From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : Equity indices finished the first December session on a lower note as the S&P 500 shed 0.3%. Small caps endured steady selling throughout the session as the Russell 2000 fell 1.2%.
The benchmark index spent some time on each side of its flat line, but ultimately ended near its lows. The index attempted to build on the relative strength of financials (-0.2%) and materials (-0.2%), but the underperformance of technology (-0.3%), industrials (-0.5%) and discretionary shares (-0.5%) short-circuited the rally.
The discretionary sector was pressured by homebuilders and retailers. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 22.69, -0.45) lost 1.9% as Treasury yields climbed throughout the session. The benchmark 10-yr yield added five basis points to 2.80%.
Meanwhile, retailers slumped after the National Retail Federation said Thanksgiving weekend sales were down 3.0% year-over-year. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 87.87, -0.59) lost 0.7%. However, eBay (EBAY 51.35, +0.83) outperformed its brick-and-mortar peers amid indications holiday online sales have gotten off to a strong start.
Elsewhere, Dow component 3M (MMM 127.68, -5.83) pressured the industrial sector, falling 4.4% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to 'Underweight.' Transports withstood the bulk of the selling as the Dow Jones Transportation Average added 0.3%.
The Nasdaq also contributed to the afternoon weakness as top-weighted components and momentum names lagged. Apple (AAPL 551.23, -4.84), Google (GOOG 1054.48, -5.11), and Intel (INTC 23.70, -0.14) lost between 0.5% and 0.9% while LinkedIn (LNKD 220.39, -3.64) and Tesla (TSLA 124.17, -3.11) fell 1.6% and 2.4%, respectively.
A pocket of strength could be found inside the tech-heavy index as biotechnology outperformed. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 224.73, +0.57) added 0.3%, which helped the health care sector finish with a slim gain of 0.1%.
The remaining countercyclical groups lagged across the board as consumer staples, telecom services and utilities lost between 0.4% and 0.9%.
Today's participation was well below average as 667 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Investors received just two economic data points today. After increasing a downwardly revised 0.1% (from 0.6%) in August, construction spending fell 0.3% in September before rebounding and increasing a solid 0.8% in October. The Briefing.com consensus expected construction spending to increase 0.4% and 0.3% in September and October, respectively.
The big gain in October spending came entirely from the government sector. Spending rose 3.9% in October, namely from an 8.5% gain in educational and a 5.9% gain in transportation. Private construction spending fell 0.5% in October after increasing 0.4% in September.
Separately, the November ISM Manufacturing Index increased to 57.3 from 56.4. That was the highest reading since the index reached 59.4 in April 2011. The Briefing.com consensus expected the index to fall to 55.5. For the past several months, regional manufacturing surveys have hinted at a slowdown in manufacturing activities, but the national ISM has shrugged those off and continued its trek higher.
There is no notable economic data on tomorrow's schedule.
Nasdaq +34.0% YTD
Russell 2000 +32.9% YTD
S&P 500 +26.3% YTD
DJIA +22.2% YTD
DJ30 -77.64 NASDAQ -14.63 SP500 -4.91 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 750/1.63 bln/1854 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 855/667.3 mln/2178 3:30 pm : Precious metals underperformed the commodities space as a stronger dollar index and better-than-anticipated manufacturing data pressured prices. The November ISM Manufacturing Index increased to 57.3 from 56.4, posting the highest reading since the index reached 59.4 in April 2011. The Briefing.com consensus expected the index to fall to 55.5.
Feb gold pulled back from its session high of $1238.20 per ounce set in morning pit action and trended lower for the remainder of the session. It eventually settled with a 2.3% loss at $1222.00 per ounce.
Mar silver also extended overnight losses as it slipped from its session high of $19.74 per ounce set moments after floor trade opened. It continued to trend lower and settled with a 3.7% loss at $19.30 per ounce, right above its session low of $19.27 per ounce.
Jan crude oil, on the other hand, extended Friday's gains, getting a boost from the better-than-anticipated economic data. The energy component lifted from its session low of $92.90 per barrel set at the floor open and trended higher. It brushed a session high of $94.08 per barrel in late afternoon pit action and settled with a 1.2% gain at $93.83 per barrel.
Jan natural gas rose for an eighth consecutive session despite spending most of today's pit trade in the red. It brushed a session low of $3.91 per MMBtu in morning action but gained momentum in the last hour of floor trade and erased the earlier losses. Natural gas settled at its session high of $3.99 per MMBtu, booking a gain of 0.8%.
5:00PM GT Advanced Tech. to offer $125 mln convertible senior notes and 12 mln shares of common stock (GTAT) 9.94 +0.13 : Co announced plans to offer $125,000,000 aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2020 and 12,000,000 shares of its common stock in concurrent underwritten registered public offerings. The Company currently intends to use the net proceeds of the Offerings for working capital and general corporate purposes, which may include the acquisition of companies or businesses and capital expenditures. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Goldman, Sachs & Co. will act as joint book-running managers and Canaccord Genuity Inc. will act as co-manager for the Offerings.
4:15PM Marvell announces resignation of interim CFO (MRVL) 14.24 +0.01 : Co announced that Brad D. Feller, Marvell's Interim CFO, has advised Marvell of his intention to resign from his position to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Feller's resignation is effective as of Dec 10, 2013. As previously disclosed Marvell is continuing its search to permanently fill the role of CFO.
Tomorrow before the open look for the following companies to report:
BMO, ISLE, LTXC
Large Cap Gainers
FRX (54.42 +6.06%): Announced major new plans to streamline operations, leverage balance sheet, and repurchase $1 bln of common stock; acquired U.S. marketing rights to Saphris for the treatment of schizophrenia for Merck (MRK)
MPC (87.08 +5.25%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank
VLO (47.06 +2.93%): Valero Energy Partners (VLP) launched IPO of 15 mln common units representing lmited partner interests
Large Cap Losers
PBR (14.23 -10.73%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
GG (21.64 -3.65%): Weakness in gold miners: ABX, NEM also lower
MMM (129.6 -2.93%): Downgraded to Underweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley
Mid Cap Gainers
GOGO (30.08 +12.79%): Co passed a key milestone in launching its international connectivity service by receiving an STC to install its Ku-satellite technology on Boeing 747-400 aircraft; will begin testing the new service immediately and plans to offer the service for customer usage by the first quarter of 2014
AXLL (49.63 +9.56%): Trading higher following news that Dow Chemical (DOW) will shut down ~800k tons of chlorine and caustic equivalent capacity
ROC (72.99 +6.62%): Acquired 49% interest in Talison Lithium through a joint venture with Chengdu Tianqi Industry Group
Mid Cap Losers
MYGN (25.82 -13.21%): Invitae Corp announced that it filed an action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Myriad seeking a declaration that certain Myriad patents relating to the BRCA1/2 and MUTYH genes are invalid and are not infringed by Invitae
NGD (4.99 -6.38%): Weakness in Canadian gold and silver miners: EGO, AEM, AUY, SLW also lower
KT (14.7 -6.16%): Co announced it plans to reduce its dividend
10:24AM Floor Talk: November Review (TALKX) : The month of November brought another round of gains for the major indices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average enjoyed its best month since July on its way to a close above the 16,000 level. The Nasdaq finished the month above the 4,000 mark while the S&P 500 settled north of 1,800 after registering eight consecutive weekly gains.
Steady Climb Continues
Equities continued their persistent climb throughout the month despite calls for a pullback getting increasingly louder. The expectations for some sort of a correction were not without merit as the S&P spent the month continuing a sharp rally that began in mid-October. The benchmark index entered November after gaining 6.1% during the previous 16 sessions. However, the S&P never gave in to sustained selling pressure, but instead rallied on, ending the month with a 9.0% gain since October 9.
Even though the S&P 500 registered another monthly gain, the index trailed the remaining averages. The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 3.6% while small caps fared even better as the Russell 2000 surged 3.9%.
With stocks pushing to fresh highs, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) spent the entire month trapped in its narrowest range of the year. The near-term volatility measure bounced between 12.93% and 13.70% throughout November.
Rising Tide Lifts (Nearly) All Boats
Just about every sector rallied along with the broader market, but consumer staples (+1.6%), energy (+0.1%), and materials (+1.4%) were a bit tentative in their advance. Two countercyclical groups-telecom services (-2.5%) and utilities (-1.9%)-finished in the red, while another defensive sector-health care (+4.7%) ended in the lead.
The health care sector drew considerable strength from biotechnology, which continued its banner year. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) soared 9.2%, extending its year-to-date gain to 63.4%. In turn, the outperformance of biotech also underpinned the Nasdaq, which ended the month only behind the Russell 2000.
The Nasdaq was powered to a 3.6% increase by the strength of biotech and top-weighted components like Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). However, some momentum names fell on tough times after providing support to the index earlier in the year.
Facebook (FB) and Tesla (TSLA) lost 6.4% and 20.4%, respectively while another momentum-favorite, Priceline.com (PCLN), outperformed with a gain of 13.1%.
Holiday Shopping Season Starts With Whimper
As the month drew to its close, the holiday shopping season began heating up. However, the early results were somewhat mixed as the National Retail Federation reported a 3.0% year-over-year decline in Thanksgiving weekend sales while ComScore reported a 3.0% increase in online sales versus the same period last year.
Yellen Cruises Through Hearing While Fed Minutes Bring Back Taper Talk
Early in the month, Janet Yellen's confirmation proceedings began with an appearance in front of the Senate Banking Committee. For the most part, the hearing proved to be a non-event, but one statement in Ms. Yellen's prepared remarks turned some heads. The Fed chair nominee said "the Federal Reserve has made significant progress toward its goals but has more work to do," which set the expectation for continued easing by the central bank.
That expectation was tested on November 18 when participants received the minutes from the October meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. The minutes sparked a selloff in bonds and equities after the Committee acknowledged that a form of tapering is 'likely in the coming months.' However, the selling suggested that once again the market focused on one part of the statement while ignoring the fact that the Fed continues falling short of its inflation target, which speaks in favor of continued easing.
Click here to see a breakdown of monthly sector ETF performance
STMicroelectronics (STM) announced a new family of always-on 6-axis inertial motion sensors with industry-lowest power requirements, ultra-compact packaging and unprecedented design flexibility.
Cypress Semiconductor (CY) announced that AVerMedia Technologies has selected Cypress's EZ-USB FX3 USB 3.0 controller for its new high-definition video capture card.
Marvell (MRVL) announced the launch of Yulong Coolpad's high-performance smartphone certified by China Mobile (CHL). Marvell's 4G LTE modem solution enables the production of Yulong Coolopad's 8736 smartphone and is among the first 4G LTE smartphones certified by China Mobile.
Broadcom (BRCM) announced that G'Five, a consumer electronics co and OEM in China, has selected Broadcom's quad-core HSPA+ smartphone platform for its new WG5701 Android smartphone.
NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) and DATANG TELECOM TECHNOLOGY announced the establishment of a JV, the first true automotive semiconductor co in China. The JV will focus on developing and marketing semiconductor solutions for the domestic hybrid and electric car market.
Adobe Systems (ADBE) eleased its Adobe Digital Index 2013 online shopping data. Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday saw record online sales with 1.062 billion and 1.93 billion, respectively. For the first time more than 24% of online sales occurred on smartphones and tablets, a record increase of 118% year-over-year. iOS-based devices drove more than $543 million dollars in online sales, with iPad taking a 77% share. Android-based devices were responsible for $148 million in online sales, a 4.9% share of mobile driven online sales.
Comscore (SCOR) reported U.S. desktop retail e-commerce spending for the first 29 days of the November--December 2013 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $20.6 billion has been spent online, marking a 3% increase versus the corresponding days last year. Due to variation in the 2012 and 2013 holiday shopping calendars with Thanksgiving falling so late this year, current season figures are being compared to last year's, which contain a full week of heavy post-Thanksgiving/Cyber Week buying. As a result, the season-to-date growth rate is being artificially suppressed in the short term, with the effects likely to normalize as the season progresses. (An alternative comparison to the four weeks preceding Thanksgiving in 2012 shows a growth rate of 24 percent, which overstates the growth trend much in the way the current rate understates the real growth trend.) Black Friday 2013 (November 29) saw $1.198 billion in desktop online sales, making it the season's first billion dollar day and heaviest online spending day to date, while representing a 15% increase versus Black Friday 2012. Thanksgiving Day (November 28), while traditionally a lighter day for online holiday spending, achieved a strong 21% increase over Thanksgiving Day last year to $766 million. Related Stocks: AMZN, WMT, TGT, BBY, EBAY, XRT
Akamai Tech (AKAM) announced that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement for Akamai to acquire Prolexic, a provider of cloud-based security solutions. Under terms of the agreement, Akamai will acquire all of the outstanding equity of Prolexic in exchange for a net cash payment of approximately $370 million, after expected purchase price adjustments, plus the assumption of outstanding unvested options to purchase Prolexic stock. The closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, is expected to occur in the first half of 2014. Therefore, Akamai's Q4 2013 existing guidance remains unchanged. The Prolexic acquisition is expected to be slightly dilutive to Akamai's Non-GAAP net income per share in the first full year post closure in the range of $0.06 to $0.08. Once the acquisition closes, the Company will include Prolexic in its guidance going forward. The company reaffirmed guidance for the fourth quarter with EPS of $0.49-0.53 and revenues of $412-430 million which is line with estimates.
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
