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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 28-Mar-14

Dow +58.83 at 16323.06, Nasdaq +4.53 at 4155.76, S&P +8.58 at 1857.62

The stock market finished a cautious week on a modestly higher note, but kept only a portion of its opening gain. The S&P 500 added 0.5%, trimming its weekly loss to 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.1%, finishing the week with a 2.8% decline.

Emboldened by stimulus talk during the overnight session, equity indices began the day on a strong note with the Nasdaq leading the way. The tech-heavy index displayed early strength thanks to gains in biotechnology and other recently-battered momentum names. In all likelihood short covering played a part in the early advance that turned many recent laggards into leaders. One such area was the consumer discretionary sector, which added 0.8% for the day, but ended the week behind the remaining nine sectors with a loss of 2.1%.

Although the discretionary space held the bulk of today's gain, that was not the case with biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 229.38, -6.76) surged out of the gate and notched a high 15 minutes into the day before spending the remainder of the session in a steady retreat. Selling pressure intensified in the afternoon as the ETF dropped to yesterday's lows before settling with a loss of 2.9%.

The continued weakness in biotech pressured the health care sector (-0.4%) while other heavily-weighted groups ended mixed with respect to the broader market. Like the aforementioned consumer discretionary space, industrials (+0.7%) outperformed while financials (+0.4%) lagged. For its part, the largest S&P 500 sector, technology, ended in-line with the broader market.

Also of note, the energy sector (+1.2%) outperformed for the second day in a row, bringing its weekly gain to 2.5%. The sector drew strength from Dow component ExxonMobil (XOM 97.70, +1.46), which gained 1.5% while crude oil added 0.4% to $101.67/bbl.

On the countercyclical side, all four sectors ended behind the broader market. The telecom services (-0.1%) sector posted a modest loss while consumer staples (+0.4%) and utilities (+0.2%) registered gains.

Treasuries ended near their lows after retreating throughout the session. The benchmark 10-yr yield rose three basis points to 2.72%.

Trading volume was on the light side with just over 620 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Reviewing today's data:

Personal income increased 0.3% for a second consecutive month in February. The Briefing.com consensus expected income to increase 0.2%. As foretold in the employment report, wages and salaries were up 0.2% in February after increasing 0.3% in January. The Medicaid expansion from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act offset declines in unemployment insurance from the expiration of the emergency unemployment benefits. In all, government social benefits increased 0.8%. Personal spending met expectations, increasing 0.3% in February, up from a downwardly revised 0.2% (from 0.4%) in January.
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index was revised up to 80.0 in the final March reading from 79.9 in the preliminary reading (Briefing.com consensus 80.0). Sentiment is still below the 81.6 final reading from February. There was a divergence between the March Conference Board's Consumer Confidence and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment indicators. The Confidence Index jumped to a six year high on stronger future expectations while the respondents in the University of Michigan survey were much more subdued. Competing trends are nothing new, but they do discount the effectiveness of using these data points to predict future consumption growth.

On Monday, the Chicago PMI for March will be reported at 9:45 ET.

Week in Review: Stocks Slide Amid Volatility in Biotechnology

The stock market kicked off the trading week on a cautious note with the Nasdaq leading the retreat. The tech-heavy index lost 1.2% while the S&P 500 fell 0.5% with eight sectors ending in the red. For its part, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.2%) held up relatively well. Equity indices began the session in the green, but quickly slumped into the red as biotechnology continued its recent woes while other momentum names displayed broad weakness. Late-afternoon buying lifted the key averages off their lows, but the Nasdaq could only reclaim a portion of its loss. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF settled lower by 2.8% after testing its 100-day moving average (235.61) for the first time since early November.

The major indices strung together modest gains on Tuesday on the back of some strong showings from blue-chip issues and a volatile rebound effort by the beaten-down biotechnology stocks. The move followed on the heels of a strong outing by major European bourses, which shot up largely in response to some remarks from Bundesbank head, Jens Weidmann, who suggested it was not out of the realm of possibility for the ECB to implement a QE-type program to fight deflation. It would be remiss not to add that ECB President Draghi spoke later in the day and said the ECB is not currently seeing any evidence of deflation.

Equity indices finished the Wednesday session on a cautious note with the S&P 500 falling 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.6%) outperformed while small caps bore the brunt of the pressure. The Russell 2000 declined 1.9% while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.4%. Equity indices began the day on an upbeat note, but the financial sector (-0.9%) served up an early warning by not taking part in the opening rally. One industry group that briefly participated in the early advance was the biotech space. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF was up as much as 1.1% during the first hour of action, but faded from the early high, taking the market lower with it. Interestingly, the broader health care sector (+0.1%) finished the day ahead of the remaining nine groups.

On Thursday, the market finished the 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 four ticks, pressuring its yield down to 2.68% after notching a morning high at 2.71%.

 
 Index	   Started Week  Ended Week    Change  %Change	 YTD % 
 DJIA	     16302.70	  16323.06	20.36	 0.1	-1.5 
 Nasdaq	      4276.79	   4155.76    -121.03	-2.8	-0.5 
 S&P 500	1866.40	   1857.62      -8.78	-0.5     0.5 
 Russell 2000  1193.73	   1151.81     -41.92	-3.5	-1.0

4:27PM This week's biggest % gainers/losers (SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Utilities: TGS (2.21 +14.72%), CIG (6.8 +13.28%), EBR (2.76 +12.5%)
Technology: PLUG (6.9 +15.41%)
Services: LIN (26.31 +22.43%), CRRS (2.91 +18%), CONN (38.78 +17.14%), FIVE (42.95 +11.33%)
Healthcare: ECYT (21.96 +57.58%), OFIX (30.29 +21.28%), KERX (16.61 +12.46%)
Financial: BBD (13.57 +11.39%), GGAL (11.9 +11.17%)
Consumer Goods: NUS (83.06 +14.67%), SCS (16.3 +12.04%)
Basic Materials: EGY (8.28 +14.2%), PBR-A (13.9 +13.95%), YONG (6.8 +12.56%), MTL (2.03 +12.23%), PBR (13.18 +11.67%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Technology: GOMO (19.7 -28.47%), CSLT (21.42 -26.66%), CMGE (20.42 -24.65%), WIX (21.02 -23.95%), HIMX (11.38 -22.43%), RALY (13.69 -21.05%)
Industrial Goods: MY (2.91 -26.45%)
Healthcare: EXEL (3.38 -40.62%), ARWR (15.62 -31.42%), DRNA (29.05 -26.63%), RLYP (30.01 -25.81%), PRTA (36.03 -23.69%), SGMO (16.74 -23.42%), RCPT (39.63 -22.2%), CLDX (16.95 -21.77%), OMED (29.04 -21.71%), ICPT (317.58 -21.46%), UNIS (3.98 -21.42%), GEVA (75.47 -20.99%), IDIX (5.82 -20.79%)

4:07PM MagnaChip Semi announced that Margaret Sakai has resigned as the Co's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and from all other officer and director positions with the Co and its subsidiaries, effectively immediately (MX) 14.52 +0.29 : Co announced that Margaret Sakai has resigned as the Company's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and from all other officer and director positions with the Company and its subsidiaries, effectively immediately. The Company is currently negotiating the terms of Ms. Sakai's separation from MagnaChip's Korean subsidiary. The Company also announced today that the Company's Board of Directors has appointed Jonathan W. Kim, the Company's Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, as Interim Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. The Board has also commenced a search for a new Chief Financial Officer.

As previously announced on March 11, 2014, the Audit Committee of the Company's Board of Directors has commenced an internal review into the Company's accounting practices and procedures with outside professional advisors, and such internal review remains ongoing. While substantial progress has been made, it is expected that this review and work with regard to the previously announced restatement will take several more months, and as a result the Company will be postponing its annual investor conference to a date to be announced after the filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K.

12:22PM 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

CTSH (50.44 +6.01%): Upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley
TSLA (214.7 +3.56%): Reuters reporting that the NHTSA has closed its investigation into fire accidents of the Model S; '60 Minutes' will be doing a report on the company and Elon Musk on Sunday; New Jersey state sales ban has been delayed for 15 days
MSFT (40.5 +2.9%): Digitimes reporting that co plans to ship 25 mln Windows tablets in 2014; target raised to $44 from $37 at RBC Capital Markets

Large Cap Losers

AV (15.34 -4.78%): Reuters reporting that the UK's Financial Conduct Authority will investigate whether pension and savings plan providers are treating clients fairly
RHT (53.46 -4.76%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.02 ($0.39 vs $0.37 estimate), revs rose 15.1% yoy to $400.4 mln vs $398.92 mln estimate; sees FY15 revs of $1.730-1.755 bln vs $1.755 bln estimate, EPS of $1.54-1.56 vs $1.62 estimate; sees Q1 revs of $412-415 mln vs $415 mln estimate, EPS of $0.32-0.33 vs $0.37 estimate
PCG (41.99 -3.78%): Co said it expects criminal charges in connection with the San Bruno accident; downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank; downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, target lowered to $46 from $52

Mid Cap Gainers

RH (71.47 +12%): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.83 ex items (in-line with pre-announcement of $0.82-0.85), revs rose 18.5% yoy to $471.7 mln vs $494.3 mln estiate; sees Q1 EPS of $0.09-0.11 ex items vs $0.07 estimate, revs of $345-350 mln vs $348.6 mln estimate; sees FY14 EPS of $2.14-2.22 ex items vs $2.17 estimate, revs of $1.825-1.860 bln vs $1.89 bln estimate
HRB (30.11 +5.35%): Strength attributed to rumors that co will sell its Kentucy bank to BOFI
GME (39.33 +5.36%): Reversal following declines seen yesterday on weak Q4 results and mixed guidance

Mid Cap Losers

CZR (19.67 -6.69%): Announced offering of 7 mln shares of common stock
PANW (68.13 -4.38%): Research from Google security engineers suggests 21 of the world's top 25 news organizations have been targeted in state-sponsored hacking attacks
TX (29.11 -3.64%): Downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

11:35AM Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (85) outpacing new lows (28) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AA, AAV, AIQ, AIRI, ALLB, AMKR, ASX, AXDX, BAS, BHI, BPZ, CAT, CDW, CENX, CHE, CHMI, CJES, CLR, CNX, CORT, COV, CRK, CRR, CRZO, CSTM, CVGW, CXO, DPS, DTE, ECA, EGY, EIX, ELY, EOG, EQM, EXH, FANG, FNHC, FTR, GLW, GSIG, HAS, HDS, HP, HRL, IFN, INVN, ISSI, KEG, LANC, LM, LUX, MEIP, MFRM, MLM, MTDR, MTZ, NICE, NRG, ORCL, PBA, PESI, PMC, PVA, RBA, RCAP, RCG, RES, SGY, SLB, SPN, STKL, TI.A, TSN, TV, TXI, UFS, UNT, UPL, USMO, VET, WEC, WGP, WSTG, XEC

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: BGC, BTX, CACH, CCCL, CFFI, CLUB, COOL, CSLT, CTHR, EGAN, EXEL, GLMD, GMET, KIOR, LDOS, LPDX, MELA, MLVF, ONTX, PMCT, PRGS, SFLY, SMLR, SPEX, STLY, UNXL, VHI, VLRS

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DIG, ENZL, EWI, FUD, IEO, IGE, IXC, IYE, MES, XES, XLE

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

8:59AM LDK Solar confirms offshore restructuring arrangements and interim financing (LDK) 1.01 :

LDK Solar Co., Ltd. in provisional liquidation announces that, subsequent to the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands appointment of Tammy Fu and Eleanor Fisher, both partners of Zolfo Cooper (Cayman) Limited, as joint provisional liquidators for the Company on February 27, 2014, LDK Solar, working together with the JPLs, has engaged in extensive negotiations with its offshore creditors with a view toward reaching agreement on the terms of an offshore restructuring.
As of the date of this announcement, the Company has received: signatures to a restructuring support agreement from the holders of approximately 60% in aggregate principal amount of its 10% Senior Notes due 2014; signatures to a separate restructuring support agreement from the holders of approximately 79% of the convertible preferred shares issued by an affiliate of the Company and involving claims against the Company; signatures to both the Senior Notes RSA and the Preferred Obligations RSA from the debtors of the Senior Notes and the Preferred Obligations and a majority of the shareholders of the Company; and a signed commitment letter from Heng Rui Xin Energy (HK) Co., Limited, an existing shareholder of the Company, to provide an interim financing up to an aggregate principal amount of US$14 million.
The execution subject to court hearing expected to be on or around April 2, 2014 at a scheduled hearing.
Restructuring Financing
In order to finance the Restructuring Transactions, and subject to the approval of the JPLs and the sanction of the Cayman Court, the Company intends to raise: an Interim Financing up to an aggregate principal amount of US$14 million; and subsequently, an exit financing up to an aggregate principal amount, and on such terms, as may be agreed to by holders of the Senior Notes claim and holders of the Preferred Obligations claim. The existing ordinary equity will continue to exist post-restructuring as contemplated in the Senior Notes RSA and the Preferred Obligations RSA. The Restructuring Transactions will cause significant dilution to the existing equityholders of the Company as a result of the issuances of equity securities and convertible securities of the Company. The Company has not yet formulated or negotiated the terms for the Exit Financing.
To the extent any equity-linked derivative instruments are used in the Exit Financing, it may further dilute the shareholding structure of the existing shareholders at the relevant time as may be contemplated in the Exit Financing documentation.



8:31AM NRG Energy's solar portfolio surpasses 1,200 megawatts (NRG) 31.28 : Through its subsidiaries including NRG Yield (NYLD) and NRG Solar, one of the nation's largest solar developers, now owns and operates more than 1,200 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity. Through these facilities, NRG helps power nearly one million homes at full output with clean, renewable solar energy, which is helping reinvent the US energy ecosystem.

Analyst comments: PCG -5.4% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank; downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup), CIEN -1% (downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC Capital Mkts), JDSU -1% (downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC Capital Mkts)

BlackBerry (BBRY 9.67, +0.62): +6.6% after beating bottom-line estimates on below-consensus revenue.

7:10AM BlackBerry beats by $0.46, misses on revs; reports 2.3 mln Blackberry 7 devices sold; co targeting break even cash flow results by the end of FY15 (BBRY) 9.05 : Reports Q4 (Feb) loss of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.46 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.54); revenues fell 63.6% year/year to $976 mln vs the $1.13 bln consensus.

The revenue breakdown for the quarter was ~37% for hardware, 56% for services and 7% for software and other revenue. During the fourth quarter, the Company recognized hardware revenue on ~1.3 mln BlackBerry smartphones compared to ~1.9 mln BlackBerry smartphones in the previous quarter. During the fourth quarter, ~3.4 mln BlackBerry smartphones were sold through to end customers, which included shipments made and recognized prior to the fourth quarter and which reduced the Company's inventory in channel. Of the BlackBerry smartphones sold through to end customers in the fourth quarter, ~2.3 mln were BlackBerry 7 devices.
The company reported adjusted Q4 gross margin of 43%, up from 34% in the prior quarter.
Co reported channel inventory down 30% from the prior quarter.
Cash Position: The total of cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments was ~$2.7 bln as of March 1, 2014, compared to $3.2 bln at the end of the previous quarter. Cash flow used in operations in the fourth quarter was ~$553 mln. Cash flows provided by financing activities in the fourth quarter were ~$251 mln, which includes the additional issuance of $250 mln of convertible debentures.
Outlook: The Company anticipates maintaining its strong cash position and continuing to look for opportunities to streamline operations. The Company is targeting break even cash flow results by the end of fiscal 2015.

7:01AM Tessera Tech ends litigation against Qualcomm (QCOM); cos agree to explore technical collaboration (TSRA) 23.15 : Co announced that its subsidiary, Tessera, Inc., has entered into an agreement with Qualcomm (QCOM) to dismiss the case of Tessera, Inc. v. Qualcomm, Inc., et al. (Case No. 4:12-CV-00692 (United States District Court for the Northern District of California)). The agreement also provides that Tessera and Qualcomm Technologies will explore potential technical collaborations concerning camera functionality and imaging performance of mobile devices.

Red Hat (RHT) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.39 per share, which is higher than expiated, while revenues rose 15.1% year/year to $400.4 million which is in line with estimates. Billings +24% to $565 million. 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. The company sees Q1 revs of $412-415 million which is line with estimates and adjusted EPS of $0.32-0.33 which is below estimates. The company sees fiscal year 2015 revenues of $1.730-1.755 billion which is line with estimates and adjusted EPS of $1.54-1.56 which is worse than expected.