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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 29-Nov-13

Dow -10.92 at 16086.41, Nasdaq +15.14 at 4059.89, S&P -1.42 at 1805.81

Equity indices finished the holiday-shortened session on a mixed note. The Nasdaq stayed true to a theme that has held throughout the week, finishing ahead of its peers. The tech-heavy index advanced 0.4%, extending its week-to-date gain to 1.7%. The S&P 500 shed 0.1%, but still managed to secure its eighth consecutive weekly advance. The benchmark index gained 0.1% in the final week of November.

The S&P 500 suffered from late weakness, surrendering its entire gain during the final 30 minutes as financials (-0.4%) and industrials (-0.4%) tumbled into the red with most other sectors following suit. In addition, energy (-0.2%), which displayed intraday strength, also gave up its gain into the close. The sector lagged even as crude oil rallied 0.9% to $93.15 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq led from the opening bell as its largest component, Apple (AAPL 556.07, +10.11), charged out of the gate. The stock climbed 1.9% amid news the company has secured almost 76% of October smartphone sales in Japan. Biotechnology also provided a measure of support to the index as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 224.16, +0.83) rose 0.4%. However, biotech had a limited impact on the health care sector (-0.1%), which struggled to keep pace with the broader market.

Outside of technology, the discretionary sector (+0.1%) was the only other advancer. Online retailers like Amazon.com (AMZN 393.62, +6.91) and eBay (EBAY 50.52, +1.22) outperformed traditional names like Target (TGT 63.93, -0.48) and Wal-Mart (WMT 81.01, +0.08) even after the two brick-and-mortar retailers made upbeat-sounding comments regarding early Black Friday returns.

Countercyclical groups posted modest losses between 0.1% and 0.6% with telecom services rounding out the bottom of the leaderboard.

The late selloff sent the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 13.75, +0.77) higher by 5.9% as the near-term volatility measure ended at its highest level in more than a week.

Trading volume was light as only 474 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

 
 Index	   Started Week   Ended Week  Change % Change	YTD % 
 DJIA	     16064.77	   16086.41   21.64     0.1    22.8 
 Nasdaq	      3991.65	    4059.89   68.24     1.7    34.5 
 S&P 500	1804.76	    1805.81    1.05     0.1    26.6 
 Russell 2000  1124.92	    1142.88   17.96     1.6    34.6

This week's top 20 % gainers

Utilities: EDN (8.75 +46.94%), PAM (6.64 +27.69%)
Technology: EIGI (14.26 +29.08%), GA (11.19 +22.26%), AMCC (12.56 +19.94%)
Services: BONT (17.76 +47.39%)
Healthcare: ARIA (4.85 +76.65%), RLYP (16.84 +40.67%), MACK (3.92 +36.07%), ENTA (27.01 +26.55%), ISIS (38.72 +23.56%), ZGNX (3.24 +20.23%)
Financial: UVE (12.38 +40.49%), GGAL (12.6 +24.16%), BFR (9.16 +21.89%), GPT (5.37 +21.78%)
Basic Materials: PVG (5.43 +85.97%), MILL (8.32 +32.07%), GST (5.88 +28.96%), YPF (29.72 +20.67%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Technology: NUAN (13.52 -16.35%), TSL (13.99 -11.9%), BV (7.88 -10.91%), NIHD (2.54 -9.12%)
Services: BLOX (31.82 -23.27%), TFM (40.69 -18.57%), LQDT (23.13 -15.42%), LL (100.73 -12.06%), GME (48.26 -8.91%)
Industrial Goods: NES (1.73 -13.14%)
Healthcare: BRLI (29.22 -18.8%), PLX (3.94 -13.67%)
Financial: DLLR (10.01 -19.97%)
Basic Materials: BAS (14.21 -11.09%), ANR (6.68 -10.25%), WLT (14.24 -10.18%), MTL (2.1 -9.61%), GFI (4.02 -8.9%), SAND (4.55 -8.84%), SBGL (4.96 -8.76%)

Large Cap Gainers

RIO (53.39 +4.81%): Announced mine production capacity will increase by more than 60 mln tonnes a year between 2014 and 2017
IRE (15.6 +4.35%): Strength in European banks: BCS, CS, DB also higher
VALE (15.29 +3.59%): Reached agreement with Brazilian government to pay $9.6 bln in taxes; co was reported to have owed ~$19.4 bln

Large Cap Losers

ADM (40.53 -2.31%): Australian Federal Treasurer prohibits ADM's proposed acquisition of GrainCorp
DAL (29.02 -1.09%): Weakness in major airline companies: CEA, LCC, SAVE, UAL also lower
MNST (59.42 -0.72%): Mentioned negatively in blog article which pointed out bearish option activity

Mid Cap Gainers

NBG (6.23 +5.59%): Strength following earnings reported on Wednesday; co reported net profit of EUR 262 mln in first nine months of 2013
EGO (6.11 +3.74%): Strength in gold companies: NGD, AU, GOLD also higher
CZR (20.7 +2.93%): Mentioned positively in blog article

Mid Cap Losers

FTNT (17.18 -12.53%): Announced departure of CFO Ahmed Rubaie; Nancy Bush appointed interim CFO
THOR (39.25 -6.81%): New England Journal of Medicine published results of a study on Wednesday showing co's HeartMate II leads to increased blood clots
FSLR (59.92 -1.01%): Mentioned negatively in blog article

Apple (AAPL 550.00, +4.04): +0.7% amid news the company has secured almost 76% of October smartphone sales in Japan

6:00AM Trina Solar announces joint venture with Yabang Group (TSL) 14.08 : Co announced that it has entered into an agreement to establish a joint venture with Yabang Investment Holding Group to acquire certain production assets from Changzhou NESL Solartech, a subsidiary of Yabang Group, which specializes in the production of solar PV modules.

The total investment by Trina Solar and Yabang Group is ~$45 million which will be used for capital expenditure and working capital. The Joint Venture aims to increase total solar module production capacity to 500 MW within the next 12 months. The Joint Venture will acquire the existing module production assets of Changzhou NESL, including plants, machinery and equipment, which will be upgraded by utilizing the combined capital investment and international expertise provided by Trina Solar and Yabang Group. The facility will be managed by Trina Solar management, who will bring international best practices in innovation, environmental standards, quality control and technological expertise to the daily operation of the facility.

DSS Technology Management, a subsidiary of Document Security Systems (DSS), announced that it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple (AAPL) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division. At issue are patents that relate to the use of wireless peripheral devices. DSS's complaint alleges infringement by Apple of United States Patents 6,128,290 (the "'290 Patent") and 5,699,357 (the "'357 Patent"), both of which are entitled "Personal Data Network" and which disclose systems and methods of using low power wireless peripheral devices. DSS Technology Management acquired the '290 and '357 Patents during Q3 2013 as part of an effort to expand DSS's patent portfolio to enable DSS's secure facilities monitoring product, Sensorshield, and to support R&D to develop dedicated peripheral devices that run AuthentiSuite, DSS's digital brand protection platform. The complaint identifies use of the 290 and 357 Patents by Apple in a range of product lines, including computer products sold under the MacPro , Mac Mini and iMac brands and consumer electronics sold under the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and iPod Nano brands.

PC Connection (PCCC) announced that its Board of Directors declared a special cash dividend of $0.40 per share payable on December 26, 2013, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 12, 2013. The total amount of the special dividend payment will be approximately $10.5 million based on the current number of shares outstanding.

Renren (RENN) reported third quarter loss of $0.05 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues fell 5.6% year/year to $47.6 million which is below estimates. The number of accumulated activated users on Renren.com continued to increase from approximately 172 million as of September 30, 2012 to approximately 200 million as of September 30, 2013. Monthly unique log-in users increased from approximately 48 million in September 2012 to approximately 50 million in September 2013. During the third quarter of 2013, Renren repurchased approximately 3.7 million ADSs. Guidance: The company issued fourth quarter guidance of $29-31 million which is below estimates.

Fortinet (FTNT) announced that Nancy Bush has been appointed as the Company's Interim Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Bush is replacing Ahmed Rubaie, who will be departing as the Company's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for personal reasons. Mr. Rubaie will remain employed with Fortinet until December 5, 2013 and will also remain available on a reasonable basis through March 5, 2014 to respond to inquiries to assist with the transition. Ms. Bush has served as Vice President and Worldwide Corporate Controller of Fortinet since December 2011.