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4:10 pm : The S&P 500 settled higher by 1.0% as trade managed to regain its 50-day moving average (1666/1667) for the first time in two weeks.

Equities climbed from the open, bolstered by reassuring economic reports out of China and Japan, headlines suggesting a strike against Syria could possibly be avoided, and the notion that the relatively disappointing employment report on Friday has lowered the probability of a big tapering announcement at the September 17-18 FOMC meeting.

Overnight, China reported a larger-than-expected trade surplus of $28.61 billion as imports grew 7.0% (11.3% expected) and exports increased 7.2% (6.0% forecast). Elsewhere, Japan saw its second quarter GDP revised up to 0.9% quarter-over-quarter from 0.6% and Tokyo received the nod to host the 2020 Olympics.

Growth-sensitive sectors paced the advance with materials ending in the lead. The sector rose 1.5% as steelmakers rallied in reaction to the data from Asia. The Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 45.00, +1.21) jumped 2.8%. Fertilizer names also registered solid gains after Russian President Vladimir Putin said the ongoing potash dispute with Belarus needs to be resolved. Mosaic (MOS 44.31, +2.15) ended higher by 5.1%.

Other commodity-related sectors also displayed strength. Industrials (+1.2%) were bolstered by broad gains among transportation companies and machinery producers. The Dow Jones Transportation Average rose 1.4% and Dow component Caterpillar (CAT 85.59, +2.20), who does a significant amount of business in China, advanced 2.6%.

The energy sector (+1.0%) also outperformed even as crude oil fell 1.4% to $109.04 per barrel. Crude futures slid to their lows after reports indicating Russia has urged Syria to put its chemical weapons under international control were followed by headlines suggesting Syria has welcomed the proposal. The reports contributed to some cautious optimism hoping that a diplomatic solution remains within the realm of possibilities.

With regard to other cyclical sectors, technology (+1.3%) displayed strength throughout the day. The largest sector component, Apple (AAPL 506.17, +7.95), gained 1.6% ahead of tomorrow's product refresh. Elsewhere, discretionary shares finished in-line with the S&P, which overshadowed the broad gains among homebuilders. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 21.78, +0.90) spiked 4.3%.

Countercyclical sectors lagged across the board as consumer staples, health care, telecom services, and utilities added between 0.2% and 0.8%.

Treasuries finished near their highs as participants speculated whether the August employment report was weak enough to prevent the data-dependent Fed from lowering the pace of its asset purchases at the September 17/18 FOMC meeting. The benchmark 10-yr yield ended lower by four basis points at 2.90%.

Participation in today's session was limited as less than 650 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

According to the Federal Reserve, consumer credit increased by $10.4 billion in July. This followed the prior month's increase of $11.9 billion, and was lower than the $13.0 billion that had been broadly expected among economists polled by Briefing.com.

There is no economic data of note scheduled to be reported tomorrow.DJ30 +140.62 NASDAQ +46.17 SP500 +16.54 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1929/1.62 bln/621 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2413/638.7 mln/603

3:30 pm :

Oct crude oil traded lower today following headlines suggesting Syria has welcomed Russia's proposal for Syria to put its chemical weapons under international control. The energy component pulled back from its session high of $110.20 per barrel set at floor trade open and settled with a 0.9% loss at $109.53 per barrel. In electronic trade, crude is selling off and is now just below $109/barrel.
Oct natural gas, on the other hand, traded higher. It picked up momentum as it headed into the close after chopping around near the $3.57 per MMBtu level for most of the session. It settled at its session high of $3.61 per MMBtu, or 2.3% higher.
Dec gold brushed a session high of $1390.90 per ounce but lost momentum in late morning action and spent the remainder of the session chopping around near the unchanged line. It settled 20 cents lower at $1386.50 per ounce despite a weaker dollar index.
Dec silver spent its entire session in negative territory, touching a session low of $23.52 per ounce. Although it traded up to a session high of $23.83 per ounce in late morning action, it pulled back as the session progressed and settled with a 0.8% loss at $23.72 per ounce.

Large Cap Gainers

DAL (21.24 +6.79%): To replace BMC Software (BMC) in the S&P 500
VALE (16.33 +4.51%): Mentioned positively in blog article by Jim Cramer
POT (31.47 +4.31%): Strength in potash companies following reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin said it is necessary to resolve a potash dispute with Belarus; MOS also higher

Large Cap Losers

ESRX (63.93 -2.43%): Announced acquisition of SmartD Medicare prescription drug plan, terms not disclosed
MPC (69.64 -1.71%): Downgraded at Simmons
LNKD (249 -1.67%): Seeing reports that Facebook is testing a "professional skills" section that is similar to LinkedIn

Mid Cap Gainers

MOLX (38.56 +31.42%): To be acquired by Koch Industries for $38.50 per share in cash
ISIS (31.1 +11.39%): Co and Biogen Idec (BIIB) announced that they have entered into a broad, multi-year collaboration to leverage antisense technology to advance the treatment of neurological diseases; BIIB will make an upfront payment of $100 mln
CLF (23.07 +5.58%): Strength following strong year over year growth in China's August exports

Mid Cap Losers

EGO (8.07 -4.21%): Weakness in gold companies: NGD, AEM, GOLD, BVN also lower
CYH (38.1 -3.98%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
HFC (43 -1.58%): Downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

9:09AM Freescale Semi announces increase of new term loan facility from $300 mln to $800 mln (FSL) 15.55 : Co announced that Freescale has been advised by the arrangers under its proposed new senior secured term loan facility that they have received sufficient orders to upsize the proposed new term loan facility to $800 million from the original $300 million proposed at the outset of the offering.

The proceeds from the proposed new term loan facility are intended to be used to redeem, repurchase or otherwise acquire all of Freescale's outstanding 10?% senior secured notes due 2018 and a portion of its 9 % senior secured notes due 2018, and to pay related redemption premiums and fees. Freescale will pay for a portion of its expenses with cash on hand. The foregoing does not constitute a notice of redemption for any outstanding notes. The purposes of the transaction and the application of the proceeds are to extend a portion of Freescale's debt maturities and reduce interest expense.

Spansion (CODE) announced that the Spansion FL-S family of Serial Peripheral Interface Flash and the Spansion ML-G1 Series SLC NAND have been qualified as Xilinx (XLNX) Supported Flash Devices for the Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC family for configuration and data storage.

IXYS (IXYS) announced the release of a reference design and demonstration board for a 200W AC LED Driver with Power Line Interface in collaboration with Echelon (ELON).

Intel's (INTC) McAfee announced its new 2014 line of core PC security suites delivering increased power and performance with a lighter and faster footprint resulting in an improved user experience. The line includes McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2014, McAfee Internet Security 2014 and McAfee Total Protection 2014.

FEI (FEIC) announced that Monash University has ordered a Titan Krios cryo transmission electron microscope and Tecnai T12 TEM for applications in the field of integrated structural biology.

8:01AM Molex Incorporated agrees to Be acquired by Koch Industries for $38.50/share in cash (shares halted) (MOLX) 29.34 :

Co announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Koch Industries. Under the terms of the agreement, Koch Industries will acquire all of Molex's outstanding shares, including the Common Stock (MOLX), the Class A Common Stock (MOLXA) and the Class B Common Stock, for $38.50/share in cash, for a total equity value of ~ $7.2 bln.
Based on the closing stock prices on September 6, 2013, the purchase price represents a 42% premium to the equity value of Molex's publicly-traded stock, specifically a 31% premium to the Common Stock and a 56% premium to the Class A Common Stock.
The agreement has been approved by both the Molex and the Koch Industries boards of directors. Certain members of the Krehbiel Family and certain executive officers of Molex, owning in the aggregate voting stock representing approximately 32% of the Common Stock and 94% of the Class B Common Stock, have entered into voting agreements with Koch by which they have agreed to vote their stock in support of the transaction.
The transaction is not subject to a financing condition, and the parties are targeting a calendar year-end close, subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of shareholder and regulatory approvals.

Apple (AAPL 504.30, +6.08) is +1.2% after reports suggested the company may unveil a lower-cost device for the Chinese market at its press event on Tuesday. In addition, FBN Securities raised its target for the stock to $600 from $575.

7:32AM Western Digital acquires Virident for ~$685 mln in cash (WDC) 64.99 : Virident, a provider of server-side flash storage solutions, will be acquired by HGST, a wholly owned subsidiary of WDC. Virident will be acquired for ~$685 million in cash. This represents ~$645 million in enterprise value, net of Virident's estimated cash balance at closing.

Virident solutions enable enterprises to tackle performance-intensive datacenter applications with PCIe-based enterprise flash storage solutions for virtualization, database, cloud computing, and webscale applications.

The acquisition further enhances the value of HGST solutions through Virident's intelligent storage software. The integration with HGST will enable Virident to accelerate its go-to-market efforts by leveraging HGST's strong brand, extensive channel relationships, and global customer reach.

First Solar (FSLR) and BELECTRIC Holding, GmbH announced the launch of a JV that will realize solar energy projects on three continents. The JV, PV Projects GmbH & Co. KG, is based in Germany and will be tasked with developing selected photovoltaic power projects independently acquired or developed by either of the two cos in Europe, North Africa, as well as projects of fewer than 20 megawatts, in the U.S.
Microsoft (MSFT) announces plans to bring Xbox Music to iOS and Android devices, as well as free streaming on Xbox Music via the Web. Co will offer unlimited access to the songs and artists at any time with playback across tablets, PCs, phone and Xbox console for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year.

Novatel Wireless (NVTL) announces it is implementing restructuring initiatives designed to refine its business operations and capitalize on synergies in its target markets with the goal of driving long-term profitability. In connection with the restructuring plan, Novatel Wireless is making strategic organizational changes across some of its Mobile Computing and Machine-to-Machine business operations that will streamline its research and development resources and consolidate several global manufacturing activities to drive efficiencies. The company anticipates that the restructuring initiatives will be substantially completed within the next 30-45 days. Once fully implemented, Novatel Wireless estimates that the restructuring initiatives will generate annualized, pre-tax savings of $10 to 11 million, which will begin to be realized in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2013. Cost savings will be achieved through the consolidation of one of the company's development sites and certain manufacturing and other activities, which the company expects to result in a headcount reduction of approximately 75 to 80 employees. The company expects to record an associated, pre-tax restructuring charge in its GAAP financial results of ~$3.2-4.6 million in the second half of 2013, the majority of which is expected to occur in the fiscal third quarter.

Hanwha SolarOne (HSOL) reported second quarter of ($0.32) vs. ($0.43) last quarter; rev +6% QoQ to $192.7 million; module shipments 321 MW vs. 330-350 MW guidance. The company sees third quarter module shipments of 300-325 MW; the company lowered fiscal year 2013 module shipment guidance to 1.2-1.4 GW from 1.3-1.5 GW.

Cowen notes, upon recent coverage transfer, it maintains its $550 target and Outperform rating on Apple (AAPL). While there could be a "sell the news" phenomenon this week, firm would buy weakness as Street estimates appear very conservative in '14 and assume iPhone share falls another ~300-400bps y/y. While US uptake of new products could remain somewhat muted in 2H:13 given some recent saturation from 4/4S, firm estimates adding China Mobile (CHL) and DoCoMo alone could conservatively drive ~25-35MM incremental units in '14 on a base of ~150MM units.F2014 revs/EPS of ~$197B/$46.56 are both ~10% above Street, while new F2015 EPS is $58.56 versus Street $52.17.