Sector Investing

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The S&P 500 shed 0.2% after spending the entire session in negative territory. The index sold off steadily through the first four hours of action, but managed to regain most of its losses by the close. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq ended flat as the relative strength of technology (+0.3%) underpinned the index.

The tech sector was one of just two advancers among cyclical groups as top components like Cisco Systems (CSCO 23.73, +0.29), Oracle (ORCL 34.70, +0.33), and Qualcomm (QCOM 68.51, +0.89) provided leadership. Chipmakers also rallied with the PHLX Semiconductor Index adding 0.6%.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector settled just above its flat line with transports contributing to the outperformance. The Dow Jones Transportation Average rose 0.7% as airlines registered broad gains after AMR (AAMRQ 12.00, +2.48) and US Airways (LCC 23.52, +0.25) confirmed their settlement with the Department of Justice. JetBlue (JBLU 8.16, +0.47) was the leader among transports, climbing 6.1%.

Although the S&P climbed off its lows during the final 90 minutes, the index was unable to return into positive territory as energy (-0.9%) and financials (-0.9%) weighed.

The energy sector was pressured by persistent weakness in crude oil. The energy component settled lower by 2.1% at $93.12 per barrel.

Meanwhile, other commodities did not fare much better as copper (-1.2% at $3.22/lb), gold (-1.1% at $1267.50/ozt), and silver (-2.6% at $20.72/ozt) ended on their lows.

Countercyclical sectors settled on a mixed note as consumer staples (+0.1%), health care (-0.1%), and telecom services (+0.3%) outperformed while utilities (-0.9%) lagged throughout the session.

Treasuries ended modestly lower with the 10-yr yield up two basis points at 2.78%.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET while October export prices ex-agriculture and import prices ex-oil will be reported at 8:30 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 14:00 ET release of the October Treasury budget.

Nasdaq +29.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +29.7% YTD
S&P 500 +23.9% YTD
DJIA +20.2% YTD

DJ30 -32.43 NASDAQ +0.13 SP500 -4.20 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1142/1.72 bln/1402 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1108/652.9 mln/1921

3:35 pm :

Dec crude oil fell for the first time in three sessions, dipping below the $93.00 per barrel level in late afternoon pit trade. The energy component trended lower after brushing a session high of $95.22 per barrel and eventually settled with a 2.1% loss at $93.12 per barrel.
Dec natural gas, on the other hand, traded higher today, rising to a session high of $3.66 per MMbtu. It pulled back heading into the close and settled at $3.62 per MMBtu, or 1.1% higher.
Dec gold extended losses for a fourth consecutive session. It touched a session high of $1283.60 per ounce at pit trade open but retreated into negative territory later in the session. It settled with a 0.8% loss at $1271.20 per ounce, just above its session low of $1270.70 per ounce.
Dec silver spent all of today's pit trade in the red. It pulled back from its session high of $21.25 per ounce and settled at its session low of $20.77 per ounce, booking a 2.4% loss.

4:37PM Rambus division Cryptography Research and Tiempo SAS Sign License Agreement for DPA Countermeasures (RMBS) 8.79 +0.44 : Cryptography Research, Inc., a division of Rambus (RMBS), and Tiempo SAS announced they have signed an architecture license agreement allowing for the use of Cryptography Research's patented security inventions in Tiempo's integrated circuits. By incorporating Cryptography Research's countermeasures onto their devices, Tiempo's products will be protected against differential power analysis (DPA) and related side channel attacks. This license also covers software developed by Tiempo's customers when utilized on Tiempo's licensed integrated circuits.

4:04PM Diodes misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line (DIOD) 22.18 -0.46 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.34; revenues rose 34.8% year/year to $224.5 mln vs the $225.71 mln consensus.

"As we look to the fourth quarter, it is shaping up to be weaker than our normal seasonality due to a broad based market weakness, especially the continued weakness in the PC market. However, we believe we are well positioned in the coming year to benefit from ongoing operational improvements as we leverage our broadened product portfolio and additional cost savings from transferring BCD products into our packaging facilities, and eventually off-loading our analog foundry wafer loadings into BCD's wafer fabs."

Large Cap Gainers

UAL (36.87 +4.42%): Strength in airline names on AMR (AAMRQ) and US Airways (LCC) confirming settlement with the DoJ and State Attorney's General.
DISH (49.65 +4.53%): Beat on EPS by $0.25, reported revs in-line.
SNE (17.17 +3.37%): Bloomberg discussed that co plans to meet analysts ests of 3 mln PS4s sold; co planning to increase console business in China, according to Marbridge.

Large Cap Losers

SYMC (22.64 -2.46%): Co announced that Francis deSouza, president of products and services, will leave the co on Dec 1st to become President of Illumina (ILMN); downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie; tgt lowered to $24.
RBS (10.55 -2.32%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman.
NWSA (17.02 -2.27%): Reported Q1 rev of $2.06 bln compared to $2.13 bln in prior year, vs $2.18 bln consensus; reported EPS of $0.05 compared to a net loss of $0.16 per share in prior year, vs $0.05 consensus.

Mid Cap Gainers

IOC (80.62 +20.26%): Missed on EPS by $0.06, beat on revs.
VIPS (79.8 +8.84%): Beat on EPS by $0.06, bet on revs; guided Q4 revs above consensus.
WNR (35.6 +7.55%): Co acquired ACON Investments' and TPG's ownership interest in Northern Tier Energy LP (NTI) for a total consideration of $775 mln.

Mid Cap Losers

HOLX (19.64 -14.24%): Beat on EPS by $0.02, reported revs in-line; guided Q1 below consensus; guided FY14 below consensus; announced new $250 mln stock repurchase program; downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity; downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC Capital Mkts; tgt lowered to $21; downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at William Blair; downgraded to Hold from Buy at Craig Hallum.
RAX (43.35 -12.1%): Missed on EPS by $0.04, reported revs in-line; sees Q4 revs of $400-408 mln vs $402.95 mln consensus.
ACM (29.12 -6.96%): Missed on EPS by $0.02, reported revs in-line; guided FY14 EPS below consensus.

Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic chose LED lighting from Cree (CREE) for the facility's new headquarters and surgery center

Cypress Semiconductor (CY) announced that Seiko Epson has selected Cypress's CY5077C programmable clock generator die for the new SG-8003CG programmable crystal oscillator from its SG-8003 series.

8:06AM First Solar Signs Power Purchase Agreements for 40MW Kingbird Solar Project (FSLR) 63.14 : Co announced that it has signed power purchase agreements (PPA) with member cities of the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) for electricity to be generated at the 40 megawatt (MW)AC Kingbird photovoltaic solar power plant in Kern County, California. First Solar is developing and will construct the project. Depending on final permitting, construction on the 320-acre Kingbird project, located near Rosamond, California in the Antelope Valley, could start in mid-2014, and is expected to create up to 200 jobs at its peak. The power plant is expected to be commissioned in late 2015.

7:07AM Canadian Solar announces 32MW solar PV module supply agreement in China (CSIQ) 29.56 : Co announced that it has been awarded a module supply agreement to provide China Perfect Machinery Industry Corp. with 32 MW of solar photovoltaic ('PV') modules for a solar power plant project in China. Canadian Solar will supply its CS6X-P modules with power output of 295 and 300Wp for the project. CS6X-P modules outperform competing 72 polycrystalline cell module brands in the market, producing over 4% more power annually according to PVsyst PV system simulation.

6:19AM Advanced Micro announced closing of $500 mln secured revolving line of credit (AMD) 3.34 : Co announced that the co and its subsidiary, AMD International Sales & Service, have entered into a loan and security agreement for a principal amount up to $500 million with a group of lenders and Bank of America, N.A. acting as agent for the lenders. The proceeds of the Secured Revolving Line of Credit may be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital needs. Availability under the Secured Revolving Line of Credit is limited to a borrowing base of 85% of eligible accounts receivable, less certain reserves. The obligations under the Secured Revolving Line of Credit are secured by the Borrowers' accounts receivable and inventory. The five-year Secured Revolving Line of Credit will mature on November 12, 2018. No drawings were made under the Secured Revolving Line of Credit on the closing date of the loan agreement.

5:29AM Canadian Solar announces 2.3MW solar module supply agreement in Turkey (CSIQ) 26.56 : Co announces that it has recently completed a delivery of 2.3MW of photovoltaic ("PV") modules to a consortium of companies in Kayseri Organized Industry Area for a solar power project located in Kayseri, Turkey.

AMD (AMD) announced a new unified Software Development Kit, an improved CodeXL tool suite with added features and support for the latest AMD hardware, and added heterogeneous acceleration in popular Open Source libraries.