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From Briefing.com: 4:34PM Merix beats by $0.07, guides Q3 revs above consensus (MERX) 7.84 +0.61 : Reports Q2 (Nov) earnings of $0.03 per share, $0.07 better than the Reuters Estimates consensus of ($0.04); revenues rose 42.8% year/year to $61.7 mln vs the $61.2 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees $0.00-0.04 vs. $0.00 consensus; sees Q3 revs of $87-91 mln vs. $83.96 mln consensus.

4:06PM Fairchild Semi announces sale of its LED and LED display product lines (FCS) 17.13 +0.22 : Co announces the sale of its LED and LED display product lines to Everlight Electronics. Fairchild will retain its optocoupler and infrared product lines. The cos have agreed not to disclose the financial terms of the sale. Co says "By divesting these LED and display products, Fairchild is continuing to sharpen its focus on its core businesses."

4:20 pm : A bullish interpretation of minutes from the FOMC's most recent meeting helped the market's major averages breach the trading range that had left them encircling the flat line for most of the year's first session. While a lower than expected manufacturing read extinguished early buying action, investors chose to focus upon the Fed's assertion that the number of rate rises "probably would not be large" and that inflation remains contained.

From 2:00 ET (the time at which the minutes were released) until the bell, buying was broad-based and took all ten of the economic sectors higher. Alongside a 3.1% surge in the price of crude, Energy (+4.5%) occupied the leadership seat all day. While its gain had not been sufficient in countering selling pressure in the early going, a 1.7% jump in the Financial sector and a 2.0% rise in Technology lent muscle to the broader market's advance. Banks had exerted a market-dragging decline intra-day, but clues from the Fed that the end to its current monetary tightening cycle is nearing helped the industry fully erase its loss and rise to a market-leading gain. The Treasury market similarly took a bullish cue, and the yield curve's slight steepening, following last week's inversion, further helped to underpin a sense of bullishness from which rate-sensitive pockets of the market benefited.

Despite crude's run, the Consumer Discretionary sector managed to post a 1.0% gain. Retail had presented a particular challenge, but similarly rose with the afternoon rally. In particular, General Motors (GM 18.94 -0.48) and Wal-Mart (WMT 46.22 -0.58) challenged that industry. Bank of America's target price cut took the former issue south, while the world's largest retailer's assertion that December same-store sales should rise 2.2% -- the low end of its previously-forecasted +2-4% range for the vital holiday period -- sent it to a two-month low. While WMT's decline also weighed heavily upon the Consumer Staples sector (+0.6%), broad-based buying and earnings-induced strength in Walgreen's (WAG 45.41 +1.15) helped it climb. Such wide-spread buying action helped even transportation issues, which had languished on account of the energy price action, and enabled the Industrials (+0.6%) sector to clear the flat line.

Surges across the Technology board can be largely credited with today's advance, and, particularly, with the Nasdaq's outperformance. Healthcare, which spent the session on positive turf, further contributed to the indices' stances. The Dow's pharmaceutical trio - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 61.51 +1.41), Merck (MRK 32.75 +0.94), and Pfizer (PFE 23.72 +0.40) - demonstrated relative strength on the heels of JNJ's analyst upgrade. That industry teamed with particular strength in biotechs and healthcare distributors in driving the sector's solid 1.3% rise.

With respect to the December ISM Index, the four-month low reading of 54.2 (consensus 57.5) still reflects growth, but at a decelerated rate that dampened the early bullishness with which 2006 launched. However, the extent to which the Fed hikes interest rates remains this year's stock market's biggest concern; hope gleaned from the FOMC's minutes that the tightening end is near stole the afternoon spotlight and eclipsed the effect of suggested economic slowing.DJ30 +129.91 NASDAQ +38.42 SP500 +20.51 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1209/1906/2.01 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 833/2529/1.91 bln

11:07AM Intel confirms new brand identity (INTC) 24.98 +0.02 : THe co formally unveiled a new brand identity today that represents a significant milestone in the co's history and further signifies the co's evolution to a market-driving platform solutions co. The key technologies behind the co's platform focus include the microprocessor, chipset and software that together enhance system performance and improve the overall user experience.

10:01AM Flextronics appoints Michael McNamara as CEO (FLEX) 10.37 -0.07 :

9:08AM On The Wires : Lexar Media (LEXR) introduced new additions to its lineup of high-performance USB flash drives, as well as enhancements to existing products, at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show... Genesis Microchip (GNSS) aannoucnes that Skyworth Optical & Electrical, China's third-largest TV manufacturer and a major television exporter, has designed Genesis Microchip's FLI8532 into its new high-definition 32-inch and 37-inch LCD TV models 32FL6G, 32FL6U1, 37FL6G and 37FL6U1, all of which are now available in China... Silicon Image (SIMG) annoucnes the release of the SiI 9020, the first discrete HDMI transmitter chip specifically for the mobile market.

Western Digital (WDC) announces it has doubled the capacity of its next-generation 10,000 RPM WD Raptor enterprise Serial ATA hard drive to 150 GB and has increased the performance of the popular drive with additional features for server and networked storage applications.