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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The major averages ended the Wednesday session on a mixed note as the Nasdaq added 0.3%, the Dow shed 0.4% while the S&P 500 essentially split the difference, ending flat.

Equity indices began the session on a lower note, but the Nasdaq and S&P 500 staged swift rallies to new highs. The two indices hovered near their best levels of the session for the remainder of the trading day, but tested their lows during the final hour. For its part, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unable to eclipse its morning high as 20 of its 30 components registered losses.

Prior to the open, it was reported that private sector employment increased by 238,000 in December while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 203,000. The strong report was received by the bond market as a sign suggesting the Fed could engage in additional tapering sooner rather than later. On that note, the December FOMC minutes revealed that some officials saw "waning benefits" from monthly bond purchases. Furthermore, some members wanted to see a quicker end to the asset purchasing program. Treasuries settled near their lows with the 10-yr yield up five basis points at 3.00%.

Six of ten sectors ended in the red with rate-sensitive consumer staples (-0.7%), telecom services (-1.7%), and utilities (-0.6%) leading the slide as higher yields weighed. The fourth defensive sector-health care (+0.9%)-finished in the lead with help from biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 231.58, +4.65) jumped 2.1%, also contributing to the outperformance of the Nasdaq.

Outside of health care, financials (+0.3%), materials (+0.6%), and technology (+0.1%) were the only other advancers. The materials sector received support from chemical producers after Monsanto (MON 115.23, +2.12) beat on earnings and revenue.

Elsewhere, the technology sector ended flat with its relative strength providing a boost to the Nasdaq. Chipmakers rallied broadly after Micron (MU 23.86, +2.13) beat on earnings and revenue. Micron soared 9.9% while the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 1.6%.

On the downside, the energy sector (-0.7%) was the weakest cyclical group as crude oil fell 1.4% to $92.32/bbl.

Today's session saw the most activity since December 20 as 743 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Tomorrow, the December Challenger Job Cuts report will be released at 7:30 ET while weekly initial claims will be reported at 8:30 ET.

Nasdaq -0.3% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.4% YTD
S&P 500 -0.6% YTD
DJIA -0.7% YTD

DJ30 -68.20 NASDAQ +12.43 SP500 -0.39 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1232/2.15 bln/1325 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1316/743.2 mln/1718

3:30 pm :

Precious metals traded lower today as the dollar index rose on strong U.S. private sector jobs data. The ADP Employment report showed that the private sector added 238,000 jobs in December, while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to come in at 203,000
Feb gold extended losses for a third consecutive session, falling to a session low of $1218.30 per ounce in morning pit action. It eventually settled at $1225.50 per ounce, or 0.3% lower
Mar silver dipped to a session low of $19.31 per ounce after pulling back from a session high of $19.64 per ounce set moments after floor trade opened. Unable to regain much momentum, it settled with a 1.3% loss at $19.53 per ounce
Feb crude oil fell deeper into negative territory as weekly inventory data and the stronger dollar index weighed on prices. The EIA reported that for the week ending Jan 3, crude oil inventories had a draw of 2.675 mln barrels when a draw of 0.9-2.75 mln barrels was anticipated. In addition, both gasoline and distillate inventories came in higher-than-expected. The energy component retreated from its session high of $93.77 per barrel and fell below the $93 per barrel level by mid-morning pit action. It eventually settled with a 1.4% loss at $92.32 per barrel
Feb natural gas touched a session high of $4.32 per MMBtu but slipped into negative territory in late morning floor trade. It continued to trend lower for the remainder of the session and settled 1.9% lower at $4.22 per MMBtu

4:46PM EXFO renews normal course issuer bid (EXFO) 4.80 -0.02 : Co announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the renewal of its share repurchase program, by way of a normal course issuer bid ("NCIB") on the open market, of up to 10% (2,043,101 subordinate voting shares) of the public float (20,431,011 subordinate voting shares as of January 1, 2014) as defined by the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX").

EXFO had 28,801,683 subordinate voting shares outstanding on January 1, 2014. As of January 1, 2014, EXFO had repurchased in the course of the previous renewal of its NCIB a total of 502,756 shares, being 308,484 shares on the TSX at an average amount of CA$ 4.74 and 194,272 shares on the NASDAQ at an average amount of US$ 4.65. The previous renewal of the NCIB had been effective since November 12, 2012 and expired on November 11, 2013.

4:39PM VOXX Intl beats by $0.14, misses on revs; lowers FY14 revs below consensus; Co sees organic growth in FY15 of 3-4% with improved bottom-line performance (VOXX) 16.99 +0.16 : Reports Q3 (Nov) earnings of $0.63 per share, $0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.49; revenues rose 1.2% year/year to $245.8 mln vs the $250.15 mln consensus.

Co lowered FY14 revenue guidance to $825-830 mln vs. $840.20 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate
Co increases EBITDA guidance to $65 mln and free cash flow guidance to $40 mln
Net income for the three months ended November 30, 2013 was favorably impacted by an increase in other income as a result of a $4.3 million payment due from an OEM customer due to a contract shortfall, offset by lower interest and bank charges and higher income generated from the Company's joint venture, ASA Electronics.

4:36PM Finisar to acquire u2t Photonics AG for ~$20 mln in cash (FNSR) 24.75 +1.20 : Co and u2t Photonics AG announced today that they have entered into an agreement under which Finisar will acquire 100% of the equity interests in u2t Photonics AG, located in Berlin, Germany for approximately $20 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments. Finisar will also assume net debt of approximately $7 million. The transaction is expected to close during the month of January.

With this transaction, Finisar will add u2t's Indium-Phosphide (InP)-based 100G high speed receivers and photodetectors to its existing portfolio of high speed optics technologies.
In addition, this acquisition will consolidate Finisar's previously announced partnership with u2t on InP-based IQ Mach-Zehnder modulators for 100G coherent applications. These receiver, photodiode and modulator technologies and products, when combined with Finisar's narrow-line width tunable lasers, will provide a full suite of optical components and enable Finisar to offer its customers vertically integrated modules for the 100G coherent metro and long haul markets.
In calendar year 2013, u2t had total revenues of approximately $33 million.

:02PM T-Mobile US stock halted; Announces preliminary Q4 numbers; says 1.645 mln subs added in Q4; branded post paid churn 1.7% in Q4, Branded prepaid churn 5.1%; stock is halted (TMUS) 33.25 +0.03 :

Co added 1.645 million customers, bringing its total base to 46.7 million across postpaid, prepaid and wholesale. This was the third quarter in a row that the Company has generated more than 1 million customer additions.
Had the most branded postpaid net customer additions since the fourth quarter of 2005.
Branded postpaid net customer additions were 869,000, which represents a 34% improvement compared to the third quarter of 2013.
For the full year 2013, the Company reported branded postpaid net customer additions of 2.0 million, on a pro forma combined basis, above its guidance for branded postpaid net additions of between 1.6 and 1.8 million.
Branded postpaid phone net additions were 800,000, compared to 643,000.
Mobile broadband postpaid net additions, primarily consisting of tablets, were 69,000 in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to 5,000 mobile broadband postpaid net additions in the third quarter of 2013, demonstrating the success of T-Mobile's Un-carrier 3.0.
Branded prepaid net customer additions in the fourth quarter of 2013 showed both sequential and year-over-year improvement. T-Mobile had 112,000 branded prepaid additions, which represents an improvement of 88,000 compared to the third quarter of 2013. Branded prepaid net customer additions in the fourth quarter of 2013 were impacted by continued migrations of approximately 120,000 from branded prepaid to branded postpaid. Wholesale net customer additions in the fourth quarter of 2013 were 664,000, compared to 351,000 in the third quarter of 2013 and 410,000 in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Branded postpaid churn of 1.7% in the fourth quarter of 2013 was consistent sequentially but declined 80 basis points year-over-year. The 80 basis point decline in churn represents the best quarterly year-over-year churn improvement in 2013.
Branded prepaid churn of 5.1% in the fourth quarter of 2013 was up 10 basis points sequentially and up 20 basis points year-over-year.

2:38PM Riverbed Technology confirms receipt of unsolicited proposal from Elliott Management (RVBD) 19.60 +1.75 : Co confirms that it has received an unsolicited proposal from Elliott Management Corporation to acquire all outstanding shares of Riverbed for $19.00 per share in cash. Consistent with its fiduciary duties, and in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, Riverbed's Board will review the offer and communicate its views in due course. No assurance can be given that the Elliott proposal, or any other transaction, will be consummated. The Company does not intend to disclose developments regarding these matters unless and until its Board of Directors determines there is a material need to update the market. As part of the commitment of the Riverbed Board and management to shareholders, the Board regularly reviews all options for generating and delivering value. The Board will review the Elliott proposal thoroughly, taking into account the Company's current strategic plan and growth initiatives.

Large Cap Gainers

FRX (68.53 +16.63%): To acquire Aptalis for $2.9 bln in cash; expected to be accretive to FY15 non-GAAP EPS by ~$0.78
MU (23.88 +9.91%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.26 ($0.77 vs $0.51 estimate), revs rose 120.4% yoy to $4.04 bln vs $3.71 bln estimate; target raised to $34 from $30 at Needham
STZ (75.67 +8.21%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.19 ($1.10 ex items vs $0.91 estimate), revs rose 88.2% yoy to $1.44 bln vs $1.39 bln estimate; sees FY14 EPS of $3.10-3.20 (raised from $2.80-3.10) vs $2.99 estimate

Large Cap Losers

KORS (76.7 -2.84%): Continued weakness from yesterday's downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
SJM (98.76 -2.72%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank
NOV (78.03 -2.24%): Downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets, target $86

Mid Cap Gainers

APOL (30.7 +13.96%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.14 ($1.04 ex items vs $0.90 estimate), revs fell 18.8% yoy to $856.3 mln vs $860.92 mln estimate; sees FY14 revs of $3.0-3.1 bln (raised from $2.95-3.05 estimate) vs $3.04 estimate; upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Compass Point, target raised to $30 from $20
RVBD (19.85 +11.20%): Elliott Management offered to acquire the co for $19 per share in cash
YELP (79.5 +9.41%): Bloomberg reporting co was mentioned positively at JP Morgan

Mid Cap Losers

TCS (39.4 -13.96%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.03 ($0.11 vs $0.08 estimate), revs rose 7.4% yoy to $188.3 mln vs $189.07 mln estimate; sees FY14 adjuted EPS of $0.40, revs of $754 mln; downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill
JCP (7.54 -7.94%): Reaffirmed outlook for Q4 (comparable store sales and gross margin expected to improve sequentially and year over year, inventory expected to be ~$2.85 bln at year end); co said it is "pleased with its performance for the holiday period"
QCOR (49.56 -6.53%): Chronic Disease Fund stopping new enrollments on all Acthar indications other than infantile spasms

9:33AM STMicroelectronics announces that it worked closely with Microsoft (MSFT) in supplying several key components for the new Kinect for Xbox One (STM) 7.62 -0.06 :

STMicroelectronics (STM) has introduced a new 2-axis gyroscope specifically optimized for optical image stabilization in smartphones and digital still cameras. Co also announced Teseo III, a single-chip standalone positioning product family capable of receiving signals from multiple satellite navigation systems, including the Chinese BeiDou, the US GPS, European Galileo, Russia's GLONASS and Japan's QZSS.

Mellanox Tech (MLNX) announced that its full lines of end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet interconnect solutions are now available through SYNNEX's (SNX) General Services Administration Schedule.

Cypress Semiconductor (CY) announced the US Patent Office has issued Cypress its one hundredth patent related to its TrueTouch capacitive touchscreen controllers.
Violin Memory (VMEM) announced its Flash Memory Array was used by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency to provide valuable information to client human service agencies to improve their practices.
Intel's (INTC) McAfee announced it will deliver McAfee LiveSafe service worldwide as a preinstall on select new HP (HPQ) consumer and commercial PCs.

RBCN -6% (announces sale of $28.2 mln of common stock),