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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The major averages spent the entire session in a steady downtrend, but despite persistent selling pressure, today's losses were limited in scope. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq shed between 0.2% and 0.3% while the Russell 2000 lagged, falling 0.9%.

The underperformance of the Russell 2000 was likely owed in part to tax-loss selling, which tends to pick up this time of year. Small-caps often feel that pinch in a stronger fashion than large-cap issues since individual retail investors factor more prominently in the behavior of small-cap stocks. Large-cap stocks, on the other hand, have a stronger institutional shareholder base that may be less sensitive to the timing of tax-loss harvesting at year-end due to being tax exempt or having different taxable years.

U.S. equities began the session with modest losses, tracking the performance of their European counterparts. An early bid lifted the Nasdaq and S&P 500 briefly into positive territory, but a second round of selling into the European close pushed the indices back into the red where they spent the remainder of the session.

Countercyclical sectors lagged throughout the day with consumer staples and health care falling 0.9% and 0.4%, respectively. The health care space was pressured by biotechnology as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 219.64, -1.85) lost 0.8%. Meanwhile, the other two defensively-geared sectors-telecom services (-0.8%) and utilities (-1.0%)-ended at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Things looked a bit different on the cyclical side where all six groups finished in-line or ahead of the broader market. However, only materials (+0.3%) and discretionary shares (+0.1%) were able to register gains.

The materials sector received significant support from miners. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 22.03, +0.82) jumped 3.9% as gold futures advanced 2.3% to $1262.00 per troy ounce.

Elsewhere, the discretionary space drew strength from momentum names as Amazon.com (AMZN 387.78, +2.89), eBay (EBAY 51.92, +0.23), and Netflix (NFLX 363.10, +7.43) gained between 0.4% and 2.1%.

Also of note, financials settled in-line with the broader market even as Goldman Sachs (GS 169.73, +2.06) outperformed with a gain of 1.2%. It is worth mentioning that the Volcker Rule received clearance from all five regulatory agencies today, but CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton said the Rule is unlikely to be implemented before 2015.

Treasuries climbed throughout the day with the 10-yr yield falling five basis points to 2.80%.

Trading volume was well below average as only 619 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

In today's economic data, wholesale inventories increased 1.4% in October after increasing an upwardly revised 0.5% (from 0.4%) in September. The Briefing.com consensus expected wholesale inventories to increase 0.3%. The increase in inventories followed a sizable gain in overall inventories in the third quarter. It was expected that inventory growth would slow considerably throughout the fourth quarter.

Durable inventories increased 0.4% in October. Big gains in autos (2.7%) and furniture (1.3%) offset declines in computer (-5.7%) and professional (-1.4%) equipment. Meanwhile, nondurable inventories increased 3.0% in October, up from a 1.4% September gain. Almost two-thirds of the increase in nondurable goods inventories was the result of a 17.0% increase in farm product inventories.

Separately, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey came in at 3.925 million, which follows the prior reading of 3.913 million.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET and the November Treasury Budget will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.

Nasdaq +34.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +31.8% YTD
S&P 500 +26.4% YTD
DJIA +21.9% YTD

DJ30 -52.40 NASDAQ -8.26 SP500 -5.75 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 890/1.71 bln/1687 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1210/619.4 mln/1810 3:35 pm : Commodities ended mixed this morning with metals higher and energy and agriculture mixed.

Gold and silver ended today's session with strong gains and finished just under its HoD. Feb gold ended today $31.90 higher at $1261/oz, while Mar silver gained 0.80% to $20.33/oz.

Crude oil held gains ahead of inventory data with the Jan contract rising $0.85 higher at $98.55/barrel. Jan nat gas rose $0.12 to $4.24/MMBtu.DJ30

Large Cap Gainers

TWTR (52.19 +6.21%): Continued strength on last week's announcement of new tool for more precise targeting of advertisements
ABX (16.88 +5.49%): Strength in large cap gold companies: GG, NEM also higher
CAH (67.33 +4.76%): Co and CVS announced agreement to form a 50/50 joint venture that will be the largest generic sourcing entity in the U.S.

Large Cap Losers

IEP (135.7 -8.64%): Announced sale of 2 mln depositary units representing limited partnership interests
GILD (70.63 -6.06%): Hearing Express Scripts (ESRX) is pushing for a price war in the hepatitis C treatment space
SBUX (77.2 -3.17%): Mentioned cautiously at ITG Research

Mid Cap Gainers

AU (13.19 +8.65%): Strength in mid cap gold companies: AEM, NGD, RGLD, EGO also higher
GRPN (10.13 +5.25%): Mentioned positively at Morgan Stanley
DDD (79.52 +4.70%): Initiated with a Buy at Deutsche Bank, target $95

Mid Cap Losers

LL (89.71 -13.57%): Raised FY13 rev guidance to $994-1000 mln (from $985-995 mln) vs $995.36 mln estimate, raised EPS guidance to $2.72-2.75 (from $2.65-2.74) vs $2.76 estimate; sees FY14 revs of $1.15-1.20 bln vs $1.16 bln estimate, EPS of $3.25-3.60 vs $3.51 estimate; Canaccord Genuity noted that Q4 gross margin outlook appears conservative
IOC (58.15 -4.87%): Mentioned negatively in blog article
CASY (71.48 -4.54%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.08 ($1.06 vs $1.14 estimate), revs rose 5.5% yoy to $2.02 bln vs $2.02 bln estimate

Juniper Networks (JNPR) announced Mozzart Bet has replaced most of its existing data center infrastructure with an integrated Juniper Networks switching, routing and security portfolio.

7:31AM Broadcom raises its Q4 revenue guidance at its Analyst day (BRCM) 27.88 : Co issues upside guidance for Q4 (Dec), sees Q4 (Dec) revs of $2.00-2.05 bln vs. $1.98 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate and above its prior guidance of $1.95-2.03 bln. The raised outlook was due to better-than-expected revenue in each reportable segment, particularly in Infrastructure & Networking.

Product Gross Margin: Improved the guided range for Q4'13 to down ~50 -- 75 bps on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis.
R&D Plus SG&A Expenses: Reduced guided sequential growth range for Q4'13 to up ~$30-50 mln on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis due to tighter expense management.

For a link to co's analyst day presentation, click here

7:15AM Taiwan Semi reports Nov sales volumes of NT$44.33 bln vs NT$44.30 bln in Nov 2012 (TSM) 17.57 :

3:17AM LDK Solar enters into further forbearance with noteholders (LDK) 1.38 : Co announces that it has entered into a new 30-day forbearance arrangement with holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of its US$-Settled 10% Senior Notes due 2014. The new forbearance arrangement, which expires on January 9, 2014, relates to the interest payment due under the Notes on August 28, 2013. That interest payment is still unpaid. It is LDK Solar's intention to find a consensual solution to its obligations under the Notes as soon as possible and LDK Solar remains hopeful that it will be able to achieve that goal.

2:57AM Rambus and Micron (MU) sign license agreement (RMBS) 8.53 : Rambus (RMBS) and Micron Technology (MU) announce they have signed a broad patent cross license agreement. Under the agreement, Micron gains the right to use any Rambus patent for the manufacture of specified integrated circuit products, including any memory integrated circuit products. Certain of these memory products will enjoy a perpetual, paid-up license after the end of the initial term. The agreement requires quarterly royalty payments to Rambus over the next seven years capped at $10 million per quarter, with a rolling twelve-month cap fixed at $40 million, or $280 million during the initial term. In addition, Micron will have the option to extend the initial term of this agreement for additional renewal periods. As part of this agreement, the two companies have settled all outstanding patent and antitrust claims, and the agreement covers both Micron and Elpida products. Other terms and details of the agreement are confidential.

Marvell Technology (MRVL) announced the appointment of Michael Rashkin as Interim Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Rashkin has been with the Company since 1999 and prior to this appointment served in a variety of roles in the finance organization. Mr. Rashkin also served as Interim Chief Financial Officer of Marvell from July 2007 to January 2008.
Comtech Telecom (CMTL) reported first quarter earnings of $0.28 per share,which is better than expected, while revenues fell 8.3% year/year to $83.37 million which also topped expectations. The company issued guidance for the fiscal year 2014 with raised EPS to $1.12-1.25 from $1.07-1.19 and raised revenues to $325-345 million which are both in line with expectations. The company's Board of Directors has raised its annual target dividend from $1.10 per share to $1.20 per share and declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.30 per share, payable on February 19, 2014, to shareholders of record at the close of business on January 17, 2014. The dividend is the Company's fourteenth consecutive quarterly dividend and represents an increase of 9.1% from the previous quarterly dividend paid on November 19, 2013. The Company also announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized an increase to its existing stock repurchase program from $50.0 million to $100.0 million.
Texas Instruments (TXN) narrowed its EPS guidance range to $0.44-0.48 and narrowed its revenue guidance of $2.92-3.04 billion which are both in line with expectations. Preliminary fourth quarter guidance issued on October 22 was for GAAP EPS of $0.42-0.50 and revenue guidance in the range of $2.86-3.10 billion.
Iron Mountain (IRM) disclosed that on December 9, 2013, the board of directors approved, and the Company entered into, a REIT Status Protection Rights Agreement, between the Company and Computershare Inc., as rights agent. The Rights Agreement provides for a dividend of one preferred stock purchase right for each share of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, of the Company outstanding on December 20, 2013. Each Right entitles the holder to purchase from the Company one one-thousandth of a share of Series A Junior Participating Preferred Stock, par value $0.01 per share, for a purchase price of $114.00, subject to adjustment as provided in the Rights Agreement. The description and terms of the Rights are set forth in the Rights Agreement.