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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : After enduring a broad-based selloff on Monday, the stock market rebounded, erasing roughly a third of yesterday's losses. The Nasdaq led the way, rising 0.9% while the S&P 500 gained 0.8%. For its part, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5%, but was unable to reclaim its 200-day moving average (15474).

Equities rallied steadily throughout the session in the absence of yen strength, which has been a headwind to the market since the start of the year. In fact, the yen began retreating overnight, and continued its slide into the close. Dollar/yen finished near 101.65 after starting its rally from just below the 101.00 level. Meanwhile yen futures lost 0.8%, trimming their 2014 gain to 3.6%.

Nine of ten sectors ended in the green with the discretionary space in the lead. The sector added 1.2% after Michael Kors (KORS 89.91, +13.24) and Yum! Brands (YUM 72.06, +5.06) reported above-consensus earnings. KORS surged 17.3% and YUM jumped 8.9% while also providing support to their respective industry groups. Despite today's relative strength, the discretionary sector remains the weakest performer of the year, down 7.4%.

Other influential groups like health care (+1.0%) and financials (+1.0%) also finished ahead of the broader market while technology (+0.5%) and industrials (+0.6%) lagged.

The largest S&P 500 sector, technology, struggled to keep pace with the market even with its top component, Apple (AAPL 508.79, +7.26), advancing 1.5%. Another large sector member, Microsoft (MSFT 36.35, -0.13), ended little changed after announcing Satya Nadella will replace the outgoing Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector lagged as the underperformance of Boeing (BA 122.04, -1.04) and United Technologies (UTX 109.10, -1.06) overshadowed the broad gains among transports. The Dow Jones Transportation Average advanced 1.2% as all but one component ended in the green. Con-way (CNW 37.19, -0.66) was the lone decliner, falling 1.7%.

Treasuries ended near their lows with the 10-yr yield up four basis points at 2.62%.

Participation was above average as 820 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.

Today's economic data was limited to the December factory orders report:

Factory orders declined 1.5% after increasing a downwardly revised 1.5% (from 1.8%) in November. The Briefing.com consensus expected factory orders to decline 1.7%. The durable goods data were revised slightly higher, but still left a lot to be desired. Orders fell 4.2%, which was slightly above the 4.3% decline reported in the advance release. A large portion of the decline was a result of a sharp drop in transportation demand (-9.7%), which was mostly the result of a 16.9% decline in defense and nondefense aircraft.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the ADP Employment Change report for January will be released at 8:15 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of January ISM Services.

Nasdaq Composite -3.5% YTD
S&P 500 -5.0% YTD
Russell 2000 -5.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -6.8% YTD

DJ30 +72.44 NASDAQ +34.56 SP500 +13.31 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1625/2.02 bln/975 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2088/820.2 mln/979

3:30 pm :

Mar natural gas outperformed in the commodities space as it gained strength on forecasts for colder-than-average temperatures over the next 10 days. Prices came off a session low of $5.14 per MMBtu set moments after pit trade opened and advanced as high as $5.40 per MMBtu in afternoon action. With the momentum holding steady, natural gas settled with a solid 9.6% gain at $5.37 per MMBtu.
Mar crude oil traded higher ahead of tomorrow's release of inventory data. The energy component lifted from a session low of $96.78 per barrel and rose as high as $97.71 per barrel in morning action. It eventually settled with a 0.8% gain at $97.24 per barrel.
Mar silver dipped to a session low of $19.26 per ounce in morning floor trade but managed to recover back above the unchanged line. It brushed a session high of $19.48 per ounce and settled with a 0.1% gain at $19.43 per ounce.
Apr gold, on the other hand, spent the pit session in the red as a stronger dollar index pressured prices. It traded in a consolidative pattern near the $1250 per ounce level and eventually settled with a 0.6% loss at $1251.60 per ounce.

5:32PM Netflix prices $400 mln offering of 5.750% senior notes (NFLX) 405.91 +1.53 : Co announced the pricing of an offering of $400 million aggregate principal amount of its 5.750% senior notes due 2024. Netflix intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures, investments, working capital and potential acquisitions and strategic transactions.

4:10PM Nanometrics beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (NANO) 16.41 +0.23 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.04 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.01); revenues rose 52.5% year/year to $46.15 mln vs the $44.94 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.01 to $0.13, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.08 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $48 to $54 million vs. $50.66 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, with GAAP gross margin in the range of 47% to 49% and non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 48% to 50%
Due to the shift in timing of certain R&D program spending from the fourth quarter into the first quarter, as well as a normal seasonal increase in payroll and other expenses, management expects first quarter operating expenses to increase between $1.4 and $2.0 million from the fourth quarter.

4:03PM Axcelis Tech reports EPS in-line, misses on revs (ACLS) 2.41 +0.09 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.01 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.01; revenues rose 31.3% year/year to $58.6 mln vs the $61.21 mln consensus.

System sales were $25.5 million, a 26% increase over the third quarter 2013, and a 100% increase over the first quarter.
"We're extremely pleased with our return to profitability. This quarter reflects the significant progress we've made on strengthening our financial model and capturing new opportunities with our expanding Purion product family. As we enter 2014, we believe we are strongly positioned to regain market share, achieve last peak quarterly revenues of $90 million during the current industry upturn, and maintain long term profitability through the cycle.

12:49PM Target confirms plans to accelerates implementation of chip-enabled smart card technology to protect consumers from fraud (TGT) 55.23 -0.18 : The co confirmed it will be accelerating its implementation of smart card technology designed to dramatically reduce the threat of credit and debit card fraud among guests shopping in its stores. During Chief Financial Officer John Mulligan testimony, Mulligan said Target will equip its proprietary REDcards and all of its store card readers in the U.S. with chip-enabled smart-card technology by the first quarter of 2015, more than six months ahead of previous plans. The accelerated timing is part of a $100 million effort to put in place chip-enabled technology in all of Target's nearly 1,800 U.S. stores.

Large Cap Gainers

KORS (90.5 +18.04%): Beat on EPS by $0.25, beat on revs; guided Q4 EPS in-line, revs above consensus; guided FY14 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus.
YUM (71.54 +8.13%): Beat on EPS by $0.06, missed on revs; guided FY14 EPS in-line.
UBS (20.27 +5.49%): Beat on EPS by CHF0.01.

Large Cap Losers

ARMH (42.74 -6.71%): Missed on EPS by GBP0.01, beat on revs.
ETN (67.84 -3.46%): Beat on EPS by $0.02, reported revs in-line; guided Q1/FY14 EPS in-line (midpoint below consensus).
BSX (12.93 -0.61%): Beat on EPS by $0.08, reported revs in-line; guided Q1 EPS above consensus, revs in-line; guided FY14 EPS above consensus, revs in-line.

Mid Cap Gainers

ACM (29.95 +8.17%): Beat on EPS by $0.01, missed on revs.
LL (93.84 +8.01%): S.A.C. Capital disclosed 5.0% passive stake in 13G filing.
ZNGA (4.72 +5.23%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS; tgt raised to $6 from $4.

Mid Cap Losers

DNB (97.2 -8.7%): Missed on EPS by $0.07, beat on revs; Josh Peirez has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer, co raised quarterly dividend by 10% to $0.44.
BRO (28.6 -6.78%): Missed on EPS by $0.03, missed on revs.
HLF (66.45 -3.72%): Priced offering of $1 bln aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2019; entered into amendment relating to its $500 mln senior term loan and $700 mln senior revolving loan credit facility.

IXYS Integrated Circuits Division, a subsidiary of IXYS (IXYS), announced the availability of the IXEP1400 electronic paper display gate driver

JDSU (JDSU) announced new laser technology that will be on display at SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco from Feb 4 -6.

SunEdison (SUNE) and the Public Investment Fund of the Government of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Investment Company signed an agreement to jointly fund a feasibility study for the establishment of a vertically integrated solar PV manufacturing complex at Wa'ad Al Shammal in Saudi Arabia. This follows a successful preliminary study between the National Industrial Clusters Development Program and SunEdison in 2013.

RMBS +1.6% (added to Focus List at Citigroup)

8:02AM Cisco Systems and Google (GOOG) enter into a long-term patent cross-licensing agreement covering a broad range of products and technologies (CSCO) 21.55 : CSCO and Google announced they have entered into a long-term patent cross-licensing agreement covering a broad range of products and technologies.

The agreement allows each co to extract significant value from its patent portfolio through a license to the other's portfolio and by helping to reduce the risk of future litigation. It stands in direct contrast to actions such as patent privateering -- or the transfer of patents to patent assertion entities -- that harm consumers.
"Our agreement with Cisco will reduce the potential for litigation, letting us focus instead on building great new products," said Allen Lo, Google's Deputy General Counsel for Patents. "We're pleased to enter into this cross-license, and we welcome discussions with any company interested in a similar arrangement."

7:22AM ATMI beats by $0.14, misses on revs (ATMI) 26.93 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.44 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.30; revenues rose 6.3% year/year to $94.8 mln vs the $100.04 mln consensus.

Q4 results exclude a pre-tax asset impairment charge of $11.5 million ($0.28 per diluted share), and a pre-tax gain of $1.2 million ($0.03 per diluted share) on the sale of a marketable security.
Briefing note: Entegris announced it would acquire ATMI for $34/share in cash - see post at 7:04

7:16AM Entegris beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (ENTG) 10.27 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.13; revenues rose 11.0% year/year to $186.3 mln vs the $170.49 mln consensus.

Guidance:
Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.09-0.14, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.14 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $165-180 mln vs. $172.70 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

In a separate press release issued today, Entegris announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire ATMI. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, therefore, any contribution from acquisition is not reflected. See 7:04 post

7:07AM Benchmark Elec beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (BHE) 22.07 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.43 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.36; revenues rose 19.4% year/year to $757 mln vs the $701.07 mln consensus. New program bookings in Q4 2013 were $150 million to $180 million.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.29-0.34, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.31 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q1 revs of $630-660 mln vs. $643.84 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

6:32AM Mattson sees Q4 revs above estimates; also sees Q1 rev mid-pt above estimates (MTSN) 2.92 : Co issues upside guidance for Q4 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.03-0.04, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.04 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 (Dec) revs of $40-41 mln vs. $39.39 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Mattson also expects, as of December 31, 2013, that cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash will be approximately $16 million with $14 million outstanding borrowing under its revolving credit facility.

Q1 Guidance
Co issues guidance for Q1 (Mar), sees EPS of $0.02-0.06, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.06 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 (Mar) revs of $41-45 mln vs. $42.06 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

These results reflect the recognition of revenue associated with the acceptance of a Millios system for volume production at advanced Foundry / Logic wafer fabrication facilities.

RBC Capital Markets downgraded select semicap names:
RBC Capital downgraded Lam Research (LRCX) to Sector Perform from Outperform and lowered its target to $57 from $62. RBC downgraded KLA-Tencor (KLAC) to Sector Perform from Outperform and lowered its target to $65 from $68. RBC downgraded Nanometrics (NANO) to Sector Perform from Outperform.
While RBC maintained its positive secular view on the semicap sector driven by increasing capital intensity, in the near term, it does expect memory spending to moderate and 20nm foundry adoption to be relatively muted. RBC expects the stocks to remain range bound balancing risk of downward revision and valuation support.
Violin Memory (VMEM) announced that its Board of Directors appointed Kevin DeNuccio as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. DeNuccio, 54, succeeds Howard Bain, who was serving as interim CEO. Mr. Bain will remain chairman of the Violin Memory Board of Directors. Mr. DeNuccio brings to Violin more than 25 years of executive and board experience building, managing and growing leading technology businesses. Most recently, he managed Wild West Capital, an angel investing, management and technology consulting firm he co-founded in 2012.
FireEye (FEYE) announced it has filed a registration statement with the SEC for a proposed public offering of its common stock. A portion of the shares of common stock to be sold in the offering will be sold by FireEye, and a portion of the shares will be sold by existing stockholders of the company. FireEye will not receive any proceeds from the shares sold by existing stockholders. The number of shares to be sold and the allocation of the shares between FireEye and existing stockholders have not yet been determined. Morgan Stanley will act as lead book-running manager for the offering.