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From Briefing.com: 4:25 pm : The S&P 500 settled higher by 1.4% with participants rushing into equities as Washington lawmakers appeared to be on the verge of striking a deal that would fund the government through January 15 while extending the debt ceiling until February 7, and maintaining the sequester.

Stocks registered opening gains after it was reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell resumed working on a deal after the House of Representatives failed to vote on its own measure last evening. Equities caught a second wind in reaction to reports indicating House Speaker Boehner would bring the Senate plan for a vote on the House floor. Although the session ended before Congress had a chance to vote, the Senate plan is expected to be approved by both chambers.

All ten sectors posted gains with financials (+2.2%) ending in the lead. The sector received support from Bank of America (BAC 14.56, +0.32) and PNC Financial (PNC 73.87, +1.36) after both banks reported bottom-line beats. Thanks to today's gain, the financial sector extended its October advance to 3.9%.

Outside of financials, only health care and energy hold month-to-date gains larger than 3.0%. The health care sector rose 2.0% today, and received support from shares of Abbott Labs (ABT 35.90, +2.19) after the drug maker beat on earnings. Meanwhile, energy gained 1.4% as crude oil advanced 0.9% to $102.16 per barrel.

Elsewhere, consumer staples (+1.4%) also contributed to the rally as PepsiCo (PEP 82.27, +1.67) ended higher by 2.1% following its earnings beat on in-line revenue.

Although all sectors posted solid gains, industrials (+0.7%) trailed behind the remaining nine groups as defense contractors weighed. The PHLX Defense Index underperformed for the second day in a row, adding 0.1%. Transports, however, kept pace with the S&P as the Dow Jones Transportation Average advanced 1.4%.

With the reduced threat of imminent default, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 14.84, -3.82) lost 20.9%, tumbling to its lowest level since late September. Treasuries ended on their highs with the 10-yr yield down six basis points at 2.67%.

Trading volume was just above average as 753 million shares traded hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

On the economic front, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index ticked up 0.3% to follow last week's increase of 1.3%.

Separately, the October NAHB Housing Market Index fell to 55 from 58. Today's report was below the reading of 57 expected by the Briefing.com consensus.

Also of note, the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book, which did not contain many surprises. The report said economic growth during the period between September and early October continued at a "modest to moderate pace" while employment continued to grow modestly. The report also touched on the budget deadlock, saying the situation contributed to an increase in uncertainty.

Tomorrow, weekly initial claims will be reported at 8:30 ET while September industrial production and capacity utilization will both be released at 9:15 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the October Philadelphia Fed survey. On the earnings front, Goldman Sachs (GS 162.25, +4.62), UnitedHealth (UNH 75.19, +1.32), and Verizon (VZ 47.25, +0.93) will report their quarterly results before the opening bell.

Today's advance extended the S&P's year-to-date gain to 20.7%. The benchmark index ended the session less than nine points below its all-time high of 1729.86.

S&P 500 +20.7% YTD
DJIA +17.3% YTD
Nasdaq +27.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +28.6% YTD

4:40PM SanDisk beats by $0.27, beats on revs; will guide for Q4 revs on CC at 17:00 (SNDK) 62.94 +0.25 : Reports Q3 (Sep) Non-GAAP earnings of $1.59 per share, $0.27 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.32; revenues rose 27.7% year/year to $1.63 bln vs the $1.57 bln consensus.

Co reported Q3 Non-GAAP gross margin of 50.1% versus Street expectations of ~47.5% (co guided for margins between 47-48%)
"We delivered outstanding third quarter results driven by our strategy to shift to higher value solutions across our portfolio...Our client and enterprise SSD products continue to gain momentum and our acquisition of SMART Storage Systems expands our presence in enterprise SSDs. With our solid execution, we also delivered strong year over year growth in retail and embedded products."
Co will guide for Q4 revenues on conference call beginning at 17:00 (Capital IQ consensus $1.67 bln)

4:25PM Xilinx beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs below consensus at midpoint (XLNX) 46.93 +0.56 : Reports Q2 (Sep) earnings of $0.58 per share, excluding a contingent litigation expense of $0.09, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.52; revenues rose 10.1% year/year to $599 mln vs the $588.31 mln consensus.

"Sales from Xilinx's 28-nm products have once again exceeded our expectations, surpassing $80 million in the September quarter. Kintex -7 sales were particularly strong during the quarter, driven by wired and wireless communication applications. Additionally, gross margin was 69.5% in the September quarter, up from 65.5% in the same quarter of the prior year. This is the second consecutive quarter that the Company has reported a record gross margin and a strong testament to our on-going margin expansion efforts."
Guidance:
Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sales are expected to be up 2% to down 2% sequentially, which equates to ~$586.9-610.9 mln vs. $607.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Gross margin is expected to be approximately 69%.

4:10PM IBM beats by $0.03, misses on revs; reaffirms FY13 and FY15 EPS guidance (IBM) 186.73 +2.07 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $3.99 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $3.96; revenues fell 4.1% year/year to $23.72 bln vs the $24.8 bln consensus.

Revenue:

$23.7 billion, down 4%, down 2% adjusting for currency:
Software revenue up 1%, up 2% adjusting for currency; Key branded middleware up 3%; up 4% adjusting for currency;
Services revenue down 3%, up 1% adjusting for currency; Global Business Services revenue flat, up 5% adjusting for currency;
Services backlog of $141 billion, up 2%, up 6% adjusting for currency;
Systems and Technology revenue down 17%, down 16% adjusting for currency;
System z mainframe revenue up 6%; up 7 percent adjusting for currency;
Growth markets revenue down 9%, down 5 percent adjusting for currency;
Business analytics revenue up 8% year to date; Smarter Planet revenue up more than 20% year to date;
Cloud revenue up more than 70% year to date


Co reaffirms guidance for FY13, sees EPS of at least $16.90, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $16.89 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"We are taking action to improve execution in our growth markets unit and in the elements of our hardware businesses that are under performing. Given these actions, our strategic initiatives and the strength of our model, we are maintaining our view for the full year and remain confident in our ability to achieve at least $20 operating EPS in 2015."

Large Cap Gainers

PXD (212.15 +6.22%): Assumed with an Outperform at R.W. Baird; hearing positively mentioned at Susquehanna
ABT (35.66 +5.79%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.03 ($0.55 vs $0.52 estimate), revs rose 2.0% yoy to $5.37 bln vs $5.4 bln estimate; reaffirmed FY13 EPS guidance of $1.98-2.04 ex items vs $2.00 estimate; increased quarterly dividend 57%
JNPR (20.92 +4.24%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at MKM Partners, target raised to $26 from $24

Large Cap Losers

SWK (77.68 -13.22%): Reported Q3 EPS of $1.39 ex items (in-line), revs rose 9.6% yoy to $2.76 bln vs $2.82 bln estimate; sees FY13 EPS of $4.90-5.00 ex items (lowered from $5.40-5.65) vs $5.44 estimate; downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird
EXC (28.83 -2.34%): Downgraded to Underweight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley
IVZ (31.78 -1.97%): Downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan; downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee

Mid Cap Gainers

SCTY (50.23 +7.93%): Priced offering of 3.4 mln shares of common stock at $46.54 per share and $200 mln aggregate principal amount of its 2.75% convertible senior notes due 2018
AAP (95.94 +16.29%): Confirmed agreement to acquire General Parts International in all-cash transaction with enterprise value of $2.04 bln; sees Q3 EPS of $1.42, revs of $1.52 bln vs $1.55 bln estimate; reaffirmed FY13 EPS guidance of $5.30-5.45 vs $5.59 estimate
MTG (8.34 +14.88%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.16 ($0.04 vs -$0.12 estimate), revs fell 16.9% yoy to $254.4 mln vs $259.48 mln estimate

Mid Cap Losers

AEM (23.88 -3.71%): Weakness in gold companies: GOLD, NGD, AUY, FNV also lower
DSW (81.38 -3.12%): Hearing cautiously mentioned at Cleveland Research
ATW (54.64 -2.64%): Downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets

11:22 am Tech Sector trading higher today but behind the broader market
The tech sector is trading higher today, behind wider gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness, with the SOX trading only 0.9% higher. Within the chip index, however, RBCN (+4.3%) is a notable standout. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 1.4% higher today, while the QQQ and the NASDAQ are trading 1.1% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, VZ (+1.5%) is showing notable strength, while CSCO (-0.4%) is under pressure.

In tech earnings last night:

INTC (+1.1%) beat Q3 by $0.05, revs in-line and guided Q4 revs in-line
YHOO (+0.5%) posted a missed Q3 and guided lower, but offered strong Alibaba results and noted that it would sell less than expected
LLTC (-2.6%) missed by $0.01, revs in-line, and guided Q2 revs below consensus

This morning in earnings:

VDSI (-1.9%) guided below consensus
ASML (-0.8%) reported mixed results and guided above consensus
WNS (-6.5%) beat by $0.02, revs inline, and guided below consensus

In news, AAPL (+0.3%) cut Q4 iPhone 5C orders by 20%, manufacturers say, according to reports. Also, Warren Buffet, on CNBC this morning, says he has been adding to his IBM (+0.9%) position.

In IPOs, VEEV (+78.5%) priced 13.045 mln share IPO at $20.00 per share, above the revised expected range of $16-18. Also, TWTR, which will list its IPO on NYSE, reported Q3 revenue of $169 mln (104% growth YoY) vs $150.3 mln single est and reported Non-GAAP net loss of ($17.2 mln) vs ($12.7 mln) in the yr ago qtr.

Among notable analyst upgrades in tech this morning, INTC (+1.1%) was upgraded to Buy at B. Riley, VIP (+3.8%) was upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley, YHOO (+0.5%) was upgraded to Outperform at Credit Agricole and S (+3.8%) was upgraded to Outperform at Macquarie. AAPL (+0.3%) was added to short term buy list at Deutsche Bank.

In downgrades, ELLI (-9.8%) was downgraded to Mkt Perform at JMP, CSCO (-0.2%) was downgraded to Neutral at MKM, and SMCI (-2.7%) was downgraded to Hold at Stifel.

IBM (+0.9%), SNDK (+0.7%) and XLNX (+0.8%) are the notable name in tech scheduled to report after the close.

07:29 am Bank of America shares rise 1% following better than expected earnings

QuickLogic (QUIK) is launching a strategic initiative to enable the "Digital Sixth Sense" in mobile devices.

Intel (INTC 23.20, -0.19) is lower by 0.7% after reporting a bottom-line beat and guiding fourth quarter revenue near the lower end of analyst expectations.

Synaptics (SYNA) announced that it is first-to-market with a Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 8.1-certified touchscreen controller with integrated active pen support for smartphone, tablet and notebook PC touchscreens.

Altera (ALTR) announced its SDK for OpenCL is conformant to the OpenCL 1.0 standard and is now included on the Khronos Group list of OpenCL conformant product

Dataram (DRAM) has established two new sales and distribution channels for its line of AMD Radeon Memory products in Canada.

CY +0.5% (ticking higher, Teardown of Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Smartphone Finds Cypress CapSense Controller Implements Touch-Sensing Buttons).

8:01AM First Solar to Build 250MW Power Plant in California for NextEra Energy Resources (FSLR) 43.75 : Co announced it has entered into an agreement to construct a 250 megawatt (MW)AC solar power plant in Riverside County, California, for a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. The McCoy Solar Energy Project will be located on approximately 2,300 acres of mostly public land provided by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approximately 13 miles northwest of Blythe, California.

Under the agreement, First Solar will provide Engineering, Procurement and Construction services, using First Solar's cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic thin-film modules. The project is located near the 550MWAC Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, jointly owned by a subsidiary of NextEra, GE Energy Financial Services, and Sumitomo Corporation of America, currently under construction by First Solar. An affiliate of NextEra Energy Resources also previously purchased two projects built by First Solar in Canada. Construction is expected to begin in late 2014, with completion in late 2016. The project will provide up to 400 construction jobs at peak operation.

Applied Materials (AMAT) announced new technology systems for manufacturing large size and ultra-high definition LCD and OLED displays that meet consumer demand for greater screen performance, clarity, color and brightness.

Ascent Solar Technologies (ASTI) announced the expansion of its direct retail outlets to 10 locations in the fourth quarter of 2013. Currently, the co has three kiosks in its home state of Colorado; an additional 7 kiosks will be opened in California and Nevada in strategically selected locations

Texas Instruments (TXN) announced the availability of a ZigBee Light Link development kit that simplifies the development and control of wirelessly connected LED lighting products.

Intel (INTC) reported third quarter earnings of $0.58 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 0.2% year/year to $13.48 billion which is line with expectations. The company issued fourth quarter guidance with revenues of $13.2-14.2 billion which is which is in line with expectations.PC Client Group revenue of $8.4 billion, up 3.5 percent sequentially and down 3.5 percent year-over-year. Data Center Group revenue of $2.9 billion, up 6.2 percent sequentially and up 12.2 percent year-over-year. Intel reports Q3 gross margins of 62.4% versus Street expectations of approximately 60.7% (INTC guided for margins of 61% +/- 200 bps). The company sees Q4 Gross margin percentage: 61 percent, plus or minus a couple of percentage points. "The third quarter came in as expected, with modest growth in a tough environment...We're executing on our strategy to offer an increasingly broad and diverse product portfolio that spans key growth segments, operating systems and form factors. Since August we have introduced more than 40 new products for market segments from the Internet-of-Things to datacenters, with an increasing focus on ultra-mobile devices and 2 in 1 systems." The company on its conference call management highlighted what it called, "important positive trends" The enterprise market for PCs strengthened in Q3 Consumer markets in the US and Europe appear to have bottomed out. Data center business returned to double digit year over year growth due to resumption of growth in the enterprise market and continued growth in cloud, high performance computing, and storage. "Unprecedented" lineup of products coming to market for the holiday season. The company also said inventory levels across the worldwide PC supply chain grew slightly but noted that inventory levels are still being managed well below historical averages.

Yahoo (YHOO) reported third quarter earnings of $0.34 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which is better than expected, while revenues ex-TAC fell 0.7% year/year to $1.08 billion which is line with expectations. Display: GAAP display revenue was $470 million for Q3, a 7% decrease y/y. Display revenue ex-TAC was $421 million for Q3, a 7% decrease y/y. The Number of Ads Sold (excluding Korea) increased ~1% compared to the third quarter of 2012. Price-per-Ad (excluding Korea) decreased approximately 7 percent compared to the third quarter of 2012. Search: GAAP search revenue was $435 million for the third quarter of 2013, an 8% decrease y/y. Search revenue ex-TAC was $426 million for Q3, a 3% increase y/y. Paid Clicks (excluding Korea) increased ~21% compared to the third quarter of 2012. Price-per-Click (excluding Korea) decreased ~4% compared to the third quarter of 2012. Cash Balance: Cash, cash equivalents, and investments in marketable securities were $3.2 billion as of Sept 30, 2013 compared to $6 billion as of December 31, 2012, a decrease of $2.8 billion. During the third quarter of 2013, Yahoo repurchased 59 million shares for $1,685 million and used a net $163 million for acquisitions. "In Q3, we generated free cash flow of $249 million and returned an additional $1.7 billion to shareholders through buybacks. As we exit Q3, we are extremely pleased with the strength of our balance sheet, with nearly $3.2 billion in cash and securities, and we are well positioned with ample liquidity to fund our future investments for growth." The company issued guidance for the third quarter revenues of $1.18-1.22 billion which is below expectations. The company issued guidance for fiscal year 2013 with adjusted operating income guidance to $840-860 million from $900-1.0 billion; lowered fiscal year 2013 to $4.40-4.45 billion from $4.5-4.6 billion which is below consensus. The company announced today that it has entered into an amendment to the share repurchase and preference sale agreement with Alibaba Group Holding Limited. The amendment reduces the maximum number of shares of Alibaba Group that Yahoo is required to sell in connection with a qualified initial public offering (IPO) of Alibaba, from 261.5 million shares to 208 million shares. The original repurchase agreement, entered into in May 2012, provided that in the event Alibaba completed a qualified IPO, Yahoo would sell up to 261.5 million of its 523.6 million ordinary shares of Alibaba, either directly to Alibaba Group or in the qualified IPO. After an IPO, Yahoo has the right to sell its remaining shares at its discretion.

OCZ Tech (OCZ) reported second quarter loss of $0.26 per share, while revenues fell 62.2% year/year to $33.5 million. Due to uncertainties in being able to procure forecasted flash amounts and credit constraints, we will not be providing guidance for the fiscal third quarter of 2014, ending November 30, 2013. It is our belief that at this point we cannot accurately predict the outcome of our efforts to resolve these issues. We continue to engage with interested parties in the various strategic options available to the Company, including additional financing initiatives and strategic alternatives and plan on providing an update to discuss progress regarding flash availability, credit, and our strategic activities when appropriate."

Linear Tech (LLTC) reported first quarter earnings of $0.45 per share, which is below expectations, while revenues rose 1.6% year/year to $340.4 million which is line with expectations. The company issued guidance for the second quarter with revenues of flat to down 4% from Q1 which equates to $326.8-340.4 million which is below expectations. "For our first fiscal quarter, we grew revenue sequentially over the prior quarter by 4% which was at the high end of our guidance and represented a good September quarter for us. " Once again, growth in our major end-markets was lead by Automotive and Industrial. The Automotive end-market represented 19% of bookings in the first quarter, which was a historical high for the Company. We added a full point to operating margin, which is an industry leading 45.9%. Looking ahead, our second fiscal quarter has been challenging over the past three years partially due to the December quarter being a historically slow quarter for the automotive and industrial end-markets. Our book to bill ratio for the first quarter was slightly positive, however, bookings normally weaken the last month of the December quarter due to the holiday period.