).

Meanwhile, most European Manufacturing PMI reports surprised to the upside, but only Great Britain (52.5 actual, 51.5 expected) posted an expansionary reading while Spain (50.0 actual, 48.5 expected) came in right on the border between contraction and expansion. The aggregate Eurozone Manufacturing PMI ticked up to 48.8 from 48.7.

Commodities began showing strength overnight, and those gains provided a boost to growth-oriented sectors. Copper futures jumped 3.3% to $3.157 per pound while gold futures rose 2.4% to $1252.50 per troy ounce. Similarly, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 24.89, +0.40) added 1.6%, giving a measure of support to the materials sector, which ended among the leaders.

The industrial sector overtook producers of basic materials into the close as transportation-related names fared well. The Dow Jones Transportation Average posted a gain of 1.1%.

Elsewhere, the energy space advanced 0.6% as crude oil climbed 1.4% to $97.95 per barrel.

While most cyclical sectors outperformed the broader market, countercyclical groups ended in mixed fashion. The health care space received some support from biotechnology after Onyx Pharma (ONXX 131.33, +44.51) rejected an unsolicited acquisition proposal from Amgen (AMGN 97.49, -1.17). The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 178.26, +4.38) advanced 2.5%.

On the downside, telecom services and utilities ended with respective losses of 0.1% and 1.3%.

Reviewing today's economic data, the ISM Index increased to 50.9 in June from 49.0 in May, ending a one-month contraction. The Briefing.com consensus expected the index to increase to 50.5.

Separately, construction spending increased 0.5% in May after increasing a downwardly revised 0.1% (from 0.4%) in April. That was exactly what the consensus expected.

Surprisingly, the entire gain in construction came from the public sector. After months of weakness, that sector increased 1.8% on strong overall growth.

Tomorrow, May factory orders will be released at 10:00 ET while automakers will be reporting their June sales throughout the day.DJ30 +65.36 NASDAQ +31.24 SP500 +8.68 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1779/1.54 bln/734 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2175/713.6 mln/867
3:35 pm : Commodities mostly held today's gains, led by copper, crude oil and gold.

Copper futures hit a HoD of $3.17/lb this morning and traded just below that level for the rest of today's session. The Sept contract ended the day 3.6% higher at $3.16/lb.

In the energy space, crude oil rallied back near its HoD in the afternoon session, settling just above the $98 level at $98.04, up 1.6%. Natural gas futures were choppy in afternoon trade, ending $0.02 higher at $3.58/MMBtu.

Gold futures held gains, ending the day above the $1250 mark. Silver, however, sold off in afternoon trade, ending today's sesssion $0.12 higher at $19.57/oz

4:21PM Interdigital Comm reschedules ITC decision investor call (IDCC) 39.26 -5.39 : Co announced the rescheduling of its planned investor conference call related to the recent initial determination by the Administrative Law Judge overseeing U.S. International Trade Commission Investigation No. 337-TA-800, announced June 28, 2013. It is expected that counsel for the parties will not receive the initial determination from the Commission until Tuesday, July 2 at the earliest. Accordingly, InterDigital is rescheduling the conference call. The new conference time and details will be announced as soon as possible on the Events page of the Investors section of InterDigital's website at http://ir.interdigital.com/events.cfm.

4:03PM Universal Display has been awarded a $225,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I program from the U.S. Department of Energy (OLED) 28.82 +0.71 :

1:10PM Semiconductor Hldrs ETF displaying relative weakness, slips to minor new session low (SMH) 37.68 -0.01 : BRCM -1.3%, INTC -1.2%, TER -0.8%, ASML -0.7%, MU -0.5%, KLAC -0.3%, LLTC -0.1%.

BBRY (10.23 -2.20%): Target lowered to $10 from $13 at UBS; downgraded to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; cautiously mentioned at Barron's; target lowered to $9 from $11 at FBR Capital Markets; downgraded to Hold from Buy at Societe Generale; downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Needham; downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank

10:13AM Cisco Systems approaches its multi-year close high from June at 24.82, its multi-year intraday high from June is at 24.98 -- session high 24.80 (CSCO) 24.76 +0.60 :

Looking at pre-market movers, Apple (AAPL 401.73, +5.20) trades higher by 1.3% after reports out of Reuters indicated the company has applied to register the 'iWatch' trademark in Japan. In addition, Raymond James upgraded the stock to 'Strong Buy' from 'Outperform' with a $600 price target.

Broadcom Corporation (BRCM) announced that Tata Sky, a leading direct-to-home satellite television provider in India, selected its highly integrated system-on-a-chip devices for set-top boxes to enable Tata Sky's first MPEG-4 standard definition STB.

El Paso Electric Power (EE) and the new mexico state land office and First Solar (FSLR) announced that construction has commenced on what will be the state's largest solar power plant, located on State Trust Land near Deming in Luna County.

Finisar (FNSR) and u2t Photonics AG announced today that they have entered into a memorandum of understanding with respect to exclusive access to and joint development of all Indium-Phosphide based Mach-Zehnder modulator technology developed at the Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institute

TriQuint Semiconductor (TQNT) announced that RF-Lambda, a global microwave products manufacturer, has developed a new line of high power amplifiers based on TriQuint gallium nitride power transistors.

07:43 am Nokia shares rise 7% following agreement to acquire Siemens (SI)
Nokia (NOK) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Nokia acquires Siemens' entire 50% stake in their joint venture, Nokia Siemens Networks. The acquisition has been approved by the Board of Directors of Nokia as well as the Managing and Supervisory Boards of Siemens, and is subject to the customary regulatory approval process. The purchase price for Siemens' stake is EUR1.7 billion and the transaction is expected to close during the third calendar quarter of 2013. Upon closing of the planned acquisition, Nokia Siemens Networks will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia. The purchase price totals EUR1.7 billion, of which EUR1.2 billion will be paid in cash at the closing of the transaction. The balance of EUR0.5 billion will be paid in the form of a secured loan from Siemens due one year from closing. Nokia has obtained committed bank financing for the EUR1.2 billion cash portion.