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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 21-Feb-14

Dow -29.93 at 16103.3, Nasdaq -4.13 at 4263.41, S&P -3.53 at 1836.25

The major averages finished the mixed week on a lower note. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both shed 0.2% while the Nasdaq slipped 0.1%. For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 posted respective losses of 0.3% and 0.1% while the Nasdaq added 0.5%.

In some ways, today's session resembled Wednesday's affair, during which the S&P 500 made an unsuccessful run at its 2013 closing high of 1848.36. However, today's rejection unfolded over the course of the afternoon while Wednesday's pushback from the record high occurred in one sharp move.

The opening rally was supported by the largest S&P 500 sector, technology, which outperformed during the first 90 minutes of action. However, the morning leader became an afternoon laggard after the S&P 500's failed run at new record highs. The tech sector lost 0.3% while top components like Apple (AAPL 525.25, -5.90), Facebook (FB 68.59, -1.04), and Intel (INTC 24.48, -0.26) lost between 1.1% and 1.5%. Another tech component, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 29.79, -0.40), lost 1.3% despite beating on earnings and revenue.

Interestingly, once the technology sector slipped behind the S&P 500, the second largest sector-financials-was there to pick up the slack. The group struggled to keep pace with the S&P 500 since Wednesday and began today among the laggards, but was able to climb ahead of the broader market during the late-morning retreat. Despite today's slight gain of 0.03%, the sector ended the week behind the remaining nine groups with a loss of 0.9%.

Elsewhere, the discretionary sector (+0.2%) finished in the lead thanks to all-around strength. Retailers held up well even after Nordstrom (JWN 59.24, -0.20) issued disappointing guidance.

On the downside, the energy sector (-0.7%) spent the entire session in the red while crude oil slid 0.6% to $102.18/bbl. Elsewhere among commodities, gold remained strong, climbing 0.5% to $1317.30/ozt.

Trading volume was above average, which resulted from options expiration. Nearly 800 million shares changed hands at the NYSE versus a 200-day average of 718 million.

Treasuries posted modest gains with the benchmark 10-yr yield ending lower by two basis points at 2.73%.

Week in Review: Stocks Endure Choppy Week

On Monday, bond and equity markets were closed for Presidents' Day.

Tuesday's session saw equity indices kick off the abbreviated trading week on a relatively quiet note. Small caps finished in the lead (Russell 2000 +1.0%) while the S&P 500 added 0.1%. The benchmark index saw a brief dip at the open, but the weakness was erased promptly thanks to the early strength of the health care sector (+0.9%). The group surged out of the gate after Actavis (ACT 218.41, -1.96) agreed to acquire Forest Laboratories (FRX 96.88, -0.42) for $25 billion. Biotechnology also factored into the sector's strength as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 268.71, +3.25) jumped 2.6%.

On Wednesday, stocks ended on their lows with the S&P 500 snapping its three-day win streak. The index fell 0.7% while the Nasdaq (-0.8%) lagged throughout the session. The trading day began with slim losses, but the Dow and S&P 500 were quick to erase the early weakness. For its part, the Nasdaq was unable to make a sustained move into the green. Eight of ten sectors ended in the red with financials registering the largest decline. Citigroup (C 48.26, +0.13) was the weakest performer among the majors while regional banks also endured significant losses. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE 38.15, +0.31) fell 2.8%.

Equities ended the Thursday session on their highs with small caps in the lead. The Russell 2000 gained 1.1% while the S&P 500 rose 0.6% with all ten sectors posting gains. Prior to the open, the market appeared to be headed for a lower start as disappointing data from China, Japan, and the eurozone weighed on index futures. Specifically, China's HSBC Manufacturing PMI fell to 48.3 from 49.5 (49.4 expected), Japan posted a record trade deficit of JPY1.82 trillion (JPY1.56 trillion expected), and the Manufacturing PMI for the eurozone (53.0 versus 54.0 expected) disappointed. Despite the weak data from overseas, equity futures were able to find support when a better-than-expected Markit Manufacturing PMI for the U.S. was released (56.7 actual versus 53.0 expected). Historically, the data point has not been known for eliciting a noteworthy reaction in the market, but today's number likely fueled some short covering activity that sent futures back to their flat lines by the opening bell. In addition, buying ahead of Friday's options expiration likely factored into the morning rebound and the daylong rally.

 
 Index	    Started Week  Ended Week  Change  % Change	 YTD % 
 DJIA	     16154.39	  16103.30    -51.09	-0.3	-2.9 
 Nasdaq	      4244.02	   4263.41     19.39     0.5     2.1 
 S&P 500	1838.63	   1836.25     -2.38	-0.1	-0.7 
 Russell 2000  1149.21	   1164.63     15.42	 1.3     0.1

12:15PM Notable movers of interest (SCANX) : The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).

Large Cap Gainers

PCYC (151.98 +6.52%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.09 ($0.95 vs $0.86 estimate), revs rose 113.1% yoy to $123.6 mln vs $99.91 mln estimate; target raised to $191 from $163 at JMP Securities following earnings
UA (112.4 +4.86%): Confirmed eight year contract extension with U.S. Speedskating
INTU (77.18 +4.51%): Reported Q2 EPS of $0.02 ex items (in-line), revs fell 11.5% yoy to $782 mln vs $788.49 mln estimate; sees Q3 EPS of $3.46-3.51 ex items vs $3.49 estimate, revs of $2.325-2.400 bln vs $2.37 bln estimate; reaffirmed FY14 guidance

Large Cap Losers

COG (36.68 -6.62%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.01 ($0.18 ex items vs $0.17 estiamte), revs rose 31.8% yoy to $487.5 mln vs $472.38 mln estimate; co also announced it entered into a Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement with a subsidiary of WGL Holdings (WGL)
NEM (22.98 -6.05%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.11 ($0.33 vs $0.44 estimate), revs fell 12.4% yoy to $2.17 bln vs $2.19 bln estimate
CHTR (125.19 -5.04%): Beat quaterly EPS by $0.07 ($0.35 vs 0.28 estimate), revs rose 5.0% yoy on a pro forma basis to $2.15 bln vs $2.16 bln estimate

Mid Cap Gainers

COMM (22.62 +19.24%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.02 ($0.30 vs $0.28 estimate), revs declined 2% yoy to $846 mln vs $820 mln estimate; sees Q1 EPS of $0.36-0.40 vs $0.30 estimate, revs of $860-900 mln vs $818 mln estimate; upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, target raised to $25 from $17.50
ISIS (59.7 +16.90%): Reported positive results from ongoing open-label, multiple-dose study of ISIS-SMNRx in children with spinal muscular atrophy
SSTK (96.05 +16.49%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.05 ($0.26 ex items vs $0.21 estimate, revs rose 38.4% yoy to $68.0 mln vs $65.8 mln estimate; sees Q1 revs of $69-70 mln vs $67.7 mln estimate; sees FY14 revs of $305-310 mln vs $304.5 mln estimate

Mid Cap Losers

GRPN (8.42 -18.08%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.02 ($0.04 ex items vs $0.02 estimate), revs rose 20.4% yoy to $768.4 mln vs $718.73 mln estimate; sees Q1 EPS of -$0.04 to $0.02 ex items vs $0.06 estimate, revs of $710-760 mln vs $681.81 mln estimate; downgraded at RBC Capital Markets
MRC (25.5 -13.73%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.09 ($0.32 ex items vs $0.41 estimate), revs rose 2.9% yoy to $1.34 bln vs $1.31 bln estimate; sees FY14 revs of $5.5-5.8 bln vs $5.7 bln estimate
FNGN (54.47 -12.38%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.01 ($0.22 vs $0.23 estimate), revs rose 26.8% yoy to $65.2 mln vs $66.21 mln estimate; sees FY14 revs of $274-279 mln vs $293.18 mln estimate

8:01AM Freescale Semi announces launch of new financing under senior secured credit facilities (FSL) 22.48 :

Co announced today that FSL, its wholly owned indirect subsidiary, is seeking to (i) lower the interest rate of its existing senior secured term loan facility maturing in 2016 with an aggregate outstanding principal amount of $347 mln and extend the maturity to 2020; (ii) lower the interest rate applicable to its existing senior secured term loan facility maturing in 2020 with an aggregate outstanding principal amount of $2.37 bln, and (iii) receive commitments for a new senior secured term loan facility under its existing senior secured credit facilities.
The proceeds from the new term loan are intended to be used to refinance any portion of the 2016 Term Loan and 2020 Term Loan not so amended.

1:54AM Hanwha SolarOne receives product carbon footprint certification based on new international standard (HSOL) 3.02 : Co announces it is among the first PV manufacturers to have its solar modules certified with the new international standard for carbon footprint assessment, ISO 14067. The certificates were issued by German safety standard authority T V Rheinland in January 2014.

1:34AM Advanced Micro prices $600 mln of 6.75% Senior Notes due 2019 (AMD) 3.69 :

Rocket Fuel (FUEL) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.06 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 113.5% year/year to $85.6 million which is higher than expected. The company reaffiremd gudiance for the first quarter with revenues of $73-76 mln which is line with estimates with Adjusted EBITDA in the range of ($9.0)-(7.5) mln. The company reaffiremd guidacne for the fiscal eyar 2014 with revenues of $420-435 million which is line with estimates, with Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $3-6 mln. "Rocket Fuel continued to deliver excellent results for advertisers in the fourth quarter, with all financial metrics coming in slightly ahead of the estimated ranges we provided in January. Our full year 2013 revenue of $240.6 million represented 126% growth over 2012, and we achieved our first full year of positive Adjusted EBITDA results as our technology investments powered gross margin expansion while we demonstrated operating leverage in sales and marketing. We ended 2013 with more than double the active customer base from 2012 and advertisers are increasingly using Rocket Fuel for multi-channel campaigns, demonstrated by the 721% growth of mobile, social, and video channel revenue versus Q4 2012, which comprised 32% of our total revenue in Q4 2013.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) reported first quarter adjusted earnings of $0.90 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which is higher than expected, while revenues fell 0.7% year/year to $28.15 billion which is higher than expected. Personal Systems revenue was up 4% YoY with a 3.3% operating margin. Commercial revenue increased 8% and Consumer revenue declined 3%. Total units were up 6% with Desktops units down 3% and Notebooks units up 5%. Printing revenue was down 2% YoY with a 16.8% operating margin. Total hardware units were up 5% with Commercial hardware units up 6% and Consumer hardware units up 4%. Supplies revenue was down 3%. Enterprise Group revenue was up 1% YoY with a 14.4% operating margin. Industry Standard Servers revenue was up 6%, Storage revenue was flat, Business Critical Systems revenue was down 25%, Networking revenue was up 4% and Technology Services revenue was down 4%. Enterprise Services revenue was down 7% YoY with a 1% operating margin. Application and Business Services revenue was down 4%, and Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing revenue declined 9%. Software revenue was down 4% YoY with a 15.8% operating margin. Support revenue was down 2%, license revenue was down 6%, professional services revenue was down 12% and software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenue was up 6%. HP Financial Services revenue was down 9% YoY with a 6% decrease in net portfolio assets and an 18% increase in financing volume. The business delivered an operating margin of 11.6%. Corporate Investments revenue increased due to the sale of a portfolio of mobile computing intellectual property. Asset management HP generated $3.0 billion in cash flow from operations in the first quarter, up 17% from the prior-year period. Inventory ended the quarter at $6.0 billion, down 1 day YoY to 25 days. Accounts receivable ended the quarter at $13.5 billion, down 2 days YoY at 43 days. Accounts payable ended the quarter at $12.6 billion, up 4 days YoY to 52 days. HP's dividend payment of $0.1452 per share in the first quarter resulted in cash usage of $278 million. HP also utilized $565 million of cash during the quarter to repurchase ~20.4 million shares of common stock in the open market. HP exited the quarter with $16.4 billion in gross cash. The company issued second quarter guidance with EPS of $0.85-0.89 whcih is line with stimates. The company issued fiscal year 2014 with raised guiadnce to $3.60-3.75 (from $3.55-3.75) which is line with estimates.

Marvell (MRVL) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.29 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 20.2% year/year to $931.7 million which is higher than expected. The company issued in line guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.20-0.24, which is line with estimates and revenues of $870-910 million which is higher than expected.