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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 04-Oct-13

Dow +76.10 at 15072.58, Nasdaq +33.41 at 3807.75, S&P +11.84 at 1690.5

The S&P 500 advanced 0.7%, ending the week with just a slim loss of 0.1%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq (+0.9%) outperformed to extend its weekly gain to 0.7%. For its part, the Dow lagged throughout the week and despite today's gain of 0.5%, it ended the week lower by 1.3%.

Equities climbed throughout the session while showing little concern over the lack of progress in the Capitol Hill stalemate. A brief afternoon hiccup ensued after House Speaker John Boehner made the headlines with his "This isn't some damn game!" comment, referencing the shutdown. The Speaker's emphatic remark was made in reaction to an article in The Wall Street Journal, which quoted a senior administration official as saying "We are winning...It doesn't really matter to us [how long the shutdown lasts] because what matters is the end result."

While the end result of the shutdown remains unclear, today's end result for equities was crystal clear. The major averages settled near their highs as all ten sectors registered gains.

The Nasdaq was the top performing index with biotechnology making a significant contribution. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 212.50, +2.34) finished higher by 1.1%, also giving a boost to the health care sector (+1.1%). Meanwhile, the traditional technology sector (+0.5%) underperformed as top components traded in mixed fashion.

Elsewhere, the materials space (+1.4%) had the best showing as chemical producers and steelmakers climbed. Dow Chemical (DOW 39.99, +1.22) advanced 3.2% and the Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 45.43, +0.40) added 0.9%. Miners sat out today's rally as the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 24.19, -0.07) shed 0.3%. On a related note, gold futures slipped 0.5% to $1305.10 per troy ounce.

The other commodity-linked sector-energy (+0.9%)-outperformed throughout the session while crude oil added 0.5% to $103.78 per barrel.

Also of note, the industrial sector (+0.5%) lagged in each of the past two sessions, and that was the case once again today. Transportation companies ended in-line with the sector (Dow Jones Transportation Average +0.5%) while defense contractors kept the group from logging additional gains. The PHLX Defense Index added just 0.3%.

With regards to countercyclical sectors, health care finished among the leaders while the remaining defensive groups-consumer staples, telecom services, and utilities-underperformed with modest gains of 0.2% apiece.

Treasuries spent the session in a steady retreat as the benchmark 10-yr yield increased four basis points to 2.65%

Trading volume was well below average as 597 million shares changed hands on the floor of the NYSE.

On Monday, the August Consumer Credit report will be released at 15:00 ET.

Week in Review: Stocks Chop as Federal Government Shuts

The S&P 500 fell 0.6% on Monday as political uncertainty in Washington caused participants to reduce their risk exposure. In Washington, the federal government headed for a midnight shutdown following a game of political ping pong between the House of Representatives and the Senate. The two legislative bodies spent the day exchanging competing bill proposals with the House seeking to make changes to Obamacare while the Senate refused to engage in debate that would jeopardize funding for the health care law. All ten sectors settled in the red with consumer staples (-1.1%) leading to the downside. Meanwhile, other countercyclical groups ended mixed. Health care (-0.3%) and utilities (-0.1%) outperformed while telecom services (-0.6%) finished in-line.

Tuesday's session saw the S&P 500 start the fourth quarter on an upbeat note, climbing 0.8%. Stocks made the bulk of their advance during the opening 90 minutes before spending most of the afternoon near their highs. Late afternoon trade saw some profit-taking, but a final-minute surge sent the indices back to their highs as equities appeared unconcerned with the first day of the government shutdown. All ten sectors posted gains as equities drew strength from typical start-of-quarter inflows. The Nasdaq was the top performing index of the third quarter (+10.8%) and its relative strength continued into the first session of Q4. The index advanced 1.2% with support from its largest component. Apple (AAPL 483.03, -0.38) rose 2.4% after activist investor Carl Icahn said, in a tweet, that he pushed for a $150 billion buyback during his dinner meeting with Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 shed 0.1% after spending most of the session in a steady climb off its opening low. Sellers were in control early on, but gave way to dip buyers after headlines indicated President Obama would meet with Congressional leaders at the White House in the evening in hopes of bridging some of the gaps that are preventing a budget agreement from being reached. Six of ten sectors finished in the red with energy (+0.3%) ending in the lead as crude oil advanced 1.8% to $103.89 per barrel.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9% on Thursday as the government shutdown continued for the third day without any strong indications a resolution to the stalemate may be on the horizon. Even though stocks appeared largely unconcerned during the first two days of the shutdown, the Thursday session featured a reminder from the Treasury, saying the consequences of a default could be worse than the events of 2008. Equities retreated throughout the morning before finding support in the early afternoon following an article in The New York Times indicating Speaker of the House John Boehner told Republicans he would not allow a default to take place. The story was followed by a statement from the Speaker's office, which said this has always been Mr. Boehner's stance.

 
 Index	   Started Week	 Ended Week   Change  % Change	YTD % 
 DJIA	     15258.24	  15072.58   -185.66    -1.2	15.0 
 Nasdaq	      3781.59	   3807.75     26.16	 0.7	26.1 
 S&P 500	1691.75	   1690.50     -1.25	-0.1	18.5 
 Russell 2000  1074.19	   1078.45	4.26     0.4	27.0

4:30PM AXT announces departure of CFO (AXTI) 2.41 +0.02 : Co announced that Raymond A. Low, vice president and chief financial officer, will be resigning his position with AXT to pursue another executive opportunity, effective Oct. 14, 2013. For a transition period, Mr. Low has agreed to continue to support the company as a consultant while the company completes a search to fill the CFO position.

4:27PM This week's biggest % gainers/losers (SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Technology: GSAT (1.43 +32%), CSIQ (19.59 +26.85%), ACTV (14.36 +26.83%), CAMP (23.21 +24.2%), HSOL (5 +23.51%), CREE (72.71 +22.86%), BITA (20.48 +19.72%), YGE (7.68 +19.34%), MLNX (39.8 +18.7%)
Services: CRRS (4 +72.69%), VIPS (67.92 +19.41%)
Industrial Goods: MY (2.8 +36.19%)
Healthcare: ZLCS (5.64 +736.84%), RMTI (12.46 +34.74%), OMER (13.14 +32.17%), ZIOP (4.68 +31.45%), LXRX (2.88 +20.43%), SGMO (12.65 +19.76%)
Financial: QIWI (39.08 +24.2%)
Basic Materials: KWK (2.29 +22.4%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Technology: ANGI (16.7 -26.96%), CEVA (13.97 -18.91%), OIBR-C (1.73 -16.44%), NQ (21.7 -11.47%), FLTX (32.8 -11.44%), IMPV (39.51 -11.31%)
Services: JCP (7.86 -19.29%), RSH (3.31 -16.02%), PFMT (9.88 -14.58%), RECN (11.96 -11.93%), HMSY (21.84 -11.17%)
Healthcare: NKTR (10.68 -24.91%), ARNA (4.84 -16.41%), IDIX (4.89 -12.68%)
Financial: WD (12.96 -17.64%), GCAP (11.76 -12.16%), AMBC (17.48 -11.85%)
Consumer Goods: DMND (20.86 -13.73%)
Basic Materials: GORO (5.5 -16.69%), ACI (4.06 -12.58%)

Veeco Instruments (VECO) announced that the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, purchased two GENxplor R&D Molecular Beam Epitaxy Systems for its School of Physics and Astronomy.

8:01AM Silicon Motion sees Q3 rev at low end of guidance; sees gross margin (non-GAAP) at upper half of guidance (SIMO) 13.15 : Sequential rev growth for Q3 is expected to be at the lower end of the original guidance range that the co issued on July 30, 2013, of down 2.5% to up 2.5% (consensus +0.4%). Gross margin (non-GAAP) is expected to be within the upper half of the co's guidance range of 47 to 49%.

The co will release its full Q3 results after the market closes on Oct 24, 2013. The co will host a conference call on Oct 25, at 8 am ET, to discuss its results.

6:01AM JinkoSolar Holding to Supply 18.5MWp to Lightsource, the UK's largest solar energy generator (JKS) 23.82 : Co announces that it has entered into an agreement with Lightsource Renewable Energy, the UK's largest solar energy generator and asset operator, to supply 18.5MWp of solar PV modules for a solar farm project located in the United Kingdom.

Xyratex (XRTX) reported third quarter earnings of $0.21 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which is better than expected, while revenues fell 21.1% year/year to $217.3 million which is above expectations. The company issued guidance for the fourth quarter with EPS of $(0.04)-0.20, excluding non-recurring items and revenues of $190-220 million which are both in expectations.

Comtech Telecom (CMTL) reported fourth quarter GAAP earnings of $0.28 per share, which is better than expected, while revenues fell 25.2% year/year to $84.4 million which is higher than expected. Backlog as of July 31, 2013 was $189.7 million compared to $153.9 million as of July 31, 2012. During the three months ended July 31, 2013, the Company repurchased 104,149 shares of its common stock at an aggregate cost of approximately $2.7 million. Total bookings for the three and twelve months ended July 31, 2013 were $144.0 million and $355.6 million, respectively, compared to $129.3 million and $434.0 million for the three and twelve months ended July 31, 2012, respectively. The company issued in line guidance for fiscal year 2014 with GAAP EPS to $1.07-1.19 which is line with expectations with revenues of $320-340 million which is line with expectations. "As we look to fiscal 2014, we have seen signs of stabilization in certain of our end-markets and believe that we will achieve modest sales and operating income growth. Most importantly, we believe we are well-positioned for further growth when global business conditions meaningfully improve."

Lexmark (LXK) announced the acquisition of PACSGEAR, a leading provider of connectivity solutions for healthcare providers to capture, manage and share medical images and related documents and integrate them with existing picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) and electronic medical records systems. Lexmark paid a cash purchase price of approximately $54 million.