Replies to post #6856 on Sector Investing

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Sector Bullish Percentages: BP Consumer Discretionary, BP Transports, BP Industrials, BP Materials, BP Information Technology etc. The Early Recovery Movers:

The Bullish Percent Index (BPI) is a popular market breadth indicator that is calculated by dividing the number of stocks in a given group (an exchange, an industry, etc.) that are currently trading with Point and Figure buy signals, by the total number of stocks in that group. Bullish Percent levels that are above 70% are considered overbought, whereas levels below 30% are considered oversold. Strong buy signals occur when the Bullish Percent Index falls below 30% and then reverses up by at least 6%. Conversely, promising sell signals occur when it goes above 70%, and then reverses down by at least 6%:



















Mid Cycle Movers:








BP Telecom Services Sector, BP Healthcare, BP Utilities and BP Financials - Late cycle movers after the market top is in.

The Bullish Percent Index (BPI) is a popular market breadth indicator that is calculated by dividing the number of stocks in a given group (an exchange, an industry, etc.) that are currently trading with Point and Figure buy signals, by the total number of stocks in that group. Bullish Percent levels that are above 70% are considered overbought, whereas levels below 30% are considered oversold. Strong buy signals occur when the Bullish Percent Index falls below 30% and then reverses up by at least 6%. Conversely, promising sell signals occur when it goes above 70%, and then reverses down by at least 6%:

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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Wednesday session on a lower note with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.6%) and Russell 2000 (-0.5%) leading the slide. The S&P 500 lost 0.4% with nine sectors in the red.

Equity indices spent the duration of the session in the red, while the Nasdaq (-0.1%) made a momentary appearance in the green. The tech-heavy index outperformed thanks to relative strength among chipmakers. However, the Nasdaq slumped back towards its low into the close as dip buyers were reluctant to step in and lift the overall market.

Today's retreat should not be all that surprising, considering the S&P 500 entered the session with a 4.2% gain since May 20. Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 began the day with an even more impressive 6.8% advance in that same timeframe.

With the major averages overextended on a short-term basis, the market was ready to take a step back at the sound of the first concerning headline and today's comments from the World Bank did the trick.

Specifically, the World Bank cut its 2014 global growth outlook to 2.8% from 3.2%, while also revising projections for several major economies. For instance, the growth forecast for the U.S. was lowered to 2.1% from 2.8%, while China's GDP expectations were taken down to 7.6% from 7.7%.

Fittingly, with growth concerns at the forefront, cyclical sectors like financials (-0.7%), industrials (-0.8%), and materials (-0.6%) saw noteworthy losses.

Most notably, industrials could not keep up with the broader market as defense contractors and transports weighed. Dow component Boeing (BA 134.10, -3.15) fell 2.3% after being downgraded to 'Sector Perform' at RBC Capital Markets. The stock pressured the PHLX Defense Index, which lost 1.1%.

Transports, meanwhile, underperformed for the second day in a row. All five airline stocks that make up the transportation average lost between 1.3% and 5.2% with United Continental (UAL 45.26, -2.50) posting the largest decline after Deutsche Lufthansa slashed its guidance.

Elsewhere, the financial sector suffered from widespread losses, but Bank of America (BAC 15.59, -0.33) underperformed its peers with a 2.1% decline in reaction to reports the bank's settlement negotiations with the Justice Department have hit a snag.

Also of note, the technology sector (-0.3%) ended just ahead of the broader market, but chipmakers displayed strength, which underpinned the Nasdaq. Micron (MU 30.99, +1.48) jumped 5.0% after receiving an upgrade from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, while the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 0.5%.

The Nasdaq also received an intraday boost from biotechnology, but the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 249.03, -0.27) slumped into the close, ending little changed.

Similar to biotechnology, the health care sector (-0.1%) settled near its flat line, while other countercyclical sectors posted losses. The utilities sector was particularly weak (-1.3%) after Exelon (EXC 35.75, -1.41) announced a secondary share offering.

Treasuries climbed in the morning, but surrendered the bulk of their gains during the afternoon. The 10-yr yield slipped one basis point to 2.63%.

Participation remained well below average and today's 520 million shares represented the lowest NYSE floor volume of the year.

Economic data was limited to two reports. The weekly MBA Mortgage Index surged 10.3% to follow last week's 3.1% decline and the Treasury Budget for May showed a deficit of $130.00 billion, which followed the prior deficit of $138.70 billion.

Tomorrow, weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 315K), May Retail Sales (consensus 0.7%), and May Import/Export Prices will be released at 8:30 ET, while the Business Inventories report for April (expected 0.4%) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

S&P 500 +5.2% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +3.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.6% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.3% YTD

DJ30 -102.04 NASDAQ -6.06 SP500 -6.90 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1056/1.65 bln/1648 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1150/520.2 mln/1898

3:35 pm :

The dollar index remained in the red today, which helped provide price support is some commodities today
Crude oil futures finished the day flat with July crude ending at $104.39/barrel (up one cent)
Natural gas ended the day near its LoD, closing two cents lower at $4.51/MMBtu
Gold and silver consolidated after a morning sell-off. By the end of the day silver was unchanged at $19.23/oz and gold rose $1 to $1261.10/oz
Copper was in the red almost all day, ending one cent lower at $3.04/lb

4:35 pm Trina Solar announced that it closed the offering of 8,800,000 American Depositary Shares, each representing 50 ordinary shares of the Company, par value of US$0.00001 per share, at US$11.00 per ADS (TSL) :

TSL received aggregate net proceeds of approximately US$92.9 million after deducting discounts and commissions but before offering expenses from the ADS Offering.
Trina Solar has also granted the underwriters in the ADS Offering a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,320,000 ADSs in connection with the ADS Offering to cover over-allotments.
The Company also closed the concurrent offering of US$150 million in aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2019 on June 11, 2014.
Trina Solar received aggregate net proceeds of approximately US$146.3 million after deducting discounts and commissions but before offering expenses from the Note Offering. Trina Solar used approximately US$52.3 million of the net proceeds from the Notes Offering to pay the aggregate premium of zero-strike call options that Trina Solar entered into with one or more of the initial purchasers.
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Barclays Capital Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C. acted as joint book-running managers for the ADS Offering.

4:05 pm SunPower announced that it has closed the previously announced private offering of $400 million aggregate principal amount of its 0.875 percent senior convertible debentures due 2021 (SPWR) :

Total Energies Nouvelles Activites USA, a subsidiary of Total S.A. that owns approximately 60 percent of SunPower's outstanding common stock, purchased $250 million aggregate principal amount of the debentures included in this offering.
SunPower intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including, but not limited to, retirement of existing indebtedness, pursuing its HoldCo strategy, capital expenditures and working capital.
The debentures will pay interest semi-annually on June 1 and December 1 of each year, beginning on December 1, 2014, at a rate of 0.875 percent per annum, and will mature on June 1, 2021, unless earlier converted, redeemed or repurchased. The debentures will be convertible into shares of SunPower's common stock at any time based on an initial conversion rate of 20.5071 shares of SunPower's common stock per $1,000 principal amount of debentures (which is equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $48.76 per share of SunPower's common stock), representing a conversion premium of approximately 42.5 percent over the closing sale price of $34.22 per share of SunPower's common stock on The NASDAQ Global Select Market on June 5, 2014.

4:02 pm Vitesse announced that it is offering to sell shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering; Needham & Company is acting as the sole bookrunning manager of the offering (VTSS) : Co announced that it is offering to sell shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. Needham & Company is acting as the sole bookrunning manager of the offering. Craig-Hallum Capital Group, The Benchmark Company, and Northland Securities, are acting as co-managers.

The offering is expected to price on or about Thursday, June 12, 2014. Vitesse intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.

On the upside, chipmakers are seeing broad strength, which has helped the Nasdaq return to its flat line. Micron (MU 31.39, +1.90) is higher by 6.4% after receiving an upgrade from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, while the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index trades up 0.9%.

Large Cap Gainers

MU (31.14 +5.54%): Upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill; target raised to $50 from $30 at Credit Suisse
INFY (54.54 +4.28%): Strength ahead of co's Annual General Meeting scheduled for June 14, 2014, Economic Times reporting that investors are expecting a "major announcement"
APC (106.95 +2.92%): Seeing rumors that Exxon Mobile (XOM) may make seek to acquire the company

Large Cap Losers

UAL (46.13 -3.41%): Weakness in major airline companies following weak guidance from Deutsche Lufthansa: DAL also lower
ORAN (16.51 -2.99%): Reuters reporting that French mobile company Bouygues Telecom is no longer in talks with Orange as a potential acquirer
HLT (22.85 -2.45%): Filed for 90 mln share common stock offering by selling shareholders

Mid Cap Gainers

SYNA (83.43 +25.42%): Sees Q4 revs of $300-310 mln (raised from $275-295) vs $285.95 mln estimate; sees FY14 revs of $933-943 mln vs $918.5 mln estimate; target raised to $86 from $83 at Stifel; target raised to $90 from $80 at Craig Hallum
ULTA (97.34 +14.1%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.03 ($0.77 vs $0.74 estimate), revs rose 22.5% yoy to $713.8 mln vs $699.74 mln estimate; comparable store sales increased 8.7% vs +5-7% guidance; sees Q2 EPS of $0.78-0.83 vs $0.82 estimate, revs of $706-717 mln vs $703.20 mln estimate; reaffirmed FY15 guidance
GTAT (17.12 +4.77%): Strength attributed to positive newsletter

Mid Cap Losers

UNFI (63.24 -7.67%): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.73 (in-line), revs rose 13.8% yoy to $1.78 bln vs $1.78 bln estimate; sees FY14 EPS of $2.47-2.50, revs of $6.73-6.77 bln vs $6.75 bln estimate
STAY (22.81 -3.84%): Announced offering of 21 mln paired shares by selling stockholders; each paired share consists of a share of common stock and a share of Class B common stock of ESH Hospitality, which are attached and trade together as paird shares
HXL (41.88 -3.3%): Hearing cautious mention from Tier 1 firm following Airbus (EADSY) order cancellation

12:27 pm NVIDIA pushes back toward its early high at 19.40, its multi-year high from April is slightly above at 19.46 (NVDA) :

12:11 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (112) outpacing new lows (14) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AET, AGRX, AGTC, ALDR, AMKR, APC, ARX, ATML, ATVI, BCEI, BDSI, BFR, BMA, BNS, BTE, CAVM, CBPO, CI, CIG, CLR, CMCM, CODE, COP, CPG, CPK, CRZO, CUZ, CXO, DCM, DOM, DPS, DVN, DYN, EA, EPE, FCNCA, FFNM, FFNW, FORM, GB, GLNG, GMK, GTIM, HDS, HES, HNNA, HRB, HRTG, HSP, IDTI, IMO, IRF, JD, JNJ, KANG, KLIC, LOAN, LPL, LPNT, MCHP, MEAS, MHFI, MLM, MMI, MMYT, MNDO, MO, MOH, MPWR, MRO, MSCC, MSL, MTR, MTRX, MU, NTCT, NVGS, NVSL, OMER, ORCL, OVTI, PAHC, PPG, PPS, QADA, REIS, RFMD, RMBS, RRMS, RVSB, SAIC, SANM, SJT, STFC, SU, SWC, SWHC, SWKS, SYNA, TAP, TEDU, TI, TI.A, TLLP, TQNT, TSU, TTGT, UNTY, VIPS, VSH, VTL, WLL

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ARCP, CLF, COOL, CPSL, DCIX, FRSH, GLPI, ISNS, KOSS, MGT, MIXT, SC, TBBK, VII

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: EWC, NIB, PALL, SMH, SOXX

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none


RMBS +7.2%, (also signs comprehensive license agreement with Qualcomm (QCOM))

,MU +2.7% (upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill),MRVL +1.1% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura),AMZN +1% (added to Conviction Buy list at Goldman),SNDK +1% (upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill),

8:01 am Vishay Intertechnology announces acquisition of Holy Stone Polytech Co., Ltd., a Tantalum Capacitor company for ~$21 mln (VSH) : Co announced the acquisition of Holy Stone Polytech, a Japanese manufacturer of tantalum capacitors, from Holy Stone Enterprise. The purchase price was ~$21 mln subject to customary post-closing adjustments.

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4:13 pm Closing Market Summary: Growth Concerns Pressure Cyclical Sectors (:WRAPX) : The major averages ended the Tuesday session on a mixed note. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%) spent the bulk of the day near its flat line while the S&P 500 settled lower by 0.3%.

Stocks were pressured from the start, but the early weakness could be traced back to Europe where the European Commission lowered its GDP forecast for the region. The commission now expects 2014 GDP to grow at 0.8% (prior 1.2%) while the forecast for 2015 was lowered to 1.1% from 1.7%.

Also in Europe, a report from Reuters has revealed a potential power struggle at the European Central Bank. According to the report, ECB board members have been unhappy with President Mario Draghi effectively making some policy decisions on his own. Furthermore, the report claimed that up to ten out of 24 ECB members are not in favor of a sovereign QE program.

In all likelihood, the news of strong opposition to quantitative easing is why the euro climbed following the report. The single currency advanced to 1.2550 against the greenback, which contributed to a 0.4% decline in the Dollar Index (87.05, -0.25).

The downtick in the dollar did little to prevent crude oil from falling in response to the lowered growth outlook for the eurozone and lower export prices from Saudi Arabia. The energy component fell 2.0% to $77.13/bbl. For its part, the energy sector (-1.9%) spent the entire session at the bottom of the leaderboard.

The significant weakness in energy kept the market under pressure while other cyclical groups were mixed. Financials (+0.1%), industrials (+0.1%), and technology (unch) displayed relative strength while consumer discretionary (-1.3%) and materials (-1.0%) lagged.

Notably, the discretionary sector suffered from weakness among apparel names after Michael Kors (KORS 71.42, -6.57) issued disappointing comparable store sales guidance, which masked better than expected results. The stock tumbled 8.4%. Foot Locker (FL 53.63, -2.54) also weighed, falling 4.5% after announcing CEO Ken Hicks will be replaced by Richard Johnson. Homebuilders also pressured the sector with the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 23.92, -0.26) ending lower by 1.1%.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector ended ahead of other cyclical groups thanks to gains among transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average added 0.4% with airlines leading the way after Delta Air Lines (DAL 42.32, +1.71) reported strong October metrics. However, the sector could not pull away from its flat line as growth concerns weighed on machinery stocks like Caterpillar (CAT 98.61, -1.61) and Joy Global (JOY 52.00, -0.31).

On the upside, the consumer staples sector (+0.5%) ended in the lead with help from upbeat earnings reported by Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM 49.54, +2.29). The health care sector (+0.1%) also finished in the green while telecom services (-0.2%) and utilities (-0.6%) registered losses.

Treasuries held intraday gains, but the 10-yr note returned to unchanged by the end of the session (2.33%). The long bond, meanwhile, ended in the green to lower its yield two basis points to 3.05%.

Participation was ahead of average with roughly 810 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the trade deficit and factory orders:


The September trade deficit widened to $43.00 billion from a downwardly revised $40.00 billion (from $40.10 billion) while the Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to come in at $40.20 billion

According to the advance estimate of Q3 2014 GDP, the BEA assumed that the trade deficit narrowed to roughly $38 billion in September. The upward surprise should result in a downward revision to third quarter GDP in the second estimate
The goods deficit increased by $2.40 billion in September to $62.70 billion while the services surplus fell to $19.60 billion from $20.20 billion

Manufacturing orders declined 0.6% in September after falling an upwardly revised 10.0% (from -10.1%), while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline of 0.5% Durable orders fell 1.1% in September after declining 18.3% in August. That was a slightly stronger result than the 1.3% decline reported in the advance durable goods report Much of the decline in durable goods demand resulted from a 14.7% decline in aircraft orders. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders slipped 0.1% in SeptemberTomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the October ADP Employment Change report (Briefing.com consensus 220K) will cross the wires at 8:15 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the ISM Services Index for October (consensus 58.0).
Nasdaq Composite +10.7% YTD S&P 500 +8.9% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +4.9% YTD Russell 2000 +0.1% YTD

4:14 pm Coherent beats by $0.03, misses on revs (COHR) : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $0.96 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.93; revenues fell 3.7% year/year to $205.3 mln vs the $209.44 mln consensus.

4:06 pm Teradyne acquires Avionics Interface technologies; no terms disclosed (TER) : The co announced that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Avionics Interface Technologies, LLC, a leading provider of equipment for testing state-of-the-art avionics data buses. The Avionics Interface Technologies business will be operated as an independent division within Teradyne's Defense and Aerospace business unit, and will continue to provide exceptional products to existing and new customers.

3:02 pm Index Changes Reminder: Level 3 Communications (LVLT) set to join the S&P 500; Jabil Circuit (JBL) to join the S&P MidCap 400 (:INDXCH) : Level 3 Communications (LVLT) will replace Jabil Circuit (JBL) in the S&P 500, and Jabil Circuit will replace TW Telecom (TWTC) in the S&P MidCap 400 after the close of trading today. Level 3 Communications is acquiring TW Telecom in a deal expected to be completed soon pending final conditions.

12:32 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

ADM (49.53 +4.81%): Reported Q1 earnings of $0.81 per share, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.73; revenues fell 15.3% year/year to $18.12 bln vs the $20.89 bln consensus.
DAL (42.24 +4.01%): Reported PRASM for the month of October increased 3.0% y/y.
MSI (66.82 +3.31%): Beat consensus estimate by $0.21, beat on revs; guided Q4 EPS below consensus; increased buyback by $5 bln.

Large Cap Losers

S (5.18 -16.53%): Reported Q3 loss of $0.19 per share, which may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.06); revenues rose 9.5% year/year to $8.49 bln vs the $8.63 bln consensus.
PCLN (1087.06 -9.3%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $1.07, reported revs in-line; guided Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus.
DISCA (32.6 -8.61%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.05, missed on revs; lowered FY14 rev guidance; Tgt lowered at Topeka Capital Mkts.

Mid Cap Gainers

ODP (5.88 +15.98%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.10 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.09; revenues rose 55.4% year/year to $4.07 bln vs the $4.06 bln consensus.
BLMN (20.42 +9.61%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.10 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.08; revenues rose 10.1% year/year to $1.07 bln vs the $1.04 bln consensus.
LDOS (38.3 +4.53%): Upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Cowen; tgt raised to $50 from $38.

Mid Cap Losers

HLF (44.87 -19.73%): Missed Q3 consensus estimates by $0.06, missed on revs; guided Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guided FY15 EPS below consensus.
CIE (9.73 -14.5%): Reported Q3 loss of $0.35 per share, $0.17 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.18).
EXH (34.72 -10.79%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.25 per share, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.28; revenues fell 6.7% year/year to $723.8 mln vs the $758.84 mln consensus.

11:59 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (222) outpacing new lows (121) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAVL, ABC, ADP, AEP, AGU, AIRT, AIV, AKR, ALGT, ALK, ALL, AMBA, ANIP, ARC, ARE, ATO, AVA, AVB, AVNR, AWR, BABA, BBW, BCC, BDX, BELFB, BJRI, BR, BSET, BXP, CACI, CAH, CALX, CB, CBOE, CBPO, CERN, CHD, CHFN, CHSP, CI, CLX, CME, CMS, COKE, CONE, COR, COST, CTB, CVA, CWT, CXW, DAL, DDR, DENN, DHX, DIS, DOC, DPS, DPZ, DRE, DRH, DTE, DUK, EDR, EIX, ELLI, ELS, ENFC, EPAM, ESBF, ESS, EXR, FDS, FISV, FNF, FR, FRT, GD, GEO, GGP, GHC, GPC, GPN, GTS, HA, HAWK, HBNK, HBOS, HCN, HCP, HDB, HE, HIG, HPP, HPY, HRL, HRTG, HT, HUBS, IBN, IDCC, IFN, INFY, INTU, IP, IQNT, IRDM, ITC, JBHT, JLL, KIM, KMB, KR, KRC, KW, KWR, LB, LEG, LHO, LMT, LRCX, LSTR, LTC, LUV, MAC, MCY, MERC, MMC, MMI, MMM, MNR, MNRK, MO, MPLX, MRGE, MSFT, NHI, NI, NJR, NLS, NNI, NNN, NOC, NWE, O, ODFL, ODP, OMAB, PAM, PAYX, PCG, PFSW, PG, PLKI, PLOW, PNW, POR, PSA, PULB, QLYS, RAI, RCPT, REG, REXR, RFMD, RJET, ROL, ROX, RTN, SAFT, SANM, SAVE, SCG, SCS, SCSS, SHO, SHW, SLG, SLM, SONC, SPG, SPNC, SRE, SSNC, STE, SWX, SXT, SYKE, TE, TEG, TFX, THG, TNET, TQNT, TRNO, TTGT, TXN, TXRH, UAL, UBA, UCFC, UDR, UPS, USNA, UTL, UUU, UVE, VIPS, VNO, VRNT, VVC, WERN, WGL, WLP, WRI, WSTC, XEL, XRAY, Y, YHOO, ZAYO, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AKBA, AKO.B, AMZG, ANV, ARES, AREX, ATW, AXPW, AXR, BAS, BBG, BRDR, BTE, BVSN, BXE, CAB, CCG, CCSC, CEF, CEL, CGG, CHLN, CJES, CLRX, COH, CRK, CVEO, CYRN, DAEG, DCTH, DISCA, DISCK, DNR, DRNA, DWSN, EC, EGI, EGO, ENRJ, EOPN, EOX, EPAX, ERF, EXE, FCX, FRAN, GDP, GLMD, GLRI, GTE, GTU, GVP, HGG, IIJI, IMRS, KEG, KOSS, LF, LIQT, LPG, MGI, MR, MSB, NCT, NDRO, NKA, NOA, NSLP, NSPR, OAS, OPB, P, PBT, PDS, PED, PGH, PGN, PHMD, PME, PTNR, PWE, PZG, QEPM, RCAP, REN, RESI, RGR, RIG, RMTI, S, SALE, SARA, SC, SD, SDLP, SDRL, SGNL, SGY, SM, SN, SSE, STAA, STO, TAS, TCK, TGA, TGB, THLD, THRX, TLM, TPLM, TRCH, TS, UNT, VALE, VIEW, VOC, WF, WTI, YUMA, ZA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: ICF, IYK, IYR, IYT, KIE, PPA, URE, VNQ, XLK, XLP, XLU

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BNO, DBC, FXC, FXS, GSG, OIL, UGA, UHN, USO

11:31 am Intel and INRIX collaborate on smart cities platforms and applications powered by Big Data; Intel's global investment organization, Intel Capital, is investing $10 mln in INRIX (INTC) : Co announced a strategic collaboration with Intel Corporation focused on developing next generation smart cities analytics platforms and applications. As part of their collaboration, Intel's global investment organization, Intel Capital, is investing $10 million in INRIX.

In addition to working together on projects like San Jose, Intel has licensed INRIX data and analytics services to power Intel's next generation Enterprise LBS (location-based services) platform. In turn, INRIX is licensing and making available its APIs to Intel's ecosystem of partners and developers via its Mashery API management service.

9:21 am Ingram Micro and BlackBerry (BBRY) announce distribution agreement in Canada to serve unlocked smartphone market (IM) : Ingram Micro Mobility, a business unit of Ingram Micro Canada and subsidiary of Ingram Micro, is providing unlocked BlackBerry (BBRY) 10 smartphones throughout Canada as part of a new agreement between the two companies.

The agreement equips BlackBerry with broader distribution of its products and services throughout Canada by leveraging Ingram Micro Mobility's supply chain expertise, extensive infrastructure and unique channel reach to value-added resellers, system integrators, mobile carriers, retailers and other service providers.

9:06 am QuickLogic announced its ArcticLink III BX display bridge solution platform has been chosen by Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) to enable display bridging in the NX1 Compact System Camera (QUIK) : The ArcticLink III BX platform, with its 15 silicon variants, was specifically architected to offer system designers a solution to bridge mismatched display standards. The platform features very low power consumption in a small 4.5 x 4.5mm package, making it easy for OEMs to integrate into their existing designs.

9:05 am Ingram Micro and Kyocera announce strategic distribution relationship for mobile phones in Latin America (IM) : The co and Kyocera Communications Inc. announced a new agreement in which Ingram Micro Mobility will be the distributor of Kyocera mobile phones in the Latin America region. The new Kyocera DuraForce, 4G LTE global-ready Android smartphone will be the first Kyocera product to enter the Latin America region via this relationship. Kyocera will leverage Ingram Micro's extensive infrastructure and unique channel capabilities in Latin America, reaching 25,000 value-added resellers, system integrators and service providers.

8:05 am Axcelis Tech wins multiple system, revenue order for 'Purion H' from chipmaker in Asia Pacific for DRAM manufacturing (ACLS) :

7:14 am Motorola Solutions beats by $0.21, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus; increases buyback by $5 bln (MSI) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.62 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.21 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.41; revenues fell 5.3% year/year to $1.44 bln vs the $1.39 bln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $1.13-1.19 vs. $1.21 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees revs down 1-3% yr/yr.
Today, the company also announced that its board of directors has approved a $5 billion increase to the share repurchase program following receipt of $3.45 billion from the sale of its Enterprise business, raising the total authorization since July 2011 to $12 billion.

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The Last Shall Be First and the First Shall Be Last?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2810325-in-2015-the-last-shall-be-first-and-the-first-shall-be-last?ifp=0

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From Briefing.com: Lead headlines Thursday morning were negative in their orientation. Retail sales declined 0.6% in February (-0.1% excluding autos) and Intel (INTC 30.83, -1.50, -4.6%) lowered its revenue outlook for the first quarter citing weaker than expected demand for business desktop PCs and lower than expected inventory levels across the PC supply chain.

All the stock market did was string together one of its strongest showings in a while. The Russell 2000 jumped 1.6%, The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.5%, and the S&P 500 rose 1.3%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9%, held back a bit by the Intel warning.

The notion that the Federal Reserve might hold off on raising the fed funds rate in June following the weak retail sales data helped fuel Thursday's broad-based rebound effort. In addition, a pullback in the U.S. Dollar Index, the S&P 500 reclaiming a position back above its 50-day simple moving average, and a big gain in the financial sector (+2.2%) after the Federal Reserve approved capital return plans for all but a few banks solidified the bullish bias.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.5%) participated in the advance, but underperformed for the third session in a row.

Other than the Intel news, there wasn't a lot of news of note out of the sector -- not that it mattered as other forces were at work in the rally effort.

Notable news items from sector components included:

Intel (INTC 30.83, -1.50, -4.6%): Company lowered its first quarter revenue guidance to $12.5-13.1 bln from $13.2-14.2 bln. The midpoint of the new range was well below analysts' average expectation. The change in revenue outlook is a result of weaker than expected demand for business desktop PCs and lower than expected inventory levels across the PC supply chain. Intel said it believes the changes to demand and inventory patterns are caused by lower than expected Windows XP (MSFT 41.01, -0.97, -2.3%) refresh in small and medium business and increasingly challenging macroeconomic and currency conditions, particularly in Europe. The data center business, it said, is meeting expectations. The company is forecasting the mid-point of the gross margin range to remain at 60%, plus or minus a couple of percentage points, as lower PC unit volume is offset by higher platform average selling prices. Expectations for R&D and MG&A spending and depreciation in the first quarter remain unchanged. All other expectations have been withdrawn and will be updated with the company's first-quarter earnings report on April 14.

Intuit (INTU 96.69, +1.51, +1.6%): Announced a seamless integration between QuickBooks Online and leading ecommerce company Bigcommerce to make accounting and bookkeeping easier for businesses selling online. The direct integration is first available to Big commerce merchants, and will automatically update and transfer invoices, expenses and other financial data

Micron (MU 28.01, +0.13, +0.5%): Disclosed that on March 5, 2015, the Board appointed Mark Adams as interim CFO and Mark Heil as interim Principal Financial and Accounting Officer. Messrs. Adams and Heil will serve in these interim positions until such time as a permanent Chief Financial Officer is appointed to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Ron Foster. In addition to serving in these interim positions, Messrs. Adams and Heil will continue to serve in their current positions of President, and Senior Finance Director and Corporate Controller, respectively.

Yahoo (YHOO 42.94, +0.44, +1.0%): Walt Disney and Yahoo announced an extension and expansion of their relationship. Good Morning America will launch a new daily 'Yahoo Your Day' series, featuring Yahoo editors, bringing Yahoo's digital magazines to GMA.
In industry news: IDC Worldwide said tablet shipments are expected to reach 234.5 million units in 2015, a modest year-over-year increase of 2.1% from 2014. Although the outlook has been tempered, IDC still expects low but positive growth for the market in the years to come as demand in the commercial sector increases, and as Microsoft slowly gains a foothold.Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alibaba (BABA 81.92, -0.07, -0.1%): Forbes discussed that Alibaba may make $200 mln SnapChat investment

Amazon.com (AMZN 375.25, +8.88, +2.4%): According to TechCrunch, Amazon.com acquired 2lemetry, a startup that has developed an enterprise-focused platform to track and manage IP-enabled machines and other connected devices. Financial terms were not disclosed.

BlackBerry (BBRY 9.94, +0.04, +0.4%): Canso Investment Counsel discloses 5.4% passive stake in 13G filing

Analyst Action:

Alibaba (BABA 81.92, -0.07, -0.1%): target lowered at Deutsche Bank to $98 from $105.10; Buy

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 32.72, +0.11, +0.3%): downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays

Ingram Micro (IM 23.04, -0.44, -1.9%): downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays

Intel (INTC 30.83, -1.50, -4.6%): target lowered to $31 from $34.50 at Northland Capital; maintain Market Perform... target lowered to $35 from $40 at Topeka Capital Markets; Buy... Intel target lowered to $36 from $38 at Cowen; Market Perform... target lowered to $40 from $45 at MKM Partners; Buy

LinkedIn (LNKD 266.42, +1.47, +0.7%): target raised to $300 from $285 at Canaccord Genuity; Buy

Motorola Solutions (MSI 64.96, -0.35, -0.5%): downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James

4:15 pm : The major averages enjoyed a broad-based rebound on Thursday after the S&P 500 (+1.3%) lost 3.6% during the previous seven sessions. The benchmark index reclaimed its 50- (2,060) and 100-day (2,044) moving averages while the Russell 2000 (+1.7%) outperformed.

Equity indices charged higher out of the gate and maintained narrow ranges into the afternoon before extending to new highs during the last hour of action. The market all but ignored a disappointing retail sales report for February (-0.6%; Briefing.com consensus +0.4%), but it could be argued that the weak reading increased the likelihood that the Fed will delay its first rate hike.

More notably, the greenback weakened a bit with the Dollar Index (99.26, -0.54) shedding 0.5% to narrow its March gain to 4.1%. The Index was down more than 1.0% this morning, but climbed off its session low that was notched after the release of the retail sales report.

Today's dollar weakness was not enough to keep crude oil from ending the pit session lower by 2.3% at $47.11/bbl while the energy sector (-0.5%) was the only group that finished in the red.

Meanwhile, the remaining nine sectors posted gains between 0.5% (technology) and 2.2% (financials).

In fact, technology was the only advancer limited to a slimmer gain than 1.0%, which was largely due to a 4.7% slump in the shares of Intel (INTC 30.80, -1.53) after the company cut its Q1 revenue guidance due to weaker than expected demand for business desktop PCs. The stock widened its quarter-to-date loss to 15.1% and contributed to the underperformance of the Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%).

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, financials benefitted from last evening's news that the Federal Reserve approved capital plans of 28 out of 31 major banks. Bank of America (BAC 16.08, -0.02) was requested to make adjustments to its plan while Deutsche Bank (DB 31.70, +0.12) and Banco Santander (SAN 6.87, +0.10) had their plans rejected due to qualitative concerns. Thanks to today's advance, the sector is now up 0.6% for the month while the remaining groups continue holding March losses.

Similar to financials, the consumer discretionary sector (+2.0%) advanced 2.0% or more amid broad strength. Retailers rallied with the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 99.31, +1.70) spiking 1.7% while restaurant names benefitted from better than expected results from Shake Shack (SHAK 47.79, +0.89) and Zoe's Kitchen (ZOES 34.94, +2.24).

Treasuries registered gains, but ended well below their highs following an afternoon retreat. The 10-yr yield slipped two basis points to 2.10% after hitting a low near 2.04%.

Today's participation was relatively light with fewer than 750 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims, Retail Sales, Import/Export Prices, and Business Inventories:


Retail sales declined 0.6% in February after declining 0.8% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.4%
Some may blame the inclement weather in the Northeast as a contributing factor; however, in our opinion, the decline simply resulted from consumers continuing their savings trend and not spending.
The numbers were pretty weak across the board, with motor vehicle sales being the hardest hit sector. These sales fell 2.5% in February after increasing 0.5% in January.
Excluding motor vehicle sales, retail sales declined 0.1% after declining 1.1% while the consensus expected an increase of 0.6%.
The initial claims level declined to 289,000 for the week ending March 7 from an upwardly revised 325,000 (from 320,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 306,000
According to the Department of Labor, there were no special factors that impacted the data
Export prices, excluding agriculture, increased 0.2% in February after decreasing 1.0% in the prior reading
Excluding oil, import prices fell 0.3%, which followed last month's 0.7% decline
Business Inventories were unchanged in January while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.1%
The December reading was revised to unchanged from 0.1%
The Treasury Budget for February showed a deficit of $192.30 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected a deficit of $192.00 billion

Tomorrow, February PPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) will be released at 8:30 ET while the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index (consensus 95.8) for March will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +3.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.4% YTD
S&P 500 +0.3% YTD

DJ30 +259.83 NASDAQ +43.35 SP500 +25.71 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2045/1.72 bln/794 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2262/732.9 mln/821

3:40 pm :

Natural gas and crude oil futures slid lower today and held those losses
Nat gas sold off following the weekly EIA storage data and ultimately closed $0.10 lower at $2.73/MMBtu
WTI crude oil lost steam and finished floor trading $1.10 lower at $47.11/barrel
Copper futures held gains today with the May contract ending $0.05 higher at $2.66/lb
Gold and silver also closed with a modest gains

1:05 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

MS (36.49 +4.41%): Announces share repurchase of up to $3.1 bln; Increases quarterly dividend to $0.15 from $0.10.
DG (73.93 +3.47%): Reported Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guided FY16 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; Q4 comps +4.9%; CFO to retire; approved initiation of $0.22/share quarterly dividend.

Large Cap Losers

INTC (30.81 -4.7%): Lowered Q1 rev guidance on weaker than expected demand for business desktop PCs and lower than expected inventory levels across the PC supply chain, reaffirms gross margin; withdraws all other expectations; Price target lowered at Topeka Capital Mkts., Cowen, others.
BAC (15.94 -1.09%): Released results of CCAR ; Fed has asked Bank of America to submit an additional capital plan by September 30, 2015 addressing certain weaknesses.

Mid Cap Gainers

MTN (92.83 +9.2%): Beat Q2 consensus EPS estimates by $0.79, reported revs in-line; sees FY15 EBITDA at low end of range; raised dividend 50%.
SID (1.73 +4.85%): Reported Q4 revenues of R3.82 bln, down 2% q/q; Reports Q4 EBITDA of R1.0 bln, +3% q/q.
JBLU (17.94 +4.67%): Announced February traffic; Revenue passenger miles increased 10% Y/Y.

Mid Cap Losers

ACAD (33.55 -25.04%): Announced delay in filing of NDA submission for NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) for the treatment of Parkinson's disease; Also announced retirement of CEO Uli Hacksell; Price target lowered at Needham, Jefferies, others.
CNX (27.3 -4.88%): Downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
IM (22.7 -3.32%): Downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

11:57 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (162) outpacing new lows (75) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABC, ACGL, ACHC, ACT, AEO, AFFX, AFH, AGN, AIR, ALGT, AMAG, AMBA, AMRN, AMSG, ARMK, ASPX, ATRO, BBNK, BBY, BFAM, BFIN, BFR, BIO, BKD, BKMU, BMA, BMY, BRP, BSFT, BURL, CACC, CATY, CBM, CBMG, CBRL, CEVA, CGNX, CHFN, CLDN, CNC, COO, CPF, CRL, CRUS, CSBK, CSFL, CSV, CUBI, CVTI, DD, DEPO, DG, DVA, DW, DXJS, EIG, ESLT, FCAU, FCCY, FCS, FHN, FIX, FL, FLTX, FLWS, FRC, FRME, FSFG, GLOB, GM, GTN.A, GTT, GY, HASI, HCC, HCHC, HMHC, HPTX, HTLF, IBKR, IBP, IIVI, IMKTA, INCR, INFN, INTL, IPXL, IRCP, IRS, ISLE, ISSI, ITG, JBHT, JEQ, JRN, KAI, KR, LBIO, LEVY, LII, LPSB, LQ, MD, MDVN, MEI, METR, MGLN, MKTX, MMS, MNRO, MYL, MYRG, OA, OLED, ORA, PAM, PBCP, PBIP, PF, PLCE, PNC, PNFP, PNK, PRXL, PSCH, RAVE, RCPT, RGA, RHP, RJF, RMD, SCAI, SCI, SCLN, SCSS, SFNC, SIGI, SNV, SPR, SRDX, SSP, STZ, SVU, SWM, SXT, TGS, TGT, TREE, TSRO, ULTA, USCR, UTHR, VAC, VIPS, WAL, WBB, WBS, WETF, WMS, WSO, XPO, ZAGG

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACRX, ADAT, AETI, AMCF, ATNM, AVAL, BAK, BIOS, BOCH, BTU, BVX, CIB, CLD, CMTL, CNSI, CNX, DPM, DWSN, DXM, ECA, EGI, ELON, FHCO, FORD, FTGC, GCO, GLRI, GRMN, GULTU, HDP, HGT, HMIN, HSBC, HWCC, ICLD, IRET, KLAC, LAYN, LCUT, LND, LOCM, LODE, LOR, MEIL, MRVC, MTLS, MXPT, NOA, OESX, ONVO, OPXA, PFIE, PGN, PHIIK, PQ, RMP, RYAM, SB, SEED, SINA, SKIS, SMTX, TGC, TLF, TORM, TST, UFPT, UPLD, VNCE, WLT, WYNN, XCO, XNET, YOKU, ZHNE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: EWJ, PSK

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: DBA, RJA

9:16 am Integrated Silicon has entered into a definitive merger agreement under which a consortium of investors led by Summitview Capital will acquire all of the outstanding shares of ISSI for $19.25 per share in cash (ISSI) : The ISSI Board of Directors has unanimously approved the merger agreement and recommends that the ISSI stockholders vote to approve the merger agreement. Details regarding the record date, and the date, time and place of the special meeting of stockholders to vote on the transaction will be announced at a later date. The transaction is currently expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2015.

The proposed transaction values ISSI's equity at ~$639.5 million, on a fully diluted basis.9:09 am Intel follow up: Lowers Q1 rev guidance on weaker than expected demand for business desktop PCs and lower than expected inventory levels across the PC supply chain, reaffirms gross margin; withdraws all other expectations (INTC) : Co issues downside guidance for Q1 (Mar), lowers Q1 rev guidance to $12.5-13.1 bln from $13.2-14.2 bln vs $13.70 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

The change in revenue outlook is a result of weaker than expected demand for business desktop PCs and lower than expected inventory levels across the PC supply chain. The company believes the changes to demand and inventory patterns are caused by lower than expected Windows XP (MSFT) refresh in small and medium business and increasingly challenging macroeconomic and currency conditions, particularly in Europe. The data center business is meeting expectations. The company is forecasting the mid-point of the gross margin range to remain at 60%, plus or minus a couple of percentage points, as lower PC unit volume is offset by higher platform average selling prices. Expectations for R&D and MG&A spending and depreciation in the first quarter remain unchanged. All other expectations have been withdrawn and will be updated with the co's first-quarter earnings report on April 14.

7:16 am JA Solar beats by $0.02, beats on revs (JASO) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.28 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.26; revenues rose 61.3% year/year to $576.4 mln vs the $538.99 mln consensus.

Total shipments were 952.7 megawatts, increases of +43.2% y/y and +21.3% sequentially. Shipments of modules and module tolling were 879.6 MW, increases of +142.1% y/y and +26.8% sequentially. Shipments of cells and cell tolling were 73.1 MW, decreases of 75.8% y/y and 20.5% sequentially. Gross margin was 15.5%, remained unchanged y/y and an increase of 50 basis points sequentially. Guidance: For the first quarter of 2015, the Company expects total cell and module shipments to be in the range of 680 MW to 750 MW. Full year 2015 shipments are expected to be in the range of 3.6 GW to 4.0 GW, including 200 MW to 300 MW of modules shipments to the Company's downstream projects.

7:03 am DSP Group announces that the Board has unanimously authorized it to enter into a pre-arranged stock repurchase plan pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 under which it may repurchase shares of its Common Stock in the aggregate amount of up to $10 mln (DSPG) : This plan replaces the previous buyback program announced in November 2013, which expired at the end of February 2015.

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From Briefing.com: Broader market action wrapped up the week on a positive note. The Nasdaq Composite led the way higher, advancing 31.28 points (+0.62%) to 5104.92. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also edged higher, up 91.06 points (+0.51%) to 17823.81. The S&P 500 rounded out the bunch up 7.93 points (+0.38%) to 2089.17. The markets traded on relatively light news,

Technology (XLK 44.20, +0.32 +0.73%) closed Friday action near highs on the day. Components which outperformed today included INTU +5.93%, WIN +3.81%, GOOG +2.46%, FSLR +2.18%, HPQ +1.96%. Other sectors closed the session XLY +1.20%, XLV +0.86%, XLI +0.51%, XLU +0.42%, XLF +0.16%, XLB -0.31%, IYZ -0.34%, XLP -0.71%, XLE -1.06%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (743.81, +6.34 +0.86%), components finished with increased buying at the bell. Names which finished in the green included YHOO +1.49%, BRCM +1.38%, IBM +1.29%, EMC +1.16%, RHT +1.09%, INTC +1.05%, ADP +1.04%, EBAY +1.01%, FB +1.00%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Cisco (CSCO 27.57, +0.20 +0.73%) announced its intent to acquire Acano for $700 million in a deal which is expected to close in 3Q16. Acano is a privately held company based in London that provides collaboration infrastructure and conferencing software.

Technicolor (TCLRY 7.86, +0.31 +4.11%) has completed the acquisition announced on 23 July 2015 of Cisco Connected Devices, the Cisco (CSCO) customer premises equipment business for $600 million in a stock and cash transaction. In parallel, Technicolor is entering into a strategic collaboration agreement with Cisco that will allow both companies to develop and deliver next generation video and broadband technologies, with cooperation on Internet of Things solutions and services.

Microsoft (MSFT 54.19, +0.25 +0.46%) previewed Black Friday saying it will offer a collection of deals ranging from 1,000 digital movie, music, game and app deals at just 10 cents on Windows 10 devices to Xbox One starting at $299, PCs at less than $150, and more, for shoppers on everyone's lists.

HP (HPQ 14.06, +0.27 +1.96%) announced the HP Elite x2 -- a tablet that offers the productivity of a full notebook with the convenience of a tablet.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Sprint (S 3.84, -0.22 -5.31%) signed a $1.2 billion deal with the newly formed Mobile Leasing Solutions, LLC for the sale and lease-back of certain leased devices. The company also provided downside 2015 adjusted EBITDA guidance to be $6.8-7.1 billion.

Splunk (SPLK 60.54, -2.22 -3.54%) in addition to reporting quarterly results, announced the retirement of President and CEO Godfrey Sullivan. Following, announced Doug Merritt will replace Sullivan as President and CEO effective immediately.

Echelon (ELON 0.59, -0.00 -1.00%) announced the shareholder approval for its 1:10 reverse stock split, which is to become effective December 7, 2015.

Agilent (A 39.28, +0.78 +2.03%) reported an increase to its quarterly dividend to $0.155 from $0.10 per share.

Viavi (VIAV 6.28, +0.02 +0.32%) entered into an accelerated $40 million share repurchase program.

Analyst actions:

INTC was upgraded to Mkt Outperform from Mkt Perform at JMP Securities,
TRMB was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman;
NMBL was downgraded at Barclays, UBS, Oppenheimer, Monness Crespi & Hardt, Raymond James, Pacific Crest, Stifel, Wells Fargo, RBC Capital Mkts and Wunderlich,
MENT was downgraded at DA Davidson, Pacific Crest, BofA/Merrill and JP Morgan,
ADSK was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts,
SUNE was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan,
AKAM was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman ,
WDAY was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush,
CAJ was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie

4:07 pm Closing Market Summary: Strong Week Ends on Higher Note (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended an upbeat week on a higher note with the bulk of today's action taking place during the opening hour. The S&P 500 gained 0.4%, ending the week higher by 3.3% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) outperformed, boosting its weekly gain to 3.6%.

Equity indices rocketed out of the gate, marking their best levels of the day about 45 minutes after the opening bell. The S&P 500 set a session high just above the 2,097 level and spent the remainder of the trading day in a slow retreat from that perch.

The consumer discretionary sector (+1.2%) displayed strength from the start while five other sectors also finished in the green. As for the discretionary space, the group extended its weekly gain to 4.5%, ending atop this week's leaderboard. Apparel names were largely responsible for the strength with Dow component Nike (NKE 132.65, +6.87) soaring 5.5% after announcing a new $12 billion share repurchase program and boosting its quarterly dividend by four cents to $0.32/share. In addition, the industry giant announced its stock will undergo a two-for-one split.

Staying in the discretionary sector, another apparel stock-Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF 24.37, +4.88)-soared 25.0% after beating earnings and revenue estimates while the broader SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 44.16, +0.88) spiked 2.0%.

The strong showing from retailers overshadowed a 12.3% plunge in the shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 536.19, -75.32), which unfolded after the Center for Disease Control published a report detailing new E. coli cases at CMG restaurants in six states.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, industrials (+0.6%) and technology (+0.9%) also settled ahead of the broader market while energy (-1.0%) and materials (-0.3%) could not stay out of the red. Interestingly, the energy sector finished at the bottom of the leaderboard even though crude oil overcame intraday weakness to end the pit session higher by 0.3% at $41.90/bbl.

Moving to the countercyclical side, consumer staples (-0.7%) and telecom services (-0.5%) retreated during the afternoon while utilities (+0.5%) and health care (+0.7%) settled in the green. The health care sector fared better than the biotech group as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 333.49, +0.07) settled flat.

Treasuries held modest gains through the bulk of the session but they dipped in the afternoon with the 10-yr yield ending higher by a basis point at 2.26%.

Today's participation was ahead of average with the final tally receiving a healthy boost thanks to options expiration. As a result, more than 950 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Investors did not receive any economic data today and Monday's economic news will be limited to the October Existing Home Sales report (Briefing.com consensus 5.50 million), which will be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +7.8% YTD
S&P 500 +1.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.0% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.4% YTD

Week in Review: Stocks March Higher

The stock market began the trading week with a broad-based rally, which unfolded after a range-bound start to the trading day. The S&P 500 gained 1.5% while the Nasdaq Composite (+1.2%) underperformed throughout the session. Overnight, it was reported that the Japanese economy has re-entered recession for the second time in as many years as Q3 GDP contracted 0.2% quarter-over-quarter (expected -0.1%; last -0.3%), according to the preliminary reading. Naturally, that news was met with hopes for more monetary support from the Bank of Japan, which boosted global equities while the yen retreated, sending the dollar/yen pair higher by 0.5% to 123.20. That being said, Japan's Nikkei could not stay in the green, falling 1.0%. Once the focus turned to the U.S., stocks began the day with slim losses, but the opening weakness was erased promptly. The S&P 500 spent the first two hours of the day just above its flat line, but the index extended its gain during the afternoon with the energy sector (+3.3%) setting the pace.

Equity indices finished Tuesday on a flat note after enjoying an opening rally that briefly placed the S&P 500 (-0.1%) above its 200-day moving average (2,064). The benchmark index was up around 0.7% during late morning action, but steady afternoon selling ensured a lower finish. The second-half retreat accelerated after police officials in Hanover, Germany confirmed that a credible bomb threat forced the cancellation of a soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands. Press reports suggested that an emergency vehicle loaded with explosives was found at the soccer stadium, but this was refuted by the German Interior Minister just before the market closed for the day. Six sectors ended the day with losses while health care (+0.4%) ended in the lead thanks to daylong strength in biotechnology.

The market ended the midweek session on a broadly higher note with the Nasdaq Composite leading the way. The tech-heavy Index spiked 1.8% while the S&P 500 (+1.6%) followed not far behind, charging back above its 200-day moving average (2,065). Equity indices climbed out of the gate, continuing their steady charge into the afternoon and through the release of FOMC minutes from the October meeting, which left little doubt that the Fed is poised to raise rates at the December meeting. Specifically, the minutes indicated that "it may well become appropriate to initialize the normalization process at the next meeting, provided that unanticipated shocks do not adversely affect the economic outlook." To be fair, it would be hard to categorize the statement as hawkish if one were to judge solely based on the market's reaction to the commentary as Treasuries charged back to unchanged (10-yr yield 2.27%) while the dollar ticked lower against the euro.

Thursday ended on a flat note after the market spun its wheels throughout the day. The S&P 500 shed 0.1% after spending the day in an eight-point range while the Nasdaq Composite (unch) outperformed slightly. Equities began the trading day just below their flat lines due to daylong weakness in two relatively large sectors. To that point, health care (-1.6%) and energy (-1.3%) struggled from the start with the health care space responding to a 5.7% dive in the shares of UnitedHealth (UNH 110.57, -6.68) after the insurer lowered its guidance, citing exposure to public exchanges. To be fair, UNH was not the only soft spot as biotech names also lagged with iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 333.42, -5.32) ending lower by 1.6%. For its part, the energy sector lagged throughout the day, ending well behind the broader market despite an afternoon rebound in crude oil, which narrowed its loss to 0.5%, ending the pit session at $40.54/bbl.

Weekly Recap - Week ending 20-Nov-15

The stock market ended an upbeat week on a higher note with the bulk of today's action taking place during the opening hour. The S&P 500 gained 0.4%, ending the week higher by 3.3% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) outperformed, boosting its weekly gain to 3.6%.

Today after the close, no companies were scheduled to report earnings.

Futures are higher after hours: S&P 500 futures are +1.75 from fair value of 2,086.00 and Nasdaq100 futures are +2.38 from fair value of 4685.00.

Monday morning before the open, no economic reports of note will be released.

Monday before the open the following companies are scheduled to report earnings: JEC, TSN, MNK, TSL, NM and GME.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17245.24 17823.81 578.57 3.4 0.0
Nasdaq 4927.88 5104.92 177.04 3.6 7.8
S&P 500 2023.04 2089.17 66.13 3.3 1.5
Russell 2000 1146.55 1175.13 28.58 2.5 -2.5

2:17 pm Pericom Semi shareholders approve merger w/ Diodes (DIOD) at $17.75/share; transaction expected to close as early as next week (PSEM) :

12:27 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (152) outpacing new highs (129) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADBE, AFL, AHH, AIZ, AVY, AYI, AZZ, BANC, BDGE, BERY, BHBK, BOCH, CAC, CB, CBNK, CBOE, CLI, CMN, CNO, COR, COST, CPS, CRVL, CSFL, CUBE, CVT, DHR, DMND, DSGX, EBS, EDU, EDUC, EFII, EPAY, EW, EXTR, FBC, FBHS, FCB, FFG, FISV, FLIC, FNBC, FNWB, FSV, GABC, GDEN, GGAL, GOOG, GOOGL, GPN, GT, GWB, HD, HPY, HRL, IIIN, IM, IPHI, JBL, KBIO, KMB, LDOS, LII, LION, LMAT, LMT, LNCE, LOXO, LUV, LYTS, MAA, MAS, MB, MCBC, MKTX, MORE, MPWR, MYOK, NBBC, NDAQ, NI, NPK, NTES, OME, ONFC, ORI, OSIS, PAC, PACB, PAM, PARR, PAYX, PBF, PCL, PCTY, PLAB, PPBI, PROV, PSA, ROP, RTEC, RTN, SBGI, SFBS, SHEN, SPKE, STL, STZ, TFSL, TRV, TSS, TTS, UHAL, VC, VCRA, VGR, VLRS, VMC, VNTV, VR, VRSN, VTN, WDFC, WFBI, WFD, XRS, YDKN, ZIXI

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ADM, AEZS, AFT, AHGP, AKAM, AMFW, AMID, APTO, ARCI, ARDC, AUPH, AZUR, BBOX, BCS, BEBE, BGI, BGX, BPT, BSL, BTU, BWEN, CBIO, CCCR, CEQP, CGG, CHK, CLDN, CLF, CLUB, CMLS, CNAT, COG, COYN, CPST, CRMT, DCO, DEST, DGLY, DRWI, DTEA, DXI, DXLG, EFF, ENBL, ENPH, ENVA, ENZN, EQT, ESCA, ESEA, EVDY, EVEP, FREE, FTSL, FUEL, FULL, GASS, GDP, GMZ, GOGL, GPOR, GRAM, GROW, GSM, GUID, HERO, HGT, IPI, ISR, JCS, JYNT, KED, KEYS, KIRK, KMF, KYE, KYN, LEU, LGCY, LHO, LINE, LNCO, LTRX, MEMP, MENT, MESO, NAO, NBG, NBR, NES, NM, NMBL, NMM, NOR, NRP, NS, NTG, OBCI, OEC, OSTK, PAA, PAGP, PBT, PDII, PEB, PQ, PSTG, RGSE, RLJ, RNO, ROSG, ROYT, RTK, RYI, SALT, SJT, SMCI, SRF, SSH, SSI, STRP, STV, SUNE, SWN, SXC, SYRX, TC, TCI, TCS, TGH, TK, TLP, TMST, TOO, TOR, TPLM, TTP, TWER, TWI, UNFI, UPL, URRE, UUUU, UVE, VNR, WAIR, WLB, WMLP, WRES, WSM, X, XHR

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: JJC, UNG

11:39 am SunEdison (-10%) at fresh three year low (SUNE) :

7:01 am Canadian Solar wins 110 MWp of solar power projects in Brazil; three projects are targeted to reach commercial operation by late 2018 (CSIQ) : Canadian Solar will develop and build the solar power plants. Once connectd to the grid, the electricity genereated will be sold to CCEE (Camara de Comercializacao de Energia Eletrica), under a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement at R$300/MWh (~$78.8/MWh). The three projects are targeted to reach commercial operation by late 2018.

3:48 am Nokia converts EUR750 mln of convertible bond into shares (NOK) :

Co announces a total of 27 238 491 new Nokia shares have today been registered with the Trade Register.

The shares were subscribed for by using the conversion right pertaining to Nokia's EUR 750 million convertible bond. The conversion amount, EUR 65 100 000, is recorded into the fund for invested non-restricted equity, hence, the share capital of the company will not increase.

3:34 am Pericom Semi reiterates support for Diodes (DIOD) transaction; responds to Montage's offer (PSEM) :

Pericom Semiconductor (PSEM) announced that leading independent proxy advisory firm, Glass, Lewis issued an update this evening to its report, dated November 11, 2015, in favor of a Pericom-Diodes transaction.

The Company also issued the following statement to Pericom shareholders reiterating the Pericom Board of Directors' recommendation in favor of a transaction with Diodes Incorporated (DIOD), pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger between Diodes and Pericom, dated September 2, 2015, as amended November 5, 2015"Our Special Meeting to be convened tomorrow morning (Friday, November 20, 2015) at 9:00 a.m. PT, is being called primarily to seek shareholder approval of the acquisition of Pericom by Diodes. We encourage our fellow shareholders not to allow Montage "last-ditch ploys" to pressure them into gambling on a highly uncertain deal that would derail them from the benefits of a transaction with Diodes that would provide substantial and certain cash value in a matter of days. To reiterate, the Pericom Board believes that the Diodes Merger Agreement is in the best interest of Pericom shareholders because: Diodes' $17.75 per share all-cash offer is backed by a fully-funded credit agreement and term loan from Bank of America. The $17.75 per share purchase price represents a 46% premium to Pericom's unaffected closing price on September 2, 2015, and exceeds the five-year trading high in Pericom shares by 8%. The transaction with Diodes is expected to close within a matter of days, at which point shareholders would be able to immediately reinvest the proceeds of the sale and potentially earn returns instead of waiting for another, less certain transaction to go through a protracted regulatory approval process and possibly never even close.PSEM comments regarding Montage: "Montage has still not...made any substantive improvements to the aspects of its acquisition proposal that have truly been the key points of contention here." Rather, its 11th hour maneuvers are nothing more than desperate attempts to distract Pericom shareholders from the fact that the Montage offer is wholly unviable and that Pericom shareholders have the opportunity to promptly receive certain and substantial value in a matter of days just by approving the Diodes offer."

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday affair on a flat note, responding to a reversal in crude oil and exhibiting caution ahead of tomorrow's release of the Employment Situation Report for June. Other focal points impacting today's trade included strengthening in the dollar and the outperformance of the heavyweight technology (+0.3%), industrial (+0.3%), and consumer discretionary (+0.4%) sectors. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) ended ahead of the S&P 500 (-0.1%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.1%).The major averages began the day on a modestly higher note, trading higher alongside a rebound in European bourses and a rally in crude oil. Global equity markets tilted to the upside as participants weighed dovish minutes from the Fed's June policy meeting. The central bank struck an accommodative tone, citing the need for further economic data before voting to continue policy rate normalization. The FOMC also commented that it would need to monitor conditions overseas should the United Kingdom vote to leave the European Union.

U.S. indices slipped mid-morning as investors eyed a downturn in crude oil. The energy component came under pressure after inventory data from the Department of Energy failed to impress investors. The EIA reported that crude oil inventories declined by 2.22 million barrels (consensus: between -2.3 million and -2.6 million barrels), which fell roughly in-line with expectations. However, investors were likely anticipating a larger draw after API inventory data disclosed that crude oil inventories fell by 6.73 million barrels (last: -3.86 million barrels). Furthermore, the downturn in crude oil occurred ahead of a vote by the U.S. Department of the Interior regarding offshore drilling rights in Alaska. WTI crude ended its day lower by 4.6% ($45.19/bbl; -$2.18).

The benchmark index ticked off a session low (2089.39) in the final hour, maintaining technical support near the 2090 price level. Five sectors ended in the red with utilities (-1.8%), telecom services (-1.6%), and energy (-1.1%) rounding out the leaderboard. On the flipside, consumer discretionary (+0.4%), industrials (+0.3%), and technology (+0.3%) led the pack.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index (+1.2%) demonstrated relative strength, trimming its weekly loss to 0.5%. Micron (MU 12.20, +0.47) outperformed in the index gaining 4.0%. Elsewhere, NVIDIA (NVDA 48.89, +1.24) jumped 2.6% after announcing the launch of a new video card on July 19. In the broader technology sector (+0.1%), Western Digital (WDC 47.66, +2.20) climbed 4.8% after raising its quarterly earnings and revenue guidance above consensus.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (+0.5%) finished ahead of the broader market as airlines trimmed their losses. In the group, Delta Air Lines (DAL 36.37, +0.79) and American Airlines (AAL 29.40, +1.05) gained 2.2% and 3.7%, respectively. In the industrial sector (+0.3%), Dow component General Electric (GE 31.82, +0.08) outperformed, extending its monthly gain to 1.1%. The broader industrial sector has ticked lower by 0.2% in July.

The health care space (-0.2%) ended its day lower as health care plan names underperformed. On that note, Aetna (AET 115.47, -4.77) and Humana (HUM 162.74, -17.24) lost a respective 4.0% and 9.6%. The two prospective merger partners fell amid reports that they will meet with the Department of Justice tomorrow regarding their pending deal. On the flipside, biotechnology outperformed, evidenced by the 0.6% gain in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 267.84, +1.60).

In the consumer staples group (-0.1%), PepsiCo (PEP 107.49, +1.57) climbed 1.5% after reporting above-consensus bottom-line results for the quarter. The company also raised its earnings guidance for the fiscal year. Elsewhere, WhiteWave Foods (WWAV 56.23, +8.80) surged 18.6% after announcing that Danone (DANOY 14.30, +0.15) would acquire the company for $56.25 per share.

The U.S. Dollar Index (96.27, +0.22) ended off its session high as the pound, euro, and commodity currencies lost ground to the greenback. Cable fell 0.2% (1.2909) while the single currency lost 0.3% against the buck (1.1064). The dollar/Canadian dollar ended higher by 0.3% (1.2997) amid weakness in oil. Separately, the dollar lost 0.5% against the safe-haven yen (100.74).

The Treasury complex ended modestly lower as the yield on the 10-yr note rose two basis points to 1.39%.

Today's participation was above the recent average as more than 851 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included June Challenger Job Cuts, ADP Employment Change Report for June, and weekly initial claims:

June Challenger Job Cuts reported in at 38,500, which compares to the prior month's reading of 30,200.
The ADP Employment Change report for June pointed to the addition of 172,000 jobs
The more influential Employment Situation Report (Briefing.com consensus 175K) will be released tomorrow at 8:30 ET.
Weekly initial claims for the week ending July 2 totaled 254,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 268,000.
With today's report, the series has been running below 300,000 for 70 consecutive weeks.
This is the longest sub-300,000 streak since 1973.
The latest initial claims reading lowered the four-week moving average for claims to 264,750.
Continuing claims for the week ending June 25 declined by 44,000 to 2.124 million.
The four-week moving average for this series increased by 3,000 to 2.148 million.

Friday's economic data will include the Employment Situation Report for June (Briefing.com consensus 175,000) and Consumer Credit for May (Briefing.com consensus $15.3 billion), which will be released at 8:30 ET and 15:00 ET, respectively.

Dow Jones +2.7% YTD
S&P 500 +2.6% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.2% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -2.6% YTD

DJ30 -22.74 NASDAQ +17.65 SP500 -1.83 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1679/1.532 bln/1228 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1637/851.3 mln/1356

3:30 pm :

The dollar index extends this morning's gains, currently up +0.3% around the 96.31 level, weighing on all commodities
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -2.3% at 85.53
Crude oil futures close near lows of the session after EIA data showed a smaller-than-expected draw compared to Consensus
August crude oil futures fell $2.18 (-4.6%) to $45.19/barrel
Crude oil inventories had a draw of -2.223 mln (consensus called for a draw between -2.3 mln and -2.6 mln barrels)
Gasoline inventories had a draw of -0.122 mln
Distillate inventories had a draw of -1.574 mln
Natural gas sees an initial move higher post-EIA inventory data before reversing, giving up its gains, and ending lower for the day
August natural gas closed $0.01 lower (-0.4%) at $2.78/MMBtu
Natural gas inventory showed a build of +39 bcf vs expectations for inventory to be a build between +36 and 46 bcf.
Working gas in storage was 3,179 Bcf as of Friday, July 1, 2016, according to EIA estimates.
Stocks were 538 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 599 Bcf above the five-year average of 2,580 Bcf.
At 3,179 Bcf, total working gas is above the five-year historical range.
In precious metals, gold drifts lower as the dollar extends this morning's rally
August gold ended today's session down $5.10 (-0.4%) to $1362.00/oz
Silver eases off its morning lows after seeing a notable retreat from yesterday's 2-year highs, still closing lower for the day as the dollar index gains momentum
September silver closed today's session $0.33 lower (-1.6%) at $19.85/oz
Base metal copper adds onto this morning's losses in afternoon pit trading
September copper closed $0.03 lower (-1.4%) at $2.12/lb
December corn closed $0.01 lower (-0.3%) at $3.48/bushel
September wheat closed $0.04 lower (-0.9%) at $4.24/bushel
November soybeans closed $0.53 lower (-4.9%) at $10.23/bushel
U.S weather is a driver to prices because the country produces about 32% of the world's soybeans
Note on geographical production:
Combined, the U.S., Brazil and Argentina are the largest producing countries of soybeans
Together, the three countries are expected to produce a total of 81.3% of the world's soybeans this year
U.S. 31.9%
Brazil 31.8%
Argentina 17.6%
In the 2015/16 crop year, these same three countries produced 83.1% of the world's soybeans
As a reminder, the quarterly grain stock report released June 30th showed:
Corn stocks Up 6% from June 2015
Soybean stocks Up 39%
All wheat stocks Up 30%
4:06 pm Ultra Clean Holdings announces CFO Casey Eichler will step down effective July 29 to pursue other opportunities, Sheri Brumm has been promoted to CFO effective July 30 (UCTT) :

Sheri Brumm previously served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer.

4:06 pm SunPower and Total (TOT) extend credit support agreement through 2018 (SPWR) : SunPower has amended and extended the terms of its existing credit support agreement with Total S.A through 2018. With this agreement, Total will guarantee SunPower's letters of credit in support of certain company activities. The companies have amended and restated the initial agreement, signed in 2011, to reduce the amount available under the facility to $500 million to more appropriately match SunPower's current and long-term credit needs. Additionally, terms for the facility remain substantially unchanged, subject to certain financial covenant requirements.

The major averages began on a modestly higher note, buoyed by positive employment readings and an uptick in oil. However, equities slipped through the morning with the heaviest selling following the release of the Department of Energy's weekly inventory report. The report fell largely in-line with expectations, but failed to measure up to the API inventory data. The EIA reported that crude oil inventories declined by 2.22 million barrels while the API data showed that crude oil inventories fell by 6.73 million barrels.

When Thursday trading was done, equities were mixed. Trading in the Nasdaq Composite was the lone out-performer today as the index added 17.65 points (+0.36%) to 4876.81. By comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 22.74 points (-0.13%) to 17895.88, and the S&P 500 was down 1.83 points (-0.09%) to 2097.90 when the day was done.

Market data today included June Challenger Job Cuts which registered at 38,500, compared to the prior month's reading of 30,200. Also, the ADP Employment Change report for June pointed to the addition of 172,000 jobs and the weekly initial claims for the week ending July 2 totaled 254,000.

Technology (XLK 43.45, -0.01 -0.02%) trading went higher to begin the session but followed the broader market lower as the day unfolded. Component Western Digital (WDC 47.66, +2.20 +4.84%) postured up to some solid gains on the back of better than expected prelim Q4 results and the announcement of Oliver Leonetti's replacement at the CFO position, Mark Long. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed the session XLY +0.43%, XLI +0.27%, XLB +0.26%, XLF +0.13%, XLV -0.15%, XLP -0.20%, IYZ -0.30%, XLE -1.02%, XLU -1.85% as Consumer Discretionary led the day in positive territory and Utilities were the worst performer.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (714.27, +1.76 +0.25%) sector turned in another session of gains. Component First Solar (FSLR 44.34, -4.79 -9.75%) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank and saw pressure throughout the trading day. Other notable movers among sector components included MU +4.01%, QRVO +3.42%, SWKS +2.92%, NVDA +2.60%, HPQ +1.98%, MCHP +1.84%, TEL +1.62%, GLW +1.54%, CTXS +1.41%, NTAP +1.40%, LLTC +1.38%, AMAT +1.21%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Western Digital (WDC) pre-announced Q4 EPS of $0.72 from prior $0.65-0.70 and revenues of $3.46 billion from prior $3.35-3.45 billion, both of which were above expectations. Additionally, WDC announced Mark Long will succeed Oliver Leonetti as CFO in September.

Accenture's (ACN 112.70, -0.78 -0.69%) Chairman and CEO Pierre Nanterme sent a letter to colleagues alerting them of his recent diagnosis with colon cancer.

Microsoft's (MSFT 51.38, flat) COO, Brian Turner, to leave the company to become CEO of Citadel Securities.

Paychex (PAYX 60.59, -0.25 -0.41%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.46 per share from $0.42 per share and announced a $350 million repurchase program.

NVIDIA (NVDA 48.89, +1.24 +2.60%) announced the launch of the GeForce GTX 1060, the company's latest graphics card starting at $249 (competition to Advanced Micro's (AMD) $200 Radeon RX480 model).

Elsewhere in the tech space:

AVG Tech (AVG 24.58, +5.78 +30.74%) to be acquired by Avast Software for $25.00 per share.

Emcore (EMKR 6.18, +0.48 +8.42%) completed its strategic review, and subsequently announced a special dividend of $1.50 per share.

Convergys (CVG 25.07, +0.04 +0.16%) to acquire German-based buw for EUR 123 million. The deal is expected to be accretive to CVG earnings.

Samsung (SSNLF 1220, flat) announced earnings guidance for Q2 in the range of Q2 sales of KRW49-51 trillion and operating profit of KRW8.0-8.2 trillion.

SeaChange (SEAC 3.33, +0.03 +0.91%) named Peter Faubert as CFO.

ComScore (SCOR 25.85, +0.77 +3.07%) signed a local TV measurement agreement with Dispatch Printing Co television stations WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, Indiana & WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Analyst actions:

LPSN was upgraded to Buy from Hold at The Benchmark Company,
WEX was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays;
T was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup,
RHT was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley,
FSLR was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank,
YUME and WU were downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays,
BR was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays;
TER was initiated with a Buy at Needham,
RNG was initiated with a Buy at Craig Hallum

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 08-Jul-16

The stock market extended its post-Brexit rebound with the S&P 500 rising 1.3% for the week. The benchmark index had a better showing than the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.1%), but could not keep pace with the Nasdaq Composite (+1.9%).

Despite the underperformance relative to the tech-heavy index, the S&P 500 still closed just below its all-time high with the bulk of the weekly advance coming in response to Friday's release of the June Employment Situation Report (287,000; Briefing.com consensus 175,000).

Post-Brexit concerns were cited for a defensive start to the week, but the cautious tone dissipated by the weekend, at least as far as the U.S. stock market was concerned. The S&P 500 flirted with a new closing record high on Friday after a strong jobs report overshadowed weak average hourly earnings growth (+0.1%; Briefing.com consensus 0.2%). The virtually nonexistent earnings growth likely contributed to the Friday rally in the market, since it will be used as an argument against a rate hike in the near term. Treasuries, meanwhile, dipped immediately after the report, but climbed into the afternoon to the end the week with solid gains, leaving the 10-yr yield at an all-time closing low of 1.368%.

Rate hike expectations, as indicated by the fed funds futures market, did inch up, but not enough to raise any serious concern among market participants. The fed funds futures market sees no chance of a rate hike in July while the implied probability of a hike in September or November is just over 10.0%. Even when looking one year out, the implied likelihood of a hike in June of 2017 is just 32.9%.
Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17949.37 18146.74 197.37 1.1 4.1
Nasdaq 4862.57 4956.76 94.19 1.9 -1.0
S&P 500 2102.95 2129.90 26.95 1.3 4.2
Russell 2000 1156.75 1177.90 21.15 1.8 3.7

Equity indices climbed at the start of the session as participants ruminated over a stronger-than-expected reading of the Employment Situation Report for June. Headline readings showed that nonfarm payrolls and nonfarm private payrolls each handily beat estimates. However, downward revisions to the May report tempered the potential rate hike implications of the report. Additionally, uncertainty surrounding the global economy may keep the Federal Reserve on hold.

Specifically, nonfarm payrolls increased by 287,000 and private sector payrolls increased by 265,000. The unemployment rate was 4.9% versus 4.7% in May. June average hourly earnings were up 0.1% after being up 0.2% in May. The average workweek was 34.4 hours versus 34.4 in May. The labor force participation rate was 62.7% versus 62.6% in May.

The abbreviated week ended with strong gains. All three major US indices closed at or relatively near session highs as the jobs report aided the advance. Action started higher and was capped off by the Nasdaq Composite which added 79.95 points (+1.64%) to 4965.76. The S&P 500 closed up 32.00 points (+1.53%) to 2129.90, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 250.86 points (+1.40%) to 18146.74. This week's move takes the big three to -1.0%, +4.2% and +4.1% YTD, respectively.

Technology (XLK 44.13, +0.68 +1.57%) was higher all day, pushed by the broader market advance as components NVDA +4.01%, WDC +3.55%, CTXS +3.53%, LRCX +3.46%, MU +3.44%, SWKS +3.32%, ADI +3.20%, JNPR +3.19%, QRVO +3.03%, HPE +3.03% pushed aggressively higher today. Other sectors as measured by the S&P ended the session XLB +2.49% IYZ +2.05% XLI +2.00% XLF +1.91% XLY +1.74% XLE +1.33% XLV +1.24% XLU +1.04% XLP +1.00% with Materials and Telecoms leading the surge higher and Consumer Staples registering the tamest gains.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (726.31, +12.04 +1.69%) sector, the holiday-shortened week was capped off by a positive bias as component Intel (INTC 34.00, +0.80 +2.41%) finished with solid gains as the stock was upgraded premarket at Bernstein to a Mkt Perform rating from an Underperform. Other names in the space which were higher at the end of the day included QRVO +3.03%, ADSK +3.01%, WU +3.00%, FFIV +2.95%, MCHP +2.92%, PYPL +2.86%, FSLR +2.84%, EBAY +2.84%.
Other notable news items among sector component:

EMC (EMC 27.51, +0.18 +0.64%) announced that Institutional Shareholder Services recommended shareholders vote in favor of the proposed merger with Dell (DELL).

Alphabet (GOOG 705.63, +10.27 +1.48%) acquired streaming and monetization platform company Anvato. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

UPMC announced it has formed Pensiamo, an independent company that aims to help hospitals improve supply chain performance through a comprehensive source-to-pay offering, including cognitive analytics with IBM Watson Health technologies. IBM (IBM 154.46, +1.86 +1.22%) is a minority owner of Pensiamo.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Polycom (PLCM 12.25, +1.38 +12.70%) terminated its previous merger with Mitel Networks (MITL 7.21, +1.19 +19.77%). The company has agreed to be acquired by Siris Capital Group for $12.50 per share in cash. MITL also confirmed the superior proposal from a third party, and has waived its right to match consideration payable to PLCM.

SunPower (SPWR 14.92, +0.48 +3.32%) and Total (TOT 47.16, +0.87 +1.88%) extended their credit support agreement through 2018.

Ultra Clean Holdings (UCTT 5.64, -0.01 -0.18%) announced that CFO Casey Eichler will step down effective July 29 to pursue other opportunities. Subsequently, Sheri Brumm has been promoted to CFO effective July 30.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Barracuda Networks' (CUDA 18.43, +2.92 +18.83%) CFO David Faugno will be stepping down August 1 and Dustin Driggs, current chief accounting officer and worldwide controller since 2012, will replace Faugno.

TerraForm Global (GLBL 3.37, +0.01 +0.30%) and TerraForm Power (TERP 12.05, +0.57 +4.97%) named Thomas Studebaker as Chief Operating Officer and David Rawden as Interim Chief Accounting Officer.

Earnings:

Barracuda Networks (CUDA) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.20 on better than expected revenues which rose 11.2% versus last year to $86.7 million. The company also guided Q2 and FY16 ahead of expectations - Q2: revenues in the range of $84-86 million; non-GAAP EPS of $0.12-0.13. FY16 - revenues in the range of $340-345 million; non-GAAP EPS of $0.54-0.59.

Analyst actions:

INTC was upgraded to Mkt Perform from Underperform at Bernstein;
PCTY was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at First Analysis Sec,
AMD was downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Bernstein,
AVG was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura,
UCTT was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel;
GRUB was initiated with an Outperform at Wedbush,
YELP was initiated with a Neutral at Wedbush,
PFPT and BITA were initiated with an Outperform at Macquarie,
ALRM was initiated with an Overweight at First Analysis Sec,
FTV was initiated with a Neutral at Robert W. Baird

4:44 pm Network-1 discloses settlement of patent litigation with Apple (AAPL) (NTIP) :

The co announced that Mirror World Technologies, Inc., its wholly-owned subsidiary, agreed to settle its patent litigation against Apple (AAPL) pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,006,227 .

Under the terms of the agreement, Apple will receive a fully paid up non-exclusive license to the '227 Patent for its full term, which expired in 2016, along with certain rights to other patents in Network-1's portfolio. Network-1 will receive $25 million from Apple for the settlement and fully paid up license.
The '227 Patent was among 9 patents and 5 pending patent applications acquired by Network-1, through MWT, from Mirror Worlds, LLC on May 21, 2013. The '227 Patent entitled "Document Stream Operating System" relates to methods that enable unified search, indexing, displaying and archiving of documents in a computer system. The inventions described in the '227 Patent resulted from the work done by Yale University computer scientist, Professor David Gelernter, and his then graduate student, Dr. Eric Freeman, in the mid-1990s.

4:19 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Rally on June Jobs Report (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended an abbreviated week on a higher note as a positive reading of the Employment Situation Report for June brought the S&P 500 (+1.5%) within 0.1% of its all-time intraday high (2134.72). The upbeat June employment report sparked a risk rally, indicating a rebound in the labor market without prompting speculation regarding a sooner-than-expected move from the Fed. Additionally, a rebound in oil futures, softening in the dollar, and sector leadership from the heavily-weighted industrial (+1.9%), financial (+1.8%), consumer discretionary (+1.8%), and technology (+1.7%) sectors added to sustained buying interest. The Nasdaq Composite (+1.6%) ended its day ahead of the S&P 500 (+1.5%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.4%).

Today's session began on a higher note as a positive reading of the Employment Situation Report for June alleviated concerns regarding weakness in the U.S. labor market. The report showed that both nonfarm payrolls (287K; Briefing.com consensus 175K) and nonfarm private payrolls (265k; Briefing.com consensus 170k) rebounded from disappointing May readings. However, the positive data failed to spark rate hike fears as negative revisions to May's readings, weak average hourly earnings growth, and global uncertainty weigh on rate hike expectations.

The major averages extended their advance through the session as the heavyweight industrial (+1.9%), financial (+1.8%), and consumer discretionary (+1.8%) sectors followed materials (+2.5%) on the leaderboard. The benchmark index notched a session high (2131.71) shortly before the final hour of trade, falling short of an all-time high. The S&P 500 (+1.5%) finished with all ten sectors in positive territory as defensive sectors underperformed. Countercyclical utilities (+1.0%), consumer staples (+1.0%), telecom services (+1.0%) rounded out the leaderboard.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (+2.6%) finished ahead of the broader market as rail names and airlines demonstrated relative strength. On that note, Norfolk Southern (NSC 86.42, +2.38) and Union Pacific (UNP 90.69, +2.66) jumped 2.8% and 3.0%, respectively. Separately, Avis Budget (CAR 34.61, +3.71) outperformed after Hertz Global (HTZ 47.90, +4.41) disclosed that it signed confidentiality agreements with Carl Icahn and other parties.

The economically-sensitive financial sector (+1.8%) outperformed as credit service names and life insurance companies topped the space. In the group, Capital One (COF 64.71, +2.82) jumped 4.6% after receiving an upgrade at DA Davidson from "Neutral" to "Buy." Elsewhere, MetLife (MET 39.20, +0.93) rallied 2.4% after disclosing that its wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary grew by 116% year-over-year in the first quarter. The broader sector gained 1.8% today, erasing a modest weekly loss to finish higher by 0.8%.

The energy sector (+1.3%) finished behind the broader market as the space recovered from sharp weekly losses in oil. The energy component ended its day higher by 0.4% ($45.36/bbl; +$0.17), narrowing its weekly loss to 7.5%. In the group, Baker Hughes (BHI 43.69, +0.15) ticked higher by 0.3% after announcing that its international rig count fell to 927 in June (from 955 in May). Separately, Dow component Exxon Mobil (XOM 93.54, +0.58) finished higher by 0.6%.

The U.S. Dollar Index (96.26, -0.06) ended modestly lower as the yen and the pound gained against the buck. Sterling gained 0.4% against the dollar (1.2953) while the dollar/yen pair finished lower by 0.3% (100.47). On the flipside, the single currency lost 0.1% against the dollar (1.1054).

The Treasury complex ended on a mixed note as the yield on the 10-yr note slipped three basis point to 1.36%. Conversely, the yield on the short-term 2-yr note rose two basis points to 0.61%.

Today's participation was above the recent average as more than 906 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the Employment Situation Report for June and Consumer Credit for May:

The June Employment Situation report was a big beat at first glance, but a dive below the surface shows some soft spots in the overall employment picture.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 287,000 (Briefing.com consensus 180,000).
Over the past three months, job gains have averaged 147,000 per month
May nonfarm payrolls revised to 11,000 from 38,000
April nonfarm payrolls revised to 144,000 from 123,000
Private sector payrolls increased by 265,000 (Briefing.com consensus 178,000)
May private sector payrolls revised to -6,000 from 25,000
The unemployment rate was 4.9% (Briefing.com consensus 4.8%) versus 4.7% in May
Persons unemployed for 27 weeks or more accounted for 25.8% of the unemployed versus 25.1% in May
June average hourly earnings were up 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) after being up 0.2% in May
Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen 2.6%
Aggregate earnings were up 0.2% on top of a downwardly revised unchanged reading in May (from 0.2%)
The average workweek was 34.4 hours (Briefing.com consensus 34.4) versus 34.4 in May
June manufacturing workweek was down 0.1 to 40.7 hours
Factory overtime was up 0.1 to 3.3 hours
The labor force participation rate was 62.7% versus 62.6% in May
The uptick in the unemployment rate was a function of a slight expansion in the labor force participation rate.
This followed a 0.2% decline in the participation rate and a 0.3% decline in the Unemployment rate in May.
The downward revision to May nonfarm private payrolls resulted in the first negative reading for that series since 2010.
Total outstanding consumer credit increased by $18.56 billion in May after increasing $13.40 billion in April. The Briefing.com consensus estimate for May was $15.70 billion.
In the preceding 12-month period leading up to May, consumer credit had risen by an average of $18.58 billion.
The growth in May was driven primarily by nonrevolving credit, which increased by $16.20 billion. Revolving credit increased by $2.30 billion.
In May, consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.25%.

There is no economic data of note scheduled to be released on Monday. However, it is worth noting that China will release CPI and PPI reports for June on Saturday at 21:30 ET.

S&P 500 +4.2% YTD
Dow Jones +4.1% YTD
Russell 2000 +3.6% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -1.0% YTD

Week in Review: S&P 500 Flirts With Record Closing High After June Jobs Beat

The stock market extended its post-Brexit rebound with theS&P 500 rising 1.3% for the week. The benchmark index had a better showingthan the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.1%), but could not keep pace with theNasdaq Composite (+1.9%).

Despite the underperformance relative to the tech-heavyindex, the S&P 500 still closed just below its all-time high with the bulkof the weekly advance coming in response to Friday's release of the JuneEmployment Situation Report (287,000; Briefing.com consensus 175,000).

Post-Brexit concerns were cited for a defensive start to theweek, but the cautious tone dissipated by the weekend, at least as far as theU.S. stock market was concerned. The S&P 500 flirted with a new closingrecord high on Friday after a strong jobs report overshadowed weak averagehourly earnings growth (+0.1%; Briefing.com consensus 0.2%). The virtuallynonexistent earnings growth likely contributed to the Friday rally in themarket, since it will be used as an argument against a rate hike in the nearterm. Treasuries, meanwhile, dipped immediately after the report, but climbedinto the afternoon to the end the week with solid gains, leaving the 10-yryield at an all-time closing low of 1.368%.

Rate hike expectations, as indicated by the fed fundsfutures market, did inch up, but not enough to raise any serious concern amongmarket participants. The fed funds futures market sees no chance of a rate hikein July while the implied probability of a hike in September or November is justover 10.0%. Even when looking one year out, the implied likelihood of a hike inJune of 2017 is just 32.9%.

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 21-Oct-16The stock market meandered through a lazy week with the S&P 500 adding 0.4% after spending the week in a 24-point range. The benchmark index was outpaced by the Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%) while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (UNCH) settled little changed.

The week started on a quiet note as participants awaited a slew of earnings and Thursday's policy decision from the European Central Bank. However, range bound action continued through Friday.

The European Central Bank made no changes to its interest rate corridor and President Mario Draghi made sure to avoid any specific references to either tapering or extending the purchase program before March 2017. The euro climbed immediately after the policy announcement, but retreated during Mr. Draghi's press conference. The single currency continued declining on Friday, ending the week near 1.0875 against the dollar, near levels from early March.

To be fair, the decline in the euro was facilitated by all-around dollar strength as the greenback benefited from economic data and comments from FOMC Vice Chair William Dudley, who said a rate hike before the end of 2016 makes sense to him. The implied probability of rate hike in December stands at 69.9%, according to the fed funds futures market. For its part, the Dollar Index registered its third consecutive weekly gain, climbing 0.7% to levels not seen since late January.

The strength in the dollar prevented crude oil from making big strides. The energy component settled at $50.85/bbl, just above its closing level from last week.

Market participants received another batch of quarterly results with the reporting season set to hit full stride next week. Investors did receive above-consensus results from a large share of Dow components like American Express (AXP), General Electric (GE), Goldman Sachs (GS), IBM (IBM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Microsoft (MSFT), McDonald's (MCD), UnitedHealth (UNH), and Verizon (VZ). Interestingly, the batch of beats did not spark a buying frenzy. On the whole, tech earnings were received with the warmest reception, evidenced by the outperformance in the Nasdaq Composite.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 18138.38 18145.71 7.33 0.0 4.1
Nasdaq 5214.16 5257.40 43.24 0.8 5.0
S&P 500 2132.98 2141.16 8.18 0.4 4.8
Russell 2000 1212.41 1218.11 5.70 0.5 7.2

The stock market closed out the week split as the Nasdaq Composite was the lone index in positive territory today, adding 15.57 points (+0.30%) to 5257.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, by contrast, was the worst performer today, albeit only ending down 16.64 points (-0.09%) to 18145.71. The S&P 500 posted a tame session, ending down less than one point (-0.01%) to 2141.16. This week's moves take the three major US indices +5.0%, +4.1%, and +4.8% YTD, respectively.

The major averages began the day under pressure as strengthening in the dollar and the latest batch of quarterly earnings contributed to opening hour weakness.

The U.S. Dollar Index (98.64, +0.33, +0.33%) extended its winning streak last evening as the pound and the euro each lost ground to the greenback. The buck continued to receive support from an improved U.S. rate hike picture and recent safe-haven flows. Furthermore, the move lower in European currencies came ahead of this weekend's EU Economic Summit, which may provide some Brexit-related headline volatility. The euro and the pound finished down a respective 0.4% (1.0882) and 0.2% (1.2226) against the dollar.

A stronger dollar served as a headwind for dollar-denominated commodities and the earnings prospects of multinational companies. This was on display when General Electric (GE 28.98, -0.09 -0.31%) beat bottom-line estimates for the quarter, but narrowed its guidance range. Meanwhile, Honeywell (HON 108.96, +0.82) gained 0.8% after reporting bottom-line results that fell in-line with the company's earnings warning.

The broader market reversed course after the first hour as a fresh dose of M&A chatter helped boost investor sentiment.The Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T (T 37.49, -1.16 -3.00%) is in advanced talks to acquire Time Warner (TWX 89.48, +6.49 +7.82%). The headline came on the heels of a similar report from Bloomberg in the prior session. Separate rumors indicated that Softbank (SFTBY 31.68, -0.29 -0.92%) could be interested in acquiring Twitter (TWTR 18.09, +1.19 +7.04%). The social media name finished higher by 7.0%.

Technology (XLK 47.53, +0.13 +0.27%) turned in a modest, albeit positive session to close out the week. Component PayPal (PYPL 44.15, +4.06 +10.13%) was the best performer following the company's mostly in-line Q3, as growing TPV and guidance clarity took shares higher. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed Friday XLY +0.80%, XLP +0.54%, XLB -0.04%, XLF -0.05%, XLRE -0.06%, XLI -0.14%, XLFS -0.16%, IYZ -0.32%, XLU -0.58%, XLE -0.65%, XLV -0.83% as Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary were the only other sectors to join Tech in positive territory.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (801.93, +4.58 +0.57%) sector, trading closed above the $800-level for the first time since October 10. Component Microsoft (MSFT 59.69, +2.44 +4.26%) broke out to fresh all-time highs today after a strong Q1 showing. Other names in the space which were modestly higher today included CRM +1.94%, JNPR +1.67%, AKAM +1.66%, FB +1.59%, QCOM +0.88%, LRCX +0.69%, INTU +0.51%, ATVI +0.50%, EA +0.42%, CA +0.41%, FSLR +0.40%, TXN +0.32%, GOOG +0.30%, MA +0.29%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

VeriSign (VRSN 81.56, +5.00 +6.53%) disclosed amendments to the company's Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce, and an amendment to the Registry Agreement with ICANN.
The YouTube app, a product of Alphabet (GOOG 799.37, +2.40 +0.30%), debuted on DISH's (DISH 57.40, -1.78 -3.01%) Hopper 3 DVR.

According to CNBC's David Faber, NXP Semi (NXPI 101.71, -2.78 -2.66%) and Qualcomm (QCOM 67.93, +0.59 +0.88%) have agreed to a $110 per share price but that the deal was not done yet. (reportedly in cash and stock)

Elsewhere in the tech space:

According to the Wall Street Journal (and later numerous other sources), AT&T (T 37.49, -1.16 -3.00%) and Time Warner (TWX 89.48, +6.49 +7.82%) are in advanced talks about a deal. Apparently, Reuters was out later in the day suggesting 21st Century Fox (FOXA 25.83, +0.56 +2.22%) was not interested in making a bid for TWX; Bloomberg also chimed in, suggesting Apple (AAPL 116.60, -0.46 -0.39%) wasn't likely interested in TWX.

Everyday Health (EVDY 10.45, +1.05 +11.17%) to be acquired by j2 Global (JCOM 67.44, +4.75 +7.58%) for $10.50 per share in cash, or about $465 million.

Infoblox (BLOX 26.42, +0.01 +0.04%) and Vista Equity received approval from the German Federal Cartel Office for proposed $26.50 per share in cash transaction. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of fiscal 2017.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Proofpoint (PFPT 77.39, +7.61 +10.91%) to acquire FireLayers for about $55 million in cash and stock.

Allscripts Healthcare (MDRX 12.48, -0.35 -2.77%) acquired CarePort. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

VTech (VTKLY 11.83, +0.02 +0.21%) to acquire Snom Technology AG. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Microsoft (MSFT) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.76 and $22.33 billion, respectively. Guided Q2 productivity and business revenues of $6.9-$7.1 billion; also sees personal computing revenues of $11.2-11.6 billion and cloud revenues of $6.55-6.75 billion.

SAP AG (SAP 88.82, +1.54 +1.76%) reported worse than expected Q3 EPS of EUR0.91 and better than expected revenues of EUR5.38 billion. Also, raised FY16 guidance for full year 2016 non-IFRS cloud subscriptions and support revenue to be in a range of EUR3.00-3.05 billion at constant currencies (2015: EUR2.30 billion), from prior guidance of EUR2.95-3.05 billion at constant currencies. SAP added it expects full year 2016 non-IFRS cloud and software revenue to increase by 6.5-8.5% at constant currencies (2015: EUR17.23 billion), compared to prior guidance of increase by 6-8%. Lastly, the company now expects full-year 2016 non-IFRS operating profit to be in a range of EUR6.5-EUR6.7 billion at constant currencies (2015: EUR6.35 bln), compared to prior guided range of EUR6.4-6.7 billion.

PayPal (PYPL) reported in-line Q3 EPS and revenues of $0.35 and $2.67 billion, respectively. Processed $87 billion in TPV, up 25%, or 28% on an FX-neutral basis. Also guided Q4 EPS of $0.40-0.42 on revenues of $2.920-2.990 billion.

Wipro (WIT 9.78, -0.14 -1.41%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of INR8.52 and INR137.66 billion.

Ericsson (ERIC 5.10, -0.27 -5.03%) reported worse than expected Q3 EPS of $0.34 on revenues which fell 13.7% compared to last year to $51.1 billion.

KLA-Tencor (KLAC 73.64, +1.65 +2.29%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $1.16 and $751 million. Also, guided Q2 revenue growth of about 11% sequentially at the midpoint to $805-865 million. Additionally, sees EPS in the range of $1.28-1.48 for Q2.

Proofpoint (PFPT) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $0.19 and $99.8 million, respectively. Also, sees Q4 EPS and revenues ahead of market expectations at $0.10-0.14 and $103-105 million, respectively.

Advanced Micro (AMD 6.52, -0.44 -6.32%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $0.03 and $1.31 billion, respectively. AMD also guided Q4 revenues at $1.03-1.11 billion (or down 21-15%).
Companies scheduled to report Monday morning: CYOU, SOHU, TMUS

Analyst actions:

MSFT was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair and to Buy from Hold at Wunderlich,
PYPL was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel,
EBAY was upgraded to Buy from Long-Term Buy at Hilliard Lyons,
AVT was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Longbow,
UBNT was upgraded to Mkt Perform from Mkt Underperform at JMP Securities;
YHOO was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies,
DATA was downgraded to Mixed from Positive at OTR Global,
BHE was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Cross Research;
OTEX was initiated with an Overweight at Mitsubishi UFJ,
ASUR was initiated with a Buy at Roth Capital

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From Briefing.com: 4:55 pm Sierra Wireless beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SWIR) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.11; revenues fell 0.6% year/year to $153.6 mln vs the $152.16 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.13-0.19, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.16 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $157-166 mln vs. $162.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:46 pm Skyworks beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS, revs above consensus (SWKS) :

Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $1.47 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.43; revenues fell 5.2% year/year to $835.4 mln vs the $831.31 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $1.58 vs. $1.56 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $894-911 mln (+7-9% Q/Q) vs. $893.01 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:45 pm Universal Display misses by $0.02, misses on revs; reaffirms FY16 revs guidance (OLED) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.03 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.01); revenues fell 23.4% year/year to $30.2 mln vs the $32.9 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of $190-200 mln vs. $195.15 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"As we anticipate resuming our growth trajectory in 2017, we continue to build up our core competencies. The display and lighting industries are evolving, and we believe we are well positioned to continue to play a pivotal role in the OLED market's future. We have expanded our global footprint, increased our headcount to approximately 200 employees, bolstered our IP portfolio to over 4,200 issued and pending patents worldwide, and continue to broaden our rich portfolio of proprietary OLED technologies and phosphorescent materials. These investments, in addition to our other strategic initiatives, buttress our committed path of continuous innovation and next-generation solutions, our strong leadership position in the OLED ecosystem, and our confidence in the long-term growth path of OLEDs."

4:18 pm Novatel Wireless to sell the Company's mobile broadband MiFi business to T.C.L. Industries Holdings for an undisclosed sum; plans to reorganize its business by creating a new holding company named Inseego (MIFI) : Inseego Corp. will replace Novatel Wireless as the publicly held corporation, effective November 9, 2016. The shares of Inseego Corp. will trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "INSG" at the beginning of trading on November 9, 2016.

4:14 pm Motorola Solutions beats by $0.17, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs below consensus; announces dividend increase of 15% to $0.47/share (MSI) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.37 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.17 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.20; revenues rose 7.7% year/year to $1.53 bln vs the $1.52 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $1.82-1.87, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.87 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs growth of 9-10%, which equates to ~$1.83-1.85 bln vs. $1.86 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:05 pm Applied Optoelectronics beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (AAOI) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.38 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.28; revenues rose 22.8% year/year to $70.1 mln vs the $64 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Non-GAAP gross margin was 33.1% compared with 31.7% in the third quarter 2015 and 31.4% in the second quarter of 2016.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.46-0.51 vs. $0.30 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $75-79 mln vs. $67.39 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday affair on a lower note as the S&P 500 (-0.4%) retreated for the eighth consecutive session. Sellers remained more eager than buyers as falling oil prices, persistent political uncertainty, and weakness in the technology (-1.0%) and health care (-1.0%) sectors weighed on investor sentiment. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.9%) finished behind the benchmark index (-0.4%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.2%).

Equity indices stumbled in the opening hour as a reversal in crude oil and weakness in the influential technology sector (-1.0%) weighed on the broader market.

Oil began the day on a modestly higher note, rebounding from its recent losing streak. The energy component has been under pressure in recent days as investors reassess the previously announced OPEC supply freeze agreement and mull over some disappointing weekly inventory data. WTI crude slipped below the $45.00/bbl in the opening hour, finishing down 2.0% ($44.45/bbl; -$0.89). Today's retreat has the energy component down 8.8% so far this week.

Social media name Facebook (FB 119.95, -7.22, -5.7%) also weighed on investor sentiment as a disappointing revenue growth outlook masked a bottom-line beat. The F.A.N.G. name weighed on fellow technology bellwethers with Apple (AAPL 109.83, -1.19) and Alphabet (GOOG 762.13, -6.57) falling 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively. Top-weighted Apple has now declined 7.1% since October 25 when the company released underwhelming quarterly results and guidance. Chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM 66.98, -0.14) also finished down 0.2%.

The broader market extended its loss into midday as biotechnology tacked onto its recent losing streak. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 246.87, -7.46, -2.9%) extended its weekly loss to 5.2% as Allergan (AGN 188.82, -9.07, -4.6%) and Mylan (MYL 34.14, -2.53, -6.9%) weighed on the group. The two saw additional selling pressure when CNBC reported that the U.S. Department of Justice will be looking into the pricing practices of generic pharmaceutical companies.

The benchmark index carved out a session low in the final hour of trade as nine sectors ended in negative territory. Technology (-1.0%) and health care (-1.0%) finished at the bottom of the leaderboard while energy (+0.4%), utilities (+0.3%), and financials (+0.3%) finished with the only gains.

In the consumer discretionary space (-0.3%), 21st Century Fox (FOXA 27.74, +1.91) jumped 7.4% after beating bottom-line estimates for the quarter. The company bolstered the media sub-group, helping Dow component Disney (DIS 93.37, +1.46, +1.6%) finish at the top of the price-weighted average. On the flipside, Starbucks (SBUX 51.77, -1.21) fell 2.3% ahead of this evening's quarterly report.

The economically-sensitive financial sector (+0.3%) outperformed as life insurance names displayed relative strength. Prudential (PRU 86.67, +2.88) rallied 3.4% after topping analysts' estimates for the quarter. The space also gained on slight steepening in the yield curve. On the flipside, American International Group (AIG 58.15, -2.40) ended lower by 4.0% despite a bottom-line beat.

Treasuries finished on a mixed note as the long end of the curve underperformed. The yield on the 2-yr note finished flat (0.82%) while the yield on the 10-yr note finished the day up one basis point (1.81%).

Today's trading volume was above the average of 860 million as more than 880 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included October Challenger Job Cuts, Initial Claims, third quarter Productivity and Unit Labor Costs, Factory Orders for September, and ISM Services for October:

October Challenger Job Cuts were reported at 30,700, which compares to the prior month's reading of 44,300.
Initial claims for the week ending October 29 rose by 7,000 to 265,000 (Briefing.com consensus 256,000).
Continuing claims for the week ending October 22 decreased by 14,000 to 2.026 million.
Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 3.1% annual rate in the third quarter (Briefing.com consensus 1.8%).
This was the first increase after three consecutive quarterly declines and was further underpinned by an upward revision to second quarter productivity to -0.2% from -0.6%.
Unit labor costs increased 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus +1.2%) following a downwardly revised 3.9% increase (from 4.3%) in the second quarter.
New orders for manufactured goods increased 0.3% in September (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) on top of an upwardly revised 0.4% increase (from 0.2%) in August.
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index dropped to 54.8 in October (Briefing.com consensus 55.8) from 57.1 in September.

For more on these economic releases, be sure to visit Briefing.com's Economic Calendar page.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the 8:30 ET release of the September Trade Balance (Briefing.com consensus -$38.5 billion) and the Employment Situation Report for October. The Briefing.com consensus expects the jobs report to show an increase of 175,000 in nonfarm payrolls.DJ30 -28.97 NASDAQ -47.16 SP500 -9.28 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1019/1.920 bln/1993 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1171/880.7 mln/1783

3:30 pm :

The dollar index was -0.3% around the 97.11 level, not appearing to boost precious metals
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, were -0.3% around the 83.61 level
Crude oil ended at a fresh 5-week low, finished near session lows for the fifth consecutive session ahead of tomorrow's rig count data
December crude oil futures fell $0.65 (-1.4%) to $44.66/barrel
The next official OPEC meeting will take place in Vienna, Austria on November 30.
Baker Hughes rig count data will be released tomorrow at 1 pm ET.
Monthly IEA data will be released November 10.
Reminder: yesterday, EIA reported the single largest crude inventory build in over 30 years
Natural gas gave up its initial gains despite EIA reporting a smaller-than-expected build compared to Consensus.
December natural gas closed $0.02 lower (-0.7%) at $2.77/MMBtu
EIA highlights:
Natural gas inventory showed a build of +54 bcf vs expectations for inventory to be a build of approximately +56 bcf
Working gas in storage was 3,963 Bcf as of Friday, October 28, 2016, according to EIA estimates.
Stocks were 48 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 173 Bcf above the five-year average of 3,790 Bcf.
At 3,963 Bcf, total working gas is above the five-year historical range.
In precious metals, gold & silver snap their 2-day streak, the dollar index resumed its slide
December gold ended today's session down $4.60 (-0.4%) to $1303.40/oz
December silver closed today's session $0.27 lower (-1.4%) at $18.42/oz
Base metal copper resumed Tuesday's climb after ending flat yesterday (closed higher for the previous 5 sessions leading up to yesterday)
December copper closed $0.02 higher (+0.9%) at $2.25/lb

Action today closed firmly in the red, albeit with a modest tick higher into the close. Leading the action lower today, the Nasdaq Composite shed 47.16 points (-0.92%) to 5058.41. The S&P 500 lost 9.28 points (-0.44%) to 2088.66, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 28.97 points (-0.16%) to 17930.67. Pressuring the Nasdaq lower, top Nasdaq 100 components MYL -6.9%, INCY -4.5%, ESRX -3.7%, ULTA -3.2% and BMRN -2.8% all closed well lower.

Market data today included October Challenger Job Cuts reported in at 30,700, which compares to the prior month's reading of 44,300. Also, initial claims for the week ending October 29 rose by 7,000 to 265,000. Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 3.1% annual rate in the third quarter. Unit labor costs increased 0.3% following a downwardly revised 3.9% increase (from 4.3%) in the second quarter. New orders for manufactured goods increased 0.3% in September on top of an upwardly revised 0.4% increase (from 0.2%) in August. Lastly, the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index dropped to 54.8 in October from 57.1 in September.

As it were, the Technology (XLK 46.28, -0.43 -0.92%) sector was the second worst performer today, ending near lows. Component First Solar (FSLR 34.51, -6.07 -14.96%) was pressured today on the heels of a mixed Q3 print and mixed, but skewed to the downside, FY16 guidance; shares fell to the sub-33 level on their way to deeper than three-year lows. Other sectors as measured by the S&P ended Thursday XLE +0.40%, XLU +0.38%, XLF +0.10%, XLFS +0.07%, XLB +0.03%, XLI -0.16%, XLY -0.26%, XLRE -0.44%, XLP -0.69%, XLV -0.92%, IYZ -0.94% as Energy led the charge higher and Telecoms lagged.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (780.84, -7.87 -1.00%) sector, trading ended an even -1% lower on the back of a weak broader market session. Bellwether Facebook (FB 119.95, -7.22 -5.68%) displayed weakness today despite reporting better than expected Q3 results but FY17 commentary came out a bit on the cautious side. Other names which closed lower today included XRX -1.68%, FLIR -1.68%, ADSK -1.56%, ACN -1.40%, INTC -1.22%, NVDA -1.16%, CRM -1.15%, AKAM -1.12%, AMAT -1.12%, YHOO -1.11%, AAPL -1.07%, HPE -1.00%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Intel (INTC 33.92, -0.42 -1.22%) acquired VR startup VOKE for immersive sports. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Last night in a Bloomberg report, Skyworks (SWKS 74.67, -0.36 -0.48%) was rumored to be interested in
Microsemi (MSCC 47.99, +6.16 +14.73%).

Fiserv (FISV 98.11, -0.55 -0.56%) announced that BDO Unibank expanded their relationship with Fiserv to include Managed Services to support the IT initiatives of the bank.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 24.91, -0.24 -0.95%) was selected by MSMVIL to build a converged multi-service network for its next-generation network services.

Accenture's (ACN 116.95, -1.66 -1.40%) Mortgage Cadence announced an enhancement to its Partner Ecosystem designed to bring industry-leading mortgage technology together with top-tier third-party service providers and consulting firms.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

ManTech (MANT 37.30, -0.30 -0.80%) announced CFO Kevin Phillips has been promoted to president and COO.

Inteliquent (IQNT 22.60, +5.86 -35.01%) to be acquired by an affiliate of GTCR for $23.00 per share in cash or about $800 million.

Marvell (MRVL 12.63, -0.31 -2.40%) announces certain restructuring actions which include the elimination of about 900 positions, and expects that it will lower annual operating expenses from a current annualized run rate of $1.08 billion to the $820-840 million range.

Rubicon Project (RUBI 6.23, -1.17 -15.81%) announced a workforce reduction of 125 employees, or about 19%, of its workforce.

ANSYS (ANSS 83.49, -6.03 -6.74%) acquired Berlin-based KPIT medini Technologies AG. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Facebook (FB) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $1.09 and $7.01 billion, respectively. For context, DAUs were up 17% year-over-year to 1.18 billion and MAUs were up 16% year-over-year to 1.79 billion.

Qualcomm (QCOM 66.95, -0.14 -0.21%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $1.28 and $9.17 billion, respectively. For Q1, the company sees EPS of $1.12-1.22 on revenues of $5.7-6.5 billion.

Gartner (IT 94.04, +7.83 +9.08%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues off $0.58 and $574.1 million. For FY16, the company sees EPS of $2.89-3.05 on revenues of $2.44-2.47 billion.

Genpact (G 23.57, +0.81 +3.56%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS of $0.37 on worse than expected revenues of $648.8 million. For FY16, the company raised EPS and lowered revenue guidance to $1.42-1.43 (from $1.40-1.42), and to $2.57-2.58 billion (from $2.59-2.62 billion), respectively.

First Solar (FSLR) reported better than expected Q3 EPS of $1.22 on worse than expected revenues of $688 million. For FY16, the company sees in-line EPS and worse than expected revenues of $4.30-4.50 and $2.8-2.9 billion.

GoDaddy (GDDY 33.28, -1.93 -5.48%) reported worse than expected Q3 EPS of $0.05 on in-line revenues of $472.1 million. For Q4, GDDY sees in-line revenues of $483-487 million.

Itron (ITRI 58.20, +6.30 +12.14%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $0.77 and $506.86 million, respectively.

Fitbit (FIT 8.51, -4.30 -33.57%) reported in-line Q3 EPS of $0.19 on in-line revenues of $503.8 million. For Q4, the company sees EPS and revenues worse than expected at $0.14-0.18 and $725-750 million, respectively.

Gogo (GOGO 9.75 +0.08 +0.83%) reported a better than expected Q3 loss per share of $0.43 on revenues which rose 16.5% compared to last year to $147.27 million. For FY16, the company sees revenues above the mid point of the prior range of $575-595 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: TWOU ATVI MDRX AOSL AMBR AAOI ANET ABTL RATE BNFT WIFI CARB ECOM CPSI CSC CSOD FEYE GSAT GLUU GPRO GUID HDP IMMR IMPV PI SAAS ININ INAP INVN MELI MTD MSI NPTN UEPS EGOV OTEX PCTY PDVW QRVO QLYS RP SWIR SSNI SWKS SYMC TRMR TRUE TWLO UBNT OLED VRNS WEB/MOSY TDS TU USM

Analyst actions:

VMW was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James,
ITRI was upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer,
ACIW was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at a boutique firm,
WILN was upgraded to Buy at Canaccord Genuity;
FIT was downgraded at Morgan Stanley, Longbow, Citigroup, Piper Jaffray, BofA/Merrill and others,
BRCD was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts, to Neutral at DA Davidson and to Sell at Wunderlich,
FSLR was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer, to Neutral from Buy at Roth Capital and to Neutral from Buy at Janney,
RUBI was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at a boutique firm,
LSCC was downgraded to Neutral at Robert W. Baird

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - Life Was Breathed Into the Market (Weekend Newsletter)

http://www.investmenthouse.com/frblog.php

MARKET SUMMARY

- Dow, RUTX continue their surge, SP400 and SOX join in.
- NASDAQ and SP500 have a tougher week and an important one ahead.
- Chips trying to recover, riding NVDA's earnings.
- Big move on news. Now looking for a pause and see if it holds.

Life breathed into the market this past week, first in relief that Clinton
was sure to win as the FBI proved itself useless yet again, second with
excitement that Trump would bring growth policies back to the US. Fickle?
Of course. The market finds a reason to do what it wants. The notion of
real stimulus after 7 years of nothing but FOMC artificially low to no rates
is indeed exciting. As is the removal of regulations and taxes that have
killed the US middle class and thus its built-in source of creativity,
supply, and demand. That is worth a few stock market points.

Friday the stock indices continued higher though for some it was not a
straight shot higher and indeed, SP500 closed the session negative. NASDAQ
was up after the sharp Thursday reversal, but it was nothing that makes you
feel warm.

On the other hand, RUTX exploded higher, now less than 2 points from the
2015 all-time high. SP400 midcaps added another percent, moving past the
2015 high and on its way to challenge the September all-time high. DJ30
posted a modest move but a new high again. SOX recovered the trendline and
surpassed the late October lower high.

SP500 -3.03, -0.14%
NASDAQ 28.31, 0.54%
DJ30 39.78, 0.21%
SP400 0.99%
RUTX 2.46%
SOX 3.86%

VOLUME: NYSE -15%, NASDAQ -24%. It had to drop at some point and better it
falls on a day when DJ3, NASDAQ, and definitely SP500 did not have their
best showing of the week. Still above average, solid upside volume on the
week.

A/D: NYSE 1.2:1, NASDAQ 2.3:1. Still not huge breadth as some areas get
money, other areas lose money.

The indices have surged all week, more or less, some areas getting much more
attention as money rotated to Trump stimulus areas and out of those that had
led the move and were dropped like hot rocks. Some opined it was something
to do with animosity between Trump and silicon valley, but that is
poppycock. The market was simply shifting to new leadership.

Now we would like to see a pause. The move was strong and if the leadership
groups show a pause or test we can use that. It may not be anything more
than a pause similar to what C did Friday; powerful moves often just need a
pause to refresh and then they go again. Thus, we will look at playing some
pauses such as more positions on C, but didn't spot a ton of those on the
early scans. There could also be some movement back into tech that was
under pressure earlier in the week. Some good setups appear.

Of course there is the possibility that the 'Clinton will win, Trump won so
let's rally anyway' rally runs out of steam. NASDAQ looks far from well and
SP500 is still challenged. If money is simply rotating, however, that
explains the uneven stock index movement. Still, after such a good run you
see how the indices test and if it is just a test. There is not much if any
fear in the market right now and that is always worth considering. A bit.

We booked some strong gain on NVDA as it surged 30% on earnings, leaving
some to continue working. Picked up some MU as the chips showed some
resilience. Didn't want to play 'chase the bus' with other positions and
will see what kind of pause/test or otherwise early next week brings. Will
there be buyer's remorse? Will there be a Wiley Coyote moment when the
rally realizes there are still mega issues facing the economy? Not likely,
so we will look for entry points in the week to come but also keep an eye
out for the edge of that cliff.


THE MARKET

CHARTS

NASDAQ: Gapped upside Monday off of the dive lower and looked strong
through Wednesday. Thursday a gap higher and reversed hard, then Friday a
gain up to the 50 day SMA but a rather so-so, mediocre move. That leaves
NASDAQ both below the 50 day SMA and the 2016 trendline. NASDAQ still has a
lot of resistance, not even in the last range where the former high resides.
Critical week for NASDAQ as this past week it lost a lot of money as the
FANG and other big names sold hard. When you consider how those stocks were
pounded, NASDAQ held up pretty darn well.

SP500: The other questionable index was SP500. It surged through
Wednesday, looking strong as it matched the late September/early October
range as well as the 2016 up trendline. Thursday it showed a big doji,
giving up an early move past that resistance. Friday SP500 was lower, but
it managed to hang on with a doji. As with NASDAQ and its shaky
performance, this is a critical week for SP500.

DJ30: Still moving upside through Friday after a strong Monday to Thursday
surge. New high on the week, looking strong thanks to its financial and
industrial components.

RUTX: As powerful as the Dow, moving in on an all-time high hit in 2015.

SP400: Gapped to a doji Thursday after a strong Monday to Wednesday, the
2015 high acting as resistance. Friday a new surge took SP400 through the
2015 peak and has the midcaps just under 20 points from a new high. Now at
the gap point from early September, some resistance after a strong 90 point
rally.

SOX: Was on the ropes Thursday with a gap higher and reversal to undercut
the 50 day MA's. Then Friday a new break higher and back through the
summertime trendline. Higher high over the late October peak and looking
solid once again. Of course NVDA helped it tremendously, but other chips
are looking better as well.


MARKET STATS

NASDAQ
Stats: +28.32 points (+0.54%) to close at 5237.11
Volume: 2.228B (-23.56%)

Up Volume: 1.63B (+220M)
Down Volume: 633.45M (-916.55M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 2.33 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.56 to 1

New Highs: 373 (+4)
New Lows: 58 (-19)

S&P
Stats: -3.03 points (-0.14%) to close at 2164.45
NYSE Volume: 1.2B (-15.19%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.18 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.16 to 1

New Highs: 213 (-63)
New Lows: 198 (+16)

DJ30
Stats: +39.78 points (+0.21%) to close at 18847.66


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 14.17; -0.57
VXN: 18.95; -0.12
VXO: 14.19; -0.99

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 1.07; +0.18

Back above 1.0 after one day off. 10 of 11 sessions over 1.0 on the close.
Plenty of downside speculation.


Bulls and Bears: Bears post their greatest numbers in months and stocks
then rally. Not at extreme levels either way, just working back toward each
other after diverging.

Bulls: 42.9 versus 41.7

Bears: 25.7 versus 24.3

Theory: When everyone is bullish and has put all their capital to work,
where does the ammunition to drive the market come from? There is always
new money to start a new year. After that is used will more money be
coming? That is the question.




Bulls: 42.9 versus 41.7
41.7 versus 47.1 versus 42.9 versus 46.1 versus 46.7 versus 45.2 versus 44.6
versus 49.0 versus 52.5 versus 55.9 versus 56.7 versus 56.2 versus 54.3
versus 52.9% versus 53.9% versus 54.4% versus 52.5% versus 47.1% versus
41.6% versus 47.5% versus 45.9% versus 47.3% versus 45.4% versus 35.4%
versus 40.2 versus 39.2

Bears: 25.7 versus 24.3
24.3 versus 23.1 versus 23.8 versus 23.1 versus 22.8 versus 23.1 versus 24.3
versus 22.6 versus 22.8 versus 20.6 Versus 20.2 versus 20.0 versus 20.9%
versus 21.2% versus 21.6% versus 23.3% versus 24.7% versus 24.5% versus
23.8% versus 23.2% versus 23.5% versus 23.8% versus 23.7% versus 24.0%
versus 21.7% versus 21.6% versus 21.7 versus 20.6% versus 21.7% versus 27.8%
versus 27.8% versus 28.9% versus 27.8% versus 30.3% versus 35.4%


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): Bond market closed. 2.14% close Thursday.

Historical: 2.14% versus 2.077% versus 1.867% versus 1.83% versus 1.778%
versus 1.81% versus 1.797% versus 1.827% versus 1.83% versus 1.85% versus
1.84% versus 1.791% versus 1.76% versus 1.76% versus 1.73% versus 1.75%
versus 1.74% versus 1.74% versus 1.766% versus 1.80% versus 1.746% versus
1.78% versus 1.723% versus 1.72% versus 1.74% versus 1.72% versus 1.69%
versus 1.622% versus 1.60% versus 1.56% versus 1.569% versus 1.56% versus
1.584% versus 1.62%


EUR/USD: 1.0858 versus 1.08898. Euro bombed Wednesday to Friday but
managed to hold at the late October low on the Friday close. Perhaps a
bounce is in order.

Historical: 1.08898 versus 1.09398 versus 1.10186 versus 1.10327 versus
1.11406 versus 1.11059 versus 1.11020 versus 1.10560 versus 1.09646 versus
1.09860 versus 1.08963 versus 1.0895 versus 1.08793 versus 1.08793 versus
1.08851 versus 1.0928 versus 1.0971 versus 1.0977 versus 1.10217 versus
1.0966 versus 1.10536 versus 1.1032 versus 1.10598 versus 1.1233 versus
1.1183 versus 1.1147 versus 1.12052 versus 1.12091 versus 1.12066 versus
1.1239 versus 1.1218 versus 1.1228 versus 1.2148 versus 1.1254 versus 1.1248
versus 1.12259


USD/JPY: 106.621 versus 106.814. Broke through the 200 day SMA against the
yen last week and closed out at the July high.

Historical: 106.814 versus 105.192 versus 101.286 versus 104.386 versus
103.112 versus 102.96 versus 103.350 versus 104.042 versus 104.798 versus
104.710 versus 105.305 versus 104.412 versus 104.2110 versus 104.331 versus
103.83 versus 103.99 versus 103.99 versus 103.602 versus 103.892 versus
103.815 versus 104.201 versus 103.634 versus 103.690 versus 103.698 versus
103.95 versus 103.159 versus 103.984 versus 103.381 versus 102.807 versus
102.035 versus 101.326 versus 101.143 versus 101.322 versus 100.55 versus
100.75 versus 101.034 versus 101.045 versus 100.386


Oil: 43.41, -1.25. Oil tried to bounce on the week but was knocked back to
a lower low and support at 43 on the Friday low.

Gold: 1224.30, -42.10. There is a lot of talk about inflation resulting
from a Trump fiscal package, but if there is inflation anticipated, gold
should be higher as a hedge. Obviously it is not that great of an inflation
expectation.



SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 5237.11

Resistance:
The 50 day SMA at 5238
5252 is the 2016 up trendline
5271.36 is the August 2016 intraday prior all-time high
5287.61 is the September 2016 high
5340 is the recent all-time closing high.

Support:
5231.94 is the 2015 all-time high
The 50 day EMA at 5207
5170 is the October intraday low.
5162 is the early November peak, 5176 is the December intraday peak
5100 from the April peak and early May peak
5042 is the March 2015 high
5008.57 is the early March 2015 post-bear market high
5007 is the 12/31 upper gap point from that big gap lower
4999 is the October upper gap point
4980 is the June 2016 peak
4969 is the April 2016 recovery high
4960 is the September 2015 intraday high, an important reversal point for
NASDAQ.
The 200 day SMA at 4958
4920 is the lower gap point from mid-October 2015, the January 2016 lower
gap point
4916 is the mid-November 2015 low
4899 - 4902 from the September 2015 peak, July 2015 low
4894 is the September 2015 closing high
4836 is the March 2016 peak
4815 is the December 2014 peak
4811 is the November 2014 peak (intraday)
4774 is the January 2-15 high
4751 is the January 2015 lower high
4684 is the May 2016 test low
4637 is the February intraday high
4620 is the February 1 closing high
4615 from September 2014 highs, October 2014 upper gap point, late August
2015 low.
4574 is the June 2015 low


S&P 500: Closed at 2164.45

Resistance:
2175 is the June 2016 high
The 2016 trendline at 2179
2194 is the August 2016 all-time high

Support:
The 50 day SMA at 2145
The 50 day EMA at 2142
2135 is the May 2015 all-time high
2130 is the June 2015 peak
2126 was the April 2015 prior all-time high
2120 is the June 2016 peak
2119 is the September 2016 low; February 2015 intraday high
2116 is the November 2015 high
2111 is the April 2016 recovery high
2104 is the December 2015 high
2094 is the December 2014 high
The 200 day SMA at 2090
2079 is the intraday all-time high from November 2014
2062 is the January 2015 lower high
2046 is the July 2015 closing low
2040 is the March 2015 closing low
2026 is the May 2016 low
2023 is the November 2015 low
2020 is the September 2015 intraday high
2011 is the September prior all-time high
1995 is the September 2015 recovery peak
1991 is the July 2014 high


Dow: Closed at 18,847.66

Resistance:

Support:
18,669 is the August 2016 all-time high
18,595 is the July 2016 peak
18,351 is the prior all-time high from May 2015
18,288 from March 2015
18,262 is the upper gap point from the Monday gap lower.
The 50 day EMA at 18,256
18,247 is the August 2016 low
The 50 day SMA at 18,234
18,168 is the April 2016 recovery high
18,100 to 18,181: interim peaks in the December 2014 to July 2015 range
18,016 is the June 2016 peak
17,992 is the early September low
17,978 is the November 2015 peak
17,960 is the October intraday low
The 200 day SMA at 17,829
17,600 is the rough bottom of the April to June range.
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.
17,265 is a December 2015 closing low
17,245 is the November 2015 closing low
17,152 is the mid-July 2014 post bear market high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17067 is the December 2014 low
17,063 is the June 2016 low
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
16,933 is the September 2015 recovery intraday peak


ECONOMIC CALENDAR

November 11 - Friday
Michigan Sentiment, November (10:00): 91.6 actual versus 87.9 expected, 87.2
prior

November 15 - Tuesday
Retail Sales, October (8:30): 0.6% expected, 0.6% prior
Retail Sales ex-auto, October (8:30): 0.5% expected, 0.5% prior
Export Prices ex-ag., October (8:30): 0.4% prior
Import Prices ex-oil, October (8:30): 0.0% prior
Empire Manufacturing, November (8:30): -0.5 expected, -6.8 prior
Business Inventories, September (10:00): 0.2% expected, 0.2% prior

November 16 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 11/12 (7:00): -1.2% prior
PPI, October (8:30): 0.3% expected, 0.3% prior
Core PPI, October (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.2% prior
Industrial Productio, October (9:15): 0.2% expected, 0.1% prior
Capacity Utilization, October (9:15): 75.5% expected, 75.4% prior
NAHB Housing Market , November (10:00): 64 expected, 63 prior
Crude Inventories, 11/12 (10:30): 2.432M prior
Net Long-Term TIC Fl, September (16:00): $48.3B prior

November 17 - Thursday
CPI, October (8:30): 0.4% expected, 0.3% prior
Core CPI, October (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.1% prior
Housing Starts, October (8:30): 1178K expected, 1047K prior
Building Permits, October (8:30): 1200K expected, 1225K prior
Initial Claims, 11/12 (8:30): 257K expected, 254K prior
Continuing Claims, 11/05 (8:30): 2041K prior
Philadelphia Fed, November (8:30): 7.0 expected, 9.7 prior
Natural Gas Inventor, 11/12 (10:30): 54 bcf prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:05 pm : 'Twas two nights before Christmas, when all through the trading house.

Not a sentient creature was stirring about, no one clicking their mouse;

A few algorithms ran up and down,
But the day's action was decidedly rangebound;

Biotechnology lifted the health care sector (+0.8%) and energy (-0.2%) retreated despite an uptick in crude (+0.2%; $53.03/bbl),
But the S&P 500 (+0.1%) settled just above its flat line, because to do otherwise on this day would just be rude;

The daytraders were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Dow 20,000 danced in their heads;

The industrial sector (+0.1%) eked out a slim gain,
Even though the President-elect took to Twitter again;

He took aim at the high cost of the F-35 fighter jet,
And his comments made some Lockheed Martin (LMT 249.54, -3.26) shareholders sweat;

Shares of LMT surrendered just over a percent, But that did not stop the industrial sector from registering a weekly ascent (+0.6%);

Credit Suisse (CS 14.85, -0.08) and Deutsche Bank (DB 18.63, +0.09) agreed to settle with a U.S. regulator,
But the financial sector (+0.1%) spent the entire day near its equator;

Just like stocks, the Treasury market was also range-bound,
Though the 10-yr note did pick up some ground (-1 bp to 2.54%);

A couple of datapoints crossed the wires today,
But neither New Home Sales (592,000; Briefing.com consensus 573,000) nor Michigan Sentiment (98.2; Briefing.com consensus 98.2) received much play;

Bond and equity markets will be closed on Monday,
Which should allow everyone to really enjoy the Christmas Sunday.

Of course other holidays will begin this weekend in parallel,
And with that in mind, the staff at Briefing.com would like to wish you all well.

Russell 2000 +20.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +14.4% YTD
S&P 500 +10.8% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +9.1%

DJ30 +15.06 NASDAQ +15.27 SP500 +2.83 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1973/1.05 bln/901 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1733/616.7 mln/1172

3:30 pm :

Natural gas saw a notable rally to end the week +8%, compared to last Friday's closing price
Jan 2017 natural gas closed $0.13 higher (+3.7%) at $3.67/MMBtu
Crude oil futures ended pit trading nearly flat after the release of rig count data
Feb 2017 crude oil futures rose about $0.01 (+0.1%) around $52.98/barrel
Baker Hughes total U.S. rig count increased by 16 to 653 rigs following last week's increase of 13 rigs.
Of that total, 13 rigs added this week were oil rigs. The total number of oil rigs has increased to 523 rigs.
This marks the 8th consecutive week of oil rig count additions.
In precious metals, gold extended yesterday's gains and ended near a session high as the dollar index drifted modestly lower
Feb 2017 gold ended today's session up $3.20 (+0.3%) to $1133.9/oz
Mar 2017 silver closed today's session flat at $15.88/oz
The dollar index was trading -0.1% around the 103.02
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, -0.1% around the 86.29

It was a quietsession for the equity markets ahead of the Christmas holiday and the samecould be said about technology stocks.

Stocks traded ina narrow range before breaking out late in the session.

The S&P 500 closed0.1% higher while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.28%. Semiconductorstocks (SMH) outperformed, closing 0.45% higher.

Synaptics (SYNA)fell 1.6% after OTR Global was cautious on the stock regarding whether it wouldbe in the next Samsung Galaxy Phone.

NVIDIA (NVDA+2.5%) hit a new all-time again today. Goldman added to the stock that is up ~-230%YTD to its Conviction Buy List earlier in the week. The leader in visual computing posted record sales (+54% to $2.0 billion), margins (non-GAAP grossmargin +110 basis points to 89.2%) and operating income (+130% to $708 mln)last month.

NVDA's GPUs are leading chips that enable machine learning --- a themethat will become increasingly important over time. The stock trades at 38x FY16EPS and 8.7x sales. NVDA is the best performing technology stock in the S&P500 YTD, followed by Applied Materials (AMAT +75%) and Micron (MU +65%).

Red Hat (RHT +3.3%)reclaimed the 70 level today after falling 14% yesterday following a disappointingearnings report. The company missed billings estimates due to some large dealsgetting pushed out. The stock trades at ~5x sales.

Electronicsretailer Best Buy (BBY) has plummeted that last three sessions as concerns havegrown about declining traffic across the retails sector.

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - Expiration Fights Off Slow Open to Close Positive (WeekendNewsletter)

http://www.investmenthouse.com/frblog.php

- Expiration fights off a slow open to close positive.
- SOX perhaps coming back to life after a test.
- Few stocks breaking down but upside plays harder to find.
- Coming week very instructive as to how leaders finish their tests, whether
indices try a test.

The past week saw the stock indices push again to new highs, continuing the
round of new highs from the previous Friday. Thursday stocks hit the near
term upside saturation point and stalled. That stall bled over into Friday.
It was a down and up and down and up session, however, and the market ended
on the upswing. That closed the indices positive, if just barely so in most
cases.

SP500 3.94, -0.17%
NASDAQ 23.68, 0.41%
DJ30 4.28, 0.02%
SP400 0.09%
RUTX 0.05%
SOX 0.57%

VOLUME: NYSE +6%, NASDAQ -3%. NASDAQ trade was lower but remained above
average as it did all week but Monday. Indeed, NASDAQ trade has scored
above average trade 11 of the last 14 sessions. As those were most all
upside, that shows buying. NYSE trade moved above average for the first
time in 13 sessions, and of course it was on expiration where there is
elevated trade. For NYSE this move remains rather exceptionally weak in its
price/volume action, particularly when you consider volume is just about at
the levels from the long 9 week lateral consolidation range. Not tons of
upside power.

A/D: NYSE -1.1:1, NASDAQ +1.2:1. Breadth remains quite tepid as each day
the move is led by a few stocks even if the action does rotate around the
market.


Interestingly, SOX, after lagging all week, took the point Friday and moved
to a new closing high. It led the initial move so it started testing while
the others played catch up. Then it shot higher Friday as stocks such as
SWKS surged in big new breakouts.

NASDAQ continued its breakneck (almost) rally, gapping lower but reversing
to a new high as it put in its eighth new closing high in nine sessions.

SP500, DJ30, and SP400 basically tread water, managing to recover off a
lower open to hold the Wednesday and Thursday close.

No power of note, but indeed a continued upside bias as investors bought a
weaker morning session. Perhaps expiration had something to do with that as
many had to get out of positions or roll them over after a big run into that
expiration, but once again sellers had a chance to sell and did not. Heck,
even Thursday saw the stock indices recover off the session lows to close
basically flat.

The internal indicators remain weak. MACD is trying to follow the stock
indices, but is still lagging considerably behind the index prices except
for NASDAQ where MACD broke out with NASDAQ and continues to break higher
with the prices.

Sentiment is also at a more extreme level with Bullish advisor sentiment
logging another week of bulls over 60%, now 5 of 6 weeks over 60%.

Okay, it is no secret the internal market indicators as well as sentiment
suggest a top to the rally. Indeed, on Thursday and Friday we heard more of
the TV commentators talking about a near term top.

The issue is how the many, many stocks moving higher in solid trends hold
their moves, AND whether new stocks come to the fore and add to the
leadership. Thus far the leaders have indeed showed up, moved up, and held
the moves. A stock such as SWKS broke out of a big base in mid-January,
moved laterally for five weeks, then surged higher anew on Friday. NTES
gapped out of a classic cup with handle base on Thursday. YNDX moved in a
tight consolidation at prior highs for 5 weeks then blasted off as well.
RS, X and others broke sharply higher. Many other stocks continue holding
gains and moving higher or are currently testing moves but still look great.

The point: the internals and sentiment continue pointing toward a pullback
in the market, but leading stocks keep finding a way to rally or hold their
gains and support while waiting for money to rotate back their way so they
can rally once more. As long as the market has plenty of leaders setting up
to move higher and moving higher, the internals and sentiment take a back
seat. They tell you to be alert to leaders breaking down, but the move can
continue for quite some time after the internals start suggesting trouble
ahead.

I will say it was harder to find plays in good position for upside moves
this weekend, and that speaks to the rally with many stocks either having
broken higher recently or are in continuing moves that are not good entry
points. Or they are testing and do not yet look ripe to make the new break
higher. That does suggest that the upside is getting extended AND raises
questions as to how much fuel is still out there to burn to drive the
upside. So, another reason to be aware that the market could put in a peak.

As for our positions, virtually all are either moving higher still or are in
very good tests of very good moves or are set up in very good patterns. It
could be the stocks in pullbacks just don't bounce this time due to the
market bids drying up for now. They will show that by breaking near support
and being unable to recover by the close. That would be a pretty solid
signal, combined with the internals and sentiment, that the rally had run
its course.

Thus, this week's action after the NYSE indices started to slow, will be
hugely instructive. Unless there is a violent break lower, you usually have
to see where the leaders testing support close. A reach lower has been
bought in this market, and many testing leaders are at the point where they
often show one more dip then a reversal back upside sets in. Again, that
makes this week very instructive as to the rally's continued energy.

We have some really interesting upside plays to start the shortened week,
but remember, it was harder to find them. Some of the current plays look
great, e.g. SLAB, and you definitely want to keep them in mind as they are
really solid leaders in solid shape to make new solid moves. Solid.

So, let's see how those plays pan out and whether the market looks ready for
a pullback or a continued move. We know a pullback will come, and the
internals suggest it is in the making and has been in the making. We have
some downside plays in oil and gas as well as insurance along with IP thrown
in. Most sectors and particularly the indices, however, are still in solid
uptrends and have not started building tops. Thus, playing them downside is
really just a guessing game of when they crack, and if they do, how far that
crack takes them. We will definitely make some downside plays when they
show up, just was we are doing now, but many have not set up downside
patterns yet. As the different groups do, we can put some of that money to
work downside as we have done.

Have a great weekend and market day off on Monday!


THE MARKET

MARKET STATS

DJ30
Stats: +4.28 points (+0.02%) to close at 20624.05

Nasdaq
Stats: +23.68 points (+0.41%) to close at 5838.58
Volume: 1.85B (-2.63%)

Up Volume: 1.17B (+327.99M)
Down Volume: 637.19M (-422.81M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.26 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.29 to 1

New Highs: 173 (-75)
New Lows: 24 (-1)

S&P
Stats: +3.94 points (+0.17%) to close at 2351.16
NYSE Volume: 900M (+5.5%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.16 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.36 to 1

New Highs: 123 (-78)
New Lows: 11 (-1)


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 11.49; -0.27. This past week saw the situation where volatility rose
with market gains. That is always worth noting in your bearish signals log,
though VIX overall remains very low. At this juncture, upside VIX sessions
are more an indication that yes there can be a nearer term
pullback/correction. This is contrasted with the situation where VIX is
trending higher as the market trends higher. A steady uptrend in VIX
accompanying a steady uptrend in the market indices is an indication of a
longer term, serious market top setting in.
VXN: 12.07; -0.67
VXO: 11.27; +0.73

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.93; +0.04


Bulls and Bears: Bulls backed off the cycle high but still held over 60%.
Bears remain unconvinced, jumping back up to levels three weeks back.

Bulls: 61.8 versus 62.7

Bears: 17.6 versus 16.7

Theory: When everyone is bullish and has put all their capital to work,
where does the ammunition to drive the market come from? There is always
new money to start a new year. After that is used will more money be
coming? That is the question.





Bulls: 61.8 versus 62.7
62.7 versus 61.8 versus 58.2 versus 60.6 versus 58.6 versus 60.2 versus 59.8
versus 59.8 versus 59.6 versus 58.8 versus 56.3 versus 55.6 versus 51.0
versus 42.9 versus 41.7 versus 47.1 versus 42.9 versus 46.1 versus 46.7
versus 45.2 versus 44.6 versus 49.0 versus 52.5 versus 55.9 versus 56.7
versus 56.2 versus 54.3 versus 52.9% versus 53.9% versus 54.4% versus 52.5%
versus 47.1% versus 41.6% versus 47.5% versus 45.9% versus 47.3% versus
45.4% versus 35.4% versus 40.2 versus 39.2

Bears: 17.6 versus 16.7
16.7 versus 17.6 versus 17.5 versus 17.3 versus 18.3 versus 18.4 versus 19.6
versus 19.6 versus 19.2 versus 19.6 versus 22.3 versus 21.6 versus 23.5
versus 25.7 versus 24.3 versus 23.1 versus 23.8 versus 23.1 versus 22.8
versus 23.1 versus 24.3 versus 22.6 versus 22.8 versus 20.6 Versus 20.2
versus 20.0 versus 20.9% versus 21.2% versus 21.6% versus 23.3% versus 24.7%
versus 24.5% versus 23.8% versus 23.2% versus 23.5% versus 23.8% versus
23.7% versus 24.0% versus 21.7% versus 21.6% versus 21.7 versus 20.6% versus
21.7% versus 27.8% versus 27.8% versus 28.9% versus 27.8% versus 30.3%
versus 35.4%


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 2.42% versus 2.45%. Bonds rallied Thursday and Friday
after selling earlier on the Yellen congressional testimony. Still in the
more recent 7 week range as they try to continue a move off the lows, but
stuck at the 50 day EMA.

Historical: the last sub-2% rate was in November 2016 (1.867%). 2.45%
versus 2.50% versus 2.473% versus 2.43% versus 2.41% versus 2.398% versus
2.340% versus 2.393% versus 2.41% versus 2.48% versus 2.474% versus 2.477%
versus 2.44% versus 2.49% versus 2.48% versus 2.512% versus 2.52% versus
2.467% versus 2.40% versus 2.47% versus 2.468% versus 2.422% versus 2.372%
versus 2.393% versus 2.358% versus 2.365% versus 2.38% versus 2.962% versus
2.42% versus 2.357% versus 2.45% versus 2.448% versus 2.42% versus 2.48%
versus 2.51% versus 2.56% versus 2.54% versus 2.55% versus 2.54% versus
2.564% versus 2.544% versus 2.59% versus 2.59% versus 2.52% versus 2.473%


EUR/USD: 1.06108 versus 1.0665. Euro sold on the week but then bounced
Wednesday and Thursday to recover the 50 day MA's. Friday another weak
session coughed up those levels.

Historical: 1.06665 versus 1.06148 versus 1.05762 versus 1.06023 versus
1.06411 versus 1.06557 versus 1.06825 versus 1.06814 versus 1.07219 versus
1.07880 versus 1.07605 versus 1.07892 versus 1.0791 versus 1.07294 versus
1.06957 versus 1.06843 versus 1.0683 versus 1.0756 versus 1.07274 versus
1.0761 versus 1.07027 versus 1.06394 versus 1.06381 versus 1.07114 versus
1.06450 versus 1.0624 versus 1.05982 versus 1.0555 versus 1.0585 versus
1.05346 versus 105837 versus 1.0525 versus 1.03914 versus 1.05289 versus
1.05155 versus 1.04357 versus 1.04636 versus 1.0451 versus 1.04368 versus
1.04412 versus 1.0392


USD/JPY: 112.906 versus 113.356. Dollar first rallied into Yellen
testimony, but Wednesday tapped the 50 day SMA then faded into Friday. Still
working in the 7 week lateral range, trying to form a cup off the November
to December rally.

Historical: 113.356 versus 113.880 versus 114.306 versus 113.65 versus
113.856 versus 113.265 versus 113.401 versus 112.207 versus 112.332 versus
111.815 versus 112.567 versus 112.903 versus 112.68 versus 112.50 versus
114.493 versus 115.094 versus 114.469 versus 113.362 versus 113.850 versus
112.736 versus 114.39 versus 114.686 versus 114.538 versus 112.774 versus
114.473 versus 114.57 versus 114.70 versus 115.811 versus 116.023 versus
116.923 versus 115.93 versus 116.46 versus 117.983 versus 116.739 versus
116.456 versus 116.793 versus 117.41 versus 117.413 versus 117.32 versus
117.537 versus 117.544 versus 117.835 versus 117.453 versus 117.941 versus
118.257 versus 117.397 versus 115.038 versus 115.058 versus 115.20 versus
114.23 versus 113.325


Oil: 53.78, +0.03. And oil is still in the narrow 11 week lateral range
just over the 2016 highs.


Gold: 1239.10, -2.50. Testing the prior week's recovery highs off the
December low. Still trending higher off that low but bumping some resistance
and there is also the 200 day MA at 1265.


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 5838.58

Resistance:

Support:
5661 is the late January upper gap point
5601 is the January lower gap point
The 50 day EMA at 5580
The 50 day SMA at 5564
The 2016 trendline at 5559
The November prior all-time high at 5404
5340 is the September and October 2016 twin peaks
5287.61 is the September 2016 high
5271.36 is the August 2016 intraday prior all-time high
5231.94 is the 2015 all-time high
The 200 day SMA at 5220
5170 is the October intraday low.
5162 is the early November peak, 5176 is the December intraday peak
5100 from the April peak and early May peak
5042 is the March 2015 high
5008.57 is the early March 2015 post-bear market high
5007 is the 12/31 upper gap point from that big gap lower
4999 is the October upper gap point
4980 is the June 2016 peak
4969 is the April 2016 recovery high
4960 is the September 2015 intraday high, an important reversal point for
NASDAQ.
4920 is the lower gap point from mid-October 2015, the January 2016 lower
gap point
4916 is the mid-November 2015 low
4899 - 4902 from the September 2015 peak, July 2015 low
4894 is the September 2015 closing high


S&P 500: Closed at 2351.16

Resistance:

Support:
2301 is the late January 2017 high
The 2016 trendline at 2299
2282 - 2280 from January 2017
2277.53 is the December 2016 high
The 50 day SMA at 2279
The 50 day EMA at 2276
The November 2016 all-time high at 2213.25
2194 is the August 2016 prior all-time high
2175 is the June 2016 high
The 200 day SMA at 2173
2135 is the May 2015 all-time high
2130 is the June 2015 peak
2126 was the April 2015 prior all-time high
2120 is the June 2016 peak
2119 is the September 2016 low; February 2015 intraday high
2116 is the November 2015 high
2111 is the April 2016 recovery high
2104 is the December 2015 high
2094 is the December 2014 high
2079 is the intraday all-time high from November 2014
2062 is the January 2015 lower high
2046 is the July 2015 closing low
2040 is the March 2015 closing low
2026 is the May 2016 low
2023 is the November 2015 low
2020 is the September 2015 intraday high
2011 is the September prior all-time high
1995 is the September 2015 recovery peak
1991 is the July 2014 high


Dow: Closed at 20,624.05

Resistance:

Support:
20,126 is the January 2017 intraday high
20,101 is the late January closing high.
19,994 - 19,999 (early January high, upper gap point from late January
The 50 day SMA at 19,971
The 50 day EMA at 19,885
19750 is the lows of the December/January range
The 200 day SMA at 18,673
18,669 is the August 2016 all-time high
18,595 is the July 2016 peak
18,351 is the prior all-time high from May 2015
18,288 from March 2015
18,262 is the upper gap point from the Monday gap lower.
18,247 is the August 2016 low
18,168 is the April 2016 recovery high
18,100 to 18,181: interim peaks in the December 2014 to July 2015 range
18,016 is the June 2016 peak
17,992 is the early September low
17,978 is the November 2015 peak
17,960 is the October intraday low
17,600 is the rough bottom of the April to June range.
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.


ECONOMIC CALENDAR

February 22 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Applica, 02/18 (7:00): -3.7% prior
Existing Home Sales, January (10:00): 5.57M expected, 5.49M prior
FOMC Minutes, 02/01 (14:00)

February 23 - Thursday
Initial Claims, 02/18 (8:30): 242K expected, 239K prior
Continuing Claims, 02/11 (8:30): 2076K prior
FHFA Housing Price I, December (9:00): 0.4% expected, 0.5% prior
Natural Gas Inventor, 02/18 (10:30): -114 bcf prior
Crude Inventories, 02/18 (11:00): +9.5M prior

February 24 - Friday
Michigan Sentiment -, February (10:00): 95.8 expected, 95.7 prior
New Home Sales, January (10:00): 566K expected, 536K prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The stock market wrapped up the abbreviated week with its third consecutive loss as investors refused to be swayed by a handful of bullish catalysts. The major averages settled at the lower end of the day's trading range with the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-0.5%) finishing just a step ahead of the S&P 500 (-0.7%) and the Dow (-0.7%) as the technology sector (-0.4%) outperformed. For the week, the S&P 500 lost 1.1%.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM 84.40, -1.00), Citigroup (C 58.04, -0.47), and Wells Fargo (WFC 51.35, -1.77) kicked off the earnings season on Thursday morning with some better than expected results. All three companies beat earnings expectations, but differed on their top line results; JPM and C beat revenue estimates while WFC missed its mark. Investors thought about rallying around the upbeat reports, pushing JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup 2.0% higher in early action, but the gains did not last.

In the end, the financial sector (-1.3%) finished the day solidly lower, but it was not the worst performing sector. The distinction is worth pointing out, considering the fact that the financial group has been an influential force since the presidential election, consistently leading the broader market higher and lower.

The energy sector (-1.9%) did finish at the bottom of the day's standings. The energy space typically moves in tandem with crude oil, but that wasn't the case today as the commodity eked out a slim 0.1% gain. WTI crude settled at $53.18/bbl, ending the week higher by 1.8%.

On a positive note, the biotechnology industry was a diamond in the rough, evidenced by the 0.7% increase in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 290.59, +1.94). The solid performance gave the health care sector an edge while the technology group's strength stemmed from a solid performance from large-cap names like Facebook (FB 139.39, -0.19) and Alphabet (GOOGL 840.18, -1.28).

In the bond market, Treasuries closed mostly flat despite the sell-off in equities. The 10-yr Treasury note did manage to eke out a slim gain, leaving its yield one basis point lower at 2.23%. For its part, gold settled 0.8% higher at $1,288.60/ozt.

Investor participation was a bit below average again today with only 912.1 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor (50-day moving average: 1.07 billion).

On the data front, March PPI, Initial Claims, and the April Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey all came in better than expected, but, like the positive earnings reports, investors ignored the upbeat results:
March producer prices decreased 0.1%, which is below the Briefing.com consensus of 0.0%. Core producer prices where unchanged while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.2%.

The key takeaway from the report is that the downturn in final demand prices in March wasn't just a function of a downturn in energy prices.

The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 234,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 251,000. Today's tally was below the revised prior week count of 235,000 (from 234,000). As for continuing claims, they declined to 2.028 million from the revised count of 2.035 million (from 2.028 million).

The key takeaway from the report is that the initial claims data once again served as a reflection of a tightening labor market.

The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for April rose to 98.0 (Briefing.com consensus 96.3) from 96.9 in March.

The key takeaway from the report is that consumers are feeling very good about current economic conditions, evidenced by the Current Economic Conditions Index rising to its highest level since 2000 and nearly reaching the all-time peak of 121.1 set in 1999.

The stock market will be closed tomorrow in observance of Good Friday, but investors will still receive some notable economic reports. Both March CPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.0%) and March Retail Sales (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%) will cross the wires at 8:30 ET while February Business Inventories (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) will be released later in the morning at 10:00 ET.

On Monday, participants will receive April Empire Manufacturing at 8:30 ET, the April NAHB Housing Price Index at 10:00 ET, and April Net Long-Term TIC Flows at 16:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +7.8% YTD
S&P 500 +4.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +3.5% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.9% YTD

Week in Review: Caution Persists

Last week's headlines kept on giving as investors displayed caution in light of the ongoing situations in Syria and North Korea. The S&P 500 ended the week with a loss of 1.1%, but, more notably, the benchmark index finished the week below its 50-day moving average (2352).

North Korea took center stage at the beginning of the week after the U.S. Navy ordered the Carl Vinson Strike group towards the Korean Peninsula. This prompted rumors of Chinese troop movement along the North Korean border, but these claims were later refuted by China's Defense Ministry.

President Trump added some fuel to the fire on Tuesday morning, tweeting that he would like China's help in diffusing the North Korean situation, but the U.S. is willing to solve the problem on its own. However, through all the noise, the S&P 500 was flat through the first two days of the week as its 50-day moving average provided a measure of support.

North Korea will celebrate the birth anniversary of founder Kim Il-sung on April 15 and there is speculation that another nuclear test could be conducted that day.

The conflict in Syria took precedence on Wednesday as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a stop in Moscow. Mr. Tillerson met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite earlier reports that the U.S. diplomat would not have access to the Russian president, but conversations were reportedly heated. Nonetheless, the two countries agreed to establish a working group to iron out their issues.

Investors shifted their focus back to the home front on Thursday with JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), and Wells Fargo (WFC) kicking off the earnings season. All three companies reported better than expected earnings, but were mixed when it came to revenues; JPM and C beat top line estimates while WFC fell short. However, the banks were unable to capitalize on the upbeat reports, which acted as a discouraging signal to the broader market.

If one thing can be said for sure after reflecting on this week's activity, it's that investors are becoming more skeptical about the future, evidenced by the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 15.67, -0.10), which increased three points for the week. The VIX index now sits at its highest level since the presidential election.

The lingering geopolitical issues led to a notable dip in rate hike expectations. The fed funds futures market ended the week pointing to a 57.3% implied probability of a June hike, down from last week's 70.6%.

Technology stocks closed modestly lower today, outperforming the weakness in the broader market heading in to the holiday weekend. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) fell 0.4% while the S&P 500 (SPY) fell 0.7%, marking a two-month closing low.

The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) is quickly approaching support at the 130 level, near its 50 day moving averages. The S&P 500 broke through its 50-day moving average yesterday after bouncing of the key support level on Tuesday.

Semiconductors (SMH) got crushed this week, falling 3.6%. British Dialog Semiconductor fell 14% this week on reports that Apple (AAPL) may bring some of its chip business in house. This sparked some concern among Apple's massive supply chain, mostly chip makers. While the largest company in the world is great customer to have, customer concentration is a risk that also weighs on a stock;s earnings multiple. Semiconductors have had a huge run so a pullback seemed due but the iPhone 8 cycle is still in front of us.

Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) raised first quarter guidance last night. The company has now reported four consecutive blow-out quarters. The stock closed up 11% after gapping up over 20%.

Yext (YEXT) priced a 10.5 million share IPO at $11, above the $8-10 expected range. The stock opened at $14 and closed at $13.41. YEXT describes itself as a "knowledge engine" whose platform allows businesses to manage their digital knowledge (structured information that a business wants to make publicly accessible like addresses, phone numbers, menu details etc.) in the cloud and to sync it to services and platforms across the web.

As a reminder, the equity markets are closed tomorrow for Good Friday.

Next week, earnings first quarter earnings season will start in earnest:

Barracuda Networks (CUDA) and Netflix will report on Monday afternoon.
IBM (IBM) will report on Tuesday afternoon, EBay (EBAY) and QUALCOMM (QCOM) will report on Wednesday afternoon and Visa (V) and Proofpoint (PFPT) will report on Thursday afternoon.

Story Stocks® Archive
Last Update: 13-Apr-17 09:34 ET
Taiwan Semiconductor Modestly Lower After Reporting In-Line Earnings on Light Revenue (TSM)

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM 32.21, -0.08) is lower by 0.2% after reporting in-line earnings on light revenue and guiding second quarter revenue below market expectations.

The world's largest contract chipmaker reported in-line first quarter earnings of TWD3.38 per share on revenue of TWD233.91 billion, which increased 14.9% year-over-year, but was shy of expectations.

Gross margin improved to 51.9% from 44.9% one year ago.

Shipments of 16/20-nanometer technology made up 31.0% of total wafer revenue while 28-nanometer process technology accounted for 25.0% of total wafer revenue. 28-nanometer and more advanced technology made up 56.0% of total wafer revenue.

The company noted that the Taiwanese dollar has been one of the best performing currencies in Asia so far this year, which weighed on results. The company expects the Taiwanese dollar to appreciate 2.1% in the second quarter, which prompted cautious guidance.

For the second quarter, the company expects that revenue will be between TWD213 and TWD216 billion, which is shy of current market expectations. Gross margin is expected between 50.5% and 52.5%.

In addition to reporting its quarterly results, Taiwan Semiconductor said it will not bid for Toshiba's memory unit after failing to find a clear synergy.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: I can no longer get anything but inPlay from Yahoo and Briefing.com. Hopefully they will bring back some better coverage - RtS:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inplay-briefing-com-055139997.html?bypass=true#

4:27 pm Closing Market Summary: Equities Slip Ahead of French Vote (:WRAPX) :

The French presidential election, and the uncertainty that surrounds it, weighed on investor sentiment on Friday. However, a batch of positive earnings reports and an update on tax reform plans from Washington helped keep losses in check. The S&P 500 finished with a loss of 0.3% while the Nasdaq (-0.1%) and the Dow (-0.2%) finished a bit closer to their flat lines. For the week, the benchmark index added 0.9%.

On Sunday, French citizens will narrow their country's presidential race to two candidates with the market hoping that the anti-EU choices--far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon--don't make the cut. The latest polls suggest that Ms. Le Pen and centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron will make it to the final round of voting on May 7, but the race is tight with Francois Fillon trailing Le Pen in third place by only three points.

Crude oil also caused some angst among investors on Friday as the commodity dropped 2.1% to finish its trading day at $49.64/bbl. Reports suggesting that Russia may not be on board with extending the OPEC/non-OPEC production cut agreement beyond June were credited as the bearish catalyst, but the energy component struggled all week, losing nearly 7.0% since last Thursday's close. The energy sector (-0.4%) held up relatively well, settling just a tick behind the broader market.

The aforementioned headlines suppressed stocks into the afternoon session with the S&P 500 hitting its session low around 13:00 ET. From there, the major averages climbed back towards their flat lines on President Trump's promise to unveil his tax reform plan next week, which he says will include a "massive" tax cut for individuals and business. However, it's worth noting that the rebound effort was modest as investors have started placing more emphasis on actions rather than words as of late.

Earnings results were a major factor in determining sector standings. For instance, the utilities sector (+0.5%) claimed the top spot on the day's leaderboard after NextEra Energy (NEE 133.02, +2.15) beat bottom-line estimates. Similarly, Visa (V 91.15, +0.00) reported better than expected earnings and revenues, helping the technology sector (unch) outperform. Microsoft (MSFT 66.40, +0.90) also helped the tech group, bouncing off its 20-day moving average to a new record high.

Meanwhile, in the industrial sector (+0.1%), General Electric (GE 29.55, -0.72) faced heavy selling pressure despite beating top and bottom line estimates. However, the industrial group still finished ahead of the broader market after getting some help from Honeywell (HON 127.08, +3.31), which added 2.7% after reporting above-consensus earnings and revenues.

In the end, nine of eleven sectors finished lower, but the losses were generally modest. The telecom services (-1.6%) and financials (-0.9%) groups showed relative weakness while the remaining laggards finished with losses of no more than 0.5%.

U.S. Treasuries finished modestly higher with the benchmark 10-yr yield (2.23%) losing one basis point. The U.S. Dollar Index (99.81, +0.10) settled higher by 0.1%.

Investors only received one economic report--March Existing Home Sales--on Friday:

Existing home sales for March increased 4.4% from February to an annualized rate of 5.71 million units while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.58 million. The prior month's reading was revised to 5.47 million from 5.48 million. The key takeaway from the report is that demand is strong, inventory is still low, and prices continue to rise, meaning it is important for mortgage rates to stay low to support affordability conditions since home prices are rising at a much faster pace than personal income.Investors will not receive any economic data on Monday.

Nasdaq Composite +9.8% YTD
S&P 500 +4.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +4.0% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.7% YTD
Week in Review: Earnings Come Into Focus, Politics Hang in the Balance

After closing last week with three consecutive losses, the stock market returned to its winning ways on Monday. The financial sector had a hand in the bullish bias, shooting 1.6% higher, after shrugging off solid earnings reports from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C) the session before.

However, financials left investors scratching their heads, yet again, on Tuesday and Wednesday after a pair of upbeat earnings reports from Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS) sent the financial sector back towards its flat line for the week. To be fair, Goldman Sachs (GS) did disappoint with misses on top and bottom lines, however, the lone report did little to change the overall tone of the earnings season, which has been mostly positive for financials.

The focus on the financial group stems from its leadership in the stock market's post-election rally, a period in which the sector grew by 26.0%. Since then, the showing from the financial space has been closely mimicked by the broader market, which has used the sector's performance to navigate the recent waters of uncertainty.

That's not to say the financial sector deserves all the blame for the equity market's mid-week slump. Crude oil was a guilty party on Wednesday, dropping 3.6%, after the EIA reported a smaller than expected draw in U.S. crude inventories. In addition, angst on the geopolitical front, especially in regards to the French presidential election, lingered throughout the week.

On Thursday, investors shifted their attention to Washington amid reports that the Freedom Caucus, the group credited with blocking the GOP's first attempt at health care reform, is now on the same page with the moderate wing of the House GOP. Progress on health care reform has been elusive, but it would be a positive for investors as it should clear the way for more comprehensive tax reform. As a result, the S&P 500 broke its two-session losing streak to close higher by 0.8%.

The first round of the French presidential election, which will narrow the race to two candidates, kept the bulls at bay on Friday. Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, both of which have expressed interest in France leaving the European Union, are two of the top four hopefuls vying for the final round, giving some investors angst regarding the future of the single market. French citizens will take to the polls on Sunday.

After all was said and done, the S&P 500 closed the week higher by 0.9%. However, the up-and-down action led to a dip in rate hike expectations; the fed funds futures market points to a 48.5% implied probability of a June rate hike, down from last week's 57.3%. Market participants now point to July as the most likely time for the Fed to announce the next rate hike with an implied probability of 53.6%.

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From Briefing.com: 4:35 pm Texas Instruments beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q2 in-line (TXN) :
Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.89 per share, excluding a $0.08/share tax benefit, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.83; revenues rose 13.1% year/year to $3.4 bln vs the $3.31 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

"Revenue increased 13 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Demand for our products continued to be strong in the automotive market and continued to strengthen in the industrial market. "In our core businesses, Analog revenue grew 20 percent and Embedded Processing revenue grew 10 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Operating margin increased in both businesses. "Gross margin of 63.0 percent reflected the quality of our product portfolio, as well as the efficiency of our manufacturing strategy, including the benefit of 300-millimeter Analog production."

Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.89-1.01 including a $30 mln or ~$0.03/share tax benefit vs. $0.90 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $3.4-3.7 bln vs. $3.5 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:29 pm Cree reports Q3 (Mar) results, revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (CREE) :
Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.01 per share, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.06; revenues fell 6.9% year/year to $341.51 mln vs the $339.41 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
The Company's third fiscal quarter financial results included two items that would not have occurred if the Wolfspeed sale had closed. First, the Company was required to record an income tax expense charge of $86 million in the quarter to establish a valuation allowance on its US deferred tax assets and other deferred charges. In addition, the Company recorded an additional $12 million in expenses, net of tax, primarily associated with the resumption and catch-up of depreciation and amortization on Wolfspeed's long lived assets, which was partially offset by the Infineon termination fee. Wolfspeed depreciation and amortization of its long lived assets had been suspended while the assets had been held for sale pending the closing of the Wolfspeed transaction. Excluding the two items, which were not factored into the financial targets provided on January 24, 2017 based on the Company's belief at that time that the Wolfspeed sale would be consummated, non-GAAP net income would have been $11 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, which is within the target range provided on January 24.

Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.02-0.07, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.14 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $340-360 mln vs. $359.51 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Cree also announced that it is forming a joint venture, to be called Cree Venture LED Company Ltd., with San'an Optoelectronics Company Inc. (Xiamen, China) to produce and deliver to market high performing, mid-power lighting class LEDs in an exclusive arrangement to serve the expanding markets of North and South America, Europe and Japan.

"Our Wolfspeed and LED Products businesses performed at or above their targets for the quarter, while Lighting Products came in a little below plan due to softer market conditions and the lingering effects of the third party product driver issue that we mentioned in Q2. We believe the factors that impacted our lighting business are temporary and we target improvement in all three businesses in Q4."

4:28 pm Juniper Networks beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (JNPR) :
Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.46 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.42; revenues rose 11.2% year/year to $1.22 bln vs the $1.2 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Non-GAAP gross margin will be approximately 62.5%, plus or minus 0.5%. Non-GAAP operating expenses will be approximately $500 million, plus or minus $5 million. Non-GAAP operating margin will be approximately 23.5% at the midpoint of revenue guidance.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.51-0.57, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.53 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.25-1.31 bln vs. $1.28 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:19 pm Closing Market Summary: Earnings Give Stocks a Push on Tuesday (:WRAPX) :

Bullish catalysts were ripe for the picking on Tuesday as buyers advanced the S&P 500 (+0.6%) for the second time in a row, increasing the benchmark index's week-to-date gain to 1.7%. The Nasdaq (+0.7%) settled a tick higher than the S&P 500 while the Dow blew its peers away, adding 1.1%.

The positive sentiment surrounding the first round the French presidential election continued to linger on Tuesday, but investors turned their attention back to the home front where they were met with a slew of earnings reports. The results were largely favorable with Dow components like Caterpillar (CAT 10442, +7.61), McDonald's (MCD 141.70, +7.47), and DuPont (DD 82.21, +2.84) giving the price-weighted average a clear advantage. CAT shares spiked 7.9% in reaction to a big, upside earnings surprise, better than expected revenues, and upbeat guidance. MCD and DD also settled solidly higher, adding 5.6% and 3.6%, respectively, after beating top and bottom line estimates.

However, not all Dow components rallied around their latest earnings reports. 3M (MMM 195.13, +0.90) added only 0.5% despite beating top and bottom line estimates and issuing upbeat guidance. Coca-Cola (KO 43.11, -0.17) finished lower by 0.4% after a miss on earnings outweighed better than expected revenues.

Sector standings were largely determined by the day's earnings. For instance, MCD's positive performance helped the consumer discretionary sector (+0.8%) outperform while DuPont influenced the materials sector (+1.6%) to the top of the day's leaderboard. In the industrial space (+0.5%), Caterpillar did all it could to give the sector an edge, but Lockheed Martin's (LMT 270.02, -6.19) worse than expected revenues and disappointing guidance weighed, leaving the industrial group just behind the benchmark index.

Biogen (BIIB 286.89, +10.03) rallied the biotech industry, jumping 3.6%, after the company beat top and bottom line estimates. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 295.55, +3.81) settled higher by 1.3%, however, the health care sector (+0.5%) was held back by big losses from Eli Lilly (LLY 81.20, -2.22) and Express Scripts (ESRX 60.01, -7.24). ESRX plunged 10.8% after disclosing that its contract with Anthem (ANTM 172.46, +4.05) is unlikely to be extended.

With the uncertainty regarding the French presidential election largely in the rear-view mirror, the financial sector (+0.8%) benefited from some belated buying as investors tried to make up for last week's muted response to a host of better than expected earnings reports from top financial components.

Summarizing the sector standings, nine of eleven sectors finished in positive territory. The materials group closed at the top of the standings by a wide margin while the utilities (-0.1%) and telecom services (-0.3%) spaces finished in negative territory at the bottom. The real estate (+0.2%) and consumer staples (+0.3%) sectors underperformed, and the remaining sectors--financials, consumer discretionary, industrials, energy, technology, and health care--settled with gains between 0.5% and 0.8%.

However, it is important to note that while a swath of earnings was the most obvious catalyst behind today's advance, politics certainly played a supporting role. Namely, investors cheered the renewed push for tax reform (with, or without, health care reform), a sense that Congress will avoid a government shutdown this week, and China's diplomatic emphasis on quieting tensions over North Korea.

The resulting risk-on sentiment was felt throughout the bond market with Treasuries closing lower across the board. The 10-yr yield settled six basis points higher at 2.33%, which is notable given the recent resistance the benchmark yield has encountered around the 2.30% mark.

On the data front, investors received several economic reports on Tuesday, including March New Home Sales, April Consumer Confidence, the February Case-Shiller Home Price Index, and the February FHFA Housing Price Index:

New Home Sales in March hit an annualized rate of 621,000, which was above the revised February rate of 587,000 (from 592,000), and more than the 590,000 that was expected by the Briefing.com consensus.
The key takeaway from the report is that demand for new homes was strong, notwithstanding higher price points from the same period a year ago.
The consumer confidence reading for April fell to 120.3 from the prior month's revised reading of 124.9 (from 125.6). The Briefing.com consensus expected the survey to hit 122.3.
The key takeaway from the report is that confidence remains at high levels and indicative of an expectation that the economy will continue to expand in the months ahead.
The February Case-Shiller 20-city Index hit 5.9% to follow last month's unrevised 5.7% increase. The Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.8%.
The FHFA Housing Price Index for February increased 0.8%, which followed a revised uptick of 0.2% (from 0.0%) in January.

Tomorrow, investors will receive only one economic report--the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index--at 7:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +11.9% YTD
S&P 500 +6.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.0% YTD

4:12 pm iRobot beats EPS handily, beats on revs; guides FY17 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (IRBT) :
Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.58 per share, $0.27 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.31; revenues rose 28.8% year/year to $168.5 mln vs the $155.9 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Note: In Q1, co adopted a new accounting standard related to stock comp expense. As a result, co recorded a $0.06 discrete tax benefit. Not clear if this is in the consensus but looks like a solid EPS beat either way.

Co issues guidance for FY17, sees EPS of $1.45-1.70 vs. $1.70 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate and vs prior guidance of $1.35-1.65; sees FY17 revs of $780-790 mln vs. $774.8 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate and vs prior guidance of $770-785 mln.

Co says the guidance reflects its confidence that the momentum built during the 2016 holiday season, particularly in the US and EMEA, will continue throughout 2017. In addition, greater control over marketing in China and Japan will enable the co to accelerate growth in those regions..."We are off to a great start in 2017 and tracking well to our near and longer term plans."

4:03 pm Cree forms JV w/ San'an Optoelectronics to produce and deliver to market high-performing, mid-power lighting class LED packaged products in an exclusive arrangement to serve the expanding markets of North and South America, Europe and Japan, and serve China (CREE) :

Leveraging Cree's superior portfolio of patents and global sales channels, this joint venture will bring to market a broad portfolio of high-performance mid-power products to serve the fast growing, $4 billion global mid-power LED market. Cree will own 51 percent of the joint venture, and San'an will own 49 percent of the joint venture. Cree and San'an are targeting initial product sales by the joint venture in the third calendar quarter of 2017. Cree will receive royalties from the joint venture on its patent portfolio.

The broader market backed up yesterday's strong session with an equally positive Tuesday affair. Leading the action higher, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 232.23 points (+1.12%) to 20996.12. The Nasdaq Composite was up 41.67 points (+0.70%) to 6025.49, while the S&P 500 finished 14.46 points higher (+0.61%) to 2388.61. Today's action in the Nasdaq put the index above the 6K mark for the first time ever.

Economic data today included the New Home Sales reading for March which hit an annualized rate of 621,000, which was above the revised February rate of 587,000 (from 592,000). Also, the consumer confidence reading for April fell to 120.3 from the prior month's revised reading of 124.9 (from 125.6). The February Case-Shiller 20-city Index hit 5.9% to follow last month's unrevised 5.7% increase. Lastly, the FHFA Housing Price Index for February increased 0.8%, which followed a revised uptick of 0.2% (from 0.0%) in January.

The Technology (XLK 54.08, +0.28 +0.52%) space fell about middle of the pack on Tuesday among fellow S&P sectors. Component Corning (GLW 28.54, +1.02 +3.71%) was among the better performers today after better than expected Q1 earnings. As for the remaining S&P sectors Materials XLB +1.61% led the way, followed by IYZ +1.36%, XLF +0.89%, XLE +0.85%, XLY +0.79%, XLI +0.48%, XLV +0.43%, XLP +0.40%, XLRE +0.22%, XLU -0.13%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (922.11, +5.72 +0.62%) space, trading was well higher. Component Texas Instruments (TXN 82.36, +1.28 +1.58%) was also strong ahead of its quarterly report tonight. Other names in the space which outperformed today included EBAY +2.37%, LRCX +2.28%, STX +2.21%, NVDA +1.74%, FSLR +1.70%, MU +1.58%, WDC +1.29%, GOOGL +1.13%, GOOG +1.11%, MCHP +1.03%, PYPL +0.99%, ATVI +0.94%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Logitech Intl SA (LOGI 31.79, +0.99 +3.21%) entered a new $250 million share buyback program.

IBM (IBM 160.39, -0.36 -0.22%) increased its quarterly dividend to $1.50 per share from $1.40 per share.

Marvell (MRVL 15.49, +0.43 +2.86%) appointed Neil Kim as Chief Technology Officer.

Straight Path Comms' (STRP 128.96, +18.07 +16.30%) Board determined that an unsolicited offer from a 'multi-national telecommunications company' for $104.64 per share in stock constitutes a 'Superior Proposal'. The company in question was confirmed later by Reuters, citing a source, as Verizon (VZ 46.70, -0.35 -0.74%).

MTS Systems (MTSC 46.80, +0.80 +1.74%) announced the appointment of Brian Ross to CFO effective May 12.

TD Ameritrade (AMTD 39.04, -0.09 -0.23%) priced an offering of $800 million of senior notes due 2027; will bear interest at a rate of 3.300%.

ABB (ABB 24.24, +0.31 +1.30%) and IBM (IBM) announced a strategic collaboration that brings together ABB's industry leading digital offering, ABB Ability, with IBM Watson Internet of Things cognitive capabilities to unlock new value for customers in utilities, industry, transport and infrastructure.

In reaction to quarterly results:

SAP AG (SAP 102.13, +0.75 +0.74%) reported worse than expected Q1 earnings of EUR0.73 on better than expected revenues of EUR5.29 billion. For FY17, SAP reaffirmed revenue guidance in the range of EUR23.2-23.6 billion.

T-Mobile US (TMUS 67.35, +1.42 +2.15%) reported Q1 GAAP EPS of $0.80 on in-line revenues of $9.61 billion.

Corning (GLW) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.39 on in-line revenues of $2.38 billion.

Ericsson (ERIC 6.25, -0.11 -1.73%) reported worse than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of SEK2.42 and SEK46.4 billion, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: T, CLGX, CREE, EEFT, JNPR, LOGI, MRCY, RNG, TXN, TSS, ULTI, ZIXI/APH, AUDC, BCE, FLIR, LN, STX, SLAB, SONS, TEL, TWTR, VNTV

Analyst actions:

AMX was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank,
APPS was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Craig Hallum;
AMZN was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James,
CDNS was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at DA Davidson,
DSPG was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Wunderlich;
QRVO, FIT, ORBC, CAMP, WIFI, MOBL, DGII, IMMR, SQNS, and IPAS were all initiated with Buy ratings at The Benchmark Company,
OLED, IDCC, SWIR, SSNI, DSPG were initiated with Hold ratings at The Benchmark Company,
EQIX was initiated with an Overweight at Mitsubishi UFJ,
RESN was initiated with a Buy at Rodman & Renshaw

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From Briefing.com: 4:29 pm Closing Market Summary: Averages Climb to New Record Highs (:WRAPX) :The stock market claimed its first victory of the week in style with the S&P 500 (+0.8%), the Nasdaq (+0.8%), and the Dow (+0.7%) all closing at new record highs. It was also encouraging that the Dow Jones Transportation Average (+1.2%) and the domestically-oriented Russell 2000 (+1.9%), both leading indicators that do well when it's thought that economic activity is picking up, finished well above the broader market.

A better than expected ADP National Employment Report for May (253,000 actual vs 180,000 Briefing.com consensus) was enough to place the major averages a tick above their flat lines at the opening bell. However, the early momentum stalled immediately thereafter as the S&P 500 faced some technical resistance at its previous record close (2,415.8).

Range-bound action prevailed until around 11:00 ET when the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly crude inventory report. The EIA reading came in better than expected, showing that U.S. crude stocks declined by 6.4 million barrels (-3.0 million barrels consensus) for the week ended May 26.

Crude oil held a modest gain of 0.5% going into the EIA release and then more than doubled it in the aftermath, climbing as high as $49.17/bbl. The energy sector (+0.7%), and the broader market, also moved higher, helping the S&P 500 overcome the technical resistance it faced in early-morning action.

From there, the stock market never looked back as the financial sector (+1.2%) continued to pick up strength into the afternoon. The financial sector's solid performance undoubtedly had a positive impact on investor sentiment considering the group's recent struggles. For instance, just yesterday, the sector slipped 0.8% on cautious commentary from industry leaders.

The influential health care sector (+1.2%) also played an important leadership role as biotech names outperformed. The sector benefited from broad strength, but the biotechnology industry made a notable contribution, evidenced by the 1.8% increase in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 290.89, +5.14).

Retailers also performed exceptionally well, pushing the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 41.64, +0.90) higher by 2.2% and helping the consumer discretionary sector (+0.9%) finish ahead of the broader market. The lightly-weighted materials group (+1.1%) also demonstrated relative strength, but most of the remaining sectors settled roughly in line with the broader market.

However, the top-weighted technology sector (+0.3%) lagged throughout Thursday's session amid spiritless performances from some of its most influential components, including Apple (AAPL 153.18, +0.42), Microsoft (MSFT 70.10, +0.26), Facebook (FB 151.53, +0.07), and Alphabet (GOOGL 988.29, +1.20). Still, for the year, the technology sector is higher by an impressive 20.0%.

Crude oil, which helped free the stock market of technical resistance early, faded into the close, settling flat at $48.32/bbl. However, the stock market did just the opposite with a late-afternoon uptick leaving the major averages at their session highs. For the week, the S&P 500 now trades higher by 0.6%.

It's also worth noting that President Trump officially announced his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, as expected. The announcement did not move the broader market.

U.S. Treasuries settled the day slightly lower with the benchmark 10-yr yield climbing one basis point to 2.21%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (97.14, +0.23) added 0.2%.

In addition to the ADP Employment Change Report for May, investors received several other economic reports on Thursday, including Initial Claims, April Construction Spending, and the May ISM Manufacturing Index:

The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 248,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 239,000. Today's tally was above the revised prior week count of 235,000 (from 234,000). As for continuing claims, they declined to 1.915 million from the revised count of 1.924 million (from 1.923 million).

The key takeaway from the report is that it reflects a general reluctance still among employers to cut payrolls, which is indicative of a belief that it is tough to find new workers and/or the demand outlook is favorable.

The Construction Spending report for April showed a decrease of 1.4% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.5%. The prior month's reading was revised to 1.1% from -0.2%.

The key takeaway from the report is that it will curtail some of the second quarter GDP growth estimates since spending in April was roughly in-line with the first quarter average.

The ISM Manufacturing Index for May rose to 54.9 from an unrevised reading of 54.8 in April while the Briefing.com consensus expected a downtick to 54.7.

The key takeaway from the report is that the manufacturing sector is still humming along in an expansion mode, paced by growth in new orders.

Tomorrow, investors will receive the Employment Situation Report for May (Briefing.com consensus 185,000) and the April Trade Balance (Briefing.com consensus -$44.3 billion).

Nasdaq Composite +16.0% YTD
S&P 500 +8.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +7.0% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.9% YTD

4:10 pm Broadcom beats by $0.19, beats on revs; guides JulQ revs above consensus (AVGO) :

Reports Q2 (Apr) non-GAAP EPS of $3.69 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.19 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $3.50; non-GAAP revenues rose 17.9% year/year to $4.20 bln vs the $4.11 bln Capital IQ Consensus and vs prior guidance of $4.025-4.175 bln.

Co issues upside guidance for Q3 (Jul), sees Q3 non-GAAP revs of $4.375-4.525 bln, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $4.27 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Non-GAAP operating margin from continuing operations was 44.1% vs 37.3% last year and 43.5% in JanQ.

"We delivered strong financial results for our second fiscal quarter with revenue, gross margin and EPS all above the top end of guidance...Anticipating that end markets will remain healthy, we expect [JulQ] revenue growth of approximately 6% sequentially, driven by solid growth from our wired segment and a seasonal second half ramp in our wireless segment."

Co has approved a quarterly, interim cash dividend of $1.02 per ordinary share. A corresponding distribution will also be paid by the Partnership, of which the company is the General Partner, to holders of REUs, in the amount of $1.02 per REU. The dividend and the distribution are both payable on June 30, 2017 to shareholders or unitholders of record on June 19, 2017.

Tech Stocks from Briefing.com

The broader market surged to begin June as both the S&P and the Nasdaq made all-time highs. The Nasdaq Composite edged out the S&P, gaining 48.31 points (+0.78%) to 6246.83. The S&P 500 was up 18.26 points (+0.76%) to 2430.06, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 135.53 points (+0.65%) to 21144.18.

Today's economic data included the latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 248,000, above the revised prior week count of 235,000 (from 234,000). As for continuing claims, they declined to 1.915 million from the revised count of 1.924 million (from 1.923 million). The Construction Spending report for April showed a decrease of 1.4% while the prior month's reading was revised to 1.1% from -0.2%. The ISM Manufacturing Index for May rose to 54.9 from an unrevised reading of 54.8 in April.

Finishing at the bottom of the list, albeit still in the green, the Technology (XLK 56.67, +0.14 +0.25%) sector was the worst performing S&P sector. Component CenturyLink (CTL 25.87, +1.46 +5.98%) was the best performer today as it was announced that after the closing of the CTL/Level 3 (LVLT 61.86, +2.34 +3.93%) deal, current LVLT CEO Jeff Storey would join CTL as COO. The US Telecom IYZ +1.50% space led the S&P higher today, followed by XLF +1.33%, XLB +1.15%, XLV +1.14%, XLY +0.94%, XLP +0.81%, XLU +0.71%, XLI +0.67%, XLE +0.63%, XLRE +0.31%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (969.59, +2.75 +0.28%) space, trading made a new all-time high today at $969.77. Component Alphabet (GOOG 966.95, +2.09 +0.22%) was modestly higher as the company was the subject of some reports which suggested it may face a large fine from the EU related to its shopping service; the company was also the subject of a report that it would give publishers time to prepare for an upcoming ad blocker software change to its Chrome web browser. Other names in the space which outperformed included FLIR +2.77%, JNPR +2.56%, MSI +2.48%, AKAM +2.44%, QCOM +2.36%, VRSN +2.35%, WU +2.21%, GLW +1.96%, GPN +1.86%, PYPL +1.82%, CSRA +1.72%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Alphabet (GOOG) may face large EU fine related to its shopping service, according to Reuters. Also today, the WSJ reported that GOOG will give publishers time to prepare for an incoming ad blocking change to its Chrome web browser.

OSI Systems (OSIS 80.21, +1.02 +1.29%) to acquire the global explosive trace detection business from

Smiths Group (SMGZY 21.08, flat) for $75.5 million in cash.

CenturyLink (CTL) announced that upon closing of the CenturyLink/Level 3 (LVLT) acquisition, Jeff Storey, currently president and CEO of Level 3, will join CenturyLink as its president and COO.

Arista Networks (ANET 148.52, +1.14 +0.77%) traded higher today after reports of a favorable patent ruling.

Vivendi (VIVHY 22.10, +0.45 +2.08%) confirmed that Arnaud de Puyfontaine was appointed as Executive Chairman of Telecom Italia (TI 9.47, +0.01 +0.11%) at the company's Board meeting held today.

Itron (ITRI 68.60, +0.95 +1.40%) appointed Joan Hooper as CFO effective June 5.

Intelsat (I 3.03, -0.05 -1.62%) announced the termination of a debt exchange offers. As a result, Intelsat 'expects that OneWeb and SoftBank (SFTBY 40.64, +0.07 +0.17%) will exercise their respective termination rights under the Combination Agreement and related Share Purchase Agreement on June 2'.

Citron Research was out positive on BlackBerry (BBRY 11.39, +0.82 +7.76%) shares.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 17.52, -1.29 -6.86%) reported in-line Q2 EPS of $0.35 on revenues which beat market expectations at $9.9 billion. For Q3, the company sees EPS below market expectations at $0.24-0.28. For FY17, the company sees EPS of $1.46-1.56.

Mobileye N.V. (MBLY 61.92, +0.02 +0.03%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.25 and $124.7 million, respectively.

Palo Alto Networks (PANW 138.99, +20.40 +17.20%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $0.61 and $431.8 million, respectively. For Q4, PANW expects EPS ahead of market expectations at $0.78-0.80 and revenues of $481-491 million.

Ciena (CIEN 27.19, +3.71 +15.80%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.45 and $707.02 million, respectively. For Q3, the company sees revenues of $710-740 million. For FY17, CIEN sees revenue growth of 8-9% which equates to about $2.808-2.834 billion.

Box (BOX 20.48, +1.78 +9.52%) reported a better than expected Q1 loss per share of $0.13 and revenues of $117.2 million. For Q2, the company sees EPS and revenues in-line of ($0.13)-($0.12) and $121-122 million, respectively. For FY18, the company sees EPS and revenues in-line at ($0.48)-($0.44) and $502-506 million, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results after the bell: AVGO, GWRE, VMW, WDAY

Analyst actions:

PANW was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Gabelli & Co,
CIEN was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Drexel Hamilton,
BOX was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Mitsubishi UFJ,
PLT was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan,
BNFT and SONS were upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at William Blair;
VOD was downgraded to Reduce from Accumulate at Standpoint Research;
FDC and GPN were both initiated with Buy ratings at Stifel

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Another Record Finish Following Senate Vote
20-Oct-17 16:30 ET
Dow +165.59 at 23328.63, Nasdaq +23.99 at 6629.05, S&P +13.11 at 2575.21

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/10/20/another-record-finish-following-senate-vote.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] U.S. equities advanced to new record highs once again on Friday after the Senate passed a budget blueprint for 2018, which was seen as an important step for an eventual tax overhaul. The Dow (+0.7%) led Friday's advance, closing at a record high for the fifth session in a row. The S&P 500 (+0.5%) also notched its fifth straight record close, while the Nasdaq (+0.4%) registered its third record finish of the week.

The major indices opened with gains of around 0.3% apiece and slowly extended those gains into the afternoon, eventually settling near their session highs.

Financial stocks were particularly bullish following the Senate vote, with heavyweights like Goldman Sachs (GS 244.73, +4.74), Wells Fargo (WFC 54.92, +1.17), and Bank of America (BAC 27.17, +0.59) adding at least 2.0% apiece. The S&P 500's financial sector finished at the top of the day's sector standings with a gain of 1.2%.

The risk-on tone was present outside the equity market as well, sending safe-haven assets into negative territory. U.S. Treasuries moved lower in a curve-steepening trade--which added an additional boost to lenders. The benchmark 10-yr yield jumped six basis points to 2.38%, while the 2-yr yield climbed one basis point to 1.57%.

Higher yields increased the demand for the U.S. dollar, sending the U.S. Dollar Index higher by 0.6% to 93.57. The greenback showed particular strength against the Japanese yen--which is considered a safe-haven asset--climbing 0.8% to 113.50. On a related note, gold declined by 0.8% to $1,280.30/ozt.

Industrial heavyweight General Electric (GE 23.83, +0.25) faced heavy selling at the opening bell after missing earnings estimates and issuing disappointing earnings guidance for fiscal year 2017. However, after opening with a loss of around 8.0%, the company bounced back to end the day with a gain of 1.1%. The industrial sector (+1.1%) finished right behind financials at the top of the leaderboard.

Meanwhile, the top-weighted technology sector also had a solid showing, adding 0.7%. PayPal (PYPL 70.97, +3.72) was the group's strongest component after reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenues and issuing upbeat revenue guidance for the fourth quarter. PYPL shares finished higher by 5.5%.

On the flip side, the consumer staples sector struggled, finishing with a loss of 0.2%. Within the group, Procter & Gamble (PG 88.25, -3.34) showed particular weakness, despite reporting above-consensus earnings. P&G shares dropped 3.7%. The only other sector to finish in negative territory was real estate (-0.1%).

After passing the budget blueprint, the next step for the Senate will be to reconcile its version of the budget with the version that the House passed earlier this month. This could be a challenge as the two budget resolutions conflict on the deficit; the House version is deficit-neutral while the Senate's calls for a $1.5 trillion increase in the deficit over a decade.

However, if the two sides can come to an agreement, Republicans will have the ability to pass tax reform without any support from the Democrats under the reconciliation process--which requires only a simple majority in the Senate versus the typical 60-vote threshold.

Reviewing Friday's economic data, which included September Existing Homes Sales and the Treasury Budget for September:

Existing home sales for September increased 0.7% from August to an annualized rate of 5.39 million units while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.29 million. The prior month's reading was left unrevised at 5.35 million.
The key takeaway from the report is that notable supply constraints remain, which will continue to act as a drag on overall sales due to the limited inventory and the high prices on available inventory that is crimping affordability.
The Treasury Budget for September showed a surplus of $8.0 billion versus a surplus of $33.4 billion for September 2016.

Investors will not receive any economic data on Monday.

Nasdaq Composite +23.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +18.0% YTD
S&P 500 +15.0% YTD
Russell 2000 +11.2% YTD

Week In Review: October Rally Continues

The stock market advanced once again this week, notching a new record high in all five sessions, as investors digested another batch of third quarter earnings. The S&P 500 finished higher by 0.9%, while the Dow (+2.0%) did noticeably better and the Nasdaq (+0.4%) did modestly worse. For the month, the S&P 500 has added 2.2%.

Equities had their best performance on Friday after the Senate voted in favor of a budget blueprint for 2018--a crucial step for an eventual tax overhaul. If the upper chamber can reconcile its version of the budget with the version the House passed earlier this month, Republicans will have the ability to pass tax reform without any support from the Democrats under the reconciliation process.

The S&P 500's financial sector (+2.0%) was in focus for much of the week thanks to heavyweights like Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS), both of which reported third quarter results on Tuesday morning. Goldman Sachs initially sold off following its release, but bounced back later in the week to finish higher by 2.6%. Morgan Stanley did even better, climbing 4.9%.

Health care stocks also rallied this week, with Dow components UnitedHealth (UNH) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) pacing the advance. The two companies ended the week higher by 7.8% and 4.4%, respectively, after reporting better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday. The health care sector added 1.8%, finishing right behind financials at the top of the leaderboard.

Technology giant IBM (IBM) had a strong week, surging 10.2%, after reporting better-than-expected profits and sales on Tuesday afternoon. The company's positive performance helped the top-weighted technology sector climb 1.0% and helped the price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average finish comfortably above the other major indices.

Telecom stocks within the S&P 500 finished slightly ahead of the broader market. Wireless giant Verizon (VZ) was a positive influence, climbing 3.5%, as investors rallied around its above-consensus earnings. The telecom services sector added 1.1% this week, but the advance did little to change the group's overwhelmingly bearish October trend; telecoms have dropped 4.7% month-to-date.

The consumer staples sector finished at the very bottom of the sector standings with a loss of 1.2%. Procter & Gamble (PG) and Philip Morris (PM) were among the most notable laggards within the group. P&G slipped 5.2% despite reporting above-consensus earnings, while Philip Morris lost 3.9% after missing both top and bottom line estimates and issuing disappointing guidance.

Speculation surrounding President Trump's Fed Chair nomination heated up this week. Current Fed Chair Janet Yellen could be appointed for another four-year term, but reports indicate that Fed Governor Jerome Powell and Stanford University economist John Taylor are the two leading candidates. Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and chief economic advisor Gary Cohn are also still in the mix.

Following this week's events, the CME FedWatch Tool places the chances of a December rate hike at 93.1%, up from 82.9% last week.

[ReturntoSender]

A Mixed Monday
04-Dec-17 16:25 ET
Dow +58.46 at 24290.05, Nasdaq -72.22 at 6775.35, S&P -2.78 at 2639.44

https://www.financialsense.com/jill-mislinski/we-are-now-tech-bubble-territory

[BRIEFING.COM] The major stock indices ended Monday mixed as weakness in technology and health care shares limited the impact of gains elsewhere.

Equities opened the day at record highs, but technology shares moved sharply lower soon thereafter. The Dow (+0.2%) still managed to settle at a new all-time high but, like its peers, finished near its lowest mark of the day. The S&P 500 (-0.1%) held a gain until the very end, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-1.1%) was weak throughout the session.

At their best marks of the day, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq held gains of 1.3%, 0.9%, and 0.8%, respectively.

Six of eleven sectors finished the session in positive territory, with all six adding at least 0.8% apiece--financials (+1.6%), consumer discretionary (+1.2%), industrials (+0.8%), materials (+1.0%), consumer staples (+0.9%), and telecom services (+1.6%). The prospect of tax reform largely fueled the broad strength.

The U.S. Senate passed its version of a tax reform bill over the weekend, placing the GOP one step closer to fulfilling its promise of the largest tax overhaul in more than 30 years. Lawmakers will now attempt to reconcile the Senate's version with the version the House passed a few weeks back--a process Republicans are hoping to complete by Christmas.

In addition, a correction to a report that ABC released on Friday also acted as a bullish catalyst. The news agency originally reported that President Trump asked Michael Flynn to contact the Russians during his presidential campaign but later edited that statement, saying the request was made after Mr. Trump had already won the election.

Within the consumer discretionary group, Dow component Walt Disney (DIS 110.22, +4.97) jumped 4.7% following a Wall Street Journal report that the company has restarted talks to acquire assets from 21st Century Fox (FOXA 33.09, +0.90), and retailers sent the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 44.52, +1.00) higher by 2.3%.

In the industrial space, transports also showed particular strength, evidenced by the Dow Jones Transportation Average (+1.8%), which closed at a new record high.

However, the impact of the aforementioned gains was largely mitigated by the top-weighted technology sector, which fell to profit taking at the tail end of an impressive year. The group dropped 1.9%--marking the second time in less than a week it has lost more than 1.0% in a day--but still remains the year's top-performing sector with a year-to-date gain of 33.5%.

For comparison, the S&P 500 has added 17.9% year to date, and the second-best performer--financials--is up 20.0%.

The heavily-weighted health care sector also did some damage on Monday, losing 1.2%. Within the space, health insurer Aetna (AET 178.70, -2.61) lost 1.4% after announcing it will be acquired by CVS Health (CVS 71.69, -3.43) for $207 per share in cash and stock. CVS shares tumbled 5.0%.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries moved lower in another curve-flattening trade that reduced the 2yr-10yr spread by two basis points. The yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note climbed two basis points to 2.38%, while the 2-yr yield jumped four basis points to 1.81%.

Elsewhere, equities in Europe finished Monday broadly higher, with the Euro Stoxx 50 adding 1.5%, while indices in the Asia-Pacific region settled mixed. Brexit negotiations have reportedly stalled due to differences over the Irish border, which divides the Republic of Ireland (EU member) and Northern Ireland (part of the UK).

Reviewing Monday's economic data, which was limited to October Factory Orders:

The Factory Orders Report for October showed a decrease of 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus -0.4%), while the September increase was revised to 1.7% from 1.4%.
The key takeaway from the report is that business spending is increasing to help drive stronger GDP growth.

On Tuesday, investors will receive just two economic reports--the October Trade Balance (Briefing.com consensus -$47.4 billion) and November ISM Services (Briefing.com consensus 59.3). The two pieces of data will be released at 8:30 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite +25.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +22.9% YTD
S&P 500 +17.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +12.9% YTD