Sector Investing

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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The S&P 500 settled higher by 0.1% to mark its eight consecutive advance. The utilities sector ended atop today's leaderboard with a gain of 1.6%, but the relative strength of three influential sectors (financials, industrials, and technology) helped the S&P end at a fresh record high of 1682.50, less than five away from its May 22 all-time intraday high of 1687.18.

Financials provided the broader market with an opening boost after Citigroup (C 51.81, +1.00) reported better-than-expected earnings on above-consensus revenue. Citigroup rose 2.0% while the broader sector added 0.4%, but neither was able to close above its opening high.

Technology shares (+0.3%) also outperformed the broader market as major components provided the sector with a measure of support. Apple (AAPL 427.44, +0.93), IBM (IBM 194.00, +1.93), and Microsoft (MSFT 36.17, +0.50) all gained between 0.2% and 1.4%. However, chipmakers underperformed as the PHLX Semiconductor Index slipped 0.1%.

Industrials and materials climbed after China's second quarter GDP growth of 7.5% met expectations after some feared the reading could disappoint. In addition, the industrial sector received a boost from Dow component Boeing (BA 105.66, +3.79) after it was determined that Friday's fire aboard a 787 Dreamliner at London's Heathrow Airport was not caused by battery issues. Afternoon reports from the Wall Street Journal have suggested an emergency locator transmitter made by Honeywell (HON 82.30, -0.07) may have been the culprit.

While most cyclical sectors finished ahead of the broader market, the energy space ended lower by 0.1% and the discretionary sector shed 0.3%. Homebuilders lagged with the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 23.11, -0.47) falling 2.0%.

With regards to countercyclical groups, the utilities sector stood out while consumer staples and health care were little changed. For its part, the telecom services sector lost 0.7% as AT&T (T 35.55, -0.26) and Verizon (VZ 49.96, -0.45) weighed. Over the weekend, AT&T offered to acquire Leap Wireless (LEAP 16.95, +8.97) for $15 per share, representing an 88.0% premium to Leap's Friday closing price.

Today's session featured below-average participation as only 567 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This total was only 85 million above the holiday-shortened session on July 3. However, the remainder of the week should prove to be more active as second quarter earnings pour in. In addition, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will appear before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday to take part in a semi-annual testimony.

Economic data of the day pointed to a 0.4% increase in June retail sales. That was below the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which called for an increase of 0.7%. Excluding autos, retail sales were flat, which was disappointing relative to the 0.4% consensus estimate.

Separately, May business inventories ticked up 0.1% after increasing 0.2% in April. The Briefing.com consensus expected inventory levels to decline 0.1%.

Tomorrow, June CPI and core CPI will be reported at 8:30 ET; May net long-term TIC flows will be announced at 9:00 ET; while June industrial production and capacity utilization will be released at 9:15 ET. The day's economic data will be topped off by the 10:00 ET release of the July NAHB Housing Market Index. On the earnings front, Coca-Cola (KO 41.01, -0.02), Goldman Sachs (GS 163.00, +2.89), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 90.40, +0.41) will report their results before the opening bell.DJ30 +19.96 NASDAQ +7.41 SP500 +2.31 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1624/1.40 bln/873 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1891/566.6 mln/1128
3:35 pm : Commodities ended the day mostly higher, with crude oil and natural gas gaining steam in the afternoon session and nat gas rallying into the close.

Natural gas rallied into the end of floor trading, rising 3.7% off its LoD to finish the day $0.03 higher at $3.67/MMBtu. Crude oil rose in the afternoon and into the close as well, coming back from below the $105 level and ended $0.37 higher at $106.30/barrel.

In the metals space, precious metals ended modestly higher, while copper prices lost one penny. Aug gold finished $6.30 higher at $1283.70/oz, while Sept silver ended $0.04 higher at $19.84/oz. Sept copper fell one penny to finish at $3.14/lb.

5:22PM Emulex announces leadership transition: Jeffrey W. Benck Appointed President and Chief Executive Officer; sees Q4 revs and EPS in-line with estimates (ELX) 8.32 +0.04 : Co announced that its board of directors has unanimously approved a leadership succession that will ensure a seamless transition and continued strong leadership at Emulex. As part of this, Jeffrey W. Benck, Emulex's current president and chief operating officer (COO), has been appointed president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Emulex and a member of the board of directors, effective immediately. James M. McCluney, who has served as Emulex's CEO since 2006, has been named executive chairman of the board, also effective immediately. Paul Folino will step down from his role as chairman and will continue as a director. Mr. Benck joined Emulex in 2008 as COO, and was promoted to president in 2010.

"Preliminary results for the fourth quarter include total net revenues of $119 to $120 million (vs $119.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate), which is at the midpoint of our May guidance of $118 to $122 million. Preliminary estimated Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the quarter are also expected to be in line with our May guidance of $0.11 to $0.13 per share (vs $0.12 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate)."

4:51PM MagnaChip Semi announces pricing of $225 mln of senior notes (MX) 19.12 +0.04 : Co announced today that it has priced a private offering of $225 million of its 6.625% Senior Notes due 2021 at an issue price of 99.5% of principal amount. The offering is expected to close on July 18, 2013. The net proceeds of this offering will be used to redeem all of its subsidiaries' outstanding $203.7 million in aggregate principal amount of 10.500% Senior Notes due 2018, including applicable premium and accrued interest, and to pay transaction fees and expenses related to the offering.

4:15PM Marvell appoints co-founder Dai as President (MRVL) 11.97 -0.04 : Co announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Weili Dai as president of the company, effective July 14, 2013.

Mid Cap Gainers

SUNE (9.52 +8.06%): Bloomberg reporting that China plans to increase solar capacity by 5x by 2015

LSI (LSI) introduced the LSI SAS 9300 host bus adapter family, the industry's first 12Gb/s solution for high-performance servers, workstations and external storage systems.

9:02AM Cohu's Semiconductor Equipment Group receives multi-unit order for next generation T-Core thermal subsystem (COHU) 13.25 : Co announced a multi-unit order for T-Core thermal subsystems that optimize testing of application processors used in mobile computing. The company's T-Core thermal technology enables higher test yield for ICs that power a wide range of smartphones, tablets, and other consumer devices. T-Core can be integrated in Cohu's production test handlers or in batch test systems for cost-effective, parallel testing of hundreds of ICs.

Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) announced that Ricoh selected the Cadence Palladium XP verification computing platform for its multifunction printer system-on-chip development, after an extensive competitive benchmarking process.

sTec (STEC) announced that Fujitsu Limited has selected sTec solid-state disks with the SAS interface and MLC multi-level cell technology as the core storage for its ETERNUS DX series storage systems.

10:02 am Riverbed Technology downgraded to Hold at Wunderlich: . Wunderlich downgrades RVBD to Hold from Buy. The firm says, checks indicate RVBD is achieving growing success with the 15+ mo. old Granite product line based on the value proposition of consolidating remote office servers, which it uniquely enables. They expect positive outlook commentary for the company's other green shoots as well,including Stingray applications, delivery controllers for cloud computing, and Riverbed Performance Management. However,they do envision sufficient upside for continued purchase at the current time and price level.

10:01 am V.F. Corp tgt raised to $220 at TAG ahead of earnings: . TAG is raising their tgt to $220 from $195; they are raising their 2Q13 EPS estimate by $0.05 to $1.16, on a higher operating margin forecast of 8.6% (vs. 8.2% previously), or roughly 70 bps above 7.9% a year ago. They remain positive on the VF story and continue to view the stock as a core holding in the apparel sector.

10:01 am 3D Systems tgt raised to $56 at Maxim Group: . Maxim Group raises their DDD tgt to $56 from $54; end-to-end portfolio of printers, materials and services position the co well for the long run opportunity.