Replies to post #6855 on Sector Investing

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Determining Long Term Tops and Bottoms for the DJIA and S&P 500 based on Market Breadth and a few other indicators. Although potential tops and bottoms are marked by red and green horizontal lines, actual tops and bottoms form when divergences become present. For instance a top might be forming for the DJIA when the number of New Highs on $INDU is lower than it has been even though the $INDU is setting a New High itself. What we look for then is confirmation as the $INDU may fail to continue on to New Highs without broad based participation. Many of these charts will not update until after the market close:

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 29-Nov-13

Dow -10.92 at 16086.41, Nasdaq +15.14 at 4059.89, S&P -1.42 at 1805.81

Equity indices finished the holiday-shortened session on a mixed note. The Nasdaq stayed true to a theme that has held throughout the week, finishing ahead of its peers. The tech-heavy index advanced 0.4%, extending its week-to-date gain to 1.7%. The S&P 500 shed 0.1%, but still managed to secure its eighth consecutive weekly advance. The benchmark index gained 0.1% in the final week of November.

The S&P 500 suffered from late weakness, surrendering its entire gain during the final 30 minutes as financials (-0.4%) and industrials (-0.4%) tumbled into the red with most other sectors following suit. In addition, energy (-0.2%), which displayed intraday strength, also gave up its gain into the close. The sector lagged even as crude oil rallied 0.9% to $93.15 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq led from the opening bell as its largest component, Apple (AAPL 556.07, +10.11), charged out of the gate. The stock climbed 1.9% amid news the company has secured almost 76% of October smartphone sales in Japan. Biotechnology also provided a measure of support to the index as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 224.16, +0.83) rose 0.4%. However, biotech had a limited impact on the health care sector (-0.1%), which struggled to keep pace with the broader market.

Outside of technology, the discretionary sector (+0.1%) was the only other advancer. Online retailers like Amazon.com (AMZN 393.62, +6.91) and eBay (EBAY 50.52, +1.22) outperformed traditional names like Target (TGT 63.93, -0.48) and Wal-Mart (WMT 81.01, +0.08) even after the two brick-and-mortar retailers made upbeat-sounding comments regarding early Black Friday returns.

Countercyclical groups posted modest losses between 0.1% and 0.6% with telecom services rounding out the bottom of the leaderboard.

The late selloff sent the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 13.75, +0.77) higher by 5.9% as the near-term volatility measure ended at its highest level in more than a week.

Trading volume was light as only 474 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

 
 Index	   Started Week   Ended Week  Change % Change	YTD % 
 DJIA	     16064.77	   16086.41   21.64     0.1    22.8 
 Nasdaq	      3991.65	    4059.89   68.24     1.7    34.5 
 S&P 500	1804.76	    1805.81    1.05     0.1    26.6 
 Russell 2000  1124.92	    1142.88   17.96     1.6    34.6

This week's top 20 % gainers

Utilities: EDN (8.75 +46.94%), PAM (6.64 +27.69%)
Technology: EIGI (14.26 +29.08%), GA (11.19 +22.26%), AMCC (12.56 +19.94%)
Services: BONT (17.76 +47.39%)
Healthcare: ARIA (4.85 +76.65%), RLYP (16.84 +40.67%), MACK (3.92 +36.07%), ENTA (27.01 +26.55%), ISIS (38.72 +23.56%), ZGNX (3.24 +20.23%)
Financial: UVE (12.38 +40.49%), GGAL (12.6 +24.16%), BFR (9.16 +21.89%), GPT (5.37 +21.78%)
Basic Materials: PVG (5.43 +85.97%), MILL (8.32 +32.07%), GST (5.88 +28.96%), YPF (29.72 +20.67%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Technology: NUAN (13.52 -16.35%), TSL (13.99 -11.9%), BV (7.88 -10.91%), NIHD (2.54 -9.12%)
Services: BLOX (31.82 -23.27%), TFM (40.69 -18.57%), LQDT (23.13 -15.42%), LL (100.73 -12.06%), GME (48.26 -8.91%)
Industrial Goods: NES (1.73 -13.14%)
Healthcare: BRLI (29.22 -18.8%), PLX (3.94 -13.67%)
Financial: DLLR (10.01 -19.97%)
Basic Materials: BAS (14.21 -11.09%), ANR (6.68 -10.25%), WLT (14.24 -10.18%), MTL (2.1 -9.61%), GFI (4.02 -8.9%), SAND (4.55 -8.84%), SBGL (4.96 -8.76%)

Large Cap Gainers

RIO (53.39 +4.81%): Announced mine production capacity will increase by more than 60 mln tonnes a year between 2014 and 2017
IRE (15.6 +4.35%): Strength in European banks: BCS, CS, DB also higher
VALE (15.29 +3.59%): Reached agreement with Brazilian government to pay $9.6 bln in taxes; co was reported to have owed ~$19.4 bln

Large Cap Losers

ADM (40.53 -2.31%): Australian Federal Treasurer prohibits ADM's proposed acquisition of GrainCorp
DAL (29.02 -1.09%): Weakness in major airline companies: CEA, LCC, SAVE, UAL also lower
MNST (59.42 -0.72%): Mentioned negatively in blog article which pointed out bearish option activity

Mid Cap Gainers

NBG (6.23 +5.59%): Strength following earnings reported on Wednesday; co reported net profit of EUR 262 mln in first nine months of 2013
EGO (6.11 +3.74%): Strength in gold companies: NGD, AU, GOLD also higher
CZR (20.7 +2.93%): Mentioned positively in blog article

Mid Cap Losers

FTNT (17.18 -12.53%): Announced departure of CFO Ahmed Rubaie; Nancy Bush appointed interim CFO
THOR (39.25 -6.81%): New England Journal of Medicine published results of a study on Wednesday showing co's HeartMate II leads to increased blood clots
FSLR (59.92 -1.01%): Mentioned negatively in blog article

Apple (AAPL 550.00, +4.04): +0.7% amid news the company has secured almost 76% of October smartphone sales in Japan

6:00AM Trina Solar announces joint venture with Yabang Group (TSL) 14.08 : Co announced that it has entered into an agreement to establish a joint venture with Yabang Investment Holding Group to acquire certain production assets from Changzhou NESL Solartech, a subsidiary of Yabang Group, which specializes in the production of solar PV modules.

The total investment by Trina Solar and Yabang Group is ~$45 million which will be used for capital expenditure and working capital. The Joint Venture aims to increase total solar module production capacity to 500 MW within the next 12 months. The Joint Venture will acquire the existing module production assets of Changzhou NESL, including plants, machinery and equipment, which will be upgraded by utilizing the combined capital investment and international expertise provided by Trina Solar and Yabang Group. The facility will be managed by Trina Solar management, who will bring international best practices in innovation, environmental standards, quality control and technological expertise to the daily operation of the facility.

DSS Technology Management, a subsidiary of Document Security Systems (DSS), announced that it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple (AAPL) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division. At issue are patents that relate to the use of wireless peripheral devices. DSS's complaint alleges infringement by Apple of United States Patents 6,128,290 (the "'290 Patent") and 5,699,357 (the "'357 Patent"), both of which are entitled "Personal Data Network" and which disclose systems and methods of using low power wireless peripheral devices. DSS Technology Management acquired the '290 and '357 Patents during Q3 2013 as part of an effort to expand DSS's patent portfolio to enable DSS's secure facilities monitoring product, Sensorshield, and to support R&D to develop dedicated peripheral devices that run AuthentiSuite, DSS's digital brand protection platform. The complaint identifies use of the 290 and 357 Patents by Apple in a range of product lines, including computer products sold under the MacPro , Mac Mini and iMac brands and consumer electronics sold under the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and iPod Nano brands.

PC Connection (PCCC) announced that its Board of Directors declared a special cash dividend of $0.40 per share payable on December 26, 2013, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 12, 2013. The total amount of the special dividend payment will be approximately $10.5 million based on the current number of shares outstanding.

Renren (RENN) reported third quarter loss of $0.05 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues fell 5.6% year/year to $47.6 million which is below estimates. The number of accumulated activated users on Renren.com continued to increase from approximately 172 million as of September 30, 2012 to approximately 200 million as of September 30, 2013. Monthly unique log-in users increased from approximately 48 million in September 2012 to approximately 50 million in September 2013. During the third quarter of 2013, Renren repurchased approximately 3.7 million ADSs. Guidance: The company issued fourth quarter guidance of $29-31 million which is below estimates.

Fortinet (FTNT) announced that Nancy Bush has been appointed as the Company's Interim Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Bush is replacing Ahmed Rubaie, who will be departing as the Company's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for personal reasons. Mr. Rubaie will remain employed with Fortinet until December 5, 2013 and will also remain available on a reasonable basis through March 5, 2014 to respond to inquiries to assist with the transition. Ms. Bush has served as Vice President and Worldwide Corporate Controller of Fortinet since December 2011.

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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday session on a defensive note despite showing early strength. The S&P 500 lost 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-0.4%) fell nearly 60 points from its session high. Also of note, the Russell 2000 (-1.0%) settled below its 200-day moving average after failing to retake that level during the session.

Today's affair proved to be a bit of a rollercoaster ride as equities grinded higher in the morning, but rolled to fresh lows during the afternoon before climbing off those lows into the close. Fittingly, the areas that fueled the early advance (biotechnology and high-growth names) were the same spots that paced the afternoon slide.

Equity indices climbed through the first 90 minutes of action with the four top-weighted sectors setting the pace. Consumer discretionary (+0.3%), financials (+0.2%), and technology (+0.1%) continued their outperformance throughout the session, while the health care sector (-0.5%) swung from a position of relative strength to that of weakness when biotechnology reversed from its session high. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 223.35, -4.13) lost 1.8%, ending just above its 200-day moving average (223.00) after being up as much as 1.6% during the first half of action.

Elsewhere, momentum names like Facebook (FB 56.76, -0.63), FireEye (FEYE 27.45, -1.20), LinkedIn (LNKD 145.07, +1.70), and Yelp (YELP 53.29, +0.55) gave an early boost to the technology sector before sliding into the close. Facebook and FireEye ended lower, while LinkedIn and Yelp gave up a good portion of their early gains. Similarly, consumer discretionary components Netflix (NFLX 321.66, +1.12) and Priceline.com (PCLN 1108.00, -23.74) also slumped from their intraday highs. Shares of Priceline.com could not stay out of the red as the company's cautious guidance overshadowed its earnings beat.

Staying on the momentum/earnings theme, Tesla (TSLA 178.59, -22.76) tumbled 11.3% following its quarterly report that featured a bottom-line beat on deliveries that were on the low end of analyst estimates.

Once again, the underperformance of high-beta names took place against the backdrop of relative strength among blue chip issues. The price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a modest gain of 0.2%, narrowing its week-to-date advance to 0.2% versus a 2.7% drop for the Russell 2000 since last Friday.

Even though equities did not display weakness until the afternoon, the foreign exchange market was signaling caution for the better part of the day. Specifically, the Japanese yen surged to a session high less than an hour after the New York open and continued inching higher into the afternoon. The dollar/yen pair dove into the 101.55 area, ending the session just above yesterday's low of 101.44.

Similarly, Treasuries jumped to highs in the morning, but fell from those levels in reaction to a dismal 30-yr auction that saw a below-average bid/cover ratio of 2.09x (12-auction average 2.39x). Despite the early-afternoon dive, the 10-yr note ended in the green, adding one tick with its yield at 2.61%.

The intraday reversal did not invite unusually strong participation as less than 700 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.

Economic data was limited to just one report:

The initial claims level fell to 319,000 for the week ending May 3 from an upwardly revised 345,000 (from 344,000) for the week ending April 26. The Briefing.com consensus expected the initial claims level to fall to 325,000. As expected, the recent volatility surrounding the Easter holiday period is coming to an end. Initial claims are likely to stabilize between 320,000 and 330,000 as labor conditions improve moderately. The continuing claims level fell to 2.685 mln for the week ending April 26 from a downwardly revised 2.761 mln (from 2.771 mln) for the week ending April 19, while the consensus expected a decline to 2.750 mln.

Tomorrow, the Wholesale Inventories report for March and the March Jobs Openings and Labor Turnover Survey will both be released at 10:00 ET.

S&P 500 +1.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.2% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -3.0% YTD
Russell 2000 -5.5% YTD

DJ30 +32.43 NASDAQ -16.18 SP500 -2.58 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 983/2.15 bln/1879 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1284/679.0 mln/1787

3:30 pm :

June gold chopped around near the unchanged line today as the dollar index showed gains. It brushed a session low of $1284.80 per ounce in morning action and eventually settled with a 0.1% loss at $1288.00 per ounce.
July silver trended lower after pulling back from its session high of $19.34 per ounce set in early morning action. It brushed a session low of $19.13 per ounce moments before settling at $19.15 per ounce, or 1.0% lower.
June crude oil traded in the red, dipping to a session low of $99.85 per barrel in morning action. It eventually settled with a 0.5% loss at $100.24 per barrel.
June natural gas sold off sharply following inventory data that showed a build of 74 bcf when a build of 71-73 bcf was anticipated. It touched a session low of $4.56 per MMBtu in afternoon action after trading as high as $4.72 per MMBtu in morning pit trade. Unable to regain momentum, it settled with a 3.6% loss at $4.57 per MMBtu.

4:28PM NVIDIA beats by $0.04, beats on revs (already reported on Tuesday morning); guides Q2 revs jsut above estimates (NVDA) 18.50 +0.23 : Reports Q1 (Apr) earnings of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.25; revenues rose 15.5% year/year to $1.1 bln vs the $1.08 bln consensus; non-GAAP margin 55.1%.

Co already reported Q1 EPS and rev on Tuesday morning after a preliminary draft of the co's Q1 results was inadvertently emailed to an internal distribution list of about 100 individuals.

Co issues guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of ~$1.1 bln vs. $1.08 bln Capital IQ Consensus; non-GAAP margins are expected to be ~54.0%.

"Nearly 600 enterprises worldwide are now evaluating GRID, our virtual GPU server platform. VMware announced support for GRID to enable GPU-accelerated enterprise virtualization. And with IBM, Dell and HP now selling our GPUs in their high-volume servers, we expect large-scale data centers to be a significant source of growth."

4:05PM Diodes beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 revs in-line (DIOD) 26.19 -0.02 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.23; revenues rose 18.6% year/year to $210 mln vs the $209.12 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $216-229 mln vs. $222.32 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"As we look to the second quarter, we expect revenue to increase sequentially, highlighted by continued gross margin improvement as well as an ongoing commitment to cost controls that we expect to drive further profitability and cash generation."

4:01PM Skyworks CEO David J. Aldrich elected Chairman of Board (SWKS) 41.44 +0.39 : SWKS announced that the board of directors has elected David J. Aldrich chairman of the board and CEO of Skyworks.

David J. McLachlan, prior chairman, will remain a member of Skyworks' board of directors and has been designated as lead independent director.
In addition, Liam K. Griffin has been promoted to the role of president. Mr. Griffin had previously served as executive vice president and general manager.

Large Cap Gainers

GMCR (107.16 +16.21%): Beat on EPS by $0.13, beat on revs; guided Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guided FY14 EPS in-line, revs in-line; co and J.M. Smucker (SJM) announced expanded partnership agreement.
BCS (17.83 +8%): Co provided strategy update; to cut 14,000 jobs by end of year.
TWTR (32.65 +6.51%): Upgraded to Equal-Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley; positive Barron's mention.

Large Cap Losers

TSLA (186.25 -7.5%): Beat on EPS by $0.06, on-GAAP revs rose 26.9% y/y to $713 mln vs the $696.49 mln consensus, deliveries just above guidance; guided Q2 deliveries; reaffirmed FY14 deliveries; Gigafactory and Model X on track.
CLR (130.61 -4.59%): Missed on EPS by $0.06, missed on revs.
ICE (195 -3.35%): Missed on EPS by $0.01, reported revs in-line.

Mid Cap Gainers

SCTY (56.06 +17.5%): Beat on EPS by $0.46, beat on revs; guided Q2 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan; upgraded to Buy from Neutral at ROTH Capital.
WWAV (29.56 +11.09%): Beat on EPS by $0.03, beat on revs; guided Q2 EPS in-line; raised FY14 EPS above consensus.
HK (5.86 +10.78%): Beat on EPS by $0.01, beat on revs.

Mid Cap Losers

ISBC (10.44 -61.11%): Completed second step conversion from the mutual holding co structure and $2.20 bln stock offering.
GPOR (59.21 -18.94%): Missed on EPS by $0.01, missed on revs; lowered FY14 production guidance to 37,000-42,000 BOEPD from previous forecast of 50,000-60,000; downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo; downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Global Hunter Securities; tgt lowered to $72 from $85; downgraded to Hold at Stifel; tgt lowered to $70.
NPSP (24.35 -9.95%): Missed on EPS by $0.08, missed on revs; lowered FY14 rev guidance.

11:51AM Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (158) outpacing new lows (122) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AIRI, ALL, ALLY, AMKR, ASH, ATI, ATO, ATSG, AVGO, AWK, AXAS, BAH, BAM, BGCP, BLL, BP, BXE, BXP, CAR, CBEY, CCK, CFX, CHK, CHSP, CIO, CJES, CLDT, CM, CNC, CNI, CNL, CP, CR, CRT, CSL, CUZ, DE, DLNG, DOV, DPS, DTE, DYN, E, EA, ELS, ENB, ENG, EQR, ESRT, ESS, EW, FCH, FINL, FISV, FLEX, FNF, FRT, GGP, GIS, GLP, GMK, GPK, GSAT, HBI, HCC, HHC, HNT, HOLX, HRS, HSP, HUBG, IDXX, IFF, IHG, INGR, ITC, ITUB, ITW, JFBI, KED, KEP, KFS, KRC, LVLT, LYB, MDU, MITL, MKL, MMM, MMP, MNK, MOH, MPET, MPLX, MRH, MSI, MWRX, MWV, NBR, NFX, NGG, NI, NLS, NNBR, NOA, NVS, ORAN, ORM, PNM, PPC, PQ, PRE, PRMW, PTEN, PTP, PUK, QCOR, QTS, RAI, RDS.B, RFMD, RGEN, RHI, RNR, ROIC, SAN, SGU, SLG, SNDK, SQBG, SRE, SSL, STE, SUSS, SXI, TAP, TI, TI.A, TMK, TOO, TOT, TPC, TQNT, TRGP, TRN, TTM, TWIN, UGI, UHAL, UTSI, UVE, VC, VRA, WAG, WFT, WGP, WRB, ZBRA

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAME, AETI, AMBR, AMBT, AMCX, AMRC, AMWD, AMZG, ANAD, ARQL, ASTI, AVEO, AVNW, AXR, BAXS, BNNY, BODY, BOTA, BRDR, BTN, BV, BXC, CACH, CCCR, CEMI, CERE, CGG, CNSI, CORI, COUP, CPIX, CRIS, CRMB, CRNT, CSLT, CVT, CYTK, DGLY, DRL, DTLK, DVR, END, EPM, EVRY, FCSC, FSGI, FXCM, GBDC, GEOS, GLMD, GRIF, HEAR, HELI, HTBX, IDI, IMI, IMRS, IPAS, ISSC, JOEZ, KANG, KBIO, KBR, KIPS, KOPN, LQDT, MBII, MCP, MM, MSG, MWE, NASB, NDLS, NEWL, NILE, NPTN, NSPH, NTWK, OCN, ONCY, OPWR, OVAS, OVRL, OXF, PENN, PIKE, PMFG, PMT, POWR, PRAN, PROV, QLIK, QNST, QRM, QTWO, RGDX, RLOC, RMGN, RNDY, RTGN, SC, SFLY, SGI, SIGM, SMLR, SPEX, SQBK, SSFN, TCRD, TDC, TEU, TIBX, TIGR, TNDM, TOPS, TWER, TXTR, VGGL, VRNS, WLT, WMC, XNPT

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: AMJ, DVY, EFA, EWC, EWK, EWP, EWQ, EWU, EZA, EZU, GAF, IXC, IYK, OIH, SDY, VGK, XLP

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: VXX, VXZ

8:00AM Cree increases stock buyback to $300 mln (CREE) 44.99 : On May 6, 2014, the board of directors of the co approved an increase in the amount of the co's stock repurchase program. Pursuant to the program, the co is now authorized to repurchase shares of its common stock having an aggregate purchase price not exceeding $300 mln for all purchases from June 20, 2013 through the new expiration of the program on June 28, 2015.

The co recently repurchased 2.1 mln shares of its common stock under the program at an average price of $47.11 per share with an aggregate value of $99.6 mln. After this repurchase, there is $200.4 mln in aggregate purchase price value remaining in the co's stock repurchase program through June 28, 2015. The repurchase program can be implemented through open market or privately negotiated transactions at the discretion of the co's management. The co will continue to determine the time and extent of any repurchases based on its evaluation of market conditions and other factors.

Additionally, the board of directors of the co authorized the co securing an up to $150 mln working capital line of credit facility. The working capital line of credit will provide the co short term flexibility to optimize its net investment return on its cash and investments while funding its general business needs.

7:14AM JA Solar beats by $0.24, beats on revs (JASO) 9.85 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.32 per share, $0.24 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.08; revenues rose 35.7% year/year to $366 mln vs the $330.53 mln consensus.

Shipments
Shipments were 638.1 megawatts , consisting of 388.0 MW of modules and 250.1 MW of cells and cell tolling, above the high end of the Company's previous guidance of 610 MW
GMs
Gross margin was 16.7%, compared with 15.5%in the fourth quarter of 2013 and 6.0% in the first quarter of 2013

Business Outlook

For the second quarter of 2014, the Company expects total cell and module shipments to be between 670 MW and 700 MW.
For the full year 2014, the Company reiterates its full year cell and module shipments guidance of between 2.7 GW and 2.9 GW, which includes 200 MW of module shipments to the Company's downstream projects.

6:29AM SunEdison misses by $0.08, misses on revs; guides Q1, FY14 (SUNE) 18.31 : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.25 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.17); revenues rose 34% year/year to $578 mln vs the $593.83 mln consensus. Results reflect continued progress in solar projects retained in its Solar Energy segment and sequentially improving volumes in its Semiconductor Materials segment. Solar pipeline grew sequentially, and gross additions were 323 MW.

For the second quarter 2014:
Solar energy systems total non-GAAP sales volume in the range of 60 MW to 80 MW
Solar energy systems MW retained on the balance sheet between 100 MW and 120 MW
Solar energy systems MW completed between 160 MW and 200 MW
Fully developed solar energy systems average project pricing between $2.85/watt and $3.15/watt
For the full year 2014:
Solar energy systems total non-GAAP sales volume in the range of 460 MW to 580 MW
Solar energy systems MW retained on the balance sheet between 440 MW and 570 MW
Solar energy systems MW completed between 900 MW and 1150 MW
Fully developed solar energy systems average project pricing between $2.40/watt and $2.75/watt.

1:29AM Advanced Energy authorizes new $25 million share repurchase program (AEIS) 16.97 : Co announces that its Board has authorized the company to repurchase up to $25 mln of its common stock over the next 12 months.

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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The stock market continued its strong start to the week with a broad-based Tuesday rally that sent the S&P 500 higher by 0.5%. Nine of ten sectors registered gains while the benchmark index extended its week-to-date advance to 1.4%.

Equities received an opening boost from a pair of economic data points that crossed the wires this morning. An in-line CPI report suggested inflationary pressures remain contained, while a better than expected Housing Starts report underpinned homebuilders and the discretionary sector.

Fittingly, the consumer discretionary space (+0.8%) surged out of the gate and spent the entire session among the leaders. Homebuilders rallied following the upbeat data and better than expected earnings from Home Depot (HD 88.23, +4.64). The Dow component jumped 5.6%, while the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 23.99, +0.56) advanced 2.4%.

Retail stocks also played a part in the outperformance of the discretionary sector after Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS 44.21, +0.70) and Urban Outfitters (URBN 38.59, +1.67) beat their earnings estimates. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 87.05, +1.11) rose 1.3%.

While the influential discretionary sector displayed broad strength, other heavily-weighted groups were a bit more mixed. Technology (+0.7%) outperformed, while financials (+0.2%) and industrials (+0.2%) lagged.

The top-weighted sector-technology-received support from chipmakers. The PHLX Semiconductor Index recaptured its 50-day moving average and added 0.6% with all but five components posting gains. Meanwhile, most large cap tech components were limited to modest gains, but shares of Apple (AAPL 100.53, +1.37) climbed to a fresh all-time high.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted countercyclical sector-health care (+0.7%)-trailed the broader market for the majority of the session, but spiked during afternoon action in reaction to reports from the Wall Street Journal, indicating Salix Pharmaceuticals (SLXP 160.80, +21.63) was approached by Allergan (AGN 161.82, +6.21) about a potential acquisition. Shares of SLXP ended higher by 15.5%, while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 267.23, +1.02) tacked on 0.4% after showing intraday weakness.

Similar to health care, the utilities sector (+1.2%) outperformed, while the remaining two defensively-oriented groups-consumer staples (+0.2%) and telecom services (-0.3%)-lagged.

Treasuries began the day with solid gains, but spent the session in a steady retreat. The 10-yr note shed one tick with its yield ending at 2.40%.

Participation was well below average with fewer than 550 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Economic data was limited to CPI, and Housing Starts/Building Permits:


Consumer prices increased 0.1% in July following a 0.3% increase in June, which matched the Briefing.com consensus
As expected from the July PPI report, energy prices fell 0.3% in July after increasing 1.6% in June
Food prices accelerated, up 0.4% in July from a 0.1% increase in June
Food at home prices, typically from grocery stores, increased 0.7%, which was the largest increase since August 2011
Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.1% for a second consecutive month in July, which is what the consensus expected
Housing starts increased 15.7% in July to 1.093 million from an upwardly revised 945,000 (from 893,000) in June, while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 964,000
The big news out of the housing data was an 8.3% increase (to 656,0000) in single-family construction after declines were observed in May and June
Building permits rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.052 million in July versus a revised 973K for June, while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 1.001 million

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET, while the minutes from the latest FOMC policy meeting will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +8.4% YTD
S&P 500 +7.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.1% YTD

DJ30 +80.85 NASDAQ +19.20 SP500 +9.86 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1486/1.44 bln/1244 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1957/544.4 mln/1082 3:35 pm :

The dollar index continued to hold gains, which helped weigh on commodities today
Commodities such as crude oil, gold, silver and copper all sold off today and ended the on today's lows
Sept crude oil fell as low as $94.26 and ended today floor trading session $2.97 lower at $94.34/barrel
Dec gold lost $2.40 to $1296.80/oz, Sept silver fell $0.22 to $19.42/oz and Sept copper fell 2 cents to $3.09
Natural gas futures rallied today and finished 2.4% higher at $3.88/MMBtu
Sept corn recovered and gained 3 cents to $3.63/bushel.

4:31 pm Photronics beats by $0.01, beats on revs (PLAB) : Reports Q3 (Jul) earnings of $0.07 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.06; revenues rose 13.9% year/year to $124.9 mln vs the $122.7 mln consensus.

12:26 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

TJX (58.37 +8.29%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.02 ($0.75 ex items vs $0.73 estimate), revs rose 7.4% yoy to $6.92 bln vs $6.88 bln estimate; comps +3% vs +2-3% guidance, merchandise margins flat; sees Q3 EPS of $0.81-0.85 ex items vs $0.84 estimate, comps +1-2%; sees FY15 EPS of $3.10-3.18 ex items vs $3.14 estimate, comps +1-2%
HD (88.61 +6.01%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.08 ($1.52 vs $1.44 estimate), revs rose 5.7% yoy to $23.81 bln vs $23.61 bln estimate; comps +5.8%; sees FY15 EPS of $4.52-4.38 vs $4.41 estimate, revs +4.8% (~$82.59 bln) vs $82.52 bln estimate; target raised to $78 from $77 at Canaccord Genuity
CLR (149.78 +2.71%): Higher following the announcement of a 2-for-1 stock split

Large Cap Losers

BBL (65.42 -5.90%): Co announced plans to spin off assets to form two separate companies;
BHP also lower
S (5.41 -3.74%): Seeing reports that co plans to introduce a $100 family plan; target lowered to $4 from $7 at Jefferies
IR (61.7 -0.77%): Downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird, target lowered to $65 from $68

Mid Cap Gainers

JCP (10.42 +5.60%): Strengh in retailers following strong results from TJX and URBN: FIVE, DSW, RH also higher
URBN (38.43 +4.09%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.01 ($0.49 vs $0.48 estimate), revs rose 7% yoy to $811 mln vs $805 mln estimate; comparable retail segment net sales flat; upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird
KMT (45.12 +4.19%): Chairman, President, and CEO Carlos Cardoso to retire at the end of the year

Mid Cap Losers
JMEI (33.8 -8.89%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.04 ($0.16 ex items vs $0.12 estimate), revs +42% yoy to $154 mln vs $149 mln estimate; sees FY14 non-GAAP net income of $81-87 mln
PBYI (245.7 -6.16%): Resumed with a Hold at Stifel
JOE (21.94 -3.98%): Downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James

12:05 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (206) outpacing new lows (41) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAPL, ACM, AER, AKR, AKRX, AKS, ALGT, AMT, ANDE, APH, APT, ARE, ARII, AVB, AVGO, AWK, BAM, BBD, BIG, BITA, BLT, BLX, BRX, BURL, BWS, BXP, CAVM, CDW, CDZI, CELG, CHH, CIB, CMCM, CMG, CNK, CNW, CPT, CRAI, CRI, CTO, CUZ, CYBE, CYH, CYS, DK, DLB, DLR, DRE, DRH, ECHO, ECL, EEQ, EFC, EFX, EIX, ELS, ENPH, ENSG, EQIX, EQR, EXP, FCH, FDO, FDS, FFIV, FIS, FISH, FISV, FLT, FRP, FSI, GBX, GCO, GGP, GPK, GPRE, GPRK, HD, HHC, HPP, HT, HTCH, HTZ, HZO, IBN, ICLR, IDTI, IESC, IHS, INN, INTU, INVE, ITUB, JBLU, JBSS, JD, JLL, JRJC, KED, KEP, KEX, KRC, LEG, LEJU, LG, LMT, LPL, LRAD, LUV, LYB, MAG, MAR, MATW, MCRL, MGA, MGPI, MITSY, MKSI, MPWR, MSG, MUSA, NATI, NEU, NEWM, NLS, NMM, NNI, NP, NRF, ODFL, PBA, PBYI, PCRX, PEB, PEI, PEIX, PEOP, PFG, PII, PKX, PLNR, PLOW, PTRY, QTS, RCL, RECN, REG, REX, RFMD, RHT, RIOM, RWC, SAIA, SAVE, SCI, SEIC, SERV, SFL, SHG, SHI, SKH, SKM, SKX, SNSS, SRC, STLD, STRA, SUSP, SVU, SWKS, SXC, SXL, TAP, TECH, TEDU, THC, TPL, TQNT, TRNO, TRUE, TSRA, TTM, TWOU, UA, UCFC, UDR, UGI, UHS, UNP, URI, URS, VAC, VDSI, VGR, VOYA, WBB, WLDN, WLK, WPX, WRE, WWAV, WY, X, ZEN, ZFC, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACY, AQXP, AVL, BEBE, BSI, CBNK, COUP, DLA, DLIA, DWSN, ECT, EGT, FWM, GENE, HGR, IKAN, ISSC, KBIO, KING, KIOR, LDR, LPTN, MRC, OIBR, PER, PWX, RBPAA, RDEN, RELV, S, SDR, SDT, SLRC, SUNS, SUTR, SYNC, VPCO, WH, XXIA, ZAZA, ZGNX

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: AMJ, BKF, EWH, EWW, ICF, IHF, IWF, IYH, IYR, PSK, QQQ, RTH, URE, VNQ, VWO, XLB, XLV, XLY, XME

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BNO, JJA, SGG, SMN

9:02 am CalAmp and Masternaut sign supply agreement to broaden wireless product offerings (CAMP) : Co announced it has formalized and expanded a supply agreement with Masternaut, Europe's leading mobile resource management services company.

Under the agreement, the co will supply Masternaut with advanced telematics devices to enable trailer, heavy equipment and industrial machinery tracking with Masternaut's Connect telematics platform.8:33 am Silicom Limited announced application delivery customer to migrate appliances to use Silicom cards; expected to place ongoing orders totaling ~$1.5 mln/year (SILC) : Co announced that one of its application delivery customers has decided to replace the networking cards it currently uses in approximately 10 appliances with a variety of advanced Silicom networking cards.

The customer is considering replacing its current SSL acceleration solution with Silicom's new Coleto Creek-based card.
In addition, the customer has recently placed its first orders for the design wins already secured
Once all design wins are in place and the ramp-up periods are complete, the customer is expected to place ongoing orders totaling approximately $1.5 million per yearSanDisk (SNDK) announced the new SanDisk Ultra II SSD with enhanced SSD Dashboard.Violin Memory (VMEM) announced immediate worldwide availability of its data deduplication and compression capabilities on the Concerto 2200 solution.SunPower Corp (SPWR) has launched SunPower Choice, a new pilot leasing program to help residential customers in Melbourne, Australia, finance a SunPower solar system for no money down. As part of the program, SunPower will install its high efficiency solar panels for qualified Melbourne homeowners, providing reliable, clean electricity at a predetermined and cost-competitive monthly rate for 25 years.

The technology sector is trading higher by 0.6%, about in line with the broader market as the S&P 500 is +0.5%.

Now three weeks away from Apple's (AAPL) reported iPhone 6 reveal, and the phone and computer manufacturer hit $100.68 in intraday trading, right up to its all-time high from Sept. 2012 of $100.72 (split adjusted).

GSI Technology (GSIT) announced receipt of an unsolicited buyout offer from GigOptix (GIG) for $6.50/share, which would be a combination of cash and GigOptix common stock. The stock traded sharply lower during the first part of August, hitting a multi-month low of $4.91 intraday yesterday. On news of the unsolicited offer, the stock gapped up, and began trading today at $6.19, a roughly 25.3% hike from yesterday's close. However, as the day has progressed GSIT has given up a large part of that gain and is now trading at $5.45, a dollar below the offer price.

In mobile gaming, Cheetah Mobile (CMCM) was modestly lower today despite a beat on EPS and revenues reported premarket. While trading thinly premarket, the stock jumped to an intraday high off the open to $30.37, a 12.9% bounce off yesterday's closing price. However, the stock began to give up its gains into mid-day and is now lower by 1%.

Leaders in the space include:

RedHat (RHT), which traded up 2.6% and broke out to fresh 52-week highs. Cognizant Tech (CTSH), which gained 2.1% after Lone Pine Capital disclosed a 5.3% passive stake in an SEC filing. Oracle (ORCL), which traded up 1.9% and set new a new two month high, around it's range top and gap bottom at 41.36/41.39.

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market welcomed the new trading week with a mixed session that saw relative strength among large-cap stocks, while high-beta names underperformed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.3%) and S&P 500 (-0.1%) finished near their flat lines, while the Nasdaq Composite and Russell 2000 both lost 1.1%.

Equities began the day on a cautious note amid continued concerns regarding the strength of the global economy. Over the weekend, China reported its first decline in electricity production since 2009, while Industrial Production (6.9%; expected 8.8%) grew at its slowest pace since December 2008. Likewise, the Industrial Production report from the U.S. (-0.1%; Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) also left a bit to be desired.

In that same vein, participants have had to contend with cautious comments from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which lowered its 2014 GDP forecast for the U.S. (to 2.1% from 2.6%) and the Eurozone (to 0.8% from 1.2%).

Once the session got going, high-growth stocks weighed on the market and led to the underperformance of the Nasdaq Composite. Biotech names played a part with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 266.09, -3.48) sliding 1.3%. For its part, the top-weighted countercyclical sector-health care (-0.3%)-finished among the laggards.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted cyclical sector-technology (-0.6%)-suffered from noteworthy losses among social media and chipmaker names. Twitter (TWTR 49.38, -2.73), Facebook (FB 74.58, -2.90), Weibo (WB 21.05, -2.76), LinkedIn (LNKD 207.71, -17.12), and Yelp (YELP 76.62, -5.16) tumbled between 3.7% and 11.6%. Chipmakers did not fare much better with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 1.2%. The sector-wide weakness masked the outperformance of Apple (AAPL 101.60, -0.06), which settled little changed after confirming record orders for the upcoming iPhone.

Also of note, the energy sector (+0.7%) rebounded after ending last week well behind other sectors. The growth-sensitive sector narrowed its September loss to 4.5% with help from Dow components Chevron (CVX 124.24, +1.58) and ExxonMobil (XOM 96.29, +0.51). The two added 1.3% and 0.5%, respectively, while crude oil rose 0.7% to $92.89/bbl.

Treasuries notched their highs shortly before the start of the session and spent the remainder of the day near those levels. The 10-yr note added six ticks with its yield slipping two basis points to 2.59%.

Participation remained on the light side with fewer than 600 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Economic data was limited to the Empire Manufacturing Survey and Industrial Production:


The Empire Manufacturing Survey for September registered a reading of 27.5, which was above the prior month's reading of 14.7
The Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 16.0
The industrial production report for August certainly didn't go according to script as it showed production declining 0.1% versus the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which called for a 0.3% increase
A 7.6% decline in the production of motor vehicle and parts was the big drag on total industrial production for the month. That contributed to a 4.4% drop in the output of durable consumer goods and led to a 0.4% decline in manufacturing production
The production data for July was revised down to show a 0.2% increase versus an originally reported 0.4% increase
Capacity utilization slumped to 78.8%, which was also below the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 79.3% and below a downwardly revised 79.1% (from 79.2%) reading for July

Tomorrow, The Producer Price Index (Briefing.com consensus 0.0%) will be released at 8:30 ET, while Net Long-Term TIC Flows will be reported at 16:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +8.2% YTD
S&P 500 +7.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.7% YTD
Russell 2000 -1.4% YTD

DJ30 +43.63 NASDAQ -48.70 SP500 -1.41 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 644/1.80 bln/2284 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1038/577.1 mln/2033 3:30 pm :

Dec gold rose for the first time in six sessions, trading in a tight range between $1232.20 per ounce and $1236.90 per ounce. It eventually settled with a 0.3% gain at $1234.80 per ounce.
Dec silver touched a session low of $18.56 per ounce in morning action after pulling back from a session high of $18.69 per ounce. It managed to rise back above the unchanged line and settled at $18.62 per ounce, or 0.1% higher.
Oct crude oil lifted from its session low of $91.29 per barrel set at pit trade open and broke into positive territory by mid-morning action. The energy component continued to trend higher and settled 0.7% higher at $92.89 per barrel, just below its session high of $92.97 per barrel.
Oct natural gas rose for a second consecutive session, trading as high as $3.95 per MMBtu in morning pit trade. It brushed a session high of $3.90 per MMBtu and settled with a 1.8% gain at $3.93 per MMBt

12:08 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


TAP (77.15 +7.45%): Lifted in sympathy with M&A speculation among its peers.
NOK (8.61 +2.93%): Upgraded to Outperform at Oppenheimer; tgt $12.
BUD (114.71 +3.39%): WSJ report indicated that co is in financing talks for SabMiller (SBMRY) deal.

Large Cap Losers

TSLA (258.33 -7.47%): Weakness attributed to cautious Morgan Stanley analyst comments.
SNP (93.71 -5.57%): Co will subscribe for 29.99% shareholding interest in Marketing Co. for an aggregate amount of RMB107.094 bln.
ALXN (157.52 -3.2%): Reported improved survival observed in pediatric patients with severe HPP who were treated with investigational Asfotase Alfa for up to 5 years.

Mid Cap Gainers

ALR (41.16 +12.43%): Zwanziger filed 13D disclosing 4.68% stake; intends to promptly propose a consensual all-cash transaction at the buyout price of $46 per share.
BAH (23.38 +3.54%): Upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Cowen; tgt raised to $28 from $25.
DRI (49.47 +3.98%): Upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Credit Agricole; filed investor presentation regarding operating initiatives; believes current initiatives address the majority of Starboard's operating suggestions.

Mid Cap Losers

NPSP (27.61 -15.57%): FDA Advisory Committee voted 8-5 to recommend approval of Natpara
JBLU (11.37 -6.73%): Downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill; tgt $10.50.
TEX (32.52 -6.28%): Lowered 2014 EPS guidance to $2.35-2.50, ex-items, vs $2.56 consensus, down from $2.50-2.80; sees Q3 EPS of $0.55-0.65, ex-items, vs $0.80 consensus.

Altera (ALTR) announced its Arria V FPGAs are delivering the high performance needed for Dolby Laboratories' innovative Dolby Vision imaging technology for ultra-high definition displays.

Marvell (MRVL) announced that Bouygues Telecom is launching industry's first quad-core Android PayTV set-top box powered by the Marvell ARMADA 1500 PRO system-on-chip platform.

Broadcom (BRCM) announced the industry's highest performance, lowest power multi-rate 100 Gigabit Ethernet gearbox physical layer transceiver, optimized for next-generation cloud-scale data center, enterprise and core networks.

Texas Instruments (TXN) introduced seven SIMPLE SWITCHER regulators that simplify wide VIN synchronous power supply design and help engineers create energy-efficient, electromagnetic interference compliant products.

Huawei has selected the TrueTouch Gen5 capacitive touchscreen controller from Cypress Semiconductor (CY) for the MediaPad X1 tablet.

8:25 am Advanced Photonix, Inc. awarded $1.6 mln contract for U.S. Navy missile weapons program (API) : Co announced that it has received a contract worth ~$1.6 mln from a leading military contractor, which acts as a prime supplier for the U.S. Navy's Guided Missile Weapon System.

The contract is for a custom photodiode and is expected to be completed within the next 18 months, and payment is due upon shipment.

Xilinx (XLNX) announced its collaboration with China Mobile Research Institute for the development of virtualized 5G wireless networks in a special signing ceremony during the 5G Forum at the International Mobile Internet Conference on August 15.

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The major averages ended the midweek session with slim gains after showing some intraday volatility in reaction to the release of the latest policy directive from the Federal Open Market Committee. The S&P 500 added 0.1%, while the relative strength among small caps sent the Russell 2000 higher by 0.3%.

Equities spent the first half of the session near their flat lines as participants stuck to the sidelines ahead of the FOMC statement, which conveyed no changes to the Fed's current policy course. The indices surged after the statement crossed the wires, but returned near their flat lines by the close.

As expected, the Fed reduced the monthly pace of its asset purchases by $10 billion to $15 billion, setting expectations for the program to be wound down at the next meeting. Furthermore, the Fed maintained the "considerable time" language in its forward guidance, suggesting the first rate hike remains somewhat distant. On that note, the economic projections that were also released indicated the Fed sees the fed funds rate at 1.375% at the end of 2015.

The policy statement weighed on Treasuries (10-yr yield +3 bps to 2.62%), while giving a boost to the greenback. The Dollar Index (+0.6%) climbed to its best level since last June at the expense of other major currencies. Notably, the dollar/yen pair soared from the 107.15 area to 108.30.

Seven of ten sectors posted gains with materials (+0.6%) ending in the lead. The growth-sensitive sector was underpinned by steelmakers after U.S. Steel (X 45.61, +4.20) boosted its guidance. The Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 49.20, +0.43) advanced 0.9%.

Meanwhile, the other commodity-linked sector-energy (-0.5%)-ended at the bottom of the leaderboard following its recent outperformance. The sector narrowed its week-to-date gain to 1.4% and was pressured by a 0.6% decline in the price of crude oil ($94.33/bbl).

Elsewhere, the remaining cyclical sectors ended on a mixed note. Financials (+0.4%), industrials (+0.4%), and technology (+0.2%) displayed relative strength, while consumer discretionary (unch) ended a bit behind the broader market.

The industrial sector outperformed from the start with better than expected earnings from FedEx (FDX 159.71, +5.05) providing support. Shares of FDX jumped 3.3%, while the broader Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 1.0%. Airlines bucked the trend, which was a bit surprising considering the decline in the price of crude. Delta Air Lines (DAL 38.94, -0.58) and JetBlue Airways (JBLU 11.20, -0.21) lost 1.5% and 1.9%, respectively.

Also of note, the discretionary sector finished just behind the market, but that masked the strength among homebuilders. The industry group rallied in reaction to better than expected results from Lennar (LEN 41.40, +2.27). The stock surged 5.8%, while the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 24.13, +0.54) settled higher by 2.3%.

Today's participation was ahead of recent averages with more than 650 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Economic data included CPI, NAHB Housing Market Index, Q2 Current Account Balance, and the weekly MBA Mortgage Index:


The CPI report for August revealed a 0.2% decline, while the Briefing.com consensus expected an unchanged reading
This was the first decline in total CPI since April 2013, driven by a 2.6% decline in the energy index
Core CPI, meanwhile, was flat against a 0.2% uptick expected by the consensus
The NAHB Housing Market Index for September rose to 59 from 55, while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 56
The current account deficit for the second quarter totaled $98.50 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to hit $114.50 billion
The first quarter deficit was revised to $102.10 billion from $111.20 billion
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index jumped 7.9% to follow last week's 7.2% drop

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 305K) and August Housing Starts (consensus 1045K)/Building Permits (expected 1054K) will be released at 8:30 ET, while the Philadelphia Fed survey for September (consensus 23.5) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +9.2% YTD
S&P 500 +8.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +3.5% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.8% YTD

DJ30 +24.88 NASDAQ +9.43 SP500 +2.59 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1564/1.66 bln/1156 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1582/653.3 mln/1502 3:35 pm :

Dec gold chopped around near the unchanged level for most of today's pit trade as investors awaited the FOMC policy statement released at 14:00 ET. The yellow metal touched a session high of $1240.10 per ounce in early morning action but later dipped to a session low of $1234.50 per ounce and settled 60 cents below the break-even line at $1235.60 per ounce.
Dec silver erased slight early morning losses as it lifted from its session low of $18.64 per ounce. It touched a session high of $18.75 per ounce shortly before settling unchanged at $18.73 per ounce.
A few minutes ago, both gold and silver extended losses and fell to new lows on the day. Dec gold is now -0.8% at $1227.40/oz, Dec silver -0.9% at $18.55/oz
Oct crude oil touched a session high of $95.03 per barrel in early morning action but retreated back into negative territory.
The energy component traded as low as $93.74 per barrel after the EIA reported that for the week ending Sep 12, crude oil inventories had a build of 3.673 mln barrels when a draw of 1.5-1.6 mln barrels was anticipated. Unable to find buying support, it settled with a 0.6% loss at $94.33 per barrel.
Oct natural gas chopped around slightly above the unchanged line today. It touched a session high of $4.04 per MMBtu and settled with a 0.5% gain at $4.01 per MMBtu.

4:16 pm Interdigital Comm: Chairman Steven T. Clontz to retire from Board (IDCC) : Co announced that Steven T. (Terry) Clontz, Chairman of the Board, has informed the company of his intention to retire from the company's Board of Directors at the end of his term, which extends until the June 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. He will be succeeded as Chairman by S. Douglas (Doug) Hutcheson at that time. Mr. Hutcheson is CEO of Laser Inc. and former CEO of Leap Wireless and its operating subsidiary, Cricket Wireless, which were acquired by AT&T in March 2014. He joined InterDigital's Board of Directors in July 2014.

12:07 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

ENDP (68.76 +5.51%): Co delivered a proposal to acquire Auxilium Pharma (AUXL) for $28.10 per share in cash and stock (transaction valued at $2.2 bln).
DD (68.65 +4.28%): Trian Partners delivered letter and white paper summary to DD Board; said conglomerate structure is destroying shareholder value; suggested initiatives it believes can double share value in three years; DD issued statement regarding Trian; said 'while it is our policy not to comment on discussions with specific shareholders, we have had a constructive dialogue with Trian'.
NUE (57.75 +3.84%): Sees Q3 EPS $0.70-0.75 vs $0.62 consensus.

Large Cap Losers

SNE (18.99 -6.22%): Co cut FY15 guidance; will not pay dividend.
MBT (16.98 -4.34%): Downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan; tgt lowered to $19 from $22.
SXL (47.65 -4.63%): Priced offering of 7.7 mln common unit at $48.46 per unit.

Mid Cap Gainers

DRC (72.76 +7.19%): Sulzer confirmed that it is engaged in non-exclusive discussions with DRC regarding a potential transaction; initiated with a Buy at KeyBanc Capital Mkts; tgt $80.
X (45.29 +9.37%): Co announced strategic actions and updated Q3 outlook - expects significant improvement in op income for reportable segments and other businesses; tgt raised to $58 from $47 at Goldman.
LEN (41.44 +5.9%): Beat on EPS by $0.11, beat on revs; reaffirmed FY14 delivery guidance.

Mid Cap Losers
RAX (33.01 -16.08%): Co ended formal evaluation of M&A transactions; focus remains on managed cloud market leadership; appointed Taylor Rhodes as CEO; downgraded to Sell from Underperform at Credit Agricole.
SKX (58.29 -8.41%): Co filed lawsuit against DB Shoe, a California-based retailer, for selling footwear that infringes on the Skechers Go Walk product line.
OI (29.28 -6.59%): Co disclosed it sees Q3 EPS lower than consensus.

12:03 pm BlackBerry and Porsche Design announce the new Porsche Design P'9983 smartphone (BBRY) : The device integrates premium quality materials such as sapphire glass for the camera lens, forged stainless steel for the Porsche Design floating logo and chassis, and a special glass-weave technology for the back door.

12:00 pm Seagate Tech and Baidu (BIDU) sign strategic cooperation agreement in the areas of low-cost online storage, archiving and Big Data analysis (STX) : Co announced it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Baidu (BIDU) in the areas of low-cost online storage, archiving and Big Data analysis.

Under the agreement, Baidu will give priority to Seagate products when considering components for all Baidu servers and storage facilities. In return Seagate will align with Baidu as a Strategic Customer and give priority to Baidu when providing enterprise storage products and relevant support, as well as maintain a dedicated engineering team for Baidu.Seagate will supply enterprise capacity and performance products as part of the relationship.
STX also signed a supplier cooperation agreement with Huawei under which both parties agreed to expand cooperation to establish a joint laboratory and collaborate on new products, technology and marketing for cloud storage solutions.

10:01 am Rubicon Tech announces Raja Parvez will step down as CEO and as a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately (RBCN) : Co announced that Raja Parvez will step down as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately.

The Board has appointed William Weissman, currently CFO, as interim CEO to ensure a smooth transition and to lead Rubicon's executive team. Chairman Don Aquilano will lead a Board search for a permanent CEO with the assistance of a leading executive search firm.Market participants waited anxiously for most of the day for the FOMC's latest policy directive. That directive was issued at 2:00 p.m. ET and it was regarded more for what it included than what it excluded.

To that end, it included the "considerable time" language that market bulls were hoping to see if Tuesday's rally was any indication. Actually, the directive contained a whole lot of what has been seen in prior directives, so it was fair to label it a dovish directive even though it garnered two dissenting votes from Dallas Fed president Fisher and Philadelphia Fed President Plosser.

The stock market had its typical roller-coaster run after the directive, and when it was all said and done, the major indices closed the day roughly where they were trading just before 2:00 p.m. ET. The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.2%) moved in a similar fashion, although it managed to outperform the S&P 500 (+0.1%) by a slim margin after underperforming by a slim margin on Tuesday.

Enter Apple (AAPL 101.58, +0.72) whose standing has been the swing factor for the sector the past two days (not that it isn't a swing factor most days with its heavy weighting). On Wednesday Apple perked up on reports of positive reviews for the iPhone 6 and optimism about the robust demand for its new smartphones. It stands to reason, too, that Apple may have been regarded as somewhat of a safety stock in front of the FOMC announcement as well as the Scottish independence vote on Thursday.

Either way, its strength was a bedrock factor for the sector, which was weighed down a bit by losses in Adobe Systems (ADBE 67.30, -3.43) that followed its mixed third quarter report and disappointing revenue guidance for the fourth quarter.

Microsoft (MSFT 46.52, -0.24) was another drag despite reports that the company increased its quarterly dividend by 11% to $0.31. The sticking point for some investors perhaps was the recognition that Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend by 22% at the same time last year.

The majority of the sector traded higher on Wednesday.

The semiconductor stocks were a pocket of relative strength. Intel (INTC 34.98, +0.05) trailed the group, yet it offered a measure of support nonetheless to the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which jumped 0.7% and turned positive for the month.

Elsewhere, cloud services provider Rackspace (RAX 32.39, -6.95) got beat up pretty good after the company said it has ended its evaluation of alternatives and that it will not be acquired. The company announced its review in mid-May and its stock price shot up sharply as a result. A lot of the acquisition speculation then was taken out of the stock, which declined 18% in Wednesday's trading.

Gaming software company Activision (ATVI 21.44, -0.77) was another lowlight. Its losses were a bit more perplexing considering the company shared the news on Wednesday that its new franchise Destiny sold-through more than $325 million worldwide in its first five days. ATVI had been on quite a run this year, so it is possible it fell prone to the view that today's success will be tomorrow's tough comparison. Even with Wednesday's loss, ATVI is still up 20% year-to-date.

The tables are turned in both respects for network security company FireEye (FEYE 35.47, +1.83). It gained 5.4% on Wednesday on some optimism about new product announcements. After the close, FireEye said it and Mandiant will deliver the industry's first global security as a service solution. Despite Wednesday's big gain, FEYE is still down 19% year-to-date.

(Disclosure:Briefing.com has a business relationship with Microsoft)

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Investors Shrug Off North Korean Missile Launch
29-Aug-17 16:25 ET
Dow +56.97 at 21866.67, Nasdaq +18.87 at 6301.87, S&P +2.06 at 2447.75

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/8/29/investors-shrug-off-north-korean-missile-launch.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] The major U.S. indices eked out a victory on Tuesday, overcoming a further tightening of geopolitical tensions following yet another North Korean ballistic missile launch. The Nasdaq (+0.3%) led the advance, followed closely by the Dow (+0.3%), the S&P 500 (+0.1%), and the small-cap Russell 2000 (+0.1%). Equity indices settled near their best marks of the day.

North Korea rattled equity markets around the globe on Tuesday morning after firing a missile over the Japanese island of Hokkaido--marking the first time since 2009 that Pyongyang has fired over Japan's main islands. In response, President Trump said "all options are on the table" and reports indicated that the U.S. and Japan will call for an international embargo on oil exports to North Korea.

Wall Street opened solidly lower, but quickly began retracing its opening loss, and moved higher still as the reversal in sentiment sent short sellers running for cover. The rally was led by the industrial sector (+0.7%), which benefited from strength in defense names following the North Korean launch. Dow component Boeing (BA 240.49, +3.31) finished higher by 1.4%.

Dow component Untied Technologies (UTX 118.70, +3.37) also bolstered the industrial group, jumping 2.9%, following a Wall Street Journal report that the company is nearing a deal to buy Rockwell Collins (COL 130.74, +2.75) for a price of up to $140 per share. In addition, transports outperformed, pushing the Dow Jones Transportation Average (+0.9%) to its third-consecutive win.

The top-weighted technology sector (+0.4%) also outperformed on Tuesday, helping to mitigate the negative performance of the influential financial space (-0.5%). The financial sector suffered amid broad weakness, but select property and casualty insurers bounced back from yesterday's sell off, which was in response to the devastation caused along the Texas coast by Tropical Storm Harvey.

Like yesterday, WTI crude futures moved lower, dropping 0.3% to $46.22/bbl, amid concerns about near-term demand following the closure of many oil refineries along the Texas coast. Meanwhile, RBOB gasoline futures climbed 1.3% to $1.64/gallon.

As for the remaining sectors, health care (+0.2%) and consumer staples (+0.3%) finished in the green while consumer discretionary (-0.2%), energy (-0.1%), materials (-0.6%), utilities (-0.2%), telecom services (-0.2%), and real estate (-0.1%) settled in the red.

Retailers struggled after Finish Line (FINL 8.50, -1.92) issued a very disappointing second quarter warning and reduced its fiscal 2018 outlook. The shoe-retailer dropped 18.4% and Nike (NKE 52.73, -1.00) moved 1.9% lower in sympathy. In addition, Best Buy (BBY 55.02, -7.45) tumbled 11.9% despite beating both top and bottom line estimates and raising its guidance for the fiscal year.

U.S. Treasuries moved higher across the curve in response to the North Korean missile test, but finished a ways off from their best marks of the day. The benchmark 10-yr yield dropped two basis points to 2.14%, but traded as low as 2.09% in the early morning. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (92.28, +0.11) managed to eke out a small victory, coming back from a loss of around 0.6%.

It's also worth mentioning that the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 11.76, +0.44) held a huge gain of around 27.0% early on Tuesday morning, but trimmed that gain to 3.8% by the closing bell.

The Reviewing Tuesday's economic data, which was limited to the Consumer Confidence report for August and the Case-Shiller Home Price Index for June:

The consumer confidence reading for August rose to 122.9 from the prior month's revised reading of 120.0 (from 121.1). The Briefing.com consensus expected the survey to hit 120.3.
The key takeaway from the report is that consumer confidence remained high as the current labor market assessment overshadowed a lot of the political drama that has called into question the ability to implement a tax reform plan this year.
The June Case-Shiller 20-city Index hit 5.7%, which is in line with the Briefing.com consensus. The prior month's reading was left unrevised at 5.7%.

On Wednesday, investors will receive several economic reports, including the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index at 7:00 ET, the ADP Employment Change Report for August (Briefing.com consensus 180K) at 8:15 ET, and the second estimate of second quarter GDP (Briefing.com consensus 2.7%) at 8:30 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +17.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +10.6% YTD
S&P 500 +9.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.0% YTD

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Another Day, Another Record High
18-Sep-17 16:30 ET
Dow +63.01 at 22332.65, Nasdaq +6.17 at 6454.61, S&P +3.64 at 2505.32

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/9/18/another-day-another-record-high.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] The U.S. equity market opened the week on a positive note, sending both the S&P 500 (+0.2%) and the Dow (+0.3%) to new all-time highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (+0.1%) touched a new intraday high on Monday, but failed to carve out a new record close following a technology sell off in the late afternoon. Small caps outperformed, pushing the Russell 2000 higher by 0.7%.

After climbing to a new record high at the start of Monday's session, the stock market began trending sideways, protecting its modest opening gain. The heavily-weighted financial sector (+1.0%) underpinned the broader market during this time and continued to exert a positive influence through the closing bell.

However, the top-weighted technology sector (unch) took control of the broader market in the afternoon following the sector's sharp drop into negative territory.

Without a catalyst, the tech sector exchanged a gain of 0.3% for a loss of 0.3% in less than an hour with mega-cap names like Apple (AAPL 158.67, -1.21), Facebook (FB 170.01, -1.63), Alphabet (GOOGL 929.75, -5.54), and Microsoft (MSFT 75.16, -0.15) leading the retreat. Likewise, the S&P 500 slipped to its lowest mark of the day, fully retracing its gain of 0.3%.

However, the tech group managed to bounce back a bit in the late afternoon to finish just a tick below its unchanged mark. Chipmakers helped keep the sector's loss in check, putting together yet another positive performance. The PHLX Semiconductor Index climbed 1.2% to settle in the green for the sixth-consecutive session.

NVIDIA (NVDA 187.55, +7.44) led the semiconductor rally--climbing 4.1% to a new all-time high--after Bank of America/Merrill Lynch raised its target price to $210 from $185 on Monday morning.

In total, six sectors finished Monday's session in the green--financials (+1.0%), industrials (+0.6%), materials (+0.6%), telecom services (+0.5%), energy (+0.4%), and consumer staples (unch)--while five settled in the red--technology (unch), health care (-0.1%), consumer discretionary (-0.4%), real estate (-0.5%), and utilities (-1.0%).

The industrial sector benefited from the positive performances of several influential Dow components, including Boeing (BA 253.08, +4.08) and Caterpillar (CAT 123.83, +2.46), which climbed 1.6% and 2.0%, respectively. UBS upgraded CAT shares to 'Buy' from 'Neutral' on Monday morning.

As for Boeing, it rallied alongside aerospace and defense peer Northrop Grumman (NOC 275.97, +8.94), which climbed 3.4% after announcing its intent to acquire Orbital ATK (OA 132.25, +22.21) for $7.8 billion, or $134.50 per share, in cash. Including the assumption of debt, the total cost will be $9.2 billion.

In the bond market, Treasuries sold off in a curve-steepening trade. The yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note climbed three basis points to 2.23% while the 2-yr yield advanced just one basis point to 1.39%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (91.81, +0.16) climbed 0.2%.

Reviewing Monday's economic data, which was limited to the September NAHB Housing Market Index:

The NAHB Housing Market Index for September declined to 64 (Briefing.com consensus 67) from a revised reading of 67 (from 68) in August.

On Tuesday, investors will receive three economic reports--August Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.17 million), August Import/Export Prices, and the Current Account Balance for the second quarter (Briefing.com consensus -$115.1 billion). All three pieces of economic data will be released at 8:30 ET.

Also of note, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will kick off a two-day meeting on Tuesday morning. It's latest policy directive will cross the wires on Wednesday afternoon.