From Briefing.com: After six-and-a-half hours of trading on Tuesday, the major indices ended the day just about where they began the day. There wasn't a lot of movement throughout the session either, yet true to recent form, there was a late burst of buying interest that enabled the S&P 500 to eke out another record close.
Tuesday was Veterans Day in the U.S., and while the stock market was open for a full day of trading, the bond market was closed along with the banks.
The closure of the bond market most likely contributed to an otherwise lackadaisical day of trading in the stock market. Not to be forgotten, though, is the recognition that the S&P 500 has risen 12% from its low on October 15, creating a sense that it is overextended and due for a period of consolidation.
In other words, it is possible that the same trading dynamic would have played out even if it wasn't Veterans Day. We'll learn more on Wednesday when the bond market is open again.
The S&P 500 information technology sector certainly didn't make any waves with its performance, even if a few individual stocks did. The sector ended Tuesday's session up 0.07%.
Apple (AAPL 109.70, +0.87) made all of the difference as it gained 0.8%, aided by UBS, which raised its price target to $125 from $115 and maintained its Buy rating on the back of a survey highlighting the power of Apple's brand equity among consumers.
Google (GOOG 550.29, +2.80) also offered some influential support on an FT report noting its YouTube business reached a deal to license music from independent record labels and a Bloomberg report that Google plans to lease a NASA field for 60 years for $1.2 billion. Separately, the European Commission released a statement saying it needs more time to decide on next steps in its antitrust investigation of the company.
Another sector standout was Xerox (XRX 13.52, +0.15). Its point gain was small, yet its 1.1 percentage point gain was the second-largest in the sector on Tuesday. Xerox advanced after saying it expects FY15 adjusted EPS to range from $1.11 to $1.17 and that its Board of Directors approved a $1.5 billion increase to its current share repurchase plan.
Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC 60.20, +0.89) took the prize for biggest percentage mover with a 1.5% gain that came on no news.
Conversely, Juniper Networks (JNPR 20.28, -1.22) was the dog of the day, shedding 5.7% after it announced the replacement of CEO Shaygan Kheradpir, effective immediately. Mr. Kheradpir assumed his role just this past January, yet it was said he resigned amid differing perspectives between him and the board following a review of his leadership and conduct in connection with a particular negotiation with a customer. Rami Rahim, a 17-year company veteran, was named the new CEO.
Tuesday was also Singles Day in China, a euphemism for the four singles used to denote November 11 in shorthand form (11.11), and a day that Alibaba (BABA 114.54, -4.61) dubbed the world's largest 24-hour online sales event.
Proving that, if you advertise it, they will come, Alibaba reported that it sold $9.3 billion in gross merchandise volume during the event, up 60% from a year ago. On a related note, Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma indicated the company may seek a domestic IPO of AliPay in the future.
Notwithstanding the impressive sales results, BABA dropped 3.9% in a classic sell-the-news response. Entering Tuesday's trade, BABA had risen 40% from its mid-October low, leaving it ripe for some profit-taking activity. Other Chinese Internet stocks followed suit; however, Baidu (BIDU 250.34, +2.76) deviated from the pack.
Amazon.com (AMZN 312.01, +6.90) for its part got a boost from reports that its China site has been launched and that Republicans are unlikely to take up the Internet sales tax bill in Congress.
4:09 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Register Slim Gains on Veterans Day (:WRAPX) : The major averages ended the Tuesday session on a flat note after spending the trading day near their unchanged levels. The S&P 500 added 0.1% after maintaining a five-point range throughout the day.
Today's trading volume (600 million shares at NYSE) represented the lowest total since early September, but the subdued participation was understandable since the bond market was closed for Veterans Day. The European session had a similar feel with some investors away for Armistice Day. Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei spiked 2.0% after Reuters reported Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to push back the next sales tax increase and may call for a snap election. The news weighed on the yen, sending the dollar/yen pair into the 116.00 area, but intraday dollar weakness resulted in a pullback below 115.50.
The modest 0.3% retreat in the Dollar Index (87.54, -0.27) helped crude oil ($77.83, +0.43) to a gain of 0.6% while the energy sector (+0.3%) ended the session near its high after showing opening weakness.
Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical sectors ended mixed. Financials (-0.2%), and industrials (-0.1%) lagged while consumer discretionary (+0.4%), technology (+0.1%), and materials (+0.5%) registered gains.
Industrials kept pace with the market early on, but slumped alongside General Electric (GE 26.38, -0.09). The top-weighted sector component lost 0.3% while transport stocks also underperformed. The Dow Jones Transportation Average shed 0.1%.
On the upside, the materials sector received support from miners as Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 18.22, +0.77) rallied 4.4%. The smallest cyclical sector by weight climbed ahead of the health care (+0.4%), which started in the lead, but retreated from its early high.
Unlike health care, the other countercyclical groups ended in the red. The utilities sector (-0.4%) was the weakest performer while consumer staples (-0.2%) and telecom services (-0.1%) settled closer to their flat lines.
Participants did not receive any economic data today and tomorrow's economic news will be limited to the 7:00 ET release of the MBA Mortgage Index and the Wholesale Inventories report for September (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%), which will be released at 10:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +11.6% YTD S&P 500 +10.4% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.3% YTD Russell 2000 +1.5% YTD
4:41 pm Yahoo! announced a definitive agreement to acquire BrightRoll, a leading programmatic video advertising platform for ~$640 mln in cash (YHOO) : Co announces a definitive agreement to acquire BrightRoll, a leading programmatic video advertising platform. The transaction will combine YHOO's premium desktop and mobile video advertising inventory with BrightRoll's programmatic video platform and publisher relationships to bring substantial value to advertisers on both platforms. YHOO expects the transaction to enhance its EBITDA.
YHOO is acquiring BrightRoll for ~$640 mln in cash.BrightRoll is a large, growing and profitable business with net revenues expected to exceed $100 mln this year. Acquiring BrightRoll will dramatically strengthen Yahoo's video advertising platform, making it the largest in the US.
4:31 pm Skyworks announced that its BoD has authorized the repurchase of up to $300 mln of the co's common stock (SWKS) : Co announces its BoD has authorized the repurchase of up to $300 mln of the co's common stock from time to time prior to Nov 11, 2016. This newly authorized stock repurchase program replaces the $250 mln stock repurchase program approved by the BoD on July 16, 2013, and had $63.9 mln of repurchase authority remaining.
3:36 pm Alteva: Juniper Investment Company sends letter to Alteva Board of Directors; ' insist that the Board immediately begin a process to engage in a negotiation with Juniper or retain an independent financial advisor to solicit proposals for the sale of the company' (ALTV) : As Alteva's largest shareholder, we are deeply concerned about the failure of the Board of Directors to pursue alternatives to maximize shareholder value. We think it is important for all shareholders to understand what has transpired.
Juniper's Offer
In May 2014, we recommended (both privately and publicly) that the company retain an independent financial advisor to evaluate strategic alternatives, including the sale of the business. We made this recommendation in response to the lack of leadership and strategic direction as the company searched for its third CEO in 15 months.
In light of the Board's complete disregard of this recommendation, Juniper and Princeton Hosted Solutions made an offer to acquire Alteva for $8.00 per share on August 26, 2014.
This offer represented a 51% premium to the closing price of $5.29 per share as of August 25, 2014.
The time has come for the board to be responsive to the company's shareholders. Therefore, we insist that the Board immediately begin a process to engage in a negotiation with Juniper or retain an independent financial advisor to solicit proposals for the sale of the company.
1:42 pm Ascent Solar: TFG Radiant Investment Group completes common stock investment at $2.80/share; TFG's ownership of the co has now increased to ~24% of the outstanding common stock (ASTI) : Co announced the completion of the second tranche of Common Stock Investment pursuant to the Stock Purchase Agreement dated August 29, 2014 and approved at a Special Shareholder Meeting held on October 22, 2014.
In the final tranche of the transaction, which has just been completed, the co issued an additional 1.425 mln common shares to TFG Radiant at a fixed per share price of $2.80, representing a 54% premium to the closing price on August 28, 2014 and ~ 44% premium to yesterday's closing price. The closure results in additional net proceeds of ~ $4.0 mln to the co. TFG Radiant's ownership of the co has now increased to ~24% of the outstanding common stock.12:00 pm 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
VOD (34.72 +5.15%): Reported H1 EPS of GBP0.03 vs GBP0.02 CIQ est; revs increased 9% YoY to GBP20.8 bln vs GBP20.8 bln CIQ est.
REGN (396.63 +2.76%): Announced positive results from its Phase 2b study with Sanofi (SNY) of Dupilumab in patients with moderate-to-severe asthma; Tgt raised to $430 at Argus, Buy rating maintained.
LNG (72.8 +1.07%): Announced it will obtain $1.5B in Financing from EIG for the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Project.
Large Cap Losers
TWC (132.46 -2.96%): Continued weakness in ISP names following Obama's statement yesterday regarding Net Neutrality (CHTR & CMCSA also lower).
VALE (8.83 -2.32%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.
COF (82.09 -1.38%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura.
Mid Cap Gainers
RAX (42.05 +12.67%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.18 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.15, revenues rose 18.4% year/year to $460 mln vs the $458.62 mln consensus; Board authorized $500 mln share repurchase over next two years; expects a $200 mln accelerated repurchase.
ISIS (51.8 +9.68%): Announced proposed offering of $425 million of convertible senior notes.
ZNGA (2.65 +7.06%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
Mid Cap Losers
RYN (26.65 -7.53%): Downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill; Downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC Capital Mkts; tgt lowered to $28.
ACM (30.44 -7.15%): Reported Q4 results that missed consensus estimates by $0.03, beat on revs; guided FY15 EPS in-line.
WWD (48.4 -6.59%): Misses Q4 consensus estimates by $0.01, missed on revs; guided FY15 revs below consensus; heard downgraded to Hold from Buy at Drexel Hamilton.
11:46 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (241) outpacing new lows (77) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABBV, ABG, ABMD, ABT, ACE, ADP, AFG, ALK, ALL, ALSN, AMBA, AMP, APOG, ARIS, ASBC, ASH, ATHL, ATNI, BC, BCC, BCPC, BDL, BERY, BFS, BHBK, BLK, BMRC, BMY, BPY, BRK.A, BRK.B, BRKL, BSET, CACC, CACI, CAH, CALX, CB, CDK, CEA, CFFN, CHD, CHE, CHKP, CI, CLC, CMS, CNC, COL, COST, COTY, CQB, CSH, CSL, CST, CSX, CVS, DAL, DDR, DENN, DFS, DHR, DHX, DIN, DPZ, DRE, DRI, DRII, DTSI, DXCM, DYAX, EARN, ECHO, ELLI, ENFC, ENL, ENSG, EQR, ERIE, ESBF, EW, EXPO, FDP, FDS, FDX, FFBC, FLWS, FTD, GGG, GK, GNCMA, GPC, GPN, GRT, GS, GSBC, HAWK, HI, HIG, HII, HRC, HRL, HT, HTBK, HURC, HVB, ICUI, IDXX, IFN, INCY, INTU, IP, ITC, ITW, JAH, JCOM, JNJ, KR, KSU, KW, KWR, LB, LEG, LEN, LLY, LNBB, LNC, LNCE, LNDC, LNT, LOGM, LOW, LQ, LRCX, LUV, MDT, MFRM, MGEE, MHG, MIK, MKC, MMC, MMM, MNR, MNRK, MOH, MPAA, MRGE, MTD, MTX, MWV, NCLH, NEE, NKE, NSC, NSEC, NU, NUVA, NWN, OCR, OMER, ORLY, OTEX, OVAS, PAYC, PEOP, PERY, PFPT, PG, PJC, PLOW, PNW, POR, PPL, PSA, PTX, RAI, RDCM, RDI, RDY, RGA, RHI, RHP, RJF, ROST, ROX, RVP, SAVE, SCG, SCLN, SCOR, SCSS, SEIC, SERV, SGBK, SHLX, SHW, SJR, SLM, SNCR, SNE, SQBK, SRCL, SSNC, SWIR, SWK, SWX, SXT, SYF, SYK, TDY, TGTX, TNET, TOF, TREE, TRV, TSRA, TXN, TXRH, UNP, UPS, USB, USLM, UTL, UVE, VAC, VAL, VFC, VIPS, VPRT, VRNT, VRTX, WHR, WLDN, WSBC, WSBF, WST, WU, XNPT, ZMH, ZTS
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACUR, AIXG, AMRN, AMSC, ASCMA, ATW, AVL, BPZ, BSI, CBDE, CEL, CGEN, CHOP, CMLS, CRNT, CZZ, DISCA, DMD, DRD, DSS, EC, EGI, EPAX, EPRS, ESSX, EVGN, FATE, FES, FMD, FRPT, GFA, HEAR, HMY, HNSN, INVN, KORS, KTOS, LIQT, LND, MELA, MEMP, MIXT, NADL, NAVB, NES, NKA, PANL, PED, PLX, PRTO, PSTI, PTNR, PWE, REN, ROIA, ROIAK, RYAM, RYN, SAEX, SARA, SFY, SID, SOQ, SSNI, TECU, THRX, TIGR, TLR, TRIP, TWMC, UBNT, VALE, WSTL, WTSL, XIN, XNY, YUMA
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DIA, DVY, IGV, IHI, IWF, IYF, IYG, IYH, IYJ, IYK, IYT, NLR, OEF, PPA, QQQ, RTH, SDY, SPY, UYG, VTI, XLF, XLI, XLK, XLP, XLV
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BNO, EPOL, FXY, SLX
6:37 am SAP AG and Samsung (SSNLF) announced initial plans to deliver enterprise mobility solutions for a number of industries to help create an enterprise mobility ecosystem based on Samsung mobile devices (SAP) : The new ecosystem will be designed to build on the popularity and reach of Samsung's (SSNLF) mobile innovations and the SAP Mobile Platform. The collaboration of the two companies is expected to create new opportunities for developers to build solutions that can leverage the integrated offering from Samsung and SAP on mobile devices and wearables, as well as to leverage joint cloud solutions based on the SAP HANA Cloud Platform mobile services. Additionally, the plans are anticipated to benefit the retail industry by integrating payments to be made on-to-go, along with helping to shed light on innovative shopping experiences for consumers and retailers alike.
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