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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The S&P 500 settled lower by 0.6% as all ten sectors registered losses.

Stocks slipped out of the gate after today's better-than-expected economic data was unable to spark an opening bid.

The June trade deficit narrowed to $34.2 billion from May's downwardly revised $44.1 billion (from $45.0 billion). That was the smallest monthly trade deficit since October 2009. The Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to fall to $43.4 billion. In the advance estimate for second quarter GDP, the Bureau of Economic Analysis assumed the trade deficit widened slightly in June. This huge downward surprise will likely add at least 0.5 percentage points to second quarter growth.

June exports increased by $4.1 billion to $191.2 billion, representing the largest amount of exports, nominal or real, on record. On the flip side, imports fell by $5.8 billion to $225.4 billion. Nearly the entire decline in imports was due to a drop in petroleum-based demand (-$2.0 billion) and a softening in cell phone imports (-$1.5 billion).

The S&P spent the first 90 minutes of the session in a steady decline as cyclical sectors pressured the index below the 1,700 level with financials, materials, and industrials leading to the downside.

All top-weighted banks ended in the red with Citigroup (C 51.48, -1.39) posting the largest loss among the majors. Meanwhile, the broader sector slid 0.9%.

Elsewhere, the materials space (-1.0%) finished at the bottom of the leaderboard as steelmakers, gold miners, and chemical producers displayed broad weakness. On a related note, gold futures fell 1.5% to $1282.90 per troy ounce while copper futures ended little changed at $3.173 per pound.

Another growth-oriented group, industrials, settled lower by 0.8% due to the underperformance of transportation-related names. The Dow Jones Transportation Average fell 1.3% as 18 of 20 components registered losses. Expeditors International (EXPD 41.21, +0.87) advanced 2.2% after beating on earnings and peer UPS (UPS 87.95, +0.09) tacked on 0.1% in sympathy.

Most cyclical sectors trailed behind the broader market, but technology and discretionary shares outperformed slightly. Although the tech sector ended off its lows, the largest component, Apple (AAPL 465.25, -4.20), slid 0.9%, and the top-weighted Dow component, IBM (IBM 190.99, -4.51), tumbled 2.3%.

In the discretionary space, media and publishing names displayed some strength after Washington Post (WPO 593.00, +24.30) agreed to sell its newspaper publishing business to Jeff Bezos. However, home builders and retailers lagged. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 21.90, -0.48) lost 2.1% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 81.97, -1.02) slumped 1.2% after American Eagle Outfitters (AEO 17.57, -2.40) issued cautious guidance.

Unlike growth-sensitive sectors, three of four countercyclical groups were able to erase a portion of their losses. Consumer staples, health care, and telecom services shed between 0.1% and 0.5% while the utilities space underperformed with a loss of 0.6%.

Today's volume was well ahead of yesterday, but at 658 million shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the final tally came up short of its 50-day moving average, which sits in the 768 million area.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET and June consumer credit will be released at 15:00 ET.DJ30 -93.39 NASDAQ -27.18 SP500 -9.77 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 763/1.49 bln/1734 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 760/658.1 mln/2268

3:30 pm :

Sep crude oil erased most of its earlier losses as it gained support from the strongest reading of the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index since Feb 2011. The energy component climbed off its session low of $105.70 per barrel and brushed a session high of $107.06 per barrel. It settled just 0.3% lower at $106.56 per barrel.
Sep natural gas, on the other hand, pulled back from its session high of $3.36 per MMBtu and fell into negative territory. It brushed a session low of $3.31 per MMBtu and eventually settled with a 0.9% loss at $3.32 per MMBtu.
Precious metals traded in the red following the better-than-anticipated economic data released this morning.
Dec gold retreated from its session high of $1310.20 per ounce and touched a session low of $1296.70 per ounce. Unable to erase much of the loss, it settled 0.6% lower at $1301.90 per ounce.
Sep silver slipped to a session low of $19.52 per ounce moments after pit trade opened. It settled with a 1.0% loss at $19.72 per ounce, slightly below its session high of $19.75 per ounce.

4:22PM Spreadtrum Comms beats by $0.11, beats on revs (SPRD) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.95 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.84; revenues rose 60.5% year/year to $277.8 mln vs the $274.03 mln consensus.

Gross margin was 37.8% compared to 37.3% in the prior quarter and 37.1% in 2Q12. Cash flow generated from operations was $47.6 million, compared with $17.4 million in the prior quarter and $16.8 million in 2Q12.

Commentary: "In the second quarter we saw very strong demand for entry-level smartphones based on our single-core smartphone chipsets. We expect this trend to continue well into 2014 as wireless subscribers replace feature phones with their first smartphone. In the second quarter, we increased our market share in midrange handsets as well, having achieved volume shipments of our dual-core smartphone chipsets to both China and global handset makers. Further, we are now shipping our first WCDMA chipset in volume, which expands our addressable market to include global 3G devices..."

4:11PM First Solar misses by $0.17, misses on revs; guides FY13 EPS in-line, revs below consensus; announces GE partnership (FSLR) 46.75 -1.11 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.39 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.17 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.56; revenues fell 45.7% year/year to $520 mln vs the $729.71 mln consensus. The sequential decrease in net sales is primarily attributable to lower systems business project revenues as well as lower module-only sales volume to third-parties. Compared to the second quarter of 2012, the decrease in net sales is primarily attributable to lower systems business project revenue as initial revenue recognition for AVSR and the sale of Silver State North were both achieved in the second quarter of 2012, partially offset by higher sales volume to third-party module-only customers in the second quarter of 2013. As a previously highlighted possibility, the Company did not complete the sale of the ABW projects in the second quarter of 2013 and such sale is expected to occur in the second half of this year.

Co issues mixed guidance for FY13, sees EPS of $3.75-4.25 vs. $4.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY13 revs of $3.6-3.8 vs. $3.83 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Raises operating expense to $390-410 mln from $380-400 mln
Maintains Operating Cash FLow of $800 mln to $1 bln
Maintains CaqEx of $350-400 mln

The Company also announced the acquisition of all of GE's (NYSE: GE) cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar intellectual property and entered into a technology collaboration agreement with GE, with the intent to advance thin-film solar cells and modules. Under the agreement, First Solar acquired GE's CdTe solar intellectual property, setting a course for advancement of photovoltaic (PV) thin-film solar technology and GE received 1.75 million shares of First Solar stock.

4:06PM First Solar acquires US and Mexico portfolio from Element Power; GE, First Solar announce solar technology and commercial partnership (FSLR) 46.75 -1.11 : Co announced that it has acquired a pipeline of U.S. and Mexico development assets from Element Power. The 1.5 GW pipeline includes geographically diverse projects in various stages of development. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In addition, GE (GE) and First Solar announced a technology partnership to advance thin-film solar cells and modules. First Solar has acquired GE's global cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar intellectual property portfolio, setting a course for significant advancement of photovoltaic (PV) thin-film solar technology. GE received 1.75 million shares of First Solar common stock as part of this transaction. GE has agreed to retain the shares for at least three years. Additionally, GE and First Solar have formed a commercial relationship around solar inverter technology. First Solar will continue to purchase inverters from GE Energy Management for use in First Solar's global solar deployments to optimize electrical balance of plant. By combining complementary technologies, the collaboration is expected to lead to an improvement in solar grid integration, more competitive cost structures and a roadmap for combined electrical equipment.

4:06PM Monolithic Power announces $100 mln stock repurchase program (MPWR) 26.31 -0.10 :

Marvell (MRVL) announced that China Mobile's (CHL) first self-branded smartphone, the Android-based M601, is powered by the Marvell ARMADA Mobile PXA988 unified 3G platform.

2:33 pm Tech sector trading lower by 0.71% along with overall market
The tech sector is trading lower today, along with losses in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing slight relative weakness with the SOX trading 0.8% lower. Within the chip index, SUNE (-3.5%) is a notable laggard. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.7% lower today, while the QQQ is down 0.8% and the NASDAQ is trading 0.9% lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, ORCL (+1.0%) is showing isolated strength, while IBM (-2.4%) is under pressure.

In notable tech earnings last night:

MKTG (+6.3%) reported EPS in-line, beat on revs; guided Q3 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; guided FY13 EPS below consensus, revs above consensus

This morning in earnings:

CTSH (+2.6%) beat by $0.02, beats on revs; guided Q3 EPS in-line, revs above consensus; raised FY13 guidance
DISH (+1.2%) reported Q2 net loss, including $438 mln impairment and missed on revs
CKP (-13.3%) missed by $0.07, missed on revs. and reaffirmed FY13 EPS guidance

In news, RMBS (-1.1%) and Hynix end California antitrust lawsuit under appeal, according to reports. SNE (-5.7%) sent a letter to Third Point; SNE strongly believes that continuing to own 100% of the Company's entertainment businesses is fundamental to Sony's success. Also, VHC (+0.9%) asserted a new patent in its AAPL (-0.8%) lawsuit.

Among notable analyst upgrades in tech this morning, Benchmark Company upgraded ADNC (+5.2%) to Buy and MKTG (+6.0%) was upgraded to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

In downgrades, IBM (-2.3%) was downgraded to Underperform at Credit Suisse and WWWW (-5.4%) was downgraded to Neutral at ROTH Capital.

CSC (-1.3%) and NUAN (-0.6%) are the notable names in tech scheduled to report after the close. TWX (-0.9%) and AVT (-0.9%) report tomorrow before the open.