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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The S&P 500 began the holiday-shortened week on a lower note, shedding 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq outperformed, but their gains were limited to less than 0.1% apiece.

Stocks held modest gains through the vast majority of the session, but a final-hour sell off sent the S&P 500 to a fresh low. Despite today's retreat, the benchmark index remains higher by 2.6% in November.

Energy (-0.8%) and materials (-0.7%) led the afternoon sell off after lagging throughout the session. The energy sector was pressured by crude oil futures, which fell 0.8% to $94.03 per barrel. Oil futures were able to erase a portion of their losses after being down as much as 1.1% in reaction to the nuclear deal with Iran that was reached over the weekend.

Meanwhile, steelmakers weighed on the materials sector as the Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 47.80, -0.47) lost 1.0%.

Elsewhere, industrials (-0.4%) joined the final-hour sell off as Boeing (BA 133.00, -2.97) fell 2.2% amid news the company has warned airlines about a potential engine icing risk. The engine maker, General Electric (GE 26.73, -0.35), lost 1.3%. However, there were some pockets of strength among industrials as the Dow Jones Transportation Average outperformed with a gain of 0.3%.

The afternoon weakness also claimed three countercyclical groups-consumer staples (-0.2%), telecom services (-0.3%), and utilities (-0.4%)-while health care outperformed with a gain of 0.4%. Biotechnology was largely responsible for the relative strength as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 222.79, +2.16) added 1.0%.

Outside of health care, only consumer discretionary (+0.1%) and financials (+0.1%) eked out narrow gains.

Treasuries ended modestly higher with the 10-yr yield off one basis point at 2.74%.

Trading volume was well below average as just over 620 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Today's economic data was limited to October pending home sales, which ticked down 0.6%. The reading followed last month's revised decrease of 4.6% (from 5.6%), and was worse than the 1.3% increase forecast by the Briefing.com consensus.

Tomorrow, building permits for September and October will be reported at 8:30 ET while the September Case-Shiller 20-city Index and September FHFA Housing Price Index will be released at 9:00 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the November Consumer Confidence Index.

Russell 2000 +32.4% YTD
Nasdaq +32.3% YTD
S&P 500 +26.4% YTD
DJIA +22.7% YTD

DJ30 +7.77 NASDAQ +2.92 SP500 -2.28 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1339/1.74 bln/1240 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1339/625.5 mln/1665 3:30 pm : Dec crude oil traded in negative territory today as the dollar index rose on an international nuclear deal with Iran. The agreement lifts some sanctions on the Middle Eastern nation's oil, gold, precious metals and auto parts. The energy component brushed a session low of $93.08 per barrel when floor trade opened and inched slightly higher as the session progressed. It eventually settled at $94.03 per barrel, or 0.8% lower.

Natural gas, on the other hand, rose for a fourth consecutive session as forecasts called for colder weather. It dipped to a session low of $3.80 per MMBtu after trading as high as $3.88 per MMBtu earlier in the session but regained momentum in afternoon pit trade. Natural gas eventually booked a 0.8% gain as it settled at $3.84 per MMBtu.

Dec gold traded slightly lower today as the stronger dollar index weighed on prices. The yellow metal traded as low as $1226.80 per ounce in early morning pit trade but managed to erase most of the loss. It chopped around just below the unchanged level for most of the session and settled 0.2% lower at $1241.40 per ounce.

Dec silver lifted from its session low of $19.64 per ounce set moments after pit trade opened and traded near the breakeven level. It brushed a session high of $19.99 per ounce and eventually settled at $19.87 per ounce, or 0.1% higher.

5:19PM F5 Networks discloses its Board authorized an additional $300 mln for the co's common stock share repurchase program (FFIV) 80.90 -2.04 :

4:34PM Qualcomm finalizes sale of Omnitracs to Vista Equity Partners; will result in an estimated $0.22 to $0.25 per share gain in Q1 (QCOM) 72.49 -0.47 : Co announced that the sale of Omnitracs, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, to Vista Equity Partners (Vista), a U.S.-based private equity firm, has been finalized. The agreement to sell the transportation and logistics business for approximately $800 million in cash was originally announced in August.

The sale includes all of Omnitracs' operations in the United States, Canada and Latin America. The sale will result in an estimated $0.22 to $0.25 per share gain and will be reported in Qualcomm's first fiscal quarter.


4:10PM Universal Display and Philips Technologie GmbH announce collaboration and evaluation agreement for OLED lighting (OLED) 35.17 -0.09 : Co announced a collaboration and evaluation agreement with Philips Technologie GmbH (PHG), Business Center OLED Lighting. Under this agreement, Universal Display will begin supplying Philips with its highly efficient phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) materials for solid-state lighting applications.

4:06PM ON Semiconductor's Board of Directors approves amendments to co bylaws and certificate of incorporation (ONNN) 6.99 +0.04 : Co announced that its Board of Directors (has amended and restated the company's bylaws and approved certain changes to the company's Certificate of Incorporation, which remain subject to stockholder approval. The BOD took these actions in furtherance of the company's commitment to corporate governance practices it believes are in the best interest of the company and its stockholders. On November 21, 2013, the BOD approved a change to the company's bylaws to allow stockholders to call special meetings, subject to certain limitations, at a threshold of 25 percent of the voting power of the outstanding capital stock of the company.

The BOD also approved two amendments to the company's Certificate of Incorporation that remain subject to stockholder approval at the company's next annual shareholders meeting in 2014. The first amendment to the Certificate of Incorporation provides for a declassification of the BOD occurring over a three-year period beginning in 2014. The second amendment to the Certificate of Incorporation removes the current prohibition on stockholder action by written consent in lieu of a meeting.

Large Cap Gainers

FMS (34.66 +7.57%): CMS finalized home health payments for 2014 and payment rate changes for end-stage ernal disease facilities in 2014; cuts smaller than expected; DVA also higher
BIIB (295.47 +3.45%): Hearing estimates raised on Tecfidera in Europe at Citigroup, target raised to $320
DAL (29.18 +2.03%): Rated #1 in Business Travel News Annual Airline Survery for third consecutive year

Large Cap Losers

QIHU (80.88 -6.61%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.10 ($0.47 vs $0.37 estimate), revs rose 123.7% yoy to $187.9 mln vs $182.51 mln estimate; sees Q4 revs of $206-208 mln vs $205.74 mln estimate; downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel - expects rev growth momentum will slow for the next two quarters
SDRL (42.6 -5.83%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.03 ($0.61 vs $0.64 estimate), revs rose 17.2% yoy to $1.28 bln vs $1.25 bln estimate
PXD (178.33 -4.47%): Initiated with a Sell at Prime Executions, target $155

Mid Cap Gainers

GA (11.37 +12.24%): Announced receipt of proposal from co's Chairman to acquire the company at $11.75 per share
CBST (71.27 +8.81%): Announced positive top-line results from Phase 3 clinical trial of its antibiotic candidate ceftolozane/tazobactam in complicated urinary tract infections; ceftolozane/tazobactam met its primary endpoint of statistical non-inferiority compared to levofloxacin
ALNY (60.56 +3.82%): Earnted $7 mln milestone payment from Genzyme (a Sanofi company) for Phase 2 success of patisiran (ALN-TTR02), an RNAi therapeutic targeting transthyretin for the treatment of TTR-mediated amyloidosis

Mid Cap Losers

LGF (31.1 -7.86%): Catching Fire opened at an estimated $161.1 mln for the highest November opening ever
YELP (57.6 -7.68%): Weakness in social media related stocks: FB, TWTR, LNKD lower
UBNT (38.78 -7.56%): Disclosed that Chief Marketing Officer David Hseih has left the company

9:00AM SolarCity Announces Major California Expansion, 10 New Operations Centers (SCTY) 46.59 : Co announced the opening of ten new operations centers in California. All are expected to be operational by the end of 2013, nearly doubling the company's locations in the state. The regional operations centers will expand solar services to new areas, reduce installation wait times, and contribute to state and local economies by creating jobs in a range of new locations. SolarCity will now have a location within 30 miles of more than 90 percent of the state's population

Broadcom (BRCM) announced that Chamberlain has selected Broadcom's Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Platforms platform to power its MyQ Garage.
Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) announced a family of robust CAN transceivers designed for high-speed performance and reliability.

Microchip Technology (MCHP) announced a new family of capacitive touch controllers-the CAP12XX Family

Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) and MicroSys Electronics GmbH are collaborating to establish the industry's most integrated development platform for functional safety

NetApp (NTAP) announced the general availability of the NetApp Certified Storage Associate program.

Altera (ALTR) announced implementation of a programmable logic controller and human machine interface system on a single chip. The integrated PLC/HMI system is implemented on a single 28 nm Altera Cyclone V SoC, and will be offered as a reference design by Altera in 2014

8:03AM First Solar starts construction of solar power plant in Kitakyushu-shi, Japan (FSLR) 60.35 : Co announced that it has started construction of a solar project in Kitakyushu-shi, Japan. Generation capacity of the project is 1.4MWDC, and it will start operating in Q1 2014. Using First Solar's advanced technology CdTe thin-film PV modules, the project will provide clean and safe solar power to Japan, mitigating idle nuclear and providing energy security. First Solar holds 100 percent equity in the project. Obayashi Corporation and Yaskawa Electric Corporation will construct the project.

7:32AM Qualcomm reported that China's National Development and Reform Commission has commenced an investigation of Qualcomm relating to the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law (QCOM) 72.96 : Co reported that China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has commenced an investigation of Qualcomm relating to the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law (AML). The NDRC has advised that the substance of the investigation is confidential. The co is not aware of any charge by the NDRC that Qualcomm has violated the AML. Co will continue to cooperate with the NDRC as it conducts its confidential investigation.

Xilinx (XLNX) announced accelerated design productivity for machine vision applications, leveraging HALCON and VisualApplets development platforms to create an end-to-end Smarter Vision development environment for the Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC

7:02AM NVIDIA to offer $1.3 bln aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due in 2018 (NVDA) 15.18 : Co announced today its intention to offer, subject to market and other conditions, $1.3 billion aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due in 2018 in a private offering to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933.

In addition, the Company expects to grant the initial purchaser of the notes an option to purchase up to an additional $200 million aggregate principal amount of notes from the Company to cover any over-allotments. NVIDIA intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund capital return to shareholders and for privately negotiated convertible note hedge transactions (after taking into account the proceeds to it from warrant transactions), each as described below, and for general corporate purposes.