From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market finished the Thursday session on a lower note with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%) trailing the other indices once again. The Nasdaq widened its week-to-date loss to 3.6% while the S&P 500 settled lower by 0.2%, extending its weekly decline to 0.9%.
Equity indices began the trading day on a cautious note despite two upbeat economic data points crossing ahead of the open. Namely, fourth quarter GDP was revised up to 2.6% from 2.4% while weekly initial claims fell to 311,000 from 320,000.
The release of this morning's data coincided with session lows in Treasuries, which rallied into the afternoon. The 10-yr note added three ticks, pressuring its yield down to 2.68% after notching a morning high at 2.71%.
Meanwhile, the early weakness in equities was brought upon by continued volatility in the biotechnology space. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 236.14, +1.05) was down nearly 3.0% during the initial 30 minutes of action before returning to its flat line, where it traded for the remainder of the trading day.
The early selling in biotechnology pressured the health care sector (-0.1%), but the influential group was able to erase the bulk of its early loss thanks in part to the 3.9% gain in the shares of Baxter (BAX 72.80, +2.72) after the company announced plans to split into two entities.
Even though health care settled in-line with the broader market, other top-weighted sectors were not as fortunate. Financials (-0.6%) ended at the bottom of the leaderboard while consumer discretionary (-0.5%) and technology (-0.6%) were not much stronger.
Notably, the financial sector lagged amid losses in some of its largest components. Citigroup (C 47.45, -2.71) slumped 5.4% after the Federal Reserve objected to the capital plan submitted by the bank.
Elsewhere, the discretionary sector was pressured by the likes of Amazon.com (AMZN 338.47, -4.94), eBay (EBAY 55.18, -0.42), and Netflix (NFLX 364.18, -8.10), while quick-service restaurants also finished mostly lower. Yum! Brands (YUM 73.20, -0.97) was a notable laggard, falling 1.3%.
Although most cyclical groups spent the bulk of the session in the red, that was not the case with the energy space (+0.9%), which outperformed throughout the day while crude oil rose 1.0% to $101.24/bbl.
On the countercyclical side, telecom services (+1.2%) and utilities (+0.8%) posted gains while consumer staples (-0.2%) ended in-line.
Despite the cautious disposition, participants did not show strong demand for volatility protection, sending the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 14.56, -0.37) lower by 2.5%.
Trading volume was a bit above average as 778 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.
Today's economic data included the final revision to Q4 GDP, weekly initial claims, and the February Pending Home Sales report:
Fourth quarter GDP was revised up to 2.6% in the third estimate from 2.4% in the second estimate. That matched the Briefing.com consensus estimate, but was down from a 4.1% gain in Q3 2013. Real final sales increased 2.7% in the fourth quarter. That was up from a 2.5% gain in Q3 2013 and above the previously reported 2.3% gain. It was also the strongest increase in real final sales since increasing 3.4% in Q2 2012. Looking at real final sales over the last four quarters (0.2%, 2.1%, 2.5%, and 2.7%), there is a definite upward moving trend. The year-over-year averages, however, put it below the 2.0% and 2.6% gains from 2011 and 2012.
The initial claims level fell to 311,000 for the week ending March 22 from an upwardly revised 321,000 (from 320,000) for the week ending March 15. The Briefing.com consensus expected the initial claims level to increase to 330,000. Over the past several months, excluding some seasonal volatility, the initial claims have been bounded between 330,000 and 340,000. That trend seems to have shifted lower over the past four weeks, with the initial claims level consistently falling below 330,000 and in the range of 310,000--320,000.
Pending home sales for February fell 0.8%, which was worse than the 0.2% decrease forecast by the Briefing.com consensus. Today's reading followed last month's revised decrease of 0.2% (from +0.1%).
Tomorrow, February Personal Income (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%), Personal Spending (consensus +0.3%), and Core PCE Prices (consensus +0.1%) will be released at 8:30 ET while the final reading of the March Michigan Sentiment survey (consensus 80.0) will cross the wires at 9:55 ET.
S&P 500 UNCH YTD
Nasdaq Composite -0.6% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.9% YTD
DJ30 -4.76 NASDAQ -22.35 SP500 -3.52 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1040/2.12 bln/1731 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1633/778.1 mln/1416
3:30 pm :
Precious metals traded lower today on pressure from upbeat economic data.
Specifically, Q4 GDP was revised up to 2.6% from 2.4% and weekly initial claims fell to 311,000 to 320,000.
Apr gold fell below the $1300 level and brushed a session low of $1293.00 per ounce. It settled with a 0.7% loss at $1294.70 per ounce.
May silver traded as low as $19.63 per ounce in early morning action. It brushed a session high of $19.77 per ounce and settled at $19.70 per ounce, or 0.4% lower.
May crude oil traded above $101 per barrel and extended yesterday's gains.
The energy component touched a session high of $101.70 per barrel and settled with a 1.0% gain at $101.24 per barrel.
Apr natural gas gained support from better-than-anticipated inventory data. According to the EIA, inventories for the week ending Mar 21 showed a draw of 57 bcf when a smaller draw of 52-54 was expected. Natural gas rose to a session high of $4.57 per MMBtu and settled with a 3.2% gain at $4.53 per MMBtu.
4:08PM Red Hat beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line (RHT) 56.13 +0.15 : Reports Q4 (Feb) earnings of $0.39 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.37; revenues rose 15.1% year/year to $400.4 mln vs the $398.92 mln consensus.
Billings +24% to $565 mln.
Subscription revenue for the quarter was $351 million, up 16% in U.S. dollars year-over-year, or 18% measured in constant currency.
Total backlog for fiscal year 2014 was in excess of $1.56 billion, up 14% year-over-year.
1:50PM Microsoft expands cloud services for mobile scenarios; Office for AAPL iPad and Enterprise Mobility Suite showcase co's mobile-first, cloud-first approach (MSFT) 39.61 -0.18 : Co announced several new and updated applications and services including Microsoft Office for AAPL iPad and free Office Mobile apps for iPhone and Android phones. Microsoft also announced the Enterprise Mobility Suite, a comprehensive set of cloud services to help businesses manage corporate data and services on the devices people use at work and at home. In addition, the company announced the upcoming availability of Microsoft Azure Active Directory Premium and enhancements to Windows Intune.
12:35PM 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
BAX (73.93 +5.49%): Announced plans to create two separate global healthcare companies; independent companies will focus on biopharmaceuticals and medical products.
GRMN (57.83 +4.46%): Tgt raised to $65 from $58 at Oppenheimer.
S (9.31 +3.79%): Co reached an agreement with the NetAmerica Alliance to accelerate the deployment and utilization of 4G LTE across rural America.
Large Cap Losers
ACN (77.71 -6.34%): Missed on EPS by $0.01, missed on revs; guided Q3 revs in-line; raised FY14 guidance slightly.
C (47.15 -6%): Federal Reserve announced it objected to the capital plan submitted by Citi as part of the 2014 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review; downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette; tgt lowered to $52 from $58.
FITB (22.42 -3.61%): Announced 2014 CCAR capital plan; no objection from Federal Reserve to co's capital plan; plan incl increasing stock dividend to $0.13 and the potential repurchase of common shares in an amount up to $669 mln; tgt raised to $25 at RBC Capital Mkts after Stable CCAR results.
Mid Cap Gainers
CIG (6.63 +6.59%): Initiated with a Buy at Goldman.
LULU (51.56 +6.9%): Reported Q4 results above lowered guidance; guided Q1/FY15 EPS and rev below consensus.
SIG (103.91 +5.65%): Beat on EPS by $0.03, reported revs in-line; guided Q1 EPS in-line; raised quarterly div by 20% to $0.18 per share.
Mid Cap Losers
LDOS (36.36 -15.72%): Beat on EPS by $0.09, beat on revs; guided FY15 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus.
GME (36.22 -6.89%): Missed on EPS by $0.02, missed on revs; guided Q1 EPS above consensus, revs in-line; guided FY15 EPS below consensus, revs above.
WOR (38.4 -5.14%): Missed on EPS by $0.04, beat on revs.
12:12PM Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (66) outpacing new highs (50) (SUMRX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AA, AAV, ASX, AXDX, BAS, BAX, CIS, CJES, CNQ, CRK, CRZO, CXO, DPS, ECA, EGY, EOG, EQM, EXH, FANG, FTR, GLW, GRMN, HBI, HSKA, IFN, LUX, MITL, NBCB, NRG, PACT, PDS, PMC, PVA, QCOM, SGY, SIG, SLB, SPCB, SRLP, SSL, STKL, STO, SUPX, SXL, UPL, VSEC, WES, WGP, WLFC, WSTG
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AEO, AEPI, AHP, ANGI, ANR, ARO, ATOS, AVNW, BGC, BODY, BTX, CACH, CCCR, CDE, CLSN, CRCM, CSLT, CTHR, DMD, DRL, DSWL, ELNK, EXEL, FDO, FOR, FULL, GLMD, GMAN, GMET, GNI, HOV, IGT, KGC, KIOR, LINC, LMNS, MDWD, MELA, MITK, OIBR, OIBR.C, ONE, ONTX, PBPB, PCL, PKT, QSII, REPH, SFLY, SFXE, SMLR, SPEX, SPLS, SPPR, STRM, SVM, TCS, TECUA, TRVN, UEC, UNXL, VHI, VLRS, VTUS, WPRT, WRLD
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: MES
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none
9:26AM Anadigics gapping up; Samsung (SSNLF) selects ANADIGICS WiFi Solutions for GALAXY Tab Pro (ANAD) 1.77 : Co announced that the Company's AWL9293 and AWL9581 802.11ac front-end integrated circuits (FEICs) are enabling WiFi connectivity in the new GALAXY Tab Pro by Samsung Electronics
9:00AM ReneSola elaborates on U.S Dept of Commerce investigation regarding certain crystalline silicon photovoltaic Products from China; 'investigation may result in certain retroactive tariffs' -- reaffrims FY guidance of 2.3-2.5 GW (SOL) 3.37 :
On March 25, 2014, ReneSola received a letter from the Department in which ReneSola was named as one of the mandatory respondents related to the anti-dumping investigation. According to the World Trade Organization rules, the Department has to guarantee the export quantities of the sampled companies accounted for a certain percentage of the total export sales of China.
It is common practice for the Department to selects certain companies with relatively large market share in the United States to participate in the investigation. The Company intends to fully cooperate with the investigation proceedings and to pursue the best outcome for ReneSola, as well as the industry. It is estimated the Department will make a preliminary ruling in June of this year.
"However, as we mentioned in our recent earnings call, we have overseas capacity through our network of OEM facilities that we can use to continue shipping to the United States without any potential tariff risk. While we oppose the petition raised against certain products from China, we are well prepared and well positioned to meet this challenge and will continue to support U.S. consumers with our top quality module products that are not the subject of the trade proceedings. We are confident that we can continue to leverage our well-deployed global OEM resources and capabilities, and optimize our geographic distribution to our advantage.
"Furthermore, we reiterate our full year guidance of module shipments of 2.3GW to 2.5GW."
SunEdison (SUNE) announced that they have shipped over 1 GW of Silvantis Solar PV modules, making them one of the top 5 solar module manufacturers in the world. Growth was driven by strong demand for high performance solar modules from SunEdison's utility and commercial business groups and external customers.
8:06AM UTStarcom wins $24 mln contract to support broadband internet access in India (UTSI) 2.55 : Co announced a $24 million contract to support a major network enhancement for one of India's leading telecom service providers. The deal bolsters UTStarcom's position in India which has always been an important market for UTStarcom and its broadband equipment.
Paychex (PAYX) reported third quarter earnings of $0.44 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 7.3% year/year to $636.5 million which is higher than expected. The company issued raised net income to +9-10% from +8-9%; reaffirms total service rev +5-6%, payroll service rev +3-4%, HRS rev +10-11%. "We are pleased with our progress in the third quarter of fiscal 2014. Payroll service revenue growth continued to advance, led by core payroll results, while Human Resource Services revenue benefited from demand for our human resource outsourcing solutions. We continued to experience good new business revenue growth, particularly in core payroll and Paychex HR Solutions. Product investment in our software-as-a-service solutions and mobility applications continued with new product releases that position us for long-term growth, while we maintained strong operating margins."
Google (GOOG) disclosed transfer restriction agreement with execs. On March 25, 2014, the co entered into a transfer restriction agreement with each of Larry Page, Google's Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder; Sergey Brin, Google's Co-Founder; and Eric E. Schmidt, Google's Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors; and certain of their respective affiliates. The Transfer Restriction Agreements were entered into in connection with Google's adjustment of its capital structure by establishing a new class of capital stock, Class C capital stock, and its impending dividend of one share of Class C capital stock for each share of Class A common stock and Class B common stock outstanding on March 27, 2014. They are intended to limit the ability of Larry, Sergey, and Eric to sell their Google stock in a manner that does not reduce their voting power. Pursuant to the Transfer Restriction Agreements, none of Larry, Sergey, Eric, or certain of their respective affiliates that are party to the agreements may sell, assign, transfer, convey or hypothecate any shares of Class B common stock or Class C capital stock if, as a result of such sale, transfer, conveyance or hypothecation, they, together with certain of their respective affiliates, would own more shares of Class B common stock than shares of Class C capital stock.
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and China Mobile (CHL) announce a one-year comprehensive frame agreement valued at up to EUR750 million to provide technology that will move the co's mobile service provider to an all-IP ultra-broadband network paving the way for future network functions virtualization and cloud-based services.
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