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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market spun its wheels during the Tuesday session, ending essentially where it started. The S&P 500 shed 0.1% after spending the bulk of day within a striking distance of its flat line.

Equity indices tried to build on the relative strength of the two consumer sectors, but the rally attempts were stifled by the daylong underperformance of the top three groups.

Financials (-0.6%), health care (-0.2%), and technology (-0.3%) lagged from the opening bell and slumped to lows during the final hour of action. Since the three sectors account for more than 46.0% of the entire S&P 500, their underperformance acted as a headwind.

In the financial sector, Morgan Stanley (MS 29.71, -0.60) was the weakest performer among the majors while JPMorgan Chase (JPM 57.03, -1.00) fell 1.7% after announcing plans to eliminate jobs in its mortgage banking unit. In addition, the financial giant said it has observed a lower level of client activities across most investment banking units so far this year.

Elsewhere, the technology sector succumbed to the pressure exerted by some of its top components. Apple (AAPL 522.06, -5.49) lost 1.0% while Cisco Systems (CSCO 21.84, -0.28), Facebook (FB 69.85, -0.93), and Qualcomm (QCOM 74.91, -0.52) fell between 0.7% and 1.3%.

Unlike the traditional tech space, biotechnology remained strong. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 273.23, +1.15) added 0.4%, extending its year-to-date advance to 20.3%. Despite the strength, health care ended among the laggards.

On the upside, the consumer discretionary sector (+0.5%) finished in the lead after Home Depot (HD 80.98, +3.11) reported an earnings beat on below-consensus revenue. The company guided fiscal-year 2015 results below analyst estimates, but boosted its dividend 21.0% to $0.47 per share. On a related note, most homebuilders rallied while Toll Brothers (TOL 38.25, -0.09) shed 0.2% despite beating on earnings. The broader iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 25.55, +0.28) rose 1.1%.

Homebuilders received a measure of support from lower rates as the 10-yr yield slipped four basis points to 2.70%. Participation was well below average with only 633 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Today's economic data included three reports:

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index slipped to 78.1 in February from a downwardly revised 79.4 (from 80.7) while the Briefing.com consensus pegged the index at 80.8. Typically, confidence mirrors trends in stock prices, gasoline costs, employment levels, and media reports. There has been increased volatility among these indicators, but overall trends have been moving sideways. The slight drop in confidence, which is still above the December level (77.5), is likely nothing more than consumers reacting to the recent volatility.
The December Housing Price Index from the FHFA increased 0.8%, which followed an uptick of 0.1% observed in November.
The Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for December rose 13.4% while a 13.6% increase had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. This followed the November increase of 13.7%.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while New Home Sales for January will be reported at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +2.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.1% YTD
S&P 500 -0.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.4% YTD

DJ30 -27.48 NASDAQ -5.38 SP500 -2.49 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1024/1.98 bln/1556 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1381/633.3 mln/1636

3:30 pm :

Apr gold came off its session low of $1333.70 per ounce set moments after equity markets opened and managed to break into positive territory. It continued to trend higher and settled at $1342.70 per ounce, booking a gain of 0.4%.
Mar silver also lifted from its session low of $21.75 per ounce and rose as high as $22.00 per ounce. However, it was unable to push out of negative territory and settled with a 0.4% loss at $21.96 per ounce.
Apr crude oil spent its entire floor session in the red, dipping to a session low of $101.02 per barrel in morning action. It pushed to a session high of $101.95 per barrel and eventually settled with a 0.9% loss at $101.86 per barrel.
Apr natural gas slipped to a session low of $4.53 per MMBtu in early morning action but quickly recovered into positive territory. It advanced to a session high of $4.77 per MMBtu ahead of the close but lost momentum and settled just 0.2% higher at $4.67 per MMBtu.

4:12PM AXT beats by $0.03, misses on revs (AXTI) : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.04 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.07); revenues fell 1.6% year/year to $18.6 mln vs the $20.95 mln consensus.

"Our fiscal year 2013 was among our most difficult years, with a significant technology transition, market consolidation and customer-specific technical issues. We are now focusing our efforts on growing our market presence in strategic areas, and leveraging our low-cost manufacturing as a competitive advantage. In the meantime, we are sizing our operations to be more in line with the demand environment and are implementing a number of programs to improve our gross margins and lower our operating expenses. We continue to focus on cash management and are committed to driving increasing value for our shareholders."

4:11PM First Solar misses by $0.10, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY14 revs in-line (FSLR) 58.03 +0.28 :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.89 per share, $0.10 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.99; revenues fell 28.6% year/year to $768 mln vs the $976.25 mln consensus. The sequential decrease in net sales is primarily attributable to lower systems business project revenues as initial revenue recognition for Desert Sunlight and sale of the ABW projects were both achieved in the third quarter of 2013.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.50-0.60, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.88 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $800-900 mln vs. $905.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:02PM OmniVision announces it is working with Google's (GOOG) Advanced Technology and Projects team to develop vision-based mobile devices, capable of tracking and mapping environments and motion in 3D (OVTI) 15.27 -0.14 :
As part of the collaboration, co's new OV4682 and OV7251 image sensors provide high performance imaging functionality to the project's Android-based smartphone and development kit.

3:18PM Riverbed Technology confirms unsolicited proposal from Elliott Management to acquire all outstanding shares of Riverbed for $21.00 per share in cash (RVBD) 20.72 +0.87 : The Board of Directors - in consultation with its financial and legal advisors - will thoroughly review the Elliott proposal, taking into account the co's current strategic plan, growth initiatives, and recent performance.

12:04PM 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

TSLA (256.7 +17.94%): Tgt raised to $320 from $153 at Morgan Stanley.
CRH (29.91 +6.7%): Reported FY13 EPS of EUR 0.59.5 vs EUR 0.58 consensus; revs roughly unchanged at EUR 18.031 bln vs EUR 18.061 bln consensus.
NVO (48.18 +5.15%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Large Cap Losers

FMS (34.32 -5.4%): Beat on EPS by $0.06, revs rose 4.4% y/y to $3.87 bln vs the $3.86 bln consensus; sees 2014 rev guidance to be around $15.2 bln vs $15.4 bln consensus.
TMUS (31.31 -3.1%): Reported ~ in-line Q4; sees 2-3 mln net adds in FY14 with EBITDA of $5.7-6.0 bln, in-line.
OKS (54.4 -3.1%): Beat on EPS by $0.01.

Mid Cap Gainers

ZU (58.47 +36.48%): Beat on EPS by $0.06, beat on revs; guided Q1 revs above consensus; guided FY14 revs above consensus.
BLMN (25.6 +11.52%): Beat on EPS by $0.01, reported revs in-line; sees CY14 EPS of at least $1.27 and 52-53 wk FY14 EPS of at least $1.21 (vs. $1.28 consensus); sees CY14 revs of at least $4.45 bln and 52-53 wk FY14 revs of at least $4.40 bln vs. $4.52 bln consensus.
BBRY (10.76 +9.46%): Co introduced new products and services; new EZ Pass program will enable a free migration path for customers to move from BES and other MDM platforms to BES10.

Mid Cap Losers

GTLS (81.67 -9.3%): Missed on EPS by $0.01, missed on revs; guides FY14 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus.
ROSE (42.65 -9.74%): Beat on EPS by $0.05, missed on revs; downgraded to Sector Outperform at Howard Weil; tgt lowered to $65.
SINA (69.35 -8.85%): Beat on EPS by $0.01, non-GAAP rev in-line with guidance; guided Q1 revs in-line.

7:25AM Aixtron misses by EUR0.06, misses on revs; unable to provide guidance due to low order visibility -- stock is down 7.5% in Germany (AIXG) 16.85 : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of 0.13 per share, 0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ( 0.07); revenues fell 34.1% year/year to 51.1 mln vs the 51.73 mln consensus.

Due to the still very low order visibility, AIXTRON mgmt is unable to provide any precise guidance for the Company's revenues and earnings for the current fiscal year 2014. As a consequence of the already advanced restructuring of the Company and the realized cost reductions, Management expects a further year-on-year improvement of the result in 2014. Based on its consideration of the current market demand Management believes that 2014 revenues will be on par with 2013 with a still negative but significantly improved operating result. Based on the assumption of a target gross margin of 40 percent and operating costs of ~EUR 100m, EBIT break-even may now be reached with revenues of ~EUR 250m.

LED: CREE, VECO.

7:15AM SunEdison sees 1Q14 Solar Energy Systems MW Sold (Non-GAAP) of 85 to 105; sees 1Q14 Solar Energy Systems Avg. Price ($/Wdc) of $2.85 to $3.10 (SUNE) 16.79 : Sees FY14 Solar Energy Systems MW Sold (Non-GAAP) of 500 to 650; sees 1Q14 Solar Energy Systems Avg. Price ($/Wdc) of $2.25 to $2.75.

3:44AM BlackBerry introduces new products and services (BBRY) 9.83 : Co announces new enterprise solutions, partnerships and smartphone models to enable enterprises and individuals to maximize their productivity, communication and collaboration. The launch of these solutions underscores BlackBerry's efforts to deliver technologies across the entire mobile spectrum - from the enterprise to the end user. Secure and Private Mobility Solutions for Enterprises

The next generation of BlackBerry Enterprise Service, BES12, will enable organizations to develop enterprise-grade applications that are quickly deployed to BlackBerry smartphones and other mobile devices.
A new EZ Pass program will enable a free migration path for customers to move from BES and other MDM platforms to BES10.
A new BES pricing and licensing structure will provide two simple tiers, Silver and Gold. Silver includes full device, application, email and security management for BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices, including the unique BlackBerry Balance technology, a containerization solution that separates personal and work data on BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

BlackBerry also revealed some of the latest companies to adopt BES10, including Daimler AG and Airbus Group. These distinguished corporations are part of an industry-leading 80,000 companies whose communications are secured by BlackBerry.

BlackBerry Z3 smartphone is an upcoming all-touch BlackBerry 10 smartphone designed for customers in Indonesia.
BlackBerry Q20 smartphone is an upcoming QWERTY smartphone that merges the power of BlackBerry 10 with the classic BlackBerry design and experience, realized with hard buttons as well as an integrated trackpad. With a new 3.5" touchscreen and keyboard with frets and sculpted keys, the device will feature the familiar workflow and efficiency that BlackBerry fans continue to value in a BlackBerry QWERTY smartphone.