Replies to post #10280 on Sector Investing

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SOX Components on 5 Year Weekly Charts versus the VIX (Volatility Index)
































http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cp?s=^SOX+Components

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Solar Stocks (TAN) Holdings in Various Time Frames - TSL, FSLR, GTAT, YGE, SPWR, CSIQ, SUNE, SCTY, TSL:
































http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hl?s=TAN+Holdings

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InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary

http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

- Stocks add to the Thursday renewal of the renewal rally.
- Bernanke's Bluff: His emphasis on creating a higher stock market created wealth, but at the very upper end, and it is not being put to work.
- JOLTS versus Non-Farms: both BLS data, but JOLTS net jobs picture is much dimmer.
- Temporary jobs swamp the economy.
- Bonds and gold suggest Fed has no choice but to pull QE, now sooner than later, but will the Fed have more resolve than China?
- Thanksgiving week is typically higher, but more and more downside possibilities are presenting.

Another move higher as SP500 posts 7 weeks upside, crosses 1800.

DJ30 pushed past 16K on Thursday so it was fitting SP500 pushed over 1800 on the Friday close. Ah, another milestone.

The two market leading indices pushed to new highs Friday, pulling the rest of the market with them.

SP500 8.91, 0.50%
NASDAQ 22.50, 0.57%
DJ30 54.78, 0.34%
SP400 0.20%
RUTX 0.47%
SOX 0.06%

Volume mixed: -7.8% NYSE, +2.2% NASDAQ

SP500 posted its seventh upside week, something not done since, get this, back in 2007. With all the QE pushed into the markets since early 2009, you have to go pre-crash to get a 7 week run. Now the cynical could look at that and say that suggests the current run is getting old; after all, the stock market crashed starting 2007.

Fed at the crossroads: new chairman but new policies or the same old? QE has NOT worked.

Whether it crashes or not remains to be seen. For now the Fed is still flooding the economy and thus the stock market, with liquidity, though I believe Bernanke really wants to end QE as he realizes that it has not worked to plan. Yes the stock market has surged, but the 'wealth effect,' if any, resides in the top 0.1% of the socioeconomic scale. Sales of yachts, armored automobiles, homes with price tags in the tens of millions are strong, providing most of the consumption in the economy.

Economy is NOT strong.

It is a misstatement to say that the economy is strong. The upper end has concentrated more and more of the wealth as several studies have detailed the financial market gains are in the most part going to the wealthiest with net worth in excess of $10M. We of course have made great money in this stock market run, but you are the exception in the 'ordinary' US citizen.

The 1970's again as Obama gets the second term Carter was denied because of actual media reporting.

This is so very similar to the 1970's and the rolling recessions and rolling stock market of that time. Money was made by the top end, but much of it was simply not put to use given high tax rates, regulations, and uncertainties. Today uncertainties and high regulation are keeping those who have made money from spending it. They are using the virtually free money available to the upper end to make more money, but that money is not being invested in the US. It is, as it was in the 1970's, put away, sheltered, waiting for a better risk/reward climate to return to productive use. Why start a business when you have regulatory risk (the EPA is virtually unfettered in writing regulations over businesses), uncertain insurance risk, uncertain foreign policy risk? If you are ultra-wealthy you can afford to sit it out and wait.

There was an oil boom in the late 1970's just as there is one now. At the same time some areas of the country benefit from that boom, the majority of other industries are stagnant. Auto sales remain rather solid, but the US has a peculiar love for an auto and will sacrifice most everything else to drive a new vehicle. Indeed, new, upscale vehicles are the opiate of the middle class. Give them a nice car to drive and they feel they have 'made it.' The federal government is happy to oblige, underwriting millions up millions of dollars of auto loans. Recall that consumer credit saw NEGATIVE credit card debt but surging auto and student loan debt. Why? Because we have been well-taught that we don't have to pay back government loans.

There are few jobs created, most part-time.

You are told that the economy is creating 184K non-farm jobs per month over the past year. Yet the JOLTS data (jobs created net jobs lost) released Friday, also straight from BLS records, indicates just 150K jobs per month.

And what is the makeup of those jobs? Investor's Business Daily compiled the data and found that since August 2009, post the President's 'stimulus' package, temporary jobs have grown 57% versus 4% gains for all other categories.

But let's go beyond the parsing. Those in the news and economics industry get caught up in indicators here and there. The Administration only looks at the numbers the BLS produces, and those are now at least HIGHLY questionable given the recent revelations about the pre-election sharp unemployment rate decline.

No, the cold, hard, naked, and sobering big picture facts show how this is a non-jobs producing economy. I have stated these figures before, but they are devastating to the argument that a 5 year recovery is gaining speed and indeed is even a recovery.

91.5M working aged citizens are completely out of the workforce. 14M working aged citizens are looking for work but are either out of work or cannot find a fulltime jobs. Thus, approximately 105M people of working age are not working.

41.3% of the US population receives federal government benefits as of January 2013 (Heritage Foundation). That is 128M people, but Heritage notes that most likely undercounts the number as it is based on 2011 census stats. 46.5M people receive food stamps. Growth in the percent of people receiving assistance far exceeds population growth: since 1988, 62% more people receive benefits while the population has grown just 27%. Benefit recipients are growing at more than 2x population growth.

The bottom line:

-The US population is 316M, young and old, working age and non-working age.
-105M WORKING AGE people are out of work.
-One-third of the TOTAL US population is not working.

How can ANYONE argue the economy is good today? In March 2009 when QE started there were roughly 81M people out of the workforce. In the 'recovery,' another 10.5M have dropped out of the workforce. If you look at late 2007, 'just' 78.5M were out of the workforce. The 'recovery' should see people return to the workforce. Not happening.

The result: wealth created (given?) is being hoarded thanks to the economic/government climate.

These stats make my point: any benefits from QE have gone to the very few just as the stimulus benefits went to a few select favorites of the Administration. It is now apparent that the effects/benefits have been the same for the overall economy: none. The money goes to the select and they recover and growth their wealth, but they do nothing with it for now because of such a poor and uncertain economic environment.

By uncertain, I don't just mean the poor economic performance, but the whim of the Administration, particularly now that the filibuster rule in the Senate is gone for judicial appointments and will be gone for even legislation before this is all finished. No one is willing to risk what they were given back in the great stimulus wealth redistribution and the QE bubble creation.

Taper at Christmas or wait until January?

Bernanke sees that QE is not working as hoped and is creating massive imbalances. Yellen sees the same thing. While they will try to keep interest rates low for decades, QE is another story. Whether there is a taper in December frankly depends the level of coordination in the Bernanke to Yellen transition. They know each other well and both believe in money printing at the first sign of trouble, having orchestrated QE together. Thus it is altogether possible that QE, conceived in Princeton under the notion that all money printing is stimulus, will be shelved or 'un-tapered' as early as December. I do believe the Fed is THAT worried about it.

The bond market is already of that opinion. It has in reality been convinced since the summer 2012. For now the Fed has fended off the wolves, i.e. the bond market has bounced three times off of a key level at 2.8% 10 year. The real key is 3%, but if it breaks, it will take no time to get there.

Gold has made that decision as well, and at the same time bonds made it, i.e. the summer of 2012. Compare the gold chart with bonds. Identical.

Can the Fed stick to it?

We have already heard from the Fed that if it tapers, it can 'un-taper' just as easily. Sounds a LOT like the PBOC. It has tried for a year to wean from continued stimulus, and every time it vows it is finished with it and implements policies, the markets go ballistic and it is dragged back in.

Thus you heard on at least three occasions last week Fed speakers saying that the Fed would stay accommodative with low interest rates for years, implying they would remain accommodative even if QE is withdrawn. The Fed is talking. It is going to taper sooner than later, December or in January. That is a change from my QEternity, but the Fed has stepped up its 'ending QE is not tightening' ads.

THE MARKET

OTHER MARKETS:

Dollar: Faded to the 50 day EMA in its two week test of the break higher. Should continue upside. 1.3549 versus 1.3470 versus 1.3435 versus 1.3541 versus 1.3504 versus 1.3496 versus 1.3456 versus 1.3459 versus 1.3434 euro.

Bonds: Gapped upside, tapped the 10 day EMA, faded some. May try an oversold bounce, but longer term the trend is lower as bonds factor in a Fed taper.

2.80% versus 2.80% versus 2.71% versus 2.66% versus 2.70% versus 2.71% versus 2.71% versus 2.73% versus 2.77% versus 2.75%.

Oil: 94.83, -0.51.

Gold: 1244.30, +0.60. Modest bounce as Gold has hit support and is trying to hold, but thus far it is unable to bounce. A triangle at support the past four months but nothing thus far.

CHARTS

NASDAQ: Bounced for the second session after the decline Monday to Wednesday. Now at the upper trendline of the wedge pointing upwards (tend to break lower). Lower volume upside. Now we see what kind of strength this move has, i.e. can it breakaway from the upper channel line.

RUTX: Recovery high on this bounce off the 50 day EMA test from two weeks back. Mid-channel, higher low, not bad.

SP400: Higher low last week, very close to the upper channel line of its uptrending channel. Pinching off just below the upper channel line, and similar to NASDAQ, an important test this week.

SOX: Held the Thursday bounce off the 50 day EMA and that is about all. Held where it had to at the bottom of the recent 5 week range, sitting in the middle of it. Still more or less weak overall but holding on where it needs to.

SP500: new high as it continued its bounce off the 10 day EMA test.

DJ30: Same as SP500, bouncing off the Wednesday test of the 10 day EMA.

MARKET INTERNALS and STATS

NASDAQ
Stats: +22.5 points (+0.57%) to close at 3991.65
Volume: 1.711B (+2.21%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.57 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 3.28 to 1

New Highs: 240 (+56)
New Lows: 23 (-11)

S&P
Stats: +8.91 points (+0.5%) to close at 1804.76
NYSE Volume: 532M (-7.8%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.6 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.83 to 1

New Highs: 246 (+89)
New Lows: 114 (-3)

DJ30
Stats: +54.78 points (+0.34%) to close at 16064.77

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 12.26; -0.4. Heading toward 2013 lows, but as noted before, VIX can move laterally as stocks move higher.
VXN: 13.65; -0.36
VXO: 11.45; -0.36

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.94; +0.15

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls resumed their upside move after that week hiatus. Bears are less certain, holding for a third week at the 15.5 level. Still at high levels for bulls and low levels for bears.

Bulls: 53.6 versus 52.6 versus 55.2% versus 52.6 versus 49.5 versus 42.3% versus 45.4 versus 46.4% versus 44.3% versus 42.3% versus 37.1% versus 37.1% versus 38.1% versus 43.3%. Right back up after fumbling a point. That leaves it still quite high.

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 15.5 versus 15.5% versus 15.6% versus 16.5% versus 18.5 versus 21.6% versus 20.6% versus 18.6% versus 20.6% versus 21.6% versus 22.7% versus 23.7% versus 23.8% versus 21.6%. Holding steady at the 15.5ish level for the third week. The dive has stopped but no rebound in fear. Likely some next week given the early week selling this week, but it would appear this too will pass.

Background: Over 35% is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. For reference, bearishness hit a 5 year high at 54.4% the last week of October 2008. The move over 50 took bearish sentiment to its highest level since 1995. Extreme negative sentiment. Prior levels for comparison: Bearishness peaked at 37.4% in September 2007. It topped the June 2006 peak (36%) on that run. That June peak eclipsed the March 2006 high (33%) and well above the 2005 highs that spawned new rallies (30% in May 2005, 29.2% in October 2005). That was a huge turn, unlike any seen in recent history.

THANKSGIVING WEEK

Conventional wisdom is Thanksgiving week is upside. It typically is and with an upside run in place that seems to find buyers when it needs to as funds chase performance to year end, the odds seem to favor continued upside overall.. Indeed, I read an article this weekend that discussed how hedge funds had an average 6% return the back half of the year. They DO need to play catch up and at least make it look a bit better. Strong impetus for a self-created run.

That said, there are more downside plays presenting themselves. After a big run that makes sense. The key is whether they follow through or just again find buyers and continue upside.

Retail is interesting as an example. Charts overall show uptrends. Results are very mixed: Macy's, HD, WSM, FL on one side, ROST, TGT, DLTR on the other. Their charts reflect the divergence in earnings results. Will buyers return to ROST, DLTR, etc? We will see some response this week.

That said, we have a split of new upside and downside on the report. Be prepared, right? Overall you have to lean toward a continued upside run in the holiday season to year end as funds chase performance, but at the same time there are stocks breaking lower as results from the economy are just not that strong. Harsh reality could hit after year end or when the Fed really tapers as investors might figure the economy is not strong enough but the Fed has had to bow out thanks to QE just not fixing the economy (surprise!).

We have some good positions, but if more present this week as they come out of good tests, we won't mind picking them up. A run is a run, and year end runs can be good. So we will watch plays, but we are not going to do much in the way of reports. Giving myself and the staff a break. We will trade; we always do . . . but, no full blown reports. Enjoy the week with family and friends, make some money, try not to worry too much about Congress, the Administration, power grabs, the Fed, weak economic numbers, etc.

Have a great weekend!

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 3991.65

Resistance:
3995 is the November 2013 high and the post-bear market high.
Next major resistance is around 4100 as NASDAQ hits 13 year highs

Support:
3967 is the October 2013 post-bear market high.
3959 is the upper channel line for the November 2012 to present uptrend.
The 50 day EMA at 3860
3855 is the November low
3838 is the November 2012 trendline
3819 is the early October high
3801 is the September 2013 high.
The October low at 3750
3697 is the August high and a prior post-bear market high in the recovery.
The July 2013 intraday high at 3625
3573 is the August 2013 low
3532 is the May intraday high
The 200 day SMA at 3530
3521 is the August 2000 low.
3502 is the May 2013 closing high
The 2011 up trendline at 3475
3295 is the June 2013 low selloff
3227 is the April 2000 intraday low
3197 is the September 2012 post-bear market high
3171 is the October intraday high

S&P 500: Closed at 1804.76

Resistance:
8.9% over the 200 day SMA, not so extended.

Support:
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high
The 20 day EMA at 1774
The 50 day EMA at 1742
1730 is the September 2013 peak
1713 is the December 2012 up trendline
1710 is the August 2013 peak.
1698 to 1700 are the July and August interim highs
1687 is the May high and post-bear market high
1685 is the mid-August 2013 upper gap point
1657 is the late August upper gap point
1654 is the June 2013 peak
The 200 day SMA at 1645
1627 is the August 2013 low
1576 from October 2007, the prior all-time high
1573 is the June 2013 closing low
1569.48 is the 78% Fibonacci retracement of the April to May 2013 run
1560 is the June 2013 reversal low
1556 from July 2007
1541 is the April 2013 closing low in that pullback inside the uptrend
1539 from June 2007
1531 is the recent high

Dow: Closed at 16,064.77

Resistance:

Support:
The 10 day EMA at 15,913
15,798 the November 2013 high
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
15,659 is the August 2013 peak
The 50 day EMA at 15,559
15,542 is the May 2013 intraday high
15,318 is the June closing high
The 200 day SMA at 15,052
15,050 from the August 2013 interim recovery high
14,888 is the April peak and prior all-time high
14,844 is the June intraday low
14,762 is the August 2013 low
14,551 is the June 2013 intraday low on the selloff (14,659 closing)
14,198 from the October 2007 high
14,149 is the February 2013 high
14,022 from 7-07 peak
14,010 from the early February 2013 consolidation

Economic Calendar

November 22 - Friday
- JOLTS - Job Openings, September (10:00): 3.910M actual versus 3.844M prior (revised from 3.883M)

November 25 - Monday
- Pending Home Sales, October (10:00): 1.3% expected, -5.6% prior

November 26 - Tuesday
- Housing Starts, September (8:30): 915K expected, 891K prior
- Housing Starts, October (8:30): 920K expected,
- Building Permits, September (8:30): 932K expected, 918K prior
- Building Permits, October (8:30): 932K expected,
- Case-Shiller 20-city, September (9:00): 13.0% expected, 12.8% prior
- FHFA Housing Price I, September (9:00): 0.3% prior
- Consumer Confidence, November (10:00): 72.4 expected, 71.2 prior

November 27 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 11/23 (7:00): -2.3% prior
- Initial Claims, 11/23 (8:30): 330K expected, 323K prior
- Continuing Claims, 11/16 (8:30): 2875K expected, 2876K prior
- Durable Orders, October (8:30): -2.2% expected, 3.8% prior (revised from 3.7%)
- Durable Goods -ex tr, October (8:30): 0.2% expected, -0.2% prior (revised from -0.1%)
- Chicago PMI, November (9:45): 58.0 expected, 65.9 prior
- Michigan Sentiment -, November (9:55): 73.0 expected, 72.0 prior
- Leading Indicators, October (10:00): -0.1% expected, 0.7% prior
- Crude Inventories, 11/23 (10:30): 0.375M prior
- Natural Gas Inventor, 11/23 (10:30): -45 bcf prior

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : Equity indices posted modest gains with the Nasdaq (+0.7%) setting the pace for a second consecutive day. The tech-heavy index climbed steadily throughout the session, extending its week-to-date advance to 1.3%.

The Nasdaq received support from many of its top components as Apple (AAPL 545.96, +12.56), Oracle (ORCL 35.29, +0.36), Microsoft (MSFT 37.60, +0.25), and Intel (INTC 23.90, +0.25) gained between 0.7% and 2.4%. Momentum names also contributed to the strength despite starting the session on a mixed note. However, biotechnology sat out the advance as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 223.33, -0.12) shed 0.1%.

The outperformance of the Nasdaq boosted the technology sector (+1.0%), which ended in the lead. Among notable earnings, Dow component Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 27.36, +2.27) surged 9.1% after beating bottom-line estimates by one cent on above-consensus revenue.

Other sectors did not display comparable strength as only three groups-consumer discretionary (+0.3%), financials (+0.3%), and industrials (+0.4%)-ended ahead of the broader market.

Discretionary shares were underpinned by retailers as the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 88.54, +0.45) climbed 0.5%.

Meanwhile, the financial space followed the lead of regional banks as the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE 40.02, +0.22) rose 0.6%.

For its part, the industrial sector displayed all-around strength as defense contractors and transports rallied. The PHLX Defense Index rose 0.7% while the Dow Jones Transportation Average settled higher by 0.6%.

Although most cyclical groups posted gains, energy (-0.7%) was not as fortunate. The sector ended at the bottom of the leaderboard while crude oil fell 1.5% to $92.29 per barrel.

On the countercyclical side, consumer staples (+0.1%), health care (unch), telecom services (+0.1%), and utilities (-0.3%) lagged across the board.

Treasuries ended mixed as the 10-yr yield increased three basis points to 2.74% while the 2-yr yield dipped one basis point to 0.28%.

Trading volume was well below average as only 532 million shares changed hands on the floor of the NYSE.

This morning was busy in terms of economic data. Weekly initial claims were better than expected, declining 10,000 to 316,000 (Briefing.com consensus 330,000). In turn, continuing claims also beat estimates, dropping by 91,000 to 2.776 million (Briefing.com consensus 2.875 million).

Seasonal adjustment problems were cited as a factor for the low level of initial claims, so once again we'll have to put an asterisk next to a number that looks encouraging at first blush. In all likelihood, the initial claims level will move higher as the seasonal adjustment problem gets corrected.

Separately, the durable orders headlines weren't all that encouraging. Total orders declined 2.0% in October (consensus -2.2%) from an upwardly revised 4.1% increase in September (from 3.8%). Excluding transportation, orders declined 0.1% (consensus 0.2%) from an upwardly revised 0.2% increase in September (from -0.1%).

The upward revisions to September's data cushioned some of the blow of the downturn in October. The report though was still disappointing in terms of what it said about business investment, which is that it is weak.

Nondefense capital goods orders, excluding aircraft, declined by 1.2% after a 1.4% decline in September. Shipments of those goods, which factor into the GDP computation, declined by 0.2% for the second straight month.

Manufacturing activity in the Chicago region remained strong. The Chicago PMI fell to 63.0 in November from 65.9 in October. That was the first time since November/December 2011 that the index stayed above 60 for two consecutive months. The Briefing.com consensus expected the Chicago PMI to fall to 58.0.

Lastly, the final reading of the November Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey was revised up to 75.1 from 72.0 (consensus 73.0) while October Leading Indicators ticked up 0.2% (consensus -0.1%).

Bond and equity markets will be closed tomorrow for Thanksgiving. On Friday, the equity market will close early at 13:00 ET.

Russell 2000 +34.4% YTD
Nasdaq +34.0% YTD
S&P 500 +26.7% YTD
DJIA +22.8% YTD

DJ30 +24.53 NASDAQ +27.00 SP500 +4.48 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1788/1.45 bln/751 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1882/532.2 mln/1123 3:30 pm : Precious metals erased earlier gains as better-than-anticipated economic data released this morning lifted the dollar index and pressured the commodities space. The Chicago PMI, Michigan Sentiment and leading indicators all topped estimates.

ec gold pulled back from its session high of $1253.50 per ounce set moments after floor trade opened and dipped into negative territory by late morning action. It touched a session low of $1237.00 per ounce and settled with a 0.3% loss at $1238.00 per ounce.

Dec silver also fell into the red after touching a session high of $19.99 per ounce in early morning pit trade. Unable to regain momentum, it settled at $19.63 per ounce, or 1.1% lower.

Jan crude oil extended losses for a fourth consecutive session as it fell deeper into negative territory following the bullish economic data and higher-than-expected build in inventories. The EIA reported that for the week ending Nov 22, crude oil inventories increased by 2.953 mln barrels when consensus called for a smaller buid of 0.775 mln barrels. The energy component dipped to a session low of $91.77 per barrel and eventually settled with a 1.5% loss at $92.29 per barrel.

Jan natural gas, on the other hand, was the outperformer in the energy space as it lifted from its session low of $3.84 per MMBtu set at floor trade open and recovered into positive territory. It advanced to a session high of $3.92 per MMBtu following inventory data that showed a draw of 13 bcf when a draw of 10-13 bcf was anticipated and settled with a 1.0% gain at $3.90 per MMBtu.

Large Cap Gainers

HPQ (27 +7.61%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.01 ($1.01 ex items vs $1.00 estimate), revs fell 2.8% yoy to $29.13 bln vs $27.89 bln estimate; sees Q1 EPS of $0.82-0.86 ex items vs $0.85 estimate; sees FY14 EPS of $3.55-3.75 ex items vs $3.65 estimate; upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Evercore
GM (38.68 +2.68%): Bloomberg reporting that co may be a target for activist investors; mentioned positively at Barron's
TWTR (41.05 +2.17%): Initiated with a Buy at MKM Partners, target $50

Large Cap Losers

ADI (47.11 -5.63%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.04 ($0.62 ex items vs $0.58 estimate), revs fell 2.4% yoy to $678 mln vs $688.44 mln estimate; sees Q1 EPS of $0.44-0.52 ex items vs $0.56 estimate, revs -5% to -10% (~$610.2-644.1 mln) vs $681.02 mln estimate; downgraded to Hold from Buy at Drexel Hamilton
WFT (15.63 -3.10%): Continued weakness following resolution of investigations with U.S. Department of Justice; co to pay a total of $253 mln
NEM (24.43 -1.15%): Reuters reporting that co and partners are planning a joint bid for Glencore's Las Bambas copper mine

Mid Cap Gainers

JCP (9.99 +6.71%): Mentioned positively in blog article
FWLT (30.5 +6.16%): Reuters reporting that British engineer Amec is considering making a takeover offer
GMCR (67.25 +4.82%): Two directors disclosed the purchase of a total of 20k shares worth ~$1.4 mln; reiterated with a Buy at Buckingham

Mid Cap Losers

BLOX (34.41 -23.47%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.03 ($0.12 vs $0.09 estimate), revs rose 28.3% yoy to $63.5 mln vs $63.44 mln estimate; sees Q2 EPS of $0.09-0.11 vs $0.12 estimate, revs of $65-66 mln vs $67 mln estimate; sees FY14 EPS of $0.44-0.54 vs $0.53 estimate, revs of $270-276 mln vs $276.9 mln estimate
SHLD (63.24 -2.03%): Canadian unit confirmed that a reorganization will result in a workforce reduction of 712 associates
P (28.23 -1.95%): Seeing reports that co has abandoned pursuit of a law to reform music royalty rates

Broadcom (BRCM) announced that the Chinese cellphone manufacturer K-Touch has chosen its quad-core turnkey platform for its new W98 and W96 Android-based smartphones.

TXN -1.6% and LLTC -0.8% (following ADI results)

6:00AM Chipmos Technology subsidiary submits taiwan stock exchange listing application (IMOS) 19.33 : Co announced that its subsidiary IMOS has submitted an application to list on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. ChipMOS Taiwan began trading on Taiwan's emerging stock board, the Gre Tai Securities Market, on April 19, 2013. The Company owns approximately 62.1% of the outstanding shares of ChipMOS Taiwan.

TiVo (TIVO) reported third quarter earnings of $0.10 per share, which is higher than expected, while service and tech rev rose 33.9% year/year to $81.7 million which is in line with expectations. TiVo reported net income of $12.5 million, compared to guidance of net income of $6 million to $8 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $23.8 million, compared to guidance of $20 million to $22 million and to Adjusted EBITDA of $71.9 million for the same quarter last year. The company issued guidance for the fourth quarter with service and tech revenue of $83-85 million which is is line with expectations, the midpoint of which is a close to a 30% increase from the $65.7 million reported in last year's fourth quarter. Benefiting Q4 is an expected increase in MSO revenue growth, driven by a partial quarter of Virgin revenue recognition in Service revenue. TiVo anticipates net income in the range of $2 million to $5 million, and an Adjusted EBITDA of $16 million to $19 million, which includes $4 million to $5 million of incremental seasonal marketing spend versus the prior quarter and an expected decline in hardware margin as MSO partners begin to deploy TiVo on 3rd party hardware.
Infoblox (BLOX) reported first quarter of $0.12 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 28.3% year/year to $63.5 million which is line with expectations. The company issued second quarter with EPS of $0.09-0.11 which is below expectations with revenues of $65-66 million which is also below expectations. Co issued guidance for fiscal year 2014 revenues of $270-276 million which is in line with expectations.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) reported fourth quarter earnings of $1.01 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which is better than expected, while revenues fell 2.8% year/year to $29.13 billion which is ahead of expectations. The company issued guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.82-0.86 which is in line with expectations. The company reaffirmed guidance for fiscal year 2014 with EPS of $3.55-3.75, excluding non-recurring items which is line with expectations Q4 segment results: Personal Systems revenue was down 2% YoY with a 3.0% operating margin. Commercial revenue increased 4% and Consumer revenue declined 10%. Total units were up 2% with Desktops units down 5% and Notebooks units up 3%. Printing revenue was down 1% YoY with a 17.7% operating margin. Total hardware units were up 6% with Commercial hardware units up 9% and Consumer hardware units up 4%. Supplies revenue was down 4%. Enterprise Group revenue was up 2% YoY with a 14.5% operating margin. Networking revenue was up 3%, Industry Standard Servers revenue was up 10%, Business Critical Systems revenue was down 17%, Storage revenue was up 1% and Technology Services revenue was down 6%. Enterprise Services revenue declined 9% YoY with a 4.4% operating margin. Application and Business Services revenue was down 10%, and Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing revenue declined 9%. Software revenue was down 9% YoY with a 30.8% operating margin. Support revenue was up 4%, license revenue was down 24%, professional services revenue was down 13% and software-as-a-service revenue was up 15%. HP Financial Services revenue was down 6% YoY with a 5% decrease in net portfolio assets and a 3% decrease in financing volume. The business delivered an operating margin of 11.2%. HP also utilized $479 million of cash during the quarter to repurchase ~21.5 million shares of common stock in the open market. HP exited the quarter with $12.5 billion in gross cash. HP generated $2.8 billion in cash flow from operations in the fourth quarter, down 31% from the prior-year period.
Analog Devices (ADI) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.62 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues fell 2.4% year/year to $678 million which is below expectations. The company reported Q4 Gross margin was 64.3% of revenue. The company issued guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.44-0.52, which is below estimates with revenue decline QoQ of 5-10% to $610.2-644.1 million which is below expectations. Q1 Gross margin estimated to be between 64% and 65%. "Revenue for the fourth quarter increased 1% sequentially, a good result in an uncertain macroeconomic climate....Operationally, the business performed well. Excluding special items, margins expanded relative to the prior quarter, operating cash flow was very strong at 42% of sales, and we returned $149 million to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases....Given the strength of our technology portfolio and customer relationships, we are optimistic about our future. However, in the near-term we are entering a slower seasonal period, with customer shutdowns and inventory reductions coinciding with the holidays in December and January. As a result, our plan is for revenue to decline in the first quarter compared to the prior quarter...By reducing factory utilization rates and keeping expenses under tight control, we will be in a strong position for operating leverage when growth resumes."

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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : The drive for five continued today and it was a success. For the fifth straight session, the S&P 500 ended lower. Like the previous four sessions, though, the losses were fairly modest in scope. The S&P 500 declined 0.4%, bringing its total loss for the five sessions to 22 points or 1.2%. All in all, that still qualifies as a pretty tame slide considering the S&P 500 had risen 150 points, or 9.1%, over the previous eight weeks.

Today's retreat came on moderate volume of 700 mln shares at the NYSE and was blamed on concerns the Fed might taper its asset purchase program as early as this month following some better-than-expected initial claims and Q3 GDP data. The headline print for each certainly aided such thinking. Initial claims for the week ending November 30 checked in at just 298,000 (Briefing.com consensus 330,000) while the second estimate for Q3 GDP jumped to 3.6% (Briefing.com consensus 3.0%) from 2.8%.

The headlines had an undeniably encouraging feel to them. That was the first sub-300,000 print for initial claims since early September and the 3.6% growth in Q3 GDP was the strongest since the second quarter of 2010. Upon closer review, though, the headlines were a little misleading.

The Department of Labor acknowledged that seasonal adjustment problems biased the claims number lower (which means we are likely to see a higher print in subsequent weeks) while the change in private inventories accounted for 1.68 percentage points of Q3 GDP growth. Take the change in inventories out of the equation and real final sales were up just 1.9% versus 2.0% in the first estimate. Furthermore, the 1.4% growth rate in personal consumption expenditures was the lowest rate since the fourth quarter of 2009.

A big jump in inventories and a deceleration in personal spending isn't exactly a combination befitting a robust growth picture. In that context, the tapering trade in our estimation probably had more to do today with the angst surrounding the November employment report on Friday than it did with a true read of today's data.

Following the strong ADP Employment Change report on Wednesday, there is a presumption that the nonfarm payrolls number on Friday will also produce a positive surprise. The Briefing.com consensus estimate for nonfarm payrolls is set at 188,000 and at 200,000 for nonfarm private payrolls.

Some of that angst was reflected in the Treasury market today, which spent the entire session on the defensive. The 10-yr note dipped eight ticks and its yield rose three basis points to 2.87%. That bump in long-term rates weighed on rate-sensitive sectors in the stock market, like the financials sector (-0.9%), and particularly those sectors known for their higher dividend yields -- telecom services (-1.0%), utilities (-0.7%), and consumer staples (-0.9%).

Today's profit-taking action was centered primarily on large-cap issues. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 all finished lower while the Russell 2000 (+0.1%) and S&P 400 Midcap Index (+0.1%) scored small gains.

Gains in a handful of influential large-cap stocks like Apple (AAPL 567.90, +2.90), Boeing (BA 132.72, +1.22), 3M (MMM 126.84, +0.38), Intel (INTC 24.27, +0.53), and Tiffany & Co. (TIF 89.71, +1.13) helped limit today's losses, yet every sector in the S&P still finished in red figures with the exception of the industrials sector which was unchanged.

Another laggard of note today was the US Dollar Index (80.27, -0.35). It got clipped largely on account of the euro taking off after the ECB elected to keep its main lending rate unchanged and ECB President Draghi avoided any telltale hint at his press conference that further easing measures would be implemented in the very near future. The euro crossed at 1.3669 against the dollar, up 0.6% from yesterday.

The dollar weakness did not benefit commodities much and it certainly didn't help gold prices, which slipped 1.7% to $1225.80/oz.

Friday's action is sure to be dictated by the details of the November employment report and the direction long-term interest rates take in its wake.

Nasdaq +33.6% YTD
Russell 2000 +32.1% YTD
S&P 500 +25.2% YTD
DJIA +20.8% YTD

DJ30 -68.26 NASDAQ -4.84 SP500 -7.78 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1168/1.82 bln/1389 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1032/700 mln/1984

3:30 pm : Precious metals pared yesterday's gains following encouraging economic data. Despite resuming their downtrend, both gold and silver futures closed near a (pit trade) session high. February gold futures fell 1.2% to $1227.10/oz while March silver futures fell 1.3% to $19.57/oz. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 20.63, -0.59) hit a new five-year low today.

January crude oil futures rose again today and made a one month, settling up 0.2% at $97.39/barrel. January natural gas futures rose 4.3% to a near two month high at $4.13/MMBtu following bullish EIA storage.

4:32PM Photronics enters into new $50 mln credit facility and replays $21.3 mln term loan (PLAB) 8.11 +0.04 : Co announced that it has entered into a new five-year revolving credit facility with its existing lenders in the amount of $50 million, with an expansion capability to $75 million, replacing its existing $30 million revolving credit facility due to mature in April 2015. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. will serve as administrative and collateral agent for this facility with TD Bank, N.A., and RBS Citizens, National Association as syndication agents. In connection therewith, Photronics repaid all outstanding amounts of its previously existing $21.3 million term loan due to mature in March 2017. The new credit agreement provides for increased financial flexibility, reduced interest rates and relaxed covenants.

4:07PM Finisar beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides JanQ EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (FNSR) 21.76 +1.22 : Reports Q2 (Oct) earnings of $0.43 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.39; revenues rose 25.3% year/year and 9.3% sequentially to $290.7 mln vs the $285.7 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q3 (Jan), sees EPS of $0.43-0.47, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.38 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $290-305 mln vs. $289.8 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:07PM Mitel Networks beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 revs in-line (MITL) 9.02 +0.42 : Reports Q2 (Oct) earnings of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.20; revenues fell 0.4% year/year to $144.9 mln vs the $146.22 mln consensus. Gross margin for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 was 58.2%.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $145 to $150 mln, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $146.77 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Gross margin percentage is expected to be in the range of 57.5 percent to 58.5 percent.

Large Cap Gainers

AVGO (46.77 +5.1%): Beat on EPS by $0.06, reported revs in-line; guided Q1 revs above consensus; target raised to $53 at RBC Capital Mkts; JP Morgan raised its target to $40 from $32; Canaccord Genuity raised its AVGO tgt to $54 from $53.
DG (59.48 +5.52%): Beat on EPS by $0.02, reported revs in-line; raised low end of FY14 EPS, lowered high end of FY14 sales/comp guidance; added $1 bln to share repurchase.
GGP (21 +3.57%): Co will replace Molex (MOLX) in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on Dec 9.

Large Cap Losers

KR (39.72 -4.34%): Reported EPS in-line, revs in-line; reaffirmed FY14 guidance.
CAJ (31.7 -2.76%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman.
MS (30.41 -2.31%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Mid Cap Gainers

CONN (66.47 +13.7%): Beat on EPS by $0.07, beat on revs; raised FY14 EPS above consensus; raised FY14 comp guidance; guided FY15 EPS above consensus; Q3 comps +35% YoY.
SCTY (54.85 +5.14%): Co introduced energy storage for businesses with developed with advanced battery technology from Tesla (TSLA).
LNG (43.6 +4.83%): Co and Pertamina signed 20-year LNG sale and purchase agreement.

Mid Cap Losers

PDS (8.72 -9.41%): Co announced Alberta Investment Management sold its entire equity position, ~56 mln shares.
JCP (8.78 -9.12%): Kyle Bass of Hayman Capital reportedly does not own JCP anymore, according to Bloomberg TV interview; firm held ~5.7 mln shares as of 9/30.
CCO (9.25 -5.71%): Downgraded to Sell at B. Riley & Co.; tgt lowered to $8.30.

9:40AM Apple: AAPL +1.5% pushes to new 52-wk highs, now @ 574.05 (AAPL) 573.29 +8.29 :
Reliance Globalcom and Ciena (CIEN) have upgraded Reliance Globalcom's FA-1 North submarine cable system with 100G wavelengths.

Plexus (PLXS) announced a $3 mln investment to expand operations in its Boise Microelectronics Center of Excellence in Nampa, Idaho.

Voxer has collaborated with Intel (INTC) to optimize both the free Voxer app and Voxer Business app on Intel's latest Android x86 platform for tablet devices.

Broadcom (BRCM) announced a new Automotive Bluetooth software stack, enabling seamless in-car connectivity with Android-powered devices.
SunPower (SPWR) is designing and building high efficiency SunPower solar power systems for 16 schools in the Oakland Unified School District in Oakland, Calif.

NUAN +2% (Carl Icahn increases stake in Nuance to 18.72% from $16.9%), AAPL +1.4% (China Mobile has signed Apple (AAPL) iPhone deal, according to reports)

Apple (AAPL 574.00, +9.00): up 1.6% on news it signed agreement with China Mobile to distribute iPhones over China Mobile network

6:59AM SolarCity introduces energy storage for businesses with developed with advanced battery technology from Tesla (TSLA) (SCTY) 52.17 : SolarCity (SCTY) has unveiled a smart energy storage system to address two major pain points for business: rising utility demand charges and increasing grid outages. SolarCity DemandLogic can allow businesses to reduce energy costs by using stored electricity to reduce peak demand, and can also provide backup power during grid outages. Developed with advanced battery technology from Tesla (TSLA), SolarCity DemandLogic storage includes learning software that automates the discharge of stored energy to optimize utility charge savings for customers.

SolarCity storage systems are available to new solar power customers through 10 year service agreements including monthly payments, with no upfront cost required. SolarCity will customize the system size to make it possible for businesses to save money immediately by saving more on energy costs than they spend for the storage service. Unlike load shifting approaches to demand management, this product requires no change in operations for the business and is fully automated. SolarCity DemandLogic can also power IT functions, security systems, cash registers and other critical business systems during power outages. SolarCity analyzes each organization's energy usage to design a storage system that can offset peak load and support high priority backup functions.

5:25AM Nokia Italia partners with Sky and Microsoft (MSFT) for the global debut of Sky Go on Nokia Lumia devices (NOK) 7.90 : Sky Italia, Nokia (NOK) and Microsoft (MSFT) have announced the global debut on Windows Phone of Sky Go, the service that allows users to view 30 pay-TV channels on the go. Thanks to this agreement, one of the most loved applications - already chosen by 1.9 million Sky subscribers - will be coming to the entire Nokia Lumia family in Italy starting from the middle of December.

The agreement allows Sky to enhance its mobile service by offering some of its most prestigious content to owners of Windows Phone 8 Lumia smartphones, which are increasingly widespread in Italy, in addition to allowing Nokia to enrich its cutting-edge models with the application that truly allows TV to be taken outside the home.

Synopsys (SNPS) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.56 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 11.2% year/year to $504.9 million which is in line with expectations. The company issued guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.51-0.53 and revenues of $475-485 million which are both below expectations. The company issued fiscal year 2014 with EPS of $2.55-2.60 which is in line with consensus with revenues of$2.060-2.085 billion which is line with expectations.
Mavenir Systems (MVNR) reported third quarter loss of $0.16 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 52.0% year/year to $26 million which is line with expectations. Guidance: The company issues upside guidance for the fourth quarter with EPS of ($0.14)-($0.09) which is above estimates with revenues $26-$27 million which is line with higher than expected. The company sees Non-GAAP gross margin of 56-58%. Commentary: "Mavenir delivered another solid quarter, reporting revenue at the high end of our expectations. Our business momentum continued to strengthen with record quarterly revenue and an expanded customer base, both of which are a direct result of our highly differentiated technology. Migration to 4G LTE is accelerating, increasing the demand for our Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Rich Communication Services (RCS) products and we see a substantial market opportunity ahead of us."
Symantec (SYMC) announced the appointment of Amit Mital as chief technology officer, responsible for driving the company's technology strategy with a focus on accelerating innovation, product development and R&D. Mital will report directly to Symantec CEO Steve Bennett. Mital joins Symantec after 20 years with Microsoft (MSFT), most recently as the corporate vice president for the company's Startup Business Group. Steve Trilling, Symantec's current CTO, will be moving to an operational senior leadership role in the company.

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Ghost of 1929 crash reappears
Commentary: Pay attention to the signals

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ghost-of-1929-crash-reappears-2013-12-06?pagenumber=1

They say those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.

As a student of market history, I’ve seen that maxim made true time and again. The cycle swings fear back to greed. The overcautious become the overzealous. And at the top, the story is always the same: Too much credit, too much speculation, the suspension of disbelief, and the spread of the idea that this time is different.

It doesn’t matter whether it was the expansion of railroads heading into the crash of 1893 or the excitement over the consolidation of the steel industry in 1901 or the mixing of speculation and banking heading into 1907. Or whether it involves an epic expansion of mortgage credit, IPO activity, or central-bank stimulus. What can’t continue forever ultimately won’t.

The weaknesses of the human heart and mind means the swings will always exist. Our rudimentary understanding of the forces of economics, which in turn, reflect ultimately reflect the fallacies of people making investing, purchasing, and saving decisions, means policymakers will never defeat the vagaries of the business cycle.

So no, this time isn’t different. The specifics may have changed, but the themes remain the same. Read Mark Hulbert’s take: The chart that’s scaring Wall Street.

In fact, the stock market is right now tracing out a pattern eerily similar to the lead up to the infamous 1929 market crash. The pattern, illustrated by Tom McClellan of the McClellan Market Report, and brought to his attention by well-known chart diviner Tom Demark, is shown below.

Excuse me for throwing some cold water on the fever dream Wall Street has descended into over the last few months, an apparent climax that has bullish sentiment at record highs, margin debt at record highs, bears capitulating left and right, and a market that is increasingly dependent on brokerage credit, Federal Reserve stimulus, and a fantasy that corporate profitability will never again come under pressure.

On a pure price-analogue basis, it’s time to start worrying.

Fundamentally, it’s time to start worrying too. With GDP growth petering out (Macroeconomic Advisors is projecting fourth-quarter growth of just 1.2%), Americans abandoning the labor force at a frightening pace, businesses still withholding capital spending, and personal-consumption expenditures growing at levels associated with recent recessions, we’ve past the point of diminishing marginal returns to the Fed’s cheap-money morphine.

All we’re doing now is pushing on the proverbial string. Trillions in unused bank reserves are piling up. The housing market has stalled after the “taper tantrum” earlier this year caused mortgage rates to shoot from 3.4% to 4.6% between May and August. The Treasury market is getting distorted as the Fed effectively monetizes a growing share of the national debt. Emerging-market economies are increasingly vulnerable to a currency crisis once the taper finally starts.

U.S. adds 203,000 jobs; unemployment rate falls to 7%

U.S. employers continued to add jobs at a steady pace and the unemployment rate fell in November to a five-year low.

The Fed knows it. But they’re trapped between these risks and giving the market — the one bright spot in the post-2009 recovery — serious liquidity withdrawals.

But the specifics of the run up to the 1929 crash provide true bone-chilling context for what’s happening now.

The Bernanke-led Fed’s enthusiasm for avoiding the mistakes that worsened the Great Depression—- a mistimed tightening of monetary conditions — has led him to repeat the mistakes that caused it in the first place: Namely, continuing to lower interest rates via Treasury bond purchases well into an economic expansion and bull market justified by low-to-no inflation.

(Side note here: As economist Murray Rothbard of the Austrian School wrote in America’s Great Depression, prices dropped then, as now, because of gains in productivity and efficiency.)

Here’s the kicker: The Fed (mainly the New York Fed under Benjamin Strong) was knee deep in quantitative easing in the late 1920s, expanding the money supply and lowering interest rates via direct bond purchases. Wall Street then, as now, was euphoric.

It ended badly.

Fed policymakers felt like heroes as they violated that central tenant of central banking as outlined in 1873 by Economist editor Walter Bagehot in his famous Lombard Street: That they should lend freely to solvent banks, at a punitive interest rate in exchange for good quality collateral. Central-bank stimulus should only be a stopgap measure used to stem panics, a lender of last resort; not act as a vehicle of economic deliverance via the printing press.

It’s being violated again now as the mistakes of history are repeated once more. Bernanke will be around to see the results of his mistakes and his misguided justification that quantitative easing is working because stock prices are higher, ignoring evidence that the “wealth effect” isn’t working.

Strong died in 1928, missing the hangover his obsession with low interest rates and credit expansion caused after bragging, in 1927, that his policies would give “a little coup de whisky to the stock market.”

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 27-Dec-13

Dow -1.47 at 16478.41, Nasdaq -10.59 at 4156.59, S&P -0.62 at 1841.4

Sector Performance (% change of the day): Financials (-0.08%), Tech (-0.20%), Health Care (-0.13%), Consumer Staples (+0.25%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.35%), Industrials (-0.10%), Energy (+0.49%), Telecom (0.00%), Materials (+0.23%), Utilities (+0.19%).

Dow 0%, S&P 500 0%, Nasdaq -0.3%, Nasdaq 100 -0.3%, S&P 400 +0.1%, Russell 2000 -0.1%
The major averages did little to distinguish themselves in the final session of the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both ended flat while the Nasdaq underperformed, shedding 0.3%.

Today's trading range was limited to just five points in the S&P 500, but that masks the fact the index rested near its flat line for the vast majority of the trading day. It is understandable that some rest was in order after the benchmark index gained 3.4% during the previous six affairs.

Buyers and sellers alike stuck to the sidelines today, but then again, just about everyone elected to forego today's session. On that note, NYSE floor volume totaled a paltry 414 million shares.

There was no concerted leadership among individual sectors as two cyclical groups-energy (+0.5%) and materials (+0.2%)-and two defensive sectors-consumer staples (+0.3%) and utilities (+0.2%)-posted gains.

The energy sector was powered, in part, by crude oil, which rose 0.8% to $100.31 per barrel. The sector also drew strength from its top-weighted components. Chevron (CVX 125.23, +0.42) and ExxonMobil (XOM 101.51, +0.61) gained 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively.

The other commodity-related sector, materials, was kept afloat by steelmakers. The largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal (MT 17.75, +0.42) jumped 2.4% while the broader Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 49.71, +0.83) advanced 1.7%.

Despite the modest gains in a handful of sectors, the broader market was held in check by the underperformance of its three largest groups as technology (-0.2%), financials (-0.1%), and health care (-0.1%) spent the entire afternoon in the red.

Although the major averages ended little changed, the same could not be said for a recent momentum favorite. Twitter (TWTR 63.75, -9.56) plunged 13.0% after Macquarie downgraded the stock to 'Underperform' from 'Neutral.' Entering today, shares of Twitter were up 76.4% in December but today's tumble trimmed its month-to-date advance to 53.4%.

Elsewhere, the Treasury market endured a sleepy session as the 10-yr note slipped three ticks with its yield ending just a shade below 3.01%.

There was no data released today and Monday's economic data will be limited to the Pending Home Sales report, which will be released at 10:00 ET.
Nasdaq +37.7% YTD Russell 2000 +36.7% YTD S&P 500 +29.1% YTD DJIA +25.8% YTD

Week in Review: Santa Claus Visits NYSE

On Monday, the S&P 500 settled higher by 0.5%, registering its third consecutive gain. The benchmark index extended its December advance to 1.2% as eight of ten sectors ended in the green. Stocks jumped at the open with the technology sector (+1.5%) driving the early surge. The space received considerable support from its largest component, Apple (AAPL 560.09, -3.81), which spiked 3.8% after inking a long-rumored distribution agreement with China Mobile (CHL 52.76, +0.26).

Stocks ended Tuesday's abbreviated session with modest gains that were paced by cyclical sectors. The S&P 500 added 0.3% as energy (+0.6%), industrials (+0.5%), and materials (+1.0%) outperformed.

On Wednesday, U.S. bond and equity markets were closed for Christmas.

The bullish trend continued on Thursday with little in the way of the major averages. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.8%) logged its sixth consecutive gain while the S&P 500 (+0.5%) posted its fourth advance in a row. Technology (+0.3%) and the financial sector (+0.2%) were the only cyclical groups that could not keep pace with the broader market. The remaining four cyclical sectors-consumer discretionary (+0.6%), energy (+0.9%), industrials (+0.7%), and materials (+0.6%)-all finished ahead of the S&P. Although trading volume finished at a one-year low, Twitter maintained its torrid pace on heaviest volume (82.5 million) since its market debut. The stock surged 4.8%, extending its December gain to 76.4%

Best and worst performing S&P 500 industry groups for Friday:
Industry Groups Gain Components
Aluminum +2.49% AA
Coal & Consumable Fuels +2.11% BTU, CNX, MEE
Steel +1.75% AKS, ATI, CLF, NUE, X
Diversified Metals & Mining +1.46% FCX, TIE
Oil & Gas Drilling +1.40% DO, HP, NBR, RDC
Leisure Products +1.15% HAS, MAT
Gold +1.12% NEM
Gas Utilities +0.96% GAS, OKE
Homebuilding +0.84% DHI, LEN, PHM
Advertising +0.82% IPG, OMC
Industry Groups Decline Components
Airlines -2.32% LUV
Computer & Electronics Retail -2.29% BBY, GME, RSH
Home Entertainment Software -2.12% ERTS
Internet Retail -1.65% AMZN, EXPE, PCLN
Specialized Consumer Services -1.45% HRB
Office REITs -1.33% BXP
Food Retail -1.16% KR, SVU, SWY, WFMI
Office Services & Supplies -0.88% AVY, PBI
Apparel Retail -0.82% ANF, GPS, LTD, ROST, TJX, URBN
Automobile Manufacturers -0.72% F

 
 Index	   Started Week  Ended Week  Change  % Change	YTD % 
 DJIA	     16221.14	 16478.41   257.27	1.6	25.7 
 Nasdaq	      4104.74	  4156.59    51.85	1.3	37.7 
 S&P 500	1818.31	  1841.40    23.09	1.3	29.1 
 Russell 2000  1146.40	  1161.09    14.69	1.3	36.7

Large Cap Gainers

S (10.7 +7.43%): Trading higher amid continued speculation that T-Mobile (TMUS) merger is in the works via Softbank.
BIDU (173.59 +3.77%): Perfect World (PWRD) entered into a definitive agreement to sell Beijing Huanxiang Zongheng Chinese Literature Website to Beijing Baidu Netcom Science Technology for RMB ~191.5 mln.
TOT (61.2 +1.53%): Strike at La Mede refinery has ended, according to reports.

Large Cap Losers

TWTR (67.85 -7.45%): Downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Macquarie.
GIB (34.03 -4.49%): Co payments being threatened by two states, according to NYTimes.
DAL (27.02 -3.08%): Reuters discused how website glitch caused some to get flights for next to nothing for a short period of time yesterday - co will honor the transactions.

Mid Cap Gainers

QIWI (56.95 +1.73%): Announced acquisition of Blestgroup Enterprises.
WLK (120.58 +1.93%): Upgraded to Positive from Negative at Susquehanna; tgt raised to $145 from $118.

Mid Cap Losers

NLY (9.83 -2.87%): Trading ex-dividend today.
AAL (25.16 -3.71%): Weakness in airline names (SAVE also lower).

3D Systems (DDD 93.88, +1.82): +2.0% is seeing continued momentum that has the stock up nearly 25.0% in December.

5:53AM JinkoSolar Holding announced that four of its solar PV projects totaling 80MW in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have been successfully connected to the national grid (JKS) 28.25 :

Co announced that four of its solar PV projects totaling 80MW in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have been successfully connected to the national grid. As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2013, the Company has connected approximately 213MW worth of solar PV projects to the grid.
With an annual power generation capacity approaching 324 million kWh, all 213MW projects are qualified for China's national feed-in-tariffs over 20 years at the rate of RMB1.00 per kW/h (with 10MW qualifying for RMB1.15 per kW/h). Overall, these projects are expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 256,000 tons annually, saving about 110,000 tons of standard coal per year.

5:51AM LDK Solar submitted proposal to offshore creditors; issues FY14-18 revenue guidance (LDK) 1.40 :

Co announced that it executed confidentiality agreements in December 2013 with certain unaffiliated holders of the Renminbi-denominated US$-settled 10% Senior Notes due 2014 issued by LDK Solar, to facilitate discussions with the Holders concerning LDK Solar's potential restructuring of its offshore liabilities.
Pursuant to the terms of the Confidentiality Agreements, LDK Solar agreed that it would, immediately following the expiry of a period of time agreed with the Holders, disclose publicly the discussions between LDK Solar and the Holders and other confidential information concerning LDK Solar that was disclosed to the Holders. The information included in this announcement is being furnished to satisfy LDK Solar's public disclosure obligations under the Confidentiality Agreements. a part of an ongoing liability management program commenced in September 2013, LDK Solar has explored ways to restructure its highly leveraged balance sheet and reduce its significant cash flow requirements.
Following execution of the Confidentiality Agreements, LDK Solar and the Holders have further discussed LDK Solar's capital structure and various restructuring options proposed by LDK Solar in an effort to achieve a consensual restructuring and to prevent or forestall a liquidity crisis. LDK Solar has discussed the terms of the Proposal with holders of approximately 40% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding Senior Notes and their financial and legal advisors.
But the Holders have not signed any agreement with LDK Solar to memorialize any agreed restructuring terms, and the negotiations are continuing. LDK Solar intends to continue discussions with the Holders on the terms of the restructuring support agreement. There can be no guarantee, however, that LDK Solar will successfully negotiate any restructuring support agreement or, if a restructuring support agreement has been reached, that it will reflect the terms of the Proposal, or achieve all or any of the stated objectives of the proposed restructuring.
Similarly as a part of the ongoing offshore liability management program, LDK Solar has also been in private discussions with certain holders of the Preferred Obligations, to explore ways to restructure its highly leveraged balance sheet and reduce its significant cash flow requirements. Affiliates of holders of Preferred Obligations have provided and/or agreed to provide financing, including a part of the RMB 2 billion working capital and capital expenditure facility referenced above, to LDK Solar for its continued operations, subject to various conditions and restrictions placed on the financing arrangements.
Likewise, none of the holders of the Preferred Obligations has signed any definitive agreement with LDK Solar to memorialize their restructuring terms, and the negotiations are continuing.
Co sees FY14 revs of $1.243 bln, may not compare to Capital IQ consensus $748 mln); FY15 revs of $1.631 bln; sees FY16 revs $1.797 bln; sees FY17 revs $1.849 bln; sees FY18 revs $1.846 bln (no FY15-18 ests)

Blackberry (BBRY) Co-founder Michael Lazaridis disclosed lowered stake in BBRY; currently shows a 4.99% stake in SC 13D. Lowered stake appears to be related to terminated agreement with issuer following conclusion of its review of strategic alternatives.On December 23, 2013, Ontario Limited, a corporation controlled by Michael Lazaridis, sold 3,166,893 Shares at an average price per share of $7.55 and on December 24, 2013, sold 333,107 Shares at an average price per share of $7.63, in each case through open market sales.

Ituran Location and Control (ITRN) announced that at the annual meeting of the shareholders of Ituran Location and Control held on December 26, 2013, the following resolution was adopted: To renew the appointment of the firm of Fahn Kanne & co. (a member firm of Grant Thornton international) as the Company's independent auditors for the year ending December 31, 2014 and until the Company's next annual general meeting and authorize the Audit Committee of the Company to determine their remuneration.

SuperCom (SPCB) announced that it has completed the acquisition of the Smart ID division from On Track Innovations (OTIV). Subsequently all the SmartID operations, key employees, regional subsidiaries, products and technologies, the broad range of ID and e-ID solutions, software platforms, patents and other IP assets have been transferred to SuperCom. In addition, SuperCom is gaining high gross-margin contracts, a rich and extensive pipeline of bids, proposals and leads, as well as a satisfied customer base and references around the world.

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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The major averages wrapped up a memorable year with a forgettable final session. The S&P 500 added 0.4%, extending its 2013 price return to 29.6%. Given its banner year, it was appropriate for the index to end 2013 at a fresh all-time high of 1848.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 26.5% in 2013 and ended at a record high of its own.

Although the Dow (+0.4%) and S&P 500 (+0.4%) saw comparable gains today, the Nasdaq (+0.5%) fared a bit better. That was the theme throughout the year as the tech-heavy index rallied 38.3%.

Similar to earlier sessions of the week, today's affair felt like it was taking place in slow motion until indices roared to fresh highs during the final hour. As a result, paltry intraday NYSE volume turned into a more respectable final tally of 558 million.

Seven of ten sectors registered gains as cyclical groups provided leadership. The energy sector (+0.9%) led from the start with Phillips 66 (PSX 77.13, +2.41) contributing to the strength after Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B 118.56, +0.52) agreed to acquire Phillips Specialty Products, a flow improver business. Strikingly, the energy sector rallied even as crude oil slipped 0.8% to $98.46/bbl.

Elsewhere, the other commodity-related group-materials (+0.3%)-posted a modest gain as miners displayed strength. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 21.13, +0.49) gained 2.7% as gold futures ended little changed at $1202.70/ozt. Unlike the S&P 500, the yellow metal will be happy to see the calendar turn to 2014 after seeing its price plunge 28.0% in 2013.

Outside of energy, the technology sector (+0.7%) was the only other noteworthy outperformer. The largest component, Apple (AAPL 561.02, +6.50), broke its four-day losing streak, gaining 1.2%.

With regard to momentum names, Twitter (TWTR 63.65, +3.14) rallied 5.2% after falling nearly 17.5% over the past two sessions while the top S&P 500 component of 2013, Netflix (NFLX 368.17, +1.18), added 0.3%, extending its 2013 gain to 297.3%. Fittingly, the S&P 500's top performer of 2013 resides in the strongest sector of the year, consumer discretionary, which finished with an annual gain of 41.0%.

On the countercyclical side, consumer staples (-0.1%), health care (-0.1%), and telecom services posted modest losses while utilities (+0.2%) finished slightly higher. Treasuries ended on their lows after spending the day in a steady downtrend. The 10-yr yield rose six basis points to 3.04%.

Today's economic data featured three reports:

The October Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index rose 13.6% while a 13.8% increase had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. This follows the previous month's increase of 13.2%.
The Chicago PMI reading for December dropped to 59.1 from 63.0 while the consensus expected a decline to 60.0. The reported decrease was not too concerning given that readings above 60.0 are not sustainable for a long time. Production growth slowed as the related index fell to 57.9 from 64.3. The weakness stemmed from a softening in new orders growth, from 68.8 in November to 60.7 in December.
The December Consumer Confidence Index increased to 78.1 from 72.0 while the consensus expected an increase to 77.1. Although the index posted a solid increase, the jump was a result of consumer attitudes returning to pre-government shutdown levels. In reality, confidence levels have essentially held steady since late summer.

There is no economic data on tomorrow's schedule as bond and equity markets will be closed for New Year's Day.

On Thursday, weekly initial claims will be released at 8:30 ET while November construction spending and the December ISM Index will both cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

With the year drawing to a close, we at Briefing.com would like to wish all of our readers a happy and healthy start to 2014.

Nasdaq +38.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +37.0% YTD
S&P 500 +29.6% YTD
DJIA +26.5% YTD

Large Cap Gainers

HTZ (27.94 +7.84%): Co adopted a one-year shareholder rights plan; CNBC reported that Dan Loeb Third Point took new position in HTZ (position under 5%); CNBC also reported that Cortex Mgmt met with HTZ mgmt a few weeks ago to discuss the co.
PSX (76.9 +2.92%): Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) to acquire Flow Improver business from Phillips 66.
S (10.81 +2.13%): Co is looking to reintroduce Nextel brand, according to reports.

Large Cap Losers

None down >2% on news.

Mid Cap Gainers

MRVL (14.54 +5.67%): KKR disclosed 6.8% active stake in 13D filing.
PTC (35.28 +2.86%): Co acquired SFE partner co ThingWorx for ~$112 mln, plus a possible earn-out of up to $18 mln; reaffirmed FY'14 non-GAAP EPS guidance; Q1 prelim. revs expected to be near the high end of the co's guidance of $310 to $320 mln.

Mid Cap Losers

SPWR (29.77 -1.49%): Solar wafer prices rise to almost $1, according to reports (FSLR and SCTY also lower).
FSLR (54.67 -1.67%): Intermolecular (IMI) development program agreement with FSLR - 8K filing.

Juniper Networks (JNPR) announced that Cyberport will deploy Juniper Networks Contrail as the virtual network solution for its Cyberport Community Cloud.

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InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary:

http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

- Stock market skittish on currency issues ahead of weekend.
- Fear appears pre-market and stocks dive lower. Even with the negativity, indices recover with NASDAQ turning positive, but none of the indices could hold all of the rebound.
- Indices recover from selling, still holding support, but struggling to hang on.
- 2014 leaders are still solid, showing upside moves, good patterns, and good holds of support.

You can take two things from the Friday action.

First, the pre-market and open were about as negative as we have seen all year, all 30 days of it. Even looking further back to other selling events the worry pre-market was palpable and palpably more negative.

Earnings were at issue as AMZN missed the top and bottom line but GOOG, CMG, BRCM, WYNN and others beat and surged.

Personal income fell to flat versus the 0.2% gain expected. Not to worry; spending rose 0.4% when a 0.2% increase was expected, this on top of the November 0.6% rise (revised up from 0.5%). The US consumer continues spending what it apparently doesn't have. Or perhaps a large underground in cash and barter has emerged given over 100M working age people are out of work or completely out of the workforce (at least as the government defines it).

Doesn't seem to be filtering down evenly in the economy, but that is no surprise. As we have discussed before, there are two economies in the US right now. WMT has discovered this. Its clientele are typically in the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder. Indeed as much as 26% of its business is from those on assistance such as food stamps. Friday WMT guided its Q4 lower, blaming the November cutbacks in food stamps and of course, almost a dozen named winter storms.

Problems for sure here in the US, but they were not THE problems on Friday. World currency moves were and are the lion in the room. Currency issues are not readily understood and thus tend to cause inadvertent bodily functions in some investors. Rick Santelli on CNBC did a pretty good job of showing how DJ30 tracks USD/JPY almost tick for tick in the 'new normal,' but that didn't generate a lot of comfort even if some understand the issues better.

So, there was plenty to worry with to start the end of the week. EVEN WITH THAT NEGATIVITY and the gaps lower it engendered, however, the stock indices managed a comeback from the open with NASDAQ even cracking positive just ahead of the last hour. In other words, as bad as things looked at the open with DJ30 futures down 200 points, investors did not jam the exit doors and indeed used the dip to buy a bit and push stocks up well off the lows. Big negatives, but stocks recovered nicely. That is a more bullish response.

SP500 -11.60, -0.65%
NASDAQ -19.25, -0.47%
DJ30 -148.76, -0.94%
SP400 -0.44%
RUTX -0.74%
SOX -0.52%

Volume rallied on selling once more: NYSE +26%, NASDAQ +10%.

A/D was negative but not perversely so as say Monday and its -6:1 levels: -1.7:1 NYSE, -2.2:1 NASDAQ.

Second, though stocks did recover, they did not do that great of a job. The indices are still dancing at the trendlines/50 day EMA. All of them. They are hanging around that level, unable to make a break higher. It is darn impressive that they are able to hold on at all given all of the global intrigue that is dominating the financial world. US earnings are better than expected, GDP was solid enough, the other economic reports are decent (though December jobs and Durable Orders stunk up the place), but big monetary moves, even if they result in more money coming to the US, are disquieting to all markets at first.

Thus, the inability to make a move off key support has several calling for a breach of the trendlines and further selling. Looking at the patterns that is not an outrageous call. Indeed, there are quite a few bear flags out there (modest bounces back to former support after sharp falls through support) that we will look at as plays for next week in the event the indices break.

Another aspect of Friday and indeed the week (so I guess there were three things to take away from the day though this one is related to the first), the 2014 quiet leaders that have produced great gains for us and have used the selling to set up new solid patterns, are still holding great patterns as of the Friday close with many posting gains: AEIS, ATHN, ATK, DHI, GMCR, LCAV, PACB, TKMR, TWTR, QIHU, XON. Others sold early but surged back to support as buyers still entered or just held up well all around: END, ELOS, MONT, RVBD, SCON, SCTY, etc. Great action, great shakeouts and recoveries. The question is, will they continue to hold on and resume the moves? If the indices bounce, sure they will. If the indices crack and tumble through support, problematic.

So the indices enter the weekend and next week still holding support though looking somewhat beleaguered. Leaders remain solid with some good moves upside even on Friday along with some excellent patterns ready to move up. We will continue our positions as long as they continue to perform in a bullish manner. We will also prepare for some more downside if the support breaks. How the upside leaders perform at that time determines what we do with them.

Basically while many are predicting a further market decline (and with the way the indices look, that is not an outlandish belief), all market calls are personal, i.e. based upon that person's beliefs and views toward many things including market action. In short, they are not the market and its millions of individual minds forming action. So while I too believe the indices look poor right now, I also see the 2014 leaders, stocks that performed when the indices were not, still showing buyers stepping in. I am not, and I don't know anyone who is, smart enough to say which is right and what kind of probability you can assign to which side wins. Of course there is the other option, that both happen similar to what occurred at the end of 2013 and the first part of 2014. The odds of that would typically be low as well, but that is how this market is working right now.

In the end, Friday (and the end of the month) did not resolve anything, but the indices are indeed still at support and the 2014 leaders are still in good shape. That much is true. We will simply be ready for whichever way this situation resolves.

THE MARKET

OTHER MARKETS

Euro/Dollar: Rallying further, reaching resistance below the 200 day SMA. Money flowing to the dollar out of foreign markets.

1.3496 versus 1.3551 versus 1.3655 versus 1.3667 versus 1.3671 versus 1.3676 versus 1.3695 versus 1.3545 versus 1.3562 versus 1.3528 versus 1.3612 versus 1.3605 versus 1.3683 versus 1.3669.

Dollar/Yen: Dollar falling versus the yen after the late December peak. With it goes the US market. 102.30 versus 102.72 versus 102.11 versus 102.89 versus 102.64.

Bonds: 2.67% versus 2.70% versus 2.68% versus 2.75% versus 2.76% versus 2.73% versus 2.77% versus 2.86% versus 2.83% versus 2.83% versus 2.84% versus 2.88% versus 2.87% versus 2.83% versus 2.86% versus 2.97% versus 2.99% versus 2.94% versus 2.96% versus 3.00% versus 2.99% versus 3.03% versus 2.97% versus 3.01% versus 2.99% versus 2.98% 10 year.

Gapped through the 200 day SMA Friday, still just below the late October high. Bonds are on the run for two reasons: overseas money coming to America, still questions about the US economy.

Oil: 97.53, -0.72. Holding the bounce, trading just below the 200 day SMA.

Gold: 1239.80, -2.10. Even with the Global issues gold faded more of the prior week's move.

MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: -19.25 points (+0.47%) to close at 4103.88
Volume: 2.308B (+10.06%)

Up Volume: 919.24M (-860.76M)
Down Volume: 1.36B (+994.66M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 2.24 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.89 to 1

New Highs: 76 (-5)
New Lows: 41 (+20)

S&P
Stats: -11.6 points (-0.65%) to close at 1782.59
NYSE Volume: 732M (+25.99%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.66 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 3.25 to 1

New Highs: 59 (-21)
New Lows: 142 (+29)

DJ30
Stats: -149.76 points (-0.94%) to close at 15698.85

THE CHARTS

Started ugly, managed to hold above key support again, then moved up off the lows. Good initial response but faded in the last hour, unable to hold onto all of the recovery. Perhaps just some more pre-weekend nervousness scuttled the last part of the session.

Lots of day to day volatility as the indices test an important support. Volatility often signals change. It definitely signals a fight between buyers and sellers. The back and forth at the 2012 trendlines and the 50 day EMA shows this is indeed a key level. Buyers are stepping in for support, but they cannot overcome the selling and run the indices higher. While volatility can signal change and thus might suggest a bounce here, it is going to have to make that move as they tend to run out of ammunition at some point as the buyers eventually pull their bids and wait.

NASDAQ: Even with GOOG providing a big lift, NASDAQ closed lower. AMZN provided a big decline. In any event, NASDAQ gapped back below its 50 day EMA but easily held above the 11/2012 up trendline. It recovered back up through the 50 day EMA and made it to positive only to backslide into the close. Still above the trendline, still holding where it has to, trying to overcome the selling. We will see.

RUTX: The small caps are struggling, more so than NASDAQ. Sold back to the trendline, undercut it again intraday managed to hold it on the close. Unlike the October test, not a quick test and rebound. It did hang around more in August and still held and bounced, but it is finding it hard to get traction off this level.

SOX: Gapped up off the 50 day EMA and moved through the trendline, but could not make that move stick. Still holding key support as NASDAQ and RUTX, looks a bit better than RUTX, but still in the same situation.

SP400: After bouncing up to the 50 day EMA Thursday, SP400 tried again to move through that resistance but faded modestly. Very modest fade indeed, but SP400 also did not test the trendline on the selling. Something of a bear flag below the 50 day resistance.

SP500: Holding the 11/2012 trendline, undercutting it slightly on the low, rebounding to hold at the close. Similar to RUTX, struggling to hold the line. Volume jumped as it sold, but also held support. That is not a bad indication, holding key levels on high volume as it suggests that buyers stepped in. Certainly they did, but hardly the end as volatility remains high day to day.

DJ30: Delving lower on the close but holding the July and September peaks on the low and cutting the losses modestly. Still looks heavy, just undercutting the December low on the Friday move.

LEADERSHIP

Big Names: Good and not so good. GOOG gapped to a new all-time high, fought off some selling and recovered to the high. AMZN gapped and sold to next support. AAPL is still floundering above the 200 day SMA after its gap lower. NFLX moved to a new high.

Not great:

Financial: JPM is weak below its 50 day EMA. BAC is decent, trying to hold the 20 day and bounce again. WFC is heading to its 50 day EMA.

Metals: Mixed bag, mostly lower. MTL way down. SID trying to find support at the 200 day SMA. STLD also trading around its 200 day SMA. AKS is actually decent, moving back up over the 50 day EMA on the week. FCX (copper) is similar to STLD, i.e. at the 200 day SMA all week long.

Not bad:

Machinery: CAT is surging toward 100. TEX fell to the 50 day EMA but held and is bouncing on big volume similar to CAT. CMI is at the 200 day SMA.

Good:

Biotechs: BIIB, GILD solid. CELG heading to the 200 day SMA for a new base after a long, long upside run. Smaller biotechs solid: XON, TKMR, PACB, INO.

Medical Equipment: Not bad. ELOS, STXS.

Internet: WWWW rising again. QIHU surging. VIPS trending higher. TWTR

Electronics: AEIS, MONT, SCTY, LEDS

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 17.29; -0.06
VXN: 18.65; -0.04
VXO: 15.78; -0.8

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.83; -0.14

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls fade to 53.1, tumbling through the prior week's 57.6 and the 56.1 from the week before that. A bit of selling pushing the bulls down as you would expect. As noted before, the 60+ reading was extreme and logged a peak that should result in some selling as seen the past week.

Bears at 15.3 remain steady in the low 15 range for another week in its 5 week lateral move. (15.1 last week, 15.3 before that). Unable to push higher after bouncing up from 14.

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.

Note the extreme bullishness: it was this high in 2007 at the crash, in early 2005 as well.

Bulls: 53.1% versus 57.6 versus 56.1 versus 60.6% versus 61.6% versus 60.0 versus 58.2 versus 57.1 versus 55.7 versus 53.6 versus 52.6 versus 55.2% versus 52.6 versus 49.5 versus 42.3% versus 45.4 versus 46.4% versus 44.3% versus 42.3% versus 37.1% versus 37.1% versus 38.1% versus 43.3%. Getting even more extreme . . .

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 15.3% versus 15.1 versus 15.3% versus 15.2% versus 15.2% versus 14.0 versus 14.3 versus 14.3 versus 14.4 versus 15.5 versus 15.5% versus 15.6% versus 16.5% versus 18.5 versus 21.6% versus 20.6% versus 18.6% versus 20.6% versus 21.6% versus 22.7% versus 23.7% versus 23.8% versus 21.6%. Held steady basically for the third straight week. Seems bears fall after each three weeks. Frankly, how much more can it fall? Further, I suppose.

Background: Over 35% is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. For reference, bearishness hit a 5 year high at 54.4% the last week of October 2008. The move over 50 took bearish sentiment to its highest level since 1995. Extreme negative sentiment. Prior levels for comparison: Bearishness peaked at 37.4% in September 2007. It topped the June 2006 peak (36%) on that run. That June peak eclipsed the March 2006 high (33%) and well above the 2005 highs that spawned new rallies (30% in May 2005, 29.2% in October 2005). That was a huge turn, unlike any seen in recent history.

Have a great weekend!

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4103.88

Resistance:
4104 is the lower gap point from 12/20/13
4144 is the upper channel line for the November 2012 to present uptrend.
4246.55 is the January 2014 peak

Support:
The 50 day EMA at 4086
4070 is the series of highs from late November/early December
4041 is the November 2012 trendline
3991 is the prior November 2013 high and the post-bear market high.
3967 is the October 2013 post-bear market high.
3855 is the November low
3819 is the early October high
3801 is the September 2013 high.
The October low at 3750
The 200 day SMA at 3734
3697 is the August high and a prior post-bear market high in the recovery.

S&P 500: Closed at 1782.59

Resistance:
The 50 day EMA at 1804
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1849.44 is the recent all-time high.

Support:
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high
1777 is the December 2012 up trendline. Trying to hold
1768 is the December 3013 low
1730 is the September 2013 peak
1710 is the August 2013 peak.
The 200 day SMA at 1706
1698 to 1700 are the July and August interim highs
1687 is the May high and post-bear market high
1685 is the mid-August 2013 upper gap point
1657 is the late August upper gap point
1654 is the June 2013 peak
1627 is the August 2013 low
1576 from October 2007, the prior all-time high
1573 is the June 2013 closing low
1569.48 is the 78% Fibonacci retracement of the April to May 2013 run
1560 is the June 2013 reversal low

Dow: Closed at 15,698.85

Resistance:
15,739 is the December 2013 low
15,970 is a lower trendline off the 11/2012 low
The 50 day EMA at 16,074
16,175 is the November 2013 peak.
16,257 is the January 2014 low
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high

Support:
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
15,659 is the August 2013 peak
15,542 is the May 2013 intraday high
The 200 day SMA at 15,466
15,318 is the June closing high
15,050 from the August 2013 interim recovery high
14,888 is the April peak and prior all-time high
14,844 is the June intraday low
14,762 is the August 2013 low
14,551 is the June 2013 intraday low on the selloff (14,659 closing)
14,198 from the October 2007 high
14,149 is the February 2013 high
14,022 from 7-07 peak
14,010 from the early February 2013 consolidation

Economic Calendar

January 31 - Friday
- Personal Income, December (8:30): 0.0% actual versus 0.2% expected, 0.2% prior
- Personal Spending, December (8:30): 0.4% actual versus 0.2% expected, 0.6% prior (revised from 0.5%)
- PCE Prices - Core, December (8:30): 0.1% actual versus 0.1% expected, 0.1% prior
- Employment Cost Index, Q4 (8:30): 0.5% actual versus 0.4% expected, 0.4% prior
- Chicago PMI, January (9:45): 59.6 actual versus 58.0 expected, 60.8 prior (revised from 59.1)
- Michigan Sentiment - Final, January (9:55): 81.2 actual versus 80.4 expected, 80.4 prior

February 3 - Monday
- ISM Index, January (10:00): 56.0 expected, 56.5 prior (revised from 57.0)
- Construction Spending, December (10:00): 0.1% expected, 1.0% prior
- Auto Sales, January (14:00): 5.3M prior
- Truck Sales, January (14:00): 6.6M prior

February 4 - Tuesday
- Factory Orders, December (10:00): -1.7% expected, 1.8% prior

February 5 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 02/01 (7:00): -0.2% prior
- ADP Employment Change, January (8:15): 178K expected, 238K prior
- ISM Services, January (10:00): 53.8 expected, 53.0 prior
- Crude Inventories, 02/01 (10:30): 6.421M prior

February 6 - Thursday
- Challenger Job Cuts, January (7:30): -5.9% prior
- Initial Claims, 02/01 (8:30): 335K expected, 348K prior
- Continuing Claims, 01/25 (8:30): 2993K expected, 2991K prior
- Trade Balance, December (8:30): -$36.0B expected, -$34.3B prior
- Productivity-Preliminary, Q4 (8:30): 2.4% expected, 3.0% prior
- Unit Labor Costs, Q4 (8:30): -0.5% expected, -1.4% prior
- Natural Gas Inventories, 02/01 (10:30): -230 bcf prior

February 7 - Friday
- Nonfarm Payrolls, January (8:30): 175K expected, 74K prior
- Nonfarm Private Payrolls, January (8:30): 161K expected, 87K prior
- Unemployment Rate, January (8:30): 6.7% expected, 6.7% prior
- Hourly Earnings, January (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.1% prior
- Average Workweek, January (8:30): 34.4 expected, 34.4 prior
- Consumer Credit, December (15:00): $11.5B expected, $12.3B prior

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Amateur Investors Weekend Stock Market Analysis (3/22/14)

http://www.amateur-investor.net/Weekend_Market_Analysis_Mar_22_2014.htm

The common theme among the investment community is that the market has started another Secular Bull Market which will lead to a repeat of the 1980's and 1990's. Although nothing can ever be completed ruled out history suggests that it's not likely. An analysis of a few key parameters which can easily be developed into a Overbought/Oversold Index suggests the current market environment is similar to that of the late 1990's, late 1930's and late 1920's.

The chart below is a plot of the Overbought/Oversold Index that tracks Long Term Interest Rates, Shillers PE Ratio and how far the S&P Comp is above its 5 Year Low. Going back to the early 1880's there have only been "4" occasions when the index has reached or exceeded the 40 level using a 6 Month Moving Average (red line). The previous "3" events in 1999, 1937 and 1929 were eventually followed by significant corrections ranging from 50% to 87%. So far the market has avoided a substantial correction however you have to wonder how much longer this will last.

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The major indices strung together some modest gains on Tuesday on the back of some strong showings from blue-chip issues and a volatile rebound effort by the beaten-down biotechnology stocks.

The move followed on the heels of a strong outing by major European bourses, which shot up largely in response to some remarks from Bundesbank head, Jens Weidmann, who suggested it was not out of the realm of possibility for the ECB to implement a QE-type program to fight deflation. It would be remiss not to add that ECB President Draghi spoke later in the day and said the ECB is not currently seeing any evidence of deflation.

Mr. Draghi's viewpoint helped the euro recover a good portion of overnight losses, but his view did not lead to a major trend reversal in the US stock market.

There were indeed bouts of trading volatility in today's session. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 239.44, +0.21) was the standard bearer in that respect as it saw a 4.0% range between its intraday high and intraday low. The ETF, which had dropped as much as 11% over the preceding four sessions, gained just 0.1% on Tuesday. The roller-coaster action in that closely-watched and widely-chased sector kept a lid on things for the Nasdaq Composite, which trailed the blue-chip laden Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500.

Strikingly, it was Big Blue itself -- IBM (IBM 195.04, +6.79) -- that carried the day for the broader market. It surged 3.6% on a few announcements detailing new business activity, yet we suspect it was also accorded a low-beta premium in an environment of late that has featured some material hiccups for high-beta momentum stocks. IBM led all Dow components; however, the blue chip bias was also evident in fellow components like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 97.38, +2.18), Caterpillar (CAT 98.59, +1.74), Merck (MRK 55.19, +1.41), 3M (MMM 134.06, +1.64), and United Technologies (UTX 115.20, +1.45).

Today's gains were broad-based in nature. Nine out of ten S&P 500 sectors closed the day with a gain. The lone loser was the consumer discretionary sector (-0.6%), which was held back by a relatively weak showing from the apparel and media stocks. Some disappointing second quarter and full-year earnings guidance from Carnival Corp. (CCL 38.02, -1.98) also weighed on the sector.

Notwithstanding the broad-based gains, the financial sector (+0.01%) was a notable underperformer in Tuesday's trading as JPMorgan Chase (JPM 60.93, -0.14), Goldman Sachs (GS 163.25, -2.47), Bank of America (BAC 17.21, -0.16), and Morgan Stanley (MS 31.59, -0.85) all traded lower. Leadership from the industrial (+0.9%), energy (+0.8%), and health care (0.8%) sectors, though, provided an influential offset.

There was a round of economic data today that revolved largely around the housing sector:

The January Housing Price Index from the FHFA increased 0.5%, which followed a revised uptick of 0.7% observed during the prior month.
The Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for January rose 13.2% while a 13.3% increase had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. This followed the previous month's increase of 13.4%.
New home sales declined 3.3% in February to 440,000 from a downwardly revised 455,000 (from 468,000) in January. The Briefing.com consensus expected sales to fall to 445,000. Commentators will likely point out that the drop in sales was the result of extreme winter conditions, but sales actually increased 36.7% in the frigid Midwest and fell 15.9% in the West. In actuality, sales are running a little ahead of the 12-month average with the drop in February resulting from normal volatility.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index strengthened in March. The index increased to 82.3 from an upwardly revised 78.3 (from 78.1) in February. The Briefing.com consensus pegged the index at 78.2. The reading put confidence levels at the highest point since January 2008. Typically, confidence levels trend with unemployment, gasoline prices, and the equity market. The increase in volatility in the equity market over the past few weeks did nothing to harm confidence. Instead, consumers relied on more favorable employment conditions.

The stock market seemed to divorce itself from the data on Tuesday, following instead the path of activity in the biotech sector and leading blue chip issues. Similarly, the Treasury market rocked back and forth between negative and positive territory before ending modestly lower at the cash settlement.

On a related note, the $32 bln 2-yr note auction went okay, drawing a high yield of 0.469% (0.471% when issued) and a 3.20 bid-to-cover ratio. The latter was below the 12-auction average, but there was strong demand from indirect bidders who accounted for 40.9% of the allotment versus a 12-auction average of 25.7%.

A $35 bln 5-yr note auction will be held on Wednesday. In addition, the economic calendar will feature the latest reading for the mortgage applications index and February data for durable goods orders (Briefing.com consensus +1.0%).

Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.24% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +1.4% YTD
S&P 500 +0.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.3% YTD
S&P 400 Midcap Index +2.2% YTD

DJ30 +91.19 NASDAQ +7.88 SP500 +8.18 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1354/2.13 bln/1309 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1790/632 mln/1233

3:30 pm :

Apr gold rose to a session high of $1316.60 per ounce after touching a session low of $1306.20 per ounce in early morning pit trade. However, the yellow metal pulled back towards the unchanged line and settled 20 cents lower at $1311.20 per ounce.
May silver see-sawed between positive and negative territory today, touching a session high of $20.17 per ounce after trading as low as $19.92 per ounce in early morning action. It eventually settled with a 0.4% loss at $19.98 per ounce.
May crude oil advanced to a session high of $100.25 per barrel after trading as low as $98.80 per barrel in morning action. However, the energy component retreated back into negative territory and settled with a 0.4% loss at $99.18 per barrel.
Apr natural gas, on the other hand, trended higher after coming off its session low of $4.36 per MMBtu. It settled 3.0% higher at $4.41 per MMBtu, just below its session high of $4.42 per MMBtu.

4:31PM SunPower sells more than 70 megawatts in concentrator cell packages for two projects in inner Mongolia, China (SPWR) 31.27 -0.77 : Co announced the sale of more than 70 megawatts (MW) of cell packages to the Huaxia Concentrated Photovoltaic Power Co., Ltd., joint venture (JV) in Inner Mongolia, China. These packages will be used for the first phase of two SunPower C7 Tracker (C7) projects, which includes a 20-MW project in Saihan and a 100-MW project in Wuchuan. Both are located in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia and completion is expected in 2015.

The definitive agreement for the Huaxia Concentrated Photovoltaic Power JV was initially signed in December of 2012, and officially approved and registered in November of 2013.

4:09PM 3D Systems announces its ProJet 3510 MP 3D printer and proprietary VisiJet Stoneplast dental materials are now also available for use with 3Shape Implant Studio (DDD) 58.45 +0.47 : Co announced that its ProJet 3510 MP 3D printer and proprietary VisiJet Stoneplast dental materials are now also available for use with 3Shape Implant Studio, allowing dental professionals to output accurate and fully functional dental implant drill guides that are designed using the 3Shape Implant Studio software.

12:14PM 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

WAG (66.21 +2.95%): Missed on EPS by $0.01, revs in-line with March 5 preannouncement; raised Alliance Boots synergy target.
RIO (54.17 +2.61%): Strength in metals/mining stocks (BHP also higher).
AGU (95.32 +1.85%): Co exec discussed potential sale of assets, according to reports out last night.

Large Cap Losers

CCL (38.01 -4.98%): Beat on EPS by $0.08, reported revs in-line; guided Q2 EPS below consensus; lowered FY14 EPS guidance.
AMX (19.76 -4.45%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill; co and Televisa (TV) may be impacted by new Mexico telecom bill, according to reports.
BMRN (71.68 -2.75%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman; removed from America's Buy list.

Mid Cap Gainers

HDS (25.08 +8.71%): Beat on EPS by $0.01, reported revs in-line.
RAX (34.72 +6.11%): Upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
MKC (71.5 +5.91%): Beat on EPS by $0.04, beat on revs; reaffirmed FY14 EPS guidance, revs guidance.

Mid Cap Losers

HIMX (11.22 -16.14%): Downgraded to Underperform from Buy at BofA/Merrill.
SPLK (72.53 -6.13%): Unfavorable mention on Mad Money.
COMM (23.58 -3.48%): Announced secondary offering of 17.5 mln shares of common stock by an affiliate of The Carlyle Group (CG).

12:00PM Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (99) outpacing new lows (22) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABG, ADI, AR, ARW, ASTE, ATI, AVAV, AVT, BGMD, BRCD, BXMT, CAT, CHFC, CJES, CLD, CNQ, CPK, CRS, CRT, CSX, CVGW, CVS, DOW, EFII, EGL, EIX, EMC, EXH, FSL, FWV, GLNG, GLOG, GLW, GMT, GSIG, GVA, HAL, HDS, HIL, HP, IFN, IPHI, ITRN, JNJ, JPM, KAMN, LECO, LKFN, LRCX, LVLT, LXK, MCRL, MD, MEAS, MHLD, MRCY, MRTN, MSA, MSFT, MTR, MTZ, MVNR, NBCB, NBR, NEU, NOA, NSIT, OILT, ORA, PAGP, PCAR, PDS, PPC, QLGC, REX, RSPP, RYAAY, SAVE, SFE, SFNC, SGU, SGY, SIR, SLB, SLP, SONC, SSL, TFX, THRM, UTL, VE, VET, VSAT, VSB, WHG, WLB, WLFC, WSCI, WSTG

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AEO, AHP, AKBA, ARO, BODY, CSLT, DPRX, GLMD, GMET, HAE, KBR, KIOR, MLVF, ORCT, OTEL, QTWO, RALY, SPHS, TBAC, VEEV, WRLD, WTSL

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: EGPT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none


RFMD (RFMD) has signed a $9.7 mln agreement with the Manufacturing and Industrial Technologies Directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory to transfer and produce a 0.14 micron Gallium Nitride monolithic microwave integrated circuit technology.

8:09AM Oracle announces Java 8 and Oracle Health Sciences Empirica Healthcare Analysis release (ORCL) 38.18 : As part of the most significant Java technology release by Oracle, the company will host the Java 8 launch webcast today (13:00 ET). Oracle is announcing Java Platform, Standard Edition 8 (Java SE 8), Java Platform, Micro Edition 8 (Java ME 8) and the related releases of Oracle's Java Embedded products. Members of the Oracle Java development team, as well as other industry leaders, will highlight the key features of these new products during the webcast. In addition, over 30 technical videos covering Java SE 8, Java ME 8, Java Embedded and the Internet of Things will also be available on demand.

Oracle Health Sciences today introduced Oracle Health Sciences Empirica Healthcare Analysis, an analytics platform that enables health sciences organizations, regulatory agencies and healthcare payers and providers to develop safety surveillance, advanced risk management strategies and comparative effectiveness initiatives to improve product safety and healthcare outcomes. This Web-based application, which can be deployed on-premise or hosted, provides access to a repeatable analysis environment to effectively assess and improve the safety and risk/benefit profile of a product. Oracle Health Sciences Empirica Healthcare Analysis Provides High Performance Data Analytics to Support Safety Surveillance and Comparative Effectiveness Initiatives

Rackspace (RAX 33.84, +1.12): +3.4% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to 'Overweight' from 'Equal-Weight.'

Trina Solar (TSL) announced that all solar PV cells produced by the co have achieved anti-PID ability following the optimization of the Company's manufacturing technology.

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InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary

http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

- A relief attempt gets the same treatment as other rally efforts.
- Looked ready to go, but was not.
- Outside of some spectacular selloffs, much of the market looks pretty solid.
- Indices still divided, no pattern looks that great, but there are many good upside patterns out there.
- Spending and Incomes rise, but revisions are huge and you just have to question the numbers given the real numbers.
- Cannot count out SP500 rallying from here. Cannot count on it either.

Finally the setup. Growth stocks spending over a week redefining the term 'growth' as community punching bag. Biotech drug stocks in need of their own Rx. Big names such as AMZN, NFLX, PCLN, GOOG suddenly treated as the Rodney Dangerfields of the market.

The 'F' word mentioned every other hour on CNBC and other financial networks (you know, 'froth'). The actual open questioning of whether the bull market built on FOMC QE could survive given the Fed, similar to the Malaysian government regarding the missing airliner, finally admitted the obvious that yes, someday it would have to remove stimulus.

Thus after 4 of 5 sessions lower on NASDAQ, 5 straight on RUTX, and over a week of floundering along below the prior highs on SP500 and DJ30, we were looking for a bit of a relief move. At least in growth, the doormat for sellers the past week and one-half.

Indeed, stocks did start Friday in good shape with NASDAQ well outpacing the large cap NYSE stocks to the upside. Futures were up 12 points versus fair value, and while a higher open is the de facto kiss of death for this stock market, given NASDAQ was disproportionately down versus the NYSE and since it was ripe for a relief bounce given its gutting, it SEEMED somewhat logical to think a relief move was coming.

It did. NASDAQ jumped up through its lower channel line and RUTX surged up to its 50 day EMA. 52 points upside for NASDAQ (1.25%), 16 for RUTX (1.4%). Even the Dow ran up to its trendline in the surge. Over a week of losses in the growth indices, end of the week, end of the month, end of the quarter (at least on Monday) . . . yes, primed for a relief move and it was starting. Cool.

Well, you know what happened to this relief move. Same old story. All this relief move did was let any pressure to bounce out of the bottle. Kind of an upside relief valve: downside pressure gets too high, pop upside intraday, draw in some bids, then flop back down. Growth stocks were definitely stretched lower with RUTX posting its worst week in almost two years. They were primed for a relief rally. Alas, after Friday are still stretched to the downside, but the intraday surge (again, 52 NASDAQ points!) released whatever demand there was. When the bids were exhausted no one else wanted stocks and the move was sold.

Stocks recovered in the last two hours though 'recovered' is an overly generous, CNBC-perma-bull-type word. They stopped selling is more apt. The sellers had their victory, no reason to get penalized for excessive celebration after the rout. Almost shockingly, given the higher start on all indices, that 'recovery' allowed all indices to close positive on the session.

SP500 8.58, 0.46%
NASDAQ 4.53, 0.11%
DJ30 58.83, 0.36%
SP400 0.54%
RUTX 0.03%
SOX 0.73%

Volume: Sank significantly, -20% NYSE, -10% NASDAQ. Below average on both exchanges, the first time for NASDAQ in six sessions. At least no dumping; traders wanted just to get the week over, and there was plenty of distribution on the week for NASDAQ, with even NYSE suffered some dumping.

A/D: Even with the indices coughing up good gains, breadth was not bad, indeed very good in some cases. NYSE 2.5:1, NASDAQ just positive. You might wonder where the moves were, but outside of the growth areas that are getting hit, and indeed even in some of the sectors getting hit, the action is not that bad. Thus SP500, SP400, DJ30, and SOX are holding up rather nicely all things considered.

THE MARKET

OTHER MARKETS

Euro/Dollar: Bounced the back half of the week but that after falling early on. The action kept it in a range just below the 50 day EMA.

1.3752 versus 1.3748 versus 1.3788 versus 1.3823 versus 1.3842 versus 1.3794 versus 1.3776 versus 1.3831 versus 1.3930 versus 1.3925 versus 1.3907 versus 1.3858 versus 1.3907 versus 1.3870 versus 1.3869 versus 1.3872 versus 1.3857 versus 1.3735 versus 1.3737 versus 1.3730 versus 1.3805

Dollar/Yen: After a week of lateral moves the dollar broke sharply higher Friday.

102.81 versus 101.24 versus 101.99 versus 102.26 versus 102.25 versus 102.25 versus 102.42 versus 102.51 versus 101.40 versus 101.75 versus 101.29 versus 101.67 versus 102.71 versus 102.90 versus 103.24 versus 103.33 versus 103.07 versus 102.31 versus 102.19 versus 101.38 versus 101.82 versus 102.10 versus 102.38 versus 102.16 versus 102.47 versus 102.51 versus 102.35 versus 102.25 versus 102.43 versus 101.86

Bonds: Faded some Friday but that after a breakout from the 8 week range.

10 year: 2.71% versus 2.68% versus 2.70% versus 2.75% versus 2.73% versus 2.77% versus 2.78% versus 2.77% versus 2.67% versus 2.70% versus 2.65% versus 2.65% versus 2.72% versus 2.77% versus 2.78% versus 2.79% versus 2.74% versus 2.69% versus 2.67% versus 2.60% versus 2.66% versus 2.69% versus 2.67% versus 2.70% versus 2.74% versus 2.73% versus 2.75%

Oil: 101.67, +0.43. A breakout week of sorts for oil as well, finally topping the 200 day SMA Thursday and Friday.

Gold: 1293.90, -0.80. Another down week for gold as it tries to test the prior break but is having a hard time finding a floor.

MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: +4.53 points (+0.11%) to close at 4155.76
Volume: 2.014B (-10.17%)

Up Volume: 1.07B (+241.96M)
Down Volume: 932.96M (-487.04M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.01 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.54 to 1

New Highs: 34 (+14)
New Lows: 41 (-14)

S&P
Stats: +8.58 points (+0.46%) to close at 1857.62
NYSE Volume: 567M (-20.14%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 2.49 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.15 to 1

New Highs: 85 (+23)
New Lows: 62 (-22)

DJ30
Stats: +58.83 points (+0.36%) to close at 16323.06

THE CHARTS

No significant change in the closing prices Friday, and thus the relative positioning remains the same: NASDAQ and RUTX down hard and through support, SP500, DJ30, SP400, SOX holding support.

SP500, DJ30: Holding over the 20 day, still working laterally. DJ30 hit the trendline on the high and faded back to the 20 day EMA. Same lower high, same crappy pattern, but also the same refusal to give in. SP500 is also in the same pattern, but it is sitting on top of support and trying to defy the prior pattern in the uptrend, i.e. selling back off of this kind of top. Still don't expect it to, but as with DJ30, it has not given in.

NASDAQ: Moved up through the lower trendline of its 2012 channel and then gave it up. Less than impressive bounce. Even with the weekend and some lower volume there were not enough buyers to keep NASDAQ up. Instead it could not hold the gains, again, and was dumped back near flat. Still oversold but does not have the votes right now to hold an upside move.

RUTX: Surged upside to the 50 day EMA then coughed up 15 points to close flat. As with NASDAQ, the small caps are oversold, but finding buyers is hard to do, at least buyers that want to stick with the stocks. When buyers move in, sellers swarm and sell more than the buyers can handle. Still a lack of buyers wanting to hold the small caps, and the Friday move likely clears out some more buyers as whatever upside pressure there was released.

LEADERSHIP

Most stocks in the market holding up just fine. Maybe not great, but just fine. It is the spectacular collapse in a few areas such as biotechs, internets, specific leaders in some sectors, and large drops from some big names (PCLN, NFLX, AMZN, GOOG) that gives the market the appearance of significant upheaval. That, and of course, some pretty crappy index patterns.

Biotechs: Some said money was already moving back into these stocks. No bounce. None. BIIB, CELG, GILD.

Financials: Still in the test, but some very decent patterns. Boring, but decent. JPM, BAC, STT, WFC.

Metals: Steel (some of it) looks pretty steely, e.g. AKS, SCHN, MTL. Not beautiful in all cases, but some can actually make money.

Electronics: Big names such as KLAC, SLAB are okay. Smaller names, e.g. ANAD, ALTI not.

Internet: Still under pressure but some of the leaders look very interesting, e.g. YY, VIPS. Of course the Pamplona running of the bulls looks interesting as well; doesn't mean I am going to jump in the middle of action. Have to show the move, but they are set up well.

Energy: Good week and not a bad Friday. We were watching BHI, and we watched it so much it jumped. Rookie mistake, taking pictures versus getting involved. KOG is getting its legs under it again. SPN is breaking to a higher high in a big base. Might be some opportunity even without a pullback.

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

Notice the number of ads for trading services and 'new' trading schemes that are based upon formulas to produce profits again and again and again (defining probabilities and trading accordingly. Hmmm. Sounds familiar . . .)? Radio, internet, television.

That tells us the retail investor is there and is responding to these ads. They try them periodically and if there is no response they pull them and wait. Now they are getting interest so they are running them with more and more frequency.

Why is this relevant? Because we know the retail player always comes in late and is always enamored with the hottest fad. Right now that is IPO's. Hey, we are playing them as well, but because they are setting up good patterns and surging, attracting money. Not because they are an IPO and they are 'hot.'

At some point all of the money is in and there is no more. The retail investor is usually the last money, the money that buys and has no one to sell to. This can go on, however, for months and months and months (recall the internet boom that was called a bubble for two years before it broke). Even though a stove is hot, you still use it for cooking because you know how to use it. You just have to watch for the signs that it is getting too hot and will burn the food and of course, you.

Keep this in mind as we watch the continuing market action.

VIX: 14.41; -0.21
VXN: 18.09; -0.4
VXO: 13.45; -0.57

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.96; +0.12

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls bounced right back up: 54.7 versus 52.0. Good grief. Yes, still elevated.

Bears AGAIN holding at 17: 17.5 versus 17.4 versus 17.4 versus 15.1 from 17.2 for two weeks and 17.4 for three weeks prior to that.

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.

Note the extreme bullishness: it was this high in 2007 at the crash, in early 2005 as well.

Bulls: 54.7 versus 52.0%
54.6% 53.5% 46.5% 41.8% 45.9% 53.1% 57.6 56.1 60.6% 61.6% 60.0%
58.2% 57.1% 55.7% 53.6% 52.6% 55.2% 52.6 49.5 42.3% 45.4 46.4% 44.3% 42.3% 37.1% 37.1% 38.1% 43.3%.

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 17.5% versus 17.4%
15.1% 17.2% 17.2% 17.4% 17.4% 15.3% 15.1 15.3% 15.2% 15.2% 14.0 14.3 14.3% 14.4 15.5 15.5% 15.6% 16.5% 18.5 21.6% 20.6% 18.6% 20.6% 21.6% 22.7% 23.7% 23.8% 21.6%.

Background: Over 35% is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. For reference, bearishness hit a 5 year high at 54.4% the last week of October 2008. The move over 50 took bearish sentiment to its highest level since 1995. Extreme negative sentiment. Prior levels for comparison: Bearishness peaked at 37.4% in September 2007. It topped the June 2006 peak (36%) on that run. That June peak eclipsed the March 2006 high (33%) and well above the 2005 highs that spawned new rallies (30% in May 2005, 29.2% in October 2005). That was a huge turn, unlike any seen in recent history.

NEWS:

Personal Income February: 0.3% versus 0.2% versus 0.3% January

Spending February: 0.3% versus 0.3% versus 0.2% (down from 0.4%)

Income and spending were in line so all must be well. Incomes up 0.3% again. Well that is great given the analysis from the last jobs report shows weekly incomes hitting a 4 year low, falling as the recovery supposedly gains speed. Average hourly rates were reported up nicely that same month. What does this mean? First, the economic recovery is not going well for many in the US. Second, you cannot trust the government's headlines.

Revisions: Spending was revised in half for January as it turns out consumers did not spend a record $70B on services as was heralded in January even with the storms hitting (giving rise to the idea 'just think what it will be like when the storms end'). Indeed, the January Services number was revised down almost 30% to $50B. February service spending fell to $26B, almost half of January's revised lower level.

Higher healthcare costs dominated the spending. Hmmm, were not our costs supposed to be down with all of the great changes in healthcare? $2500 on average? We HAD heard some commentators claiming costs were down, but those claims suddenly grew quiet a couple of months back. Seems they got the word from above to tone it done.

Indeed costs WERE coming down . . . even before the ACA got going. We all know the stories, many from personal experience even if Senator Reid calls us liars, that since the ACA kicked in our policies were cancelled and we had to buy new, more costly policies (yes that is the norm even with the law 'changes' allowing insurers to keep selling 'inferior' policies). Also, despite even more shouts of 'liars' with respect to those saying they were having to pay their ACA penalties now, it turns out that those of us who pay quarterly income tax estimated payments are indeed seeing healthcare related costs go up because the tax form expressly says, pay your estimated penalty this quarter! Many are required to spend money to NOT be insured (the so-called tax that is a penalty).

Now you see it, right? THAT is how you get spending higher: pass a law that requires, despite multiple unilateral executive changes and extensions, people to either buy more expensive insurances or pay a penalty. Think about it: those who already had insurance, not those who are getting subsidies and are riding our wallets, get hit twice: First with higher priced policies and second paying for the subsidies of others through more taxes, e.g. on your home sale. That is a nice little fact in the law that we had to pass to see what was in it.

Now THAT is the kind of spending that really gens up the economy right? Transfer payments and subsidies. We have seen how well this kind of Keynesian redistribution affects 'massive' capital investment in the economy: last week saw cap-ex investment fall in both Durables Orders (-1.5%!) and in Q4 GDP (revised to a measly 0.43%). Indeed, investment in the US economy now goes by the names stock buyback and special dividend. There is virtually no serious capital investment in our country. I have said it before and it is getting worse: we are hollowing out the US economy by the policies our leaders implement and the behavior those policies promote, expectedly or unexpectedly.

MONDAY

Given the Friday surge and purge it may be that a relief bounce does not develop, so we grabbed some BEAV puts, cleared some upside, and this weekend we look at downside and upside plays in order to play the next break. Even with the breakdown in NASDAQ and RUTX, the next move is not that clear. The market is divided, and typically a divided market does not stand, but MANY sectors and stocks are performing quite well. It is the magnitude of the collapses that has everyone's attention, but on close review this weekend we find many sectors and stocks still in quite good position.

Looking at the charts you would think at least a relief bounce is called for. Then you get the Friday up then down action on NASDAQ/RUTX, and you also remember that SP500 has to change its stripes and RALLY off this kind of pattern, something it did not do even during the salad days of full frontal, $85B/month QE.

That said, there is rotation occurring, and when you have rotation you CANNOT count out the market holding, shifting assets elsewhere, and the breaking higher. Thus you cannot assume SP500 will necessarily break lower from this pattern. Indeed, given there is some rotation, however, it may be time for it to do just that.

So, we look at plays upside that fit the rotation scenario (and a few others that could bounce from good patterns in growth sectors), as well as some more downside even without an bounce upside. Based on the action Friday, some stocks that sold through support still look weak given they tried a bounce back through the broken support and were thrown back.

If the market is going to continue selling as we believe, we would love to see a 2-3 day test upside to set things up very nicely. The quarter end/new quarter start may accommodate us though Friday certainly was a disappointment.

Of course we would love to see that, but the market doesn't move to accommodate our desires. So, we have to be ready to take our positions whichever way the big M goes. Given SP500, SP400, SOX and even DJ30 are still holding support, more upside from here is still a plausible possible scenario.

As the market turned choppy, however, we got significantly lighter in upside positions and have stepped into more downside. At this juncture we are ready to go either way so to speak. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4155.76

Resistance:
4189 is the November 2012 trendline
The 50 day EMA at 4218
4246.55 is the January 2014 peak
4277 is the March lower gap point
4289 is the upper channel line for the November 2012 to present uptrend.
4289 is the July 2000 recovery high
4372 is the March 2014 high

Support:
4104 is the lower gap point from 12/20/13
4070 is the series of highs from late November/early December
3991 is the prior November 2013 high and the post-bear market high.
3967 is the October 2013 post-bear market high.
The 200 day SMA at 3899
3855 is the November low
3819 is the early October high
3801 is the September 2013 high.
The October low at 3750
3697 is the August high and a prior post-bear market high in the recovery.

S&P 500: Closed at 1857.62

Resistance:
1883.57 is the recent all-time high hit in early March.

Support:
The December and January highs at 1848
The 50 day EMA at 1841
1837 is the December 2012 up trendline
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high
1768 is the December 3013 low
The 200 day SMA at 1749
1730 is the September 2013 peak
1710 is the August 2013 peak.
1698 to 1700 are the July and August interim highs
1687 is the May high and post-bear market high
1685 is the mid-August 2013 upper gap point
1657 is the late August upper gap point
1654 is the June 2013 peak
1646 is the October 2013 low just before the surge into early 2014
1627 is the August 2013 low

Dow: Closed at 16,323.06

Resistance:
16,416 is a lower trendline off the 11/2012 low
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high

Support:
16,257 is the January 2014 low
16,179 is the November 2013 peak.
The 50 day EMA at 16,183
15,739 is the December 2013 low
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
The 200 day SMA at 15,677
15,659 is the August 2013 peak
15,542 is the May 2013 intraday high
15,318 is the June closing high
15,050 from the August 2013 interim recovery high
14,888 is the April peak and prior all-time high
14,844 is the June intraday low
14,762 is the August 2013 low
14,551 is the June 2013 intraday low on the selloff (14,659 closing)
14,198 from the October 2007 high
14,149 is the February 2013 high
14,022 from 7-07 peak
14,010 from the early February 2013 consolidation

Economic Calendar

March 28 - Friday
- Personal Income, February (8:30): 0.3% actual versus 0.2% expected, 0.3% prior
- Personal Spending, February (8:30): 0.3% actual versus 0.3% expected, 0.2% prior (revised from 0.4%)
- PCE Prices - Core, February (8:30): 0.1% actual versus 0.1% expected, 0.1% prior
- Michigan Sentiment - Final, March (9:55): 80.0 actual versus 80.0 expected, 79.9 prior

March 31 - Monday
- Chicago PMI, March (9:45): 60.1 expected, 59.8 prior

April 1 - Tuesday
- ISM Index, March (10:00): 54.1 expected, 53.2 prior
- Construction Spendin, February (10:00): 0.1% expected, 0.1% prior
- Auto Sales, March (14:00): 5.2M prior
- Truck Sales, March (14:00): 7.0M prior

April 2 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 03/29 (7:00): -3.5% prior
- ADP Employment Chang, March (8:15): 215K expected, 139K prior
- Factory Orders, February (10:00): 1.1% expected, -0.7% prior
- Crude Inventories, 03/29 (10:30): 6.619M prior

April 3 - Thursday
- Challenger Job Cuts, March (7:30): -24.4% prior
- Initial Claims, 03/29 (8:30): 320K expected, 311K prior
- Continuing Claims, 03/22 (8:30): 2850K expected, 2823K prior
- Trade Balance, February (8:30): -$39.5B expected, -$39.1B prior
- ISM Services, March (10:00): 53.5 expected, 51.6 prior
- Natural Gas Inventor, 03/29 (10:30): -57 bcf prior

April 4 - Friday
- Nonfarm Payrolls, March (8:30): 197K expected, 175K prior
- Nonfarm Private Payr, March (8:30): 205K expected, 162K prior
- Unemployment Rate, March (8:30): 6.6% expected, 6.7% prior
- Hourly Earnings, March (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.4% prior
- Average Workweek, March (8:30): 34.4 expected, 34.2 prior

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Short Term to Intermediate Indicators. It's best to be cover shorts and enter long positions on cross overs of green lines. Best to go short on cross overs of the red lines and or exit long positions.

The first set of charts for market timing the SMH are based on using the NASDAQ New Highs and similar indexes are shown here. To go long: First wait for the NASDAQ New Highs to set a new low and reverse itself from an approach of the lower Bollinger Band. To go short: Wait for the NASDAQ new highs and other similar new high indices to set a new high print at, near, or above the upper Bollinger Band. I am also now using the NASDAQ McClellan Oscillator (Ratio Adjusted) $NAMO) to confirm the above - Overbought above 25 - Oversold below -25. These charts do not fully update until after market close.



Short Term Indicators vs. the SMH; any index can be used - The first set of short term indicators I use are based on the put to call ratio. To go long it is best to wait for the put to call ratio to close over 1.0. On the chart below the put to call ratio now updates intraday but it is not always accurate! Intraday reading of the put to call ratio can be found here updated every half hour after the open:

http://www.cboe.com/data/IntraDayVol.aspx

The more days in a row the put to call ratio prints over 1.0 this the more likely the bottom will be a strong one. The link above shows intraday readings of the P/C ratio.

Also closes on the put to call ratio below 0.50 and sometimes a bit above are indicative of a short term top. Watch the simple moving averages as well because periods of too much buying of puts or calls will almost certainly bring about market bottoms and tops respectively. On the CPC/VIX ratio; this is largely a longer term indicator where investors are likely to make more money on the long side once the short-term 21 day sma has crossed above the 200 day sma. The reverse is true as well. An investor will likely make more money on the short side when the 21 day sma crosses below the 200 day sma:



Next I use the VIX, VXO and VXN (Fear Indices) because they can help to refine decision making on tops and bottoms upon reverses from upper or lower Bollinger Bands especially when the index stretches more than 10% above or below its 10 day simple moving average. When a volatility index stretches more than 10% above or below its 10 day sma it will generally reverse direction as will the market in general in the opposite direction.



Also TRIN and TRINQ readings on the 5 and 10 day simple moving averages over 1.5 are bullish while readings below 0.85 are bearish. These readings don't happen often especially with the 10 day sma. They are also early indicators so the market can continue higher or lower for a while but they are reliable for indicating market turns that are about to take place.



These charts simply forewarn of potential trend changes:

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InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary

http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

- The storm hits NASDAQ and RUTX again, this time taking a toll on SP500 and company as well.
- Jobs Report called Goldilocks scenario, but market decided it certainly was not just right.
- Low paying jobs dominate yet again. No improvement until there is investment, and investment relies upon stable policy that promotes risk taking. Right there are two risks: the usual risk of an endeavor with the added risk of government sanction if you are successful.
- VIX elevated its trading range but not at critical stage. Worth watching.
- Still some great upside sectors and stocks, if they can hold up against growth's selling.

As the boy who took Sarah Connor's picture in the first 'Terminator' said, viene la tormenta (a storm is coming). The market had the look, we started shifting to downside plays, and Friday the NASDAQ selling that showed up two weeks back resumed. As Bill Paxton in 'Twister' responded to Phillip Seymour Hoffman's warning a storm was on the way, it's already here.

A bit melodramatic, but they fit. Similar to Ron Insana's article Friday regarding the 'shock' about HFT trading, where he quoted Captain Renault in the great movie classic 'Casablanca': "I'm shocked, SHOCKED to find that gambling is going on here!'

Captain Renault is shocked about the gambling, then collects his winnings.

The session started off decently. Futures up ahead of jobs. Jobs came in not too hot, not too cold, kind of Goldilocks just as some on the morning financial stations proclaimed. Futures jumped nicely. Stocks started nicely higher. Immediately, however, the move came under pressure. They sold into the first half hour but bounced. Never made it back to the opening high, however.

The storm hit rather ferociously. Even SP500 and SOX, holdouts to the upside during the prior selling and indeed through much of the Friday session while NASDAQ burned, flared off 1% to 2% losses by the close. Volume swelled, downside breadth exploded on NASDAQ as it lost a startling 110 points.

SP500 -23.68, -1.25%
NASDAQ -110.01, -2.60%
DJ30 -159.84, -0.96%
SP400 -1.59%
RUTX -2.35%
SOX -2.81%

Volume: +22% NYSE, +27% NASDAQ. Slightly above average on NYSE, but surging above average on NASDAQ.

A/D: -4.9:1 NASDAQ but just -1.85:1 NYSE.

THE NEWS

Jobs Report in the eye of the beholder.

192K jobs. The Joe Lavorgna 275K estimate was more 'all is well' nonsense as Mr. Lavorgna continues to confuse QE-induced market gains as an economic indicator versus market gains based upon investment in the US that will lead to economic growth.

192K versus 195K expected, 197K prior (from 175K).

January and February revised up 15K and 22K, respectively.

Unemployment rate: 6.7% versus 6.6% expected, 6.7% February. If you use historical participation rates before the Great Recession created massive new entitlement classes, unemployment would be 9.7%. Hey, below 10% right?

The views on the report ran the extremes of the spectrum. David Gregory on MSNBC claimed the jobs report points to a 'robust recovery.' This is the same network that postulated a black hole swallowed the flight from Malaysia. CNBC's Steve Leisman actually took a more hawkish posture, vehemently disagreeing with guests who said the 192K jobs was a good report. Leisman huffed that the economy needed to product 300K AND 400K new jobs per month in order to show any kind of serious growth.

Sadly, as we noted with the Factory Orders, ISM, trade, etc. show no significant US investment, and it is investment to grow businesses that results in new jobs that are the better jobs versus the predominant service sector, lowest pay scale jobs this recovery produces. Indeed, the Friday report showed manufacturing, the second highest paying sector, LOSING jobs.

Ironically, and proving the point, CarMax reported results Friday that missed expectations, BUT KMX also announced the savior of stock prices, a $1B stock buyback. If you cannot please them with earnings, use the funny money in this recovery to buy your price higher. That is the new corporate capital investment.

Average Hourly Earnings fall to unchanged, Workweek rises 0.2.

In February hourly earnings jumped 0.4% while the workweek fell. Much was made of the longer workweek, how that accounts for thousands of new jobs with each 0.1 tick. If it were REAL that might be interesting. We said last month, however, hourly earnings jumped because of paid hours not worked due to weather while the workweek fell because of the weather. This month was a reversion.

Hourly earnings: 0.0 versus 0.2% expected, 0.4% February

Workweek: 34.5 versus 34.4 expected, 34.3 February

Clearly this was makeup time for hours not worked during February. Had to work more hours to make up for the lost work in February. Cause and effect as our old friend the Frenchman would say.

I drank too much wine, now I must . . .

Other numbers called important: 500K came back to the workforce as participation rose to 63.2% from 63.0%. People not in the workforce fell by 300K to a still huge 91,030,000.

Yet, the unemployed ROSE 27K to 10.486M. How? Not enough jobs. Cannot absorb the new people, the long-term unemployed. Add the unemployed to the out of the workforce and you get 101.5M people, or 32% of the population not working. It is even a larger proportion of the working age population.

Another telling statistic: Part-time worker growth. Still outpacing the full-time.

Indeed, temps rose 29K. Temp workers are in the lower end of the pay scale along with Education and Health, Leisure and hospitality, and retail. Those areas, however, added the most jobs at 34K, 29K, and 21K, respectively.

At the same time the highest pay scale sectors barely added jobs. Financial services, manufacturing, and information added just 2K jobs (manufacturing, as noted above, lost 1,000).

Of the jobs created it is the same story we have told for several years: low end, low pay. It is no wonder citizens are not spending as the used to because their incomes are not what they were and there is still quite a bit of worry about the future.

THE MARKET

OTHER MARKETS

Euro/Dollar: Stronger all week.

1.3701 versus 1.3712 versus 1.3760 versus 1.3794 versus 1.3779 versus 1.3752 versus 1.3748 versus 1.3788 versus 1.3823 versus 1.3842 versus 1.3794 versus 1.3776 versus 1.3831 versus 1.3930 versus 1.3925 versus 1.3907 versus 1.3858 versus 1.3907 versus 1.3870 versus 1.3869 versus 1.3872 versus

Dollar/Yen: Lost some ground Friday after a very strong week for the dollar.

103.24 versus 103.92 versus 103.76 versus 103.68 versus 103.21 versus 102.81 versus 101.24 versus 101.99 versus 102.26 versus 102.25 versus 102.25 versus 102.42 versus 102.51 versus 101.40 versus 101.75 versus 101.29 versus 101.67 versus 102.71 versus 102.90 versus 103.24 versus 103.33 versus

Bonds: Down week for bonds, falling to the 50 day EMA. Friday, however, a big bounce given the data and US market selling.

10 year: 2.73% versus 2.79% versus 2.80% versus 2.75% versus 2.73% versus 2.71% versus 2.68% versus 2.70% versus 2.75% versus 2.73% versus 2.77% versus 2.78% versus 2.77% versus 2.67% versus 2.70% versus 2.65% versus 2.65% versus 2.72% versus 2.77% versus 2.78% versus 2.79%

Oil: 101.14, +0.85.

Gold: 1303.40, +18.80. Started a modest rebound Wednesday after two straight weeks of selling.

MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: -110.01 points (-2.6%) to close at 4127.73
Volume: 2.573B (+27.19%)

Up Volume: 315M (-326.94M)
Down Volume: 2.29B (+900M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 4.88 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 2.37 to 1

New Highs: 86 (-19)
New Lows: 59 (+32)

S&P
Stats: -23.68 points (-1.25%) to close at 1865.09
NYSE Volume: 694M (+22.4%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.85 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.45 to 1

New Highs: 180 (+6)
New Lows: 68 (+7)

DJ30
Stats: -159.84 points (-0.96%) to close at 16412.71

CHARTS

DJ30 never did confirm the DJ20 transports new high with a closing new high of its own. It did not really damage itself as it closed between the 10 day and 20 day EMA. it simply did not have the strength for a new closing high on this move and was eventually dragged lower in the afternoon.

NASDAQ was gutted, breaking the bottom of its uptrend channel, undercutting last week's low, and closing at the lower trendline recently formed off the November 2012/March 2013 lows.

RUTX managed to hold last week's low, but it splintered the 50 day EMA and the uptrend channel yet again, the second such big selloff is as many weeks. Hanging around in a bad neighborhood for sure.

SP500 was finally torn from its new high after holding out much of the session at or above the 10 day. It fell further but found support at the 20 day EMA.

SOX dittoed SP500, falling from a decade-plus high to the 20 day EMA. Very important to watch because it led the rest of the market higher. If it rolls over the rest of the market likely does the same.

SP400 dove down from its upper channel line. Not necessarily surprising though its bounce off the 50 day EMA last week gave it the chance of a breakout. That was blown away in the storm.

SOX, SP500, SP400, and even DJ30 are still decent in terms of their positioning in their trends, but they were sold hard, matching that one-day event in early March.

LEADERSHIP

Many stocks were lower but it was along the same lines seen already, just magnified.

Biotech: ALXN, CELG, BIIB, GILD

Social media: FB, YELP

Big names: NFLX, AMZN, GOOG, PCLN

Even electronics were hit: SWKS, LSCC, MU

Steel: Held up decently. AKS, STLD

Utilities: Of course they were up in a defensive play.

Financials lower but not dumping: JPM, WFC. It was not all candy and nuts: BAC, STT.

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 13.96; +0.59
VXN: 18.79; +1.83
VXO: 13.42; +0.69

VIX is elevated the past two months, range-trading at a higher level than in all of 2013. You watch for major tops when VIX rises as the stock market continues posting gains. Thus the elevation in the trading range is something to watch but at this juncture it does not rise to the level of great concern.

Look at the long-term chart of VIX compared with SP500. From 1996 ('irrational exuberance' utterance from Greenspan) VIX bumped higher and continued to trend higher into 2000 as the stock market trended higher. Compare that with the period 2003 to mid-2007: stocks rose smartly but VIX faded. Not until the second half of 2007 did VIX rise as the stock market rose. In both instances a major selloff occurred only when VIX started to rise significantly off its status quo levels as stocks rallied.

The recent rise in VIX does not approach these levels, at least not yet. As noted, it should be watched.

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.94; +0.06

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls bounced right back up: 50.5 versus 54.7 versus 52.0. Nothing like a sharp pullback to rethread the bulls' heads.

Bears breaking higher: 18.6 versus 7 of 8 weeks at mid-17.

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.

Note the extreme bullishness: it was this high in 2007 at the crash, in early 2005 as well.

Bulls: 50.5 versus 54.7
52.0% versus 54.6% 53.5% 46.5% 41.8% 45.9% 53.1% 57.6 56.1 60.6% 61.6% 60.0% 58.2% 57.1% 55.7% 53.6% 52.6% 55.2% 52.6 49.5 42.3% 45.4 46.4% 44.3% 42.3% 37.1% 37.1% 38.1% 43.3%.

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 18.6 versus 17.5%
17.4% versus 15.1% 17.2% 17.2% 17.4% 17.4% 15.3% 15.1 15.3% 15.2% 15.2% 14.0 14.3 14.3% 14.4 15.5 15.5% 15.6% 16.5% 18.5 21.6% 20.6% 18.6% 20.6% 21.6% 22.7% 23.7% 23.8% 21.6%.

Background: Over 35% is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. For reference, bearishness hit a 5 year high at 54.4% the last week of October 2008. The move over 50 took bearish sentiment to its highest level since 1995. Extreme negative sentiment. Prior levels for comparison: Bearishness peaked at 37.4% in September 2007. It topped the June 2006 peak (36%) on that run. That June peak eclipsed the March 2006 high (33%) and well above the 2005 highs that spawned new rallies (30% in May 2005, 29.2% in October 2005). That was a huge turn, unlike any seen in recent history.

MONDAY

Friday we did not do that much despite the selling. As noted Thursday we were relative balanced heading into the jobs report. Upside plays took some hits but many are holding a support level, not bad after this kind of selling. Indeed, in many of the sectors on the NYSE stocks are quite intriguing upside. Energy, metals, industrial minerals, materials, chemicals, even some tech not only held up but worked on very nice patters. Yes the selling dragged most stocks lower, but as we looked through dozens of sectors, many were fine.

Now we see what kind of follow through there is next week. Ugly Fridays often lead to further selling through the early week, typically through Tuesday. That type of selling can yield a pretty sharp rebound, though typically just a relief move for those with broken patterns. SP500 is still in position to deliver a follow through session to the rebound from two Fridays back if it does not fall too much farther. If those stocks we see in solid patterns continue to work on them through any early week selling they could help lead a rebound in the market and good moves for themselves.

Our plan is to use any further downside early next week to see if we can bank some downside gain then watch for an oversold bounce to set up. A new trend is trying to establish itself, at least on NASDAQ and RUTX, and it is not an upside trend. The other indices, not really though they can be dragged lower. At the pace of the Friday decline, the market can get oversold quickly.

We have some new downside plays on the report as there are stocks that resisted the selloff but have weak patterns. If they make the move we can play some but knowing that after another couple of downside sessions through Tuesday a bounce can come. Likely just a relief move on NASDAQ that sets up some more downside, but again, there are many plays out there holding up just fine despite the NASDAQ and RUTX woes. Perhaps they don't break down and provide some leadership immune to the selling. Perhaps. I don't like the market's prospects even now for a sustained run. Keep your eye on SOX. If it breaks we would view that as something of the canary that the NYSE indices will break as well.

Decompress and enjoy the weekend!

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4127.73

Resistance:
4131 is the March 2014 low
4209 is the November 2012 trendline
The 50 day EMA at 4219
4246.55 is the January 2014 peak
4277 is the March lower gap point
4289 is the July 2000 recovery high
4306 is the upper channel line for the November 2012 to present uptrend.
4372 is the March 2014 high

Support:
4104 is the lower gap point from 12/20/13
4070 is the series of highs from late November/early December
3991 is the prior November 2013 high and the post-bear market high.
3967 is the October 2013 post-bear market high.
The 200 day SMA at 3918
3855 is the November low
3819 is the early October high
3801 is the September 2013 high.
The October low at 3750
3697 is the August high and a prior post-bear market high in the recovery.

S&P 500: Closed at 1865.09

Resistance:
1883.57 is the recent all-time high hit in early March.

Support:
The December and January highs at 1848
The 50 day EMA at 1848
1844 is the December 2012 up trendline
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high
1768 is the December 3013 low
The 200 day SMA at 1755
1730 is the September 2013 peak
1710 is the August 2013 peak.
1698 to 1700 are the July and August interim highs
1687 is the May high and post-bear market high
1685 is the mid-August 2013 upper gap point
1657 is the late August upper gap point
1654 is the June 2013 peak
1646 is the October 2013 low just before the surge into early 2014
1627 is the August 2013 low

Dow: Closed at 16,412.71

Resistance:
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
16,466 is a lower trendline off the 11/2012 low

Support:
16,257 is the January 2014 low
The 50 day EMA at 16,242
16,179 is the November 2013 peak.
15,739 is the December 2013 low
The 200 day SMA at 15,710
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
15,659 is the August 2013 peak
15,542 is the May 2013 intraday high
15,318 is the June closing high
15,050 from the August 2013 interim recovery high
14,888 is the April peak and prior all-time high
14,844 is the June intraday low
14,762 is the August 2013 low
14,551 is the June 2013 intraday low on the selloff (14,659 closing)

Economic Calendar

April 4 - Friday
- Nonfarm Payrolls, March (8:30): 192K actual versus 195K expected, 197K prior (revised from 175K)
- Nonfarm Private Payr, March (8:30): 192K actual versus 205K expected, 188K prior (revised from 162K)
- Unemployment Rate, March (8:30): 6.7% actual versus 6.6% expected, 6.7% prior
- Hourly Earnings, March (8:30): 0.0% actual versus 0.2% expected, 0.4% prior
- Average Workweek, March (8:30): 34.5 actual versus 34.4 expected, 34.3 prior (revised from 34.2)

April 7 - Monday
- Consumer Credit, February (15:00): $14.3B expected, $13.7B prior

April 8 - Tuesday
- JOLTS - Job Openings, February (10:00): 3.974M prior

April 9 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 04/05 (7:00): -1.2% prior
- Wholesale Inventorie, February (10:00): 0.5% expected, 0.6% prior
- Crude Inventories, 04/05 (10:30): -2.379M prior
- FOMC Minutes, 3/19 (14:00)

April 10 - Thursday
- Initial Claims, 04/05 (8:30): 325K expected, 326K prior
- Continuing Claims, 03/29 (8:30): 2843K expected, 2836K prior
- Export Prices ex-ag., March (8:30): 0.6% prior
- Import Prices ex-oil, March (8:30): -0.2% prior
- Natural Gas Inventor, 04/05 (10:30): -74 bcf prior
- Treasury Budget, March (14:00): -$106.5B prior

April 11 - Friday
- PPI, March (8:30): 0.1% expected, -0.1% prior
- Core PPI, March (8:30): 0.1% expected, -0.2% prior
- Mich Sentiment, April (9:55): 81.0 expected, 80.0 prior

[ReturntoSender]

Further Downside May Be Ahead, Though Long-Term Trend Still Intact

http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/chris-puplava/further-downside-long-term-trend-intact

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KLIC MT Short Sale 5000 shares@13.00 - I had to put this in this morning near the open with me phone as my trading laptop was having problems. I hesitate to even post it. KLIC is still trading well above my entry price I think anyone would know I am posting an actual trade.






RtS

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary

http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

- DJ30 posts a new closing high, RUTX hits a new selloff low. A tale of two markets.
- Volatility remains but near term the growth sectors finally look a bit sold out.
- March Wholesale Inventories spike, raise hope for a positive Q1 GDP revision, though history shows it likely pulls from Q2.
- JOLTS: confirms the 'issues' with the monthly jobs report, indicate non-farm numbers to fall and a possible 'jobs' recession.
- Looking at the indices, sectors, stocks, the market looks as if it wants to try a bounce.

Volatility calms down, just a bit, for a session as indices close Friday mostly positive.

Not as dramatic an intraday swing, but once again stocks were heading in one direction (lower) and reversed field to close higher. No big intraday gyrations though the morning was again up and down and back and forth before stocks pulled into an upside trend. Even then the afternoon was a bit shaky as NASDAQ swung 20 points from the high to the mid-afternoon low.

Still, it was a comparatively quiet session to end the week. The market covered a lot of ground but really didn't go anywhere on the week. It needed a rest. It took it. Boring session, but boring can be good as it appears RUTX and NASDAQ may be a bit sold out for the near term.

SP500 2.85, 0.15%
NASDAQ 20.37, 0.50%
DJ30 32.37, 0.20%
SP400 0.24%
RUTX 0.89%
SOX -0.32%

Volume faded on the upside: 583M (-7.1%); 1.953B (-18.3%)

A/D: 1.3:1 NYSE, 1.7:1 NASDAQ. Yes, somewhat quiet but as with boring, quiet can be good.

The action left the indices little changed from Thursday and most of them down for the week, but the work may be done for now. By 'work' I mean putting in a short term bottom.

NASDAQ tested the lows from three weeks back and is showing improved MACD. Its overall pattern still makes you queasy, but near term it looks as if it wants to try a bounce. RUTX is similar. It put in a new selloff low on Friday's open but it recovered to hold its lows from the past 5 weeks. If NASDAQ wants to bounce, RUTX likely goes with it. Ringing endorsement that is not; RUTX still looks like warmed over road kill but it is at the February and November lows and if there is an inkling to bounce, then it is at least at a point where there is some footing.

I would not anticipate anything spectacular, but a relief/recovery bounce by the growth indices may give SP500 and DJ30 the push to make new highs. Indeed DJ30 pushed to a new closing high Friday even as RUTX gapped to a new low on the selling. A split market for certain, but if the laggards bounce, the leaders might make some hay out of that, at least for the short term.

ECONOMICS

TO VIEW THE ECONOMY OVERVIEW CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINK:
Economy Summary Video

Wholesale Inventories, March: 1.1% vs 1.0% vs 0.7% (0.5%)

With the jump in inventories, hope for Q1 GDP jumped as well. The surge will add 0.3% or so back onto GDP and at first blush that is good news. Beats downward revisions into negative territory as GS and JPM predicted early last week.

But WHY the jump? Because things slowed so much that inventories piled up. Businesses could not sell them and in some cases had a hard time getting inventory delivered if they wanted it.

So, inventories grew (read piled up) and somewhat artificially pumped back up GDP. What has happened every time inventories jumped one month in the past several years, however, is a commensurate decline the following month. Thus what Inventories gave in March they likely take away in April.

JOLTS: Job openings, hires versus fires.

April: 4.014M vs 4.125M prior (from 4.173M)

Job openings are a leading indicator of the payroll numbers. If they fade, jobs fade. If they rise, jobs rise. Makes sense. There is a six month lag between the openings report and then the result showing up in the non-farm payrolls. Jobs openings posted a miss, and data from several sources shows they have already started to lag the non-farms monthly readings. If it continues . . . non-farms have likely peaked on this cycle.

Hires versus 12 month change in payrolls: Hires are lagging the move in payrolls as well, recovering to just half of the prior cycle high.

Bloomberg reports gap between job openings and reported jobs looks just the same as it did 6 months ahead of the 2007 recession. Remember, openings lead non-farm payrolls by . . . 6 months.

Manufacturing openings from JOLTS: April makes 4 straight months of declines, the longest negative stretch in this recovery cycle. The last time this occurred back in 2007, the economy entered a recession that very month.

The Point: There is a divergence between the JOLTS data showing openings and net hires/fires and the non-farm jobs being reported. That divergence will show up in the non-farms numbers. The manufacturing quad decline indicates recession levels. The non-farms payrolls, just as they were touted creating 288K jobs, are just about to turn lower. We could be facing a jobs led recession in the summer.

THE MARKET

THE CHARTS

SP500: Flat on the day again as SP500 continues its lateral walk over the 50 day EMA and below the all-time high. MACD has improved but lags. The index is now 10 weeks in this lateral move, holding up while NASDAQ, RUTX and growth in general sells off. The rotation to SP500 stocks has allowed it to hold its ground, but there is no breakout yet. That says a lot, but if NASDAQ and company decide to bounce, SP500 might be pushed higher as well. Some money might leave to support the move in growth stocks, but likely not enough to keep it from a general rise with them.

DJ30: New closing high Friday, but just semantics really as volume was low and DJ30 sports the same pattern as SP500. Same pattern, same issues, same positives.

NASDAQ: As noted above, NASDAQ looks still hideous in a head and shoulders top spanning December 2013 to present, but it also looks as if it is trying to bounce here. That may be a total head fake, but a lot of beaten down stocks act as if they want to bounce near term, and of course a majority of those are in residence at NASDAQ. Thus a near term bounce toward 4150ish is possible

RUTX: Similar to NASDAQ, hitting a new selloff low on the Friday open but rebounding to positive, holding a series of lows back to November 2013. A bit oversold and note that MACD put in a higher low as the stock put in a lower low Friday.

SOX: Hugging the 50 day EMA and lower trendline . . . still. Looks heavy, stumbling ever since hitting that recovery high in early April. Heavy but not giving up ground, holding the trend. Many chips look good, many are not so good. Thus the test, and if NASDAQ bounces SOX will find some support and bounce.

LEADERSHIP:

Big Names: How the mighty have fallen. AMZN, EBAY, GOOG, NFLX, PCLN. At least GOOG looks as if it wants to bounce off support and AAPL has put in a nice test of its gap and run. Outside of those, the big names in NASDAQ look bad. They can bounce given how oversold they are, but they look bad.

Energy: Continued to struggle to end the week. Good run, taking a breather.

Personal products: Still a sign of the defensive attitude of the market as CL and PG scored gains Friday, resuming their upside moves this past week.

Utilities: two days of struggling to end the week. AEP, EDN.

With the beat down in the growth areas, we are seeing some stocks prepping to bounce in relief. TRIP, Z (continues a good though volatile pattern), AAPL, MBT, NBIX. Many that were roughed up are now in position for a decent upside move.

OTHER MARKETS

Euro/Dollar: Dollar exploded higher versus the Euro, trying to break through the 50 day EMA. Tested the low in the range and found support thanks to Draghi promising action in June.

1.3754 versus 1.3853 versus 1.3914 versus 1.3928 versus 1.3878 versus 1.3875 versus 1.3865 versus 1.3868 versus 1.3814 versus 1.3851 versus 1.3839 versus 1.3831 versus 1.3817 versus 1.3805 versus 1.3794 versus 1.3815 versus 1.3815 versus 1.3814 versus 1.3820 versus 1.3883 versus 1.3886 euro

Dollar/Yen: Dollar started to bounce off the 200 day SMA versus yen.

101.81 versus 101.53 versus 101.73 versus 101.68 versus 102.11 versus 102.24 versus 102.30 versus 102.22 versus 102.62 versus 102.49 versus 102.13 versus 102.32 versus 102.44 versus 102.61 versus 102.62 versus 102.44 versus 102.27 versus 101.80 versus 101.72 versus 101.43 versus 102.00 versus 101.70 versus 102.59 versus 103.10 versus 103.24 versus 103.92 versus 103.76 versus 103.68 versus 103.21 versus 102.81 versus 101.24

Bonds: Tested on the week, fading to the 20 day EMA after a big move. Normal test.

10 year: 2.62% versus 2.60% versus 2.59% versus 2.59% versus 2.61% versus 2.59% versus 2.67% versus 2.69% versus 2.70% versus 2.67% versus 2.68% versus 2.69% versus 2.73% versus 2.71% versus 2.72% versus 2.64% versus 2.62% versus 2.64% versus 2.62% versus 2.65% versus 2.69% versus 2.68% versus 2.70% versus 2.73% versus 2.79%

Oil: 100.02, -0.22 Bounced to the 200 day SMA on the week, but is stalling there, turning down Friday. Very important point for oil. If it falls it likely takes out 97 where it held on the last pullback.

Gold: 1287.60, -0.40. Stumbling around the 200 day SMA the past four weeks as gold continues to test the recovery rally to the mid-March peak.

MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: +20.37 points (+0.5%) to close at 4071.87
Volume: 1.953B (-18.39%)

Up Volume: 1.1B (+186.64M)
Down Volume: 726.1M (-713.9M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.74 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 2.14 to 1

New Highs: 19 (-34)
New Lows: 136 (-5)

S&P
Stats: +2.85 points (+0.15%) to close at 1878.48
NYSE Volume: 583M (-7.17%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.29 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.38 to 1

New Highs: 85 (-84)
New Lows: 105 (+12)

DJ30
Stats: +32.37 points (+0.2%) to close at 16583.34

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 12.92; -0.51
VXN: 16.52; -0.9
VXO: 11.6; -1

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.94; 0

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls continue the move: 55.8% versus 54.7%. Higher high on this move, working toward the 60+ from January.

Bears fade again: 19.7% versus 20.6

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.

Note the extreme bullishness: it was this high in 2007 at the crash, in early 2005 as well.

Bulls: 55.8 versus 54.7
51.6 versus 50.5 versus 54.6% versus 50.5 versus 54.7% 52.0% 54.6% 53.5% 46.5% 41.8% 45.9% 53.1% 57.6 56.1 60.6% 61.6% 60.0% 58.2% 57.1% 55.7% 53.6% 52.6% 55.2% 52.6 49.5 42.3% 45.4 46.4% 44.3% 42.3% 37.1% 37.1% 38.1% 43.3%.

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 19.7% versus 20.6%
21.7% versus 20.6 versus 18.6% 18.6% 17.5% 17.4% 15.1% 17.2% 17.2% 17.4% 17.4% 15.3% 15.1 15.3% 15.2% 15.2% 14.0 14.3 14.3% 14.4 15.5 15.5% 15.6% 16.5% 18.5 21.6% 20.6% 18.6% 20.6% 21.6% 22.7% 23.7% 23.8% 21.6%.

Background: Over 35% is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. For reference, bearishness hit a 5 year high at 54.4% the last week of October 2008. The move over 50 took bearish sentiment to its highest level since 1995. Extreme negative sentiment. Prior levels for comparison: Bearishness peaked at 37.4% in September 2007. It topped the June 2006 peak (36%) on that run. That June peak eclipsed the March 2006 high (33%) and well above the 2005 highs that spawned new rallies (30% in May 2005, 29.2% in October 2005). That was a huge turn, unlike any seen in recent history.

MONDAY

On the day we did little, closing a position or so that was not performing. There were some moves on potential buys that were pretty good, but after this kind of volatility and heading into the weekend, pretty good was not good enough.

As noted earlier in the week, the indices could work through this volatility and come out on the other side looking great as patterns have time to set up, new leaders can appear, etc. There is some tenacity in the unwillingness to roll over. There is money rotating around, and not necessarily leaving the market. They may be moving to more staid, boring areas, but it is not going down.

With NASDAQ and RUTX patterns suggesting they want to put in an oversold bounce off support, perhaps the process will be complete. Something in the action does not suggest that is the case, and even if NASDAQ and RUTX bounce and help life the NYSE large cap indices, unless something changes in the growth areas I don't believe any move upside ultimately holds.

Frankly, I would prefer down as that is fast money, a lot of money, and leads to setting up new upside moves all the faster. Okay, I know; the market doesn't give a flip about our preferences. So, this weekend we will look at some upside where the money is rotating and where it looks as if some very tradable bounces are set. There are some stocks in sectors that were sold that nonetheless held up very nice patterns or have used this recent lateral action to set up at least an interim bounce. We look to take advantage of those, and then after the bounce there should be a lot of downside setups if the bounce runs out of gas.

Have a great weekend and Mother's Day!

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4071.87

Resistance:
4070 is the series of highs from late November/early December
4104 is the lower gap point from 12/20/13
4131 is the March 2014 low
The 50 day EMA at 4142
4246.55 is the January 2014 peak
4277 is the March lower gap point
4289 is the July 2000 recovery high
4304 is the lower November 2012 trendline
4372 is the March 2014 high
4404 is the upper channel line for the November 2012 to present uptrend.

Support:
3991 is the prior November 2013 high and the post-bear market high.
The 200 day SMA at 3990
3968 is the February 2014 low
3946 is the April 2014 intraday low
3855 is the November low
3819 is the early October high
3801 is the September 2013 high.
The October low at 3750
3697 is the August high and a prior post-bear market high in the recovery.

S&P 500: Closed at 1878.48

Resistance:
1883.57 is the early March high.
1897 is the all-time high hit in April 2014

Support:
1879 is the December 2012 up trendline
The 50 day EMA at 1861
The December and January highs at 1848
1829 is the lower trendline from 11/2012
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
The 200 day SMA at 1782
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high
1768 is the December 3013 low
1738 is the February 2014 low
1730 is the September 2013 peak
1710 is the August 2013 peak.
1698 to 1700 are the July and August interim highs
1687 is the May high and post-bear market high
1685 is the mid-August 2013 upper gap point
1657 is the late August upper gap point
1654 is the June 2013 peak
1646 is the October 2013 low just before the surge into early 2014

Dow: Closed at 16,583.34

Resistance:
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,770 is a lower trendline off the 11/2012 low

Support:
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
The 50 day EMA at 16,366
16,257 is the January 2014 low
16,179 is the November 2013 peak.
The 200 day SMA at 15,856
15,739 is the December 2013 low
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
15,659 is the August 2013 peak
15,542 is the May 2013 intraday high
15,340 is the February 2014 low
15,318 is the June closing high
15,050 from the August 2013 interim recovery high
14,888 is the April peak and prior all-time high
14,844 is the June intraday low
14,762 is the August 2013 low
14,551 is the June 2013 intraday low on the selloff (14,659 closing)

Economic Calendar

May 9 - Friday
- Wholesale Inventories, March (10:00): 1.1% actual versus 1.0% expected, 0.7% prior (revised from 0.5%)
- JOLTS - Job Openings, March (10:00): 4.014M actual versus 4.125M prior (revised from 4.173M)

May 12 - Monday
- Treasury Budget, April (14:00): +$114.0B expected, +$112.9B prior

May 13 - Tuesday
- Retail Sales, April (8:30): 0.3% expected, 1.2% prior (revised from 1.1%)
- Retail Sales ex-auto, April (8:30): 0.6% expected, 0.7% prior
- Export Prices ex-ag., April (8:30): 0.5% prior
- Import Prices ex-oil, April (8:30): 0.3% prior
- Business Inventories, March (10:00): 0.4% expected, 0.4% prior

May 14 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 05/10 (7:00): 5.3% prior
- PPI, April (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.5% prior
- Core PPI, April (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.6% prior
- Crude Inventories, 05/10 (10:30): -1.781M prior

May 15 - Thursday
- Initial Claims, 05/10 (8:30): 325K expected, 319K prior
- Continuing Claims, 05/03 (8:30): 2700K expected, 2685K prior
- CPI, April (8:30): 0.3% expected, 0.2% prior
- Core CPI, April (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.2% prior
- Empire Manufacturing, May (8:30): 4.8 expected, 1.3 prior
- Net Long-Term TIC Fl, March (9:00): $85.7B prior
- Industrial Production, April (9:15): 0.1% expected, 0.7% prior
- Capacity Utilization, April (9:15): 79.2% expected, 79.2% prior
- Philadelphia Fed, May (10:00): 9.1 expected, 16.6 prior
- NAHB Housing Market , May (10:00): 48 expected, 47 prior
- Natural Gas Inventor, 05/10 (10:30): 74 bcf prior

May 16 - Friday
- Housing Starts, April (8:30): 975K expected, 946K prior
- Building Permits, April (8:30): 1000K expected, 990K prior
- Michigan Sentiment, May (9:55): 84.5 expected, 84.1 prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 30-May-14

Dow +18.43 at 16717.17, Nasdaq -5.33 at 4242.62, S&P +3.54 at 1923.57

The major averages finished the month of May on a mixed note. The S&P 500 added 0.2%, locking in a monthly gain of 2.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) and Russell 2000 (-0.5%) lagged. The two indices narrowed their monthly gains to 3.1% and 0.8%, respectively.

Outside of the relative weakness among small-cap issues, the Friday session was very quiet as evidenced by the S&P 500 spending the entire trading day in a seven-point range. Similarly, intraday volume was largely in line with yesterday's session, which saw the lowest volume of the year, but today's final tally was boosted by semi-annual MSCI rebalancing. As a result, more than 900 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Overall, countercyclical sectors fared better than the growth-sensitive side of the market. In fact, all four defensively-oriented sectors-consumer staples (+0.7%), health care (+0.3%), telecom services (+0.3%), and utilities (+0.8%)-outperformed, while five of six cyclical sectors were unable to keep up with the S&P 500. Meanwhile, the financial sector (+0.2%) settled in line with the S&P 500 after spending the bulk of the session just above its flat line.

Interestingly, the health care sector was able to finish among the leaders even as biotechnology followed in the footsteps of the Russell 2000. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 239.59, -1.37) lost 0.6%. Furthermore, the underperformance of biotech weighed on the Nasdaq, which also had to contend with losses among some top-weighted technology components.

Specifically, the largest Nasdaq component-Apple (AAPL 633.00, -2.38)-shed 0.4%, but it is worth mentioning the decline followed a big rally over the past two weeks. Despite today's loss, the largest tech stock surged 7.3% in May. Outside of Apple, Cisco Systems (CSCO 24.62, -0.06) and Oracle (ORCL 42.02, -0.18) also contributed to the underperformance of the Nasdaq.

Elsewhere, the consumer discretionary sector ended just behind the broader market even as participants received another dose of disappointing earnings from the retail space. Express (EXPR 12.61, -1.02), Guess? (GES 25.50, -1.38), and Pacific Sunwear (PSUN 2.42, -0.52) lost between 5.1% and 17.7% in reaction to below-consensus earnings and/or guidance, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 83.78, +0.34) added 0.4%.

Also of note, today's disparity between small caps and blue chip listings did little to scare investors as evidenced by a 1.2% decline in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 11.43, -0.14), which ended the day just a shade above its lowest close of the year.

On the fixed income side, Treasuries alternated between gains and losses, but ultimately settled flat with the 10-yr yield at 2.47%.

Reviewing today's data:

Personal Income increased an in-line 0.3% in April, but consumption fell 0.1% against the 0.2% increase that was expected by the Briefing.com consensus. Once again, the report failed to show any pent-up demand resulting from the severe winter weather. Core PCE prices rose 0.2%, as expected.
The Chicago PMI increased to 65.5 in May from 63.0 in April. The Briefing.com consensus expected the Chicago PMI to fall to 60.3. New order levels accelerated as the related index increased to 70.2 in May from 68.7 in April. That did not translate into stronger production as the index fell to 64.4 in May from 70.5. Instead, much of the new orders growth was marketed for backlogs as that index increased to 61.4 from 54.9. The strength of the backlogs index should support elevated production levels.
The final reading for the May University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index increased to 81.9 from 81.8 in the preliminary reading. Consumer sentiment is still down from an 84.1 reading in April. The Briefing.com consensus expected the Consumer Sentiment Index to fall to 81.4. The Current Conditions Index fell to 94.5 in the final May reading from 95.1 in the preliminary reading. The Consumer Expectations Index increased to 73.7 from 73.2.

On Monday, the ISM Index for May and April Construction Spending will be reported at 10:00 ET

Week in Review: Stocks Climb Through Holiday-Shortened Week

On Tuesday, the stock market picked up where it left off Friday, riding the outperformance of the small-cap and momentum stocks to broad-based gains. In turn, a strong showing from the financial sector and continued strength in the transport stocks carried the S&P 500 (+0.6%) and Dow Jones Transportation Average to new record highs. The bulk of the gains were achieved shortly after the opening bell. They followed on the heels of a generally positive showing from foreign markets for the two-day period that included the Memorial Day holiday in the US. That showing was underpinned by a seeming hint from ECB President Draghi that the central bank will be easing monetary policy soon and the Ukraine presidential election, which went the way of anti-separatist candidate Petro Poroshenko.

The major averages endured a quiet Wednesday session that had the S&P 500 confined to a seven-point range. The benchmark index shed 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.3%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) followed not far behind. Small caps, however, saw some additional weakness as the Russell 2000 lost 0.5%. All in all, it is worth pointing out that the lack of aggressive selling or buying followed four consecutive advances that sent the S&P 500 higher by 2.1%. Furthermore, there was no concerted leadership as the top-weighted sectors ended the day in the red. On that note, consumer discretionary (-0.1%), financials (-0.3%), health care (-0.3%), and technology (-0.3%) all struggled to keep pace with the S&P 500.

Equity indices ended the Thursday session on an upbeat note despite receiving some disappointing data ahead of the open. The S&P 500 settled higher by 0.5% with nine sectors registering gains, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.4%) underperformed throughout the trading day. Shortly before the open, the second revision to Q1 GDP revealed a 1.0% contraction, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a smaller decline of 0.5%. Interestingly, the subpar report led to just a brief stumble in the futures market, which recovered swiftly. That recovery may have been aided by the initial claims report, which suggested the labor market remains on solid ground. Even though almost all sectors finished in the green, there was no concerted leadership among the top-weighted sectors once again. Of the four largest groups, health care (+0.8%) and technology (+0.7%) displayed strength throughout the session, while consumer discretionary (+0.4%) and financials (+0.2%) joined the party in the late afternoon.

 
 Index	   Started Week	  Ended Week   Change	%Change  YTD % 
 DJIA	     16606.27	  16717.17     110.90	  0.7	 0.8 
 Nasdaq	      4185.81	   4242.62	56.81	  1.4    1.6 
 S&P 500	1900.53	   1923.57	23.04	  1.2	 4.1 
 Russell 2000  1126.19	   1134.50	8.31	  0.7	-2.5

5:02 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Technology:FORM (7.26 +25.17%),COUP (25.82 +23.84%),JD (25 +19.62%),CMCM (17.77 +19.34%),OVTI (22.48 +18.13%),SYNA (68.08 +17.93%),TRUE (10.96 +17.72%),MOVE (13.08 +17.41%)
Services:JMEI (27.5 +22.01%),PTRY (16.89 +17.29%)
Healthcare:RNA (11.03 +66.62%),PTCT (23.71 +54.77%),DYAX (8.25 +24.62%),ASPX (21.15 +24.12%),OREX (6.46 +19.19%),NPSP (31.13 +18.86%),XON (21.09 +18.22%)
Consumer Goods:HSH (53.28 +47.63%),TOUR (16.39 +43.39%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Technology:CSLT (15.18 -14.86%),GOMO (12.08 -12.84%),HIMX (6.63 -12.19%),CRTO (28.75 -10.44%),ALOG (68.32 -10.11%)
Services:BLOX (12.96 -34.18%),DSW (25.05 -24.98%),ESI (17.22 -16%),ARO (3.91 -13.5%)
Healthcare:CLVS (51.21 -11.57%)
Consumer Goods:MPAA (23.82 -11.45%)
Basic Materials:WLT (4.88 -16.15%),SSRI (6.54 -13.15%),CDE (6.84 -12.42%),ANR (3.38 -12.21%),BTG (2.42 -12%),HMY (2.65 -11.67%),SBGL (9.82 -9.83%),PVG (6.41 -9.72%),RBY (0.95 -9.48%)

3:33 pm Earnings Preview for the week of June 2 - 6 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of June 2 - 6 some of the bigger names include:

Monday:
Pre Market - CONN, CVGW
After Hours - ZQK, KKD, GWRE, CMCM
Tuesday:
Pre Market - DG, GIII, AMWD, MEAS
After Hours - ABM, ASNA, MFRM, FCEL, AMBA, RENT, DATE
Wednesday:
Pre Market - LDSO, BF.B, HOV, IXYS, CYBX
After Hours - PVH, GEF, FIVE, BV, RLD
Thursday:
Pre Market - NAV, SJM, UTIW, JOY, CIEN, TITN, MIXT, BRLI, NX, VRA, VNCE
After Hours - THO, MTN, PAY, COO, DMND, ALOG, CMTL, ZOES, SEAC, RALY

3:01 pm Agilent HDMI 2.0 6G test solution has been selected by Simplay Labs after the HDMI Forum certified it as an official compliance test tool (A) :

2:05 pm Nokia: SRI International confirmed the acquisition of Desti, an SRI spin-off venture, by Nokia Company HERE for an undisclosed amount (NOK) :

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

CQH (26 +8.33%): Strength following proposed changes to the Energy Department's LNG export decision making procedures; Cheniere Energer (LNG) also higher
KORS (95.04 +2.99%): Target raised to $110 from $105 at Deutsche Bank; mentioned positively at Canaccord Genuity
NOK (8.13 +2.65%): Co purchased mapping startup Desti, according to reports

Large Cap Losers

TWTR (32.75 -3.67%): Disclosed that Christopher Fry has stepped down from his position as the Senior Vice President of Engineering
CAT (101.76 -1.78%): Announced Randy Krotowski, Chief Information Officer, has elected to resign from the co to pursue other opportunities, effective June 1, 2014
FCX (33.83 -1.28%): Disclosed that a director sold 186k shares at $33.67-33.87 worth ~$6.3 mln

Mid Cap Gainers

BIG (42.19 +12.48%): Reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $0.50, revs fell 2.3% yoy to $1.28 bln vs $1.27 bln estimate; sees Q2 EPS of $0.24-0.30 vs $0.28 estimate; sees FY15 EPS of $2.35-2.50 vs $2.43 estimate
NPSP (31.6 +15.12%): Trading higher on speculation co may be acquired by Shire (SHPG) for $40 per share in cash
MW (50.03 +3.68%): WSJ reporting that FTC is likely to allow merger between co and Joseph A. Bank (JOSB)

Mid Cap Losers

SPLK (41.37 -17.33%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.02 (-$0.04 vs -$0.06 estimate), revs rose 50.2% yoy to $85.9 mln vs $80.6 mln estimate; sees Q2 revs of $92-94 mln vs $91.42 mln estimate; sees FY15 revs of $402-410 mln vs $406.02 mln estimate; seeing mixed reaction from analysts, with Needham commenting that there may be some questions regarding the growth rate and consistency of deferred revenues
LGF (25.89 -12.33%): Reported Q4 GAAP EPS of $0.35 vs $0.40 estimate, adjusted EPS of $0.46 vs $0.45 estimate; revs fell 8.1% yoy to $721.9 mln vs $828.36 mln estimate
SFUN (11.99 -7.13%): Hearing mentioned negatively at 86Research

11:43 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (144) outpacing new lows (37) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAPL, ABC, ACMP, AET, AGX, AIN, ALDR, ALV, AMKR, AMOT, AN, AON, ARCB, ARCI, ARES, ARRS, AVGO, AWK, AXDX, BBEP, BELFB, BIG, BMR, BNS, BVX, CE, CHC, CHMI, CIFC, CLS, CMCM, CNC, CNSL, CNW, CODE, COF, CORE, CP, CQH, CSCD, CVS, DD, DDS, DEI, DIS, DLNG, DPS, DRE, DVN, DYN, ECF, EL, ELS, ENL, ERF, ETR, EVDY, FCH, FDX, FGP, GIS, GMK, GPK, GSAT, HA, HBI, HH, HNRG, HSH, HSP, HST, IHG, INGR, INTC, JBLU, KFS, KRFT, LAKE, LNG, LPNT, LRCX, LSTR, LUV, MAR, MCK, MGPI, MJN, MLR, MNKD, MO, MON, MSL, MWV, NRG, NSC, NTT, NWN, ODFL, OHI, OVTI, PCYG, PDH, PEP, PFBI, PKY, POL, PPG, PPL, QADA, RDI, REX, RNR, RUK, SAN, SCI, SHO, SIAL, SKX, SLB, SLCA, SNDK, SNN, SRE, SSLT, SYK, TAP, TEN, TGS, TIF, TMH, TRCB, TRN, TRNX, TRUE, TSLX, TV, UGI, UHS, USLM, VNO, WAG, WFT, WLK, YONG

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AEPI, AGI, ALLY, ANR, ANV, BAA, BLOX, BNNY, BOTA, COOL, COVS, DRD, ECT, ESI, ESSX, EXPR, FMD, GES, GLPI, GMAN, HOTR, IMN, KGC, LCNB, MX, NRP, ONE, PCTI, PSUN, RLOC, RNG, SAR, SGRP, TOPS, VIDE, WH, ZNH

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DIG, DVY, EFA, EWH, EWP, EZU, FAN, IEO, IHF, IOO, IWF, IYK, IYT, JNK, MES, NIB, OEF, OIH, QQQ, SPY, VGK, VTI, XLK, XLP

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none


9:09 am Agilent's Dako and Merck (MRK) to collaborate on companion diagnostic test for analysis of tumor PD-L1 levels (A) : Dako, an Agilent Technologies co, announced a collaboration with Merck (MRK) to develop a companion diagnostic test for the analysis of the potential tumor biomarker PD-L1 to aid in the treatment of cancer. The companion diagnostic test coming out of this collaboration will be evaluated as part of the clinical development program for Merck & Co.'s investigational anti-PD-1 antibody being studied for the treatment of cancer.

8:31 am Advanced Photonix priced an underwritten public offering of ~5.391 mln shares of its Class A Common Stock at a public offering of $0.53/share (API) :

Toshiba Corporation's (TOSBF) Semiconductor & Storage Products Company today announced that it will expand its family of 650V silicon carbide schottky barrier diodes with the addition of insulated TO-220F-2L package products. The 4 new products expand the 6A, 8A, 10A and 12A line-up from the current TO-220-2L package products.
Cascade Microtech (CSCD) announced MeasureOne, a framework for collaboration with best-of-breed partners to offer test and measurement solutions with validated performance.
AT&T (T) and Samsung (SSNLF) announce the Samsung Galaxy S 5 Active, the next step of the popular Galaxy S 5 designed to withstand the bumps and bruises of everyday life. Beginning today, the Galaxy S 5 Active is available online and in AT&T stores for zero down or no annual contract.oduction shipment starts from today.

OmniVision (OVTI) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.40 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which is higher than expected, while revenues fell 1.5% year/year to $331 million which is higher than expected. The company issued guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.43-0.63 & revenues of $360-400 million which is higher than expected. 'We are pleased to conclude our fiscal 2014 on a high note. Our financial metrics have continued to improve, with better gross margin, higher cash balance, and lower inventories. We have made meaningful progress on multiple fronts, including the diversification of our revenues into multiple geographies, especially in Asia, and the strong growth in our emerging automotive and security markets," said Shaw Hong, chief executive officer of OmniVision Technologies, Inc. "We are also working on new technologies and applications in our core and emerging markets that have the potential to substantially enhance our market position over the longer term."

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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The major averages posted modest gains of Thursday after the Federal Open Market Committee announced another $10 billion taper, which was widely expected. The S&P 500 climbed to a new record closing high at 1956.98, adding 0.8% with all ten sectors posting gains.

Equity indices spent the first half of the session near their flat lines as market participants held pat ahead of the afternoon statement from the Fed. The $10 billion reduction lowered the size of monthly asset purchases to $35 billion, while the remainder of the policy statement struck a familiar tone.

The Fed reiterated its commitment to the current level of interest rates, saying rates are likely to remain low for a considerable time after quantitative easing ends. Furthermore, the FOMC released its economic projections, but those were not too different from the prior forecast either. According to the projections, the Fed expects the jobless rate to be between 6.0% and 6.1% at the end of the year after calling for a rate between 6.1% and 6.3% in its last set of projections.

During the press conference, Fed Chair Yellen justified the taper by saying the economy is on track to meet its objectives and that the GDP contraction observed in the first quarter was an aberration. Ms. Yellen also noted that inflation remains below the 2.0% objective, which could lead to broader risks.

The utilities sector (+2.2%) finished in the lead after spending the entire session atop the leaderboard. Thanks to the solid gain, the sector extended its June advance to 2.7%, while also pushing its year-to-date gain to 14.1%.

Elsewhere among countercyclical sectors, telecom services (+0.5%) lagged, while consumer staples (+1.2%) and health care (+0.8%) finished ahead of the broader market.

Meanwhile, the six cyclical sectors ended mixed when compared to the S&P 500. Yesterday's leading group-financials-advanced 0.7%, but could not keep up with the broader market. That was also the case with technology (+0.5%) and industrials (+0.5%).

It is worth mentioning that the industrial sector was held back by defense contractors (PHLX Defense Index +0.2%), while transports rallied broadly after FedEx (FDX 148.95, +8.64) reported better than expected results. The stock surged 6.2%, which also gave a boost to UPS (UPS 102.79, +1.18). For its part, the Dow Jones Transportation Average jumped 1.5%.

Also of note, the weakest sector of the year-consumer discretionary (+0.8%)-trimmed its 2014 loss to 0.5%. Shares of Amazon.com (AMZN 334.38, +8.76) played a part in today's outperformance, rallying 2.7% after the company unveiled a smartphone, which will be available in five weeks.

The afternoon rally to new highs saw some participants lift their hedges, which sent the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 10.60, -1.46) to a new low for the year.

Treasuries, meanwhile, held slim gains into the afternoon and climbed to new highs after the FOMC statement crossed the wires. The 10-yr note added half a point, lowering its yield to 2.59%.

Participation remained on the light side with just over 610 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and Current Account data for Q1:

The MBA Mortgage index fell 9.2% to follow last week's 10.3% increase.
The current account deficit for the first quarter totaled $111.20 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to hit $97.80 billion. The fourth quarter deficit was revised to $87.30 billion from $81.10 billion.

Tomorrow, weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 313K) will be released at 8:30 ET, while the June Philadelphia Fed survey (consensus 13.4) and May Leading Indicators (consensus 0.5%) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

S&P 500 +5.9% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +4.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.0% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.8% YTD

DJ30 +98.13 NASDAQ +25.60 SP500 +14.99 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1748/1.73 bln/1078 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2244/613.9 mln/814 3:30 pm :

Aug gold dipped to a session low of $1269.00 per ounce moments before equity markets opened but recovered into positive territory in afternoon action. The yellow metal settled 60 cents higher at $1272.40 per ounce ahead of the latest policy statement from the FOMC.
Gold is currently trading 0.1% higher in electronic trade following the Fed's announcement that it will taper its asset purchases by $10 bln to a total of $35 bln and it would keep rates at low levels, as widely expected.
July silver trended higher in choppy fashion as it came off its session low of $19.70 per ounce in morning action. It eventually settled with a 0.2% gain at $19.77 per ounce.
July crude oil touched a session high of $106.85 per barrel shortly after floor trade opened but slipped into negative territory following weaker-than-anticipated inventory data that showed a draw of 0.579 mln barrels when a draw of 0.7-0.8 mln barrels was anticipated.
The energy component brushed a session low of $105.72 per barrel and settled with a 0.3% loss at $105.99 per barrel.
July natural gas trended lower after pulling back from a session high of $4.76 per MMBtu set in early morning pit trade. Unable to regain momentum, it settled 1.1% lower at $4.66 per MMBtu.

5:05 pm Cisco Systems and GOWEX announce global strategic relationship to boost smart Wi-Fi connectivity solutions for cities (CSCO) : GOWEX and Cisco announced that the two companies will promote a comprehensive smart Wi-Fi connectivity solution for cities and their citizens. GOWEX will become a Cisco Smart+Connected Communities (S+CC) global strategic partner. This strategic relationship will further the efforts of new Smart Cities projects in the major world regions in the coming years. In addition, it will allow for faster development on a combined smart Wi-Fi connectivity solution, to generate significant business opportunities.

4:07 pm Jabil Circuit beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line; reaffirms FY15 EPS guidance (JBL) : Reports Q3 (May) loss of $0.06 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.08); revenues fell 9.8% year/year to $3.79 bln vs the $3.6 bln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of ($0.10)-0.10 vs. $0.02 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $3.7-3.9 bln vs. $3.79 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $1.65-1.95 vs. $1.74 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

1:04 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

ADBE (72.42 +7.23%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.07 ($0.37 ex items vs $0.30 estimate), revs rose 5.7% yoy to $1.07 bln vs $1.03 bln estimate; sees Q3 EPS of $0.22-0.28 vs $0.27 estimate, revs of $0.975-1.025 bln vs $1.02 bln estimate; target raised to $85 from $80 at UBSAPD (129.72 +6.68%): Confirmed that Seifi Ghasemi has been named its new chairman, president and chief executive officer, effective July 1FDX (147.28 +4.97%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.10 ($2.46 vs $2.36 estimate), revs rose 3.5% yoy to $11.8 bln vs $11.64 bln estimate; sees FY15 EPS of $8.50-9.00 vs $8.73 estimate

Large Cap Losers CAG (30.24 -7.95%): Sees Q4 EPS of $0.55 vs $0.62 estimate, citing a 7% quarterly volume decline for the Consumer Foods segment; downgraded at KeyBancCOH (39.27 -3.78%): Hearing mentioned cautiously at UBS ahead of analyst day scheduled for June 19, 2014ACMP (60.19 -3.14%): Continued weakness following recent analyst downgrades

Mid Cap Gainers NMBL (29.88 +7.17%): Upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan StanleySCTY (67.6 +4.76%): Seeing reports that co plans to build a New York state solar plant; target raised to $80 from $65 at ROTH CapitalGLNG (56.54 +3.95%): Target raised to $59 from $52 at Evercore; unusual option activity in the stock discussed on CNBC

Mid Cap Losers
NGL (42.73 -6.44%): Priced public offerin gof 8 mln common units representing limited partner interests at $43.85 per common unit
ATU (34.73 -4.32%): Reported Q3 EPS of $0.63 ex items (in-line), revs rose 9.9% yoy to $378.2 mln vs $376.81 mln estimate; sees Q4 EPS of $0.48-0.53 vs $0.61 estimate, revs of $350-360 mln vs $373.39 mln estimate
ALR (35.25 -3.16%): Co announced that it has elected not to proceed at this time with its previously announced plans to pursue an initial public offering in the United Kingdom of the ordinary shares of BBI Diagnostics

12:12 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (137) outpacing new lows (21) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADBE, AGTC, AMKR, AMTX, AOSL, APA, APD, ARPI, ASX, ATVI, AXDX, BANF, BCEI, BDSI, BP, CBSO, CDW, CENT, CENX, CHRW, CHSP, CIFC, CIG, CLS, CMCM, CMRE, CNC, CNSL, COP, CORE, CRT, CRZO, CSTM, CSX, CTRP, CVX, DPS, DRII, DVN, EA, ECA, ENR, ERF, ETR, FANG, FDX, FORM, GA, GB, GBR, GLNG, GLOP, GMLP, GPK, GST, GTIV, GWR, HCLP, HITT, HRTG, IFF, IIN, ITMN, KANG, KFS, KTWO, LAD, LHO, LO, MEMP, MET, MGLN, MJN, MKL, MKTAY, MMC, MMYT, MPLX, MU, MVG, NFX, NJR, NOK, NRG, NVGS, NWE, OPEN, OSUR, PCG, PCYG, PGH, PTEN, PTR, RAI, REX, RGC, RH, RNR, RSG, RSPP, RTK, SABR, SBR, SD, SEMG, SIAL, SIG, SKM, SMCI, SMLP, SN, SNDK, SNP, SPN, SRE, SYA, SYRG, TAX, TEDU, TGLS, THG, TPLM, TUES, TWTC, UBIC, UIHC, VLP, VYFC, WBKC, WGP, WLFC, WLK, WLL, WR, WRB, WSBF, WWAV

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ASPN, AXTI, CCCR, CLRX, COOL, DCIX, DGSE, GLPI, GRVY, LODE, MEA, NILE, PGEM, PNRA, RSH, SGA, SPHS, TRVN, VHI, VRTB, XNY

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: BNO, DIG, DVY, EWC, IEO, IGE, IXC, IYE, OIH, SOXX, UGA, XLE, XOP

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

9:08 am Nokia to repurchase own shares in line with its capital structure optimization program (NOK) : Co has resolved to commence repurchases of shares under the authorization given by the Nokia Annual General Meeting held on June 17, 2014. The Board resolved to repurchase a maximum of 370 million Nokia shares, however up to an equivalent of EUR 1.25 billion. The repurchases will commence earliest after publication of Nokia's second quarter 2014 results, which are scheduled for publication on July 24, 2014.

Analyst comments: ISIL -3% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham), SPWR -1.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan), AA -0.6% (Stifel lowers Q2 estimates on lower aluminum prices), GNC -0.5% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan).

EMCORE (EMKR) has entered into a new long-term supply agreement with Space Systems/Loral to manufacture and deliver high-efficiency, multi-junction solar cells for SSL's satellite programs.

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 25-Jul-14Dow -123.23 at 16960.57, Nasdaq -22.54 at 4449.56, S&P -9.64 at 1978.34

The stock market capped the trading week with losses across the major averages. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% to surrender its weekly gain, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.7%) and Russell 2000 (-0.9%) underperformed. The two indices posted respective losses of 0.8% and 0.6% for the week.

Equity indices were pressured from the get-go after several heavyweights disappointed the market with their earnings and/or guidance, which led to some broader profit-taking. After the opening slide was complete, the major averages began inching higher, but were knocked to fresh lows in short order when it was reported that European Council President Herman Van Rompuy suggested the next round of sanctions against Russia should target oil (but not gas) companies.

The retreat in equities signaled the presence of underlying concerns that a new round of economic sanctions could have a boomerang effect on the global economy. For its part, oil futures responded by spiking off their lows to end little changed at $102.10/bbl.

Eight of ten sectors finished in the red with the consumer discretionary space (-1.2%) at the bottom of the leaderboard. The sector, and Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%), were pressured by shares of Amazon.com (AMZN 324.01, -34.60), which fell 9.7% in reaction to a bottom-line miss and cautious guidance. Other retailers did not escape unscathed with the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 84.33, -1.00) sliding 1.2%.

Elsewhere among cyclical groups, the top-weighted S&P 500 sector-technology (-0.2%)-ended ahead of the broader market despite a 3.6% drop in Visa (V 214.77, -7.97). The payment processor reported better than expected earnings, but its guidance was a point of concern for investors.

Deeper in the tech sector, high-beta chipmakers displayed broad losses after Freescale Semiconductor (FSL 19.98, -2.11), Maxim Integrated (MXIM 29.38, -3.56), and KLA-Tencor (KLAC 71.60, -1.42) reported disappointing results. The trio lost between 1.9% and 10.8%, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 2.0%.

Even though the tech sector finished ahead of the broader market, other heavily-weighted sectors like energy (-0.8%) and financials (-0.6%) prevented the S&P 500 from staging an afternoon recovery.

The financial sector settled just behind the S&P 500, which was fitting as both the economically-sensitive sector and the benchmark index ended the week unchanged. Insurer Chubb (CB 89.62, -3.14) was a notable underperformer, falling 3.4% in reaction to a lowered full-year outlook on the back of a disappointing second quarter and larger than expected insurance payouts.

Although the market ended near its lows, that was not the case for El Pollo Loco (LOCO 24.03, +9.03), which made its debut today. The newcomer soared 60.2% after its IPO priced at $15.00 per share and opened at $19.00.

Treasuries rallied into the early afternoon and the 10-yr note settled on its high with the benchmark yield down four basis points at 2.47%.

Participation was well below average with under 558 million shares changing hands at the NYSE, suggesting there was no 'rush for the exits' taking place.

On the economic front, the durable orders report for June surpassed estimates (+0.7% versus Briefing.com consensus 0.3%), but shipments of goods declined 1.0%, which will be a negative for Q2 GDP.

Monday's data will be limited to the Pending Home Sales report for June (Briefing.com consensus -0.8%), which will be released at 10:00 ET.

Week in Review: Earnings in Focus

Things could have been better on Monday for the stock market and they could have been worse. They were worse in the early going as the major indices backpedaled quickly at the start of trading. The ostensible catalysts for the opening retreat were geopolitical concerns over Israel's ground assault in Gaza and the troublesome diplomatic dealings in the wake of Malaysian Air flight MH17 being shot down over eastern Ukraine last week. At their lows of the morning, the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 were down 126, 28, and 12 points, respectively. They would eventually battle back, though, to pare their losses, drawing encouragement from technical support holding at 1966 for the S&P 500 and a small sense of relief that remarks from President Obama did not include the imposition of any new sanctions against Russia.

The market finished the Tuesday session on an upbeat note with small caps pacing the rally. The Russell 2000 advanced 0.8%, while the S&P 500 added 0.5% with eight sectors ending in the green. Although geopolitical concerns factored into the modest retreat on Monday, the worries were cast aside on Tuesday after separatist forces in eastern Ukraine handed over black boxes from MH17 to Malaysian authorities and Secretary of State John Kerry began working on brokering a cease fire in Gaza. Furthermore, the sentiment was boosted by a slate of mostly better than expected earnings. Notably, Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) soared 11.8% after beating estimates and surpassing comparable restaurant sales growth expectations. However, McDonald's (MCD) painted a less upbeat picture with its stock falling 1.3% in reaction to below-consensus earnings and revenue.

Equities ended the Wednesday session on a mixed note. The tech-heavy Nasdaq displayed relative strength, climbing 0.4%, while the S&P 500 added 0.2% with five sectors settling in the green. For its part, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.2%) spent the entire trading day below its flat line. The midweek affair started on a rather unassuming note in the absence of market-moving news or economic releases. With those pieces missing from the equation, participants turned their attention to quarterly earnings as another dose of better than expected results pushed the S&P 500 into record territory.

On Thursday, stocks maintained a narrow trading range before ending the session essentially where they began. The S&P 500 added less than a point, while the small-cap Russell 2000 (-0.2%) underperformed. Equity indices displayed early strength thanks in part to an overnight boost from better than expected economic data in China and Europe. Specifically, China's HSBC Manufacturing PMI surged to an 18-month high (52.0 from 50.7), while Eurozone Manufacturing PMI (51.9; expected 51.7) and Services PMI (54.4; expected 52.7) also surpassed estimates. In addition to upbeat data from overseas, participants received a batch of better than expected earnings, but the market had a difficult time building on its early gain. The S&P 500 surrendered its opening advance during the initial minutes, but was able to follow that with a rally to a fresh record high (1991.39). The index could not hold that level into the afternoon and slipped back to its flat line by the close.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17100.18 16960.57 -139.61 -0.8 2.3
Nasdaq 4432.15 4449.56 17.41 0.4 6.5
S&P 500 1978.22 1978.34 0.12 0.0 7.0
Russell 2000 1151.61 1144.72 -6.89 -0.6 -1.6

4:26 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Technology:NQ (6.67 +42.76%),TRLA (56.35 +39.11%),ENPH (11.43 +25.92%),SFUN (12.11 +23.83%),LOGI (15.08 +19%),PLUG (5.42 +17.69%)
Services:GOL (6.4 +17.56%)
Industrial Goods:NNBR (29.09 +22.73%)
Healthcare:PBYI (200.68 +259%),INO (12.63 +37.79%),ISRG (469.7 +23.84%),ARIA (5.89 +23.35%),EXEL (4.19 +22.74%),EPZM (33.16 +20.4%),PTCT (27.8 +20.31%)
Financial:EJ (11.43 +20.71%),LEJU (13.52 +19.47%),Z (158.86 +17.86%)
Consumer Goods:UA (69.11 +22.02%)
Basic Materials:STLD (21.66 +18.47%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Technology:RP (16.37 -23.06%),ANGI (8.21 -20.75%),AMD (3.76 -18.38%),OIBR-C (0.68 -17.66%),IQNT (11.46 -15.08%),XLNX (41.45 -13.02%),CPHD (39.47 -12.21%)
Services:EDU (19.4 -20.27%),DFRG (21.73 -13.28%),LTM (41.02 -12.71%)
Healthcare:IVC (15 -14.9%)
Financial:TBBK (9.54 -14.9%)
Consumer Goods:KNDI (17.38 -13.18%)
Basic Materials:KEG (6.71 -18.76%),PVG (6.98 -17.88%),RBY (1.45 -12.8%),SVM (1.86 -12.75%),ROYT (10.27 -12.35%),MUX (2.86 -12.25%),ANV (3.24 -11.7%)

3:35 pm Earnings Preview for the week of July 28 - August 1 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of July 28 - August 1 some of the bigger names include:

Monday: Pre Market - TSN, CMI, TEN, RPM, ROP, LECO, AWI, MCY, ARLP, SOHUAfter Hours - JEC, EMN, OMI, MAS, WRB, XL, PRE, HLF, AFG, NCLH, AMKR, CR, GGP, HLS, RRCTuesday: Pre Market - HMC, BP, UPS, AET, PFE, MRK, HCA, IP, UBS, ETN, ARW, NOV, TRW, PCAR, NEE, ITW, WM, ECL, MMC, ETR, AGCO, GLW, RAI, OSK, EME, AXE, LVLT, FIS, NLSN, AKS, TLM, HRS, MHFI, ALLY, FDP, SIRI, XYL, CNX, ACI, GNC, FSRV, VSH, AMG, UAM, SAVE, After Hours - ESRX, AXP, AFL, AMGN, X, APC, MAR, CHRW, AMP, RKT, GNW, TX, CBG, NEM, NCR, UGI, TRN, FISV, CINF, AXS, AJG, WSH, DOX, GPRE, RBC, GAS, BXP, BWLD, TWTR, DWA, NTRI, SQNM, Wednesday: Pre Market - AUO, PSX, VLO, WLP, HUM, S, GT, CVE, SO, PAG, TRI, RRD, HUN, D, GIB, HES, PEG, BEN, SEE, PTRY, ROK, INGR, MWV, LO, BAH, SPW, SPB, ENR, LPLA, HSP, WEC, AMT, PBI, ADT, IACI, AB, LL, HAE, After Hours - MET, INT, SU, TSO, ALL, KRFT, HIG, WDC, WFM, LNC, TS, UNM, ABX, MOH, PPC, FNF, WMB, WPZ, OI, KBR, CNW, MUR, LRCX, ESV, NE, FBHS, SPN, MTW, FMC, CBT, TGI, KGC, MEOH, WLL, AEM, AUY, CTRP, Thursday: Pre Market - XOM, MCK, MPC, COP, BG, EPD, BUD, CI, DTV, AZN, OXY, TWC, EXC, TEVA, DLPH, CL, PCG, K, APA, ALU, ADP, LLL, CDW, PPL, CVI, XEL, MOS, MA, TRP, CHTR, BLL, AVP, BWA, BDX, VRX, PNR, PWR, LKQ, DISCA, NWL, HST, SC, IVZ, NI, ATK, H, GEL, RFP, GG, COMM, Q, SCG, MTOR, SBH, HP, PNW, TKR, WWE, After Hours - BSAC, FLR, CYH, DVA, EIX, EEP, MHK, LYV, ASH, NU, NSIT, EXPE, ARRS, WU, MRC, YRCW, THG, JLL, ACGL, TSLA, ONNN, SWN, BYD, WSTC, SPF, OUTR, G, MCHP, LNKD, PSA, OIS, RMD, SYNA, KOG, AMSG, GPRO, Friday: Pre Market - CVX, PG, MT, ENB, CTRX, PBF, HLT, WY, NGLS, SPR, CLX, CPN, TDS, XLS, AXL, HCN, CHD1:37 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

RBS (12.38 +10.72%): Provided updated on first half of 2014 and outlook for second half; First half operating profit excluding restructuring and litigation conduct costs improved to GBP 3.365 bln vs GBP 1.6 bln in prior year; co expects that credit impairment charges in the second half will remain low
BIDU (223.69 +9.51%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.35 ($1.73 ex items vs $1.38 estimate), revs rose 58.5% yoy to $1.93 bln vs $1.93 bln estimate; sees Q3 revs of $2.163-2.221 bln vs $2.13 bln estimate
SWK (90.44 +6.37%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.06 ($1.43 ex items vs $1.37 estimate), revs rose 1.0% yoy to $2.89 bln vs $2.94 bln estimate; sees FY14 EPS of $5.50-5.60 (raised from $5.35-5.50) vs $5.43 estimate

Large Cap Losers

AMZN (324 -9.65%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.12 (-$0.27 vs -$0.15 estimate), revs rose 23.2% yoy to $19.34 bln vs $19.32 bln estimate; operating income -$15 mln vs -$455 to -$55 mln guidance and -$60 mln estimate; sees Q3 revs of $19.7-21.5 bln vs $20.82 bln estimate; sees Q3 operating loss of -$810 to -$410 mln; downgraded at B. Riley & Co, Raymond James, and CRT Capital
AON (86.99 -4.38%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.05 ($1.25 vs $1.20 estimate), revs rose 0.8% yoy to $2.92 bln vs $2.97 bln estimate
V (213.75 -4.04%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.08 ($2.17 vs $2.09 estimate), revs rose 5.1% yoy to $3.15 bln vs $3.15 bln estimate; Co sees FY14 constant revenue growth in the 9-10% range, lowered from previous 10-11% range

Mid Cap Gainers

QLIK (26.65 +13.93%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.05 ($0.02 ex items vs -$0.03 estimate), revs rose 21.9% yoy to $131.6 mln vs $125.26 mln estimate; sees Q3 EPS of -$0.02 to $0.01 ex items vs $0.04 estimate, revs of $122-126 mln vs $123.25 mln estimate; sees FY14 EPS of $0.23-0.27 ex items vs $0.25 estimate, revs of $545-555 mln vs $547.81 mln estimate
VRSN (55.47 +11.32%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.04 ($0.68 vs $0.64 estimate), revs rose 4.6% yoy to $250.4 mln vs $251.73 mln estimate; upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup; price target raised to $74 from $72 at Topeka
SWI (43.94 +11.07%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.04 ($0.41 vs $0.37 estimate), revs rose 31% yoy to $101.5 mln vs $98 mln estimate; sees Q3 EPS of $0.42-0.44 vs $0.41 estimate, revs of $109-111.5 mln vs $107.05 mln estimate; sees FY14 EPS of $1.68-1.72 vs $1.65 estimate, revs of $420.5-426.5 mln vs $416.64 mln estimate

Mid Cap Losers

WCG (61.41 -20.09%): Reported Q2 EPS of -$0.07 vs $0.90 estimate, revs rose 35% yoy to $3.1 bln vs $3.02 bln estimate; sees FY14 EPS of $2.20-2.50 (lowered from $4.40-4.75) vs $4.30 estimate; downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo and to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
SWFT (21.73 -15.81%): Reported Q2 EPS of $0.33 (in-line) revs rose 4.6% yoy to $1.08 bln vs $1.09 bln estimate
SLAB (40.31 -13.88%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.12 ($0.58 ex items vs $0.46 estimate), revs rose 9.5% yoy to $154.9 mln vs $149.01 mln estimate; sees Q3 EPS of $0.45-0.51 ex items vs $0.54 estimate, revs of $153-157 mln vs $156.8 mln estimate

12:11 pm Relative sector strength (:TECHX) : The major averages have worked off their morning lows/supports with some relative sector strength on this move (outperforming the S&P) noted in: Biotech IBB, Health XLV, Semi SMH, Technology XLK.

12:03 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (82) outpacing new lows (70) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACH, AHGP, ARCI, ARRS, ATVI, BBL, BIDU, BMO, BNS, CAJ, CAM, CHRW, CIB, CM, CMG, CORR, CTCT, CTRP, DCM, DECK, DLB, DPS, EFX, FFCO, FOLD, GD, GIL, GLNG, HCA, HLS, HPQ, IDXX, KED, LAWS, LAZ, LEA, LMT, LPNT, LRE, LUV, LYB, MAG, MAMS, MAR, MCK, MCO, MPB, MPWR, NOC, NSH, NTRS, PBA, PFG, PPC, QCOR, R, RBS, RCL, RFMD, RGA, SBAC, SGC, SKX, SLF, SVU, SWC, TCP, TCX, TD, THC, TMH, TQNT, UA, UHS, VIPS, WAB, WIN, WLB, WLK, WOOF, WRI, XRX

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACXM, AGM, ALDX, AQXP, ASPN, BCOV, BLMN, BONT, BPI, CAS, CBDE, CERS, CGA, CGG, CLRX, CNHI, CPWR, CRRS, CYRN, DRNA, DVR, EDMC, ESI, ESIO, GFIG, GIMO, GLF, GSK, HHS, IDI, IKAN, IMGN, IMN, INFA, INTX, ISNS, IVC, MBLX, MCRI, MGLN, MORN, NCFT, NEWL, NKSH, NWBI, OCFC, PGEM, PGTI, PNRA, PSUN, QLGC, RCPI, REXX, RNDY, SILC, SRDX, TBBK, TCCO, TILE, TLYS, TNAV, TNDM, TOPS, TRC, TUP, TWI, VII, VVI, XNY, XXIA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DBB, GXC, XLB

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BAL, RJA

9:03 am Jabil Circuit authorizes new stock repurchase program of up to $100 mln (JBL) : Co announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $100 mln worth of shares of the Co's common stock. This share repurchase program expires on August 31, 2015. The Co's current repurchase authorization of $200 mln is anticipated to be completed by August 31, 2014.

6:04 am Silicon Labs beats by $0.12, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (SLAB) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.58 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.46; revenues rose 9.5% year/year to $154.9 mln vs the $149.01 mln consensus.

Co reports Q2 Non-GAAP Gross margin was 64.1 percent. Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of 0.45-0.51, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.54 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $153-157 mln vs. $156.80 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

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InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary

http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

- AMZN, Durable Orders blamed for selling, but good data was credited for the Thursday move higher. In short, the volatility continues as does the pullback.
- DJ30 breaks the 20 day EMA for the first time since May.
- Jobless claims heralded as an all clear. Perhaps there is no one left to fire.
- Economic data continues its mediocre showing.
- Earnings reflect the economic data: bottom line beats are not the best indicator of economic status.
- SP500, 2+ years without a 10% correction, is the lone index holding its May uptrend.

Friday the stock market was down, but as has been the case, the losses were uneven. This session, however, the selling wasn't focused on just the growth indices. Sure SP500 held up just fine, as usual, and NASDAQ, while down a half percent, managed to hold the 10 day EMA.

SP500 -9.64, -0.48%
NASDAQ -22.55, -0.50% (came 19.5 points off its low)
DJ30 -123.23, -0.72%
SP400 -0.68%
RUTX -1.00%
SOX -1.98%

Volume faded: -11% NYSE, -10% NASDAQ

A/D: -2:1 NYSE, -2.1:1 NASDAQ

While SP500 managed the session business as usual, DJ30 broke the 20 day EMA. SP400 broke its uptrend channel's lower trendline. RUTX gapped lower, managed to hold at the 200 day MA on the close. SOX is ominous, gapping below the 50 day EMA and continuing to the downside, closing near the session low.

The big moves for the week:

SOX breaking below the low in its trading range and undercutting the late June low with no attempt to hold that level.

DJ30 showing it is vulnerable, breaking its 20 day EMA.

NASDAQ: Rallied to the early July high then gapped lower Friday. Very similar to SOX as it bumped the high then rolled over . . . hard.

Bigger picture: The stock market continues its consolidation of the 7 week run off of the mid-May low that followed 2.5 months of selling or lateral consolidation (depending upon the index) off the March peak.

That tally thus far: RUTX, SOX breaking trend and breaking down. SP400 breaking trend but not breaking down as of yet. NASDAQ is hanging onto trend, SP500 is holding trend.

The next most interesting move appears to belong to DJ30. It closed below the 20 day EMA for the first time since mid-May, the time the market overall bottomed and started this rally. The 50 day EMA is just 100 points away, less than the Friday point total. That looks like a logical support point and where DJ30 held in mid-May when DJ30 bottomed.

Is the market topping now or just consolidating a 7 week run? Each new high and each new selling bout from those highs raises the question of a bigger market top and rollover. Remember, however, the market sold for 2.5 months in the spring to early summer and it was nowhere near topping.

Perhaps this is it, the 'big' selloff. Perhaps it is just another consolidation of another run higher. Predictions of a market collapse are as common as predictions of another 500 points upside on SP500. Yes, Friday we saw SP500 2500 predictions.

I am not that smart to know which is which. No one in this group of highly successful traders and investors knows which one it is. We do know that bigger tops after long runs take quite a bit of time to set up. Heck, even shorter tops typically take time to set in. NASDAQ is three weeks into this choppy action and it is showing a double top; sure looks as if it has put in the peak on the 7 week run and is in for some kind of test, following RUTX and now SOX lower.

Again, the most interesting aspect, outside of whether this is the top of tops on this run (the Fed is, after all, getting out of the stimulus game . . for the moment), is if DJ30 and then SP500 join into the selling versus simply marking time laterally as they did from March to May.

OTHER MARKETS

A mush of conflicting signals. Dollar surges on the dollar index versus other currencies. Bonds hit a new recovery high. Gold jumps at the same time.

Euro/Dollar: Dollar surging past the June peak, now heading toward the November and January highs.

1.3433 versus 1.3464 versus 1.3460 versus 1.3468 versus 1.3522 versus 1.3524 versus 1.3526 versus 1.3523 versus 1.3568 versus 1.3619 versus 1.3608 versus 1.3600 versus 1.3644 versus 1.3611 versus 1.3605 versus 1.3608 versus 1.3658 versus 1.3769 versus 13693 versus 1.3648 versus 1.3612 versus 1.3630 versus 1.3604 versus 1.3603 versus 1.3600 versus 1.3603 versus 1.3592 versus 1.3545 versus 1.3573

Dollar/Yen: Up through the 50 day EMA as the dollar tries to work higher in the range against the yen. Typically not good for the market when the dollar strengthens, but offset by stronger bonds.

101.82 versus 101.82 versus 101.54 versus 101.45 versus 101.39 versus 101.34 versus 101.25 versus 101.63 versus 101.68 versus 101.57 versus 101.30 versus 101.325 versus 101.60 versus 101.564 versus 101.855 versus 102.210 versus 101.7595 versus 101.534 versus 101.3150 versus 101.4413 versus 101.722 versus 101.8695 versus 101.9195 versus 101.925 versus 102.059 versus 101.9595 versus 101.9335 versus 102.13 versus 101.955

Bonds: New high on this move as it puts some distance on the May prior high.

10 year: 2.47% versus 2.50% versus 2.47% versus 2.46% versus 2.47% versus 2.48% versus 2.46% versus 2.55% versus 2.55% versus 2.52% versus 2.54% versus 2.55% versus 2.56% versus 2.61% versus 2.64% versus 2.62% versus 2.56% versus 2.52% versus 2.53% versus 2.53% versus 2.56% versus 2.58% versus 2.61% versus 2.61% versus 2.63% versus 2.60% versus 2.65% versus 2.60%

Oil: 102.10, +0.04. Trying to hold the bounce off the 200 day SMA.

Gold: 1303.30, +13.10. Bouncing off the weeklong drop to the 200 day SMA.

MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: -22.54 points (-0.5%) to close at 4449.56
Volume: 1.684B (-9.85%)

Up Volume: 607.47M (-432.53M)
Down Volume: 1.03B (+162.93M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 2.11 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.2 to 1

New Highs: 54 (-19)
New Lows: 58 (+25)

S&P
Stats: -9.64 points (-0.48%) to close at 1978.34
NYSE Volume: 499M (-10.73%)

Up Volume: 852.65M (-837.35M)
Down Volume: 1.74B (+320M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.95 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.12 to 1

New Highs: 78 (-119)
New Lows: 39 (+22)

DJ30
Stats: -123.23 points (-0.72%) to close at 16960.57

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 12.69; +0.85
VXN: 13.36; +0.28
VXO: 11.07; +0.71

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.95; +0.04

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls flatten out after that 4 point drop: 56.5% versus 56.6%

Bears finally rise and rise sharply, at least relatively: 17.2% versus 15.1%

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.

Note the extreme bullishness: it was this high in 2007 at the crash, in early 2005 as well.

Bulls: 56.5% versus 56.6%
56.6% versus 60.6% versus 57.6% versus 60.2% versus 61.4% versus 62.6% versus 62.2% versus 58.3% versus 57.2% versus 55.1 versus 55.7 versus 54.7 versus 51.6 versus 50.5 versus 54.6% versus 50.5 versus 54.7% 52.0% 54.6% 53.5% 46.5% 41.8% 45.9% 53.1% 57.6 56.1 60.6% 61.6% 60.0% 58.2% 57.1% 55.7% 53.6% 52.6% 55.2% 52.6 49.5 42.3% 45.4 46.4% 44.3% 42.3% 37.1% 37.1% 38.1% 43.3%.

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 17.2% versus 15.1%
15.1% versus 15.2% versus 16.1% versus 16.3% versus 17.2% versus 17.4% versus 17.3% versus 18.3% versus 19.4% versus 20.6% versus 19.7% versus 21.7% versus 20.6 versus 18.6% 18.6% 17.5% 17.4% 15.1% 17.2% 17.2% 17.4% 17.4% 15.3% 15.1 15.3% 15.2% 15.2% 14.0 14.3 14.3% 14.4 15.5 15.5% 15.6% 16.5% 18.5 21.6% 20.6% 18.6% 20.6% 21.6% 22.7% 23.7% 23.8% 21.6%.

Background: Over 35% is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. For reference, bearishness hit a 5 year high at 54.4% the last week of October 2008. The move over 50 took bearish sentiment to its highest level since 1995. Extreme negative sentiment. Prior levels for comparison: Bearishness peaked at 37.4% in September 2007. It topped the June 2006 peak (36%) on that run. That June peak eclipsed the March 2006 high (33%) and well above the 2005 highs that spawned new rallies (30% in May 2005, 29.2% in October 2005). That was a huge turn, unlike any seen in recent history.

THE NEWS

Friday the last piece of Q2 economic data was released with Durable Goods Orders. They were up over May's decline, showing some promise, though year/year they fell 1.6%, the first decline since February 2014.

0.7% versus 0.3% versus -1.0% (from -0.9%) May

The rub: Capital Expenditures

Cap-Ex non-defense ex-transports: 1.4 versus 0.5% expected (good) versus -1.2% versus +0.7% May (bad as it is more than a negative wash).

Core CapEx: -1.0% versus 0.4% expected versus 0.1% prior (from 0.4%).

That low capital investment weighed on stocks and shot bonds to a higher high on this current rally.

Low to no cap-ex is the ongoing weakness in the recovery. Companies prefer to 1) pay dividends, 2) buy back stock (some big buybacks this week) to up EPS without selling one item more, and 3) buy other companies (Z covets TRLA). M&A is a cheaper alternative to developing your own products. Think of it as buying a house with a barn on ranch acreage versus buying the acreage then having to build a road, put in electricity, drill for water, install septic tanks, build a barn, erect fences, build the house . . . you may get exactly what you want building, but it is always cheaper to buy what is already there if you can make it work.

The point: companies, even after 5.5 years in this recovery, still the worst in US history by the way, still do not want to fork out the money for old fashioned, organic growth. That shows 1) a lack of comfort in so doing (again, the worst recovery ever), 2) the lack of need given so-so demand, 3) the lack of need given other companies are ripe for the picking. The only problem with this is, as is usual, companies are buying other companies at peak prices versus at value. So many companies still beating on the bottom line but missing the top line, i.e. showing no growth in sales. With so much excess money in the system, however, prices are higher, exactly what Mr. Bernanke desired. So, prices are up, there is some better sentiment, organic investment is still down, but with the excess money, companies want to use it. So, dividends, buybacks, and now acquisitions at inflated prices. What is new, right?

So despite Thursday's jobless claims below 300K that supposedly show how strong the jobs market and thus the economy is, the falling new home sales, a sharp drop in the Markit US PMI, declining annual wages, weak capital investment, etc. all suggest the economy, while not stumbling lower is not powering higher.

There are no doubt pockets of strength thanks to the O&G industry, but very, very uneven and very nonexistent for most of the middle class. With well over 100M able bodied US citizens not in the workforce, perhaps jobless claims are so low because there is truly no one left to fire. We hear from CEO's on the financial stations that there are no skilled workers available, but again, with so many college graduates living at home jobless with stacks of student loan bills, how can that be? Is this the final crippling indictment of our education system run by the Department of Education the past 30 years?

Are the colleges producing crops of unemployable test takers? Is the companies' claims they cannot find workers just bogus talk by CEO's who want to sound good but have no intention of hiring given the lack of sales growth? Are the college graduates turning their noses up at entry level jobs because their heads have been filled with delusions of starting at the top? All of the above? Something else?

Whatever the reason, it does not appear that the solution is readily apparent.

Earnings: Earnings are not bad, though still somewhat mixed. Friday was all about AMZN's miss and 'don't give a damn attitude' on the conference call, but there were some very good stories from DECK (Ugg's), SKX, and UA on Thursday. Of course V, KLAC, P, KO, MCD, TXN, QCOM, etc. didn't have stories that great.

Then there are the beats that are not. MSFT, AAPL, PEP, CAT. They miss either top or bottom line but they are still rewarded or at least called a beat. As I said earlier in the week, how can lower revenues on the top line be considered good news, particularly if the bottom line beat is due to share buybacks, personnel cutting, or other cost reduction/share reduction actions. Again, how is it such a great recovery if companies cannot beat the top line with sales so they have to resort to bottom line tactics to produce higher profits with lower sales?

NEXT WEEK

Friday we picked up some downside positions but unfortunately could not get all we wanted, e.g. SMH as it gapped sharply lower. Still, we did get some more good downside going to take advantage of any further weakness, a good offset to our upside.

The market remains split with some groups/stocks moving higher, others heading south. The notable move to end the week was DJ30 breaking the 20 day EMA for the first time since the May run began. Another index breaking lower, not higher, off its trend form the May low, leaving SP500 as the index holding the trend. As in the old 'Seinfeld' episode about each character holding out against self gratification of their desires and frustrations, and then there was one.

This split will have to resolve, but for now it looks as if the market is going to test some more, then show its next step. There is plenty of news this week to influence the action: earnings, the next FOMC rate decision, the monthly Jobs Report on Friday.

As noted earlier, selling after a run higher doesn't have to mean a major selloff. Sure it has been some incredibly long period since SP500 posted a 10% correction (800 days, 2.2 years), but one thing years in the market show: oversold or overbought conditions can last much, much longer than you rationally think they could.

Thus while the near term is in the throes of downside similar to the March to May selling and the SP500, as the lone holdout holding the near trend as well as holding out from a real correction for over two years, remains overbought, it doesn't mean there cannot be another March to May consolidation that sets the next move upside.

Near term it looks as if the volatility we saw starting up a few weeks back and the subsequent weakness is not over. There is still solid upside action just as there was from March to May, but many stocks in the smaller cap indices and now SOX are correcting again and thus our downside plays as well. Watching DJ30 and after that SP500 tell a big part of the tale: they held off the sellers in the last market dip (though there were some tense sessions mid-April during that earnings season). If they break there is a deeper test coming. For reference, however, both SP500 and DJ30 broke the 50 day EMA in April, but after just a couple of sessions, they both recovered.

So, we play the obvious downside, pick up the upside in groups that are obviously stronger, e.g. industrial metals, letting the market work through this next round of testing the last move. The Fed is leaving the game it says, so perhaps this is the last top of the monetary policy market rally, but as noted, it takes a long time for tops to set in, particularly tops to long, 5 year runs.

Have a great weekend!

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4449.56

Resistance:
4486 is the July 2014 high
4516 is the lower November 2012 trendline
4603 is the upper channel line formed off the 11/2012 low.

Support:
The 20 day EMA at 4420
4372 is the March 2014 high
The 50 day EMA at 4350
4289 is the July 2000 recovery high
4277 is the March lower gap point
4246.55 is the January 2014 peak. Key level.
The 200 day SMA at 4158
4131 is the March 2014 low
4104 is the lower gap point from 12/20/13
4070 is the series of highs from late November/early December
3991 is the prior November 2013 high and the post-bear market high.
3968 is the February 2014 low
3946 is the April 2014 intraday low

S&P 500: Closed at 1978.34

Resistance:
1986 is the July 2014 high

Support:
The 20 day EMA at 1972
1953 is the December 2012 up trendline
The 50 day EMA at 1948
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1902 is the lower trendline from 11/2012
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1883.57 is the early March high.
The 200 day SMA at 1852
The December and January highs at 1848
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high
1768 is the December 3013 low
1738 is the February 2014 low
1730 is the September 2013 peak
1710 is the August 2013 peak.
1698 to 1700 are the July and August interim highs
1687 is the May high and post-bear market high
1685 is the mid-August 2013 upper gap point

Dow: Closed at 16,960.57

Resistance:
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
The 20 day EMA at 17,001
17,380 is a lower trendline off the 11/2012 low

Support:
The 50 day EMA at 16,860
16,736 is the penultimate all-time high from May 2014
16,341 is the May low
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
The 200 day SMA at 16,281
16,257 is the January 2014 low
16,179 is the November 2013 peak.
15,739 is the December 2013 low
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
15,659 is the August 2013 peak
15,542 is the May 2013 intraday high
15,340 is the February 2014 low
15,318 is the June closing high
15,050 from the August 2013 interim recovery high
14,888 is the April peak and prior all-time high
14,844 is the June intraday low
14,762 is the August 2013 low
14,551 is the June 2013 intraday low on the selloff (14,659 closing)

ECONOMIC CALENDAR

July 25 - Friday
- Durable Orders, June (8:30): 0.7% actual versus 0.3% expected, -1.0% prior (revised from -0.9%)
- Durable Goods -ex tr, June (8:30): 0.8% actual versus 0.7% expected, -0.1% prior (revised from 0.0%)

July 28 - Monday
- Pending Home Sales, June (10:00): -0.8% expected, 6.1% prior

July 29 - Tuesday
- Case-Shiller 20-city, May (9:00): 10.0% expected, 10.8% prior
- Consumer Confidence, July (10:00): 85.6 expected, 85.2 prior

July 30 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 07/26 (7:00): 2.4% prior
- ADP Employment Change, July (8:15): 215K expected, 281K prior
- Chain Deflator-Adv., Q2 (8:30): 1.3% prior
- GDP-Adv., Q2 (8:30): 3.2% expected, -2.9% prior
- Chain Deflator-Adv., Q2 (8:30): 2.1% expected, 1.3% prior
- Crude Inventories, 07/26 (10:30): -3.969M prior
- FOMC Rate Decision, July (14:00): 0.25% expected, 0.25% prior

July 31 - Thursday
- Challenger Job Cuts, July (7:30): -20.2% prior
- Initial Claims, 07/26 (8:30): 310K expected, 284K prior
- Continuing Claims, 07/19 (8:30): 2525K expected, 2500K prior
- Employment Cost Index, Q2 (8:30): 0.4% expected, 0.3% prior
- Chicago PMI, July (9:45): 61.8 expected, 62.6 prior
- Natural Gas Inventor, 07/26 (10:30): 90 bcf prior

August 1 - Friday
- Nonfarm Payrolls, July (8:30): 220K expected, 288K prior
- Nonfarm Private Payrolls, July (8:30): 225K expected, 262K prior
- Unemployment Rate, July (8:30): 6.1% expected, 6.1% prior
- Hourly Earnings, July (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.2% prior
- Average Workweek, July (8:30): 34.5 expected, 34.5 prior
- Personal Income, June (8:30): 0.4% expected, 0.4% prior
- Personal Spending, June (8:30): 0.4% expected, 0.2% prior
- PCE Prices - Core, June (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.2% prior
- Michigan Sentiment -, July (9:55): 82.0 expected, 81.3 prior
- ISM Index, July (10:00): 55.9 expected, 55.3 prior
- Construction Spending, June (10:00): 0.3% expected, 0.1% prior
- Auto Sales, July (14:00): 5.9M prior
- Truck Sales, July (14:00): 7.5M prior http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

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InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary:

http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

- No shortage of issues, economic, geopolitical, market, but stocks rally Friday.
- Facing the last third of the year, where the year's outcome is determined.
- Lifecycle of stocks: many extended as stocks enter the run to year end.
- Extended perhaps, but the trends are in place and the recent pullback may be enough to support a year end run.

Nothing keeps stocks from their appointed rounds.

Neither Russian aggression and 'we fear nothing' attitude, weak European data, negative US spending, Brazil entering recession, ISIS slaughters, terror alerts raised to all-time highs, surging food prices thanks to drought (butter just hit an all-time high), and a lack of US strategy to counter any of these problems, could keep stocks from rising the last day of August. Indeed, stocks actually sprinted to the close in a pattern that works 70% of the time on the Friday before Labor Day: finish higher.

SP500 6.63, 0.33%
NASDAQ 22.58, 0.50%
DJ30 18.88, 0.11%
SP400 0.56%
RUTX 0.72%
SOX 0.74%

Volume: NASDAQ +2%, NYSE +25%

A/D: 2.4:1 NASDAQ, 2.4:1 NYSE

As you can see, the moves were skewed toward growth: RUTX, SOX, NASDAQ led the move. That has positive implications for the market heading into the last part of the year, one that often has big dips but pleasing recoveries as stocks then run into year end.

Recall that last week our game plan was to lighten up on stocks that were questionable in their patterns, unable to answer the question 'why am I in this?' with a clear statement. Once good patterns that are perhaps still decent, but just started to wander without making a good move.

The reason? The last third of the year starts Tuesday after Labor Day. The market can break upside, it can break downside, or it can continue its trend. You have to be careful of the breakdown, but this year you also have to be somewhat careful of the latter, the continued trend. Why? Because some indices are struggling at resistance, e.g. SP400 and DJ30, while others attempt to recover damage done, e.g. RUTX and SOX.

Over the past two weeks, RUTX made some good strides at repairing damage with its break of the 200 day SMA and then a lateral consolidation yielded a break higher. SOX then formed its own lateral consolidation and gapped out of it Friday. Positives. The Dow bumped into the July high and stalled, but it has not rolled over. Tried, but rebounded. Perhaps it can form its own lateral shelf and break higher as well. MACD has now surpassed the July peak; positive as well.

In any event, we closed positions in stocks that were not behaving properly, i.e. not working on patterns or moving up with the indices that managed to move higher. Maybe they recover and rally if the market does, but they were not performing as desired, and now if stocks do start higher once more in the last third of the year, we can focus on those doing the moving versus those just hanging on, indecisive or not decisive enough about what they want to do.

One major theme to note at this juncture in the market and this time of the year. A first consideration is many leaders are WAY overbought in terms of how far they have rallied in the run. Many are up 5x to 10x from rallies that started two years ago or even less. VIPS, Z, NFLX, QIHU at its peak. Stocks that have risen 2x, 3x are extended. SIMO, TRLA, SNCR, UA. Stocks up 5x and above are way overdone.

Stocks have life cycles just as living beings, and the run the past several years has been the prime of life for many. There is nothing to say that the life expectancies have not lengthened this time, but if they have, a lot of that is due to the easy money policies of our favorite central bank. With Uncle Fed finally working on withdrawing the handouts, it is going to take a LOT of positive views about how strong the economy will be to support the current gains AND add to them with further rallies. In other words, just how strong is the economy? Good enough to keep the monetary policy induced gains and price in even more gains on growth?

Several Dirty Harry lines come to mind. 'Do you feel lucky, punk?' 'A man's [market's] got to know its limitations.' (I tried to figure out how to work in 'Go ahead, make my day' or 'Your mouthwash ain't making it', but couldn't).

THIS WEEK

So we head into the last third of the year sitting on large gains but attempting to recover from a stumble in July to early August (more so for RUTX, SOX). Good efforts are being made, e.g. RUTX and SOX as noted above. NASDAQ and SP500 have moved to higher highs. There is still leadership that can move higher along with new rising stocks attempting to become leaders. If these continue to work, the market can continue to work upside as well.

We have to be focused on those as we watch just how the market performs post-Labor Day. If new money comes in, it is pretty clear that it is moving in as stocks jump. Friday, despite the light volume, saw stocks jump late in the session. Buy programs moved in, placing bets ahead of the start of the last third. That also suggests the upside is not dead yet. It could be the money flies back in for the last third and that the 'correction' in July to August is all we get. Not counting on that, but the market upside trend continues, and while we have to recognize sellers can take over, they have not to this point, and if we get good upside plays making the moves we want, we move in.

Thursday we put several new plays onto the report in anticipation of the holiday weekend with the idea of giving the staff as much time off as possible. Thus we are heading into next week focusing on those plays as well as the nice setups already on the report that we can use to enter if the market decides it is going to rally further. We lightened up some stagnant positions so we can focus on those making the moves toward year end. With that in mind this weekend's report focuses on the solid plays we have ready to go and a few new ones that we found looking ready to move if the money comes in once more.

Have a great Labor Day!

MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: +22.58 points (+0.5%) to close at 4580.27
Volume: 1.216B (+2.01%)

Up Volume: 1.03B (+398.95M)
Down Volume: 297.19M (-352.58M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 2.38 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.93 to 1

New Highs: 89 (+42)
New Lows: 27 (-16)

S&P
Stats: +6.63 points (+0.33%) to close at 2003.37
NYSE Volume: 616.7M (+25.63%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 2.38 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.35 to 1

New Highs: 157 (+47)
New Lows: 10 (-1)

DJ30
Stats: +18.88 points (+0.11%) to close at 17098.45

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 11.98; -0.07
VXN: 12.71; +0.06
VXO: 10.87; +0.1

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.96; -0.34

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls bounce sharply: 52.1% versus 49.5%

Bears flop below the 16 to 17 range that held: 15.1% versus 16.2%

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.

Note the extreme bullishness: it was this high in 2007 at the crash, in early 2005 as well.

Bulls: 52.5% versus 49.5%
49.5% versus 46.4% versus 50.5% versus 55.6% versus 56.5% versus 56.6% versus 60.6% versus 57.6% versus 60.2% versus 61.4% versus 62.6% versus 62.2% versus 58.3% versus 57.2% versus 55.1 versus 55.7 versus 54.7 versus 51.6 versus 50.5 versus 54.6% versus 50.5 versus 54.7% 52.0% 54.6% 53.5% 46.5% 41.8% 45.9% 53.1% 57.6 56.1 60.6% 61.6% 60.0% 58.2% 57.1% 55.7% 53.6% 52.6% 55.2% 52.6 49.5 42.3% 45.4 46.4% 44.3% 42.3% 37.1% 37.1% 38.1% 43.3%.

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 15.1% versus 16.2%
16.2% versus 16.2% versus 17.1% versus 16.2% versus 17.2% versus 15.1% versus 15.2% versus 16.1% versus 16.3% versus 17.2% versus 17.4% versus 17.3% versus 18.3% versus 19.4% versus 20.6% versus 19.7% versus 21.7% versus 20.6 versus 18.6% 18.6% 17.5% 17.4% 15.1% 17.2% 17.2% 17.4% 17.4% 15.3% 15.1 15.3% 15.2% 15.2% 14.0 14.3 14.3% 14.4 15.5 15.5% 15.6% 16.5% 18.5 21.6% 20.6% 18.6% 20.6% 21.6% 22.7% 23.7% 23.8% 21.6%.

Background: Over 35% is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. For reference, bearishness hit a 5 year high at 54.4% the last week of October 2008. The move over 50 took bearish sentiment to its highest level since 1995. Extreme negative sentiment. Prior levels for comparison: Bearishness peaked at 37.4% in September 2007. It topped the June 2006 peak (36%) on that run. That June peak eclipsed the March 2006 high (33%) and well above the 2005 highs that spawned new rallies (30% in May 2005, 29.2% in October 2005). That was a huge turn, unlike any seen in recent history.

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4580.27

Resistance:
4616 is the lower November 2012 trendline

Support:
The 10 day EMA at 4539
4486 is the July 2014 high
The 20 day EMA at 4499
The 50 day EMA at 4431
4372 is the March 2014 high
The August low at 4321
4289 is the July 2000 recovery high
4277 is the March lower gap point
4246.55 is the January 2014 peak. Key level.
The 200 day SMA at 4229
4131 is the March 2014 low
4104 is the lower gap point from 12/20/13
4070 is the series of highs from late November/early December
3991 is the prior November 2013 high and the post-bear market high.
3968 is the February 2014 low
3946 is the April 2014 intraday low

S&P 500: Closed at 2003.37

Resistance:

Support:
1991 is the July 2014 high
The 10 day EMA at 1989
1989 is the December 2012 up trendline
The 50 day EMA at 1960
1934 is the lower trendline from 11/2012
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1883.57 is the early March high.
The 200 day SMA at 1879
The December and January highs at 1848
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high
1768 is the December 3013 low
1738 is the February 2014 low
1730 is the September 2013 peak
1710 is the August 2013 peak.
1698 to 1700 are the July and August interim highs
1687 is the May high and post-bear market high
1685 is the mid-August 2013 upper gap point

Dow: Closed at 17,098.45

Resistance:
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high

Support:
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
The 10 day EMA at 17,005
The 50 day EMA at 16,843
16,736 is the penultimate all-time high from May 2014
16,341 is the May low
16,334 is the August 2014 low
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
The 200 day SMA at 16,444
16,257 is the January 2014 low
16,179 is the November 2013 peak.
15,739 is the December 2013 low
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
15,659 is the August 2013 peak

ECONOMIC CALENDAR

August 29 - Friday
- Personal Income, July (8:30): 0.2% actual versus 0.3% expected, 0.5% prior (revised from 0.4%)
- Personal Spending, July (8:30): -0.1% actual versus 0.1% expected, 0.4% prior
- PCE Prices - Core, July (8:30): 0.1% actual versus 0.1% expected, 0.1% prior
- Chicago PMI, August (9:45): 64.3 actual versus 54.8 expected, 52.6 prior
- Michigan Sentiment -, August (9:55): 82.5 actual versus 80.0 expected, 79.2 prior

September 2 - Tuesday
- ISM Index, August (10:00): 57.0 expected, 57.1 prior
- Construction Spendin, July (10:00): 1.0% expected, -1.8% prior

September 3 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 08/30 (7:00): 2.8% prior
- Factory Orders, July (10:00): 11.0% expected, 1.1% prior
- Auto Sales, August (14:00): 5.8M prior
- Truck Sales, August (14:00): 7.4M prior

September 4 - Thursday
- Challenger Job Cuts, August (7:30): 24.4% prior
- ADP Employment Chang, August (8:15): 220K expected, 218K prior
- Initial Claims, 08/30 (8:30): 300K expected, 298K prior
- Continuing Claims, 08/23 (8:30): 2525K expected, 2527K prior
- Trade Balance, July (8:30): -$42.0B expected, -$41.5B prior
- Productivity-Rev., Q2 (8:30): 2.6% expected, 2.5% prior
- Unit Labor Costs, Q2 (8:30): 0.5% expected, 0.6% prior
- ISM Services, August (10:00): 57.9 expected, 58.7 prior
- Natural Gas Inventor, 08/30 (10:30): 75 bcf prior
- Crude Inventories, 08/30 (11:00): -2.070M prior

September 5 - Friday
- Nonfarm Payrolls, August (8:30): 220K expected, 209K prior
- Nonfarm Private Payr, August (8:30): 200K expected, 198K prior
- Unemployment Rate, August (8:30): 6.1% expected, 6.2% prior
- Hourly Earnings, August (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.0% prior
- Average Workweek, August (8:30): 34.5 expected, 34.5 prior

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary

http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

- Expiration jolts some indices and stocks. Was it just an expiration thing?
- Some big names look a bit toppish, others look fine as the indices broke higher last week.
- All is well economically right? Don't look at incomes or capital investment.
- Still leaders performing well, setting up even as some look weary.

Was Friday just an 'expiration thing' or is something afoot in the leadership? Many leaders started last week with a bad Monday but recovered nicely as the early selling was bought. Friday, however, after gapping higher, many leaders reversed the move.

SP500 -0.96, -0.05%
NASDAQ -13.64, -0.30%
DJ30 13.75, 0.08%
SP400 -0.59%
RUTX -1.07%
SOX -1.19%

VOLUME: Definitely expiration as NYSE trade jumped 166% and NASDAQ 61%.

A/D: -1.5:1 NYSE, -1.9:1 NASDAQ

They did not collapse, but they gave back a good portion of the Wednesday to early Friday move, some giving back all of it, others giving back damn little. When you look at some big names such as NFLX, CMG, and BWLD, however, while they are still holding up, they are fighting to hang on in patterns that have turned toppish.

Thus even as SP500, DJ30, SOX, and yeah verily, NASDAQ, moved to new highs or new post-bear market highs, the market showed some serious issues that have festered, keeping the stock market from advancing as rapidly and as steadily as you would expect it to have done. Hence that less than satisfying move upside we have discussed on several occasions where stocks rally but then quickly stall and give back ground as money proves fickle and hops to another sector, leaving the prior one to stumble around without guidance until the money makes its rounds and returns. The trick is holding up while that quick trip around the market is made.

What am I talking about? Look at some good stocks that showed trouble Friday, if only in that day's action versus their patterns overall. CAVM, FFIV, MLNX, MOBI and many others started well after a good recovery on the week, but then could not finish out the week, instead gapping then reversing hard.

Again, perhaps Friday was just an expiration event as DJ30, SP500, SOX and even NASDAQ broke to higher highs when many, recall the billionaires, were anticipating declines. Sure the super rich are buying gold bars, but even so gold is falling. Is there manipulation of the gold market similar to the LIBOR scandal? Anyway, we are told that a lot of those 27.5 pound gold bars are being purchased as the very wealthy turn very scared about the future. When you look at the charts I show in the 'Economy' section and how the Federal government and the Fed's policies have impacted wages and investment (something we have declared all along), you can understand why they are worried.

Now I am not saying Friday changed the tone of the market. What it did do was throw up a caution flag. DJ30, SOX, SP500, NASDAQ all broke higher on the week, yet on Friday some sell orders really jumped in. Perhaps just positions being rolled out thanks to the indices moving up not down as many bet, but when you see that kind of reversal in some big names and volume as well, you cannot just assume it was expiration.

So, this week is the 'watch to see if the Friday reversal immediately gives way to a recovery upside.' My suspicion is that it will, that Friday was an expiration-related event that pushed stocks lower. The post-FOMC reaction suggests investors were comfortable with the Fed's 'I'll know when I see it' view toward what a 'considerable time' is re raising rates. Thus Friday really looks to be expiration related, but of course our beliefs don't necessarily translate into market facts.

THE MARKET

DJ30: The market leader last week in terms of its ability to break to new highs, overcoming a potential double top. Good upside volume as it broke higher. Friday it surged but then gave most of it back, showing a tombstone doji. After five days upside that can indicate a pause or a fade, but it was expiration and perhaps the Dow just gave some deference to the struggles that the growth areas were having on the day.

SP500: After clearing to a new high Thursday and adding to it Friday thanks to the action in financial stocks, the large caps also showed a tombstone doji, finishing modestly lower. As with DJ30, overcoming obstacles to a new high and likely just an expiration thing.

NASDAQ: Tested the 50 day EMA to start the week, a rather normal test albeit a bit sharp, after breaking to a higher post-bear market high. Nice recovery, surging upside Tuesday and as of the Friday open gap higher, it was right back up at the high. Many big name stocks flipped their action, however, and NASDAQ sold back into the range though holding the 10 day EMA. It is not in danger from this pattern though MACD is lagging a bit. The real issue is the action in some big names such as NFLX, AMZN, BWLD that are showing breaks lower or big rounded tops. If the big boys break there are issues. Then again, there is GOOG and AAPL that are still moving well, along with chips.

SOX: Speaking of chips, you have SOX also attempting to defy a potential double top a la DJ30. SOX started the week selling back to he 50 day EMA after matching the July peak. A furious Tuesday to Thursday bounce took SOX to a new breakout high. Friday it coughed up the entire Thursday move, putting it back inside the July range. KEY index moving into next week as to how the overall market responds.

RUTX: Really struggling and this is the worry ahead. RUTX rallied from the late July low, never making a higher high or matching the July high. It faded in September, but set up an ABCD pattern. It tried to break higher Wednesday and Thursday (totally failed to participate in the Tuesday move) but Friday was crushed. Not just giving up a day as the other indices but reversing and falling back through the 200 day SMA almost to a lower low. Small caps tend to foretell economic activity. Perhaps it is simply time for the small caps to fade in a market move, but the economics of this 'recovery' continue to show small business destruction as the economy bifurcates just as the socioeconomic dispersion of the US bifurcates thanks to FOMC and federal government policies.

LEADERSHIP:

Big Names: A split ticket. GOOG continued its surge. AAPL was off but holding gains. CMG is holding its gap but has a big rounded top look. AMZN still struggles even though it rebounded late in the week. PCLN bounced sharply last week, but hit the 20 day EMA and started to struggle. NFLX broke sharply lower and is trying to hold the 50 day EMA but does not look well. Some big names are struggling.

Tech: Some great moves last week (MSFT) and then Friday several reversed. Didn't kill them but the reversals were not pretty and something to watch to see if there is selling follow through. FFIV, SSYS.

Chips: Strong week though suffered some of the same issues as NASDAQ. Good moves or hanging in just fine (INTC, TXN, SWKS), while others reversed in ugly Friday moves (ALTR, CAVM, MLNX)

Financial: Off some Friday but that was after a strong week. JPM, GS, BAC, etc. all showing solid moves.

Transports continued to surge: KSU (rails), GLOG, or at least show some good patterns (UAL).

Industrial equipment: I guess the global slowdown is hurting, but then you have CAT plunging because of US sales falling the past three months. How can that be if, as we hear every day on the financial and news stations, if the US economy is so strong? TEX is trending lower as is CMI.

Drugs/Healthcare: Still trending higher. CELG bounced off the 50 day EMA, TGTX surged. Others are set up well, e.g. ANIP.

MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: -13.64 points (-0.3%) to close at 4579.79
Volume: 2.784B (+61.26%)

Up Volume: 1.04B (-60M)
Down Volume: 2.11B (+1.461B)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.89 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.49 to 1

New Highs: 98 (+7)
New Lows: 124 (+53)

S&P
Stats: -0.96 points (-0.05%) to close at 2010.4
NYSE Volume: 1.8B (+166.23%)

Up Volume: 1.87B (+110M)
Down Volume: 2.99B (+1.55B)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.52 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.58 to 1

New Highs: 117 (-1)
New Lows: 101 (+14)

DJ30
Stats: +13.75 points (+0.08%) to close at 17279.74

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 12.11; +0.08
VXN: 13.8; +0.29
VXO: 10.19; -0.31

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.83; -0.08

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls post a big drop after a big surge: 52.5% versus 57.6% versus 56.1% versus 52.1% versus 49.5%

Bears rise again: 15.2% versus 14.1% versus 13.3% versus 15.1% versus 16.2%

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: 52.5% versus 57.6%
57.6% versus 56.1% versus 52.5% versus 49.5% versus 46.4% versus 50.5% versus 55.6% versus 56.5% versus 56.6% versus 60.6% versus 57.6% versus 60.2% versus 61.4% versus 62.6% versus 62.2% versus 58.3% versus 57.2% versus 55.1 versus 55.7 versus 54.7

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 15.2% versus 14.1%
14.1% versus 13.3% versus 15.1% versus 16.2% versus 16.2% versus 17.1% versus 16.2% versus 17.2% versus 15.1% versus 15.2% versus 16.1% versus 16.3% versus 17.2% versus 17.4% versus 17.3% versus 18.3% versus 19.4% versus 20.6% versus 19.7% versus 21.7% versus 20.6 versus 18.6%

Background: Over 35% is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. For reference, bearishness hit a 5 year high at 54.4% the last week of October 2008. The move over 50 took bearish sentiment to its highest level since 1995. Extreme negative sentiment. Prior levels for comparison: Bearishness peaked at 37.4% in September 2007. It topped the June 2006 peak (36%) on that run. That June peak eclipsed the March 2006 high (33%) and well above the 2005 highs that spawned new rallies (30% in May 2005, 29.2% in October 2005). That was a huge turn, unlike any seen in recent history.

OTHER MARKETS

Bonds: 2.58% versus 2.63% versus 2.62% versus 2.59% versus 2.59% versus 2.61% versus 2.55% versus 2.54% versus 2.50% versus 2.47% versus 2.45% versus 2.45% 10 year.

It would seem bond investors were not so sanguine about the economy on Friday as they surged off of the sharp selloff of the past week, indeed filling the gap lower from just over a week back.

Oil: 92.42, -0.65. Gapped sharply lower to close at the closing level from two weeks back, and now will again attempt to hold the support at that level.

Gold: 1216.50, -19.30. Gold is on the plunge again, gapping lower after a short lateral respite from the prior selling.

$/JPY: 108.982 versus 109.17 versus 108.265 versus 107.13 versus 107.19 versus 107.34 versus 107.13 versus 106.80.

Faded some after a torrid run. Took a day off.

Euro/$: 1.2831 versus 1.2916 versus 1.2875 versus 1.2960 versus 1.2940 versus 1.2963 versus 1.2912.

The dollar took a breather Thursday and then was back at it to a new closing high on this leg Friday.

THE ECONOMY

More are waking up to the divergence in the US economy.

This weekend the New York Times joined in the growing number who are finally giving up and stating the obvious: the economy, despite the headlines we are fed, is not what it is said to be. We are told all of the jobs lost in the Great Recession have been recovered, but we learned a few months ago that the BLS made errors in its assumptions and we are still millions short. Even if that were not the case and you took the BLS data as true the most important demographic groups (25 to 54) are still MILLIONS of jobs short of 2007 levels. There are a lot of jobs in the lowest pay scales, i.e. service industry (read burger joints, Wal-Mart greeters); thank goodness for those as our seniors can live out their golden years with dignity working at low paying, menial jobs to make ends meet thanks to trusting financial advisors to keep them out of trouble and an FOMC that wants them eating dog food by keeping interest rates at 0%, now effectively for 15 years.

Bitter? No just sad. Also, wondering why it took them so long to join the party.

'Welcome to the party, pal!' -- John McClain, 'Die Hard' 1988

Those coming in late are blaming the Fed, but that is just part of it. They are having a hard time getting a grip on the fact that the federal government policies, this administration and the prior one two . . . three, are a major culprit. History is replete with examples of how moves to socialist and communist policies don't create the utopia where people can pursue lotus eating, the job they always wanted to try, and everyone lives happily ever after. Where is the USSR and all of the 'communist block?' China is forced to turn away from communism to survive. Someday it will simply be unable to continue placating the masses because, yes, it will run out of other people's money. Rome fell when it tried to become everything to everybody. People DO HAVE TO WORK. It is part of life to have to work and produce. This understanding dates back to ancient Greece in 'The Odyssey' and the story of the Land of the Lotus Eaters.

The line of people who are wealthy and got it because it was given them used to be very short. Almost everyone I know who has a lot of money earned it either working their butts off (and still do) or work very hard at keeping it. Of course with the federal government playing favorites with big corporations over small businesses and the Fed favoring those with financial assets over the majority of the US, the handout line has grown, both at the upper end of the economic spectrum and the lower end. It is the middle where most reside (or used to) that is getting crushed because THEY have to pay the bills. THEY are the ones who produce the 'other people's money' that Margaret Thatcher famously said drives socialism. As she noted, you always run out of other people's money, and we are at that stage now in the US.

We have built this economy on phony money and have hollowed out its economic power thanks to fiscal and monetary policies. Thus we have an inflated GDP that doesn't really measure what is going on in the US. In the history of governments that is an old trick: if the data gets bad, change how you calculate the data. It will fool the masses who are just headline readers.

I am constantly amazed by intelligent people who just accept what they are fed in the headlines even if it doesn't square with what they are experiencing. I see the mindset that they don't really think it can happen to them whether it be economic downsizing of their skill set or intrusion into privacy. The 'if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear' mindset is pervasive regarding the IRS scandal, the NSA scandal, etc.

The thing is, at some point it ALWAYS impacts you whether you are 'doing nothing wrong' or not. Why? Because the DEFINITION OF WHAT IS WRONG is changed by the powers that be just as they change how they calculate data. When did displaying religious beliefs become wrong? Our Supreme Court said if things can make someone uncomfortable then they need to be controlled. That was Justice Kennedy in an opinion discussing the display of religious items. Uncomfortable is the test of constitutionality? Hell, I am uncomfortable that I am taxed well in excess of 50% of what I make. How can that be a standard of free people with what our founders said were God-given rights? Oh, there I go, talking about God and making some people uncomfortable. So, I guess I cannot talk about that. I guess that also makes them not God-given because some people would be uncomfortable with the notion that a supreme being gave us rights.

But I digress. The point is that people are believing utter nonsense without questioning it. 4+% GDP? Really?

How can you have this kind of GDP growth with incomes in decline? You cannot. But we have changed the calculus and also allowed a small segment of our country to control most of the wealth. Thank you Federal government, thank you FOMC. Thank you US citizens for being sheep and letting these areas usurp our rights to hold them accountable.

The hollowing of the economy.

I have talked at length about the new three forms of capital investment that supplanted traditional investment in your business to grow it. Dividends, stock buy backs, mergers. Pay out the excess money the government policies give the big corporations to buy off the big shareholders. Buy back billions of dollars of stock with the profits the feds have given big businesses. That keeps stock prices high so earnings per share are higher without increasing sales (by reducing the number of shares outstanding) and that makes sure those running the company get their big bonuses. Third, don't invest and grow, buy up the smaller competition, thus further centralizing and consolidating market dominance, keeping barriers to entry high so no competition can enter and prices remain high.

Chart shows capital investment as a percentage of GDP less dividend payments as a percentage of GDP. Note how investment has plummeted and dividends have risen. Thus it is true, via the St. Louis Fed, our assertion that dividends (as well as buybacks and M&A) have displaced capital investment in the US.

If you buy the headlines, you are buying into America's arranged decline but you don't know it because you think everything is fine.

MONDAY

The large cap indices, particularly on the NYSE, look pretty solid. Breaks to new highs, testing Friday. Even NASDAQ looks pretty solid as well as it broke higher and faded but held decently. SOX is there as well.

What needs to happen is the Friday reversals in key stocks and some indices reverse themselves. That is a lot of reversing but if the Friday pressure dissipates, the upside continues.

RUTX is a real worry even if it is a bit of a longer term worry. As discussed above, the demise of small business is how the US economy will ultimately decline into mediocrity. It is already on the path. It doesn't have to be, we can change it, but the will and the knowledge base necessary to recognize that we actually have a problem is diminishing each year. I had a discussion this week about how we have lost hundreds of years of wisdom regarding freedom and economics in this country in just the last 30 to 40 years. We can reverse it, but with what they are teaching the kids about freedom and economics these days, the window is closing.

But I digress again. This week we are looking at upside and downside plays. Some of the big names are worrisome, and if they break we play them lower It is getting to be time for some of these stocks to form new bases and we want to be in on the initial sharp drops if they do start.

There are also still areas with stocks in good patterns and turning the corner in long bases of their own. New leadership often emerges when old leadership takes a break. Thus we are trying to play both sides of that equation, that balance sheet of the market so to speak.

Overall the market continues its advance and Friday was likely just an expiration thing. We will know soon enough by how the market reacts to start the week and by what stocks step up as others step off the front lines to take a breather.

Have a great weekend!

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4579.79

Resistance:
4610 is the September 2014 post-bear market high.
4672 is the lower November 2012 trendline

Support:
4486 is the July 2014 high
The 50 day EMA at 4491
4372 is the March 2014 high
The August low at 4321
4289 is the July 2000 recovery high
4277 is the March lower gap point
The 200 day SMA at 4270
4246.55 is the January 2014 peak
4131 is the March 2014 low
4104 is the lower gap point from 12/20/13
4070 is the series of highs from late November/early December
3991 is the prior November 2013 high and the post-bear market high.
3968 is the February 2014 low
3946 is the April 2014 intraday low

S&P 500: Closed at 2010.40

Resistance:
2011 is the all-time high

Support:
2007 is the December 2012 up trendline
1991 is the July 2014 high
The 50 day EMA at 1977
1953 is the lower trendline from 11/2012
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
The 200 day SMA at 1893
1883.57 is the early March high.
The December and January highs at 1848
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high
1768 is the December 3013 low
1738 is the February 2014 low
1730 is the September 2013 peak
1710 is the August 2013 peak.
1698 to 1700 are the July and August interim highs
1687 is the May high and post-bear market high
1685 is the mid-August 2013 upper gap point

Dow: Closed at 17,279.74

Resistance:

Support:
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
The 20 day EMA at 17,077
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
The 50 day EMA at 16,958
16,736 is the penultimate all-time high from May 2014
16,341 is the May low
16,334 is the August 2014 low
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
The 200 day SMA at 16,521
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
16,334 is the August 2014 low
16,257 is the January 2014 low
16,179 is the November 2013 peak.
15,739 is the December 2013 low
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
15,659 is the August 2013 peak

ECONOMIC CALENDAR

September 15 - Monday
- Empire Manufacturing, September (8:30): 27.5 actual versus 16.0 expected, 14.7 prior (no revisions)
- Empire Manufacturing, October (8:30)
- Industrial Production, August (9:15): -0.1% actual versus 0.3% expected, 0.2% prior (revised from 0.4%)
- Capacity Utilization, August (9:15): 78.8% actual versus 79.3% expected, 79.1% prior (revised from 79.2%)

September 16 - Tuesday
- PPI, August (8:30): 0.0% actual versus 0.0% expected, 0.1% prior (no revisions)
- Core PPI, August (8:30): 0.1% actual versus 0.1% expected, 0.2% prior (no revisions)
- Net Long-Term TIC Fl, July (16:00): -$18.6B actual versus -$30.2B prior (revised from -$18.7B)

September 17 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 09/13 (7:00): +7.9% actual versus -7.2% prior
- CPI, August (8:30): -0.2% actual versus 0.0% expected, 0.1% prior (no revisions)
- Core CPI, August (8:30): 0.0% actual versus 0.2% expected, 0.1% prior (no revisions)
- Current Account Bala, Q2 (8:30): -$98.5B actual versus -$114.5B expected, -$111.2B prior
- NAHB Housing Market , September (10:00): 59 actual versus 56 expected, 55 prior
- Crude Inventories, 09/13 (10:30): +3.673M actual versus -0.972M prior
- FOMC Rate Decision, September (14:00): 0.25% actual versus 0.25% expected, 0.25% prior

September 18 - Thursday
- Initial Claims, 09/13 (8:30): 280K actual versus 305K expected, 316K prior (revised from 315K)
- Continuing Claims, 09/06 (8:30): 2429K actual versus 2495K expected, 2492K prior (revised from 2487K)
- Housing Starts, August (8:30): 956K actual versus 1045K expected, 1117K prior (revised from 1093K)
- Building Permits, August (8:30): 998K actual versus 1054K expected, 1057K prior (revised from 1052K)
- Philadelphia Fed, September (10:00): 22.5 actual versus 23.5 expected, 28.0 prior (no revisions)
- Natural Gas Inventor, 09/13 (10:30): 90 bcf actual versus 92 bcf prior

September 19 - Friday
- Leading Indicators, August (10:00): 0.2% actual versus 0.4% expected, 1.1% prior (revised from 0.9%)

September 22 - Monday
- Existing Home Sales, August (10:00): 5.2M expected, 5.15M prior

September 23 - Tuesday
- FHFA Housing Price I, July (9:00): 0.4% prior

September 24 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 09/20 (7:00): +7.9% prior
- New Home Sales, August (10:00): 435K expected, 412K prior
- Crude Inventories, 09/20 (10:30): +3.67M prior

September 25 - Thursday
- Initial Claims, 09/20 (8:30): 300K expected, 280K prior
- Continuing Claims, 09/13 (8:30): 2470K expected, 2429K prior
- Durable Orders, August (8:30): -16.3% expected, 22.6% prior
- Durable Goods -ex tr, August (8:30): 0.7% expected, -0.7% prior (revised from -0.8%)
- Natural Gas Inventor, 09/20 (10:30): 90 bcf prior

September 26 - Friday
- GDP - Third Estimate, Q2 (8:30): 4.6% expected, 4.2% prior
- GDP Deflator - Third, Q2 (8:30): 2.1% expected, 2.1% prior
- Michigan Sentiment, September (9:55): 85.0 expected, 84.6 prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market began the new week on a defensive note despite showing some intraday strength. The S&P 500 lost 1.7% with all ten sectors ending in the red while the Russell 2000 (-0.4%) held up a bit better.

Equity indices slumped in the early going amid weakness in groups that pressured the market last week. However, the same areas showed some intraday strength, leading to a rebound that placed the S&P 500 back above its 200-day moving average (1905). The slim gains faded in the afternoon, which caused the S&P 500 to slide to a fresh low.

All ten sectors ended lower with energy (-2.9%) registering the biggest decline. Once again, the growth-sensitive group lagged from the start with crude oil contributing to the weakness. Interestingly, the sector slid to new lows into the close while crude climbed to narrow its decline to 0.2% at $85.67/bbl.

Although energy pressured the market from the get go, the top-weighted sector-technology-showed some signs of strength. Specifically, chipmakers endured a volatile session with the PHLX Semiconductor Index ending lower by 2.1% after showing a solid intraday gain of more than 1.0%. For its part, the tech sector (-1.3%) ended ahead of the broader market.

Outside of technology, the financial sector (-0.9%) also tried to withstand the broad pressure. The sector displayed relative strength with earnings from Citigroup (C 49.90, -0.21), JPMorgan Chase (JPM 58.16, -0.36), and Wells Fargo (WFC 50.20, -0.44) set to be released ahead of tomorrow's opening bell.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector (-1.6%) settled just ahead of the S&P 500, but transport stocks were pressured by airlines after the CDC confirmed one of the people treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the Ebola patient who died last week at Texas Presbyterian Hospital, has contracted Ebola as well. United Continental (UAL 40.55, -3.19) dove 7.3% while the broader Dow Jones Transportation Average lost 2.2%. A small pocket of strength could be found among railroads with CSX (CSX 31.70, +1.76) spiking 5.9% in reaction to reports indicating the company has been approached by Canadian Pacific (CP 184.97, -4.40) about a potential merger.

On the countercyclical side, the utilities sector (-0.1%) ended near its flat line while health care (-2.4%) finished among the laggards. Similarly, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 257.12, -5.22) ended lower by 2.0% despite showing intraday strength.

The afternoon weakness caused participants to scramble for volatility protection, sending the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 24.34, +3.10) to its highest level since mid-2012. Furthermore, VIX futures went into backwardation, meaning options traders showed increased concern for near-term volatility. As a result, October contracts (22.05%) climbed above longer-dated ones, including May 2015 contracts (20.50%).

The bond market was closed in observance of Columbus Day, but trading volume was ahead of average with more than 880 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

There was no economic data of note released today and tomorrow's session will also be quiet on the economic front.


S&P 500 +1.4% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +0.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.5% YTD
Russell 2000 -9.8% YTD

DJ30 -223.03 NASDAQ -62.58 SP500 -31.39 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1192/2.15 bln/1589 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 968/882.0 mln/2080 3:35 pm :

Gold futures spent the entire session in the green, but finished below their overnight highs
The yellow metal notched an overnight high in the $1236.00 area before surrendering a portion of the advance to settle at $1230.00/ozt for a gain of 0.7%
Likewise, silver followed the same pattern, but the metal saw a bit more selling to end higher by 0.3% at $17.35/ozt
Crude oil hovered near $84.50/bbl until the late morning when it began climbing towards the $85.50 area, which served as resistance. The energy component ended the pit session just above that level at $85.67/bbl for a loss of 0.2%
Natural gas spent the day in a steady advance from an overnight low near $3.82/MMBtu to its high at $3.91/MMBtu for a gain of 1.3%

12:28 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

CSX (32.89 +9.85%): WSJ reporting that co was approached by Canadian Pacific (CP) regarding a potential merger; CSX refused the offer
PBR (17.11 +9.54%): Strength in Brazilian stocks following endorsement of second place candidate Aecio Neves by third place candidate Marina Silva; Neves will face incumbent Dilma Rousseff in a runoff election on October 26; BBD, ITUB, VALE also higher
RIO (50.01 +4.73%): Mentioned positively in Barron's article

Large Cap Losers

GPRO (78.67 -7.50%): Weakness on speculative reports that GoPro camera mounts may weaken the structure of helmets
MBLY (45.02 -6.61%): Mentioned negatively in Barron's article
UAL (41.5 -5.12%): Weakness in major airlines as Ebola concerns continue to rise: LUV, JBLU, SAVE, DAL, AAL also lower

Mid Cap Gainers

ALNY (87.15 +19.63%): Announced positive clinical data from ongoing Phase 2 study of patisiran (ALN-TTR02) for the treatment of transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis in patients with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy
GOLD (70.44 +6.24%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS
APL (35.67 +6.11%): Co and Atlas Energy (ATLS) to be acquired by Targa Resources (TRGP) and Targa Resources Partners (NGLS) in a transaction valued at $7.7 bln; APL shareholders to receive 0.5846 units of NGLS and $1.26 in cash for each APL unit

Mid Cap Losers

LAD (66.24 -18.08%): Sees Q3 EPS of $1.30-1.32 ex items (lowered from $1.36-1.38) vs $1.35 estimate, revs of ~$1.3 bln vs $1.25 bln estimate; sees Q4 EPS of $1.17-1.19; sees FY14 EPS of $4.86-4.88 ex items vs $5.03 estimate, revs of $5.2-5.4 bln vs $5.16 bln estimate; sees FY15 EPS of $5.60-5.80 ex items vs $6.34 estimate, revs of $7.4-7.6 bln vs $7.46 bln estimate; PAG and AN lower in sympathy
LPI (18.04 -8.05%): Weakness in mid-cap oil and gas companies: EQM, FANG, LINE, LNCO, EGN, BBEP also lower
CALM (88.42 -5.88%): Hearing downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sidoti

11:45 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session- New lows (96) outpacing new highs (4) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: CSX, DUK, ED, INFY

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AES, AFL, ALB, ALLY, ALU, APO, ARCP, ARMH, BABA, BBEP, BEAV, CA, CBI, CBS, CCJ, CDK, CHK, CHS, CIE, COG, CVE, DAN, DAR, DB, DDD, DISCA, EMR, EPE, EQT, EXPD, FAST, FEYE, FLO, FLR, FMC, GE, GM, GNRC, GPOR, GSK, HOG, JCI, KATE, KBR, KKR, KOS, LNCO, LPI, LUK, MCHP, MDRX, MOS, MPEL, MRC, MSI, MUR, NBL, NGD, NWSA, OAS, OC, OI, ORI, P, PBF, PE, PGH, PNR, PWE, QEP, QIHU, RAD, RKT, RLGY, ROSE, RRC, SBGI, SINA, SM, SMFG, SPF, SWN, TEX, TLM, TOL, TRMB, TSCO, USG, VIAB, VIP, WDR, WEN, WPG, XLNX, YOKU, ZION

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: AGG, BND, HYD, IEF, IEI, MBB, MUB, SHY, TLH, TLT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BJK, BNO, CROP, EWK, HYG, IEO, IGE, IWC, IWM, JNK, OIH, OIL, PBW, SEA, TBT, UGA, USO, UWM, XES, XHB, XME, XOP

Note: To reduce the list of stocks making 52 week highs/lows to a manageable size we have filtered out stocks below $2 bln in market cap and below 1 mln average volume. Without this filter 24 stocks made 52 week highs and 555 stocks made 52 week lows.

11:03 am US Cellular launching Samsung (SSNLF) Galaxy Note 4 on Oct. 17 (USM) : Co announced that the 4G LTE Samsung (SSNLF) Galaxy Note 4 will be available in stores and online on Friday, Oct. 17.

The latest device in the flagship Galaxy Note series will come in charcoal black, and qualified customers will be able to add it to their Shared Connect plan and get it for $0 down using U.S. Cellular's equipment installment option. It is also currently available for pre-order for $299 with a two-year contract.Cypress Semiconductor (CY) announced that its TrueTouch Gen5 touchscreen controller family for large-screen superphones, smartphones, tablets and e-readers now delivers multiple new advanced features, including the world's best gloved-finger tracking on capacitive touchscreens.

8:35 am Apple confirms iPhone 6 will arrive in 36 additional countries and territories across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa by the end of October (AAPL) :

8:31 am Arch Coal sees Q3 adj. EBITDA $70-74 mln, above estimates (ACI) : Arch expects to record Q3 adjusted EBITDA of $70-74 mln vs. ests of ~$67 mln, representing an improvement versus the second quarter. As of Sept. 30, 2014, Arch held $1.05 billion in cash and short-term investments compared with ~ $990 million at June 30, 2014, reflecting an increase of nearly $60 million. In addition, Arch's available liquidity, which includes its cash position and undrawn borrowings on its credit facilities, totaled $1.3 billion at the end of September. Co will issue its third quarter 2014 earnings release before the market opens on Tuesday, Oct. 28

7:36 am UTStarcom sees Q3 revs of slightly exceeding top end of prior guidance range (in-line with current consensus) (UTSI) :

Co currently expects Q3 revenues to slightly exceed the top end of the previously provided range of $25 - $30 mln( $30.25 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate). In addition, the Company expects to report a sequential improvement in its gross margin versus the second quarter of 2014. Co says this "highlights the positive progress we are making in driving our business forward. Importantly, this also follows other significant announcements such as the appointment of our new Chief Financial officer, the opening of our new Silicon Valley office and R&D test center, and the successful launch of various new products. Together, these various business developments should allow us to continue to make substantive improvements in our overall performance and generate positive results for our investors."

7:03 am JinkoSolar Holding will supply 21.5MW PV solar modules for the construction of the Searchlight solar project located near Searchlight, NV (JKS) : Co announced that it will supply 21.5MW PV solar modules for the construction of the Searchlight solar project located near Searchlight, NV, ~50 miles south of Las Vegas.

The project was acquired by an affiliate of D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments, L.L.C. and Bright Plain Renewable Energy, two investors active in the solar industry, from American Capital Energy, Inc., the initial developer of the project. Signal Energy will act as the EPC for the project and will provide operation and maintenance services once the project is completed.Monday was Columbus Day and stock market bulls could have used the famous explorer on their side because they struggled to discover the buy-the-dip magic that has worked so well for them for so many years now. They tried to hold their ground early, but it was clear in the outperformance of the defensive-oriented utilities sector at the time that faith in the recovery try was lacking.

The S&P 500 lurched around its 200-day moving average at 1900 for a good part of the session, yet the trap door swung open late in the day when that key technical support level was taken out on no news. The S&P 500 fell nearly 25 points, or 1.3%, in the last hour of trading in a risk aversion trade that was precipitated by the added concern that the selling may have been forced selling.

Either way, it was an unnerving move in front of some key earnings reports on Tuesday from the likes of Citigroup (C 49.90, -0.21), JPMorgan Chase (JPM 58.16, -0.36), Wells Fargo (WFC 50.20, -0.44), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 99.12, -2.11) before the open and Intel (INTC 21.47, -0.44) after the close.

The S&P 500 information technology sector outperformed the broader market with a 1.3% decline, yet that was little consolation following a 2.8% decline on Friday. Since the month began, the S&P 500 information technology sector has dropped 6.2% versus a 5.0% decline for the S&P 500.

When it came to the information technology sector on Monday, there just wasn't much buying interest. Only a handful of stocks traded higher while the vast majority of the sector's 66 components continued to lose ground.

Most notably, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which plunged 6.9% on Friday, declined another 2.1% on Monday. The slide in the SOX Index started a few hours before the broad selloff late in the day that put a bearish exclamation point on the proceedings.

The SOX Index has moved well past a 10% correction and is now down 16.4% from its closing high on September 18.

Once again, Monday was a day where the corporate news cycle didn't factor much in the trading.

Cowen was optimistic about Intel (INTC 21.47, -0.44) ahead of its earnings report, yet INTC still dropped 1.4%
Pre-orders in China for Apple's (AAPL 99.81, -0.92) iPhone 6 have reportedly hit 20 million, yet AAPL slipped 0.9%
MKM Partners raised its price target for Yahoo (YHOO 38.38, -1.22) to $49 from $42, yet YHOO declined 3.1%

Goldman Sachs added Lam Research (LRCX 66.04, +0.13) to its Conviction Buy List, yet LRCX added just 0.2% after plummeting 9.2% on Friday

Elsewhere, notable price laggards included Applied Materials (AMAT 18.92, -0.91), Adobe Systems (ADBE 61.68, -1.61), Corning (GLW 17.64, -0.53), Electronic Arts (EA 33.23, -1.30), Google (GOOG 533.21, -11.28), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 32.69, -0.81), Microchip Technology (MCHP 38.69, -1.27), Salesforce.com (CRM 53.23, -1.54), and Western Digital (WDC 86.47, -3.99), all of which dropped at least 2.0% and underscored the broad-based nature of the selling efforts in the technology sector.

[ReturntoSender]

Large Caps Finally Show Some Life - InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary:

http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

- Large caps finally show some life, but after such tough selling, still less than impressive.
- Small caps take a breather, SOX and SP400 a bit problematic.
- Smaller biotechs have a tough Friday after a good week.
- Economic data bad and good on the week, but good outweighs.
- ECB ready to buy assets . . . any day now . . . really.
- Yellen 'greatly concerned' about economic inequality.
- Short interest diving, bullish sentiment down 20 points from September.
- Critical juncture for the market bounce.

I'm not dead yet . . . (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975)

A classic from Monty Python portraying the Black Death. Appropriate timing? Bad taste on our part? Likely both but what do we care? Doesn't appear our government does so why should anyone else? In any event, as pertaining to the stock market, while the old man was not dead and stated so, his fate was already sealed as his recovery was cut short when the body collector dispatched him. Kind of a medieval version of the ACA's death panels, eh?

Back to the market. After a hard time getting started, the large cap indices finally bounced, following, somewhat, the footsteps of the small caps. While the small caps bottomed and bounced on the week, the large caps were still catching down to the losses the smaller issues sustained before the bounce. Each to its own timetable I suppose.

SP500 24.00, 1.29%
NASDAQ 41.05, 0.97%
DJ30 263.17, 1.63%
SP400 0.84%
RUTX -0.35%
SOX 0.81%

VOLUME: NYSE flat; NASDAQ -13%.

A/D: 1.9:1 NYSE, flat NASDAQ

New lows: NYSE 24, NASDAQ 46. First day below 100 in 5 weeks. This after NYSE new lows hit 594 on Wednesday. 245 the prior Thursday, 436 the prior Friday, 421 Monday, 358 Tuesday, 594 Wednesday, 176 Thursday, 24 Friday. A definite spike and now a fade, indicating the market is sold out near term.

In any event, Friday the large caps finally bounced. Solid 1%+ moves that closed somewhat off the intraday highs. At this point, despite the solid gains, Friday was just a relief bounce for the large caps. Damaged patterns, not a lot of quality large caps in good patterns to lead a move. It is up to the smaller caps to lead and the large caps to follow, hopefully forming up bases as the smaller issues provide cover in the form of a continued upside move.

So, the market is relying on the small caps along with SOX and SP400. Friday those indices didn't perform all that well. RUTX was not bad. Down, yes, but holding the 10 day EMA and it has the look of just a breather after a nice bottom and surge Wednesday and Thursday.

SOX put in a good bottom on the week and surged also, but Friday it gapped to the 10 day EMA and lower gap point, then stalled. Not the kiss of death, and it is just testing as well, but it has to show next week it can hold and continue the recovery from that ugly gap lower just over a week back.

Same with the SP400 midcaps. Gapped to the 10 day EMA, stalled, but this after a good bottoming process on the week and a nice Thursday move and Friday gap.

The week and indeed the finish of the week kept up the talk of a weak and dying market. Maybe it is, maybe the bounce was just fluff. Friday the smaller biotechs and healthcare stocks, strong in the RUTX' bounce, did not look all that great.

Ebola, Europe imploding, QE ending, US data mixed, television anchors all glum.

New lows jumped to almost 600 Wednesday, and then Friday the combined NYSE/NASDAQ new lows were 52 - - the first sub-100 day in 5 weeks.

Put/call ratio over 1.0 for the past 6 sessions, finally racking up sufficient days to provide ammo for the turn.

NYSE short interest is plunging after holding at highs.

Bullish advisors are dropping dramatically from the recent highs, off 20 points from the September peak and at the lows hit on the last market decline.

Perfect timing for an October bottom.

It would be quite fitting that the market bottoms when everyone is so negative and no one notices the good patterns in certain areas, overlooked areas that don't have the name brands. If the patterns hold up, it can work.

Indeed, there are great patterns in the smaller issues, Russell put in good bottoming action and turned, and Friday was just a day off at near support. Again, next week will tell a big part of the tale. This week we took some great gain on many downside positions and then picked up some of those upside patterns. This coming week we look for them to move higher again and provide a follow through session to the reversal. Of course in the event they cannot, it behooves us to be ready for more downside. Always.

THE MARKET

CHARTS

RUTX: Rallied through the 20 day EMA Friday but could not hold the move, fading to a loss but holding over the 10 day EMA. Strong move Wednesday and Thursday after a good bottom early in the week. Doji Friday, closing well off the high, and that can suggest the move is out of gas with what is called a tombstone doji. Likely just a continuation doji in our view, but as noted, the upcoming week tells the story for RUTX in that it either continues upside and provides the follow through session or fails after this initial bump higher.

SP500: After a doji Tuesday and a pair of big doji with tails Wednesday and Thursday, SP500 finally got into upside gear. Rallied over 1% but gave up 11 points off the high, one-third of the session gain, after tapping at the 10 day EMA on the high. Has the look of just a relief move but for the big volume. Needs RUTX to continue upside this week to give it some cover to put in more work on its pattern. The large caps were badly damaged and need work. Any bounce, until more patterns set up, is just a relief move.

DJ30: Held most of the 1.63% move Friday, its first surge after the Wednesday and Thursday big doji with long tails. Good volume on the tests lower and reversals, and volume moved higher Friday as the Dow surged. Really good action.

NASDAQ: A sharp selloff into Wednesday then a reversal that session. Thursday a gap lower and reversal to a modest gain. Friday a gap higher that tapped the 200 day SMA on the high and faded to close below the open. Doji below a key resistance level. Lots of work to be done, and as with SP500, NASDAQ needs the small caps to continue rallying to let the techs form up behind the scenes.

SP400: Midcaps gapped upside, moved through the 10 day EMA, then faded to close just below the 10 day EMA. Not a great finish but a good bottom similar to RUTX and a good turn back upside. This week is the test, i.e. whether the midcaps stall at the 10 day EMA or continue the move that this week started.

LEADERSHIP

Biotechs/Drugs/Healthcare: Friday the large cap biotechs enjoyed the better session with CELG, GILD, BIIB enjoying gains. But, they look mostly like relief bounces, particularly GILD. The smaller biotechs that led the move had a tougher session, but only in some cases. They have performed so well, any issues are glaring. Some problems in XON, NBIX, ZLTQ were no issue for AGIO, ACAD, CLVS, RGEN, INSY. Still solid, just taking a day off.

Telecom: Another leading group that lost some ground Friday but did not tank. IDCC gapped upside but could not hold it, fading to the 50 day EMA on the close. UBNT Gapped over the 10 day EMA, showing a doji. Good pause after a good reversal off of key support. Seeing that a lot.

Energy: Reversed Wednesday, rallied Thursday, rallied again Friday, but could not make the move stick. Looks very much like a rebound failing.

Big Names: Some look as if they are setting serious bottoms, others look as if they are still trying to figure it out. TSLA looks as if it could have put in a near term bottom at the 200 day SMA. GOOG sold on its earnings but is at an important support level. AAPL looks toppy after gapping through the 50 day EMA and a weak test. CMG is struggling below the 50 day EMA. Still struggling.

MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: +41.05 points (+0.97%) to close at 4258.44
Volume: 2.18B (-13.66%)

Up Volume: 1.44B (-90M)
Down Volume: 782.85M (-277.15M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.02 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.06 to 1

New Highs: 32 (+12)
New Lows: 46 (-87)

S&P
Stats: +24 points (+1.29%) to close at 1886.76
NYSE Volume: 1.1B (0%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.88 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.33 to 1

New Highs: 37 (+16)
New Lows: 24 (-152). As low Friday as they were high Wednesday.

DJ30
Stats: +263.17 points (+1.63%) to close at 16380.41

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 21.99; -3.21
VXN: 23.13; -3.6
VXO: 19.93; -3.01

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 1.2; +0.19. The sixth session in a row over 1.0%. That starts putting the pieces in place for a rebound.

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls continue a fairly serious fade. Okay, they tanked: 37.8% versus 45.5%

Bears posted the most substantial climb in months: 17.3% versus 14.1%

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: 37.8%
45.5% versus 47.5% versus 48.0% versus 52.5% versus 57.6% versus 56.1% versus 52.5% versus 49.5% versus 46.4% versus 50.5% versus 55.6% versus 56.5% versus 56.6% versus 60.6% versus 57.6% versus 60.2% versus 61.4% versus 62.6% versus 62.2% versus 58.3% versus 57.2% versus 55.1 versus 55.7 versus 54.7

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 17.3%
14.1% versus 15.1% versus 15.3% versus 15.2% versus 14.1% versus 13.3% versus 15.1% versus 16.2% versus 16.2% versus 17.1% versus 16.2% versus 17.2% versus 15.1% versus 15.2% versus 16.1% versus 16.3% versus 17.2% versus 17.4% versus 17.3% versus 18.3% versus 19.4% versus 20.6% versus 19.7% versus 21.7% versus 20.6 versus 18.6%

Background: Over 35% for bears is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. The best indication is when bears cross up through bulls as the two merge. Right now bulls are coming back down from the 60 level that has consistently marked market tops over the past two years. The rapid decline in progress is pushing the bulls/bears lines toward one another. Still far from a cross with bulls falling faster than bears are rising, but bears are warming up to the notion of market weakness.

OTHER MARKETS

Bonds: 2.20% versus 2.16% versus 2.14 versus 2.20% versus 2.28% versus 2.31% versus 2.34% versus 2.42% versus 2.44% versus 2.44% versus 2.41% versus 2.49% versus 2.48% versus 2.53% versus 2.51% versus 2.56% versus 2.53% versus 2.56% versus 2.58% versus 2.63% versus 2.62% versus 2.59% versus 2.59% versus 2.61% versus 2.55% versus 2.54% versus 2.50% versus 2.47% versus 2.45% versus 2.45% 10 year.

After a massive swing that saw the 10 year below 2% and in the low 2's for much of the week, just not on the closes. After big surges and purges Wednesday and Thursday, showing a doji over the 10 day EMA Friday.

Oil: 82.75, +82.80. Bounced modestly after a big selloff for October.

Gold: 1239.00, -2.20. Rallied up to the 50 day EMA, taking a breather Thursday and Friday.

$/JPY: 106.875 versus 106.33 versus 105.92 versus 107.05 versus 107.29 versus 107.66 versus 108.12 versus 107.95 versus 108.96 versus 109.76 versus 108.42 versus 109.21 versus 109.63 versus 109.390 versus 109.287 versus 108.70 versus 109.12 versus 109.04 versus 108.89 versus 108.78 versus 108.982 versus 109.17 versus 108.265 versus 107.13 versus 107.19 versus 107.34 versus 107.13 versus 106.80.

Nice gain Friday, moving back to the 50 day EMA after crashing through that level Wednesday.

Euro/$: 1.2760 versus 1.2809 versus 1.2838 versus 1.2658 versus 1.2683 versus 1.2628 versus 1.2748 versus 1.2680 versus 1.2627 versus 1.2516 versus 1.2669 versus 1.2608 versus 1.2631 versus 1.2685 versus 1.2747 versus 1.2780 versus 1.2847 versus 1.2850 versus 1.2831 versus 1.2916 versus 1.2875 versus 1.2960 versus 1.2940 versus 1.2963 versus 1.2912.

Holding a two week pullback following that July to late September run.

MONDAY

Will this week continue the bounce in the small caps, SOX and midcaps that gelled the past week and paused Friday? In other words, will there be follow through to the reversal that continues the rally for another week? Or will the bids fade after the end of the week bounce and more selling ensue?

As noted earlier, the pessimism is high and there is a litany of other reasons to support an argument the market, at least in terms of small and midcaps, has bottomed for a run to year end. You can argue that, but that is not our position. Remember, we are just looking at playing a tradable rally and have chosen plays that can make great moves without having to plow new ground. If it goes further great. Not expecting it to, however, as we focus on working the trades.

There are any number of stories that could trample the bounce, e.g. more US Ebola outbreaks. The outbreak is at a critical point as most cases are 'old' ones and we are at the 21 day incubation period more or less. If no new cases start popping up we could be in the clear in the US . . IF we had closed the border. One of the persons displaying Ebola just returned from Liberia two weeks ago. Are you kidding me? Totally avoidable.

In any event, note that outside of the death in Dallas, there have been no US deaths. The poor Dallas fellow was turned away; perhaps if the hospital was on the ball it would have recognized the problem and saved him as well.

The point: if no new cases crop up, Ebola fades as a front burner issue, at least in the US.

If the ECB goes QE as it is threatening, then there is even more reason for investors to relax.

All conjecture. What we know are small and midcaps bottomed well last week and surged well. After a day off Friday we see if they can continue to the upside and buy the large cap indices time to form up.

Have a great weekend!

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4258.44

Resistance:
4277 is the March lower gap point
4289 is the July 2000 recovery high
The 200 day SMA at 4302
The August low at 4321
4372 is the March 2014 high
The 50 day EMA at 4427
4486 is the July 2014 high
4610 is the September 2014 post-bear market high.

Support:
4246.55 is the January 2014 peak
4185, the May lower gap point
4131 is the March 2014 low
4104 is the lower gap point from 12/20/13
4070 is the series of highs from late November/early December
3991 is the prior November 2013 high and the post-bear market high.
3968 is the February 2014 low
3946 is the April 2014 intraday low

S&P 500: Closed at 1886.76

Resistance:
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
The 200 day SMA at 1906
1905 is the August 2014 low
The 50 day EMA at 1951
1982 is the lower trendline from 11/2012
1991 is the July 2014 high
2011 is the all-time high
2038 is the December 2012 up trendline

Support:
1883.57 is the early March high.
The December and January highs at 1848
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high
1768 is the December 3013 low
1738 is the February 2014 low
1730 is the September 2013 peak
1710 is the August 2013 peak.
1698 to 1700 are the July and August interim highs
1687 is the May high and post-bear market high
1685 is the mid-August 2013 upper gap point

Dow: Closed at 16,380.41

Resistance:
The 10 day EMA at 16,468
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
The 200 day SMA at 16,586
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,736 is the penultimate all-time high from May 2014
The 50 day EMA at 16,815
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.

Support:
16,341 is the May low
16,334 is the August 2014 low
16,257 is the January 2014 low
16,179 is the November 2013 peak.
15,739 is the December 2013 low
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
15,659 is the August 2013 peak

ECONOMIC CALENDAR

October 17 - Friday
- Housing Starts, September (8:30): 1017K actual versus 1013K expected, 957K prior (revised from 956K)
- Building Permits, September (8:30): 1018K actual versus 1030K expected, 1003K prior (revised from 998K)
- Michigan Sentiment, October Preliminary (9:55): 86.4 actual versus 84.0 expected, 84.6 prior

October 21 - Tuesday
- Existing Home Sales, September (10:00): 5.11M expected, 5.05M prior

October 22 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 10/18 (7:00): 5.6% prior
- CPI, September (8:30): 0.0% expected, -0.2% prior
- Core CPI, September (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.0% prior
- Crude Inventories, 10/18 (10:30): 8.923M prior

October 23 - Thursday
- Initial Claims, 10/18 (8:30): 283K expected, 264K prior
- Continuing Claims, 10/11 (8:30): 2390K expected, 2389K prior
- FHFA Housing Price I, August (9:00): 0.1% prior
- Leading Indicators, September (10:00): 0.6% expected, 0.2% prior
- Natural Gas Inventor, 10/18 (10:30): 94 bcf prior

October 24 - Friday
- New Home Sales, September (10:00): 473K expected, 504K prior

[ReturntoSender]

4:15 pm: [BRIEFING.COM] The stock market ended the midweek session on a lower note, causing the S&P 500 (-0.7%) to snap its four-day winning streak. The benchmark index slumped into the red during afternoon action while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.9%) underperformed once again.

Equity indices displayed modest gains in the early going, but that advance took place despite the lack of concerted leadership. The underperformance of several influential sectors weighed on the market and led to a mid-session retreat.

Five of six cyclical sectors ended behind the broader market with energy (-1.7%) showing the largest decline. The growth-sensitive sector displayed intraday strength, but slumped in the afternoon amid weakness in crude oil. The energy component spent the morning near its flat line, but plunged in the afternoon to end lower by 2.4% at $80.49/bbl. Greenback strength acted as a bit of a headwind with the Dollar Index (85.75, +0.45) rising 0.5%.

Ending just ahead of energy was the industrial sector (-1.3%), which was pressured by Boeing (BA 121.45, -5.67). The Dow component reported better than expected results, but fell 4.5% amid concerns about increasing production costs for its Dreamliner jet.

Transport stocks also weighed on the sector with the Dow Jones Transportation Average falling 2.1%. The bellwether complex narrowed this week's gain to 2.0% after Ryder (R 81.17, -5.89) and Norfolk Southern (NSC 106.50, -3.35) reported earnings. Ryder missed top-line estimates while Norfolk Southern reported disappointing earnings and revenue.

Elsewhere, the technology sector (-0.6%) was the lone outperformer among cyclical groups. Broadcom (BRCM 39.37, +2.04) surged 5.5% in reaction to better than expected results while most large cap components ended in the red. Apple (AAPL 102.99, +0.52) and Google (GOOGL 542.69, +4.66) bucked the trend, climbing 0.5% and 0.9%, respectively. Chipmakers finished among the laggards with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 1.4%.

The underperformance of microchip names pressured the Nasdaq (-0.8%), which also faced weakness in the biotech space. Biogen Idec (BIIB 309.07, -17.70) sank 5.4% after investors overlooked better than expected earnings, instead focusing on slowing sales of the company's main drug. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 276.24, -2.03) lost 0.7% while the health care sector shed 0.6%.

On the upside, countercyclical consumer staples (+0.1%) and utilities (+0.6%) displayed relative strength throughout the session. The utilities sector extended its October gain to 4.6%.

Treasuries ended flat after reclaiming their intraday losses. The 10-yr yield finished at 2.22%.

Participation was above average with more than 779 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the MBA Mortgage Index and CPI:


The stock market had some hump day blues, rolling over in a fit of profit taking following a strong run of late.

There was an effort throughout the day to try and tie the broad-based weakness in the equity market to a senseless shooting near Canada's Parliament building in Ottawa that resulted in the death of a solider standing guard at a war memorial and the killing of the gunman inside the Parliament building.

It was terrible news to be sure, yet we didn't feel the market's weak price action was tied up in that as much as it was tied up in the S&P 500 running into resistance at its 50-day exponential moving average at the 1949/1950 level.

Selling efforts picked after a second, and unsuccessful, attempt to clear that technical hurdle around 11:40 a.m. ET. The Canadian news simply added to the ensuing sense of negativity along with a poor showing from Boeing (BA 121.45, -5.67) and Biogen-Idec (BIIB 309.07, -17.70) after their third quarter earnings reports, and another sharp drop in oil prices that followed a bearish oil inventory report.

Strikingly, those areas that had been leaders off the recent lows were among Wednesday's biggest laggards. That included the Russell 2000 (-1.4%), the Dow Jones Transportation Average (-2.1%), the S&P 500 energy sector (-1.7%), and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (-1.4%).

The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.6%) wasn't strong on Wednesday, yet it did form a pocket of relative strength thanks to continued gains in Apple (AAPL 102.99, +0.52), which Carl Icahn labeled a "no-brainer," Yahoo (YHOO 42.00, +1.82), which rallied after its latest earnings report, and Google (GOOG 532.71, +6.17), which seemed to feed off the positive response to Yahoo's report.

Broadcom (BRCM 39.37, +2.04) was another big winner on Wednesday as investors responded favorably to the company's stronger than expected third quarter results and better than feared guidance for the fourth quarter.

Broadcom was the lone component in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index that finished Wednesday in positive territory. Cree (CREE 27.28, -5.87) was the biggest loser in the group after checking in with lower than expected fiscal first quarter results on soft LED demand and guiding below analysts' expectations for its second quarter.

EMC Corp. (EMC 27.37, +0.17) and VMWare (VMW 81.95, -6.24) found themselves in the reporting spotlight as well.

EMC came up shy of EPS estimates for its third quarter, but managed to outpace revenue expectations on strong results for its core storage business. Separately, EMC said VCE will become an EMC business in the current quarter and that Cisco (CSCO 23.26, -0.25) and VMWare will continue as strategic partners and investors, with Cisco having an approximately 10% equity interest in VCE.

VMWare for its part reported better than expected third quarter results. Softer than expected bookings in the third quarter and some tepid fourth quarter guidance, however, combined to knock its stock down 7.1%.

Unisys (UIS 23.62, +4.24), on the other hand, outdid most stocks on Wednesday with a 22% gain. That move came in the wake of better than expected, and much improved, results for the third quarter that featured a 6% revenue gain its core services business and a 66% jump in revenue for its technology segment.

4:14 pm Lam Research beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides DecQ EPS in-line, revs in-line (LRCX) : Reports Q1 (Sep) earnings of $0.96 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.94; revenues rose 13.5% year/year to $1.15 bln vs the $1.15 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2 (Dec), sees EPS of $1.05-1.19, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.19 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.18-1.28 bln vs. $1.27 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Co reports non-GAAP gross margin of 45.8% vs 46.4% in JunQ and non-GAAP operating margin of 18.0% vs 20.6% in JunQ."Lam delivered another quarter of strong execution, with performance that met or exceeded our plans and continued our theme of outperformance relative to the semiconductor equipment industry.""We are executing on the tremendous opportunity in front of us as key technology inflections in areas like multi-patterning, FinFET, 3DNAND and advanced packaging drive a multi-year, significant expansion in our served market."

4:35 pm MKS Instruments beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (MKSI) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.43 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.36; revenues rose 12.2% year/year to $186.8 mln vs the $180.7 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.42-0.53 vs. $0.40 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $185-200 mln vs. $189.67 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"Semiconductor sales were relatively stable compared to the second quarter and remained stronger than expected, while sales to all other markets further increased sequentially - a reflection of the contribution from Granville-Phillips as well as our continued emphasis on these adjacent markets. Technology changes continue to positively impact our business. As we look to the fourth quarter, we see continued strength in both our semiconductor and other advanced markets."

4:13 pm Mellanox Tech beats by $0.11, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs above consensus (MLNX) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.38 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.27; revenues rose 15.9% year/year to $120.7 mln vs the $116.49 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $133-137 mln vs. $129.50 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"Demand from high-performance computing customers was strong which contributed to solid revenue growth from our FDR InfiniBand solutions. Revenue from our Ethernet solutions also increased in the quarter. The transition from 10 Gigabit Ethernet to 40 Gigabit Ethernet is happening now with our Web 2.0 and cloud customers. We expect to ship hundreds of thousands of 40 Gigabit Ethernet adapters in the fourth quarter to these markets. This transition is driven by the growth of data producing and consuming applications. We expect this transition to accelerate in 2015 and beyond."

Mellanox Tech -- Earnings Mover -- (MLNX) : Breaks above early week peak after reporting, currently trading near 47.75, a new 15 month high (close 45.78).

4:04 pm Plexus misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (PLXS) : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $0.77 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.78; revenues rose 17.3% year/year to $666 mln vs the $661.85 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.68-0.74 vs. $0.73 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $630-660 mln vs. $639.56 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Large Cap Gainers

YHOO (42.11 +4.8%): Beat by $0.19, beat on revs; Sees Q4 Revenue ex-tac in the range of $1.14-1.18 bln, Capital IQ consensus $1.161 bln; Upgraded to Outperform at FBR.
BSX (12.5 +3.91%): Reported EPS in-line, beat on revs; guided Q4, FY14 EPS & rev in-line.
NFLX (375.71 +2.65%): Higher following an appearance by Mark Cuban on CNBC, in which he reaffirmed his bullish stance on the co.
Large Cap Losers

BIIB (302.17 -7.53%): Beat by $0.34, reported revs in-line; guided FY14 EPS above consensus; on call co warned it sees sales of Tecfidera moderating.
VMW (83.14 -5.73%): Beat by $0.04, beat on revs; Guided for Q4 revenue of $1.67-1.71 bln vs. $1.71 bln CapIQ Consensus; Downgraded at Raymond James, Nomura.
NTRS (62.59 -4.4%): Reported Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.84 per share, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.87; revenues of $1.08 bln missed consensus estimates.

Mid Cap Gainers

SIX (39.45 +14.35%): Beat by $0.07, beat on revs; announced long-term profit target, raised quarterly dividend to $0.52 from $0.47.
GNTX (30.51 +5.94%): Beat by $0.02, beat on revs, guided Q4 revenue above consensus.
CBST (68.59 +3.3%): Beat by $0.18, beat on revs, sees FY14 revs of $1.19-1.275 bln vs $1.20 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Positive commentary out of Mizuho.

Mid Cap Losers

CREE (28.17 -15.02%): At a two year low after missing Q1 EPS and guiding Q2 below consensus; Downgraded at Canaccord and DA Davidson.
DDD (37.15 -14.36%): Guided Q3 revenues in the range of $164-169 mln, Capital IQ consensus $186 mln; sees Non-GAAP EPS in the range of $0.16-0.19, Capital IQ consensus $0.21; Downgraded at Deutsche Bank.

11:44 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (123) outpacing new lows (39) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAC, AAP, AAT, ACHC, ADP, AEC, AEP, AFSI, AGIO, AKR, AKRX, AMRE, ARE, ARG, AWK, BABY, BAH, BCC, BLL, BPY, CELG, CHD, CHRW, CHSP, CLDT, CMS, CORE, CRL, CTAS, CUBE, CVS, CVTI, DFT, DPZ, DRH, DTE, DTSI, EARN, EDE, EIX, EQR, EXR, FB, FCAP, FNF, FNHC, FRT, GMCR, GPC, GPN, HAIN, HAS, HCN, HCT, HD, HNI, HNT, HRL, HSNI, HT, HTA, HTLD, ICLR, ICUI, IDA, ILMN, INN, IT, JACK, JWN, KNX, KR, KRC, LEG, LOW, LSTR, MGEE, MIK, MKL, MO, MRH, NKE, NLS, NNN, NSEC, NU, ORLY, PEB, PNW, POR, PRE, PTRY, RCPT, RDI, RDNT, REG, REGN, RENT, RGLS, RLJ, SCLN, SHW, SMCI, SNA, SONC, SPG, SSS, STE, STRP, TE, TREE, TSO, TSQ, UHT, UNH, USDP, USPH, UUU, VAC, VASC, VVC, WGL, WRB

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABX, AXU, BBCN, BDBD, CGG, CREE, CTG, CYOU, CYTX, DDD, DRNA, ENVI, ESCR, GSS, GVP, GYRO, HLSS, KGC, LL, LND, LPLA, MUX, NSPH, NTZ, OIBR, PDII, PHG, PRSS, PSUN, PT, QNST, RNO, SAPE, TEAR, TUP, UMPQ, VBFC, WG, WRLD

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: PSK

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

9:56 am Cree (-11%) at two year low after missing Q1 EPS and guiding Q2 below consensus (CREE) :

Cree had already warned about Q1 results last month. Canaccord Genuity and DA Davidson downgraded the stock this morning.
CREE had a ~11.5% of the float sold short heading into the quarter.

7:33 am SunEdison awarded 17.7 Megawatts of distributed solar projects in California (SUNE) : Co has been awarded 17.7 MW DC of distributed solar photovoltaic power projects through the Regional Renewable Energy Procurement Project led by the County of Alameda. SunEdison will be working with 9 different public agencies in the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa and San Mateo to develop projects on more than 30 individual sites as part of one of the largest ever public solar power procurements in the United States.

SunEdison will install solar systems at 30 individual locations. SunEdison plans to begin construction on the sites at the end of 2014, with completion planned by the end of 2015. SunEdison and TerraForm Power (TERP), a SunEdison company, will own the projects once complete and the projects purchased and owned by TerraForm will count towards SunEdison's CAFD commitment.

[ReturntoSender]

Goldman Makes It Official That the Stock Market Is Manipulated, Buybacks Drive Valuations
Thursday, 23 October 2014 09:25
By Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism

http://truth-out.org/news/item/27001-goldman-makes-it-official-that-the-stock-market-is-manipulated-buybacks-drive-valuations

It’s remarkable that this Goldman report, and its writeup on Business Insider, is being treated with a straight face. The short version is current stock price levels are dependent on continued stock buybacks. Key sections of the story:

Goldman Sachs’ David Kostin believes a temporary pullback may explain why the S&P 500 has tumbled from its all-time high of 2,019 on Sept. 19.

“Most companies are precluded from engaging in open-market stock repurchases during the five weeks before releasing earnings,” Kostin notes. “For many firms, the beginning of the blackout period coincided with the S&P 500 peak on September 18. So the sell-off occurred during a time when the single largest source of equity demand was absent. Buybacks dip during earnings reporting months, which have seen 1.2 points higher realized volatility than in other months during the past 25 years.”…

“We expect companies will actively repurchase shares in November and December,” he writes. “Since 2007, an average of 25% of annual buybacks has occurred during the last two months of the year.”

2014 1023 stock 1

Notice how the bulk of buybacks are concentrated in the fourth quarter, with the obvious intent of goosing prices at year end so as to lead to higher executive pay for “increasing shareholder value”? In fact, these companies are being gradually liquidated. Issuing debt, which public companies have done in copious volumes since the crash, and using it to buy shares is dissipating corporate assets. They are over time shrinking their businesses. That is also reflected in aggressive headcount cuts and cost-saving measures. Even though analysts like to tout the cash that companies have sitting on their balance sheets as a source of potential investment, as we’ve discussed in previous posts, public companies are so terrified of even a quarterly blip in earnings due to incurring expenses relating to long-term investments that they’d rather do nothing, or go the inertial path of cutting costs to show higher profits.

But with borrowing the big source of this corporate munificence to the share-owning classes, this is a self-limiting game. But the end game could be a long time in coming. First, you have economists who believe that the stock market directly drives consumer spending, echoing the Fed’s confidence in the wealth effect. For instance, see this argument from Roger Farmer (hat tip Bruegel blog):

There is a close relationship between changes in the value of the stock market and changes in the unemployment rate one quarter later. My research here, and here shows that a persistent 10% drop in the real value of the stock market is followed by a persistent 3% increase in the unemployment rate. The important word here is persistent. If the market drops 10% on Tuesday and recovers again a week later, (not an unusual movement in a volatile market), there will be no impact on the real economy. For a market panic to have real effects on Main Street it must be sustained for at least three months.

Yves here. The problem is that correlation is not causation. Significant and sustained stock market declines are almost always the result of Fed tightening. The usual lag between an interest rate cycle turn and a stock market peak historically was roughly four months, but in our new normal of seemingly permanent heavy-duty central bank meddling, old rules of thumb are to be used with great caution. Nevertheless, Greenspan was obsessed with what drove stock prices, and the Fed is unduly solicitous of asset price levels, no doubt because people like Janet Yellen have to leave their DC bubble in order to meet actual unemployed people.

Mike Whitney reminds those who manage to miss it that the Fed is so concerned about the actual and psychological impact of stock market prices that it immediately talked investors into getting back into the pool when the market started misbehaving badly last week. From Counterpunch:

For those readers who still think that the Fed doesn’t meddle in the markets: Think again. Friday’s stock surge had nothing to do with productivity, price, earnings, growth or any of the other so called fundamentals. It was all about manipulation; telling people what they want to hear, so they do exactly what you want them to do. The pundits calls this jawboning, and the Fed has turned it into an art-form. All [St. Louis Fed President James] Bullard did was assure investors that the Fed “has their back”, and , sure enough, another wild spending spree ensued. One can only imagine the backslapping and high-fives that broke out at the Central Bank following this latest flimflam….

It’s too bad the Fed can’t put in a good word for the real economy while they’re at it. But, oh, I forgot that the real economy is stuffed with working stiffs who don’t warrant the same kind of treatment as the esteemed supermen who trade stocks for a living. Besides, the Fed doesn’t give a rip about the real economy. If it did, it would have loaded up on infrastructure bonds instead of funky mortgage backed securities (MBS). The difference between the two is pretty stark: Infrastructure bonds put people to work, circulate money, boost economic activity, and strengthen growth. In contrast, MBS purchases help to fatten the bank accounts of the fraudsters who created the financial crisis while doing bupkis for the economy. Guess who the Fed chose to help out?

Do you really want to know why the Fed isn’t going to end QE? Here’s how Nomura’s chief economist Bob Janjuah summed it up:

“I want to remind readers of a message that may be buried in the past: When QE1 ended, the S&P 500 fell just under 20% in a roughly three-month period before the QE2 recovery.

When the QE2 ended, the S&P 500 fell about 20% in a three-month period before the next Fed-inspired bounce (aided by the ECB). QE3 is ending this month…”

Is that why the Fed started jawboning QE4, to avoid the inevitable 20 percent correction?

Whitney continues with one of our favorite tropes: that all QE has done is elevate asset prices. That has not led to a recovery in anything much beyond the balance sheets of the top cohorts and the income of the top 1%. Even worse, it has provide cover for the Administration falling in with investor-favoring austerity, in the form of reducing deficit spending when it ought to be increasing it to take up the considerable and costly slack in the economy.

It’s not surprising to see the Fed double down on a failed strategy. The central bank had apparently finally recognized in 2013 that QE was not helping the real economy, and they needed to exit the policy to reduce the resulting economic distortions. But they lost their nerve during last summer’s taper tantrum, and turned cowardly again in response to a mere stock market hissy fit.

The Fed believes that what is good for the wealthy is good for the US, and that when they are in danger of suffering financially, the central bank should break glass and administer monetary relief. Even though the Fed may think it is serious about ending QE and eventually raising rates, as they say in Venezuela, “They have changed their minds, but they have not changed their hearts.”

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary - Great Bounces But to What?

http://investmenthouse2.com/cntdirplus.asp?name=IHDaily&zid=2770189&eeid=XFcqVytdVygELD4ZXlAyUFpZGFAqWg==

- Another gain Friday but after good moves resistance starts to factor in.
- Great bounces but to what? Pretty ugly large cap index patterns.
- Excellent patterns still exist in the leading groups with new stocks break higher. The rebounding large caps, you would think, need to set up better patterns.
- Stocks are rallying even as wage growth stymies and huge percentages of US citizens make very little.

With Friday's gains on top of the past week and one-half recovery, SP500 managed to close a week higher for the first time in quite awhile. Friday, and indeed earlier in the week outside of Thursday, the large cap indices led the move, though all indices logged gains.

SP500 13.76, 0.71%
NASDAQ 30.93, 0.69%
DJ30 127.51, 0.76%
SP400 0.37%
RUTX 0.21%
SOX 1.06%

Volume: Faded on both exchanges. NYSE -10%, NASDAQ -12%

A/D: Weak given the moves. 1.6:1 NYSE, 1.2:1 NASDAQ.

Nice, solid advances, not on the same scale as shown last week or earlier this week, but solid.

THE MARKET

CHARTS

Thing is, not a lot of headway was made. Indeed, given the indices are up 1.5 to 2 weeks rut-depending upon which one you look at, you could expect stocks in general to start slowing the move some.

RUTX: Case in point, Friday RUTX was up but could not make any serious moves, butting into the 50 day EMA. Thursday RUTX traded through the 50 day but then faded to close. Friday a doji at that level on low volume. 7 of 9 days to the upside, at the 50 day EMA, at the August lows. Early to lead, now maybe needs a break with only two days off during the two weeks.

SP400: Similar action as SP400 posted its 7th gain in 8 sessions. It is not only at the 50 day EMA but the 200 day SMA as well. Thursday it moved through the latter but faded to close below it. Friday it moved up to the 200 day, but as with RUTX it is at the August low resistance as well. Strong recovery but the question is how much gas is in the tank? A pause or is it done?

SOX: At the 50 day EMA as well, having filled the MCHP warning gap lower. Great recovery but a lot of the big names on SOX are in bear flag patterns, e.g. INTC. If they go down, SOX goes down. Bigger picture, look at the double top spanning July and September, the hard decline and gap, the sharp rebound. Not a great pattern, not one you would buy into right at this moment.

SP500: SP500 rallied through the 50 day EMA and up to the 50 day SMA. In seven days it recovered all it lost in the five days to the downside. Isn't that the way it always is? The downside is so fast. Anyway, SP500 has recovered, but to what? The pattern wasn't great BEFORE it tanked. It has the July peak at 1990ish (closed at 1964) then the September peak. Not saying it has to fail. If it is going higher, however, it is going to have to take a breather at some point, regroup, and take on the highs.

DJ30: Up just over the 50 day EMA Friday as the Dow lags a bit. It is closing in on resistance at 16,900 to 17,150. Dutifully following SP500, but not much more.

Nice moves higher, extending the gains with bids holding. But, again, just where are they now?

You have to look at the indices' relative position after more than a week of upside. The leading indices that started the move (small and midcaps) have slowed and are actually pausing, trying to consolidate. The large caps likely show some of that next week as they continue to catch up to the move the smaller caps started.

This is all very normal action just looking at the sharp upside move the past two weeks. Even so it means the upside likely has to test. We thought we would get 2 to 3 sessions of testing last week but instead the market took a day off and then continued higher Thursday and Friday. So, with a bit more gain in the books the indices likely test.

Okay, so we get the test. Then stocks have to hold and continue the move. In so doing they would have to overcome some pretty ugly patterns that formed just prior to the dive lower on Ebola, MCHP, Europe, earnings worries, etc. Again, they can do it, we just have to realize that the indices bounced sharply to resistance so likely 1) need a test/rest before going much higher, and 2) have to overcome the pre-existing ugly patterns.

What is the import of that? Well, you don't go piling into every stock on the upside after a 2 week run. That is why our buys scaled back though we still bought positions on good stocks making solid breaks.

Indeed, we STILL see a lot of leadership quality stocks in position to make upside breaks and have more on the weekend report. Many leaders keep stepping up and we note that some of the early leaders that surged but spent the past 1.5 weeks testing as the rest of the market rallied, are set up to break higher or started on Friday (e.g. TGTX, XLRN)

Of course we also banked gain on plays as well, e.g. AMZN, VIPS Friday, AGIO, BABY, etc. earlier in the week. Interesting that AMZN and VIPS are heading in opposite directions, but that doesn't make the profits any less appealing, and it shows you also that you can make money looking both ways, STILL, in this market.

Friday we did pick up some TGTX as it broke higher from a very nice 3 week consolidation. YY is a play we bird-dogged Thursday night and sure enough it surged higher Friday. Plenty of room for these plays to run, and they appear to be making their own wake, i.e. moving without a lot of concern for the market's moves.

The market still has to deal with a lot of extraneous issues, e.g. Ebola, school shootings, Putin, ISIS, China, yet the market continues to move higher. Remember, this is the 'no respect' Dangerfield rally and we hear many still want to short it. That works for us.

We are looking at more upside plays for next week because very good stocks continue to set up very good patterns as money is put to work in some areas after being pulled from others. If the money stays in the market, it behooves us to find where it is going, and thus far we are indeed doing just that.

We could see more money being pulled from other areas this week after the strong rebound moves off the lows. Stocks sold hard, rebounded hard, and now face the reality of resistance and pre-existing ugly patterns as noted earlier.

That is why we also have several new downside plays in addition to the other ones we are watching, waiting to see if they break lower. If so, we could make some rapid downside money once again.

THE ECONOMY

September hourly wages show a continued disturbing trend.

The BLS released its September hourly wages data and it shows more trouble for the US worker.

$10.32/hour versus 10.34/hour, -0.2% (1982-1984 constant dollars).

This may not seem to be much, but since 3/2014 only 1 month has shown wage gains. The other 5 were wage losses. The US worker, despite burgeoning gains in corporate profits, continues to suffer wage declines.

I have posited the question before: how can the US be in recovery if wages continue to decline?

Social Security Administration releases its tally of US citizen earnings.

The SSA reports that 2013 saw 50% of US workers earning less than $28K per year. 50%! 39% earned less than $20K. 63% less than $40K. 72% less than 50K.

We are told by several think tanks, and the US government, that it takes $50K per year to for a family of four to maintain a middle class life. 72%, however, make less than that threshold level.

Meaning: The middle class is effectively gone as the vast majority of Americans make less than is required to maintain what is considered a middle class lifestyle.

And on top of this, Hillary Clinton today says "Don't let anybody tell you it's corporations and businesses [that] create jobs. The money has to go to the federal government because the federal government will spend that money better than the private sector will spend it."

It does not get any clearer than that. The democratic frontrunner believes government is best at allocating the resources of the American business person, the American entrepreneur? Seriously? Only in a country where the populace is wholly ignorant as to why this nation is a separate country, why this nation of the people, for the people, and by the people was created, can allow this kind of tripe to be uttered without running her out of town on a rail. We get what we deserve.

Have a great weekend!

MARKET STATS

NASDAQ
Stats: +30.92 points (+0.69%) to close at 4483.72
Volume: 1.698B (-10.22%)

Up Volume: 1.13B (-500M)
Down Volume: 585.75M (+291.33M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.29 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.67 to 1

New Highs: 54 (0)
New Lows: 53 (+5)

S&P
Stats: +13.76 points (+0.71%) to close at 1964.58
NYSE Volume: 717.7M (-12.35%)

Up Volume: 1.94B (-950M)
Down Volume: 1.1B (+253.93M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.62 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 3.39 to 1

New Highs: 81 (-20)
New Lows: 26 (-6)

DJ30
Stats: +127.51 points (+0.76%) to close at 16805.41

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 16.11; -0.42
VXN: 17.93; -0.85
VXO: 15.75; -0.17

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.9; +0.08. Third session below 1.0 in the past two weeks.

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls continue to fall rather sharply: 35.3% versus 37.8% versus 45.5%

Bears finally broke the ice and are rising rapidly, for them: 18.2% versus 17.3% versus 14.1%

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: 35.3%
37.8% versus 45.5% versus 47.5% versus 48.0% versus 52.5% versus 57.6% versus 56.1% versus 52.5% versus 49.5% versus 46.4% versus 50.5% versus 55.6% versus 56.5% versus 56.6% versus 60.6% versus 57.6% versus 60.2% versus 61.4% versus 62.6% versus 62.2% versus 58.3% versus 57.2% versus 55.1 versus 55.7 versus 54.7

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 18.2%
17.3% versus 14.1% versus 15.1% versus 15.3% versus 15.2% versus 14.1% versus 13.3% versus 15.1% versus 16.2% versus 16.2% versus 17.1% versus 16.2% versus 17.2% versus 15.1% versus 15.2% versus 16.1% versus 16.3% versus 17.2% versus 17.4% versus 17.3% versus 18.3% versus 19.4% versus 20.6% versus 19.7% versus 21.7% versus 20.6 versus 18.6%

Background: Over 35% for bears is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. The best indication is when bears cross up through bulls as the two merge. Right now bulls are coming back down from the 60 level that has consistently marked market tops over the past two years. The rapid decline in progress is pushing the bulls/bears lines toward one another. Still far from a cross with bulls falling faster than bears are rising, but bears are warming up to the notion of market weakness.

OTHER MARKETS

Bonds: 2.26% versus 2.28% versus 2.22% versus 2.18% versus 2.20% versus 2.16% versus 2.14 versus 2.20% versus 2.28% versus 2.31% versus 2.34% versus 2.42% versus 2.44% versus 2.44% versus 2.41% versus 2.49% versus 2.48% versus 2.53% versus 2.51% versus 2.56% versus 2.53% versus 2.56% versus 2.58% versus 2.63% versus 2.62% versus 2.59% versus 2.59% versus 2.61% versus 2.55% versus 2.54% versus 2.50% versus 2.47% versus 2.45% versus 2.45% 10 year.

Oil: 81.03, -1.02. Trying to post up the past two weeks and build a bottom to bounce from.

Gold: 1231.80, +2.60 After a nice rally to the 50 day EMA gold failed to end the week, holding the 20 day EMA.

$/JPY: 108.13 versus 108.17 versus 107.20 versus 106.88 versus 106.38 versus 106.875 versus 106.33 versus 105.92 versus 107.05 versus 107.29 versus 107.66 versus 108.12 versus 107.95 versus 108.96

Took a bit of a breather after the Tuesday to Thursday surge.

Euro/$: 1.2670 versus 1.2650 versus 1.2645 versus 1.2723 versus 1.2810 versus 1.2760 versus 1.2809 versus 1.2838 versus 1.2658 versus 1.2683 versus 1.2628 versus 1.2748 versus 1.2680 versus 1.2627

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4483.72

Resistance:
4486 is the July 2014 high
4610 is the September 2014 post-bear market high.

Support:
The 50 day EMA at 4424
4372 is the March 2014 high
The August low at 4321
4316 is the lower gap point from October 2014
The 200 day SMA at 4308
4289 is the July 2000 recovery high
4277 is the March lower gap point
4246.55 is the January 2014 peak
4185, the May lower gap point
4131 is the March 2014 low
4104 is the lower gap point from 12/20/13
4070 is the series of highs from late November/early December
3991 is the prior November 2013 high and the post-bear market high.
3968 is the February 2014 low
3946 is the April 2014 intraday low

S&P 500: Closed at 1964.58

Resistance:
1987 is the lower trendline from 11/2012
1991 is the July 2014 high
2011 is the all-time high
2044 is the December 2012 up trendline

Support:
The 50 day EMA at 1949
1905 is the August 2014 low
The 200 day SMA at 1909
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1883.57 is the early March high.
The December and January highs at 1848
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high
1768 is the December 3013 low
1738 is the February 2014 low
1730 is the September 2013 peak
1710 is the August 2013 peak.
1698 to 1700 are the July and August interim highs

Dow: Closed at 16,805.41

Resistance:
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.

Support:
The 50 day EMA at 16,776
16,736 is the penultimate all-time high from May 2014
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
The 200 day SMA at 16,589
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
16,341 is the May low
16,334 is the August 2014 low
16,257 is the January 2014 low
16,179 is the November 2013 peak.
15,739 is the December 2013 low
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
15,659 is the August 2013 peak

ECONOMIC CALENDAR

October 24 - Friday
- New Home Sales, September (10:00): 467K actual versus 475K expected, 466K prior (revised from 504K)

October 27 - Monday
- Pending Home Sales, September (10:00): 0.5% expected, -1.0% prior

October 28 - Tuesday
- Durable Orders, September (8:30): 0.7% expected, -18.4% prior (revised from -18.2%)
- Durable Goods -ex tr, September (8:30): 0.5% expected, 0.4% prior (revised from 0.7%)
- Case-Shiller 20-city, August (9:00): 5.5% expected, 6.7% prior
- Consumer Confidence, October (10:00): 87.2 expected, 86.0 prior

October 29 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 10/25 (7:00)
- Crude Inventories, 10/25 (10:30): 7.111M prior
- FOMC Rate Decision, October (14:00): 0.25% expected, 0.25% prior

October 30 - Thursday
- Initial Claims, 10/25 (8:30): 284K expected, 283K prior
- Continuing Claims, 10/18 (8:30): 2375K expected, 2351K prior
- GDP-Adv., Q3 (8:30): 3.0% expected, 4.6% prior
- Chain Deflator-Adv., Q3 (8:30): 1.5% expected, 2.1% prior
- Natural Gas Inventor, 10/25 (10:30): 94 bcf prior

October 31 - Friday
- Personal Income, September (8:30): 0.3% expected, 0.3% prior
- Personal Spending, September (8:30): 0.1% expected, 0.5% prior
- PCE Prices - Core, September (8:30): 0.1% expected, 0.1% prior
- Employment Cost Inde, Q3 (8:30): 0.5% expected, 0.7% prior
- Chicago PMI, October (9:45): 60.0 expected, 60.5 prior
- Michigan Sentiment -, October (9:55): 86.4 expected, 86.4 prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : The major averages ended the Thursday session on a higher note with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.3%) spending the entire day in the lead. However, the strength among blue chips masked the underperformance of high-beta chipmaker and transport stocks. Furthermore, defensively-oriented health care (+1.8%) and utilities (+2.1%) finished in the lead, suggesting a lack of strong conviction.

Shortly before the open, the advance reading of Q3 GDP revealed growth of 3.5% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 3.0%. The news contributed to a rebound in the futures market, which had been pressured by early weakness in European equities. However, markets across Europe were able to erase their losses before ending for the day.

The Dow held the lead from the start thanks to a surge in its top-weighted component. Shares of Visa (V 236.65, +21.99) soared 10.2% in reaction to a bottom-line beat and news of a $5 billion buyback.

Visa's peer, MasterCard (MA 83.13, +7.14), also had a strong showing, spiking 9.4%, after it too surpassed earnings estimates. However, the two names were unable to push the technology sector (+0.2%) ahead of the broader market as other influential components like Apple (AAPL 106.98, -0.36), Facebook (FB 74.11, -1.75), and Microsoft (MSFT 46.05, -0.57) underperformed. Chipmakers also lagged with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 1.2%.

The high-beta group slumped after ending yesterday's session on its 50-day average (623.74). The complex widened its October loss to 3.4% with its largest component-Intel (INTC 32.58, -1.34)-plunging 4.0%.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, the materials space (+0.7%) had the strongest showing while energy (-0.3%) spent the day in the red. Crude oil, which fell 1.4% to $81.10/bbl, contributed to the weakness, while Chevron (CVX 117.20, +0.06) and ExxonMobil (XOM 94.45, -0.14) ended little changed ahead of their quarterly reports.

Also of note, industrials (+0.4%) could not catch up to the broader market due to the weakness among transports. The Dow Jones Transportation Average slid 1.2% with Con-way (CNW 42.35, -2.81) diving 6.2% despite beating bottom-line estimates. Meanwhile, peer C.H. Robinson (CHRW 69.22, -2.88) tumbled 4.0% in reaction to a Credit Suisse downgrade to 'Underperform' from 'Neutral.'

Meanwhile on the countercyclical side, consumer staples (+0.55%) and telecom services (+0.3%) slipped behind the market in the afternoon while health care (+1.8%) and utilities (+2.1%) finished in the lead.

The health care sector was boosted by strong results from AmerisourceBergen (ABC 84.84, +5.10) and Cigna (CI 97.10, +3.10). As for biotechnology, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 296.70, +6.07) settled higher by 2.1%.

Treasuries notched their highs right after the GDP report before spending the session in a steady retreat. The 10-yr yield slipped one basis point to 2.31%.

Today's participation was ahead of average with 730 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Economic data was limited to GDP and Initial Claims:


According to the advance estimate, GDP grew at an annualized rate of 3.5% during the third quarter while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to come in at 3.0%
Real final sales jumped 4.2%, which was the largest spike since Q4 2010
The export deficit narrowed to $409.90 billion from $460.40 billion, boosting GDP growth by 1.32 percentage points
Government spending surged 4.6%, representing the sharpest increase since Q2 2009
Weekly Initial Claims increased to 287,000 from a revised rate of 284,000 (from 283,000) while the Briefing.com consensus called for a reading of 284,000
Claims have held below the 300,000 mark for the past several weeks, suggesting payroll gains should surpass 200,000
Continuing claims increased to 2.384 million from an upwardly revised 2.355 million (from 2.351 million)

Tomorrow, September Personal Income (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%), Personal Spending (consensus 0.1%), Core PCE Prices (expected 0.1%), and the Q3 Employment Cost Index (expected 0.5%) will all be released at 8:30 ET while the Chicago PMI report for October (consensus 60.0) will cross the wires at 9:45 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the final release of the Michigan Sentiment survey for October (expected 86.4).

Nasdaq Composite +9.3% YTD
S&P 500 +7.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +3.7% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.7% YTD

DJ30 +221.11 NASDAQ +16.91 SP500 +12.35 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1757/1.88 bln/1081 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1961/729.8 mln/1118 3:30 pm :

Crude trended lower overnight into the pit session open, eventually reaching a LoD of $80.8 near lunch time; futures moved higher but has since moved back toward the session low. Dec crude finished the day at $81.10/barrel, down 1.4%.
Natural gas has been trending higher since yesterday's LoD of $3.696, ending today's session 1.2% higher at $3.83/MMBtu
Silver was the worst performing commodity today, tanking 4.5% to $16.44/oz.
Dec gold lost 2.2% at $1198.50/oz, while Dec copper fell 1.2% at $3.07/lb

4:37 pm Emulex beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (ELX) : Reports Q1 (Sep) earnings of $0.14 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.08; revenues fell 9.6% year/year to $103.8 mln vs the $96.08 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.14-0.18 vs. $0.15 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $102-108 mln vs. $104.63 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:34 pm AXT beats by $0.01, beats on revs; announced a $5 mln stock repurchase program (AXTI) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.02 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.01; revenues rose 12.7% year/year to $23.1 mln vs the $21.76 mln consensus.

"Revenue came in ahead of our expectations, and we achieved another quarter of profitability through improved gross margins and tight expense control. Further, we are diversifying our customer base throughout our product portfolio and are pleased to be gaining traction in several areas that have been a strong focus of our sales efforts. The changes in the gallium arsenide landscape over the past two years have had an adverse impact on our business. However, these changes are finally beginning to settle and new applications for our products are emerging across our substrate portfolio. I am very pleased to have a strong team in place with the expertise to maximize our potential as we evolve our business to meet new opportunities."
Co also announced a $5 million stock repurchase program

4:27 pm Microchip misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line with downside preannouncement; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (MCHP) : Reports Q2 (Sep) earnings of $0.67 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.68; revenues rose 10.9% year/year to $546.2 mln vs the $546.19 mln consensus.

Co guided for Q2 rev of $346 mln vs. $566 mln consensus on Oct 9.
Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.59-0.64, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.62 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 GAAP revs of $500.9-528.2 vs. $521.82 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Co declares dividend of $0.3565 vs. $0.3560 prevously .

4:21 pm Tessera Tech beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs above consensus (TSRA) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.87 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ single analyst estimate of $0.80; revenues rose 150.1% year/year to $93.3 mln vs the $91.9 mln single analyst estimate.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $50-54 mln vs. $44.60 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Operating expenses are expected to be between $31 million and $33 million. The Company expects approximately $4.7 million of amortization of intangible assets and $3.2 million of stock-based compensation expense. The Company also expects a loss from discontinued operations of approximately $0.8 million.

4:20 pm Silicon Image beats by $0.04, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (SIMG) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.11 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.07; revenues fell 11.3% year/year to $70.3 mln vs the $72.47 mln consensus.
Co issues mixed guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.05-0.08 vs. $0.07 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $61-66 mln vs. $66.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:14 pm Power Integrations misses by $0.05, misses on revs; guides Q4 revs below consensus (POWI) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.65 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.70; revenues fell 1.7% year/year to $90.14 mln vs the $94.93 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $83-89 mln vs. $97.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be approximately 54 percent. (Excludes approximately $0.2 million of stock-based compensation and $0.6 million of amortization of acquisition-related intangibles.) GAAP gross margin is expected to be approximately 53 percent.

4:12 pm ON Semiconductor misses by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs above consensus (ONNN) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.21 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.22; revenues rose 16.5% year/year to $833.5 mln vs the $811.05 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $835-875 mln vs. $820.92 mln Capital IQ Consensus EstimateBacklog levels for Q4 represent approx 80 to 85 percent of anticipated revenueAverage selling prices for Q4 are expected to be down approx one to two percent when compared to Q3

4:10 pm AXT announces $5 mln stock repurchase program (AXTI) :

3:02 pm Cirrus Logic hammered after reporting, vacillating near its six month close low from Oct at 18.99 -- session low 18.90 (CRUS) : The Oct intraday low does not come into play until 18.39.

12:47 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

BBD (14.94 +8.81%): Reported YTD net income of BRL 11.22 bln, up 24% y/y; Upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
V (235.23 +9.58%): Reported Q4 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.08, revs in-line, guided FY15 ~in-line, announced new $5 bln buyback; Upgraded at FBR.
BMY (58.34 +7.72%): Announced encouraging results from their Phase 2 study of Opdivo for patients with lung cancer.

Large Cap Losers

GG (19.35 -10.07%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.09 per share, $0.10 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.19; revenues fell 6.2% year/year to $1.09 bln vs the $1.05 bln consensus; Gold's steep drop on the day to under $1200 an ounce is also adding to the decline.
BWA (54.31 -4.48%): Reported EPS in-line, missed on revs; guided FY14 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus.
CHRW (69.6 -3.47%): Downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse; tgt lowered to $65 from $68.

Mid Cap Gainers

ACHC (59.86 +13.14%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.05, beat on revs; raised FY14 EPS above consensus; announced accretive acquisition of CRC Heatlh Group for $1.175 bln.
LOPE (48.1 +11.29%): Reported Q3 results that beat consensus estimate by $0.08, beat on revs; guided FY14 above consensus; Announced formulation of independent committee to explore options; Upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
MD (62.33 +10.01%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.01, beat on revs; guided Q4 EPS; Announces $600 mln buyback, expanded credit facility.

Mid Cap Losers

PRXL (53.35 -16.06%): Reported Q1 results that beat consensus estimate by $0.07, reported revs in-line, guided Q2 EPS below consensus, guided FY15 EPS in-line; Downgraded to Neutral at Robert W. Baird, tgt lowered to $63.
AUY (4.56 -15.24%): Reported Q3 loss of $0.01 per share, $0.07 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.06; revenues rose 9.8% year/year to $501.23 mln vs the $569.73 mln consensus.
TEX (27.14 -11.25%): Missed Q3 consensus estimates by $0.02, reported revs in-line; reaffirmed FY14 revs guidance, sees FY14 EPS at or near the bottom of previously provided range; Downgraded to Neutral at RW Baird.

11:54 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (161) outpacing new lows (114) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABC, ABCW, ACHC, ADP, ADPT, AEE, AEP, AGII, AGIO, ALGT, ALL, AMGN, ANAC, AVA, AVIV, AWK, BABY, BGCP, BIDU, BIN, BLKB, BMY, BOTJ, BURL, CBPO, CELG, CHD, CHFN, CI, CLCT, COST, CRL, CSX, CTAS, CWT, CYBR, DFT, DLR, DPZ, DTE, DUK, DV, ED, EDE, ELLI, ENSG, EPAM, EROS, ESBF, ETR, EW, EXR, FAF, FFG, FRT, GBNK, GD, GEO, GILD, GMCR, GPC, GPX, GSBC, HAIN, HCN, HDSN, HNI, HPP, HRL, HT, HUBS, HUM, IBCA, IDA, INFN, IRF, IT, ITC, JAH, KRC, LB, LCI, LEAF, LEG, LMT, LNT, LOPE, LOW, MERC, MHFI, MRH, MSEX, MSTR, NAVI, NKE, NOC, NP, NU, ODFL, ORLY, PCG, PEB, PEI, PEOP, PFSW, PG, PNW, POR, PSTB, PTRY, PVTB, RDCM, RDI, RDN, RE, RGEN, ROG, ROL, RSG, SAFT, SCG, SCOR, SFST, SGC, SLG, SMCI, SMMF, SONC, SPNC, SRE, SSNC, STON, STRA, SUI, SXI, SXT, SYF, TE, TEG, TEVA, TFSL, TFX, THG, TRV, TTPH, TTWO, TUES, USLM, USPH, UUU, V, VAC, VASC, VDSI, VPRT, WEC, WGP, WM, WRI, XEL, ZAGG

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABX, ADNC, AEM, AFOP, AG, AIXG, AKG, AMCC, AMRN, ANV, ARAY, ASA, ASGN, AU, AUY, AVL, AVP, AXPW, AXU, BAMM, BBL, BCO, BTG, CAB, CBNJ, CCSC, CDE, CEF, CEL, CGG, COT, CRNT, CRR, CYRN, DMD, DRAM, DRNA, DSS, EPRS, ESCR, EVGN, FCX, FTEK, GG, GLRI, GNBC, GRVY, GSS, GTLS, GTU, GZT, HGG, HL, HMY, HVT, IAG, INS, INVN, IPI, JCTCF, KEG, KGC, KZ, LAS, LEU, LF, LIQD, LOJN, LPG, MUX, NANO, NEM, NGD, NKA, NOA, OGEN, OI, ONP, OPHC, P, PAAS, PHMD, PPP, PTNR, PWE, RCKY, RDEN, REMY, RGR, RIO, RRTS, RTGN, SAND, SID, SLW, SMT, SSRI, STM, SVBL, SVLC, SVM, TGA, TGB, TLM, TRCH, TRX, TSPT, ULBI, VALE, VGZ, VOC, VTG, WNC, WSTL

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IBB, ICF, IHF, IYH, RTH, XBI, XLP, XLU, XLV

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: GDX, GDXJ, SIL, SIVR, SLV

9:29 am Alcatel-Lucent +14% in Paris following Q2 results with upside operating income; progress on restructuring (ALU) : Telco communications equipment company Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) is +14% in Paris and set to gap up by a similar amount in the US after the co reported a EUR 9 mln net loss in Q2 or EPS of (EUR0.00) vs. the EUR 0.02 consensus and (EUR0.08) last year; rev fell 6% to $3.25 bln vs. $3.33 bln consensus.

Operating income +50% to EUR 170 mln vs. EUR 136 mln consensusInvestors appear to be encouraged as Q2 results demonstrate progress on co's Shift Plan (restructuring initiatives). Co will host Investor Day on November 11

8:51 am KLA-Tencor announces offering of senior notes (KLAC) : Co announced that it intends to offer, subject to market and other conditions, senior notes under an automatic shelf registration statement on file with the SEC.

8:37 am Interdigital Comm beats by $0.14, beats on revs (IDCC) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.34 per share, $0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.20; revenues fell 29.8% year/year to $77.6 mln vs the $71.75 mln consensus.

"We saw a dramatic increase in recurring revenue year over year, our licensee base is large and key licensees continue to perform well, and we are actively working to extend the portion of the market under license. Our jury trial win this week in our patent infringement case with ZTE is certainly a very positive development in that regard."

8:08 am O2Micro beats by $0.01, beats on revs (OIIM) : Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.11 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.12); revenues fell 17.2% year/year to $15.4 mln vs the $15.03 mln consensus.

"Our third quarter results were in-line with the updated guidance that we provided in early October and reflect a difficult quarter in our power management business for notebooks."

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Dow +194.90 at 17390.32, Nasdaq +64.60 at 4630.74, S&P +23.40 at 2018.05

The stock market finished the month of October with a broad rally that sent the S&P 500 higher by 1.2%. The benchmark index extended its October advance to 2.3% and ended at a fresh record high, while the Nasdaq Composite (+1.4%) outperformed to end October with a 3.1% gain.

Stocks soared out of the gate after the Bank of Japan boosted its asset purchasing program to JPY80 trillion from JPY50 trillion. The central bank said it will now target average maturities between seven and ten years (up from 7 years) and buy ETFs up to an annual amount of JPY3 trillion (up from JPY1 trillion).

The developments sent the yen into a tailspin with the dollar/yen pair surging to a session high just below the 112.50 level. The pair retreated into the 112.25 area by the end of the session, but that still represented a 2.7% advance for the dollar at the expense of the yen.

The greenback strength boosted the Dollar Index (86.87, +0.72) past its September high to its best level since the middle of 2010. This weighed on crude oil, but the energy component was able to narrow its loss to 0.6% by the close. WTI crude ended the pit session at $80.53/bbl after dipping below the $80/bbl level in the morning.

Meanwhile, the energy sector (+2.0%) began the session in the red, but was able to end the day ahead of the broader market. Better than expected earnings from Chevron (CVX 119.95, +2.75) and ExxonMobil (XOM 96.71, +2.26) sent both stocks higher by 2.4%, but the advance could not keep the growth-sensitive sector from ending the month with a 3.0% decline.

Similar to energy, the top-weighted technology sector (+1.8%) ended well ahead of the broader market amid broad strength. LinkedIn (LNKD 228.96, +26.06) and GoPro (GPRO 77.10, +8.85) surged 12.8% and 13.0%, respectively, after reporting above-consensus earnings while chipmakers also provided a significant boost. The PHLX Semiconductor Index jumped 3.9% to wipe out its October loss after being down nearly 15.0% for the month on October 15.

Interestingly, the strength in one high-beta area did not translate into comparable gains in the biotech space. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 296.62, -0.08) was up 2.2% at the start of the session, but a steady retreat throughout the day caused the ETF to settle just below its flat line.

Also of note, the financial sector (+1.2%) ended ahead of the broader market with Citigroup (C 53.53, +0.38) climbing 0.7% despite news indicating the company will adjust its Q3 results to reflect a $600 million legal charge. The sector added 2.9% for the month.

Treasuries ended in the red with the 10-yr yield up three basis points at 2.33%.

Participation was ahead of average with more than a billion shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Economic data included Personal Income/Spending, Core PCE Prices, Employment Cost Index, Chicago PMI, and Michigan Sentiment:

Personal income increased 0.2% in September, down from a 0.3% increase in August, while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.3%
Personal spending declined 0.2% in September after increasing 0.5% in August, while the consensus expected an increase of 0.1%
Core PCE prices rose 0.1%, which is what the Briefing.com consensus expected.
Employment Cost Index rose 0.7% in Q3 2014 after increasing by the same amount in the second quarter, while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.5%
Wages and salaries accelerated, up 0.8% in the third quarter after a 0.6% gain in the second quarter o Benefits spending rose 0.6% in Q3 after increasing 1.0% in Q2
Chicago PMI for October slipped to 60.5 from 60.5, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decrease to 60.0
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report for October came in at 86.9, while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to be hold at 86.4

Monday's data will be limited to the September Construction Spending report (Briefing.com consensus 0.7%) and the ISM Index for October (consensus 56.2). Both data points will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Week in Review: Stocks Reclaim October Losses

The stock market began the last week of October on a cautious note. The S&P 500 slipped below its 100-day moving average (1962) and settled lower by 0.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%) outperformed throughout the session. Equity indices faced selling pressure at the start, but the source of the early weakness was isolated to the two commodity-linked sectors that spent the entire session at the bottom of the leaderboard. The energy sector (-2.0%) suffered from a Goldman Sachs downgrade of several major industry players, which stemmed from expectations that crude oil would trade between $70-$80/bbl. On that note, the energy component fell below the $80/bbl level in the morning, but narrowed its decline to just 0.1% by the pit close ($80.94/bbl).

Equities rallied on Tuesday with the S&P 500 climbing 1.2%. Small cap names had an even better showing, sending the Russell 2000 higher by 2.9%. The key indices climbed steadily throughout the day with the S&P 500 turning positive for the month of October. The index ended the day with an October gain of 0.6% after being down as much as 5.6% for the month on October 15. All ten sectors finished in the green with Monday's laggard-energy (+2.3%)-ending in the lead. The sector enjoyed a relief rally with support from BP (BP) after the industry giant reported a bottom-line beat.

The market ended the midweek session on a modestly lower note. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) was the weakest performer while the S&P 500 shed 0.1% with seven sectors ending in the red. The benchmark index held a slim gain at the start, but spent the day in a slow retreat that featured a brief afternoon spike to lows after the Federal Open Market Committee released its latest policy statement. As expected, the statement called for the final $15 billion taper, thus putting a stop to scheduled purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. Meanwhile, the commentary on rates was little changed from previous directives with the Fed maintaining its reference to keeping the fed funds rate at its current level for a 'considerable time.' Minneapolis Fed President Kocherlakota was the lone dissenter, voting to keep the asset purchase program intact. Equities handled the initial impact of the announcement relatively well with the S&P 500 finishing about two points above its pre-FOMC levels. Treasuries, meanwhile, ended mixed. The FOMC announcement sent the complex to lows, but the 30-yr bond surged to new highs ahead of the close to pressure its yield one basis point to 3.05%. The 2-yr note settled near its low with its yield higher by six basis points at 0.49%.

The major averages ended the Thursday session on a higher note with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.3%) spending the entire day in the lead. However, the strength among blue chips masked the underperformance of high-beta chipmaker and transport stocks. Furthermore, defensively-oriented health care (+1.8%) and utilities (+2.1%) finished in the lead, suggesting a lack of strong conviction. Shortly before the open, the advance reading of Q3 GDP revealed growth of 3.5% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 3.0%. The news contributed to a rebound in the futures market, which had been pressured by early weakness in European equities. However, markets across Europe were able to erase their losses before ending for the day. The Dow held the lead from the start thanks to a surge in its top-weighted component. Shares of Visa (V) soared 10.2% in reaction to a bottom-line beat and news of a $5 billion buyback.

 
 Index	       Started Week  Ended Week	 Change	 %Change  YTD % 
 DJIA	       16805.41	     17390.52	 585.11	   3.5	  4.9 
 Nasdaq	        4483.71	      4630.74	 147.03	   3.3	 10.9 
 S&P 500	1964.58	      2018.05	  53.47	   2.7	  9.2 
 Russell 2000	1118.82	      1173.51	  54.69	   4.9	  0.8

5:12 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Technology:DRIV (25.57 +46.09%),CYOU (24.04 +32.29%),VDSI (25.32 +28.85%),SANM (25.07 +27.23%),OIBR (0.53 +21.95%),CALX (10.81 +21.31%)
Services:SKYW (11.52 +20.55%),CEB (73.7 +20.19%),EGL (43.2 +20.04%)
Healthcare:RCPT (103.65 +57.71%),OMER (16.57 +36.04%),ABMD (32.79 +30.08%),USNA (113.98 +29.21%),SGYP (3.43 +28.78%),RGLS (19.96 +25.86%),ESPR (29.25 +20.66%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Technology:INVN (16.21 -26.84%),AMKR (6.78 -20.93%),GLUU (3.87 -19.6%)
Industrial Goods:RGR (41.68 -16.77%)
Healthcare:SRPT (16.17 -31.73%),PRXL (54.31 -16.3%)
Financial:ARCP (8.87 -23.54%),XOOM (15.1 -23.41%)
Consumer Goods:WNC (10.3 -22.66%)
Basic Materials:SAND (2.89 -27.61%),PES (9.18 -24.2%),AUY (3.98 -20.07%),PPP (3.42 -18.45%),LSG (0.71 -18.25%),MUX (1.24 -18.13%),EXK (3.04 -17.97%),FSM (3.49 -17.53%),GG (18.78 -16.66%)

3:31 pm Earnings Preview for the week of November 3 - 7 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of November 3 - 7 some of the bigger names include:

Monday: Pre Market - SYY, S, HNT, CNA, EEP, GVA, CHD, MCY, ARCB, AMG, NSP, SOHUAfter Hours - AIG, CYH, THC, AGU, MRO, RKT, KBR, MDU, HLF, FTR, PL, RBC, APL, WSTC, VNO, CVD
Tuesday: Pre Market - BSAC, VLO, CVS, EMR, IP, EOG, FE, ODP, DISH, ETR, PCLN, PPL, SRE, EL, BABA, TRP, NGLS, WNR, BDX, EXPD, DISCA, AKS, TLM, MSI, AER, WLK, ZTS, SC, BLMN, LINE, KORS, ARCO, VMC, TIME, ICE, REGNAfter Hours - FOXA, DVN, OKE, OKS, TX, AXLL, PXD, ATVI, DOX, WPX, TMH, XEC, GAS, KAR, EPE, TNET, BIO, AMSG, ITRI, PZZA, TRIP, JAZZ, PACD, MYGN, PEGA, PBPB, SQNM
Wednesday: Pre Market - MGA, MDLZ, ENB, DUK, TWX, CHK, HFC, NRG, ACT, WCG, RRD, COV, CTSH, VOYA, PWR, CNP, LVLT, RLGY, KELYA, SE, CEQP, CLH, THI, TW, ENDP, NUS, SMG, BSFTAfter Hours - ETE, ETP, PAA, PRU, QCOM, SLF, SXL, MUSA, LBTYA, CTL, CBS, WFM, TS, GNW, DK, NWSA, SPTN, SYMC, SUSP, RGP, QUAD, KND, CLR, EVHC, BKD, ANDE, RNDY, CF, TSLA, Z, VVUS
Thursday:
Pre Market - DTV, AZN, AES, BCE, GLP, CNQ, APA, CDW, TU, CORE, HSIC, AAP, VC, CPN, HII, AEE, CVC, WIN, ERJ, COTY, TAP, MPEL, HSP, DNOW, PRGO, SATS, TDC, CNK, SNI, AOL, SUNE, WEN, OWW
After Hours - DIS, ED, DVA, NU, MRC, NVDA, FSLR, DAR, LNT, GXP, SFM, SWKS, MNST, MTD, LGF, VVC, IGT, KING, SEMG, BRKR, SLXP, ZNGAFriday: Pre Market - MT, HUM, BAM, BPL, CTB, PGEM, ERF, STAY, TTI, WLH, SSP

12:48 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

LNKD (227.6 +12.17%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.52 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.47, revenues rose 44.6% year/year to $568.3 mln vs the $557.68 mln consensus; Tgt raise at Canaccord Genuity, CRT Capital, others.
TSU (26.63 +9.5%): Reports out that the company may receive bids from America Movil (AMX), Telefonica (TEF), and Oi (OIBR).
NMR (6.32 +8.96%): Strength in Japanese ADR's following stimulus from the Bank of Japan.

Large Cap Losers

CCI (78.11 -6.16%): Reported Q3 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.03, beat on revs; guided Q4 FFO above consensus; guided FY15 FFO below consensus.
ABX (11.7 -4.76%): Weakness in gold stocks as spot prices of the precious metal drop almost 3%, or $35 to ~$1,163.
MJN (99.23 -4.19%): Lower following news that Danone (DANOY) had taken a 25% stake in baby milk producer Yashili for $550 mln; Danone has previously been rumored as looking to acquire MJN.

Mid Cap Gainers

GRPN (7.2 +20.2%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.03 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.01; revenues rose 27.2% year/year to $757.1 mln vs the $748.54 mln consensus.
MELI (138.85 +20.53%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.76 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.66; revenues rose 20.1% year/year to $147.9 mln vs the $130.99 mln consensus; Upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill.
GPRO (78.43 +14.92%): Beat Q3 EPS consensus estimated by $0.04, beat on revs; guided Q4 EPS and revs above consensus.

Mid Cap Losers

TPX (52 -11.43%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.88 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.89; revenues rose 12.5% year/year to $827.4 mln vs the $796.71 mln consensus.
TRMB (27.1 -10.94%): Missed Q3 EPS consensus estimates by $0.05, missed on revs, guided Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; tgt lowered to $32 at MKM Partners.
COMM (21.42 -7.87%): Reported Q3 results that beat EPS consensus estimates by $0.05, revs in-line; guided Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus.

11:54 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session- New highs (131) outpacing new lows (16) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAPL, ABBV, ABC, ACE, ADP, AEE, AEP, AIV, ALK, ALL, ALSN, ALXN, AMGN, AMT, AVNR, BEE, BG, BIDU, BMRN, BRCM, CAH, CB, CELG, CERN, CI, CLX, CMS, CNVR, COST, CSX, CTLT, CUBE, CVA, CVS, DCT, DIS, DLR, DLTR, DPS, DRE, DRH, DTE, DUK, EA, ED, EQR, ETR, EW, FDX, FIS, FISV, GD, GGP, GILD, GMCR, GS, HCN, HCP, HD, HIG, HST, HTA, HUM, IBN, ILMN, INFY, INTU, ITW, JWN, KIM, KMB, KMX, KR, LB, LLY, LMT, LOW, LRCX, LYV, MA, MAR, MCO, MDT, MDVN, MHFI, MMC, MMM, MNK, MNST, MO, NAVI, NI, NKE, NOC, O, PAYX, PCG, PEG, PEP, PG, QVCA, RDN, RFMD, ROST, RTN, SBAC, SPG, SPR, SRE, SYK, TE, TEVA, TQNT, TRV, TSO, TXN, TXT, UAL, UGI, UNH, UNP, UPS, V, VFC, WEC, WHR, WLP, WM, YHOO, ZAYO, ZMH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABX, AEM, AU, AUY, BVN, EGO, FCX, GG, KGC, NEM, NGD, PWE, SLW, TLM, TRMB, VALE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DIA, DVY, IBB, ICF, IHF, IHI, IWF, IYF, IYH, IYK, IYR, KIE, NLR, QQQ, RTH, SDY, URE, UUP, UYG, VNQ, XBI, XLP, XLU, XLV

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FXE, FXS, FXY, GDX, GDXJ, GLD, IAU, PPLT, SIL, SIVR, SLV

Note: To reduce the list of stocks making 52 week highs/lows to a manageable size we have filtered out stocks below $2 bln in market cap and below 1 mln average volume. Without this filter 487 stocks made 52 week highs and 102 stocks made 52 week lows.

8:32 am SunPower announces second joint venture agreement in China (SPWR) :

Co announced its definitive agreement with Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor; Sichuan Development Holding; Leshan Electric Power; and Tianjin Tsinlien Investment to form a joint venture with plans to develop and own at least three gigawatts of PV power plants in the People's Republic of China. The power plants are expected to be built primarily with high-efficiency, low-concentration photovoltaic technology. The joint venture is expected to incorporate the proprietary LCPV SunPower C7 Tracker technology into the power plants planned for development. The definitive agreement provides that SunPower will invest up to ~$20 mln, amounting to a 4.6 percent ownership stake in the venture. The joint venture is subject to the approval of the PRC government, with initial LCPV deployment expected to begin in 2015.

8:32 am KLA-Tencor prices Senior Notes offering of 2.375% Senior Notes due 2017, 3.375% Senior Notes due 2019, 4.125% Senior Notes due 2021 and 4.650% Senior Notes due 2024 (KLAC) : Co announced it has entered into an agreement on October 30, 2014 to sell $250 mln aggregate principal amount of its 2.375% Senior Notes due 2017, $250 mln aggregate principal amount of its 3.375% Senior Notes due 2019, $500 mln aggregate principal amount of its 4.125% Senior Notes due 2021, $1.25 bln aggregate principal amount of its 4.650% Senior Notes due 2024 and $250 mln aggregate principal amount of its 5.650% Senior Notes due 2034 under an automatic shelf registration statement on file with the SEC. The offering is expected to settle on November 6, 2014, subject to customary closing conditions.

KLA-Tencor intends to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with borrowings of $750.0 mln under the amortizing term loans to be provided under a credit agreement that KLA-Tencor plans to enter concurrently with, or shortly after the completion of, this offering and cash on hand, (x) to fund a special dividend to KLA-Tencor's stockholders of ~ $2.75 bln and (y) subject to the closing of the credit facility, to redeem the $750.0 mln outstanding principal amount of KLA-Tencor's 6.900% Senior Notes due 2018 as promptly as practicable following the completion of this offering and (z) for other general corporate purposes, including repurchases of up to 16.6 mln shares of KLA-Tencor's common stock pursuant to KLA-Tencor's stock repurchase program. KLA-Tencor expects the credit facility to consist of the $750.0 mln of amortizing term loans described above, which will be drawn upon the closing of the credit facility, and commitments for an unfunded revolving credit facility of $500.0 mln.

8:02 am Ixys beats by $0.10, misses on revs (IXYS) : Reports Q2 (Sep) earnings of $0.18 per share, $0.10 better than the single analyst estimate of $0.08; revenues rose 0.6% year/year to $86.4 mln vs the $88.5 mln single analyst estimate.

ON Semiconductor (ONNN 8.98, +0.97): +12.1% after better than expected revenue and above-consensus revenue guidance overshadowed a one-cent miss.

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Health Care Surging on Earnings; Energy Not So Much
Friday, October 31, 2014 at 03:45PM

http://www.bespokeinvest.com/

As highlighted in our prior post, the average stock that has reported this earnings season has averaged a big gain of 0.99% on its report day. Below is a look at the average one-day performance on earnings this season broken up by sector. As shown, the average Health Care stock that has reported has gained a whopping 2.14% on its report day this season. No wonder the sector has gone parabolic recently! Telecom, Consumer Discretionary and Technology are the three other sectors that are seeing out-sized gains on their report days.

On the downside, Energy sticks out like a sore thumb. As if the sector didn't have enough trouble coming into earnings season, investors have continued to unload Energy shares even after they report. As shown below, Energy is the one sector where stocks are averaging declines on their report days. When will the bottom be put in?

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Following the Governing Council policy meeting on Thursday, ECB President Mario Draghi said in his press conference that the ECB stands ready, and is now making timely preparations, to provide more policy stimulus if necessary.

How did the stock market react to that news? In much the same way it has reacted to every policy pledge of support the last six years: it ate it up and added to its recent gains.

Granted the gains were modest in scope. Yet, a 0.4% increase for the S&P 500 -- after it had already risen 10.8% from its October 15 low -- was big in sentiment stature.

The immediate risk going into Friday's session is the employment report for October turning out stronger than expected and driving a spike in long-term rates that flows from the notion that a rate hike from the Fed will be coming sooner rather than later. For Thursday, however, the sunny-side up view prevailed with cyclical sectors leading the broader market's advance.

Another encouraging initial claims report helped underpin things along with Mr. Draghi's remarks, which knocked the euro-dollar cross (1.2373) down to its lowest level in more than two years and to the doorstep of where it was when Mr. Draghi said in July 2012 that he will do whatever it takes to protect the euro.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.1%) was a conspicuous laggard in Thursday's trade.

Qualcomm (QCOM 70.58, -6.62) was one of the main reasons why. It got slammed following its disappointing fiscal fourth quarter report and outlook, and revelation that the FTC and European Commission have both launched new investigations into its business.

Qualcomm's weakness was a major drag on the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which slipped 0.9%. A disappointing earnings report from SunEdison (SUNE 18.37, -0.51) also factored into the weakness while an earnings miss from chip equipment maker Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC 13.81, -0.60) spurred some profit-taking interest in other semiconductor-related issues.

Elsewhere on the earnings front, Symantec (SYMC 25.07, -0.11) sputtered after reporting better than expected fiscal second quarter results and issuing slightly disappointing third quarter guidance. Teradata (TDC 42.68, +1.62), on the other hand, jumped 4.0% following a third quarter report and outlook that the analyst at Mizuho labeled "better than feared." Mizuho, nonetheless, maintained its Neutral rating on the stock following the report due to the lack of a catalyst and continued slowdown in large accounts.

Teradata was the biggest percentage gainer in the sector on Thursday. Qualcomm was the biggest loser followed by Western Digital (WDC 97.86, -3.42),which dropped 3.4% after announcing an underwritten secondary public offering of 5,434,783 shares of its common stock by Hitachi, Ltd.

The biggest component in the sector -- Apple (AAPL 108.70, -0.16) -- sat things out, which factored prominently in the sector's underperformance.

Separately, Tableau Software (DATA 84.29, +7.79) had a banner day, rising 10.2% after reporting better than expected third quarter results and providing better than expected fourth quarter guidance. The report drew praise from a number of brokerage firms, including RBC Capital, which upgraded the stock to Outperform from Sector Perform and raised its price target to $100 from $78.

4:34 pm NVIDIA beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs in-line (NVDA) : Reports Q3 (Oct) earnings of $0.39 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.35; revenues rose 16.2% year/year to $1.23 bln vs the $1.2 bln consensus.

Gross margin of 55.5% inline with co's guidance of 55-56%
Co intends to return ~$600 mln to shareholders in fiscal 2016 through ongoing quarterly cash dividends and share repurchases.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $1.2 bln, plus or minus 2%, vs. $1.2 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees non-GAAP gross margin of 55.5% plus or minus 50bps; sees CAPEX of $40-50 mln.

4:29 pm Univ Elec beats by $0.05, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (UEIC) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.80 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.75; revenues rose 3.8% year/year to $147.8 mln vs the $153.27 mln consensus.
Co issues mixed guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.59-0.69 vs. $0.64 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $134.0-142.0 mln vs. $143.09 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:25 pm Microsemi reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line (MSCC) : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $0.64 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.64; revenues rose 21.1% year/year to $303.3 mln vs the $301.92 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.63-0.68 vs. $0.65 Capital IQ Consensus Estimateexpects Q1 sales to be flat with a range of plus or minus 2 percent (on a qtr/qtr basis, consensus calls for flat revs)

4:23 pm Skyworks reports Q4 results in-line with Oct 14 guidance; guides DecQ EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (SWKS) : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $1.12 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.08, note, co guided to $1.08 on October 14; revenues rose 50.6% year/year to $718.2 mln, in-line with the Oct 14 pre-annoucnement of $718 mln and vs the $718.2 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1 (Dec), sees EPS of approx $1.18, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.08 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of approx $770 mln vs. $724.3 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:15 pm Rubicon Tech beats by $0.05, misses on revs; guides Q4 below consensus (RBCN) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.41); revenues fell 27.9% year/year to $8 mln vs the $9.2 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees GAAP EPS of ($0.42)-($0.38) vs. ($0.34) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs "similar to Q3" vs. $11.10 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"We expect continued progress in growing the wafer business, particularly with PSS wafers. We are seeing improvement in the two-inch market, however, pricing remains very challenging. Although the pricing environment improved in the first half of the year, the excess supply of two-inch in the third quarter drove pricing for two-inch core 30 percent lower than the previous quarter. With inventory levels of two-inch material in the supply chain declining, we hope to see improvement in two-inch material pricing in the first quarter of 2015. While we are seeing increasing interest in two-inch material in the fourth quarter, four-inch demand is very weak due to seasonality in the LED market. While the general lighting segment is growing steadily, the backlighting market continues to represent a large portion of overall LED demand and that segment continues to experience seasonality with the fourth quarter typically being the weakest quarter. This year, the seasonality is more impactful because of a higher level of inventory in the supply chain. As a result, we expect fourth quarter revenue to be similar to the third quarter but then to begin improving in the first quarter with a recovery in the four-inch market along with continued growth in our wafer business..."

4:13 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Climb Ahead of October Jobs Report (:WRAPX) : Equity indices registered modest gains on Thursday ahead of the Nonfarm Payrolls report for October (Briefing.com consensus 235,000), which will be released tomorrow. The S&P 500 added 0.4% with seven sectors ending in the green.

The key indices spent the entire session in a slow and steady climb off their opening lows, but the same could not be said for the greenback.

The Dollar Index (88.08, +0.64) spiked 0.7% after the European Central Bank released its latest policy statement. Although the central bank did not announce any changes, the euro tumbled below 1.2380 against the dollar after Mario Draghi said the bank will begin purchases of asset-backed securities soon and will not hesitate to introduce additional easing if needed. The reminder of willingness to consider additional measures boosted European equities and helped U.S. futures climb off their overnight lows.

However, it should be noted that the ECB has already discussed its intentions to begin ABS purchases in the past. Furthermore Mr. Draghi's comments about additional easing contrasted with Tuesday's Reuters story, which claimed nearly half of the ECB board opposes the implementation of a sovereign quantitative easing program.

The resulting dollar strength weighed on crude oil (77.90, -0.78), but the energy sector (+1.3%) ended in the lead despite showing early weakness. The sector climbed to highs during the final hour of the session, rising above the industrial space (+1.1%), which led for the bulk of the day.

Industrials received strong support from General Electric (GE 26.36, +0.54) as the top-weighted sector component reclaimed its 200-day moving average, spiking 2.1% to levels last seen in mid-September. Transports also fared well with the Dow Jones Transportation Average jumping 1.3%.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, consumer discretionary (+0.9%) and materials (+0.8%) displayed strength while financials (+0.1%) and technology (-0.1%) lagged.

The materials sector was boosted by miners after Randgold Resources (GOLD 64.61, +5.45) reported earnings. The company missed bottom-line estimates, but investors cheered news indicating Randgold has closed its revolving credit facility. The stock spiked 9.2% while the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 17.21, +0.62) jumped 3.7%.

On the downside, technology (-0.1%) spent the day in negative territory after Qualcomm (QCOM 70.57, -6.63) reported disappointing results. Shares of QCOM plunged 8.6% while the PHLX Semiconductor Index lost 0.9%.

The losses among chipmakers weighed on the Nasdaq, but the index caught up to the broader market during the final hour. Biotechnology factored into the afternoon strength with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 293.32, +4.42) climbing 1.5%. For its part, the health care sector (+0.6%) settled ahead of the remaining countercyclical groups.

Treasuries ended on their lows with the 10-yr yield up four basis points at 2.38%.

Participation was ahead of average with more than 730 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims, Productivity/Labor Cost data, and Challenger Job Cuts:

Nonfarm labor productivity increased 2.0% in the third quarter, down from an upwardly revised 2.9% (from 2.3%) gain in the second quarter The Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 1.5% Output growth decelerated in the third quarter, increasing 4.4% after a 5.5% increase in the second quarter, which was in-line with third quarter GDP growth The relatively weaker output level resulted in a modest acceleration in unit labors costs, up 0.3% after declining 0.5% in Q2 2014 Initial Claims declined to 278,000 from a revised rate of 288,000 (from 287,000), while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 285,000 Claims have held below the 300,000 mark for the past several weeks, setting expectations for relatively strong job growth
The Challenger Job Cuts report for October rose 11.9% to follow the prior decline of 24.4%
Tomorrow, the October Nonfarm Payrolls report (Briefing.com consensus 235,000) will be released at 8:30 ET while the Consumer Credit report for September (consensus $16.00 billion) will cross the wires at 15:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +11.1% YTD
S&P 500 +9.9% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +5.9% YTD Russell 2000 +0.7% YTD

4:09 pm First Solar BELECTRIC announced that they have broken ground on a new 46 megawatt utility-scale power plant, in Oxfordshire, Southern England (FSLR) : When completed, the facility will produce 45 million kilowatt-hours of clean solar electricity per year, sufficient to power approximately 14,000 average homes or approximately 25% of the estimated 55,400 households in the city of Oxford. The project is the fourth to be executed in the United Kingdom (UK) under a First Solar and BELECTRIC joint venture, announced in 2013

4:08 pm Diodes reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q4 revs in-line (DIOD) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.43 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.43; revenues rose 4.1% year/year to $233.8 mln vs the $234.2 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $217-231 mln vs. $230.43 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"Growth was driven by continued strength in the consumer, communications and computing markets in Asia. Additionally, ongoing improvement in product mix and assembly/test capacity utilization contributed to gross margin reaching 32 percent for the first time since the second quarter of 2011. Earnings per share also reached the highest level in three years, demonstrating the Company's strong operating performance."

12:39 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

WFM (44.21 +10.55%): Reported Q4 earnings of $0.35 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.32, revenues rose 9.4% year/year to $3.26 bln vs the $3.26 bln consensus, raised quarterly dividend 8%; Tgt raised at Telsey, Oppenheimer, others.
TSLA (242.35 +4.93%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.02, beat on revs; lowered FY14 delivery guidance on production miss; guided Q4 EPS below consensus; Tgt raised at Northland.
HSIC (127.87 +4.63%): Reported Q3 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.03, beat on revs; guided FY14 EPS in-line; guided FY15 EPS in-line.

Large Cap Losers

QCOM (68.43 -11.36%): Missed Q4 consensus estimates by $0.06, missed on revs, guided Q1 below consensus, guided FY15 below consensus; Tgt lowered at Brean Capital, Cowen, RBC Capital Mkts, others.
CTL (39.13 -6.05%): Reported Q3 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.01, reported revs in-line; guided Q4 EPS below consensus, revs slightly below consensus.
PRU (84.6 -4.85%): Reported Q3 earnings of $2.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.21 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $2.41; revenues rose 9.1% year/year to $11.77 bln vs the $11.4 bln consensus.

Mid Cap Gainers

KATE (31.4 +19.57%): Reported Q3 results that missed consensus estimates by $0.02, revs in-line, increased FY14 direct to consumer comparable sales growth guidance to 19-21%.
KGC (2.25 +12.5%): Reported Q3 net of breakeven, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.03; revenues rose 7.9% year/year to $945.7 mln vs the $839.98 mln consensus.
DATA (84.99 +11.1%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.12, beat on revs, sees Q4 $118-122 mln vs $113.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Tgt raised at Mizuho, Cantor Fitzgerald, Pacific Crest, others.

Mid Cap Losers GNW (8.98 -36.18%): Reported Q3 loss of $1.70 per share, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.33; revenues rose 3.8% year/year to $2.4 bln vs the $2.4 bln consensus; Downgraded at Compass Point.NSM (28.37 -20.47%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.80 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.31 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.11; revenues fell 8.1% year/year to $504.32 mln vs the $569.76 mln consensus.WIN (9.89 -5.73%): Missed Q3 consensus estimates by $0.01, reported revs in-line; reaffirmed guidance; sees REIT spin off in 1Q15.

11:40 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (190) outpacing new lows (101) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAC, ABAX, ACE, ADSK, AEC, AEE, AGN, AIRT, ALL, ALSN, AMT, ATO, AUXL, BBW, BC, BCR, BERY, BGCP, BHB, BHBK, BJRI, BOTJ, BR, BRK.A, BRKL, BUSE, CAG, CALX, CB, CDK, CLNY, CME, COO, CPN, CQB, CSH, CSL, CST, CTB, CUBE, CVS, DAL, DDR, DHR, DIN, DIS, DLTR, DPZ, DRE, DST, DV, ELS, ENSG, EQR, ERIE, EW, EXR, FDX, FTD, FTNT, FUR, GD, GEO, GNCMA, GPN, GSBC, HAS, HCC, HCSG, HDB, HDS, HKTV, HOLI, HRTG, HSIC, HSNI, HSP, HWKN, IBN, IDTI, IFN, IT, ITW, JCOM, JLL, JNJ, JOUT, JWN, KLAC, KW, LB, LEAF, LM, LNCE, LSTR, LUV, MDT, MMC, MMM, MRGE, MSFT, MTRN, MUSA, MYRG, NAVG, NCLH, NHC, NKE, NXPI, NXTM, OCR, ODP, ORLY, PAM, PAYX, PBH, PDM, PII, PLKI, PLL, PLNR, PLT, PLUS, PPO, PRE, PSA, PSEM, PTRY, PVTB, QTM, RCMT, RDNT, RFMD, RGCO, RHI, RJF, ROG, ROL, ROX, SAM, SANM, SBCF, SCS, SEE, SEIC, SHW, SIG, SMCI, SRE, SSS, STRA, STT, SWIR, SWKS, SWX, SYF, SYK, TARO, TEVA, THG, TJX, TQNT, TREE, TRV, TSRA, TTGT, TXN, TXT, UGI, UIL, UNH, UNP, UPS, VAL, VDSI, VFC, VRNT, VTR, WAB, WFC, WGL, WM, WMS, WOOF, WR, WRI, WU, XRAY, ZTS, ZUMZ

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAU, AEZS, ALXA, AMZG, AREX, ATL, ATW, AWX, AXPW, BBG, BBVA, BCOR, BIOS, BPZ, BRDR, CHEF, CHLN, CHNR, CHOP, CHUY, CLR, CLRX, CSOD, CVO, CYNI, CYRN, DCTH, DDD, DNR, DRNA, DWSN, ENRJ, EPAX, FCX, FES, GFA, GNRC, GNW, GSS, GTU, IBM, IIJI, IMUC, IVAN, KNM, LF, LIQT, LRN, MCHX, MDGN, MDW, MEMP, MEP, MOSY, NCQ, NTLS, NWY, P, PANL, PCOM, PDII, PME, PPP, PTEN, PWE, PZG, QEPM, RFIL, RGDO, RNO, S, SAEX, SB, SC, SD, SFY, SID, SSE, SVLC, SVM, SZYM, TAOM, TAS, TCAP, TEAR, TESO, TEU, THRX, TRQ, TS, USMD, VALE, VGGL, WAC, WILC, WWWW, XIN, XOOM, XUE, YUMA, ZA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DIA, DVY, IGV, IHI, IYG, IYK, IYR, IYT, QAI, RTH, SDY, SPY, URE, UUP, UYG, XLF, XLI, XLP
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BNO, BWX, FXB, FXE, FXF, FXY, PPLT, REMX, RSX, SGG, UHN

8:12 am American Superconductor beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (AMSC) : Reports Q2 (Sep) loss of $0.14 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.16); revenues fell 48.3% year/year to $12.5 mln vs the $11.97 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of less than ($0.13) vs. ($0.10) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $18-20 mln vs. $24.10 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

6:57 am Kulicke & Soffa misses by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus (KLIC) : Reports Q4 (Sep) earnings of $0.38 per share, $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.44; revenues rose 12.2% year/year to $194.7 mln vs the $188.33 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $90-100 mln vs. $112.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

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From Briefing.com: The major averages ended Friday on a quiet note with the S&P 500 (unch) locking in a 0.7% gain for the week. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-0.1%) spent the duration of the day in negative territory to end the week unchanged.

This morning, the latest Nonfarm Payrolls report revealed the addition of 214,000 jobs in October. The reading came in below the Briefing.com consensus estimate (235,000), but the overall tone of the report did not represent a departure from recent trends. Furthermore, the data did not stoke up fears of the Fed being in a rush to hike the fed funds rate. To that point, the 10-yr note rallied, sending its yield lower by eight basis points to 2.30% while the Dollar Index (87.58, -0.44) took a step back from its best level since mid-2010. The index narrowed its weekly gain to 0.7%.

The weaker dollar served as a supportive factor for crude oil, which climbed 1.0% to $78.71/bbl. Fittingly, the strength helped the energy sector (+0.9%) finish ahead of the remaining cyclical groups. Similarly, the materials space (+0.5%) was also supported by commodities. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 18.64, +1.43) jumped 8.3% as gold futures soared 2.8% to $1174.70/ozt. Steelmakers gave another boost to the sector after industry giant ArcelorMittal (MT 12.59, +0.21) reported better than expected revenue, which overshadowed below-consensus earnings. Shares of MT spiked 1.7% while the Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 41.94, +0.87) rallied 2.1%.

Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical sectors struggled to keep pace with the market. The consumer discretionary sector (-0.2%) lagged throughout the session with Dow component Disney (DIS 90.00, -2.00) falling 2.2% despite reporting a one-cent beat.

The top-weighted technology sector (-0.03%) also spent the day in the red with chipmakers facing broad pressure. NVIDIA (NVDA 19.79, -0.43) and Skyworks (SKWS 59.88, -2.26) reported their quarterly results, but above-consensus earnings from the former and in-line results from the latter could not stop the PHLX Semiconductor Index from surrendering 0.9%.

The high-beta weakness was also apparent in the biotech space as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 290.14, -3.18) lost 1.1% and contributed to the underperformance of the Nasdaq. As for health care (-1.0%), the sector ended behind the remaining nine groups with DaVita (DVA 74.49, -3.54) and Humana (HUM 130.58, -9.29) contributing to the weakness. The two registered respective losses of 4.5% and 6.6% after DaVita beat by a penny and Humana missed on earnings and revenue.

Elsewhere among countercyclical groups, consumer staples (+0.3%), telecom services (+0.8%), and utilities (+1.0%) settled ahead of the broader market.

Participation was ahead of average with more than 750 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Nonfarm Payrolls and Consumer Credit:

Payrolls increased by 214,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading closer to 235,000 Although payroll growth exceeded the 200,000 mark for the ninth consecutive month, earnings growth remained anemic, increasing just 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) The combination of a historically low labor force participation rate and jobless claims steadily tracking below the 300,000 mark should lead to robust growth, but businesses remain reluctant to step up hiring The Consumer Credit report for September showed an increase of $15.90 billion, which was lower than the Briefing.com consensus estimate of $16.00 billion There is no economic data scheduled to be released on Monday.

Week in Review: Dollar Charges Ahead

The stock market had its issues on Monday, mostly because of what was happening outside the stock market. To that end, the dollar hit a seven-year high against the yen, crude futures slumped below $80/bbl, and economic reports from around the globe were mixed at best. On top of that, market participants were staring straight ahead at political issues wrapped up in election day for the U.S. on Tuesday. Those items were reason enough not to expect the stock market to do all that well on Monday, never mind that it also had to contend with the thought that it was overbought following a 10.8% gain off the October 15 low and due for a period of consolidation.

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 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.

The market registered a midweek gain with the S&P 500 climbing 0.5% to a fresh record high. The benchmark index maintained a ten-point range while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) spent the bulk of the day near its flat line. Equities climbed at the start after Tuesday's midterm elections altered the balance of power in Washington. The GOP picked up seven Senate seats to claim a 52-seat majority while also adding ten seats to their majority in the House of Representatives. In addition to giving a small overnight boost to index futures, the news helped the Dollar Index (87.45, +0.47) climb to a new multi-year high at the expense of the yen (-105 pips) and the euro (-60 pips).

Equities posted modest gains on Thursday ahead of the Nonfarm Payrolls report for October (Briefing.com consensus 235,000), which will be released tomorrow. The S&P 500 added 0.4% with seven sectors ending in the green. The key indices spent the entire session in a slow and steady climb off their opening lows, but the same could not be said for the greenback. The Dollar Index (88.08, +0.64) spiked 0.7% after the European Central Bank released its latest policy statement. Although the central bank did not announce any changes, the euro tumbled below 1.2380 against the dollar after Mario Draghi said the bank will begin purchases of asset-backed securities soon and will not hesitate to introduce additional easing if needed. The reminder of willingness to consider additional measures boosted European equities and helped U.S. futures climb off their overnight lows. However, it should be noted that the ECB has already discussed its intentions to begin ABS purchases in the past. Furthermore Mr. Draghi's comments about additional easing contrasted with Tuesday's Reuters story, which claimed nearly half of the ECB board opposes the implementation of a sovereign quantitative easing program.

 
 Index	Started Week	 Ended Week    Change	%Change	 YTD % 
 DJIA	     17390.52	  17573.93	183.41	  1.1	 6.0 
 Nasdaq	      4630.74	   4632.53	  1.79	  0.0	10.9 
 S&P 500	2018.05	   2031.92	 13.87	  0.7	 9.9 
 Russell 2000  1173.51	   1173.32	 -0.19	 -0.0	 0.8

4:07 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Technology:SAPE (24.63 +46.23%),IMPV (42.51 +28.26%),SWIR (33.98 +25.84%),GRPN (7.53 +25.54%),CODE (20.44 +25.41%),PAYC (21.39 +23.87%),BSFT (27.88 +23.81%)

Services:YRCW (23.75 +26.98%),RRGB (67.99 +25.84%),SGMS (12.27 +25.34%),ODP (6.5 +25.15%),SKYW (12.07 +20.21%)Industrial Goods:PPO (53.83 +26.84%)

Healthcare:ANIP (46 +35.52%),CVD (100.48 +27.44%),KITE (46.4 +22.1%)

Financial:WETF (15.58 +34.16%),GCAP (9.01 +29.08%),UVE (18.02 +25.22%)Basic Materials:ANR (2.9 +29.9%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Technology:WWWW (15.39 -25.54%),S (4.72 -21.83%),CSOD (27.8 -21.71%),SSNI (7.54 -19.75%)Services:SALE (14.32 -29.18%),CHUY (22 -27.73%)

Healthcare:AEGR (21.58 -35.75%),AMRI (16.87 -29.21%),CLDX (13.37 -20.8%)

Financial:GNW (8.44 -36.83%),RCAP (11.41 -34.11%),MGI (8.39 -33.31%),FNHC (26.01 -26.15%),WAC (17.39 -24.1%)
Consumer Goods:NUS (40.45 -23.23%),HLF (37.6 -20.91%)

Basic Materials:KEG (2.51 -23.49%),SSE (12.89 -23.35%),MEP (14.3 -20.96%),AUY (3.9 -20.63%)3:49 pm

Earnings Preview for the week of November 10 - 14 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of November 10 - 14 some of the bigger names include:

Monday: Pre Market - DF, TA, WWAV, CACQ, CMCM, STRL, RYN, DDD, LIOX, GOGO, BIDAfter Hours - CZR, ATLS, WWD, RAX, ATW, CMLS, HK, W, PRAA, TC, PDLI, DEI, NPSP, HALO

Tuesday: Pre Market - CST, DHI, ACM, QIWI, SABR, FMSAAfter Hours - FOSL, STKL, HMIN, PAHC, YY, LXFT

Wednesday: Pre Market - M, ROK, ECA, ENR, MTOR, FLO, ADT, CSIQ, PF, CAE, BZH, SEAS, MRKT, SLW, PLUGAfter Hours - CSCO, JCP, NTAP, HTHT, UGI, APU, TTEK, NTES, WGL, IAG, WX, FTD, FUEL, PLKI, XONE

Thursday: Pre Market - WMT, KSS, VIAB, TYC, GIB, HP, SBH, MMS, HIMXAfter Hours - JWN, ELP, AMAT, TSE, CTLT, MATW, SINA, PAAS, WB, RMAX

Friday: Pre Market - LEAF, SFXE, MEA, BITA, MONT

12:52 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

MNST (107.99 +7.47%): Reported Q3 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.03, revs were in-line; Tgt raised to $115 at Stifel.
GG (19.79 +6.68%): Gold producers higher on that day as spot prices jump $25 to $1,167 (ABX also higher).
AR (54.66 +3.52%): Upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at CapitalOne.

Large Cap Losers

HUM (132.49 -5.28%): Reported Q3 results that missed consensus estimates by $0.15, slightly missed on revs, narrowed FY14 EPS guidance, guided FY15 EPS in-line, revs in-line, announced intention to initiate a $500 mln accelerated share repurchase program.
GIS (52.09 -2.22%): Issued downside guidance of Q2 EPS below consensus; lowered FY15 profit and sales guidance.
DVA (74.59 -4.41%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.01, beat on revs; provided roughly in-line guidance.

Mid Cap Gainers

SHLD (42.24 +29.29%): The company disclosed that it is actively exploring a REIT transaction involving 200-300 stores.
EV (45.67 +21.72%): The SEC issued notice of intent to grant exemptive relief to permit the offering of Exchange-Traded Managed Funds.
FI (19.09 +11.57%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.31 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.28, revenues rose 9.7% year/year to $296.2 mln vs the $279.58 mln consensus; Maintained FY14 outlook.

Mid Cap Losers

SLXP (90.23 -34.88%): Missed Q3 consensus estimates by $0.02, missed on revs, guided Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; CFO resigned; Downgraded at Mizuho, William Blair, Stifel, others.
ICPT (170.68 -30.89%): Down following publication of FLINT trial data; Reports out that the co will need to run additional safety studies.
FNGN (31.28 -23.37%): Missed Q3 consensus estimates by $0.01, beat on revs, narrowed FY14 rev guidance in-line, sees FY15 revs below consensus; Downgraded at Needham.

11:45 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (180) outpacing new lows (84) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAC, ABG, ACE, ADSK, AFG, AGU, AIRT, ALL, ALSN, AMP, ARC, ASBC, AZO, BABA, BAP, BC, BCC, BDL, BERY, BHBK, BJRI, BLK, BR, BRK.A, BRK.B, BSET, BURL, CACC, CAG, CASY, CB, CDK, CERN, CME, CNBKA, CPN, CQB, CRMT, CTB, CTP, DFS, DHR, DM, DOC, DXCM, DYAX, ENV, EV, EXC, EXPO, FDP, FDS, FFG, FICO, FIZZ, FTNT, GPI, GWB, HAWK, HCKT, HCSG, HE, HIG, HOLI, HSKA, HUBS, HURC, HWKN, IBKR, ICUI, IDTI, IDXX, IEC, IFN, INFY, INTU, IRM, ITW, JOUT, KITE, KWR, LABL, LBTYA, LEG, LEN, LKFN, LM, LNBB, LNT, LOW, LSTR, LUV, MDVN, MERC, MIK, MKL, MMC, MMI, MPLX, MRGE, MSFT, MTD, MTRN, NAVG, NAVI, NCLH, NSC, NVDA, NVEC, OABC, OCR, ODFL, OFLX, OVAS, OZRK, PAHC, PAM, PII, PLKI, PLL, PTRY, PVTB, QTWO, RCMT, RCPT, RDCM, RDY, RENT, RFMD, RHI, RJF, RLGT, ROG, ROL, SEB, SEE, SEIC, SFS, SHW, SIG, SMCI, SNA, SPNC, STRA, STT, SUBK, SWIR, SWKS, SXT, SYF, TAP, TARO, TGS, TJX, TOF, TQNT, TREE, TREX, TRV, TSRA, TXRH, UGI, UNP, UPS, USB, VAL, VFC, VOYA, WAB, WERN, WFC, WHR, WM, WOOF, WR, WSBF, WU, XWES, ZLTQ, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AIRM, ALXA, AMBR, AMRN, ANF, ARES, BAMM, BBRG, BBVA, BPI, BPZ, BRKR, BVSN, CEL, CLRX, CRNT, CVEO, CYNI, CYRN, CYTX, DDD, DNDN, DWSN, EGI, ENRJ, EPAX, EVBS, EVGN, FMD, FNGN, FTEK, FWM, GFA, GNW, GSV, GUID, HLF, HMY, HNSN, IMRS, IMUC, IVAN, KEG, LACO, LIQT, MDRX, MEMP, MIND, MZOR, NADL, NCT, NCTY, NKA, NMM, NTLS, ONTY, PANL, PFMT, PLPM, PLX, PME, QRM, REE, RGR, RNO, ROKA, SAEX, SAN, SEAC, STAA, STAY, TAS, TBIO, TEU, THLD, THRX, TRX, TTI, UBNT, USMD, VIEW, VIVO, XIN, YUME

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DIA, IGV, IWF, IYF, IYG, IYJ, IYK, IYT, RTH, SDY, SPY, UYG, VTI, XLF, XLI, XLP, XRT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FXB, FXS

The October employment report was the center of attention on Friday.

The long and short of things is that it produced mostly more of the same, which is to say it showed decent nonfarm payroll growth (214,000) and minimal wage growth (avg. hourly earnings up 0.1%).

It effectively hit the sweet spot the stock market has savored for some time in that it was a good report, but not good enough to stoke fears that the Fed will increase the fed funds rate anytime soon. A pullback in the dollar and a rally across the Treasury complex validated the latter thought.

In a certain respect so, too, did the stock market's resilience to selling efforts.

Entering Friday's session, the S&P 500 had risen 11.6% from its October 15 low, but it still eked out a fractional gain on Friday with a burst of buying interest in the final 30 minutes of trading. The S&P 500 information technology sector for its part suffered a fractional loss.

The weakness in the sector was owed primarily to the underperformance of its semiconductor and semiconductor equipment stocks, which also underperformed on Thursday.

Some context is important here. Entering Thursday's trade, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index had risen 18.1% from its October 13 close. Qualcomm's weak earnings report and outlook on Thursday lit a profit-taking match that kept burning on Friday. The SOX Index declined 0.9% for the second straight session.

Avago Technologies (AVGO 85.04, -2.59), Broadcom (BRCM 41.00, -0.50), KLA-Tencor (KLAC 80.00, -0.83), Micron (MU 33.01, -0.34), and Qualcomm (QCOM 69.18, -1.40) all dropped more than 1.0%.

Even NVIDIA (NVDA 19.79, -0.43), which reported better than expected third quarter earnings results and issued in-line fourth quarter guidance, declined 2.1%.

The biggest sector loser, however, was First Solar (FSLR 50.29, -6.12). It plunged 10.9% after reporting better than expected third quarter earnings but then noting it sees some risk of potential overcapacity in the solar market.

Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC 59.68, -0.01) was another company that topped earnings estimates, yet had little to show for it at the end of Friday's trading. CSC had also risen 8.0% over the last three weeks.

The underlying message is that Friday was a consolidation day for the sector and the broader market. Like the October employment report, it was neither too hot nor too cold for buyers and sellers alike.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: China reported some soft industrial production data for October, oil prices collapsed below $75.00/bbl, the energy sector declined 1.4%, and UPS (UPS 107.79, -0.16) issued an earnings warnings for FY15. The S&P 500, however, still finished the day higher.

Granted it only gained a point, yet it was a hard fought point that belied a wide trading range that saw the S&P 500 hit 2046 at its high of the day and 2030 at its low.

Two factors helped catalyze the late buying interest: (1) Minneapolis Fed President Kocherlakota (an FOMC voter) saying he doesn't expect inflation to hit the Fed's 2.0% target until 2018 and (2) a report that oilfield services company Halliburton (HAL 53.79, +0.56) is allegedly in talks to acquire Baker Hughes (BHI 58.75, +7.77).

The latter report didn't do anything to help oil prices, yet it did help the energy sector bounce back from a larger 2.8% decline earlier in the trading session.

For obvious reasons, it didn't do anything either to help the S&P 500 information technology sector, yet the sector didn't need the help. It was doing just fine -- and it did just fine -- thanks to nice-sized gains in a number of its most influential components.

Enter Apple (AAPL 112.82, +1.57), which jumped 1.4% on reports Apple watch suppliers are getting ready for production and that Bernstein raised its price target to $120 from $110. Apple, which sports a $662 billion market cap, is up 19% from its October 15 low.

Cisco (CSCO 25.68, +0.57) also jumped out with a 2.3% increase. That move was laudable in light of the fact that Cisco issued weaker than expected revenue growth and non-GAAP EPS guidance for its fiscal second quarter after Wednesday's close.

Microsoft (MSFT 49.61, +0.83), meanwhile, advanced 1.7% following the company's news that Xbox One sales are approaching 10 million consoles and that it acquired enterprise security software company Aorato.

The mega cap favoritism persisted with the outperformance of Intel (INTC 33.69, +0.30), Oracle (ORCL 40.72, +0.58), and IBM (IBM 162.79, +0.87).

It was SanDisk (SNDK 94.98, +2.15), though, that edged out Cisco as the biggest percentage gainer in the sector. SanDisk can thank Goldman Sachs for that after the firm upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral. Goldman Sachs did the same for Broadcom (BRCM 41.79, +0.64) while lowering its rating on Jabil Circuit (JBL 20.52, -0.83) to Neutral from Buy.

With a 3.9% decline, Jabil stood out as one of the biggest percentage losers, trailing only First Solar (FSLR 47.56, -2.03), which dropped 4.1% on heavy volume.

NetApp (NTAP 41.08, -1.23) followed on Jabil's heels after issuing some weaker than expected third quarter guidance.

Elsewhere, security software company CyberArk (CYBR 42.92, +9.22) had a stellar day following its first quarterly report as a publicly-traded company. CyberArk made all the right moves for a new IPO, which is to say it not only topped third quarter expectations easily, it also issued fourth quarter EPS and revenue guidance that was above analysts' average estimates.

Companies serving the telecom carriers didn't fare too well after Cisco indicated a few customers slowed their order rates dramatically. As noted previously, Cisco still held up fine on Thursday, yet names like Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 3.05, -0.13), Ciena (CIEN 14.80, -0.36), and JDS Uniphase (JDSU 12.83, -0.40) did not.

Their losses, though, still did not measure up to the 5.9% decline suffered by Twitter (TWTR 40.04, -2.50). That stock gave back just about everything it gained after its analyst day on Wednesday as S&P assigning a junk-grade rating (BB-) for its $1.8 billion convertible notes weighed on investor sentiment.

Separately, Amazon.com (AMZN 316.47, +4.97) made a nice move following the report that it resolved its publishing dispute with Hachette and that the companies signed a new multiyear contract.

4:14 pm Catalent misses by $0.07, beats on revs; reaffirms FY15 revs guidance, announces acquisition of Micron Technologies (CTLT) : Reports Q1 (Sep) adjusted earnings of $0.13 per share, $0.07 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.20; revenues rose 1.0% year/year to $418.3 mln vs the $411.15 mln consensus.

Guidance: Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $1.89-$1.92 bln vs. $1.9 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees Adjusted EBITDA of $450-$460 mln, adjusted net income of $215-$225 mln, and capex of $115-$125 mln.

Acquisition: In a separate press release, CTLT announces that it has acquired Micron Technologies, a provider of particle size engineering technologies. Terms were not disclosed.

4:11 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Eke Out Slim Gains Despite Weakness in Energy (:WRAPX) : The major averages settled near the middle of their ranges after sliding from early highs. The S&P 500 gained a point while the Russell 2000 (-0.9%) underperformed throughout the trading day.

Equity indices started the day on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 rising into fresh record territory with help from three sectors that represent roughly 40% of the market. To that point, consumer discretionary (+0.6%), consumer staples (+0.5%), and technology (+0.6%) rallied at the start and displayed relative strength throughout the day.

However, the strength in the influential trio was not enough to keep the benchmark index near its high with the energy sector (-1.4%) acting as a big drag. The sector, and crude oil, spent the day in a steady retreat after China's Industrial Production growth slowed to 7.7% (expected 8.0%) and the ECB's Survey of Professional Forecasters lowered the region's 2014 harmonized inflation outlook to 0.5% from 0.7% and cut the 2015 forecast to 1.0% from 1.2%. Crude plunged 3.9% at $74.17/bbl after a daylong retreat that was capped with a $1.33 straight-line dive from the $75.50 level.

As for the energy sector, the group cut its loss in half in reaction to afternoon reports indicating Halliburton (HAL 53.79, +0.56) is in talks to buy Baker Hughes (BHI 58.75, +7.77). Baker Hughes surged 15.2%. The weakness in energy did not stop the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.2%) from registering a modest gain since the index contains just two members of the energy sector. Chevron (CVX 116.45, -1.20) and ExxonMobil (XOM 94.66, -0.72) lost 1.0% and 0.8%, respectively. Outside of the two names, Caterpillar (CAT 101.11, -1.88), which relies heavily on China, was the only other laggard of note within the Dow. Shares of CAT ended lower by 1.9%.

On the upside, the consumer discretionary sector received support from media names after the House Energy and Commerce Committee told the Federal Communications Commission that reclassifying the internet as a utility is outside of its authority. Time Warner Cable (TWC 141.05, +4.57) climbed 3.4% to underpin the sector after Comcast (CMCSA 54.30, +0.70) said its merger with TWC remains on track.

Meanwhile, the other consumer sector-staples-spent the day in the green thanks to a better than expected report from Wal-Mart (WMT 82.94, +3.74). The bottom-line beat overshadowed the company's guidance for flat comparable store sales in Q4.

Elsewhere, the technology sector advanced amid gains in top-weighted components. Apple (AAPL 112.82, +1.57), Intel (INTC 33.68, +0.30), and Microsoft (MSFT 49.61, +0.83) added between 0.9% and 1.7% while Cisco Systems (CSCO 25.68, +0.57) jumped 2.3% after beating earnings estimates on light guidance.

Treasuries climbed throughout the day, but backed away from highs into the close. The 10-yr yield fell three basis points to 2.35%.

Participation was a bit below long-term average as 690 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims, JOLTs, and the Treasury Budget:


The initial claims level increased to 290,000 from an unrevised 278,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 280,000

The Department of Labor said there were no special factors influencing the report

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for September indicated job opening decreased to 4.735 million from 4.853 million The Treasury Budget for October showed a deficit of $121.70 billion, which followed the prior deficit of $90.60 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to hit $122.00 billion Tomorrow, the Retail Sales report for October (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) and October Import/Export Prices will be released at 8:30 ET while the preliminary reading of the November Michigan Sentiment Index (consensus 87.5) and the September Business Inventories report (expected 0.2%) will cross the wires at 9:55 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.
Nasdaq Composite +12.1% YTD S&P 500 +10.3% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.5% YTD Russell 2000 +1.1% YTD

4:07 pm Applied Materials reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (AMAT) : Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.27 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.27; revenues rose 13.6% year/year to $2.26 bln vs the $2.26 bln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.25-0.29 vs. $0.31 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Q1 revs flat to +5%, or roughly $2.26-2.373 bln vs. $2.38 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "Our fourth quarter results round out a strong year for Applied Materials where we grew revenues in our semiconductor business by 25 percent and expanded our company operating margin by 6 points," said Gary Dickerson, president and CEO. "We are making our largest gains in areas of the market that are growing the fastest, including etch and deposition, and we carry positive momentum into 2015."

4:06 pm Intevac announced an order for one 200 Lean magnetic disk sputtering system (IVAC) : "We expect to ship this system in the first half of 2015."

12:48 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

VIAB (72.81 +5.14%): Reported Q4 earnings of $1.71 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.68; revenues rose 9.3% year/year to $3.99 bln vs the $3.89 bln consensus.
NTES (98.81 +4.09%): Reported Q3 earnings of $1.44 per share, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.48; revenues rose 32.3% year/year to $507.78 mln vs the $466.11 mln consensus.
TSN (40.96 +2.73%): Initiated with a Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts, tgt $48.

Large Cap Losers

MNK (87.24 -6.18%): Responded to FDA's expected reclassification of Methylphenidate ER; co believes that the FDA's actions are not supported by sound scientific evidence.
TYC (42.08 -2.95%): Reports Q4 adj earnings of $0.56 per share (Continuing Ops Before Special Items), excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.56; revenues rose 3.6% year/year to $2.7 bln vs the $2.72 bln consensus.
KSS (56.40 -2.61%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.70 per share, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.74; revenues fell 1.6% year/year to $4.37 bln vs the $4.39 bln consensus.

Mid Cap Gainers

KING (15.53 +10.69%): Heard positive commentary out of Cowen reiterating Outperform rating and $27 tgt.
GNW (9.13 +3.75%): Upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James.
TDG (192.52 +3.32%): Reported Q4 earnings of $2.21 per share, $0.19 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $2.02; revenues rose 19.0% year/year to $642.2 mln vs the $628.29 mln consensus.

Mid Cap Losers

JCP (7.13 -8.18%): Reported Q3 (Oct) loss of $0.77 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.81); revenues fell 0.5% year/year to $2.76 bln vs the $2.81 bln consensus.
HP (79.00 -7.67%): Reported Q4 earnings of $1.53 per share, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.67; revenues rose 13.9% year/year to $985 mln vs the $978.66 mln consensus.
SPWR (27.69 -5.01%): Guided FY15 revs and EPS below consensus ahead of Analyst Day today.

12:09 pm BlackBerry announces business update ahead of Investor Day tomorrow; partnership with Sansumg Elec (SSNLF), Salesforce.com (CRM), and Bombardier (BDRBF) (BBRY) : BlackBerry announced an agreement with Salesforce (CRM) to connect its No. 1 customer relationship management platform to BlackBerry's enterprise mobility management solutions. The partnership highlights the companies' mutual dedication to provide highly secure enterprise services and offerings that meet the demands of regulated industries that require the highest levels of security.

BlackBerry also announced a new partnership with Samsung (SSNLF) where BES12 will manage a wide range of Samsung KNOX smartphones and tablets. The companies will work together in regulated industries and with government customers. Co also announced Bombardier (BDRBF), American Crane, Home Hardware and Rocco Forte are among a group of global customers that are migrating to the new BES12: a cross-platform EMM solution by BlackBerry, available today. Finally, revealed two identity and access solutions: Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry and VPN Authentication by BlackBerry. These solutions will enable enterprise workers to be productive without compromising security or cost effectiveness.

11:46 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (260) outpacing new lows (83) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAPL, AAT, ABAX, ABBV, ABC, ABT, ACHN, ACTG, ADP, AFFX, AFSI, AGU, ALK, ALL, ALSN, AMOT, AMP, ANAC, ASBC, ASH, ASML, ATNI, AZO, BABA, BABY, BAH, BBRY, BCR, BIDU, BIG, BIN, BMI, BR, BRCD, BRCM, BRK.A, BRK.B, BRKS, CACI, CAG, CAH, CATO, CBF, CBM, CBRL, CEA, CERN, CHD, CHDN, CHE, CHFN, CHKP, CHSP, CI, CLC, CLDT, CLX, CMN, CNBKA, CNC, COR, COST, COTY, CSH, CST, CSX, CTP, CVA, CYBR, DAL, DFT, DGX, DHX, DIN, DNB, DPS, DPZ, DRI, DSPG, DTSI, DXCM, DYAX, EA, EARN, EBSB, ECHO, EEFT, ELLI, ENR, ESPR, EXPO, FDS, FFG, FIBK, FISV, FIZZ, FLWS, FTNT, FWRD, GD, GFN, GHC, GK, GNCMA, GNTX, GPC, GPI, GPN, HAWK, HD, HNI, HNT, HRC, HRL, HSP, HT, HTBK, HUBS, HVB, IBP, IDCC, IDXX, IEC, IMDZ, IMKTA, INCY, INFY, INGR, IP, IPCC, IQNT, IRM, IT, JJSF, JNJ, JOUT, KFRC, KMB, KMG, KNX, KWR, LABL, LB, LBTYA, LGF, LNBB, LNDC, LOGM, LOW, MANH, MAR, MATX, MCO, MDT, MDXG, METR, MFRM, MKC, MKSI, MMM, MMS, MNST, MOH, MPAA, MSEX, MSFG, MSFT, MTD, MTX, MWV, NAVI, NBCB, NFBK, NKE, NTES, NUVA, NXTM, OABC, OMCL, OMER, OPLK, ORLY, OTEX, OVAS, PANW, PDCO, PEI, PEOP, PEP, PERY, PII, PLKI, PLOW, PPS, PRGS, PRK, QLYS, QTM, RAI, RAX, RDI, RDY, RECN, RJET, ROL, ROST, SAPE, SBCF, SCLN, SCMP, SERV, SGBK, SHW, SJR, SLM, SMCI, SQBK, SRCL, SSNC, STRA, SWI, SWIR, SWK, SXT, SYK, SYMC, TDY, TFX, TGT, TGTX, TNET, TSRA, TTGT, TUBE, TXRH, TXT, UBSI, UCFC, UEIC, UNH, USLM, UVE, VAC, VAL, VAR, VASC, VFC, VTR, WGL, WHR, WLP, WMS, WMT, WSBC, WSBF, WST, XNPT, Y, YHOO, ZUMZ

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABIO, ADGE, AIXG, AMPE, AMSC, ANGI, ASPN, ATW, AXX, BAS, BAXS, BRSS, BSI, CEL, CERE, CHOP, CIG, CORI, CPAH, DDD, DMD, DOVR, E, EC, EDMC, ESEA, FMD, FORD, FTEK, GBSN, GFA, GGB, GLRI, HIIQ, INVN, KOP, LAND, LND, LOCM, LOV, LPHI, LUB, MEMP, MZOR, NADL, NRT, NTP, NYMX, PAL, PBMD, PHMD, PRTO, PTEN, PTNR, RCAP, RCPI, RESI, RGDX, RIG, RIGP, RNO, RVNC, SARA, SDLP, SID, SLTC, SM, SOL, SR, STAY, TEU, TGE, TS, UCP, USEG, VALE, VIVO, WF, WPX, WTSL, XIN, YUMA, ZX

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: QQQ, RTH, SDY, SPY, VTI, XLI, XLK, XLP, XRT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: SLX, UGA, UHN, USO

Castaic Lake Water Agency and its retail division, the Santa Clarita Water Division announced that SunPower (SPWR) completed a 3.5-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant. CLWA estimates that, in combination with the agency's existing 1-MW SunPower solar plant, it will reduce electricity costs by ~$20 mln over the next 25 years.

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From Briefing.com: Steamrollers don't move very fast, yet they can still be deadly if you happen to get run over by one. That is the essence of the stock market these days. It isn't moving very fast, yet it keeps plodding along, flattening any bear who stands in its path.

Tuesday was a case in point. The major indices pressed their way deliberately higher, unbending to concerted profit-taking interest that one has a reasonable basis to think would occur after a 12%+ gain since the middle of October. Didn't happen.

Granted the indices finished off their highs for the day, yet both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were able to lay claim to another record closing high thanks to some broad-based buying interest that resulted in nine out of ten economic sectors posting a gain on Tuesday.

The lone holdout was the telecom services sector (-0.2%). The S&P 500 information technology sector for its part posted a tidy gain of 0.4%, although that left it trailing the S&P 500, which increased 0.5%.

The underperformance wasn't for lack of trying. In fact, the vast majority of sector components ended higher, including Apple (AAPL 115.47, +1.48), which outperformed with a 1.3% gain after BTIG Research raised its price target to $135 from $128 and Apple announced the availability of WatchKit.

IBM (IBM 161.89, -2.27), Microsoft (MSFT 48.74, -0.72), and Yahoo (YHOO 51.75, -0.62) were among the most influential drags.

Yahoo's weakness could easily be explained as profit taking and we suspect the weakness in Alibaba (BABA 110.81, -3.44), of which Yahoo is a major shareholder, probably forced the trade. BABA and many other Chinese Internet plays were on the defensive on Tuesday amid a Bloomberg report that indicated Chinese authorities are expanding their censorship of the Internet.

Including Tuesday's losses, Yahoo and Alibaba are still up 43% and 34%, respectively, from their mid-October lows.

There wasn't any news to account for IBM's weakness. Actually, it seemed to have a good shot at trading higher following the news that it won a seven-year outsourcing contract from Lufthansa worth $1.25 billion, yet investors thought otherwise. Microsoft, meanwhile, wasn't affected by any negative news of note either. Of course, after rising 17% since mid-October, it's not a stretch to say that it was vulnerable to some profit-taking activity.

It seemed, however, that funds didn't flow too far away from the technology universe. The semiconductor stocks had a banner day, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index to a 1.9% gain.

Intel (INTC 34.71, +0.47) had a hand in the outperformance. It jumped following reports that it might merge its mobile and tablet units.

The biggest gainer in the SOX Index, though, was SunEdison (SUNE 21.48, +4.87). It surged 29% in the wake of its announcement that it joined with TerraForm Power (TERP 32.75, +6.91) to acquire First Wind for $2.4 billion.

Programmable logic chip maker Xilinx (XLNX 44.32, +0.91) had a good day, too, as investors responded warmly to the news that its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $800 million of the company's common stock (which would equate to roughly 7% of the outstanding common based on Monday's closing price).

Separately, Agilent (A 40.80, -0.44) fell 1.1% after its fiscal first quarter report and in-line guidance for the December quarter.

Cowen downgraded Agilent to Market Perform from Outperform. Conversely, one of the bigger percentage gainers for the session was Electronic Arts (EA 42.87, +1.47), which benefited from Barclays initiating coverage of the stock with an Overweight rating.

4:31 pm Rambus and Mobiveil partner to bring pre-validated solution to chip makers (RMBS) : Co and Mobiveil announced they have validated interoperability of the Rambus R+ DDR4 Multi-modal PHY with the Mobiveil Universal Multiport Memory Controller (:UMMC) Core for JEDEC standard DDR4/3 and LPDDR3/2 operation. As part of the overall Rambus IP Cores program, the integrated IP provides chipmakers with a pre-validated, industry standard solution that reduces costs and risk by reducing IP qualification time. In addition, the differentiated memory subsystem brings together the superior signal integrity and low power offered by the Rambus R+ multi-modal PHY with the flexibility of the Mobiveil UMMC in a single, easily integrated solution.

4:11 pm Closing Market Summary: Biotechnology Leads S&P 500 To New Record (:WRAPX) : The major averages ended Tuesday near their highs with the S&P 500 (+0.5%) registering its fifth consecutive advance. The benchmark index settled at a fresh record at 2,051.80 high while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%) outperformed after struggling yesterday.

The Tuesday session began on an unassuming note, but the health care sector (+1.6%) quickly pulled away from its flat line thanks to significant strength in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 295.25, +6.41) jumped 2.2% and contributed to the relative strength of the Nasdaq.

In addition to drawing support from biotech, the Nasdaq received a solid boost from chipmakers after SunEdison (SUNE 21.50, +4.89) agreed to acquire First Wind for $2.40 billion as part of a joint venture with TerraForm Power (TERP 32.75, +6.91). Shares of SUNE soared 29.4% while the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index spiked 1.9% with all but two components registering gains.

The broad strength among chipmakers was not enough to bring the technology sector (+0.4%) in line with the benchmark index as Google (GOOGL 544.51, -2.13), IBM (IBM 161.89, -2.27), and Microsoft (MSFT 48.74, -0.41) weighed.

Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical sectors registered gains across the board with materials (+1.1%) leading the bunch. Fertilizer stocks like Mosaic (MOS 46.77, +1.50) and Potash (POT 35.41, +1.62) underpinned the sector after world's largest potash miner, Uralkali, suspended operations due to elevated levels of brine.

For its part, the other commodity-related sector, energy, started in the lead, but narrowed its gain to just 0.1% by the close. Crude oil factored into the sector's retreat from highs, falling 1.4% to $74.60/bbl. The energy component finished near its low even as the Dollar Index (87.58, -0.35) lost 0.4%.

Today's dollar weakness was driven by a better than expected ZEW Sentiment Survey in Germany, which gave a boost to the euro and helped the DAX settle higher by 1.6%. The greenback did show some intraday strength against the yen after Nikkei reported Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to cut the corporate tax next year. The report followed an overnight announcement from the premier, who said he will dissolve parliament, call for a snap election, and delay the impending sales tax hike by at least 18 months.

On the downside, the telecom services sector (-0.2%) was the lone decliner while the consumer discretionary sector (+0.1%) climbed out of the red in the early afternoon. Retailers kept the discretionary space under pressure with Home Depot (HD 95.98, -2.05) and Urban Outfitters (URBN 28.79, -2.04) losing 2.1% and 6.6%, respectively. Urban Outfitters missed estimates while Dow component Home Depot beat by a penny.

Interestingly, the advance to a new record did not lure money out of the Treasury market. The 10-yr note registered a modest gain with its yield slipping two basis points to 2.32%.

Participation was in-line with long-term average as roughly 710 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to PPI and NAHB Housing Market Index:


Producer prices edged up 0.2% in October after declining 0.1%, while the Briefing.com consensus a decline of 0.2% The upside surprise in producer price growth was a result of a sharp 0.5% increase in prices of final demand for services, which was the largest increase since a similar 0.5% gain was recorded in July 2013. The services component was added to the PPI when the new methodology was introduced last year and is difficult to estimate. Final demand of finished goods, which was the headline PPI index under the previous methodology, fell 0.3% in October and was much closer to expectation. The decline in crude and gasoline prices led to a 3.0% drop in the energy price index, while a 5.3% increase in meat prices led to a 1.0% overall increase in food in October Excluding food and energy, core prices rose 0.4% in October after reporting no change in September while the consensus expected an increase of 0.1%. The NAHB Housing Market Index for November jumped to 58 from 54 while the Briefing.com consensus expected an uptick to 55 Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while October Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.025 million) and Building Permits (consensus 1.04 million) will be reported at 8:30 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 14:00 ET release of the FOMC Minutes from the October meeting.
Nasdaq Composite +12.6% YTD
S&P 500 +11.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.6% YTD

4:02 pm Advanced Energy CFO to step down (AEIS) : Co announces that Danny Herron, EVP and CFO, will step down after a transition period to pursue other opportunities. The co has initiated a search for his successor and Mr. Herron has agreed to continue in his role for such transition period.

12:30 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

POT (35.58 +5.3%): Strength in potash names as news out of Russia that Uralkali (URALL) has suspended work in a mine due to higher levels of brine inflow (AGU & MOS also higher).
SNE (21.2 +4.63%): Updated financial targets for entertainment business; sees FY15 pictures segment sales of $8.1 bln; music segment $4.8 billion; sees FY18 pictures segment revs of $10-11 bln; music segment $4.8-5.2 billion; Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
MDT (71.82 +3.8%): Reported Q2 earnings of $0.96 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.95, revenues rose 4.1% year/year to $4.37 bln vs the $4.37 bln consensus; Reaffirmed FY15 EPS guidance; Raised bottom end of FY15 rev guidance

Large Cap Losers

VALE (8.62 -2.66%): Weakness in iron ore stocks following weak economic data out of China.
MPEL (25.32 -2.5%): Weakness in casino stocks following a note from Fitch citing continued expected weakness in Macau's through 1H2015.
HD (96.18 -1.89%): Reported Q3 results that beat consensus estimate by $0.01, reported revs in-line; reaffirmed FY15 EPS guidance, revs guidance; Q3 comps +5.2%; co says still not able to estimate fallout from data breach.

Mid Cap Gainers

TERP (34.14 +32.12%): Soaring after announcing a deal with SunEdison (SUNE) to acquire First Wind for $2.4 bln; strong analyst commentary following the move (SUNE also notably higher).
CENX (28.42 +4.91%): Initiated with an Outperform at BMO Capital Mkts.
TEX (29.72 +5.09%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.

Mid Cap Losers

URBN (28.08 -8.92%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.35 per share, $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.41; revenues rose 5.2% year/year to $814.5 mln vs the $813.3 mln consensus; Downgraded at William Blair, Telsey, others.
GSAT (2.58 -8.04%): Unfavorable mention on Monday's Mad Money following CEO appearance on the program.
ESNT (22.93 -3.49%): Announced that it has commenced a public offering in which it is offering 6 mln common shares and certain selling shareholders are offering 6 mln common shares.

12:17 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (168) outpacing new lows (82) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAC, ABBV, ABC, ABMD, ACE, ACT, ADSK, AEC, AET, AGU, AIRT, AIV, ALSN, AMAG, AMBA, APD, APOG, ARG, ASML, AXS, BCE, BCR, BDL, BDR, BG, BGCP, BLT, BRCD, CAG, CAH, CB, CI, CNC, COO, COST, COV, CQB, CSCO, CST, CVA, CVS, CYAN, DAL, DHX, DNB, EA, EMC, ENL, EPAM, EQIX, ESRX, ETE, ETP, EW, EXAM, FCE.A, FIS, FISV, FNF, GD, GMCR, GTIM, GWB, HALL, HCN, HIG, HNT, HRC, HSP, HTLD, HUM, IBCA, IEC, INGR, INTU, IP, IT, ITW, JBSS, JOUT, KAR, KMR, KTWO, LEAF, LM, LVLT, MAG, MCO, MD, MDT, MDXG, MFRM, MHFI, MIK, MMM, MMP, MNST, MOH, MSG, MTD, MTX, MUSA, NAVI, NCLH, NVS, NWL, NXPI, NXTM, NYMT, OFLX, OMER, OTEX, OVAS, PDCO, PEBK, PEI, PERY, PH, PSEM, QTM, QVCA, RCMT, RDCM, RDN, RDWR, REGN, RFMD, RGC, RHI, RHT, RIC, ROL, RUK, SCLN, SCMP, SCOR, SCYX, SEP, SERV, SJR, SNE, SPLP, SWIR, SWKS, SYK, TCP, TFX, TGTX, THG, THI, TQNT, TSRA, TU, UAL, UEIC, UNH, VFC, VOYA, VRNT, WHR, WLP, WMS, WMT, XRAY, Y, YHOO, ZMH, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACST, ADGE, ADHD, ALXA, AMRK, ANGI, ARDM, BONE, BRSS, BTE, BVSN, CBSO, CEO, CGEN, CHLN, CLSN, CODI, CRDC, CVEO, CYNI, CZZ, DAKP, DRWI, DSCO, DXYN, EMITF, ENRJ, EPAX, EPRS, FES, FOXF, FXEN, GGB, GKNT, GRVY, HIIQ, HNR, HP, IPAR, KNM, KTOS, LAS, LNCO, LND, MIND, NADL, NRT, ORPN, OXGN, PARR, PBR, PBR.A, PHMD, PICO, PTEN, RFIL, RLOG, RVLT, SARA, SHOS, SID, SR, SSL, STRL, STXS, SYRX, TAS, TATT, TEU, TNH, TPLM, TRXC, URBN, VALE, VRML, VRTS, VVUS, WGA, WLH, WRES, WSTL, YUMA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IHF, IHI, IWF, IYH, MOO, OEF, PPH, PSK, QQQ, SDY, SMH, SPY, VTI, XLK, XLV

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FXY

8:33 am Solar Power has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the equity interest in a 22 megawatt solar project co; terms not disclosed (SOPW) : Co announces that its wholly owned subsidiary, SPI Solar Japan, has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the equity interest in a 22 megawatt solar project co, including land dedicated for the project, located in Japan. The agreement also contains an option for SPI to develop up to 3 MW of additional capacity on the same site. Construction is planned to begin in April 2015, with completion and connection to the grid expected in April 2016.

8:31 am Ixia announced that it has signed an agreement with SYNNEX Corporation (SNX) to establish a two-tiered distribution model in the U.S (XXIA) : Co announces it has signed an agreement with SYNNEX Corporation (SNX), a leading distributor of IT products and services, to establish a two-tiered distribution model in the U.S. for SNX to offer - through its resellers - XXIA's network visibility architecture and certain test solutions to the IT Channel.

8:04 am Micron announces CFO Ronald Foster to retire in 2015; expected to be effective Feb. 28, 2015 (MU) :

7:03 am JA Solar beats by $0.06, beats on revs; announces buyback, sees Q4 total cell and module shipments to be in the range of 850 MW to 900 MW (JASO) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.21 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.15; revenues rose 71.3% year/year to $492.2 mln vs the $425.25 mln consensus.

Total shipments were 785.4 megawatts ("MW"), increases of +57.0% y/y and +15.2% sequentially Shipments of modules and module tolling were 693.5 MW, increases of +127.4% y/y and +55.6% sequentially Gross margin was 15.0%, an increase of 370 basis points y/y but a decrease of 20 basis points sequentially Co announced US$90 million buyback Guidance: Sees Q4 total cell and module shipments to be in the range of 850 MW to 900 MW. This results in full year 2014 shipments expected to be in the range of 3.1 GW to 3.2 GW. The Company now expects to ship 160 MW of modules to its downstream projects, compared with the previously guided 200 MW.

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From Briefing.com: It was another typical day on Wall Street on Thursday. How do we know?

Early losses were met with buying interest

The Dow and S&P 500 set new record highs Good news was emphasized more than bad news

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 13.77, -0.19) declined

The yen weakened against the dollar; and A brokerage firm (more than one actually) raised its price target for Apple (AAPL 116.31, +1.64) The latter is the most germane to this segment here as Apple once again proved instrumental in driving the outperformance of the S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.6%). Helpful catalysts included Piper Jaffray raising its price target to $135 from $120, Morgan Stanley raising its price target to $126 from $115, and Evercore ISI raising its price target to $135 from $125.

It didn't hurt matters either that consumer electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY 38.02, +2.48) reported better than expected third quarter results, calling attention to the pent up demand in front of the iPhone 6 launch.

Apple's influence notwithstanding, the biggest mover of the day was Intel (INTC 35.95, +1.60). It jumped 4.7% on very heavy volume after the company at its investor meeting said it expects mid-single digit revenue growth in FY15 and announced a 6.7% increase in its annual dividend to $0.96 per share.

Intel's strong showing helped the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index move 0.9% higher, erasing the entirety of Wednesday's loss and then some.

In many respects, Thursday was a reversal day for a number of stocks as the propensity to buy the dip was alive and well following a spate of better than expected economic data in the U.S. that featured the highest reading for the Philadelphia Fed Index (40.8), a regional manufacturing survey, since December 1993.

Microsoft (MSFT 48.70, +0.48), which dropped 1.1% on Wednesday, gained 1.0% on Thursday; NVIDIA (NVDA 20.34, +0.33), which dipped 0.8% on Wednesday, jumped 1.7% on Thursday; and Yahoo (YHOO 51.25, +0.67), which fell 2.3% on Wednesday, increased 1.3% on Thursday.

Yahoo for its part announced a five-year partnership with Mozilla, whereby it will be the default search experience for Firefox in the U.S. on mobile and desktop. Yahoo labeled the deal its most significant partnership in five years.

Salesforce.com (CRM 58.30, -2.72) could have used a partner on Thursday. It was isolated as the sector's biggest percentage decliner, dropping 4.5% after its fourth quarter and FY16 guidance failed to live up to higher expectations. A number of analysts, though, came out in defense of the stock, saying they would buy on the weakness.

Elsewhere, Riverbed Technology (RVBD 20.52, +0.39) jumped on reports that it could be a potential target for a private equity firm and many of the Chinese Internet stocks garnered some renewed buying interest following a recent bout of weakness. Alibaba (BABA 109.82, +1.00) was included in that group after Reuters reported that Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, said the company will be setting up an international version of Taobao, its e-commerce marketplace.

On a related note, Amazon.com (AMZN 330.54, +4.00) tacked on 1.2% following the company's announcement that it will start Black Friday deals beginning on Friday, November 21, and add new deals as often as every 10 minutes for eight straight days.

4:19 pm Closing Market Summary: Cyclical Sectors Send S&P 500 To New Record (:WRAPX) : The stock market ended the Thursday session on a modestly higher note despite a cautious start. The S&P 500 added 0.2%, ending at a fresh record at 2,052.75 while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) and Russell 2000 (+1.1%) outperformed.

Equities faced some pressure at the start after disappointing data from overseas led to profit taking in Europe. Specifically, China's HSBC Manufacturing PMI came in at 50.0, which represents the difference between expansion and contraction, while Japan reported a slim downtick to 52.1 from 52.4. As for the eurozone, Manufacturing PMI slipped to 50.4 from 50.6 and Services PMI fell to 51.3 from 52.3.

The key indices began inching away from their lows right after the open and the cautious sentiment evaporated in a hurry after better than expected Existing Home Sales (5.26 million; Briefing.com consensus 5.17 million), Leading Indicators (0.9%; consensus 0.6%), and Philadelphia Fed Survey (40.8; expected 18.3) crossed the wires at 10:00 ET.

Thanks to the rebound, the S&P 500 marked its session high two hours after the start, but was unable to build on its gain. Instead, the index maintained a five-point range into the afternoon to end with a slim gain. However, conviction in the advance was not very strong with fewer than 650 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed, turning its week-to-date loss to a gain of 0.6%. Shares of Apple (AAPL 116.31, +1.64) were a major source of strength, climbing 1.4%. Other large cap technology (+0.6%) components were not nearly as strong as the largest sector-and Nasdaq-member, but chipmakers picked up the slack. The PHLX Semiconductor Index jumped 0.9% with Intel (INTC 35.95, +1.60) surging 4.7% after providing revenue guidance and boosting its annual dividend to 96 cents.

Interestingly, the strength among high-beta chipmakers and small cap stocks was not met with gains in the biotech space. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 294.02, -0.19) shed 0.1% after failing to hold its intraday gain. As for health care (-0.4%), the largest countercyclical group tried to turn positive in the morning, but that effort was rebuffed. Similarly, the remaining countercyclical sectors ended in the red.

Turning back to the cyclical side, the energy sector (+1.1%) settled in the lead with help from crude oil, which spiked 1.8% to $75.82.bbl.

Elsewhere, the consumer discretionary sector (+0.4%) outperformed thanks to retailers after Best Buy (BBY 38.02, +2.48), Dollar Tree (DLTR 65.87, +3.24), Williams-Sonoma (WSM 75.22, +5.80), and L Brands (LB 80.08, +2.40) reported better than expected results. The four gained between 3.1% and 8.4% while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 92.56, +1.52) advanced 1.7%.

Treasuries spent the day in the green, but ended near the bottom of the intraday range, sending the 10-yr yield lower by three basis points to 2.33%.

Participation was on the light side with fewer than 650 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Investors received several data points, including Initial Claims, CPI, Existing Home Sales, Philly Fed Survey, and Leading Indicators:

Weekly initial claims decreased to 291,000 from an upwardly revised 293,000 (from 290,000), while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 285,000 Over the past few months, the initial claims level has stabilized below 300,000, and week-to-week volatility has slowed. Trends continue to point toward low layoff activity Continuing claims fell to 2.330 million from an upwardly revised 2.403 million, representing the lowest level since December 2012 The CPI report was unchanged in October (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%) while Core CPI ticked up 0.2% (consensus 0.1%) The increase in core prices in October was the largest gain since prices rose 0.3% in May, but year-over-year price growth remains benign at 1.8% Existing home sales increased to 5.26 million SAAR in October from an upwardly revised 5.18 million (from 5.17 million) while the Briefing.com consensus pegged sales at 5.17 million Sales increased 2.6% year-over-year, which was the first gain on that basis since last October. It was also the most homes sold since September 2013 The underlying conditions remain positive for the housing industry. A sharp drop in mortgage rates and strong improvements in the labor market have made housing more affordable The Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook spiked to 40.8 in November from 20.7 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 18.3 Business activities in the Philadelphia region reached their highest point since December 1993. A total of 49% of firms saw business activities improve in November as opposed to only 9% that saw decreased activity The Shipments Index rose to 31.9 in November from 16.6 in October. The gain in production was predicated on a spike in new orders (35.7 from 17.3) The Leading Indicators report for October was up 0.9%, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 0.6%. That followed a revised 0.7% increase in September (from 0.8%) There is no economic data of note on tomorrow's schedule.
Nasdaq Composite +12.5% YTD S&P 500 +11.0% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.9% YTD Russell 2000 +0.6% YTD

4:11 pm Marvell reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS & rev mid points below consensus (MRVL) : Reports Q3 (Oct) earnings of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.29; revenues fell 0.1% year/year to $930.1 mln vs the $976.11 mln consensus. Q3 Non-GAAP gross margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 was 51.0 percent, compared to 50.6 percent for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 and 50.3 percent for the third quarter of fiscal 2014.

Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.22-0.26, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.26 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $880-900 mln vs. $930.88 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co sees Q4 GAAP Gross Margin is expected to be in the range of 50.1% +/- 100 bps. Non-GAAP Gross Margin is expected to be in the range of 50.5% +/- 100 bps.

4:10 pm Amtech Systems' Tempress Systems obtains multi-million dollar order (in the low teens) from US based Mission Solar Energy for its high efficiency n-type Bifacial Cell Line; units are expected to ship within the next six months (ASYS) :

Co announced its subsidiary, Tempress Systems, has received a multi-million dollar order (in the low teens) for its solar equipment, including PECVD, to be used in the second phase of Mission Solar Energy's cell production line implementing next generation, high efficiency n-type bifacial cell technology. These units are expected to ship within the next six months.

4:05 pm Agilent announced it has named two new business presidents and realigned its businesses to better serve customers. (A) : Co announces it has named two new business presidents and realigned its businesses to better serve customers. Patrick Kaltenbach has been named SVP, Agilent, and president of the Life Sciences and Applied Markets business unit, which combines the former Chemical Analysis Group and Life Sciences business. Jacob Thaysen has been appointed SVP, Agilent, and president of the Diagnostics and Genomics Group. Both appointments are effective immediately.

Kaltenbach was most recently Agilent vice president and general manager of the Life Sciences Products and Solutions organization.
Thaysen was most recently vice president and general manager of Agilent's Diagnostics and Genomics business within LDG.

1:09 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

ATVI (20.93 +6.95%): Announced that an agreement has been reached to settle the consolidated derivative and class action shareholder case; multiple insurance companies to pay ATVI $275 mln; announced that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is now the biggest entertainment launch of the year; Bullish commentary from CRT Capital following better than expected day 1 sales of World of Warcraft.
BBY (37.78 +6.31%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.07, beat on revs, comps +2.2%; guided Q4 comps above consensus.
DLTR (65.7 +4.9%): Beat consensus estimates by $0.05, beat on revs; guided Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line; Same-Store Sales improved 5.9%; Tgt raised at Canaccord Genuity.

Large Cap Losers

MBLY (44.07 -5.73%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.04 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.04; revenues rose 70.1% year/year to $34.7 mln vs the $31.09 mln consensus as earnings growth slows from Q2.
GMCR (144.02 -6.45%): Beat consensus estimated by $0.13, beat on revs; guided Q1 EPS, net sales below consensus; mixed FY15 guidance (EPS above, rev below); raised dividend 15%, CFO stepping down next year.
CRM (58.39 -4.31%): Beat consensus estimates by $0.01, missed on revs; guided Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guided FY16 revs below consensus.

Mid Cap Gainers

DDS (124.09 +12.03%): Jumping after Marcato Capital released a presentation to the company suggesting they undergo a REIT spin-off; sees combined value of $193 per share, disclosed 4.9% stake.
WSM (76.04 +9.54%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.68 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.63; revenues rose 8.7% year/year to $1.14 bln vs the $1.12 bln consensus; Guided Q4 EPS below consensus, revs in line; tgt raised at Canaccord Genuity, Telsey Advisory, others.
CZR (15.03 +4.59%): Up after company disclosed a REIT transition is one of many plans it is consider to restructure its outstanding debt obligations.
Mid Cap Losers

JMEI (19.86 -10.67%): Reported Q3 earnings of $0.13 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.14; revenues rose 28.0% year/year to $157.7 mln vs the $165.81 mln consensus.
GPRO (72.71 -8.07%): Announced pricing of follow-on public offering of 10,360,500 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $75.00/share by co and selling shareholders.
DCI (39.98 -6.48%): Reported Q1 earnings of $0.40 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.42; revenues fell 0.5% year/year to $596.5 mln vs the $623.85 mln consensus. Gross margin was 35.0 percent versus 35.8 percent in last year's first quarter.

12:41 pm Chip ETF (SMH +1%) make new 13 year high as INTC trades up on FY15 guidance, dividend boost (SMH) :

12:37 pm Intel guides FY15 at Investor Meeting; sees mid single digit rev growth vs. +4% consensus; raises dividend 6.7% (INTC) : Full-year 2015 Business Outlook

Revenue: Growth in the mid-single digits -- estiamtes call for 4% FY15 rev growth over the midpoint of its FY14 rev guidance. Gross margin percentage: 62 percent, plus or minus two points vs. estimates ~62.7%. R&D plus MG&A spending: Spending as a percent of revenue is expected to be down with spending of ~ $20 billion, plus or minus $400 million. Capital spending: ~$10.5 billion, plus or minus $500 million. Dividend: 96 cents-per-share on an annual basis, a 6-cent increase year-over-year, beginning with the dividend that will be declared in the first quarter of 2015.

12:18 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (109) outpacing new lows (94) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACE, ADM, ALL, ARG, AXS, BG, BGCP, BLT, CASY, CATO, CB, CFN, COTY, CRMT, CSCO, CST, CSX, CVTI, DG, DHI, DIN, DLTR, DPLO, DPS, DPZ, EPB, EYES, FAF, FLT, FNF, GTIM, HBI, HIG, IBCA, IDTI, IPXL, ITW, JAH, JLL, KAR, KMP, KMR, KONA, KR, LB, LEN, LNC, LOW, LQ, LVLT, LWAY, M, MAGS, MERC, MIK, MMP, MNDO, MNST, MUSA, NCLH, NICE, NKE, NSU, NTES, NWL, PDCO, PERY, PETM, PRAH, PSEM, RBA, RCPT, RDCM, RDY, RE, RFMD, RIC, RL, ROST, RPI, SBFG, SCYX, SJR, SPLP, SRT, STOR, STX, SWFT, SWKS, SXL, TASR, TCX, THG, THI, TQNT, TRV, TSO, TSRA, TU, TUES, TXT, VBTX, VFC, VR, WAT, WHR, WLDN, WSM, XRAY

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABCO, ABIO, ACUR, ADGE, ALXA, AMCC, ANGI, AOI, ASPN, BBL, BBVA, BCOR, BHP, BKEP, BLRX, BONE, BPI, BRSS, BVSN, CASI, CFRX, CGIX, COOL, CTHR, CYBX, CYNI, DAKP, DATE, DCIX, DNR, DRWI, DSCO, EAC, ECT, EPAX, ESEA, EVGN, EZCH, FES, FORD, GALT, GLMD, HNR, HSON, HTWR, IBM, IKGH, ISH, IVAN, JMEI, KTOS, LAS, LEU, LGL, LPTN, LQDT, LUB, LXRX, MDAS, MIND, MOV, MRVC, NDRO, NTN, OGXI, PICO, PLPC, RIO, RLOG, RNO, RTK, RVLT, S, SALT, SARA, SFUN, SLTC, SMT, STRS, SXCP, TAS, TATT, TBIO, TGA, TRXC, UAMY, ULTR, USEG, UVV, VALE, VALE.P, VLTC, WHZ, WSTL

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: OEF, RTH, SMH, XLY, XRT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FXY, SLX

6:40 am JinkoSolar Holding beats by $0.65, misses on revs (JKS) : Reports Q3 (Sep) diluted Non-GAAP per ADS earnings of $1.36 per share, $0.65 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.71; revenues rose 30.1% year/year to $417.3 mln vs the $459.39 mln consensus.

Total solar product shipments to the third parties amounted to 708.2 megawatts, consisting of 658.1 MW of solar modules, 30.3 MW of silicon wafers and 19.8 MW of solar cells. This represents an increase of 7.4% from 659.5 MW in the second quarter of 2014 and an increase of 36.5% from 518.9 MW in the third quarter of 2013. Total solar module shipments were 758.1 MW, which includes 100 MW to be used in the Company's downstream projects. Gross margin was 20.6%, compared with 22.6% in the second quarter of 2014 and 22.3% in the third quarter of 2013.For the fourth quarter of 2014, the Company estimates total solar module shipments to be in the range of 1,030 MW to 1,120 MW, which includes 730 MW to 770 MW module shipments to third parties and 300 MW to 350 MW for its own downstream projects

5:05 am Advanced Micro announces major technology partnerships with Samsung (SSNLF) (AMD) : AMD (AMD) at its Future of Compute event announced the introduction of the consumer electronic industry's first-ever ultra high-definition monitors to feature its innovative, open-standards based FreeSync technology. Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) plans to launch the screen synching technology around the world in March 2015, starting with the Samsung UD590 (23.6-inch and 28-inch models) and UE850 (23.6-inch, 27-inch and 31.5-inch models), and eventually across all of Samsung's UHD lineups. FreeSync will enable dynamic refresh rates synchronized to the frame rate of AMD Radeon graphics cards and APUs to maximally reduce input latency and reduce or fully eliminate visual defects during gaming and video playback.

2:15 am KLA-Tencor declares special cash dividend, announces planned redemption of Senior Notes due 2018, and updates outlook for Q2 (KLAC) : Co announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend of $16.50 per share on its common stock payable on December 9, 2014 to KLA-Tencor stockholders of record as of the close of business on December 1, 2014. KLA-Tencor's Board of Directors has also authorized the redemption of $750.0 million outstanding principal amount of KLA-Tencor's 6.900% Senior Notes due 2018.

The company also revised its outlook for the second quarter of fiscal year 2015 following the closing of its previously announced registered offering of approximately $2.5 billion aggregate principal amount of its Senior Notes under an effective Registration Statement (including a prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus) on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The revised outlook for the second quarter of fiscal year 2015 also reflects the impact of the planned redemption of $750.0 million outstanding principal amount of KLA-Tencor's 6.900% Senior Notes due 2018
Outlook: Co issues in-line guidance for Q2 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.37-61, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.57 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The major averages kicked off the holiday-shortened week with an advance that was paced by the Russell 2000 (+1.2%). The small-cap index was followed by the Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%) while the Dow (+0.04%) and S&P 500 (+0.3%) ended closer to their flat lines.

Stocks rallied out of the gate with upbeat action overseas contributing to the early strength. Equities in China and Hong Kong spiked in reaction to Friday's PBoC rate cut while European markets were boosted by increased expectations of a forthcoming sovereign QE program from the European Central Bank. To that point, Credit Suisse said it expects the ECB to announce plans for sovereign asset purchases in December.

ECB member and German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann pushed back against the easing expectations, reminding that monetary policy alone is unable to create growth and requires corresponding measures from the fiscal side.

Despite Mr. Weidmann's comments, the market's expectation for more QE manifested itself through increased demand for Italian and Spanish debt. Italian and Spanish 10-yr yields both fell five basis points to their respective 2.15% and 1.97%.

Unsurprisingly, heightened easing expectations led to strength in European bank shares with Banco Santander (SAN 8.75, +0.25) and Deutsche Bank (DB 31.80, +0.87) spiking 2.9% and 2.8%, respectively. As for the broader financial sector (+0.6%), the cyclical group led at the start, but ceded the top spot to the consumer discretionary sector (+0.9%).

The discretionary space enjoyed broad support from homebuilders, retailers, and media names. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 26.08, +0.22) gained 0.9% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 93.90, +1.22) advanced 1.3%. Time Warner Cable (TWX 81.43, +1.38) stood out among broadcasters with a 1.7% spike.

Elsewhere among influential sectors, technology (+0.7%) and health care (+0.5%) outperformed, helping the market resist the pressure from energy (-0.7%), materials (-0.5%), and consumer staples (-0.1%).

The tech sector, and Nasdaq Composite, rallied behind the shares of Apple (AAPL 118.62, +2.16), which surged 1.9%. Chipmakers also provided support with the PHLX Semiconductor Index climbing 1.0%. Furthermore, the Nasdaq drew strength from biotechnology as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 300.15, +5.14) jumped 1.7%.

On the downside, the energy sector spent the day in a steady retreat. Meanwhile, crude oil held an overnight gain, but gave that back and then some to end lower by 1.0% at $75.75/bbl.

Treasuries registered modest gains after erasing their overnight losses. The 10-yr yield slipped one basis point to 2.30%.

Tomorrow, the second estimate of Q3 GDP (Briefing.com consensus 3.2%) will be reported at 8:30 ET while September Case-Shiller 20-city Index (consensus 4.6%) and FHFA Housing Price Index will both be released at 9:00 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the Consumer Confidence report for November (expected 96.0).

Nasdaq Composite +13.9% YTD
S&P 500 +12.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +7.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.1% YTD

DJ30 +7.84 NASDAQ +41.92 SP500 +5.91 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1993/1.45 bln/801 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1919/692.9 mln/1150

3:35 pm :

Crude oil prices slide lower in today's afternoon session, ending the day at $75.75/barrel
Natural gas futures remained in the red all day, but erased a portion of its losses, ending the session down 14 cents to $4.14/MMBtu
Gold and silver inched higher today off lows, but Dec gold closed $2.10 lower at $1195.60, while Dec silver closed 2 cents lower at $16.38/oz

4:10 pm Brocade beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (BRCD) : Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.24 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.23; revenues rose 1.0% year/year to $564.4 mln vs the $562.66 mln consensus.

Co reported Non-GAAP gross margin of 67.7% vs 67.2% last year.
Q4 2014 SAN product revenue was $325 million, flat year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. The SAN year-over-year product revenue performance reflects improvement in director and switch product sales offset by lower server product sales.

4:06 pm PMC-Sierra announces Lenovo (LNVGY) selects PMC 12Gb/s SAS storage solution for ThinkServer Portfolio (PMCS) :

4:04 pm Violin Memory beats by $0.01, beats on revs; will guide Q4 on CC at 17:00 ET (VMEM) : Reports Q3 (Oct) loss of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.20); revenues fell 23.3% year/year to $21.7 mln vs the $20.23 mln consensus.

Third quarter fiscal 2015 non-GAAP gross margin was 54%, compared to 55% reported in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, and 55% recorded in the third quarter of fiscal 2014.
The Company will provide fourth quarter guidance during today's conference call. Call begins at 17:00 ET.

12:00 pm Notable movers of interest (:SCANX) : The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).

Large Cap Gainers
SNN (35.88 +3.64%): Rumors circulating that Stryker (SYK) may purse a bid of up to $15 bln for the co.
ENDP (72.7 +3.56%): Acquired the rights to Natesto Testosterone Nasal Gel for $25 mln upfront.
LRCX (80.93 +2.9%): Heard target raised earlier to $91 from $85 at Goldman; reiterated Buy.

Large Cap Losers

POT (34.73 -5.19%): Potash related names showing weakness after Uralkali (URALL) CEO indicated that his company may restart half of Solikamsk-2 mine operations, according to reports (MOS also lower).
BPL (80.68 -2.3%): Filed for $1 bln offering of limited partnership units.
ASML (103.56 -2.01%): Outlined long-term growth opportunities at Investor Day; goal is to reach EUR10 bln in sales by 2020.

Mid Cap Gainers

DDD (37.46 +6.57%): Announced a definitive agreement to acquire Cimatron (CIMT) for ~$97 mln in cash.
RCPT (127.7 +7.14%): Target raised to $186 from $130 at Leerink Partners; reiterate Outperform.
HLS (39.84 +4.16%): Announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held EHHI Holdings for ~$750 mln.

Mid Cap Losers

CBI (54.16 -5.13%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman; tgt lowered to $46 from $61.
JEC (47.51 -3.2%): Announced the retirement of President/CEO Craig Martin at year-end; Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman; tgt lowered to $40 from $46.
ULTA (123.52 -3.03%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman.

11:50 am Lam Research providing leadership for Semi, one of the top performing sectors thus far (LRCX) : LRCX has pushed to a new session high of 81.15, its multi-year peak from early Nov is at 81.28

11:43 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (170) outpacing new lows (56) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAPL, AAWW, ABBV, AINC, AIV, ALKS, AMGN, AMP, AMT, ANAC, AON, APD, AUXL, AVNR, BAP, BDL, BERY, BFR, BKW, BLK, BRK.A, BRK.B, BSET, BURL, CACI, CASY, CBAN, CDW, CELG, CFFN, CLDT, COV, CPIX, CRMT, CSCO, CSX, CTLT, CTRN, CVS, CVTI, CWAY, CYBR, DDC, DFT, DGX, DIN, DISH, DLPH, DLTR, DPLO, DYAX, EEFT, ELLI, EQR, FFIV, GD, GGG, GGP, GPN, GTT, HCN, HDB, HDS, HIG, HNH, HON, HTLD, IBCA, IBN, IDTI, INCY, INFY, JLL, JWN, KLAC, KNX, LBRDA, LBRDK, LBY, LEN, LEN.B, LII, LM, LNC, LOW, LQ, LSTR, LWAY, M, MAG, MCK, MCRL, MIK, MLI, MMC, MRGE, MRH, MSTR, MU, NAVG, NAVI, NEWM, NKTR, NOC, NTES, NVEE, NXPI, PAM, PANW, PAYC, PEI, PEP, PETM, PGRE, PHM, PPS, PRAH, PTP, PTSI, QTM, RCL, RCPT, RDCM, RMAX, RNA, ROST, RT, RTN, RUK, SBAC, SEE, SIG, SIRO, SNE, SPLP, SPR, SRT, STOR, STRT, SWFT, SWKS, SYMC, TBK, TCX, TFSL, TFX, THG, THI, TMO, TQNT, TSEM, TTWO, TXN, TXT, UEIC, UNP, USB, USCR, VR, VTR, VWR, WAB, WBB, WFC, WOOF, WY, XL, XRAY, Y, ZAYO

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AKER, APDN, BIND, BLRX, CEL, CRNT, CSUN, DAKP, DCTH, DSCO, ELLO, EMITF, ENVA, EVGN, FMD, FORD, FRPT, GNBC, HSON, IVAN, JYNT, KMDA, LPTN, LXFR, MCP, MZOR, NCQ, NDRM, NSPH, NSPR, NTP, OCIP, ORPN, OTIV, OXFD, PED, PICO, PRSS, PSTI, RENN, REPH, RLOG, RTK, RVLT, SARA, SDLP, SHOS, SSNI, SWSH, SZYM, TATT, VIEW, VLTC, WAIR, WHZ, XOOM

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IYF, IYG, IYJ, IYR, PPA, RTH, SMH, SOXX, URE, UYG, XBI, XLF, XLI

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FXY

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ACI bought 10,000 shares@2.33 - I am thinking of establishing a long term position here while trading the stock (or at least some of it) short term. There was insider buying a while back at I think 2.08.






http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=ACI+Insider+Transactions

The political landscape is looking more and more like it will be favorable to coal companies going forward but the falling cost of oil could mean even more pain in ACI long term. Who knows?

RtS

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From Briefing.com: The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Tuesday that real GDP increased at an annualized rate of 3.9% in its second estimate versus its advance estimate of 3.5%. In dollar terms, the U.S. economy is a $16.2 trillion economy.

Apple (AAPL 117.60, -1.03) isn't quite that large, but on Tuesday its market capitalization topped $700 billion, which is roughly the size of Ireland, Norway, and Portugal combined in purchasing power parity terms.

Apple is one big company, one big story, and one big stock. It would ultimately succumb to some profit-taking interest on Tuesday after topping the $700 billion mark. There was probably more psychological resistance there than anything else considering Stifel was the latest firm to raise its price target (to $130 from $115) and Apple is expected to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this holiday shopping season.

The latter point notwithstanding, IDC said on Tuesday that the worldwide tablet market is expected to see a massive deceleration this year to 7.2% growth from 52.5% growth in 2013 due primarily to 2014 marking the first full year of decline in Apple iPad shipments.

On a related note, IDC estimates that worldwide PC shipments will decline by 2.7% in 2014, which is a slight improvement from its prior estimate that called for a 3.7% decline. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 37.63, +0.13) for one took the IDC forecast in stride. It tacked on 0.4% ahead of its earnings report after Tuesday's close.

Wholesale distributor Tech Data (TECD 63.38, +0.75), which reported better than expected third quarter results, provided a measure of support for Hewlett-Packard. HP is Tech Data's largest vendor, accounting for 21% of consolidated net sales in its last fiscal year followed by none other than Apple at 13% of Tech Data's consolidated net sales.

The biggest mover in the S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.1%) on Tuesday was Facebook (FB 75.64, +1.63). It jumped 2.2% on no news.

Salesforce.com (CRM 59.34, +1.25), Adobe Systems (ADBE 72.00, +0.78), Harris Corp. (HRS 71.85, +0.80), Lam Research (LRCX 81.00, +1.01), NetApp (NTAP 43.09, +0.46), Visa (V 257.26, +2.64), and MasterCard (MA 86.34, +1.35) were the only other sector components to gain more than 1.0%.

MasterCard and Visa were probably seen as potential holiday shopping beneficiaries given all of the cashless purchases that will soon be made.

There wasn't a single stock in the S&P 500 information technology sector that closed down more than a percentage point. The biggest "loser" was Apple, which dropped 0.9%.

Despite Apple's influential weight, the sector still managed to outperform the S&P 500 (-0.1%).

Elsewhere, Chinese Internet stocks Qihoo 360 Technology (QIHU 74.74, +5.28) and Dangdang (DANG 11.25, -1.16) took divergent paths following their latest earnings results.

QIHU jumped 8% after topping third quarter expectations and hearing Stifel reiterate its Buy rating on the stock. Dangdang, meanwhile, slumped 9% after reporting third quarter earnings that were slightly below analysts' average estimate and issuing fourth quarter revenue guidance ahead of expectations.

Brocade Communications (BRCD 11.39, -0.30) was another earnings reporter that didn't get treated too kindly. After besting fiscal fourth quarter earnings expectations, some cautious remarks from the analysts at Wunderlich (re: valuation) and Oppenheimer (re: SAN switching revenue remaining range bound) weighed on the stock and overshadowed supportive remarks from the analyst at RBC (re: operational focus driving better profit growth).

Postcript: After the close, Hewlett-Packard reported fiscal fourth quarter adjusted earnings of $1.06 per share, which were slightly ahead of analysts' average estimate, on a 2.5% decline in revenue to $28.41 billion.

The company said it sees fiscal first quarter EPS in the range of $0.89 to $0.93, excluding non-recurring items, and FY15 EPS of $3.83 to $4.03.

Shares of HPQ were down 1.2% in after hours trading as of this posting.

4:31 pm Interdigital Comm: Innovation Partners expands its relationship with McGill University in Canada (IDCC) : Co announced that its Innovation Partners unit has entered into a collaboration agreement with McGill University in Montreal, Canada. The collaboration, which explores new forms of mobile information delivery, is funded by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (:NSERC) of Canada.

4:11 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks End Flat Following Upward Q3 GDP Revision (:WRAPX) : The stock market ended the Tuesday session on a flat note. The S&P 500 shed 0.1% after spending the day in a ten-point range while the other indices also settled near their unchanged levels.

Despite the flat finish, equity indices rallied at the start after the second revision to Q3 GDP surprised to the upside (3.9%; Briefing.com consensus 3.2%). However, the opening spike marked the session high for the S&P 500, which returned to unchanged by the end of the first hour.

The S&P 500 dipped into the red during morning action with the move taking pace amid weakness in the energy sector (-1.6%). The growth-sensitive group widened its week-to-date loss to 2.3% after a meeting between Russia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Venezuela did not produce an agreement to reduce output. Crude oil also retreated on the news, but saw a short-lived spike on its way down in reaction to reports OPEC members may opt to cut supply at Thursday's meeting in order to stem the recent decline in price. The energy component ended lower by 2.2% at $74.09/bbl.

The energy sector was the lone decliner of note while most of the remaining groups ended with modest gains. The consumer discretionary space (+0.3%) finished in the lead after a few names reported earnings. Brown Shoe (BWS 31.29, +2.81), DSW (DSW 34.39, +0.74), and Signet Jewelers (SIG 131.59, +8.60) beat estimates while Tiffany & Co (TIF 107.62, +2.61) missed by a penny. The sector finished in the lead even though homebuilders lagged with the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 25.93, -0.15) shedding 0.6%.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector (+0.2%) also finished near the lead with help from transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average extended to a fresh record, ending higher by 0.4%. Airlines benefitted from lower fuel prices with Delta Air Lines (DAL 44.08, +0.57) advancing 1.3%.

Another cyclical sector-technology-led at the start, but narrowed its gain to just 0.1% by the close. Apple's (AAPL 117.61, -1.02) market cap briefly crossed the $700 billion mark in the morning, but the top-weighted sector component retreated into the close. Unlike Apple, the sector was able to avoid turning negative thanks to gains in other large components like Intel (INTC 36.32, +0.07) and Facebook (FB 75.63, +1.62).

Treasuries notched their lows in reaction to the GDP report, but rallied throughout the day. The 10-yr yield ended lower by five basis points at 2.26%.

Participation was ahead of average with more than 830 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Q3 GDP, Case-Shiller 20-city Index, FHFA Housing Price Index, and Consumer Confidence:


Third quarter GDP was revised up to 3.9% in the second estimate from 3.5% while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 3.2% All of the gain in third quarter GDP resulted from an upward swing in inventories
Real final sales were revised down to 4.1% from 4.2%
The positive surprise was mostly the result of an unexpected upward revision to personal consumption expenditures with goods spending in the third quarter revised up to 4.3% from 3.1% The Case-Shiller 20-city Index for September rose 4.9%, which was ahead of the Briefing.com consensus (4.6%) The September FHFA Housing Price Index was unchanged to follow last month's 0.4% uptick The Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 88.7 in November from a downwardly revised 94.1 (from 94.5) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 96.0. The Present Conditions Index declined to 91.3 from 94.4 while the Expectations Index fell to 87.0 from 93.8 Tomorrow will be busy on the economic front with the MBA Mortgage Index set to cross the wires at 7:00 ET. Weekly Initial Claims, October Durable Orders, and October Personal Income/Spending Data will be released at 8:30 ET while the Chicago PMI for November will cross at 9:45 ET. The final reading of the Michigan Sentiment Survey will be released at 9:55 ET while New and Pending Home Sales will be reported at 10:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +13.9% YTD
S&P 500 +11.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +7.5% YTD Russell 2000 +2.1% YTD

4:10 pm Hewlett-Packard beats by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS within range (midpoint below consensus); reaffirms FY15 EPS guidance (HPQ) : Reports Q4 (Oct) adj. earnings of $1.06 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.05; revenues fell 2.5% year/year to $28.41 bln vs the $28.76 bln consensus.

Personal Systems revenue was up 4% YoY with a 4.0% operating margin. Commercial revenue increased 7% and Consumer revenue decreased 2%. Total units were up 5% with Desktops units down 2% and Notebooks units up 8%. Printing revenue was down 5% YoY with an 18.1% operating margin. Total hardware units were down 1% with Commercial hardware units up 5% and Consumer hardware units down 4%. Supplies revenue was down 7%. Enterprise Group revenue was down 4% YoY with a 14.8%. Enterprise Services revenue was down 7% YoY with a 6.8% operating margin operating margin.Co issues guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.89-0.93, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.93 Capital IQ Consensus.

Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $3.83-4.03, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $3.96 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

HP generated $2.7 billion in cash flow from operations in the fourth quarter, down 4% from the prior-year period. HP also utilized $750 million of cash during the quarter to repurchase approximately 21.7 million shares of common stock in the open market. HP exited the quarter with $15.5 billion in gross cash.

4:04 pm Analog Devices beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (ADI) : Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.69 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.68; revenues rose 20.1% year/year to $814 mln vs the $804.58 mln consensus. Non-GAAP gross margin of 66.4% of revenue; Non-GAAP operating margin of 33.2% of revenue.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.58-0.64 vs. $0.62 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $745-775 vs. $766.22 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:03 pm Aehr Test Systems announces private placement of 1,065,029 shares of common stock at $2.431/share (AEHR) : Total gross proceeds to co will be $2.6 million, before offering expenses. The closing of the private placement will take place on November 26, 2014, and no placement agent was used in connection with the transaction.

12:29 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

PLL (97.15 +2.6%): Beat Q1 consensus estimates by $0.09, beat on revs; reaffirmed FY15 EPS guidance.
CMCSA (56.37 +2.46%): Added to US 1 List at BofA/Merrill.
AAL (44.36 +2.67%): Strength in airlines ahead of the busiest travel day of the year and as crude oil prices continue their drop to multi-year lows.

Large Cap Losers

WDAY (86.65 -6.31%): Reported Q3 that beat consensus estimates by $0.06, beat on revs; guided JanQ revs in-line; Tgt lowered at FBR on disappointing guidance.
HRL (52 -3.93%): Missed Q4 consensus estimates by $0.01, reported revs in-line; guided FY15 EPS below consensus.
LVLT (48.6 -2.9%): Downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.

Mid Cap Gainers

QIHU (75.2 +8.26%): Reported Q3 earnings that beat consensus estimates by $0.02, beat on revs; guided Q4 revs above consensus; Bullish commentary from Stifel.
SIG (129.9 +5.62%): Reported Q3 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.03, revs were in-line; guided Q4 EPS in-line.
PANW (119.59 +5.59%): Reported Q1 earnings of $0.15 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.12; revenues rose 50.0% year/year to $192.3 mln vs the $181.73 mln consensus; Tgt raised at Northland, FBR, Topeka, others.

Mid Cap Losers

CASY (79.95 -9.01%): Announced that it will revise financial results due to error in ethanol excise tax reporting; aggregate impact of the unrecorded excise taxes for the period from Jan 1, 2012 through Jul 31, 2014, fully diluted EPS is ~4.5 cents in each of the affected quarters; Downgraded to Neutral at Northcoast.
P (18.58 -5.88%): Downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at FBR Capital; tgt lowered to $11 from $28.
NBR (15.89 -3.11%): Lower after a judge yesterday suspended merger plans between NBR and C&J Energy (CJES), instructing CJES to solicit proposals from other potential buyers.

11:50 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (261) outpacing new lows (62) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAPL, AAVL, ABAX, ABG, ACNB, ACT, ACTG, AEC, ALSN, AMAG, AMC, AMT, ANCX, AON, APD, AVGO, AVNR, BBW, BC, BDR, BDX, BERY, BIF, BIN, BJRI, BKW, BLK, BLT, BMRN, BNDX, BOOT, BRK.A, BRK.B, BSET, BTF, BURL, BWLD, CACI, CAF, CATO, CBAN, CBRL, CELG, CENX, CFN, CFO, CHKP, CHSP, CIM, COKE, COLM, COTY, COV, CPRT, CSCO, CST, CSX, CTRN, CVA, CVTI, DENN, DGX, DIN, DISH, DLPH, DLTR, DNB, DPLO, DPO, DPS, DSGX, DSPG, DYAX, EA, EAT, EEFT, ELLI, ENL, EPB, EVN, EW, FBMS, FCB, FEUZ, FFC, FFIV, FFNW, FGL, FII, FIS, FLC, FNF, FOLD, FPXI, FTCS, FTNT, FV, GGG, GGP, GK, GPC, GPI, GPN, GTT, HBI, HCKT, HDS, HIG, HLT, HPI, HRC, HSIC, HSNI, HSP, HTLD, HUM, IMAX, IMKTA, INCY, JBLU, JBSS, JWN, KEYS, KLAC, KMP, KMR, KMX, KNX, LB, LBRDA, LBRDK, LBTYK, LBY, LEAF, LEN, LII, LM, LNC, LOW, LQ, LSTR, M, MCRL, MDT, MDXG, MGPI, MMC, MNDO, MRH, MSTR, MTD, MUSA, MWV, MYCC, NAVG, NCLH, NDAQ, NOC, NSC, NUW, NVDA, NXPI, OCUL, ODFL, ONEQ, ORLY, OVAS, PANW, PDCO, PEI, PERY, PLKI, PLL, PLOW, PMCS, PSCD, PSCT, QQXT, QTEC, QTM, R, RAND, RBA, RDI, RDY, RE, RFMD, RGC, RL, RMAX, ROP, RSTI, RT, RTN, RUK, RVP, RVSB, SBAC, SEIC, SFBS, SHLX, SIG, SJR, SNE, SNPS, SONC, SPR, SQBK, ST, STOR, SWFT, SWKS, SYK, SYMC, TBK, TCX, TDY, TFSL, TFX, THI, TIF, TJX, TMO, TNET, TQNT, TQQQ, TRI, TSEM, TSRA, TTWO, TXT, UCFC, UNP, UPLD, V, VAC, VAL, VDSI, VEC, VFC, VMEM, VONG, VR, VTHR, VTR, VUSE, VWR, WAB, WDC, WERN, WEX, WHR, WLDN, WRB, WY, XL, XNPT, XRAY, ZAYO, ZSPH, ZUMZ

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ALE, AMDA, APDN, BGH, BIND, BLRX, BRSS, CEL, CSUN, DCTH, DWSN, ECT, EEI, ENVA, EPM, ESEA, EVGN, FES, FMD, GNBC, GOMO, GZT, HIX, JMEI, KMDA, LEU, MCP, MDGN, MIN, MRTX, MZOR, NCQ, NDRM, NDRO, NSPH, NSPR, ORPN, OXFD, PBIB, PHMD, PICO, PRSS, PTNR, RCPI, RGDO, RNO, RVLT, SALT, SARA, SDLP, SIFY, SIR, SLTC, SPKE, SQQQ, SYPR, SZYM, TGA, VLTC, WGA, WRES, XOOM

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IGN, IHF, IHI, IWF, IYF, IYH, IYJ, IYT, MDY, PPA, QQQ, RTH, SDY, SMH, SOXX, UYG, VTI, XBI, XLI, XLK, XLV, XLY, XRT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FXA

7:39 am NXP Semi announced the pricing of its previously announced private offering of $1 bln aggregate principal amount of 1.00% cash convertible senior notes due 2019 (NXPI) : The Notes will bear interest at a rate of 1.00% per year, payable semiannually in arrears on June 1 and December 1 of each year, beginning on June 1, 2015. The Notes will mature on December 1, 2019. The initial conversion rate for the Notes is 9.7236 shares of NXP's common stock per $1,000 principal amount of the Notes (equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $102.84 per share), which represents an approximately 35.0% conversion premium over the last reported sale price of $76.18 per share of NXP's common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on November 24, 2014.

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From Briefing.com: As the holiday weekend closes, U.S equity markets opened today with many investors cautious about global economic growth. China released PMI numbers portraying a slowing manufacturing sector. In addition, many believe that while early Black Friday numbers were impressive, store traffic slowed later in the day, leading to potentially disappointing sales numbers. The real test comes today though as more and more people decide to spend their money on Cyber Monday rather than wait in line for doorbusters on Black Friday.

While the S&P lost 0.68%, the tech sector gave up 1.14% on the day, making it one of the worst performing sectors to begin December.

Alibaba (BABA 105.99 -5.65) was one of the major losers in the space today amid slowing economic growth in China. The company relies heavily on the Chinese market and any slow down would directly affect the company's revenues.

Twitter (TWTR 39.04 -2.70) also sold off today even though Wunderlich reiterated their Hold rating on Friday. Wunderlich noted that TWTR has been ramping up its e-commerce capabilities in time for the holidays. TWTR is planning to enable a new feature that allows users to get offers from retailers through their timeline and redeem the discount either in store or online. Since reporting earnings results last month, the stock has sold off amid concerns of slowing user growth and an inability to monetize its user base.

In brighter news, Integrated Silicon (ISSI 15.28 +0.81) rose 5.6% after Staboard Group delivered a letter to its CEO stating that substantial opportunities exist to create shareholder value. Starboard believes that the ISSI is currently undervalued due to a number of non-core acquisition initiatives that are distracting the company from its most profitible business segments. ISSI has developed a strong niche in selling DRAM and SRAM, specialty memory products, which account for roughly 75% of the company's revenue.

Overall, the tech sector followed the broad market down, but it's worth noting that stocks were close to all time highs and a pullback can be healthy when prices become too far extended. As more light gets shed on Black Friday and Cyber Monday numbers we should know the real picture, at least in the U.S.

4:02 pm Spansion: CY and CODE to merge in $4 bln all-stock transaction; expected to achieve more than $135 million in cost synergies on an annualized basis within three years and to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings within the first full year after the transaction closes (CY is halted) (CODE) : Cypress Semiconductor (CY) and Spansion (CODE) announced a definitive agreement to merge in an all-stock, tax-free transaction valued at approximately $4 billion. The post-merger company will generate more than $2 billion in revenue annually

Under the terms of the agreement, Spansion shareholders will receive 2.457 Cypress shares for each Spansion share they own. The shareholders of each company will own approximately 50 percent of the post-merger company. The merger is expected to achieve more than $135 million in cost synergies on an annualized basis within three years and to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings within the first full year after the transaction closes. The combined company will continue to pay $0.11 per share in quarterly dividends to shareholders.Cypress and Spansion expect the deal to close in the first half of 2015. Jefferies LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisors and Fenwick & West and Latham & Watkins acted as legal counsel to Spansion. Qatalyst Partners acted as financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati acted as legal counsel to Cypress.4:10 pm : The major averages began December on a lower note with relative weakness among cyclical sectors keeping the market under pressure throughout the day. The Nasdaq Composite (-1.3%) and Russell 2000 (-1.6%) paced the slide while the S&P 500 settled lower by 0.7% with eight sectors ending in the red.

Equities faced selling pressure from the opening bell after the overnight session reminded investors about persistent growth concerns around the globe. In Asia, China's HSBC Manufacturing PMI fell to an eight-month low (50.3; expected 50.5) while Japan's debt rating was lowered to A1 from Aa3 at Moody's. Making matters worse, Germany's Manufacturing PMI slid into contraction (49.5; expected 50.0) while the eurozone Manufacturing PMI narrowly avoided the same fate (50.1; expected 50.4).

Accordingly, the concerns about major economies kept cyclical sectors under pressure with five of six growth-sensitive groups ending behind the broader market. The industrial sector (-1.3%) slumped to the bottom of the leaderboard at the start and remained in that spot until the close. Transport stocks were largely responsible for the weakness with the Dow Jones Transportation Average ending lower by 2.7%.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, the top-weighted technology space (-1.1%) endured a late-morning plunge in the shares of Apple (AAPL 115.05, -3.88). The largest sector component was down as much 6.3% during the opening hour, but narrowed its loss to 3.3%. Chipmakers fared a bit better than Apple, but worse than the sector as evidenced by a 1.3% decline in the PHLX Semiconductor Index.

The energy sector (+0.8%) was the only cyclical group that finished ahead of the market thanks to a rebound in crude oil. The energy component rallied 4.1% to $69.02/bbl after marking an overnight low at $64.00/bbl. As for the energy sector, the group was underpinned by some of its main components like Chevron (CVX 111.73, +2.86) and ExxonMobil (XOM 92.35, +1.81). The two Dow components gained 2.6% and 2.0%, respectively, to help the price-weighted Dow (-0.3%) finish ahead of the broader market.

Over on the countercyclical side, the utilities sector (+0.2%) spent the bulk of the day in the green while other defensively-oriented sectors ended mixed. Health care (-0.2%) and consumer staples (-0.6%) settled ahead of the S&P 500 while the telecom services sector (-1.0%) lagged.

Treasuries notched their highs shortly after the opening bell and spent the remainder of the day in a steady retreat. The 10-yr yield climbed five basis points to 2.22%.

Today's participation was ahead of average with more than 850 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the ISM Index, which fell to 58.7 from 59.0 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 58.0. The Production Index fell to 64.4 from 64.8, which resulted from manufacturers delaying production until a later time. New orders improved as the related index increased to 66.0 from 65.8. Meanwhile, order backlogs increased to 55.0 from 53.0 in October.

Tomorrow, the Construction Spending report for October will be released at 10:00 ET (Briefing.com consensus 0.6%).


Nasdaq Composite +13.2% YTD
S&P 500 +11.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +7.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.7% YTD

3:46 pm Arch Coal filed comments today expressing concerns about the EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan (ACI) : "Already promulgated regulations are expected to drive the shut-down of as much as 20% of America's coal-based fleet, which is the primary source of base-load power generation in the United States. That's an unprecedented change to America's power system in what constitutes the blink of an eye in energy markets -- creating enormous potential for market disruptions, supply shortages and rate spikes."

11:53 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (351) outpacing new highs (138) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAL, ACG, ACN, AFMD, AIRT, AMAG, AMGN, AMOT, AON, ARDX, ASH, AUPH, AVB, AXTA, BAH, BAM, BCR, BDL, BF.A, BF.B, BFO, BMY, BOOT, BRK.A, BRK.B, CAG, CEA, CELG, CIM, CLDT, CMS, COST, DAX, DBL, DDC, DENN, DFP, DGRW, DGX, DIS, DNP, DPZ, DRH, DRI, DWAT, EIX, ENL, ENR, ESRX, ETR, EVN, FDP, FFC, FLC, FMS, FNF, FOXA, FRF, HA, HAIN, HCKT, HCN, HCP, HQY, HWBK, IIF, IMAX, INCR, INFY, INGR, IRM, JBLU, JKHY, JRS, KIM, KRC, LBRDA, LEAF, LHO, LLY, LMCB, LNT, LQ, LUV, MAC, MCRL, MO, MOCO, NEWM, NMO, NPT, NU, NUW, NVR, ODFL, ORAN, PERY, PG, PLAY, PNW, PPS, PSF, PSG, QQQX, RAI, RDY, RIT, RJET, RLJ, RMAX, RUK, RVP, SAVE, SCG, SCOR, SFS, SNE, SO, SPB, SRT, STOR, SWFT, SYMC, TRI, TRK, UPS, USAK, V, VNO, VONG, VRNT, VTHR, VTR, VWR, WLDN, XEL, ZNH, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAOI, AGCO, ALLT, AMDA, AMID, AMRS, AMZG, AOI, APA, APDN, APRI, ARP, ASPS, AVAL, AVAV, AVH, AXX, BALT, BAS, BBEP, BBG, BBL, BCEI, BGH, BHP, BIRT, BKEP, BOOM, BP, BPI, BPZ, BRN, BRS, BRSS, BTE, BTU, CALL, CAM, CBT, CELP, CEO, CFD, CGIX, CHKR, CIE, CJES, CLNE, CLR, CNCO, CNSI, COHR, COMT, CPE, CPG, CRK, CRR, CRT, CRVP, CRZO, CSUN, CTHR, CU, CVE, CVEO, CWEI, CXO, CYNI, DAKP, DATE, DCTH, DLNG, DMLP, DNOW, DNR, DO, DRD, DRYS, DSE, DSX, DWSN, DXPE, E, EAC, EC, ECA, ECR, ECT, EDD, EGY, EMEY, ENBL, EOX, EPE, EPM, ERF, EROC, ESEA, ESV, EVEP, EXLP, EXXI, EYES, FAM, FCX, FDUS, FF, FLR, FLS, FMD, FMSA, FRPT, FTGC, FTI, FTK, FWLT, FXEN, GALT, GDP, GEOS, GER, GGB, GGN, GLMD, GLRI, GMO, GMZ, GNBC, GNT, GOMO, GST, GTE, GTLS, HAL, HERO, HES, HIX, HK, HMLP, HNR, HNW, HP, HSOL, HSON, HTWR, HYGS, IBTX, ICA, ICD, ICL, IKGH, INS, IO, ISH, IVAN, JMEI, JMLP, JONE, JPEP, KBAL, KBR, KMT, KOG, KOP, KOS, LALT, LEI, LEU, LGCY, LINE, LNCO, LOOK, LPG, LPI, LQDT, LRE, LRN, MBT, MCEP, MCP, MDGN, MDR, MDU, MEMP, MEOH, MILL, MIND, MOLG, MPET, MPO, MRO, MRTX, MSM, MTDR, MTRX, MTSL, MUR, MVO, MXF, NADL, NBL, NBR, NBY, NCQ, NDRO, NE, NEFF, NEOT, NOA, NOG, NOV, NPD, NR, NRP, NRT, NSLP, NSPH, NTLS, NTP, NVFY, NVGS, OAS, OCIP, OCLS, OIS, OKS, OPB, ORIG, ORMP, PACD, PBT, PDCE, PE, PED, PEO, PES, PFMT, PGH, PGN, PHMD, PICO, PKD, PLG, PQ, PRIM, PRKR, PRSS, PSCE, PSIX, PSTI, PTEN, PVA, PWE, PWR, QEP, QRM, QTWW, RCON, REE, REI, REN, RENN, RES, RIG, RLOC, RNE, RNO, ROSE, ROYT, RPXC, RTK, RVLT, SALT, SARA, SB, SBLK, SCL, SD, SDLP, SDR, SDRL, SFUN, SFY, SGY, SHOS, SID, SIM, SINA, SLB, SM, SN, SOL, SPKE, SPN, SR, SRF, SSE, SSL, SSN, STXS, SU, SWSH, TAHO, TAXI, TBI, TC, TCAP, TDW, TESO, TESS, TGA, TGB, TGE, TMST, TOPS, TPLM, TRF, TRUP, TRXC, TS, TTI, UAN, UBNT, ULTR, UNT, UPL, UQM, USAC, USAP, USDP, USEG, VET, VIEW, VII, VIP, VJET, VLCCF, VOC, VPFG, VRTS, VSLR, WAIR, WFT, WG, WGA, WHZ, WLL, WPRT, WPX, WRES, WTI, ZEUS

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: PPH, PSK

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, BNO, DBC, DJP, EWM, FXA, GSG, IGE, IXC, JJC, OIH, OIL, REMX, RSX, SLX, UGA, UHN, USCI, USO, XES, XOP

10:08 am Ingram Micro announced that it acquired a majority interest in Armada; terms not disclosed (IM) : Armada is the largest value-added technology distributor in Turkey with 2013 sales of over $280 million. The co plans to make a mandatory tender offer for the remaining shares in accordance with Turkish capital markets regulations.

Materialise (MTLS) announced that last Thursday marked the signing of a franchise agreement between it and UCT (UCTT), which will enable UCT to bring the i.materialise 3D Printing platform to South East Asia and further expand the reach of 3D printing into traditional manufacturing markets. The partnership enables both companies to expand the reach of 3D printing into the traditional outsource manufacturing sector.

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From Briefing.com: U.S equities opened to a storm of bad news this morning. Uncertainty surrounding Greece's bailout and political situation along with China's government potentially lowering target growth rates sent stocks gapping down when the market opened. During the day though, equities were able to pare back most of those losses to close the day relatively unchanged. The Technology Sector essentially performed in-line with the broader market XLK (-0.02%) vs SPX (-0.02%). Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (+1.27%) was the top performing industry group in the sector, while Semiconductors lead decliners (-0.36%).

Top performing large caps in the sector:

Western Digital (WDC 107.80 +2.75) - The company reported it has resolved two non-compliance matters with China's Ministry of Commerce regarding the acquisition of HGST that was completed back in March 2012. WDC will pay a penalty of $100,000, conduct a reorganization of the department in question, and modify its subsidiary structure as a part of the resolution.

Alibaba (BABA 107.48 +2.41) - No news

Workday (WDAY 83.65 +1.69) - No news

Corning (GLW 21.48 +0.47) - Corning presented today at the Barclays Tech. Conference. During its presentation, the company increased its fourth quarter outlook for LCD glass volume, also noting that it expects supply to remain tight to demand entering 2015. In addition, the company mentioned that growth in the LCD TV market is the main driver of anticipated growth in demand for glass.

Twitter (TWTR 37.05 +0.76) - The company announced today that it will be including mobile in its Tailored Audiences ad product. This product, which allows businesses to target
customers who visit their websites and are already in their customer databases, was originally unveiled at the end of 2013. It is important for TWTR to include mobile in this initiative as more consumers ditch their laptops for tablets and large screened smartphones.

Worst performing large caps in the sector:

Broadcom (BRCM 42.65 -0.89) - Broadcom revealed that it sees fourth quarter revenues in line with average analyst estimates. Additionally, the company plans to buyback $1 billion shares in 2015. The company has also enhanced corporate governance by increasing the alignment between executive pay and stock price performance, shifting to a more performance based equity.

Red Hat (RHT 59.10 -0.96) - No news today for the company, but we note that yesterday Wells Fargo downgraded the company to Market Perform from Outperform.

Micron Technology (MU 35.66 -0.37) - No news

Elsewhere in the sector, Amazon.com (AMZN 312.50 +5.86) announced today that it will be releasing a new pricing feature that allows for customers to offer to buy items at lower than the listed price. This could provide more of a bidding atmosphere similar to Ebay (EBAY 55.40 +0.25). The company also revealed that they may be introducing an international drone delivery system.

FireEye (FEYE 30.10 -0.14) - The company plans to partner with Duetsche Telekom (DTEGY 16.33 -0.46) to enhance protection against advanced cyber attacks in Europe. The partnership is expected to offer a comprehensive managed security service that counters IT espionage much faster and effectively.

Upland Software (UPLD 10.53 -0.24) - The relatively recent IPO'd company announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire Mobile Common. UPLD will discuss further details during its upcoming earnings call on December 16, but noted that the deal is expected to increase annualized revenues by approximately $75 million.

Other movers in the sector: Netease (NTES 99.90 +1.29), Yahoo (YHOO 50.51 +0.89), Sandisk (SNDK 104.79 -1.22), King Digital Entertainment (KING 17.33 +0.75), Yandex (YNDX 20.11 +0.68), First Solar (FSLR 45.06 +0.41), Splunk (SPLK 62.61 -0.20), Apple (AAPL 114.12 +1.72)

4:10 pm : The major averages ended the Tuesday session on a mixed note after starting the day with sharp losses. The Russell 2000 and Nasdaq Composite paced the rebound, climbing 1.7% and 0.5%, respectively, while the S&P 500 settled just below its flat line. The Dow shed 0.3% and was the weakest performer among the key indices.

Equity futures were pressured this morning after the overnight session featured a 5.4% plunge in China's Shanghai Composite, which endured its biggest one-day decline since 2009. The dive occurred after the index soared 25.0% in a month and was catalyzed by the People's Bank of China taking measures to tighten liquidity conditions. The central bank fixed the USDCNY exchange rate at its highest level since July and imposed stricter collateral rules on short-term loans.

The cautious sentiment carried over to the European session with Greece's ASE Index sinking 12.8% while the country's 10-yr yield surged 91 basis points to 7.95% after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras called for a presidential election. This took place right after the country was granted a two-month extension to meet its bailout requirements and the early indications suggest the election could put the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) in power, which rattled markets. Adding insult to injury, Germany reported a 3.1% decline in November imports, which was the biggest drop in almost two years.

Despite the global weakness, U.S. equities did not spend much time near their early lows. In fact, the Russell 2000, which led the rebound, marked its low five minutes into the session and never looked back. Since most stocks in that arena are domestically-oriented, they benefited from the consideration that the difficulties for Greece and China make the U.S. economy (and market) look comparatively better. It didn't hurt either that the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for November hit its highest level (98.1) since February 2007.

The strength among small caps emboldened investors to delve into some other high-beta areas like biotechnology and chipmakers. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 314.92, +1.13) gained 0.4%, but the health care sector (-0.4%) underperformed throughout the session.

However, biotechnology did help the Nasdaq make it into the green while chipmakers climbed off their opening lows with the PHLX Semiconductor Index returning to its flat line. Large cap components of the technology sector (+0.5%) also displayed some strength with Apple (AAPL 114.13, +1.73), Google (GOOGL 536.11, +5.38), and Oracle (ORCL 41.87, +0.50) adding between 1.0% and 1.5%.

Outside of technology, energy (+0.9%), materials (+0.3%), and industrials (+0.1%) were the only other advancers on the cyclical side. The energy sector ended in the lead while crude oil jumped 1.1% to $63.82/bbl.

Although biotechnology and chipmakers contributed to the rebound, another high-beta group-transport stocks-did not play along. The Dow Jones Transportation Average (-0.6%) ended in the middle of its intraday range with airlines showing broad weakness after Spirit Airlines (SAVE 73.77, -10.70) issued disappointing guidance in reaction to increased promotional activity among its peers. Shares of SAVE plunged 12.7% while DJTA components Delta Air Lines (DAL 46.33, -1.01) and United Continental (UAL 62.52, -1.73) lost 2.1% and 2.7%, respectively.

Treasuries rallied in the morning, but surrendered a portion of their gains into the close. The 10-yr yield fell four basis points to 2.22%.

Also of note, the Dollar Index (88.73, -0.31) posted its second consecutive decline with the dollar giving ground to the yen. The dollar/yen pair was down as much as 300 pips and tested the 118.00 level before recovering to 119.60 into the afternoon.

Participation was a bit ahead of average with more than 810 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to wholesale inventories and JOLTS:

Wholesale inventories increased 0.4% for a second consecutive month in October after an upward revision to the September data (from 0.3%) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.2%
Durable inventory levels were flat in October after increasing 0.7% in September with increases in hardware (1.6%) and machinery (0.4%) offsetting declines in autos (-1.4%) and professional equipment (-0.7%)
Nondurable inventories increased 1.2% in October after being unchanged in September with petroleum inventories falling 1.9%, which was more than offset by gains in farm products (3.6%), drugs (3.2%), and groceries (1.1%)
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for October indicated job opening increased to 4.834 million from 4.685 million

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the Treasury Budget for November will cross at 14:00 ET (Briefing.com consensus -$59.00 billion).

Nasdaq Composite +14.1% YTD
S&P 500 +11.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +7.4% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.0% YTD

DJ30 -51.28 NASDAQ +25.77 SP500 -0.49 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1927/1.79 bln/968 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1889/814.0 mln/1244 3:40 pm :

Metals showed some strong gains today following weakness in the dollar index
Metals closed today's session with strong gains led by silver, which rose 5.3% to $17.14/ox
Feb gold meanwhile gained 3.1% to $1232.30/oz
WTI crude oil posted a modest gain today, ending $0.72 higher at $63.82/barrel
Natural gas gained 5 cents to $3.65/MMBtu

4:15 pm Advanced Micro announced that it is transferring its stock exchange listing to Nasdaq from NYSE, effective after market close on Dec. 31, 2014 (AMD) :

4:08 pm Broadcom sees Q4 rev at upper half of previous range; reaffirms gross margin; raises dividend 17%; announces $1 bln buyback; enhances corporate governance (BRCM) : Co issues in-line guidance for Q4 (Dec), raises Q4 (Dec) rev to $2.075-2.150 bln from $2.0-2.15 bln vs. $2.09 bln Capital IQ Consensus; reaffirms gross margin

Dividend: Quarterly dividend to increase by $0.02 per share, to $0.14 per share or $0.56 on an annual basis, a 17% year-over-year increase, beginning with the dividend that will be declared in the first quarter of 2015. Buyback: $1 billion share buyback authorization in 2015. Enhances corporate governance measures: Shift in compensation to more performance-based equity; increasing the alignment between executive pay and stock price performance

12:23 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

ABX (12.15 +5.29%): Gold companies rising as the precious metal jumps $36 on the day following a global equity selloff (GG also higher).
AZO (607 +4.47%): Reported Q1 (Nov) earnings of $7.27 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $7.17; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $2.26 bln vs the $2.21 bln consensus.
GLW (21.41 +1.9%): In prepared remarks ahead of its presentation at the Barclays Technology Conference, the co increased its fourth-quarter outlook for LCD glass volume, expects supply to remain tight to demand entering 2015.

Large Cap Losers

TMUS (26.69 -5.35%): Announced a proposed public offering of 17,391,305 shares of mandatory convertible preferred stock, with a liquidation preference of $50 per share.
JAZZ (176.15 -3.76%): Announced there was a technical dosing issue in its Phase 1 clinical trial of JZP-386.
GSK (44.12 -3.16%): Downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Mid Cap Gainers

SC (20.64 +12.79%): Reports out that Santander (SAN) may consider acquiring SC, its U.S. auto lender.
TLM (4.2 +12.17%): The co confirmed it has been approached by a number of parties, including Repsol (REPYY), with regards to various transactions.
BTE (15.14 +5.68%): Announced its 2015 budget and change to dividends, which revised the level down to $0.10 per share from the prior of $0.24.

Mid Cap Losers

SAVE (74.62 -11.66%): Announced disappointing guidance noting dilutive pricing arising from a change in capacity and a compression in the fare structures due to lower fuel prices; downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.
WETF (15.7 -3.98%): Heard was downgraded earlier at Sidoti.
HDS (28.69 -3.6%): Reported Q3 earnings that beat consensus estimates by $0.02, reported revs in-line; guided Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus.

12:15 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session- New lows (68) outpacing new highs (18) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AFSI, AON, CMS, EIX, EQR, ESRX, EXAS, HCN, LVLT, MAC, MNK, NU, PCG, SEE, SPR, WDC, WY, XEL

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABEV, AM, AMD, APA, BHP, BP, BTU, CBI, CLR, CRC, CVX, DDD, ECA, ERF, FCX, FSLR, FTI, GGB, HAL, HES, HFC, HP, HSBC, JEC, KBR, KOS, LINE, LVS, MBT, MDU, MRD, MRO, MT, NBL, NBR, NE, NGLS, NOV, OKE, P, PBR, PBR.A, PSEC, PTEN, QIHU, RDS.A, RIO, RRC, S, SFUN, SID, SINA, SPN, SPWR, SSYS, STO, SWN, TCK, TOT, TS, UPL, VALE, VALE.P, VIP, WFT, WYNN, YNDX, ZU

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, BJK, BNO, CSJ, DBC, DIG, EWM, EWZ, GSG, IEO, IGE, IXC, IYE, JNK, OIH, OIL, PBW, REMX, RSX, SLX, USCI, USO, XLE, XME, XOP,

Note: To reduce the list of stocks making 52 week highs/lows to a manageable size we have filtered out stocks below $2 bln in market cap and below 1 mln average volume. Without this filter 67 stocks made 52 week highs and 437 stocks made 52 week lows.

9:01 am Corning at Barclays Tech. Conf. increases fourth-quarter outlook for LCD glass volume; expects supply to remain tight to demand entering 2015 (GLW) :

Gm at Display Tech. Ferrero will report that the co continues to witness a strong market for worldwide LCD glass, "driven by continued strong demand for larger LCD televisions at retail." She will note that fourth-quarter expectations for LCD glass market demand, and Corning's shipments have increased, reporting, "We now expect worldwide market demand to increase in the low-single digits versus our previous expectations of a slight sequential decline." The company also expects its quarter-four glass price declines to be even more moderate than anticipated at the beginning of the quarter and glass shipments to be up low- single digits sequentially, in line with market growth. "Glass supply is tight and is expected to remain tight to demand, as we look ahead into 2015. The expected growth of the LCD TV market, in both units and screen size, is the main driver of the anticipated growth in demand for glass," Ferrero will say. The company sees advanced displays, such as ultra-high definition televisions, driving continued growth of the LCD TV market. The company is currently operating all of its on-line capacity to meet its contractual demand and expects to maintain its current share of the LCD glass market. Ferrero will also note that she expects the glass price decline in 2015 to be more moderate than in 2014

8:31 am Corning collaborates with Samsung (SSNLF) to slim the new Galaxy ALPHA smartphone with Gorilla Glass 4 (GLW) :

8:03 am Axcelis Tech wins multiple system, follow-on order for 'Purion M' and 'Purion XE' to support flash manufacturing ramp (ACLS) : The order, from one of the world's leading manufacturers of FLASH devices in Asia Pacific, included both a Purion M medium current and Purion XE high energy implanter. The chipmaker already has the full Purion platform installed in their fab. The new systems will be used to support a high volume ramp of leading edge FLASH memory devices. The systems are scheduled to ship this year.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Strong retail sales saved the day for U.S Equities, increasing 0.7%, the largest increase in eight months. Still, global economic concerns are very relevant, and crude oil price continues to search for a bottom as it plummets to multi-year lows. The tech sector performed fairly well today XLK +0.44% vs SPX +0.45%, led by Internet Software and Services (+1.32%). On the other hand, Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals underperformed, closing barely above water, up 0.03%.

Top performing Large Caps in the sector:

Netease (NTES 100.78 +4.22) - No news

Hewlett Packard (HPQ 38.47 +1.11) - No news

Ebay (EBAY 56.79 +1.52) - No news

Facebook (FB 77.73 +1.55) - No news

Worst performing Large Caps in the sector:

VMWare (VMW 78.13 -1.75) - No news

Xlinix (XLNX 46.04 -0.36) - No news

Citrix (CTXS 62.31 -0.34) - No news

Apple (AAPL 111.62 -0.33) - According to reports, the Canadian Competition Bureau is investigating Apple's supply deals. for more info Reuters Article. Apple also announced that the iPad2 & iPad 3 mini models with cellular networking will be available in China starting this week. Prior to this release, customers with iPads were dependent on Wi-Fi connections, decreasing mobility, a key benefit of owning an iPad, or any tablet for that matter.

Other important news in the space includes the announcement by Sony (SNE 20.74 -0.05) that it plans to launch Playstation Business with the launch of Playstation 4 on January 11, 2015. This expansion into one the world's largest consumer markets could also potentially help several other companies associated with Sony. Nintendo (NTDOY 14.02 -0.12), Gamestop (GME 33.91 +0.58), Activision Blizzard (ATVI 20.34 -0.15), Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO 27.07 +0.52)

Microsoft (MSFT 47.17 +0.27) announced it has acquired HockeyApp, a service providing developers who build apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, mobile crash analytics and app distribution. MSFT plans to integrate this service into Visual Studio to expand its Application Insights support across all operating platforms. Additionally, the company announced it will be speaking more about Windows 10 at its January 21 event.

Baidu.com (BIDU 229.23 +4.11) the company will reportedly announce a new strategic investment in the car booking app Uber on December 17.

4:18 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Climb While Crude Oil Remains Pressured (:WRAPX) : The stock market rebounded from Wednesday's broad-based weakness, but the key indices slipped on an oil slick ahead of the close. The S&P 500 added 0.5% after being up as much as 1.5% intraday to narrow this week's decline to 1.9%.

The Thursday rebound likely included a short covering element as the key indices rallied through the first hour and respected narrow ranges into the afternoon. However, selling into the close pressured the indices from their highs.

Investors received a pre-market confidence boost from a better than expected Retail Sales report and a larger than expected decline in weekly initial claims. In turn, the data helped the Dollar Index (88.59, +0.33) rebound from three consecutive declines. However, the dollar strength wasn't entirely due to economic data as the greenback entered the morning with a solid overnight gain against the yen. The dollar/yen pair climbed to 119.00 (+1.1%), and retraced most of its decline from Wednesday.

The dollar strength acted as a drag on crude oil, which could not hold its overnight gain. Instead, the energy component spent the bulk of the day near its flat line before sliding to its morning low into the pit close to settle lower by 1.6% at $60.02/bbl.

Meanwhile, the energy sector (unch) spiked into the lead at the start, but could not remain in that spot through the late-afternoon decline in crude oil. Similarly, the broader market retreated during the final two hours as crude slid to a new low for the day.

Crude oil's inability to sustain a rebound brought up concerns about the prospect of margin calls, debt repayment capabilities, a global economic slowdown, and just about anything else one can dream up in a negative causality relationship. We're not saying all of that was valid, only that it was enough in the back of the market's mind to keep participants fixated on oil price dynamics as a market mover.

Outside of energy, three of the remaining five cyclical sectors ended in-line with or ahead of the broader market. The consumer discretionary sector (+0.7%) enjoyed broad support from homebuilders and retailers. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 24.90, +0.12) and SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 91.71, +1.17) gained 0.5% and 1.3%, respectively.

Elsewhere, the technology sector (+0.5%) was underpinned by large cap components like Facebook (FB 77.72, +1.54), Google (GOOGL 532.15, +4.11), and Microsoft (MSFT 47.15, +0.25). The trio gained between 0.5% and 2.0% while high-beta chipmakers also contributed to the advance with the PHLX Semiconductor Index adding 0.5%.

Also of note, the industrials (+0.5%) kept pace with the market which masked relative strength among transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average added 0.8%.

Over on the countercyclical side, consumer staples (+0.8%), telecom services (+0.6%), and utilities (+1.0%) settled ahead of the broader market while the health care sector (+0.3%) underperformed.

Treasuries slumped in the morning, but recovered the bulk of those losses during the afternoon. The 10-yr yield ticked up one basis point to 2.18%.

Participation was a little ahead of average with 805 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included initial claims, retail sales, import/export prices, and business inventories:


The initial claims level fell to 294,000 from an unrevised 297,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 295,000 Over the past few months, the initial claims level has stabilized below 300,000. There is nothing in the data that suggests claims will move out of this range in the near term Retail sales increased 0.7% in November after increasing an upwardly revised 0.5% (from 0.3%) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.4% This month's retail sales report was set up for a positive surprise from the start. According to the November employment report, aggregate wages accelerated and increased 0.9% after increasing just 0.3% in October. With the savings rate already at elevated levels relative to current debt payment needs, there was no reason why households would hold on to a large portion of the income gain instead of spending it Export prices, excluding agriculture, decreased 1.2% in November after decreasing 0.9% in the prior reading Excluding oil, import prices ticked down 0.2%, which followed last month's 0.2% decline Business inventories increased 0.2% in October after increasing an unrevised 0.3% in September while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.2% The changes in inventories for manufacturers (0.1%) and merchant wholesalers (0.4%) were known prior to the release. The only piece of new information was that retailer inventories increased 0.2% for a second consecutive month in October A 0.7% increase at both building materials dealers and clothing stores offset a 0.7% decline at furniture stores and a 0.5% decline at general merchandise storesTomorrow, November PPI (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%) will be released at 8:30 ET while the preliminary reading of the December Michigan Sentiment Survey will be reported at 9:55 ET (consensus 89.5).
Nasdaq Composite +12.7% YTD S&P 500 +10.1% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.2% YTD Russell 2000 +0.2% YTD

4:12 pm Emcore reports Q4 results, beats on EPS, misses on revs; guides Q1 Fiber Optics business; names Jeffrey Rittichier CEO (EMKR) : The co reported Q4 EPS ($0.04) vs ($0.08) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; revs grew 1.5% y/y to $43.74 mln vs $44.61 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate

"On a consolidated basis, we expect revenue for the remaining Broadband Fiber Optics business first quarter ended December 31, 2014 to be in the range of $17 to $19 million and non-GAAP net loss of approximately $1 to $2 million. These amounts do not include any financial amounts associated with the Photovoltaics Business or Digital Products Business for the first quarter. The Company expects that beginning in the quarter ended December 31, 2014, the Broadband business will be the only reporting entity. As a reference, the revenue for the Broadband Fiber Optics business for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 was $14.3 million."
The co also announced that it has named Jeffrey Rittichier Chief Executive Officer of the Company. In his new role, Mr. Rittichier succeeds Dr. Hong Hou, who has served as the Company's President and CEO since March 2008. Mr. Rittichier has also been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors to fill the vacancy that will be created when Dr. Hong Hou steps down as CEO.

4:11 pm Adobe Systems beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; Acquires Fotolia for approx $800 mln in cash (ADBE) : Reports Q4 (Nov) earnings of $0.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.30; revenues rose 3.0% year/year to $1.07 bln vs the $1.06 bln consensus.

ADBE reports Cloud Sub Additions of 644K vs Street Expectations of approx 530K. Deferred revenue grew to a record $1.155 billion, and unbilled backlog grew to approximately $1.7 billion. 66 percent of Adobe's Q4 revenue was from recurring sources, compared to 44 percent of Q4 revenue in fiscal 2013. Fotolia Acquisition
Adobe today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Fotolia, a site for stock content, for approximately $800 million in cash.Fotolia will be integrated into Adobe Creative Cloud. Adobe also plans to continue to operate Fotolia as a standalone stock service, accessible to anyone. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of Adobe's fiscal Q1 2015. The potential financial impact to Adobe of this transaction is not reflected in financial targets Adobe has previously provided, or new targets disclosed as part of Adobe's financial results, released on December 11, 2014

4:06 pm Cisco Systems confirms release of new analytics software (CSCO) : The Connected Analytics for the Internet of Everything portfolio is designed to give organizations across industries access to near real-time information, predictions and trends that can have an immediate impact on their business.

12:50 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

LLY (73.73 +3.77%): Upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
DAL (48.29 +4.48%): Hosting their annual investor day, released Q4 guidance that came in at the top end of most of their previous released metrics.
PRU (90.24 +4.46%): Issued in-line guidance for FY15 (Dec), sees EPS of $9.60-10.10 vs. $10.00 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate at its financial outlook conference.

Large Cap Losers

NLSN (42.96 -1.85%): Announced an offering of 20 mln shares of common stock by selling stockholders.
PBR (7.56 -2.45%): Weakness in Brazilian stocks; also were reports out that the co is considering debt refinancing plan with Brazil.
MAC (81.14 -1.18%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Mid Cap Gainers

ODP (7.61 +13.16%): Starboard discloses increased 9.9% stake in SC13D filing; reports out the investor will push for a merger between ODP & Staples (SPLS).
RH (95.93 +11.31%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.02, reported revs in-line; guided Q4 in-line; Price target raised at Piper Jaffray, Nomura, others.
ATHN (133.55 +11.82%): Reaffirmed FY14 guidance; sees FY15 revs of $900-925 mln vs $923.85 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, adjusted EPS of $1.20-1.30 vs $1.25 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Mid Cap Losers

NBG (1.83 -7.58%): Continued weakness in Greek stocks as the Greece stock markets have now declined 20% since December 5th.
GPRO (59.03 -5.94%): Citigroup out cautious on the stock, retains a neutral rating on shares; lock-up date for shares of GPRO is approaching, where on December 23, insiders will be able to sell ~76 mln shares.
SAVE (70.76 -3.82%): Unfavorable mention on Wednesday's Mad Money.

11:49 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (241) outpacing new highs (163) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, AAVL, ABC, ADI, AERI, AFSI, AGIO, AKR, ALDR, ALTR, AMED, ASFI, AVB, BBW, BERY, BFS, BKN, BMRN, BMS, CAG, CALA, CBOE, CEA, CEMP, CHEV, CHKE, CHKP, CHSP, CLDN, CLDT, CME, CMPR, CNK, COR, CTLT, CVTI, DAL, DENN, DERM, DFT, DG, DIN, DMB, DPLO, DRH, DYAX, ELS, ENSG, EOT, EQIX, EQY, ESRT, ESS, EVC, FFIV, FR, FTNT, FUR, GPC, GPK, GSIG, HABT, HBOS, HCN, HCT, HD, HLT, HMN, HR, HSNI, HSP, HST, HTA, IBCA, IBKR, IDCC, IFNA, IMKTA, INFI, IQI, IRC, ISIS, JAH, JBSS, JCOM, KMX, KRC, KTWO, LB, LHCG, LLY, LOW, LTC, MAC, MEI, MGPI, MHK, MKTX, MLVF, MMAC, MNK, MRH, NATH, NBIX, NEWM, OBAS, ODP, OMAM, OMC, OPLK, ORLY, PCG, PCQ, PFPT, PG, PLD, PRAH, PTRY, QLYS, RDI, REG, RFMD, RH, RHP, ROST, RPM, SAIC, SAM, SCMP, SEE, SHO, SHW, SLG, SO, SPLS, SSNC, SSS, SUI, SYF, TCX, TGTX, THI, TQNT, TREC, TSCO, TYL, UAL, UBA, UDR, UEIC, UHT, UIL, UPS, UTL, VCV, VTAE, VTR, WDFC, WGL, XOXO, ZAYO, ZNH, ZSPH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABEV, ADK, AINV, AMD, ANV, ARCI, ARCX, ARDC, AREX, ASPN, ASTI, ATK, AVAL, AVH, BALT, BANX, BBL, BCH, BCX, BEAVV, BGB, BGMD, BGT, BHP, BKJ, BOKF, BSMX, BTU, BXE, CAPN, CASI, CBA, CBB, CCJ, CCU, CEE, CH, CIE, CIK, CLD, CLF, CNQ, CONN, CPA, CPG, CRC, CREG, CRRS, CTRE, CU, CVE, DAKP, DHRM, DRA, DRQ, DSE, DSL, DWSN, DXPE, E, EAD, EBR.B, EC, ECR, EEME, EEML, EFR, EHIC, EMCB, EMD, EMEY, EMITF, EPAY, ERC, EROC, ESTE, EVV, FAM, FCX, FELP, FES, FI, FLR, FPXI, FSFR, FTGC, GAI, GDO, GER, GFA, GGB, GGM, GGN, GHI, GNE, GNT, GPOR, GRH, GSI, GSS, GTE, GTLS, GULTU, HHY, HIO, HMNY, HNW, HOS, HSBC, HSC, HSOL, HTWR, HUSA, HYND, HYZD, ICD, INVT, ISD, IVH, JEC, JHI, JLS, JMEI, JMLP, KBR, KIO, KLXIV, KMM, KMM, KOF, KOS, LAND, LDF, LGCY, LIQT, LODE, LOV, LPTH, MARPS, MBT, MCC, MDR, MEIP, MELA, MEOH, MRC, MSN, MT, MTLS, MUX, MVC, MW, NBG, NBL, NBS, NDRO, NGL, NHS, NKA, NLST, NOA, NRP, NTLS, NVFY, NWPX, NYMX, OCIP, OHAI, OIS, OPWR, OXM, P, PBMD, PBR, PBR.A, PEO, PLG, QTWW, RDC, RDS.A, RDS.B, REE, REN, RGP, RGR, RGSE, RIO, RLOG, RMT, RNO, RRC, RSH, SALT, SBS, SCL, SD, SDRL, SIFY, SIM, SN, SPP, SQNS, SSH, SSL, SSN, STEM, STN, STO, SU, SWSH, SYPR, SZC, TAHO, TAS, TC, TCK, TGB, TGC, TNDM, TOT, TRF, TX, UAE, UAMY, UNT, USEG, VALE, VALE.P, VICL, VIP, VJET, VLCCF, VMW, WLH, WRES, WTSL, XNET, YNDX, ZAZA, ZBB, ZHNE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: ICF, XBI

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, BJK, DBC, DJP, ECH, EWW, EWY, EWZ, FXA, FXC, GREK, ILF, JNK, KOL, OIL, RSX, SEA, SLX, USCI, XME

11:03 am Intel and Royal Caribbean International (RCL) have teamed up to integrate Intel-powered tablets onboard RCL's new ship (INTC) : Royal Caribbean is installing 15,000 Intel-based Dell Venue tablets at point-of-sale locations on the new ship. It is also using 40,000 Intel-powered tablets built by HEXA Electronics, to give to every crew member throughout its fleet.

7:01 am Methode Electronics beats by $0.12, beats on revs; raises FY15 EPS above consensus, reaffirms FY15 revs guidance (MEI) : Reports Q2 (Oct) earnings of $0.66 per share, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.54; revenues rose 20.3% year/year to $229.7 mln vs the $220.51 mln consensus.

Co issues guidance for FY15, raises EPS to $2.20-2.30 from $2.10-2.20 vs. $2.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; reaffirms FY15 revs of $870-885 mln vs. $884.70 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

2:51 am Apple: iPad Air 2 & iPad mini 3 models with cellular networking available in China starting this week (AAPL) : Co announced that models of iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 with cellular networking will be available in China starting this week. TD-LTE and FDD-LTE standards, as well as TD-SCDMA, DC-HSDPA, HSPA+ and other fast networks, are all available in a single model, giving iPad Air 2 customers in China the ability to stay connected on advanced cellular data networks in China and around the world so they can go more places and do more things.

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From Briefing.com: 4:12 pm Closing Market Summary: Crude Oil Leads Stocks Lower (:WRAPX) : The major averages began the new week amid some old concerns. The S&P 500 settled lower by 0.6% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.0%) underperformed, but most of the attention was directed to crude oil trading pits once again.

After plunging nearly 4.0% on Friday and inviting questions about macroeconomic implications of the continued weakness, crude oil enjoyed an overnight rebound before resuming its downtrend. The energy component ended the pit session lower by 3.2% at $55.96/bbl and continued its retreat into the $55.50/bbl area in electronic trade.

Similar to oil, European equities and U.S. equity futures rebounded in overnight action, but accelerated their retreat from highs once the U.S. cash market opened. All ten sectors finished the day in negative territory with heavily-weighted financials (-0.9%), health care (-0.9%), and consumer discretionary (-0.6%) keeping the market under pressure.

Notably, financials and health care finished at the bottom of the leaderboard with the health care sector enduring significant weakness in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 297.66, -8.44) plunged 2.8% and contributed to the underperformance of the Nasdaq.

Although the Nasdaq finished behind the broader market, the tech-heavy index was prevented from sliding deeper into the red by relative strength among some influential components like Accenture (ACN 81.88), Oracle (ORCL 41.11, +1.16), and Qualcomm (QCOM 70.37, -0.21). Of the three, Oracle rallied 2.9% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to 'Overweight.'

Elsewhere, the energy sector (-0.9%) held up well during morning action, but retreated to lows after crude oil locked in a decline for the day. Dow component ExxonMobil (XOM 86.90, +0.30) bucked the trend, climbing 0.4% after BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock to 'Market Perform' from 'Underperform.'

When the dust settled, the industrial sector (-0.3%) represented the top performer on the cyclical side. The sector benefitted from gains among transport stocks with the group likely responding to cheaper fuel. The Dow Jones Transportation Average ended just above its flat line with Alaska Air (ALK 57.65, +1.84) climbing 3.3%.

Likewise, retailers rallied in response to lower oil prices as evidenced by a 0.2% advance in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 92.47, +0.19). However, the broader discretionary sector ended in-line with the market as quick-service restaurants weighed. McDonald's (MCD 88.46, -2.16) and Yum! Brands (YUM 70.63, -2.22) lost 2.4% and 3.1%, respectively.

Treasuries ended the day modestly lower with the 10-yr yield higher by two basis points at 2.12%. On a related note, the Dollar Index registered a slim gain of 0.1%, but the greenback retreated more than 100 pips against the yen to 117.70.

Participation was ahead of average with more than 940 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Empire Manufacturing, Industrial Production, and NAHB Housing Market Index:


The Empire Manufacturing Survey for December registered a reading of -3.6, which was below the prior month's reading of 10.2 and below the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which was pegged at 14.0 Industrial production increased 1.3% in November after increasing an upwardly revised 0.1% (from -0.1%) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.7% That was the largest increase since a 1.6% gain in May 2010 o Manufacturing production increased a solid, and perhaps unexpected, 1.1% in November after increasing an upwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.2%) in October Capacity utilization exceeded 80% for the first time since March 2008 and increased to 80.1% in November from 79.3% in October
The NAHB Housing Market Index for December slipped to 57 from 58 while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to hold at 58
Tomorrow, November Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.035 mln) and Building Permits (consensus 1.06 mln) will be reported at 8:30 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +10.3% YTD S&P 500 +7.6% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +3.6% YTD Russell 2000 -1.8% YTD5:43 pm FuelCell Energy reports EPS in-line, beats on revs (FCEL) : Reports Q4 (Oct) loss of $0.02 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.02); revenues fell 1.4% year/year to $54.41 mln vs the $52.16 mln consensus.


Total backlog was $333.9 million at October 31, 2014 compared to $355.4 million at October 31, 2013. The recently announced 3.4 MW utility contract adds approximately $31 million to total backlog for the first quarter of 2015.
Service backlog was $196.8 million at October 31, 2014. This compares to $166.8 million at October 31, 2013. The average term for service agreements now exceeds 10 years.
Advanced technologies contracts

4:32 pm VeriFone announces partnership with First Data, a payment technology company, to combat consumer payment data theft (PAY) :

First Data and Verifone (PAY) one of the world's leading providers for secure payment acceptance, announced a partnership to help U.S. merchants reduce exposure to large-scale consumer payment data breaches and expedite merchant acceptance of EMV-enabled credit and debit cards.First Data will now offer Verifone's Secure Commerce Architecture (SCA.V) solution to its U.S. merchant clients who use Verifone equipment within an integrated point of sale (IPOS) system.SCA helps to solve the difficulties of EMV compliance by eliminating the flow of consumer payment data into the IPOS.4:26 pm Rubicon Tech names William Weissman to the permanent position of President and CEO (RBCN) : Co announced that the Board of Directors has appointed William Weissman, 56, to the permanent position of President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Weissman had served as Interim CEO and President since September 17, 2014, and as Chief Financial Officer of Rubicon since 2007. Mr. Weissman has also been appointed a member of the Board of Directors.

4:00 pm Solar Power announced the entry into definitive agreements relating to a new private placement of up to $140 mln (SOPW) :

Co announced the entry into definitive agreements relating to a new private placement of up to $140 mln. Under the terms of the definitive agreements, SPI agreed to issue to special purpose vehicles controlled by Shi, Dongxiang and other investors, respectively, a total of $35 mln of its common stock and $35 mln of convertible promissory notes, as well as to grant the SPV of Shi, Dongxiang and other investors options to purchase an aggregate of $70 mln of SPI's common stock.

12:52 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

ORCL (41.04 +2.73%): Upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
ADS (280.62 +2.29%): The co provided an update on its Private Label segment for November 2014; Average receivables up 31% y/y to $10.1 bln; Delinquency rate fell to 4.1%, down from 4.3%.
WFM (48.77 +0.93%): Renewed M&A chatter.

Large Cap Losers

F (14.51 -3.2%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
REGN (401.91 -3.49%): Unfavorable mention on Friday's Mad Money.
SBUX (81.1 -2.58%): Cautious comments out of ITG on the name.

Mid Cap Gainers

OPK (8.97 +9.66%): The co and Pfizer (PFE) entered into global agreement for OPKO's long-acting human growth hormone; OPK to receive upfront payment of $295 mln.
RVBD (20.29 +8.27%): Announced it will be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $21 per share in cash.
RRC (57.92 +6.9%): Announced its 2015 capital budget and record Utica Well Results; sets 2015 capital spending at $1.3 bln, down 18% YoY; positive view profiled in Barron's.

Mid Cap Losers

ISIS (58.68 -5.84%): Unfavorable mention on Friday's Mad Money.
ARCP (8.4 -6.62%): Announced a number of changes to its management and corporate governance; David Kay has stepped down as CEO and from the ARCP Board of Directors; Lisa Beeson has also stepped down as President and COO; Managing Partner, Nicholas Schorsch resigned as Executive Chairman and Director.
OGE (33.35 -2.84%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies; tgt lowered to $35.50 from $42.

11:44 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session- New lows (91) outpacing new highs (13) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AFSI, AXTA, CY, DG, FTNT, LC, OCR, ODP, PETM, ROST, SPLS, TJX, TTWO

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABEV, APC, AU, BBL, BBVA, BHP, BP, BSMX, CAM, CBI, CCJ, CIG, CLR, CMLP, CNO, CNQ, CNV, COP, CVE, CVX, CX, DDD, DOV, ECA, ESV, FCX, FLS, FSLR, FTI, GGB, GME, GSK, HES, HFC, HMC, HP, HSBC, IBM, JEC, KOS, LINE, MBT, MCD, MDU, MEOH, MRO, MT, NBL, NBR, NRG, OIBR, OII, OKE, OKS, OUT, PAA, PBR, PBR.A, PSX, PWR, QEP, RDS.A, RGP, RIG, RIO, SBS, SDRL, SFUN, SID, SMFG, SNY, SPN, SPWR, SSYS, STO, SU, TOT, TRQ, TS, UPL, VALE, VALE.P, VIP, VIV, VMW, VZ, WLK, WLL, WPZ, YNDX, ZU

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, AMJ, BJK, BNO, DBC, DIG, DJP, ECH, EEB, EPOL, EWA, EWC, EWI, EWM, EWU, EWW, EWZ, FXA, FXC, GSG, HYG, IGE, ILF, IXC, IYE, JNK, KOL, MES, OIL, PBD, PBW, RSX, SLX, UGA, USCI, USO, XES, XLE, XME, XOP

Note: To reduce the list of stocks making 52 week highs/lows to a manageable size we have filtered out stocks below $2 bln in market cap and below 1 mln average volume. Without this filter 60 stocks made 52 week highs and 453 stocks made 52 week lows.
8:32 am Corning announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire TR Manufacturing; terms not disclosed (GLW) : Co announces that it has reached an agreement to acquire TR Manufacturing. The terms of the agreement were not released. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of 1Q15. TR Manufacturing is a provider of fiber-optic and copper cable/component interconnects and electro-mechanical assemblies to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in a wide range of technology industries. "We are excited about the opportunity to expand Corning's capabilities to service the growing bandwidth demand of all network operators."

8:32 am Riverbed Technology to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $21 per share in cash; stock is halted (RVBD) : Co announced it will be acquired by leading private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo and Teachers' Private Capital, the private investor department of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.


Under the terms of the agreement, Riverbed stockholders will receive $21.00 per share in cash, or a total of approximately $3.6 billion. The agreement was unanimously approved by Riverbed's Board of Directors following a comprehensive review of strategic and financial alternatives that the Company announced in October, 2014.
Riverbed CEO Jerry Kennelly will remain with the Company in the same capacity. There are no financing conditions associated with the proposed agreement. 7:33 am SunEdison announced that the National Energy Commission in Chile has awarded SunEdison a contract to supply 570 gigawatt hours of clean energy a year; SunEdison to invest more than $700 mln (SUNE) :

Co announced that the National Energy Commission in Chile has awarded SunEdison a contract to supply 570 gigawatt hours of clean energy a year. To meet the demand, SunEdison will be investing more than $700 mln to develop 350 megawatts of utility scale solar photovoltaic power plants throughout the country. The plants will be added to the call right list of TerraForm Power (TERP), a owner and operator of renewable energy power plants.

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Wednesday session with solid gains that were paced by the Russell 2000. The small-cap index jumped 3.1% while the S&P 500 settled higher by 2.0% with all ten sectors registering gains.

Equities climbed through the first half of action and saw an extension of their rally in the afternoon once the FOMC released its latest policy directive.

As expected by some, the Fed removed the "considerable time" language from its policy statement, but that reference was replaced with a call for "patience," which essentially conveyed the same message. Above all, Chair Yellen reiterated that the central bank will remain data-dependent and reserves the right to accelerate, or defer, a rate hike in accordance with what the data are communicating about the progress being made toward the Fed's dual mandate.

With regard to inflation, Ms. Yellen touched on the drop in oil prices during her press conference, but showed little concern, saying the decline is expected to be transitory.

The policy statement was followed by volatile action in the bond market, but Treasuries slid to lows into the close. The benchmark 10-yr yield spiked eight basis points to 2.14%.

As for equities, the energy sector (+4.2%) paced the advance and ended near its high even as crude oil slumped into the close, ending higher by 1.0% at $56.44/bbl.

The energy sector was followed by the materials space (+2.8%), which benefitted from gains among miners and steelmakers. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 17.98, +0.88) and Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 35.31, +1.27) ended higher by 5.2% and 3.7%, respectively.

Outside of the two commodity-related groups, the financial sector (+2.3%) represented the only other outperformer on the cyclical side. Influential sector components fueled the strength with Bank of America (BAC 17.26, +0.54) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 59.77, +1.34) posting respective gains of 3.2% and 2.3%.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector (+0.9%) climbed out of the red after the FOMC statement, but the sector could not keep pace with the broader market amid relative weakness in transport stocks. FedEx (FDX 167.78, -6.48) tumbled 3.7% after missing estimates while peers Expeditors International (EXPD 43.28, -0.98) and UPS (UPS 108.55, -1.28) lost 2.2% and 1.2%, respectively. However, rail carriers CSX (CSX 35.77, +1.10) and Union-Pacific (UNP 114.89, +2.69) helped the Dow Jones Transportation Average end higher by 0.9%.

Today's participation was ahead of average with more than a billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included CPI, Core CPI, Q3 Current Account, and MBA Mortgage Index:


Consumer prices declined 0.3% in November after being unchanged in October, which was the biggest decline since CPI fell 0.8% in December 2008
The Briefing.com consensus expected a decline of 0.1%
The entire decline in prices can be attributed to the energy sector. Energy prices fell 3.8% in November, marking the fifth consecutive monthly decline and the largest drop since falling 9.5% in December 2008
Gasoline prices fell 6.6% after declining 3.0% in October
Food prices increased 0.2% in November, up from a 0.1% gain in October
Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.1% in November, down from a 0.2% gain in October, while the consensus expected an increase of 0.1%
The current account deficit for the third quarter totaled $100.30 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to hit $95.00 billion
The second quarter deficit was revised down to $98.40 billion from $98.50 billion
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index fell 3.3% to follow last week's 7.3% spike

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 292K) will be released at 8:30 ET while November Leading Indicators (consensus 0.5%) and the Philadelphia Fed Survey for December (consensus 26.0) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +11.2% YTD
S&P 500 +8.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +4.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.9% YTD

DJ30 +288.00 NASDAQ +96.48 SP500 +40.14 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2512/2.15 bln/559 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2794/1.02 bln/361 3:35 pm :

Oil prices had a wild day, falling as low as $54.21 to rising as high as $58.987/barrel, most likely on some short covering
Late in the session, WTI crude oil gave up most of its gains and closed $0.57 higher at $56.44/barrel
Natural gas futures gained some steam today, ending today's session 8 cents higher to $3.70/MMBtu
Gold and silver lost steam in afternoon trade.
Feb gold ended $0.20 higher to $1194.90/oz, while Mar silver gained $0.20 to $15.93/oz

4:34 pm GT Advanced Tech. issues response to Apple's statement following release of October 8th declaration: 'The position that Apple has taken...is in line with our expectations' (GTATQ) : Co issued the following statement:


"The position that Apple has taken in response to the release of our October 8th declaration is in line with our expectations, as reflected in paragraph 52 of Dan Squiller's October 28th declaration in support of the Apple Settlement," said Tom Gutierrez, president and chief executive officer. "Although we have different views on the matter, we believe we have settled our disputes with Apple and see no point in further addressing the circumstances that led to our Chapter 11 filing or our relationship with Apple. Our focus now is on moving the company forward through the bankruptcy process. We remain optimistic that the Bankruptcy Court will approve the Apple Settlement Agreement on November 25th because it is in the best interest of all parties."

4:08 pm Jabil Circuit beats by $0.08, beats on revs; guides FebQ core EPS above consensus, revs above consensus; guides FY15 core EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (JBL) : Reports Q1 (Nov) core earnings of $0.55 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.47; revenues rose 4.8% year/year to $4.55 bln vs the $4.32 bln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2 (Feb), sees core EPS of $0.39-0.50, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.38 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $4.15-4.35 bln vs. $4.10 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues upside guidance for FY15, sees core EPS of $1.85-2.15, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.81 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $17.5-18.5 bln vs. $17.2 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.


"We had a very strong start to the fiscal year as our team exceeded expectations...Our results reflect strong demand within our Diversified Manufacturing Services segment as well as solid execution and performance across the entire business."4:06 pm IBM announce continued expansion of its global cloud computing network to 40 cloud centers with 12 new locations in Europe, Asia and the Americas (IBM) : Co will reach customers in 12 new locations including IBM Cloud centers in Frankfurt, Mexico City and Tokyo, and nine more centers through a strategic partnership with Equinix (EQIX) in Australia, France, Japan, Singapore, The Netherlands and the US.

4:06 pm SunPower and Sunverge Energy announced an exclusive agreement that offers the co's fully integrated SunPower solar power systems and Sunverge's advanced Solar Integration System energy storage solutions to residential customers and utilities in the U.S (SPWR) : The two companies are providing a similar offering to Australian customers. SunPower and Sunverge expect to make combined solar and storage solutions broadly commercially available in early 2015.

4:04 pm ON Semiconductor announces CMOS operational amplifiers that deliver zero drift operation and quiescent current for front-end amplifier circuits and power mgmt designs (ONNN) :


4:03 pm Oracle beats by $0.01, beats on revs (ORCL) : Reports Q2 (Nov) earnings of $0.69 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.68; revenues rose 3.5% year/year to $9.6 bln vs the $9.5 bln consensus.

ORCL Q2 Software and cloud revenue +5% to $7.3 bln, guidance +5-8%. Cloud software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) revenue was up 45% to $516 million. Hardware Systems revenues were up 1% to $1.3 billion. GAAP operating income was up 4% to $3.5 billion, and the GAAP operating margin was 37%. "Total Q2 new cloud bookings grew at a rate of more than 140%... By Q4 of this year we expect our new cloud bookings to exceed $250 million...Next fiscal year our new cloud bookings will be well over the billion dollars mark."
Co guides on the call.

1:15 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

WHR (182.71 +4.75%): In presentation slides for today's analyst day, the co detailed expected ongoing EPS for 2018 of $22-24 on net sales of $26-28 bln.
RCL (80.27 +4.57%): Cruise lines catching a bid on hopes of improvement in US & Cuba relations following reports the two are working to normalize and re-establish those relations.
NFLX (326.25 +3.1%): DISH Network (DISH) announced it will rollout the NFLX app into its set-top boxes today.

Large Cap Losers

FDX (166.68 -4.35%): Reported Q2 (Nov) earnings of $2.14 per share, $0.08 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $2.22; revenues rose 4.4% year/year to $11.9 bln vs the $12 bln consensus; reaffirmed FY 15 EPS guidance.
LVS (51.81 -2.06%): Casino stocks lower following reports that China may crackdown on illegal funds flowing through Macau casinos (WYNN also lower).
AAL (46.16 -3.75%): Airlines lower as oil rebounds 4% on the day (UAL & DAL also lower).

Mid Cap Gainers

NPSP (35.21 +15.56%): Reports out that Shire (SHPG) may be interested in acquiring NPS Pharma.
VC (100.81 +5.38%): The co announced that it entered into an agreement to sell its ~ 70% ownership interest in Halla Visteon Climate Control Corp. to an affiliate of Hahn & Co and Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. for ~ $3.6 bln.
COLM (44.94 +3.72%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman; tgt raised to $52 from $41.

Mid Cap Losers

XL (33.45 -4.47%): The co confirmed it is engaged in preliminary discussions with Catlin regarding a potential transaction to acquire the co and form a combined entity.
CFX (46.5 -2.74%): Co sees FY15 revs of $4.525-4.675 bln vs $4.80 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, adjusted EPS of $2.20-2.40 vs $2.58 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Price target lowered at Stifel, Wunderlich, Deutsche Bank.
JOY (45.08 -2.11%): Beat Q4 consensus estimates by $0.10, beats on revs; guides FY15 EPS below consensus, revs in-line.

9:32 am Southern subsidiary Southern Power announced plans to develop a 131-megawatt photovoltaic solar project in Georgia (SO) : The electricity and associated renewable energy credits will be sold to three Georgia electric membership corporations. Southern Power has selected First Solar (FSLR) to be the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the facility. Construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in September 2015, and the project is expected to achieve commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2016.

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InvestmentHouse Weekeng Market Summary

http://www.investmenthouse.com/weekendmarketsummary.htm

- After the fireworks, kind of an anticlimactic expiration, but stocks still post gains.
- Not much news to drive stocks, but they didn't need it.
- Modest gains but not the pullback yet for some new entries.

After all the news on the week . . . Russia, economic, and the grand finale, the FOMC's patience proclamation that set off an upside firestorm after the early week continuation of the oil/Russia selloff, Friday was pretty tame. Up, but it had to slow some. Seems each time the market has a serious identity crisis as in October (Ebola, economics) and then December (oil and Russia), it roars back. Easy go, easy come?

SP500 9.42, 0.46%
NASDAQ 16.98, 0.36%
DJ30 26.65, 0.15%
SP400 0.33%
RUTX 0.32%
SOX -0.30%

Seems so, particularly with an FOMC perceived as continued lax and laissez-faire. Downright patient some would say. I don't really buy it; as discussed last week post-FOMC, to us Chairman Yellen's comments again indicate a rate hike 6 months after QE ended in October. That is the polar opposite of others such as Peter Schiff, the bear who believes the Fed will go for QE4. Still others believe the economy is in nirvana with 4% growth becoming the norm, great job creation, diving unemployment. Just your usual slightly different, a few degrees apart economic forecasts.

Of course reality is usually somewhere in between and we don't think things are going to hell in a hand basket (my father used that phrase; not sure what the derivation is or even the meaning for that matter) nor do we think it is anywhere near the boom the new normal believers claim. Jobs are not quality jobs and stats this weekend show that virtually all jobs growth has been from immigrants. Markit PMI readings are showing sharp slowdown, contrasting the establishment surveys. If oil continues its dive there will be further cap-ex cuts, less drilling, and layoffs, pressuring the one industry that kept the US economy alive during the recession.

Housing is worrisome as it slows, though as with the economy, the extreme high end is booming still while other areas start to struggle. Not only is the slowing worrisome but some of the comments you hear from our leaders once again talk of the inability of lower income households to gain access to mortgages. We are hearing the very same comments that preceded the housing boom then bust when banks were forced to lend to poor credit risks. There is no doubt the mortgage market is in a straightjacket gratis the tightened restrictions post-bust. Good risks with good credit find it hard to qualify. We went through that and put down an absurd amount on a place with just a small note yet I felt as if I was going to have to turn over my most recent prostate exam results. As usual with regulation, it is either too easy leading to corruption and bubble conditions, or it is too restrictive as it is now after the bust, when you need a bit of leeway to get the market going.

The point: things could crash; there are enough problems out there and if a few things fall the wrong way it could get messy. On the other hand, the US could continue to improve if we don't do stupid things that shoot ourselves in the foot such as banning fracturing, extend social benefits to millions of new people, etc. Of course we ARE blowing off our own feet so while there is improvement it remains painstakingly and frustratingly slow.

The Fed, however, needs to get some ammunition reloaded, and the only way to do that is get interest rates above 0%. If it does not and something hits, then we have negative rate policy in the US as in Europe, i.e. where it costs you money (other than inflation losses and opportunity cost) to keep banks on deposit. Thus the Fed has decided it wants to raise rates and will do so, albeit in a slow (is that patient?) process, unless something really ugly happens.

I could make some predictions for the new year but those are worthless and are only interesting in any shock value they have. You know, predicting the US and USSR will have an actual military altercation, intentional or otherwise, as a result of the school yard antics Russia is pulling such as buzzing US facilities in Guam with bombers, cutting off NATO aircraft with crazily risky moves, etc.

Russian fighter cuts across Norwegian F-16

Russian Bear bomber escorted away from Guam. Canadian F-18's intercepted two Bear bombers intruding into Alaska air defense identification zone on 12/8.

Or how about $20/bbl oil because demand really does tank as predicted but supply remains huge as Saudi Arabia wants to again kill off the US domestic industry to maintain market share. Interesting and based in some fact and history, but pure conjecture and just too many variables.

How do you position yourself for those predictions anyway? It is opinion, conjecture, and frankly in many cases BS.

What you have to do is look to stocks themselves and see how they are acting. Good patterns or weak patterns? Holding trends or giving them up? Leadership solid or struggling and fading?

Those are much more pertinent than broad guesses as to the future. Leaders help show you where the money is going and that is, bottom line, what you have to look at to determine where to place your money. If you get wedded to a big picture notion you tend to look at market moves through that prism and that can cause you to miss what stocks are telling you. That is why, regardless of how I feel about the economy and prospects for the future, I have to check them at the door when it is time to invest and trade. My economic opinions are not going to influence the market one bit even if I am right as of course I usually am.

Thus with the market still showing some very good patterns and setups that jumped higher last week, it appears the market still wants to rally to year end and thus we look for new plays upside. Indeed, while we were not too keen on taking new positions Friday given the 2-day sprint Wednesday and Thursday, we picked up some AAPL as it looks very good.

THE MARKET

CHARTS

SP500: Added more upside, tapping at the November all-time highs on the intraday high, backing off some to the close. MACD is lagging, at the prior highs. Still looking for a continued move higher to year end, but this gets interesting here at the prior high and the October and December close proximity selloffs.

NASDAQ: As with SP500, NASDAQ added more to end the week, though it too faded off the intraday high after touching near the November high. Strong recovery, near the prior high, lower MACD. Nice rebound off the 38% Fibonacci retracement, showing momentum is still good but an important test of the prior highs is ahead.

RUTX: The small caps continued the move over the November trading range. Still below the July and February peaks but took out an important one if it can hold the breakout.

DJ30: Gave back most of the Friday move by the close. Huge upside move Wednesday and Thursday, hit some resistance Friday, took a day off. Similar comments to NASDAQ with the 38% Fibonacci retracement hold and rebound but now at the prior high.

SOX: Still a great looking pattern with the surge off the 50 day EMA test. Modest loss Friday on some retrenching, but a very solid pattern and a solid new upside move.

LEADERSHIP:

Leaders were still performing Friday. Some took the day off, but good moves continued to move higher.

Data storage: STX and WDC still moving.

Software: SWI jumping.

Biotechs: Looking solid again. CELG, TGTX, XON.

Materials: Still looking better and better. LPX. TREX was down but still a nice pattern.

MARKET STATS

NASDAQ
Stats: +16.98 points (+0.36%) to close at 4765.38
Volume: 2.831B (+33.83%)

Up Volume: 1.85B (+80M)
Down Volume: 1.3B (+917.38M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.06 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 3.18 to 1

New Highs: 138 (+5)
New Lows: 52 (+8)

S&P
Stats: +9.42 points (+0.46%) to close at 2070.65
NYSE Volume: 2.5B (+127.27%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.82 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 4.14 to 1

New Highs: 221 (+33)
New Lows: 23 (0)

DJ30
Stats: +26.65 points (+0.15%) to close at 17804.8

SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 16.49; -0.32
VXN: 16.89; -0.34
VXO: 14.63; -0.25

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.88; +0.1

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls: 49.5% versus 51.5% versus 53.4% versus 56.5%. Down again after some sharp declines. Never did get to 60%, a red flag top indicator for the market the past few years.

Bears: 14.9% versus 14.8% versus 13.9% versus 13.8% versus 14.9%. Bears still don't want to grow much at all.

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: 49.5%
51.5% versus 53.4% versus 56.5% versus 56.4% versus 55.5% versus 54.6% versus 47.0% versus 35.3% versus 37.8% versus 45.5% versus 47.5% versus 48.0% versus 52.5% versus 57.6% versus 56.1% versus 52.5%

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 14.9%
14.8% versus 13.9% versus 13.8% versus 14.9% versus 14.8% versus 15.1% versus 16.3% versus 18.2% versus 17.3% versus 14.1% versus 15.1% versus 15.3% versus 15.2% versus 14.1% versus 13.3% versus 15.1% versus 16.2%

Background: Over 35% for bears is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. The best indication is when bears cross up through bulls as the two merge. Right now bulls are coming back down from the 60 level that has consistently marked market tops over the past two years. The rapid decline in progress is pushing the bulls/bears lines toward one another. Still far from a cross with bulls falling faster than bears are rising, but bears are warming up to the notion of market weakness.

OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 2.17 versus 2.21%
2.14% versus 2.05% versus 2.11% versus 2.08% versus 2.18% versus 2.16% versus 2.22% versus 2.26% versus 2.31% versus 2.24% versus 2.29% versus 2.29% versus 2.22 versus 2.17% versus 2.21% versus 2.24% versus 2.26% versus 2.30% versus 2.31% versus 2.34% versus 2.35% versus 2.32% versus 2.34% versus 2.32% versus 2.35% versus 2.36% versus 2.36% versus 2.30% versus 2.38% versus 2.34% versus 2.33% versus 2.339% versus 2.33% versus 2.31%

Surging, suggesting that the Fed IS going to raise rates sooner than later.

Oil: 56.52, +2.41. Laterally Tuesday to Friday. Oil is at support, it wants to bounce even if it is nothing more than a relief bounce.

Gold: 1196.00, +1.10

$/JPY: 119.49 versus 118.83 versus 118.86 versus 116.81 versus 117.61 versus 118.75 versus 119.07 versus 118.12 versus 119.76 versus 120.55 versus 121.42 versus 119.78 versus 119.81 versus 119.21 versus 118.36 versus 118.63 versus 117.58 versus 117.93 versus 118.27 versus 117.73 versus 117.96 versus 118.00 versus 116.98 versus 116.47 versus 116.29 versus 115.74

Euro/$: 1.2225 versus 1.2284 versus 1.2345 versus 1.2509 versus 1.2448 versus 1.2462 versus 1.2389 versus 1.2439 versus 1.2366 versus 1.2318 versus 1.2289 versus 1.2379 versus 1.2313 versus 1.2383 versus 1.2473 versus 1.2452 versus 1.2509 versus 1.2477 versus 1.2442 versus 1.2386 versus 1.2549 versus 1.2543 versus 1.2532

MONDAY

A shortened week of course with Christmas on Thursday. Christmas Eve the market closes at 1:00ET. Friday the market is open but no one will be there.

A short week and typically a quiet week, but of course all economic data needs to be crammed in ahead of the holiday. Thus Tuesday is chocked full with durable goods, GDP third iteration (4.2% expected), Michigan Sentiment, Personal income and spending, New home sales . . . a full calendar.

Doesn't really change how we look at the market. After all, the Fed has spoken and it will be patient with us.

After the two day surge some positions we wanted got a bit away to the upside and Friday we watched for a bit of a pullback. There was just a bit with just some stocks. Not really what we wanted. So, we watch for that early this week. Remember, the test can take a few days. As the Fed, patience is key. Watch for orderly pullbacks/fades of the Wednesday and Thursday moves. When the stocks start back up, start picking up positions.

That is all for now. Have a great Christmas week!

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4765.38

Resistance:
4782 is the November 2014 peak

Support:
The 50 day EMA at 4638
4631 is the October 2014 upside gap point
4610 is the September 2014 post-bear market high.
4566 is the lower gap point from late October
4545 is the 38% Fibonacci retracement
4486 is the July 2014 high
The 200 day SMA at 4402
4372 is the March 2014 high
The August low at 4321
4316 is the lower gap point from October 2014
4289 is the July 2000 recovery high
4277 is the March lower gap point
4246.55 is the January 2014 peak
4185, the May lower gap point
4131 is the March 2014 low
4104 is the lower gap point from 12/20/13
4070 is the series of highs from late November/early December

S&P 500: Closed at 2070.65

Resistance:
2076 is the all-time high from November
2099 is the December 2012 up trendline

Support:
2041 is the lower trendline from 11/2012
The 50 day EMA at 2020
2011 is the September prior all-time high
1991 is the July 2014 high
The 200 day SMA at 1950
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1883.57 is the early March high.
The December and January highs at 1848
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high

Dow: Closed at 17,804.80

Resistance:
17,991 is the all-time high

Support:
The 50 day EMA at 17,434
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
The 200 day SMA at 16,880
16,736 is the penultimate all-time high from May 2014
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
16,341 is the May low
16,334 is the August 2014 low
16,257 is the January 2014 low
16,179 is the November 2013 peak.
15,739 is the December 2013 low
15,696 is the September 2013 peak
15,659 is the August 2013 peak

ECONOMIC CALENDAR

December 22 - Monday
- Existing Home Sales, November (10:00): 5.20M expected, 5.26M prior

December 23 - Tuesday
- Durable Orders, November (8:30): 2.8% expected, 0.4% prior
- Durable Goods -ex transports, November (8:30): 1.0% expected, -0.9% prior
- GDP - Third Estimate, Q3 (8:30): 4.2% expected, 3.9% prior
- GDP Deflator - Third, Q3 (8:30): 1.4% expected, 1.4% prior
- FHFA Housing Price Index, October (9:00): 0.0% prior
- Michigan Sentiment - Final, December (9:55): 93.8 expected, 93.8 prior
- Personal Income, November (10:00): 0.5% expected, 0.2% prior
- Personal Spending, November (10:00): 0.5% expected, 0.2% prior
- PCE Prices - Core, November (10:00): 0.1% expected, 0.2% prior
- New Home Sales, November (10:00): 460K expected, 458K prior

December 24 - Wednesday
- MBA Mortgage Index, 12/20 (7:00): -3.3% prior
- Initial Claims, 12/20 (8:30): 290K expected, 289K prior
- Continuing Claims, 12/13 (8:30): 2358K expected, 2373K prior
- Crude Inventories, 12/20 (10:30): -0.847M prior
- Natural Gas Inventor, 12/20 (24:00): -64 bcf prior

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5:49 am Hanwha SolarOne filed with the SEC a shareholder circular; anticipates providing over 600 MW of tariff-free modules to the U.S. in 2015 (HSOL) :

The Circular contains important information including shareholder voting instructions, financial information for the combined entity, detailed financial and operating information about Hanwha QCELLS and a description of the strategic benefits of the transaction. The Circular highlights, among other things, Q CELLS' strengthening operational and financial performance:
Revenue growth of 177% for the six months ended June 30, 2014 compared to the same period in the prior year.
A significant improvement in operating profit to $7.8 mln for the six months ended June 30, 2014 from $33.2 mln loss from same period in the prior year.
Company anticipates providing over 600 MW of tariff-free modules to the U.S. in 2015 and over 1 GW in 2016.

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From Briefing.com: The 2014 trading year ended on a rather somber note, with the S&P 500 falling 1% on the last day of the year. The Technology Sector also tumbled into year-end with the S&P 500 Information Technology Index closing 1.2% lower. It's worth noting though that after such large gains on the year, it is little surprise to see stocks fall as traders take profits before the year ends.

Taking a look at the entire 2014 year, the Tech Sector gained 19.62%. We've include a breakdown of how each industry group within the sector performed:

Communications Equipment +12.49%

Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components +22.57%

Internet Software & Services +7.88%

IT Services +4.05%

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment +33.91%

Software +21.51%

Technology, Hardware, Storage & Peripherals +37.67%

In regards to news, Topeka noted that it sees factors that drove growth in 2014 such as the ad and retail shift to the Internet, mobility, programmatic ad buying, and same-day delivery, continuing in 2015. They believe we should see a more meaningful shift from TV ad budgets to online video as TV ratings continue to suffer, Internet measurability improves, in-store tacking develops, and large brands become convinced of the targeting and reach capabilities of the Internet providers.

The beneficiaries should be Google (GOOG 526.40 -4.02) (could announce a capital return plan in 2015; key risk is AAPL signing on with another search engine), Facebook (FB 78.02 -1.20) (Topeka top pick for 2015 for the third year in a row), Twitter (TWTR 35.87 +0.01), Yahoo (YHOO 50.51 -0.71) and AOL (AOL 46.17 -0.38. Topeka also expects IAC/Interactive Corp (IACI 60.79 -0.73) to finally split into two or maybe three companies. But they do not believe Amazon (AMZN 310.35 +0.05) is a break-up story so it is unlikely that Bezos spins off AWS.

In other news, DA Davidson raises its target on Skyworks Solutions (SWKS 72.71 -0.15) to $85 from $75, noting the 3 main drivers continue to be Apple (AAPL 110.38 -2.14) with the success of the iPhone 6, China-related smartphone business, and, to a lesser degree, Samsung. While it is still a bit early to precisely call the first quarter, most of the management teams are looking for relatively normal seasonality; however, since this is coming off record levels, DA Davidson believes most radio frequency companies will report record first quarter results. DA Davidson also noted that SWKS remains a favorite RF/analog name due to its strong leverage to the tier-1 handset OEMs and emerging market 4G rollout.

Elsewhere in the sector, GrubHub (GRUB 36.32 +0.45) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Barrington Research, which raised its price target to $43.

4:11 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Slide to End 2014 (:WRAPX) : The stock market ended the last session of 2014 on a lower note. The S&P 500 lost 1.0%, but that did not stop the benchmark index from gaining 11.4% over the course of 2014. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the session (-0.9%) and the year (+13.4%) ahead of the S&P 500.

Before we delve into the details of today's trading day, it is important to note that trading volume at the NYSE was among the lowest of the year (650 million), suggesting few carbon-based life forms took part in the final affair of the year.

All ten sectors settled in the red with utilities (-1.9%) ending at the bottom of the leaderboard. In all likelihood, today's selling was a function of profit taking after the countercyclical sector led the 2014 market rally with a gain of 24.3%.

The remaining groups did not fare much better. The top-weighted technology sector (-1.2%) was among the early leaders, but began fading from its high not long before noon ET, dragging the broader market down with it. Apple (AAPL 110.38, -2.14) began the day with a slim gain, but found itself in the red within the first 45 minutes of the session. The largest sector component continued retreating throughout the day while other large cap tech names followed suit. Shares of Apple fell 1.9% today, but still soared nearly 38.0% in 2014. Chipmakers, meanwhile, outperformed with the PHLX Semiconductor Index losing 0.6%.

The outperformance of chipmakers helped the Nasdaq exhibit some relative strength, but the index also received a helping hand from biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 303.35, -1.27) shed 0.4% while the health care sector (-1.0%) could not stay out of the red, narrowing its 2014 advance to 23.3%.

Elsewhere among cyclical groups, financials (-1.2%) lagged while the energy sector lost 0.8% to widen its 2014 decline to 10.0% amid another volatile day in oil trading pits. WTI crude dipped below the $52.60/bbl mark ahead of the close, but rocketed back to its session high to end the day lower by 1.0% at $53.49/bbl.

Also of note, the consumer discretionary sector (-0.4%) ended ahead of other groups. Homebuilders and retailers were responsible for the outperformance as iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction (ITB 25.88, +0.20) gained 0.8% while SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 96.01, -0.28) slipped 0.3%.

Treasuries capped a strong year with another rally. As a result, the benchmark 10-yr yield fell two basis points to 2.17%, finishing 87 basis points below its close from December 31, 2014. On a somewhat related note, the Dollar Index (90.27, +0.28) climbed 0.3% to end the year at its best level since early 2006.

Economic data included Initial Claims, Chicago PMI, and Pending Home Sales:


The initial claims level increased to 298,000 for the week ending December 27 from an upwardly revised 281,000 (from 280,000) while the Brieifng.com consensus expected an increase to 290,000

The Department of Labor reported that there were no special factors driving the increase in unemployment insurance filings; however, it is possible that the Christmas holiday played at least a small part in the increase
The continuing claims level fell to 2.353 million from an upwardly revised 2.406 million (from 2.403 million) while the consensus expected a decline to 2.375 million

After four consecutive months above 60, the Chicago PMI fell from 60.8 in November to 58.3 in December while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 60.0
Pending home sales for November rose 0.8%, which was in-line with the Briefing.com consensus Friday's data will be limited to the ISM Index for December (Briefing.com consensus 57.5) and the November Construction Spending report (consensus 0.1%). Both reports will be released at 10:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +13.4% YTD
S&P 500 +11.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +7.5% YTD Russell 2000 +3.6% YTD12:32 pm RF Micro Device and TriQuint Semiconductor (TQNT) announce intent to delist both co's common stock from NASDAQ in connection with merger expected to close tomorrow (RFMD) :

Trading in the common stock of the new combined company, Qorvo, Inc., is expected to commence on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on January 2, 2015, under the stock ticker symbol (QRVO)

11:45 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (262) outpacing new lows (58) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAL, AAT, AAVL, AAWW, ACC, ACNB, ACOR, ACU, AEL, AGN, AIZ, ALGT, ALK, ALOT, AMED, AN, ANGO, ANW, AOS, APU, ARMK, AVIV, AVY, AYN, AYR, AZO, BAC, BBN, BFK, BJRI, BKE, BLE, BLJ, BMI, BR, BRKL, BSRR, BWLD, BYM, CAPL, CASY, CBF, CCO, CDR, CEMP, CFI, CFN, CFNL, CHEV, CHSP, CMCSA, CMCSK, CNV, CONE, COR, CPF, CRI, CSBK, DAL, DCT, DDR, DF, DGX, DLTR, DMF, DOOR, DRE, DRI, ENH, EQY, ESSA, EVBN, EXAM, FCH, FFBC, FFG, FICO, FSBW, FWRD, GABC, GGP, GIII, GNCMA, GNMK, GPT, GPX, GSBC, HA, HALL, HBIO, HD, HDP, HEOP, HFBC, HI, HME, HMHC, HMN, HNT, HPP, HR, HSNI, HTA, HTBI, HVB, HW, HWAY, HZO, IART, IBCA, IBP, IIM, INGN, IPCC, IPG, IPHI, ISSI, JAH, JBLU, JFC, JMBA, JPM, JRS, JWN, KITE, KR, KRG, KWR, LAWS, LB, LBY, LDL, LFC, LKFN, LNCE, LOW, LTC, LTM, LUV, M, MAC, MACK, MCA, MCRL, MFL, MHD, MHF, MHN, MIG, MJI, MLI, MMSI, MPW, MRGE, MS, MSFG, MTD, MTOR, MUA, MUJ, MUSA, NAC, NATH, NAVG, NBB, NBTB, NEV, NHI, NIO, NKX, NPI, NPM, NQM, NQS, NRO, NRX, NUVA, NXP, NXR, OHI, OMER, OSBC, OUTR, OZRK, PCQ, PEI, PFBC, PFSW, PLAY, PLD, PLKI, PLUS, PMCS, PNFP, PNI, PPG, PRI, PSCD, QVCA, RDI, REG, REXR, RFI, RFMD, RGA, RIF, RIT, RJET, RL, RLH, RLI, RLJ, ROG, ROIC, ROST, RPAI, RPT, RQI, RUTH, RYAAY, SBRA, SCHL, SCMP, SEB, SHLX, SIGM, SJW, SKT, SLM, SNX, SPLS, SPTN, SRCE, SSNC, SSS, STC, STL, SUSQ, SWIR, SYNL, TGT, TJX, TQNT, TRV, TSCO, TTGT, TWC, UAL, UBNK, UNF, USAK, VFC, VNO, VRTU, VTWO, WBB, WHR, WM, WRE, WSBF, WSM, WYN

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AMZG, BOSC, CCLP, CHKR, CLSN, CMRE, COCO, COMT, CRT, CVRR, DCM, DRAM, DSWL, ELON, ELTK, EQT, ESCR, EVEP, FFHL, FRD, FTGC, FTSM, GAI, GF, GNI, HERO, ICD, KUTV, LBIX, LBRDK, LIQD, LMRK, LUB, MSN, NAME, ONTX, PERI, PFIE, PFN, PT, RFIL, ROYT, SDR, SHIP, SRV, SWN, SWZ, TAT, TLP, UBS, VLTC, VOC, VRTA, WBAI, WHLR, WHZ, WPCS, ZHNE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IHF, IWM, IYG, RTH, URE, UWM, VNQ, XHB, XLY, XRT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BNO, DBC, DJP, FXE, FXF, GSG, OIL, SGG, UGA, UNG, URA, USCI, USO

8:42 am Vishay acquired all of the remaining outstanding shares of Capella Microsystems for ~$21.0 mln (VSH) : The completion of the merger will result in 100% of Capella's results being included in net earnings attributable to Vishay stockholders subsequent to December 31, 2014. Due to the nature of Capella's business, ~$75 mln of the purchase price is allocated to definite-lived intangible assets. The acquisition of the non-controlling interest had no impact on the value ascribed to these intangible assets. The annual amortization expense of the intangible assets will be ~$10 mln.

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From Briefing.com: The Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (-2.2%) industry group led all decliners in the Information Technology Sector. Worst performers in the Philadelphia SOX Index were SunEdison (SUNE 17.59 -1.14) and NXP Semiconductor (NXPI 72.38 -3.62). Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals was the top performer, although it still finished 0.34% lower on the day.

As a whole, the Tech sector has posted 5 consecutive losing days, a streak that was not seen at all in 2014. The S&P Information Technology Index fell 1.22% on Tuesday, underperforming the broader market by a notable amount, with the S&P 500 losing just 0.89% in comparison.

Micron (MU 32.87 -0.91) kicked off the earnings season for the technology sector on Tuesday. Highlights from the report include revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2015 that were $4.57 billion, 13% higher year/year, but slightly below the $4.61 billion consensus estimate. Additionally, MU reported earnings of $0.97 per share, which beat average analyst estimates of $0.92. The company also reported that its overall consolidated gross margin of 36% for the first quarter of fiscal 2015 was up from 33% year/year.

Elsewhere, Twitter (TWTR 38.76 +2.38) skyrocketed x% amid comments by Yahoo's (YHOO 49.21 +0.08) former interim CEO Ross Levinsohn. Levinsohn mentioned that Twitter should consider the acquisition of YHOO. He went on to explain how the combination of Yahoo's large media business with Twitter's massive real-time business would create one of the most powerful media businesses in the world. We note that there has been no confirmation by either company of plans to merge.

Adding to that story, YHOO reported that mobile app usage grew by 76% year over year, defined as a user opening an app and recording a session. This substantial growth rate was primarily driven by an increase in mobile shopping, utilities & productivity, and messaging usage.

On a more forward looking note, Apple (AAPL 106.26 +0.01) reported that it was granted a U.S patent for a flexible portable device that can essentially fold up similar to a wallet. Several tech companies have experimented with the idea of a flexible, bendable mobile device, including Samsung (SSNLF) and LG Display (LPL 15.07 +0.27), among others. It is little surprise that these innovative companies are looking for ways to differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market. The current trend of producing phones with larger screens can only go so far before we are all carrying around tablets, but if that tablet could fold up and fit in your back pocket, everything changes. This is certainly not something that is going to come to fruition overnight, but rather a peek into future trends in the industry.

In the world of analyst ratings, Ambarella (AMBA 52.88 +2.21) was initiated with a Buy at Canaccord Genuity, which set its price target at $66.

Also, NetSuite (N 103.52 -2.27) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

F5 Networks (FFIV 126.73 -3.03) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham.

New Relic (NEWR 35.60 -1.65) was initiated with an Overweight at JP Morgan, and a Market Outperform at JMP Securities, both setting a $45 price target for the security.

Finally, Infoblox (BLOX 19.72 +0.37) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, its price target raised to $23 from $17.

4:12 pm Closing Market Summary: Greece and Oil Keep Market Under Pressure (:WRAPX) : Equity indices ended the Tuesday session in the red with the Russell 2000 (-1.7%) pacing the retreat. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 lost 0.9% with eight sectors registering losses.

The stock market held up relatively well through the first hour of action, but the return of some recent concerns pressured cyclical sectors and the broader market into negative territory. Specifically, the S&P 500 reversed from its session high after The Financial Times reported, citing Oxford Economics research, that Syriza party in Greece is on track to win enough votes that would translate into a mandate to push back against austerity policies imposed by the European Union. In addition to hitting U.S. stocks, the news knocked European markets off their highs and set a fire under U.S. Treasuries. The resulting safe-haven flows underpinned Treasuries, sending the benchmark 10-yr yield lower by seven basis points to 1.96% after marking a low just under the 1.89% level.

However, the market had more to contend with than just the update regarding Greece. Namely, crude oil continued its sharp downtrend while fund manager Bill Gross of Janus Capital published his investment outlook for 2015, which revealed that Mr. Gross expects negative returns from 'many' asset classes. This disclosure wasn't entirely new, considering Mr. Gross was quoted by Reuters yesterday as saying "Be prepared for low returns in almost all asset categories."

As for oil, the energy component was little changed in early overnight action, but began slipping just ahead of the opening bell in Europe. Crude was unable to pull away from its overnight low, extending its decline to 4.0% at $48.10/bbl. The commodity ended the pit session down 10.5% from its 2014 close.

Meanwhile, the energy sector (-1.3%) settled near the bottom of the leaderboard, only ahead of financials (-1.5%). Major energy components like ConocoPhillips (COP 62.93, -2.71), EOG Resources (EOG 84.20, -2.48) and Schlumberger (SLB 81.72, -1.63) lost between 2.0% and 4.1% while Dow members Chevron (CVX 108.03, -0.05) and ExxonMobil (XOM 89.81, -0.48) outperformed.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector (-0.9%) also spent the day among the laggards. For the second day in a row, transport stocks were partially responsible for the underperformance as the Dow Jones Transportation Average lost 1.7%. FedEx (FDX 169.79, -0.01) was unable to hold its intraday gain, ending flat, after UBS upgraded the logistics company to 'Buy.' As for the Transportation Average, the bellwether complex is now down 4.3% after the first two sessions of the week.

The S&P 500 was able to reclaim about a third of its decline during afternoon action with countercyclical sectors lending some support. Consumer staples (unch) and health care (-0.3%) outperformed while the two smallest sectors by weight-telecom services (+0.4%) and utilities (+0.1%)-spent the bulk of the session in positive territory.

Today's participation was well ahead of average with more than 915 million shares changing hands at the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Economic data was limited to Factory Orders and ISM Services:


Factory orders posted their fourth consecutive monthly decline, falling 0.7% in November which was worse than the 0.4% decline expected by the Briefing.com consensus

The October reading was left unrevised at -0.7%
Orders for durable goods declined 0.9%, which was more than a previously reported 0.7% decline. Nondurable goods orders, meanwhile, declined 0.5%
Shipments, which factor into GDP growth, declined 0.6% in November on top of a 0.9% decline in October

The ISM Services Index for December fell to 56.2 from 59.3 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a downtick to 58.5 The dip in December was driven by a pullback in all index categories with two indices falling into contraction: Backlog of Orders Index fell to 49.5 from 55.5
Prices Index fell to 49.5 from 54.4
Tomorrow the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the December ADP Employment Change report (Briefing.com consensus 230K) will cross the wires at 8:15 ET. The November trade deficit (consensus $41.80 billion) will be reported at 8:30 ET while the FOMC Minutes from the December meeting will be released at 14:00 ET.
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.5% YTD
S&P 500 -2.7% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -3.0% YTD Russell 2000 -3.6% YTD

4:04 pm Micron beats by $0.05, reports revs in-line (MU) : Reports Q1 (Nov) earnings of $0.97 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.92; revenues rose 13.1% year/year to $4.57 bln vs the $4.61 bln consensus. The company's overall consolidated gross margin of 36 percent for the first quarter of fiscal 2015 was up from 33 percent for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.

12:52 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (200) outpacing new highs (159) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAT, ACC, ACH, ADC, AEC, AIV, AKR, ALKS, AMAG, APSA, APU, ARE, AVIV, AYN, BAF, BBF, BBK, BBN, BERY, BGSF, BLUE, BNDX, BNY, BSE, BTT, BTX, BYM, CBL, CBOE, CDR, CHRS, CLDT, CNXR, COR, CQB, CUBE, CUTR, CVTI, DEI, DGICA, DMF, DOC, EBIX, EDR, EDUC, EIM, ELMD, ELS, EQR, EQY, ESPR, ESRT, EXR, FGEN, FMB, FRT, GBAB, GBLI, GFI, GGP, HCN, HCP, HCT, HIW, HME, HPP, HR, HTA, HTBK, IFNA, IIM, INGN, IQI, KITE, KRC, LTC, MAA, MAC, MBSD, MCA, MFL, MHD, MIFI, MIY, MLVF, MMV, MOC, MPA, MPW, MQT, MTT, MUE, MUJ, MVF, MYC, MYD, MYI, MYM, NAC, NAD, NBB, NBD, NEA, NERV, NEV, NHI, NID, NIO, NJV, NNN, NPF, NPI, NPM, NQI, NQM, NQS, NRO, NXP, NXQ, NXR, NZH, O, OHI, PCG, PCQ, PMO, PNI, PPS, PSA, PTSI, PZC, PZZA, REG, RESN, RIC, RIF, RIT, RPAI, SBRA, SGC, SKT, SPG, SRC, SSS, STZ, STZ.B, UDR, UHT, VCV, VGLT, VGM, VKI, VKQ, VMO, VNO, VTR, WRE, ZMH, ZNH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACRE, ACWX, ADRD, ADRU, AEG, AIT, AIXG, AKO.B, ANR, AR, ASCMA, ASRV, ASTI, ATU, AV, AVAV, AVP, AWAY, AWF, AWX, BAK, BALT, BBVA, BGR, BNS, BOKF, BOOM, BPI, BSPM, BTU, BXC, BXE, CAAS, CAT, CEE, CEL, CFNB, CFR, CHOP, CHT, CHUY, CIR, CKEC, CLD, CLWT, CMRE, CNX, COG, COMT, CRC, CS, CVEO, DB, DBD, DEO, DMD, DQ, DSS, DSWL, DWCH, EAC, ELON, ENRJ, ENVA, EQT, EVEP, FBRC, FEUZ, FMSA, FRD, FSIC, FSLR, GALE, GEOS, GHM, GLNG, GLOW, GNE, GSK, GTLS, GYRO, HBHC, HCLP, HEES, HELI, HERO, HIE, HK, HLF, HLX, HMC, HSBC, HSOL, HTH, HY, IBTX, ICD, ICLD, IGD, IHS, IID, ING, ITT, IX, JOY, KEX, KND, KORS, KUTV, KWK, LDR, LOR, LRE, LRN, LUB, LYG, MCF, MFG, MGIC, MN, MR, MT, MTSL, MXC, MXE, NBG, NBL, NCTY, NEFF, NUE, OCN, OIBR, OIBR.C, OII, OXM, P, PACD, PB, PBR, PBR.A, PCYO, PDLI, PDS, PERI, PFMT, PGN, PT, PTNR, PWE, QCRH, REXX, RFIL, RICE, RLOC, RMP, RRC, RYI, SAN, SB, SCHN, SD, SDRL, SGF, SSYS, STB, STRI, SWN, TAPR, TAT, TCBI, TEF, TIVO, TOT, TRMB, TRN, TRT, TWIN, TWN, TZOO, UBS, UPL, UTEK, VMI, VNCE, VRA, VRNG, VSCI, VTG, VXUS, WAC, WBAI, WGO, WNR, WOR, XCO, XNY, YDLE, YUMA, ZHNE, ZU

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: FLAT, ICF, TLH, TLT, URE, UUP, VNQ

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BJK, BNO, DBC, EFA, EIS, EPOL, EWI, EWM, EWP, EWQ, EWU, EWY, FXB, FXC, FXE, FXF, GREK, GSG, KOL, OIL, PBW, TAN, TBT, UGA, UHN, UNG, URA, USO

12:50 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

GG (20.32 +7.8%): Gold companies enjoying a bump as the spot price of the precious metal jumps $14 to $1218 (ABX also higher).
MNST (111.53 +1.92%): Initiated with a Buy at Argus; tgt $145.
ANTM (125.33 +1.68%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, tgt to $145 from $116.

Large Cap Losers

KORS (66.13 -9.41%): Downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse; tgt lowered to $79 from $103.
PVH (116.25 -4.64%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.
CSX (33.59 -3.7%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, tgt to $38 from $40.

Mid Cap Gainers

AOL (47.01 +5.07%): There were reports out overnight that Verizon (VZ) may consider an acquisition of or a JV with AOL.
MSCI (48.62 +2.92%): ValueAct Capital disclosed an 8.3% active stake in amended 13D filing; expressed displeasure with Board of Directors handling of ValueAct's request for a board seat.
HII (113.16 +2.66%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Mid Cap Losers

ICPT (158.31 -10.56%): Down after Gilead (GILD) acquired competitive NASH franchise, Phenex's Farnesoid X Receptor program.
IDTI (17.14 -9.31%): Heard that a sell-side out cautious on the name suggesting the company may have lost a large contract.
GEVA (92.66 -7.78%): Announced it intends to offer for sale 2.50 mln shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering.

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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : The S&P 500 spiked 1.7% on Thursday, continuing its rebound that began on Wednesday when the index found support at its 100-day moving average (2005). Today, the benchmark index surged past its 50-day moving average (2044) and returned to unchanged for the year. The Nasdaq Composite had an even better showing, surging 1.8%.

Equity indices didn't waste any time after yesterday's rebound, extending higher in the futures market in reaction to evening comments made by Chicago Fed President, and more importantly, 2015 FOMC voting member Charles Evans. Presenting at the University of Chicago, Mr. Evans reiterated his belief that due to low inflation, the Fed should not rush to raise rates, adding for good measure that such move would be a "catastrophe."

Interestingly, Fed insider Jon Hilsenrath of the Wall Street Journal wrote this morning that the Fed could indeed raise rates soon if it is believed that low yields at the long end of the curve reflect an influx of capital into dollar-denominated assets, which could spark a surge in prices. Mr. Hilsenrath added that this was the view espoused by NY Fed President and this year's voting member William Dudley, who argued a similar situation presented itself in 2000s, leading to the housing bubble.

The signs of an impending tug-of-war at the Fed over when to pull away the punchbowl did not stop the stock market from spiking out of the gate and adding to its advance in afternoon action. Meanwhile, Treasuries retreated, sending the 10-yr yield higher by six basis points to 2.01%.

All ten sectors finished the day in positive territory with cyclical groups pacing the rally. The materials sector (+2.4%) ended atop the leaderboard, but more notably, the technology sector, which is roughly six times the size of materials, jumped 2.2%.

The largest sector by weight enjoyed broad-based support. Apple (AAPL 111.89, +4.14) spiked 3.8%, buoyed by reports of strong sales in China. Other influential sector members also posted impressive gains with Facebook (FB 78.18, +2.02), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 40.68, +0.95), and Microsoft (MSFT 47.59, +1.36) soaring between 2.4% and 2.9%. Even Google (GOOGL 506.91, +1.76) was able to end in the green after being down as much as 1.5% after Stifel downgraded the stock to 'Hold.' However, the relative strength was not isolated to large names. Chipmakers rallied across the board with the PHLX Semiconductor Index advancing 2.9%.

The combination of unwavering strength among technology stocks of all sorts helped the Nasdaq Composite finish ahead of the S&P 500 even though biotechnology struggled to stay in the green. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 314.44, +2.44) gave up most of its opening gain during the first hour and flirted with its flat line, but still ended higher by 0.8%. For its part, the health care sector (+1.7%) settled in-line with the S&P 500.

Like health care, the remaining countercyclical sectors finished in-line with or just behind the broader market. Consumer staples (+1.5%) and telecom services (+1.7%) spent the day just behind the S&P 500 while utilities (+0.7%) underperformed amid the increase in Treasury yields.

Elsewhere, the energy sector (+2.2%) was able to finish among the leaders even though crude oil remained on slippery footing. The energy component crept above the $49.50/bbl level overnight, but was beaten back to its flat line. The commodity was down in excess of 1.0% intraday, but fought back to a slim gain of 0.2% at $48.80/bbl.

Today's participation was in-line with average with 830 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Initial Claims and Consumer Credit:


Initial claims decreased to 294,000 from an unrevised 298,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 290,000
Anecdotal reports of increased layoff activities in the energy sector due to low oil prices have not led to changes in unemployment insurance trends so far. That being said, we could see an uptick in claims in the coming weeks if fracking becomes unprofitable and energy companies continue slashing capital expenditure budgets.
The continuing claims level increased to 2.452 million from a downwardly revised 2.351 million (from 2.353 million) while the consensus expected an increase to 2.365 million
Consumer credit increased by $14.10 billion in November, down from an upwardly revised $16.00 billion (from $13.20 billion) in October. The Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of $15.0 billion
For the last 12 months, consumer credit has increased by at least $10.00 billion per month

Tomorrow, the Nonfarm Payrolls report for December (Briefing.com consensus 245K) will be released at 8:30 ET while November Wholesale Inventories (consensus 0.3%) will be reported at 10:00 ET.

Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.5% YTD
S&P 500 +0.2% YTD
Nasdaq Composite UNCH YTD
Russell 2000 -0.7% YTD

DJ30 +323.35 NASDAQ +85.72 SP500 +36.24 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2195/1.93 bln/711 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2420/829.2 mln/715 3:35 pm :

Energy futures rose just modestly today, while precious metals and grains were mostly lower
WTI crude oil began to sell-off sharply in afternoon trading, but recovered just as fast
Feb crude fell as low as $47.73, but recovered those losses in the last 29 minutes of trading to end with a small gain
Feb crude finished $0.11 higher at $48.81/barrel.
Feb nat gas gained $0.05 to $2.93/MMBtu
Feb gold lost $2.20 to $1208.50/oz, while Mar silver fell $0.17 to $16.37/oz

5:16 pm SunEdison Semiconductor announces commencement of public offering of 12 mln ordinary shares by selling shareholders (SEMI) : Co announced today the commencement of an underwritten public offering of 12,000,000 ordinary shares by selling shareholders. SunEdison Semiconductor Limited will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of the ordinary shares. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. is serving as lead book-running manager for the offering.

12:09 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

VRX (153.68 +5.9%): Issued upside guidance on guidance call; sees FY15 EPS of $10.10-10.40 vs. $10.01 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
STZ (107.32 +4.14%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.09, beat on revs; raised FY15 EPS guidance above consensus driven by strong beer business shipment volume.
TSCO (81.53 +4.88%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Large Cap Losers

SIG (123.92 -5.29%): Reported holiday comps +3.6%; reaffirmed Q4 adj. EPS $2.95-3.05 vs. $2.99 consensus, comps +3-4%.
ADM (48.95 -2.04%): Downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital.
ALXN (183.8 -2.2%): Provided an update on its Phase 2 clinical trial with Eculizumab in Antibody Mediated Rejection; primary composite endpoint did not reach statistical significance.

Mid Cap Gainers

IPXL (35.49 +14.52%): Announced that the FDA approved RYTARY for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
SHLD (34.14 +6.69%): Jumping after 10% owner, B. Berkowitz, bought 11,800 shares at $30.97-31.84 worth ~$371K.
GPN (84.79 +6.94%): Beat Q2 consensus estimates by $0.07, beat on revs; guided FY15 EPS above consensus, raised FY15 guidance.

Mid Cap Losers

APOL (27.79 -12.77%): Beat Q1 consensus estimates by $0.02, missed on revs; guided Q2 revs below consensus; lowered FY15 guidance.
PODD (41.44 -6.94%): Lowered Q4 rev guidance to $71-73 mln (from $76-81 mln) vs $79.56 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Peter Devlin resigned as Chief Commercial Officer.
AFSI (51.05 -5.46%): Announced the commencement of public offering of 3 mln shares common stock.

11:47 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (246) outpacing new lows (63) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, AAT, AAVL, ACOR, ADC, ADXS, AFFX, AGN, AIV, AKR, ALGT, ANTM, APTS, APU, ARE, AUO, AUXL, AVB, AVIV, AVY, AXL, AXTI, BAF, BAM, BBC, BC, BCC, BDX, BERY, BFAM, BFY, BFZ, BKE, BKS, BMR, BMRN, BR, BRX, BSX, BTT, BTX, BURL, BWLD, BXP, BYM, CAH, CAKE, CASY, CATO, CBOE, CBPO, CCL, CDR, CERU, CF, CFI, CFN, CHRS, CI, CIVI, CLDT, CLX, CMG, CNBKA, CNLMU, COR, CORE, COV, CPT, CRL, CSL, CST, CTRN, CUBE, CUK, CUTR, DDR, DEI, DEPO, DGICA, DHI, DIN, DMB, DPZ, DRE, DRI, DY, EAT, EBIX, EDR, EDUC, EFX, EPR, EQR, ESPR, ESRT, ESS, ETH, EXR, FOLD, FR, FRT, FSBW, G, GFI, GGP, GNCMA, GRT, GT, HCN, HCP, HD, HII, HIW, HPF, HPP, HPS, HSIC, HTA, HTBK, HWAY, HZO, IART, IDT, IFNA, ILMN, IMKTA, IPXL, IRF, ISIS, ITC, JACK, JFC, JMBA, JNS, JRS, KIM, KR, KRG, LABL, LEG, LH, LOW, LTC, M, MAA, MANT, MAS, MCK, MIFI, MIK, MNR, MNST, MPA, MRGE, MRK, MSBF, MTOR, MUA, MUSA, MWV, NATH, NAZ, NBB, NBIX, NHI, NKX, NLS, NNP, NPSP, NQP, NRO, NUVA, NVR, NXN, OCR, OFED, OHI, ONNN, OPHT, OVAS, PDCO, PEB, PEI, PENN, PFNX, PHM, PLAY, PLCE, PLD, PLKI, PPS, PSA, PZZA, RCL, RECN, REG, REXR, RIF, RIT, RMD, ROIC, ROST, RPAI, RPI, RPT, RQI, SBRA, SHO, SIRO, SNFCA, SPG, SRC, SSS, STAG, STZ, STZ.B, SUI, TCO, TDG, TGT, THS, TMO, TNET, TNK, TREE, TRNO, TSRO, TSS, TXRH, UHT, VCV, VMO, VNO, VRX, VTR, WAT, WK, WMT, WOOF, WSM, XENE, XPLR, ZAGG, ZMH, ZUMZ

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AKO.A, AMCF, AMID, ANR, AOI, ASTI, ATU, BAK, BCBP, BIS, BWEN, CFNB, CHOP, CIG.C, CLD, CRC, CS, DMD, ECF, ECR, ELTK, FRD, FXEN, GLNG, GOOGL, GPRK, GYRO, HIE, ICLD, IGLD, IGOV, ISHG, IX, KBIO, KUTV, MCF, MCP, MEET, MTSL, NBG, NEFF, NES, PANL, PTNR, RCON, RELL, REN, REXX, RFIL, RLOC, RRC, SAN, SCHN, SD, SWN, TRCH, UPL, UQM, VRTS, VSCI, VTG, WAC, XNY

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: FXI, ICF, IHI, IYR, RTH, URE, UUP, VNQ, XBI, XHB, XRT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FXE, FXF, GREK

11:30 am Relative sector weakness (:TECHX) : Sectors that have underperformed the S&P in recent trade as the morning momentum slows (A/D Line did not confirm new index highs) include: Bank KBE, Reg Bank KRE, Internet FDN, Casino, Coal KOL, Biotech IBB, Retail XRT.
11:00 am Silicon Motion seeing little reaction this morning after narrowing rev, raising Q4 gross margin guidance (SIMO) : Co issues guidance for Q4 (Dec), narrows Q4 (Dec) rev to down 7-8% QoQ (from down 5-10%) to ~$79.7-80.5 mln vs. $80.61 mln Capital IQ Consensus; co raises gross margin guidance to 51.5-52.5% from 50-52%.


The co will release its full fourth quarter 2014 results after the market closes on January 26, 2015.

SanDisk (SNDK) announced that it has completed the spin-out of the company's ioControl solutions business. The new entity will be known as NexGen Storage, taking on the name it originally held before the entity was acquired by Fusion-io.

ntegrated Silicon Solution (ISSI) and Spansion (CODE) announced a licensing agreement that provides ISSI access to Spansion's HyperFlash memory and HyperBus technology portfolio, as well as access to MirrorBit technology in Spansion's foundries. The agreement will expand Spansion's licensing revenue from Spansion's MirrorBit technology, HyperFlash memory and HyperBus interface licensing program.
7:32 am SunEdison purchases new turbines that will enable it to develop up to 1.6 gigawatts of incremental wind energy projects which qualify for the U.S. federal production tax credit (SUNE) :

SUNE and and TerraForm (TERP) announced that SunEdison had purchased new turbines that will enable SunEdison to develop up to 1.6 gigawatts of incremental wind energy projects which qualify for the U.S. federal production tax credit. TerraForm will purchase the projects from SunEdison once they achieve commercial operation. On November 17, 2014, SunEdison and TerraForm announced that they had signed a definitive agreement to acquire First Wind for $2.4 billion. The purchase included over 1.6 GW of pipeline and backlog projects of which 1.4 GW were already PTC and or ITC qualified projects and an additional 6.4 GW of project development opportunities.

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From Briefing.com: The technology sector continued its YTD underperformance of the broader market on Monday, falling 1.34% versus the S&P 500, which fell just 0.81%. Technology Hardware, Storage & Periperals led all declining industry groups on the day, plummeting nearly 3% to begin the week. Apple (AAPL 109.25 -2.76), EMC Corp (EMC 28.94 -0.74), 3D Systems (DDD 31.36 -1.27), and Seagate Technology (STX 65.04 -1.41) were some of the worst performing large caps in the group.

Taking a look at the second worst performing industry group on Monday, the Philadelphia SOX Index closed down 2% as Semiconductors took a hit. Sandisk (SNDK 83.57 -13.47), dove 13.9% after it lowered Q4 revenue guidance to $1.73 billion. The lower revenue was primarily due to weaker than expected sales of retail and iNAND products. Non-GAAP gross margin for the fourth fiscal quarter is expected to be approximately 45% compared to the previously guided range of 47% to 49%.

Other laggards in the group include Micron Technology (MU 31.66 -1.87), Kla-Tenor (KLAC 67.09 -2.08), and Lam Research (LRCX 77.31 -2.42).

While many stocks in the Technology sector closed in the red today, there were a few bright spots worth noting. VMWare (VMW 80.74 +1.84), ASML Holding (ASML 103.45 +1.36), Cisco Systems (CSCO 28.05 +0.26) all closed higher.

SAP SE (SAP 67.70 +2.67) soared 4.1% following its preannouncement of its fiscal fourth quarter financial results. The company noted it sees Q4 non-IFRS revenue of EUR 5.46 billion vs. EUR 5.37 billion analyst consensus. Additionally, SAP reported operating margin was 32.1% in the quarter, primarily a result of non-IFRS cloud subscriptions and support revenue increasing 59% year/year). The annual cloud revenue run rate now exceeds 1.7 billion or $2.0 bln.

On to analyst actions, Teradyne (TERP 29.96 +0.21) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Google (GOOG 492.55 -3.62) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Atlantic Equities.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 22.45 -0.60) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Buckingham Research.

Radware (RDWR 21.44 -0.11) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Buckingham Research.

Finally, Solera (SLH 51.69 +1.37) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman

4:31 pm Cree announces it has filed complaints with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court against Feit Electric Company (CREE) : Co filed a complaint against Feit Electric and its Asian supplier, Unity Opto Technology Co., Ltd., to curb infringement on Cree's patented technologies and to address Feit's false and misleading advertising claims that certain of its products meet ENERGY STAR specifications. The suits allege infringement of 10 patents related to LED lighting.

4:10 pm : The stock market began the new week on the defensive with the Nasdaq (-0.8%) and S&P 500 (-0.8%) pacing the slide. The Dow (-0.5%) and Russell 2000 (-0.3%) outperformed, but the two indices also spent the bulk of the day in negative territory.

Equity indices opened the trading day with slim gains that evaporated during the first few minutes of the session. The S&P 500 slumped back below its 50-day moving average (2046) at the start and spent the rest of the day well below that level as influential sectors weighed.

Most notably, the energy sector (-2.8%) was the weakest performer with crude oil contributing to the pressure after Goldman Sachs lowered its short-term forecast for the commodity. WTI crude ended the pit session on its low, down 4.9% at $46.07/bbl.

Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical groups registered slimmer losses, but heavily-weighted financials (-0.9%) and technology (-1.3%) kept the market under pressure throughout the session.

The top-weighted tech sector spent the day in a steady retreat as components of all sizes registered losses. Large cap names like Apple (AAPL 109.25, -2.76), Google (GOOGL 497.06, -3.66), and Microsoft (MSFT 46.60, -0.59) lost between 0.7% and 2.5%, while chipmakers also lagged with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 2.0%.

To be fair, a small pocket of relative strength could be found among cybersecurity names after President Obama spoke about online safety, and is expected to touch on the subject once again during the State of the Union Address on January 20. Cyber-Ark Software (CYBR 38.37, +1.31) and FireEye (FEYE 35.29, +1.61) gained 3.5% and 4.8%, respectively.

Elsewhere, biotechnology names also found themselves among the outperformers, thanks in large part to Celgene (CELG 117.00, +3.33). The stock soared 2.9% after the company issued guidance for 2015 at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. Meanwhile, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 315.06, +1.74) gained 0.6% while the health care sector (-0.1%) could not stay above its flat line.

Similar to health care, countercyclical consumer staples (-0.3%) and utilities (-0.3%) outperformed while the telecom services sector (+0.6%) spent the day in the green.

Treasuries slumped overnight, but spent the day in a steady advance. The benchmark 10-yr yield fell four basis points to 1.91%.

Today's participation was roughly in-line with average as nearly 760 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Tomorrow, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey will be released at 10:00 ET while the Treasury Budget for December (Briefing.com consensus $3.00 billion) will be reported at 14:00 ET.


Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.0% YTD
S&P 500 -1.5% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -1.5% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.0% YTD

DJ30 -96.53 NASDAQ -39.36 SP500 -16.55 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1076/1.73 bln/1878 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1163/758.9 mln/1939 3:40 pm :

Oil crashed again after Goldman Sachs lowered its price forecast for WTI and Brent crude oil, falling to new lows seen since the recent collapse
At the end of today's session, Feb crude closed $2.33 lower at $46.07/barrel
Natural gas futures tanked on a mild weather outlook, leaving Feb nat gas closed $15 cents lower at $2.80/MMBtu
Feb gold rose $12.60 to $1228.0/oz, while Mar silver gained $0.11 to $16.52/oz

4:09 pm Alcoa beats by $0.06, beats on revs; co reports record quarter cash from operations of $1.5 billion (AA) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.27; revenues rose 14.2% year/year to $6.38 bln vs the $6.03 bln consensus.

Some key highlights:


Global Rolled Products after-tax operating income more than triples year-over-year, auto growth continuesUpstream business improves performance for 13th consecutive quarterAlumina after-tax operating income up more than twofold year-over-yearPrimary Metals adjusted EBITDA per metric ton strongest since second quarter 2008Record quarter cash from operations of $1.5 billion Free cash flow of $989 million, highest since fourth quarter 2010 Alcoa projects 7% global aluminum demand growth in 201512:52 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

BMY (63.15 +4.69%): Announced that its Phase 3 study of Opdivo compared to docetaxel in patients with second-line squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer was stopped early; met its endpoint; price target raised to $70 from $62 at Argus, Buy rating maintained.
SAP (67.65 +4.03%): Preannounced Q4 rev above consensus; non-IFRS cloud subscription and support revenue accelerated to 72%.
BBY (39.28 +3.21%): Positive view profiled in Barron's over the weekend.

Large Cap Losers

SNDK (83.86 -13.58%): Lowered Q4 revenue guidance to $1.73 bln vs $1.83 bln Capital IQ Consensus Est, down from $1.80-1.85 bln.
TIF (89.19 -13.78%): Reported holiday comps flat; lowered FY15 EPS guidance; sees low-to-mid single-digit sales and earnings growth in 2015, below estimates; price target lowered earlier to $110 from $121 at Sterne Agee.
TRIP (71.45 -4.13%): Cautious view profiled in Barron's over the weekend.

Mid Cap Gainers

LULU (63.52 +8.34%): Guided Q4 EPS & revs above consensus, sees Q4 (Jan) EPS of 0.71-0.73 vs. $0.69 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Sterne Agee.
NPSP (45.4 +8.32%): Announced it will be acquired by Shire (SHPG) for $46.00 per share.
DRII (30.08 +7.12%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman; tgt raised to $34.50 from $27.

Mid Cap Losers

RICE (17.35 -10.1%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.
THC (47.45 -8.13%): Preannounces Q4 results; sees FY14 EBITDA toward the top of its previous range; guided FY15 below consensus.
EXAS (27.54 -5.56%): Co estimated that revenue during Q4 from Cologuard was ~$1.5 mln.

11:53 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (220) outpacing new highs (204) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAT, ABC, ACAD, ACC, ACT, ADXS, AEC, AFFX, AGEN, AGIO, AGN, AIV, AKR, AMBA, ANW, APTS, ARE, ARKR, ARMK, ASPX, AVB, AVID, AYI, BABY, BBC, BBN, BBW, BFK, BFY, BKE, BLCM, BLE, BLUE, BMR, BMY, BNDX, BNY, BPY, BR, BRX, BSET, BSX, BTA, BTT, BTX, BURL, BWLD, BXP, CAH, CCL, CEMP, CENTA, CHKP, CPHD, CPT, CRL, CUBE, CUK, CUTR, CVD, CXH, DEI, DEPO, DFT, DHT, DMB, DOC, DPZ, DRAD, DRII, DXCM, EDR, EDUC, EPR, ESS, ETH, EVLV, EW, FMI, FRT, G, GFI, GGP, GNCMA, HCA, HCN, HCT, HELE, HIW, HME, HOLI, HOLX, HPF, HPP, HR, HSIC, IBCA, IDT, IMH, INCR, IPXL, IRF, IRMD, JACK, JRS, JUNO, KIM, KIRK, KITE, KR, KTF, KTF, LBY, LEG, LH, LJPC, LULU, MAA, MAC, MANH, MCA, MCUR, MFT, MIFI, MQY, MRGE, MRK, MSCI, MUA, MUC, MUS, MVT, MWIV, MYJ, MYM, NAC, NAN, NATH, NAZ, NBB, NEA, NEV, NHI, NIO, NKX, NLS, NMO, NNP, NPSP, NQI, NQM, NQP, NQS, NRO, NUV, NVR, NVSL, NVX, NXP, NXPI, NXZ, NYV, OFC, OPK, PDCO, PFPT, PHM, PLD, PLKI, PMO, PNI, PPS, PSA, PYN, PZZA, REG, RMD, ROIC, RPI, SBRA, SCSS, SCYX, SKT, SLG, SPG, SRT, SSS, SUI, TA, TCO, TNK, TSRI, UDR, UHT, VFL, VKQ, VNO, VTR, WHR, WK, WOOF, WSO, XNCR, ZIOP

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABB, ACFN, ACMP, ACY, AEG, AEGN, AIMC, AIT, AIXG, AKS, ALJ, AM, AMFW, AMID, ANGI, ANR, AOI, ARR, ASCMA, ASNA, ASPS, ASTI, ATU, ATW, AVP, BBCN, BBEP, BIS, BKU, BNS, BOKF, BOOM, BPI, BRS, BTU, BWEN, BXC, BXE, CAM, CAS, CBRX, CCLP, CEL, CFR, CIG, CIG.C, CIR, CJES, CKH, CLB, CLD, CMA, CMC, CNNX, CNQ, CNSI, CNX, COMT, CS, CSLT, CSUN, CVCY, DB, DBD, DMD, DRQ, DWCH, E, EAC, ELRC, ENRJ, EVEP, EXH, FC, FES, FET, FFIN, FI, FMSA, FTEK, FTGC, FTI, FXEN, GDP, GHM, GME, GMLP, GOOG, GOOGL, GTLS, GWR, HBHC, HEES, HERO, HFC, HK, HLX, HP, HSC, HSOL, HY, IBKC, IBTX, ICD, IMO, ING, IOC, IX, JOY, KMT, KNM, LAS, LC, LDR, LF, LOCM, LXFR, MCF, MCP, MEA, MFG, MHR, MR, MRC, MT, MTRX, MWE, MXC, NADL, NBL, NEFF, NES, NFX, NGS, NMIH, NMR, NNVC, NOV, NRIM, NUAN, NWPX, OCN, OIBR, OII, OKE, ONP, ORIG, PACD, PANL, PCOM, PDS, PED, PGI, PQ, PRGN, PSIX, PTBI, PTEN, PTNR, PWE, PZN, RCON, RELL, RES, RESI, REXX, RGP, RICE, RIG, RNET, RS, RSO, RYI, SB, SCHN, SD, SDPI, SDRL, SGM, SJT, SLB, SMFG, SMT, SODA, SRF, SRPT, STN, STRS, SWN, TAT, TCBI, TDW, TEX, THR, THRX, TIVO, TPRE, TRCH, TRN, TS, TSI, TZOO, UBS, UG, UMBF, UPI, UPL, USAP, VRTS, WB, WFT, WHLR, WIRE, WNR, WOR, WPCS, WPZ, WTW, YUMA, ZHNE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: ICF, ITB, IYR, URE, VNQ, XBI, XHB

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BNO, DBC, DJP, EWI, FXC, FXS, GSG, JJC, KOL, OIH, OIL, SLX, UGA, UNG, USCI, USO, XES, XME

9:05 am Amtech Systems announces total orders for the quarter ended December 31, 2014, were $30 mln, including $21 mln of solar orders (ASYS) : The orders are expected to ship within the next three to nine months.
8:02 am SanDisk lowers Q4 revenue guidance to $1.73 bln vs $1.83 bln Capital IQ Consensus ESt, down from $1.80-1.85 bln (SNDK) :

The lower revenue was primarily due to weaker than expected sales of retail and iNAND products. Non-GAAP gross margin for the fourth fiscal quarter is expected to be approximately 45% compared to the previously guided range of 47% to 49%.
Stock immediately dropped 7 pts to $90/share following this news, now at $90.94/share.6:40 am SunEdison and Adani to invest $4 bln in solar PV manufacturing facility in Gujarat (SUNE) : Adani Enterprises and SunEdison announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a Joint Venture to build the largest, vertically integrated solar photovoltaic manufacturing facility in India with an investment of around $4 bln.


The new $4 billion facility will be constructed in Mundra, Gujarat, India, over a three to four year period. This facility will vertically integrate all aspects of solar panel production on site, including Polysilicon refining, ingots, wafers, cells and panels production with a broader ecosystem involving extended supply chain for raw materials and consumables.6:04 am Integrated Silicon narrows Q1 rev guidance; below consensus (ISSI) : Co issues downside guidance for Q1 (Dec), sees Q1 (Dec) revs of $80.5-81.0 mln vs. $82.49 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, narrowed from $80.0-85.0 million provided on October 29, 2014

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From Briefing.com: The Technology Sector performed in-line with the broader market on Wednesday, closing 0.53% lower, slightly better than the S&P 500, which fell 0.58%.

The lone gaining industry group in the sector, Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components, rose 0.15%, led by LG Display (LPL 16.65 +0.47), Corning (GLW 23.25 +0.10), Orbotech (ORBK 15.53 +0.33), and Keysight Technologies (KEYS 34.83 +0.24).

IT Services, on the other hand, led the sector lower, falling 0.85%. Large caps that led the group lower include Wipro (WIT 11.23 -0.26), Alliance Data Systems (ADS 281.37 -6.18), Visa (V 255.56 -5.22), and Fleetcor (FLT 139.79 -2.07).

In other news, BlackBerry (BBRY 12.60 +2.89) shares flew 29.7% higher near the end of the day following Reuters report suggesting Samsung (SSNLF) considering BBRY acquisition. The expected price range for the buyout is between $13.35-15.49/share. This is an interesting though, as Samsung has tried for years to relieve itself of Android dependency. BBRY's operating system runs on Linux, as does Android, which would allow them to continue running Google applications. One thing worth noting though, neither company has confirmed the acquisition rumor.

Elsewhere, Best Buy (BBY 39.91 +0.81) is set to report holiday sales Thursday morning. Last year the stock fell 30% after this report as an intense promotional environment led to a 0.9% domestic comp decline and a profit warning. BBY has guided its fourth quarter revenue near flat. The company also guided for an improvement in gross margin and an approximate 50 bps year/year expansion in operating margin. BBY appears to be in a much better this position this year, helped by a strong product cycle (mostly Apple (AAPL109.80 -0.49), but GoPro (GPRO 52.34 +2.47) and 4K TVs also creating year/year tailwind).

Also in news today, Needham hosted Micron (MU 30.05 -0.79) VP of Investor Relations, Kipp Bedard at their 17th Annual Growth Conference and were able to discern more information in the wake of yesterday's SanDisk negative pre-announcement. Micron believes the NAND market saw pricing pressure over the last few months caused by Samsung, specifically in client SSDs with an attempt to shift capacity away from its mobile handsets to PCs. NAND pricing over the last four weeks has stabilized, however, and demand trends remain strong. For 2015, on the DRAM side, mobile is expected to be a large driver of DRAM consumption as more phones utilize 4Gb, and NAND growth is expected to be driven by growth in embedded and eMCP. Micron is also making progress toward TLC and 3D NAND, with the former expecting shipments this spring and the latter in 2H15.

On to analyst related actions, TrueCar (TRUE 19.61 -1.49) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen.

Red Hat (RHT 66.38 -1.06) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman.

Cirrus Logic (CRUS 24.26 +0.32) was upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at Pacific Crest.

Xilinx (XLNX 41.37 -0.48) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
5:31 pm BlackBerry announces it has not engaged in discussions with Samsung (SSNLF) with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry (BBRY) : The co notes it is aware of certain press reports published today with respect to a possible offer by Samsung (SSNLF) to purchase BlackBerry.

The co notes it has not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry. BlackBerry's policy is not to comment on rumors or speculation, and accordingly it does not intend to comment further.

4:31 pm Semtech announces it has completed the acquisition of assets of EnVerv, Inc; expects the acquisition to be neutral to its FY16 results; terms not disclosed (SMTC) :

"PLC technology is highly complementary to our current wireless LoRa solutions and expands Semtech's available market beyond the industrial wireless segment into the industrial PLC market and the residential gateway market. We believe that the Smart Home and the Smart Grid are still in their early stages of global development, and having both PLC and wireless technologies positions us well to take advantage of both segments"

4:25 pm Adobe Systems announces program to repurchase $2.0 billion of stock by end of FY2017 (ADBE) : Co announce its Board of Directors has approved a new stock repurchase program granting the co authority to repurchase up to $2.0 billion in common stock through the end of fiscal 2017. The proposed stock repurchase program approved by Adobe's Board of Directors is substantially similar to the company's previous program authorizing the repurchase of up to $2.0 billion in common stock through fiscal 2015, which authority has been exhausted.

4:15 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Retreat Amid Persistent Growth Concerns (:WRAPX) : The major averages endured their fourth consecutive decline with the S&P 500 (-0.6%) making an intraday appearance below its 100-day moving average (2,007). The tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed, but still lost 0.5%.

Equities faced selling pressure from the start after the overnight session failed to alleviate the growth concerns that contributed to the recent weakness. Instead, the concerns grew larger, starting with the World Bank's reduced growth outlook for 2015 (to 3.0% from 3.4%) and 2016 (to 3.3% from 3.5%).

The lowered outlook pressured commodities, and especially copper, which remained under pressure throughout the day, ending lower by 4.9% at $2.51/lb after hitting a low near the $2.45/lb level. Crude oil, however, traded in the red during morning action, but rocketed into the pit close, which helped the broader market climb off its intraday low. As for crude, the energy component spiked 5.7% to $48.55/bbl.

The rebound in crude helped the energy sector (+0.1%) finish in the green, but other cyclical groups did not fare as well. Notably, the financial sector (-1.4%) ended at the bottom of the leaderboard, which was largely due to a 3.5% decline in JPMorgan Chase (JPM 56.81, -2.03) after the industry giant reported below-consensus earnings and revenue. For its part, Wells Fargo (WFC 51.25, -0.60) delivered an in-line report, but still lost 1.2%.

Financials inched away from their lows during afternoon action, but could not catch up to the broader market, which was also the case with the consumer discretionary sector (-1.2%). The fourth-largest sector by weight retreated following the disappointing December Retail Sales report (-0.9%; Briefing.com consensus 0.1%) while homebuilders lagged early, but ended just ahead of the broader market with the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 25.90, -0.09) falling 0.4%.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, technology (-0.5%) finished just ahead of the broader market while chipmakers kept pace with the S&P 500. Shares of BlackBerry (BBRY 12.60, +2.88) spiked almost 30.0% in afternoon action after Reuters reported the company has been approached by Samsung about a potential takeover.

Unlike cyclical sectors, the four defensively-oriented groups spent the day ahead of the broader market. Health care (-0.1%) settled just below its flat line while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 315.57, +0.60) added 0.2%. The utilities sector (+0.9%) was the lone advancer on the countercyclical side, extending its January advance to 1.4%.

Treasuries jumped following this morning's data before surrendering a portion of their gains. The 10-yr yield fell six basis points to 1.84%. Also of note, the 30-yr yield ended at 2.45% (-3 bps), which represented the lowest close on record.

Today's participation was ahead of average with more than 900 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Retail Sales, Import/Export Prices, Business Inventories, and the MBA Mortgage Index:


Retail sales fell 0.9% in December after increasing a downwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.7%) in November, while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.1%. The sharp pullback in sales was a direct result of poor income growth. The December employment report showed a contraction in the average hourly wage, which resulted in flat aggregate income growth after accounting for payrolls gains Without income growth, the only way for sales to improve was for consumers to dip into their savings. Households have been very reluctant to do so, which meant retail sales were poised for a pullback in December Excluding motor vehicles, sales declined 1.0% after increasing a downward revised 0.1% (from 0.5%) in November The consensus expected these sales to increase 0.1% Export prices, excluding agriculture, decreased 1.2% in December after decreasing 1.2% in the prior reading Excluding oil, import prices ticked down 0.1%, which followed last month's 0.3% decline Business Inventories rose 0.2% in November, while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.3% The prior month's reading was left unrevised at +0.2% The weekly MBA Mortgage Index saw its biggest spike since November 2008, surging 49.1% to follow the previous 11.1% spike Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 290K), December PPI (consensus -0.4%), and January Empire Manufacturing Survey (expected 6.5) will be released at 8:30 ET while the Philadelphia Fed Survey for January (consensus 19.0) will cross at 10:00 ET.
Russell 2000 -2.4% YTD S&P 500 -2.3% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.2% YTD Nasdaq Composite -2.0% YTD

12:57 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

MNST (117.71 +4.07%): Upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen, tgt to $130 from $106.
MHK (163.43 +2.07%): Announced the purchase of IVC Group for ~$1.2 bln through a combination of cash and equity; expected to be accretive to EPS in the first twelve months; price target raised to $178 at RBC Capital Mkts.
LLTC (45.9 +1.62%): Reported Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.51 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.49; revenues rose 5.4% year/year to $352.58 mln vs the $354.55 mln consensus.; sees Q3 revs +4% to +7% sequentially (~$366.7-377.3 mln) vs $364.32 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Large Cap Losers

FCX (18.42 -12.48%): Copper miners under heavy pressure today as the futures price of Copper drops 6% establishing a new multi-year low (SCCO also lower).
TSLA (190.87 -6.55%): Down following comments from Elon Musk that China Q4 sales were down significantly.
VIAB (68.14 -6.18%): Downgraded to Sell from Buy at Citigroup.

Mid Cap Gainers

XON (37.29 +31.44%): The co and ZIOPHARM Oncology (ZIOP) announced a broad exclusive licensing agreement with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
GME (36.73 +12.08%): Reported global sales for the holiday period were $2.94 billion, a 6.7% decline compared to the 2013; reaffirmed Q4 guidance.
FCE.A (24.16 +8.78%): Announced its Board of Directors approved a plan for the company to pursue conversion to REIT status.

Mid Cap Losers

DDD (29.36 -4.92%): Heard cautious mention at sell-side shop.
FL (52.14 -5.91%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman.
ERJ (33.08 -4.67%): Announced that Free Cash Flow guidance for 2014 has been revised from positive low double digits (as disclosed on February 26, 2014) to negative Free Cash Flow of ~$400 mln.

11:55 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (315) outpacing new highs (124) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAT, ACC, AEC, AKR, ANTM, APU, AVB, AVID, AVIV, AXL, AYN, BAM, BBN, BFK, BLE, BNDX, BNY, BSE, BTT, CBST, CCA, CNS, CRY, CUBE, CUTR, DCT, DDR, DEG, DFT, DMB, DRE, EBIX, EBS, ELS, EMI, ENX, EQR, ESS, EVM, EXR, FARM, FCE.A, FCE.B, FMB, GNCMA, HCN, HCP, HCT, HIW, HME, HNP, IDXX, IMH, INAP, IQI, KIM, KIRK, KITE, KTF, KTF, MAC, MCA, MFT, MHK, MIY, MJI, MPA, MPW, MVF, MYM, NAC, NAN, NBIX, NBO, NEV, NKX, NMZ, NNP, NPSP, NQM, NQP, NSP, NVCN, NVX, NXZ, NZH, O, OHI, PMF, PMO, PTSI, PYN, QURE, RFI, RIF, RIT, RKT, RPAI, RQI, RSE, SBRA, SKT, SNFCA, SPG, STAG, SURG, TA, TDG, UBA, UBP, UDR, UHT, UIHC, USAK, VBLT, VCV, VGIT, VGLT, VKI, VKQ, VTR, WSO, XENT, ZIOP

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAMC, AAOI, ABB, ACI, ACM, AEGN, AIT, AIXG, AKO.B, AKS, ALJ, AM, AMFW, AMID, AMRS, ANR, AR, ARR, ASNA, ASTI, ATI, ATLS, AVP, AWAY, BAK, BALT, BBCN, BBEP, BBL, BCH, BCOR, BGC, BHP, BKU, BNS, BOKF, BONT, BOOM, BSPM, BTU, BWA, CAAS, CAM, CAS, CAT, CBLI, CCJ, CCSC, CEL, CG, CHOP, CIR, CLB, CLD, CMA, CMC, CNNX, CNQ, CNSI, CNTF, CRC, CRK, CROX, CRR, CRS, CS, CSUN, CU, CVCY, CVI, CVRR, CYCC, DBD, DISCA, DISCK, DNN, DPM, DRAM, DWCH, DXPE, ELON, EMN, EOX, EPAY, EQT, EVEP, EVRY, EXH, EXP, FCEL, FCX, FELP, FFHL, FFIN, FIVE, FLR, FMSA, FSC, FSIC, FTEK, FTI, FTK, GBCI, GDP, GE, GHL, GKNT, GLNG, GNBC, GPRK, GRAM, GTLS, GWR, GYRO, HBHC, HBM, HEES, HELI, HERO, HFC, HHC, HIE, HK, HLX, HMNY, HSBC, HSC, HSOL, HSON, HWCC, IBKC, IBTX, ICLD, IGLD, IMO, INBK, IOC, IRR, ITT, JEC, JGBB, JGH, JMI, JOE, JONE, KBIO, KCAP, KEX, KLXI, KMT, KOP, KORS, KRO, LAS, LEI, LF, LGCY, LGIH, LOJN, LOV, LRE, LUB, MAT, MCEP, MCP, MDLY, MEP, MGI, MIND, MMLP, MN, MNI, MRC, MT, MTRX, MTSL, NADL, NES, NFX, NGLS, NOV, NR, NRIM, NSLP, NUE, NWPX, OCLS, OCN, OIBR, OIBR.C, OII, OIS, ONP, OPB, ORIG, PANL, PB, PBA, PCM, PDS, PER, PERI, PES, PFMT, PHD, PKD, PKO, POPE, PRIM, PSIX, PSTR, PSX, PTNR, PWE, PZN, RAS, REE, REN, RES, REXX, RGP, RICE, RIG, RLOG, ROYL, RS, RSO, RVM, RYAM, RYI, SB, SBLK, SBS, SCCO, SD, SDPI, SDRL, SEMG, SGM, SHLO, SINA, SLB, SMFG, SODA, SPP, SRF, SRPT, SRV, SSE, SSL, SSN, SSYS, STAA, STN, SVBI, SXC, SZC, TAPR, TC, TCBI, TCK, TCRD, TD, TEX, TGB, TGEN, TISA, TIVO, TK, TMST, TOO, TPRE, TRC, TRCO, TRGP, TRIV, TRMB, TRMK, TRN, TRQ, TS, TX, UCP, UG, UMBF, UNT, UPI, USAP, UTEK, UUUU, VMI, VTTI, WB, WCC, WGO, WIRE, WLKP, WLT, WMC, WMGI, WNR, WNRL, WOR, WPCS, WPZ, WTW, X, XEC, XIN, XONE, YDLE, YUMA, ZEUS, ZION, ZU

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: FLAT, HYD, ICF, IEF, TLH, TLT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: DBB, EPU, EWC, EWO, IXC, JJC, KOL, OIH, PBW, SLX, TBT, URA, USCI, XES, XLE, XME, XOP

8:32 am Smith Micro Software sees Q4 and FY15 revs above consensus (SMSI) :

Co issues upside guidance for Q4 (Dec), sees Q4 (Dec) revs of $10.4-10.6 mln vs. $10.11 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Non-GAAP operating profit for the fiscal 2014 fourth quarter is expected to be in the range of $600-700KCo issues upside guidance for FY15 (Dec), sees FY15 (Dec) revs of $45-49 mln vs. $42.97 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; expects to be non-GAAP profitable for the fiscal year 2015 (Capital IQ consensus $0.01)

4:04 am LM Ericsson takes legal action to ensure fair licensing agreement with Apple (AAPL) for mobile technology (ERIC) : Ericsson (ERIC) has today filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas requesting a ruling on Ericsson's proposed global licensing fees with Apple (AAPL). During the past two years of negotiations, the companies have not been able to reach an agreement on licensing of Ericsson's patents that enable Apple's mobile devices to connect with the world and power many of their applications. Ericsson filed the suit in order to receive an independent assessment on whether Ericsson's global licensing offer complies with Ericsson's FRAND commitment.

The license agreement has expired and no new agreement has been reached, despite approximately two years of negotiations, resulting in Apple being without a license to Ericsson's technology On January 12, 2015, Apple filed a lawsuit asking the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to find that it does not infringe a small subset of Ericsson's patents In response Ericsson filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas requesting the court to determine if its global licensing offer for Ericsson's standard essential patent portfolios to Apple is fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatoryEricsson invests more than $5 billion in Research & Development per year resulting in one of the industry's most comprehensive patent portfolios

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% from 52-Week Highs

Friday, January 16, 2015 at 11:52AM
Below is a look at the average percentage that stocks in the S&P 1500 (which includes large, mid and smallcaps) are from their respective 52-week highs by sector. In the S&P 1500 as a whole, stocks are currently down an average of 15.71% from their 52-week high. In the Energy sector, the average decline is a whopping 45.56%. The Materials sector is the second worst at -21.65%, followed by Industrials at -16.53%. Utilities stocks are the closest to their 52-week highs, which isn't surprising given their massive run in 2014 and their outperformance so far this year as well.

While we're still in a bull market, these numbers show that from an unweighted perspective across all market caps, things are not quite as rosy as you might think.

We'll be expanding on this analysis in our weekly Bespoke Report newsletter due out this evening. Sign up for a 5-day free trial to any of our subscription services to access the report later today.



http://www.bespokeinvest.com/

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From Briefing.com: The stock market had its ups and downs on Tuesday, which should come as little surprise given how the year has started. Ultimately, the stock market closed on a winning note, aided once again by the technical underpinning of the S&P 500 finding support at its 100-day moving average.

That support showed up around 12:00 p.m. ET. Prior to that, the major indices were on the defensive, pressured by falling oil prices and earnings concerns tied to a stronger dollar and reflected in the weak fourth quarter sales reported by Dow component Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 101.29, -2.75).

An overlay in Tuesday's trading was the news that the IMF lowered its 2015 global growth forecast to 3.5% from 3.8%. That news followed on the heels of the World Bank lowering its global growth outlook last week. It should be noted, however, that the IMF raised its 2015 growth forecast for the U.S. to 3.6% from 3.1%.

Market participants took note of the IMF view, yet it wasn't the market mover it was made out to be -- at least not for stocks. To wit, that forecast was published before the open and stocks started the session on a higher note. As noted above, they closed on a higher note, too.

The afternoon recovery effort was largely a function of sentiment being repaired when the S&P 500 held up at a key technical support level. That was evident in the fact that stocks rallied back as oil prices continued to slide in the afternoon trade.

The S&P 500 information technology sector was a leader in the recovery run; in fact, it was the best-performing sector on Tuesday, gaining 0.8%.

Apple (AAPL 108.78, +2.79) effectively led the charge, jumping 2.6% on below-average volume. Its fortunes were helped somewhat in the afternoon by a report that David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital has a long position in Apple.

Most of Apple's gains occurred prior to the report and it would be remiss not to add that Apple is not one of Greenlight Capital's top five long holdings like Micron (MU 29.67, +0.68) and Marvell Technology (MRVL 15.70, +0.16) are. Conversely, ARM Holdings (ARMH 47.10, +1.74) was named as a notable short position. A ValueWalk report said Greenlight Capital had boosted its short position in ARM Holdings from 0.7% of outstanding shares to nearly 1.0%.

Micron for its part was also upgraded by Susquehanna to Positive from Neutral. Its gains helped spearhead a 1.0% increase in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which benefitted from gains in most of its components. Intel (INTC 36.08, -0.37) and Sandisk (SNDK 78.80, -0.12) were notable exceptions, falling victim to analyst downgrades (see below).

There wasn't a lot of news of note within the sector. It was pretty much company specific. One item of broader interest was a report that the Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge from retailers regarding the Federal Reserve's rules for debt card swipe fees. Visa (V 256.82, +1.87) and MasterCard (MA 84.26, +0.46) traded higher in the wake of that news.

Microsoft (MSFT 46.39, +0.15) also moved up on Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday's release of the Windows 10 operating system. Separately, Microsoft said it acquired Equivio, a provider of machine learning-powered compliance solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

In other developments, the UK's Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") said it has closed its investigation into the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 38.62, +0.28). The SFO said that, in respect to some aspects of the allegations, it concluded that there is insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction. In respect to other aspects, it has ceded jurisdiction to US authorities whose investigation is ongoing.

Looking beyond the S&P 500 information technology sector, Chinese Internet company Sohu.com (SOHU 54.56, +4.62) had a big day, surging 9.3% on no news and heavy volume.

Alibaba (BABA 100.04, +3.15) also fared well following a slightly better than expected Q4 GDP report from China. Yahoo (YHOO 47.63, +1.16) for its part pressed 2.5% higher as investors eagerly anticipate news of how the company plans to bolster shareholder value with its stake in Alibaba.

Blackberry (BBRY 10.03, -0.21), meanwhile, slipped 2.1% after Samsung's co-CEO acknowledged that Samsung isn't planning to acquire Blackberry. There has been some talk, however, of a partnership.

Tuesday's Notable Ratings Actions:

Intel (INTC 36.08, -0.37): JMP Securities downgraded from Market Perform to Market Underperform Sandisk (SNDK 78.80, -0.12): Nomura downgraded from Neutral to Reduce Changyou.com (CYOU 27.90, +1.72): Credit Suisse upgraded from Neutral to Outperform Micron (MU 29.67, +0.68): Susquehanna upgraded from Neutral to Positive T-Mobile (TMUS 29.56, +0.42): Goldman Sachs upgraded from Neutral to Buy

Postscript: After Tuesday's close, IBM (IBM 156.95, -0.19) reported adjusted fourth quarter earnings of $5.81 per diluted share that comfortably exceeded analysts' average estimate. Its revenues declined 11.9% year-over-year to $24.1 billion (down 2% adjusting for the impact of its divested customer care outsourcing and System X business and for currency).

IBM's Q4 earnings presentation showed that it expects FY15 EPS of $15.75-16.50, which is shy of analysts' average estimates. Shares of IBM were down 2.5% in after-hours trading.

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

4:23 pm Advanced Micro misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs below consensus (AMD) : Reports Q4 (Dec) net of breakeven, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.01; revenues fell 22.0% year/year to $1.24 bln vs the $1.24 bln consensus.

Q4 gross margin of 29% and non-GAAP gross margin of 34%. Gross margin was down 6 percentage points sequentially, primarily due to lower of cost or market inventory adjustment of $58 million related to our second-generation APU products. Non-GAAP gross margin was down 1 percentage point sequentially. Q3 2014 gross margin of 35% included a $27 million, or 2 percent, benefit from revenue related to technology licensing.
Q4 net loss of $364 million, loss per share of $0.47, and non-GAAP net income of $2 million, breakeven non-GAAP earnings per share, compared to net income of $17 million, earnings per share of $0.02 and non-GAAP(1) net income of $20 million, non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.03 in Q3 2014.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of -18% to -12% Q/Q to ~$1.016-1.09 bln vs. $1.2 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:12 pm Super Micro Computer beats by $0.18, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs midpoint above consensus (SMCI) :

Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.65 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.18 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.47; revenues rose 41.1% year/year to $503 mln vs the $467.87 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.46-0.52, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.43 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $450-500 mln vs. $457.76 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"... Not only was this quarter outstanding from a revenue perspective, but we also continued to improve our operating margin. This performance was driven by a significant increase in our new Haswell product shipments in the first full quarter since its launch, and we are confident that a strong cycle of technology transition is underway. Strength in Storage and Cloud market verticals were part of a record for server systems revenue at 60.1%..."
"It is currently expected that the outlook will not be updated until the Company's next quarterly earnings announcement, notwithstanding subsequent developments. However, the Company may update the outlook or any portion thereof at any time..."

4:12 pm IBM beats by $0.39, misses on revs; co will guide on the call (IBM) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $5.81 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.39 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $5.42; revenues fell 11.9% year/year to $24.11 bln vs the $24.8 bln consensus; down 2%, adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency.

Global Services segment revenues decreased 8% (flat adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency) to $13.5 bln. Global Technology Services segment revenues decreased 8% (up 2% adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency) to $9.2 bln. Global Business Services segment revenues were down 8% (down 3%, adjusting for currency) to $4.3 bln. Revenues from the Software segment were $7.6 bln, down 7% (down 3%, adjusting for currency) compared with the fourth-quarter of 2013. Software pre-tax income decreased 11% and pre-tax margin decreased to 44.7%. Pre-tax income and margin include the impact of the fourth-quarter workforce rebalancing charge. Total operating (non-GAAP) gross profit margin from continuing operations was 53.9 percent in the 2014 fourth-quarter compared with 53.3 percent in the 2013 fourth-quarter period. $0.1 bln of gross share repurchases

4:18 pm Netflix beats by $0.28, reports revs in-line; Sees GLobal Expansion Finishing Earlier than Expected; Expects to raise 'at least' $1 bln in debt (NFLX) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.72 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.28 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.44; revenues rose 26.4% year/year to $1.49 bln vs the $1.49 bln consensus. Please see 16:08 for additional metrics or click here to view.

Key Excerpts from Newsletter:
"In October, we judged the leading factor of the similar decline in Q3 y/y net adds to be our May price change. Since then, with additional research, we now think that the decline in y/y net adds would have largely taken place independent of the price change. We've found our growth in net adds is strongest in the lower income areas of the US, which would not be the case if there was material price sensitivity. We think, instead, the reduction in y/y net additions is a natural progression in our large US market as we grow".
"This year we plan to increase US contribution margins from 30% in Q1 to about 32% in Q1 2016 to about 34% in Q1 2017, etc. We'll re-evaluate the margin progression model again in early 2020 when we hopefully achieve 40% contribution margins".
"In late Q1, we'll be launching Netflix in Australia and New Zealand. Later in the year, we'll launch additional major countries, in keeping with our global strategy".
"Progress has been so strong that we now believe we can complete our global expansion over the next two years, while staying profitable, which is earlier than we expected. We then intend to generate material global profits from 2017 onwards".
"For China, we are still exploring options - all of them modest. We'll learn a great deal if we can successfully operate a small service in China centered on our original and other globally-licensed content. That is our preference, for the next few years, if we are able to acquire the necessary permissions".
"We finished the quarter with $1.6 billion in cash and equivalents. Given we are investing faster in content (this Q1 will show a step up in cash use with all the original projects launching in the quarter) and the current favorable interest rate environment, we intend to raise at least a billion dollars, pending market conditions, of additional long-term debt in a similar manner to last year".

4:12 pm Super Micro Computer beats by $0.18, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs midpoint above consensus (SMCI) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.65 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.18 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.47; revenues rose 41.1% year/year to $503 mln vs the $467.87 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.46-0.52, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.43 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $450-500 mln vs. $457.76 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"... Not only was this quarter outstanding from a revenue perspective, but we also continued to improve our operating margin. This performance was driven by a significant increase in our new Haswell product shipments in the first full quarter since its launch, and we are confident that a strong cycle of technology transition is underway. Strength in Storage and Cloud market verticals were part of a record for server systems revenue at 60.1%..."
"It is currently expected that the outlook will not be updated until the Company's next quarterly earnings announcement, notwithstanding subsequent developments. However, the Company may update the outlook or any portion thereof at any time..."

4:12 pm Netflix -- Earnings Mover -- (NFLX) : Extends posts earnings surge to its three month high from Nov at 395 with its 200 sma at 399 (close 348.80).

4:12 pm IBM beats by $0.39, misses on revs; co will guide on the call (IBM) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $5.81 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.39 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $5.42; revenues fell 11.9% year/year to $24.11 bln vs the $24.8 bln consensus; down 2%, adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency.

Global Services segment revenues decreased 8% (flat adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency) to $13.5 bln. Global Technology Services segment revenues decreased 8% (up 2% adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency) to $9.2 bln. Global Business Services segment revenues were down 8% (down 3%, adjusting for currency) to $4.3 bln. Revenues from the Software segment were $7.6 bln, down 7% (down 3%, adjusting for currency) compared with the fourth-quarter of 2013. Software pre-tax income decreased 11% and pre-tax margin decreased to 44.7%. Pre-tax income and margin include the impact of the fourth-quarter workforce rebalancing charge. Total operating (non-GAAP) gross profit margin from continuing operations was 53.9 percent in the 2014 fourth-quarter compared with 53.3 percent in the 2013 fourth-quarter period. $0.1 bln of gross share repurchases
Co will issue guidance fon the call at 16:30.

4:10 pm Closing Market Summary: Nasdaq Leads Stocks Higher (:WRAPX) : The stock market kicked off the holiday-shortened week with a shaky Tuesday session. The S&P 500 settled higher by 0.2% after finding intraday support near its 100-day moving average (2007/2008). The tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed, climbing 0.4%.

Equity indices started the day with modest gains, but continued weakness in crude oil weighed on the overall risk tolerance and contributed to an early retreat. However, a handful of influential sectors were able to withstand the selling pressure, which in turn became a supportive factor during afternoon action.

As for crude, the energy component retreated after The International Monetary Fund cut its 2015 global growth outlook to 3.0% from 3.5%, and continued sliding throughout the session. WTI crude ended lower by 4.1% at $46.51/bbl while the energy sector (+0.1%) settled near its flat line. On the earnings front, Baker Hughes (BHI 57.26, +0.70) and Halliburton (HAL 39.83, +0.70) posted respective gains of 1.2% and 1.8% in reaction to better than expected results.

Similar to energy, consumer discretionary (-0.6%) and financials (-0.4%) trailed the broader market throughout the day. The financial sector lagged following disappointing results from Morgan Stanley (MS 34.75, -0.14) while discretionary shares were pressured by homebuilders and retailers. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 24.48, -0.62) and SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 92.23, -1.21) lost 2.5% and 1.3%, respectively. On the upside, Netflix (NFLX 348.80, +11.46) gained 3.4% ahead of its quarterly report.

Elsewhere among influential sectors, health care (-0.1%) pressured the market in the early going following a revenue miss from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 101.29, -2.75). However, the sector was lifted off its low by the relative strength in the biotech space. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 323.23, +5.41) gained 1.7% and settled at a fresh record high.

The biotech group also bolstered the Nasdaq and helped the index settle ahead of the broader market. To be sure, the Nasdaq received another measure of support from its top-weighted components, including Apple (AAPL 108.78, +2.79), which spiked 2.6%.

Treasuries notched their highs around 11:00 ET before spending the remainder of the session in a steady retreat. The 10-yr yield ended lower by five basis points at 1.79%.

Participation was a bit above average with more than 840 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the NAHB Housing Market Index for January, which slipped to 57 from a revised 58 (from 57) while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to hold at 58.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while December Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.04 million) and Building Permits (consensus 1.06 million) will be reported at 8:30 ET.

Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.7% YTD Nasdaq Composite -1.7% YTD
S&P 500 -1.8% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.8% YTD
4:10 pm SunEdison announces proposed offering of $350 million of Convertible Senior Notes (SUNE) : Co intends to use the net proceeds from this offering (i) to fund a portion of the consideration for co's acquisition of First Wind Holdings, LLC and (ii) ~$119.1 mln to repay all or a portion of indebtedness incurred to purchase 1.6 GW of production tax credit qualified turbines. Co intends to use the remaining net proceeds to (i) fund working capital, accelerate growth of the business and for other general corporate purposes, and (ii) fund the cost of capped call transactions described below.

Co expects to enter into capped call transactions with counterparties that may include the initial purchasers and/or one or more other financial institutions. These capped call transactions are expected generally to reduce the potential dilution with respect to co's common stock upon conversion of the notes and/or offset any cash payments co is required to make in excess of the principal amount of converted notes, as the case may be, upon any conversion of notes in the event that the market price of co's common stock is greater than the strike price of the capped call transactions, with such reduction of potential dilution or offset of cash payments subject to a cap based on the cap price of the capped call transactions. If the initial purchasers exercise their option to purchase additional notes, co may enter into additional capped call transactions.


4:10 pm Celestica misses by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (CLS) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.25; revenues fell 0.9% year/year to $1.42 bln vs the $1.43 bln consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.18-0.24, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.22 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $1.28-1.38 bln vs. $1.35 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:05 pm Cree beats by $0.11, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (CREE) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.22; revenues fell 0.5% year/year to $413.2 mln vs the $412.08 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.21-0.25, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.21 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $395-415 mln vs. $406.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."We made solid progress in Q2 with operating margin higher than targeted due to an improvement in gross margins in our lighting business," stated Chuck Swoboda, Cree Chairman and CEO. "The market for LED lighting is still in the early stages, our new product pipeline is strong, sales momentum is building and our brand is growing in the market. As evidenced by our significant share repurchases in Q2, we believe we are on the right track to continue to grow the company and increase profits over the next several years."

4:12 pm Netflix -- Earnings Mover -- (NFLX) : Extends posts earnings surge to its three month high from Nov at 395 with its 200 sma at 399 (close 348.80).

12:42 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

DAL (48.18 +5.1%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.78 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.77; revenues rose 6.3% year/year to $9.65 bln vs the $9.58 bln consensus.
PHG (29.19 +3.44%): Reports out that KKR/CVC may bid for Philips lighting unit.
MT (10 +2.56%): Announced the sale of its interest in the Kuzbass coal mines in the Kemerovo region of Siberia, Russia, to Russia's National Fuel Company.

Large Cap Losers

SAP (63.45 -5.45%): Reported Q4 EPS of EUR1.31 vs EUR1.28 Capital consensus; revs increased 7% YoY to EUR5.47 bln (in-line with Jan 12 preannouncement) vs EUR5.47 consensus.
TWX (80.72 -2.96%): Downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
APA (59.64 -3.81%): Announced the retirement Of Chairman, President And CEO, G. Steven Farris.

Mid Cap Gainers

CPA (112.28 +7.97%): Upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
SYNA (62.59 +3.88%): Needham issued an update on the company citing channel checks, believes shares are considerably undervalued.
JAH (47.9 +3.77%): Sees Q4 rev above consensus, with EPS to meet or exceed the current Wall Street analysts' consensus; sees FY15 EPS just below consensus with organic net sales within long term avg +3-5%; target raised to $53 from $48 at Oppenheimer.

Mid Cap Losers

IGTE (35.4 -16.43%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.52 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.55; revenues rose 10.8% year/year to $331.5 mln vs the $330.2 mln consensus.
DECK (78.17 -9.59%): Seeing weakness attributed to NPD data; Heard co was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Buckingham Research.
YNDX (16.5 -8.18%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman; tgt lowered to $14.80 from $29.30.


4:18 pm Netflix beats by $0.28, reports revs in-line; Sees GLobal Expansion Finishing Earlier than Expected; Expects to raise 'at least' $1 bln in debt (NFLX) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.72 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.28 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.44; revenues rose 26.4% year/year to $1.49 bln vs the $1.49 bln consensus. Please see 16:08 for additional metrics or click here to view.
Key Excerpts from Newsletter:
"In October, we judged the leading factor of the similar decline in Q3 y/y net adds to be our May price change. Since then, with additional research, we now think that the decline in y/y net adds would have largely taken place independent of the price change. We've found our growth in net adds is strongest in the lower income areas of the US, which would not be the case if there was material price sensitivity. We think, instead, the reduction in y/y net additions is a natural progression in our large US market as we grow".
"This year we plan to increase US contribution margins from 30% in Q1 to about 32% in Q1 2016 to about 34% in Q1 2017, etc. We'll re-evaluate the margin progression model again in early 2020 when we hopefully achieve 40% contribution margins".
"In late Q1, we'll be launching Netflix in Australia and New Zealand. Later in the year, we'll launch additional major countries, in keeping with our global strategy".
"Progress has been so strong that we now believe we can complete our global expansion over the next two years, while staying profitable, which is earlier than we expected. We then intend to generate material global profits from 2017 onwards".
"For China, we are still exploring options - all of them modest. We'll learn a great deal if we can successfully operate a small service in China centered on our original and other globally-licensed content. That is our preference, for the next few years, if we are able to acquire the necessary permissions".
"We finished the quarter with $1.6 billion in cash and equivalents. Given we are investing faster in content (this Q1 will show a step up in cash use with all the original projects launching in the quarter) and the current favorable interest rate environment, we intend to raise at least a billion dollars, pending market conditions, of additional long-term debt in a similar manner to last year".
4:12 pm Super Micro Computer beats by $0.18, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs midpoint above consensus (SMCI) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.65 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.18 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.47; revenues rose 41.1% year/year to $503 mln vs the $467.87 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.46-0.52, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.43 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $450-500 mln vs. $457.76 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"... Not only was this quarter outstanding from a revenue perspective, but we also continued to improve our operating margin. This performance was driven by a significant increase in our new Haswell product shipments in the first full quarter since its launch, and we are confident that a strong cycle of technology transition is underway. Strength in Storage and Cloud market verticals were part of a record for server systems revenue at 60.1%..."
"It is currently expected that the outlook will not be updated until the Company's next quarterly earnings announcement, notwithstanding subsequent developments. However, the Company may update the outlook or any portion thereof at any time..."
4:12 pm Netflix -- Earnings Mover -- (NFLX) : Extends posts earnings surge to its three month high from Nov at 395 with its 200 sma at 399 (close 348.80).

4:12 pm IBM beats by $0.39, misses on revs; co will guide on the call (IBM) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $5.81 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.39 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $5.42; revenues fell 11.9% year/year to $24.11 bln vs the $24.8 bln consensus; down 2%, adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency.


Global Services segment revenues decreased 8% (flat adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency) to $13.5 bln. Global Technology Services segment revenues decreased 8% (up 2% adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency) to $9.2 bln. Global Business Services segment revenues were down 8% (down 3%, adjusting for currency) to $4.3 bln. Revenues from the Software segment were $7.6 bln, down 7% (down 3%, adjusting for currency) compared with the fourth-quarter of 2013. Software pre-tax income decreased 11% and pre-tax margin decreased to 44.7%. Pre-tax income and margin include the impact of the fourth-quarter workforce rebalancing charge. Total operating (non-GAAP) gross profit margin from continuing operations was 53.9 percent in the 2014 fourth-quarter compared with 53.3 percent in the 2013 fourth-quarter period. $0.1 bln of gross share repurchases
Co will issue guidance fon the call at 16:30.4:10 pm Closing Market Summary: Nasdaq Leads Stocks Higher (:WRAPX) : The stock market kicked off the holiday-shortened week with a shaky Tuesday session. The S&P 500 settled higher by 0.2% after finding intraday support near its 100-day moving average (2007/2008). The tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed, climbing 0.4%.

Equity indices started the day with modest gains, but continued weakness in crude oil weighed on the overall risk tolerance and contributed to an early retreat. However, a handful of influential sectors were able to withstand the selling pressure, which in turn became a supportive factor during afternoon action.

As for crude, the energy component retreated after The International Monetary Fund cut its 2015 global growth outlook to 3.0% from 3.5%, and continued sliding throughout the session. WTI crude ended lower by 4.1% at $46.51/bbl while the energy sector (+0.1%) settled near its flat line. On the earnings front, Baker Hughes (BHI 57.26, +0.70) and Halliburton (HAL 39.83, +0.70) posted respective gains of 1.2% and 1.8% in reaction to better than expected results.

Similar to energy, consumer discretionary (-0.6%) and financials (-0.4%) trailed the broader market throughout the day. The financial sector lagged following disappointing results from Morgan Stanley (MS 34.75, -0.14) while discretionary shares were pressured by homebuilders and retailers. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 24.48, -0.62) and SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 92.23, -1.21) lost 2.5% and 1.3%, respectively. On the upside, Netflix (NFLX 348.80, +11.46) gained 3.4% ahead of its quarterly report.

Elsewhere among influential sectors, health care (-0.1%) pressured the market in the early going following a revenue miss from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 101.29, -2.75). However, the sector was lifted off its low by the relative strength in the biotech space. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 323.23, +5.41) gained 1.7% and settled at a fresh record high.

The biotech group also bolstered the Nasdaq and helped the index settle ahead of the broader market. To be sure, the Nasdaq received another measure of support from its top-weighted components, including Apple (AAPL 108.78, +2.79), which spiked 2.6%.

Treasuries notched their highs around 11:00 ET before spending the remainder of the session in a steady retreat. The 10-yr yield ended lower by five basis points at 1.79%.

Participation was a bit above average with more than 840 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the NAHB Housing Market Index for January, which slipped to 57 from a revised 58 (from 57) while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to hold at 58.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while December Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.04 million) and Building Permits (consensus 1.06 million) will be reported at 8:30 ET.


Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.7% YTD Nasdaq Composite -1.7% YTDS&P 500 -1.8% YTD Russell 2000 -2.8% YTD4:10 pm SunEdison announces proposed offering of $350 million of Convertible Senior Notes (SUNE) : Co intends to use the net proceeds from this offering (i) to fund a portion of the consideration for co's acquisition of First Wind Holdings, LLC and (ii) ~$119.1 mln to repay all or a portion of indebtedness incurred to purchase 1.6 GW of production tax credit qualified turbines. Co intends to use the remaining net proceeds to (i) fund working capital, accelerate growth of the business and for other general corporate purposes, and (ii) fund the cost of capped call transactions described below.

Co expects to enter into capped call transactions with counterparties that may include the initial purchasers and/or one or more other financial institutions. These capped call transactions are expected generally to reduce the potential dilution with respect to co's common stock upon conversion of the notes and/or offset any cash payments co is required to make in excess of the principal amount of converted notes, as the case may be, upon any conversion of notes in the event that the market price of co's common stock is greater than the strike price of the capped call transactions, with such reduction of potential dilution or offset of cash payments subject to a cap based on the cap price of the capped call transactions. If the initial purchasers exercise their option to purchase additional notes, co may enter into additional capped call transactions.


11:38 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (259) outpacing new lows (187) (:SCANX) :

Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAT, ACC, ADC, ADVS, ADXS, AEC, AEP, AET, AFFX, AIV, AKR, ALGT, ALK, ALKS, ALR, ANTM, APU, ARE, ATO, AUXL, AVB, AVIV, AWR, AXL, AYN, BAH, BBC, BBN, BBW, BDN, BEE, BFK, BFZ, BMR, BNDX, BOTJ, BPY, BRX, BUD, BURL, BXP, CAKE, CBL, CBST, CCA, CF, CHD, CHH, CHKP, CHSP, CI, CIVI, CLDT, CLX, CNC, COKE, COL, CPB, CPIX, CPT, CSG, CUBE, CVD, CVS, DDR, DEG, DENN, DEPO, DFT, DGX, DIN, DLR, DPS, DRE, DUK, DWAT, EA, EBIX, ED, EIA, ELS, EMI, EPR, EQR, EQY, ESS, ETM, EVM, EXL, EXR, FE, FMB, FMS, FRT, G, GEO, GFED, GGP, GNCMA, GPK, GPN, HCN, HCP, HDB, HEOP, HIW, HME, HPT, HR, HRC, HSP, HSY, HTA, HTD, IART, IBN, IDT, IFF, IFNA, IGR, IMKTA, INAP, INDY, INN, IPHS, IQI, IRC, ITC, ITCI, JFC, JJSF, JRS, KIM, KR, KRC, KRG, LABL, LBY, LH, LHO, LNT, LPT, MAA, MAC, MANH, MCI, MFT, MIY, MMS, MNP, MNR, MNST, MO, MPW, MYC, NAC, NBIX, NEA, NHI, NJR, NMA, NMO, NNN, NOC, NPM, NQI, NQP, NQU, NRO, NSP, NTES, NUV, NVAX, NVS, NXP, NXQ, NXR, O, OCIR, OCUL, OGS, OHI, OLP, PCG, PDT, PEG, PF, PKG, PMF, PNW, PPS, PSA, PSCH, PSG, PTCT, PTSI, PZC, RAI, REG, RFI, RHP, RIF, RIT, RKT, RLGT, RLJ, ROIC, RPAI, RPT, RQI, SAM, SBGL, SBRA, SHO, SHW, SJW, SKT, SO, SONC, SPG, SRC, SSS, STAG, STZ, SURG, SWKS, TCO, TE, TEG, TEP, TEVA, TM, TSRA, TTWO, UBA, UBP, UDR, UHT, UIL, UNH, UTHR, UVE, VBLT, VCLT, VCV, VFL, VKQ, VTR, VVC, WEC, WGL, WM, WNS, WRE, WRI, WSR, XNCR, YORW, ZLTQ

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACFN, AETI, AIMC, AIT, AMD, AMRS, ANF, ANGI, ARP, ARR, ASCMA, ASNA, ASTI, ATV, AVHI, AVP, AXPW, BAK, BALT, BDE, BECN, BGC, BLDP, BONT, BRDR, BSDM, CAAS, CACQ, CBLI, CEL, CFNB, CH, CHOP, CJES, CLD, CLNE, CM, CMA, CPSS, CRNT, CRS, CSIQ, CSLT, CXDC, DBD, DISCA, DISCK, DMD, DQ, DSKY, DXPE, ECYT, EDS, EJ, ELTK, EOX, ESCR, EVAR, EVEP, EVRY, EXH, EXXI, FBMS, FELE, FET, FOR, FPP, FSLR, FTI, FXCM, GENE, GES, GHM, GILT, GKNT, GLAD, GNCA, GNW, GSM, GTE, GWGH, HEB, HEES, HELI, HIE, HK, IBTX, ICLD, IGLD, IMI, INWK, JHX, JKS, JOE, KBH, KLXI, KRO, LALT, LAS, LEE, LGCY, LINE, LOV, LPHI, LRE, MCP, MDR, MFC, MHGC, MHR, MIL, MM, MNI, MRIN, MSA, MTH, MTZ, MVC, NRG, NSPH, NWY, OCLS, OI, OIS, ONTY, OPTT, OSN, PACD, PANL, PES, PFBX, PFMT, PICO, PKD, PNNT, PRIM, PTNR, QCCO, REGI, REXX, RF, RNO, RS, RTI, RVM, RXII, RXN, SAP, SCHN, SD, SE, SGY, SLF, SMTP, SNTA, SQNS, SRF, SSTK, STAA, SXC, TAT, TAXI, TBI, TEX, TGB, THRX, TK, TLMR, TRC, TRCO, TRIV, TRMB, UCP, VIA, VIAB, VNR, VRTA, VSCP, WAIR, WIRE, WLH, WPCS, WPRT, WWE, XIN, XONE, ZU

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: ICF, IHF, IYR, PPH, TLT, URE, VNQ, XLP

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BAL, COW, DBA, FXC, FXS, PBW, TAN, TBT, USCI

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: A week ago, the S&P 500 was down 3.2% year-to-date. With the gains it has logged over the last four sessions, including the substantive gain on Thursday, it is now up 0.2% year-to-date.

The calendar may have changed, yet some things have remained the same, namely the resilience to selling efforts and the bullish response to accommodative action from the world's leading central banks.

On Thursday, the ECB lit the tinder that stoked the market's bullish fire. It did so with an announcement that it will be buying EUR 60 billion per month in public and private-sector securities, beginning in March, and continuing through September 2016. The ECB left open the possibility for purchases to continue even later than September 2016, having said its asset purchase program will be conducted until it sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation which is consistent with its aim of achieving inflation rates below, but close The euro (1.135 against the dollar) got clobbered in the wake of the announcement, which was regarded as more robust than expected. The US stock market for its part saw some seesaw trading just after the open, yet it soon found its stride and operated on a glide path that took the S&P 500 north of 2060.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+2.0%), led by Apple (AAPL 112.39, +2.84, +2.6%), played an instrumental role in the advance, trailing only the financial sector (+2.5%) in Thursday's trading.

Some of the more notable news items for sector components included the following:

Intuit (INTU 88.79, +2.39, +2.8%) reaffirmed guidance for FY15 (Jul), saying it sees EPS of $2.45-2.50 and FY15 (Jul) revenues of $4.3-4.4 bln

Yahoo! (YHOO 48.88, +0.70, +1.5%): Bloomberg M&A column discussed that YHOO could be a takeover target following Alibaba (BABA 104.00, +0.71, +0.7%) stake sale

Corning (GLW 23.72, +0.43, +1.9%) announced that it has acquired assets of NovaSol, a provider of advanced hyperspectral imaging systems. The terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

eBay (EBAY 57.15, +3.76, +7.1%) reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.90 per share, slightly ahead of expectations. Revenues rose 8.6% year/year to $4.92 bln. For Q1, sees EPS of $0.68-0.71, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $4.35-4.45 bln, both of which are below analysts' average expectation. For FY15, it sees EPS of $3.05-3.15 and revenues of $18.6-19.1 bln, both of which are below analysts' average expectation. Separately, the company announced that it plans to reduce its workforce globally during the first quarter by ~2,400 positions, which a represents about 7% of its total workforce. eBay also said it will be exploring strategic options for eBay Enterprise, including a sale or IPO, and that it has entered into a standstill agreement with investor Carl Icahn, the company's largest active shareholder. In addition to certain corporate governance provisions to be adopted by PayPal as an independent company at the time of its spin-off from eBay Inc., the agreement also appoints Icahn Capital executive Jonathan Christodoro to eBay Inc.'s current Board of Directors.

Xilinx (XLNX 38.96, -2.55, -6.3%) reported Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.62 per share, excluding non-recurring items, slightly ahead of expectations. Revenues rose 1.2% year/year to $594 mln, which was below estimates. For its fourth quarter, Xilinx sees revenues of approximately $558-582 mln, which is well below analysts' average expectation.

F5 Networks (FFIV 113.40, -12.55, -10.0%) reported Q1 (Dec) earnings of $1.55 per share, excluding non-recurring items, above expectations. Revenues rose 13.8% year/year to $462.8 mln. Management stated, "In addition to the seasonal softness we normally experience in the first quarter of a new fiscal year, product sales during the quarter reflected a marked decrease in the number of deals greater than $1 million." That resulted in slower than expected revenue growth for the quarter, the company said, yet it thinks it should see a resumption of the recent trend toward larger deals in the second quarter. For Q2, FFIV expects EPS of $1.48-1.51, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $465-475 mln. FFIV also announced that its board of directors had authorized an additional $750 million for the company's common stock share repurchase program.

SanDisk (SNDK 78.90, -1.54, -1.9%) reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was ahead of expectations. Revenues fell 0.6% year/year to $1.74 bln. Its gross margin was 45%. SandDisk said it was disappointed with its fourth quarter results, which were impacted primarily by supply constraints. SanDisk anticipates the first half of the year will be challenging and that growth won't be seen until the latter half of 2015. The company is forecasting first quarter revenues to be between $1.40 billion and $1.45 billion. The midpoint is roughly 6% below the revenue generated by SanDisk in the same period a year ago.The company's revenue guidance for the full year is pegged between $6.5 billion and $6.8 billion, the midpoint of which is up just 0.3% from FY14 revenues of $6.63 billion.

Oracle (ORCL 44.05, +0.56, +1.3%) announced a strategy for reducing customer costs and increasing value with a new generation of engineered systems, including Oracle's new Virtual Compute Appliance X5, Oracle FS1 Series Flash Storage System, and sixth-generation Oracle Exadata Database Machine X5. Oracle CTO Larry Ellison said, "We're going to compete for that core data center business [and that] With some of Oracle's engineered systems and appliances, you can pay 50 percent less, BUT you have to be willing to take TWICE the performance." Some notable items for technology companies outside of the S&P 500 information technology sector included the following: to, 2.0%.

Cypress Semi (CY 14.82, +0.66, +4.7%) guided for Q1 adjusted EPS $0.08-0.10 and sales to be -2 to -5% quarter-over-quarter to $175-180 mln. Was noted that Q1 will be another soft mobile quarter, should be bottom for handsets; and that industrial, auto and consumer mix is higher year-over-year. CY added that the

Spansion (CODE 35.66, +1.59, +4.7%) merger is on schedule. It has received approval from US and Germany, and is waiting on approval in Japan, which it expects within a week or two. Cypress is projecting the deal to close mid-March to mid-April.

Spansion (CODE 35.66, +1.59, +4.7%) reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, that were in-line with expectations. Revenues fell 1.3% year/year to $309.5 mln. For Q1, Spansion sees revenues of $270-310 mln.

Fairchild Semi (FCS 16.15, -0.53, -3.2%) reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was below analysts' average expectation. Revenues fell 1.3% year/year to $336.6 mln, also below expectations. Fairchild reported fourth quarter adjusted gross margin of 32.4 percent, down 290 basis points from the prior quarter and 110 basis points higher than the fourth quarter of 2013. For Q1, it sees revenues of $340-360 mln and expects adjusted gross margin to be 31.0 to 32.0 percent due primarily to lower factory loadings from the prior quarter and the resumption of some payroll related taxes.

Verizon (VZ 47.80, -0.45, -0.9%) reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.71 per share, excluding $1.25 net in charges, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.71; revenues rose 6.8% year/year to $33.19 bln vs the $32.68 bln consensus. Sees FY15 revenue growth of at least +4% to at least ~$132.2 bln, which is above analysts' current expectations. Capital spending is expected to be between $17.5 bln and $18.0 bln. Analyst Actions:

Amphenol (APH 54.76, +0.83, +1.5%): target raised to $60 from $53 at Deutsche Bank; Buy

SanDisk (SNDK 78.90, -1.54, -1.9%): downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James; target lowered to $90 from $120... downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley & Co.... downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush... target lowered to $90 from $100 at Deutsche Bank; Buy... Cowen lowers target to $85 from $95... RBC Capital Mkts lowers target to $96 from $111... Stifel lowers target to $90 from $100.

Xilinx (XLNX 38.96, -2.55, -6.1%): target lowered to $40 from $43 at Deutsche Bank; Hold... FBR Capital Maintains Outperform rating but lower price target, from $53 to $50.

F5 Networks (FFIV 113.40, -12.55, -10.0%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Buckingham Research... target lowered to $140 from $150 at Deutsche Bank; Buy... target lowered to $128 from $140 at Piper Jaffray; Overweight

eBay (EBAY 57.15, +3.76, +7.1%): upgraded to Equal-Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley... target raised to $59 from $52 at Susquehanna; Neutral... target cut to $47 from $49 at Evercore ISI; SellVeriSign (VRSN 56.20, -0.17, -0.3%): downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

Cisco Systems (CSCO 28.50, +0.66, +2.4%): target raised to $33 from $26 at Piper Jaffray; Overweight

ADTRAN (ADTN 22.85, -0.20, -0.9%): target raised to $25 from $23 at Needham; Buy

SAP AG (SAP 64.35, +0.27, +0.4%): removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs, tgt lowered to $85 from $105

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 3.45, +0.18, +5.5%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs -- Added to Conviction Buy List

Nokia (NOK 7.87, +0.16, +2.1%): reinstated with a Buy at Goldman Sachs5:09 pm KLA-Tencor: During call, guides for 3Q15 revenue of $685-762 mln vs. $790.97 mln CapIQ Consensus, guides for EPS of $0.63-$0.87 vs. $0.97 CapIQ Consensus (KLAC) :

4:20 pm KLA-Tencor beats by $0.16, beats on revs (KLAC) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.68 per share, $0.16 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate o f $0.52; revenues fell 4.1% year/year to $676 mln vs the $664.08 mln consensus.

"We are pleased with the Company's performance in the second quarter... Continued market leadership and good execution led to revenue growth and strong gross margins in the period."

5:02 pm Rambus and Tezzaron announce they have signed an agreement to incorporate Rambus oxide-resistive memory technology to forthcoming Tezzaron devices (RMBS) :

4:20 pm : The major averages registered their fourth consecutive advance on Thursday with the S&P 500 (+1.5%) reclaiming its 50-day moving average (2046/2047). The benchmark index erased its January loss while the Russell 2000 (+2.0%) displayed relative strength throughout the day.

This week has featured action from several major central banks and that extravaganza was topped off today when the European Central Bank announced the highly-anticipated launch of a quantitative easing program.

Prior to the U.S. open, ECB President Mario Draghi revealed plans to purchase investment-grade corporate and government debt in the amount of EUR60 billion per month. According to Mr. Draghi, the program will continue through September 2016 and will be deployed 'decentrally,' meaning national central banks will participate in the risk sharing. When asked about the program's limits, Mr. Draghi said the take-up is limited to 25.0% of a given issue. The announcement boosted European debt (Italy 10-yr yield -14 bps to 1.55%) and weighed on the euro, sending the single currency lower by nearly 300 pips to 1.1340 against the dollar.

The resulting greenback strength pushed the Dollar Index (94.28, +1.37) above the 94.00 level for the first time since September 2003. In turn, this was a headwind for dollar-denominated commodities, and especially crude oil, which also had to contend with a larger than expected inventory build. The energy component fell 2.9% to $46.38/bbl while the energy sector (+0.6%) registered a modest gain after spending the first half of the session in negative territory.

Similar to energy, the materials sector (+1.3%) underperformed while the remaining cyclical groups finished ahead of the broader market.

The financial sector (+2.5%) settled in the lead, but the spike could not lift the group off the bottom of the January leaderboard. The sector narrowed its month-to-date loss to 2.9% while Dow components American Express (AXP 84.37, -3.30) and Travelers (TRV 108.17, +3.16) headed in opposite direction following earnings. American Express lost 3.8% after the company beat top-line estimates and announced plans to cut 4,000 jobs whereas Travelers rallied 3.0% in reaction to better than expected earnings.

Financials were followed by discretionary shares (+1.9%) with the group enjoying broad support. Online commerce names Amazon.com (AMZN 310.32, +13.07) and eBay (EBAY 57.14, +3.77) posted respective gains of 4.4% and 7.1% after eBay reported a one-cent beat and announced plans for a 7.0% reduction of the company's workforce. It is also worth mentioning the company agreed to appoint an Icahn Capital executive to its Board of Directors.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted tech sector (+2.0%) displayed broad strength while the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+0.6%) struggled to keep pace due to disappointing guidance from Xilinx (XLNX 38.96, -2.55) and SanDisk (SNDK 78.90, -1.54). The pair lost 6.1% and 1.9%, respectively.

Also of note, the industrial sector (+1.6%) finished just ahead of the broader market, but transport stocks soared following better than expected results from Alaska Air (ALK 67.94, +2.96), Southwest Airlines (LUV 45.35, +3.52), JB Hunt (JBHT 84.23, +2.19), and Union Pacific (UNP 119.83, +5.43). The Dow Jones Transportation Average spiked 2.9% to erase its January decline.

Unlike the six cyclical sectors, defensively-oriented groups spent the day behind the market. Telecom services (-0.6%) and utilities (-0.4%) could not stay out of the red while consumer staples (+1.1%) and health care (+1.3%) ended in the green.

Treasuries finished with slim losses that sent the 10-yr yield higher by a basis point to 1.88%.

Today's participation was ahead of average with roughly 871 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Initial Claims and the FHFA Housing Market Index:


The initial claims level declined to 307,000 from an upwardly revised 317,000 (from 316,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 302,000
This was the first time since July 2014 that the initial claims level exceeded 300,000 for three consecutive weeks
As with last week, the Department of Labor reported that there were no special factors impacting the initial claims level
Continuing claims increased to 2.443 million from an upwardly revised 2.428 million (from 2.424 million)
The FHFA Housing Price Index for November rose 0.8%, which followed an increase of 0.6% in October

Tomorrow's data will be limited to Existing Home Sales for December (Briefing.com consensus 5.10 million) and December Leading Indicators (consensus 0.5%). Both reports will be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +0.3% YTD
S&P 500 +0.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -1.2% YTD

DJ30 +259.70 NASDAQ +82.98 SP500 +31.03 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2159/1.85 bln/769 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2447/871.0 mln/663 3:40 pm :

WTI crude oil prices gave back today's gains to finish the day at a loss
Mar crude oil ended the day $1.40 lower at $46.38/barrel
Natural gas futures fell today, which was helped by the weekly storage data that was released earlier this morning
Feb nat gas ended the day $0.14 lower at $2.84/MMBtu
Precious metals posted a modest gains with Feb gold rising $8.20 to $1301.50/oz and Mar silver gaining $0.17 to $18.36/oz

4:18 pm Skyworks beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS and rev above consensus (SWKS) : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $1.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.19; revenues rose 59.4% year/year to $805.5 mln vs the $774.09 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.12, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.04 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q2 revs of $750 mln vs. $707.26 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

"We have created a unique business model, combining the strong growth of connectivity and the Internet of Things with the financial returns of a diversified analog company. Our increasing market reach, expanding content opportunities and new product launches are enabling us to outperform normal March quarter seasonal trends."

4:17 pm Altera beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs below consensus (ALTR) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.36 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.35; revenues rose 5.6% year/year to $479.9 mln vs the $480.52 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs flat to down 4% sequentially, which equates to ~$460.7-$479.9 mln vs. $486.41 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:05 pm Maxim Integrated beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (MXIM) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.30; revenues fell 8.6% year/year to $566.8 mln vs the $560.44 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.32-0.38, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.33 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $565-605 mln vs. $569.52 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

12:40 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (197) outpacing new lows (103) (:SCANX) :

Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAL, ACC, ACT, ADC, AEP, AET, AGN, AGU, ALGT, ALK, ALL, ANTM, APTS, APU, ARE, ATO, AVA, AWK, AXL, BCR, BMR, BNDX, BRP, BXP, CCI, CDK, CERN, CEV, CHD, CHL, CHSP, CI, CLNY, CLX, CMS, CNC, COKE, CPB, CPT, CSG, CTSH, CVS, CXW, CYN, DAL, DDR, DFT, DGX, DLR, DNP, DPS, DRH, DTE, DUK, EA, ED, EFX, EIX, ENH, EPR, FAF, FCHI, FE, FICO, FRT, G, GAS, GEO, GGP, GPK, GXP, HDB, HNT, HQH, HQL, HR, HSP, HTA, HTD, HUM, IBN, ICCC, IDT, IFF, IGR, IIF, IIM, INDY, INFY, IRC, ITC, JAH, JBLU, JFC, JNS, JRS, K, KEYS, KIM, KR, KRC, KRFT, LFC, LFUS, LG, LNT, LTC, LUV, MNP, MNST, MO, MRCY, NCA, NEU, NEV, NJR, NKX, NMZ, NOC, NRF, NRO, NSP, NTES, NUV, NVCN, NWE, NXQ, O, OCR, OCUL, OGS, OHI, OPK, ORRF, PCG, PCYC, PDT, PEG, PENN, PF, PKG, PLD, PMO, PNW, POR, PSA, PZC, RAI, RFI, RIF, RIT, RJET, RKT, RLGT, RMD, RNP, ROIC, RPT, RQI, SAM, SCG, SCSS, SO, SPG, SRC, SSS, STON, SWKS, TA, TCO, TDG, TE, TEG, TR, UAL, UFI, UHT, UIL, UNH, UPS, UTG, UVE, VCV, VGM, VISI, VRTX, WEC, WEN, WGL, WM, WR, WRI, WSM, WSTC, WYN, XEL, YORW

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AETI, AIMC, AIXG, AMSC, APTO, ASCMA, AXPW, BRDR, BXE, CBLI, CERE, CHOP, CLD, CLSN, CNTF, CPSS, DRWI, ECOM, ECYT, EGLE, ELON, ENRJ, EVEP, EVGN, EYES, FMY, FOR, FRPT, FTGC, GAI, GFY, GIGM, GNCA, GRVY, GSOL, HDY, HEAR, HEB, HEES, HSGX, HWCC, IGOV, IMI, IVAN, KBH, KBIO, LALT, LDR, LOCM, LOJN, LTBR, MCP, MHR, MIXT, MRC, MRIN, MVC, NCTY, NES, NSPH, NVFY, NWY, OCLS, ONTY, OPWR, PANL, PGI, PIM, PPT, RGSE, RMP, RY, RYI, SBLK, SFY, SNTA, SOL, STRL, SVVC, SZYM, TCBI, TCPC, TENX, TESS, TGB, TGC, THR, THRX, TISA, TRC, TRCH, TRIV, TRT, TWIN, TZOO, UPI, UPLD, VRTS, VVUS, WHX, WRES, XOMA, ZINC

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: FXI, IHF, IYR, PIN, URE, UUP, XLP, XLU

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BAL, BWX, DBA, FXB, FXE

11:54 am 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

LUV (44.08 +5.38%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.59 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.55; revenues rose 4.5% year/year to $4.63 bln vs the $4.59 bln consensus.
KEY (13.01 +5.52%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.28 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.26; revenues rose 3.5% year/year to $1.08 bln vs the $1.04 bln consensus.
UAL (71.49 +3.29%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.20 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.21; revenues fell 0.2% year/year to $9.31 bln vs the $9.31 bln consensus; guided Q1 margin for 5-7%.

Large Cap Losers

DFS (56.41 -7.28%): Missed Q4 consensus estimates by $0.11, missed on revs.
XLNX (39.08 -5.85%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.01, missed on revs; guided Q4 revs below consensus; downgraded to Hold at Drexel Hamilton.
SNDK (77.38 -3.8%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.03, reported revs in-line with lowered guidance from last week; Issued Q1 & FY15 rev guidance below consensus; downgraded to Neutral at Wedbush, B.Riley & Co.

Mid Cap Gainers

CYN (88.25 +18.35%): To be acquired by Royal Bank of Canada (RY) for $93.80/share in cash and stock.
JNS (17.99 +10.5%): Reported Q4 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.03, beat on revs; fixed income long-term net inflows totaled $2.8 bln.
BBRY (10.62 +6.97%): Reports out that Samsung (SSNLF) is still actively considering a purchase of BlackBerry.

Mid Cap Losers

FFIV (110.01 -12.66%): Beat Q1 consensus estimates by $0.06, reported revs in-line; guided Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; announced additional $750 mln share repurchase; Downgraded at Stifel.
SLM (8.84 -8.82%): Reported Q4 (Dec) core earnings of $0.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.05; net interest income rose 23.3% year/year to $150.7 mln vs the $152.0 mln consensus.
DLB (38.2 -9.18%): Beat Q1 consensus estimates by $0.03, missed on revs; guided MarQ EPS below consensus, revs in-line; guided FY15 revs in-line.

8:03 am Cypress Semi misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line (CY) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.13 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.14; revenues rose 9.7% year/year to $184.1 mln vs the $182.65 mln consensus.

Non-GAAP consolidated gross margin for the fourth quarter was 52.4%, down 1.1 percentage points from the previous quarter, primarily due to product and customer mix.Excluding Emerging Technologies Division, core semiconductor gross margin was 54.6%. Net inventory at the end of the fourth quarter was $88.2 mln, down 0.6% from the third quarter.

7:34 am Fairchild Semi misses by $0.05, misses on revs; guides Q1 revs in-line (FCS) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.15; revenues fell 1.3% year/year to $336.6 mln vs the $350.17 mln consensus. Fairchild reported fourth quarter adjusted gross margin of 32.4 percent, down 290 basis points from the prior quarter and 110 basis points higher than the fourth quarter of 2013.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $340-360 mln vs. $351.38 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Expect adjusted gross margin to be 31.0 to 32.0 percent due primarily to lower factory loadings from the prior quarter and the resumption of some payroll related taxes. Anticipate R&D and SG&A spending to be $94 to $96 million due primarily to the resumption of FICA and other payroll related taxes

7:31 am SunEdison priced ts offering of $400 mln aggregate principal amount of 2.375% convertible senior notes due 2022 (SUNE) : The notes will bear interest at a rate of 2.375% per year, payable semiannually in arrears on April 15 and October 15 of each year, or, if any such day is not a business day, the immediately following business day, beginning on October 15, 2015. The notes will mature on April 15, 2022, unless earlier converted or purchased.

7:10 am Verizon reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides FY15 revs above consensus (VZ) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.71 per share, excluding $1.25 net in charges, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.71; revenues rose 6.8% year/year to $33.19 bln vs the $32.68 bln consensus.

Co preannounced some qualitative metrics on January 6.Wireless: Total revs were $23.4 bln in fourth-quarter 2014, up 11.0 % year over year. Service revenues in the quarter totaled $18.2 bln, up 2.8 % year over year. Retail service revenues grew 2.6 % year over year, to $17.4 bln.Verizon Wireless added 2.1 mln retail net connections, including 2.0 mln retail postpaid connections, in the fourth quarter. These additions exclude acquisitions and adjustments. At the end of the year, the co had 108.2 mln retail connections. This includes 102.1 mln retail postpaid connections, a 5.5 % increase year over year. Verizon Wireless had 35.6 mln retail postpaid accounts at the end of the fourth quarter, up 1.5 % compared with fourth-quarter 2013, and 2.87 connections per account, up 4.0 % year over year. During Q4, retail postpaid device activations were up nearly 34 % over the same period in 2013. About three-quarters of phone activations in the quarter were customer upgrades. ~9.8 % of the retail postpaid base upgraded devices, and 93 % of these upgrades were 4G smartphones. The company added a net of 672,000 postpaid phones, as 4G smartphone additions of 1.5 mln were offset by net declines in basic and 3G smartphones.Co issues upside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 rev growth of at least +4% to at least ~$132.2 bln vs. $129.82 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Sustained profitability with a consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin at a level consistent with full-year 2014 performance. Strong free cash flow generation with consolidated capital spending of between $17.5 bln and $18.0 blnhttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/inplay-briefing-com-055139997.html

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Kulicke & Soffa +4.5% on FQ1 beat, strong guidance • 11:07 AM

Eric Jhonsa, SA News Editor
In addition to beating FQ1 estimates, Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC) has guided for FQ2 revenue of $125M-$145M, above a $128.4M consensus at the midpoint.
Ball bonder equipment sales fell 54.9% Q/Q, and wedge bonder sales 9.6%. Quarter-ending backlog was $60.5M vs. $79.1M at the end of FQ4 and $46M a year earlier.
Gross margin rose 350 bps Q/Q and 240 bps YY to 50.9%, and operating expenses rose 11% Y/Y to $45M.
Kulicke ended FQ1 with $633.4M in cash/short-term investments. That's equal to 57% of its current market cap. Shares have risen to their highest levels in more than a decade.
FQ1 results, PR

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From Briefing.com: 4:18 pm Lam Research beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (LRCX) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $1.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.13; revenues rose 6.9% year/year to $1.23 bln vs the $1.23 bln consensus.

Co issues mixed guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $1.23-1.37, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.30 Capital IQ Consensus Estimatesees Q3 revs of $1.365-1.375 bln vs. $1.34 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:18 pm MagnaChip Semi updates timeline for restatement; expects to file late quarterly and annual reports during the week of February 9, 2015; no later than February 13, 2015 (MX) :

4:10 pm Mellanox Tech beats by $0.15, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus (MLNX) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.59 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.15 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.44; revenues rose 33.7% year/year to $141.1 mln vs the $135.2 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $140-145 mln vs. $135.12 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Non-GAAP gross margins were 72.3% vs 69.0% a year ago, non-GAAP operating margin was 20.6%."We are pleased with the results of the quarter. They were achieved by the adoption of 40 Gigabit Ethernet by some of our leading customers, the growth in high-performance computing deployments with our increased market share and additional penetration into Web 2.0, storage and cloud markets.""The need for faster interconnects continues to grow as data increases exponentially. We are very excited to see our 100 Gigabit per second InfiniBand interconnect solution go to market and expect to be utilized by multiple applications starting in [Q1]."

4:10 pm Intersil beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (ISIL) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.18 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.14; revenues fell 10.1% year/year to $131.2 mln vs the $128.57 mln consensus.

Guidance: Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.14-$0.16 vs. $0.15 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $131-$136 mln vs. $131.66 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees gross margin down 50-100 bps.Longer Term Target Model: Gross margin of greater than or equal to 60%, R&D expense of 20-21% of revenue, SG&A expense of 14-15% of revenue, and operating revenue of 25%.

4:09 pm Extreme Networks beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (EXTR) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.05 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.04; revenues rose 0.4% year/year to $147.2 mln vs the $143.13 mln consensus.

Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.03) - $0.02 vs. $0.03 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $129-139 mln vs. $136.79 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. GAAP gross margin is targeted between 51.0% and 52.0% and non-GAAP gross margin targeted between 55.0% and 56.0%. Operating expenses are targeted to be between $83 mln and $84.6 mln on a GAAP basis and $72.5 mln to $74.5 mln on a non-GAAP basis.

4:09 pm Flextronics beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line (FLEX) :

Reports Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.26; revenues fell 2.2% year/year to $7.03 bln vs the $6.62 bln consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.23-0.27 vs. $0.24 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $6.0-6.4 bln vs. $6.18 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:07 pm Qualcomm beats by $0.09, beats on revs; guides Q2 in-line; lowers FY15 guidance (QCOM) : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $1.34 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.25; revenues rose 7.2% year/year to $7.1 bln vs the $6.95 bln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.28-1.40, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.28 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $6.5-7.1 bln vs. $6.72 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Co lowers FY15 guidance: adj. EPS to $4.75-5.05 from $5.05-5.35 vs. $5.20 consensus; rev to $26-28 bln from $26.8-28.8 bln vs. $27.8 bln consensus.Co lowered its outlook for 2H15 in its semiconductor business, QCT, largely driven by the effects of: A shift in share among OEMs at the premium tier, which has reduced its near-term opportunity for sales of our integrated Snapdragon processors and has skewed its product mix towards more modem chipsets in this tier

Expectations that our Snapdragon 810 processor will not be in the upcoming design cycle of a large customer's flagship deviceand Heightened competition in China.4:04 pm Silicon Graphics beats by $0.12, beats on revs; guides MarQ below consensus; guides FY15 revs in-line; completes $70 mln financing (SGI) : Reports Q2 (Dec) net of breakeven, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.12); revenues rose 19.0% year/year to $138.2 mln vs the $120.7 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3 (Mar), sees EPS of $(0.10)-0.00, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.08 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $120-130 mln vs. $142.6 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $540-560 mln vs. $551.7 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Co also announces that it has completed a $70 million three and a half year term loan financing. The proceeds will be used to fund working capital for large, recently-awarded customer contracts, to retire the Company's existing revolver, and for general corporate purposes.

4:04 pm Cirrus Logic beats by $0.22, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs above consensus (CRUS) : Reports Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.97 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.22 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.75; revenues rose 36.5% year/year to $298.6 mln vs the $274.07 mln consensus with non-GAAP gross margin of 46.2 percent.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $220-240 mln vs. $197.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 GAAP gross margin is expected to be between 45 percent and 47 percent

4:15 pm : The stock market finished the midweek session on a lower note despite showing considerable strength in the early going. The S&P 500 (-1.4%) lost its 100-day moving average (2,010) and settled behind the Nasdaq Composite (-0.9%) while the Russell 2000 (-1.7%) lagged throughout the day.

Equities appeared to be on solid footing at the start with the Nasdaq up 1.0% after Apple (AAPL 115.31, +6.17) reported better than expected results for the quarter and issued strong guidance. The stock surged 5.7% and helped the technology sector (-0.1%) finish near its flat line while most of the remaining sectors struggled.

The benchmark index traded little changed ahead of the afternoon release of the latest policy statement from the Fed, but slumped into the close. Once again, the policy directive reiterated the Fed's intent to remain patient in determining the appropriate timing for the first rate hike, which helped send Treasuries to new highs. The 10-yr yield fell ten basis points to 1.73% while the 30-yr yield dropped 11 basis points to register its lowest close on record (2.28%).

The Fed described U.S. economic growth as 'solid' while categorizing job growth as 'strong.' The central bank did not spend much time discussing overseas developments, which could help explain some of the selling that developed after the statement was released. Furthermore, the FOMC showed little concern over low inflation, saying that while the price level is expected to decline in the near term, a gradual return to 2.0% should follow once the 'transitory effects of lower energy prices and other factors dissipate.'

Today, however, energy prices deteriorated further with crude oil dropping 3.6% to $44.53/bbl. The energy component continued slipping in electronic trade while the energy sector plunged 3.9% to widen its January decline to 5.7%.

The energy sector resides near the bottom of the January leaderboard with only financials (-2.0%) showing a larger decline for the month (-6.3%). Together, the underperformance of the pair serves as a reminder of the global growth concerns that have been at the forefront so far in 2015.

Elsewhere among influential sectors, consumer discretionary (-1.3%) and health care (-1.5%) finished a little behind the market while industrials (-0.9%) outperformed. Retailers and media names pressured the discretionary sector while biotechnology weighed on health care. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 318.98, -7.00) lost 2.2%.

For its part, the industrial space ended ahead of the broader market thanks to upbeat earnings and guidance from Dow component Boeing (BA 139.64, +7.16). In other earnings news, Electronic Arts (EA 54.61, +6.20) and Freescale Semiconductor (FSL 31.16, +4.81) surged 12.8% and 18.3%, respectively, after beating estimates.

The afternoon slide fueled a rush for portfolio protection, evidenced by a 17.9% spike in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 20.30, +3.08). The near-term volatility measure returned to last week's levels with the entire move taking place after the FOMC statement.

Today's participation was a little above average with 835 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which fell 3.2% to follow the prior week's surge of 16.1%.

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims will be reported at 8:30 ET (Briefing.com consensus 301K) while the Pending Home Sales report for December (consensus 0.6%) will be released at 10:00 ET.


Nasdaq Composite -2.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.5% YTD
S&P 500 -2.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -3.5% YTD

DJ30 -195.84 NASDAQ -43.50 SP500 -27.39 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 714/1.96 bln/2278 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 823/835.3 mln/2307 3:45 pm :

Energy futures traded lower today, led by losses by oil futures
Mar crude oil ended the day -3.6% lower at $44.53/barrel
Mar nat gas lost 8 cents to $2.85/MMBtu
Precious metals finished the day mixed.
Mar gold lost $6.50/oz to $1285.60/oz, while Mar silver rose $0.01 to $18.09/oz

12:55 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

EA (54.74 +13.08%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.30, beat on revs; guided MarQ EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; Price target raised at Stifel, Brean Capital, Needham, others.
BA (140.78 +6.27%): Beat Q4 consensus estimates by $0.21, beat on revs; guided FY15 EPS below consensus, revs above consensus.
WDC (100.77 +3.22%): Beat Q2 consensus estimates by $0.15, beat on revs; sees Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.90-2.00 vs $2.00 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, revs of $3.6-3.7 bln vs $3.73 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Upgraded to Buy at Longbow.

Large Cap Losers

PBR (6.79 -8.93%): Reported Q3 2014 net income of R3.087 bln vs R3.387 bln last year; Q3 EBITDA of 11.735 bln vs 13.091 bln last year.
HES (67.92 -5.15%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.21; revenues (total revs and non-op income) fell 18.7% year/year to $2.53 bln vs the $2.06 bln consensus.
VMW (76.44 -5.18%): Beat Q4 consensus estimates by $0.01, reported revs in-line; added $1 bln to buyback; Guided Q1 & FY15 EPS and Revs below expectations; Price target lowered at UBS, FBR Capital, others.

Mid Cap Gainers

FSL (31.71 +20.34%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.10, reported revs in-line; guided Q1 revs above consensus; Upgraded at Needham, Price target raised at Bernstein, Barclays, others.
TUP (67.61 +13.17%): Beat Q4 consensus estimates by $0.19, beat on revs; guided Q1 below consensus; guided FY15 EPS below consensus, revs ~in-line.
TSS (36.52 +6.72%): Reported Q4 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.05, beat on revs; guided FY15 EPS in-line, revs below consensus; announced new 20 mln share buyback.

Mid Cap Losers

UPL (12.53 -8.21%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman.
OTEX (55.02 -7.67%): Reported Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.97 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.97; revenues rose 28.7% year/year to $467.8 mln vs the $485.95 mln consensus; downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
GNTX (16.13 -7.83%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.25; revenues rose 7.2% year/year to $350.4 mln vs the $368.18 mln consensus.

6:31 am United Micro beats by NT$0.11, beats on revs; guides Q1 (UMC) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of NT$0.36 per share, NT$0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of NT$0.25; revenues rose 5.7% year/year to NT$37.23 bln vs the NT$36.43 bln consensus.

Quarter-over-Quarter Q1 Guidance: Foundry Segment Wafer Shipments: To increase by ~2-3%; Foundry Segment ASP in US$: To increase by ~3%; Foundry Segment Profitability: Gross profit margin will be in the mid-20 percentage range; Foundry Segment Capacity Utilization: ~90%; 2015 CAPEX for Foundry Segment: US$1.8bn; Guidance to New Business Segment: Revenue to be ~NT$2bn and operating loss to be ~NT$170mn

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From Briefing.com: There wasn't a lot of corporate news driving the S&P 500 information technology sector on Monday, yet there was a good bit of buying interest that drove it late. To wit, the sector was down 0.2% with an hour left to go in the session and it ended Monday's trading up 1.0%.

There wasn't a specific news item driving the late surge, yet all sector boats rose with the tide in what had the semblance of being program trading activity.

Notably, the late push was led by many of the cyclical sectors, which underperformed in January. The energy sector (+3.0%), which enjoyed continued gains in oil prices (+2.8% to $49.57/bbl) on Monday, led all sectors and was followed by the telecommunication services (+2.4%) and financial (+1.6%) sectors.

Some of the more notable news items from the S&P 500 information technology sector included:

Apple (AAPL 118.63, +1.47, +1.3%): Bolstered by strong demand, Apple boosted a debt offering from $5.0 billion to $6.5 billion. The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from sales of the notes for general corporate purposes, including repurchases of its common stock and payment of dividends under its program to return capital to shareholders, funding for working capital, capital expenditures and acquisitions and repayment of debt. Separately, Apple announced it is going spend $2 billion to build a global command center in Arizona, according to a CNBC report.

Electronic Arts (EA 54.97, +0.10, +0.2%): COO, CAO & EVP sold ~118K shares at $54.77-55.00 worth ~$6.50 mln

Fiserv (FISV 73.44, +0.91, +1.3%): announced that Citizens Bank has renewed its agreement with Fiserv for multiple digital payment capabilities, signing a seven-year extension for CheckFree RXP, Popmoney, and TransferNow, as well as the small business versions of each of these services.

Intel (INTC 33.65, +0.61, +1.9%): has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Lantiq, a supplier of broadband access and home networking technologies. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in approximately 90 days. Deal terms were not disclosed.Yahoo (YHOO 44.69, +0.69, +1.6%): Barron's profiled positive view on Yahoo and view that company may be takeover target.Elsewhere in the technology arena:

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 2.67, +0.10, +3.9%): Barron's profiled positive view on company
Arrow Electronics (ARW 55.26, +0.22, +0.4%): has acquired RDC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Computacenter UK Ltd, for ~$84 mln
FireEye (FEYE 34.36, +0.55, +1.6%): Benefited along with some other IT security companies from news that President Obama's FY16 budget proposal calls for $14 billion for cybersecurity, up $1.0 billion from FY15

Analyst Action:

Alibaba (BABA 90.13, +1.05, +1.2%): Oppenheimer lowered its BABA target to $112 from $133 on lower estimates
MasterCard (MA 82.98, +0.95, +1.2%): target lowered to $108 at RBC Capital Markets... target lowered to $100 from $105 at Deutsche Bank; Buy... target lowered to $100 from $105 at Barclays; Overweight
Western Union (WU 17.41, +0.41, +2.4%): downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley (Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo)

4:10 pm : The stock market began the new trading week on a higher note. The S&P 500 spiked 1.3% while the Nasdaq (+0.9%) and Russell 2000 (+0.9%) underperformed.

Overall, the Monday session was fairly quiet with the market spending some time on each side of its unchanged level. The S&P 500 began with a slim gain, but relative weakness among high-beta biotechnology and chipmaker names kept heavily-weighted health care (+0.6%) and technology (+1.0%) sectors on the defensive. The S&P 500 tried to overcome that weakness, but was rebuffed by its 100-day moving average in the 2,010 area. However, a second effort in the late afternoon sent the S&P 500 well above the 100-day average to end the day.

All ten sectors finished in the green with energy (+3.0%) spending the entire session in the lead. The sector benefitted from a 2.8% advance in crude oil ($49.59/bbl) while also drawing strength from ExxonMobil (XOM 89.58, +2.16). Shares of XOM jumped 2.5% in reaction to better than expected earnings thanks to a $1 billion non-cash windfall resulting from deferred tax items and a favorable ruling for expropriated Venezuela assets.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, financials (+1.6%) and industrials (+1.5%) displayed relative strength throughout the day after posting respective losses of 7.0% and 3.7% in January. Meanwhile, the top-weighted technology sector (+1.0%) spent the day behind the broader market, but narrowed the gap during afternoon action.

For the most part, large cap tech names fared well, but Google (GOOGL 532.20, -5.35) and Facebook (FB 74.99, -0.92) lost 1.0% and 1.2%, respectively. Similarly, chipmakers struggled as a group, which limited the PHLX Semiconductor Index to an uptick of 0.3%.

The underperformance of semiconductor names kept the Nasdaq behind the broader market, but so did biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 319.58, -2.07) lost 0.6% while the health care sector advanced 0.6%.

Similar to health care, the utilities sector (+0.4%) underperformed while consumer staples (+1.3%) and telecom services (+2.5%) fared well.

Treasuries registered modest losses with the 10-yr yield climbing three basis points to 1.68%.

Economic data included Personal Income/Spending data, ISM Index, and Construction Spending:


Personal income increased 0.3% for a second consecutive month in December following a negative revision (from 0.4%) in November while the Briefing.com consensus expected personal income an increase of 0.3%
Personal spending declined 0.3% after increasing a downwardly revised 0.5% (from 0.6%) in November while the consensus expected a decrease of 0.3%
The ISM Manufacturing Index dropped to 53.5 in January from 55.1 in December while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 54.7
Production growth decelerated as the related index fell to 56.5 in January from 57.7 in December. The drop coincided with a decline in new orders (52.9 from 57.8) and a large contraction (46.0 from 52.5) in unfilled orders
Construction spending increased 0.4% in December after declining an upwardly revised 0.2% (from -0.3%) in November while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.8%

Tomorrow, the Factory Orders report for December will be released at 10:00 ET (Briefing.com consensus -2.0%).

Nasdaq Composite -1.3% YTD
S&P 500 -1.9% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.6% YTD

DJ30 +196.09 NASDAQ +41.45 SP500 +25.86 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1841/1.83 bln/1115 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2284/886.2 mln/828 3:40 pm :

WTI crude oil extended Friday's rally and is now up $5 or 11.1% in the last two trading sessions, getting a boost today from some refinery employees being on strike in the U.S.
Natural gas was in the red today and finished the session $0.01 lower at $2.68/MMBtu
Precious metals were largely flat today, with Feb gold falling $1.50 to $1277.40/oz and Mar silver gaining $0.04 to $17.25/oz
Mar copper ended unchanged at $2.49/lb

4:12 pm Advanced Energy beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (AEIS) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.50 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.40; revenues rose 0.1% year/year to $152.7 mln vs the $146.34 mln consensus.
Co sees Q1 EPS of $0.38-0.46 vs. $0.37 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $137-147 mln vs. $142.95 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"Our investment in new semiconductor products targeting key technology inflection points is enabling accelerated growth in existing and new applications, and drove record revenues for the quarter. Having made three strategic acquisitions in the last 12 months, we have entered several new and adjacent industrial markets, expanding our total available market and increasing our diversification. We are in the process of evaluating strategic alternatives for our solar inverter business given some of the near-term challenges facing the industry. With a strong pipeline of opportunities and choices for our business, we believe that we are well positioned for 2015."

4:10 pm Nanometrics beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (NANO) : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.12 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.15); revenues fell 13.9% year/year to $39.7 mln vs the $37.89 mln consensus.

Guidance: Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.00-$0.09 vs. $0.05 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $47-$51 mln vs. $46.65 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:08 pm Integrated Device beats by $0.03, beats on revs (IDTI) : Reports Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.25 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.22; revenues rose 21.3% year/year to $151.2 mln vs the $142.68 mln consensus.

Non-GAAP gross profit for the fiscal third quarter of 2015 was $93.0 million, or 61.5 percent, compared with non-GAAP gross profit of $83.9 million, or 61.2 percent last quarter, and $77.8 million, or 62.4 percent, reported in the same period one year ago.

4:06 pm Rudolph Tech beats by $0.07, beats on revs (RTEC) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.06; revenues rose 11.5% year/year to $49.6 mln vs the $45.12 mln consensus.

4:03 pm Axcelis Tech announces closure of sale leaseback transaction (ACLS) : Co announced that on January 30, 2015, it sold the Company's headquarter building at 108 Cherry Hill Drive, located on approximately 37 acres in Beverly, Massachusetts to Beverly Property Owner LLC, an affiliate of Middleton Partners, based in Northbrook, Illinois, for the purchase price of $49 million. Axcelis has entered into a 22 year lease of the property and will retain ownership of approximately 23 acres of adjacent property.

2:41 pm JDS Uniphase receives public letter from Sandell Asset Management (JDSU) : Sandell Asset Management letter reads:

"As a result of last week's disappointment, shareholders have witnessed a dramatic decline in the Company's stock price, to $12.15 per share as of January 30, a price that is barely above its $12.10 per share closing price on September 10, the day when JDSU announced the proposed spin-off of its CCOP business. In our view, this performance is a consummate disgrace. While we believe that the proposed spin-off of the CCOP business was a positive development, we have made no secret of our belief that JDSU can and must do much more to enhance shareholder value, including and not limited to conducting a formal auction for the CCOP business in parallel to preparations for its spin-off CCOP must be structured in a manner that allows shareholders the right to have sufficient influence over the governance of the company as well as whether to accept an offer to purchase the company. In our view, this can best be accomplished by ensuring that the board of CCOP is not a classified board. While the quarterly results delivered on January 29 confirm our doubts as to the ability of Mr. Waechter to operate JDSU in a manner that delivers value to shareholders, we also have reservations as to many other Directors. The actions taken by the Board in the next few weeks, will likely guide the actions of shareholders in the future."

1:08 pm Notable movers of interest (:SCANX) : The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).

Large Cap Gainers

CRH (25.54 +5.8%): Holcim (HCMLY) and Lafarge (LFRGY) announced a project to sell assets to CRH for an enterprise value of EUR 6.5 bln in the context of their planned merger.
CHK (20.15 +5.06%): Oil & gas companies outperforming as futures of WTI crude jump 2% on the day to $49.25/bbl (PXD, CNQ, APA also higher).
TTM (50.67 +2.74%): The co reported it saw strong growth in certain key segments, as passenger cars (excluding UV's) and M&HCV grew 38% year-on-year.

Large Cap Losers

WYN (80.72 -3.66%): Downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
MCO (88.4 -3.21%): Reports out that Moody's may be investigated by United States over financial crisis ratings.
TEF (14.56 -2.35%): Reports that Telefonica may consider EUR 4bln capital increase.

Mid Cap Gainers

SCTY (52.2 +7.38%): Solars enjoy strong gains on the day as oil rebounds, and reports out that President Obama may push for an extension of the investment tax credit for solar (FSLR , SUNE also higher).
FICO (75.86 +6.31%): Upgraded to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
DECK (69.95 +5.9%): Upgraded to Buy at Goldman.

Mid Cap Losers

PBI (22.15 -7.63%): Reported Q4 EPS in-line, missed on revs; guided FY15 below consensus including items/FX; announced $100 mln buyback.
AVY (51.02 -2.39%): Reported Q4 earnings that beat consensus EPS estimates by $0.10, missed on revs; guided FY15 EPS midpoint below consensus.
MDVN (105.7 -2.87%): Disclosed that net quarterly sales of XTANDI capsules were $230.2 mln for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.

11:46 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (146) outpacing new lows (135) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABCD, AFB, AKP, APTS, BAF, BBF, BBK, BBN, BERY, BFK, BFZ, BKN, BLE, BLJ, BNJ, BNY, BPS, BSE, BSET, BTA, BTT, BX, BYM, CARB, CDXS, COMM, CRMD, CXE, CXH, DMB, DMF, DSM, EBSB, EIM, EIV, EOT, EVN, EVO, FFC, FISH, FPT, FRPH, GBAB, GFED, GFF, HAR, IQI, JHP, JPS, JTP, JYNT, KSM, KSM, LEO, LII, MCA, MEN, MFM, MFT, MHD, MHN, MIY, MJI, MMD, MNE, MQT, MQY, MUA, MUE, MUH, MUI, MUJ, MUS, MVF, MVT, MYC, MYD, MYJ, MYM, MYN, MZF, NAC, NAD, NAN, NCA, NCFT, NEA, NID, NIO, NIQ, NJ, NKG, NKX, NMO, NMT, NMY, NMZ, NNC, NNP, NPF, NPI, NPM, NPP, NPV, NQI, NQM, NQP, NQS, NQU, NRK, NTC, NUO, NUV, NVG, NVX, NXJ, NXK, NXN, NXP, NXQ, NXZ, NYV, NZF, NZH, OCUL, OPK, PCK, PCQ, PMF, PML, PMM, PMO, PMX, PNF, PSF, PYN, PZC, RAVE, RGCO, SBI, STON, VCV, VFL, VKI, VMC, VMO

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AEY, AGYS, AIXG, AMCC, AMSWA, ANF, ANGI, APPY, ARR, ASCMA, ATV, AWAY, AXE, BGC, BSAC, BWINB, BZH, CACQ, CALL, CCSC, CEL, CHMI, CLWT, CMO, CNSI, CPL, CX, DANG, DBD, DISCA, DISCK, ECPG, ELRC, ENBL, ERII, ETJ, FBC, FBRC, FCO, FIVN, FMY, FRD, FTEK, FUEL, GBCI, GBLI, GDOT, GES, GHL, GSM, GSOL, HDP, HSC, IMNP, IX, JMI, KEM, KEN, KEYW, KOF, KOP, LBRDA, LC, LF, MBI, MBVT, MNI, MOBI, MPET, MRIN, MRLN, MSA, MSL, MTGE, MYOS, NAV, NFG, NWY, PACD, PBI, PBY, PCOM, PDLI, PFBX, PIM, PNNT, PPHM, PPT, PT, PTNR, PTNT, QCOM, RCMT, RDEN, REE, RGSE, RIVR, RLOC, RMT, ROYL, RSH, SAN, SBS, SFUN, SFXE, SIM, SNAK, SNI, SNTA, SPE, SR, STRI, STRL, SVVC, SXC, SYMX, TESS, TRC, TRMR, TST, UCP, ULTR, UTEK, VECO, VIA, VIAB, VPCO, VVUS, WB, WHLR, WMGI, WRN, WTW, XCRA, YNDX

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: DBA, FXS, NIB, UNG, VNM

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: For the second day in a row, the stock market put together a strong rally, aided by another blistering rally in oil prices (+7.0% to $53.05/bbl) and reports that Greece's new leadership is striking a more conciliatory tone in its attempt to ease the country's debt burden than it did on the campaign trail.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+1.0%) participated in the move, yet it could be categorized as an underperformer relative to the 1.4% gain in the S&P 500.

That's largely because Apple (AAPL 118.65, +0.02, +0.02%) took a breather. It was entitled to one considering it had gained 9.0% over the preceding four sessions. Apple's steady state, though, belied what was an otherwise strong day for the sector and exposed just how much weight Apple holds in dictating the sector's performance.

Only two stocks in the sector -- Electronic Arts (EA 54.52, -0.44, -0.8%) and F5 Networks (FFIV 112.34, -0.27, -0.2%) -- lost ground on Tuesday. Altogether, 51 of the sector's 66 components increased more than 1.0%.Some notable news items from the sector included:

Apple (AAPL 118.58, -0.05, -0.04%): A Digitimes article, citing sources in Taiwan's handset supply chain, said Apple iPhone shipments in Q1 (APPL's fiscal Q2) could be higher than 50 million

eBay (EBAY 54.24, +0.53, +1.0%): eBay and Proxibid announced a partnership that will make heavy equipment, industrial machinery, farm equipment, cars and trucks accessible to the broadest possible audience and offers a seamless, convenient way to browse and buy quality inventory online.

Google (GOOG 529.13, +0.65, +0.03%): A BloombergBusiness article reported that Google is considering offering its own ride-hailing service that will compete with Uber

Visa (V 259.62, +4.28, +1.8%): announced the appointment of Vasant M. Prabhu as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective February 9, 2015. Prabhu succeeds Byron Pollitt, who previously announced his intent to retire. Elsewhere in the technology arena:

Amazon.com (AMZN 363.40, -1.08, -0.1%): Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said Amazon is looking into the possibility of purchasing some RadioShack stores after the latter company files for bankruptcy

Nokia (NOK 7.86, +0.26, +3.4%): at its annual meeting announced Board to resolve to repurchase a maximum of 365 million Nokia shares by using funds in the unrestricted shareholders' equity. Repurchases will reduce funds available for distribution of profits. The shares may be repurchased in order to optimize the capital structure of the Company and are expected to be canceled.

TripAdvisor (TRIP 70.78, +3.08, +4.5%): Bloomberg real M&A column discussed that Trip Advisor may be a takeover target by Priceline (PCLN 1037.55, +24.52, +2.3%)

Twitter (TWTR 39.80, +2.34, +6.4%): announced partnerships to syndicate Promoted Tweets outside of Twitter with Flipboard and Yahoo JapanAnalyst Action:

Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.12, +0.29, +1.0%): target raised to $29 from $27 at Oppenheimer; Outperform

EMC Corp. (EMC 26.83, +0.40, +1.5%): upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie

LinkedIn (LNKD 232.60, +8.03, +3.5%): target raised to $280 from $250 at Goldman Sachs; Added to Conviction Buy List

Xilinx (XLNX 39.31, +0.47, +1.2%): downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura

4:10 pm : The stock market registered its second consecutive advance with the S&P 500 climbing 1.4% to retake its 50-day moving average (2,044). The price-weighted Dow (+1.8%) fared a bit better while the Nasdaq Composite (+1.1%) underperformed.

Equities displayed strength from the get-go after markets in Europe responded positively to a Financial Times report suggesting Greece will soften its negotiating stance; however, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said there has been no 'U-turn' in Greece's position while German Chancellor Angela Merkel has set expectations for a drawn out process, saying the ongoing talks will 'drag on for months.' In addition, a handful of German lawmakers have voiced their displeasure with the position being assumed by Greece. With no resolution in sight, another chapter in the European saga will be written tomorrow when Mr. Varoufakis meets with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt.

For the time being, the market happily continued retracing its losses from January. The S&P 500 narrowed its quarter-to-date decline to 0.4% with all ten sectors ending in the green.

Once again, the energy sector (+2.8%) held the lead throughout the session with help from crude oil, which soared 7.0% to $53.04/bbl. In all likelihood, a short squeeze contributed to the surge, but so did better than expected earnings from BP (BP 41.10, +1.24). However, it is worth mentioning that the industry giant plans to cut its 2015 capital expenditure budget by 13.0% to $20 billion.

Similar to energy, materials (+2.2%) and consumer discretionary (+2.2%) jumped more than 2.0% while two of the remaining three cyclical groups also finished ahead of the broader market.

The discretionary sector received broad support with Office Depot (ODP 9.27, +1.64) charging higher by 21.5% after The Wall Street Journal reported the company has been in talks with Staples (SPLS 19.01, +1.87) about a potential merger.

Elsewhere, the technology sector (+1.0%) lagged throughout the session, but was able to settle not far behind the broader market. Chipmakers displayed relative strength (PHLX Semiconductor Index +1.8%), but several top-weighted components like Apple (AAPL 118.57, -0.06), Facebook (FB 75.40, +0.41), and Google (GOOGL 533.30, +1.10) struggled to pull away from their flat lines.

Similar to the tech sector, the Nasdaq spent the day behind the broader market. Biotechnology factored into the underperformance with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 317.79, -1.79) falling 0.6% while the health care sector (+0.7%) settled near the bottom of the leaderboard.

Treasuries spent the day in a steady retreat, sending the 10-yr yield higher by 11 basis points to 1.78%.

Today's participation was well above average with more than 958 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Factory Orders:


Factory orders declined 3.4% in December after declining a downwardly revised 1.7% (from -0.7%) in November while the Briefing.com consensus expected a drop of 2.0%

While the headline decline in factory orders was clear miss in terms of expectations, the underlying data should provide a boost to the second estimate to Q4 2014 GDP
Shipments of nondefense capital goods, excluding aircraft, were much stronger than reported in the advance release. Instead of declining 0.2% in December, shipments increased 0.2%. Since shipments factor into GDP calculations, the upward revision will positively contribute to economic growth

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the ADP Employment Change for January will cross the wires at 8:15 ET (Briefing.com consensus 230K). The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the ISM Services Index for January (consensus 56.5).

Nasdaq Composite -0.2% YTD
S&P 500 -0.4% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.9% YTD

DJ30 +305.36 NASDAQ +51.05 SP500 +29.18 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2174/1.99 bln/778 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2504/959.1 mln/621 3:35 pm :

Oil prices were at it again today, extending a rally that began late last week.
In the past three session, WTI crude oil futures are up 19%
Crude is actually up for four consecutive sessions. We just excluded the session on Thursday Jan 29 because crude was up that day, but only posted a six cent gain.
Today, Mar crude oil ended pit trading $3.48 higher at $53.04/barrel.
Mar natural gas futures rose $0.08 to end the session at $2.76/MMBtu
Despite the dollar index selling off today, Apr gold prices lost $17.80.
Meanwhile, Mar silver rose $0.07 to $17.32/oz. Mar copper rose $0.09 to $2.58/lb

6:02 pm Silicon Labs acquires Bluegiga Technologies Oy, a privately held provider of short-range wireless connectivity solutions and software for the Internet of Things, for ~$61 mln in cash; to be accretive to 2015 non-GAAP earnings (SLAB) : Co announced the acquisition of Bluegiga Technologies Oy. A privately held company based in Espoo, Finland, Bluegiga is one of the fastest growing independent providers of short-range wireless connectivity solutions and software for the IoT. Bluegiga's wireless portfolio includes ultra-low-power Bluetooth Smart, Bluetooth Classic, and Wi-Fi modules, as well as software stacks, development tools and software development kits (SDKs) for a multitude of applications in the industrial automation, consumer electronics, audio, automotive, retail, residential, and health and fitness markets.

Under the agreement, Bluegiga investors received approximately $61 million in cash. Bluegiga is expected to contribute approximately $25 million to $28 million in revenue in 2015, and Silicon Labs expects the acquisition to be accretive to 2015 non-GAAP earnings.

12:29 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

SPLS (18.71 +9.16%): Reports out that it and Office Depot (ODP) are in talks to merge; Activist investor Starboard has been pushing for the business combination since confirming a stake in both companies in early December.
ETN (69.94 +8.6%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.07, reported revs in-line; guided Q1 EPS below consensus; guided FY15 EPS in-line.
FCX (18.59 +6.53%): Copper miners enjoying strong gains as futures spot price of copper gains 3.6% on the day (SCCO also higher).

Large Cap Losers

ALKS (66.9 -7.85%): Sector wide weakness in Healthcare today (INCY, PCYC, BMRN also notably lower).
NOV (53.18 -5.69%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.69 per share, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.60; revenues rose 7.7% year/year to $5.71 bln vs the $5.7 bln consensus; warned that the anticipate a very challenging market in 2015.
HCA (68.51 -2.38%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.10, beat on revs; guided FY15 EPS below consensus, revs in-line.

Mid Cap Gainers

SSNC (59.96 +9.92%): Announced it will acquire Advent Software (ADVS) for $44.25 per share, an enterprise value of ~$2.7 bln in cash; SSNC expects the transaction to be accretive to its overall financial profile; upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan; tgt raised to $70 from $50.
WLL (36.75 +11.26%): Upgraded to Buy at Stifel.
TROX (22.94 +7.9%): Reports out that Tronox is near deal to purchase FMC's (FMC) soda-ash business for $1.5 bln.

Mid Cap Losers

SSYS (55.37 -30.86%): Sees FY14 revs of $748-750 mln vs $763.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, adj EPS of $1.97-2.03 vs $2.25 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 EPS and revs below consensus; Downgraded at Piper Jaffray, Brean Capital, Cowen, others.
GNC (42.06 -4.15%): The NY AG sent letters to four major retailers, GNC, Target (TGT), Walmart (WMT), and Walgreens (WBA), for allegedly selling store brand herbal supplement products.
ZU (18 -2.39%): Price target lowered to $27 at Stifel, maintains Buy rating.

11:52 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (178) outpacing new lows (42) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAON, ABCD, ADVS, AFB, AHH, AINC, ALV, AMC, AN, ANW, AOS, ASH, AXL, AYN, BBK, BDL, BERY, BLE, BPS, BR, BRKS, BRLI, BSET, BTA, BTT, BUD, BYM, CACC, CCA, CCMP, CDXS, CERU, CEVA, CIVI, CNC, CNK, COMM, CPF, CSG, CTAS, CUBI, CXE, DEG, DFP, DGX, DLTR, DMB, DSPG, DXGE, EBSB, EIV, ENFC, ENH, ENL, EOT, ESPR, EVN, EVO, FCAU, FFC, FFNW, FISH, FIX, FNRG, FPT, FTR, GFF, GPN, GPX, HAE, HAR, HCSG, HLS, HPF, HRTG, HW, HZO, IBKR, IFEU, IIVI, IMAX, IMH, IQI, IR, ISBC, ISLE, ITG, JLL, JPS, JW.A, JW.B, KR, KTF, KTF, LAMR, LBY, LDRI, LEA, LEO, LII, LPSB, LVLT, MANT, MCA, MEN, MFL, MFM, MFT, MMI, MQY, MSCC, MSCI, MTD, MTT, MUC, MUE, MUJ, MUSA, MVT, MYD, NAD, NAVG, NAZ, NEU, NKX, NMT, NMZ, NOC, NPT, NQM, NQU, NTC, NUV, NVG, NXR, ODP, OIA, OPK, ORAN, PAI, PCK, PETM, PMM, PMO, PSEM, PSF, PSO, PZC, RECN, RHI, RUK, SCHL, SCSS, SEIC, SERV, SIRI, SMG, SPLS, SPR, SSNC, SUBK, TIME, TRK, TSO, TTM, TW, UFI, UIHC, VCV, VFL, VKI, VMC, VMO, VRX, VSEC, WEN, WOOD, WTBA

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACTS, ANY, APPY, ARR, ATV, AXE, CBLI, CSLT, CYCC, DDD, DRWI, FMY, FTEK, FUEL, FULL, GDOT, GKNT, GLBS, IMNP, IPAR, IX, LFVN, LMNX, LTRX, NBHC, ONTX, PANL, PCOM, PERF, PRXI, QRM, RCMT, RGSE, SSYS, SVVC, TESS, TZOO, VSTM, VVUS, WMGI, XONE, ZU

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: ITA, RTH

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FUD, FXA

8:31 am Ixys has signed a definitive agreement to acquire RadioPulse for $16.5 mln in cash (IXYS) : Based in Seoul, Korea, the fabless semiconductor company develops, manufactures and sells innovative wireless network technology solutions based on the ZigBee protocol

Under the agreement, the shareholders of RadioPulse will receive an up-front payment of up to $16.5 million in cash, plus potentially up to $6 million in earnout consideration.

7:09 am Benchmark Elec reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (BHE) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.43 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.43; revenues fell 6.2% year/year to $710 mln vs the $729.41 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.30-0.34, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.38 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $615-645 mln vs. $680.49 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Co stated, "Our first quarter guidance reflects lingering headwinds in Computing and Telecom; however, we expect growth to resume in these sectors in the second half of the year. For 2015, we anticipate that our non-traditional revenue base of Industrial, Medical, and Test & Instrumentation will continue to strengthen"

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: It was a mixed-up day of trading on Wednesday. The stock market was primed for a big finish, but then had the rug pulled out from under it in the last half hour when the European Central bank (ECB) announced it has lifted the current waiver of minimum credit rating requirements for marketable instruments issued or guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic (i.e. Greece) since it is currently not possible to assume successful conclusion of the programme review.

That statement hit the stock market as much for its timing as its substance. On Tuesday, a rally was forged in part on the reported notion that Greece was striking a more conciliatory tone in its debt negotiation efforts. Many participants were perhaps lulled into thinking that everyone is going to play nice in the end and that Greece will ultimately get the funding it needs to run its country and make its debt payments.

That could still happen, but today's statement makes it known that nothing can be taken for granted and that the new leaders of Greece are quickly finding out that it is not as easy to confront the country's creditors as duly elected leaders as it is being duly nominated candidates.

The major indices finished mixed, contending as well with a massive pullback in crude oil prices (-8.7% to $48.44/bbl) that occurred in the wake of a bearish inventory report released by the Energy Information Administration.

Helped by the gain in Apple (AAPL 119.56, +0.91, +0.8%) and some other large-cap components, the S&P 500 information technology sector increased 0.1% and outperformed the S&P 500 (-0.4%), which was dragged lower primarily by a weak energy sector (-1.6%).

Some notable news items from the S&P 500 information technology sector included:

Automatic Data (ADP 86.58, +1.44, +1.7%): Reported Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.70 per share, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 6.7% year/year to $2.66 bln. For FY15, sees EPS of +12-14% (up from +11-13%) to ~$3.51-3.58, which is ahead of expectation. Sees FY15 revenues of +7-8% to ~$13.06-13.18 bln. Noted the diluted earnings per share forecast includes the anticipated $0.02 per share benefit resulting from incremental share repurchases funded by the $825 million in dividend proceeds ADP received as a result of the CDK spin-off. Worldwide new business bookings are now anticipated to grow about 10% compared to the prior forecast of about 8% growth.

Cognizant Technology (CTSH 57.88, +2.78, +5.1%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.67 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was above estimates. Revenues rose 16.4% year/year to $2.74 bln, also ahead of expectations. Net headcount addition for the quarter was ~11,800, including TriZetto, and year-end headcount was ~211,500. For Q1, sees EPS of atleast $0.69, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of at least $2.88 bln. For FY15, sees EPS of at least $2.91, excluding non-recurring items, which is shy of analysts' average expectation; sees FY15 revenues of at least $12.21 bln, which is ahead of expectations.

EMC (EMC 26.84, +0.01, +0.04%): Director bought 20,000 shares at $26.13 worth ~$522,000

Facebook (FB 75.63, +0.23, +0.3%): Director, M. Andreessen, sold 853,994 shares at $77.38 worth ~$66.1 mln

Fiserv (FISV 75.79, +1.31, +1.8%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.89 per share, in-line with estimates. Revenues rose 4.2% year/year to $1.32 bln, also in-line. For FY15, sees EPS of $3.73-3.83 and expects adjusted internal revenue to grow in a range of 5-6%.

IBM (IBM 156.96, -1.51, -1.0%): Announced the launch of the IBM Middle East and Africa Digital Sales Center in Cairo. The center, which represents a $3 million investment by IBM, is part of a broader three year agreement with the Egyptian government in which IBM will create jobs and work with clients to transform using cloud, Big Data and analytics, mobile and social technologies.

Motorola Solutions (MSI 63.94, -0.07, -0.1%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.25 per share, comfortably ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 0.3% year/year to $1.82 bln , which was also ahead of estimates. For Q1, sees EPS of $0.22-0.27, which is below expectations, and expects a revenue decline of 2 to 4 percent compared with the first quarter of 2014. For FY15, sees EPS of $3.15-3.35 and expects revenue to be flat to down 2 percent compared to 2014, or roughly $5.763-5.881 bln, which is below expectations.

Western Digital (WDC 104.04, +3.36, +3.3%): Announced that the board of directors declared a cash dividend for the quarter ending Apr. 3, 2015, of $0.50 per share of common stock. The cash dividend will be paid on Apr. 16, 2015, to the company's stockholders of record as of Apr. 3, 2015. The board also authorized an additional $2.0 billion for share repurchases by the company. As of Feb. 2, 2015, the company had approximately $384 million remaining under prior share repurchase authorizations. The additional repurchase authorization is effective immediately.

Western Union (WU 17.69, unch, 0.00%):Announced that, effective immediately, consumers in China will be able to receive remittances through the Western Union Money TransferSM service from abroad in minutes at select Bank of China branches and sub-branches throughout the country Elsewhere in the technology arena:

Lattice Semi (LSCC 6.54, -0.65, -9.0%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.03 per share. Revenues fell 6.6% year/year to $83.6 mln, which was light of expectations. For Q1, sees revenues of -2 to +2% quarter-over-quarter to ~$81.9-85.3 mln, which is below analysts' average expectation. Gross margin percentage is expected to be approximately 55% plus or minus 2%. Total operating expenses are expected to increase approximately 1%, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.

Take Two (TTWO 28.97, -0.87, -2.9%): Reported Q3 (Dec) non-GAAP earnings of $1.87 per share, excluding non-recurring items, well ahead of estimates. Non-GAAP revenues rose 24.3% year/year to $954.0 mln, which also easily beat expectations. For Q4 (Mar), company sees non-GAAP EPS of $0.15-0.25, excluding non-recurring items, which is shy of expectations, and non-GAAP revenues of $410-460 mln, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with estimates. Looking ahead, Take-Two said it expects its fourth quarter will provide a strong finish to fiscal 2015, which is lining up to be one of Take-Two's best years ever.Analyst Action:

Cognizant Technology (CTSH 57.88, +2.78, +5.1%): target raised to $68 from $64 at Goldman; Buy

Fiserv (FISV 75.79, +1.31, +1.8%): downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital.. target raised to $81 from $79 at Monness Crespi & Hardt; Buy... target raised to $67 from $58 at Deutsche Bank; Hold

Take-Two (TTWO 28.97, -0.87, -2.9%): target raised to $40 from $35 at MKM Partners; Buy

Twitter (TWTR 40.72, +0.93, +2.3%): target raised to $44 from $40 at Monness Crespi & Hardt; Neutral4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Wednesday session on a lower note. The S&P 500 lost 0.4% after tumbling from its high to a new low during the final 30 minutes of action.

Equity indices endured some choppy waters after the S&P 500 spiked nearly 3.0% during the first two sessions of the week. The market appeared to be out of the woods by the start of the final hour, but the benchmark index plunged through its 50-day moving average after it was reported that the European Central Bank has lifted its waiver that allowed for the acceptance of Greek debt as collateral.

The announcement came with a caveat that the counterparty status of Greek banks remains unchanged and they may satisfy their liquidity needs through Emergency Liquidity Assistance. However, the news showed that the negotiations are likely to be tumultuous, which contrasted with the rosy picture painted over the last two days.

Despite the closing slide, a handful of influential sectors like consumer discretionary (+0.7%), technology (+0.1%), and consumer staples (+0.1%) were able to finish in the green.

The consumer discretionary space received solid support from carmakers and media names. General Motors (GM 35.83, +1.85) surged 5.4% after beating estimates and announcing plans to boost its dividend by 20.0% to $0.36. Meanwhile, Dow component Disney (DIS 101.28, +7.18) spiked 7.6% in reaction to above-consensus earnings and revenue.

Elsewhere among Dow members, the top-weighted listing-Visa (V 264.89, +5.10)-soared 2.0% and helped underpin the price-weighted index, which ended flat. Furthermore, the stock contributed to the relative strength of the technology sector. Other large sector components were mixed with Apple (AAPL 119.56, +0.91) and Microsoft (MSFT 41.83, +0.23) posting gains while Google (GOOGL 526.10, -7.20), IBM (IBM 156.96, -1.51), and Oracle (ORCL 42.42, -0.62) registered losses.

In turn, the tech sector provided a boost to the Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%), helping the index finish ahead of the broader market. The Nasdaq overcame another decline in the biotechnology group as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 312.55, -5.24) lost 1.7% and widened its week-to-date decline to 2.8%. Conversely, the health care sector (-1.4%) settled near the bottom of the leaderboard.

Health care was not the only influential group that struggled today. The energy sector (-1.6%) finished at the bottom of the leaderboard due to a daylong slide in crude oil. The energy component plunged 9.3% and surrendered the bulk of its February gain. As for the energy sector, the cyclical group trimmed its week-to-date gain to 4.2%.

Treasuries spiked during afternoon action, sending the 10-yr yield lower by three basis points to 1.76%.

Today's participation was well above average with more than a billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included ADP Employment, ISM Services, and the MBA Mortgage Index:


The ADP National Employment Report revealed that employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose by 213K in January while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 230K
The December reading was revised up to 253,000 from 241,000
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index increased to 56.7 in January from a previously revised 56.5 (from 56.2) in December while the Briefing.com consensus expected the index to remain at 56.5
Overall, the non-manufacturing sector remained strong in January, but future gains may be difficult as backlogs contracted for the second consecutive month, falling to 49.0 from 49.5
Business activities in the non-manufacturing sector strengthened in January as the related index increased to 61.5 from 58.6 in December
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index rose 1.3% to follow last week's 3.2% decline

Tomorrow, the Challenger Job Cuts report for January will be released at 7:30 ET while Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 290K), December Trade Deficit (consensus $38.00 billion), and Q4 Productivity and Unit Labor Costs data will all be released at 8:30 ET.

Nasdaq Composite -0.4% YTD
S&P 500 -0.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.8% YTD
Russell 2000 -1.0% YTD

4:32 pm AXT lowers revenue outlook; co announces Q4 preliminary revenue guidance at $19.5 mln vs $21.04 Capital IQ Consensus Est, down from $20.5-21.5 mln (AXTI) :

The revenue shortfall is primarily attributable to reduced sales as customers worked down their substrate inventory levels at year end. While we are disappointed in these preliminary revenue results, we remain confident in our strategy and business opportunity across our key markets in 2015," said Morris Young, chief executive officer.These preliminary, unaudited results are based on management's initial review of operations for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2014, and remain subject to completion of the company's customary quarterly closing and review procedures.

4:22 pm FEI misses by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus (FEIC) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.98 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.00; revenues were unchanged from the year-ago period at $265.3 mln.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $215-230 mln vs. $250.37 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:22 pm TTM Tech beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, mid-pt of revs above consensus (TTMI) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.28 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.25; revenues rose 6.8% year/year to $390.91 mln vs the $380 mln consensus.

Co issues Q1 guidance, sees EPS of $0.06-0.12 vs. $0.09 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $310-300 mln vs. $311.05 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:18 pm Atmel beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (ATML) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.12 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.11; revenues fell 2.0% year/year to $346 mln vs the $346.82 mln consensus.

Non-GAAP gross margin was 49.0% in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to 47.0% in the immediately preceding quarter and 43.7% in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Cash provided by operations totaled $37.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to $43.9 million for the third quarter of 2014 and $48.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2013.

4:07 pm iRobot misses by $0.05, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY15 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (IRBT) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.31 per share, $0.05 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.36; revenues rose 26.1% year/year to $159.3 mln vs the $163.65 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.08-0.10 vs. $0.28 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $114-117 mln vs. $132.10 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues downside guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $1.25-1.45 vs. $1.56 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $625-635 mln vs. $641.08 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:07 pm Cadence Design reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; guides FY15 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (CDNS) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.27; revenues rose 12.2% year/year to $423 mln vs the $422.76 mln consensus.

Co issues guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.20-0.22, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.23 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $405-415 mln vs. $407.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Co issues guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $0.94-1.06, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.07 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $1.68-1.72 bln vs. $1.7 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:05 pm Power Integrations beats by $0.07, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs in-line (POWI) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.59 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.52; revenues fell 4.2% year/year to $86.6 mln vs the $86.08 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $82-88 mln vs. $86.72 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:05 pm Monolithic Power beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs in-line (MPWR) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.43 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.42; revenues rose 19.0% year/year to $75.7 mln vs the $74.15 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $70-74 mln vs. $70.96 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Large Cap Gainers

SNE (25.77 +10.18%): Announced it sees Q3 EPS of $0.63 vs $0.25 Capital IQ consensus estimate; revs of $21.1 bln vs $20.3 bln consensus.
DIS (101.68 +8.06%): Reported Q1 (Dec) adj earnings of $1.27 per share, $0.20 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.07; revenues rose 8.8% year/year to $13.39 bln vs the $12.88 bln consensus; Price target raised at FBR Capital, Wunderlich, RBC Capital, others.
CTSH (58.57 +6.3%): Beat Q4 consensus estimates by $0.02, beat on revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus; guides FY15 revs above consensus; price target raised to $68 from $64 at Goldman -- Added to Conviction Buy List.

Large Cap Losers

RL (142.34 -16.68%): Missed Q3 consensus EPS estimates by $0.09, missed on revs; guided Q4 rev below consensus.
SPLS (17.09 -10.1%): Announced acquisition of Office Depot (ODP), which values ODP at $6.3 bln equity value.
EC (18.37 -7.22%): Downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

Mid Cap Gainers

MANH (47.82 +6.1%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.02, beat on revs; guided FY15 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus; upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James; tgt raised to $52 from $42.
XPO (40.09 +7.45%): Disclosed that it sees Q4 revenue in the range of $825-835 mln, vs $764.32 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; achieved its year-end 2014 targets for an annual revenue run rate of at least $3 bln.
SLGN (54.85 +4.46%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.02, beat on revs; guided Q1 EPS in-line; guided FY15 EPS in-line; announced intention to commence "modified Dutch Auction" tender offer to purchase up to $200 mln of common stock.

Mid Cap Losers

MYGN (34.05 -10.68%): Beat Q2 consensus EPS estimates by $0.06, reported revs in-line; guided Q3 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; lowered FY15 guidance; CEO will retire; Downgraded at Mizuho, Credit Suisse, others.
LFUS (93.03 -8.03%): Missed Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.08, beat on revs; guided Q1 below consensus; guided FY15 EPS below estimates.
ISIS (60.68 -6.21%): Downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray; tgt lowered to $68 from $81.

12:06 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (157) outpacing new lows (38) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAON, AAPL, ABG, ABMD, ADP, ALV, AMWD, AOS, ARMK, ASH, AXL, BCC, BDL, BERY, BIP, BLJ, BMI, BOBE, BR, BRLI, BSX, BX, CEVA, CHD, CHH, CHL, CLX, CMU, CNC, CNK, COR, COST, CPB, CPF, CRUS, CTAS, CTSH, CUBI, DEG, DIS, DLTR, DLX, DOX, DSPG, DST, EBSB, EMAN, ENH, ENL, ESSA, ETFC, EW, EXLS, FBHS, FCAU, FIS, FISV, FLEX, FNRG, GFF, GK, HAE, HCC, HCSG, HD, HII, HNH, HOFT, HPF, HRB, HZO, IBCA, IBKR, IIVI, IMAX, INAP, IPGP, ISBC, ITG, JLL, KR, KRFT, KSS, KTF, KTF, KW, LAMR, LB, LBY, LEA, LG, LII, LVLT, MANH, MANT, MAS, MATX, MCY, MENT, MHFI, MHK, MHLD, MIC, MLI, MMS, MSCC, MSCI, MSG, MTD, NAZ, NEU, NJR, NOC, NOW, NQM, NTES, ODP, OMCL, ORAN, PETM, PNI, PRE, PSO, PTP, RE, RECN, RESN, RHI, RUK, RVSB, SABR, SAPE, SCSS, SEIC, SERV, SJM, SLGN, SMG, SNE, SPR, STZ, SUBK, TDG, TM, TNAV, TREX, TRK, TSO, TSRA, TW, UIHC, UNFI, UTG, VMC, VNTV, WHR, WTBA

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AGYS, AI, AOI, ARLP, ATV, BOX, CACH, CBD, CBLI, CHMG, COCO, CRDC, CRRS, FMY, KBIO, LFVN, NBHC, NKA, NOV, OGXI, ONP, ONTX, OPXA, PANL, PDLI, PHT, POWL, PRXI, PVH, RGSE, RSYS, SGM, SIEB, SPA, SR, SVVC, VPCO, VVUS

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: ITA, RTH

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

8:04 am O2Micro misses by $0.12, misses on revs (OIIM) : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.23 per share, $0.12 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.11); revenues fell 25.1% year/year to $14.3 mln vs the $14.7 mln consensus.

"Our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014 results reflect a challenging end market demand environment, coupled with weakness in the notebook computer market which affected our notebook computer power management business,"

7:19 am MPLX LP misses by $0.06, beats on revs (MPLX) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.38 per share, $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.44; revenues rose 10.7% year/year to $139.1 mln vs the $137.38 mln consensus.

In 2015, MPLX plans to spend approximately $220 million on organic expansion projects and nearly $40 million of capital to maintain high reliability of its assets. Growth projects for 2015 include the proposed Cornerstone Pipeline and other associated Utica shale build-out projects, which completed a non-binding open season in the second half of 2014. A binding open season is expected during the first quarter of 2015.

7:07 am Silicon Labs beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (SLAB) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.57 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.47; revenues rose 10.8% year/year to $162 mln vs the $158.2 mln consensus.

Co issues guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.42-0.48 vs. $0.44 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $156-162 mln vs. $153.72 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
7:04 am Motorola Solutions beats by $0.11, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus; guides FY15 EPS in-line (MSI) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.25 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.14; revenues rose 0.3% year/year to $1.82 bln vs the $1.78 bln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.22-0.27 vs. $0.44 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; expects a revenue decline of 2 to 4 percent compared with the first quarter of 2014Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $3.15-3.35 vs. $3.33 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; expects revenue to be flat to down 2 percent compared to 2014, or roughly $5.763-5.881 bln vs. $5.973 bln consensus.

2:22 am SunEdison commissions 7.72 MW solar system for Brakes India (SUNE) : Co and Brakes India, a manufacturer of Automotive and Non-Automotive Braking Systems and Ferrous Castings in India, announced that they have installed a solar power plant that will generate 7.72 megawatts of electricity at Brake India's facilities in Munanjipatti in the state of Tamil Nadu.

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From Briefing.com: A solid day on Wall Street began in Minsk where Russia and Ukraine penned yet another ceasefire agreement. Doubts remain that they can continue to abide by the accord, but for Thursday anyway the market was heartened by the prospect of peace in the region and used it as an excuse to overlook yet another disappointing retail sales report and execute a broad-based rally.

Other items helping to underpin things included an assumption that Greece and the troika will reach yet another compromise on the Greek bailout program, Carl Icahn suggesting Apple (AAPL 126.43, +1.55, +1.2%) should be trading at $216 per share, Cisco (CSCO 29.42, +2.49, +9.3%) reporting better than expected results and offering reassuring guidance, and Expedia (EXPE 89.57, +11.35, +14.5%) announcing its intention to acquire Orbitz (OWW 11.72, +2.10, +21.8%).

Apple and Cisco, in particular, were instrumental in driving yet another day of outperformance for the S&P 500 information technology sector (+1.6%), but they had ample company as all but six of the sector's 66 components closed the day with a gain. Many of those same components also helped the Nasdaq Composite (4857.61) close at its highest level since March 2000.

Notable news items from the S&P 500 information technology sector included:

Apple (AAPL 126.43, +1.55, +1.2%): Carl Icahn, a major Apple shareholder, said the stock should be trading at $216 per share, which would translate to a $1.3 trillion market capitalization

Applied Materials (AMAT 24.13, -0.13, -0.5%): Reported Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with estimates. Revenues rose 7.8% year/year to $2.36 bln, which was slightly ahead of expectations. For Q2, sees EPS of $0.26-0.30, excluding non-recurring items, which is shy of analysts' average expectation. Net sales are expected to be in the range of flat to up a couple of percentage points from the previous quarter

Cisco Systems (CSCO 29.42, +2.49, +9.3%): Reported Q2 (Jan) earnings of $0.53 per share, topping analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 7.0% year/year to $11.94 bln, which was also ahead of estimates. Sees Q3 EPS $0.51-0.53 and revenues +3-5%, both of which were in-line with expectations. Separately, the company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per common share, a two-cent increase over the previous quarter's dividend, to be paid on April 22, 2015 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 2, 2015.

Microchip Technology (MCHP 49.98, +1.11, +2.3%): Announced expected EPS accretion from recent refinancing transactions. Specifically, in the March 2015 quarter, the refinancing activities are expected to add about 1 cent of accretion to the Company's previously provided non-GAAP earnings per share guidance. Microchip is upwardly revising its non-GAAP earnings per share guidance for the March 2015 quarter to be $0.66 to $0.68 cents per diluted share. Notes there will be a one-time charge to GAAP diluted earnings per share in the March quarter due to a loss on the retirement of the convertible junior subordinated debentures due 2037.

Motorola Solutions (MSI 70.00, +1.43, +2.1%): Acquired Emergency CallWorks, provider of next-gen 911 call taking software; details not disclosed

NetApp (NTAP 36.89, -2.90, -7.3%): Reported Q3 (Jan) earnings of $0.75 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was shy of analysts' average expectation. Revenues fell 3.7% year/year to $1.55 bln, also below expectations. Forr Q4, sees EPS of $0.70-0.75, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $1.55-1.65 bln, both of which are below expectations. NetApp increased its stock repurchase program, of which $206 million remained available, by an additional $2.5 billion. The Company plans to repurchase $206 million of its common stock by the end of May 2015. The additional $2.5 billion of repurchases is expected to be completed by the end of May 2018, with the first $1 billion expected to be completed by the end of May 2016.

NVIDIA (NVDA 22.29, +1.48, +7.1%): Reported Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.43 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was ahead of expectations. Revenues rose 9.4% year/year to $1.25 bln, also ahead of estimates. For Q1, sees revenues of $1.14 - $1.18 bln, which is in-line with estimates. Q1 GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be 56.2 percent and 56.5 percent, respectively, plus or minus 50 basis points. Elsewhere in the technology arena:

Baidu.com (BIDU 205.05, -9.62, -4.5%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.61 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was shy of analysts' average estimate. Revenues rose 47.5% year/year to $2.26 bln, also shy of estimates. For Q1, sees revenues of $2.038-2.106 bln, which is below analysts' average expectation.

Cree (CREE 37.43, +0.57, +1.4%): Announced U.S. International Trade Commission investigation into unfair trade practices by Feit Electric Company and Unity Opto Tech, following its complaint on January 12, 2015

Expedia (EXPE 89.57, +11.35, +14.9%): Entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Orbitz (OWW 11.72, +2.10, +22.3%) for $12.00 per share in cash for an enterprise value of ~$1.6 bln. The Boards of Directors of both companies have approved the transaction, which is subject to approval by the shareholders of a majority of Orbitz Worldwide's common stock and other customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals. The Board of Directors of Orbitz Worldwide received a fairness opinion from Qatalyst Partners and has recommended that its stockholders vote in favor of the merger.

FireEye (FEYE 39.62, +3.93, +11.0%): Reported Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.38 per share, comfortably ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 149.6% year/year to $143 ml, which also exceeded estimates. Q4 billings were $212.6 million, above the previously issued guidance range of $195 to $210 million. Product billings totaled $67.6 million. Deferred revenue totaled $352.5 million at the end of the fourth quarter, an increase of $165 million from the end of the fourth quarter of 2013. For Q1, sees EPS of ($0.53) - ($0.49) and revenues of $118-122 mln, both of which are in-line with expectations. Sees Q1 total billings in the range of $130 to $140 million; sees Q1 gross margin in the range of 69 to 72 percent of total revenue. For FY15, sees EPS of ($1.90) - ($1.80) and revenues of $605-625 mln, which was also in-line with estimates. Total billings for FY15 expected to be in the range of $800 to $820 million and gross margin in the range of 71% to 75% of total revenue.

TripAdvisor (TRIP 82.47, +15.20, +22.4%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.35 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was light of estimates. Revenues rose 35.2% year/year to $288 mln, also ahead of expectations.

Twitter (TWTR 47.95, +0.45, +1.0%): Confirmed Niche acquisition (provider of software, community and monetization services) Analyst Action:

Baidu.com (BIDU 205.05, -9.62, -4.6%): target lowered to $250 from $275 at Brean Capital; Buy... target lowered to $230 from $280 at Oppenheimer; Outperform... target lowered to $253 from $283 at Jefferies; Buy... Stifel downgrades to Hold from Buy

Cisco Systems (CSCO 29.42, +2.49, +9.4%): target raised to $29 from $28 at Wunderlich; Hold... Oppenheimer raises target to $30 from $29... RBC Capital Markets raises its target to $31 from $29... target raised to $30 from $26 at MKM Partners; Neutral

FireEye (FEYE 39.62, +3.93, +10.8%): target raised to $48 from $45 at Stifel; Buy... target raised to $45 from $40 at Piper Jaffray; Overweight... target raised to $42 from $35 at Barclays; Overweight

NetApp (NTAP 36.89, -2.90, -7.3%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Brean Capital... target lowered to $48 from $55 at Maxim Group; Buy

NVIDIA (NVDA 22.29, +1.48, +7.0%): target raised to $23 from $21 at Topeka Capital Markets; Hold... target raised to $27 from $25 at Needham; maintain Buy... RBC Capital Markets raises its target to $27 from $26... target raised to $23 from $22 at Canaccord Genuity; Hold

TripAdvisor (TRIP 82.47, +15.20, +22.3%): Oppenheimer reiterates Outperform and $90 target... Needham reiterates Buy with $125 target... target raised to $87 from $84 at CRT Capital; maintain Fair Value... target lowered to $80 from $90 at Wunderlich; Hold... target raised to $108 from $95 at Deutsche Bank; Buy

4:32 pm MagnaChip Semi completes restatement of financial filings; filed Form 10-K for YE 2013 with SEC and Form 10-Q for the first three quarters of 2014 (MX) : "Our results for the first three quarters of 2014 show that we have challenges to overcome, but we believe that we are making the necessary changes to ensure that we have the right strategy, products, people and cost structure in place to better anticipate and serve the changing marketplace... We believe we have made solid progress to date, and we expect to fully address all of the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting described in our filings today by the end of 2015."

4:20 pm Mattson beats by $0.03, beats on revs (MTSN) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.07 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.04; revenues rose 34.1% year/year to $54.7 mln vs the $49.32 mln consensus.

4:05 pm Rubicon Tech beats by $0.04, beats on revs (RBCN) : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.36 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.40); revenues fell 22.6% year/year to $8.9 mln vs the $8.05 mln consensus.

First Quarter 2015 Guidance


"While sapphire prices increased in the first half of 2014, pricing in the back half of the year was driven lower by fluctuations in demand and excess inventory in the supply chain. More recently, pricing has come under further pressure due to the significant weakening of the Russian ruble and Japanese yen. Commenting on the outlook for the first quarter of 2015. There remains enormous potential for sapphire products with the growing adoption of LED lighting and use of sapphire in mobile devices and other optical applications. However, the sapphire market remains challenging at the moment with continued pricing pressure and fluctuations in demand. We expect to sell higher volumes and to begin driving down product costs in the first quarter but price reductions will minimize the impact. As a result, we expect Q1 2015 results to be similar to the previous quarter. We expect that actions we are taking now will result in a significant improvement in both revenue and earnings by the end of the year."

11:00 am Semi Manufacturing announces that it has entered into the Share Purchase Agreement with an Investor to allot and issue 4.7 bln New Shares at the Subscription Price of HK$0.6593 per New Share (SMI) : The New Shares represent ~13.10% of the existing issued share capital of the Company as at the date of this announcement and ~11.58% of the issued share capital of the Company as enlarged by the issue of the New Shares. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the issue of the New Shares, any Datang Pre-emptive Shares and any Country Hill Pre-emptive Shares for the purpose of capital expenditure, debt repayment and general corporate purposes.

6:02 am Trina Solar has signs a framework investment agreement with PingAn Trust and Jiangsu Jiuzhou Investment to develop photovoltaic power plants in China; total project capacity of 500MW-1,000MW over the next three years (TSL) :

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From Briefing.com: Fed Chair Janet Yellen appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday to provide her semiannual testimony on the economy and monetary policy. Her remarks were interpreted in a dovish light by the capital markets. Both the Treasury market and the stock market advanced during, and after, her testimony, while the U.S. Dollar Index sagged.

The S&P 500 (+0.3%) advanced to another new closing high while the Nasdaq (+0.1%) scored its tenth straight winning session.

Interestingly, the vast majority of S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.2%) components closed Tuesday with a gain, yet Apple (AAPL 132.17, -0.83, -0.6%) did not and that made a weighty difference for the sector.

Notable news items from the sector included the following:

Altera (ALTR 36.81, +0.90, +2.5%): Said it has strengthened its leadership position in SoC FPGA products by shipping its second-generation SoC family. Arria 10 SoCs are the industry's only programmable devices that combine ARM processors with a 20 nm FPGA fabric.

Computer Sciences (CSC 70.84, -0.90, -1.3%): Jana Partners discloses 5.9% active stake in 13D filing. The filing states, "The Reporting Person has had and may continue to have discussions with members of the Issuer's board of directors and management team regarding potential strategic alternatives and the Issuer's capitalization and capital allocation. The Reporting Person may also seek to discuss other topics with the Issuer including board composition. The Reporting Person may also have discussions with shareholders and other parties relating to all such matters." Separately, Amey awarded CSC a seven-year next-generation IT agreement valued at $87 million. Also, following Monday's speculation that Computer Sciences could be an M&A target, Reuters reported that prior talks with Cap Gemini and Carlyle Group 'fizzled.'

First Solar, Inc. (FSLR 54.75, +5.06, +10.3%): Along with SunPower Corp. (SPWR 32.80, +5.00, +18.0%) announced that they are in advanced negotiations to form a joint YieldCo vehicle (the YieldCo) to which they each expect to contribute a portfolio of selected solar generation assets from their existing portfolio of assets. Upon the execution of a master formation agreement, the parties intend to file a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) for an initial public offering of limited partner interests in the YieldCo (the IPO). Formation of the YieldCo and completion of the IPO are subject to, among other things, the execution of definitive documentation, each party's board approval and regulatory approval. There is no assurance that the YieldCo will be formed or that the IPO will be consummated or that any other transaction will occur.

Google (GOOG 536.09, +4.18, +0.8%): NY Post reported that Google has partnered with several wireless carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to include Google Wallet app on Android smartphones in order to compete with Apple Pay

Intuit (INTU 97.38, +1.04, +1.1%): Company strongly refuted criticism concerning the way it screens for fraudulent tax returns and questions about its integrity. Intuit said, "Allegations by two former employees are flat out wrong, and are based on their complete misunderstanding of the facts and total mischaracterization of our business... Any suggestion that Intuit or any of its leaders made decisions to sacrifice customer security for financial gain is untrue and without merit."

Juniper Networks (JNPR 24.45, +0.32, +1.3%): Appointed two new independent directors, Jim Dolce and Rahul Merchant, to its board of directors, effective March 1, 2015. Juniper also announced a new agreement with Elliott Management, whereby Elliott has agreed to support Juniper's director nominees at its upcoming Annual Meeting of Stockholders, and reaffirmed its commitment to execution, delivering profitable growth and long-term shareholder value.

Micron (MU 30.77, -0.63, -2.0%): KoreaTimes, citing two people familiar with the matter, reported that Samsung Electronics has agreed to supply DRAM chips to Apple and LG Electronics for their new range of smartphones. The article also noted that Micron may see increased orders in the global semiconductor industry.

Visa (V 272.47, -0.54, -0.2%): Visa Europe announced launch of mobile payment tokenisation service, saying it has developed the service to meet an increasing demand from consumers to use their latest smartphones and wearable devices for payments. The tokenisation service protects customer data, substituting the payment account information found on a plastic card with a series of numbers that can be used to authorize payment without exposing actual account details. When consumers use their mobile device to make a contactless payment in a store, a token is submitted, rather than their account details. The new service will be available for financial institutions from mid-April 2015.

Xilinx (XLNX 42.48, +1.19, +2.9%): Along with Xylon announced new industry leading automated multi-camera image stitching IP for 2D/3D surround view systems. The Automotive logiADAK 3.0 Advanced Driver Assistance Development Kit with logiOWL IP enables on-target, full vehicle level multi-camera calibration in seconds for Tier One automotive electronics suppliers and OEM automakers.
In industry news, IDC reported that Google's Android and Apple iOS accounted for 96.3% of all smartphone shipments, up slightly from 95.6% in 4Q13 and from 93.8% in CY13. In terms of year-over-year shipment growth, Android outpaced the overall smartphone market for CY14 (32.0% vs 27.7%, respectively) while iOS beat the market in 4Q14 (46.1% vs 29.2%, respectively). Android pushed past the one billion unit mark in 2014, a significant milestone by itself but also because total Android volumes in 2014 bested total smartphone volumes in 2013. IOS saw its market share for 2014 decline slightly even as volumes reached a new record and grew at nearly the same pace as the overall smartphone market. Elsewhere in the technology space:

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 3.11, +0.05, +1.6%): Revealed at the prestigious International Solid State Circuits Conference that the upcoming A-Series Accelerated Processing Unit, codenamed "Carrizo," for notebooks and low-power desktops will deliver a wealth of new, advanced power management technologies while achieving substantial performance through new "Excavator" x86 CPU cores and a new generation of AMD Radeon GPU cores.

ARM Holdings (ARMH 52.91, +0.53, +1.0%): Has expanded its technical training portfolio to include live courses that can be remotely-delivered in any location. The courses will provide a flexible and fast-response training service for companies and individuals, allowing them to take full advantage of ARM technology features.

Arrow Electronics (ARW 62.93, +0.45, +0.7%): Announced the pricing of two series of the company's senior unsecured notes in an aggregate principal amount of $700 mln. Net proceeds from this offering are expected to be used to repay the company's outstanding 3.375% notes due November 1, 2015 at or before maturity and for other general corporate purposes, which may include acquisitions or the repayment of other indebtedness including amounts outstanding under the company's revolving credit facility or securitization program.

Cray (CRAY 31.79, -0.23, -0.7%): Global supercomputer leader announced that Stalprodukt S.A., a leading global steel processor, purchased a Cray XC30 supercomputer for structural analysis modeling used in the testing of steel designs. This continues Cray's worldwide expansion and is the first Cray XC supercomputer in Poland.

Integrated Device (IDTI 21.07, +0.47, +2.3%): Introduced a high-speed multiplexer that expands the existing portfolio of DDR4 products targeting the nascent NVDIMM ecosystem; also announced it was selected by Micron Technology as its preferred supplier for NVDIMM multiplexers

Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC 6.51, +0.11, +1.7%): Announced three new, freely-downloadable reference designs that enable designers working in consumer, industrial and other sectors to quickly implement the cable detect and power delivery functions required to unlock the new capabilities of Type-C including 100W power, 20Gbps bandwidth, reversibility and flexibility. NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI 85.91, +1.41, +1.7%): Announced two new microcontroller families, LPC18Sxx and LPC43Sxx, to help embedded developers secure application code and data messages in connected applications against threats such as theft and cloning.

Priceline (PCLN 1219.79, +12.21, +1.0%): Announced proposed public offering of senior notes. Company plans to use the net proceeds from the offering of the notes for general corporate purposes, which may include share repurchases, repayment of debt and acquisitions, among other uses.

Progress Software (PRGS 27.39, +0.18, +0.7%): Announced that its Rollbase rapid application development platform is now certified "Helion Ready" and will be available to deploy on HP's distribution of OpenStack.

Unisys (UIS 22.92, -0.16, -0.7%): Filed mixed securities shelf offering for an undisclosed amount

Analyst Action:

FBR raised price targets on five cybersecurity stocks:
Check Point Software (CHKP 82.84, +0.45, +0.6%): target raised to $93 from $85
FireEye (FEYE 43.97, +0.62, +1.4%): target raised to $53 from $45
Fortinet (FTNT 33.72, +0.40, +1.2%): target raised to $39 from $36
Palo Alto Networks (PANW 138.61, +0.41, +0.3%): target raised to $160 from $121
Proofpoint (PFPT 56.55, -0.07, -0.1%) target raised to $67 from $60

Computer Sciences (CSC 70.84, -0.90, -1.3%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel

First Solar (FSLR 54.70, +5.06, +10.2%): upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank; target to $68 from $60

Sprint (S 4.63, -0.04, -0.9%): downgraded to Sell from Neutral at BTIG Research

Vodafone PLC (VOD 34.81, -1.17, -3.3%): downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch

4:10 pm : The major averages endured another quiet session on Tuesday before a late afternoon rally sent the S&P 500 (+0.3%) to a new record high. The price-weighted Dow (+0.5%) outperformed while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%) and Russell 2000 (+0.1%) struggled to keep up. Once again, trading volume was well below average with only about 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Equity indices spent the bulk of the day near their flat lines, seeing little reaction to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's testimony on monetary policy before the Senate Banking Committee.

While the minutes from the latest Fed policy meeting revealed a slight hawkish tilt, that tone was offset by today's comments from Chair Yellen, who reiterated the Fed's intent to remain patient before raising rates, due to weak wage growth and low inflation. In addition, Ms. Yellen indicated the Fed will change its forward guidance prior to hiking rates, and that change to the outlook will clear the way for a potential hike in any particular meeting that follows.

Although the testimony had little impact on equities, Treasuries spiked with the 10-yr yield sliding eight basis points to 1.98% as bond traders showed little concern for a rate hike in the near term. On a related note, the Dollar Index (94.44, -0.13) ended lower by 0.1% after showing strength in the early going.

Nine sectors finished the day in positive territory with rate-sensitive telecom services (+0.6%) and utilities (+0.6%) pacing the advance. The financial sector (+0.5%) also finished among the leaders, thanks in large part to shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM 60.82, +1.47), which surged 2.5% after the company's CFO hinted at a dividend increase during the company's Investor Day.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, the consumer discretionary space (+0.4%) received support from homebuilders after Toll Brothers (TOL 38.49, +1.39) reported better than expected results and boosted its delivery guidance. Toll Brothers spiked 3.8% while the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 28.15, +0.65) rose 2.4%. Also of note, Dow component Home Depot (HD 116.75, +4.47) surged 4.0% after better than expected results and a 26.0% boost to its annualized dividend ($2.36/share) overshadowed below-consensus guidance.

Meanwhile, the top-weighted technology sector (+0.2%) struggled in the early going, but was able to end not far behind the broader market. Apple (AAPL 132.17, -0.83) spent some time on each side of its flat line before ultimately settling lower by 0.6%. Chipmakers, however, displayed broad strength with the PHLX Semiconductor Index jumping 1.3%.

However, not all high-beta groups displayed comparable strength. To that point, biotechnology lagged with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 335.15, -2.85) ending lower by 0.8%. Biotech's underperformance kept the health care sector (-0.1%) under pressure, but the countercyclical group settled just below its flat line.

Economic data was limited to Consumer Confidence and the Case-Shiller 20-City Index:


The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined to 96.4 in February from an upwardly revised 103.8 (from 102.9) while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 99.6
The Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for December rose 4.5% against a 4.3% increase expected by the Briefing.com consensus. This followed the previous month's increase of 4.3%

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while New Home Sales for January (Briefing.com consensus 471K) will be reported at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +4.9% YTD
S&P 500 +2.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.2% YTD

DJ30 +92.35 NASDAQ +7.15 SP500 +5.82 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1609/1.71 bln/1190 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1917/699.8 mln/1176 3:40 pm :

Oil prices slid lower in afternoon trading and hit a new pit trading low heading into the close
Apr crude oil lost $0.30 today to $49.26/barrel
Nat gas was trending higher and rose as high as $2.97/MMBtu.
By the end of today's session, Apr nat gas closed $0.01 higher at $2.89/MMBtu, and fell into the red in electronic trade
Gold and silver went on to climb higher after floor trading closed
Apr gold ended the session $3.50 lower to $1197.30/oz, while Mar silver fell $0.08 to $16.19/oz.

4:10 pm First Solar beats by $1.14, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (FSLR) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.89 per share, $1.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.75; revenues rose 31.3% year/year to $1.01 bln vs the $1.27 bln consensus.


2014 full year bookings of 2.5GWdc; 2015 year-to-date bookings of 311MWdc,Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.35) to ($0.25), excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.86 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $550-650 mln vs. $924.47 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Financial guidance for revenue, earnings, and operating cash flow for the first quarter is lower relative to results in prior periods primarily due to the completion of the Desert Sunlight and Topaz projects and the retention of projects on balance sheet in relation to the announced plan to pursue a joint YieldCo vehicle with SunPower. This is also expected to weigh on financial results in future quarters over the near-term. However, the Company believes this strategy will generate significant value for shareholders over the long-term.

12:50 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

BHP (52.37 +5.69%): Reported H1 EPS of $1.00 vs $0.92 Capital IQ consensus; revs declined 12% YoY to $29.9 bln vs 30.9 bln consensus; upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie.
AGU (113.24 +3.04%): Reported Q4 EPS $0.46 vs $0.60 Capital IQ consensus; revs of $2.71 bln vs $2.96 bln consensus; Issued upside FY15 EPS guidance.
HD (116.06 +3.37%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.11, beat on revs; guided FY16 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; raised dividend 26% to $0.59/share.

Large Cap Losers

MPEL (25.2 -7.05%): Casino names under pressure following reports officials are looking into restricting Chinese tourists into Macau to ease overcrowding (LVS & WYNN also lower).
ALKS (69.12 -6.14%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.07, beat on revs; guided FY15 revs below consensus; announced topline results from a phase 1 clinical study of ALKS 7106 for the treatment of pain; ALKS 7106 did not meet the company's pre-specified criteria for advancing into phase 2 clinical trials.
M (61.82 -3.65%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.04, reported revs in-line; guided FY16 EPS / sales below consensus, comps in-line.

Mid Cap Gainers

SPWR (32.41 +16.58%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.01, reported revs in-line; guided Q1 below consensus; announced it plans to partner with First Solar (FSLR) to form a joint YieldCo vehicle.
SHOO (36.19 +7.07%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.18, reported revs in-line; guided FY15 EPS in-line, revs above consensus.
CBRL (142.1 +5.85%): Beat Q2 consensus EPS estimates by $0.31, beat on revs; guided Q3 EPS in-line; raised FY15 guidance.

Mid Cap Losers

WOR (26.51 -13.42%): Announced its outlook has changed since it was discussed in December's fiscal year 2015 second quarter earnings call; expects weaker third quarter results; downgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
DO (30.62 -8.92%): Disclosed a contract termination in its annual 10K filing; price target lowered at Cowen.
TRAK (41.06 -8.1%): Reported Q4 EPS in-line, beat on revs; guided FY15 EPS below consensus; Price target lowered at Barclays.

11:42 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (254) outpacing new lows (36) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAC, AAPL, ABC, ABM, ACAD, ADI, ADT, AEO, AET, AFG, AGU, AMG, AMSG, AMWD, ANCX, ANTM, AOS, APRI, ASMI, ASPX, AVG, AVGO, AYR, AZO, BDC, BDX, BERY, BKMU, BMS, BUD, BX, CACC, CAH, CAPN, CATO, CDW, CERN, CERU, CF, CFN, CFO, CGI, CHKP, CI, CNC, CNMD, COL, COT, COTY, COWN, CRUS, CSCO, CSF, CSGS, CTAS, CTRX, DD, DDS, DEA, DEPO, DGRS, DHI, DIN, DK, DLX, DM, DOOR, DOX, DPZ, DRAD, DRI, DW, DXGE, DYAX, EIG, ENV, EOS, EPAM, ESLT, ESRX, ETFC, EXLS, EXPD, FBHS, FCCO, FDP, FDS, FLEX, FLWS, FORM, FTCS, FUN, FWV, G, GB, GFF, GGAL, GIB, GIII, GPX, GRX, GTT, HAE, HAIN, HASI, HBAN, HBI, HCC, HD, HLS, HNT, HOLX, HSII, HUM, HXL, HZNP, IART, ICLR, IGT, INTL, IPG, ISIL, JAH, JBHT, JBL, JBT, JEQ, JLL, JW.A, KKD, KONA, KSS, LABL, LBTYA, LBTYK, LBY, LEA, LEN, LEN.B, LMCA, LMCK, LMT, LO, LOW, LTM, LVNTA, MA, MASI, MCK, MD, MDCA, MIK, MLI, MLR, MMI, MNRO, MNST, MOS, MPWR, MSCC, MTSN, MTT, NCLH, NDAQ, NEP, NEU, NSAM, NTRS, NVR, NYV, OCUL, ONCE, ONEQ, ONNN, OTTR, PAHC, PAM, PLKI, PLL, PRFZ, PRXL, PSCD, PSCI, PSCT, PUK, PVTB, QLGC, QQQ, QSR, RAI, RECN, RGA, RGC, RHI, RJET, RLGY, RMCF, ROST, SBUX, SCI, SEMI, SF, SGU, SHOO, SHW, SIGI, SKX, SKYW, SNA, SPLP, ST, STZ, SWK, SWKS, TCON, TDG, TECH, TEL, TERP, TM, TMO, TQQQ, TREX, TRR, TSCO, TXRH, TXT, TY, UHAL, UNFI, UNH, V, VAL, VONE, VONG, VOYA, VRSN, VRX, VTWG, VTWO, VUSE, WAB, WAL, WBC, WBS, WERN, WMS, WOOD, WPPGY, WSTC, XPO, Y, ZBRA, ZSPH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ARR, AXPW, CCSC, CIB, CLTX, CTG, DAKT, EGAN, ETAK, GOL, GSOL, I, INVT, IVAN, JASN, KZ, LAS, MDVX, MGH, MNI, MX, ORM, PDLI, QIHU, RELV, ROYL, SCHN, SCON, SPDC, SQQQ, SVBL, TGD, TST, TSU, VBLT, WILN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DIA, EWJ, IHF, ITB, IWF, IWM, IYK, MDY, MOO, OEF, QQQ, RTH, SMH, UWM, VTI, XHB, XLB, XLK, XLY

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: PPLT, SGG, SMN
8:10 am SunPower beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 below consensus, withdraws 2015 guidance until impact of YieldCo vehicle finalized (SPWR) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.26 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.25; revenues fell 19.6% year/year to $609.7 mln vs the $606.07 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.05-0.15 vs. $0.21 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $410-460 mln vs. $560.16 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. SunPower believes that its underlying business fundamentals for 2015 remain strong. However, as a result of company's announcement on February 23, 2015 of its intention to form a joint YieldCo vehicle with First Solar, the company is withdrawing its previously disclosed fiscal year 2015 guidance until such time the company can finalize the impact of the proposed YieldCo vehicle on its expected financial performance. Xilinx (XLNX) and Xylon announced new industry leading automated multi-camera image stitching IP for 2D/3D surround view systems. The Automotive logiADAK 3.0 Advanced Driver Assistance Development Kit with logiOWL IP enables on-target, full vehicle level multi-camera calibration in seconds for Tier One automotive electronics suppliers and OEM automakers.

6:38 am Integrated Device introduces a high-speed multiplexer that expands the existing portfolio of DDR4 products targeting the nascent NVDIMM ecosystem; also announced it was selected by Micron Technology (MU) as its preferred supplier for NVDIMM multiplexers (IDTI) :

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From Briefing.com: The stock market meandered its way through another mixed day of trading that saw the Nasdaq (+0.4%) and Russell 2000 (+0.3%) outperform the S&P 500 (-0.2%) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.1%).

The tone was consistent with a batch of economic data received before the open that was also mixed. That data included the Durable Orders and Consumer Price Index reports for January and the weekly initial claims reading.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.7%) found itself on the winning end of things, bolstered by relative strength in Apple (AAPL 130.42, +1.63, +1.3%), which piqued Apple Watch excitement with an announcement of a March 9 event, and strong showings from Avago Technologies (AVGO 129.25, +16.57, +14.7%) and Salesforce.com (CRM 70.24, +7.37, +11.7%), which rallied following their latest earnings results.

Notable news items from the sector included the following:

Analog Devices (ADI 58.88, -0.11, -0.2%): Filings showed Director sold 75K shares at $59.37 worth ~$4.45 mln

Apple (AAPL 130.42, +1.63, +1.3%): Sent invitations to a March 9 event where it is believed the company will introduce Apple Watch. Shares of AAPL, which were down early, turned around on the report.

Applied Materials (AMAT 24.92, -0.18, -0.7%): Disclosed that the end date for merger with Tokyo Electron has been extended from March 24, 2015 to June 30, 2015

Avago Technologies (AVGO 129.25, +16.57, +14.7%): Reported Q1 (Jan) earnings of $2.09 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was comfortably ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 133.7% year/year to $1.66 bln, also ahead of estimates. For Q2, the company sees revenues -3 to +1% quarter over quarter to ~$1.61-1.67 bln, which is ahead of analysts' average expectation. Separately, Avago announced that it is going to acquire

Emulex (ELX 7.93, +1.57, +24.7%) for $8 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at ~ $606 million, or $609 million net of cash and debt acquired. The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Avago's EPS, on a non-GAAP basis.

Broadcom (BRCM 45.70, +0.70, +1.6%): Announced the industry's first fully integrated system-on-a-chip for the virtual customer premise equipment market. Company also announced that SK Telecom has selected its SoC devices to enhance SK's 4G LTE services

Google (GOOG 555.48, +11.61, +2.1%): SolarCity has created a fund expected to finance $750 million in residential solar projects. Google has committed $300 million to the new fund-its largest renewable energy investment to date. The new fund is the largest of its kind ever created for residential solar power, and the second such collaboration between the two companies.

IBM (IBM 160.87, -1.94, -1.2%): Reaffirmed that it expects 2015 EPS of $15.75-16.50; however it sees a larger currency impact on revenue than previously provided. Based on February 25, 2015 spot rates, the company expects currency to impact revenue growth by over 7 points for the first quarter of 2015, and over 6 points for the full year. This is greater than the impact previously provided based on January 16 spot rates. In addition, the company continues to expect a 4 point impact to revenue growth in each of the first three quarters of 2015 due to the divestiture of the System x business.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 24.11, -0.39, -1.6%): Company announced the pricing of $300 million aggregate principal amount of its 3.300% senior notes due 2020 and $300 million aggregate principal amount of its 4.350% senior notes due 2025. Juniper intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, which is expected to include share repurchases and payment of dividends under its program to return capital to shareholders and funding for working capital, capital expenditures, other corporate expenses and acquisitions ofproducts, technologies or businesses; however, the Company does not currently have any agreements with respect to any such material acquisitions.

Microsoft (MSFT 44.06, +0.06, +0.2%): Plans to close two plants in China that make handsets, according to Nikkei Asian Review

Red Hat (RHT 69.40, -0.36, -0.5%): Announced OpenShift Commons, a new open source community initiative to collaborate and deepen engagement with OpenShift, Red Hat's open source Platform-as-a-Service offering, and the open source technologies that OpenShift is built upon.

Salesforce.com (CRM 70.24, +7.37, +11.7%): Reported Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.14 per share, in-line with estimates; Revenues rose 26.1% year/year to $1.44 bln, also in-line with expectations. Subscription and support revenues were $1.35 billion, an increase of 25% year-over-year. Professional services and other revenues were $99 million, an increase of 41% year-over-year. For Q1, sees EPS of $0.13-0.14, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $1.485-1.505 bln. For FY16, sees EPS of $0.67-0.69, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $6.475-6.52 bln, up from prior guidance fof $6.45-6.50 bln. Elsewhere in the technology space

ON Semiconductor (ONNN 12.86, +0.84, +7.0%): Said it has successfully demonstrated its second generation Phase Detect Auto Focus technology featuring a unique pixel micro-lens technology that enables fast focus at 25 Lux light levels.

Splunk (SPLK 69.57, +2.07, +3.1%): Announced that customers of any size can now purchase unlimited licenses of Splunk Enterprise and benefit from fixed, predictable costs as they expand their use of Splunk software.

Teradata (TDC 43.96, +0.01, +0.02%): Announced the appointments of Bob Fair and Hermann Wimmer as co-presidents, Teradata, reporting to Mike Koehler, chief executive officer of Teradata Corporation. The appointments are effective February 27, 2015.

TripAdvisor (TRIP 89.86, +0.69, +0.8%): Announced the launch of its "Neighborhoods" feature to help TripAdvisor users discover and explore neighborhoods within popular tourist destinations around the world, making it easier to find restaurants, attractions and accommodations that are perfect for their trip.

Verizon (VZ 49.37, +0.17, +0.4%): Commented on Thursday's FCC ruling on net neutrality, saying it believes Title II regulations are a 'net' loss for innovation and consumers

Vitesse Semiconductor (VTSS 4.15, unch, 0.00%): Reaffirmed Q2 guidance from earlier in the month at its Annual Meering. Sees Q2 revenues of $24-26 mln and product margins of 58-61%.

Weibo (WB 13.26, -0.01, -0.1%): According to reports, the company's new image tagging mobile app achieved 1 mln users in the first 10 days

Workday (WDAY 88.65, -5.29, -5.6%): Reported Q4 (Jan) loss of $0.06 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with estimates. Revenues rose 59.5% year/year to $226.3 mln, which was ahead of expectations. For Q1, sees revenues of $242-245 mln, which is above analysts' average expectation. For FY16, sees revenues of $1.115-1.140 bln.

Analyst Action:

Alliance Data (ADS 279.40, +2.94, +1.1%): target raised to $341 from $330 at Deutsche Bank; Buy

Avago Technologies (AVGO 129.25, +16.57, +14.7%): target raised to $145 from $120 at Brean Capital; Buy... target raised to $140 from $120 at Oppenheimer; Outperform... target raised to $131 from $110 at Citigroup; Buy... target to $135 from $115 at Deutsche Bank... target to $135 from $115 at Pacific Crest... target raised to $145 from $125 at Canaccord Genuity; Buy... MKM Partners raised its target to $130 from $118; Buy... target raised to $138 from $115 at UBS; Buy
eBay (EBAY 58.54, +0.19, +0.3%): target to $65 from $61 at Robert W. Baird

LinkedIn (LNKD 270.76, +1.76, +0.7%): initiated with Overweight rating at Morgan Stanley; target $310

Priceline (PCLN 1241.25, -9.61, -0.8%): initiated with Equal-Weight rating at Morgan Stanley; target $1300

Salesforce.com (CRM 70.24, +7.37, +11.7%): target raised to $80 from $73 at BMO Capital Markets... target raised to $80 from $70 at Mizuho... target raised to $79 from $72 at RBC Capital Markets; Outperform... target raised to $79 from $70 at Stifel; Buy... target raised to $78 from $71 at Citigroup; Buy... target raised to $80 from $75 at Credit Suisse; Outperform... target to $80 from $70 at Canaccord Genuity... target raised to $80 from $70 at Needham; Buy

T-Mobile US (TMUS 32.48, +0.29, +0.9%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup

Workday (WDAY 88.65, -5.29, -5.6%): target raised to $116 from $111 at UBS; Buy... target raised to $110 from $100 at FBR Capital; Outperform... target raised to $125 from $121 at Cantor Fitzgerald; Buy... target raised to $105 from $100 at Northland Capital; maintain Outperform

Yelp (YELP 47.75, +0.60, +1.3%): initiated with a Overweight at Morgan Stanley; target $62(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Microsoft)

4:10 pm : The major averages endured another range-bound session on Thursday with the S&P 500 shedding 0.2% after respecting a seven-point range. The benchmark index will enter the Friday session flat for the week while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) outperformed to extend its weekly gain to 0.6%.

The Dow (-0.1%) and S&P 500 began the day under pressure due to noteworthy weakness in the energy sector (-1.8%). Meanwhile, most other cyclical groups also began in the red while technology (+0.7%) outperformed throughout the day and kept the Nasdaq in the green.

The top-weighted technology sector received support from some of its largest components by weight like Apple (AAPL 130.42, +1.62), Google (GOOGL 559.29, +11.96), and Facebook (FB 80.41, +0.85). The three names gained between 1.1% and 2.2% with Apple climbing into the green after announcing a press event on March 9 where the company is expected to launch its wristwatch.

In addition, the tech sector-and Nasdaq Composite-drew strength from several chipmakers after Avago Technologies (AVGO 129.25, +16.57) beat earnings estimates, issued upbeat revenue guidance, and announced the acquisition of Emulex (ELX 7.93, +1.57) for $8.00/share. The broader PHLX Semiconductor Index added 0.7%, but only a third of its components registered gains.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, energy narrowed its February advance to 3.9% as crude oil revisited levels last seen at the start of the month. WTI crude tumbled, settling lower by 5.3% at $48.29/bbl, but inched up from that level during electronic trading. It is worth pointing out that today's crude weakness occurred amid notable greenback strength that sent the Dollar Index (95.30, +1.08) higher by 1.1% and into the neighborhood of its January high (95.85).

Also of note, the consumer discretionary sector (-0.4%) finished among the laggards with media names like Comcast (CMCSA 59.15, -0.47) and Time Warner Cable (TWC 152.40, -2.22) ending lower by 0.8% and 1.4%, respectively, after the FCC approved net neutrality rules with a 3-2 vote, which was expected.

Over on the countercyclical side, the telecom services sector (+0.5%) outperformed throughout the session while consumer staples (+0.1%) and health care (+0.3%) posted slimmer gains. For its part, the utilities sector (-0.8%) widened its February decline to 6.9% as Treasuries retreated.

The 10-yr note turned negative in the morning and continued its slide into the afternoon, pushing the benchmark yield higher by seven basis points to 2.04%.

Participation remained light with roughly 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims, CPI, Durable Orders, and FHFA Housing Price Index:

The initial claims level increased to 313,000 from an upwardly revised 282,000 (from 281,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 290,000
The Department of Labor reported that there weren't any special factors impacting the initial claims level
The CPI index declined 0.7% in January after declining an upwardly revised 0.3% (from 0.4%) in December while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline of 0.6%
As expected, a large drop in gasoline prices was the primary catalyst for the decline in consumer prices. Gasoline costs fell 18.7% in January after declining 9.2% in December. The resulting gasoline decline caused overall energy prices to fall 9.7% in January
Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.2% in January after increasing 0.1% in December while the consensus expected an increase of 0.1%
Durable goods orders increased 2.8% in January after declining a downwardly revised 3.7% (from 3.3%) in December while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 1.7%
Almost the entire increase in orders can be attributed to seasonal adjustments in the aircraft industry. Even though Boeing reported a large decline in January aircraft orders on both a monthly and yearly basis, the Census Bureau showed a 73.7% increase in orders of defense and nondefense aircraft and parts
Excluding aircraft, durable goods orders increased a much more modest 0.3% in January after declining 0.9% in December while the consensus expected an increase of 0.5%
The FHFA Housing Price Index for December rose 0.8%, which followed a revised increase of 0.7% (from 0.8%) in November

Tomorrow, the second estimate of Q4 GDP (Briefing.com consensus 2.1%) will be released at 8:30 ET while the Chicago PMI for February (consensus 58.0) will cross the wires at 9:45 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the final Michigan Sentiment Index for February (consensus 93.8) and the January Pending Home Sales report (expected 2.2%).

Nasdaq Composite +5.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.9% YTD
S&P 500 +2.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.2% YTD

DJ30 -10.15 NASDAQ +20.75 SP500 -3.12 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1552/1.77 bln/1233 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1391/703.1 mln/1663 3:40 pm :

The dollar index showed some strength, but this didn't matter much for some commodities
The index closed near today's highs, but even though there was a pullback, metals closed with gains
Apr gold rose $8.60 to $1210.10/oz, while Mar silver gained $0.16 to $16.59/oz
WTI crude oil prices were weak today... Apr crude closed $2.72 lower at $48.29/barrel
Apr nat gas fell $0.16 to $2.69/MMBtu

4:26 pm Universal Display misses by $0.03, beats on revs; guides FY15 revs in-line (OLED) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.35 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.38; revenues rose 13.5% year/year to $56.2 mln vs the $49.14 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $190-230 mln vs. $210.96 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "This forecast includes our license fee from Samsung Display, which will be $60 million this year, and also factors in the quarter lag in earned royalties from LG Display."

4:24 pm Ingram Micro reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus (IM) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.98 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.98; revenues rose 17.9% year/year to $13.96 bln vs the $12.79 bln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.40-0.47, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.54 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; evenue in U.S. dollars is expected to be flat to up 3 percent versus last year.

For 2015, Ingram Micro expects the demand environment to remain stable and expects that the company will continue to outpace IT spending growth in local currency in the majority of its countries; For the 2015 year, revenue is expected to grow mid-single digits in local currency and to be relatively flat in U.S. dollars. The negative effect of currency translation versus last year impacts Ingram Micro's previously provided earnings expectations for 2015 by approximately 15 cents per diluted share. The company's financial expectations assume the average exchange rate for the 2015 year to be a $1.15 per Euro.

4:20 pm OmniVision beats by $0.09, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (OVTI) : Reports Q3 (Jan) earnings of $0.38 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.29; revenues fell 17.0% year/year to $292.3 mln vs the $291.15 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.15-0.31 vs. $0.12 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $265-295 mln vs. $261.79 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. GAAP gross margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 was 22.1%, as compared to 22.0% for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 and 19.6% for the third quarter of fiscal 2014.

4:05 pm MoSys announces proposed public offering of common stock; details not disclosed (MOSY) : The company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 27-Feb-15

Dow -81.72 at 18132.70, Nasdaq -24.36 at 4963.53, S&P -6.24 at 2104.50

The stock market capped a quiet week with a subdued Friday session. However, it is worth noting that the range-bound week followed sharp gains registered earlier this month. The S&P 500 shed 0.3% on Friday to narrow its February gain to 5.5% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%) underperformed today, but climbed 7.1% since the end of January.

Equity indices spent the bulk of the session near their flat lines before a wave of profit-taking during the final 90 minutes sent the indices to fresh session lows. Eight of ten sectors finished the day in the red, but only one sector-utilities (-0.1%)-registered a February loss. The rate-sensitive group fell 7.0% during the month as higher yields made Treasuries more attractive.

The technology sector (-0.5%) finished the day at the bottom of the leaderboard, but still added 7.9% for the month. Similar to the sector, the top-weighted component-Apple (AAPL 128.48, -1.94)-endured some profit taking following a big run in February. Shares of AAPL fell 1.5% today, but still ended the month higher by 9.7%.

Elsewhere, the energy sector lost 0.4% to narrow its February gain to 3.5% even though crude oil settled on its high. The energy component spiked 3.3% to $49.76/bbl, adding nearly 10.0% for the month. WTI crude surged off its afternoon low even after the Baker Hughes rig count registered its 12th consecutive decline (-43) to 1267.

Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical sectors finished closer to their respective flat lines. For instance, the discretionary sector (-0.1%) ended slightly lower with many apparel retailers enjoying gains after Gap (GPS 41.60, +1.23) reported a one-cent beat, announced a $1 billion buyback, and boosted its dividend by 5.0%, which overshadowed below-consensus guidance. Peer J.C. Penney (JCP 8.50, -0.62) headed in the opposite direction, falling 6.8%, after missing earnings estimates.

The countercyclical side looked a bit better today with consumer staples (+0.4%) and telecom services (+0.3%) registering modest gains while the aforementioned utilities sector (-0.1%) and health care (-0.5%) settled in the red.

Consumer staples rallied behind Coca-Cola (KO 43.30, +0.84) and Monster Beverage (MNST 141.12, +16.38) after the latter reported better than expected results. On the flip side, Herbalife (HLF 31.01, -3.81) tumbled 10.9% after its disappointing revenue and cautious guidance overshadowed a bottom-line beat.

Treasuries registered modest gains with the 10-yr yield slipping three basis points to 2.00%. Despite today's advance, the 10-yr note ended February in the red with its yield 32 basis points above where it ended January. For its part, the Dollar Index (95.33, +0.03) eked out a slim gain on Friday and finished the month higher by 0.4%.

Although the final week of February was relatively quiet on the international front, that could change in a hurry. Yesterday evening, Kathimerini reported that Greece is due to pay EUR1.60 billion to the IMF next month, but it is uncertain whether the country will be able to make the payment on time. The IMF is scheduled to receive the first installment in the amount of EUR310 million on Friday, March 6.

Economic data included Q4 GDP, Chicago PMI, Michigan Sentiment Index, and Pending Home Sales:

Fourth quarter GDP was revised down to 2.2% in the second estimate from 2.6% in the advance estimate after increasing 5.0% in Q3
The Briefing.com consensus expected a revision down to 2.1%
Despite the downward revision, the GDP report actually reveals slightly better economic trends in the second estimate. Nearly all of the revision resulted from weaker inventory growth -- $88.40 billion vs. $113.10 billion in the advance release. Excluding inventories, real final sales were revised up to 2.1% from an originally reported 1.8%
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index was revised up to 95.4 in the final February reading from 93.6 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a revision up to 94.0
Even after the revisions, the Consumer Sentiment Index is still down from 98.1 in January
The Chicago PMI declined to 45.8 in February from 59.4 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a drop to 58.0
This was the first reported contraction in the Chicago region since April 2013 and the largest contraction since the index dropped to 42.7 in July 2009
Readings throughout the report were abysmal, and every index, with the exception of supplier deliveries (58.3 from 54.9), contracted in February
Pending home sales for January rose 1.7% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 2.4%

On Monday, Personal Income/Spending and Core PCE Prices for January will be reported at 8:30 ET while Construction Spending for January and February ISM Index will be released at 10:00 ET.

Week in Review: S&P 500 Locked in Sideways Action

The major averages began the week on a sleepy note with the S&P 500 ending flat after spending the day in a seven-point range while the Nasdaq (+0.1%) finished a little ahead of the benchmark index. Participants stuck to the sidelines ahead of Tuesday's semiannual testimony on monetary policy. Six of ten sectors registered losses with all six cyclical sectors ending in the red. Most notably, the energy sector (-0.4%) slumped to the bottom of the leaderboard at the start, exerting pressure on the market throughout the day. The group lagged as crude oil fell 2.5% to $49.56/bbl. The energy component saw a brief afternoon spike into the $50.00/bbl area after Nigeria's oil minister said the sharp slide in crude prices could lead to an emergency OPEC meeting. WTI crude returned to its afternoon low after OPEC refuted the report, announcing no plans for an emergency meeting at this time.

Equity indices endured another quiet session on Tuesday before a late afternoon rally sent the S&P 500 (+0.3%) to a new record high. The price-weighted Dow (+0.5%) outperformed while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%) and Russell 2000 (+0.1%) struggled to keep up. Trading volume was well below average with fewer than 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor. The key indices spent the bulk of the day near their flat lines, seeing little reaction to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's testimony on monetary policy before the Senate Banking Committee. Chair Yellen reiterated the Fed's intent to remain patient before raising rates, due to weak wage growth and low inflation. In addition, Ms. Yellen indicated the Fed will change its forward guidance prior to hiking rates, and that change to the outlook will clear the way for a potential hike in any particular meeting that follows. Although the testimony had little impact on equities, Treasuries spiked with the 10-yr yield sliding eight basis points to 1.98% as bond traders showed little concern for a rate hike in the near term.

The stock market ended the midweek session on a flat note after spending the trading day in a narrow range. The S&P 500 shed 0.1% while the Nasdaq (-0.02%) registered its first loss since February 9. Once again, the session featured below-average activity with only 687 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor. Equities faced some selling pressure at the start with the top-weighted technology sector (-0.7%) responsible for the early weakness. Specifically, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) pressured the sector after reporting uninspiring results for the quarter. The former Dow component plunged 9.9% after its one-cent beat was overshadowed by a 4.7% year-over-year decline in revenue and below-consensus guidance. Despite the opening weakness, the market was able to reclaim its early loss by midday, but renewed selling in the tech sector sent equity indices to fresh lows during the afternoon. The largest stock by weight-Apple (AAPL )-fell 2.6% to lead the afternoon pullback.

The market endured another range-bound session on Thursday with the S&P 500 shedding 0.1% after respecting a seven-point range. The Dow (-0.1%) and S&P 500 began the day under pressure due to noteworthy weakness in the energy sector (-1.8%). Meanwhile, most other cyclical groups also began in the red while technology (+0.7%) outperformed throughout the day and kept the Nasdaq (+0.4%) in the green. The top-weighted technology sector received support from some of its largest components by weight like Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOGL), and Facebook (FB). The three names gained between 1.1% and 2.2% with Apple climbing into the green after announcing a press event on March 9 where the company is expected to launch its wristwatch.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 18140.44 18132.70 -7.74 -0.0 1.7
Nasdaq 4955.97 4963.53 7.56 0.2 4.8
S&P 500 2110.30 2104.50 -5.80 -0.3 2.2
Russell 2000 1231.79 1233.37 1.58 0.1 2.4

U.S equities capped a strong February with losses on the last day of the month, as the S&P 500 (-0.3%), Nasdaq (-0.5%), Russell 2000 (-0.5%), and Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.5%) all finished in the red on Friday. However, having gained roughly 5% in the month of February, some profit-taking at month-end shouldn't come as a surprise.

The S&P 500 Information Technology Sector (-0.53%) closed in the red on Friday, much like the rest of the market, with no sector posting gains on the day. Notable outperformers in the sector included: Autodesk (ADSK 64.24, +3.23, +5.3%), Hewlett Packard (HPQ 34.84, +0.83, +2.4%), and Sandisk (SNDK 79.93, +1.88, +2.4%). On the other hand, companies like Apple (AAPL 128.48, -1.94, -1.5%), Facebook (FB 78.97, -1.44, -1.8%), and Cisco (CSCO 29.52, -0.39, -1.3%) weighed on the sector, ultimately leading it lower to end the day.

Notable news items from the sector included the following:

LM Ericsson (ERIC 12.93, +0.04, +0.3%): Filed two complaints with the ITC and seven complaints in a United States District Court against Apple (AAPL 128.48, -1.94, -1.5%) asserting 41 patents covering many aspects of Apple's iPhones and iPads. The patents include standard essential patents related to the 2G and 4G/LTE standards as well as other patents that are critical to features and functionality of Apple devices such as the design of semiconductor components, user interface software, location services and applications, as well as the iOS operating system. Ericsson seeks exclusion orders in the ITC proceedings and damages. ERIC notes that Apple's global license agreement for Ericsson's mobile technology expired last month, and Apple has declined to take a new license offered on FRAND terms.

Exelis (XLS 24.20, -0.08, -0.3%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.47 per share, $0.02 better than estimates. Revenues for the quarter rose 1.2% year/year to $933 million, which fell below estimates. Results from continuing operations reflect the September spin-off of the former Mission Systems business into Vectrus, an independent, publicly traded company. Exelis shareholders at the time of the spin-off received one share of Vectrus common stock for every 18 shares of Exelis common stock held on the spin-off record date. During the quarter, the company secured $3.3 billion in orders in 2014, earning significant new business within its four Strategic Growth Platforms, and continuing steady orders in our more mature business areas.

Visa (V 271.31, -2.44, -0.9%): Announced a definitive agreement to acquire TrialPay, a private company that operates an offers platform connecting merchants with consumers through targeted promotions. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Cvent (CVT 28.95, -0.35, -1.2%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better estimates. The company also reported that revenues rose 28.0% year/year to $39.3 million vs the $38.9 million consensus. Additionally, CVT issued in-line guidance for Q1, noting sees EPS of $0.00-0.01, and Q1 revenues of $39.7-40.1 million.

TubeMogul (TUBE 13.82, -4.12, -23%) Reported a Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.14 per share, $0.02 better estimates, on revenues that rose 64.1% year/year to $36.1 million. TUBE issued downside guidance for Q1, noting it sees Q1 revenues of $28-30 million. TUBE also mentioned that it expects Q1 gross profit in the range of $20 million to $22 million.

Nimble Storage (NMBL 25.26, -2.16, -7.9%): Reported a Q4 (Jan) loss of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better consensus. Revenues for the quarter rose 63.8% year/year to $68.3 million vs the $66.53 million consensus. In its earnings transcript, the company stated, "During the fourth quarter, we generated positive free cash flow for the first time in our history and remain on track to achieve profitability on a non-GAAP basis by the end of FY16."

Cyber-Ark Software (CYBR 59.27, -3.19, -5.1%): Filed for $200 million common stock offering by selling shareholder. All of the shares will be offered by the company's shareholders meaning CYBR will not receive any proceeds from the sale of these shares.

Lenovo (LNVGY 30.58, +0.09, +0.3%): announced its response actions to Superfish software discovery. Lenovo stated in its announcement, "We have worked with partners to create tools and update antivirus programs to eliminate Superfish software. And an automatic removal tool is available on Lenovo.com. No ThinkPads, desktops, tablets, smartphones nor any enterprise server or storage product was impacted. Additionally, we will offer Lenovo PC users affected by this issue a free 6-month subscription to McAfee (INTC 33.25, -0.40, -1.2%) LiveSafe service (or a 6-month extension for existing subscribers).Analyst Action:

EPAM Systems (EPAM 61.68, +0.32, +0.5%): upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Monness Crespi & Hardt price target raised to $72 from $59 at Susquehanna; Positive

Mobileye N.V. (MBLY 35.48, -0.31, -0.9%): upgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Dougherty & Co.

Infoblox (BLOX 22.25, +2.02, +9.5%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup target raised to $25 from $17.50 at UBS; Neutral target raised to $26 from $23 at Deutsche Bank; Buy target raised to $29 from $23 at JMP Securities; Market Outperform target raised to $28 from $23 at Piper Jaffray; Overweight

Synnex Corp (SNX 76.25, -2.06, -2.8%) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel

Mavenir Systems (MVNR 14.57, -0.92, -5.9%): downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley target raised to $18 from $15 at Imperial Capital; Outperform

Splunk (SPLK 67.25, -2.32, -3.3%): target raised to $82 from $73 at UBS; Buy price target raised to $71 from $64 at Barclays; Equal Weight target raised to $82 from $75 at Stifel; Buy target raised to $75 from $69 at BMO Capital; Market Perform target raised to $90 from $83 at FBR Capital; Outperform

ON Semiconductor (ONNN 12.75, -0.11, -0.9%): target raised to $16 from $14 at Deutsche Bank; Buy target raised to $15 from $13 at Susquehanna; Positive target raised to $16 from $12.50 at FBR Capital; Outperform

Aruba Networks (ARUN 24.81, +2.20, +9.7%): target raised to $28 from $22 at Barclays; Overweight target raised to $27 from $19 at Imperial Capital; Outperform target raised to $26 from $25 at Needham; Buy target raised to $25 from $20 at Oppenheimer; Outperform target raised to $23 from $21 at RBC Capital; Outperform

Autodesk (ADSK 64.24, +3.23, +5.3%): target raised to $73 from $70 at Canaccord Genuity; Buy target raised to $75 from $70 at RBC Capital; Outperform

5:24 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Healthcare:EYES (16.17 +84.8%),PTCT (71.33 +29.24%),PCYC (215.93 +21.61%),TSRO (53.33 +20.66%),QURE (23.24 +20.6%),CLDX (25.54 +20.41%),

Industrials:PGTI (10.17 +20.64%)

Consumer Discretionary:SFXE (4.76 +34.84%),CHGG (8.12 +26.09%),RGR (51.96 +21.8%),FLWS (12.48 +20.93%)

Information Technology:BNFT (32.56 +48.34%),ARUN (24.81 +34.65%),ELX (7.95 +24.02%),FSLR (59.75 +21.88%),VHC (7.55 +20.41%)

Financials:TREE (53.04 +20.99%)

Energy:CLNE (6.01 +22.15%)

Consumer Staples:COT (9.68 +21.15%)

Utilities: UIL (50.55 +19.7%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Healthcare:VTAE (11.62 -18.17%),SPPI (6.23 -16.49%)

Materials:KOP (16.12 -17.8%)

Industrials:EGL (36.1 -25.38%),GLDD (6.1 -17.79%)

Consumer Discretionary:WBAI (9.23 -41.06%),WTW (11.33 -40.49%),LL (51.86 -23.62%)

Information Technology:ENOC (13.49 -24.47%),DAKT (10.23 -19.32%),CYBR (59.27 -15.75%)

Financials:WAC (16.67 -20.16%),NBG (1.57 -19.9%)

Energy:SD (1.77 -23.71%),ROSE (17.73 -23.05%),CWEI (49.06 -22.83%),CHK (16.68 -17.83%),ESV (24.47 -17.78%),BBG (10.04 -16.05%)

Telecommunication Services:IQNT (14.75 -17.78%)

4:07 pm Riverbed Technology and Project Homestake Merger Corp. announce pricing of $525 mln offering of 8.875% senior notes due 2023 (RVBD) : Co and Project Homestake Merger Corp. ("the Issuer"), controlled by affiliates of Thoma Bravo, announced that the Issuer has priced an offering of $525,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of 8.875% senior notes due 2023. The Notes were priced at 100% of par.

The net proceeds from the offering of the Notes, together with other financing sources, will be used to fund the acquisition (the "Acquisition") of Riverbed by affiliates of Thoma Bravo and Teachers' Private Capital, the private investor department of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan ("OTPP"), and to pay certain related fees, commissions and expenses. Riverbed will assume all of the obligations of the Issuer under the Notes upon the consummation of the Acquisition.

3:34 pm Earnings Preview for the week of March 2 - 6 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of March 2 - 6 some of the bigger names include:

Monday:
Pre Market - CORE, ENDP, SSE, JKS, PMC, VGR, BID, EMES, GTI, FSS, OMG, SSYS, ANFI, LXU, ECYT, ICPT

After Hours - CZR, MYL, NBR, MDR, CMLS, STKL, PRAA, CODI, PANW, CKEC, SLXP, SN, NTRI, HALO, XON, ARNA

Tuesday:
Pre Market - JD, BBY, BNS, NAV, DKS, AZO, TPH, PRIM, SSI, KATE, BBEP, ACW, AVOL

After Hours - SPTN, ASNA, ABM, TNET, BOBE, EGL, CDI, REGI, CECO, MPO, SWHC, IVO, VEEV, AVAV, AMBA, ZLTQ, BV, GERN, AMRN

Wednesday:

Pre Market - PETM, ANF, BF.B, TOUR, TSL, HYH, W, SOL, AMED, SSP, IBP

After Hours - ERJ, TSE, RNDY, DAR, GEF, HRB, OEC, PEIX, MYRG, WTI, CCRN, PPO, SMTC, SQNM, ALIM

Thursday:

Pre Market - COST, KR, CNQ, CSIQ, JOY, CIEN, BTE, ARES, BRLI, MEI, CVGW, AMRC, GTN, NAVB

After Hours - ALJ, ALDW, THO, ESL, COO, ZQK, DMND, WX, YY, CKP, EBS, PGRE, ATSG, SKUL, DMD, VMEM

Friday: Pre Market - SPLS, FL, TRCO, VTG, NWHM1:33 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (188) outpacing new lows (52) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AB, ABT, ACAD, ADBE, ADSK, AFAM, AKRX, AMAG, AMC, AMED, AMG, AMOT, AMPH, AMSG, AMWD, AON, ARMH, ARUN, ASH, AVG, AVID, AZO, BBC, BBP, BCV, BFAM, BKD, BLMN, BLOX, BLPH, BOBE, BSFT, BSQR, BSX, BT, BURL, BX, CBPX, CBRL, CCK, CEMP, CHE, CHEV, CHTR, CI, CMN, COWN, CRI, CRL, CTSH, CVS, DDS, DM, DOX, DRI, DXGE, EL, EOS, EPAM, ESE, EXLS, FCB, FICO, FIX, FLWS, FMS, FNRG, FONE, FORM, FRC, FSS, FV, G, GLOB, GMK, GPN, GRX, GTT, HAE, HAIN, HBI, HBOS, HDB, HOLX, HTLF, HWAY, HZNP, ICLR, IG, IGT, INAP, INT, INTL, IRCP, ISLE, JCOM, JOUT, JTP, KAI, KSS, LARK, LBRDK, LBY, LFC, LHCG, LLNW, LULU, MHK, MJN, MLR, MMSI, MNRO, MNST, MO, MODN, MOH, MSCC, NEOG, NEWT, NRF, NRZ, NSAM, NSP, NTWK, NYCB, OMAM, OMCL, ONCE, ONEQ, ONFC, PFNX, PLAY, PMCS, PNFP, PRFZ, PSCH, PSCI, PSEM, PSF, PSO, PTCT, PUK, QLIK, QQEW, QQXT, QSR, RHP, RIOM, ROP, ROST, SAIC, SBAC, SCMP, SEIC, SEMI, SERV, SHLM, SJM, SLGN, SMTC, SNE, STZ, TCON, THOR, TREE, TSO, TSRO, TSS, TTGT, TXN, TY, TYL, ULTA, UNFI, USCR, UVE, VGR, VLRS, VTWG, WBA, WCG, WCIC, WMS, WPPGY, WYN, XENT, ZAGG, ZIOP

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ASRV, ATNM, AXPW, AXU, BOSC, CACQ, CAS, CIB, CNP, CROX, CRVP, CUZ, CVSL, DFRG, DNOW, DRL, EAC, EGAN, EGI, FENG, FIVE, GOL, HERO, HLX, ISH, JASN, JONE, KOP, LAS, LL, MAMS, MCF, MNI, NBY, OGE, PRAA, QIHU, QUIK, ROYL, SEED, SGM, SPDC, SPRO, TCPI, TDW, TST, UG, VBFC, WK, WTW, ZINC, ZSAN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: FXI, IGN, IWM, IYK, PFF, PSK, RTH, UUP, UWM, XLK, XRT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FXE, JO, SGG

12:50 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

MNST (141.07 +13.09%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.72 per share, $0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.58; revenues rose 12.0% year/year to $605.57 mln vs the $585.02 mln consensus; Price target raised at Stifel, JP Morgan, BMO Capital, others.
ROST (105.5 +6.51%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.08, beat on revs; guided Q1 EPS below consensus; guided FY16 EPS below consensus, announced $1.4 bln stock repurchase program; Price target raised at FBR Capital.
ADSK (64.75 +6.13%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.01, beat on revs; guided Q1 EPS below consensus, revs above consensus; guided FY16 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; Price target raised at Canaccord Genuity and RBC Capital Mkts.

Large Cap Losers

RBS (11.31 -4.44%): Downgraded to Sell at Societe Generale.
CXO (110.48 -2.2%): Priced its upsized public offering of 6 mln shares of common stock for total gross proceeds of ~$650 mln.
BAC (15.8 -1.5%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Mid Cap Gainers

DGI (32.67 +14.83%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.11, beat on revs; guided FY15 revs in-line; Price target raised to $39 at Chardan Capital Mkts, buy rating maintained.
HZNP (20.54 +7.71%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.06, beat on revs; raised FY15 rev and EBITDA guidance.
ARCP (9.93 +7.58%): Announced that it expects to file its restated financial statements and provide a business update on March 2, 2015.

Mid Cap Losers

KBR (15.72 -12.13%): Reported Q4 (Dec) net loss of $8.57 per share, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.20; revenues fell 17.6% year/year to $1.4 bln vs the $1.63 bln consensus; Guided FY15 EPS in-line.
HLF (31.65 -9.1%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.19, missed on revs; guided Q1 below consensus, lowered FY15 below consensus.
IM (24.79 -8.96%): Reported Q4 EPS in-line, beat on revs; guided Q1 EPS below consensus; Price target lowered at Brean Capital

9:48 am JDS Uniphase: Sandell comments on proposed CCOP spin-off of JDSU; believes proposed governance structure of CCOP business does not conform with best practices (JDSU) : Sandell comments that:

"The entire Board of Directors of JDSU bears full responsibility for the proposed governance of Lumentum. Furthermore, the Board has chosen to blatantly ignore our February 2 open letter to the Directors highlighting the need for CCOP to conform with best governance practices. We believe the entrenching mechanisms proposed at Lumentum clearly signify that the Board has been disingenuous as regards to its purported willingness to enhance shareholder value and we intend to hold the entire Board accountable for these actions."

8:50 am MoSys priced its underwritten public offering of 12.5 mln shares of its common stock at a price of $1.60 per share (MOSY) : After the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by the company, the company expects to receive net proceeds of ~$18.5 mln, assuming no exercise of the overallotment option.

4:40 am LM Ericsson has filed two complaints with the ITC and seven complaints in a United States District Court against Apple (AAPL) asserting 41 patents covering many aspects of Apple's iPhones and iPads (ERIC) : The patents includestandard essential patents related to the 2G and 4G/LTE standards as well asother patents that are critical to features and functionality of Apple devicessuch as the design of semiconductor components, user interface software,location services and applications, as well as the iOS operating system.Ericsson seeks exclusion orders in the ITC proceedings and damages

The co notes that Apple's global license agreement for Ericsson's mobile technology expired lastmonth, and Apple has declined to take a new license offered on FRAND terms. "Ericsson made several attempts to find a fair solution, including an offer forboth parties to be bound by a decision on fair licensing terms by a UnitedStates federal court. Apple has refused all attempts, so Ericsson has filedthese infringement complaints to defend the industry's long-standing principleof technology sharing."

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From Briefing.com: The Stock Market opened March strong, bolstered by a cluster of M&A activity and news over the weekend that the People's Bank of China cut its key lending rate 25 basis points to 5.35%. However, after a healthy opening rally, major indices traded within a range, unable to decisively move higher or lower until a closing rally in the last hour of trading.

It's worth noting, the Philadelphia SOX Index soared 2.8% today behind the NXP Semiconductor (NXPI 99.56, +14.67, +17.3%), Freescale Semiconductor (FSL 40.36, +4.25, +11.8%) merger, but Atmel Corp (ATML 8.86, +0.52, +6.2%) and Skyworks Solutions (SWKS 91.13, +3.38, 3.9%) also outperformed.

The S&P 500 Information Technology Sector (+0.97%) notably outperformed the broader market today, lead by Linear Technology (LLTC 49.55, +1.39, +2.8%), Western Union (WU 20.04, +0.52, +2.7%), Visa (V 278.29, +6.98, +2.6%), Lam Research (LRCX 84.48, +2.02, +2.5%), and Intel Corp (INTC 34.06, +0.81, +2.4%)

Notable news items from the sector included the following:

Samsung (SSNLF): introduced collaborations with both Visa (V 278.29, +6.98, +2.6%) and Mastercard (MA 92.02, +1.89, +2.1%) to support consumer payments with the new Samsung Galaxy S6. Eligible consumers in the U.S. will be able to make secure Visa payments with Samsung Pay, Samsung's new payment service scheduled to launch this summer. Samsung Pay is supported by Visa Token Service technology which is designed to enable secure payments with a broad range of connected devices. Samsung Pay will enable MasterCard cardholders to use their Samsung Galaxy S6 for everyday in-store purchases.

Akamai Tech (AKAM 71.13, +1.62, +2.3%): has acquired Xerocole, a provider of recursive DNS functionality. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to allow Akamai to expand its DNS product portfolio beyond the Company's existing Authoritative DNS products to more completely meet the needs of customers and network partners.

Aruba Networks (ARUN 24.65, -0.16, -0.6%): agreed to be acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 34.92, +0.08, +0.2%) for $24.67 per share in cash. The equity value of the transaction is approximately $3.0 billion, and net of cash and debt approximately $2.7 billion. Both companies' boards of directors have approved the deal. HPQ expects the acquisition to be accretive toearnings in the first full year following close.

Visa (V): is working with Pizza Hut and Accenture (ACN 91.18, +1.15, +1.3%) to develop a proof-of-concept connected car to test mobile and online purchases on the go. The connected car is expected to feature Visa Checkout, Visa's online payment service, cellular connectivity, Bluetooth Low Energy, as well as Beacon technology deployed at Pizza Hut restaurants to alert staff when the customer has arrived and is ready to pick up the order. The integration of these technologies is being managed by Accenture.

EBAY (EBAY 58.38, +0.47, +0.8%): Paypal to acquire Paydiant for $280 million. Paydient is a payments startup that licenses a technology platform used by big retail chains to create their own branded mobile wallet apps. Multiple sources said PayPal will pay around $280 million Elsewhere in the technology space:

Cimpress (CMPR 85.29, +1.79, +2.1%): entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Exagroup SAS. Under the terms of the agreement, Cimpress will acquire 70% of the shares of Exagroup for a purchase price of ~ 91.5 million with an option to acquire the remaining 30% of the shares in 2019 for a price between 39 million and 47 million, subject to the achievement of financial performance targets for calendar year 2017. Cimpress expects this transaction to be accretive to its fiscal 2015 revenue, but dilutive to GAAP EPS due to transaction costs as well as anticipated interest expense and expected amortization expense for acquisition-related intangible assets. The transaction is expected to be slightly dilutive in fiscal 2015 to operating cash flow, free cash flow, as well as non-GAAP EPS, which excludes amortization expense for acquisition-related intangible assets, due to transaction costs and anticipated interest expense.

Stratasys (SSYS 62.90, +0.84, +1.4%): reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.48 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than estimates. Revenues rose 40.0% year/year to $217.1 million vs the $215.86 million consensus. SSYS lowered FY14 guidance and guided FY15 below consensus on February 2. The company reaffirmed that lowered guidance for FY15, noting it sees EPS of $2.07-2.24, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $2.12 consensus, and FY15 revenues of $940-960 million vs. $950.12 million consensus.

Arrow Electronics (ARW 62.98, +1.02, +1.7%): announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire immixGroup, a value-added distributor supporting over 800 value-added resellers, solution providers, service providers, and other public sector channel partners with specialized resources to accelerate their government sales.

NXP Semiconductor (NXPI): and Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which NXP will merge with Freescale in a transaction which values the combined enterprise at just over $40 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Freescale shareholders will receive $6.25 in cash and 0.3521 of an NXP ordinary share for each Freescale common share held at the close of the transaction. The purchase price implies a total equity value for Freescale of ~$11.8 billion and a total enterprise value of approximately $16.7 billion including Freescale's net debt. The transaction is expected to be accretive to NXP non-GAAP earnings and non-GAAP free cash flow. NXP anticipates achieving cost savings of $200 million in the first full year after closing the transaction, with a clear path to $500 million of annual cost synergies.
Analyst Action:

Google (GOOG 571.34, +12.94, +2.3%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill

Jack Henry (JKHY 87.05, +1.55, +2.4%): upgraded to Ouptperform from Perform at Oppenheimer; target $75

Aruba Networks (ARUN 24.65, -0.16, -0.6%): downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sun TrustYY (YY 53.24, +0.55, +1%) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse

IBM (IBM 160.48, -1.46, -0.9%): downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities

Apple (AAPL 129.09, +0.53, +0.5%): price target raised to $160 from $133 at Morgan Stanley; Overweight

InterXion (INXN 31.10, -0.77, -2.4%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel

Salesforce.com (CRM 68.46, -0.92, -1.3%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus

Cognizant Tech (CTSH 62.92, +0.44, +0.7%): price target raised to $70 from $66 at Barclays; Overweight

Cirrus Logic (CRUS 31.40, +1.29, +4.3%): price target raised to $35 from $32 at Barclays; Overweight

Ciena (CIEN 20.98, +0.06, +0.3%): price target raised to $24 from $21 at Wedbush; Neutral

Mavenir Systems (MVNR 16.82, +2.25, +15.4%): price target raised to $17 from $16 atNeedham; Buy

Elli Mae (ELLI 53.57, +0.75, +1.4%): price target raised to $60 from $55 at Oppenheimer; Outperform

NXP Semiconductor (NXPI 99.56, +14.67, +17.3%): price target raised to $100 from $95 at FBR Capital; Outperform

Paylocity (PCTY 29.44, -0.45, -1.5%): price target raised to $35 from $32 at Northland Capital; Outperform

4:20 pm : The first trading day of March was a good day for the stock market and a lousy day for the Treasury market. The former rallied, featuring a return above 5,000 for the Nasdaq Composite and new record closes for both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500. The latter, meanwhile, languished and perhaps breathed some added life into the stock market on rebalancing efforts.

To be fair, both the stock and bond markets had reason to advance today. The People's Bank of China cut its key lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.35% and each piece of economic data out of the U.S. today fell short of consensus estimates.


Personal income rose 0.3% in January (Briefing.com consensus +0.4%) while personal spending declined 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%).
Core PCE prices increased just 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) and are up just 1.3% year-over-year (total PCE prices are up only 0.2% year-over-year, well below the Fed's 2.0% inflation target).
The February ISM Index slid to a 13-month low of 52.9 (Briefing.com consensus 53.0) from 53.5
Construction spending declined 1.1% in January (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) after an upwardly revised 0.8% increase (from +0.4%) in December

The Treasury market basically turned a blind eye to the weakish data and sold off, having a fit that continued all day long and persisted after the cash settlement. The yield on the benchmark 10-yr note jumped eight basis points to 2.08%, which was its high yield for the cash session, but touched 2.09% in late trading.

While the rout in the Treasury market was unfolding, a rally in the stock market was playing out, suggesting perhaps that a rotational move out of Treasuries and into stocks was helping to support things. Whatever the case might have been, there was some seemingly equal and opposite action in stocks and Treasuries today.

The stock market didn't necessarily need that rotational trade to do well. It had identifiable catalysts in the rate cut out of China, the association that the first trading day of a new month often sees new inflows, and a spate of M&A activity that was highlighted by NXP Semiconductor's (NXPI 99.59, +14.69) $11.8 billion cash-and-stock offer to acquire Freescale Semiconductor (FSL 40.36, +4.25). Other notable deals included Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 34.92, +0.08) buying Aruba Networks (ARUN 24.61, -0.20) for $2.7 billion in cash, as previously rumored, and Cardinal Health (CAH 89.52, +1.53) acquiring Cordis from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 103.22, +0.71) for $1.9 billion in cash.

Elsewhere, oil prices had a roller-coaster ride, trading below $49.00/bbl early, moving back above $51.00/bbl later, and then ultimately settling pit trading down $0.17 at $49.59/bbl.

The energy sector (-0.7%) was stuck in a rut all day, even when oil prices came storming back from early losses. The only other sector that fared worse on Monday was the utilities sector, which dropped 2.0%, clipped by the jump in long-term rates.

On the flip side, there was quality leadership in Monday's market from those sectors one would expect to see leading a charge to new highs. The consumer discretionary sector (+1.2%) led all gainers followed by the information technology (+1.0%), health care (+0.9%), financial (+0.8%), and industrials (+0.8%) sectors.

The CBOE Volatility Index ("the VIX") fell 3.2% to 12.92, ending at its lowest level since early December. The VIX Index has plunged 34% over the last month as the broader market has rallied to higher highs.

NYSE volume totaled 740 mln shares versus the 50-day average of 813 mln shares.
DJ30 +155.93 NASDAQ +44.57 SP500 +12.89 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1870/1.78 bln/982 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1868/740 mln/1225 3:30 pm :

The dollar index continued to hold modest gains today, which helped add some selling pressure on commodities today, including precious metals (gold and silver) and oil futures
Apr crude oil futures started the morning off higher and rose as high as $51.04/barrel. However, these gains could not hold as bearish factors such as oversupply/storage capacity concerns continue to weigh on prices.
Apr crude oil ended today's session $0.21 lower at $49.58/barrel. Meanwhile, Apr natural gas lost $0.03 to $2.70/MMBtu
May copper futures remained near the unchanged line today , ultimately finished floor trading $0.01 lower at $2.70/lb
Apr gold and May silver continued to inch lower in afternoon trading, leaving gold $5.10 lower on the day to $1208.00/oz and May silver $0.14 lower at $16.45/oz

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

NXPI (98.6 +16.14%): Announced it will merge with Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) in a $40 bln deal; Price target raised to $100 at FBR Capital.
PBA (33.33 +4.47%): Upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital.
JAZZ (176.28 +3.64%): The co disclosed the FDA's approval of the risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for Xyrem.

Large Cap Losers

PEG (41.02 -2.47%): Utilities sector weak as yields jump (ES, ETR, XEL also lower).
CRM (68 -1.99%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus.

Mid Cap Gainers

BBRY (11.09 +2.54%): Announced continued progress with Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) in their partnership with the planned integration of Samsung KNOX with two new BlackBerry enterprise services
GRUB (42.99 +2.33%): Updated guidance following acquisition of Restaurants On The Run; Raises FY15 rev to $343-358 mln from $335-350 mln, consensus $348.4 mln.
CAR (61.85 +2.03%): Announced it will acquire Maggiore Group, Italy's fourth-largest vehicle rental business for ~$170 mln; acquisition is expected to add approximately $160 mln of annual revenue and $30 mln of Adjusted EBITDA.

Mid Cap Losers

PCRX (96.19 -16.19%): Received a complete response letter from the FDA for sNDA seeking approval of EXPAREL.
NAVI (19.15 -10.51%): Disclosed in its 10k filing the expiration of an ED asset recovery contract and also an NY DFS subpoena; downgraded at Compass Point and Barclays.
BID (42.11 -4.19%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.12 per share, $0.16 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.28; revenues rose 3.5% year/year to $351.2 mln vs the $338.11 mln consensus.

11:37 am Major averages edges to fractional new session highs, small-/mid-caps are lagging -- Dow +125, S&P +96., Nasdaq Comp +36 (:TECHX) :

11:36 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (239) outpacing new lows (54) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AB, ABCD, ABM, ACAD, ADI, ADP, ADPT, AFAM, AGN, AHH, ALR, AMC, AMSG, AMWD, AOS, ARES, ARI, ARMH, ATLS, ATRO, AVG, AVGO, AWH, AXTA, BHLB, BIIB, BKD, BLJ, BLMN, BOBE, BOOT, BPOP, BR, BSQR, BSX, BURL, BX, CAH, CAVM, CBM, CEVA, CGNX, CHE, CHEV, CHFN, CHMT, CHTR, CI, CIVI, CMCSA, CMCSK, CODE, COLM, COMM, COTY, COWN, CPIX, CRI, CRUS, CSCO, CSII, CSTE, CTAS, CVS, CW, DCM, DENN, DG, DGII, DIS, DRI, DRII, DXGE, EFX, EL, ENDP, ESE, FCAU, FCB, FCHI, FDP, FICO, FIX, FLWS, FMS, FNFV, FORM, FRC, FSFG, FSL, FSS, FUN, FV, G, GK, GLOB, GMK, GRP.U, HAR, HBI, HDB, HOLX, HPI, HPS, HTLF, HXL, IART, ICUI, IFEU, IG, IGT, IMH, INAP, INCY, INTL, INTU, ISIL, ISLE, ISSI, JCI, JEQ, JTP, JYNT, KEYS, KMG, KOPN, LBRDK, LBY, LEG, LFUS, LH, LOGM, LULU, LUX, MAG, MCHP, MCRL, MDVN, MGLN, MHK, MLR, MO, MODN, MPWR, MSCC, NCLH, NICE, NSAT, NTWK, NVDA, NXPI, NYCB, OCUL, OMAM, OMC, ONEQ, ONFC, ONNN, PAM, PINC, PMCS, PNFP, PRFZ, PSCD, PSCH, PSCI, PSCT, PSEM, PSF, PTLA, QQEW, QQQ, QQXT, QTEC, RAI, RGEN, RHP, RIOM, ROST, RVSB, SAAS, SBAC, SCHL, SCI, SCS, SEMI, SERV, SIRI, SMTC, SONC, SOXX, STBZ, STWD, SWKS, SXT, TCON, TEL, TGS, THOR, TNET, TQQQ, TREE, TSRO, TW, TXN, TYL, UA, UHS, UNFI, UNTD, UVE, V, VGR, VICR, VMC, VONG, VOYA, VTWG, VTWO, WBA, WBB, WBS, WCIC, WMS, WNC, WOOF, WSO, WSO.B, WST, WU, WWAV, WWW, WYN, XBKS, XENT, XL, ZAGG, ZIOP, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AKO.A, ATNM, ATNY, AXU, BIOS, BPTH, BPZ, CAE, CHK, CIB, CNP, CUI, CVSL, CWEI, EGAN, EGF, ESV, ETAK, FENG, FIVE, GIFI, GLOW, GNI, GOL, HERO, HLX, I, ISH, KOP, LL, MCF, MNI, MSM, NRG, NUTR, OESX, OGE, PERF, PGN, PRXI, PSMT, QIHU, ROYL, SCHN, SEED, SPRO, SQQQ, TDW, UG, WBAI, WILN, WTW, ZINC, ZSAN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DIA, IGN, IHF, ITA, IWF, IWM, IYH, IYK, PSK, QQQ, RTH, SMH, SOXX, UUP, UWM, XLK, XLV, XLY, XRT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EPU, JO, SGG

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From Briefing.com: Tuesday was a day of attrition on Wall Street as the major stock indices fell prone to profit taking one day after the Nasdaq Composite closed above 5,000 for the first time since March 2000 and both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 established new record closing highs.

The selling began at the open and continued throughout the morning. A rebound effort in the afternoon helped pare larger losses, yet by the closing bell the major indices were still entrenched in negative territory.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.8%), which was a leading gainer on Monday, was one of the biggest laggards on Tuesday. 59 of its 66 components closed Tuesday with a loss.

It just so happened, though, that Apple (AAPL 129.36, +0.27, +0.2%) was one of the handful of stocks that closed with a gain. In doing so, it helped keep the sector from suffering a larger decline.

Notable news from sector components included the following:

Accenture (ACN 90.84, -0.34, -0.4%): Announced multi-year agreement with APG to optimize the pension provider's operations; financial terms not disclosed

Akamai Technologies (AKAM 69.86, -1.27, -2.0%): disclosed in its 10-K that it is conducting an internal investigation, with the assistance of outside counsel, relating to sales practices in a country outside the U.S. The investigation includes a review of compliance with the requirements of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other applicable laws and regulations by employees in that market. If violations are found, it may be subject to penalties, which could include substantial fines.

Alliance Data (ADS 279.20, -3.09, -1.1%): Reiterated guidance from February 5, saying it sees 2015 EPS of approximately $6.5 bln (+23% y/y) and EPS of $14.80 (+18% y/y); Company sees 2015 adjusted EBITDA of $1.8 bln.

Cisco (CSCO 29.54, -0.65, -2.2%): Announced that EE, the UK's largest mobile network operator, is deploying Cisco small cells to support its growing base of enterprise customers. Cisco's end-to-end small cell solutions will scale to be suitable for small, medium and large enterprise buildings. Separately, announced that Telecom Italia intends to deliver new Cisco-enabled managed business services, including Cisco Meraki, to organizations throughout Italy as part of its innovative LAN management offering.

FLIR Systems (FLIR 32.73, -0.09, -0.3%): Announced that Tony Trunzo, Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, has resigned effective March 27, 2015, to pursue other professional opportunities. Dave Muessle, Vice President, Corporate Controller and the Company's Principal Accounting Officer, who joined FLIR in 2000, will work closely with Tony in transition and serve as interim Chief Financial Officer until a permanent Chief Financial Officer is appointed. In addition, the Company announced that Shane Harrison has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy, effective immediately.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 34.57, -0.35, -1.0%): Disclosed deal to acquire Aruba Networks (ARUN 24.41, -0.24, -1.0%) contains $90 mln termination fee. The merger agreement contains specified termination rights for HP and Aruba, including in the event that the Merger is not consummated by February 28, 2016. Aruba will be required to pay HP a $90 million termination fee in the event that the Merger Agreement is terminated by HP following a change of recommendation by Aruba's board of directors or if Aruba terminates the Merger Agreement to enter into an agreement with respect to a proposal from a third party that is superior to HP's, in each case, as is more particularly described in the Merger Agreement. Under certain additional circumstances described in the Merger Agreement, Aruba will also be required to pay HP a termination fee of $90 million if the Merger Agreement is terminated and, within twelve months following such termination, Aruba enters into an agreement for a business combination transaction of the type described in the relevant provisions of the Merger Agreement, or such a transaction is consummated.

IBM (IBM 161.03, +0.55, +0.3%): commented at Morgan Stanley Conference that three approaches are currently slated to monetize Watson: (1) Customized implementations: CFO highlighted Healthcare applications that utilize custom solutions to leverage large data sets (2) Standardized implementations: CFO highlighted Financial Services and Call Center business model applications, where standardized software functionality is the norm and (3) Watson Ecosystem: CFO highlighted hosting an open environment of allowing client modification of Watson software to its specific needs- mentioned Travel company applications currently being observed

MasterCard (MA 90.96, -1.05, -1.2%): Announced a partnership with Steward Bank, Zimbabwe's most innovative bank, which will make remittance services available to the bank's more than 1.5 million account holders. For the first time, the bank's customers will be able to receive funds sent by family and friends abroad directly into their Steward Bank accounts. Also announced an agreement with eTranzact International plc, a pan-African mobile banking and payment services company, to make international remittance services available to millions of consumers in Nigeria. Separately, the Government of Egypt and MasterCard announced thedetails of a recent Memorandum of Understanding that will aim to extend financial services to 54 million Egyptians.

Red Hat (RHT 68.50, -1.16, -1.7%): Announced the launch of the Red Hat Cloud Innovation Practice, a new global team of experts that will assist companies with more quickly on-ramping to the cloud. They will do this by providing solutions and services such as validated designs with reference architectures and agile methodology consulting, training, and support.

Western Digital (WDC 105.57, -3.21, -3.0%): Company announced that HGST has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Amplidata, a privately-held developer of object storage software for public and private cloud data centers. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. HGST is a wholly owned subsidiary of WDC. The acquisition supports the company's strategy to expand into higher value data storage platforms and systems that deliver breakthrough value and scalability to address the massive growth in storage requirements in cloud data centers.

In industry news, Gartner says smartphone sales surpassed one billion units in 2014. Worldwide sales of smartphones to end users had a record fourth quarter of 2014 with an increase of 29.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 to reach 367.5 million units. Samsung lost the No.1 spot to Apple in the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2014.Elsewhere in the technology space:

BlackBerry (BBRY 10.96, -0.09, -0.5%): Introduced the new BlackBerry Leap smartphone for 4G LTE networks -- an all-touch smartphone in a modern and powerful design that is built for career builders and companies who value security and privacy when pushing their productivity to the next level.

Ericsson (ERIC 12.75, -0.16, -1.2%): Company and Saudi Telecom Company have teamed up to deploy Ericsson's state-of-the-art Radio Dot System solution. 4:10 pm : The stock market endured a broad-based retreat on Tuesday that caused the S&P 500 (-0.5%) to surrender the bulk of its advance from Monday. The benchmark index settled ahead of the Nasdaq Composite (-0.6%) with eight sectors registering losses. All in all, it is worth pointing out that today's pullback occurred after the S&P 500 rallied nearly 3.5% in just three weeks, suggesting the retreat resulted from profit taking after a big run.

Equity indices began the day amid pressure from a few influential sectors like health care (-0.9%), technology (-0.8%), and industrials (-0.7%). The three sectors lagged throughout the day while the remaining sectors finished closer to their flat lines.

Health care and technology both suffered from losses among high-beta components. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 337.92, -1.83) settled lower by 0.5% after being down as much as 1.7% in the early going. Meanwhile, chipmakers pressured the technology sector after Micron (MU 29.67, -1.57) was downgraded to 'Neutral' at Nomura. Shares of MU fell 5.0% while the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index slumped 1.9%.

The relative weakness among high-beta names was not isolated to health care and technology components. In fact, homebuilders also lagged with the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 27.23, -0.43) falling 1.6%. However, the consumer discretionary sector (-0.2%) finished ahead of the market thanks to the relative strength of media names like CBS (CBS 62.80, +1.05) and Time Warner Cable (TWC 156.74, +1.23). Meanwhile, most retail names struggled, but AutoZone (AZO 652.00, +2.47), Best Buy (BBY 39.17, +0.54), and Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS 56.00, +0.58) gained between 0.4% and 1.4% after reporting better than expected results.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, energy (+0.2%) displayed relative strength throughout the day while crude oil fought to maintain its early-morning gain. The energy component jumped 1.9% to $50.54/bbl after testing its unchanged level shortly after the cash open.

Also of note, the utilities sector (+0.7%) settled in the lead, narrowing its 2015 decline to 6.0%. The remaining countercyclical groups registered losses, but consumer staples (-0.4%) and telecom services (-0.1%) settled ahead of the broader market.

Treasuries settled near their lows after sliding from their overnight highs. The 10-yr yield rose three basis points to 2.12%.

Tuesday's participation was a bit below average with roughly 727 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while ADP Employment Change for February (Briefing.com consensus 220K) will be reported at 8:15 ET. The ISM Services Index for February (consensus 56.5) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET while the Federal Reserve's March Beige Book will be released at 14:00 ET.


Nasdaq Composite +5.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.6% YTD
S&P 500 +2.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.1% YTD

DJ30 -85.26 NASDAQ -28.20 SP500 -9.61 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 960/1.87 bln/1931 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1256/728.2 mln/1820 3:45 pm :

WTI crude oil stayed in positive territory today and finished the day $0.96 higher at $50.54/barrel
Keep in mind that news/headlines of the U.S. running out of storage for oil will remain a popular topic for now
After gold and silver futures sold off late morning, both held losses near today's low
Apr gold closed $3.80 lower at $1204.20/oz, while May silver fell $0.16 lower at $16.29/oz
Natural gas held gains after climbing higher today... Apr NG ultimately closed $ 0.01 higher at $2.71/MMBtu
May copper fell $0.04 to $2.66/lb today

4:05 pm Ixia has amended its existing credit agreement and secured a new three-year, $100 million credit facility (XXIA) :

Effective March 2, 2015, the company's credit agreement provides for a revolving credit loan of up to $60 million and a term loan of up to $40 million. The credit facility also includes an accordion feature, which allows the company to request an increase of up to $80 million in the lenders' total commitments under the credit facility, potentially increasing the total amount available under the credit facility to up to $180 million

12:38 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

CVE (17.67 +3.82%): Closed its previously announced bought-deal common share financing for gross proceeds of ~ $1.5 billion; upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Mkts.
JD (28.4 +0.89%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.09, beat on revs; guided Q1 revs in-line.
AA (15.29 +2.27%): Announced that it completed the acquisition of privately held TITAL after receiving all of the required global regulatory approvals.

Large Cap Losers

SNN (34.44 -6.54%): Trading lower following Stryker (SYK) buyback news; There has been continued M&A speculation the last few months between SNN/SYK.
EC (14.92 -5.21%): Reported a Q4 loss, revs declined 12% YoY to COP$12,794.4 mln.
STX (58.14 -5.56%): Reinstated with a Underperform at BofA/Merrill; tgt $50.

Mid Cap Gainers

LEAF (47.85 +25.79%): Announced it will acquire OneMain Financial from Citigroup (C) for $4.25 bln; expects transaction to be accretive to 2017 earnings by $470 mln.
XON (43.88 +9.1%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.18 per share, $0.33 better than the two analyst estimate of ($0.15); revenues rose 335.4% year/year to $31.09 mln vs the $26.11 mln consensus; Price target raised to $50 at Mizuho.
ICPT (238.32 +5.67%): Summer Street out positive on the name, reiterates their Buy rating on the name with a $650 PT.

Mid Cap Losers

MNKD (6.04 -9.04%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman.
AKRX (48.55 -9.61%): Announces filing extension for Form 10-K for YE 2014.
SLW (19.95 -5.9%): Announced $800 mln in bought deal financing with underwriter syndicate led by Scotiabank; proposed sale of 38,930,000 common shares at $20.55/share

11:57 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (121) outpacing new lows (48) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAC, ABC, ABMD, ACAD, ALLB, AMAG, AMBA, AMOT, APD, ASMI, ASND, AVG, AVOL, AZO, BIO, BPOP, BRLI, BSFT, BX, CCK, CCU, CERU, CGNX, CHEV, CHTR, CODE, COMM, COWN, CPPL, CRMD, CRTO, CSTE, CSV, CTLT, DCM, DDS, DEPO, DGI, DGRW, DIS, DM, DNBF, DPLO, FICO, FMS, FNRG, FSL, FV, GLOB, GRX, GWB, HPI, IMH, INT, JACK, JCOM, JOUT, KYO, LBRDK, LBTYA, LBTYK, LEAF, LMCA, LMCK, LVLT, MAR, MBSD, MKL, MPG, MTG, MTSI, MTSN, NCLH, NEWT, NSAT, NSP, NTWK, NX, NXPI, OREX, PAM, PANW, PFLT, PTLA, PTY, RAND, RE, RGA, ROBO, RSG, SBH, SCI, SERV, SGU, SIRI, SMTC, SONC, ST, STBZ, STK, SWKS, SXT, SYKE, TCON, TGS, TSEM, TSRI, UNTD, V, VAC, VICR, VONG, VOYA, VTN, WAL, WBB, WM, WMS, WNS, WOOF, ZAGG

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACTG, AMZG, ATNM, BABA, BPTH, CACQ, CIB, COVR, CTBI, CWEI, DAKT, DBVT, EGAN, FENG, FRBK, GIFI, GNI, GRAM, HLX, I, IGOV, IHC, ISH, LFL, MCF, MIXT, MNI, NFG, OESX, OGE, PRIM, PSMT, QRHC, RELL, RNET, ROYL, SAEX, SCON, SGM, SMTX, SNMX, SWK, THST, TORM, UG, ULTR, VBLT, WILN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IYJ, PIN, XRT

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: DBA, EPU, JO, SGG

11:53 am Axcelis Tech: Vertex Capital Advisors issues statement following recent director nominees (ACLS) : "We were dismayed to read the February 13, 2015 Axcelis letter to stockholders; a letter we believe to be a fanciful communication whose central purpose appears to be an effort to obscure and divert attention from the longstanding reality at the Company: Axcelis has a storied history of poor operating performance, poor corporate governance, and miserable stockholder returns. It was not until the Company was faced with outside stockholder pressure from Vertex at last year's annual meeting of stockholders that the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") seemed prodded into action. Many of the "bold" actions the Axcelis Board touts in its letter to stockholders, appear to have been undertaken in reaction to our involvement and suggestions we made to the Company to create stockholder value."


"While the Company's three newly proposed nominees for election at the 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Annual Meeting") may help improve oversight, we note that none have any relevant ion implantation experience and two have no outside board experience. We fail to see how these new nominees are better than the more highly-qualified individuals we have nominated. Stockholders should question whether the addition of three new individuals nominated by the same Board that has failed Axcelis stockholders for so long, is just a textbook defensive move from an entrenched board. We believe that significant changes must still be made to the composition of the Board. "

9:37 am Solar Power announces additions to senior management team; Xiaofeng Lin joins as Chief Marketing Officer (SOPW) : Prior to joining SPI, Mr. Lin served as senior vice president at LeShi Holding, a leading internet video service company. Mr. Jianpin Cheng joins SPI as Vice President and is stationed in Beijing. Mr. Minghua Zhao joins SPI as Vice President and is stationed in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: For the second straight day, the stock market relented to profit-taking efforts that led to broad-based losses for the major indices. Unlike Tuesday, it was the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.6%) and S&P 500 (-0.4%) that led the losses on Wednesday.

Every sector ended the day lower with the exception of the health care sector (+0.4%).

Supported by gains in SanDisk (SNDK 82.68, +3.59, +4.5%), Yahoo (YHOO 43.99, +1.37, +3.2%), and Facebook (FB 80.89, +1.29, +1.6%), the S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.3%) held up relatively well and outperformed the broader market.

Notable news from sector components included:

Avago Technologies (AVGO 129.40, +1.18, +0.9%): A Reuters article, citing people familiar with the situation, said Avago is still looking for a potential acquisition after backing out of negotiations to acquire Freescale Semiconductor (FSL 40.38, -0.12, -0.4%), which recently agreed to be acquired by NXP Semiconductors (NXPI 99.47, +0.74, +0.7%).

Cisco (CSCO 29.34, -0.20, -0.7%): Announced it has established software resale agreements with Cloudera, Hortonworks and MapR for their industry leading Apache Hadoop Data Management capabilities and innovation.

Corning (GLW 24.75, +0.15, +0.6%): Announced that Gionee Communication Equipment Co. has chosen Corning Gorilla Glass 3 with NDR for both the front and back glass panels of its newly announced Ultra Smartphone Elife S7

Facebook (FB 80.88, +1.30, +1.6%): A Bloomberg article, citing people with knowledge of the matter, said that Facebook may introduce a competitor to Twitter's (TWTR 47.57, -0.14, -0.3%) MoPub

Fiserv (FISV 77.97, -0.53, -0.7%): Announced the launch of four new solutions on its Financial Crime Risk Management platform. These new solutions bring to market unique capabilities for financial crime prevention professionals to more effectively detect, investigate and resolve the most significant crimes affecting financial services companies across the globe.

IBM (IBM 159.42, -1.61, -1.0%): Acquired AlchemyAPI; financial terms not disclosed. IBM said the acquisition is intended to accelerate IBM's development of next generation cognitive computing applications, and significantly expands the Watson ecosystem, with 40,000 developers that have innovated on the AlchemyAPI platform, entering the IBM Watson developer community. Separately, IBM announced that SoftLayer will offer OpenPOWER-based servers as part of its portfolio of cloud-based services. With the new offering, clients will be able to select OpenPOWER-based "bare metal" servers when configuring their cloud-based IT infrastructure from SoftLayer, an IBM company.

MasterCard (MA 91.71, +0.74, +0.8%): Company and Citigroup have signed a new and expanded 10-year agreement; Citi will begin aligning its consumer proprietary credit and debit portfolios to the MasterCard network in 2015

NVIDIA (NVDA 22.44, +0.26, +1.2%): Introduced NVIDIA SHIELD, the world's first Android TV console, which delivers video, music, apps and amazing games to the home.

Yahoo! (YHOO 43.99, +1.37, +3.2%): Move in YHOO attributed to renewed speculation that Alibaba (BABA 85.49, +3.91, +4.8%) might acquire the companyElsewhere in the technology space:

Alibaba (BABA 85.49, +3.91, +4.8%): Following a sizable decline in the stock in recent months, the analyst at UBS defended the stock on CNBC. Separately, reports suggested the company's Ali Venture subsidiary to invest RMB 2.4 bln in TV program and film production company Enlight Media.

Ambarella (AMBA 67.43, +4.38, +7.0%): Reported Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.68 per share, well ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 61.8% year/year to $64.7 mln, also well ahead of estimates. Gross margin on a non-GAAP basis for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 was 64.3%, compared with 64.1% for the same period in fiscal 2014. Guides for Q1 revenue of $64-$68 mln and EPS of $0.53-$0.59. both forecasts were well ahead of analysts' average expectations. Notes that its view of the market has improved since last quarter. It now believes it can exceed its previous growth outlook

ARM Holdings (ARMH 53.88, +0.41, +0.8%): Going to collaborate with Tencent Holdings (TCEHY) to advance mobile gaming

Ericsson (ERIC 12.82, +0.06, +0.5%): Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with KT, South Korea's leading telecom provider, for collaboration on technologies related to next-generation networks, during Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Spain.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI 99.45, +0.72, +0.7%): Announced that the Barcelona Metropolitan Transport Authority will use MIFARE DESFire for their new mobility card, T-Mobilitat.

Qorvo (QRVO 72.02, +1.18, +1.7%): Announced it has commenced volume production of Qorvo's RF Fusion complete front end solution in support of a flagship 4G smartphone from a top-five smartphone manufacturer. The flagship smartphone is expected to launch in the first half of calendar 2015.

Sprint (S 5.21, -0.03, -0.6%): Sprint CFO disclosed purchase of 20000 shares, worth total of $102K (3/2 transaction date)

Analyst Action:

Amazon.com (AMZN 382.72, -1.89, -0.5%): target raised to $425 from $380 at Robert W. Baird; Outperform

Ambarella (AMBA 67.43, +4.38, +7.0%): target raised to $74 from $66 at Canaccord Genuity; Buy... target raised to $64 from $50 at Deutsche Bank; Hold... Stifel raises their AMBA tgt to $73 from $64... Ascendiant Capital Markets raises their AMBA tgt to $72 from $65... Topeka Capital Markets raises their AMBA tgt to $75 from $62; Buy.

Amphenol (AMPH 14.49, +0.47, +3.4%): target raised to $60 from $58 at RBC Capital Markets; Top Pick

F5 Networks (FFIV 119.24, +0.23, +0.2%): initiated with Outperform at Wedbush; target $140

T-Mobile US (TMUS 32.68, -0.08, -0.2%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BTIG Research

4:10 pm : The stock market registered its second consecutive retreat on Wednesday with the S&P 500 losing 0.4%. The benchmark managed to cut its loss in half by the closing bell while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) outperformed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq remains higher by 0.1% week-to-date while the S&P 500 is down 0.3% since the end of last week.

For the second day in a row, the market opened amid broad pressure, but heavily-weighted health care and technology sectors hit their lows during the opening hour and climbed off those lows into the afternoon. The health care sector (+0.4%) registered a modest gain while technology (-0.3%) finished ahead of most other cyclical sectors.

Biotechnology contributed to the outperformance of the health care sector with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 340.09, +2.17) climbing 0.6%. In addition, the high-beta group helped the Nasdaq stay ahead of the broader market while chipmakers also displayed relative strength with the PHLX Semiconductor Index shedding 0.1%. Meanwhile, large cap components of the tech sector ended on a mixed note. Apple (AAPL 128.54, -0.82) lost 0.6% while Facebook (FB 80.90, +1.30) added 1.6%.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, energy (-0.2%) settled among the outperformers despite a late-morning slide to lows after the EIA storage report showed that crude inventories increased by 10.3 million barrels from the prior week. Like the sector, crude oil fell to lows on the news, but came back roaring to end the pit session higher by 1.9% at $51.50/bbl.

Also of note, the consumer discretionary sector (-0.6%) lagged throughout the session with Lumber Liquidators (LL 35.64, -5.14) tumbling 12.6% after the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation took interest in the company following reports it imported laminate flooring containing significant amounts of formaldehyde.

Over on the countercyclical side, the health care sector represented the lone outperformer while consumer staples (-0.8%), telecom services (-1.2%), and utilities (-0.6%) lagged throughout the trading day.

Treasuries notched their highs in the morning, but surrendered those gains in the early going, and spent the afternoon near the unchanged level. The 10-yr note ended flat with its yield at 2.12%.

Today's participation was in-line with recent trends as roughly 705 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included ADP Employment, ISM Services, and MBA Mortgage Index:


The ADP National Employment Report revealed that employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose by 212K in February while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 220K
The January reading was revised up to 250,000 from 213,000
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index increased to 56.9 in February from 56.7 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a drop to 56.5
The improvement in the headline index comes despite weakness in production and orders. The Business Activities/Production Index fell to 59.4 from 61.5 while the New Orders Index declined to 56.7 from 59.5
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index ticked up 0.1% to follow last week's 3.5% decline

Tomorrow, the Challenger Job Cuts report for February will be released at 7:30 ET while weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 295K) and Q4 Productivity (consensus -2.3%)/Unit Labor Costs data (consensus 2.9%) will be released at 8:30 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the January Factory Orders report (consensus 0.6%).

Nasdaq Composite +4.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.3% YTD
S&P 500 +1.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.5% YTD

DJ30 -106.41 NASDAQ -12.76 SP500 -9.25 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1130/1.73 bln/1647 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1175/706.5 mln/1886

3:40 pm :

Oil prices displayed some volatility today, but ultimately closed higher
Oil showed some strength following Saudi price increase on Asian and U.S. oil exports, but reversed lower following the weekly EIA storage data
However, that didn't hold and crude began to rally, finishing today's session $0.96 higher at $51.50/barrel
In other energy , Apr natural gas rose $0.06 to $2.77/MMBtu
Metals weren't very interesting today. Precious metals declined, while copper ended flat
Apr gold fell $3.00 to $1201.20/oz, while May silver lost $0.12 to $16.17/oz

4:33 pm Semtech beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 below consensus (SMTC) :

Reports Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.34 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.33; revenues rose 3.1% year/year to $130.4 mln vs the $130.09 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.27-0.30, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.37 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $130-136 mln vs. $136.36 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:08 pm Vivint Solar beats by $0.16, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus (VSLR) : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.36 per share, $0.16 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.52); revenues rose 248.2% year/year to $6.86 mln vs the $6.01 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $8.0-8.5 mln vs. $9.08 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees Q1 MW Installed: 40 to 42 MWs Sees FY15 MW Installed: 290 - 310 MWs

4:02 pm Interdigital Comm intends to offer $275 mln aggregate principal amount of Senior Convertible Notes due 2020 in a private offering (IDCC) : The co expects to use a portion of the net proceeds from the offering of the notes and the proceeds from the sale of the warrants to fund the cost of the convertible note hedge transactions.

12:23 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

HCA (75.45 +6.58%): Healthcare names outperform as oral arguments on Obamacare are presented; a final decision is expected in June.
YHOO (43.34 +1.69%): Renewed Alibaba (BABA) for Yahoo chatter.
BBY (39.75 +1.45%): Wave of analyst rating changes following earnings, including price target increases to $45 at JP Morgan and Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey, and a price target increase to $50 at BB&T Capital Mkts.

Large Cap Losers

AA (14.44 -4.9%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill.
RIO (45.93 -2.38%): Story in the Business Spectator downplaying the potential merger between Rio and Glencore (GLNCY).
KMX (64.91 -3.68%): Downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird.

Mid Cap Gainers

ATHM (43.77 +13.99%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.10, beat on revs; guided Q1 revs above consensus.
W (28.94 +14.61%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.10, beat on revs; guided Q1 revs above consensus.
AEO (16.3 +9.99%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.02 after raising guidance in January, beat on revs; guided Q1 EPS above consensus.

Mid Cap Losers

TNET (33.19 -12.38%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.11 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.37; revenues rose 25.3% year/year to $603.7 mln vs the $573.37 mln consensus.
MIDD (100.47 -6.01%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.94 per share, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.98; revenues rose 15.3% year/year to $435 mln vs the $432.5 mln consensus.
ZAYO (28.04 -3.01%): Hearing initiated with a Sell at Drexel Hamilton; tgt $20.

12:18 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (96) outpacing new lows (85) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABCD, ABM, ACHC, ADMP, AEO, AFAM, AMAG, AMBA, AMC, ANAC, APH, ASMI, AVG, BBC, BCV, BLRX, BOTJ, BRLI, BRP, BSQR, BURL, BX, CAPN, CBPO, CHE, CHEV, CLDX, CMCSA, CMCSK, CNC, CNDO, COLM, CPIX, CRI, CRMD, CSV, CSWC, DDS, DEPO, DLPH, FLKS, FMB, FNRG, FRC, GLOB, GMK, GWB, HAIN, HASI, HCA, HPI, HSP, IBP, INDY, INT, JRN, JTP, LARK, LBRDK, LBTYA, LBTYK, LH, LHCG, LLNW, LMCK, MKTX, MMU, MRCC, NBIX, NID, NLNK, NSP, OLN, OMER, PAM, PTLA, RHP, SBBX, SBFG, SMTC, SPTN, SSP, STMP, SYBT, TGT, TWC, UEPS, UHS, UNTD, VMC, WBB, WMS, WNS, WWAV, XON, ZIOP

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ADGE, AGYS, AHGP, AMZG, ANF, ASRV, ATNM, AVAL, AXU, BAK, BOCH, CACQ, CHK, CIB, COVR, CPL, CRRS, CTG, CWEI, DBVT, DSCI, DV, EHTH, EJ, ELRC, ENOC, FAST, FCTY, FIVE, FSTR, GAIA, GLDD, GLF, GLRI, GOL, HLX, HSBC, I, IGOV, JONE, KOF, MCF, MNI, MSM, MTLS, MX, NFG, NGG, NOR, NSPR, OESX, ORMP, PCO, PGN, PHIIK, PQ, PRAA, PRIM, PRXI, PSMT, QRHC, RCI, RNET, ROYL, RUSHA, SCHN, SFUN, SIF, SJR, SMTX, SNMX, STRL, TDW, TSU, TTF, UG, ULTR, VBLT, VRTS, WILN, WIN, WTW, XRA, ZSAN, ZU

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IHF, PSK, UUP, XBI

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BWX, DBA, EPU, FXE, JJA, SGG

7:50 am ReneSola beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus; guides FY15 revs below consensus (SOL) : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.08 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.13); revenues fell 11.8% year/year to $387 mln vs the $355.08 mln consensus. Total solar module shipments were 488.4 megawatts, exceeding previous guidance and representing an increase of 5.7% from Q3 2014. Total solar wafer and module shipments in Q4 2014 were 744.3 MW, representing an increase of 12.1% from 663.9 MW in Q3 2014, and a decrease of 5.1% from 784.1 MW in Q4 2013.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $360-380 mln vs. $392.30 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; and gross margin to be in the range of 14% to 16%.Co issues downside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $1.5-1.6 bln vs. $1.68 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. For year 2015, the Company does not have any plans for internal capacity expansion.

6:10 am Trina Solar reports Q4 EPS in-line, beats on revs (TSL) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.13 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.13; revenues rose 34.1% year/year to $705 mln vs the $642.92 mln consensus.

Total module shipments were 1,098.8 MW (guidance of 1.045-1.095 MW), consisting of 1,070.5 MW of external shipments and 28.3 MW of shipments to the Company's own downstream power projects. This compares with total shipments of 1,063.8 MW, consisting of 936.8 MW of external shipments and 127 MW of shipments to the Company's own downstream power projects, in the third quarter of 2014. Q1 Guidance: The Company expects to ship between 840 MW to 870 MW of PV modules, of which 60 MW to 70 MW of PV modules will be shipped to the Company's downstream PV projects.

FY15 Guidance 2015: Manufacturing Capacity The Company expects to achieve annualized capacity at the end of 2015: Ingot production capacity of ~2.8 GW Wafer capacity of ~2.3 GW PV cell capacity of ~3.5 GW Module capacity of ~4.8 GW. The co expects total PV module shipments between 4.4 GW and 4.6 GW, of which 700 MW to 800 MW of PV modules will be shipped to the Company's downstream projects. The total shipment volume represents an increase of 20% to 26 % from 2014.

5:24 am SunEdison offers new solar energy saver plan To UK Homeowners (SUNE) : SunEdison (SUNE) announced the launch of the new SunEdison Energy Saver Plan, a way for UK homeowners to potentially save up to 15% on their electricity bill with zero upfront cost. SunEdison is the first company in the UK to offer this type of solar product to the residential market, and is unveiling the new solution at EcoBuild

12:00 am ARM Holdings and Tencent (TCEHY) Games collaborate to advance mobile gaming (ARMH) : ARM (ARMH) and Tencent Games today announced a strategic partnership aimed at enriching mobile gamers' graphic experiences. Through this partnership, Tencent mobile game developers will gain access to a wide range of leading-edge hardware, tools and expertise. This will enable the development of games that efficiently deliver superior 2D and 3D graphic experiences including the most complex geometries, richer textures and faster frame rates. As a result of the collaboration, gamers in China will benefit from an improved mobile gaming experience.

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market began the week on an upbeat note with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.8%) pacing the Monday advance. The price-weighted index settled well ahead of the S&P 500 (+0.4%) while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%) spent the bulk of the day near its flat line.

Equity indices climbed out of the gate with cyclical sectors fueling the early advance. Meanwhile, countercyclical groups struggled early, but only the telecom services sector (-0.3%) failed to turn positive by the closing bell.

Eight of ten sectors finished the day in the green with industrials (+0.9%) settling in the lead. The sector benefitted from solid gains among large cap names like 3M (MMM 166.37, +2.01), Boeing (BA 154.75, +1.63), and Caterpillar (CAT 80.81, +0.75) with the three Dow components advancing between 0.9% and 1.2%. The trio helped the Dow climb throughout the session while the Nasdaq underperformed due to relative weakness in biotechnology and major chipmakers like Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM 23.45, -0.64) and Intel (INTC 32.71, -0.48).

Furthermore, the top-weighted Nasdaq component-Apple (AAPL 127.09, +0.49)-showed intraday volatility, but ended higher by 0.4% after introducing new features to its MacBook lineup and unveiling the Apple Watch with retail prices for the latter ranging from $349 to more than $10,000 for a premium version crafted with gold alloys. As for the broader technology sector (+0.5%), the group struggled in the early going, but finished among the leaders.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, the discretionary space (+0.5%) also settled ahead of the broader market with shares of McDonald's (MCD 97.71, +0.58) shrugging off a 1.7% decline in February global sales that included a 4.0% drop in domestic sales.

On the downside, the energy sector (-0.7%) started in the lead, but settled at the bottom of the leaderboard even though crude oil advanced 0.7% to $49.96/bbl.

Treasuries began climbing overnight and continued their rally during the session to send the 10-yr yield lower by five basis points to 2.20%. The advance followed news that the Eurogroup rejected some of the reforms proposed by Greece. The two sides met once again today, but the meeting did not produce any joint statements.

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

Tomorrow, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for January and the January Wholesale Inventories report (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%) will be released at 10:00 ET.


Nasdaq Composite +4.4% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.5% YTD
S&P 500 +1.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.0% YTD

DJ30 +138.94 NASDAQ +15.07 SP500 +8.17 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1550/1.57 bln/1239 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1627/726.8 mln/1450

3:35 pm :

Natural gas futures sunk lower today on a warm weather outlook.
Front-month nat has (Apr) ended today's session $0.17 lower (or -6%) to $2.67, closing near the day's low.
WTI crude oil slid off of its HoD, which was hit in the morning session.
Apr crude ultimately finished the day $0.34 higher at $49.96/barrel.
Gold and silver slid off of today's highs, which were hit mid-morning. Apr gold rose $2.40 today to $1166.60/oz, while May silver -0.02% at $15.79/oz May copper +0.06 to $2.67/lb

2:39 pm Apple: AAPL reverse to session lows as the Apple Watch Event has concluded (AAPL) :

2:38 pm Apple confirms Apple Watch will be available on Friday, April 24 to customers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US (AAPL) : Beginning April 10 in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US, Apple Watch will be available for preview, try-on by appointment at Apple's retail stores, and available for pre-order through the Apple Online Store. On April 24, Apple Watch will be available online or by reservation in Apple's retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers in China and Japan.

Apple Watch is available in three collections, Apple Watch Sport, priced at $349 (:US) and $399 (:US); Apple Watch, available from $549 (:US) to $1,099 (:US); and Apple Watch Edition, crafted from custom rose or yellow 18-karat gold alloys, with prices starting at $10,000 (:US). Apple Watch will also be available to preview or try on at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Isetan in Tokyo and Selfridges in London on April 10. Apple Watch will be for sale on April 24 at these select department store shop-in-shops, and at boutiques in major cities across the world including colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and Tokyo, Maxfield in Los Angeles and The Corner in Berlin.

1:55 pm Apple confirms the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display with the all-new Force Touch trackpad, fifth generation Intel Core processors and Intel Iris Graphics 6100, two times faster flash and longer battery life (AAPL) :

1:54 pm Apple confirms the all-new MacBook (AAPL) : Measuring just 13.1 mm at its thickest point, the new MacBook design is 24% thinner than the 11-inch MacBook Air. With a new precision-milled unibody enclosure featuring integrated Wi-Fi antennas and a top case with polished stainless steel Apple logo, MacBook is available in three finishes-gold, silver and space gray-and is the first MacBook with an all-metal enclosure.

1:31 pm Apple confirms ResearchKit, an open source software framework designed for medical and health research, helping doctors and scientists gather data more frequently and more accurately from participants using iPhone apps (AAPL) : ResearchKit turns iPhone into a powerful tool for medical research. When granted permission by the user, apps can access data from the Health app such as weight, blood pressure, glucose levels and asthma inhaler use, which are measured by third-party devices and apps.

New apps to aid research on Asthma, Breast Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes & Parkinson's Disease

11:38 am 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

MAC (91.87 +5.94%): Simon Property Group (SPG) proposes to acquire Macerich for $91.00/share in cash and stock.
ASX (7.63 +3.25%): Reported Feb net revs increased 16.9% YoY to NT$18.98 bln; also stories out speculating that Advanced Semi may be a supplier for the Apple Watch.
SSL (34.08 +2.16%): Reported H1 results of EPS of ZAR31.92 vs ZAR30.91 single estimate; expects an overall strong production performance for the 2015 financial year.

Large Cap Losers

AA (13.72 -5.25%): Announced it will acquire RTI Intl Metals (RTI) for $41/share in a stock for stock transaction valued at $1.5 bln; expects RTI to contribute $1.2 bln in revenues in 2019.
KORS (64.26 -2.61%): Price target lowered to $72 from $76 at Sterne Agee; maintain Neutral.
CHK (14.74 -2.83%): Extending downtrend with Natural Gas futures decline 4.5% on the day to $2.71/mmbtu.

Mid Cap Gainers

WLL (38.37 +12.75%): WSJ reporting that Whiting is considering a sale; also was upgraded to Buy at Guggenheim.
GLPI (35.28 +8.99%): Sent a letter to the Board of Directors of Pinnacle (PNK), conveying its offer to acquire the real estate assets of Pinnacle for GLPI shares in a transaction with an enterprise value of $4.1 bln.
WUBA (44.51 +6.69%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.13, beat on revs; guided Q1 revs above consensus.

Mid Cap Losers

BITA (59.59 -11.06%): Beat Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.06, beat on revs; sees breakeven Q1 (below estimates) on higher than expected revs.
BBRY (9.95 -6.75%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman; tgt lowered to $9 from $10.
FFIV (114.6 -2.85%): Downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

11:37 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (114) outpacing new highs (77) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABCD, ALN, AMAG, AMPH, ANAC, ARQL, ASX, AVID, AVOL, BLJ, BMA, BTN, BYD, CBMG, CEMP, CFI, CHDN, CHEV, CMCSA, CMCSK, CNC, COL, CPRX, CRMD, CRRC, DD, EBAY, FBMS, FL, FLTX, FNRG, GBNK, GV, GWB, GY, HCC, HSKA, HTBX, HZNP, INAP, INGN, IRCP, JKHY, JRN, JYNT, KAI, LJPC, MAC, MAG, MCRL, MEI, MERC, MMS, MSBF, MSCC, MXIM, NEWT, NICE, NVEE, OLN, ORBK, PAM, PFNX, PNK, PRQR, PTX, QURE, RCKY, RRD, RTI, SMMT, SSP, SWKS, TGS, TWC, VG, WMS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACRX, ACTG, ADAT, ADGE, AETI, AHGP, AKO.A, AMZG, AUQ, AVAL, AXPW, AXU, BIOS, BONT, BPT, CACQ, CAE, CHK, CIB, CIFC, CIG, CNX, CPAC, CPL, CWEI, DAR, DSCI, DWSN, DXM, EAC, EBR, EBR.B, EEML, EGAN, EGP, EJ, ELP, ERII, ESV, ETAK, FCO, FHCO, GEF, GEF.B, GEOS, GFA, GIFI, GLDD, GLF, GLOW, GOL, GSOL, IRET, ISH, ITUB, JOEZ, KEYW, KOF, KORS, LFL, LFVN, LL, MDSY, MERU, MX, NAO, NGD, NGS, NRP, OCRX, OESX, OPWR, ORIG, PBR, PBR.A, PERF, PGN, PPP, PQ, PRXI, QUIK, RCI, RDC, REDF, RL, RNET, ROYT, SAEX, SCON, SGF, SJR, SJT, SPDC, SVLC, TDW, TGD, TIPT, TRC, TRX, TSU, UG, ULTR, UNAM, UPIP, VALE, VALE.P, VBTX, VIV, WHLR, WILN, WIN, WTW, WYNN, XRA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EPU, EWZ, FXS, ILF, NLR, PPLT

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From Briefing.com: The broader market traded positive all day, and ended the session with all three major indices gaining more than 1% on the day with the Dow (17976.31, +263.65) up 1.49% leading the way.

The Dollar Index also went higher on the day and pending home sales came out during the day +3.1% M/M.

Among notable news today, albeit not aiding the stocks to follow the broader market into positive territory today, it was announced that large cap leaders Microsoft (MSFT 40.96, -0.11) and Yahoo! (YHOO 44.95, -0.15) would extend their Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement partnership.

The Electronic retailers were mostly higher on the day, driven by Best Buy's (BBY 38.75, +0.27) news over the weekend that it would consolidate its Canadian stores, Future Shop and Best Buy Canadian stores under the Best Buy brand. In addition, the company announced its intent to invest up to $200 million to further it's consolidation to the tune of expanding its workforce, which will be cut by the consolidation by 1,500 total full and part-time staff, the expansion of appliances to be offered at all locations, and upping the online shopping experience.

Semiconductors (SOX 703.74, +9.42) also saw relative strength on the day, as the index traded positive all day on the heels of last weeks INTC/ALTR acquisition news. Most notably, bullish analyst comments on Analog Devices (ADI 64.81, +5.97) pushed the stock up and drove the index higher. Barclays was out positive on the stock, upping its target to $70 from $55 while upgrading shares to Overweight.

Software/Programming name Catamaran (CTRX 59.83, +11.51) was also a large gainer on the day, up 23.8%, as it was announced that UnitedHealth Group's (UNH 121.00, +2.99) OptumRx would acquire the company for $61.50 per share in cash. UNH affirmed its $6.00 to $6.25/share earnings outlook assuming the absorption of all merger costs.

Among technology bellwethers, BRCD +2.88%, QCOM +2.77%, AAPL +2.53%, TXN +2.18%, EMC +1.86%, ORCL +1.88%, and CSCO +1.92% all outpaced the broader market (S&P 500 2086.20, +25.18).

In other news among technology names:

Nimble Storage (NMBL 21.37, -0.14) entered into a written settlement agreement with NetApp (NTAP 35.38, +0.28), effective March 16, 2015, that resolves all remaining claims in the parties' outstanding litigation matters. Both cases were formally dismissed with prejudice by the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California and Santa Clara County Superior Court on March 23, 2015.

Fujifilm (FUJIY 35.48, +0.12) announced the acquisition of Cellular Dynamics (ICEL 16.42, +8.48) for $16.50 per share. FUJIY aims to acquire all issued and outstanding shares of CDI's common stock for $ 16.50 per share or ~$ 307 million (on a fully diluted basis). It is anticipated that the tender offer will close during the second calendar quarter of 2015.

ChinaNet Online (CNET 1.67, +0.16) announced that it entered a service partner agreement with Baidu (BIDU 210.54, +3.21) to cross-sell branded services and products.

Spherix (SPEX 0.91, -0.03) announced updates with its cases with VTech, Uniden, and Verizon (VZ 49.12, +0.56) in which the Verizon case has been rescheduled from May 18, 2015 to August 10, 2015. Concerning the company's cases against VTech and Uniden, on March 19, 2015, judge Barbara Lynn issued a 106-page claim construction order, following the Markman Hearing which had been held on November 21, 2014.Among analyst actions:

GoPro (GPRO 43.58, +0.88): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Dougherty & Company; tgt $55

Xilinx (XLNX 42.68, +0.36): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at MKM Partners following last week's INTC/ALTR news

Oracle (ORCL 43.44, +0.80): Upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Mkts; tgt $50

Broadcom (BRCM 44.12, +1.21): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura

4:10 pm : The major averages rallied throughout the Monday session with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.5%) ending in the lead while the S&P 500 (+1.2%) and Nasdaq (1.2%) followed not far behind.

The key indices began the week on an upbeat note, aided by overnight news indicating China has loosened its lending requirements for purchases of second homes. In addition, Friday's dovish remarks from Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who said the Fed will move cautiously when raising rates, provided another measure of support.

All ten sectors ended the day with solid gains while the S&P 500 narrowed its March loss to 0.9%. Despite the month-to-date loss, the benchmark index will enter tomorrow's session with a quarter-to-date gain of 1.3%.

Overall, cyclical sectors had the best showing, but countercyclical groups held their own. Health care and telecom services ended at the bottom of the leaderboard, but both groups still gained close to 1.0% apiece.

The health care sector settled behind most other groups despite showing early strength that was fueled by biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 351.32, +3.86) ended higher by 1.1% after being up more than 1.5% at the start. On the M&A front, UnitedHealth (UNH 121.00, +2.99) gained 2.5% after agreeing to acquire Catamaran (CTRX 59.83, +11.51) for $61.50/share.

Over on the cyclical side, five of six groups ended ahead of the S&P 500 while the consumer discretionary sector (+1.0%) underperformed.

Interestingly, the energy sector (+2.1%) ended in the lead even as crude oil spent the bulk of the day in negative territory. The energy component tested the $47.75/bbl level before settling lower by 0.5% at $48.65/bbl. WTI crude will enter tomorrow's session down 11.5% for the first quarter versus a 2.7% decline for the energy sector.

Elsewhere, the technology sector (+1.2%) caught up to the broader market during the final hour, but Intel (INTC 31.46, -0.54) weighed. The heavyweight lost 1.7%, retracing a portion of its 6.4% spike from Friday afternoon that occurred amid reports the company has approached Altera (ALTR 42.82, -1.57) about a potential takeover. However, it was reported earlier today that the deal remains on track. For its part, the PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 1.4%.

Treasuries registered slim gains after spending the day in narrow ranges. The 10-yr yield slipped one basis point to 1.96%. On a related note, the Dollar Index (98.05, +0.76) spiked 0.8%, but the greenback strength had little impact on today's equity rally.

Today's participation was well below average with fewer than 660 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Personal Income/Spending data and Pending Home Sales:


Personal income increased 0.4% in February after increasing an upwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.3%) in January while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.3%
The increase was in-line with the 0.4% increase in aggregate earnings that was reported in the February employment report
Spending rose just 0.1% in February after declining 0.2% in January while the consensus expected an increase 0.2%
Core PCE Prices rose 0.1%, as expected
Pending home sales for February rose 3.1% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.4%

Tomorrow, the Case-Shiller 20-City Index for January will be released at 9:00 ET (Briefing.com consensus 4.6%) while March Chicago PMI (consensus 52.0) and March Consumer Confidence (expected 96.4) will be reported at 9:45 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite +4.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.3% YTD
S&P 500 +1.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.9% YTD

DJ30 +263.65 NASDAQ +56.22 SP500 +25.22 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1891/1.64 bln/886 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2297/659.3 mln/803 3:35 pm :

Heading into the close, WTI crude oil rallied sharply, rising over $1/barrel to around $48.69/barrel
By the time floor trading ended, May crude was down $0.22 at $48.65/barrel
May natural gas futures ended the day $0.01 higher at $2.65/MMBtu
Strength in the dollar index, helped weigh on precious metals all day
Apr gold ended the day $14.40 lower at $1185.50/oz, while May silver closed $0.40 to $16.68/oz

12:48 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


CTRX (59.9 +23.97%): To be acquired by UnitedHealth Group's (UNH) OptumRx business for $61.50 per share in cash.
ADI (64.58 +9.76%): Upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
NXPI (103.89 +3.97%): Favorable commentary on Friday's Mad Money.

Large Cap Losers

MYL (58.99 -4.28%): Announce the public offering of 35 mln ordinary shares held by subsidiaries of Abbott Laboratories (ABT).
MPEL (21.26 -2.05%): Downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill; tgt lowered to $21.40 from $26.40.
ALTR (42.38 -4.53%): Shares pulling back following a late-day surge on Friday on reports it may be acquired by Intel (INTC).

Mid Cap Gainers

ASPX (100.5 +41.73%): To be acquired by Teva Pharma (TEVA) for $101.00 per share in cash, representing ~$3.5 billion in equity value.
HZNP (25.18 +15.45%): Announced it will acquire Hyperion Therapeutics (HPTX) for $46.00 per share in cash or ~$1.1 bln on a fully diluted basis; expects combination to be immediately accretive to adjusted EPS.
DYN (30.57 +8.06%): Received final approval to acquire Duke Energy's (DUK) Midwest Commercial and Retail Business and Energy Capital Partners Asset Portfolios.

Mid Cap Losers

PLT (51.85 -3.9%): Lowered guidance for Q4 , sees Q4 (Mar) revs of $200 mln from $205-215 mln vs. $207.42 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees EPS below prior range of $0.67-0.75 vs $0.69 Capital IQ consensus.
LINE (11.06 -4.43%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
AEM (27.9 -3.29%): Miners under pressure with Gold futures declining $15 on the day to $1184/ozt. (GFI, AU, KGC also lower).

12:07 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (189) outpacing new lows (60) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAON, ABG, ACG, ADI, ADS, AIN, AIR, ALG, ALLE, ALOG, ALV, AMAG, AMOT, AMSF, AOS, ASPX, AYI, AZO, BANR, BFIN, BHLB, CAF, CASS, CATY, CBPO, CCK, CCL, CDXS, CEA, CFI, CHDN, CHMT, CI, CNC, CNK, CNXR, COKE, COL, COLM, CTB, CTRN, CTRX, CUK, CUNB, CW, DEI, DHI, DHIL, DK, DOOR, DOX, DRRX, DSPG, DVCR, EA, EBSB, EGBN, EIG, ESLT, ESSA, FBR, FCBC, FCHI, FDP, FFG, FIX, FLO, FRP, FRPT, FSFG, GB, GIS, GLOB, GMAN, GNC, GRUB, GRX, GY, HBNK, HBOS, HDS, HEI.A, HIFR, HLT, HMPR, HPTX, HRC, HW, HXL, HZNP, ICEL, IESC, IMH, INFN, INT, INUV, ITG, JFC, JRN, KAI, KFY, KMG, KMX, KNL, KONA, KSS, LARK, LEVY, LFC, LII, LNCE, LWAY, MDCA, MEI, MGLN, MHF, MKC, MKC.V, MLR, MOH, MRH, MSCI, MSG, MTH, MTS, MYRG, NCFT, NCLH, NVO, OLED, ORLY, PANW, PATK, PBF, PBH, PETS, PKI, PRFT, QUNR, RAD, RH, RHT, ROP, RYL, SABR, SBCF, SBH, SCHL, SCVL, SFNC, SHI, SHLM, SHOO, SIG, SJM, SOR, SPF, SPTN, SSP, STBZ, SUPN, SXT, TEVA, TGT, THOR, TIK, TJX, TOL, TRIL, TTC, TWOU, UAM, UFI, UNH, USAT, UWN, VASC, WAT, WBC, WBS, WDFC, WMS, WSO, WST, WU, WWAV, WWW, XL, ZNH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACRX, ACTG, APOL, ARCW, ARLP, ATNY, AXPW, CANF, CHEK, CHOP, DARA, DCTH, DWSN, EGL, ERII, ESBK, ETRM, EVAR, FF, FREE, FUEL, FULL, GOL, IMUC, INTX, ITEK, JMI, MDW, MEIP, MIND, MSB, MTGE, MYOS, NBS, NCTY, NNVC, OIBR, OIBR.C, ONVO, OPXA, PFIN, PKX, PTNR, PTNT, RCPI, RDC, RLJE, RTGN, SA, SHOS, SMTX, TAOM, TDW, VALE, VALE.P, WIN, WRN, XPL, YOKU, YUMA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: FXI, GXC, ITB, PFF

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: PALL, SGG, VNM

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From Briefing.com: US Equities fell sharply at the open, but have rallied to pare back at least some of those losses. There was only one key economic report released this morning, the ADP National Employment Report, which revealed that employment in the non-farm private business sector rose by 189,000 in March.

The S&P Technology Sector is down 0.64% just a few hours into today's session. Worst performers thus far include Avago Technologies (AVGO 124.17, -2.81, -2.2%), Electronic Arts (EA 57.49, -1.33, -2.3%), CA Incorporated (CA 31.95, -0.66, -2%), and Corning (GLW 22.26, -0.43, -1.9%). On the other hand, Sandisk (SNDK 65.31, +1.69, +2.7%), First Solar (FSLR 60.82, +1.03, +1.7%), Western Digital (WDC 91.67, +0.66, +0.7%), and Hewlett Packard (HPQ 31.36, +0.20, +0.66%) are the sectors outperformers.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.28, -0.25, -0.9%): Announced intent to acquire Embrane, provider of a lifecycle management platform for application-centric network services.

Corning (GLW 22.26, -0.43, -1.9%): Announced it has acquired iBwave Solutions, a creator of design software for in-building wireless solutions for a wide range of customers and system integrators.

Motorola Solutions (MSI 66.34, -0.34, -0.5%): Announced acquisition of PublicEngines, a provider of cloud-based solutions.

Yahoo (YHOO 44.22, -0.22, -0.5%): Announced the launch of Yahoo Autos, a new digital magazine that puts readers in the driver's seat with special access to unreleased cars, a redesigned new car research tool, exclusive interviews, breaking news and more.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

GoDaddy (GDDY): Priced its upsized 23 mln share IPO at $20.00 per share, above the expected $17.00-19.00 per share range.

TerraForm Power (TERP 37.66, +1.15, +3.2%): Together with SunEdison (SUNE 24.83, +0.83, +3.4%) confirmed the acquisition of 521 MW of wind power plants from Atlantic Power (AT 2.79, -0.02, -0.7%). The portfolio is expected to generate average annual adjusted EBITDA of $56 million and average annual CAFD of $44 million over the next 10 years. This represents a 9%1 unlevered cash-on-cash return.
Analyst Action:

Maxim Integrated (MXIM 34.73, -0.08, -0.2%): upgraded to Buy from Hold at Drexel Hamilton

Canon (CAJ 35.09, -0.28, -0.8%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup

SunEdison Semiconductor (SEMI 26.52, +0.70, +2.7%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup; price target set at $33.50

Hewlett Packard (HPQ 31.36, +0.20, +0.66%): upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies; price target raised to $41 from $37

Altera (ALTR 42.41, -0.50, -1.2%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus

ON Semiconductor (ONNN 11.21, -0.90, -7.4%): downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman
Cabot Micro (CCMP 49.72, -0.25, -0.5%): initiated Buy at Citigroup; price target $60

Twitter (TWTR 51.05, +0.96, +2%): initiated Buy at Jefferies; price target $65

Heartland Payment Systems (HPY 48.82, +1.97, +4.2%): price target raised to $60 from $53.50 at Piper Jaffray; Overweight
4:10 pm : The major averages kicked off April with a retreat that sent the S&P 500 lower by 0.4%. The benchmark index settled in-line with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite, with the latter catching up during the final hour.

Equity indices spent the entire day in the red and could not rally following upbeat economic data from overseas. In fact, S&P 500 futures tumbled nearly 20 points last evening after China reported its first expansionary Manufacturing PMI (50.1; expected 49.7) in three months. Similar to China, most Manufacturing PMI readings from Europe also surpassed estimates with the region-wide reading rising to 52.2 (expected 51.9).

Interestingly, S&P 500 futures rallied off their overnight lows, but could not climb above the spot where the overnight selling commenced. Once the cash session began, the S&P 500 quickly returned into the neighborhood of its overnight low.

The benchmark index managed to erase half of its opening decline, but eight sectors finished the day in negative territory. The heavily-weighted health care sector (-1.2%) was the weakest performer and the only group that lost more than 1.0%. Large cap sector components struggled across the board while high-beta biotech names also lagged. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 340.08, -3.35) lost 1.0%. Unlike health care, the remaining countercyclical groups outperformed with telecom services (+0.8%) ending in the lead while consumer staples (+0.1%) and utilities (+0.1%) settled near their flat lines.

As for growth-sensitive groups, energy (+0.2%) and materials (+0.1%) eked out slim gains while technology (-0.4%) and industrials (-0.8%) kept the market under pressure.

The energy sector was underpinned by crude oil, which spiked 5.2% to $50.09/bbl after the latest EIA inventory report showed a larger than expected build. In addition, reports of a rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico provided additional support. For its part, the energy sector settled on its low after giving up its opening gain.

Elsewhere, the technology sector was pressured by chipmakers while most large cap components also struggled. The PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 0.6% while Micron (MU 27.13, 0.00) ended flat ahead of its quarterly report.

Also of note, the industrial sector owed its underperformance to transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average slumped 0.8% with airlines leading the decline after Deutsche Bank downgraded Delta Air Lines (DAL 43.26, -1.70), American Airlines (AAL 50.44, -2.34), and United Continental (UAL 64.01, -3.24).

Unlike equities, Treasuries climbed throughout the morning and spent the afternoon near their highs, sending the 10-yr yield lower by seven basis points to 1.87%.

Today's participation was ahead of recent averages with roughly 780 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included ISM Index, Construction Spending, ADP Employment, and MBA Mortgage Index:


The ADP National Employment Report revealed that employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose by 189K in March while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 225K
The February reading was revised up to 214,000 from 212,000
The ISM Manufacturing Index declined to 51.5 in March from 52.9 in February while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decrease to 52.5
Nearly all of the regional manufacturing surveys pointed toward a sharp deceleration in the national manufacturing index so the drop in the ISM Index shouldn't have been much of a surprise
Production levels actually improved, albeit by a very small margin, as the related index increased to 53.8 in March from 53.7 in February
Construction spending declined 0.1% in February after declining a downwardly revised 1.7% (from -1.1%) in January while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline of 0.3%
The unseasonably harsh winter weather conditions, which were blamed for a significant downturn in new housing starts, had little to no effect on overall construction levels
Total private construction increased 0.2% in February after declining 1.1% in January
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index rose 4.6% to follow last week's 9.5% spike

Tomorrow, the Challenger Job Cuts report for March will be released at 7:30 ET while Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 285K) and the February Trade Balance report (consensus -$42.00 billion) will cross the wires at 8:30 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the Factory Orders report for February (consensus -0.5%).

Nasdaq Composite +3.0% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.0% YTD
S&P 500 UNCH YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.7% YTD

DJ30 -77.94 NASDAQ -20.66 SP500 -8.20 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1313/1.72 bln/1746 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1623/781.4 mln/1433 3:40 pm :

Oil ripped higher today, rising above $50/barrel temporarily
Following ADP data this morning, oil, gold and silver rallied higher
Select Iran headlines today helped oil even higher. May crude closed $2.29 higher at $50.01/barrel
Gold and silver held morning gains today
June gold rose $25.30 to $1208.50/oz, while May silver gained $0.46 to $17.06/oz

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From Briefing.com: Major indices began the week on a positive note after an initial sell-off spurred by the disappointing job report released on Friday while cash markets were closed. Only 126,000 payrolls were added compared to the 250,000 consensus estimate. The report immediately weighed on futures, which traded in an abbreviated session on Friday, and may have sparked today's rally as fears of a June rate hike may be subsiding in the wake of lackluster economic data.

Nevertheless, stocks were able to rebound, with the major indices performing as follows: S&P 500 +0.66%, Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.66%, Nasdaq Composite +0.62%, and the Russell 2000 +0.39%.

The S&P Information Technology Sector Index outperformed the broader market on Monday as it gained 1% on the day. Top performers in the sector were Sandisk (SNDK 67.25, +2.68, +4.2%), Microsoft (MSFT 41.55, +1.26, +3.1%), NVIDIA (NVDA 21.67, +0.61, +2.9%), and Micron Technology (MU 27.43, +0.71, +2.6%). Meanwhile, Altera Corp (ALTR 41.21, -1.89, -4.4%), Western Union (WU 20.24, -0.67, -3.2%), F5 Networks (FFIV 111.74, -1.97, -1.7%), and Motorola (MSI 61.48, -1.03, -1.7%) weighed on the sector as its worst performers.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Google (GOOGL 543.95, +2.64, +0.5%): ChowNow announced a new partnership with Google that brings Google Wallet to thousands of independent restaurants across the United States. As of today all ChowNow restaurant clients' ordering apps have been updated to include Google Wallet at no additional cost, and all new restaurant clients will receive it as a standard feature.

Akamai Tech (AKAM 70.92, +0.08, +0.1%): Announced it has acquired Octoshape in a cash transaction. Octoshape's services are designed to help optimize the quality of video streams for over-the-top content and to enable Internet Protocol television solutions. The acquisition is not material to Akamai's financials, and the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Apple (AAPL 127.35, +2.03, +1.6%): TechNewsDaily reports that the new iMAc could have an 8k screen.

NVIDIA (NVDA 21.67, +0.61, +2.9%): Announced the judge presiding over our patent case against Samsung (SSNLF) and Qualcomm (QCOM 67.76, -0.21, -0.3%) in the U.S. International Trade Commission has returned a pretrial claim construction ruling that favors NVIDIA's preferred construction on nearly all of the claims that were disputed.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Dish Network (DISH 71.15, +0.19, +0.3%): Sling TV, a subsidiary of DISH Network Corporation (DISH), announced that DishWorld is now "Sling International." The move officially marries the largest provider of streamed international channels in the U.S. with Sling TV, the recently-launched provider of live, over-the-top domestic TV service. Sling International provides global programming from nearly 200 channels in 18 languages to U.S. households, starting at $15 per month.

TrueCar (TRUE 16.08, +0.37, +2.4%): TrueCar's Certified Dealer network totaled a best ever 10,680 franchise and independent dealer partners at the end of the quarter, up 38 percent from a year ago. Active franchise dealers increased by 607, the most for a single quarter, while the number of active independent dealers grew by 233. There were a total of 9,108 active franchise dealers as of March 31, while independent dealers totaled 1,572. Both figures are also record highs for TrueCar.

Cheetah Mobile (CMCM 21.29, +1.20, +6%): Announced it has signed a commercial agreement with Nanigans, Inc. Pursuant to the commercial agreement between Cheetah Mobile and Nanigans, Cheetah Mobile will be the exclusive partner of Nanigans in the Greater China region to manage campaigns for advertisers using Nanigans advertising automation software. In addition, Nanigans will be the exclusive third-party advertising automation software provider used by Cheetah Mobile for advertising spend in certain social and mobile apps, until the end of the term of the commercial agreement.

Comtech Telecom (CMTL 30.34, +0.12, +0.4%) Announced it was awarded $19.8 mln in orders to support the U.S. Army's blue force tracking program

DealerTrack (TRAK 38.02, +0.23, +0.6%) Announced it and Digital Air Strike have entered into channel and product agreements to help dealer clients drive lead response and generation opportunities.

Analyst Action:

Harris Corp (HRS 80.71, +2.01, +2.6%): upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays; price target raised to $88 from $76

VMWare (VMW 83.40, +3.04, +3.8%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura

ADTRAN (ADTN 19.11, +0.29, +1.5%): upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jeffries; price target raised to $17.75 from $16.25

Microsoft (MSFT 41.55, +1.26, +3.1%): upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo

Zillow (Z 97.17, -3.70, -3.7%): downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight at Barclays; price target lowered to $105 from $140

SAP AG (SAP 73.33, +0.57, +0.8%): downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo

Western Union (WU 20.24, -0.67, -3.2%): downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna

Qualcomm (QCOM 67.76, -0.21, -0.3%): downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at FBR Capital; price target lowered to $72 from $80

Integrated Device (IDTI 20.05, +0.30, +1.5%): initiated with a Buy at Topeka Capital; price target set at $24

Nova Measuring (NVMI 11.74, unchgd): price target raised to $15 from $13 at Needham; Buy
4:10 pm : The major averages began the week on an upbeat note after shaking off their opening losses that were brought on by a disappointing jobs report for March. The S&P 500 spiked 0.7% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) followed not far behind.

The Nonfarm Payrolls report for March was released on Friday and it disappointed on all fronts. Only 126,000 payrolls were added while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 250,000. Since the cash market was closed on Friday, the news weighed on the futures market, sending futures on the S&P 500 down 20 points.

Index futures were able to cut their losses in half by today's opening bell and the S&P 500 erased a ten-point deficit just 15 minutes into the session. The index spent the rest of the day in a steady climb with all ten sectors logging gains. Once again, the market interpreted bad news as good, rallying on the belief that the disappointing jobs report will cause the Federal Reserve to postpone its first rate hike.

Three sectors posted gains of 1.0% or more with energy (+1.8%) spending the bulk of the session in the lead. The growth-sensitive sector trimmed its 2015 decline to 1.3% with significant help from crude oil, which surged 6.1% to $52.11/bbl. This morning, Saudi Arabia announced it will hike its prices for oil exports to Asia for the second consecutive month.

Interestingly, crude oil held its ground during afternoon action even as the Dollar Index (97.03, +0.48) erased roughly half of its decline from Friday. Meanwhile, Treasuries retraced their entire spike from Friday, sending the 10-yr yield higher by seven basis points to 1.90%.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted technology sector (+1.0%) began among the laggards, but finished ahead of most other groups. Large cap names did some heavy lifting with Microsoft (MSFT 41.54, +1.26) jumping 3.1% after Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to 'Outperform' from 'Market Perform.' Meanwhile, chipmakers underperformed with the PHLX Semiconductor Index adding 0.5%.

Also of note, the industrial sector (+0.8%) outperformed even as transport stocks struggled. The Dow Jones Transportation Average lost 0.4% with airlines pacing the decline amid today's increase in oil prices.

Over on the countercyclical side, consumer staples (+0.8%) and utilities (+1.3%) outperformed while telecom services (+0.4%) and health care (+0.1%) lagged. Biotechnology kept the health care sector under pressure with iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 338.85, -0.85) shedding 0.3%.

Today's participation was ahead of recent averages with more than 885 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Nonfarm Payrolls and ISM Services:


Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 126,000 in March to follow a downwardly revised 264,000 (from 295,000) in February. The Briefing.com Consensus expected an increase of 250,000
That was the first time jobs growth did not exceed 200,000 since February 2014, and it was the smallest increase since 109,000 jobs were added in December 2013
Private payrolls increased by 129,000 jobs, down from a downwardly revised 264,000 (from 288,000) in February while the consensus expected the addition of 245,000 jobs.
Average hourly earnings increased by a solid 0.3% after increasing by only 0.1% in February, but those gains were offset a significant cut in the number of hours workers. The average workweek fell to 34.5 hours in March from 34.6 in February
Altogether, aggregate earnings increased by only 0.1% in March, down from a 0.3% increase in February, which is not sufficient to support consumption growth
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index declined to 56.5 in March from 56.9 in February while the Briefing.com consensus expected no change

Tomorrow, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for February will be released at 10:00 ET while the February Consumer Credit report will cross the wires at 15:00 ET (consensus $12.50 billion).

Nasdaq Composite +3.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.7% YTD
S&P 500 +1.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.3% YTD

4:16 pm MagnaChip Semi announces Notice of Noncompliance with NYSE continued listing standards (MX) : Co announced that, as expected, on April 1, 2015, the Company received a letter from the NYSE indicating that the Company is not in compliance with the NYSE's continued listing requirements under the timely filing criteria outlined in Section 802.01E of the NYSE Listed Company Manual as a result of its failure to timely file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014

4:04 pm Cohu announces termination of rights agreement (COHU) : Co announced that its Board of Directors approved an amendment to accelerate the expiration date of the Company's rights agreement from November 9, 2016 to April 6, 2015, effectively terminating the Company's stockholders rights plan as of this date. Stockholders are not required to take any action as a result of this expiration.

12:41 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

TSLA (205.42 +7.55%): Preannounced Q1 deliveries +55% y/y to 10.03k vs. ~9.5K guidance.
VTR (77.02 +5.18%): Announced it will acquire privately-owned Ardent Medical Services for $1.75 bln in cash; expected to be immediately accretive; also announced a plan to spin off its post-acute/skilled nursing facility portfolio.
VMW (83.84 +4.33%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura.

Large Cap Losers

ALTR (41.35 -4.06%): Under pressure as expectations for a reported acquisition by Intel (INTC) fade.
LUV (41.1 -4.11%): Airlines lower as WTI crude oil futures jump 5.2% to $51.70/bbl (AAL, UAL, DAL also lower).
MTB (124.24 -2.33%): Announced it was informed by the Federal Reserve late Friday that it will not be in a position to complete its review of M&T's proposed merger with Hudson City Bancorp (HCBK) in time to complete the Merger before the termination date of April 30, 2015.

Mid Cap Gainers

TRQ (3.48 +7.41%): Reports out that Rio Tinto (RIO) has reached agreement with Mongolia over building of Turquoise Hill's Oyu Tolgoi mine.
BRKR (19.98 +5.94%): Announced it received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for library and methods expansion for the MALDI Biotyper CA System; upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Leerink Partners; tgt raised to $24 from $21.
IMAX (35.98 +5.06%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity; tgt to $38 from $35.

Mid Cap Losers

GCI (35.94 -3.88%): Downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at FBR Capital.
Z (98.25 -2.59%): Downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.
CNX (28.51 -1.99%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

11:53 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (173) outpacing new lows (34) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABG, ACH, ACN, ADXS, AFAM, ALEX, ALLE, ALR, ALV, ARAY, ASR, ATRA, ATRO, AXL, AZO, BAM, BDC, BEP, BFIN, BGCP, BIO, BIP, BLKB, BLMT, BONA, CAF, CAG, CAJ, CBM, CCK, CDXS, CEA, CFI, CGNX, CHA, CHMT, CI, CLX, CMT, CTB, CW, CWST, CYAN, DEG, DEI, DHI, DHIL, DLPH, DOOR, DST, DVCR, DYAX, ELGX, ELLI, EPAM, ESLT, EVHC, EXPE, FCE.B, FLO, FMD, FRP, FSBW, FSRV, GAME, GIII, GIL, GILT, GIS, HAS, HBIO, HELE, HMN, HNI, HOLX, HPI, HPP, HRC, HRS, HW, ICLN, IMAX, IMH, IMKTA, INS, INUV, IPKW, JFC, KAI, KMG, KSS, KVHI, LAD, LB, LEA, LEN, LEN.B, LEVY, LFC, LII, LNCE, LO, LTM, LUX, LVNTA, MASI, MIG, MLI, MMS, MSCI, MTH, MTN, MTS, MUA, NAT, NCFT, NORD, NVO, NWHM, NWL, NXST, OMAB, PAG, PETS, PF, PRFT, PRTO, QUNR, QURE, RDI, RDY, RLGT, RMD, RWC, SABR, SHEN, SHI, SIX, SKOR, SMMT, SNA, SNE, SOR, SPF, SPNS, SPTN, SRLP, SSP, ST, STON, STRZA, STZ, SVU, SXT, SYUT, TA, TAYD, TGT, TNP, TOL, TRI, TRIL, TTC, TXT, UFI, USCR, VLTC, VRNT, WSR, WWAV, XLS, XRM, ZNH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AI, AMDA, APOL, AXPW, BELFA, CCM, CEQP, DCTH, EAC, ELLO, EOX, ESMC, EVRY, FSAM, GNI, GRMN, HPQ, IKAN, IMUC, ISDR, JST, KCAP, KORS, MFV, MIND, MXPT, OHRP, OSN, RESN, SFE, SYPR, UPIP, VTNR, ZHNE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: FXI, GXC, HAO, ITB

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EGPT, VNM

9:05 am Taiwan Semi certifies Synopsys (SNPS) design tools for 16-nm Finfet plus production and for 10-nm early design starts (TSM) :

SNPS announced that TSM has concluded 16-nanometer FinFET Plus v1.0 certification and reached the first milestone of 10-nanometer certification based on the most current DRM and SPICE model on a comprehensive list of Synopsys' custom and digital design tools.
This certification enables mutual customers to deploy tools in Synopsys' Galaxy Design Platform for 16-nm production designs and 10-nm early engagements.

8:00 am Veeco Instruments announces that KaiStar Lighting has ordered multiple TurboDisc EPIK700 MOCVD systems to ramp production of LEDs (VECO) : Co announces that China-based KaiStar Lighting has ordered multiple TurboDisc EPIK700 Gallium Nitride (GaN) MOCVD systems. KaiStar will use the EPIK700 systems to ramp production of LEDs for the general lighting market. Co says "We expect that 2015 will be the crossover year in which shipments of LEDs for general lighting will surpass shipments of LEDs for backlighting, with the Epistar companies being a significant driver of that trend."

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From Briefing.com: The stock market had another fitful day of trading, but unlike Tuesday, it was able to hold onto modest gains into the closing bell.

The Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%), aided by relative strength among large-cap technology issues and a strong showing from the biotech group, which rallied after Mylan (MYL 68.36, +8.79, +14.8%) made a premium offer to acquire Perrigo (PRGO 195.00, +30.29, +18.4%), was the standout performer among the major indices.

The S&P 500 (+0.3%) recouped Tuesday's modest loss and added a smidgen more for good measure. There was limited reaction to the FOMC Minutes from the March 17-18 FOMC meeting, even though it was indicated that "several participants" felt the data likely warranted a June rate hike. Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell's $70 billion cash-and-stock offer to acquire UK-based BG Group failed to ignite the energy sector (-1.0%), which followed oil prices (-6.5% to $50.44/bbl) lower after another bearish inventory report.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.2%) helped in the broader market's advance, but it was the health care sector (+0.9%) that led the way.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Akamai Technologies (AKAM 71.77, +0.69, +1.0%): Rubicon Labs, Inc. announced that Akamai Technologies has joined its previously announced Series "A" financing round as a strategic investor.

Google (GOOG 541.47, +4.45, +0.8%): According to a Bloomberg report, which cited a person familiar with the matter, Google is considering a subscription YouTube service

Microsoft (MSFT 41.43, -0.10, -0.2%): Digitimes details news that Microsoft Surface tablet shipments may reach 4 million this year

Qualcomm (QCOM 67.25, -0.07, -0.1%): Announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Life launched the HealthyCircles Mobile application, a medical-grade mobile care solution that is an extension of Qualcomm Life's web-based HealthyCircles Care Coordination Platform.

Oracle (ORCL 43.11, +0.15, +0.4%): Announced six new Oracle Retail cloud services that provide retailers with rapid access to enterprise-grade applications for managing critical e-commerce, customer engagement, order management, order fulfillment, loss prevention, and brand compliance operations.

SanDisk Corporation (SNDK 68.89, +1.19, +1.8%): Announced the launch of the company's new Enterprise Reseller Partner Program for North American, EMEA and worldwide partners

Western Union (WU 20.57, +0.49, +2.4%): Announced an agreement which allows Skype customers to top up their accounts across the United States. Under the agreement, consumers can now use Western Union services to purchase Skype Credit, which enables calls to mobile and landlines worldwide

Yahoo (YHOO 45.19, +1.58, +3.6%): The Information details news that Yahoo may make Tumblr organizational changes.Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alibaba Group (BABA 85.39, +3.18, +3.9%): Alibaba.com, the leading platform for Alibaba Group, announced that it has collaborated with ecommerce platform Bigcommerce to deliver an integrated shopping experience for sourcing products from Alibaba.com's extensive network of Chinese wholesale suppliers. Separately, Alibaba has launched an automobile business unit, according to reports

CalAmp (CAMP 16.85, 0.00, unch): Announced that the Vanguard 5530 multi-band router, the newest addition to the Vanguard series, now offers an extended set of LTE frequency bands making it compatible with cellular wireless networks worldwide, including the Verizon XLTE network

Cerner (CERN 73.21, +0.76, +1.1%): Announced it has collaborated with Tableau Software (DATA 97.23, +2.28, +2.4%) to enhance the data discovery experience of health care organizations through interactive data exploration. The integration of Tableau's visual analytics with Cerner's HealtheAnalytics and HealtheEDW enterprise data warehouse and analytic offerings enables health care organizations to manipulate data and make new discoveries.

Emulex Corporation (ELX 7.98, +0.01, +0.1%): Announced that its 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE) technology is being used in the HP Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 557SFP+ Adapter PCI Express 3.0 Network Interface Card (NIC) for the HP ProLiant Gen9 rack and tower servers.

Microsemi (MSCC 35.80, +0.85, +2.5%): Announced the expiration, on April 7, 2015, of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended applicable to its proposed acquisition of Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation (VTSS 5.26, -0.01, -0.3%) through its wholly-owned subsidiary LLIU100 Acquisition Corp.

Unisys (UIS 23.83, +0.57, +2.5%): Company announced that NASA has selected Unisys to compete for task orders to provide a range of information technology products and services to federal government agencies under the new Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V contract, which has a ceiling value of $20 billion over 10 years, including one five-year base period followed by one five-year option period.

VMware (VMW 82.58, -0.90, -1.1%): Announced the VMware Collaboration Bundle, a product suite that integrates AirWatch Content Locker file sync and sharing, Socialcast enterprise social networking and AirWatch Video distribution and sharing products

Workday (WDAY 88.00, +0.52, +0.6%): Has expanded its New York headquarters within the Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) portfolio, relocating from approximately 7,000 square feet at One Grand Central Place to 21,401 square feet on the 49th floor of the Empire State Building.
Analyst Action:

Apple (AAPL 125.60, -0.41, -0.3%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Societe Generale
Jabil Circuit (JBL 23.93, +0.68, +2.9%): upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James

SAP AG (SAP 72.93, -0.02, -0.1%): target raised to $85 from $78 at Barclays; Overweight

Xerox (XRX 13.10, +0.14, +1.1%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup; target raised to $15 from $12.50

4:10 pm : The stock market ended Wednesday on a higher note, but not before making a couple appearances in the red. The S&P 500 added a modest 0.3% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%) outperformed.

Equity indices climbed out of the gate with the Nasdaq receiving major support from biotechnology. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 notched its session high during the initial 30 minutes, but returned to its flat line shortly thereafter amid significant weakness in the energy sector (-1.0%).

The growth-sensitive energy space was pressured by a tailspin in crude oil futures after latest data from the American Petroleum Institute revealed that crude inventories increased by 10.9 million barrels since last week. As a result, total inventories have reached levels not seen at this time of the year in at least 80 years. WTI crude fell 6.5% to $50.44/bbl, erasing its Tuesday advance, and cutting into its gain from Monday.

Unlike energy, most of the remaining cyclical sectors ended near their flat lines while the consumer discretionary sector (+0.9%) outperformed after showing relative weakness yesterday. Today, however, the group enjoyed broad support, including relative strength among homebuilders. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 28.41, +0.40) climbed 1.4%.

Elsewhere, the health care sector (+0.9%) also displayed strength throughout the day, which was largely due to biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 352.01, +10.09) outperformed from the get-go and extended its gain after Mylan (MYL 68.36, +8.79) announced a proposal to acquire Perrigo (PRGO 195.00, +30.29) for $205/share. The news sent shares of PRGO higher by 18.4% while the biotech ETF advanced 3.0% and kept the Nasdaq in the lead.

Similar to biotechnology, the high-beta chipmaker space contributed to Nasdaq's strength with the PHLX Semiconductor Index advancing 0.7%. However, the technology sector (+0.2%) ended a bit behind the broader market following mixed action in large cap names. Google (GOOGL 548.84, +3.98) added 0.7% while Apple (AAPL 125.60, -0.41) lost 0.3% after Societe Generale downgraded the stock to 'Hold' from 'Buy.'

Treasuries ended the day on a modestly lower note with the 10-yr yield rising one basis point to 1.90%. The benchmark yield saw little reaction to the afternoon release of FOMC minutes that provided little clarity regarding the timing of the first rate hike.

According to the minutes, FOMC members were split over whether June would be the right time to begin raising rates. Several members believed that recent data and the outlook warranted a rate hike in June while others voiced concerns that the economic outlook would not be strong enough to support a rate hike in the near term.

The dollar was also discussed in the minutes with participants acknowledging that net exports would be hampered by the strong greenback. In addition, a few members voiced their belief that the dovish tone emanating from global central banks could lead to additional dollar strength.

Fittingly, the Dollar Index (98.02, +0.19) erased its intraday loss in reaction to the minutes, adding 0.2% for the day.

Today's participation was close to recent averages with roughly 750 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data reported this morning was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which ticked up 0.4% to follow last week's 4.6% increase.

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 285K) will be released at 8:30 ET while the Wholesale Inventories report for February will cross at 10:00 ET (expected 0.2%).

Russell 2000 +4.9% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +4.5% YTD
S&P 500 +1.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.5% YTD

DJ30 +27.09 NASDAQ +40.59 SP500 +5.57 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1814/1.56 bln/1004 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1864/747.6 mln/1170

3:35 pm :

Crude oil continued to hold its losses today, which began after the API reported bearish oil storage late yesterday
Overall, WTI crude fell over $3 since the API released its weekly storage data to below $50.50/barrel in recent trade
May crude finished the day $-3.52 lower at $50.44/barrel
In other energy, May nat gas lost $0.06 to $2.62/MMBtu
Metals lost ground as well with gold, silver and copper all posting modest losses
June gold fell $7.30 in pit trading today to $1203.30/oz, while May silver declined $0.37 to $16.47/oz
May copper closed $0.03 lower to $2.73/lb.

4:02 pm SunEdison announces the groundbreaking for the 22.6 megawatt DC Seven Sisters solar project in Southern (SUNE) :

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

PRGO (200.47 +21.71%): Mylan (MYL) announces it has delivered a letter to Perrigo's Chairman offering to buy the company for $205 per share.
YZC (11.78 +22.58%): Strength in U.S. listed Chinese companies after the Hang Seng soars almost 4% (ACH, ZNH, CHA among many higher).
HLT (30.15 +3.27%): Outperforming following reports Chinese investors looking to purchase hotel assets may be interested in a stake in Hilton.

Large Cap Losers

PNR (61.36 -4.81%): Co lowered its Q1 revenue and EPS guidance below consensus; price tgt lowered at RBC Capital Mkts and Stifel.
RDS.A (59.5 -3.95%): Confirmed it has offer to buy BG Group (BRGYY) for ~$70 bln.
CVE (17.36 -3.05%): Various oil & gas companies underperforming with WTI crude oil declining 5.6% on the day (CPG, ECA, CNQ, among many lower).

Mid Cap Gainers

TGI (66.35 +10.59%): Announced that the Board has appointed Richard C. Ill as President and CEO and that Jeffry D. Frisby has stepped down as President and CEO and as a director, effective immediately.
GPN (98.57 +6.87%): Beat Q3 consensus EPS estimates by $0.03, reported revs in-line; raised FY15 EPS slightly, reaffirmed FY15 revs guidance; announced $100 mln accelerated share repurchase.
DYAX (29.87 +6.47%): Priced its upsized 7.4 mln share offering of common stock at $27.00 per share.

Mid Cap Losers

LGF (31.55 -6.32%): Announced and priced its 10 mln share secondary offering by MHR Fund Management funds at $32/share; also disclosed it is tracking within the lower range of previously provided guidance for adjusted EBITDA of $1.2-1.3 bln over the three fiscal years ending March 31, 2017.
BIP (44.85 -2.24%): Announced an upsized equity offering that will result in gross proceeds of ~$890 mln.
TRCO (59.49 -2.54%): Announced a proposed secondary offering of 9,240,073 shares of its Class A common stock by certain stockholders.

12:20 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (149) outpacing new lows (34) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAXJ, ACH, ACWI, ADUS, ADXS, AEO, AFH, AGO, AHS, AMCN, ANAC, APB, ASR, AXTA, BAM, BCV, BLKB, BLMT, BONA, BSET, CAF, CBM, CBPX, CBZ, CCL, CDXS, CEA, CEB, CHA, CHL, CHXF, CIZ, CMN, COL, CORT, CSF, CUDA, CWST, CYN, DDS, DEG, DG, DHIL, DSGX, DXJS, DYAX, EEMA, ELLI, ENDP, ERI, ETE, FCHI, FDP, FDS, FICO, FLEX, FONE, FRPT, FSRV, GAME, GIII, GIMO, GLOB, GPN, GRX, GSH, HBOS, HILL, HLT, HMN, HPI, HRC, HSKA, HZNP, ICEL, ICLN, IMH, INSM, INTL, INUV, IPKW, IPXL, ISCA, ITG, JBL, JEQ, JFC, JOF, JTPY, KYO, LFC, LGND, LULU, M, MASI, MCO, MCS, MHO, MNTA, MRGE, MSLI, MTN, MUA, MYCC, MYL, NLS, NOAH, NORD, NTES, NVO, NYCB, OXM, PBH, PFPT, PNFP, PNQI, PRGO, QLYS, QQQC, RDY, SABR, SCMP, SFS, SGC, SHI, SMI, SNE, SNPS, SPR, SRCL, STE, TEVA, TREE, TREX, TRI, TRK, UA, UMH, UTHR, VIPS, VLGEA, VRNT, WFD, WTM, XL, XRM, YZC, ZEP, ZNH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAU, AKAO, AMZG, AXPW, BANX, BELFB, BJZ, CEQP, CFNB, FNJN, IEC, IMUC, IRG, KCAP, LFVN, LTRE, MIND, NURO, PESI, PRGX, PTNT, RGSE, SHG, SIF, SIFY, SPDC, SPPI, STRI, SYPR, TKC, VRS, XBKS, YUMA, ZEUS

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: EWH, EWJ, FXI, GXC, HAO, PIN, TAN, TAO

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: VXX

8:02 am Silicon Motion sees revenue and gross margin at high-end of guidance (SIMO) :

SIMO sees Q1 revenue roughly flat sequentially, at the high-end of its original guidance range of a sequential decline of 5% to 0%; this would equate to roughly $80.5 mln vs. $78.4 mln Capital IQ consensus.Sees Q1 gross margin (non-GAAP) is expected to be within 51 to 52%, at the high-end of the company's original guidance range of 50 to 52%.

7:01 am Trina Solar has been selected by Solarcentury to supply around 33,000 of its PC14 modules for a 9.9MWp solar farm project in Cocle province, central Panama (TSL) : The system will be one of the largest solar farms in Panama connected to the grid and sold on the spot market once completed.

6:06 am Aixtron has acquired privately held PlasmaSi, Inc. effective April 1, 2015 for up to $16 mln in cash (AIXG) : AIXTRON will integrate PlasmaSi's thin-film encapsulation process into its existing OLED cluster for customer demonstration purposes.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The stock market managed to string together some modest gains on Thursday, overcoming some morning weakness. Turnaround efforts coincided with the S&P 500 testing and holding technical support at its 50-day simple moving average (2074).

Buying efforts were fairly broad-based. The only sectors not participating were the defensive-oriented utilities (-0.5%) and telecom services (-0.1%) sectors.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.4%) posted a modest gain of its own, helped by advances in a number of its large-cap components. The semiconductor group was an actively-traded one on Thursday, not to mention a resilient group.

Before the open, CNBC's David Faber reported that Intel (INTC31.24, -0.07, -0.2%) ended takeover talks with programmable logic chip maker Altera (ALTR 43.33, +1.33, +3.2%) after the two companies could not agree on a price. Intel reportedly made an offer in the low-$50 per share range. Altera fell more than 7% after the initial report but came bounding back later in the session on speculation that it will ultimately be compelled to accept the premium offer. Its recovery helped drive a 1.3% gain in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX). In fact, the only member of the SOX Index that didn't trade higher was Intel.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Apple (AAPL 126.56, +0.96, +0.8%): Confirmed Apple Watch will be available for preview and pre-order on Friday, April 10. Customers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US will be able to pre-order the new device. AAPL said, "We expect that strong customer demand will exceed our supply at launch." Separately, TechCrunch reported that it has learned that Apple acquired keyboard app company Dryft

Autodesk (ADSK 62.82, +0.99, +1.6%): Announced its $10 million investment in Carbon3D from the Spark Investment Fund.

CA, Inc. (CA 31.44, -0.86, -2.7%): Disclosed that in an interview published on the Internet on April 7, 2015, Michael Gregoire, the Chief Executive Officer of CA, inadvertently referenced certain performance metrics for the Company's Enterprise Solutions segment. The statistics Mr. Gregoire cited were actually the Company's total new product sales performance for fiscal years 2015, 2014 and 2013, with one clarification - while the Company has not completed its year end close processes and audit, it expects that total new product sales for fiscal year 2015 will decline by an approximate mid-single-digit percentage when compared to fiscal year 2014, rather than the Enterprise Solutions segment being "pretty much flat" as referenced in the interview. The Company previously reported total new product sales performance for fiscal years 2014 and 2013 in its Annual Reports on Form 10-K for those years. The Company will report in full on these metrics for fiscal year 2015 when it releases its full fiscal year earnings.
Facebook (FB 82.17, -0.11, -0.1%): To introduce FB messenger for web browsers

FLIR Systems (FLIR 31.27, +0.36, +1.2%): Company announced that it has received the second full-rate production order under a five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to support the Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Dismounted Reconnaissance Sets, Kits, and Outfits program. The contract is for FLIR's integrated chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives threat response system and related spares and services. The follow-on order is for systems totaling $51.1 mln.

Intel (INTC 31.24, -0.07, -0.2%): CNBC's David Faber reported that Intel dropped talks to acquire Altera (ALTR 43.33, +1.33, +3.2%). Faber said that Intel had made an offer in the low $50's that was rejected by ALTR and that they were unable to ever agree on price. Separately, Intel announced the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne Leadership Computing Facility has awarded Intel a contract to deliver two next-generation supercomputers at Argonne National Laboratory

Salesforce (CRM 67.74, -0.47, -0.7%): Launched it next gen Sales Cloud B2B marketing automation. Powered by Salesforce Pardot, the new Intelligent Engagement Studio and Sales Cloud Engage will deliver adaptive lead nurturing, visualized campaign testing and mobile marketing tools

Teradata (TDC 45.89, +0.27, +0.6%): Announced that Premise Health has selected Teradata to provide a problem-solving cloud-based solution for analytic insight to enhance customer engagement and quality of care

Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX 43.32, +0.77, +1.8%): Announced that its All Programmable devices are enabling Blackmagic Design to develop complete 4K camera systems on a chip
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alibaba (BABA 86.14, +0.75, +0.9%): Reuters reported that Alibaba and its finance affiliate launched an e-commerce tracking stock index and plans for a June start of an internet bank.

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN 383.54, +2.34, +0.6%): Announced that Prime Now has launched in Austin. The service, offered exclusively as a benefit to Prime members, provides one-hour delivery on daily essentials. Separately, Amazon Web Services announced the availability of a new category called AWS Marketplace for Desktop Apps, and its Amazon Machine Learning service
LinkedIn (LNKD 256.14, +3.88, +1.5%): Entered into an agreement to acquire lynda.com for $1.5 bln. lynda.com is an online learning company teaching business, technology and creative skills to help people achieve their professional goals. The transaction is valued at ~$1.5 bln, subject to adjustment, in a combination of ~52% cash and ~48% stock. Subject to the completion of customary conditions, the acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of 2015.

TripAdvisor (TRIP 83.18, +0.13, +0.2%): Announced acquisition of BestTables; financial terms not disclosed

Analyst Action:

Autodesk (ADSK 62.81, +0.99, +1.6%): initiated with a Buy at Berenberg; target $75

Akamai Technologies (AKAM 71.26, -0.53, -0.7%): initiated with a Hold at Deutsche Bank

Broadcom (BRCM 43.96, +0.99, +2.3%): initiated with a Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann; target $51

Citrix Systems (CTXS 64.53, +0.16, +0.4%): downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch

EMC (EMC 25.95, -0.28, -1.1%): downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at FBN Securities

4:06 pm Extreme Networks follow up: EXTR lowers guidance for Q3; announces Chief Revenue Officer is being replaced (EXTR) : Co issues downside guidance for Q3 (Mar), sees EPS of ($0.09)-($0.07) vs. $0.00 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 (Mar) revs of $118-120 mln vs. $135.28 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.


"In the U.S. and Canada, we experienced deferred spending at several key accounts in the higher education market as well as several stadium and venue deals pushing out of the March quarter. Currency impacts in Europe and Latin America resulted in customers delaying or cancelling purchases. Operating expenses came in below the low end of guidance due to tighter expense management throughout the quarter which we plan to continue going forward. Additionally, we continued to reduce our outstanding debt by $20.6 million and expect ending cash balances to be in the range of $74 million to $76 million."
Effective April 6, 2015, Jeff White, who served as EXTR's Chief Revenue Officer, is no longer with the Company. EXTR is currently in the process of identifying a successor.
4:05 pm Closing Market Summary: Energy Sector Leads Stocks Higher (:WRAPX) : The stock market ended Thursday on a modestly higher note after enduring a volatile session. The S&P 500 added 0.5% after finding support at its 50-day moving average (2,076) while small caps struggled with the Russell 2000 sliding 0.4%.

Equity indices rallied out of the gate after index futures erased their overnight losses. However, the cash market did not escape without making its own appearance in the red, but the morning pullback was limited in scope. The S&P 500 briefly dipped below its 50-day moving average and returned into the green in short order. The bulk of the afternoon saw the index range near its unchanged level, but the final hour of action featured a surge to a fresh high for the day.

Eight of ten sectors registered gains with all six cyclical groups ending higher. The growth-sensitive bunch was led by energy (+1.6%), which held the lead throughout the day. The sector held its own while crude oil slumped from its intraday high, but still rose 0.7% to $50.81/bbl.

Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical sectors posted slimmer gains with materials (+0.4%) ending ahead of the broader market. Relative strength among steelmakers and chemical-related names overshadowed Alcoa's (AA 13.22, -0.45) 3.3% decline after the company reported a two-cent beat on below-consensus revenue. In addition, Alcoa said it expects aluminum demand to grow by 6.5% in 2015 after revising its 2014 global demand growth to 9.0% from 7.0%.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, technology (+0.3%) lagged in the early going, but narrowed the gap by the close. Intel (INTC 31.24, -0.07) shed 0.2% after it was reported the company is no longer looking to acquire Altera (ALTR 43.33, +1.33) after the two could not agree on a purchase price. Strikingly, Altera was down more than 7.0% in the early going, but managed to end the day higher by 3.2%.

Also of note, the discretionary sector (+0.1%) struggled to keep pace amid weakness in retail names in reaction to disappointing same store sales in March. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 101.11, -0.40) lost 0.4%.

Over on the countercyclical side, the health care sector (+0.8%) outperformed throughout the session while biotechnology could not overtake its early high. Still, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 353.06, +1.05) added 0.3%.

Treasuries retreated throughout the day with the 10-yr yield climbing six basis points to 1.96%.

Today's participation was comparable to recent sessions with more than 675 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to initial claims and wholesale inventories:


The initial claims level increased to 281,000 for the week ending April 4 from a downwardly revised 267,000 (from 268,000) for the week ending March 28 The Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 285,000 The four-week moving average has dropped to 282,250 from 285,250, representing the lowest level since June 2000 Wholesale inventories increased 0.3% in February after increasing an upwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.3%) in January The Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.2% Wholesale durable goods inventories increased 0.3% in February, down from a 0.7% increase in January Automotive inventories, up 2.4%, offset declines in most other sectors Tomorrow, Import/Export Prices for March will be released at 8:30 ET while the March Treasury Budget (Briefing.com consensus -$44.00 billion) will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.

1:02 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

WYNN (135.39 +4.73%): Sector wide strength in casino names today (MPEL, LVS also higher).
MYL (71.2 +4.15%): Continued strength after the company yesterday offered to buy Perrigo (PRGO) as some speculate the offer may have been launched to fend off a potential hostile bid.
WBA (90.33 +3.02%): Beat Q2 consensus EPS estimates by $0.23, missed on revs; guided FY15 EPS in-line; reaffirmed FY16 EPS guidance; increased cost savings target.

Large Cap Losers

BBBY (73.01 -6.01%): Reported Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guided Q1 EPS below consensus.
AA (13.13 -3.95%): Beat Q1 consensus EPS estimates by $0.02, missed on revs; reaffirmed FY15 alumina demand; price target lowered at Stifel.
SHPG (241.83 -2.12%): Reported topline results from first of three placebo-controlled Phase 2 studies of SHP625 in children with alagille syndrome; did not meet the primary or secondary endpoints.

Mid Cap Gainers

WPX (12.99 +5.48%): Strength in various oil & gas names as crude oil recovers from yesterday decline; WTI currently up 2.5% to $51.70/bbl (PDCE, ESV, PE also higher).
PTEN (20.14 +4.41%): Upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen.
INFN (20.12 +3.55%): Announced an offer to acquire Transmode, a provider of packet-optical networking solutions; Expected to be accretive to non-GAAP EPS in 2016.

Mid Cap Losers

ZNGA (2.46 -15.34%): Announced that current CEO Don Mattrick will depart the Company and the Board effective April 8, 2015; Mark Pincus, Zynga's founder and chairman, will return to the role of Chief Executive Officer.
BKE (47.63 -4.11%): Reported March comps -0.5% vs. -0.1% Retail Metrics Consensus.
MSM (68.62 -3.7%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at BB&T Capital Mkts.

12:23 pm Intel announces the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne Leadership Computing Facility has awarded Intel a contract to deliver two next-generation supercomputers at Argonne National Laboratory (INTC) : Cray (CRAY) also announced it was awarded a subcontract from Intel to integrate and deliver two next-generation supercomputers and associated storage at the U.S. Department of Energy's (:DOE) Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (:ALCF) at Argonne National Laboratory.

12:10 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (165) outpacing new lows (33) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAXJ, ABG, ABM, ACH, ACWI, ADPT, ADUS, ADXS, AEO, AFH, AGO, AHS, ALR, AMPH, AMSF, ANAC, APB, APOG, ASMB, ATRA, AXTA, BAM, BCV, BERY, BLMT, BSET, CCK, CCO, CDXS, CEB, CHA, CHMT, CHU, CHXF, CIVI, CJJD, CMPR, CMT, COKE, CORT, CRI, CSII, CSU, CUDA, CYNO, DDS, DG, DL, DLX, DOOR, DST, DVCR, DXCM, DXGE, EEMA, EIG, EIGI, ELNK, ENDP, ERI, ESRX, FBR, FCHI, FDP, FDS, FICO, FIG, FLEX, FONE, FPXI, FRPT, FSRV, FWP, GIII, GLOB, GRX, HILL, HLT, HMN, HNI, HRC, HZNP, ICLN, IMKTA, INFN, INTL, INUV, IOT, IPKW, IPXL, ISCA, JBL, JD, JFC, JTPY, LAD, LAMR, LBY, LCI, LFC, LGND, MCO, MHO, MMS, MNTA, MTN, MVNR, MYL, NLNK, NLS, NOAH, NVGN, OEC, OLED, ORLY, PARR, PBH, PF, PNK, PNQI, PRFT, PROV, PRTO, PSCD, PTCT, QLIK, QLYS, QQQC, RDI, RGA, SABR, SHI, SHOO, SHW, SIMO, SKX, SMI, SNE, SNPS, SPNS, SPR, ST, STE, STZ, SUNE, TAP, TERP, TEVA, TLMR, TRIL, TRK, UA, UMH, UTHR, UVE, VIPS, VLGEA, VLRS, VLTC, VRSN, VRX, WBA, XL, ZBRA, ZNH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAU, APOL, CHEK, DXM, EAC, GULTU, HST, ICLD, IEC, IMUC, IRG, KCAP, MFV, MSM, MXPT, NSPH, PESI, PRKR, RTK, SHG, SONS, STRM, SVLC, SYPR, TKC, TRGT, TRIV, TST, UPLD, VPCO, VRS, WHLR, WRN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: CUT, EWH, FXI, GXC, HAO, ITA, PIN, TAN, TAO

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: UNG, VXX

8:32 am Apple confirms Apple Watch will be available for preview and pre-order on Friday, April 10 (AAPL) :

Customers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US will be able to pre-order the new device.
AAPL says 'We expect that strong customer demand will exceed our supply at launch."

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The stock market closed the week on a winning note, aided by broad-based buying interest and a dearth of selling interest.

Once again, trading volume was on the light side, yet the market maintained its winning form that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all gain at least 1.5% for the week.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.4%) trailed slightly behind the broader market on Friday, but outperformed on the week with a 1.9% gain. Friday's gains were achieved despite earnings warnings from Citrix Systems (CTXS 63.80, -0.86, -1.3%) and Fidelity National Information Services (FIS 65.50, -2.58, -3.8%) that were pinned in part on foreign exchange volatility.

Notably, Apple (AAPL 127.10, +0.54, +0.4%) had a winning session amid the buzz over pre-orders for Apple Watch.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Apple (AAPL 127.10, +0.54, +0.4%): Tim Cook on CNBC said US pre orders of Apple Watch are 'great'.... Separately, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Apple's Beats Music may sell music subscriptions for $10-$15 per month

Citrix Systems (CTXS 63.80, -0.86, -1.3%): Issued downside guidance for Q1 (Mar), saying it sees EPS of $0.63-0.65, excluding non-recurring items, versus prior guidance of $0.70 to $0.72. Q1 revenues are now projected to be $755-760 mln versus prior guidance of $780-790 million. Company said it underestimated the impact caused by its restructuring, organizational evolution, and changes to its field and channel strategies, which were the result of important decisions made to get the business ready for our next phase of growth. Additionally, the increase in foreign exchange volatility impacted results and customer-buying behavior to a larger extent than anticipated in the quarter.

eBay (EBAY 57.34, +0.33, +0.6%): The Wall Street Journal reported that PayPal disclosed in an SEC filing that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may soon file a lawsuit against the company's payments unit, alleging it imposed excessive finance charges for same-day lending activities.

Fidelity National Information Services (FIS 65.50, -2.58, -3.8%): FIS anticipates Q1 EPS to be in the range of $0.64-0.66 (Prior $0.67-0.72). Anticipates adjusted FY15 earnings of $3.27-$3.37 (Prior $3.37-3.49). Company said foreign currency exchange rates in key currencies, primarily the Brazilian Real, Euro and Pound Sterling, have continued to decline. Also, the Company chose not to renew a contract that did not meet its profitability metrics and was inconsistent with its go forward strategy. These factors are impacting its reported revenue growth. FIS expects reported revenue growth of 1-3% (Prior +5-7%). Adjusted for currency, its revenue growth expectations remain unchanged at 5% -- 7%. In response to market conditions FIS is reorganizing and streamlining its global operations and changing its reportable segments. In connection with its reorganization activities, it has incurred significant severance costs in its quarter ended March 31, 2015 GAAP results.

Symantec (SYMC 25.58, +1.36, +5.6%): Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Symantec may be looking to sell its Veritas data-storage and recovery business.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Amazon.com (AMZN 382.65, -0.89, -0.2%): Announced that Prime members and customers in the US, UK and Germany will be able to watch titles in High Dynamic Range (HDR) this year. Amazon Originals will be the first to arrive in HDR video quality later this year

Cerner (CERN 75.00, +0.62, +0.8%): Announced that Nanticoke Health Services signed up to use CommonWell Health Alliance services to enable health care providers to see patient health data from outside organizations within its Cerner electronic health record

Gartner reported worldwide PC shipments totaled 71.7 million units in the first quarter of 2015, a 5.2 percent decline from the first quarter of 2014. In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 13.9 million units in the first quarter of 2015, a 1.3 percent decline from the first quarter of 2014. Mobile PCs, including notebooks, hybrid and Windows tablets, grew compared with a year ago.

Analyst Action:

Apple (AAPL 127.10, +0.54, +0.4%): downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James... target raised to $150 from $145 at Canaccord Genuity; Buy

Citrix Systems (CTXS 63.80, -0.86, -1.3%): target lowered to $67 from $69 at RBC Capital Markets; Sector Perform... Mizuho lowers their CTXS tgt to $70 from $75

Qorvo (QRVO 73.58, -1.05, -1.4%): target raised to $85 from $81 at Canaccord Genuity; Buy

5:02 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Healthcare:SCMP (19.92 +27.12%),ADXS (19.73 +26.07%),QURE (28.44 +24.41%),PRGO (198.55 +21.27%),BIOS (5.4 +21.08%),MYL (70.24 +20.91%),ACAD (37.53 +19.18%)

Industrials:APOG (52.31 +17.71%)

Consumer Discretionary:WBAI (16.55 +34.66%),BONA (9.39 +18.11%)

Information Technology:SIMO (31.96 +18.28%),CMCM (23.67 +17.82%),SFUN (7.24 +17.15%)

Financials:NOAH (29.5 +23.28%)

Energy:TDW (25.13 +25.02%),CJES (13.69 +20.4%),ROSE (21.56 +18.83%),CAK (0.77 +18.06%),MTDR (27.25 +17.81%),RIGP (13.82 +17.12%)

This week's top 20 % losers
Healthcare:OCUL (26.99 -33.99%),DRNA (18.32 -13.95%),RCPT (152.27 -10.06%),OVAS (31.79 -9.33%),ANGO (16.53 -7.24%),CHRS (26.05 -7.13%)

Consumer Discretionary:ZUMZ (35.63 -9.04%),HZO (23.5 -8.06%),APOL (16.96 -8.03%),MSO (6.2 -7.32%),LGF (31.31 -7.09%)

Information Technology:EXTR (2.5 -22.84%),ZNGA (2.49 -10.43%)

Financials:RCAP (9.39 -9.88%),HCBK (9.58 -8.67%),UIHC (20.49 -8.36%),LTS (3.67 -7.56%),LPLA (40.73 -7.38%)

Energy:MHR (2.48 -11.43%),PBF (29.35 -8.51%)
4:12 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks End Strong Week on Upbeat Note (:WRAPX) : The major averages ended the week on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 adding 0.5%. The benchmark index extended its weekly advance to 1.7% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) underperformed today, but still gained 2.2% for the week, ending ahead of the benchmark index.

Equity indices climbed through the first two hours of today's session and inched to fresh highs during late afternoon action. Nine sectors ended in the green while the financial sector closed on its flat line. Interestingly, the influential sector underperformed throughout the week, adding just 0.1%.

Unlike financials, six sectors registered weekly gains of at least 1.0% with the industrial space (+1.8%) climbing 3.3% for the week. Fittingly, the growth-sensitive group spent today's session in the lead, which was mainly due to a 10.8% surge in the shares of General Electric (GE 28.51, +2.78). The Dow component soared after announcing restructuring plans, including the sale of GE Capital real estate assets for about $25.60 billion. In addition, the company authorized a new buyback program of up to $50 billion.

General Electric drove the industrial sector higher while transport stocks also pulled their weight. The Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 0.7% for the day and climbed 1.9% during the week, but the complex remains lower by 4.1% since the end of 2014.


The industrial sector was the only group that added more than 0.9% while most of the remaining cyclical sectors settled behind the broader market. The top-weighted technology sector (+0.4%) was among the early laggards, but was able to finish just behind the broader market. The sector narrowed the gap during afternoon action as Apple (AAPL 127.10, +0.54) erased its early loss brought on by a Raymond James downgrade to 'Market Perform' from 'Outperform.'

Moving to the countercyclical side, health care (+0.9%) and utilities (+0.8%) outperformed with the health care sector receiving support from biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 357.44, +4.38) jumped 1.2%, extending its weekly gain to 5.2%.

Treasuries notched their highs right around 9:30 ET and spent the day in a retreat from their highs. The 10-yr note eked out a slim gain, lowering the benchmark yield by a basis point to 1.95%.

Today's participation was relatively light with fewer than 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to import/export prices:


Export prices, excluding agriculture, increased 0.2% in March after increasing 0.1% in the prior reading Excluding oil, import prices fell 0.4%, which followed last month's 0.3% decline Monday's data will be limited to the 14:00 ET release of the Treasury Budget for March.
Nasdaq Composite +5.5% YTD Russell 2000 +5.0% YTD S&P 500 +2.1% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.3% YTD Week in Review: S&P 500 Bounces Off 50-Day Moving Average

The major averages began the week on an upbeat note after shaking off their opening losses that were brought on by a disappointing jobs report for March. The S&P 500 spiked 0.7% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) followed not far behind. The Nonfarm Payrolls report for March was released on Friday and it disappointed on all fronts. Only 126,000 payrolls were added while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 250,000. Since the cash market was closed on Friday, the news weighed on the futures market, sending futures on the S&P 500 down 20 points. Index futures were able to cut their losses in half by Monday's opening bell and the S&P 500 erased a ten-point deficit just 15 minutes into the session. The index spent the rest of the day in a steady climb with all ten sectors logging gains. Once again, the market interpreted bad news as good, rallying on the belief that the disappointing jobs report will cause the Federal Reserve to postpone its first rate hike.

Equity indices halted their two-day win streak on Tuesday with the S&P 500 shedding 0.2%. The benchmark index surrendered its modest intraday gain during the final hour while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) settled just ahead. The major averages climbed out of the gate and hit their session highs during the initial 90 minutes; however, relative weakness among influential sectors like consumer discretionary (-0.5%), financials (-0.4%), and consumer staples (-0.4%) prevented the market from eclipsing the early high. Instead, equities spent the afternoon in a sideways drift and slid into negative territory shortly ahead of the close. Only two sectors finished the day in the green with health care (+0.3%) holding the lead into the afternoon. The countercyclical group underperformed on Monday, but Tuesday's strength was fueled by biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) jumped 0.9% and helped the Nasdaq Composite display relative strength throughout the day. In addition to receiving support from biotechnology, the tech-heavy Nasdaq benefited from strength among chipmakers.

The stock market ended Wednesday on a higher note, but not before making a couple appearances in the red. The S&P 500 added a modest 0.3% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%) outperformed. Equity indices climbed out of the gate with the Nasdaq receiving major support from biotechnology. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 notched its session high during the initial 30 minutes, but returned to its flat line shortly thereafter amid significant weakness in the energy sector (-1.0%).

The growth-sensitive energy space was pressured by a tailspin in crude oil futures after latest data from the American Petroleum Institute revealed that crude inventories increased by 10.9 million barrels since last week. As a result, total inventories have reached levels not seen at this time of the year in at least 80 years. WTI crude fell 6.5% to $50.44/bbl, erasing its Tuesday advance, and cutting into its gain from Monday.

Thursday ended on a modestly higher note after the market endured a volatile session. The S&P 500 added 0.5% after finding support at its 50-day moving average (2,076) while small caps struggled with the Russell 2000 sliding 0.4%. Equity indices rallied out of the gate after index futures erased their overnight losses. However, the cash market did not escape without making its own appearance in the red, but the morning pullback was limited in scope. The S&P 500 briefly dipped below its 50-day moving average and returned into the green in short order. The bulk of the afternoon saw the index range near its unchanged level, but the final hour of action featured a surge to a fresh high for the day. Eight of ten sectors registered gains with all six cyclical groups ending higher. The growth-sensitive bunch was led by energy (+1.6%), which held the lead throughout the day. The sector held its own while crude oil slumped from its intraday high, but still rose 0.7% to $50.81/bbl.

3:30 pm Earnings Preview for the week of April 13 - 17 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of April 13 - 17 some of the bigger names include:

Monday: Pre Market - CBSHAfter Hours - PBY, LAYN, TPLM, OZRK
Tuesday: Pre Market - JPM, WFC, JNJ, SJR, FASTAfter Hours - INTC, CSX, LLTC, MRTN

Wednesday: Pre Market - BAC, DAL, PGR, USB, PNC, ASML, WSO, TITN, MEAAfter Hours - NFLX, SNDK, UFPI, UMPQ, WTFC, CNS
Thursday: Pre Market - UNH, C, GS, PM, PPG, TSM, BLK, SHW, GWW, BX, ADS, SON, KEY, FRC, FCS, PBCT, WBS, NORD, PVTB, IIIN, HOMB, SASRAfter Hours - SLB, AXP, CCK, CE, AMD, MAT, CYT, ASB, NOW, EGP, COBZ
Friday: Pre Market - GE, HON, STX, SYF, CMA, FHN

5:02 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Healthcare:SCMP (19.92 +27.12%),ADXS (19.73 +26.07%),QURE (28.44 +24.41%),PRGO (198.55 +21.27%),BIOS (5.4 +21.08%),MYL (70.24 +20.91%),ACAD (37.53 +19.18%)

Industrials:APOG (52.31 +17.71%)

Consumer Discretionary:WBAI (16.55 +34.66%),BONA (9.39 +18.11%)

Information Technology:SIMO (31.96 +18.28%),CMCM (23.67 +17.82%),SFUN (7.24 +17.15%)

Financials:NOAH (29.5 +23.28%)Energy:TDW (25.13 +25.02%),CJES (13.69 +20.4%),ROSE (21.56 +18.83%),CAK (0.77 +18.06%),MTDR (27.25 +17.81%),RIGP (13.82 +17.12%)
This week's top 20 % losers

Healthcare:OCUL (26.99 -33.99%),DRNA (18.32 -13.95%),RCPT (152.27 -10.06%),OVAS (31.79 -9.33%),ANGO (16.53 -7.24%),CHRS (26.05 -7.13%)

Consumer Discretionary:ZUMZ (35.63 -9.04%),HZO (23.5 -8.06%),APOL (16.96 -8.03%),MSO (6.2 -7.32%),LGF (31.31 -7.09%)

Information Technology:EXTR (2.5 -22.84%),ZNGA (2.49 -10.43%)

Financials:RCAP (9.39 -9.88%),HCBK (9.58 -8.67%),UIHC (20.49 -8.36%),LTS (3.67 -7.56%),LPLA (40.73 -7.38%)

Energy:MHR (2.48 -11.43%),PBF (29.35 -8.51%)

4:12 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks End Strong Week on Upbeat Note (:WRAPX) : The major averages ended the week on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 adding 0.5%. The benchmark index extended its weekly advance to 1.7% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) underperformed today, but still gained 2.2% for the week, ending ahead of the benchmark index.

Equity indices climbed through the first two hours of today's session and inched to fresh highs during late afternoon action. Nine sectors ended in the green while the financial sector closed on its flat line. Interestingly, the influential sector underperformed throughout the week, adding just 0.1%.

Unlike financials, six sectors registered weekly gains of at least 1.0% with the industrial space (+1.8%) climbing 3.3% for the week. Fittingly, the growth-sensitive group spent today's session in the lead, which was mainly due to a 10.8% surge in the shares of General Electric (GE 28.51, +2.78). The Dow component soared after announcing restructuring plans, including the sale of GE Capital real estate assets for about $25.60 billion. In addition, the company authorized a new buyback program of up to $50 billion.

General Electric drove the industrial sector higher while transport stocks also pulled their weight. The Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 0.7% for the day and climbed 1.9% during the week, but the complex remains lower by 4.1% since the end of 2014.

The industrial sector was the only group that added more than 0.9% while most of the remaining cyclical sectors settled behind the broader market. The top-weighted technology sector (+0.4%) was among the early laggards, but was able to finish just behind the broader market. The sector narrowed the gap during afternoon action as Apple (AAPL 127.10, +0.54) erased its early loss brought on by a Raymond James downgrade to 'Market Perform' from 'Outperform.'

Moving to the countercyclical side, health care (+0.9%) and utilities (+0.8%) outperformed with the health care sector receiving support from biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 357.44, +4.38) jumped 1.2%, extending its weekly gain to 5.2%.

Treasuries notched their highs right around 9:30 ET and spent the day in a retreat from their highs. The 10-yr note eked out a slim gain, lowering the benchmark yield by a basis point to 1.95%.

Today's participation was relatively light with fewer than 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to import/export prices:


Export prices, excluding agriculture, increased 0.2% in March after increasing 0.1% in the prior reading Excluding oil, import prices fell 0.4%, which followed last month's 0.3% decline Monday's data will be limited to the 14:00 ET release of the Treasury Budget for March.
Nasdaq Composite +5.5% YTD Russell 2000 +5.0% YTD S&P 500 +2.1% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.3% YTD Week in Review: S&P 500 Bounces Off 50-Day Moving Average

The major averages began the week on an upbeat note after shaking off their opening losses that were brought on by a disappointing jobs report for March. The S&P 500 spiked 0.7% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) followed not far behind. The Nonfarm Payrolls report for March was released on Friday and it disappointed on all fronts. Only 126,000 payrolls were added while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 250,000. Since the cash market was closed on Friday, the news weighed on the futures market, sending futures on the S&P 500 down 20 points. Index futures were able to cut their losses in half by Monday's opening bell and the S&P 500 erased a ten-point deficit just 15 minutes into the session. The index spent the rest of the day in a steady climb with all ten sectors logging gains. Once again, the market interpreted bad news as good, rallying on the belief that the disappointing jobs report will cause the Federal Reserve to postpone its first rate hike.

Equity indices halted their two-day win streak on Tuesday with the S&P 500 shedding 0.2%. The benchmark index surrendered its modest intraday gain during the final hour while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) settled just ahead. The major averages climbed out of the gate and hit their session highs during the initial 90 minutes; however, relative weakness among influential sectors like consumer discretionary (-0.5%), financials (-0.4%), and consumer staples (-0.4%) prevented the market from eclipsing the early high. Instead, equities spent the afternoon in a sideways drift and slid into negative territory shortly ahead of the close. Only two sectors finished the day in the green with health care (+0.3%) holding the lead into the afternoon. The countercyclical group underperformed on Monday, but Tuesday's strength was fueled by biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) jumped 0.9% and helped the Nasdaq Composite display relative strength throughout the day. In addition to receiving support from biotechnology, the tech-heavy Nasdaq benefited from strength among chipmakers.

The stock market ended Wednesday on a higher note, but not before making a couple appearances in the red. The S&P 500 added a modest 0.3% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%) outperformed. Equity indices climbed out of the gate with the Nasdaq receiving major support from biotechnology. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 notched its session high during the initial 30 minutes, but returned to its flat line shortly thereafter amid significant weakness in the energy sector (-1.0%). The growth-sensitive energy space was pressured by a tailspin in crude oil futures after latest data from the American Petroleum Institute revealed that crude inventories increased by 10.9 million barrels since last week. As a result, total inventories have reached levels not seen at this time of the year in at least 80 years. WTI crude fell 6.5% to $50.44/bbl, erasing its Tuesday advance, and cutting into its gain from Monday.

Thursday ended on a modestly higher note after the market endured a volatile session. The S&P 500 added 0.5% after finding support at its 50-day moving average (2,076) while small caps struggled with the Russell 2000 sliding 0.4%. Equity indices rallied out of the gate after index futures erased their overnight losses. However, the cash market did not escape without making its own appearance in the red, but the morning pullback was limited in scope. The S&P 500 briefly dipped below its 50-day moving average and returned into the green in short order. The bulk of the afternoon saw the index range near its unchanged level, but the final hour of action featured a surge to a fresh high for the day. Eight of ten sectors registered gains with all six cyclical groups ending higher. The growth-sensitive bunch was led by energy (+1.6%), which held the lead throughout the day. The sector held its own while crude oil slumped from its intraday high, but still rose 0.7% to $50.81/bbl.

12:45 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

GE (27.88 +8.36%): Co announced plan to sell GE Capital Real Estate assets for ~$26.5 bln; Board authorized a new buyback program of up to $50 bln; reaffirmed guidance for operating earnings of $1.10-1.20 per share for industrial business
NOK (8.04 +3.95%): Seeing reports that co is considering a sale of its HERE maps business
NFLX (452.91 +3.05%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup; mentioned positively at Oppenheimer

Large Cap Losers

FIS (64.2 -5.7%): Lowered Q1 EPS guidance to $0.64-0.66 (from $0.67-0.72), lowered FY15 EPS guidance to $3.27-3.37 (from $3.37-3.49), lowered FY15 rev guidance to +1-3% (from +5-7%); mentioned cautiously at Oppenheimer
GPS (41.22 -3.53%): Reported March comparable sales rose 2% vs 0.5% Retail Metric Consensus; Gap Global comparable sales declined 7%
CTXS (63.28 -2.13%): Sees Q1 EPS of $0.63-0.65 ex items vs $0.72 estimate, revs of $755-760 mln vs $786.65 mln estimate; target lowered to $67 from $69 at RBC Capital Markets; target lowered to $70 from $75 at Mizuho

Mid Cap Gainers

AU (10.12 +6.30%): Strength in mid-cap gold companies: GFI, AEM also higher
HZNP (28.59 +4.65%): Announced it received FDA Fast Track Designation for ACTIMMUNE to treat Friedreich's Ataxia
SUNE (26.9 +3.28%): Mentioned positively by Jim Cramer on Mad Money

Mid Cap Losers

RDC (19.04 -4.51%): Disclosed that while working for Cobalt International Energy (CIE) in the Gulf of Mexico, the Rowan Reliance drillship experienced a loss of seal in the riser connection system
CMP (91.75 -4.03%): Reported that average Q1 snow events in the company's core North American service area offset mild weather in December
PSMT (83.28 -2.30%): Reported Q2 EPS of $0.98 per share, revs rose 11.3% yoy to $750.3 mln vs $741.43 mln estimate; March comparable store sales +7.3% vs +3.6% Retail Metric Consensus

11:32 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (153) outpacing new lows (19) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABC, ABG, ACWI, ADXS, AFSI, AGO, AMOT, AN, ANAC, AOD, APB, ARAY, ATRO, AWH, AZO, BAM, BCV, BHB, BIO, BLKB, BLMT, BONA, BRO, BSET, BX, BXMT, CBM, CCA, CDW, CEA, CEB, CHMT, CLAC, CMPR, CNXR, CRRC, CRUS, CSGP, CSII, CSU, CUDA, CYNO, CYT, DDS, DEG, DL, DLPH, DRA, DXCM, DXGE, EEMA, EGRX, EIGI, ELOS, ENR, EPAM, ERI, ESCA, ESRX, EURN, EXL, FBR, FDP, FICO, FSRV, FWP, GE, GIMO, GNE, GRX, GSH, HAS, HBIO, HIFR, HLT, HMHC, HNI, HRC, HW, IBP, INAP, INUV, JEQ, JTPY, KYO, LAMR, LAZ, LBY, LO, LULU, LUX, MASI, MMS, MNTA, MYCC, NCLH, NHTC, NLS, NOAH, NORD, NOW, NSEC, NTES, NVO, OLED, ORBK, PARR, PF, PKBK, PNQI, PRFT, PRTO, PSCH, PZE, QLIK, QTM, RDI, REPH, RGA, ROL, SABR, SCMP, SGC, SHOO, SHW, SIGM, SIMO, SNE, SPR, SRCL, ST, STRZA, SUNE, TERP, THOR, TLMR, TRIL, TRK, TWC, TYL, UA, UTHR, VASC, VICR, VLGEA, VLRS, VLTC, VRSN, WM, WWAV, XRM, ZBRA, ZNH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: CDNA, CIDM, EAC, EXTR, GALE, IKAN, IMUC, IRG, ITEK, LC, LFVN, NURO, PRKR, RRM, SHOS, SVLC, VRS, XPL, YUMA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: PIN, TAN

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FXB, VXX

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Wednesday was a taxing day for many individuals filing their 2014 income tax returns, but it wasn't taxing at all for stock market bulls.

The major indices pressed higher in a broad-based advance that was led by a big move in the energy sector (+2.3%), which coincided with an even bigger gain for oil prices (+5.6% to $56.25/bbl) that followed a better-than-feared weekly inventory report.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.9%), which underperformed the market on Tuesday, outperformed on Wednesday with the help of big gains in the semiconductor group that followed Intel's (INTC 32.83, +1.34, +4.3%) earnings report.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Alliance Data (ADS 302.20, +1.13, +0.4%): Said average receivables totaled $10,505,120 (in thousands) for March 2015, up 33% year-over-year. Delinquency rate of 3.9% was even with last year.

Apple (AAPL 126.78, +0.48, +0.4%): Reuters conducted a poll that showed 6% of U.S. Adults plan to purchase an Apple Watch, which translates to about 15 mln units

Google (GOOG 532.53, +2.15, +0.4%): European Commission (EC) confirms two separate Google investigations. The European Commission has opened formal proceedings against Google to investigate in-depth if the company's conduct in relation to its Android mobile operating system as well as applications and services for smartphones and tablets has breached EU antitrust rules. The EC also has sent a Statement of Objections to Google alleging the company has abused its dominant position in the markets for general internet search services in the European Economic Area (EEA) by systematically favoring its own comparison shopping product in its general search results pages. Google responded to EU investigation, saying "there are numerous other search engines."

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 33.04, +0.52, +1.6%): Announced Antonio Lucio will become Chief Marketing Officer of HPQ. Lucio will join HP after spending eight years at Visa (V) where he was most recently the Global Chief Brand Officer responsible for all global brand and product marketing and global communications. Separately, Thre Wall Street Journal reported that Tsinghua may soon purchase a controlling stake in HPQ unit H3C for up to $5 bln.

Linear Tech (LLTC 46.17, +0.74, +1.6%): After Tuesday's close, reported Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.55 per share, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 6.9% year/year to $372.02 mln, also ahead of estimates. For Q4, sees revenues of +2-5% sequentially (~$379.5-390.6 mln). Company said, "We expect growth to continue in the June quarter although moderately tempered by worldwide macroeconomic conditions."
SanDisk (SNDK 71.12, +0.80, +1.1%): After Wednesday's close, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.62 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was worse than analysts' average expectation. Revenues fell 11.9% year/year to $1.33 bln, which was ahead of estimates.

Visa (V 65.68, +0.15, +0.2%): Disclosed that on April 8, 2015, Antonio Lucio notified company of his decision to resign as EVP and Chief Brand Officer effective April 24, 2015.
Yahoo! (YHOO 45.73, +0.20, +0.5%): According to CNBC's David Faber, Yahoo! is not in talks to acquire FourSquare

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 4.02, -0.91, -18.5%): Company and Nokia (NOK 7.84, -0.12, -1.5%) announced their intention to combine to create an innovation leader in next generation technology and services for an IP connected world. The two companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding under which Nokia will make an offer for all of the equity securities issued by Alcatel-Lucent, through a public exchange offer in France and in the United States, on the basis of 0.55 of a new Nokia share for every Alcatel-Lucent share. The all-share transaction values Alcatel-Lucent at EUR 15.6 billion on a fully diluted basis, corresponding to a fully diluted premium of 34% (equivalent to EUR 4.48 per share), and a premium to shareholders of 28% (equivalent to EUR 4.27 per share), on the unaffected weighted average share price of Alcatel-Lucent for the previous three months. This is based on Nokia's unaffected closing share price of EUR 7.77 on April 13, 2015. Separately, Nokia has initiated a review of strategic options for its HERE business.

Alibaba (BABA 84.67, -0.33, -0.4%): Alibaba Group announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Alibaba Health Information Technology pursuant to which Alibaba Group will transfer the operations of its Tmall online pharmacy business to Alibaba Health in consideration for newly issued shares and convertible bonds of Alibaba Health. Alibaba Group currently owns an effective equity interest of approximately 38% in Alibaba Health, and upon completion of the Transaction, Alibaba Group's effective equity ownership of Alibaba Health will increase to approximately 53% (or approximately 54.6% assuming the full conversion of the convertible bonds upon maturity) and Alibaba Health will become a consolidated subsidiary of Alibaba Group.

ASML (ASML 96.14, -3.83, -3.8%): Before Wednesday's open, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of 0.93 per share, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 10.4% year/year to 1.65 bln, which also topped estimates. For Q2, sees revenues of ~EUR 1.6, which is slightly below consensus expectations.

BlackBerry (BBRY 9.97, +0.23, +2.4%): Announced the availability of BlackBerry Leap in the United Kingdom and rollout in major markets. Beginning today in the U.K., young power professionals who want to get things done and companies looking for enterprise fleet renewals can now purchase BlackBerry Leap on ShopBlackBerry.com and through select carriers and partners. BlackBerry Leap will continue to rollout over the next few weeks across countries including Germany, France, United States, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and India.

Brocade (BRCD 12.14, +0.30, +2.5%): Announced that it is making new investments in India as an additional base to support the company's New IP innovations. Brocade announced the opening of a new state-of-the-art Development Center in Bangalore, and stated it will invest $300 million in India over the next five years.

Flextronics (FLEX 12.76, +0.20, +1.6%): Sources who spoke to Reuters said the company is in discussions to purchase a portion of Alcatel-Lucent's China unit

LinkedIn (LNKD 257.19, -0.31, -0.1%): Citing a company email, re/code reported that Nick Besbeas, head of global marketing, is leaving the company at the end of May

Netflix (NFLX 475.46, -3.25, -0.7%): After Wednesday's close, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.77 per share, which was comfortably ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 23.9% year/year to $1.57 bln, in-line with estimates. In a shareholder letter, the company said it expects to run ahead of its US contribution margin growth target of 200 bps/year on average because a greater share of global and original content costs will be absorbed by existing and new international territories as it continues to expand globally. In addition, starting in Q2 it intends to shift some of its US marketing budget to international to take advantage of the substantial available growth opportunities. This, in the short term, drives down international contribution profits and drives up US contribution profits. It still targeting 40% contribution margin in the US in 2020. Netflix expects international Q2 net adds of 1.90 million, up 70% vs. last year. The company expects Q2 EPS of $0.26, which may not be comparable to consensus estimates. Later in 2015, it will launch additional markets, starting with Japan. Its plan is to run around break-even globally through 2016, and to then deliver material global profits in 2017 and beyond. The company is seeking shareholder approval for an increase in its authorized shares. If approved, it expects to recommend to its Board a stock split to make its stock more accessible.

VMware (VMW 85.06, +1.02, +1.2%): Company and Good Technology announced that they have entered into an agreement that resolves all pending litigation between Good and VMware, including VMware's subsidiary, AirWatch LLC. While the full terms of the agreement are confidential, the parties have agreed to a long-term patent portfolio cross-license agreement and to discuss opportunities for joint interoperability that could benefit their mutual customers.

Analyst Action:

Activision Blizzard (ATVI 22.90, -0.02, -0.1%): target raised to $27 from $25 at Brean Capital; Buy
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 4.02, -0.91, -18.5%): downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Bernstein
Alibaba (BABA 84.67, -0.33, -0.4%): target lowered to $101 from $116 at Pacific Crest; Overweight
CA Tech (CA 31.81, +0.53, +1.7%): initiated with a Neutral at JP Morgan; target $31

Intel (INTC 32.83, +1.34, +4.3%): target lowered to $33 from $36 at Cowen... target raised to $36 from $35 at Topeka Capital Markets; maintain Buy... upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets; target raised to $40 from $38... target raised to $31 from $29 at Nomura... target raised to $39 from $38 at Canaccord Genuity; maintain Buy... target lowered to $37 from $38 at Deutsche Bank; maintain Buy
Nokia (NOK 7.84, -0.12, -1.5%): upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein

Seagate Tech (STX 56.67, +0.90, +1.6%) initiated with a Buy at Maxim Group; target $68
Western Digital (WDC 99.04, +2.88, +3.0%) initiated with a Buy at Maxim Group; target $131(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo)

4:12 pm SanDisk misses by $0.08, beats lowered rev expectations; co will update guidance on the call at 17:00 (SNDK) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.62 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.70; revenues fell 11.9% year/year to $1.33 bln vs the $1.31 bln consensus.

SNDK lowered rev guidance to $1.30 bln from $1.41-1.45 bln on March 26 and removed Q1 margin and FY15 rev/margin guidance.
C wil update Q2/Fy15 guidance on the call.
4:10 pm Closing Market Summary: Energy Sector Leads Stocks Higher (:WRAPX) : The stock market ended the midweek session on an upbeat note after climbing throughout the day. The S&P 500 gained 0.5% while the Russell 2000 (+0.7%) spent the day in the lead.

Equity indices rallied out of the gate, all but ignoring news that China's GDP growth (+7.0% year-over-year) has slowed to a six-year low. The news was followed by a small uptick in the greenback, but the Dollar Index (98.36, -0.37) surrendered its overnight advance, posting its second consecutive decline.

In turn, the dollar weakness provided a measure of support to crude oil, helping the energy component jump 5.6% to $56.25/bbl. Understandably, the big spike in oil boosted the energy sector (+2.3%), placing the cyclical group in the lead. Thanks to the gain, the energy space is now up 6.8% since the end of March.

Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical groups settled a bit closer to the broader market. Technology (+0.9%) endured a slight struggle early, but the sector ended among the leaders with help from chipmakers after Linear Technology (LLTC 46.17, +0.75) reported better than expected results and Intel (INTC 32.83, +1.34) delivered an in-line report. The two names spiked 1.6% and 4.3%, respectively, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 1.6%.

Staying on the earnings theme, Bank of America (BAC 15.64, -0.18) lost 1.1% after missing bottom-line estimates, but the financial sector (+0.4%) still finished near the broader market.

Also of note, industrials (+0.1%) displayed early strength, but the sector finished among the laggards following an intraday pullback in transport stocks. Delta Air Lines (DAL 44.20, +1.12) surged 2.6% after reporting a one-cent beat while CSX (CSX 32.86, -0.35) lost 1.1% after its own one-cent beat and lowered guidance. For its part, the Dow Jones Transportation Average narrowed its gain to 0.1% by the close.

Moving to the countercyclical side, the consumer staples sector (-0.3%) spent the bulk of the session in negative territory while the remaining defensively-oriented groups posted gains. The health care sector (+0.3%) endured an intraday pullback in large insurer names like Aetna (AET 106.08, -1.80), Cigna (CI 130.22, -2.68), and UnitedHealth (UNH 117.32, -2.60), but biotech names outperformed with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 360.94, +3.73) climbing 1.0%.

Treasuries ended the day with slim gains, pressuring the 10-yr yield to 1.89% (-1 bp).

Today's participation was ahead of recent averages with more than 850 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Industrial Production, Empire Manufacturing, MBA Mortgage Index, and NAHB Housing Market Index:

Industrial production declined 0.6% in March after increasing an unrevised 0.1% in February while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline of 0.3% Over the entire first quarter, industrial production declined 1.0%, which was the first quarterly decline since the Great Recession ended Nearly the entire decline resulted from warmer temperatures, which reduced utilities usage by 5.9% after extreme cold boosted production by 5.7% in February. Mining production (-0.7%) also contributed to the pullback as relatively low oil prices continue to constrain the industry The Empire Manufacturing Survey for April registered a reading of -1.2, which was below the prior month's reading of 6.9 The Briefing.com consensus expected an improvement to 7.3 The weekly MBA Mortgage Index fell 2.3% to follow last week's 0.4% uptick The NAHB Housing Market Index for April rose to 56 from a revised 52 (from 53) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 55 Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 280K) and March Housing Starts (consensus 1.045 million) will be released at 8:30 ET while the Philadelphia Fed Survey for April will be reported at 10:00 ET (expected 7.2).
Nasdaq Composite +5.8% YTD Russell 2000 +5.8% YTD S&P 500 +2.3% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.6% YTD

12:59 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

CVE (19.39 +6.54%): Continued strength in oil & gas companies names as crude oil rallies 5% (ECA, PBR, AR among many higher).
INTC (32.95 +4.64%): Reported Q1EPS in-line, revs in-line with lowered expectations; guided Q2 and FY15 revs in-line; Upgraded at RBC Capital Mkts.
DAL (43.95 +2.02%): Beat Q1 consensus EPS estimates by $0.01, reported revs in-line; guided Q2; cut international capacity.

Large Cap Losers

PCP (209 -3.23%): Issues guidance for Q4 (Mar), sees EPS of $2.90-2.95 vs. $3.21 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate following non-cash impairment charge of $210-220 mln; downgraded to Neutral at DA Davidson.
ASML (96.58 -3.39%): Beat Q1 consensus EPS estimates by $0.01, beat on revs; guided Q2 revs below consensus.
ERIC (12.64 -1.94%): Downgraded to Neutral at Swedbank.

Mid Cap Gainers

RICE (24.15 +8.2%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
MBLY (45.68 +7.86%): Price target raised to a new street high of $68 from $65 at Morgan Stanley.
DYN (32.19 +5.44%): Reported its results from the MISO capacity auction for planning year 2015/16.

Mid Cap Losers

NSAM (19.96 -11.09%): Various broker-dealers under notable pressure following new Department of Labor proposal.
NUVA (43.42 -3.66%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
YZC (10.33 -3.02%): Heard downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.

11:32 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (169) outpacing new lows (28) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABG, ACGL, ACWI, ADT, ADXS, AFG, AFL, AGO, AGRX, AIG, AIN, ALV, AMCN, AMCX, AMOT, AMSG, ANAC, AOD, AOS, APTS, ASGN, AWH, B, BAM, BLUE, BMI, BNDX, BX, CAK, CDXS, CFRX, CHD, CHMT, CLVS, CNXR, CORI, COTY, CRI, CRRC, CSF, CSH, CYN, CYT, DCM, DENN, DEPO, DOOR, DVCR, DXR, DY, ECF, EGI, EIGI, ELOS, ENDP, ENR, ENTL, ESLT, ETE, EURN, EVHC, FAC, FFG, FLTX, GMAN, GRX, GS, HAS, HCA, HCC, HDS, HIFR, HMHC, HMN, HMST, HNI, HOFT, HRC, HW, HZNP, IBP, IR, JBHT, JBL, JEQ, JOF, JPM, JUNO, KFX, KMI, KRNT, LII, LMAT, LNDC, LO, LUX, LVNTA, MACK, MHLD, MHO, MIC, MKC.V, MLI, MODN, MRGE, MTG, NAP, NEWP, NHF, NHTC, NLS, NRZ, NVEE, NVGN, NWHM, OZRK, PETS, PFO, PGTI, PLAY, PLT, PRCP, PRFZ, PULB, PZE, QQQC, RDN, REPH, RGS, RRD, RTIX, SAGE, SCAI, SJM, SNE, SQNM, STK, STRZA, SUNE, SUPN, SURG, TAST, TERP, THQ, TILE, TLMR, TNP, TRI, TRK, TSE, TTHI, UHS, ULTA, ULTI, USNA, UWN, VLTC, VR, VRSN, VTWO, VUSE, WMS, WOOF, WSH, WSO, WSO.B, WWAV, XL, ZBRA

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AKAO, BIOD, BPTH, CIDM, FTEK, IKAN, ISDR, IVAC, KORS, MXPT, NHLD, PAL, PERF, PFBX, RESN, RGSE, SIF, SJR, SONS, STRI, SVLC, TGD, TKC, URRE, WPG, WRN, XPL, YUMA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: CUT, EWJ, IWM, KIE, PPH, UWM

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

Ultratech (UTEK) announced that a major memory manufacturer from Asia placed a follow-on order for Ultratech's Superfast high-volume inspection system.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: It was a mixed day of trading on Tuesday, which featured the outperformance of the health care sector and the semiconductor stocks, but little else. The broader market spent its time fluttering above and below the unchanged mark before finally settling with a small decline.

Buying efforts were impeded by increasing noise in the echo chamber regarding Greece's perilous financial condition and batch of earnings reports from blue-chip companies that was long on EPS surprises but short on revenue increases.

IBM (IBM 164.26, -1.90, -1.1%) found itself in that grouping, having topped first quarter EPS expectations by a comfortable margin despite a 12% decline in revenue.

News that Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA 64.16, +0.87, +1.3%) made an $82 per share cash and stock offer for Mylan (MYL 74.11, +6.07, +8.5%) underpinned the health care sector while better-than-expected earnings results and guidance from Lam Research (LRCX 77.87, +5.88, +8.3%) pushed up a number of related semiconductor stocks.


The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.1%) suffered a negligible decline, with a drop in Apple (AAPL 126.91, -0.69, -0.5%) holding things back.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Broadcom (BRCM 43.98, +0.36, +0.8%): After Tuesday's close, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.64 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 3.7% year/year to $2.06 bln, also ahead of estimates. For Q2, sees revenues of $2.025-2.175 bln and non-GAAP Gross Margin in the range of 55.25-56.75%.

Corning (GLW 22.61, -0.07, -0.3%): There were reports that the next Apple or Samsung smartphones may contain Corning glass products.

Harris (HRS 81.93, +2.63, +3.3%): Company said it sees Q3 (Mar) adjusted EPS of $1.32, which is ahead of analysts' average expectation, and revenues of $1.19 bln, which is shy of analyst' average estimate. For FY15 (Jun), raises adjusted EPS to $5.00-5.10 from $4.95-5.05. FY15 (Jun) revenues are expected to decline 4% versus prior guidance for a decline of 1-3%.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 33.21, -0.20, -0.6%): Company and FireEye, Inc. (FEYE 43.49, +1.06, +2.5%) announced a first of its kind, go-to-market partnership to make incident response, compromise assessment and threat detection offerings available to HP Enterprise Services' most strategic clients globally. Together, HP Enterprise Services and FireEye will jointly go to market with these offerings. Separately, Hewlett-Packard confirmed it will divest Snapfish to District Photo; terms not disclosed

IBM (IBM 164.26, -1.90, -1.1%): Announced it is bringing its market-leading Security Intelligence technology, IBM QRadar, to the cloud. The new services are available to clients through a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) model, with optional IBM Security Managed Services to provide deeper expertise and flexibility for security professionals.

Red Hat (RHT 75.20, +0.76, +1.0%): Introduced a new business resource planner as part of the latest releases of Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite and Red Hat JBoss BRMS. The planner, is based on the open source OptaPlanner JBoss community project.

Teradata (TDC 43.45, +0.30, +0.7%): Company and the Ural Federal University in Russia announced the delivery and deployment of the Teradata Aster Big Analytics Appliance 3H. The company also announced that LCL, a retail bank and subsidiary of Groupe Credit Agricole SA, has selected the Teradata Data Warehouse Appliance and associated software as the cornerstone of its data warehouse project and the enabler of its migration to big data analytics. The company further announced that Yodel, the UK parcel carrier, is overhauling its data management strategy using Teradata's data solutions

Yahoo! (YHOO 44.49, -0.16, -0.4%): After Tuesday's close, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.15 per share, which was shy of analysts' average expectation. Revenues fell 4.0% year/year to $1.04 bln, which was also below expectations. Company said it repurchased ~4 million shares of its common stock for $204 million and satisfied the $3.3 billion income tax liability related to the sale of Alibaba Group ADSs in 2014. Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $6.9 billion as of March 31, 2015
Elsewhere in the technology space:

ADTRAN (ADTN 18.53, +0.26, +1.4%): Announced Nouveau Solutions is using ADTRAN ProCloud service to transition to a managed service provider model. Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC 5.15, -0.10, -1.9%): Company and E4 Computer Engineering SpA announced a collaboration to develop E4's new product series, the ARKA RK003.

BlackBerry (BBRY 10.03, +0.02, +0.2%): Company announced it will acquire WatchDox to further enhance BlackBerry's mobile security and give enterprises unmatched control over their files even after data leaves the corporate network; financial terms not disclosed
Celestica (CLS 11.94, +0.44, +3.8%): Before Tuesday's open, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was shy of analysts' average estimate but within prior guidance of $0.18-0.24. Revenues fell 1.1% year/year to $1.30 bln, also shy of estimates and compared to guidance of $1.275-1.375 bln. For Q2, sees EPS of $0.20-0.26, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $1.35-1.45 bln. Company also announced an expanded relationship with Honeywell Aerospace.

Fortinet (FTNT 38.08, +3.45, +10.0%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Total revenue was $212.9 mln, up 26% year/year. Sees Q2 EPS $0.08-0.09 and revenues of $224-228 mln. Raises FY15 EPS guidance to $0.51-0.52 from $0.49-0.50 and revenues to $935-940 mln from $915-925 mln. Both estimate ranges are ahead of analysts' average expectations.

JDSU (JDSU 13.35, +0.04, +0.3%): Announced that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Laser 2000 GmbH, a optical solutions provider of almost 30 years, based in Munich, Germany, to provide its kW class fiber laser and kW class direct-diode laser products throughout Europe.

SAP AG (SAP 74.14, +1.82, +2.5%): Before Tuesday's open, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of 0.58 per share, which was shy of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 21.7% year/year to 4.5 bln, which was ahead of estimates. The Company expects full-year 2015 non-IFRS operating profit to be in a range of 5.6 billion - 5.9 billion at constant currencies (2014: 5.64 billion)

Twitter (TWTR 51.32, -0.08, -0.2%): re/code details news that Twitter has begun selling sports tickets in tweets.

Workday (WDAY 86.02, -0.09, -0.1%): Announced that Northern & Shell, a magazine and newspaper publisher in the United Kingdom, has selected Workday Financial Management.

Analyst Action:

Check Point Software (CHKP 86.69, +0.81, +0.9%): target raised to $91 from $83 at RBC Capital Markets; Sector Perform

Facebook (FB 83.62, +0.53, +0.6%): initiated with a Buy at Cleveland Research; target $100

Fortinet (FTNT 38.15, +3.42, +10.0%) target raised to $44 from $39 at FBR Capital... target raised to $43 from $40 at Northland Capital; Outperform... target raised to $45 from $33 at Deutsche Bank... target raised to $43 from $38 at Nomura... target raised to $45 from $38 at Piper Jaffray... target raised to $43 from $37 at UBS; Buy

IBM (IBM 164.26, -1.90, -1.1%): target raised to $170 from $160 at UBS; maintain Neutral

Lam Research (LRCX 77.84, +5.85, +8.1%): target lowered to $76 from $82 at RBC Capital Mkts; Sector Perform... target raised to $95 from $93 at Needham... target raised to $105 from $102 at Credit Suisse.. target raised to $95 from $88 at JP Morgan... target raised to $100 from $95 at Deutsche Bank; Buy

Paychex (PAYX 49.06, +0.08, +0.2%): upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo!)

4:10 pm Yahoo! misses by $0.03, misses on revs (YHOO) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.15 per share, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.18; revenues fell 4.0% year/year to $1.04 bln vs the $1.05 bln consensus.

"This quarter, we saw encouraging revenue growth of 8%, with display revenue growing a modest 2% and search growing 20% on a GAAP basis. Our mobile GAAP revenue reached $234 million in Q1, growing 61% year-over-year." Yahoo repurchased ~4 million shares of its common stock for $204 million and satisfied the $3.3 billion income tax liability related to the sale of Alibaba Group ADSs in 2014.Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $6.9 billion as of March 31, 2015

4:08 pm Super Micro Computer misses by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS midpoint below consensus, revs in-line (SMCI) : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.47 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.49; revenues rose 26.1% year/year to $471.2 mln vs the $475.88 mln consensus.

Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.53-0.62 vs. $0.62 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $510-560 mln vs. $543.75 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Non-GAAP gross margin for the third quarter was 16.3% compared to 15.4% in the same period a year ago.

4:07 pm Broadcom beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (BRCM) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.64 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.60; revenues rose 3.7% year/year to $2.06 bln vs the $2.01 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $2.025-2.175 bln vs. $2.07 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees Non-GAAP Gross Margin in the range of 55.25-56.75%.

4:06 pm CalAmp beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (CAMP) : Reports Q4 (Feb) earnings of $0.32 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.28; revenues rose 15.6% year/year to $69.2 mln vs the $67.77 mln consensus.

Co issues guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.24-0.28, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.26 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $63-67 mln vs. $67.80 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:06 pm Cree misses by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (CREE) : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.22 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.23; revenues rose 1.0% year/year to $409.5 mln vs the $405.05 mln consensus.

Gross margin decreased 250 basis points from Q2 of fiscal 2015 to 30.6% on a GAAP basis, and decreased 250 basis points to 31.4% on a non-GAAP basis.

Inventory decreased by $33.2 million from Q2 of fiscal 2015 to $299.4 million and represents 95 days of inventory.

Guidance: Co issues mixed guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.24-$0.28 vs. $0.29 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $420-$440 mln vs. $436.02 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Sees Non GAAP gross margin of 32.0% +/- . Operating expenses are targeted to increase $5 million compared to fiscal Q3.
4:10 pm : The stock market ended Tuesday on a mixed note with the Dow and S&P 500 losing 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) outperformed.

Today's session was relatively quiet as equity indices diverged during the opening hour of action and maintained narrow ranges into the afternoon. The S&P 500 opened with a nine-point gain, but was back near its flat line before the opening hour ended.

For its part, the Nasdaq spent the day near its early high thanks to solid gains among biotech names after Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA 64.14, +0.85) offered to acquire Mylan (MYL 74.11, +6.06) for $82.00/share in cash and stock. The two names posted respective gains of 1.3% and 8.9% while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 364.50, +6.55) settled higher by 1.8%. Furthermore, the health care sector advanced 0.7% and was the only sector with a gain larger than 0.1%.

Meanwhile, the consumer discretionary space (+0.1%) was the second-best performer with homebuilders showing broad strength. DR Horton (DHI 28.53, +0.49) jumped 1.8% ahead of tomorrow's earnings report while the broader iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 27.87, +0.39) gained 1.4%. On the earnings front, Under Armour (UA 83.54, -4.22) tumbled 4.8% after reporting in-line results and guiding below analyst expectations.

In other earnings, four Dow components delivered bottom-line beats since yesterday, but only one-Travelers (TRV 101.88, -4.26)-showed year-over-year revenue growth while United Technologies (UTX 116.95, +0.44), DuPont (DD 70.69, -2.15), and IBM (IBM 164.26, -1.90) saw their top lines contract.

Overall, cyclical sectors were responsible for the slide from opening highs with four of six growth-sensitive groups registering larger losses than the S&P 500. The energy sector (-1.0%) finished at the bottom while crude oil fell 2.3% to $56.58/bbl. The dollar was not a big factor today as the Dollar Index (97.96, +0.02) surrendered its modest overnight gain during morning action.

Elsewhere among cyclical groups, financials (-0.5%) and industrials (-0.2%) lagged with the latter pressured by General Electric (GE 26.62, -0.40). The conglomerate surrendered 1.5% while transport stocks overcame their early weakness. The Dow Jones Transportation Average added 0.3% even though Kansas City Southern (KSU 105.17, -2.20) lost 2.1% after missing bottom-line estimates.

Treasuries ended on their lows after sliding from their overnight highs, sending the 10-yr yield up two basis points to 1.91%.

Today's participation was relatively light with fewer than 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Investors did not receive any economic data today, but tomorrow's session will include the 7:00 ET release of the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, February FHFA Housing Price Index at 9:00 ET, and the Existing Home Sales report for March at 10:00 ET (Briefing.com consensus 5.05 million).

Nasdaq Composite +5.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.9% YTD
S&P 500 +1.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.7% YTD

DJ30 -85.34 NASDAQ +19.50 SP500 -3.11 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1454/1.59 bln/1414 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1530/674.4 mln/1526
3:40 pm :

The dollar index is back near the flat line in afternoon trade
WTI crude oil sold off in afternoon trade, but held above the $56/area
June crude finished the day $0.03 lower at $57.88/barrel
May nat gas gained $0.04 to $2.58/MMBtu
Gold held above $1200/oz.. ending +$9.5 at $1203.00/oz, while May silver ended $0.11 higher at $16.00/oz

12:59 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

MYL (74.75 +9.85%): Teva Pharma (TEVA) proposed to acquire Mylan for $82.00 per share in cash and stock.
LRCX (77 +6.96%): Beat Q3 consensus EPS estimates by $0.10, beat on revs; guided Q4 revs above consensus; Price tgt raised at Cowen, Needham, Credit Suisse, others.
ARMH (53.68 +4.54%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of GBP0.07 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of GBP0.07; revenues rose 21.9% year/year to GBP227.5 mln vs the GBP224.2 mln consensus; Price tgt raised at Topeka Capital Mkts.

Large Cap Losers

HOG (56.42 -8.67%): Beat Q1 consensus EPS estimates by $0.03, missed on revs; lowered FY15 shipment guidance, reaffirmed margin guidance.
UA (83.73 -4.59%): Reported Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line; raised 2015 outlook, which is still below estimates.
BAM (55.46 -4.11%): Priced a secondary offering of 17.9 million shares at $56/share.

Mid Cap Gainers

ATI (34.01 +12.24%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.09 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.08; revenues rose 14.0% year/year to $1.13 bln vs the $1.08 bln consensus.
FTNT (37.78 +9.1%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.06. Total revenue was $212.9 mln, up 26% year/year; Issues mixed Q2 guidance, raised FY15 guidance; Price tgt raised at FBR Capital, RBC Capital Mkts, others.
WUBA (73.03 +5.06%): Upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Mid Cap Losers

PKG (70.19 -8.87%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.01 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.08; revenues fell 0.4% year/year to $1.43 bln vs the $1.44 bln consensus.
TCK (13.07 -5.5%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of CAD $0.11 per share, CAD $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of CAD $0.17; revenues fell 2.9% year/year to CAD $2.02 bln vs the CC$2.06 bln consensus.
RLI (48.73 -4.45%): Reported Q1 (Mar) operating earnings of $0.50 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.52; revenues rose 8.1% year/year to $195.8 mln vs the $186.9 mln consensus.

12:39 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (148) outpacing new lows (32) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABG, ABTL, ACIW, ADRA, ADUS, AEL, AHS, AKAM, AKRX, ALNY, ALSK, ALV, AMG, AMOT, AMZN, ARIA, ASTE, ATRA, BABY, BBNK, BDC, BLKB, BLUE, BRKL, CAJ, CBYL, CEA, CHKP, CHL, CHU, CISG, CMT, CRI, CUBI, DCM, DDC, DIS, DST, DVA, DXCM, DXJS, EBSB, ECF, ECHO, ELY, ERI, EURN, EWBC, FDP, FLKS, FMD, FTNT, GMAN, GNE, GOGO, GPN, GWPH, HAS, HF, HIFS, HILL, HNI, HRC, HXL, HZNP, IMAX, INCY, INSM, IPCM, ISBC, ISCA, ISRG, ITG, JBSS, JOF, KEN, LAD, LAZ, LBY, LEA, LGND, LNBB, LXFT, LYTS, MACK, MAN, MANH, MCO, MCRI, MHF, MLNX, MTG, MTU, MYCC, MYL, NAP, NHTB, NOAH, NPD, NTT, NVO, NVS, NYCB, PAG, PANW, PETS, PFBC, PMD, PNFP, QQQC, QQXT, QTM, QUNR, RDN, RDWR, SBNY, SCAI, SCHL, SCI, SCMP, SEIC, SIRO, SKX, SORL, STBZ, SYUT, TAST, TECH, THRM, TLMR, TNP, TRK, TSE, TSRO, TWOU, TYPE, UFI, USCR, UWN, VIMC, VLRS, VLTC, WAL, WBC, WINA, WOOF, WUBA, ZBRA

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACTG, AKAO, ATL, BDR, BPTH, CPTA, ELTK, FNJN, FREE, FTEK, HGT, HTR, INVT, IPDN, ITEK, KOF, LTRE, MNI, NVTA, PAR, PBMD, PFBX, RLJE, RLOC, SCON, SIF, STRI, STRM, UCTT, WPCS, WPG, XGTI

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: EWJ, PPH

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: DBA, EGPT, FUD, GREK, VXX

7:49 am Arch Coal misses by $0.04, misses on revs (ACI) : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.54 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.50); revenues fell 8.0% year/year to $677 mln vs the $731.7 mln consensus.

Quarterly Adj. EBITDA increases threefold versus the prior-year quarterArch's first quarter cash margin per ton expands 12% versus the prior quarterStrong operational quarter drives down Appalachian 2015 cost-per-ton guidanceAs of March 31, 2015, Arch had available liquidity of $1.1 bln, including cash and short-term investments of $939 mln and undrawn borrowings on its credit facilities. "We are focused on managing our available liquidity through these difficult conditions," said John T. Drexler, Arch's senior vice president and chief financial officer.Arch now expects thermal sales volumes for 2015 to be in the range of 120-130 mln tons.The co has lowered its metallurgical coal sales guidance, and now expects to ship between 6.0-6.8 mln tons for 2015.Using this revised volume guidance, Arch is more than 95% committed on thermal sales and 75% committed on metallurgical sales for the full year.7:07 am Celestica misses by $0.03, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line; co intends to commence up to $350 mln substantial issuer bid (CLS) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.22 but within prior guidance of $0.18-0.24; revenues fell 1.1% year/year to $1.30 bln vs the $1.33 bln consensus and vs guidance of $1.275-1.375 bln. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.20-0.26, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.26 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.35-1.45 bln vs. $1.45 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

[ReturntoSender]

Weekly Recap - Week ending 24-Apr-15From Briefing.com: Dow +21.45 at 18080.14, Nasdaq +36.02 at 5092.08, S&P +4.76 at 2117.69

http://biz.yahoo.com/mu/update.html

The stock market wrapped up a strong week with a record finish even as economic data remained weak. The S&P 500 settled higher by 0.2% and registered a fresh record closing high at 2117.69 while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%) outperformed and posted another record close. Tragically, the Dow Jones Industrial Average could only add 0.1%, remaining 1.2% below its nominal record closing high from early March.

The Nasdaq surged out of the gate with several large components registering large gains in reaction to earnings. Amazon.com (AMZN 445.10, +55.11) surpassed revenue estimates and reported better than expected operating income. The retailer's loss of $0.12/share did not deter investors from sending the stock higher by 14.1%. Meanwhile another consumer discretionary component-Starbucks (SBUX 51.84, +2.41)-surged 4.9% after its in-line report overshadowed cautious guidance. Thanks to the two names, the consumer discretionary sector (+1.4%) ended well ahead of other groups.

However, Amazon and Starbucks were just partially responsible for the relative strength in the Nasdaq. Two tech sector (+0.9%) heavyweights-Google (GOOGL 573.66, +16.20) and Microsoft (MSFT 47.87, +4.53)-spiked 2.9% and 10.5%, respectively following earnings. Microsoft soared in reaction to better than expected results, while Google missed on earnings and revenue, which may explain why the stock "only" went up 2.9%.

It is worth noting that the handful of giants overshadowed a weak performance from many other Nasdaq components. For instance, chipmakers retreated across the board. The PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 1.7% with Maxim Integrated (MXIM 32.78, -1.96) leading the group lower. Shares of MXIM fell 5.6% after disappointing revenue overshadowed a bottom-line beat. Meanwhile, KLA-Tencor (KLAC 58.89, -0.96) beat estimates and announced plans to reduce its workforce, but still ended lower by 1.6% amid some concerns about the company's outlook.

Similar to chipmakers, biotech names struggled with iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 363.70, -3.98) falling 1.1%. Most notably, Biogen (BIIB 401.71, -28.57) fell 6.6% after missing earnings and revenue estimates even though the company still reported 20.0% year-over-year revenue growth. However, the bar was set even higher for this large component of an industry group that has made a major contribution to the Nasdaq's rally to record highs, today notwithstanding. For its part, the health care sector (-0.3%) spent the day in the red as biotech weighed.

Staying in the health care sector, Mylan (MYL 76.06, +2.37) made an intraday offer to acquire Perrigo (PRGO 192.89, -8.74) for $205/share in cash and stock, but Perrigo was quick to reject that offer. Elsewhere, another potential deal fell through with antitrust concerns likely playing a part as Comcast (CMCSA 59.64, +0.41) terminated its pursuit of Time Warner Cable (TWC 155.26, +6.50). Shares of TWC rallied 4.4% amid speculation the company may now be an attractive target for Charter Communications (CHTR 185.75, +2.17).

As mentioned earlier, consumer discretionary and technology sectors posted solid gains, which kept the S&P 500 in the green. Materials (+0.8%) and utilities (+1.0%) also posted solid gains, but the two groups account for just over 6.0% of the entire market.

Going back to influential sectors, financials (-0.2%), industrials (-0.4%), and energy (-0.6%) spent the entire day in negative territory. The energy sector was pressured by crude oil, which fell 1.0% to $57.18/bbl, while Dow component, ExxonMobil (XOM 86.97, -0.57), kept pace with the sector.

Moving on, the industrial sector was pressured by some of its large components like Dow member, Boeing (BA 148.40, -1.47), which fell 1.0% while transport stocks also lagged following disappointing results and guidance from Landstar (LSTR 64.49, -1.44). The freight carrier lost 2.2% while the Dow Jones Transportation Average shed 0.3%. To be fair, airlines bucked the trend after American Airlines (AAL 52.70, +1.25) beat estimates; however, the stock is not a member of the DJTA so its strength in that arena showed up through peers like Delta Airlines (DAL 46.98, +0.55) and United Continental (UAL 63.51, +0.71).

On the international front, representatives from Greece met with the Eurogroup in Riga today, but once again, the meeting ended without any concrete solutions. The prolonged negotiations appear to be getting more tense with Bloomberg reporting that unnamed euro area finance ministers have called Greek Finance Minister a "time-waster, gambler, and an amateur."

Treasuries posted modest gains with the 10-yr yield falling three basis points to 1.92%. The entire advance occurred in the wake of today's Durable Orders, which seemed ok at first glance:

Durable goods orders increased 4.0% in March after declining an unrevised 1.4% in February while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.5%
The entire March gain resulted from increased transportation demand, specifically from the defense-related aircraft sector
Defense aircraft orders increased 112.8% in March with total aircraft orders increasing 43.8% after declining 8.3% in February
Motor vehicle and parts orders increased 5.4%
Excluding transportation, durable goods orders declined 0.2% in March after declining a downwardly revised 1.3% (from -0.6%) in February while the consensus expected an increase of 0.4%
After declining 2.2% in February, orders of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft declined 0.5% in March
Shipments, which factor into first quarter GDP growth, declined 0.4% in March after increasing 0.1% in February

There is no data scheduled for Monday.

Week in Review: Nasdaq Sets Fresh Record Closing High

The stock market began the week on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 (+0.9%) erasing the bulk of its decline from Friday. The benchmark index reclaimed its 50-day moving average (2,086) at the start and spent the remainder of the day near its early high while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.2%) and Nasdaq Composite (+1.3%) outperformed. Global equity markets enjoyed a strong start to the week after the People's Bank of China lowered the reserve requirement ratio for all banks to 18.5% from 19.5%. The 100-basis point cut was the largest such move since November 2008 and was implemented in hopes of avoiding a slowdown in China's economic growth. The easing news from China helped markets in Europe register broad gains with investors overlooking the latest Greece-related developments. Specifically, the Greek government has requested local governments to transfer their cash balances to the Bank of Greece as the troubled sovereign continues scrambling for funds ahead of the next IMF payment deadline. All ten sectors registered solid gains with five groups adding more than 1.0%. The top-weighted technology sector (+1.8%) ended in the lead after climbing throughout the session with large cap components fueling the move.

Equity indices ended Tuesday on a mixed note with the Dow and S&P 500 losing 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) outperformed. The trading day was relatively quiet as equity indices diverged during the opening hour of action and maintained narrow ranges into the afternoon. The S&P 500 opened with a nine-point gain, but was back near its flat line before the opening hour ended. For its part, the Nasdaq spent the day near its early high thanks to solid gains among biotech names after Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA 64.14, +0.85) offered to acquire Mylan (MYL 74.11, +6.06) for $82.00/share in cash and stock. The two names posted respective gains of 1.3% and 8.9% while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 364.50, +6.55) settled higher by 1.8%. Furthermore, the health care sector advanced 0.7% and was the only sector with a gain larger than 0.1%.

The major averages registered modest Wednesday gains with the S&P 500 (+0.5%) ending ahead of the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%). Overall, the session was very quiet as the key indices spent the day in a slow advance. Intraday trading volume highlighted that dynamic, but more than 735 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor by the close, representing the highest total of the week. All ten sectors registered gains with the top-weighted technology sector (+1.1%) ending in the lead. The influential group was underpinned by daylong strength in shares of MasterCard (MA 91.20, +3.43) and Visa (V 68.01, +2.66) after it was reported China will allow foreign card processors to compete with UnionPay, which is the only company that processes yuan-denominated card payments at this time. Meanwhile, tech heavyweights like Apple (AAPL 128.62, +1.71), Google (GOOGL 549.18, +6.25), and Microsoft (MSFT 42.98, +0.35) joined the rally in progress.

On Thursday, the stock market posted its second consecutive gain with the S&P 500 (+0.2%) notching a fresh intraday record high at 2,120.49. More notably, the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) set a fresh closing record high at 5,056.06, which eclipsed the previous peak (5,048.62), registered on March 10, 2000. Strikingly, the advance occurred after Manufacturing PMI readings from China (49.2; consensus 49.6) and Japan (49.7; expected 50.8) missed expectations while European economies also delivered disappointing manufacturing surveys. Economic data did not improve much by the start of the U.S. session with the New Home Sales report for March missing expectations (481K; Briefing.com consensus 520K). Furthermore, a large portion of quarterly reports received since Wednesday's close failed to show year-over-year revenue growth, which has been a recurring theme during this earnings season. Normally, the aforementioned combination would serve as a recipe for weakness in equities, but instead, the macro and micro concerns morphed into expectations that the Fed would remain at the zero-bound for longer. Treasuries agreed with this assessment and climbed alongside equities, pressuring the 10-yr yield four basis points to 1.94%. Meanwhile, the Dollar Index (97.29, -0.64) fell 0.7% with the euro gaining 0.9% against the greenback (1.0825).

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17826.30 18080.14 253.84 1.4 1.4
Nasdaq 4931.81 5092.08 160.27 3.2 7.5
S&P 500 2081.18 2117.69 36.51 1.8 2.9
Russell 2000 1251.86 1267.54 15.68 1.3 5.2

After a surge to record highs yesterday, major indices capped the week off in a rather subtle fashion, although all except for the Russell 200 finished in the green.

Many well known bellwethers helped to lift the S&P 500 information technology sector (+1%) today, like Google (GOOG 565.06, +18.06, +3.3%), Microsoft (MSFT 47.87, +4.53, +10.45%), Apple (AAPL 130.28, +0.61, +0.47%), and Yahoo (YHOO 44.52, +0.83, +1.89%). However, not all tech stocks saw the same demand. Semiconductors were a clear underperformer, with the Philadelphia SOX Index falling 1.66% to end the week. Leading the Index lower were names like Maxim Integrated (MXIM 32.78, -1.96, -5.6%), Avago Tech (AVGO 119.50, -4.57, -3.68%), NXP Semiconductor (NXPI 95.33, -3.25, -3.3%), and Freescale Semi (FSL 38.86, -1.12, -2.8%)

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Xerox (XRX 11.99, -1.15, -8.75%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.21 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Consensus Estimate of $0.21. Revenues fell 6.3% year/year to $4.47 bln vs the $4.56 bln consensus, or 2% in constant currency. Additionally, the company issues downside guidance for Q2, forecasting EPS of $0.21-0.23 vs. $0.25 Estimate.

FLIR Systems (FLIR 30.53, -0.38, -1.23%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.34 per share, $0.02 better than consensus. Revenues fell 2.0% year/year to $344.5 mln vs the $364.07 mln consensus, impacted 5% by FX. FLIR reaffirmed guidance for FY15, noting EPS of $1.60-1.70 on revenues of $1.55-1.60 bln.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Infosys (INFY 31.81, -3.15, -9%): Reported Q4 (Mar) earnings of INR27.10 per share, INR0.53 worse than the Estimate of INR27.63. Revenues rose 4.2% year/year to INR134.11 bln vs the INR139.06 bln consensus. INFY issued in-line guidance for FY16, noting FY16 revenues of +10%-12%. Revenues are expected to grow 8.4%-10.4% in INR terms. Additionally, the company announced a definitive agreement to acquire Kallidus Inc. (d.b.a Skava) and its affiliate, a leading provider of digital experience solutions, including mobile commerce and in-store shopping experiences to large retail clients. This acquisition was an all-cash deal, with an aggregate purchase consideration of $120 million including retention bonus and a deferred component.

Silicon Motion (SIMO 30.40, -2.75, -8.3%): Acquired Shannon Systems for $57.5 mln in cash, equity and contingency payments. The impact of this acquisition is expected to be slightly accretive to Silicon Motion's non-GAAP earnings per share in the second half of 2015 and more accretive in full-year 2016.

IMS Health Holdings (IMS 29.00, +1.02, +3.65%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.39 per share, $0.07 better than Estimates of $0.32. Revenues fell 2.0% year/year-$632 mln vs the $626.89 mln consensus. Solely due-the strengthening of the U.S. Dollar, the company is revising full-year reported revenue growth-approximately 10% and Adjusted EBITDA growth-approximately 4% for the Combined business. However, assuming current foreign exchange rates hold constant through the end of the year, IMS Health is maintaining full-year reported guidance for Adjusted Net Income growth of 8-11% and Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share growth of 4-6% for the Combined business.

3D Systems (DDD 27.23, -2.92, -9.68%): Guided Q1 EPS and sales well below consensus, citing FX, among other issues. Given current uncertainties from continued macroeconomic pressures and foreign currency headwinds, management is undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of its full year guidance and plans to update investors during its scheduled first quarter 2015 earnings conference call on May 6, 2015.
Analyst Action:

Gigamon (GIMO 29.75, +6.16, +26.11%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at DA Davidson; price target raised to $32 from $22

Microsoft (MSFT 47.87, +4.53, +10.45%): upgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura... price target raised to $50 from $47 at RBC Capital; Outperform

Juniper Networks (JNPR 26.14, +2.14, +8.92%): upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital; price target raised to $29 from $22

Maxwell Tech (MXWL 6.33, -0.85, -11.84%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity; price target lowered to $7 from $9

Ubiquiti Networks (UBNT 31.29, -0.14, -0.45%): downgraded to Market Perform from Market Outperform at JMP Securities... downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo... price target lowered to $32 from $45 at Wunderlich; Buy

KLA-Tencor (KLAC 58.89, -0.96, -1.6%): downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup; price target lowered to $66 from $80... price target lowered to $62 from $72 at RBC Capital; Sector Perform... price target lowered to $70 from $78 at Needham; Strong Buy

Freescale Semi (FSL 38.86, -1.12, -2.8%): price target lowered to $45 from $46 at Topeka Capital; Buy

Avnet (AVT 43.47, -0.28, -0.64%): price target lowered to $49 from $51 at Stifel; Buy

Altera (ALTR 40.89, -1.20, -2.85%): price target raised to $38 from $37 at Topeka Capital; Hold... reiterated Outperform at FBR Capital; price target $42... price target lowered to $40 from $42 at RBC Capital; Outperform... price target raised to $43 from $33 at Northland Capital; Market Perform

Synaptics (SYNA 85.69, -3.35, -3.76%): price target raised to $102 from $93 at Stifel; Buy

Microsemi (MSCC 32.40, -3.33, -9.32%): price target raised to $45 from $40 at Stifel; Buy

Google (GOOG 565.06, +16.06, +3.3%): price target lowered to $550 from $565 at Oppenheimer; Perform... price target raised to $615 from $608 at Axiom Capital; Hold... price target raised to $640 from $630 at RBC Capital; Outperform... price target raised to $672 from $632 at FBR Capital; Outperform... pirce target raised to $650 from $600 at JP Morgan; Overweight
Plexus (PLXS 44.20, -0.32, -0.72%): price target raised to $50 from $47 at Needham; Strong Buy

CoreLogic (CLGX 39.45, +0.23, +0.59%): price target raised to $45 from $40 at Oppenheimer; Outperform

Netgear (NTGR 30.00, -4.17, -12.2%): price target raised to $34 from $31 at Northland Capital; Market Perform

Qlik Tech (QLIK 35.30, +1.65, +4.9%): price target raised to $34 from $31 at BMO Capital; Market Perform... price target raised to $40 from $35 at Mizuho; Buy(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Microsoft)

5:01 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Healthcare:AGEN (7.12 +27.83%),CO (7.22 +23.63%),MDSO (57.59 +23.12%),VASC (35.31 +20.8%),ADXS (23.34 +19.88%),RIGL (4.88 +19.19%)

Materials:VALE (7.92 +34.92%),VALE.P (6.32 +28.72%),SID (2.39 +21.32%)

Industrials:ECHO (32.68 +28.16%),SALT (2.48 +22.77%)

Consumer Discretionary:SKX (89.66 +21.97%)

Information Technology:GIMO (29.75 +29.35%),CCIH (14.38 +24.61%),CAMP (20.34 +23.8%),ARRS (35.76 +19.92%)

Financials:ASPS (23.24 +33.64%),CISG (11 +25.28%)

Utilities:EBR (2.52 +24.14%),EBR.B (3.03 +22.67%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Healthcare:AMPE (2.73 -65.31%),AERI (12.87 -62.31%),CALA (13.41 -27%),SPNC (26.52 -23.62%),ASMB (15.46 -21.03%),CLDN (13.68 -17.22%),CPRX (3.69 -16.14%),PTX (7.09 -15.09%)

Materials:FTK (14.06 -21.1%)

Industrials:TRN (28.7 -19.65%)

Consumer Discretionary:CZR (9.83 -18.42%),ICON (26.77 -16.42%)

Information Technology:FARO (43.44 -30.19%),MOBL (6.98 -27.34%),SMCI (30.44 -17.31%),AWAY (27.18 -16.68%),ADTN (15.98 -14.45%)

Energy:NRP (5.26 -27.85%),CRR (31.6 -18.93%),MHR (2.26 -15.99%)

4:32 pm Marvell sees Q1 revs of $710-740 mln (lowered from $810-830 mln) vs $814.66 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate (MRVL) : Co announced that first quarter of fiscal 2016 revenue is expected to be below the company's previous outlook. The company now expects first quarter of fiscal 2016 revenue to be in the range of $710 million to $740 million (vs $814.66 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate), compared to the previous expectation of $810 million to $830 million. The revised revenue outlook is primarily due to weaker than previously expected PC and storage markets and lower than expected emerging market demand. All other financial outlook expectations have been withdrawn and will be updated on the company's first quarter earnings call on May 21, 2015.

3:33 pm Earnings Preview for the week of April 27 - May 1 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of April 27 - May 1 some of the bigger names include:

Monday:
Pre Market - TEN, LH, QSR, ROP, MCY, PDS, BPOP, SOHU, HAE, OSIS

After Hours - AAPL, HIG, CHRW, OMI, ABX, UHS, PRE, WRB, RE, JLL, AFG, SWFT, RCII, AMKR, WCN, OSTK

Tuesday:

Pre Market - BP, F, VLO, AET, UPS, YNDX, PFE, MRK, TMUS, CNC, WHR, PHG, NOV, CMI, PAG, SVU, BMY, ECL, PH, JEC, TXT, GLW, GPI, CHTR, MAS, BSX, AKS, AXE, JBLU

After Hours - ESRX, AFL, WDC, X, EIX, GNW, NCR, OI, KBR, WYNN, WSH, ACGL, SFS, IACI, GPRE, TPX, PNRA, CLF, TWTR, BWLD,

Wednesday:

Pre Market - UMC, FCAU, SPIL, ANTM, HUM, ABB, MDLZ, GD, EXC, TWX, IP, NOC, ETN, SO, GT, PCG, NEE, WM, TRI, CVE, PX, GIB, NSC, HLT, MA, VRX, BEN, FDML, SPR, OCR, AVY, HES, HOT, MWV, CG

After Hours - BSAC, SU, FLEX, MAR, LNC, UNM, RKT, ES, WMB, TX, PPC, BIDU, XL, AXS, NXPI, TEX, CNW, ASH, ARRS, MEP, ESV, YELP

Thursday:
Pre Market - SNE, XOM, RDS.A, PSX, ABC, NVO, CAH, MPC, BG, EPD, COP, CI, TWC, CTRX, BCE, ARW, TEVA, CL, FMS, DLPH, MMC, VIAB, XEL, ADP, NOK, HUN, LLL, APD, NI, MOS, CELG, SHPG, UFS, GG, CME, WWE

After Hours - INT, GILD, FLR, AIG, FE, V, EMN, TS, EEP, EXPE, WU, MRC, THG, YRCW, EVHC, LYV, FLS, FBHS, LNT, SCSC, LNKD, FSLR,
Friday: Pre Market - CVS, CVX, DUK, PEG, AON, VFC, TRP, WY, BPL, CPN, CLX, TDS

After Hours - VNR, AEC
1:11 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

AMZN (449.24 +15.19%): Reported Q1 operating income and revs above estimates; guided Q2 revs in-line; AWS profitable with rev +49%; Upgraded at JP Morgan, Raymond James, Janney, others.
NEM (25.27 +7.76%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.35 per share, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.23; revenues rose 11.8% year/year to $1.97 bln vs the $1.93 bln consensus.
SBUX (51.81 +4.81%): Reported Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guided Q3 EPS in-line; guided Q4 (Sep) EPS below consensus; reaffirmed FY15 EPS guidance, revs guidance; Price tgt raised at Oppenheimer, Telsey Group, others.

Large Cap Losers
RMD (65.37 -10.92%): Reported Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.65 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.65; revenues rose 6.2% year/year to $422.5 mln vs the $426.71 mln consensus; Downgraded at Macquarie.
XRX (11.95 -9.06%): Reported Q1 EPS in-line, misses on revs; guided Q2 EPS below consensus; lowered FY15 guidance.
BIIB (404.57 -5.98%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $3.82 per share, $0.09 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $3.91; revenues rose 20.0% year/year to $2.56 bln vs the $2.66 bln consensus; TECFIDERA sales down 10% QoQ to $825 mln, well below estimates.

Mid Cap Gainers

AAN (32.74 +11.47%): Beat Q1 consensus EPS estimates by $0.18, beat on revs; guided FY15 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus.
CPHD (59.25 +11.16%): Beat Q1 consensus EPS estimates by $0.16, beat on revs; raised FY15 EPS guidance above consensus, revs in-line; Price tgt raised to $66 at Needham.
JNPR (26.04 +8.51%): Beat Q1 consensus EPS estimates by $0.01, beat on revs; guided Q2 EPS to higher end of analysts' estimates; Upgraded at RBC Capital Mkts.

Mid Cap Losers

AWAY (27.51 -14.49%): Beat Q1 consensus EPS estimates by $0.12, reported revs in-line; guided Q2 revs below consensus; guided FY15 revs below consensus; Announced its President and COO is resigning as well as the co-founder and Chief Strategy and Development Officer.
DV (32.46 -13.6%): Reported Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.72 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.68; revenues fell 1.3% year/year to $489.83 mln vs the $495.95 mln consensus; Price tgt lowered at Compass Point.
DDD (27.43 -9.02%): Guided Q1 EPS and sales well below consensus, citing FX and lower oil, among other issues; sees Q1 EPS $0.02-0.04 vs $0.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

11:49 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (185) outpacing new lows (30) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAIT, AAXJ, ACWI, ADRA, ADXS, AGEN, AKRX, ALG, ALSK, AMCN, AMOT, AMZN, AOS, APB, ARIA, ASMI, ASR, ATRA, AVOL, AYR, AZO, BCR, BDC, BLBD, BLKB, BMI, BONA, BT, BTX, CARZ, CCO, CDW, CFGE, CHL, CII, CLGX, CNC, CO, COLM, COWN, CPHD, CSFL, CSL, CYNO, DATA, DDC, DEPO, DG, DIS, DL, DNKN, DNP, DPZ, DRRX, DSW, DTV, EBS, EEMA, ELNK, ENI, EOS, EVI, EXPE, EXPR, FBR, FDP, FICO, FLT, FMD, FNF, FONE, FPXI, FRAN, FTNT, FWP, GIMO, GNE, GWPH, HALO, HMC, HMHC, HOLX, HSKA, IGTE, IMH, IMS, INFA, INNL, INSM, INSY, IPCM, IPKW, ISL, JD, JFC, JNPR, KCG, KMI, LEA, LMAT, LPNT, LVNTA, LXU, LYTS, MACK, MMSI, MTG, MYL, NAP, NAT, NI, NJ, NPD, NRZ, NTES, NTT, NVEE, NVO, NXTM, ONEQ, OSHC, OXM, PETS, PMD, PNQI, PSCH, PSG, QLIK, QQEW, QQQ, QQQC, QQXT, RARE, RAX, RDI, RDN, RIGL, RVBD, SBUX, SCHL, SEIC, SFBS, SFG, SHAK, SHI, SHOO, SIRO, SIVB, SIX, SKX, SKYY, SMFG, SNA, SOCL, SOHU, SPSC, SQNM, SSNC, STON, SUPN, SYBT, TECH, TFX, TNP, TQQQ, TREE, TSRO, TTHI, TTMI, TWOU, UEC, UHS, ULTA, USCR, USNA, VASC, VONG, WD, WOOF, WUBA, WWW, XRM, YUM, ZBRA, ZIXI

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AIXG, AXE, BRT, BWEN, CHCI, CHEK, DV, ELTK, ESIO, FNJN, FREE, FTK, LPTN, LSTR, MXWL, NGD, NURO, OSGB, PRGN, RXII, SIF, SNAK, SPEX, SQQQ, SSYS, STEM, TIS, VRA, XGTI, XRX

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: EWJ, EWT, FDN, IGV, IWC, IWF, PPH, QQQ, SKYY, SOCL, XLY

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: VXX

8:08 am 3D Systems follow up: Guides Q1 EPS and sales well below consensus, citing FX and lower oil, among other issues (DDD) : Co sees Q1 EPS $0.02-0.04 vs $0.17 Capital IQ Consensus; revs $158-160 mln vs $182.62 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

The co believes that economic weaknesses attributable to several factors, including the decline in the Euro and Yen relative to the U.S. Dollar and the aftershock of lower oil prices, caused the majority of its aerospace, automotive and healthcare customers to curb new printer purchases during the quarter and curtail their materials and service purchases. In addition, certain metal and nylon applications and performance issues delayed the company's ability to sell additional printers during the quarter. The combined impact of these factors compressed the company's expected revenue growth for the quarter to 9% over the comparable quarter of 2014, or 17% at first quarter 2014 exchange rates. A stronger U.S. Dollar reduced total quarterly revenues by ~ $12 million at comparable Q1 2014 currency rates.Stronger consumer products performance that yielded a 169% consumer printer units increase and continued direct metal demand that generated 46% metal printer units growth, were not enough to make up for the revenue shortfall from postponed industrial customers' purchases.Given current uncertainties from continued macroeconomic pressures and foreign currency headwinds, management is undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of its full year guidance and plans to update investors during its scheduled first quarter 2015 earnings conference call on May 6, 2015.

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Summary - Nasdaq Approaches March 2000 All Time High:

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

- NASDAQ, SP500 move to new highs rising four large cap stocks
- New highs but less than impressive action overall as smaller caps do not participate. Most stocks don't participate.
- Lack of Durable Goods orders, lack of capital investment. Still.
- Feds kill TWC/CMCSA deal, and may have again marked the top of a market and economic expansion.
- Time again for some Greece headlines and worries to dog the stock market
- New highs, but not a clear and away blastoff. Leaders still there but some are under some pressure.
- Playing the upside, with some downside, but watching for 'in your ear' as NASDAQ approaches the March 2000 all-time high.

A very mixed Friday, and frankly that is better than some of the possibilities given the run higher to this point and the crescendo of excitement over the AMZN, GOOG, MSFT, and SBUX earnings. NASDAQ and SP500 dutifully moved to new highs though NASDAQ still missed out on the March 2000 all-time high by 40 points. Good to see they avoided a gap and crash. All of the market, however, did not participate.

RUTX and SP400, the small caps and midcaps, did not participate. They started higher with gaps, but didn't have the staying power. Hey, it was a large cap session, pure and simple. The smaller caps are still trending nicely after getting the rally started, now taking a back seat. Hmmm. They kind of did this in the February move as well: broke higher first, got investors ginned up, then everything went higher.

SP500 4.76, 0.23%
NASDAQ 36.02, 0.71%
DJ30 21.45, 0.12%
SP400 -0.41%
RUTX -0.31%
SOX -1.66%

VOLUME: NYSE -8.8%, fading just below average on SP500's move to a new high. Not a plunge in volume, but volume was not exactly explosive on the move higher. NASDAQ trade +2.3%. Not bad given the break to a new all-time closing high, but solidly above average again and rising over the volume on the Thursday gain.

A/D: Definitely shows the large cap nature of the move. More than that, it shows how just a few stocks orchestrated the move to new highs.

NYSE, just over 1:1. NASDAQ actually negative at -1.1:1.


It looks as if a transition, for now, has taken place with the small and midcaps leading the initial move and now the big cap stocks taking over. All, however, are holding up well as the small and midcaps are in very good trends, perhaps not leading with blasts higher, but steadily climbing.


NEWS

Durable Goods Orders remain less than durable.

Durable Goods Orders, March: 4.0% versus 0.5% expected versus -1.4% prior.

Wow, how great. Not. A 112% gain in defense aircraft orders accounted for the surge.

Ex-Transports: -0.2% vs +0.4% expected versus -1.3% (from -0.6%)!!!

Non-defense capital goods ex-aircraft: -0.3% versus -2.2% (from -1.1%)!!! Seven months down.

History: this length of declines in durables and investment has equaled recession. Not good.

But, the soothsayers stand firm. From CNBC: "Business spending on capital goods has been undermined by a buoyant dollar, which has eroded profits of multinational companies." Oh, I guess that explains the weak investment FOR THE ENTIRITY OF THE 'RECOVERY' when the dollar WAS NOT strong. This kind of casual, nonsensical 'reasoning' is dangerous because most people don't think, just accept the nonsense as fact.


Heavy Hand of government kills TWC/CMCSA deal. Shades of MSFT?

Friday TWC announced the attempt to acquire CMCSA is over thanks to the DOJ informing the companies it was going to sue to block the deal based upon anti-trust grounds. Once again the government is applying yesterday's standards to the new world, failing to grasp what is happening, or perhaps simply giving favors to those who give the money. Look at the Clinton allegations. Look at the Bush allegations that are leaking out ahead of the book. It is not a flattering look at our 'leaders,' and indeed is looking criminal in nature. Democrat or Republican, it is not looking good for our nation.

Beyond that, what about the market impact? Friday was up on some big earnings but the move was very narrow. Why didn't every stock participate in the good news?

Perhaps this is a seminal moment. JUST as NASDAQ breaks to a new all-time closing high with an assumed all-time high coming this week, the federal government announces a major stance in corporation combinations, combinations planned to help preserve the corporations in an environment rapidly changing for companies providing video to consumers. Cable is under fire from wireless streaming. This merger was an attempt to remain competitive with the rise of wireless and streaming.

Just as the federal government sued MSFT as its domination was peaking back in the 1990's, something it has not recovered from until just about now, the feds are moving to assure cable becomes obsolete. Perhaps the government wants to control it for some reason. Perhaps, as noted above, it has friends in other places (check out the number of visits GOOG officers visit the White House) and wants to make sure they are properly paid back. This block falls right into their game plan.

That peak did not only stop MSFT, it helped stop the tech innovation advance. We fell into an investment and technology recession for several years, sending hundreds of thousands of our best technology jobs permanently overseas.

Thus, even as the stock market breaks to higher highs, the move was less than well-attended by the rest of the market, suggesting that the regulatory cold water thrown onto a deal designed to at least give cable a chance to compete in the new wireless and streaming world is viewed as an attack on ANY kind of combinations ahead. THERE ALREADY IS NO INVESTMENT IN THE US, and the federal government appears to desire to keep it that way.

This move was labeled 'political' by nearly every financial news outlet. It is. Pure and simple. That won't change a thing, however, for the next 20 months. Overregulated, overtaxed, and given no options to expand.

Indeed, tax revenues as a percentage of GDP are almost at 18%. When they move past that level we get recessions. Why? Because the government has so increased taxes, fees, fines, etc. that too much money is taken from productive use to the waste of government. When that happens, recession.

Starkest recent example? The surpluses of the 1990's. We were told that the Clinton tax hikes 'had' to be passed to cover spending. What happened was the tax hikes, as they always do, as they did now, result in more tax revenues. Initially. That pushed revenues well past what was 'needed to pay for our deficits' to massive surpluses. Instead of giving that money back by lower taxes, tax increases were maintained, and the money was uselessly used to pay off our debt. What did that get us? Recession. Too much money taken from the economy and no investment was made. We turned to recession because of no money to invest.

We quite possibly are ready to go into recession again because revenues are so high and we know no capital investment in equipment, people, etc. is being made. With the feds telling the world they will block attempts to survive by merger, there is even LESS incentive to make capital investments and a recession becomes inevitable.


Greece: EU negotiators tire of Greece counterpart. Reports are they are 'hammering' him, accusing him of delaying tactics and being amateurish.


THE MARKET

CHARTS

NASDAQ: Gapped to a new closing high, 32 points from an all-time high on the high. That is all it did. Gapped, closed a few points lower. SBUX, AMZN, MSFT, GOOG. That pretty much tells it. Now 40 points from the all-time high at 5132 hit March 2000. Broke out from its 9 week pattern very similar to its 10 week pattern that broke out in early February, leading to a month-long run. Perhaps it is doing the same now, rallying one more time before the summer hits and the doldrums set in. Don't forget 5132, however. Recall we discussed that as a possible top for NASDAQ back in March when NASDAQ traded over 5000. Have to watch for sharp reversals when NASDAQ tries that level this coming week. After turning back below that level on the last attempt, we doubt NASDAQ will turn back this time before hitting it. After that, the index and the rest of the market has to show it can continue with a February-like move.

SP500: New all-time closing high by 0.30 points. While just a whisper of a new high, SP500 did hold a breakout over the upper trendline of its 9 week pattern. Same length as the prior pattern that led to the February run. All of the caveats for the NASDAQ apply here, and indeed how NASDAQ reacts to the prior all-time high will impact how SP500 and the other indices play. Pretty weak volume on the breakout, and that is something of a disappointment.

SP400: Gapped higher, in new high territory (again) but could not hold it, slipping to a modest loss. Holding over the 10 day EMA and still in a very nice uptrend, but that was a very short foray to a new high, somewhat akin to RUTX' move a couple of weeks back. Again, however, an excellent trend higher remains in place, just want to see it put more distance on the prior high.

SOX: A key index and move. After defying the pattern and riding the back of LRCX and BRCM upside through some pretty stiff resistance, SOX gapped lower Thursday on the TXN earnings plunge, but managed to hold the 50 day MA. Friday it did nothing of the sort, collapsing through the 50 day EMA and the mid-April lows. This could be an epic failure, rolling over just as NASDAQ and SP500 reach for new highs. SOX is an important index for the market. Its breakout from a decade-plus trading range in January 2014 and its successful test in October of that year was a major boost for the overall market. If SOX rolls over, NASDAQ could indeed have an issue after it makes its prior all-time high and nudges it aside for the record books.

RUTX: Backed off from the Thursday gain similar to SP400, also holding the 10 day EMA on the close. Still a very good uptrend in place, but note it did not run right back up to that level after the prior Friday flop. It would appear there was some rotation out of the small caps after that event as the large cap NYSE and NASDAQ indexes break to higher highs.

DJ30: Impressively weak session given the hoopla re MSFT earnings. Indeed, without MSFT's gain, DJ30 was red on the day. Still no breakout from the pattern. No attempt at it even after the higher low from the Tuesday low. Nice pattern, but as we say, just a pretty picture until it makes its move, and it has not made its move.


LEADERSHIP

Of course the large cap 'names' posting earnings investors found pleasing led the move upside. Thanks to them the market was positive. Without them, narrow breadth, weakness in small caps, midcaps, chips, and 'old economy' Dow stocks would have the overall market lower.

Big Names: Others moving as well. AAPL modestly higher. PCLN gapped higher, continuing its move. EBAY held its upside gap from Thursday. CSCO up modestly.

Chips: Even the good movers from early in the week struggled. BRCM has almost fully filled its big upside gap. LRCX has faded off its earnings gap, but is showing a nice doji at the 200 day MA. AVGO posted a good move Wednesday, but that was all; Friday it blew out the 50 day MA to the downside. NXPI did the same and ALTR warned. SUNE, a very impressive chip with a great uptrend, is threatening that trend. The chips are down right now.

Software: A so-so day, but that is not bad after the moves. SPLK showed a hangman doji after a great Monday to Thursday break higher. CYBR was flat after a huge week has it near the mid-February peak. FEYE jumped higher but fizzled to flat. CRM gapped upside after a good Thursday move but could not hold it just yet.

Metals: SID, after a big Wednesday and Thursday, gapped to a hangman doji. A really solid 2 weeks with a breakout, test, and a renewed surge. FCX gapped back upside after its earnings took it to the 50 day MA. AKS gapped to a doji after a good Thursday bounce. These look good.

Energy: Did a good job of testing on the week, setting up the next move. Thursday it looked as if some moves started, e.g. APC. A bit of a fade Friday by that stock and others, e.g. HAL, PTEN, GPOR. HNR, KEG look great to break higher.

Telecom: With the TWC/CMCSA deal withdrawn, telecom was seen as a beneficiary. MOBI surged 8.8%. Others such as S, VZ were up the last part of the week on this speculation.

China: Some good moves yet again, but some not. NTES surged. JD up again along with NOAH. SOHU surging. VIPS, however, struggled Friday and looks heavy in its trend, flopping hard at the 20 day EMA.

Financial: JPM, C, STT are testing fairly nicely after good moves.

Miscellaneous: DDD warned and gapped hard to next support. FB still looked weak. TWTR is feeling some of that effect. MNST is breaking higher again after its flat gap test. QRVO sold hard to support.


MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: +36.02 points (+0.71%) to close at 5092.08
Volume: 1.848B (+2.31%)

Up Volume: 901.72M (-178.28M)
Down Volume: 975.53M (+217.94M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.14 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.55 to 1

New Highs: 131 (-8)
New Lows: 34 (-9)

S&P
Stats: +4.76 points (+0.23%) to close at 2117.69
NYSE Volume: 767.4M (-3.79%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.03 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.08 to 1

New Highs: 97 (-16)
New Lows: 8 (-3)

DJ30
Stats: +21.45 points (+0.12%) to close at 18080.14


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 12.29; -0.19
VXN: 14.2; -0.02
VXO: 12.5; -0.18

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.76; -0.27


Bulls and Bears: Bulls tumble, bears still holding fast.

Bulls: 52.5% versus 50.5% versus 50.4% versus 54.5% versus 56.6%

Bouncing back up after a couple of weeks of flat line. Still not enough of a drop, but with stocks running, typically that won't happen.

Bears: 15.2% versus 13.9% versus 14.2% versus 14.2% versus

Wow, has the dam finally broken with a 'massive' move to 15+%?

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: 52.5%
50.5% versus 50.4% versus 54.5% versus 55.6% versus 52.0% versus 53.6% versus 58.7% versus 59.5% versus 56.6% versus 52.5% versus 49.0% versus 53.1% versus 49.0% versus 48.0% versus 50.5% versus 56.4% versus 52.5% versus 49.5% versus 51.5% versus53.4% versus 56.5%

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 15.2%
13.9% versus 14.2% versus 14.2% versus 14.1% versus 14.3% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 15.2% versus 16.3% versus 16.3% versus 17.4% versus16.3% versus 15.2% versus 14.9% versus 15.8% versus 14.9% versus 14.8% versus 13.9% versus 13.8% versus 14.9% versus 14.8% versus 15.1% versus 16.3% versus 18.2% versus 17.3% versus 14.1% versus 15.1% versus 15.3% versus 15.2% versus 14.1% versus 13.3% versus 15.1% versus 16.2%


Background: Over 35% for bears is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. The best indication is when bears cross up through bulls as the two merge. Right now bulls are coming back down from the 60 level that has consistently marked market tops over the past two years. The rapid decline in progress is pushing the bulls/bears lines toward one another. Still far from a cross with bulls falling faster than bears are rising, but bears are warming up to the notion of market weakness.


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 1.92% versus 1.94%. Rebounding after the Wednesday crash lower. Bear flag looking.
1.94% versus 1.98% versus 1.91% versus 1.86% versus 1.86% versus 1.89% versus 1.88% versus 1.90% versus 1.93% versus 1.95% versus 1.95% versus 1.89% versus 1.89% versus 1.90% versus 1.86% versus 1.91% versus 1.86% versus 1.93% versus 1.96% versus 1.95% versus 2.01% versus 1.92% versus 1.87% versus 1.91% versus 1.927% versus 1.97% versus 1.95% versus 2.06% versus 2.09% versus 2.10% versus 2.12%


Euro/$: 1.0862. Breaking lower through the 50 day MA . . . but likely not a major break lower.
1.0824 versus 1.0722 versus 1.0733 versus 1.0738 versus 1.0801 versus 1.0768% versus 1.0681 versus 1.0655 versus 1.0570 versus 1.0654 versus 1.0782 versus 1.0819 versus 1.0939 versus 1.0950 versus 1.0872 versus 1.0759 versus 1.0752 versus 1.0833 versus 1.0898 versus 1.0890 versus 1.0973 versus 1.0925 versus 1.0946 versus 1.0811 versus 1.0648 versus 1.0874 versus 1.0590 versus 1.0568 versus 1.0494 versus 1.0635 versus 1.0546 versus 1.0700


Oil: 57.18, -0.48. Working laterally in a weeklong consolidation of its last move. Still looks solid.


Gold: 1175.30, -19.10. Quite the plunge, taking out even the early April low. Heading back down to the 1143 support.

$/JPY: 118.91. Flopped back to the 50 day EMA, but still in the 6 week lateral trading range, right at midlevel.
119.53 versus 119.90 versus 119.66 versus 119.26 versus 119.12 versus 119.03 versus 119.18 versus 119.39 versus 120.12 versus 120.20 versus 120.64 versus 120.15 versus 120.32 versus 119.48 versus 119.73 versus 119.72 versus 119.94 versus 120.11 versus 119.086 versus 119.167 versus 119.405 versus 119.72 versus 119.705 versus 120.02 versus 120.855 versus 120.04 versus 121.34 versus 121.39 versus 121.43 versus 121.28 versus 121.50 versus 121.80 versus 121.60


MONDAY

The coming week could be very interesting. NASDAQ pressing toward a true all-time high; will it be the dog that caught the car, the comment we made as RUTX hit its new high right before the Friday flop?

Greece will move more into the spotlight as it runs out of options. Saw some of that emerge Friday as the EU officials called out the Greek Finance minister for 'delaying tactics' and chided him as an 'amateur.' This could be a problem.

Then there are earnings. With the treatment of AMZN, GOOG, MSFT and SBUX on what in some cases were at best so-so earnings, has all of the good earnings news been baked in? It happens. Look at how BRCM sold quickly off after a tremendous upside gap on its results. We will watch how other gappers hold their earnings gaps. It may be we get some downside plays.

I don't want to sound as if I am totally turning off this market move. Thus far it has done basically exactly what we thought it would while many had their doubts. If the leaders keep leading and new ones step up to fill in for those that falter, certainly the move continues, perhaps in the vein of February and the money we made then.

Way back in March we said, however, that NASDAQ hitting 5132 could be its top. A lot has intervened in the interim, namely a fade and a new base and now a new breakout. That is very good versus one run to the peak that uses all the ammo. The indices have good bases behind them and that suggests they are just now starting a new, solid move.

Just don't get too certain a February repeat has to happen. Let the plays work, let the leaders lead. If they do, great. If we see some breakdowns we need to be cautious. Some stocks are struggling or looking heavy: FB, TWTR, SUNE, VIPS, UA. Not a ton and nothing new about leaders having to take a breather. Moreover, LOTS of stocks still look good. Thus we let our positions work, and if we see new solid ones come up, we put them to work. Just don't lose sight that no move is guaranteed, i.e. watch, as Shoeless Joe Jackson told rookie Moonlight Graham, for in your ear.

Have a great weekend!


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 5092.08

Resistance:
5132.52 is the 3/2000 all-time high

Support:
5042 is the March 2015 post-bear market high
The 10 day EMA at 5017
5008.57 is the early March 2015 post-bear market high
The 50 day EMA at 4929
4921 is the January to April pattern trendline
4912 the mid-April China dip
The March lows at 4843 and 4825
4816 is the 38% Fibonacci retracement of the February run
4815 is the December 2014 prior market peak
4811 is the November 2014 peak (intraday)
4774 is the January high
4751 is the January 2015 lower high
The 200 day SMA at 4668
4631 is the October 2014 upside gap point
4610 is the September 2014 post-bear market high.
4566 is the lower gap point from late October
4563 and 4567 are the January lows
4547 is the December low


S&P 500: Closed at 2117.69

Resistance:
2119.59 is the February intraday prior all-time high
2151 is the lower trendline from 11/2012

Support:
2115 is the late March lower high
2112 breaks from the current 8 week pattern
2094 is the December 2014 high, the prior all-time high
The 50 day EMA at 2083
2079 is the intraday all-time high from November
2076 is the all-time high from November
2062 is the January 2015 lower high
The 200 day SMA at 2023
2011 is the September prior all-time high
1991 is the July 2014 high
1972 is the December 2014 low
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1883.57 is the early March high.
The December and January highs at 1848
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high


Dow: Closed at 18,080.14

Resistance:
18,104 is the December high
18,206 is the late March lower high
18,289 is the all-time high

Support:
17,991 is the early December interim
17,923 is the January 2015 lower high
The 50 day EMA at 17,917
17,779 is the lower trendline from January to April
17,748 is the mid-April China margin selloff
The March low at 17,620
The 200 day SMA at 17,424
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17067 is the December 2014 low
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
16,736 is the penultimate all-time high from May 2014
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak


ECONOMIC CALENDAR

April 24 - Friday
Durable Orders, March (8:30): 4.0% actual versus 0.5% expected, -1.4% prior
Durable Goods -ex tr, March (8:30): -0.2% actual versus 0.4% expected, -1.3% prior (revised from -0.6%)

April 28 - Tuesday
Case-Shiller 20-city, February (9:00): 4.7% expected, 4.6% prior
Consumer Confidence, April (10:00): 102.2 expected, 101.3 prior

April 29 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 04/25 (7:00): 2.3% prior
GDP-Adv., Q1 (8:30): 1.1% expected, 2.2% prior
Chain Deflator-Adv., Q1 (8:30): 0.5% expected, 0.1% prior
Pending Home Sales, March (10:00): 1.6% expected, 3.1% prior
Crude Inventories, 04/25 (10:30): 5.315M prior
FOMC Rate Decision, April (14:00): 0.25% expected, 0.25% prior

April 30 - Thursday
Initial Claims, 04/25 (8:30): 290K expected, 295K prior
Continuing Claims, 04/18 (8:30): 2318K expected, 2325K prior
Personal Income, March (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.4% prior
Personal Spending, March (8:30): 0.5% expected, 0.1% prior
PCE Prices - Core, March (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.1% prior
Employment Cost Inde, Q1 (8:30): 0.6% expected, 0.6% prior
Chicago PMI, April (9:45): 50.0 expected, 46.3 prior
Natural Gas Inventor, 04/25 (10:30): 90 bcf prior

May 1 - Friday
ISM Index, April (10:00): 52.0 expected, 51.5 prior
Construction Spending, March (10:00): 0.4% expected, -0.1% prior
Michigan Sentiment - Final, April (10:00): 96.0 expected, 95.9 prior
Auto Sales, April (17:00): 5.4M prior
Truck Sales, April (17:00): 8.2M prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Riding the momentum of Friday's broad-based rally and gains in foreign equity markets to begin the week, the U.S. stock market strung together some additional gains on Monday.

The advance was led by the financials sector (+1.0%), which has been one of the biggest laggards year-to-date.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (unchanged) trailed behind the 0.3% gain registered by the S&P 500 as a relatively weak showing from Apple (AAPL 128.73, -0.22, -0.2%), Microsoft (MSFT 48.25, -0.40, -0.8%), and a number of semiconductor-related stocks, like Altera (ALTR 45.00, -0.76, -1.7%), Applied Materials (AMAT 19.87, -11, -0.5%), and Micron (MU 28.67, -0.32, -1.1%), weighed on matters.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Cisco Systems (CSCO 29.18, +0.05, +0.2%): Company announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Chuck Robbins as Chief Executive Officer, replacing John Chambers, effective July 26, 2015. Robbins was also elected to the Board of Directors of Cisco, effective May 1, 2015. Robbins joined Cisco in 1997 and most recently served as Cisco's senior vice president of worldwide operations. John Chambers will assume the role of Executive Chairman on July 26, 2015, and will continue to serve as the Chairman of Cisco's Board.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH 62.76, +3.62, +6.1%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.71 per share, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 23.5% year/year to $2.99 bln, also ahead of estimates. For Q2, sees EPS of at least $0.72 and revenues of at least $3.01 billion. For FY15, raises EPS to at least $2.93 from at least $2.91 and revenues to at least $12.24 billion from at least $12.21 billion. Company said, "Our strong revenue performance this quarter versus our guidance was driven primarily by organic growth of our core businesses and is a reflection that our strategy and offerings are resonating with our clients."

Google (GOOG 540.79, +2.89, +0.5%): TimeFul will be joining GOOG; terms not disclosed

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 33.65, -0.15, -0.4%): Aruba Networks disclosed recent clearances regarding planned merger with Hewlett-Packard; subject to remaining conditions, merger is expected to close in 2Q2015. On April 28, 2015, the Federal Cartel Office cleared the Merger under the Act against Restraints of Competition in Germany. On April 29, 2015, the Federal Competition Authority and the Federal Cartel Prosecutor cleared the Merger under the Austrian Cartel Act.

IBM (IBM 173.97, +0.30, +0.2%): Warren Buffett added to his position during Q1

Intuit (INTU 101.29, +0.70, +0.7%): Announced it is investing in a new $100 million fund that will let small businesses use their QuickBooks Online data to access low-rate loan offers. The fund will include investment from Intuit and third parties.

Jabil Circuit (JBL 23.32, +0.36, +1.6%): Announced it will be a supplier of solutions based on Intel Reference Designs; including the Intel IoT Retail Gateway

Salesforce.com (CRM 71.60, -1.76, -2.4%): According to a Bloomberg report, which cited people familiar with the matter, SAP and CRM CEOs held discussions last year regarding a potential strategic alliance or acquisition of CRM by SAP. The same article, however, quoted a SAP spokeswoman as saying there is no truth whatsoever to the suggestion of SAP considering or having considered an acquisition of Salesforce.

Seagate Tech (STX 59.22, -0.41, -0.7%): Company announced it will combine its Cloud Systems and Solutions group and Electronic Solutions group to further align its full breadth of enterprise storage hardware capabilities.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Agilent (A 41.94, +0.11, +0.3%): To acquire Cartagenia, a provider of software and services for clinical genetics and molecular pathology labs; terms not disclosed

Ciena (CIEN 21.62, +0.33, +1.6%): Announced the acquisition of Cyan (CYNI 4.62, +0.97, +27.4%). Under the terms of the agreement, Ciena will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Cyan in a cash and stock transaction currently valued at approximately $400 million and inclusive of Cyan's outstanding convertible notes on an as-converted basis. In connection with the acquisition, Ciena will assume Cyan's $50 million in outstanding principal amount of 8.0% Convertible Senior Secured Notes due 2019

Lattice Semi (LSCC 6.19, +0.07, +1.1%): After Monday's close, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.03 per share. Revenues fell 8.3% year/year to $88.6 mln, which was ahead of expectations. Revenue for the second quarter of 2015 is expected to be approximately $120 million plus or minus 3% on a non-GAAP basis, with revenue for the full year 2015 expected to be approximately $485 million plus or minus 3% on a non-GAAP basis.

Qualys (QLYS 55.08. +2.94, +5.6%): After Monday's close, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.15 per share, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 23.5% year/year to $37.49 mln. For Q2, sees EPS of $0.09-0.11 and revenues of $39.5-40 mln. The high end of both guidance ranges is below analysts' average expectation. For FY15, sees EPS of $0.50-0.55 and revenues of $165-166.5 mln. Company said, "While our growth rate for our other products remains unchanged, we project a lower growth rate for our Vulnerability Management business than we did at the beginning of 2015. As a result, we are adjusting Qualys' full year revenue guidance to reflect a mid-point revenue growth rate of 24% instead of 26%. Importantly, our full year earnings guidance remains unchanged, reflecting our expectations that we will be able to effectively manage costs and leverage the strength of our platform."

Teradyne, Inc. (TER 20.28, -0.02, -0.1%): Company and Galaxy Semiconductor Solutions announced they have entered into an OEM agreement to provide an integrated, advanced analysis capability for Teradyne's entire line of semiconductor test equipment

Analyst Action:

Riding the momentum of Friday's broad-based rally and gains in foreign equity markets to begin the week, the U.S. stock market strung together some additional gains on Monday.

The advance was led by the financials sector (+1.0%), which has been one of the biggest laggards year-to-date.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (unchanged) trailed behind the 0.3% gain registered by the S&P 500 as a relatively weak showing from Apple (AAPL 128.73, -0.22, -0.2%), Microsoft (MSFT 48.25, -0.40, -0.8%), and a number of semiconductor-related stocks, like Altera (ALTR 45.00, -0.76, -1.7%), Applied Materials (AMAT 19.87, -11, -0.5%), and Micron (MU 28.67, -0.32, -1.1%), weighed on matters.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Cisco Systems (CSCO 29.18, +0.05, +0.2%): Company announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Chuck Robbins as Chief Executive Officer, replacing John Chambers, effective July 26, 2015. Robbins was also elected to the Board of Directors of Cisco, effective May 1, 2015. Robbins joined Cisco in 1997 and most recently served as Cisco's senior vice president of worldwide operations. John Chambers will assume the role of Executive Chairman on July 26, 2015, and will continue to serve as the Chairman of Cisco's Board.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH 62.76, +3.62, +6.1%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.71 per share, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 23.5% year/year to $2.99 bln, also ahead of estimates. For Q2, sees EPS of at least $0.72 and revenues of at least $3.01 billion. For FY15, raises EPS to at least $2.93 from at least $2.91 and revenues to at least $12.24 billion from at least $12.21 billion. Company said, "Our strong revenue performance this quarter versus our guidance was driven primarily by organic growth of our core businesses and is a reflection that our strategy and offerings are resonating with our clients."

Google (GOOG 540.79, +2.89, +0.5%): TimeFul will be joining GOOG; terms not disclosed

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 33.65, -0.15, -0.4%): Aruba Networks disclosed recent clearances regarding planned merger with Hewlett-Packard; subject to remaining conditions, merger is expected to close in 2Q2015. On April 28, 2015, the Federal Cartel Office cleared the Merger under the Act against Restraints of Competition in Germany. On April 29, 2015, the Federal Competition Authority and the Federal Cartel Prosecutor cleared the Merger under the Austrian Cartel Act.

IBM (IBM 173.97, +0.30, +0.2%): Warren Buffett added to his position during Q1

Intuit (INTU 101.29, +0.70, +0.7%): Announced it is investing in a new $100 million fund that will let small businesses use their QuickBooks Online data to access low-rate loan offers. The fund will include investment from Intuit and third parties.

Jabil Circuit (JBL 23.32, +0.36, +1.6%): Announced it will be a supplier of solutions based on Intel Reference Designs; including the Intel IoT Retail Gateway

Salesforce.com (CRM 71.60, -1.76, -2.4%): According to a Bloomberg report, which cited people familiar with the matter, SAP and CRM CEOs held discussions last year regarding a potential strategic alliance or acquisition of CRM by SAP. The same article, however, quoted a SAP spokeswoman as saying there is no truth whatsoever to the suggestion of SAP considering or having considered an acquisition of Salesforce.

Seagate Tech (STX 59.22, -0.41, -0.7%): Company announced it will combine its Cloud Systems and Solutions group and Electronic Solutions group to further align its full breadth of enterprise storage hardware capabilities.
Elsewhere in the technology space:
Agilent (A 41.94, +0.11, +0.3%): To acquire Cartagenia, a provider of software and services for clinical genetics and molecular pathology labs; terms not disclosed

Ciena (CIEN 21.62, +0.33, +1.6%): Announced the acquisition of Cyan (CYNI 4.62, +0.97, +27.4%). Under the terms of the agreement, Ciena will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Cyan in a cash and stock transaction currently valued at approximately $400 million and inclusive of Cyan's outstanding convertible notes on an as-converted basis. In connection with the acquisition, Ciena will assume Cyan's $50 million in outstanding principal amount of 8.0% Convertible Senior Secured Notes due 2019

Lattice Semi (LSCC 6.19, +0.07, +1.1%): After Monday's close, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.03 per share. Revenues fell 8.3% year/year to $88.6 mln, which was ahead of expectations. Revenue for the second quarter of 2015 is expected to be approximately $120 million plus or minus 3% on a non-GAAP basis, with revenue for the full year 2015 expected to be approximately $485 million plus or minus 3% on a non-GAAP basis.

Qualys (QLYS 55.08. +2.94, +5.6%): After Monday's close, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.15 per share, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 23.5% year/year to $37.49 mln. For Q2, sees EPS of $0.09-0.11 and revenues of $39.5-40 mln. The high end of both guidance ranges is below analysts' average expectation. For FY15, sees EPS of $0.50-0.55 and revenues of $165-166.5 mln. Company said, "While our growth rate for our other products remains unchanged, we project a lower growth rate for our Vulnerability Management business than we did at the beginning of 2015. As a result, we are adjusting Qualys' full year revenue guidance to reflect a mid-point revenue growth rate of 24% instead of 26%. Importantly, our full year earnings guidance remains unchanged, reflecting our expectations that we will be able to effectively manage costs and leverage the strength of our platform."

Teradyne, Inc. (TER 20.28, -0.02, -0.1%): Company and Galaxy Semiconductor Solutions announced they have entered into an OEM agreement to provide an integrated, advanced analysis capability for Teradyne's entire line of semiconductor test equipment

Analyst Action:

Alibaba (BABA 80.59, -0.58, -0.8%): MKM Partners lowers target to $115 from $125; Buy

Amazon.com (AMZN 423.03, +0.16, +0.3%): Oppenheimer raises target to $525 from $415; Ouperform

Baidu.com (BIDU 203.74, +1.27, +0.7%): upgraded to Buy from Hold at T.H. Capital; target $239

LinkedIn (LNKD 203.42, -1.79, -1.1%): upgraded to Buy from Hold at Argus; target $280

Teradyne (TER 20.28, -0.02, -0.1%): target raised to $26 from $22.50 at UBS; Buy

Twitter (TWTR 37.88, +0.04, +0.1%): Stifel upgrades to Hold from Sell
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Microsoft)

4:14 pm Luminex beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q2 & FY15 revs in-line (LMNX) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.13; revenues rose 2.1% year/year to $57.74 mln vs the $56.3 mln consensus.


Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $56-58 mln vs. $56.04 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $230-236 mln vs. $231.59 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.4:14 pm Advanced Energy beats by $0.14, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (AEIS) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.57 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.43; revenues rose 0.1% year/year to $141.11 mln vs the $142.03 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.38-0.41, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.41 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $126-136 mln vs. $145.37 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:11 pm Intevac beats by $0.03, beats on revs (IVAC) : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.12 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.15); revenues rose 17.1% year/year to $19.9 mln vs the $18.56 mln consensus. Order backlog totaled $39.2 million on April 4, 2015, compared to $48.4 million on January 3, 2015 and $51.9 million on March 29, 2014.

4:10 pm Ingram Micro misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs a bit below (IM) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.43 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.44; revenues rose 2.5% year/year to $10.64 bln vs the $10.54 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.50-0.58, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.56 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co sees Q2 YoY revenue growth being relatively flat YoY vs consensus of +4%.


"We experienced healthy demand across our geographic regions. Asia Pacific and Latin America were clear standouts, as strong revenues were complemented by solid increases in profitability. As anticipated, our sales mix in Europe improved over the 2014 fourth quarter, with lower contribution from consumer markets leading to modest year-over-year improvement in the profitability of our European core business. In mobility, we had good growth across all regions, while cloud and supply chain solutions continued to grow at robust rates.""We continue to generate significant revenue momentum as we expand our capabilities globally, including in our higher margin cloud and supply chain solutions, which is an important element of leveraging our customer, vendor and global infrastructure basis to achieve our longer-term financial targets."4:10 pm : The stock market kicked off the new trading week on an upbeat, albeit quiet, note. The Dow and S&P 500 gained 0.3% apiece while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) slipped behind the broader market during afternoon action.

"Quiet" was the general theme on Monday as most global equity markets also posted gains while Japan's Nikkei and UK's FTSE were closed for holidays.

Seven of ten sectors finished in the green with financials (+1.0%) and utilities (+0.7%) ending in the lead. The countercyclical utilities sector lost the lead during the final hour while financials crept higher throughout the day, also overtaking the health care sector (+0.6%) during afternoon action.

Still, the health care space ended ahead of the broader market despite an intraday pullback in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 345.19, +1.19) was up more than 2.0% at the start, but narrowed its advance to 0.4% by the close. Furthermore, the ETF was pressured back below its 50-day moving average (349.00) after spiking above that level at the start.

Turning to the cyclical side, only the financial sector (+1.0%) could finish the day ahead of the S&P 500 while the other five growth-sensitive groups underperformed. The top-weighted technology sector (unch) spent the day behind the broader market with large cap names trading in mixed fashion. To that point, Google (GOOGL 552.84, +1.68) and IBM (IBM 173.97, +0.30) posted respective gains of 0.3% and 0.2% while Apple (AAPL 128.70, -0.25) and Microsoft (MSFT 48.24, -0.41) registered losses. Similarly, chipmakers lagged with the PHLX Semiconductor Index shedding 0.2%. The semiconductor index underperformed even as ON Semiconductor (ON 12.50, +0.69) spiked 5.8% following better than expected results.

On the downside, the energy sector (-0.2%) was an early leader, but the group surrendered its early gain during the opening hour and remained in negative territory until the close. Crude oil weighed, but the energy component managed to trim its loss to 0.3% by the close. WTI crude settled at $58.92/bbl, likely seeing some pressure from the second consecutive advance in the Dollar Index (95.43, +0.14).

Treasuries climbed during morning action, but reversed to lows following today's economic data with the 10-yr rising three basis points to 2.14%.

Today's participation was on the light side with fewer than 680 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the Factory Orders report for March, which increased 2.1% after declining a negatively revised 0.1% (from +0.2%) in February while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 2.1%


The March gain was the first month-over-month increase since July 2014 with the bulk of the gain resulting from a 41.9% increase in March aircraft orders
Durable goods orders were revised up to 4.4% from 4.0% reported in the advance estimate
Excluding transportation, durable goods orders were revised up to +0.4% from -0.2%

Tomorrow, the Trade Balance for March (Briefing.com consensus -$40.00 billion) will be released at 8:30 ET while the April ISM Services report (consensus 56.4) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +5.9% YTD
S&P 500 +2.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.4% YTD

DJ30 +46.34 NASDAQ +11.54 SP500 +6.20 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1736/1.53 bln/1205 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1779/677.3 mln/1285 3:35 pm :

WTI crude oil lost steam today and finished below the $59/level
June crude ultimately finished floor trading -$0.19 at $58.92/barrel
In other energy, June nat gas rose $0.04 to $2.82/MMBtu
June gold rose $12.70 to $1186.90/oz, while May silver gained $0.30 to $16.41/oz despite modest strength in the dollar index
However, following this along with weak China econ data overnight, copper fell modestly

4:05 pm Lattice Semi reports Q1 (Mar) results, beats on revs (LSCC) : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.03 per share, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.03; revenues fell 8.3% year/year to $88.6 mln vs the $83.7 mln consensus.


Net loss for the first quarter on a GAAP basis was $53.3 million ($0.46 per basic and diluted share), with first quarter net income on a non-GAAP basis of $3.9 million ($0.03 per basic and diluted share). GAAP results for the first quarter of 2015 reflect $4.9 million in restructuring costs, $18.2 million in acquisition related charges, a $24.7 million tax provision, $2.9 million in amortization of acquired intangibles and $3.4 million in stock based compensation expense.Revenue for the second quarter of 2015 is expected to be approximately $120 million plus or minus 3% on a non-GAAP basis, with revenue for the full year 2015 expected to be approximately $485 million plus or minus 3% on a non-GAAP basis.
Gross margin percentage for both the second quarter and full year 2015 is expected to be approximately 56.5% plus or minus 2% on a non-GAAP basis.

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse Weekend Market Newsletter - US Jobs Market Resembling State-Controlled Markets

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

- Jobs report good or bad, stocks surge with DJ30 leading.
- Same old story with jobs: part-time now 100% of the jobs, low paying dominate, 55+ get all the jobs, wages falling, record out of workforce.
- Wholesale sales fall for fourth straight month, worst since 2008.
- Eliminating worker skill and training from the pay equation.
- US jobs market resembling state-controlled markets, paving the way for automation.
- Still some good leaders on a solid upside price move: will investors continue putting a bid to the market, i.e. can the move hold?

Thursday I opined the indexes left themselves in position to move higher but that it would take something big to overcome the technical negatives. Friday they certainly did move higher, but whether the Jobs Report was really that strong is open to debate, one we discuss below. In any event, stocks roared upside on the news with SP500 and DJ30 clearly leading the pack based upon both percentage moves and their patterns.

SP500 28.10, 1.35%
NASDAQ 58.01, 1.17%
DJ30 267.05, 1.49%
SP400 0.90%
RUTX 0.77%
SOX 1.00%

VOLUME: NYSE -3.9%, NASDAQ -3%. Lower volume with NYSE sliding a bit lower below average. NASDAQ volume remained above average though slightly lower. Not bad volume at all, but once again, being totally technically anal (TTA, a market technical phrase), volume was lower on an advance than the selling.

A/D: NYSE 4:1, NASDAQ 1.7:1. NASDAQ breadth surprisingly narrow, suggesting more a large cap move. NYSE breadth was excellent, as the small and midcaps staged a recovery after getting hammered the prior two weeks.

SP500 and DJ30 posted the best technical moves with DJ30 clearly the best as it exploded through the top of its triangle and showing better volume, even if it was still below average. SP500 broke through the top of its pattern as well though it is right in the teeth of the prior peaks that failed. Lower volume as well . . . good but not convincing.

NASDAQ gapped back into the pattern and right to resistance. Beats tanking on the news. RUTX gapped to a doji just below the 50 day EMA, gapped to the 50 day SMA. SOX gapped over the 50 day EMA with some help from some big name leaders.

Okay, quite the response to the jobs number. They found their upside catalyst. As discussed last week, how they hold the move is the key. DJ30 is the clear leader, SP500 is there as well but the pattern is not as clear, moving right to resistance. The other indexes are up but did not change the character of their patterns. Some good individual stock moves no doubt, but this week they have to drive the move farther.


NEWS, ECONOMY

Jobs Report extolled as good by some, panned by others as more of the same.

The post-mortem on the April Jobs Report was a 180 degree view. Some say it is great, showing a bounce back from a dismal March revised even lower than first reported. Some say it is a pile of . . . you know what. Our view: it is from the BLS so any resemblance to reality is strictly unintentional.

The takeaways that scream out:

Revisions lower in March for jobs and wages.

New all-time high in persons not in the workforce.

Part-time jobs 100% of jobs created as full-time jobs fall.

55+ age group nets 100% of jobs.


Non-Farm Jobs: 223K versus 218K expected versus 85K March (from 126K).

March was the lowest since June 2012. The 3 month average fell below 200K.

Wages: 0.1% versus 0.2% versus 0.2% prior (revised from 0.3%).

Revisions: Both the number of jobs and waged written lower. Worst of the worst in terms of trends.

Not in the labor force: Moved higher to 93.194M versus 93.175M. Yes, things are getting better.

Workweek: same at 34.5. No growth in hours worked.


Job Types: Some good news, but mostly more of the same.

Construction good at +45K.

Manufacturing not so good: +1K on top of the 0 (goose egg) in March.

For every manufacturing job created, 26 waiter/bartender jobs were created. Fat, Drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.


Dean Wormer, 'Animal House' (1978)


Thank goodness the Administration policies have spurred the creation of those wait staff and bartender jobs to replace those manufacturing jobs lost. An equitable trade? Yea, right.

Lowest wage areas lead again:

Professional/Business services: +46K
Healthcare: +61K
Leisure and Hospitality: +17K


Full-time versus Part-time: and the winner is . . . part-time of course

Of the jobs created in April, 100% were part-time. 437K part-time jobs created versus a LOSS of 200K+ fulltime jobs. Fulltime jobs still remain below the 2008 peak.


Who gets the jobs?

Surprise: Still the 55+ age group.

The Household Survey reported a net 255K workers added. Of those jobs over 100% (266K) went to workers aged 55+. In other words, the 54 and younger age demographics LOST jobs. The older generations have to go back to work in ever-increasing numbers to pay for the necessities as it is hard to make interest income at 0% interest rates. Again, darn good thing there are all of those low-paying part-time jobs out there they can pick and choose between.


WHOLESALE INVENTORIES FADE, SALES NEGATIVE FOR 4TH STRAIGHT MONTH

Wholesale Inventories, March: 0.1% versus 0.3% versus 0.2% (from 0.3%)

Wholesale Sales: -0.2%. Four straight months of negative sales, the longest streak since 7 straight negative months in that banner year 2008.

Inventories fell but they did not fall because everyone was buying up the goods as sales were again lower. They just are not buying as much goods given a steady sales decline.

Thus, with this kind of data, you understand the economy is still truly weak, that QE and 0% interest rates and six years of the Administration's policies are not fixing the problem. They inflated financial assets as planned, but step 2 didn't materialize, i.e. the increase in money velocity as the free money was put to work. That never happened, at least outside of stock buybacks and M&A (buy it, don't build it). Therefore the jobs report, with new record highs in people out of the workforce, falling wages, stagnant hours, and more low pay jobs, is not really a positive.


US Labor Market more resembles socialist, indeed communist, labor forces.

Indeed, the US labor market is getting absurdly like the communist labor market under the USSR. A California city just mandated a $16/hour minimum wage and there is the continued push among the fast food workers to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. This amount of money for rank, unskilled labor.

At the same time, contract legal services that provide fully licensed attorneys for document reviews in mergers and acquisitions and in litigation are paying $20-$26/hour. Three years of law school, passing the bar exam, maintaining expertise with continuing education, incurring tens of thousands of dollars in debt. For all of that, the wage difference versus a fast food worker in one California city is $4.

We are eliminating the benefit of having a skill, JUST as in the communist countries. Baker, welder, nuclear sub crewman: you all worked for the 'good' of the state. Oh if you could play hockey or were freakishly limber for gymnastics you could have a decent life. Everyone else, it didn't matter.

The result: chronically low output and a chronically weak economy with only the elites in the society enjoying the wealth. Wow, sure sounds as if the US is indeed on that path.

The next logical step: Japan has just unveiled robots that move like humans with the aid of a gel-like substance. China is unveiling the first fully robotic plant. It will not be long before McDonald's and all-fast food restaurants have 100% robotic food prep and ordering with just a person to make sure the system is running correctly. And a janitor. The low level jobs will be eliminated THANKS TO THE VERY POLICIES THAT WERE CONTRIVED UNDER THE BELIEF THEY WOULD BENEFIT THE WORKER. Of course with the government the way it is now, it would probably just pass a mandate that no robotic workers were allowed . . .


THE MARKET

CHARTS

DJ30: Strongest chart now, breaking through the top of the pattern and eyeing the February all-time high near 18,300 (closed at 18,191). If all the charts looked like this, the market would look great. Note, however, MACD is lower as it moves toward the high. Not dispositive, but something to watch along with volume as DJ30 attempts the breakout.

SP500: Moved sharply higher, right to the mid-February high and just below the late April and early May high. Weaker volume, lower MACD, but it fought the selling fire with buying fire. Now at the cusp of a new high yet again, not looking internally that great, but following DJ30.

NASDAQ: Gapped into the tip of its triangle, but at this juncture that pattern is pretty battered and beaten. It is at the February, March and early April peaks. Even with this move, it is still problematic on the upside; has to hold the move, right?

SOX: Gapped through the 50 day EMA and the upper trendline, rallied to the 50 day SMA. Tapped it, faded from the high. Not bad, had the help of some big names, e.g. NXPI, FSL, and made a good move. Still needs to break to a higher high, ending the series of lower highs. That will be a more definitive move.

RUTX: Gapped to a tight doji just below the 50 day EMA and the mid-February peak. Up, following the other indices, but not a strong move. Not writing it off, but we are putting a downside IWM play on the report if it kisses the 50 day EMA goodbye.

SP400: Gapped through the 50 day EMA and rallied just past the 50 day SMA. Similar to RUTX and bumping the mid-February peak. Top-heavy, but a bit better position than the RUTX from the look of it.


LEADERSHIP

Still plenty of leadership in key areas, and the biotechs, Yellen or no, look to be back in the mix.

Chips: Some good moves from NXPI, FSL. SWKS looks decent but no volume to speak of. SIMO continues to sport a very nice pattern. Good to see as the market needs the chips to lead.

Software: CYBR reported good results and gapped higher but showed a very big doji and a rather ambiguous pattern in terms of new entries. SPLK gapped nicely, cleared the February closing high, but then gave that up. Still good but needs to keep going. VDSI put in a higher low at the 50 day MA in its triangle; good action. FFIV jumped beautifully. VMW looks ready to bounce back up. An important leadership group.

Big Names: GOOG gapped higher for a second good move. AMZN gapped upside for a second day off the 10 day EMA. AAPL remains sluggish. MNST was bombed on its earnings.

Energy: After two rough sessions, in the move. USO back up. RIG bouncing nicely. ESV looks ready for another entry.

Metals: Off modestly, but for the most part holding their gains. AKS flat and trending up the 10 day EMA, FCX gapped upside to a doji, still in the 10 day EMA test flag.

Financial: Excellent Friday. Our MA gapped to a higher high, V gapped and ran hard, JPM gapped and rallied to a higher high.

Biotechs: Like what we see in AMGN coming off its trendline. AGIO and CLVS look super.


MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: +58 points (+1.17%) to close at 5003.55
Volume: 1.926B (-2.99%)

Up Volume: 1.38B (+130M)
Down Volume: 586.8M (-186.88M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.69 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.26 to 1

New Highs: 79 (+34)
New Lows: 47 (-22)

S&P
Stats: +28.1 points (+1.35%) to close at 2116.1
NYSE Volume: 776.1M (-3.85%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 4.03 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.38 to 1

New Highs: 74 (+48)
New Lows: 26 (-23)

DJ30
Stats: +267.05 points (+1.49%) to close at 18191.11


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 12.86; -2.27
VXN: 15.38; -1.99
VXO: 12.57; -3.5
Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.86; -0.08. Three sessions over 1.0 in 7. Never was that strong to support a bounce, but didn't seem to matter.


Bulls and Bears: Bulls surge, bears fall right back down.

Bulls: 52.5% versus 57.4% versus 52.5% versus 50.5%

Right back down to the 52.5% level, but after getting close to that 60% level that has marked market tops.

Bears: 13.9% versus 13.9% versus 15.2% versus 13.9%

Bulls fall, bears hold steady. Still the belief that the Fed has the market's back and thus no rise in bearishness at all. This is the one indicator that proves up the market belief the Fed won't let the market fall and shows the problems of moral hazard of bailouts, etc.

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: 52.5%
57.4% versus 52.5% versus 50.5% versus 50.4% versus 54.5% versus 55.6% versus 52.0% versus 53.6% versus 58.7% versus 59.5% versus 56.6% versus 52.5% versus 49.0% versus 53.1% versus 49.0% versus 48.0% versus 50.5% versus 56.4% versus 52.5% versus 49.5% versus 51.5% versus53.4% versus 56.5%

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 13.9%
13.9% versus 15.2% versus 13.9% versus 14.2% versus 14.2% versus 14.1% versus 14.3% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 15.2% versus 16.3% versus 16.3% versus 17.4% versus16.3% versus 15.2% versus 14.9% versus 15.8% versus 14.9% versus 14.8% versus 13.9% versus 13.8% versus 14.9% versus 14.8% versus 15.1% versus 16.3% versus 18.2% versus 17.3% versus 14.1% versus 15.1% versus 15.3% versus 15.2% versus 14.1% versus 13.3% versus 15.1% versus 16.2%


Background: Over 35% for bears is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. The best indication is when bears cross up through bulls as the two merge. Right now bulls are coming back down from the 60 level that has consistently marked market tops over the past two years. The rapid decline in progress is pushing the bulls/bears lines toward one another. Still far from a cross with bulls falling faster than bears are rising, but bears are warming up to the notion of market weakness.


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 2.14%. Perhaps a bit more belief the Fed might hold off, but if you look at TLT, this is a bear flag relief bounce to the 200 day SMA it broke on Monday.

2.18% versus 2.23% versus 2.17% versus 2.15% versus 2.11% versus 2.04% versus 2.05% versus 1.99% versus 1.92% versus 1.92% versus 1.94% versus 1.98% versus 1.91% versus 1.86% versus 1.86% versus 1.89% versus 1.88% versus 1.90% versus 1.93% versus 1.95% versus 1.95% versus 1.89% versus 1.89% versus 1.90% versus 1.86% versus 1.91% versus 1.86% versus 1.93% versus 1.96% versus 1.95% versus 2.01% versus 1.92% versus 1.87% versus 1.91% versus 1.927% versus 1.97% versus 1.95% versus 2.06% versus 2.09% versus 2.10% versus 2.12%


Euro/$: 1.1207 versus 1.1266. Modest bounce as on Thursday. One 'Fast Money' trader actually ventured that the dollar/market connection was not a connection right now.

1.1266 versus 1.1349 versus 1.1189 versus 1.1147 versus 1.1215 versus 1.1220 versus 1.119 versus 1.0982 versus 1.0885 versus 1.0862 versus 1.0824 versus 1.0722 versus 1.0733 versus 1.0738 versus 1.0801 versus 1.0768% versus 1.0681 versus 1.0655 versus 1.0570 versus 1.0654 versus 1.0782 versus 1.0819 versus 1.0939 versus 1.0950 versus 1.0872 versus 1.0759 versus 1.0752 versus 1.0833 versus 1.0898 versus 1.0890 versus 1.0973 versus 1.0925 versus 1.0946 versus 1.0811 versus 1.0648 versus


Oil: 59.32, +0.44. After a two-day weaker trade oil found support at the 10 day EMA with a nice doji.


Gold: 1189.10, +6.80. Up but still in the lower half of the 7 week range.

$/JPY: 119.75 versus 119.75. Flat on the session hold at the 50 day SMA in its own 8 week range.

119.75 versus 119.43 versus 119.85 versus 120.12 versus 120.16 versus 119.41 versus 119.02 versus 118.45 versus 119.10 versus 118.91 versus 119.53 versus 119.90 versus 119.66 versus 119.26 versus 119.12 versus 119.03 versus 119.18 versus 119.39 versus 120.12 versus 120.20 versus 120.64 versus 120.15 versus 120.32 versus 119.48 versus 119.73 versus 119.72 versus 119.94 versus 120.11 versus 119.086 versus 119.167 versus 119.405 versus 119.72 versus 119.705 versus 120.02 versus 120.855 versus 120.04 versus 121.34 versus 121.39 versus 121.43 versus 121.28 versus 121.50 versus 121.80 versus 121.60


MONDAY

Jobs Report: check. Earnings: check (more or less). Now what?

Quite simple, actually. With the Jobs Report and its initial reaction to the upside in the bank, we see if the market can hold the move.

Overall the stock indexes were not looking great ahead of the Jobs Report. That report, whether viewed as good enough for the economy without Fed help or as bad enough to put the Fed on hold, induced its move. Now we see if the buyers can take the baton from the jobs data and continue the move with more bids put in because of a belief in better times ahead. Or will the sellers re-emerge and capitalize on the pattern weakness in everything sans DJ30? We will see.

So we are lighter than we were a week ago in terms of positions. We have upside, we have downside, we have new upside and new downside to move to depending upon where the market breaks from here. We view it as technical at this point; of course we typically do.

Friday showed more strength than we thought it would in some instances (DJ30), but was at expectations in terms of other indexes, e.g. RUTX, SP400, even NASDAQ. SP500 looked stronger but was not really that strong in our view.

But, of course, our view does not count, nor does the view of any other pundit count, at least not singularly. So we are watching the leaders, have good plays to go on those (and groups coming back such as the biotechs) as well as some more downside plays.

Our plan is to let the Friday move run its course and see if it can stick. Still view the market as at an important post-QE moment here as it has stumbled upside since QE ended in October. It is not showing the same strength it had in prior moves and indeed is acting somewhat as it did when other QE rounds ended and the market wandered aimlessly, similar to an army of drones when the command center is destroyed. Given that history, it should not be much of a surprise the market is struggling, and as the Fed said QE is over but the economy is not that strong,

Have a great weekend!

SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 5003.55

Resistance:
5008.57 is the early March 2015 post-bear market high
5042 is the March 2015 high
5120 is the April 2015 post-bear market high
5132.52 is the 3/2000 all-time high

Support:
4979 is the January to April pattern trendline
The 50 day EMA at 4948
4912 the mid-April China dip
The March lows at 4843 and 4825
4815 is the December 2014 prior market peak
4811 is the November 2014 peak (intraday)
4774 is the January high
4751 is the January 2015 lower high
The 200 day SMA at 4696
4631 is the October 2014 upside gap point
4610 is the September 2014 post-bear market high.
4566 is the lower gap point from late October
4563 and 4567 are the January lows
4547 is the December low


S&P 500: Closed at 2116.10

Resistance:
2115 is the late March lower high
2119.59 is the February intraday prior all-time high
2126 is the April new all-time high

Support:
2094 is the December 2014 high, the prior all-time high
The 50 day EMA at 2089
2079 is the intraday all-time high from November
2076 is the all-time high from November
2062 is the January 2015 lower high
The 200 day SMA at 2030
2011 is the September prior all-time high
1991 is the July 2014 high
1972 is the December 2014 low
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1883.57 is the early March high.
The December and January highs at 1848
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high


Dow: Closed at 18,191.11

Resistance:
18,206 is the late March lower high
18,289 is the all-time high

Support:
18,104 is the December high
17,991 is the early December interim
The 50 day EMA at 17,944
The January trendline at 17,928
17,923 is the January 2015 lower high
17,748 is the mid-April China margin selloff
The March low at 17,620
The 200 day SMA at 17,472
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17067 is the December 2014 low
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
16,736 is the penultimate all-time high from May 2014
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak


ECONOMIC CALENDAR

May 8 - Friday
Nonfarm Payrolls, April (8:30): 223K actual versus 218K expected, 85K prior (revised from 126K)
Nonfarm Private Payrolls, April (8:30): 213K actual versus 215K expected, 94K prior (revised from 129K)
Unemployment Rate, April (8:30): 5.4% actual versus 5.4% expected, 5.5% prior
Hourly Earnings, April (8:30): 0.1% actual versus 0.2% expected, 0.2% prior (revised from 0.3%)
Average Workweek, April (8:30): 34.5 actual versus 34.5 expected, 34.5 prior
Wholesale Inventories, March (10:00): 0.1% actual versus 0.3% expected, 0.2% prior (revised from 0.3%)

May 12 - Tuesday
JOLTS - Job Openings, March (12:00): 5.133M prior
JOLTS - Job Openings, March (10:00): 5.133M prior
Treasury Budget, April (14:00): $155.0B expected, $106.9B prior

May 13 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 05/09 (7:00): -4.6% prior
Retail Sales, April (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.9% prior
Retail Sales ex-auto, April (8:30): 0.4% expected, 0.4% prior
Export Prices ex-ag., April (8:30): 0.2% prior
Import Prices ex-oil, April (8:30): -0.4% prior
Business Inventories, March (10:00): 0.2% expected, 0.3% prior
Crude Inventories, 05/09 (10:30): -3.882M prior

May 14 - Thursday
Initial Claims, 05/09 (8:30): 275K expected, 265K prior
Continuing Claims, 05/02 (8:30): 2300K expected, 2228K prior
PPI, April (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.2% prior
Core PPI, April (8:30): 0.1% expected, 0.2% prior
Natural Gas Inventor, 05/09 (10:30): 76 bcf prior

May 15 - Friday
Empire Manufacturing, May (8:30): 4.0 expected, -1.2 prior
Industrial Production, April (9:15): 0.1% expected, -0.6% prior
Capacity Utilization, April (9:15): 78.4% expected, 78.4% prior
Michigan Sentiment, May (10:00): 96.0 expected, 95.9 prior
Net Long-Term TIC Fl, March (16:00): $9.8B prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: A wildly volatile week in US equities markets was capped off with a strong rally into the weekend. All major indices rose over one percent, except the Russell 2000 (+0.8%)as small caps lagged in Friday's rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.5%) led the way, followed by the S&P 500 (+1.3%), and then the Nasdaq (+1.2%).

Today's advance began in pre-market trade, primed by an upbeat start in UK amid general election results. Then came Nonfarm Payrolls numbers, which beat expectations (223K; Briefing.com consensus 218K), although hourly earnings growth remained weak. Nevertheless, the better than expected payroll growth sent futures roaring to highs and gave cash equities a steriod shot in the arm in opening trade.

Turning to the technology sector, the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector Index rose 1.5% as it outperformed the broader market. Notable performances in the sector include, Visa (V 69.47, +2.89, +4.3%), Microchip Tech (MCHP 48.97, +1.56, +3.3%), and Cognizant Tech (CTSH 63.09, 1.78, +2.9%). Also, its worth noting the laggards that showed relative weakness in today's rally, NVIDIA (NVDA 20.81, -1.68, -7.5%), Salesforce.com (CRM 72.40, -2.12, -2.6%) and Teradata (TDC 40.86, -0.94, -2.3%) were the worst performers on the day.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Nokia (NOK 6.93, +0.21, +3%): Entered into a strategic partnerships with HP (HPQ 33.41, +0.59, +1.8%),
Microsoft (MSFT 47.75, +1.05, +2.3%) and Telefonica (TEF 14.98, +0.27, +1.8%) to develop a new IT infrastructure, expected to be completed in Q1 2017

Visa (V 69.47, +2.89, +4.3%): Bloomberg article reported that Visa is in talks to acquire Visa Europe (currently a seperate entity). Visa Europe has an estimated value of $15-20 billion.

Google (GOOG 538.22, +7.52, +1.4%): Announced it will allow users to order food from search results, could affect GrubHub's business (GRUB 40.23, +0.82, +2.1%)
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Advanced Semi (ASX 7.05, -0.11, +1.5%): Reported April revs increased 15.8% YoY to NT$22.0 bln. ASX also announced an agreement with TDK Corporation to establish a JV to manufacture IC embedded substrates using TDK's SESUB technology.

LM Ericsson (ERIC 11.47, +0.39, +3.5%) Has filed suits against Apple in Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Ericsson had offered to enter into arbitration with Apple (AAPL 127.52, +2.26, +1.8%) to reach a mutually beneficial global licensing agreement for its standard-essential patents, but that offer has now expired. The proceedings in the three countries were recently initiated and refer to the 2G and 4G/LTE standards, as well as other technology that is not standardized, but is related to, for instance, the design of semiconductor components and non- cellular wireless communications.

Chipmos Technology (IMOS 22.75, -0.55, -2.4%): Reported revenue for the month of April 2015 was $55.9 million, a decrease of 3.5% from the month of March 2015 and a decrease of 4.0% from the same period in 2014. U.S. figures are based on the exchange rate of NT$30.64 to US$1.00 as of April 30, 2015.

Rocket Fuel (FUEL 8.32, +0.69, +9%): Reported an unsolicited, conditional proposal to be acquired by Gravity4 for $350 mln in cash. Its Board of Directors will evaluate the proposal with the assistance of its financial and legal advisors. The Board advises stockholders to take no action at this time.

Nintendo (NTDOY 22.39, +0.23, +1%): Announced plans to introduce smartphone games in Asia & S America, according to Nikkei Asian Review
Analyst Action:

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 3.80, +0.16, +4.4%): upgraded to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale

Nuance Communications (NUAN 16.57, +1.26, +8.2%): upgraded to Buy from Hold at Craig Hallum; price target raised to $20 from $15... price target raised to $18 from $16 at FBR Capital; Market Perform

LM Ericsson (ERIC 11.47, +0.39, +3.5%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill

Pros Holdings (PRO 18.26, -3.29, -15.3%) downgraded to Sell from Hold at Craig Hallum... price target lowered to $30 from $40 at Northland Capital; Outperform

NVIDIA (NVDA 20.81, -1.68, -7.5%): downgraded to Neutral from Buy at ROTH Capital; price target lowered to $22 from $26... price target lowered to $25 from $27 at Stifel; Buy

Ubiquiti Networks (UBNT 28.40, +0.05, +0.2%): downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sun Trust... downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James

Rosetta Stone (RST 7.48, -0.41, -5.2%) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Barrington Research

Micrel (MCRL 13.87, +0.37, +2.7%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel... downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo

NICE Systems (NICE 62.89, +0.64, +1%): price target raised to $60 from $55 at Barclays; Equal Weight... price target raised to $68 from $57 at RBC Capital; Sector Perform

CyberArk Software (CYBR 66.13, +4.66, +7.6%): price target raised to $65 from $50 at Barclays; Equal Weight... price target raised to $70 from $65 at Oppenheimer; Outperform

Tableau Software (DATA 110.69, +13.26, +13.6%): price target raised to $119 from $109 at UBS; Buy... price target raised to $158 from $150 at Cantor Fitzgerald... price target raised to $145 from $127 at DA Davidson; Buy... price target raised to $120 from $110 at RBC Capital; Outperform... price target raised to $110 from $100 at FBR Capital; Market Perform

Imperva (IMPV 53.98, +8.87, +19.7%): price target raised to $50 from $45 at Topeka Capital; Hold... price target raised to $65 from $50 at Needham; Buy... price target raised to $58 from $55 at Oppenheimer; Outperform... price target raised to $58 from $50 at RBC Capital; Outperform

Qorvo (QRVO 76.56, +1.00, +1.3%): price target raised to $88.50 from $82.50 at Northland Capital; Outperform

Weekly Recap - Week ending 08-May-15Dow +267.05 at 18191.11, Nasdaq +58.00 at 5003.55, S&P +28.10 at 2116.10

The stock market enjoyed a broad-based surge on Friday, which helped the S&P 500 (+1.4%) erase its weekly loss. As a result, the benchmark index added 0.4% for the week.

Equity indices registered the bulk of their gains at the open thanks to a pair of factors that underpinned the sharp spike before the first trade was made in the cash market. First, the UK general election proved surprising as conservatives expanded their presence in the parliament and won 331 of 650 seats. Meanwhile, Ed Miliband (Labour), Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats), and Nigel Farage (UKIP) resigned from leading their respective parties. Although the results were surprising, markets cheered the preservation of status quo with UK's FTSE surging 2.3%.

Index futures held modest gains following the election results and they extended their gains once the U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls report for April beat expectations (223K; Briefing.com consensus 218K); however, it is worth noting that the March reading was revised down to 85K from 126K and hourly earnings growth remained weak (+0.1%; consensus +0.2%).

The report sparked a fire under equities and Treasuries as lackadaisical wage growth is likely to be used as an argument in favor of the Federal Reserve maintaining its current policy stance for longer. Treasuries soared in reaction to the report, but they retreated from their highs during the afternoon. Still, the 10-yr note ended in the green with its yield down four basis points at 2.14%. The benchmark yield narrowed its weekly increase to two-basis points and ended the week beneath its 200-day moving average (2.19%).

All ten sectors finished the day in positive territory and only three groups posted gains slimmer than 1.0%. Materials (+1.6%) and health care (+1.6%) jockeyed for the lead throughout the session, but the energy sector (+1.6%) overtook them both as part of a late rally. On a related note, crude oil rose 0.7% to $59.42/bbl.

Moving on, the health care sector received a boost from biotechnology with iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 351.93, +7.82) spiking 2.3%, and above its 50-day moving average, which had been an area of focus during the past two weeks.

Interestingly, today's broad advance masked the underperformance among a couple other high-beta areas like chipmakers and transport stocks.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 1.0%, but spent the day behind the broader market as NVIDIA (NVDA 20.81, -1.68) weighed. Shares of NVDA fell 7.5% after the company reported in-line results and guided lower. That being said, the broader technology sector (+1.4%) ended a step ahead of the broader market with large cap names like Apple (AAPL 127.52, +2.26), Google (GOOGL 548.95, +6.91), and Microsoft (MSFT 47.75, +1.05) picking up the slack. Microsoft was a standout, climbing 2.3% after Reuters reported the company is no longer looking to acquire Salesforce.com (CRM 72.40, -2.12).

Elsewhere, the industrial sector (+1.2%) settled just behind the broader market even as transport stocks underperformed with the Dow Jones Transportation Average advancing 0.6%. Five components of the bellwether complex registered losses with Landstar System (LSTR 63.18, -0.86) sliding 1.3%.

Today's participation was below recent averages as 759 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Nonfarm Payrolls and Wholesale Inventories:

Nonfarm payrolls added 223,000 new jobs in April, up from a downwardly revised 85,000 (from 126,000) in March while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 218,000
Private payrolls increased by 213,000 jobs in April after adding a downwardly revised 94,000 (from 129,000) in March while the consensus expected an increase of 215,000
The average hourly wage increased 0.1% in April after increasing a downwardly revised 0.2% in March
The average workweek remained at 34.5 hours for a second consecutive month
The combination of the increase in payrolls and wages along with constant hours pushed aggregate earnings levels up 0.3% in April. Earnings were flat in March
The unemployment rate fell to 5.4% in April from 5.5% in March, which met consensus expectations
Wholesale inventories increased 0.1% in March after increasing a downwardly revised 0.2% (from 0.3%) in February while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.3%
The BEA assumed that wholesale inventories increased 0.6% in the advance Q1 2015 GDP report. The downside miss in March combined with the revisions to February will result in a downward revision to first quarter GDP when the second estimate is released at the end of the month

There is no economic data on Monday's schedule.

Week in Review: Stocks Roundtrip

The stock market kicked off the trading week on an upbeat, albeit quiet, note. The Dow and S&P 500 gained 0.3% apiece while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) slipped behind the broader market during afternoon action. "Quiet" was the general theme on Monday as most global equity markets also posted gains while Japan's Nikkei and UK's FTSE were closed for holidays. Seven of ten sectors finished in the green with financials (+1.0%) and utilities (+0.7%) ending in the lead. The countercyclical utilities sector lost the lead during the final hour while financials crept higher throughout the day, also overtaking the health care sector (+0.6%) during afternoon action.

Equity indices ended Tuesday on a sharply lower note following a daylong retreat that was paced by the Nasdaq Composite (-1.6%). For its part, the S&P 500 lost 1.2% with all ten sectors ending in the red. The Tuesday selloff followed an overnight session that featured a 4.1% drop in China's Shanghai Composite after some equity brokers increased their margin requirements, which led to forced selling. Furthermore, markets across Europe also struggled with Germany's DAX diving 2.5% amid spiking yields. To that point, Germany's 10-yr bund yield surged 13 basis points to 0.52% after hovering near 0.16% as recently as last week while Italy's 10-yr yield soared 34 basis points to 1.83%. Rising interest rates were not unique to Europe as the U.S. 10-yr note registered its sixth consecutive decline, sending its yield higher by three basis points to 2.17%. The benchmark yield hit its highest level since early March and spent the day near its 200-day moving average, representing the first appearance near that level in more than a year.

The stock market registered its second consecutive decline on Wednesday with the S&P 500 (-0.4%) bouncing off its 100-day moving average (2,070). The key indices began the day with slim gains, but the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 quickly returned below their 50-day moving averages and continued lower throughout the day. Adding to the pressure were comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen who reminded investors that equity valuations are "generally quite high" and that raising the fed funds rate is likely to be followed by a spike in Treasury yields. The opening spike notwithstanding, the Wednesday session was largely a repeat of Tuesday's slide; however, the Nasdaq, which underperformed on Tuesday, retreated alongside the broader market on Wednesday. The major indices cut their losses in half during the final hour, but nine sectors settled in the red with the countercyclical telecom services space (-1.2%) ending behind its peers. More notably, the largest sector by weight-technology (-0.8%)-was the second-weakest performer with large cap names fueling the weakness. Shares of Microsoft (MSFT 46.28, -1.32) tumbled 2.8% while the likes of Apple (AAPL 125.01, -0.79), Google (GOOGL 535.08, -7.96), Oracle (ORCL 43.26, -0.66), and Intel (INTC 32.22, -0.42) lost between 0.6% and 1.5%. It is worth noting that unlike Intel, some other chipmakers outperformed with the PHLX Semiconductor Index shedding just 0.1%.

The market snapped its two-day skid with a Thursday advance that lifted the S&P 500 (+0.4%) into the neighborhood of its 50-day moving average (2,089). The benchmark index narrowed its week-to-date loss to 1.0% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%) outperformed, narrowing its weekly loss to 1.2%. Equity indices vacillated near their flat lines during the opening hour and followed their shaky start with a broad-based rally. However, the cash market masked the fact that S&P 500 futures were down more than 15 points overnight. That weakness coincided with selling in the Treasury market, which abated once the benchmark 10-yr yield kissed the 2.30% level. To be fair, the overnight selloff in Treasuries did not take place in a vacuum as Germany's 10-yr bund endured a sharp plunge that briefly sent its yield as high as 0.79%. German bunds were able to retrace the entire move, returning to 0.59% while U.S. Treasuries did that and then some. The 10-yr note rallied throughout the session, dropping its yield six basis points to 2.18% and back below the 200-day moving average (2.19%).

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 18024.06 18191.11 167.05 0.9 2.1
Nasdaq 5005.39 5003.55 -1.84 0.0 5.6
S&P 500 2108.29 2116.10 7.81 0.4 2.8
Russell 2000 1228.11 1234.93 6.82 0.6 2.5


5:37 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Healthcare:GEVA (213.9 +116.3%),ALDR (37.23 +39.44%),BPMC (23.6 +27.36%),EXEL (3.43 +21.2%),SGEN (41.13 +20.86%),SRNE (12.35 +19.32%),RGEN (37.39 +18.74%),ARRY (7.48 +18.35%),ADRO (30.85 +18.24%),BLUE (163.72 +17.84%)

Materials:BAK (10.03 +20.7%)

Industrials:PCTY (32.75 +20.85%)

Consumer Discretionary:NLS (21.82 +26.13%)

Information Technology:SSNI (11.95 +21.94%),MGI (10.04 +20.96%),SREV (4.35 +20.5%),HUBS (46.75 +20.33%),ELNK (5.77 +20.21%),IMPV (53.98 +19.24%),

Energy:GLNG (46.08 +27.65%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Healthcare:FLDM (26.95 -28.53%),BIOS (3.63 -22.1%),RIGL (3.74 -17.07%),SCMP (15.45 -16.8%),SQNM (3.83 -16.56%),ANIP (52.93 -16.02%)

Materials:GFI (3.71 -15.87%)

Industrials:TNET (28.87 -19.83%),ENPH (10.26 -19.53%),KEYW (7.66 -17.37%)

Consumer Discretionary:SKUL (8.27 -24.2%),NDLS (16.25 -21.76%)

Information Technology:QLYS (36.98 -29.08%),ENOC (10.07 -21.7%)

Financials:NSM (19.98 -22.29%),ONDK (15.68 -18.71%)

Energy:CEQP (5.2 -19.25%),SD (1.6 -16.67%),LPI (13.34 -15.57%),IO (1.96 -15.52%)

3:31 pm Earnings Preview for the week of May 11 - 15 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of May 11 - 15 some of the bigger names include:

Monday:
Pre Market - AES, ACT, DISH, CNP, DF, AER, RBC, ENDP, BRSS, W, SSYS, RDNT, BID, STRL, FRM, VRTS, CRK, EVEP, MHR, MBLY, MGIC, PLUG, LGND, GWPH, ICPT
After Hours - MTZ, MDR, FMC, DPLO, SF, RAX, DRYS, PRSC, EGL, TRQ, HI, ORIG, TTEC, MR, PINC, SCAI, PEIX, MBI, PAHC, PAAS, YY, IPXL, TEP, VRTU, IPAR, CALL, JUNO

Tuesday:
Pre Market - ACM, ECA, LDOS, ARCO, IFF, FMSA, ARES, WMS, ATRO, IBP, CRCM, DCIX, OTIV, NAVB, EGRX
After Hours - MCK, STKL, HMIN, DCO, Z, SSRI, LMNS, PE, RSPP, EXAR, ESIO, OPWR, PRSS, NEWR, INGN, TUBE, FIVN, NVMI, HDP, VSLR, CDNA, CARA, VTAE, VTL, RENN, ZFGN

Wednesday:
Pre Market - M, ARMK, PCP, RL, IGT, ZBRA, ZAYO, MRKT, ACAT, ELOS, SHLX, DSX, EZCH, MTLS, CRME
After Hours - CSCO, JCP, VIPS, RNDY, NTES, JACK, VOXX, WX, LXFT, SPKE, TGB, FENG, AMPH, SHAK, FPRX

Thursday:
Pre Market - KSS, QIWI, CSTM, VWR, GIL, TK, PLCE, PERY, PBH, HIMX, TNK, MANU, STOR, MMYT, PFNX, HSGX
After Hours - JWN, AMAT, SYMC, HTHT, DAR, KING, EXP, ANET, LOCO, GLOB, SANW, MDLY, UPLD, VCYT, JYNT

Friday:
Pre Market - HGG, OCUL, JMG

12:04 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (131) outpacing new lows (54) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACIW, AFT, AIG, ALDR, AMSG, AOS, ASH, ATSG, ATVI, AVY, AXS, AYN, BAMM, BANC, BK, BLKB, BLUE, BPMC, BRCM, BT, BTO, CBS.A, CDK, CE, CHKE, CII, CKSW, CLBH, CMT, CNMD, CORI, CRH, CRUS, CSFL, CSH, CUTR, CYNI, DATA, DOVR, DRC, EBIX, ECF, ELNK, ENI, ESNT, FCAP, FEUZ, FIX, FSBW, GEVA, GPN, GT, HIFS, HILL, HME, HUBS, HW, IACI, IMPV, INFA, ING, INTU, IPHI, JBLU, JNPR, JPM, LEG, LLNW, LMAT, LO, LVNTA, MA, MATX, MDLZ, MFLX, MKL, MLM, MMI, MRTX, MTD, MTG, MTU, NCOM, NGHC, NHTC, NICE, NLS, NRZ, OBAS, OCR, OLED, PAYC, PLCE, PRE, PZZA, QCRH, QTWO, RBA, RGEN, ROCK, SEDG, SEE, SFG, SKX, SMFG, SNA, SPR, SSRG, STMP, SUM, SUNE, SWK, SYT, TMK, TROV, TSE, TSS, TWOU, UK, USCR, UVE, VAC, VMC, VNTV, WAT, WIBC, WIFI, WIX, WNC, WWAV, XPO

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AHGP, ANR, ASCMA, ATRM, AVP, CBAY, CDZI, CEL, CRD.B, DCTH, DSCO, DSS, EGL, EGY, EMES, ENOC, ENZ, FTEK, FTK, GALE, GLPW, HTGC, IO, IPHS, KERX, LC, MCF, MERU, MNKD, NNVC, OFG, OXGN, PANL, PNX, POM, PRGN, PRKR, PRO, QUMU, RCAP, RXII, SMLP, SNI, SSYS, TESS, TGEN, TICC, TROX, UBNT, UNXL, UTSI, VRA, WHZ, WIN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: MOO

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: SMN, VXZ

7:30 am Solar Power acquires a controlling interest in Convertergy Energy Technology for $13.8 mln, in addition to repayment of a $1.5 mln loan (SOPW) : Under the terms of the share purchase agreement, SPI will acquire 100% of the outstanding capital stock of Convertergy I Holdings Limited, which owns 76.8% of the equity interest in Convertergy Technology, for an aggregate consideration of $13.8 million and will repay a shareholder loan of $1.5 million owed by Convertergy Technology

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From Briefing.com: Monday wasn't a particularly noteworthy day for corporate news. Instead, the market was governed by interest rate movements that featured a notable jump in yields for the 10-yr Treasury note (+12 basis points to 2.27%) and the 30-yr bond (+13 basis points to 3.03%).

The selloff in the Treasury market was steady all day and eventually wore down equity traders who appeared to be disenchanted with things after the S&P 500 ran into technical resistance in the opening minutes of trading and failed to respond in a bullish fashion to news that the People's Bank of China cut its main lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points each to 5.10% and 2.25%, respectively.

The energy sector (-2.1%) was the big loser on Monday and the S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.6%) was next in line.

A relatively weak showing from Apple (AAPL 126.32, -1.30, -1.0%) and other large-cap components, like IBM (IBM 171.12, -1.56, -0.9%), Salesforce.com (CRM 71.20, -1.20, -1.7%), and MasterCard (MA 92.52, -0.99, -1.1%), acted as a restraining influence.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 33.70, +0.29, +0.9%): Announced a California Welfare Client Data Systems consortium contract award worth up to $305 mln. Under the five-year agreement, which includes five additional option years not included in the announced contract value, HP will continue providing a suite of IT services for the consortium's CalWORKS Information Network.

Seagate Technology (STX 56.79, -0.44, -0.8%): To offer up to $400 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes in a private placement. The company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the Notes for general corporate purposes, which may include, but are not limited to, replenishing cash associated with the redemption of the outstanding 6.875% Senior Notes due 2020, capital expenditures and other investments in the business.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alibaba (BABA 86.72, -0.34, -0.4%): Disclosed in a Form 4 filing on Friday that it purchased 4.81 million shares of Zulily (ZU 13.98, +0.65, +5.2%) over the course of three trading sessions from May 6 - May 8 at prices ranging from $10.75 to $12.26. Following the purchases, Alibaba now owns 11.5 million shares, or 9.3%, of Zulily.

Amazon.com (AMZN 432.85, -0.84, -0.2%): Announced plans to open a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Carteret, New Jersey.

Aruba Networks (ARUN 24.66, +0.02, +0.1%): Disclosed that on May 8, 2015, the Anti-Monopoly Committee published notice that it cleared the pending Merger under the Protection of Economic Competition Act in Ukraine, which is the last regulatory approval required to consummate the merger with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).

Ericsson (ERIC 11.32, -0.15, -1.3%) announced the signing of a multi-year agreement with Safaricom, Kenya's largest mobile operator, to support the upgrade and expansion of its converged mobile network infrastructure. Ericsson will deploy Wi-Fi technology for the first time on the Safaricom network as well as expand and enhance the MINI-LINK microwave transmission network.

Analyst Action:

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 3.79, -0.01, -0.3%): upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Exane BNP Paribas

Apple (AAPL 126.32, -1.30, -1.0%): target raised to $160 from $155 at Canaccord Genuity

Cisco Systems (CSCO 29.22, -0.01, -0.03%): upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at Pacific Crest

Lam Research (LRCX 78.11, +1.09, +1.4%): target raised to $92 from $88 at UBS

NetApp (NTAP 34.96, -0.69, -1.9%): downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at Pacific Crest

Nokia (NOK 6.89, -0.04, -0.6%): upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Exane BNP Paribas

NVIDIA (NVDA 20.63, -0.20, -0.9%): target lowered to $21 from $23 at Canaccord Genuity

Salesforce.com (CRM 71.20, -1.20, -1.7%): removed from Best Ideas List at Morgan Stanley

4:15 pm : The stock market followed up Friday's broad-based rally with an outing on Monday that never got on track due to a variety of reasons:


Technical resistance
The S&P 500 got brushed back early following a test of its closing high for the year (2117.69)
Rising long-term rates with the yield on the 10-yr note hitting new highs for the year at 2.27% and the 30-yr bond yield jumping 13 basis points to 3.03%
Selling was steady all day and unwound all of Friday's post-employment report gains
A particularly weak showing from the energy sector (-2.1%), which failed to get on track after news reports indicated OPEC expects oil prices to stay below $100 for the next decade
Concerns about the state of China's economy after the People's Bank of China announced an interest rate cut for the third time in the last six months
Main lending rate was lowered 25 basis points to 5.10%
Deposit rate was reduced 25 basis points to 2.25%
Ongoing angst about Greece's ability to win access to the next bailout tranche
Relative weakness in Apple (AAPL 126.32, -1.30, -1.0%); and
A lack of leadership in general
Every sector finished lower
The energy sector was the only sector to lose more than 1.0%

By and large, the lack of follow through after testing the all-time closing high took the wind out of the market early and then the market trended steadily lower as long-term rates crept steadily higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.5%), Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%), and S&P 500 (-0.5%) all ended the day in red figures. The Russell 2000 (+0.2%) finished off its highs for the day, but still managed to close the session higher.

There wasn't any economic data of note out of the U.S. today, yet things will get more interesting on that front later in the week with the release of the April Retail Sales report on Wednesday, the April Producer Price Index on Thursday, and the April Industrial Production report on Friday.

On a related note, San Francisco Fed President Williams (an FOMC voter) told CNBC that he believes the first quarter weakness was an anomaly and that he expects the economy to rebound. That didn't help sentiment at the front of the Treasury curve either as the yield on the 2-yr note jumped four basis points to 0.62%.

The three major indices ended the day with a whimper, finishing at or near their lows for the session. After falling 15% on Friday, the CBOE Volatility Index increased 7.3% on Monday

Trading volume was light with just 680 million shares changing hands at the NYSE. That was approximately 14% below the volume seen in Friday's rally effort.
DJ30 -85.94 NASDAQ -9.98 SP500 -10.77 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1507/1.60 bln/1387 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1086/680 mln/1984
3:40 pm :

The dollar index remained in positive territory all day today, which helped weigh on commodities prices today
However, in early morning trade, commodities including oil, gold and silver were showing some gains despite seeing strength in the dollar
WTI crude oil ultimately ended the day -$0.18 at $59.24/barrel. June nat gas dropped 3% to $2.80/MMBtu
Precious metals closed lower as well
June gold lost $6.20 to $1182.90/oz, while July silver fell $0.18 to $16.30/oz
Copper ended at $2.91/lb, down one cent.

4:02 pm SunEdison announces that it is reviewing strategic alternatives to align its structure as a sponsor in a long term asset ownership platform, through its TerraForm platform (SUNE) : The most efficient and commonly utilized structure by sponsors of yield vehicles is the general partnership structure in a master limited partnership. The Company is considering a range of alternatives that will drive greater value and enable the efficient return of capital to shareholders.

SunEdison expects to conclude its strategic review before the end of the year. However, no specific timetable has been set, and there can be no assurance that any transaction will take place. Likewise, no decision has been made on the timing or terms of any such transaction if one were to occur.

1:10 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

MNST (135.76 +5.68%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup; tgt raised to $155 from $141.
ACT (302.52 +3.31%): Beat Q1 consensus EPS estimates by $0.36, beat on revs; guided FY15 EPS in-line.
CAT (89.44 +2.44%): Upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird.

Large Cap Losers

NBL (46.44 -5.47%): Announced it would acquire Rosetta Resources (ROSE) for $2.1 bln.
NOV (51.65 -2.97%): Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.
NTAP (34.99 -1.84%): Downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at Pacific Crest.

Mid Cap Gainers

CALM (50.37 +17.14%): PT raised to $67 from $51 at Sidoti.
DEG (23.17 +14.87%): Reports out suggesting Ahold (AHONY) and Delhaize could merge.
Z (98.05 +6.25%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey; tgt raised to $130 from $110. Mid Cap Losers

ETSY (20.67 -8.98%): Downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Wedbush ; tgt $14.
CBD (31.17 -4.59%): Downgraded to Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
11:55 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (108) outpacing new lows (44) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACLS, AHS, AIG, ALLE, ALSK, ASH, ATSG, AVOL, AVY, AYI, BANC, BCO, BK, BPMC, BT, CALM, CBPO, CDK, CMT, CNMD, CSH, CVG, CYNI, DATA, DRC, EA, ECF, ELNK, ESNT, ETFC, EXPE, FDEF, FIX, FTNT, GAME, GIG, GIMO, GT, GTT, HILL, HMST, HW, ICE, IEUS, IFV, IMPV, INTL, IPHI, IRMD, ISL, JDD, JNPR, KMPH, LBY, LEG, LMAT, MDLZ, MFLX, MMI, MNTA, MTG, MTSL, NFLX, NHTC, NICE, NOAH, NPTN, NTRS, NTWK, NVEE, NVRO, OBAS, OEC, PAYC, PBHC, PCTY, PHH, PRE, PRMW, QCRH, QLIK, QTWO, RBA, RELY, RGEN, ROCK, SBCF, SBNY, SCHW, SEDG, SKYW, SNA, SNPS, SP, SPTN, STMP, SUNE, TACO, TDS, TMK, TPX, TSE, UK, VAC, VMC, WAL, WIBC, WNC

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AEZS, AHGP, BOTA, BRT, BWEN, CCD, CDZI, CEL, CRD.B, CUI, CVSL, DSCI, EGY, ETSY, FNRG, FTK, FXEN, GALT, GFN, IKAN, INPH, IO, IPDN, KERX, MCF, MHGC, MNKD, NBD, ORN, PFL, PLUG, POM, PTNT, QUMU, RBCN, ROVI, STRM, TROX, UNXL, VPV, VRTS, WHZ, WIN, XRX

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IAI, IYG, KBE

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The stock market traded Wednesday as if it had already checked out for the upcoming three-day weekend. Overall, conviction was lacking on the part of buyers and sellers. The end result was a mixed showing for the major indices, which closed the session close to where they began. This time, though, neither the Dow nor the S&P 500 had a record-high close as each suffered small losses. The Nasdaq for its part eked out a small gain.

There was some volatility after the release of the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in April at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The minutes revealed that many participants didn't think the data by the June meeting would be strong enough to warrant a hike in the target for the federal funds rate. The latter acknowledgment led to some knee-jerk buying interest, yet a relatively weak showing from the airlines, which got hammered on capacity growth concerns, and the financial (-0.4%) and industrial (-0.4%) sectors, ultimately kept the market in check.

The S&P 500 information technology sector ended the session flat, meaning it outperformed the S&P 500 (-0.1%) by a slight margin.


Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Analog Devices (ADI 66.18, +2.73, +4.3%): After Tuesday's close, reported Q2 (Apr) earnings of $0.73 per share, excluding non-recurring items, slightly ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 18.2% year/year to $821.0 ml, also slightly ahead of estimates. For Q3, sees EPS of $0.71-0.77 and revenues of $825-865 mln. Company said, "Looking ahead, our book to bill ratio was positive in the second quarter and we are seeing stable order rates across all our end markets."

Fiserv (FISV 81.13, +0.12, +0.2%): The company has priced $850 mln in senior notes that mature in 2020 at 2.70% and $900 mln in senior notes that mature in 2025 at 3.85%. The offering is expected to close May 22, 2015. Fiserv intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to redeem all of its outstanding $600 million aggregate principal amount of 3.125% senior notes due 2016 and all of its outstanding $500 million aggregate principal amount of 6.800% senior notes due 2017 and to repay outstanding debt under its revolving credit facility.

Micron (MU 26.61, +0.30, +1.1%): At JP Morgan Conference reaffirmed mid teens bit supply growth for FY15. Said supply/demand to remain balanced in DRAM, and that PC market in Q1 was worse than expected, possibly due to currency related impacts and holiday impacts. 70% of DRAM business is growing at 25% and 30% of DRAM business is growing at 5%. Micron indicated that demand for mobile handsets is 'strong'; expects very tight market in mobile in H2 of 2015.

NetApp (NTAP 35.33, -0.02, -0.1%): After Wednesday's close, reported Q4 (Apr) earnings of $0.65 per share, which was shy of analysts' average expectation. Revenues fell 6.6% year/year to $1.54 bln, also below estimates. For Q1, sees EPS of $0.20-0.25, which is well below analysts' average expectation, and revenues of $1.275-1.375 bln. The high end of the revenue guidance range is also below expectations. The Company increased the first quarter fiscal year 2016 dividend by 9% to $0.18 per share.

Salesforce.com (CRM 70.16, -1.32, -1.9%): After Wednesday's close, reported Q1 (Apr) earnings of $0.16 per share, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 23.2% year/year to $1.51 bln. For Q2, sees EPS of $0.17-0.18, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $1.59-1.60 bln. Both guidance ranges are in-line with expectations. For FY16, sees EPS of $0.69-0.71, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $6.52-6.55 bln.

Yahoo! (YHOO 42.69, +1.72, +4.2%): Confirmed that an IRS representative stated Tuesday that the IRS plans to study its rules for issuing private letter rulings regarding the active trade or business requirement in spin-off transactions and will hold off processing new ruling requests. Yahoo notes it understands that the IRS's statement is not specific to Yahoo's planned Q4 2015 spin-off of its remaining stake in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Small Business, reflects no change in applicable law, and does not affect previously filed ruling requests. Yahoo filed its pending ruling request with the IRS in Q1 2015. Yahoo continues to work toward completing the planned spin-off in Q4 2015.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alibaba (BABA 90.70, +2.49, +2.6%): Alibaba.com, the platform for global wholesale trade owned by Alibaba Group, launched Trade Assurance, a free service designed to create trust in trade by giving businesses peace of mind when trading with China.

Integrated Silicon (ISSI 20.17, -0.17, -0.7%): Starboard Value LP, the largest shareholder of Integrated Silicon Solution, with ownership of approximately 11.5% of the Company's outstanding common stock, today announced that it has delivered a letter to the independent members of ISSI's Board of Directors, saying among other things that it is "extremely disturbed to learn that ISSI is frustrating Cypress Semiconductor's (CY 13.51, -0.15, -1.0%) attempts to conduct customary due diligence" and that it is "Disappointed ISSI Board does not appear to be doing everything in its power to negotiate the best possible deal for shareholders. Starboard added that it currently intends to vote against ISSI's Merger with the Buyer Consortium at the June 3 Special Meeting and commence a consent solicitation to remove and replace a majority of the ISSI Board in the event the board fails to immediately take the following actions: (1) Announce it has formed a special committee of independent directors to oversee all further deal negotiations without undue influence from management (2) Enter into an appropriate confidentiality agreement with Cypress and (3) Confirm that Cypress will be provided reasonable access to information it may require and cooperation from management.

Netease.com (NTES 144.11, +3.79, +2.4%): Signed a framework cooperation agreement with Everbright Securities and HNA Group to form a joint-venture company. The joint venture company will primarily focus on Internet crowdfunding and other Internet finance businesses. Under the Agreement, the registered capital of the joint venture company will be approximately RMB100 million, with RMB30 million contributed by Ujia, RMB40 million contributed by Everbright and RMB30 million contributed by HNA Group.

Qihoo 360 Tech (QIHU 53.59, -5.17, -9.0%): After Tuesday's close, reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.57 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 45.0% year/year to $384.36 mln, also ahead of estimates. Total monthly active users of Qihoo 360's PC-based products and services reached 503 million in March 2015, compared to 479 million in March 2014. For Q2, sees revenues of $435-445 mln. The midpoint is in-line with analysts' average expectation.

Analyst Action:

Altera (ALTR 46.67, -0.18, -0.4%): target raised to $42 from $38 at Topeka Capital Markets

Analog Devices (ADI 66.18, +2.73, +4.4%): target raised to $72 from $68 at Stifel... target raised to $72 from $62 at Oppenheimer... target raised to $61 from $60 at MKM Partners... target raised to $73 from $65 at Argus

Autodesk (ADSK 57.59, +0.07, +0.2%): target lowered to $64 from $69 at Wedbush... target lowered to $70 from $73 at Canaccord Genuity... target lowered to $68 at Barclays; Overweight

Check Point Software (CHKP 87.38, +0.55, +0.7%): initiated with a Hold at Evercore ISI

Ciena (CIEN 23.09, +0.18, +0.9%): target raised to $27 from $25 at MKM Partners

Computer Sciences (CSC 69.26, +1.60, +2.6%): upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan... upgraded to Equal-Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley... target raised to $73 from $55 at Deutsche Bank... target raised to $74 from $64 at Barclays

FireEye (FEYE 42.27, +0.74, +1.8%): initiated with a Buy at Evercore ISI

JDS Uniphase (JDSU 12.63, -0.14, -1.1%): initiated with an Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; target $15

MasterCard (MA 93.24, -0.56, -0.6%): initiated with a Outperform at Credit Agricole; target $105

Micron (MU 26.61, +0.30, +1.1%): Deutsche Bank lowers target to $32 from $34

Palo Alto Networks (PANW 158.52, +0.19, +0.2%): initiated with a Hold at Evercore ISI

Splunk (SPLK 68.02, +0.08, +0.1%): upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie

Total System (TSS 41.84, -0.08, -0.2%): initiated with a Outperform at Credit Agricole; target $46

Visa (V 69.78, -0.38, -0.5%): initiated with a Outperform at Credit Agricole; target $77
Western Union (WU 22.48, +0.06, +0.3%): initiated with a Sell at Credit Agricole; target $16

Workday (WDAY 90.43, -0.22, -0.2%): initiated with a Buy at Needham
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo!)

4:20 pm Extreme Networks to implement new operating plan; expects to incur a restructuring charge of $13-15 mln; expects to reduce global workforce by 18% (EXTR) :

Co is implementing its new solutions-based go-to-market strategy. To develop the new strategy, the company initiated a comprehensive review process in January that included input from analysts, customers and partnersAs a first step to implementing the new operating plan, the company has begun to restructure its global workforce and implement other operating cost reductions. The company expects to incur a restructuring charge of $13-15 million for employee related termination benefits including severance payments and continuation of medical insurance benefits. These actions are expected to yield approximately $40 million in reduction to operating costs in fiscal 2016 including employee related expenses, professional and contractor fees and other discretionary spending.
The co separately disclosed details of the restructuring plan: They noted that the restructure plan provides for a reduction of approximately 285 positions or 18% of its global workforce, inclusive of contractors. The plan effects the majority of Company departments, and both domestic and international locations.
4:11 pm NetApp misses by $0.07, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (NTAP) : Reports Q4 (Apr) earnings of $0.65 per share, $0.07 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.72; revenues fell 6.6% year/year to $1.54 bln vs the $1.59 bln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.20-0.25 vs. $0.60 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $1.275-1.375 bln vs. $1.46 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The Company increased the first quarter fiscal year 2016 dividend by 9% to $0.18 per share. "We are not satisfied with our fourth quarter results and are taking concrete action to transition NetApp for the next phase of growth," said Tom Georgens, chairman and CEO. "Clustered ONTAP is the foundation of a Data Fabric, our vision for the future of data management, which enables enterprises to realize the value of the cloud as a seamless extension of their on-premises environment. This vision is resonating well with customers and underpins our confidence."
4:10 pm : The major averages finished the midweek session on a flat note. The S&P 500 shed 0.1%, but still marked a fresh intraday record high at 2,134.72 while the Nasdaq Composite (unch) outperformed.

Equity indices spent the first half of today's session near their flat lines with the S&P 500 maintaining a seven-point range that was violated to the upside during afternoon action once the Federal Open Market Committee released the minutes from its April policy meeting. The index could not hold its afternoon gain and returned to the flat line by the close.

Above all, the minutes revealed that some participants believed that the weakness observed in the first quarter could extend into Q2 with many officials characterizing a rate hike in June as "unlikely." However, the minutes did not rule out a near-term rate hike in its entirety.

Treasuries retreated immediately following the release, but they returned to their afternoon levels shortly thereafter. The 10-yr note settled near its high with the benchmark yield slipping four basis points to 2.25%.

On a related note, the Dollar Index (95.50, +0.23) endured a whipsaw afternoon after holding a modest intraday gain. The index surged to its session high following the minutes and then slumped to its low, but still ended the day with a slim gain of 0.2%.

Five sectors ended in the green with three countercyclical groups showing relative strength throughout the day. Rate-sensitive telecom services (+0.5%) and utilities (+0.2%) benefitted from lower rates while the health care sector (+0.1%) was underpinned by biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 363.59, +3.11) gained 0.9% with the industry group contributing to the outperformance of the Nasdaq.

Similarly, high-beta chipmakers also gave a boost to the tech-heavy index. The PHLX Semiconductor Index added 0.2% with the move paced by a 4.3% gain in Analog Devices (ADI 66.18, +2.73) after the company reported a one-cent beat. For its part, the broader technology sector displayed afternoon strength, but returned to its flat line by the close.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, consumer discretionary (-0.2%), industrials (-0.4%), and financials (-0.4%) lagged throughout the day. Notably, the industrial sector suffered from losses among transport stocks that sent the Dow Jones Transportation Average lower by 2.0%. Airlines paced the slide with Delta Air Lines (DAL 43.62, -2.59), Southwest Airlines (LUV 37.19, -3.72), and United Continental (UAL 54.54, -6.27) losing between 5.6% and 10.3% after Southwest lowered its guidance. In addition, investors showed concern over potential pricing pressures that could result from the entry of three subsidized Arabian Gulf carriers into the U.S. market.

Lastly, the financial sector (-0.4%) spent the day among the laggards. The long-awaited settlement between the Department of Justice and five large banks was announced today with fines against Citigroup (C 54.89, -0.44), JPMorgan Chase (JPM 66.48, -0.53), Barclays (BCS 16.86, +0.56), UBS (UBS 21.96, +0.83), and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS 11.05, +0.21) totaling $5.80 billion.

Today's participation was comparable to totals observed earlier in the week with fewer than 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which fell 1.5% to follow last week's 3.5% decline.

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 270K) will be released at 8:30 ET while April Existing Home Sales (consensus 5.24 million), April Leading Indicators (expected 0.3%), and May Philadelphia Fed Survey (expected 8.0) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.


Nasdaq Composite +7.1% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.5% YTD
S&P 500 +3.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.6% YTD

DJ30 -26.99 NASDAQ +1.71 SP500 -1.98 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1421/1.67 bln/1446 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1579/675.8 mln/1445
3:35 pm :

WTI crude oil futures rallied following the API storage data.
Following this morning's weekly storage data, WTI sold off back near the unchanged mark, even thought the data was overall bullish.
Ultimately, July crude oil ended today's session $0.98 higher at $58.97/barrel.
June nat gas lost some steam today, closing $0.03 lower at $2.92/MMBtu.
Precious metals posted modest gains. June gold rose $1.50 to $1208.40/oz, while July silver gained $0.04 to $17.12/oz.

12:06 pm Amkor to redeem all $345 mln aggregate principal amount of its outstanding 7.375% Senior Notes due 2018 to be effected on June 19, 2015 (AMKR) : In accordance with the terms of the indenture governing the Notes, the redemption price will be 101.844% of the principal amount of the Notes, or $1,018.44 per $1,000.00 principal amount thereof, paid in cash. In addition, the Company will pay accrued and unpaid interest on the Notes to, but excluding, the redemption date.

11:43 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (161) outpacing new lows (75) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABM, ABT, ACGL, ACIW, ADI, ADPT, AEIS, AFT, AGD, AHS, AJG, ALTV, ALV, AMBA, AMSG, AOS, ASML, ATTU, AVY, AWH, BCS, BF.A, BFAM, BID, BK, BKCC, BKYF, BLMT, BLUE, BMY, BOH, BONA, BRKL, BTO, CAG, CCK, CFG, CIEN, CMCM, CMT, CNMD, CSFL, CVC, CVG, CYNI, CYNO, CYT, DHIL, DXJS, DY, EBF, EFSC, EGBN, EHIC, EL, ERI, EXL, FDS, FL, FLY, FNB, FNF, FNFV, HEI, HEI.A, HSII, HUBS, IACI, IART, ICCC, ICUI, IDCC, IDTI, IMPV, INBK, ING, INTL, IRMD, ISBC, ISCA, JOF, LDRH, LO, LPX, MBTF, MELR, MFLX, MHK, MMAC, MMC, MMI, MOMO, MSCI, MTSL, NI, NSA, NTES, NTT, NVR, OCR, OLED, OPK, OSIR, PBCT, PBHC, PBMD, PF, PHH, PKI, PLAB, PPO, PSCC, QABA, QQQC, QTWO, RBA, RBC, REGN, RGA, RHT, SBCP, SC, SCLN, SEIC, SERV, SEV, SFG, SGU, SHAK, SIRO, SJM, SNPS, SNX, SSB, STRZB, STV, SUM, SUNE, SYT, TDG, TMK, TRR, TSE, TSS, TTMI, TW, TWC, VAC, VIAS, VNTV, VOYA, VRX, WAT, WBS, WEN, WIBC, WIX, WPPGY, WTFC, YUM, ZSPH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACI, ADEP, AEZS, ALXA, AMPE, ANR, APAM, APOL, ARCI, BANX, BFO, BPK, BTU, CBLI, CECO, CEQP, CIM, CLTX, CRCM, CSAL, CUR, DSCI, DXM, EBIO, EGF, ETSY, EVLV, FELP, FGEN, FHCO, FNRG, FPT, FREE, FTEK, FTR, FXEN, GFY, GMCR, HGG, HIIQ, IHC, INF, KEM, KORS, LMIA, LPTN, MCF, MHR, MZF, NDLS, NETE, NM, NMRX, NNVC, NRP, NSC, NUM, NYRT, PFL, PQ, PTNR, RCPI, RGSE, RYN, SCON, SD, SPDC, SPEX, SRT, TC, TRIV, TRX, UNXL, USEG, VRS

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: KBE, KIE, KRE, PPH

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: LQD

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: What was lost on Tuesday was mostly made up on Wednesday as the major indices bounced back quickly from the prior day's selling interest in another patented buy-the-dip effort.

The Nasdaq Composite for its part made up all of Tuesday's 57-point decline and then some, rallying 74 points on the back of strength in large-cap components and a soaring semiconductor group. The latter was sent flying (and left short sellers reeling) by media reports suggesting Avago Technologies (AVGO 141.49, +10.20, +7.8%) may be close to acquiring Broadcom (BRCM 57.13, +10.07, +21.4%).

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose as much as 4.2% before settling the day with a 3.9% gain. Every component in the index advanced on Wednesday. SunEdison (SUNE 30.68, +0.40, +1.3%), which gained "only" 1.3%, was the laggard of the bunch.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+1.8%) paced Wednesday's turnaround effort, driven by gains in all but three of its 66 components. The outcasts were F5 Networks (FFIV 125.96, -0.12, -0.1%), Motorola Solutions (MSI 59.06, -0.05, -0.1%), and Western Union (WU 22.19, -0.05, -0.2%).

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Broadcom (BRCM 57.13, +10.07, +21.4%): The Wall Street Journal reported the company is in advanced talks to be acquired by Avago Technologies (AVGO 141.49, +10.20, +7.8%)

Facebook (FB 80.55, +1.22, +1.5%): Oculus unit confirmed acquisition of Surreal Vision

IBM (IBM 172.00, +1.87, +1.2%): Company and Woodside announced they will use IBM Watson as part of the oil and gas company's next steps in data science. The cognitive computing system will be trained by Woodside engineers, enabling users to surface evidence-weighted insights from large volumes of unstructured and historical data contained in project reports

Qualcomm (QCOM 71.02, +1.66, +2.4%): At Cowen Conference, said it is confident Snapdragon can win back OEM -- Samsung after it was not in GS6 -- and that it is more of a product cycle issue

Texas Instruments (TXN 55.97, +1.41, +2.6%): At the Sanford Bernstein Conference, management highlighted that it will continue its focus on Free Cash Flow (FCF)/share enhancement as a metric for delivering shareholder value and said it will focus in the intermediate term on expanding and enhancing its Analog and Embedded processing businesses. Executive commented that current FCF yield outweighs the potential FCF benefit from a lot of current acquisition opportunities

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Atmel (ATML 8.85, +0.18, +2.0%): CEO sold 1.5 mln shares at $8.73 worth ~$13.1 mln

Ericsson (ERIC 11.10, 0.00, 0.0%): A Bloomberg article discussed that Ericsson is open to larger M&A deals. A Bernstein analyst out of London, who was quoted in the article, suggested Juniper Networks (JNPR 27.81, +0.83, +3.1%) or Ciena (CIEN 23.76, +0.60, +2.6%) could be good fits for Ericsson.

STMicroelectronics (STM 8.29, +0.27, +3.4%): Announced that its STiC2BB+STiC2PA home-networking reference design has received the MoCA 2.0 interoperability certificate

Twitter (TWTR 36.41, -0.10, -0.3%): Reuters reported that Twitter is still pitching Chinese companies to buy advertising space even though Twitter itself is blocked in China

VMware (VMW 86.54, -0.30, -0.4%): Director sold 271,757 shares at $87.2-87.54 worth ~$23.7 mln

Analyst Action:

Computer Sciences (CSC 69.21, +1.73, +2.6%): upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo

eBay (EBAY 59.38, +0.66, +1.1%): initiated with a Buy at Topeka Capital Markets; $68 target

Yahoo! (YHOO 43.38, +0.53, +1.2%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Evercore ISI; target to $48 from $55
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo!)

4:33 pm Semtech (halted) misses by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q2 below consensus -- increases buyback to $100 mln -- will resume trade at 17:00 (SMTC) :

Reports Q1 (Apr) earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.28; revenues fell 2.1% year/year to $130.1 mln vs the $132.41 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.21-0.26, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.36 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q2 revs of $120-130 mln vs. $140.76 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
"We saw strong demand from our enterprise computing and communication end-markets driven by the datacenter and PON market segments. However, demand from our largest smartphone customer was much lower than anticipated, leading to results that were at the lower end of our guidance range."
Co also announced that its Board of Directors approved an increase of the existing stock repurchase authorization to $100.0 million. Prior to the increase, the Company had ~$30.0 million remaining from the authorization that was expanded in November 2014.

4:15 pm : The major averages enjoyed a daylong rally on Wednesday that helped the S&P 500 (+0.9%) narrow its week-to-date decline to just 0.1%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite (+1.5%) closed at a fresh record high (5,106.59) and turned its weekly decline into a 0.3% advance for the week.

Equity indices began the session with modest gains and enjoyed an early surge amid reports that Greek officials and Eurogroup members have started crafting a staff-level agreement to secure funds for the country. However, those reports were refuted during the next hour with Bloomberg citing a Eurogroup official as saying the two sides have yet to begin working on a joint statement.

Strikingly, the stock market all but ignored the prompt refutation and continued rising into the afternoon with the technology sector (+1.8%) pacing the move.

The top-weighted tech sector enjoyed broad-based support from large cap components like Apple (AAPL 132.04, +2.42), Google (GOOGL 554.25, +7.06), and Microsoft (MSFT 47.61, +1.02) while chipmakers stole the show. To that point, the PHLX Semiconductor Index surged 3.9% after it was reported that Avago (AVGO 141.49, +10.19) is in advanced talks to acquire Broadcom (BRCM 57.13, +10.21). Shares of AVGO jumped 7.8% while Broadcom soared 21.8%.

Similar to technology, eight of the remaining nine sectors posted gains, but only financials (+0.9%) and health care (+1.1%) finished in-line with or ahead of the broader market. The growth-sensitive financial sector enjoyed broad support and extended its May gain to 2.7% while health care was boosted by biotechnology with iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 366.96, +6.66) climbing 1.9%.

Elsewhere, the consumer discretionary sector (+0.7%) finished not far behind the broader market after a few of its components reported earnings. Jeweler Tiffany & Co (TIF 94.54, +9.01) surged 10.5% following better than expected results while Michael Kors (KORS 45.93, -14.66) plunged 24.2% after reporting a one-cent miss and guiding Q1 results below analyst expectations. Also of note, homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL 36.16, -0.83) lost 2.2% after reporting a two-cent beat on light revenue and narrowing its guidance.

On the downside, the energy sector (-0.1%) lagged throughout the session as crude oil struggled, falling 0.8% to $57.57/bbl.

Treasuries slumped to lows in reaction to the early report suggesting a Greek deal is near, but they reclaimed their losses as the session wore on. As a result, the 10-yr yield ended flat at 2.14%.

Today's participation was roughly in-line with last week's totals as 707 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which fell 1.6% to follow last week's 1.5% decline.

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 274K) will be released at 8:30 ET while April Pending Home Sales (consensus 1.0%) will be reported at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +7.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.1% YTD
S&P 500 +3.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.9% YTD

DJ30 +121.45 NASDAQ +73.84 SP500 +19.28 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2004/1.68 bln/842 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2254/706.6 mln/815

3:30 pm :

The dollar index is trading lower from yesterday's levels, after an early AM rally failed to hold its gains.
The index traded as high as 97.80 during the day, but is now down near 97.38
Crude oil saw moderate selling pressure throughout afternoon trading and into the close, largely reflecting sentiment regarding tomorrow's EIA supply data release
The July contract settled at -0.8% to $57.57/barrel
Natural gas traded in a narrow range following a pullback from mid-morning gains (as high as $2.92) to close $0.01 lower at $2.83/MMBtu
Silver closed modestly lower by -0.5% to $16.66/oz while June gold ended flat at $1185.70/oz
July copper ended the session $0.01 lower to $2.77/oz

11:32 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (82) outpacing new highs (71) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACHC, AGO, AHS, ALDR, ALN, AMBA, AMED, AOS, ARKR, AVY, BFAM, BLUE, BSQR, CBPO, CDNS, CIEN, CYNI, CYT, DE, DPLO, DRC, DXJS, EGRX, FOMX, FSI, FSL, GGAC, GS, GT, GTN, GTN.A, GTT, HALO, HNT, HSP, HZNP, IDTI, JNPR, KTWO, LBTYA, LMBS, LO, LOGI, LPX, LYV, MFG, MGA, MMAC, MOH, MOMO, MSBF, NPTN, NXPI, ORBK, OZRK, PMC, RENN, RTRX, SIEN, STRP, STRZA, SUM, TCX, TECH, UHS, VIAS, WIFI, WWAV, XLS, ZSPH, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAME, ACI, ANR, ARAY, ARCI, ARO, AVH, AXE, BBDO, BLT, BOOM, BTU, BWG, CBD, CECO, CENX, CEQP, CLTX, CLUB, CPA, CPST, CSTM, CUR, DAVE, DGSE, DOM, EGP, ELRC, ENZ, FAX, FOSL, FREE, FXEN, GBIM, GGB, GIFI, HGT, HK, HMY, ICAD, IHC, INF, INVT, IO, IPDN, KEYW, KORS, MCF, MHG, MIND, MLHR, MNI, MRIN, NAV, NDLS, NGD, NNVC, NRP, NSC, NURO, OMEX, PLPC, PNX, REXI, RFP, RNWK, STB, TC, TDC, TGH, TPUB, TRIV, TRMB, VIV, VNCE, VRS, WPG, WTW, WYNN, YPRO, YRCW, ZQK

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: DBA, FXY, JJA, JO, RJA

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The stock market started Thursday's session on an inauspicious note, turning lower in response to an eye-opening 6.5% decline in the Shanghai Composite and reports that negotiations between Greece and its creditors are not exactly on easy street.

The early selling interest, however, never became entrenched and the indices managed to work their way back from larger losses to end the session with only small losses.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.1%) performed in-line with the market, cooling its jets a bit after leading Wednesday's rally effort.

The headline of the day carried over from Wednesday as Broadcom (BRCM 56.14, -1.01, -1.8%) announced before the open that it had agreed to be acquired by Avago Technologies (AVGO 142.39, +0.90, +0.6%) in a $37 billion cash-and-stock deal. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that this deal was looking possible, which gave a huge lift to both stocks and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The latter padded Wednesday's gain with a 0.1% increase on Thursday.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Applied Materials (AMAT 20.35, +0.01, +0.1%): Director sold 1 mln shares at $20.14-20.21 worth ~$20.2 mln

Avago Technologies (AVGO 142.39, +0.90, +0.6%): Before Thursday's open, reported Q2 (Apr) earnings of $2.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was above analysts' average expectation. Non-GAAP revenues rose 134.7% year/year to $1.65 bln, also above estimates. For Q3, sees revenues of $1.715-1.765 bln, excluding non-recurring items. The high end of the range is above analysts' average expectation. Separately, Avago announced it will be acquiring Broadcom (BRCM 56.14, -1.01, -1.8%) in a $37 billion cash-and-stock deal. There was speculation Wednesday that this deal would be announced.

Broadcom (BRCM 56.14, -1.01, -1.8%): Company announced it has entered into a definitive agreement under which Avago will acquire Broadcom in a cash-and-stock transaction that values the combined company at $77 bln in enterprise value. Upon completion of the acquisition, the combined company will have combined annual revenues of ~$15 bln. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Avago will acquire Broadcom for $17 bln in cash consideration and the economic equivalent of ~140 million Avago ordinary shares, valued at $20 bln as of May 27, 2015, resulting in Broadcom shareholders owning ~32% of the combined company. Based on Avago's closing share price as of May 27, 2015, the implied value of the total transaction consideration for Broadcom is $37 bln. Holders of outstanding shares of Broadcom will have the ability to elect to receive, for each Broadcom share held: $54.50 in cash; 0.4378 ordinary shares in a newly-formed Singapore holding company; a restricted equity security that is the economic equivalent of 0.4378 ordinary shares of HoldCo that will not be transferable or saleable for a period of one to two years after closing; or a combination thereof. Avago intends to fund the $17 bln of cash consideration with cash on hand from the combined companies and $9 billion in new, fully-committed debt financing from a consortium of banks. $750 mln of projected annual cost synergies expected to be achieved within 18 months.

CA, Inc. (CA 30.73, -0.47, -1.4%): Announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rally Software Development (RALY 19.45, +5.94, +44.0%) for $19.50 per share, which equates to approximately $480 million, net of cash acquired. The transaction has been unanimously approved by both Boards of Directors, and is expected to close in the second quarter of CA's fiscal 2016. Rally has approximately 500 employees and FY 2015 sales of $88 million.

Computer Sciences (CSC 63.94, +0.13, +0.2%): Exec VP sold 47,788 shares at $68.53-68.57 worth ~$3.3 mln

Facebook (FB 80.14, -0.41, -0.5%): re/code details remarks from Oculus CEO that Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and computer will cost ~$1500 all-in. Oculus Rift is expected to be available in early 2016.

Google (GOOG 539.65, -0.14, -0.03%): NYTimes reported, citing three people familiar with the matter, that Google will soon unveil plans for an overhaul of its mobile payment products to compete further with Apple Pay. Google confirmed Android Pay; will allow MasterCard (MA 92.82, +0.23, +0.3%) cardholders to use their Android phones for in-store and app purchases.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 27.65, -0.16, -0.6%): Board to appoint James A. Geraghty as its Chairman, coinciding with the retirement of current Chairman Steven Kasnet
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Acxiom (ACXM 16.17, -0.08, -0.5%): CEO bought 20K shares at $16.14-17.06 worth ~$332K

Alibaba Group (BABA 90.95, -1.65, -1.8%): Marbridge reports that Alibaba's online bank has been approved by the Zhejiang Provincial Banking Regulatory Commission

Amazon.com (AMZN 426.57, -4.85, -1.1%): Company says it will offer free same day delivery to Prime members in select areas with purchases over $35

Dangdang (DANG 8.67, -1.58, -15.4%): Reported Q1 (Mar) loss per ADS of $0.12 per share. Revenues rose 28.1% year/year to $357.7 mln. For Q2, sees revenues of RMB 2.3 bln. The Company also expects GMV from its marketplace to grow at a rate of 32% year-over-year to ~RMB1.9 billion in the second quarter of 2015. Company had ~10.2 million active customers including ~4.1 million new customers, in the first quarter of 2015, representing increases of 18% and 46%, respectively, from the corresponding period in 2014.

FireEye (FEYE 46.82, +1.81, +4.0%): Company announced the pricing of $400.0 million of 1.000% convertible senior notes due 2035 and $400.0 million aggregate principal amount of 1.625% convertible senior notes due 2035
Integrated Silicon (ISSI 20.22, +0.06, +0.3%): Updated its discussions regarding the unsolicited offer from Cypress Semi (CY 13.95, -0.02, -0.1%) proposing to acquire ISSI for $19.75 per share in cash and on the status of the pending acquisition of ISSI by Uphill Investment for $19.25 per share in cash. As previously announced, the ISSI Board of Directors determined in good faith, after consultation with ISSI's financial advisor and outside legal counsel, that the Cypress offer either constitutes or is reasonably expected to lead to a Superior Proposal (as defined in the Uphill Agreement). ISSI and Cypress executed a confidentiality agreement on May 19 and Cypress has been conducting due diligence since such date. As a result of the ongoing discussions with Cypress and the lack of a quorum, ISSI is announcing a delay in its Special Meeting of Stockholders which was scheduled to be held on June 3. ISSI plans to announce a new meeting date as soon as practicable. Pending the outcome of the discussions with Cypress and the satisfaction of the conditions to closing in the Uphill Agreement, the transaction is still expected to close in Q3.
Palo Alto Networks (PANW 166.37, +5.72, +3.6%): After Wednesday's close, reported Q3 (Apr) earnings of $0.23 per share, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 55.4% year/year to $234.2 ml, also ahead of estimates. For Q4, sees EPS of $0.24-0.25, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $252-256 mln. Separately, company announced the acquisition of CirroSecure; terms not disclosed.

Tech Data (TECD 64.49, +3.27, +5.3%): Before Thursday's open, reported Q1 (Apr) earnings of $0.80 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues fell 12.5% year/year to $5.89 bln, yet that was still ahead of estimates. Separately, Tech Data announced the acquisition of Signature Technology Group, a provider of data center and professional services in North America; terms not disclosed.

Analyst Action:

Avago Technologies (AVGO 142.39, +0.90, +0.6%): target raised to $175 from $150 at Mizuho

Broadcom (BRCM 56.14, -1.01, -1.8%): downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird; target raised to $60 from $50... downgraded to Hold from Buy at Drexel Hamilton

Palo Alto Networks (PANW 166.37, +5.72, +3.6%): target raised to $180 from $162 at UBS... RBC Capital markets maintains Outperform rating and increase price target to $180 from $175... Stifel Research raises target to $180 from $165.50... Needham Research raises target to $182 from $160... FBR Capital maintains Outperform rating and raises target to $175 from $165... target raised to $185 from $165 at Piper Jaffray

Western Digital (WDC 99.23, +4.86, +5.2%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs

4:21 pm OmniVision beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (OVTI) : Reports Q4 (Apr) earnings of $0.22 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.21; revenues fell 13.6% year/year to $285.9 mln vs the $279.64 mln consensus.

Co issues guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.32-0.48 vs. $0.34 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $310-340 vs. $310.85 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:20 pm : The stock market spun its wheels throughout the Thursday session, ending on a modestly lower note. The S&P 500 shed 0.1% after spending the entire day in negative territory amid light volume.

Equity indices began the day in the red with some residual damage to risk tolerance after China's Shanghai Composite tumbled 6.5% in reaction to more equity brokers increasing their margin requirements. Furthermore, repurchase operations conducted by the People's Bank of China stirred concerns that the central bank may be preparing to stop or slow its easing cycle. To be fair, today's decline in the Shanghai Composite only caused the index to surrender its week-to-date gain.

In either case, things did not get any more cheery by the start of the European session with signals from the G7 meeting in Dresden suggesting that wide-ranging differences remain between Greece and the creditor institutions. To that point, yesterday's 'deal-no deal' may have been topped by today's headlines from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which quoted International Monetary Fund's Managing Director Christine Lagarde as saying it is possible that Greece will exit the eurozone. Not long after, the IMF sought to clarify the quotes obtained from Ms. Lagarde, claiming they were inaccurate. However, the Fund did not specify what the inaccuracies were. FAZ responded, saying Ms. Lagarde's quotes will be removed. In the midst of all this, Spain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos reportedly said that a deal between Greece and the institutions remains possible.

All in all, things have not gotten any clearer for quite a while and nothing will be certain until official bridge agreements are signed or the bridge between Greece and Western Europe is burning. The euro handled today's developments well, adding 0.4% against the dollar to 1.0950. Conversely, the Dollar Index shed 0.2% after enjoying a solid spike yesterday.

Similar to the Dollar Index, equities backtracked after yesterday featured a broad advance. Only three sectors registered gains, but losses among the seven decliners were contained to no more than 0.5%.

Industrials and telecom services finished at the bottom of the barrel with the industrial sector enduring continued weakness among transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average lost 0.9% and widened its 2015 decline to 9.2%. In addition, heavy machinery names like Caterpillar (CAT 86.01, -1.91), Deere (DE 93.50, -0.86), and Joy Global (JOY 39.65, -1.29) underperformed as investors grappled with implications stemming from potential policy changes in China, where each company has a large footprint.

Similar to industrials, the energy sector (-0.4%) struggled throughout the session and finished among the laggards even though crude oil recouped an early loss, adding almost 0.5% for the day to end near $58.00/bbl. However, natural gas fell 4.2% to $2.71/MMBtu.

Elsewhere, the technology sector (-0.2%) was tucked in right behind the broader market, but that masked broad strength among chipmakers. The PHLX Semiconductor Index added 0.1% after yesterday's rumor became today's news and Avago Technologies (AVGO 142.38, +0.89) confirmed its acquisition of Broadcom (BRCM 56.25, -0.91) for $37 billion. Broadcom lost 1.9% today as some traders took quick profits after taking the stock higher by almost 22.0% yesterday.

On the upside, utilities (+0.2%) and materials (+0.3%) outperformed, but had little impact on the overall market. Also of note, the health care sector (+0.1%) ended just above its flat line even though biotechnology struggled with iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 364.89, -2.07) falling 0.6%.

Treasuries ranged near their flat lines throughout the day with the 10-yr note ending unchanged and its yield at 2.13%. That being said, there were gains up front (2-yr yield -3 bps to 0.62%) and a downtick at the long end (30-yr +2 bps to 2.89%), making for a slightly steeper curve.

Today's participation was comparable to recent totals with roughly 675 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims and Pending Home Sales:


Weekly initial claims increased to 282,000 from an upwardly revised 275,000 (from 274,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 274,000
The four-week moving average inched up a little higher to 271,500 from 266,500 for the week ending May 16, but despite the increase, initial claims remain near 15-year lows
The continuing claims level increased to 2.222 mln from an unrevised 2.211 mln while the consensus expected an increase to 2.250 mln
Pending home sales for April rose 3.4% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 1.0%

Tomorrow, the second estimate of Q1 GDP will be released at 8:30 ET (Briefing.com consensus -0.7%) while Chicago PMI for May (consensus 53.0) and the final reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for May (consensus 89.0) will be reported at 9:45 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite +7.1% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.0% YTD
S&P 500 +2.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.7% YTD

DJ30 -36.87 NASDAQ -8.62 SP500 -2.69 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1304/1.60 bln/1527 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1295/674.4 mln/1762 3:40 pm :

A small reversal in the dollar index gave some help to commodities such as metals and oil prices
Natural gas futures held down today's losses, however, following storage data, ending the day -4.2% lower at $2.71/MMBtu
July crude oil closed $0.12 higher at $57.69/barrel
Copper ended flat at $2.77/lb and precious metals showed very small gains
June gold rose $2.50 today to $1188.20/oz, while July silver gained $0.01 to $16.67/oz

4:20 pm MagnaChip Semi beats by $0.10, misses on revs; guides Q2 revs below consensus (MX) : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.28 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.38); revenues rose 0.4% year/year to $164.9 mln vs the $179.55 mln consensus; GM -1.7% YoY to 21.2%.

Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $155-165 mln vs. $180.00 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Gross margin will be 17.0% to 19.0% as a percent of revenue.


The co also disclosed that effective May 21, 2015, Brent Rowe resigned as the Company's Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales, and from all other officer and director positions with the Company and its direct and indirect subsidiaries.

11:56 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (110) outpacing new lows (103) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADI, AET, AHS, ALDR, ALN, AMBA, AMED, ANAC, AOS, ASML, ATVI, AVGO, AVID, BF.A, BLUE, BONA, BSQR, BSTC, CBPO, CDK, CDNS, CE, CF, CRI, CTLT, CYNI, CYT, DATE, DXCM, EA, EFX, EGBN, EGRX, EPAM, EQIX, EXPR, FEYE, FHN, FNTC, FSI, FSL, GLOB, GT, GTT, HILL, HSKA, HZNP, IDCC, IDTI, IMAX, IMPV, IPHI, ISCA, IT, KTWO, LLNW, LOGI, MENT, MFG, MHK, MMAC, MRTX, MTSI, NAP, NEP, NPTN, NXPI, NYCB, NYLD, OCLR, OHGI, OMCL, OPY, ORBK, OZRK, PANW, PFSW, PLXS, PTC, Q, QLGC, QTEC, RALY, RMBS, RTRX, SBCP, SEDG, SEE, SGU, SIEN, SIRO, SLAB, SLTC, SMFG, SNPS, SOXX, STRP, STRZA, SUNE, SWKS, SYNA, TER, THOR, TV, UEC, UHS, VC, VRX, WWAV, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, ACI, ACST, ANR, AWX, BBGI, BLT, BTU, CBD, CDNA, CEN, CENX, CMLP, CNI, CP, CPA, CSTM, CTCM, CUR, DEJ, DXM, EGP, ELRC, EMMS, FAX, FHCO, FPO, FREE, FTEK, GFN, GIFI, HGG, HGT, HK, HMY, HNRG, IKAN, IMRS, INF, INVE, IO, ISH, KORS, KSU, LMIA, LPTN, LTRX, MBII, MFV, MIND, MOD, MPA, MTRX, MUJ, MVO, MXWL, NAK, NAV, NBS, NCZ, NM, NOR, NRP, NSC, NTX, NUM, NURO, OMEX, PNX, PQ, PTY, RCS, RGSE, RLJE, RNWK, RST, RXII, SBLK, SD, SJT, SKBI, SMTC, SPEX, SRF, SRT, STB, TC, TDC, TPUB, TRMB, TROX, TRX, USEG, VIV, VRS, WILC, WPG, WRES, WTW, WYNN, YRCW, YUMA, ZQK

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IGN, PPH, SMH, SOXX

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: FUD, FXY, JJG, KOL
8:48 am American Superconductor beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs in-line (AMSC) : Reports Q4 (Mar) loss of $0.69 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.75); revenues rose 54.0% year/year to $25.1 mln vs the $24.37 mln consensus. The year over year and quarter over quarter increase in revenues was due to higher Wind segment revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.


Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $22-24 mln vs. $23.60 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees Q1 loss of less than $0.70 per share vs ($0.63) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate

8:31 am Agilent announced that its board of directors has approved a new share repurchase program. The 2015 Stock Repurchase Program authorizes the purchase of up to $1.14 bln of the co's common stock through and including Nov. 1, 2018 (A) : The new program will commence, at the option of the company, on either Nov. 1, 2015, or the date on which the company completes the purchase of $365 million of common stock under the existing stock repurchase program in fiscal 2015.

SunEdison (SUNE) announced that it has signed agreements with five municipal entities on Long Island to build seven solar power plants totaling 14 megawatts DC.
7:19 am Juniper Networks Board to appoint James A. Geraghty as its Chairman, coinciding with the retirement of current Chairman Steven Kasnet (JNPR) :

7:17 am Avago Tech beats by $0.13, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 revs above consensus -- co is acquiring BRCM for $37 bln (see 7:01) (AVGO) :

Reports Q2 (Apr) earnings of $2.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.13 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.00; non-GAAP revenues rose 134.7% year/year to $1.65 bln vs the $1.64 bln consensus. Adj. gross margin from continuing operations was $998 million, or 61% of net revenue vs. 57.5-59.5% guidance. Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs $1.715-1.765 bln, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.68 bln Capital IQ Consensus; non-GAAP gross margin 59-61%.

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From Briefing.com: Bonds in the eurozone got clobbered on Wednesday amid some growing optimism about economic prospects in the region and a belief that a deal will be struck with Greece that helps the troubled country avoid defaulting on its debt payment to the IMF. Some upbeat commentary from ECB President Draghi following the Governing Council meeting also contributed to the rout.

That pounding had a spillover effect on the U.S. Treasury market, which also fell sharply as rising yields in the eurozone made investments here look less attractive than before to European investors. The yield on the German bund soared 17 basis points to 0.89% while the yield on the 10-yr note jumped 11 basis points to 2.37%. Expectations for a pickup in growth in the U.S. also came into play as a factor affecting the Treasury market.

Despite the jump in bond yields, the U.S. stock market took the economic optimism and ran with it. Each of the major indices logged gains for the day, with the Russell 2000 (+1.0%) leading the way.

It would be remiss not to add that the S&P 500 (+0.2%) finished well off its highs for the session after running into resistance near the 2122 level. Relative strength in the influential consumer discretionary (+0.7%), financial (+0.7%), and industrials (+0.5%) sectors, however, offered ample support that kept it above water.


The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.2%) performed in-line with the market, but was held back by another relatively weak showing from the semiconductor group, which saw Intel (INTC 32.73, -0.54, -1.6%) trade down for the third straight session since announcing its $16.7 billion acquisition of Altera (ALTR 51.73, +0.03, +0.1%).


Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Apple (AAPL 130.18, +0.22, +0.2%): Announced a voluntary recall of its Beats Pill XL speakers after determining that, in rare cases, the battery in the Beats Pill XL may overheat and pose a fire safety risk. The recall does not affect any other Beats or Apple products. Separately, SHOWTIME will be offered over the internet as a stand-alone streaming service launching in early July, with Apple as its first partner. iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV users will be able to subscribe to SHOWTIME as a stand-alone service on the SHOWTIME app anywhere in the U.S., for one monthly price ($10.99) to view on all Apple devices.

Autodesk (ADSK 54.94, +0.59, +1.1%): Prices offering of $450 mln of 3.125% notes due 2020 and $300 million of 4.375% due 2025.

Computer Sciences (CSC 68.86, +0.62, +0.9%): Company said it is currently evaluating alternatives that would allow it to proceed with filing its 2015 Form 10-K no later than upon expiration of the extension period if SEC approval has not been received by that time. The terms of the Company's proposed settlement with the SEC cannot be changed by the SEC without the consent of the Company.

Fidelity National Information Services (FIS 62.52, +0.08, +0.1%): Disclosed that Michael Nussbaum has been appointed Chief Accounting Officer effective as of June 1, 2015. Mr. Nussbaum, previously was Executive Vice President of Finance with responsibility for the Controller, Financial Planning and Analysis, and Corporate Tax functions at Primerica since 2014.

Google (GOOG 540.50, +1.32, +0.2%): USA Today reported that proxy firm ISS is advising Google shareholders to withhold their votes from the Board's compensation committee.

IBM (IBM 169.92, +0.27, +0.2%): Acquired managed private cloud provider Blue Box Group; financial terms not disclosed. Blue Box is a privately held company based in Seattle that provides businesses with a simple, private cloud as a service platform, based on OpenStack.

MasterCard (MA 93.50, +0.33, +0.4%): Announced its partnership with Premier Bank, becoming the first international payments network to enter Somalia.

Micron Technology (MU 27.08, -0.71, -2.6%): Announced a new addition to its expansive portfolio of flash storage products, providing a purpose-built solution for cost-sensitive consumer applications seeking high performance and reliability. The new TLC NAND is built on their 16-nanometer process and delivers a balanced set of features for applications like USB drives and consumer solid state drives.

Yahoo! (YHOO 43.21, +0.06, +0.1%): The NFL announced that it has selected Yahoo!as its exclusive partner to deliver the first-ever live stream of an NFL game to a global audience across devices and for free. This partnership will bring the NFL's International Series game in London, between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars on October 25, to Yahoo properties globally, including Yahoo, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Screen and Tumblr, which attract more than one billion monthly users.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 2.28, -0.02, -0.9%): Announced its 6th Generation A-Series Processor, the world's first high-performance Accelerated Processing Unit in a System-on-Chip design.

Alibaba Group (BABA 90.79, +0.28, +0.3%): Citing Chinese media, Reuters reported that Alibaba plans to invest ~$161 mln in China Business Network.

Atmel Corporation (ATML 8.95, +0.09, +1.0%): Announced ASUS has selected Atmel's maXTouch controllers to power the touchscreen and active stylus pen of its newly launched 10.1" Z300 tablet.

Progress Software (PRGS 27.19, +0.62, +2.3%): Announced the appointment of Matt Robinson as Chief Technology Officer.

Sierra Wireless (SWIR 30.43, +0.48, +1.6%): Announced a new milestone in its collaboration with PSA Peugeot Citron, with a next-generation design win for Sierra Wireless using AirPrime AR Series smart automotive modules, the Legato platform, and the AirVantage cloud.

Yelp (YELP 47.56, -1.02, -2.1%): At Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Technology Conference, company said it does not foresee a negative impact from a recent mobile-oriented Google algorithm shift, and that it sees less reliance on Google for traffic going forward.

Analyst Action:

Amazon.com (AMZN 436.59, +5.60, +1.3%): target raised to $520 from $475 at Piper Jaffray

Ciena (CIEN 24.44, +0.24, +1.0%): initiated with a Buy at Nomura... target raised to $30 from $27 at Dougherty & Company

Cisco Systems (CSCO 29.09, +0.01, +0.03%): initiated with a Neutral at Nomura

F5 Networks (FFIV 126.25, +0.99, +0.8%): initiated with a Neutral at Nomura

Juniper Networks (JNPR 27.38, +0.13, +0.5%): initiated with a Neutral at Nomura

LinkedIn (LNKD 213.25, +8.44, +4.1%): added to U.S. Equity Analyst Focus List at JP Morgan; Overweight


Microsoft (MSFT 46.85, -0.07, -0.2%): target raised to $53 from $48 at Barclays

Priceline (PCLN 1193.71, -2.31, -0.2%): initiated with an Equal Weight at Barclays; $1200 target

Take-Two (TTWO 28.26, +0.72, +2.6%): upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen; target to $36 from $32

4:10 pm : The stock market ended the midweek session on a modestly higher note, but once again, investor participation was on the light side with fewer than 670 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor. The S&P 500 added 0.2% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%) outperformed.

Equity indices began the day on a modestly higher note and extended their gains in the early going; however, a return to their opening levels followed once selling pressure appeared in the neighborhood of this week's highs.

Meanwhile, another day went by without an agreement between Greece and its creditors. Earlier, the spokesman for Greece's Syriza party said Greece will not make the June 5 debt payment to the International Monetary Fund if there is no prospect of a deal within the next few days, according to Kathimerini. The lack of progress did not stop the euro from rallying 1.1% against the dollar to 1.1270. To be fair, today's euro strength followed a set of better than expected Services PMI readings with the Eurozone Services PMI climbing to 53.8 from 53.3 (expected 53.3). Also of note, the European Central Bank made no changes to its policy stance, but ECB President Mario Draghi warned that low rates invite high volatility.

Fittingly, Germany's 10-yr bund continued this week's plunge, sending its yield higher by 17 basis points to 0.89%. This week alone, the bund yield has soared 40 basis points. Similarly, U.S. Treasuries also sold off with the 10-yr yield rising 11 basis points to 2.37%.

Six of ten sectors registered gains with a few cyclical groups holding the lead throughout the day. Specifically, consumer discretionary (+0.7%), financials (+0.7%), and industrials (+0.5%) kept the market afloat with the industrial sector receiving support from transport stocks.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 1.2%, extending its June advance to 2.5% after falling 3.4% in May. The bellwether complex enjoyed gains among 15 of its 20 components with CH Robinson (CHRW 64.62, +3.36) spiking 5.5% to lead the group higher.

Elsewhere, the financial sector rallied in response to the steepening yield curve while the discretionary space received broad support. For its part, the top-weighted technology sector (+0.2%) finished just behind the broader market as chipmakers lagged. The PHLX Semiconductor Index lost 0.6%, narrowing its Q2 gain to 5.4%.

Five of six cyclical groups ended the day in the green while energy (-0.7%) struggled throughout the session as crude oil dropped 2.6% to $59.69/bbl. The energy component got no respite from the second consecutive decline in the greenback that sent the Dollar Index (95.33, -0.51) lower by 0.5%.

Moving to the countercyclical side, consumer staples (-0.1%) and utilities (-1.4%) ended in the red with the utilities sector responding to an increase in Treasury yields. On the flip side, telecom services (+0.8%) and health care (+0.1%) ended higher.

Economic data included ADP Employment Change, Trade Balance, ISM Services, and the MBA Mortgage Index:


The ADP National Employment Report revealed that employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose by 201K in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 200K
The April reading was revised down to 165,000 from 169,000
The trade deficit fell to $40.90 billion in April from a downwardly revised $50.60 billion (from $51.40 billion) while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to $44.00 billion
The large March trade deficit largely resulted from the end of the port strike on the west coast. As dockworkers returned, they were able to offload the backlog of containerships
The ISM Non-manufacturing Index fell to 55.7 in May from 57.8 in April while the Briefing.com consensus expected a drop to 57.1
Despite the decline, most of the underlying indices still showed strong growth trends
The Production Index fell from 61.6 in April to a still healthy 59.5 in May. New orders softened as the related index declined to 57.9 in May from 59.2 in April
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index fell 7.6% to follow last week's 1.6% decline

Tomorrow, the Challenger Job Cuts report for May will be released at 7:30 ET while weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 280K) and Q1 Productivity/Unit Labor Cost data will cross the wires at 8:30 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +7.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +5.1% YTD
S&P 500 +2.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.4% YTD

DJ30 +64.33 NASDAQ +22.71 SP500 +4.47 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1970/1.69 bln/875 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1567/668.3 mln/1503

3:35 pm :

The dollar index continued to remain in the red today, but this offered little strength to commodities today
Outside of the dollar, oil futures were trading on the weekly API and EIA storage data and on speculation of OPEC's meeting on Friday
In pit trading today, front-month crude oil lost $1.59 to $59.69/barrel
July nat gas sold off today, losing 2.6% to $2.63/MMBtu
Metals closed lower as well
Aug gold fell $10.20 to $1184.50/oz, while July silver lost $0.34 (or -2%) to $16.47/oz
Copper lost one cent to $2.73/lb

9:39 am Intel down for third session in a row, tests 50 ema (INTC) : Early weakness for the stock leaves it lower for the third session in a row for a loss of roughly 5% off of last week's peak. It has declined to 32.94 bringing its 50 day ema into play at 32.94 (last week's low 32.84).

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From Briefing.com: Some significant volatility in government bond markets jolted the stock market on Thursday along with reports suggesting Greece won't make its debt payment to the IMF on Friday, instead requesting to bundle its debt payments this month into a single payment on June 19. Separately, the IMF rattled investor confidence with an acknowledgment that it thinks the Fed should hold off on a rate hike until 2016.

Selling efforts in the stock market were broad-based and left the S&P 500 below its 50-day simple moving average at the close of trading. Every sector closed lower, paced by the cyclical sectors which did not act well amid the interest rate volatility and the added move by the IMF to cut its global growth forecast for 2015 and 2016.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.9%) underperformed the broader market. Indicative of the broad-based selling interest, there were only three sector components -- eBay (EBAY 62.49, +0.48, +0.8%), NetApp (NTAP 33.87, +0.62, +1.9%), and Nvidia (NVDA 22.09, +0.39, +1.8%) -- that closed higher.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Apple (AAPL 129.36, -0.76, -0.6%): NYT previewed Monday's WWDC, featuring app development kit for the Watch and a streaming music service but no new Apple TV set top box. Separately, Apple announced the Apple Watch will be available in Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan beginning Friday, June 26.

Avago Technologies (AVGO 141.20, -1.86, -1.3%): Announced that its Board of Directors has approved a quarterly, interim cash dividend of $0.40 per ordinary share. The dividend is payable on June 30, 2015 to shareholders of record at the close of business (5:00 p.m.) Eastern Time on June 19, 2015.

CA, Inc. (CA 29.62, -0.40, -1.3%): Company announced it has acquired Grid Tools, a leading provider of enterprise test data management, automated test design and optimization software solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition extends CA's DevOps portfolio, and enables automated testing of software for faster development and time to market.

Cisco (CSCO 28.61, -0.48, -1.7%): Announced the new executive leadership team that incoming CEO Chuck Robbins has chosen to lead the organization. The following individuals and there titles were announced: Pankaj Patel, Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer; Kelly Kramer, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Rebecca Jacoby, Senior Vice President, Operations and Hilton Romanski, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer.
Google (GOOG 536.70, -3.61, -0.7%): Re/code reported that Chris O'Neill, the business chief for Google Glass, has left the position. O'Neill informed re/code, however, that he has not left the company.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 33.30, -0.66, -1.9%): Announced a five-year partnership with 20th Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment in support of the three sequels of Avatar. As part of the agreement, which extends through the release of the final film in the epic four-part saga, HP and its partners will use a variety of HP services, including HP Helion.

IBM (IBM 168.38, -1.54, -0.9%): The Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson announced a 313 million partnership with IBM to boost Big Data research in the UK. Following the UK Government's 113 million commitment to expand the Hartree Centre at Daresbury over the next five years, IBM will further support the project with a package of technology and onsite expertise worth up to 200 million.

Intel (INTC 32.31, -0.42, -1.3%): Company and ANSYS, Inc. (ANSS 89.64, -1.38, -1.5%) announced they are collaborating to enable the delivery of high-performance systems on a chip for Intel Custom Foundry customers. Part of the collaboration will include electromigration and power reference flow for Intel's 14-nanometer process family and the certification of ANSYS RedHawk and ANSYS Totem.
Micron (MU 26.99, -0.10, -0.4%): At Morgan Stanley Conference, says PC end market seeing softness, but expects a rebound in PC and Mobile phone market in 2H15. Notes it is not seeing as aggressive behavior among suppliers as it has seen in the past. Micron expects to grow below industry average in 2015 during transition but to be back above industry average growth in 2016.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alibaba (BABA 90.59, -0.20, -0.2%): Company announced it has signed a strategic agreement with Shanghai Media Group to leverage both companies' Internet technology and media resources in order to penetrate China's financial information services industry. As part of the strategic agreement, Alibaba Group intends to invest ~$193.6 million into China Business News, a leading Chinese financial media company under SMG, to create a financial data and information services company.

Amazon.com (AMZN 430.78, -5.81, -1.3%): Noted that several million Prime members listen to Prime Music every month- more than doubling since September 2014. Total monthly Prime Music playback hours have more than tripled since September 2014.

Ciena (CIEN 24.64, +0.20, +0.8%): Before Thursday's open, reported Q2 (Apr) earnings of $0.35 per share, excluding non-recurring items, comfortably ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 11.0% year/year to $621.6 mln, also ahead of estimates. Q2 adjusted gross margin was 43.8% versus prior guidance of 42-43%. For Q3, sees revenues of $610-640 mln and adjusted gross margin of approximately 43%. Ciena raised its FY15 adjusted operating margin guidance to 9-10% from 8-9%.

Cree (CREE 30.35, -0.28, -0.9%): To recall ~700k LED T8 Lamps due to a burn hazard. The recall notes that electrical arcing may cause the lamp to overheat and melt, posing a burn hazard.

FireEye (FEYE 47.95, +0.26, +0.6%): Company and Visa (V 68.21, -0.74, -1.1%) partner to co-develop tools and services to help merchants and issuers protect against advanced cyber attacks targeting payment data. As strategic partners, FireEye and Visa initially plan to offer tools that will provide greater cyber intelligence and enhanced threat monitoring and will continue to work together, along with FireEye's cyber forensics group Mandiant, to add more capabilities tailored to issuers and merchants of all sizes.

Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC 6.51, +0.16, +2.5%): Reuters reported that Lattice Semiconductor CEO Darin Billerbeck said company is open to a sale if at a higher premium than what Altera received with Intel's offer.
T-Mobile US (TMUS 39.34, +1.01, +2.6%): The Wall Street Journal reported that company and Dish Network (DISH 74.25, +3.44, +4.9%) are in merger talks, according to people familiar with the matter.

Analyst Action:

Ciena (CIEN 24.64, +0.20, +0.8%): target raised to $29 from $27 at MKM Partners

eBay (EBAY 62.49, +0.48, +0.8%): target raised to $70 from $64 at UBS

Facebook (FB 82.05, -0.39, -0.5%): target raised to $105 from $95 at Evercore ISI; Buy

FireEye (FEYE 47.95, +0.26, +0.6%): target raised to $55 from $50 at Stifel... target raised to $60 from $50 at Piper Jaffray

PMC-Sierra (PMCS 9.16, +0.20, +2.2%): initiated with a Buy at Craig Hallum; target $13.50

SAP AG (SAP 74.84, -0.82, -1.1%): target raised to $82 from $80 at Oppenheimer

Twitter (TWTR 36.71, -0.29, -0.8%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Evercore ISI; target to $39 from $49

Xilinx (XLNX 47.21, -0.16, -0.3%): downgraded to Market Perform at FBR Capital

4:10 pm : The stock market finished the Thursday session on a lower note following a daylong retreat that sent the S&P 500 (-0.8%) below its 50-day moving average (2,100). As a result, the benchmark index will enter Friday down 0.5% for the week.

Equity indices struggled from the start as continued uncertainty surrounding Greece weighed on investor sentiment in Europe and the U.S. To that point, International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, voiced confidence that the troubled sovereign will make tomorrow's debt payment to the IMF. However, that contrasted with reports indicating Greece has requested permission to bundle all of its debt payments due this month into a single payment of about EUR1.60 billion to be paid on June 19. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is scheduled to address the Greek parliament tomorrow evening.

In addition to commenting on Greece, Ms. Lagarde discussed the U.S., urging the Federal Reserve to delay its first rate hike until the first half of 2016. A lowered growth forecast was cited to support that argument with the IMF now expecting 2015 GDP growth of 2.5%, down from the previous forecast of 3.1%.

Treasuries marked fresh highs following the outlook change at the IMF, and built on their gains in the afternoon with the 10-yr yield falling six basis points to 2.31%. On a related note, the Dollar Index (95.49, +0.02) ended flat after erasing its overnight decline.

All ten sectors ended in the red with most growth-sensitive groups showing relative weakness. Energy (-1.2%) and materials (-1.3%) spent the bulk of the session behind other groups with energy pressured by a 2.8% drop in crude oil, which ended the pit session at $58.00/bbl ahead of tomorrow's semiannual OPEC meeting.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, industrials (-1.1%) and technology (-0.9%) also lost close to 1.0% apiece while the consumer discretionary sector (-0.7%) stayed ahead of the broader market thanks to mixed action among retail names. Teen apparel names rallied after Five Below (FIVE 37.77, +2.67) reported a one-cent beat and raised its guidance for the fiscal year. The stock spiked 7.6% while SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 99.85, -0.09) shed 0.1%. Also of note, Dish Network (DISH 74.25, +3.44) jumped 4.9% after the Wall Street Journal reported the company has engaged in merger talks with T-Mobile US (TMUS 39.34, +1.01).

Moving to the countercyclical side, consumer staples (-0.8%), health care (-0.7%), and telecom services (-0.8%) settled near the broader market while the utilities sector (-0.2%) finished ahead of other groups thanks to today's drop in Treasury yields. The rate-sensitive sector extended this week's decline to 2.9%.

Today's participation was relatively strong when compared to recent averages as more than 710 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Initial Claims, Productivity/Unit Labor Cost Data, and Challenger Job Cuts:


The initial claims level declined to 276,000 for the week ending May 30 from an upwardly revised 284,000 (from 282,000) for the week ending May 23 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a drop to 280,000
Nonfarm productivity in the first quarter was revised down to -3.1% from an originally reported -1.9% in the advance release while the Briefing.com consensus expected a revision to -2.9%
As expected from the negative revisions in second estimate of first quarter GDP, output growth was revised down to show a decline of 1.6% in Q1 2015, down from a previously reported 0.3% decline
Hourly compensation was revised up to 3.3% from 3.1%. Combined with the decline in output, this caused a 6.7% increase in unit labor costs, up from the 5.0% reported in the preliminary reading
The Challenger Job Cuts report for May showed a 22.5% year-over-year decline to follow the previous 52.8% spike

Tomorrow, the Nonfarm Payrolls report for May (Briefing.com consensus 225K) will be released at 8:30 ET while the Consumer Credit report for April (consensus $16.80 billion) will cross the wires at 15:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +6.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +3.9% YTD
S&P 500 +1.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.5% YTD

DJ30 -170.69 NASDAQ -40.11 SP500 -18.23 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 774/1.71 bln/2158 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 679/711.9 mln/2391 3:40 pm :

WTI crude oil futures ended today's pit trading session lower, ahead of tomorrow OPEC meeting in Vienna
July crude ended $1.69 lower at $58.00/barrel
Natural gas futures ended the day flat at $2.63/MMBtu
Metals ended lower today
Aug gold fell $9.30 to $1175.20/oz, while July silver lost $0.36 to $16.11/oz
Copper fell $0.04 to $2.69/lb today

1:03 pm Cree to recall ~700k LED T8 Lamps due to a burn hazard (CREE) : The recall notes that electrical arcing may cause the lamp to overheat and melt, posing a burn hazard.

12:17 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (105) outpacing new lows (97) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACET, AGO, ALDR, ALN, AMBA, AMED, AMWD, ASMI, ATTU, ATVI, AUBN, AVID, BANC, BBNK, BF.B, BID, BIO, BKYF, BRLI, CAPX, CATY, CAVM, CBIN, CBPO, CFG, CHE, CIEN, CIVI, COHU, COKE, COLL, COTY, COWN, CRI, CSFL, CSL, CVGW, CYNI, DPLO, DRRX, DSKX, DTV, EBS, EGBN, EGRX, EHIC, ELNK, ENSG, EROS, EXPR, FENX, FEYE, FMS, GDDY, HALO, HILL, ING, IVC, KMPH, LAD, LDRH, LGND, LIFE, LTM, MBTF, MKSI, MMAC, MNTA, MTG, MTSI, NPTN, NVMI, NVO, NVSL, PBHC, PETS, PGTI, PN, PRTA, QCRH, QLGC, RBA, RDI, RELY, RTRX, RXDX, SBCP, SGYP, SIEN, SIMO, STRP, SUPN, SUSQ, TAST, TCX, TI.A, TMUS, TROV, TXMD, UCBA, VISN, VRTU, WD, WOWO, ZION

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACST, AGNC, AIQ, AMBR, AVP, AWF, BAX, BBDO, BGR, BIOL, BJZ, BKH, BKK, BOTA, BWG, CBD, CEN, CFNB, CHK, CLUB, CNS, DEJ, EDD, EFC, ESEA, EVA, EVLV, FAX, FCO, FGP, FPT, FTEK, GIFI, GLF, GMCR, HCP, HMY, HWCC, IF, IFT, INF, ISH, ITC, JOUT, LE, LEO, LFL, LUNA, MCF, MILL, MPA, MUI, NAV, NETE, NOR, NQP, NTX, NUM, NXN, OB, OGE, PAI, PDLI, PKX, PTX, RCS, RDS.B, RNO, RSO, SMT, SNH, SRC, SRET, SRF, SRT, SRV, TAC, TAL, TGH, TRMB, TRP, TTM, UCP, VKQ, VMEM, VPV, VRA, WBK, WEA, WHZ, WIA, WIN, WPC, WPG, YLCO, YPRO, ZAZA


ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EWM, IDX

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Following a better than expected U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report that indicated the addition of 280,000 jobs in May, major indices closed relatively flat on Friday. The S&P 500 closed just 0.2% lower, which is somewhat of a surprise considering how strong the NFP report was. The combination of an increase in average hourly earnings by 0.3%, and a slight increase in the unemployment rat, driven by discouraged workers returning to the labor force, adds fuel to the argument in favor of a rate hike taking place sooner rather than later.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.21%) performed essentially in-line with the broader market, although a few names were able to outperform, such as: First Solar (FSLR 51.30, +1.63, +3.3%), SanDisk (SNDK 68.67, +1.57, +2.3%), Salesforce.com (CRM 73.55, +1.34, +1.9%), and Avago Technologies (AVGO 143.81, +2.61, +1.9%), and Autodesk (ADSK 54.61, +0.88, +1.6%). With that said, you'll notice that two out of the top five performers are Semiconductors, a sub-subsector that displayed notable strength today, with the Philadelphia SOX Index gaining +0.07%.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Computer Sciences (CSC 67.69, -0.02, -0.03%): SEC charges CSC and former executives with accounting fraud; company to pay $190 mln penalty. CSC agreed to pay a $190 million penalty to settle the charges, and five of the eight charged executives agreed to settlements

Apple (AAPL 128.65, -0.71, -0.6%): Financial Times article reportes that Apple plans to change App pricing structure that may result in lower subscription related fees
Elsewhere in the technology space:

China Mobile Games (CMGE 19.90, -0.06, -0.3%): Reported Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.42 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the two est avg of $0.39. Revenues rose +107% to $71.3 mln vs. $71.5 mln consensus. Additionally, total paying user accounts for social games were 5.9 million, compared with 3.6 million in 1Q14 and 6.3 million in Q4, and average monthly active users (MAUs) for the first quarter of 2015 were 106.5 million, compared with 18.2 million in 1Q14 and 71.5 million in Q4.

Ixys (IXYS 12.56, +0.04, +0.3%): Reported Q4 (Mar) earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.05 better than the single est of $0.19, on revenues that fell 7.8% year/year to $82.9 mln vs the $81.41 mln single est.

TrueCar (TRUE 13.59, +0.08, +0.6%): Reported volume of vehicles sold through its branded TrueCar channel surged 63% YoY in May. Moreover, U.S. sales of new light vehicles grew 1.6% in May to 1.64 mln units, an all-time record for the month.

HTC (HTCKF 13.25): Revised 2Q 2015 guidance to be NT$33-36 billion in revenue,. The change for revenue outlook is due to slower demand for high-end Android devices, and weaker than forecast sales in China. At the same time, increased competition has raised operating costs for product promotion; HTC is enacting measures to further improve operating efficiency.

Wowo (WOWO 10.99, -1.00, -8.3%): Enters into a definitive agreement with Join Me Group, whereby shareholders of WoWo and JMU will each hold 50% stake in the merged company.
Analyst Action:

Cohu (COHU 12.91, -0.86, -6.3%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sidoti

Diodes (DIOD 25.36, -0.63, -2.4%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Longbow

Hubspot (HUBS 50.25, +0.80, +1.6%): Price target raised to $56 from $50 at UBS; Buy

Proofpoint (PFPT 62.47, +3.62, +6.2%): Price target raised to $75 from $65 at Piper Jaffray; Overweight

LinkedIn (LNKD 213.80, +0.97, +0.5%): Price target raised to $275 from $250 at Sun Trust; Buy

Ciena (CIEN 25.00, +0.36, +1.5%): Price target raised to $30 from $25 at Argus; Buy... price target raised to $30 from $26 at Needham; Buy

Stratasys (SSYS 37.99, +2.34, +6.6%): Resumed with Market Perform at FBR Capital; price target $42

Weekly Recap - Week ending 05-Jun-15The stock market ended the week on a flat note, locking in its second consecutive weekly decline. The S&P 500 shed 0.1%, losing 0.7% for the week while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) outperformed, ending essentially unchanged (-0.03%) in the first week of June.

Friday morning featured a whirlwind of global and economic developments, but they barely registered with the market when the dust settled.

Starting in Europe, Greece did not make today's debt payment to the International Monetary Fund, opting instead to bundle all June payments into a single installment of EUR1.60 billion, to be paid on June 19. This will allow discussions to continue, but the developments weighed on investor sentiment in Europe. After European markets closed, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addressed the Greek parliament, saying the proposals received from the lenders are unrealistic and that debt restructuring must be included in any potential agreement.

Staying in Europe, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries met in Vienna, electing to maintain its current production target at 30 million barrels per day. Crude oil struggled in the early going, revisiting last week's lows, but ended higher by 1.9% at $59.13/bbl. Meanwhile, the energy sector (+0.7%) ended in the lead while only two other groups-financials (+0.6%) and industrials (+0.1%)-registered gains. Going back to oil, the energy component overcame greenback strength that sent the Dollar Index higher by 0.9%, which resulted from a better than expected Nonfarm Payrolls Report for May.

Specifically, the strong report revealed the addition of 280,000 jobs while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 225,000. More notably, average hourly earnings increased 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%), which boosted aggregate earnings by 0.5% in May.

The Fed has stated multiple times that the first fed funds rate hike will be contingent on data trends that show the inflation rate gradually moving toward its 2.0% target. The 0.3% increase in hourly wages and the 0.5% increase in aggregate earnings place the economy on that path.

Treasuries plunged in immediate reaction to the report with the 10-yr yield spiking as many as 13 basis points to 2.44% before ending at 2.40% (+9 bps). Also of note, selling in the 2-yr note pushed its yield up to 0.71% (+5 bps), its highest level since 2010. For the week, the benchmark 10-yr yield jumped 28 basis points.

Eight sectors registered losses with defensively-oriented utilities (-1.3%) and consumer staples (-1.4%) ending behind other groups. Both sectors were pressured by high-yielding members as they lost some attractiveness relative to Treasuries. For the week, the utilities sector lost 4.2%.

Elsewhere among countercyclical groups, the health care sector (unch) settled just below its flat line, but that masked afternoon strength in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 367.04, +4.25) gained 1.2% and helped the Nasdaq Composite end ahead of the broader market while the S&P 500 hit resistance at its 50-day moving average (2,100) early on, and retreated into the afternoon amid weakness in most sectors.

Also contributing to the Nasdaq's strength was the high-beta chipmaker group. The PHLX Semiconductor Index added 0.1%, but losses among large cap members like Intel (INTC 31.84, -0.47) and ASML (AMSL 109.10, -1.49) offset gains in 21 of 30 index components. Smaller index components displayed continued strength amid speculation more mergers and acquisitions could be in the works; however, the broader technology sector (-0.3%) ended among the laggards.

Unlike technology, the second largest sector by weight-financials (+0.6%)-spent the day in positive territory with banks expected to benefit from rising rates at the longer end of the curve. For the week, the financial sector gained 0.8%.

Also of note, the industrial sector (+0.1%) eked out a slim gain thanks to newfound strength among transportation names. The Dow Jones Transportation Average climbed 0.9%, extending its weekly advance to 2.5%.

Today's participation was ahead of recent averages with more than 766 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data released included Nonfarm Payrolls and Consumer Credit:

Nonfarm payrolls added 280,000 jobs in May after adding a downwardly revised 221,000 (from 223,000) in April while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 225,000
Nonfarm private payrolls increased by 262,000 jobs (Briefing.com consensus 225,000), up from a 206,000 increase in April
Average hourly earnings increased 0.3% in May (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) after increasing only 0.1% in April. The May increase, combined with increase in payrolls, pushed aggregate earnings up 0.5%
The average workweek was flat at 34.5 hours
The unemployment rate increased to 5.5% in May from 5.4% in April while the consensus expected no change at 5.4%
The entire increase in the unemployment rate was due to discouraged workers returning to the labor force. If the labor force remained at its April level, the unemployment rate would have declined to 5.3%
The Consumer Credit report for April showed an increase of $20.50 billion, which was higher than the Briefing.com consensus estimate of $16.80 billion
The prior month's credit growth was revised to $21.40 billion from $20.50 billion

There is no economic data on Monday's schedule.


Week in Review: Global Bond Yields Spike


The stock market began June on a modestly higher note with the S&P 500 adding 0.2%. Index futures spiked just before 7:00 ET, reacting to chatter that a deal between Greece and its creditors would be announced shortly. That rumor was struck down within 15 minutes of making the rounds, but equity futures did not retrace that morning spike until the cash market opened for action. The major averages returned to their flat lines once the cash session began, but persistent relative strength among influential groups like health care (+0.4%), technology (+0.3%), consumer discretionary (+0.3%), and industrials (+0.4%) helped the market climb to a fresh high during the afternoon. However, it is worth noting that the Monday advance occurred amid light volume with just 665 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor. Eight sectors registered gains with industrials (+0.4%) ending atop the leaderboard thanks to a rebound in transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average rallied 1.1% with airlines pacing the move.

The market registered a slim loss on Tuesday, making for a near carbon copy of Monday's affair with the S&P 500 shedding 0.1%. Equities faced some selling pressure at the start after the overnight session was filled with more speculation about Greece's future in the eurozone. With Greece remaining in limbo, a short squeeze in the euro sent the single currency higher by 2.0% against the dollar to 1.1145. Contributing to the euro strength was some chatter that the European Central Bank could stop its quantitative easing program early due to inflationary pressures. To that point, eurozone CPI rose 0.3% year-over-year in May (expected 0.2%) while core CPI increased 0.9% (consensus 0.7%). Germany's 10-yr bund tumbled in response, sending its yield higher by 17 basis points to 0.72%. Similarly, the U.S. 10-yr note retreated overnight and continued backtracking into the afternoon. The benchmark note settled just above its worst level of the day with its yield higher by eight basis points at 2.26%. As for stocks, the S&P 500 found early support in the neighborhood of its 50-day moving average (2,100) and returned to its flat line shortly after noon ET.

Equity indices ended the midweek session on a modestly higher note, but once again, investor participation was on the light side with fewer than 670 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor. The S&P 500 added 0.2% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%) outperformed. Stocks began the day on a modestly higher note and extended their gains in the early going; however, a return to their opening levels followed once selling pressure appeared in the neighborhood of this week's highs. Meanwhile, another day went by without an agreement between Greece and its creditors. The lack of progress did not stop the euro from rallying 1.1% against the dollar to 1.1270. To be fair, today's euro strength followed a set of better than expected Services PMI readings with the Eurozone Services PMI climbing to 53.8 from 53.3 (expected 53.3). Also of note, the European Central Bank made no changes to its policy stance, but ECB President Mario Draghi warned that low rates invite high volatility. Fittingly, Germany's 10-yr bund extended this week's plunge, sending its yield higher by 17 basis points to 0.89%. Similarly, U.S. Treasuries sold off with the 10-yr yield rising 11 basis points to 2.37%. Six of ten sectors registered gains with a few cyclical groups holding the lead throughout the day. Specifically, consumer discretionary (+0.7%), financials (+0.7%), and industrials (+0.5%) kept the market afloat with the industrial sector receiving support from transport stocks.

Thursday ended on a lower note following a daylong retreat that sent the S&P 500 (-0.9%) below its 50-day moving average (2,100). Equities struggled from the start as continued uncertainty surrounding Greece weighed on investor sentiment in Europe and the U.S. The International Monetary Fund made headlines in the morning, urging the Federal Reserve to delay its first rate hike until the first half of 2016. A lowered growth forecast was cited to support that argument with the IMF now expecting 2015 GDP growth of 2.5%, down from the previous forecast of 3.1%. Treasuries marked fresh highs following the outlook change at the IMF, and built on their gains in the afternoon with the 10-yr yield falling six basis points to 2.31%. All ten sectors ended in the red with most growth-sensitive groups showing relative weakness. Energy (-1.2%) and materials (-1.3%) spent the bulk of the session behind other groups with energy pressured by a 2.8% drop in crude oil, which ended the pit session at $58.00/bbl ahead of the semiannual OPEC meeting.
Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 18010.68 17849.46 -161.22 -0.9 0.1
Nasdaq 5070.03 5068.46 -1.57 -0.0 7.0
S&P 500 2107.39 2092.83 -14.56 -0.7 1.6
Russell 2000 1246.53 1261.01 14.48 1.2 4.7

This week's top 20 % gainers

Healthcare:IMGN (14.66 +63.25%),HRTX (26.11 +32.14%),JUNO (68.48 +30.08%),DRRX (3.23 +24.23%),AXDX (27.21 +21.91%),ONTY (4.08 +19.31%),RVNC (30.51 +19.16%),BRLI (39.47 +18.81%),MNKD (6.12 +18.18%),PRTA (46.59 +18.13%),BCRX (13.01 +16.06%),BLCM (28.68 +15.93%),AFMD (12.09 +15.91%)

Materials:OMG (34.58 +30.29%)

Industrials:EHIC (17.66 +15.65%)

Consumer Discretionary:GIII (68.49 +20.45%),BOOT (28.76 +17.58%),QUNR (51.58 +16.98%)

Information Technology:SINA (56.09 +37.71%),QIHU (62.94 +20.92%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Healthcare:PBYI (138.79 -28.99%),RGLS (10.54 -25.35%),OCUL (21.52 -10.96%),FPRX (22.85 -10.88%),MDVN (118.13 -10.54%)

Industrials:ESL (94.35 -12.78%)

Consumer Discretionary:CZR (6.49 -30.66%),VNCE (12.27 -22.93%),LE (24.99 -15.03%),NEWM (18.72 -14.99%),BOJA (24.5 -10.97%),AXL (22.49 -10.43%)

Information Technology:VMEM (2.71 -19.1%),DATE (7.92 -14.65%),BZUN (10.93 -10.56%)

Financials:IRM (32.65 -10.47%)

Energy:MHR (1.64 -10.38%)

Telecommunication Services:GSAT (2.32 -12.45%),MBT (9.33 -10.8%)

Utilities:FGP (22 -10.97%)

4:08 pm Applied Materials announces the election of Willem Roelandts as Chairman of the Board, effective immediately; Roelandts is currently Applied Materials' lead independent director (AMAT) :

2:47 pm Earnings Preview for the week of June 8 - 12 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of June 8 - 12 some of the bigger names include:

Monday:
Pre Market - SHLD, MTN, BRLI, DATE, PRGN
After Hours - HRB, UNFI, PBY, PLAY, LAYN, TPLM, CBK, FCEL, KANG, SB, HQY

Tuesday:
Pre Market - HDS, BURL, SAIC, FGP, HOV, LULU, ZQK, CMN
After Hours - GEF, MFRM, OXM, SIGM, LMNR, SURG, APIC

Wednesday:
Pre Market - FRAN
After Hours - MW, DDC, KKD, BOX, BV

Thursday:
After Hours - BOJA, XONE1:16 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

UA (81.18 +4.03%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at DA Davidson; tgt $91.
SCHW (33.1 +2.6%): Brokerage stocks outperforming on jump in yields; also was assumed/upgraded to Buy at Goldman.
PANW (172.22 +2.06%): Cyber-security names higher following yesterday's breach of the U.S. governments personnel data system.

Large Cap Losers

VIP (5.57 -6.7%): European stocks underperforming following weakness in Europe's exchanges (ALU, TTM, NOK, FCAU also lower).
MO (48.46 -2.85%): Rate sensitive names under pressure as treasury yields jump (FTE, RAI, PPL, ED also lower).
VOD (37.16 -1.46%): Confirmed that it is discussing a possible exchange of assets with Liberty Global (LBTYA), but not in discussions concerning a potential combination.

Mid Cap Gainers

QIHU (59.89 +8.89%): Chinese internet names soaring after China's Shanghai index continued its surge, gaining 1.5% over night (SINA, QUNR, WB, BITA, YY also higher).
PFPT (61.3 +4.16%): Price target raised to $75 from $65 at Piper Jaffray.
DWA (28.51 +3.81%): Upgraded to Buy at Stifel; tgt $34.

Mid Cap Losers

ESL (92.76 -13.32%): Missed Q2 (Apr) consensus EPS estimates by $0.13, missed on revs; lowered FY15 guidance.
THO (58.12 -5.42%): Reported Q3 (Apr) earnings of $1.19 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.20; revenues rose 12.2% year/year to $1.17 bln vs the $1.17 bln consensus.
PAY (37.54 -2.11%): Beat Q2 (Apr) consensus EPS estimates by $0.02, reported revs in-line; guided Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guided FY15 EPS in-line, revs in-line.

12:52 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (201) outpacing new highs (132) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADPT, AGEN, AIG, ALDR, ALJ, ALN, AMBA, AMED, AMTD, AMWD, ANTH, ASB, BANC, BBNK, BBT, BKYF, BLOX, BOH, CATY, CBF, CBSH, CBYL, CDNS, CFG, CMT, CNTY, COLB, COMM, CRF, CRTO, CSFL, CVBF, DSKX, DWA, DXJS, EBAY, EGBN, EGRX, EMKR, ENTG, EROS, ETFC, EWBC, EXPR, FCB, FEYE, FFNM, FHN, FII, FMBI, FNFG, FRC, FTNT, GGAC, GIII, GKNT, GRBK, GS, HILL, HOMB, HRTX, HTH, IBKR, IMPV, IMS, INNL, INSM, JPM, JUNO, KE, KEY, LEG, LGND, LMAT, LTM, LXFT, MBFI, MMAC, MMI, MORN, MS, MSLI, NFLX, NPBC, NPTN, NWFL, OMCL, OMG, ONFC, OPY, PANW, PBCT, PBHC, PGTI, PNC, PTN, PVTB, QABA, RALY, RBA, RDVY, REGN, RELY, RJF, RLGT, RPTP, RTRX, RXDX, SAGE, SCHW, SEIC, SGMS, SINA, SIVB, SKX, SNV, SPWH, STNR, SUPN, SUSQ, TANH, TFX, UCBI, VOYA, VRTU, WAL, WFC, WIBC, WINA, WMS, YOKU, ZION

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACST, AFB, AGNC, AHT, AIQ, AIRM, ANR, ARR, AWF, AXE, BAX, BBDO, BBN, BGR, BIE, BIOL, BKH, BKK, BLJ, BOTA, BPK, BSMX, BTA, BWG, CAPX, CBD, CEN, CHCT, CHK, CIM, CLUB, CLW, CMU, CNP, CNS, CPN, CRDS, CTL, CTP, CVE, CZR, CZZ, DAVE, DEO, DTF, EARN, EDD, EDE, EGP, EIM, EIV, ENLK, EQGP, ERJ, ESEA, ESIO, ESL, ETSY, EVLV, EVP, FAM, FCO, FHY, FPO, FPT, FSNN, FSYS, GBAB, GIFI, GLF, GPL, GRAM, HCLP, HCP, HGT, HIIQ, HMY, HR, HTS, HWCC, IF, IGOV, IGT, IIM, INF, IPDN, IQI, IRC, ITC, JOUT, KED, KLAC, KTF, KYE, LE, LEO, LF, LFL, LFVN, LOR, LPL, MAV, MCF, MDIV, MFL, MFV, MGCD, MGEE, MHI, MIN, MPA, MQT, MTGE, MUE, MUH, MUI, MUJ, MUR, MZF, NAV, NBD, NCZ, NIO, NMRX, NMY, NOR, NPI, NPM, NPP, NQI, NQP, NQS, NRK, NRP, NTG, NTX, NUM, NUO, NVDQ, NXJ, NXN, NXP, OFC, OGE, OKE, OTEX, OTTR, PAI, PDLI, PDM, PKX, PLTM, PNF, POT, PRI, PSB, RCS, RDS.B, RNO, RSO, RWT, SBGL, SHG, SHIP, SJR, SMT, SNH, SRC, SRET, SRF, SRV, TAC, TAL, TGH, THS, TRMB, TRP, TTM, UBA, UBP, UCP, UK, USEG, VBF, VCIT, VEDL, VIV, VKI, VKQ, VMEM, VNCE, VPV, VRA, VTN, WBK, WHLR, WIA, WIN, YLCO, ZSAN, ZUMZ

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IAI, IYG, KBE, KCE, KRE

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BND, BWX, EWM, FXY, IDX, KOL, LQD, MUB, PPLT, TIP

9:46 am Intel down for fifth day in a row, probes support zone (INTC) : The stock is down for the fifth session in a row leaving it off more than 7.5% off last week's peak. The extension this morning has brought support at 32.03/31.94 into play (session low 32.02). This zone marks the 50% retrace of the March-May rally, its May lows and Mid-April gap.

7:30 am Canadian Solar comments on the European Commission's undertaking decision (CSIQ) : Co stated: "Despite the arbitrary nature of the Undertaking text that caused interpretation confusion and implementation complications, Canadian Solar believes that it has always conducted all its business in the EU in compliance with the Undertaking. The Company strongly believes that this decision lacks merit and is arbitrary without giving due consideration to the Company's cooperation with EU Commission. The Company is currently reviewing its legal options." Co stated that the decision will not impact the Company's second quarter and full year 2015 guidance

7:30 am Solar Power announces board authorization for a $50 million share repurchase program, to take place over the next 6 months (SOPW) :

7:00 am JA Solar receives non-binding 'going private' proposal for $9.69/share from Chairman and CEO (JASO) : The co announced that its board of directors has received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter dated June 5, 2015 from Mr. Baofang Jin, its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Jinglong Group Co., Ltd., a British Virgin Islands company of which Mr. Baofang Jin is the sole director, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of the Company not already owned by the Buyer Group in a going private transaction for $9.69 per American Depositary Share.

The Board intends to form a special committee consisting of independent directors to consider this proposal. The Company cautions its shareholders and others considering trading in its securities that the Board just received the non-binding proposal and has not made any decisions with respect thereto.

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From Briefing.com: The stock market had trouble making up its mind where it wanted to go on Tuesday, selling off early, rallying back, and then fading late to close the day little changed.

The market was buffeted by another jump in market rates, which followed a report showing job openings in the U.S. at their highest level since that data started being tracked in December 2000, and another weak showing from the Dow Jones Transportation Average (-0.3%)

Separately, the information technology sector (-0.2%) was unable to get back on track as investors continued to take money off the table in notable leadership stocks like Apple (AAPL 127.42, -0.38, -0.3%), Microsoft (MSFT 45.65, -0.08, -0.2%), Micron (MU 25.19, -0.73, -2.8%), and Yahoo (YHOO 41.63, -0.38, -0.9%).

The weakness in those names, and the underperformance of the biotech stocks, helped keep a lid on the Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%), which underperformed the S&P 500 (+0.04%) for the second straight session.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:
Cisco (CSCO 28.24, -0.04, -0.1%): At company's Cisco Systems Investor Day, says it continues to focus on Internet of Everything (IoE) and Fast IT to adapt to shifting market demands. Highlights continued strength in Enterprise Switching and Routing and notes it is seeing mixed results in its Wireless segment, with trouble coming in gaining market share at the low-end of the product range. The company's new Cisco One product has 500 customers, and is seeing an uplift in both software and hardware sales.

Facebook (FB 80.67, 0.00, unch): Reuters reported that company executives said overseas markets accounted for 51% of global ad sales in the first quarter.

Harris (HRS 78.00, 0.00, unch): Received a $55 mln order to provide the Australian Defence Force with comprehensive technical and logistics support for Harris tactical radios. Company will provide maintenance, training, warehouse and distribution, and engineering support under a turnkey, performance-based contracting model to support the Joint Project 2072 Battlespace Communications program. The ADF uses Harris Falcon III multiband, multi-mode radios in manpack, handheld and vehicular configurations for wideband tactical networking capabilities, as well as line-of-sight, ground-to-air and tactical satellite communications.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 32.58, -0.11, -0.3%): Company confirmed today that it has entered into a settlement agreement with PGGM Vermogensbeheer B.V., the lead plaintiff in the securities class action arising from the impairment charge taken by HP following its acquisition of Autonomy. Under the terms of the settlement, HP's insurance will pay $100 million to a settlement fund that will be used to compensate persons who purchased HP shares during the period from August 19, 2011 through November 20, 2012.

IBM (IBM 165.68, +0.34, +0.2%): Announced that SES Platform Services has selected high speed file transfer software from Aspera, an IBM company, to broadcast networks and delivery of content to Video On Demand platforms and Over-The-Top providers located worldwide.

Western Digital (WDC 92.06, -0.54, -0.6%): HGST, a Western Digital company, announced the first enterprise-class 10TB hard disk drive for next-generation active archive applications.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alibaba (BABA 87.58, -0.71, -0.8%): CEO Jack Ma speaking at Economic Club in New York says he sees Alibaba outgrowing Wal-Mart; can sell over $1 trillion in five years. Separately, CNBC's David Faber says sources are downplaying BABA's interest in making a large acquisition in the U.S.

Amazon.com (AMZN 425.48, +1.98, +0.5%): Announced plans to open a fourth Texas fulfillment center in Dallas, TX

Atmel (ATML 9.81, +0.06, +0.6%): After Monday's close, Reuters reported the company is exploring strategic alternatives that could include a possible sale, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Cree (CREE 29.59, +0.24, +0.8%): EVP bought 5K shares at $30.14 worth ~$151K

Electro Scientific Industries (ESIO 5.48, -0.03, -0.5%): Announced that PFC Flexible Circuits Limited has selected the Model 5335 Laser Processing System to expand its high density interconnect flexible circuit manufacturing capabilities

Fairchild Semi (FCS 18.99, +0.20, +1.1%): Company announced that Power Integrations (POWI 48.25, -0.03, -0.1%) was found to infringe its US patent by continuing to market and sell its LinkSwitch II family of products, even after a 2012 jury found those same power conversion chips violated the patent. A U.S. District Court jury awarded Fairchild $2.4 million in damages. This damages figure reflects an approximately 1.5-cent per unit royalty on LinkSwitch II parts imported into the US.

Power Integrations (POWI 48.25, -0.03, -0.1%): Company announced the latest result in its ongoing patent litigation against Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS). After a two-week trial, a Jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that Fairchild infringes another Power Integrations patent, and that Fairchild has contributed to and induced infringement by its customers. The infringed patent relates to zero-standby technologies; Power Integrations intends to seek a permanent injunction to prevent the sales and importation of infringing products and products with substantially similar circuitry. Though a second Power Integrations patent was found by the Jury not to be infringed, the accused Fairchild products are already covered by infringement findings from the parties' prior litigation.
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM 22.83, +0.18, +0.8%): Digitimes reports that the company's Chairman said at shareholders meeting that company is aiming to report sales growth of more than 10% this year. Company also announced that its Board approved the sale of 82 million common shares of Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation for a total price of ~NT$3.88 bln. Currently, TSMC holds approximately 33.3% of VIS shares on a fully diluted basis, which would decline to approximately 28.3% after the sale. TSMC will remain the largest shareholder of VIS, and TSMC announces that it has no plan to sell more VIS shares in the foreseeable future. The company also announced that at its annual meeting, shareholders approved the distribution of a NT$4.5 cash dividend per common share.

Analyst Action:

Adobe Systems (ADBE 77.90, -0.26, -0.3%): initiated with a Hold at Wunderlich; target $90

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 2.29, -0.02, -0.9%): initiated with a Outperform at Northland Capital; target $5

Akamai Technologies (AKAM 72.90, -1.99, -2.7%): downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie

Altera (ALTR 51.50, +0.09, +0.2%): downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo

Citrix Systems (CTXS 64.45, -1.54, -2.3%): downgraded to Sell from Buy at Berenberg; target lowered to $56 from $75

FireEye (FEYE 50.65, -0.26, -0.5%): initiated with a Buy at Wunderlich; target $62

Microsoft (MSFT 45.65, -0.08, -0.2%): initiated with a Hold at Wunderlich; target $52

Oracle (ORCL 43.07, -0.03, -0.1%): initiated with a Hold at Wunderlich; target $47

Red Hat (RHT 77.37, -0.87, -1.1%): target raised to $85 from $80 at Cowen; Outperform

Salesforce.com (CRM 71.76, -0.08, -0.1%): initiated with a Buy at Wunderlich; target $85

Symantec (SYMC 23.44, +0.01, +0.04%): initiated with a Hold at Wunderlich; target $27
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo! and Microsoft)

4:10 pm : The major averages ended the Tuesday session near their flat lines with the S&P 500 registering a slight gain (+0.04%) to snap its three-day skid while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) settled in the red.

Equity indices slumped at the start with investor sentiment pressured by the continued lack of progress between Greece and its creditors. The ongoing uncertainty weighed on European markets, but they were able to climb off their lows into the close. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks hit their lows not long before Europe closed for the day before returning to their flat lines.

The ensuing rebound helped stocks turn positive during afternoon action, but the S&P 500 could not overtake its 100-day moving average (2,085), settling below that mark for the second consecutive day. Interestingly, this was the first time that the benchmark index registered back-to-back settlements below the 100-day average since late October.

Seven sectors registered losses, but only telecom services (-0.5%) surrendered more than 0.2%. Meanwhile, the top-weighted technology sector (-0.2%) struggled throughout the day and contributed to the underperformance of the Nasdaq. The tech sector suffered from losses among influential components like Apple (AAPL 127.42, -0.38), Google (GOOGL 542.16, -1.32), and Qualcomm (QCOM 66.84, -0.44) while high-beta chipmakers traded in mixed fashion, which was masked by a 0.1% decline in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. Micron (MU 25.19, -0.73) was a notable laggard, falling 2.8%, after Drexel Hamilton downgraded the stock to 'Sell' from 'Hold.'

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, the consumer discretionary space (-0.1%) underperformed throughout the day with most homebuilders registering losses after Hovnanian (HOV 2.86, -0.31) reported disappointing results with its Chief Executive Officer saying the company had overestimated buyer demand. Shares of HOV fell 9.8% while iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 26.27, -0.11) surrendered 0.3%.

Staying on the earnings front, another discretionary component-Lululemon (LULU 68.27, +6.75)-spiked 11.0% after its one-cent beat overshadowed below-consensus guidance.

On the upside, consumer staples (+0.5%) and financials (+0.2%) ended in the lead after overtaking the energy sector (unch), which retreated from its opening high even as crude oil spiked 3.4% to $60.12/bbl. Greenback strength was not a factor as the Dollar Index ended flat.

Treasuries retreated throughout the day with the 10-yr note ending near its low to send its yield higher by two basis points to 2.41%.

Once again, today's participation was below average with roughly 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Wholesale Inventories and JOLTS:

Wholesale inventories increased 0.4% in April following an upwardly revised 0.2% gain (from 0.1%) in March while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.2%
Durable goods inventories increased 0.1% in April, down from a 0.5% increase in March
Gains in automotive (1.8%) and machinery inventories (0.7%) offset declines in professional equipment (-2.1%) and metals (-1.2%) inventories
Nondurable goods inventories increased 0.8% in April after declining 0.3% in March with much of the increase resulting from higher petroleum and gasoline prices, which helped boost petroleum inventories by 2.3% in April
The April Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 5.376 million from a revised rate of 5.109 million (from 4.994 million)

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the Treasury Budget for May (Briefing.com consensus -$85.00 billion) will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +5.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +3.9% YTD
S&P 500 +1.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.3% YTD

DJ30 -2.51 NASDAQ -7.76 SP500 +0.87 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1111/1.62 bln/1722 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1086/702.5 mln/1977

3:10 pm :

The dollar index closed moderately lower, after trading in a narrow range around the unchanged mark for most of the session.
The index offered inconsistent and slight pressure/support for commodities, finishing down 0.1% to 95.19
Crude traded flat overnight, but finished positive on a strong, all-day rally driven by EIA US production forecasts
July WTI closed at +3.4% to $60.12/barrel
Natural gas held its earlier gains into the close, after lifting in early morning price action on intermediate term forecasts for warm national weather
Nat gas futures closed up 4.8% to $2.84/MMBtu
Precious metals saw a mixed close, as movements in the dollar failed to provide a definitive price trend for both gold or silver. August gold was +0.4% to $1177.60/oz and July silver was flat at $15.96/oz
Copper closed modestly positive at +0.4% to $2.71/lb

4:07 pm Sigma Designs beats by $0.08, beats on revs (SIGM) : Reports Q1 (Apr) earnings of $0.09 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.01; revenues rose 49.4% year/year to $55.1 mln vs the $53.48 mln consensus. Non-GAAP gross margin in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 was 53.8%. This compares with a non-GAAP gross margin of 50.8% in the previous quarter, and 58.1% for the same period in fiscal 2015.

11:42 am Power Integrations announces an update on its ongoing legislation with Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS) (POWI) : Co announced the latest result in its ongoing patent litigation against Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS). After a two-week trial, a Jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that Fairchild infringes another Power Integrations patent, and that Fairchild has contributed to and induced infringement by its customers. The infringed patent relates to zero-standby technologies; Power Integrations intends to seek a permanent injunction to prevent the sales and importation of infringing products and products with substantially similar circuitry. Though a second Power Integrations patent was found by the Jury not to be infringed, the accused Fairchild products are already covered by infringement findings from the parties' prior litigation.
11:38 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (187) outpacing new highs (93) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADPT, ALJ, ALN, AMBA, AMED, ASB, ATML, ATTU, AXN, AZZ, BBNK, BBP, BBT, BFAM, BKU, BKYF, BOFI, BOH, BSQR, BXS, CASY, CATY, CBSH, CMN, CNTY, COLB, CRF, CTRX, CUBI, CVBF, DCOM, DSKX, EGBN, ENSG, FCAP, FMER, FNFG, FOLD, FTAI, FULT, GGAC, GKNT, HAFC, HALO, HDS, HOMB, IART, ISBC, ISLE, IXYS, LEG, LGND, LPTH, LTXB, MBFI, MMAC, MXL, NAT, NFLX, NICE, NWBO, NWL, NYCB, OZRK, PLAY, PMBC, PNC, QABA, RALY, RBA, RELY, RLGT, RMTI, SAGE, SBBX, SBCP, SBNY, SEED, SF, SIEN, SIVB, SNV, SPWH, SUSQ, TROV, TXMD, UMPQ, WAL, WBS, WIBC, WINA, WTFC, ZION

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, ACTX, AEGR, AFB, AGNC, AHT, AP, ARR, AUDC, AXE, BAX, BBN, BDN, BEBE, BFK, BFO, BIE, BKN, BLE, BLJ, BLT, BOI, BOTA, BTA, CBL, CCD, CIM, CLW, CMU, CNI, CPN, CSAL, CSTM, CTL, DGSE, DMF, DMLP, DPG, DTF, EARN, EDD, EDE, EE, EFC, EIM, EIV, ELLO, ERH, ERJ, ESL, EVJ, EVLV, EVP, EZPW, FDML, FGB, FHY, FMN, FPT, FSNN, GBAB, GHM, GOV, HCP, HDNG, HGG, HIE, HOV, HTS, HWCC, IF, IIM, IQI, IRC, IRT, ISH, JRI, KIQ, KLAC, KSM, KTF, LE, LEO, LFL, LFVN, LL, LOR, LPL, MAV, MDIV, MGF, MHI, MIN, MIY, MPA, MQT, MQY, MSI, MU, MUE, MUH, MUI, MUJ, MUS, MVF, MYD, MYM, MZF, NBB, NBD, NBH, NCZ, NEA, NID, NIM, NKA, NMY, NNC, NNY, NOR, NPF, NPI, NPM, NPP, NQI, NQP, NRK, NSC, NTC, NTX, NUM, NUO, NURO, NVG, NXJ, NXP, NXQ, NXZ, OFC, OGE, OIA, PCN, PDLI, PFL, PMX, PNF, POT, PSEC, PTX, PTY, RCS, RDS.B, SJI, SMLP, SMT, SMTC, SPW, SRET, SRV, SVBL, TYPE, UBA, UBP, UCP, USDP, USEG, UTI, VBF, VCIT, VCLT, VGM, VKI, VKQ, VMO, VPV, VRA, VTN, WIA, WLT, WMT, WPG, WRES, XRX, YLCO, ZAZA, ZQK, ZUMZ

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: KBE

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AGG, BND, IDX, LQD

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Equity indices all ended lower to end the week, pressured by the lack of progress between Greece and its lenders. At one point during the day though, an unnamed Greek official said that the two sides are close to a deal and that Greece is sending a new counter-proposal to the creditors. The report helped U.S. equities inch up from their lows, but that upward momentum quickly fizzled out as indices continued to trend lower.

In U.S economic news, producer prices saw their largest one-month increase since April 2011, rising 0.5% in May after declining 0.4% in April while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.4%. Additionally, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index increased to 94.6 in the preliminary June reading from 90.7 in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 91.5

Turning to the tech sector, the S&P Information Technology Sector Index fell 0.8% as it underperformed the broader market, S&P 500 (-0.7%). That's not saying much though, as every sector aside from Retail (+0.1%) ended in the red. However, as always, there were a few outperformers worth mentioning. Citrix Systems (CTXS 71.91, +1.52, +2.2%), Micron Technology (MU 25.13, +0.11, +0.4$), Amphenol Corp (APH 57.69, +0.19, +0.3%), and Alliance Data (ADS 301.55, +0.92, +0.3%) were the leading constituents in the S&P Information Technology Index.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

BlackBerry (BBRY 9.23, +0.02, +0.2%): Reuters reports that BBRY may use Google (GOOG 532.33, -2.28, -0.4%) Android OS for its next devices.

Dish Network (DISH 72.62, -0.17, -0.2%): WSJ article reports that DISH is looking to raise $10-15 billion to fund a bid for T Mobile (TMUS 39.00, +0.88, +2.3%).
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Stratasys (SSYS 35.33, -0.89, -2.5%): Announced that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has denied Afinia's requests for inter partes review of three important FDM technology patents directed to liquefier structure, temperature control, and tool paths for constructing part perimeters

Twitter (TWTR 35.90, +0.06, +0.2%): Forbes article reports that Adam Bain may be one of the favorites for TWTR's next CEO.

Analyst Action:

Cimpress (CMPR 84.60, +0.92, +1.1%): Upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Barrington Research

Citrix Systems (CTXS 71.91, +1.52, +2.2%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham; price target $82... upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill... upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at Piper Jaffray... price target raised to $74 from $68 at Barclays; Overweight

Information Services Group (III 4.12, +0.22, +5.6%): Initiated with a Buy at Sidoti

Twitter (TWTR 35.90, +0.06, +0.2%): Price target lowered to $50 from $55 at Argus; Buy

Interdigital Systems (IDCC 59.65, +3.31, +5.9%): Price target raised to $60 from $55 at Barclays; Equal Weight

Orbotech (ORBK 22.19, +0.81, +3.8%): Price target raised to $25 from $23 at Needham; Buy

Adobe Systems (ADBE 79.86, +0.21, +0.3%): Price target raised to $88 from $83 at RBC Capital; Sector Perform

Weekly Recap - Week ending 12-Jun-15Dow -140.53 at 17898.84, Nasdaq -31.41 at 5051.1, S&P -14.75 at 2094.11

The stock market ended the week on a lower note with the Dow Jones Industrial Average pacing the Friday decline. The price-weighted index lost 0.8%, but added 0.3% for the week, while the S&P 500 settled lower by 0.7%, narrowing its weekly gain to a slim 0.1%.

The Friday session started amid selling pressure in Europe and the U.S. as it became clear that another week will go by without a deal between Greece and its creditors. The continued uncertainty had markets in France and Germany down more than 2.0% apiece, but a well-timed rumor helped the indices slash a percentage point off their losses just in time for the close. Specifically, an unnamed Greek government official was quoted as saying a new counter-proposal has been sent to the lenders and the two sides are "closer than ever" to an agreement.

Despite the rumors, safe-haven demand boosted Germany's 10-yr bund, dropping its yield six basis points to 0.83%. Conversely, selling in Greek and Spanish debt securities caused their yields to spike. Greece's 10-yr yield surged 51 basis points to 11.56% while Spain's 10-yr yield jumped 12 basis points to 2.27%.

In addition to helping European equities trim their losses, the news helped the S&P 500 rally six points off its low, but the index returned to its worst level of the day during the afternoon, ending well below its 50-day moving average (2,103), which was violated at the open.

It is worth pointing out that today's trading volume was well below average with just 645 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor, suggesting a fair share of participants chose to forego today's session altogether.

All ten sectors registered losses with energy (-1.2%) and health care (-1.1%) spending the day behind the remaining eight groups. The energy sector retreated alongside crude oil, which fell 1.3% to $59.93/bbl. For its part, the sector lost 0.9% for the week, while only two other groups registered weekly losses with technology and utilities surrendering 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

The technology sector underperformed for the second day in a row amid broad weakness. Large cap names like Apple (AAPL 127.17, -1.42), IBM (IBM 166.99, -1.79), Microsoft (MSFT 45.97, -0.47), and Qualcomm (QCOM 67.02, -0.57) lost between 0.9% and 1.1% while the high-beta PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 0.9% to end the week lower by 1.7%.

Generally speaking, today's session was devoid of corporate news, but Twitter (TWTR 35.90, +0.06) made headlines after Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo announced he will step down from his post on July 1 with co-founder and Chairman Jack Dorsey taking Mr. Costolo's place in the interim. Shares of TWTR opened higher, but a daylong retreat resulted in a flat close for the stock.

Elsewhere, the financial sector (-0.4%) ended ahead of most other groups, locking in a 1.0% gain for the week with investors angling to take advantage of rising rates.

Speaking of rates, the 10-yr note rallied at the start, but reversed after the Greece-related rumor crossed in the late morning. The benchmark note registered a four-tick loss with its yield inching up a basis point to 2.39%. For the week, the benchmark yield slipped two basis points after testing the 2.49% level on Wednesday.

Economic data included PPI and Michigan Sentiment:

Producer prices saw their largest one-month increase since April 2011, rising 0.5% in May after declining 0.4% in April while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.4%
Almost the entire increase in the PPI can be attributed to higher energy costs, and namely higher gasoline prices as total energy costs increased 5.9% in May after declining 2.9% in April
Gasoline prices jumped 17.0% in May following a 4.7% decline in April
Food prices increased 0.8% in May after declining 0.9% in April
Excluding food and energy, core PPI increased 0.1% in May after decreasing 0.2% in April, which is what the consensus expected
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index increased to 94.6 in the preliminary June reading from 90.7 in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 91.5

On Monday, the Empire Manufacturing Index for June (Briefing.com consensus 6.0) will be released at 8:30 ET while May Industrial Production (consensus 0.3%) and Capacity Utilization (consensus 78.3%) will both be reported at 9:15 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the NAHB Housing Market Index for June (expected 56).

Week in Review: Greek Debt Deal Remains Elusive

The major averages began the trading week on a cautious note with the S&P 500 (-0.6%) settling beneath its 100-day moving average (2,085) for the first time since late March. The benchmark index retreated into the afternoon while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.9%) underperformed throughout the day. Broadly speaking, the Monday session was very quiet with no corporate news to account for the decline; however, the continued lack of progress between Greece and its creditors weighed on investor sentiment in Europe and the U.S.

The stock market ended the Tuesday session near its flat line with the S&P 500 registering a slight gain (+0.04%) while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) settled in the red. Equity indices slumped at the start with investor sentiment pressured by the continued lack of progress between Greece and its creditors. The ongoing uncertainty weighed on European markets, but they were able to climb off their lows into the close. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks hit their lows not long before Europe closed for the day before returning to their flat lines. The ensuing rebound helped stocks turn positive during afternoon action, but the S&P 500 could not overtake its 100-day moving average (2,085), settling below that mark for the second consecutive day. Interestingly, this was the first time that the benchmark index registered back-to-back settlements below the 100-day average since late October.

After struggling with its 100-day moving average (2,086) on Tuesday, the S&P 500 wasted no time charging back above that mark on Wednesday. The benchmark index gained 1.2% while the Dow (+1.3%) and Nasdaq Composite (+1.3%) outperformed throughout the session. In addition to regaining its 100-day average, the S&P 500 climbed above the 50-day average (2,102) after Bloomberg reported Germany may be willing to offer a staggered deal to Greece. This deal would allow the disbursement of additional bailout funds in exchange for a Greek commitment to executing one of the reforms requested by the creditors. On a related note, the European Central Bank increased Greece's allowance to Emergency Liquidity Assistance funds by EUR2.30 billion to EUR83 billion. The news jolted global equities, helping Germany's DAX end the day higher by 2.5%. Furthermore, selling in Germany's 10-yr bund resulted in the first test of the 1.00% level since October. Germany's benchmark yield ended the day below its session high of 1.06%, at 0.98% (+3 bps).

The market ended Thursday on a modestly higher note with the S&P 500 (+0.2%) posting its third consecutive advance. Equity indices rallied out of the gate, hitting their highs during the opening hour of action; however, the market was knocked back into the middle of its range after it was reported that International Monetary Fund representatives left Brussels for Washington due to insufficient progress between Greece and the creditors. Furthermore, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice stressed the continued presence of major differences, saying, "We are well away from an agreement." Despite the continued macro uncertainty, seven of ten sectors registered gains while consumer staples (-0.1%) and energy (-0.4%) spent the day in the red. In addition, technology (-0.1%) turned negative during the afternoon.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17849.46 17898.84 49.38 0.3 0.4
Nasdaq 5068.46 5051.10 -17.36 -0.3 6.7
S&P 500 2092.83 2094.11 1.28 0.1 1.7
Russell 2000 1261.01 1265.02 4.01 0.3 5.0


5:37 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Healthcare:ADAP (19.29 +25.75%),SUPN (18.1 +17.3%),HRTX (30.57 +16.68%)

Consumer Discretionary:ISLE (19.72 +27.31%),DANG (11.12 +26.51%),TOUR (20.74 +19.54%),TEDU (14.31 +19.45%),HMIN (32.05 +17.83%)

Information Technology:DSKY (14.56 +33.7%),SIGM (11.02 +25.09%),LEJU (10.08 +23.83%),SHOP (33.63 +22.78%),BNFT (44.11 +19.93%),FENG (9.51 +17.55%),SFUN (9.95 +16.78%)

Financials:HCC (77.2 +34.71%),EJ (7.1 +19.73%),ASPS (32.15 +19.65%),CISG (9.54 +18.51%),OCN (11.02 +17.61%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Healthcare:AST (7.3 -31.84%),ESPR (74.24 -27.81%),ADXS (23.78 -16.33%),DRRX (2.77 -14.24%),IRWD (12.14 -13.84%),MRTX (30.4 -13.17%),OREX (4.48 -12.76%),BLCM (25.22 -12.67%),JUNO (60 -12.23%)

Industrials:SALT (1.65 -32.93%)

Consumer Discretionary:SHLD (28.07 -31.1%),HOV (2.67 -15.77%),BURL (48.58 -11.79%)

Information Technology:AVID (15.65 -12.32%)

Energy:BTU (2.53 -20.94%),MHR (1.33 -18.9%),CLD (4.66 -13.38%),ORIG (6.16 -12.99%),LGCY (8.71 -11.12%)

Consumer Staples:BDBD (7.05 -23.2%)

3:30 pm Earnings Preview for the week of June 15 - 19 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of June 15 - 19 some of the bigger names include:

Monday: Pre Market - MPAAAfter Hours - CPST, PFIE

Tuesday: Pre Market - JW.A, FDSAfter Hours - ADBE, LZB, BOBE
Wednesday: Pre Market - FDX, ATUAfter Hours - ORCL, JBL, PIR, CLC
Thursday: Pre Market - KR, RADAfter Hours - RHT, FNSR, SWHC

Friday:
Pre Market - KMX, KBH

3:13 pm Integrated Silicon announces a special meeting of stockholders will be held on June 19, 2015 in consideration of a merger with Uphill Investment (ISSI) : The ISSI Board of Directors continues to recommend that ISSI stockholders vote FOR the adoption of the merger agreement with Uphill.

12:00 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (100) outpacing new highs (88) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACGL, ACIW, AFSI, AGEN, ALN, AMBA, AMED, ANN, AOS, BANR, BOH, BONA, BPMC, BSQR, CAF, CHKE, CIZ, CNO, COLB, COT, CRI, CVBF, CWCO, CYNI, DATA, DCOM, DG, ELNK, ESNT, FFKT, FOLD, GEVA, GGAC, GLOB, GMED, HAFC, HCA, HELE, HTBK, HTH, HTHT, IBKR, INBK, INGN, IRL, IRMD, ISLE, IXYS, JD, KALU, KFY, KWEB, LGF, LTXB, MASI, MIC, MTG, MYCC, NAT, NTRS, NWL, OPB, ORBC, ORBK, PBY, PCTY, PGZ, PLAY, PTLA, RGA, RKDA, RMTI, ROCK, ROL, SEE, SGMS, SHLX, SHOP, SINA, SUPN, TFSL, TROV, UEPS, UMPQ, VICL, WETF, WMS, ZOES

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, ACI, ACST, ADAT, AHC, AHT, AWF, BDBD, BGR, BIE, BJZ, BTU, CEN, CHCT, CHEK, CHK, CLD, CNS, CNX, CPTA, CVSL, DNI, DPG, EE, EGO, EMO, ERC, ERH, EVO, EZPW, FEI, FHY, FMY, FPL, FSC, FSTR, FTGC, GG, GMCR, HOV, HTGC, HTR, INDY, IO, IRC, IRET, ISH, JMM, JRI, KYE, LF, LOR, LPL, LXP, MARA, MCF, MDSY, MHR, MSI, MU, NCV, NCZ, NETE, NFJ, NKA, NMS, NTG, NTX, NWS, OCC, OKE, OKS, ONDK, PCN, PHT, PKX, POT, PSB, PTX, PTY, PVA, RMT, RYN, SMM, SMTC, SNR, SPW, SRV, TAXI, TDC, TRX, TTM, VIV, VPV, WIA, WLT, WRES, WTW, YUMA, ZQK

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: ENZL, KOL

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From Briefing.com: The market spent a good chunk of Wednesday's session on the defensive after the S&P 500 failed to take out its 50-day simple moving average (2103) in convincing fashion off the open. Fortunes turned, however, after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting produced more of the same (i.e. no change in rates and no clear sense about when the Fed might actually raise the fed funds rate for the first time since June 2006).

A knee-jerk reaction to that decision and Fed Chair Yellen's press conference pushed the S&P 500 above 2106, yet the bullish bias was not maintained. Some late selling interest pushed the S&P 500 back to 2100, leaving it once again below its 50-day simple moving average.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.2%) performed in-line with the broader market, having been held back some by the underperformance of Apple (AAPL 127.30, -0.30, -0.2%).

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Cisco Systems (CSCO 28.94, +0.22, +0.8%): The Wall Street Journal reported that Cisco acknowledged on Wednesday a plan to make investments and partnerships worth more than $10 bln in China over the next several years.

Computer Sciences (CSC 67.31, +0.37, +0.6%): Two Executive VPs sold 55,016 shares at $67.93-68.45 worth ~$3.7 mln

eBay (EBAY 60.55, +0.03, +0.1%): Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that eBay is planning to select a buyer for its enterprise division by July 1.

Google (GOOG 529.26, +1.11, +0.2%): Announced its biggest expansion of Google Trends since 2012, highlighting the ability to obtain real-time data on more than 100 billion searches.

Intel (INTC 31.95, +0.32, +1.0%): Completed its acquisition of Recon Instruments on June 16

Jabil Circuit (JBL 24.33, -0.26, -1.1%): After Wednesday's close, reported Q3 (May) core earnings of $0.49 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was in-line with estimates. Revenues rose 15.1% year/year to $4.36 bln. For Q4 (Aug), sees core EPS of $0.40-0.50, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $4.45-4.65 bln. The midpoint of those respective ranges are both below analysts' average expectations.

Microsoft (MSFT 45.97, +0.14, +0.3%): Announced changes to its senior leadership team. Executive Vice President Terry Myerson will lead a newly formed team, Windows and Devices Group, focused on enabling more personal computing experiences powered by the Windows ecosystem. Executive Vice President Scott Guthrie will continue to lead the Cloud and Enterprise team focused on building the intelligent cloud platform that powers any application on any device. As a result of the organizational moves, Stephen Elop, Kirill Tatarinov and Eric Rudder will leave Microsoft after a designated transition period. Unrelated to the engineering restructuring changes, Chief Insights Officer Mark Penn has decided to pursue another venture outside Microsoft and will be leaving the company in September.

Oracle (ORCL 44.91, +0.27, +0.6%): After Wednesday's close, reports Q4 (May) earnings of $0.78 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was eight cents shy of analysts' average estimate. Revenues fell 5.4% year/year to $10.71 bln, which was also below estimates. Software and Cloud Revenues were $8.4 bln, down 6%, but +2% in constant currency vs. -2 to +8% guidance. Company said, "We expect to book between $1.5 and $2.0 billion of new SaaS and PaaS business this fiscal year. That means Oracle would sell more new SaaS and PaaS business than salesforce.com plans to sell in their current fiscal year -- the only remaining question is how much more.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 3.73, -0.04, -1.1%): Launched a new device for residential and business use that will allow operators to accelerate the deployment of ultra-broadband access in order to meet ever-growing demand for faster data speeds in homes and the workplace.

Alibaba (BABA 86.80, +0.71, +0.8%): Cainiao, the logistics affiliate of Alibaba Group, announced the establishment of three fresh food distribution centers in three major Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The three centers are expected to support cold chain delivery of fresh food purchased on Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com to the doorsteps of Chinese consumers within 24 hours.

Integrated Silicon (ISSI 21.40, +0.07, +0.3%): Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis recommends shareholders vote for the proposed acquisition by Uphill Investments for $21.00/share. Special Meeting of Stockholders to be held on June 19, 2015.

Mitel Networks (MITL 9.19, +0.01, +0.3%): Selected by T-Mobile (TMUS 39.77, +0.92, +2.4%) as the preferred supplier of T-Mobile's new cloud solution, Cloud & Clear, launched in the Netherlands.

Nokia (NOK 7.12, -0.02, -0.3%): Company and Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 3.73, -0.04, -1.1%) announced the US Dept. of Justice has granted early termination of the US anti-trust period for their combination.

The Priceline Group (PCLN 1163.57, -12.63, -1.1%): Announced that Maelle Gavet has joined the company's senior leadership team as the Executive Vice President of Global Operations, effective July 6, 2015.

Qihoo 360 Tech. (QIHU 70.15, +4.10, +6.2%): The company announced that its board of directors has received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter, dated June 17, 2015, from Mr. Hongyi Zhou, chairman and chief executive officer of the Company, CITIC Securities Co. Ltd. or its affiliates, Golden Brick Capital Private Equity Fund I L.P., China Renaissance Holdings Limited or its affiliates and Sequoia Capital China I, L.P. and/or its affiliates, to acquire all of the outstanding Class A and Class B ordinary shares of the Company not owned by them or their affiliates, including Class A ordinary shares represented by American depositary shares, for $51.33 in cash per Class A or Class B ordinary share, or $77.00 in cash per ADS. The Board intends to form a special committee consisting of independent directors to consider the proposal. The Board expects that the special committee will retain independent advisors, including independent financial and legal advisors, to assist it in this process.

TripAdvisor (TRIP 87.65, +11.20, +14.7%): Starting later this summer, travelers shopping for hotel rooms on TripAdvisor will be able to conveniently make a booking at any of Marriott's more than 4,200 hotels around the world through the TripAdvisor site.

Analyst Action:

Facebook (FB 81.79, +0.73, +0.9%): target raised to $108 from $100 at Brean Capital

NVIDIA (NVDA 21.58, +0.25, +1.2%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Tigress Financial

Salesforce.com (CRM 74.42, +1.02, +1.4%): initiated with a Neutral at Exane BNP Paribas; target $81

6:39 pm Emcore announces updated preliminary results from modified Dutch auction tender offer: ~8.77 mln shares tendered at or below $6.55 per share (EMKR) : Co announces updated preliminary results of its modified "Dutch auction" tender offer, which expired at 5:00 P.M., New York City time, on June 15, 2015. Based on the preliminary count by American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC, the depositary for the tender offer, a total of 8,771,948 shares of EMCORE common stock were properly tendered and not properly withdrawn at or below $6.55 per share, including 837,416 shares that were tendered through a notice of guaranteed delivery. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the tender offer and based on a preliminary count by the depositary, the Company expects to accept for purchase approximately 6,870,229 shares of EMCORE common stock at an anticipated price of $6.55 per share, for a total aggregate cost of approximately $45 million, excluding fees and expenses related to the tender offer.

4:09 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Climb as Fed Stands Pat (:WRAPX) : The stock market ended the midweek session on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 settling four points below its 50-day moving average (2,104). The benchmark index added 0.2% while the Dow and Nasdaq posted comparable gains.

Equity indices began the trading day with modest gains, but the first half of the session saw a steady retreat with liquidity drying up ahead of the afternoon release of the FOMC policy statement, which called for no change to the current monetary policy stance. However, the accompanying interest rate forecast implied two 25-basis point increases before the year ends. Furthermore, the Fed lowered its 2015 GDP growth forecast range to 1.8-2.0% from the range of 2.3-2.7% that was forecast in March.

Stocks struggled for direction immediately after the release, but rallied to highs during Chair Janet Yellen's press conference, which was viewed as dovish. To that point, Ms. Yellen said the central bank would like to see more "decisive evidence" on inflation and employment before hiking rates.

U.S. Treasuries retreated into the afternoon, but surged back to unchanged in the wake of the FOMC statement. The benchmark 10-yr yield ended at 2.31% after hitting 2.40% in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the Dollar Index (94.27, -0.73) dropped to a new low for the month with the euro climbing to 1.1340 against the greenback.

Speaking of the euro, the single currency advanced even though the day went by without any progress between Greece and its creditors. According to Bloomberg, Greek Prime Minister said his government is ready to give a "big no" to what is perceived to be a bad deal offered by the EU. That being said, the European Central Bank increased Greece's Emergency Liquidity Assistance to $84.10 billion from $83.00 billion.

Eight of ten sectors registered gains with four of six cyclical groups ending ahead of the broader market. The energy sector (-0.2%) was among the early leaders, but returned to its flat line by the close even as crude oil narrowed its decline to 0.2% at $59.77/bbl by the pit close.

Similar to energy, the financial sector (-0.1%) settled behind the broader market while consumer discretionary (+0.5%), technology (+0.2%), industrials (+0.2%), and materials (+0.4%) posted gains. The consumer discretionary sector ended ahead of other cyclical groups thanks to strength among media and retail names while industrials kept pace with the market even as transport stocks struggled.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average lost 0.4%, widening this week's decline to 1.2%. Shares of FedEx (FDX 176.73, -5.40) were largely responsible for the weakness, falling 3.0% after the logistics company reported disappointing earnings and revenue.

Moving to the countercyclical side, consumer staples (+0.5%) and utilities (+0.9%) outperformed while health care (+0.1%) and telecom services (unch) finished behind the broader market. The slight uptick in the health care sector masked relative strength in biotech names that sent iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 366.55, +2.17) higher by 0.6%.

Today's participation was relatively light with roughly 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which fell 5.5% to follow last week's 8.4% increase.

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 276K), May CPI (consensus 0.5%), and Q1 Current Account Balance (expected -$116.70 billion) will all be reported at 8:30 ET while May Leading Indicators (expected 0.4%) and the Philadelphia Fed Survey for June (consensus 8.0) will be reported at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +6.9% YTD Russell 2000 +5.5% YTD S&P 500 +2.0% YTD Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.6% YTD
4:07 pm Oracle misses by $0.08, misses on revs; Oracle guides on the call (ORCL) : Reports Q4 (May) earnings of $0.78 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.86; revenues fell 5.4% year/year to $10.71 bln vs the $10.93 bln consensus.

Software and Cloud Revenues were $8.4 bln, down 6%, but +2% in constant currency vs. -2 to +8% guidance. Cloud software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) revenues were $416 million, growing 29%, and up 35% in constant currency. Cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) revenues were $160 million, growing 25%, and up 31% in constant currency. Hardware Systems Revenues were $1.4 billion, down 4%, but up 5% in constant currency. "We expect to book between $1.5 and $2.0 billion of new SaaS and PaaS business this fiscal year. That means Oracle would sell more new SaaS and PaaS business than salesforce.com plans to sell in their current fiscal year -- the only remaining question is how much more. Oracle's planned SaaS and PaaS revenue growth rate is around 60% in constant currency; salesforce.com has a planned growth rate of around 20%. When you contrast those growth rates it becomes clear that Oracle is on its way to becoming the world's largest enterprise cloud company."Co will guide in constant currency on the call at 17:00.
4:07 pm Jabil Circuit reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides AugQ EPS in-line, revs below consensus (JBL) : Reports Q3 (May) core earnings of $0.49 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.49; revenues rose 15.1% year/year to $4.36 bln vs the $4.45 bln consensus. For Q4 (Aug), co sees core EPS of $0.40-0.50, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.47 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $4.45-4.65 bln vs. $4.75 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"We continue to make great progress as we further diversify our business, and our fiscal third quarter is another good indication that we're executing against our growth strategy. During the quarter, our Electronics Manufacturing Services segment delivered strong operating performance, while our Diversified Manufacturing Services segment increased revenue by 41% YoY...I'm pleased with our performance year to date and I believe we're well-positioned and poised to capture further growth in fiscal 2016."

4:02 pm TerraForm Power announces $500 mln underwritten public offering of shares of its Class A common stock (TERP) : Co intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, along with the net proceeds of its recently completed offering of $150 mln of its senior notes due 2023, to (a) repay amounts outstanding on its revolving credit facility, which amounts were used to fund previously announced acquisitions including Canadian solar plant acquisitions from Invenergy and Moose Power and the acquisition of certain solar generation facilities from a wholly-owned subsidiary of Integrys Energy, and (b) for general corporate purposes, which may include the funding of future acquisitions from its sponsor (SunEdison) (SUNE), future acquisitions from third parties, and/or debt repayment.

3:26 pm Integrated Silicon: Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis recommends shareholders vote for the proposed acquisition by Uphill Investments for $21.00/share (ISSI) : (Special Meeting of Stockholders to be held on June 19, 2015)

11:47 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (218) outpacing new lows (73) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACET, ACGL, ADPT, ADUS, AFG, AGM.A, AGO, ALGN, ALJ, ALN, AMED, ANN, ANTH, AOS, ASB, ATAI, ATML, ATRC, AWH, AXTA, BANR, BBP, BF.A, BF.B, BFAM, BHBK, BID, BKS, BLKB, BOH, BOKF, BOOT, BOTJ, BRO, BSFT, CASI, CBSH, CIEN, CMN, CNC, CNMD, CNO, COF, COKE, COLB, COT, CRI, CSFL, CTRX, CVBF, CWCO, CYBR, CYNI, CYT, DATA, DKL, DLPH, DRC, DSKX, DXCM, EGBN, EGRX, ELLI, ENFC, ENS, ENSG, ESNT, FCB, FCSC, FEYE, FHN, FMBI, FMER, FNB, FNFG, FRED, FRSH, FTNT, FULT, GBCI, GEVA, GIII, GIL, GIMO, GKNT, GWB, HAFC, HBOS, HDS, HF, HNT, HOLX, HOMB, HRC, HRTX, HSP, HSTM, HTLF, IBKC, IBKR, IMPV, IMS, INCR, INDB, INFN, INSY, JAKK, JPM, KEY, KFY, KYTH, LAZ, LGF, LHCG, LNBB, LTXB, MATW, MBFI, MCRI, MIDD, MKL, MLNX, MMC, MOFG, MORN, MSFG, MTD, MW, NBIX, NHTC, NI, NMBL, NPBC, NPTN, NTES, NTRS, NYCB, OMCL, OPY, OSBC, OSIR, OZRK, PACW, PANW, PBCT, PBH, PENN, PFPT, PGTI, PLAY, PLMT, POZN, PRGS, PRTA, PSCH, PSCT, Q, QABA, QADA, QTWO, RARE, RDN, RDUS, RELY, RNG, RNST, ROCK, ROL, RPTP, RVNC, SBCP, SBNY, SBUX, SCHL, SEE, SF, SFBS, SFG, SGYP, SHOP, SIMO, SINA, SMCP, SNV, SOHO, SPB, SPCB, SPNS, SPWH, SSB, STI, SUNE, SUSQ, SYNA, TFSL, THG, THRM, TILE, TMK, TPX, TREE, TSCO, UBSI, UEPS, UMPQ, USPH, UUU, VDSI, VIRT, VOYA, VR, VSTO, VTWG, WBS, WIBC, WIFI, WTFC, ZAIS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ARLP, ATU, AUMN, AUY, AVH, AZUR, BLT, BMR, BWG, CEL, CEQP, CLBS, CNX, CPN, CRVP, CSTM, CTCM, DDD, DTEA, EC, EOD, FAM, FGB, FMY, FSC, FSNN, FSYS, GDP, GFI, GGB, GHM, GHY, GRPN, HGT, HTLD, IEP, ISD, KST, KT, LFL, LPL, MFV, MIN, NGD, NSA, NSM, NTL, NWS, PCN, PHK, PHT, PKX, PLPC, PLTM, RESN, RITT, RJET, RLJE, RMGN, RNO, SGL, SXCP, TEO, VBF, VBND, VEDL, VPV, VXUP, WEA, WLT, XPL, YUMA, ZSAN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IHF, IWC, KBE, KCE, KIE, KRE

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The U.S. stock market went into rally mode on Thursday, bolstered by a variety of factors that carried the S&P 500 to the top end of the trading range it has been in since early April, and both the Nasdaq Composite and Russell 2000 to new all-time highs.

The support structures for Thursday's rally included the following:

A dovish interpretation of the FOMC meeting and Fed Chair Yellen's remarks on Wednesday
A rosy combination of economic data today that painted a picture of improved economic activity and low inflation pressure CPI (+0.4%) and core CPI (+0.1%) prints were lower than expected Initial claims, the Philly Fed Index, and Leading Indicators were all better than expected S&P 500 regained a posture above its 50-day simple moving average off the open
With the ongoing saga in Greece, there was a notion that the U.S. is a more secure place to be invested right now

Dollar weakness, which helped lift the stocks of multinational companies

The S&P 500 closed the session with a 1.0% gain. The S&P 500 information technology sector (+0.8%) went along for the ride, but a more modest gain in Apple (AAPL 127.88, +0.58, +0.5%), and an ugly showing from Oracle (ORCL 42.74, -2.17, -4.8%) following its disappointing fiscal fourth quarter report and first quarter outlook left the sector underperforming the market.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Fiserv (FISV 82.68, +1.75, +2.2%): Has expanded its card production capabilities to include milling and embedding, enabling the company to complete the entire EMV chip card production process in house

Google (GOOG 536.73, +7.47, +1.4%): Company's Nest business unveiled Nest Cam, which is a home security and monitoring device. Separately, SkyNews reported that Google may partner with PE firm to bid for Tesco's Dunnhumby unit

Yahoo! (YHOO 40.93, -0.03, -0.1%): BrightRoll, a division of Yahoo! Inc., announced the international expansion of its technology infrastructure into Hong Kong with Equinix. With expansion into Equinix's Hong Kong data center facilities, advertisers can access the BrightRoll Marketplace in APAC and connect to publishers in the region, including Yahoo owned and operated inventory. TouchPal announced a strategic partnership with Yahoo! that adds Yahoo's mobile search capabilities to TouchPal's Android user platform.

IDC said the wearables market maintained its upward trajectory in the first quarter of 2015 as new vendors, including Apple (AAPL127.88, +0.58, +0.5%), prepared to enter the market. A new forecast from the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker estimates that 72.1 mln wearable devices will be shipped in 2015, up a strong 173.3%
from the 26.4 mln units shipped in 2014. Shipment volumes are expected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 42.6% over the five-year forecast period, reaching 155.7 mln units shipped in 2019.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alibaba (BABA 86.75, -0.05, -0.1%): Bloomberg reported that Alibaba's finance unit closed a private placement that would value the business at more than $40 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter. Separately, Alibaba and Foxconn announced an agreement under which Alibaba and Foxconn will each invest JPY14.5 bln in SoftBank Robotics Holdings Corp, the SoftBank Group's intermediate holding company responsible for its robotics business. Under the agreement, upon the completion of the investment by Alibaba and Foxconn, SoftBank's SBRH share ownership ratio will become 60%, and Alibaba and Foxconn will each hold ownership stakes of 20%.

Ctrip.com International (CTRP 75.01, -0.40, -0.6%): Announced proposed offering of $1 billion convertible senior notes

Cypress Semiconductor (CY 12.65, +0.11, +0.9%): Sent a letter to the Integrated Silicon Solutions (ISSI 21.46, +0.06, +0.3%) Board, indicating it is raising its offer to acquire ISSI to $21.25/share in cash from $20.25/share versus Uphill Investment's $21 offer (ISSI is holing a special meeting regarding its takeout tomorrow). Cypress also introduced a ticking fee, which will add an incremental $0.10 per share for each additional quarter required to obtain regulatory approval for a transaction with Cypress. This ticking fee will accrue daily starting on October 1, 2015 (the day after ISSI expects the Uphill transaction to close) and will be payable by Cypress to ISSI stockholders at transaction close. The Uphill Agreement provides no such ticking fee. Cypress also included a reverse termination fee even though the company thinks it is entirely unnecessary.

FitBit (FIT 29.68, +9.68): Rallied 48% on its first day as a publicly-traded company

Qihoo 360 Tech (QIHU 71.26, +1.11, +1.6%): Bloomberg real M&A column discusses that Chairman's buyout proposal of $77/share might be the best offer the company will receive

Twitter (TWTR 34.66, -0.03, -0.1%): CNBC reported Twitter is looking to focus on live events, using traditional marketing.

Analyst Action:

Blackhawk Network (HAWK 40.41, +1.40, +3.6%): target raised to $50 from $44 at Deutsche Bank

CA, Inc. (CA 30.49, +0.20, +0.7%): initiated with a Market Perform at JMP Securities

Juniper Networks (JNPR 27.89, +0.47, +1.7%): upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush

Marvell Technology (MRVL 14.46, +0.36, +2.6%): upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman -- Removed from Americas Sell List

Micron (MU 24.47, -0.01, -0.1%): target lowered to $41 from $47 at Stifel

Nimble Storage (NMBL 30.34, -1.26, -4.0%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Wunderlich; target $33

Oracle (ORCL 42.74, -2.17, -4.8%): target lowered to $42 from $44 at MKM Partners... RBC Capital Mkts lowers its target to $48 from $50... FBR Capital raises its target to $48 from $44... Wedbush lowers target to $40 from $42
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo)

5:23 pm Novatel Wireless announces it has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of DigiCore Holdings, a provider of advanced machine-to-machine communication and telematics solutions for ~$87 mln (MIFI) : Co announces it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of DigiCore Holdings Limited, a provider of advanced machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and telematics solutions, for 4.40 South African Rand per share, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately USD $87 million based on current exchange rates. Irrevocable undertakings have been signed by holders of 58% of DigiCore's outstanding shares to vote in favor of the transaction.

4:46 pm Rambus and SK Hynix extend license agreement to 2024; SK Hynix will continue making payments to Rambus averaging $12M per quarter for the next 36 quarters (RMBS) : Co and SK Hynix announce they have signed an amendment that extends the current agreement between the two companies through July 1, 2024 for use of Rambus memory-related patented innovations in SK Hynix semiconductor products. SK Hynix and Rambus signed the original agreement for a five-year term in June 2013. With this amendment and extension of the agreement for an additional six years, SK Hynix will continue making payments to Rambus averaging $12M per quarter for the next 36 quarters. In addition, SK Hynix has the option to renew the agreement for an additional three-year extension under the existing rate structure. Other terms and details of the agreement are confidential.

4:15 pm Microchip Technology receives US and German antitrust clearance to acquire Micrel (MCRL) (MCHP) : There is no further antitrust clearance required for closure of the transaction. Co continues to expect that the transaction will close in the third calendar quarter of 2015.

4:10 pm : The major averages ended Thursday on an upbeat note with the Nasdaq Composite (+1.3%) leading the market higher. In addition to pacing today's advance, the Nasdaq set a fresh nominal intraday record high at 5,143.32, overtaking levels last seen in March 2000.

Equity indices rallied throughout the morning after the combination of yesterday's FOMC policy statement and today's economic data set the tone for interest rates to remain at their current levels for longer. To that point, the CPI report for May (+0.4%; Briefing.com consensus 0.5%) was cooler than expected while the remaining data points released today indicated improving economic conditions.

Stocks extended their gains in the early afternoon once Germany's Die Zeit reported that Greece is on track to receive an extension until the end of the year without the involvement of the International Monetary Fund. However, that report was struck down promptly as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she is only aware of the proposal that was brought forth by the creditors.

Furthermore, Reuters reported European Central Bank member Benoit Coeure was asked if Greek banks will be able to open tomorrow, to which he responded, "Tomorrow, yes. Monday, I don't know." However, the ECB was quick to deny issuing this warning.

Despite the continued uncertainty, all ten sectors posted gains with health care (+1.5%) holding the lead throughout the session. The countercyclical group rallied behind biotechnology as iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 377.88, +11.33) spiked 3.1%. In turn, biotechnology helped the Nasdaq Composite spend the day ahead of the Dow and S&P 500.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq enjoyed all-around support as chipmakers displayed relative strength with the PHLX Semiconductor Index climbing 1.5%. Meanwhile, most large cap tech names held their own, but Oracle (ORCL 42.75, -2.16) fell 4.8% after missing earnings/revenue estimates and guiding below consensus expectations. Oracle's underperformance kept the tech sector (+0.8%) behind the broader market throughout the day.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, industrials ended in-line with the broader market, but that masked relative strength in transport names. The Dow Jones Transportation Average spiked 1.5% with all 20 members ending in the green. Alaska Air (ALK 63.99, +1.96) climbed 3.2% to pace the rally while five other components gained at least 2.0% apiece.

Also of note, the energy sector (unch) surrendered its gain ahead of the close even though crude oil added 1.1%, settling at $60.42/bbl. In other commodities, gold futures jumped 2.1% to $1202/ozt, contributing to a 1.2% gain in the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 19.09, +0.23).

Treasuries surrendered their overnight gains and continued their retreat into the afternoon, sending the benchmark 10-yr yield higher by three basis points to 2.35%.

Today's trading volume surpassed recent totals as more than 830 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims, CPI, Current Account Balance, Leading Indicators, and the Philadelphia Fed Survey:


The initial claims level declined to 267,000 for the week ending June 13 from an unrevised 279,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 276,000
The four-week moving average dipped to 277,000 from 279,000
The Consumer Price Index increased 0.4% in May after increasing 0.1% in April while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.5%
That was the largest monthly increase in the headline index since a 0.6% gain in February 2013. Prices were flat on a year-over-year basis
Total energy prices increased 4.3% in May after decreasing 1.3% in April
Gasoline prices rose 10.4% after declining 1.7% in April
Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.1% in May after increasing 0.3% in April while the consensus expected an increase of 0.2%
The current account deficit for the first quarter totaled $113.30 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to hit $116.70 billion
The fourth quarter deficit was revised to $103.10 billion from $113.50 billion
The Leading Indicators report for May was up 0.7% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.4%
The Philadelphia Fed Survey for June rose to 15.2 from 6.7 while economists polled by Briefing.com had expected an improvement to 8.0

There is no economic data on tomorrow's schedule.

Nasdaq Composite +8.4% YTD
Russell 2000 +6.7% YTD
S&P 500 +3.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.6% YTD

DJ30 +180.10 NASDAQ +68.07 SP500 +20.80 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2011/1.73 bln/834 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2080/832.5 mln/1021 3:40 pm :

Weakness in the dollar index today helped provide some strength to select commodities such as precious metals
Aug gold ended the day +2.1% at $1202.00/oz, while July silver gained $0.19 to $16.16/oz
WTI oil futures gained some steam today, rising $0.65 to $60.42/barrel
Gasoline and heating oil futures also posted gains today
Meanwhile, July natural gas lost 2.8% to $2.78/MMBtu
July corn fell $0.02 today to end floor trading at $3.58/bushel

4:07 pm Red Hat beats by $0.03, beats on revs (RHT) : Reports Q1 (May) adj. earnings of $0.44 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.41; revenues rose 13.5% year/year to $481 mln vs the $472.57 mln consensus, and 22% measured in constant currency.

Subscription revenue for the quarter was $425 million, up 14% in U.S. dollars year-over-year, or 23% measured in constant currency.

4:03 pm Finisar reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (FNSR) : Reports Q4 (Apr) earnings of $0.25 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.25; revenues rose 4.5% year/year to $320 mln vs the $320.5 mln consensus. Non-GAAP gross margin improved to 30.3% compared to 30.0% in the preceding quarter, primarily due to the improvement in yields for a new optical engine product for supercomputing applications that we started to ramp in the third quarter of fiscal 2015 that had negatively impacted gross margin during that third quarter, partially offset by the impact of the full three months of the annual telecom price reduction that typically takes effect on January.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.23-0.29 vs. $0.27 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $308-328 mln vs. $ 317.34 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
12:23 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (247) outpacing new lows (69) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABT, ACET, ACFC, ACGL, ADMS, AEC, AFG, AFSI, AGII, AGO, AHS, ALJ, ALLB, ALN, ALNY, AMBA, AMCX, AMED, AMPH, AMSF, AMSG, ANAC, ANN, ANTH, AOS, APLE, ASGN, ATAI, ATRC, ATRI, AWH, AXTA, AYI, BABY, BBP, BF.A, BF.B, BFAM, BIB, BID, BKFS, BKS, BLKB, BMRN, BOOT, BOTJ, BPMC, BSTC, BYD, CAG, CAKE, CAVM, CE, CEB, CF, CHFC, CIEN, CMRX, CNMD, COKE, COLL, COT, COTY, CPB, CRH, CSFL, CTRX, CVS, CYBR, CYNI, CYT, DAC, DG, DIS, DLPH, DPLO, DSKX, DST, DTV, DXCM, EA, EGBN, ENS, ENSG, ENTG, EPAM, ESNT, EVC, FCSC, FCTY, FEYE, FISV, FLXS, FRED, FTNT, GCBC, GD, GDDY, GEVA, GIII, GILD, GIMO, GPN, GS, GSIG, GTT, HAIN, HALO, HAS, HAWK, HDS, HIFR, HIHO, HOLX, HRTX, HSIC, HSTM, HZNP, IBB, IL, ILMN, INFN, INGN, INSM, INSY, IPAR, IPHI, ISSI, IXYS, JHX, KFY, KMPH, LAZ, LGF, LHCG, LKQ, LMNS, LOXO, LPSB, M, MA, MAN, MANH, MASI, MATW, MCRI, MENT, MHK, MKL, MLNX, MMC, MMSI, MNTA, MORN, MTD, MYCC, NAT, NCOM, NHTC, NKE, NWL, OMCL, ONEQ, OSIR, PANW, PBH, PBIP, PENN, PETS, PF, PFPT, PGR, PGTI, PKI, PLAY, PLMT, POZN, PSCC, PSCD, PSCF, PSCH, PSCT, PZZA, Q, QADA, QADB, QQEW, QTWO, RARE, RDN, RDUS, RNG, RNST, ROL, RPTP, SBUX, SC, SCHL, SCI, SCL, SEE, SEIC, SGEN, SGYP, SIGM, SIMO, SIRO, SKX, SLAB, SNA, SNX, SOHO, SPB, SQBG, SSFN, SYBT, SYNA, TCX, TFX, THG, THRM, TILE, TMK, TPX, TREE, TSCO, TSS, TV, TWOU, TWX, ULBI, VOYA, VR, VTWG, VTWO, WAT, WCIC, WEBK, WMS, WWD, XL, XNCR, XON, XXIA, ZIXI, ZNH, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAVL, APIC, APP, AXON, AZUR, BGH, BIS, BLT, BOXC, CEQP, CH, CHK, CLBS, CNX, CTP, DAVE, DOM, DPW, DSCO, DTEA, EGLE, EOX, EQGP, ERA, FHCO, FSC, FSNN, GEF.B, GGB, GHY, GLF, HERO, HGT, HH, HOV, IAF, IO, ISD, KST, MFV, MGF, NAV, NETE, NR, NSLP, NSM, NTG, NURO, OB, OII, ORIG, PCN, PHK, PHT, PLPC, PSF, PVA, RELL, RLJE, RUSHB, SGF, SPW, SRSC, SRV, USEG, WEA, WING, XPL, ZAZA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IBB, IGN, IHF, IWC, IWM, IYF, IYH, KIE, MDY, UWM, UYG, XBI, XLF, XLV, XLY

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: PALL, VXZ

8:02 am SunPower breaks ground on Henrietta Solar Project; co expects the plant to be operational by the end of 2016 (SPWR) : Co announces it has started construction on the 102-megawatt (:AC) Henrietta Solar Project in Kings County, California. The system will generate power for Pacific Gas and Electric's customers under a long-term power purchase agreement. SunPower expects the plant to be operational by the end of 2016.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Major indices all ended lower after yesterday's monster rally as many participants were reluctant to step in ahead of the weekend with no new developments on the Greek front. There was not much in the line of economic news heading into the weekend, although its worth noting that next week May's existing home sales report is expected to be released.

It should be little surprise that the S&P Information Technology sector ended 0.8% lower today considering the broader market weakness. However, the underperformance of the sector against the broader market, the S&P 500 falling just 0.6%, is certainly something worth noting. On the other hand, there were several notable gainers that bucked the overall sector trend, including, Fiserv (FISV 85.27, +2.58, +3.1%), Microchip Tech (MCHP 49.67, +0.66, +1.3%), Electronic Arts (EA 65.95, +0.68, +1%), Red Hat (RHT 79.30, +0.81, +1%), and Fidelity National Info Services (FIS 63.94, +0.54, +0.9%)

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

eBay (EBAY 61.17, +0.48, +0.8%): Confirmed it has sold its equity interest in craigslist. Under a confidential settlement agreement, craigslist has repurchased all of eBay's equity and all litigation between eBay and craigslist will be dismissed.

Red Hat (RHT 79.30, +0.81, +1%): Announced that it is taking over the OpenJDK 7 project, following a transition of leadership that is meant to help provide continuity of public updates and support for the technology.

Computer Sciences (CSC 67.71, -0.02, -0.03%): Disclosed that its Exec. VPs (2) sold 55,016 shares at $67.93-68.45 worth ~$3.7 million.

Maxim Integrated (MXIM 35.56, +1.14, +3.3%): The company was among others named as potential Texas Instruments (TXN 54.51, +0.29, -0.5%) targets, according to Reuters DealTalk, which indicated that TXN is looking for a large acquisition and had talks last year with MXIM. Also mentioned Analog Devices (ADI 67.91, -0.39, -0.6%), Linear Technology (LLTC 47.27, +0.24, +0.5%), Microchip Technology (MCHP 49.67, +0.66, +1.3%), Intersil (ISIL 13.54, +0.00, +0%) and Atmel (ATML 10.30, +0.06, +0.6%)

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Qihoo 360 Tech. (QIHU 69.54, -0.172, -2.4%): Formed a special committee to consider its proposed 'going private' proposal.

Integrated Silicon Solution (ISSI 22.11, +0.65, +3%): Entered into a further amendment to the previously announced merger agreement with Uphill Investment Co -- the merger consideration was further increased to $22.00 per share in cash, from the $21.00 per share in cash. ISSI and Uphill amended the Uphill Agreement after Cypress announced yesterday that it had submitted a revised offer of $21.25 per share

Analyst Action:

Fiserv (FISV 85.27, +2.58, +3.1%): Upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer; price target $95

Micron (MU 24.47, +0.01, +0.02%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Topeka Capital; price target raised to $34 from $30

Finisar (FNSR 19.88, -2.27, -10.3%): Downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James... price target raised to $25.50 from $24 at MKM Partners

Zhaopin (ZPIN16.38, -0.20, -1.2%): Initiated with Buy at Citigroup

InterNAP (INAP 9.27, +0.15, +1.6%): Initiated with Outperform at Oppenheimer; price target $11

SAP AG (SAP 72.66, -0.60, -0.8%): Price target raised to $89 from $85 at Barclays; Overweight

Cohu (COHU 12.79, -0.13, -1%): Price target raised to $16 from $15 at Dougherty; Buy

Redhat (RHT 79.30, +0.81, +1%): Price target raised to $88 from $78 at UBS; Buy... price target raised to $75 from $70 at MKM Partners; Neutral... price target raised to $85 from $79 at Stifel; Buy... price target raised to $86 from $82 at Needham; Buy... price target raised to $88 from $85 at Mizuho; Buy... price target raised to $85 from $80 at Northland Capital; Outperform

Oracle (ORCL 41.59, -1.15, -2.7%): Price target lowered to $46 from $48 at UBS; Buy

Monolithic Power (MPWR 54.27, +0.15, +0.3%): Price target raised to $62 from $58 at Stifel; Buy

Ubiquiti Networks (UBNT 33.35, +0.71, +2.2%): Price target raised to $37 from $32 at Wunderlich; Buy

Elli Mae (ELLI 68.14, +0.54, +0.8%): Price target raised to $68 from $62 at FBR Capital; Market Perform

Weekly Recap - Week ending 19-Jun-15The stock market ended an upbeat week on a lower note as participants showed reluctance to step in ahead of a weekend that will be filled with uncertainty related to Greece. The S&P 500 lost 0.5% on Friday, but gained 0.8% for the week.

Despite frequent-and short-lived-rumors to the contrary, the entire week passed without a deal between Greece and its creditors. That lack of progress caused more than EUR3.00 billion in outflows from the Greek banking system this week alone, which prompted the European Central Bank to increase Greece's Emergency Liquidity Assistance by EUR1.80 billion to EUR84.90 billion.

European indices ended the Friday session near their flat lines while Germany's 10-yr bund rallied, sending its yield lower by 11 basis points to 0.75%. For the week, Germany's benchmark yield fell ten basis points. Similarly, the U.S. 10-yr note rallied today with its yield dropping seven basis points to 2.26%, which extended this week's decline to 13 basis points.

All ten sectors ended the day in negative territory with the consumer staples sector (-0.1%) losing its slim gain during the final hour. The countercyclical group displayed relative strength thanks to ConAgra (CAG 43.37, +4.25), which spiked 10.9% after Jana Partners disclosed a 7.2% active stake in the company and announced plans to seek representation on the company's board of directors.

Similar to the staples sector, consumer discretionary (-0.3%) and health care (-0.1%) ended the day with slimmer losses than the broader market. The discretionary sector displayed relative strength thanks to gains among homebuilders after KB Home (KBH 16.37, +1.41) beat earnings estimates. Shares of KBH soared 9.4% while the broader iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 27.40, +0.35) gained 1.3%. To be fair, retail stocks also fared better than the broader market with SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 100.40, -0.11) ending little changed.

Elsewhere, the health care sector spent the day near its flat line, locking in a 2.0% gain since last Friday, which helped the group finish the week ahead of the remaining sectors. Biotechnology was at the forefront of the weekly move with iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 377.40, -0.48) spiking 3.7% for the week.

On the downside, the energy sector (-0.9%) trailed throughout the session with crude oil contributing to the weakness. The energy component lost 1.3%, ending the pit session at $59.64/bbl. Similar to the energy sector, financials (-1.0%) struggled throughout the session. For the week, the financial sector slipped 0.1%.

It is worth noting that earlier this week, the financial sector was among the top-performing groups of the month with the strength predicated on the expectation that interest rates will continue rising. However, Wednesday's FOMC policy statement indicated the Fed is determined to stay on its current path for the time being, which pressured the financial sector as the week drew to its close.

Also of note, the top-weighted technology sector (-0.7%) struggled throughout the day, which prevented the market from stringing together a rebound rally. Large cap sector components like Apple (AAPL 126.60, -1.28), Microsoft (MSFT 46.10, -0.62), and Oracle (ORCL 41.59, -1.15) lost between 1.0% and 2.7% while chipmakers fared a bit better with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 0.3%.

Today's trading volume was well above average, which was due to quadruple witching. As a result, nearly two billion shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Monday's data will be limited to the 10:00 ET release of the Existing Home Sales report for May (Briefing.com consensus 5.26 million).

Week in Review: Nasdaq Sets Fresh Record High

The stock market began the trading week on a cautious note with the S&P 500 (-0.5%) sliding below its 100-day moving average (2,089). Equities notched their session lows during the opening hour after Sunday's talks between Greek officials and the country's creditors broke down without any progress. This left the situation essentially unchanged since last week with the two sides remaining at odds over cuts to state pensions/wages and the appropriate VAT levels. The lack of progress between the two sides fueled the opening retreat, but the S&P 500 was able to cut its loss in half by midday. Equities held near their afternoon levels after Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung reported that Eurozone officials have agreed on a plan B in the event Greece is unable to come to terms with its creditors.

The market ended Tuesday on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 adding 0.6%. In addition to posting a solid gain, the benchmark index reclaimed its 100-day moving average (2,089) after settling below that mark on Monday. Equity indices began the day near their flat lines and rallied throughout the day, unperturbed by the lack of progress between Greece and its creditors. Furthermore, the rhetoric in Athens intensified with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras saying the International Monetary Fund bears "criminal" responsibility for the current state of the Greek economy. Similar to U.S. equities, European stocks were able to rally despite the lack of positive macro developments. All ten sectors posted gains with consumer staples (+1.1%) leading the advance.

Equities ended the midweek session on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 settling four points below its 50-day moving average (2,104). The benchmark index added 0.2% while the Dow and Nasdaq posted comparable gains. The key indices began the trading day with modest gains, but the first half of the session saw a steady retreat with liquidity drying up ahead of the afternoon release of the FOMC policy statement, which called for no change to the current monetary policy stance. However, the accompanying interest rate forecast implied two 25-basis point increases before the year ends. Furthermore, the Fed lowered its 2015 GDP growth forecast range to 1.8-2.0% from the range of 2.3-2.7% that was forecast in March. Stocks struggled for direction immediately after the release, but rallied to highs during Chair Janet Yellen's press conference, which was viewed as dovish. To that point, Ms. Yellen said the central bank would like to see more "decisive evidence" on inflation and employment before hiking rates.

Stocks ended Thursday on an upbeat note with the Nasdaq Composite (+1.3%) leading the market higher. In addition to pacing the advance, the Nasdaq set a fresh nominal intraday record high at 5,143.32, overtaking levels last seen in March 2000. Equity indices rallied throughout the morning after the combination of Wednesday's FOMC policy statement and Thursday's economic data set the tone for interest rates to remain at their current levels for longer. To that point, the CPI report for May (+0.4%; Briefing.com consensus 0.5%) was cooler than expected while the remaining data points released on Thursday indicated improving economic conditions.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17898.84 18014.28 115.44 0.6 1.1
Nasdaq 5051.10 5117.00 65.90 1.3 8.0
S&P 500 2094.11 2109.99 15.88 0.8 2.5
Russell 2000 1265.02 1284.66 19.64 1.6 6.6

5:03 pm Emcore announces final results of modified dutch auction; repurchased ~6.87 mln shares at $6.55 (EMKR) :

3:31 pm Earnings Preview for the week of June 22 - 26 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of June 22 - 26 some of the bigger names include:

Monday: After Hours - SONC
Tuesday: Pre Market - CCL, DRI, BBRY, IHS

Wednesday: Pre Market - MON, LEN
After Hours - BBBY, WOR, SCS, MLHR, APOG
Thursday: Pre Market - ACN, CMC, SJR, BKS, WGO, MEI, LNNAfter Hours - NKE, MU, SNX
Friday:
Pre Market - FINL

Week Ahead:

Monday: May Existing Home Sales (10:00 ET)

Tuesday: May Durable Goods Orders and Durable Goods ex-transportation (08:30 ET); April FHFA Housing Price Index (09:00 ET); May New Home Sales (10:00 ET); $26 billion 2-year note auction (13:00 ET)

Wednesday: MBA Mortgage Index for the week ending 6/20 (07:00 ET); Q1 GDP -- Third Estimate and Q1 GDP Deflator -- Third Estimate (08:30 ET); Crude Inventories for the week ending 6/20 (10:30 ET); $35 billion 5-year note auction (13:00 ET)

Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending 6/20 and Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ending 6/13 (08:30 ET); May Personal Income and Personal Spending (08:30 ET); May PCE Prices -- Core (08:30 ET); Fed Governor Powell (FOMC voter) speaks on "Building a Safer Payment System" (09:45 ET); Natural Gas Inventories for the week ending 6/20 (10:30 ET); $29 billion 7-year note auction (13:00 ET)

Friday: June Michigan Sentiment -- Final (10:00 ET); Kansas City Fed President George (non-FOMC voter) speaks on "The Payments System" (12:45 ET)

11:42 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (165) outpacing new lows (71) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACFC, ACGL, ACHC, AFSI, AGO, AHL, ALJ, ALSK, AMED, AMPH, AMSG, ASGN, AXTA, AYI, BBP, BCRX, BIB, BITI, BKS, BLKB, BOOT, BRKL, BRO, CAG, CAVM, CEB, CFI, CFO, CHFC, CNO, COF, COKE, CPB, CRI, CSF, CSFL, CUK, CVS, CYT, DPLO, DSKX, DST, DTV, DWRE, DXCM, EGBN, EMCI, EME, ENS, ENSG, ESNT, ETY, EVC, FCB, FCBC, FCTY, FISV, FLXS, FOE, FTHI, GDDY, GEVA, GLOB, GLPI, GTT, HAIN, HALO, HAS, HBCP, HCA, HDS, HELE, HLS, HOLX, HQY, HRTX, HSIC, IBB, IL, IMAX, IMS, INFN, INGN, IPCM, IPHI, ISSI, JHX, KMPH, KYTH, LABC, LGND, LHCG, LKQ, LNBB, LOXO, MCRI, MHLD, MKL, MKTX, MNTA, MSBF, MSO, MTG, MTN, MW, MXL, MYCC, NAT, NBIX, NKE, OPB, ORLY, PANW, PEGA, PETS, PF, PGR, PGTI, PRGS, PSCH, PSCT, PTC, PZZA, Q, QQEW, QQXT, RHT, RNG, RNST, ROCK, ROL, RPTP, RTIX, RTRX, RYAAY, SBUX, SC, SCI, SCL, SEE, SEIC, SGYP, SLAB, SPB, SPNS, SQBG, STRZA, STRZB, SUBK, SWKS, SYBT, TFX, THG, TREE, TSS, TV, TWOU, UBOH, UCBI, UHS, USPH, VRTU, WCIC, XL, ZTS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAVL, ACP, ADK, APIC, ARLP, AXON, BBG, BGH, BGR, BHK, BIS, CHK, CLBS, CMLP, CNX, CRT, CTP, CTR, DFP, DTEA, EBIO, EGLE, EOX, ERA, FMY, FSYS, GIFI, GLF, HGT, HH, HTCH, HWAY, KIQ, KYE, MEET, MGF, MTR, NAV, NETE, NOR, NR, NSLP, NSM, NTG, NTIP, NTL, NTN, OB, OII, PACD, PCN, PGP, PHK, PHT, PLPC, PSUN, PVA, PVCT, RLJE, SCON, SD, SMM, SRV, SSN, STRT, SYNL, TEO, URRE, VTG, XPL, ZAZA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IBB, IGV, IHF

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: DBB, PALL, SGG, URA

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From Briefing.com: Another day passed and it was another day that Greece and its creditors still could not work out a deal. That reality took the shine off an early rebound effort that had been helped along by some encouraging income and spending data out of the U.S.

Separately, the S&P 500 appeared to run into some technical resistance in the 2115 area, which it needed to clear convincingly to improve the negative price pattern off the weekly high. It did not and that invited some renewed selling interest that drove the S&P 500 back to the 2102 area. The latter marked its 50-day exponential moving average and it is also where the market found some support.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.3%) traded in-line with the broader market on a day that saw it take a back seat to the healthcare sector (+0.5%), which moved on the news that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of upholding tax subsidies in 34 states that use the federal healthcare exchange rather than their own state-run exchanges.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Accenture (ACN 99.48, +1.71, +1.8%): Reported Q3 (May) earnings of $1.30 per share, excluding $0.06 pension settlement (GAAP EPS $1.24), which was ahead of analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 0.4% year/year to $7.77 bln, which was also ahead of estimates. New bookings for the third quarter were $8.5 billion and reflected a negative 10 percent foreign-currency impact compared with new bookings in the third quarter last year. For Q4, sees revenues of $7.45-7.70 bln. For FY15, raises EPS to $4.73-4.78, excluding non-recurring items, from $4.66-4.76 and net revenue growth in local currency to +9-10% from +8-10%. Accenture continues to target new bookings for fiscal 2015 in the range of $33 billion to $35 billion.

Broadcom Corporation (BRCM 52.91, -0.23, -0.4%): Announced a series of Memorandum of Understanding agreements with several Chinese companies, including H3C, Inspur and StarTimes, for innovation in the fields of networking and IT technology CA, Inc. (CA 30.18, -0.50, -1.6%): Appointed Jeff DeMarrais as Chief Communications Officer, effective July 20, 2015.

Corning (GLW 20.55, -0.22, -1.1%): To invest in a new Gen 8.5 liquid crystal display glass substrate finishing facility in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area in Southwest China. This new finishing facility will become Corning's second LCD plant on the China mainland.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 26.96, +0.08, +0.3%): Expanded its Converged Supercore architecture with the introduction of the PTX1000, the industry's most compact 3 Tbps fixed configuration core router.

Micron (MU 24.02, -0.04, -0.2%): After Thursday's close, reported Q3 (May) earnings of $0.54 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was worse than analysts' average estimate. Revenues fell 3.2% year/year to $3.85 bln, also below analysts' average expectation. The company's overall consolidated gross margin of 31 percent for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 was down 3 percent compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2015 primarily due to lower average selling prices for DRAM, partially offset by lower manufacturing costs.

Salesforce.com (CRM 73.63, +0.13, +0.2%): Announced Salesforce Service for Apps and the general availability of Salesforce SOS.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Amazon.com (AMZN 440.10, -0.74, -0.2%): Announced the availability of the Alexa Skills Kit, a collection of self-service APIs and tools that allow developers to create new voice-driven capabilities. Co noted that it has invested $100 mln to develop the service.

BlackBerry (BBRY 8.63, -0.20, -2.3%): Provided update on previously announced 12 mln share purchase program. As of June 22, 2015, BlackBerry had 529,487,374 common shares outstanding, the public float was 464,726,304 common shares and the average daily trading volume for the 6 months prior to May 31, 2015 was 2,314,477. BlackBerry has filed a notice of intention to commence a normal course issuer bid with the TSX. Daily purchases will be limited to 578,619 common shares, other than block purchases. The purchases may commence on June 29, 2015 and will terminate on June 28, 2016 or on such earlier date as BlackBerry may complete its purchases pursuant to the notice of intention. In the past 12 months, BlackBerry has not repurchased any of its outstanding securities.

Cree (CREE 27.51, -3.05, -10.0%): Company announced board of directors has approved:A $500 mln stock buyback authorization for FY16 A restructuring of the LED Products business Due to recent LED market trends that have resulted in higher LED average selling price erosion than previously forecast and the continued under-utilization of Cree's LED factory, company has decided to restructure the LED Products business to reduce excess capacity and overhead to improve the cost structure moving forward. Additionally, co is increasing LED reserves to reflect the more aggressive pricing environment experienced in the current quarter, and to factor in a more conservative pricing outlook for FY16. The restructuring charges are targeted to be ~$85 mln
Revenue to increase to ~$1.8 bln Company also lowered Q4 revenues to ~$375 mln from $420-440 mln, which is well below analysts' average expectation, which stood close to the midpoint of the prior guidance range.

Integrated Silicon (ISSI 22.01, -1.53, -6.5%): Cypress Semiconductor (CY 12.28, -0.08, -0.7%) increased offer to acquire ISSI to a price of $22.60 per share, while maintaining its previously outlined ticking fee of $0.10 per share per quarter beginning October 1, 2015. Cypress added that, "Our strategic and financial analysis indicates this is the maximum price justified for ISSI in order for the deal to create long-term value for our shareholders."

Priceline (PCLN 1149.19, -5.73, -0.5%): Company announced it will amend its parity terms with all accommodations partners in Europe by 1 July 2015 to be consistent with the binding commitments given to the French, Italian and Swedish National Competition Authorities in April, and in line with its commitment to a new Europe-wide standard to keep competition healthy, driving value for consumers and hoteliers. Under the new provisions, Booking.com will abandon its price, availability and booking conditions parity provisions with respect to other online travel agencies.

Analyst Action:

Amazon.com (AMZN 440.10, -0.74, -0.2%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Evercore ISI

Cree (CREE 27.51, -3.05, -10.0%): target lowered to $28 from $31 at Canaccord Genuity... target lowered to $30.50 from $35.00 at UBS

FireEye (FEYE 51.62, +0.67, +1.3%): initiated with an Outperform at Wedbush

Proofpoint (PFPT 65.11, +0.11, +0.2%): initiated with an Outperform at Wedbush

Red Hat (RHT 79.12, +0.60, +0.8%): target raised to $92 from $85 at Northland Capital... target raised to $88 from $80 at Oppenheimer
4:15 pm : The stock market registered its second consecutive decline on Thursday with the S&P 500 (-0.3%) sliding below its 50-day simple moving average (2,107). The benchmark index held a modest gain through the morning, but relative weakness among several influential sectors pulled the S&P 500 into negative territory during afternoon action.

Stocks began the day with slim gains, but retreated from their opening levels during the initial hour amid reports today's Eurogroup meeting was suspended to give the Greek delegation time to submit a better proposal to the creditors. The market dipped from its opening levels in reaction, but was able to briefly extend to a fresh session high with the health care (+0.5%) sector driving the move after the Supreme Court upheld federal subsidies to the Affordable Care Act. Hospital names benefited from the news with the likes of Tenet Healthcare (THC 56.21, +6.13), HCA (HCA 90.72, +7.35), and Universal Health (UHS 140.82, +10.14) spiking between 7.8% and 12.2%.

Staying in the health care sector, insurer Humana (HUM 197.37, +13.14) spiked during the afternoon and ended higher by 7.1% after Bloomberg reported the company received a takeover offer from Aetna (AET 132.60, +5.09).

Unlike health care, most of the remaining influential sectors struggled while the consumer discretionary space (-0.1%) settled just below its flat line, but ahead of other cyclical groups. Media names like Comcast (CMCSA 60.88, +0.52) and Time Warner (TWX 88.20, +1.10) posted gains close to 1.0% apiece while homebuilders also finished ahead of the broader market with iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 27.96, +0.04) adding 0.1%.

Elsewhere, the financial sector (-0.7%) underperformed today, and the growth-sensitive group is now down 0.5% for the week versus a 0.4% week-to-date decline for the S&P 500. Similar to financials, energy (-1.0%) and industrials (-0.8%) lagged throughout the day.

The energy sector struggled amid commodity weakness as crude oil fell 0.8% to $59.73/bbl. Today's decline widened the energy sector's June loss to 2.7%, which puts the group only ahead of the utilities sector (-0.7%). The rate-sensitive sector has given up 6.0% month-to-date.

For its part, the industrial sector endured losses among large cap names like General Electric (GE 27.04, -0.22) and Caterpillar (CAT 86.72, -1.45). That being said, transport stocks did not fare much better with the Dow Jones Transportation Average (-0.9%) extending this week's decline to 2.1%. The bellwether complex notched a fresh low for the month near levels that have not been seen since late October.

Also of note, the top-weighted technology sector (-0.3%) ended in-line with the broader market, but that masked modest strength among chipmakers. The PHLX Semiconductor Index shed 0.1%, but ARM Holdings (ARMH 53.86, +1.09) rallied 2.1% to a two-month high. On the flip side, Cree (CREE 27.51, -3.05) plunged 10.0% after issuing below-consensus guidance and announcing plans to restructure its LED business.

Treasuries spent the day in negative territory, but they cut their losses in half during afternoon action with the 10-yr yield ending higher by two basis points at 2.40%.

Today's participation represented the largest amount of activity since Friday as more than 750 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims and Personal Income/Spending data:


The initial claims level increased to 271,000 for the week ending June 20 from an upwardly revised 268,000 (from 267,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 271,000
Over the last four weeks, the initial claims level has averaged 274,000, which is slightly above the 15-year lows reached in May, but still points toward strong employment trends
Personal income increased 0.5% for a second consecutive month in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.4%
The personal savings rate dropped to 5.1% in May from 5.4% in April
Personal spending increased 0.9% in May after an upwardly revised 0.1% (from 0.0%) in April while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.7%
Core PCE Prices rose 0.1%, as expected by the consensus

Tomorrow, the final reading of the Michigan Sentiment Survey for June will be released at 10:00 ET (Briefing.com consensus 94.6).

Nasdaq Composite +7.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +6.5% YTD
S&P 500 +2.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.4% YTD

DJ30 -75.71 NASDAQ -10.22 SP500 -6.27 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1298/1.47 bln/1529 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1107/755.5 mln/1978

3:35 pm :

The dollar index traded flat to modestly lower today, so it wasn't a big catalyst for commodities today.
Oil lost steam, while natural gas futures rallied on storage data.
Aug crude finished the day $0.50 lower at $59.73/barrel. July nat gas rose $0.09 to $2.85/MMBtu.
Metals were mixed/mostly flat to given the action in the dollar index.
Aug gold ended today's floor trading session $0.80 lower to $1171.80/oz.
July silver lost $0.06 to $15.80/oz and July copper ended unchanged at $2.62/lb

4:05 pm Micron misses by $0.02, misses on revs (MU) : Reports Q3 (May) earnings of $0.54 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.56; revenues fell 3.2% year/year to $3.85 bln vs the $3.91 bln consensus.

Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 were 8 percent lower compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2015 primarily due to a 10 percent decline in DRAM average selling prices (Guidance was for down high single digits) and relatively flat DRAM sales volume (Guidance was for up high single digits). The company's overall consolidated gross margin of 31 percent for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 was down 3 percent compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2015 primarily due to lower average selling prices for DRAM, partially offset by lower manufacturing costs.

4:02 pm Aehr Test Systems announces $1.7 mln follow-on order for ABTS burn-in and test systems from leading IC manufacturer (AEHR) : Co announces it has received a $1.7 mln follow-on order for its Advanced Burn-in and Test Systems from a leading multi-national manufacturer of advanced logic integrated circuits for automotive, embedded processing, digital signal processing and analog applications. The order includes prepayments in order to lock in short lead times and special pricing, and the systems are expected to ship within the next six months.

11:46 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (157) outpacing new lows (91) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABG, ACN, ADPT, AET, AFH, AFMD, AGM.A, AMCX, ANSS, ASB, ATTO, BABY, BANC, BBNK, BKMU, BLOX, BOFI, BOKF, BRSS, CATY, CCL, CEB, CENT, CENTA, CHCO, CI, CMCSA, CMCSK, CNC, CNTY, COTY, CRI, CUK, CVBF, CVG, CYH, CYNO, DCM, DCOM, DIS, DMRC, DRC, DST, DTV, EA, EBSB, EGBN, ELNK, ENH, EQGP, EROS, EXAS, FB, FCBC, FCF, FFIC, FFIN, FNB, FNLC, FRME, GCAP, GIG, GIL, GRO, GSBC, GTS, GTT, GWB, GWPH, HAFC, HAS, HBCP, HBOS, HCA, HOMB, HQH, HQL, HQY, HTBK, HTH, HVB, IACI, IBKR, INFA, IPAR, IRMD, ITRN, JAKK, JOF, LEN.B, LGND, LKQ, LNN, LPNT, MASI, MD, MHLD, MKC, MKC.V, MKL, MKSI, MKTX, MTG, NHC, NHTC, NPBC, NPK, NTRI, NTT, NVEC, NWHM, OCFC, OLBK, OPB, ORIT, ORLY, PACW, PBY, PFBC, PFLT, PSCF, PZZA, QTWO, RMP, RMTI, RNG, RNST, RUTH, RYAAY, SBCF, SBUX, SEM, SFNC, SNV, SPB, SSB, STS, TCBI, TFSL, THFF, TILE, TMH, TREE, TRMK, TSN, TV, UFCS, UHS, VDTH, VGR, VRTU, WAL, WD, WIBC, WSFS, WTFC, YDKN

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACP, ACTG, AHGP, ALLT, AUMN, AUY, BDN, BLH, BMR, BOI, BTZ, CAR, CBD, CBL, CHK, CNW, CNX, CP, CREE, CTCM, CTL, CVSL, CYS, DDR, DNN, DPM, DSCO, DSE, EDE, EMMS, EMO, ETR, EVM, FELE, FLS, FTEK, GGB, GLF, GMCR, GWR, HCP, HR, HTGM, HTR, HTS, IGR, JOY, JPS, KATE, LC, LOCM, LPL, LXP, MARA, MDIV, MEI, MFA, MIN, NADL, NAV, NGD, NSC, NSM, OFC, OGE, OTEX, PACD, PGRE, PHF, PLTM, PSF, PVCT, RKDA, SIR, SKT, SO, SRC, SRF, SRSC, SYNL, TAL, TCO, TGB, TKR, USEG, VPCO, VSH, VXUP, WPC, WPCS, WSR


ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: KRE

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EGPT, ENZL, EWM, KOL, PALL, VXZ

10:28 am Methode Electronics (-32%) falls to 13 month low following ~in-line Q4 results after guiding FY16 well below consensus (MEI) :

Co gave many reasons for FY16 woes, including: pricing concessions in the Automotive segment; lower Ford revenues due to a center console program going end of life; lower PowerRail revenues in the Power Product segmentThis momentum stock was subject to a beating after the horrendous guidance -- the stock rose almost 200% over the last two years. Stock has thus far held support near the $29 level.
6:37 am Methode Electronics reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides FY16 well below consensus (MEI) :

Reports Q4 (Apr) GAAP earnings of $0.68 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.68; revenues rose 1.1% year/year to $227.3 mln vs the $228.07 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $2.07-2.22 vs. $2.75 Capital IQ Consensus; sees FY16 revs of $830-865 mln vs. $918.00 mln Capital IQ Consensus, citing:Pricing concessions in the Automotive segment; lower Ford revenues due to a center console program going end of life; lower PowerRail revenues in the Power Product segment.Co is targeting a five-year compounded annual growth rate for EBITDA in the range of 9 to 10%.
M&A news: ISSI -2.3% (Cypress Semiconductor (CY) increases offer to acquire ISSI to a price of $22.60 per share, says it is its best and final offer; stock closed at $23.54),

8:02 am TerraForm Power announced the acquisition of a 9 MW net ownership stake in a portfolio of operating distributed solar power plants from Duke Energy Renewables (TERP) : Co announces the acquisition of a 9 MW net ownership stake in a portfolio of operating distributed solar power plants from Duke Energy Renewables, a unit of Duke Energy (DUK), the nation's largest electric power holding company. Combined with the 23 MW net ownership stake in this portfolio previously acquired from Integrys, TerraForm Power's total ownership in these 48 plants represents 32 MW. Terms of the Duke sale were not disclosed.

7:13 am BlackBerry provides update on previously announced 12 mln share purchase program (BBRY) : As of June 22, 2015, BlackBerry had 529,487,374 common shares outstanding, the public float was 464,726,304 common shares and the average daily trading volume for the 6 months prior to May 31, 2015 was 2,314,477. BlackBerry has filed a notice of intention to commence a normal course issuer bid with the TSX. Daily purchases will be limited to 578,619 common shares, other than block purchases. The purchases may commence on June 29, 2015 and will terminate on June 28, 2016 or on such earlier date as BlackBerry may complete its purchases pursuant to the notice of intention. In the past 12 months, BlackBerry has not repurchased any of its outstanding securities.

On June 23, 2015, the shareholders of BlackBerry approved a new employee share purchase plan and an increase in the number of shares available under BlackBerry's equity incentive plan

1:39 am Integrated Silicon: Cypress Semiconductor (CY) increases offer to acquire ISSI to a price of $22.60 per share, says it is its best and final offer (ISSI) : Cypress sent a letter to Integrated Silicon indicating it is increasing its offer to acquire ISSI to a price of $22.60 per share, while maintaining its previously outlined ticking fee of $0.10 per share per quarter beginning October 1, 2015.

Commentary from CY:
"Our strategic and financial analysis indicates this is the maximum price justified for ISSI in order for the deal to create long-term value for our shareholders.

1:30 am SunEdison Semiconductor prices offering of 15,935,828 ordinary shares on behalf of selling shareholders at $18.25 per share (SEMI) :

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From Briefing.com: Friday kicked off with the China's Shanghai Composite plunging 7.4%, widening its weekly decline to 18.9% after a monstrous rise over the past four months. The lack of news in Europe regarding Greece and its creditors was also key to Friday's market action, or lack there of.

U.S equities essentially ended flat on the day, moving up at the open, then trending lower through midday before showing a bit of strength into the close. Today's U.S. economic data was limited to the final reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for June, which was revised up to 96.1 from a preliminary reading of 94.6 while the Briefing.com consensus expected no change. That was up from a reading of 90.7 in May and was the best reading since hitting 98.1 in January.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.9%) notably underperformed the broader market (S&P 500 (-0.03%)) weighed down by Semiconductors as the Philadelphia SOX index tumbled 2.4% into the weekend.

Worst performers in the S&P 500 information technology sector: Micron (MU 19.66, -4.37, -18.2%), Intel (INTC 31.02, -0.97, -3%), Avago Technologies (AVGO 135.15, -4.08, -2.9%), and Yahoo (YHOO 40.06, -1.01, -2.5%)

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

KLA-Tencor (KLAC 57.15, -0.20, -0.3%): Disclosed $26-36 million in charges from previously announced workforce reduction for estimated severance costs and other related costs. Substantially all of these net charges are expected to be cash expenditures. KLAC expects to recognize a majority of these charges in 4Q15. The company also reaffirmed guidance for Q4, forecasting EPS of $0.78-1.02.

Apple (AAPL 126.79, -0.71, -0.6%): Digitimes article detailed news that AAPL may start using organic light-emitting diode displays for iPhone in 2018.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

ManTech (MANT 29.59, +0.00, +0%): Announced that the US Army has awarded it the Knowledge-Based Services (KBS) and Equipment-Related Services (ERS) components of the TACOM Strategic Solution Services (TS3) family of contracts. Both contracts have 5-year periods of performance. The ceiling value of the KBS contract suite is $1.8 billion, and the ceiling for the ERS suite is $1.1 billion. Under the KBS contract suite, ManTech will compete for task orders to provide engineering and technical services, logistics management services, management support services, and other professional services. Under the ERS contract suite, ManTech will compete for task orders to provide machine, system, and vehicle installation; maintenance; modification; overhaul; and repair.

Integrated Silicon (ISSI 22.23, +0.22, +1%): Announced that it has rejected Cypress Semi's (CY 11.85, -0.43, -3.5%) $22 bid, further noting that CY's bid was below the $23 bid from Uphill Investment. The company reiterated its recommendation on the Uphill deal.

Forrester Research (FORR 37.62, +0.82, +2.2%): Lowered the bottom end of its FY15 EPS to $1.03-1.13 (prior $1.05-1.13) in presentation slides. The company also reaffirmed FY15 (Dec) revenue estimates of $325-333 million.

Analyst Action:

Fireye (FEYE 48.86, -2.75, -5.3%): Downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays; price target raised to $56 from $47

Synnex (SNX 74.88, -7.46, -9.1%): Downgraded to Outperform from Buy at Credit Agricole...downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham

ARM Holdings (ARMH 50.99, -2.87, -5.3%): Downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Bernstein

Insight Enterprise (NSIT 30.64, -1.35, -4.2%): Downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James

Micron (MU 19.66, -4.37, -18.2%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho; price target lowered to $30 from $37... price target lowered to $27 from $30 at MKM Partners; Neutral... Price target lowered to $27 from $35 at UBS; Buy... price target lowered to $33 from $40 at ROTH Capital; Buy... price target lowered to $23 from $25 at Nomura; Neutral... price target lowered to $28 from $35 at Topeka Capital; Buy... price target lowered to $34 from $41 at Stifel; Buy... price target lowered to $30 from $34 at Cowen; Outperform

Check Point Software (CHKP 79.66, -1.07, -1.3%): Initiated with an Equal Weight at Barclays; price target $90

Fortinet (FTNT 41.72, -0.25, -0.6%): Initiated with an Overweight at Barclays; price target $50

SS&C Techs (SSNC 63.51, -0.50, -0.8%): Initiated with a Hold at Sandler O'Neill; price target $67

Ubisoft (UBSFY 3.62, -0.05, -1.4%): Initiated with a Neutral at Mizuho

SunEdison (SUNE 31.39, -0.12, -0.4%): Initiated with an Outperform at Northland Capital; price target $38

Activision Blizzard (ATVI 25.05, -0.35, -1.4%): Initiated with a Buy at Mizuho; price target $29

Take-Two (TTWO 28.62, +0.23, +0.8%): Initiated with a Buy at Mizuho; price target $32

Facebook (FB 88.01, +0.03, +0.03%): Initiated with a Buy at Mizuho; price target $104

eBay (EBAY 61.04, -0.56, -0.9%): Initiated with a Neutral at Mizuho; price target $65

Yahoo (YHOO 40.06, -1.01, -2.5%): Initiated with a Buy at Mizuho; price target $51

Electronic Arts (EA 67.63, +0.18, +0.3%): Initiated with a Buy at Mizuho; price target $75

Google (GOOGL 553.06, -4.89, -0.9%): Initiated with a Neutral at Mizuho; price target $595

Palo Alto Networks (PANW 175.26, -3.56, -2%): Price target raised to $210 from $178 at Barclays; Overweight

Accenture (ACN 99.00, -0.48, -0.5%): Price target raised to $101 from $92 at Barclays; Equal Weight

Arista Networks (ANET 82.24, -3.12, -3.7%): Price target raised to $95 from $80 at MKM Partners

Sapiens (SPNS 10.00, -0.01, -0.1%): Price target raised to $12 from $10 at ROTH Capital; Buy

Intel (INTC 31.02, -0.97, -3%): Price target lowered to $45 from $48 at Jefferies; Buy
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business partnership with Yahoo)

Weekly Recap - Week ending 26-Jun-15Sector Performance (% change of the day): Utilities (+0.54%), Financials (+0.40%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.40%), Energy (+0.24%), Industrials (+0.19%), Consumer Staples (+0.17%), Telecom (+0.05%), Health Care (-0.15%), Materials (-0.46%), Tech (-0.95%), .

Dow +0.32%, S&P 500 -0.03%, Nasdaq -0.62%, Nasdaq 100 -0.66%, S&P 400 +0.14%, Russell 2000 -0.27%

The stock market ended the week on a mixed note with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.3%) posting a modest gain while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.6%) spent the day in negative territory. For its part, the S&P 500 ended flat, locking in a 0.4% decline for the week to end ahead of the Nasdaq (-0.7% week-to-date).

To little surprise, the trading day began with more rhetoric but little tangible progress between Greek leaders and the country's creditors. With that in mind, the talks are set to enter the eleventh hour with both sides sticking to their own proposals. This morning, Germany's Handelsblatt reported that creditors have offered Greece EUR15.50 billion in bailout funds over the next five months if Greek representatives can agree to the requested reforms; however, that offer was turned down by the Greek delegation. European markets appeared unconcerned with the lack of progress as France's CAC, Germany's DAX, and Italy's MIB spiked between 4.0% and 4.8% for the week. Not to be outdone, Greece's Athens General Composite surged 13.8% for the week, returning into the middle of this year's range.

Domestically, investors appeared to suffer from a case of Grexhaustion, showing little concern about the possibility of a Graccident as it now becomes imperative to reach a deal on Saturday if Greece is to make the June 30 debt payment to the International Monetary Fund. Failing to meet that deadline would put the 'Grexit' talk back on the table. That being said, U.S. Treasuries retreated into the afternoon with the 10-yr yield spiking eight basis points to 2.48%. Also of note, selling in the long bond ran the 30-yr yield higher by ten basis points to 3.25%, representing the highest level since September.

Six of ten sectors registered gains, but daylong weakness in the technology sector (-0.8%) was today's main story and the primary reason for Nasdaq's underperformance. Specifically, it was the high-beta chipmaker industry group that suffered from widespread losses after Micron (MU 19.66, -4.36) reported disappointing results and issued uninspiring guidance. Shares of MU plunged 18.2% to levels not seen since late 2013 while the PHLX Semiconductor Index lost 2.4% with all 30 components ending in the red.

That significant weakness weighed on the technology sector while the Nasdaq also had to contend with losses among biotechnology names. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 372.70, -3.13) lost 0.8% while the health care sector (-0.1%) spent the day near its flat line with hospital names offsetting the weakness in biotechnology.

Similar to the health care sector, the S&P 500 spent the day near its unchanged level. The index benefited from relative strength in just about every sector other than technology. Most notably, financials (+0.3%), consumer discretionary (+0.4%), and industrials (+0.2%) kept the benchmark index little changed throughout the day.

Of the three influential groups, the discretionary sector was underpinned by apparel retailers after Finish Line (FINL 28.25, +1.25) and Dow component Nike (NKE 109.71, +4.49) reported better than expected results. The two names gained 4.6% and 4.3%, respectively.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector rallied behind Deere (DE 96.44, +3.04), which spiked 3.3%, breaking out to a four-year high. There was no news to account for the move and other manufacturers of heavy machinery ended little changed. As for transport stocks, the Dow Jones Transportation Average (+0.1%) eked out a slim gain for the day, but not before notching a fresh eight-month low during morning action.

Today's participation was well above average as rebalancing of the Russell indices led to increased churn. As a result, nearly two billion shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the final reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for June, which was revised up to 96.1 from a preliminary reading of 94.6 while the Briefing.com consensus expected no change. The June reading was up from 90.7 in May, representing the highest level for the index since hitting 98.1 in January.

Monday's data will be limited to the 10:00 ET release of the Pending Home Sales report for May.

Week in Review: All Eyes Remain on Greece

The stock market opened the trading week on a higher note with the Dow and S&P 500 gaining 0.6% apiece while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%) outperformed. Equity indices spent the entire Monday session in the green with investor sentiment receiving a boost from reports indicating Greek officials submitted a new proposal to the Eurogroup. However, regional officials did not share the market's optimism with Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble saying he does not see anything new in the proposal. The developments pressured global bonds with Germany's 10-yr bund yield spiking 12 basis points to 0.88%. Similarly, the U.S. 10-yr note retreated throughout the day, sending its yield higher by ten basis points to 2.36%. Some of the outflows from the Treasury market made their way into equities as nine of ten sectors posted gains while the rate-sensitive utilities sector (-0.1%) was pressured by the increase in yields.

The major averages ended Tuesday on a modestly higher note after spending the bulk of the day near their flat lines. The S&P 500 added 0.1% after trading inside an eight-point range. Equity indices held modest gains at the start amid continued optimism that Greece will be able to come to terms with its creditors. In addition, better than expected Manufacturing (52.5; consensus 52.2) and Services PMI (54.4; consensus 53.6) readings for the eurozone contributed to the upbeat sentiment overseas. Once the U.S. session got underway, the S&P 500 held a four-point gain, but surrendered that advance just one hour into the session as heavily-weighted sectors like technology (unch), industrials (-0.2%), and consumer staples (-0.5%) weighed. The top-weighted technology sector was able to erase the majority of its loss before the final hour, but chipmakers struggled into the afternoon. The PHLX Semiconductor Index lost 0.6% with all but six components ending in the red.

The stock market ended the midweek session on a broadly lower note with the S&P 500 losing 0.7% and turning negative for the week (-0.1%). Equity indices began the day with slim losses after the International Monetary Fund rejected Greece's restructuring proposal, putting the two sides back at square one. According to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, this was the first time the IMF did not accept equivalent fiscal measures proposed by Greek officials. Interestingly, the market appeared to be on the comeback trail during the opening hour with the S&P 500 making a brief appearance in the green; however, the index reversed into the red shortly after activist investor Carl Icahn shared his thoughts on the market as part of an appearance on CNBC. During his interview, Mr. Icahn said he believes the market is "extremely overheated," pointing to high-yield bonds in particular.

The market registered its second consecutive decline on Thursday with the S&P 500 (-0.3%) sliding below its 50-day moving average (2,107). The benchmark index held a modest gain through the morning, but relative weakness among several influential sectors pulled the S&P 500 into negative territory during afternoon action. Stocks began the day with slim gains, but retreated from their opening levels during the initial hour amid reports the Eurogroup meeting was suspended to give the Greek delegation time to submit a better proposal to the creditors. The market dipped from its opening levels in reaction, but was able to briefly extend to a fresh session high with the health care (+0.5%) sector driving the move after the Supreme Court upheld federal subsidies to the Affordable Care Act. Hospital names benefited from the news with the likes of Tenet Healthcare (THC 56.21, +6.13), HCA (HCA 90.72, +7.35), and Universal Health (UHS 140.82, +10.14) spiking between 7.8% and 12.2%. Also in the health care sector, insurer Humana (HUM 197.37, +13.14) surged during the afternoon and ended higher by 7.1% after Bloomberg reported the company received a takeover offer from Aetna (AET 132.60, +5.09).

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 18014.28 17946.68 -67.60 -0.4 0.7
Nasdaq 5117.00 5080.51 -36.49 -0.7 7.3
S&P 500 2109.99 2101.49 -8.50 -0.4 2.1
Russell 2000 1284.66 1279.80 -4.86 -0.4 6.2


3:48 pm Earnings Preview for the week of June 29 - July 3 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of June 29 - July 3 some of the bigger names include:

Monday:
After Hours - APOL, HELI, IRET

Tuesday:
Pre Market - CAG, SCHN, OMN
After Hours - AVAV, CAMP

Wednesday:
Pre Market - GIS, STZ, MKC, GBX, PAYX, AYI, UNF, AZZ
After Hours - PRGS, FC

Thursday:
Pre Market - ISCA

Friday:
MARKET CLOSED IN OBSERVANCE OF INDEPENDENCE DAY

11:51 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (197) outpacing new highs (184) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, ABCW, ACFC, AET, AF, AFH, ALLB, AMCX, AMPH, AMSF, ANSS, APLE, ASB, ATTO, AWH, BANC, BID, BKFS, BKMU, BKU, BNCL, BNCN, BOKF, BOOT, CBZ, CE, CEB, CENT, CENTA, CF, CFNL, CHE, CHFC, CHKE, CI, CMCSA, CMCSK, CMN, CMRX, CNC, CNMD, CNOB, COKE, COLB, COTY, CPHD, CRI, CSFL, CSTE, CUTR, CVBF, CVG, CWCO, CYAN, CYH, CYNO, DBVT, DCOM, DE, DEL, DG, DMRC, DNKN, DPZ, DST, DWRE, DXCM, EBSB, EFSC, EMCI, EVC, FCB, FCBC, FCF, FFIC, FFIN, FL, FNB, FNFV, FNLC, FOLD, FRME, GBCI, GCAP, GIII, GIMO, GKNT, GTS, HAFC, HBCP, HBOS, HCA, HELE, HOMB, HSII, HVB, IBKR, JAKK, JOF, JRVR, KFY, KIRK, KNL, LGND, LIOX, LKQ, LNCE, LPNT, LTXB, LXFT, MD, MKL, MLVF, MSBF, MTN, NFBK, NHC, NKE, NPK, NTRI, NTT, NVEC, NX, OCFC, OPB, ORIT, ORLY, OXM, PACW, PBCT, PBIP, PENN, PFBC, PFS, PKI, PLMT, PNFP, PRK, PSCC, PSCD, PVTB, PZZA, Q, QABA, QTNT, QTWO, RDN, RLH, RNST, ROL, SBUX, SEE, SFNC, SHOO, SIMO, SNV, SPNS, SPTN, SSB, STL, STRZA, SUBK, SWHC, TCBI, TFSL, TMH, TPX, TREE, TWOU, UBCP, UCBI, UFCS, UNH, USCR, VAC, VLY, VRTU, WAL, WD, WETF, WIBC, WWD, YDKN, ZION


Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACP, ACTG, ADK, AEGR, AGNC, AI, ALLT, AMSC, AMTG, ANR, AOI, ATW, AUY, AZUR, BBRY, BDN, BGH, BJZ, BKH, BLH, BMR, BOI, BTU, BTZ, CBA, CBD, CBL, CEQP, CETV, CHEK, CHK, CIK, CIM, CLDN, CMLP, CMO, CP, CPN, CTCM, CTL, CTR, CVX, CYS, DDD, DDR, DELT, DHF, DNI, DNN, DO, DPG, DPM, DSE, EARN, EDD, EDE, EGO, EHI, EIP, EMJ, EMO, ENPH, EPD, ETP, ETR, EVA, EVG, FELP, FGB, FHY, FLS, FMY, FPL, FT, FTEK, GDO, GEF.B, GHY, GLF, GMCR, GUT, GWR, HCP, HGG, HIO, HIX, HLX, HPQ, HR, HTR, HTS, HTY, IAF, IGR, IPDN, IRC, ISD, IVH, IVR, JHI, JMF, JOY, JPS, JRI, JRS, KATE, KORS, KT, KYN, LC, LFL, LXP, MAV, MDIV, MEP, MFA, MHY, MITT, MTGE, MU, MUR, NAV, NBW, NCV, NGD, NLY, NML, NMO, NRT, NSC, NSM, NTG, NXJ, OCAT, OFC, OGE, OIS, OKS, ORC, ORIG, ORN, OTEX, PACD, PCM, PFL, PFN, PHF, PLTM, PSF, RCAP, RCPI, RESN, ROYL, RSO, SD, SE, SGF, SGL, SIR, SKT, SMM, SNDK, SNH, SO, SRC, SRV, SSN, STAG, STB, STX, TAL, TAXI, TCK, TCO, TGB, TGH, TPZ, TROX, TSI, TYG, UNIS, URRE, USEG, VBF, VCLT, VICL, VJET, VPV, VSH, WG, WIN, WLB, WPC, WPCS, WRLD, WYNN, XRX

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IHF, KRE

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BJK, EGPT, ENZL, EWM, KOL, LQD, PALL, REMX, VXZ, XME

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Overall, it was a slow day for corporate news, but quite a busy day for macro news.

The headline that had everyone buzzing -- and global equity markets reeling -- was that Greece's leaders rejected the Eurogroup's cash-for-reform proposal and instead opted to leave the decision in the hands of the people, approving a July 5 referendum on the issue. This news ratcheted up concerns about a debt default and possible exit from the Eurozone for Greece, which in turn prompted some flight-to-safety into the U.S. Treasury market.

The stock market opened on a weak note and got weaker as the day progressed. The S&P 500 closed on its low for the session.

The selling interest was broad-based, which was something that was easy to see in the information technology sector where 65 of 66 components ended with a loss. The lone winner was Amphenol (APH 56.84, +1.18, +2.1%), which announced a deal to acquire FCI Asia Pte Ltd. For $1.275 billion in cash and debt.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Amphenol (APH 56.84, +1.18, +2.1%): Company has entered into exclusive negotiations and has made a binding offer to acquire 100% of the shares of FCI Asia Pte Ltd (FCI) for $1.275 bln. FCI is a global leader in interconnect solutions for the telecom, datacom, wireless communications and industrial markets. FCI, headquartered in Singapore and owned by affiliates of Bain Capital, is expected to have 2015 sales and an adjusted EBITDA margin of ~ $600 million and 20%, respectively. Amphenol expects to finance the acquisition through a combination of cash and debt and expects the transaction to close by the end of 2015.

Automatic Data (ADP 80.91, -2.40, -2.9%): Oildex, a service of Transzap, announces that it has acquired the Procure-to-Pay (P2P) business of Automatic Data Processing, combining two leading technology providers in the fast-growing financial supply chain automation sector. Oildex is majority owned by Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity firm. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

eBay (EBAY 59.37, -1.67, -2.7%): Board of Directors approves the completion of eBay and PayPal's (PYPL) separation, with distribution of Paypal stock expected to occur on July 17, 2015

Oracle (ORCL 40.42, -0.57, -1.4%): Unveils Oracle Commerce Cloud, a flexible and scalable SaaS solution built for the Oracle Public Cloud. Oracle Commerce Cloud features the latest commerce technology and is designed to ignite business innovation and rapid growth, while simplifying IT management and reducing costs.

Salesforce.com (CRM 70.00, -2.34, -3.2%): Disclosed retirement of EVP Graham Smith effective June 30, 2015

Xilinx (XLNX 43.97, -0.83, -1.9%): CEO quoted in Bloomberg article as saying company has been approached by bankers looking to put together another deal in the semiconductor industry. While any offer would be considered, he thinks Xilinx has path forward to continue as a stand-alone company.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Cypress Semi (CY 11.56, -0.24, -2.0%): Three Bays Capital discloses 5.6% stake in passive 13G filing

LinkedIn (LNKD 203.55, -12.38, -5.7%): After Friday's close, filed for a 3,569,380 share offering on behalf of selling shareholders

Twitter (TWTR 34.21, -1.05, -3.0%): After Friday's close, Twitter's VP of Corporate Development and Strategy Rishi Garg tweeted he is leaving the company

Analyst Action:

Brooks Automation (BRKS 11.60, -0.60, -4.9%): initiated with a Hold at Deutsche Bank

eBay (EBAY 59.37, -1.67, -2.7%): target raised to $64 from $60 at JP Morgan

F5 Networks (FFIV 120.05, -3.52, -2.9%): downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray

Micron (MU 18.73, -0.93, -4.7%): target lowered to $32 from $41 at Argus

Qualcomm (QCOM 62.62, -2.05, -3.2%): downgraded to Sell from Hold at Drexel Hamilton

4:31 pm Advanced Energy to wind down its Solar Inverter business (AEIS) : Co announces that it has made a strategic decision to focus solely on its Precision Power business and wind down its Solar Inverter business, which is operated under AE Solar Energy, AEI Power and their subsidiaries. Co expects to record a pre-tax charge of approximately $260-290 mln related to the wind down of the Solar Inverter business operations, the majority of which will be recorded in Q2.

Over the past six months the company has engaged in a rigorous process exploring and evaluating various strategic alternatives for the Solar Inverter business, including a potential sale, joint venture, partnership, spin-off, licensing and other alternatives. To date, strategic discussions with third parties regarding the sale of the entire business have not provided sufficient value. Therefore, the co has made the decision to wind down the Solar Inverter business.

4:20 pm : Greek leaders said 'no' to the Eurogroup's cash-for-reform proposal and investors around the world in turn said 'no' to buying stocks on Monday. Just about every major market closed down at least 2.0%.

The hardest-hit markets were the European bourses, which included Germany's DAX Index (-3.6%) and Spain's IBEX (-4.6%). Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.9% while China's Shanghai Composite fell 3.3% despite the People's Bank of China cutting its benchmark lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points each to 4.85% and 2.00%, respectively.

In comparison, the U.S. stock market fared reasonably well, yet that doesn't mean it did well. Hit with broad-based selling pressure, the S&P 500 declined 2.1% as buyers basically wanted no part of today's action outside a few areas of specific interest.

One area was the utilities sector (-0.6%), which traded with a modest gain for most of the day before ultimately feeling the gravitational pull of the weak market. Another area was the Treasury market, which attracted safe-haven flows. The 10-yr note surged more than a point and saw its yield drop 15 basis points to 2.33%.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 19.20, +5.18, +37.0%), meanwhile, made a huge move as investors sought hedges to protect against downside risk. The scope of the move underscored the concerns surrounding the situation in Greece, which imposed capital controls and closed its banks, and how underappreciated the risk of getting to the point of referendum really was.

In light of the latest developments, Standard & Poor's downgraded Greece to CCC- from CCC and said it now thought there was a 50% probability that Greece will leave the eurozone. Additionally, there was little confidence in the thought that Greece will make its EUR 1.6 billion debt payment to the IMF on Tuesday.

Notwithstanding the latter developments, the euro reversed early losses and strung together a rally that saw it gain 0.8% against the dollar on Monday. That move, and a strong gain by the yen, pressured the U.S. Dollar Index, which fell 0.6% to 94.87.

The weaker dollar, however, did not help oil prices, which declined 2.3% to $58.32 per barrel as demand concerns tied to the macro situation took root.

In the stock market, the financial sector (-2.4%) got hit the hardest as Greek contagion concerns and a flatter yield curve got the better of the sector, which had been outperforming in recent weeks on curve steepening and the thinking Greece and its creditors would strike an eleventh-hour solution. Misery of course loves company and the financial sector had plenty of it. Tagging along for the joyless ride were the materials (-2.4%), health care (-2.3%), consumer discretionary (-2.3%), and information technology (-2.2%) sectors, but every sector was down for the day.

Every stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost ground, too, but none more so than Goldman Sachs (GS 207.65, -5.52), which happens to be the highest-priced stock in the price-weighted average. With Monday's retreat, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below its 200-day moving average. The S&P 500 did not, but stands less than 10 points above that key line of technical support after closing on its lows and turning negative for the year (-0.1%).

The only economic release today was the Pending Home Sales report for May. Keeping with the theme of the day, it disappointed with a 0.9% increase (Briefing.com consensus +1.4%).

Volume was heavier-than-average with 853 million shares changing hands at the NYSE where decliners outpaced advancers by a 10-to-1 margin. In turn, volume in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY 205.47, -4.35) was the heaviest it has been (185.7 million) since April 17.

Turning our attention to Tuesday, headlines out of Greece will continue to hold sway, but it will be the response around the globe to Monday's equity market losses that will be the focal point. U.S. data will include the Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index for April (Briefing.com consensus +5.6%; prior +5.0%), the Chicago PMI for June (Briefing.com consensus 50.0; prior 46.2), and the June Consumer Confidence report (Briefing.com consensus 97.5; prior 95.4).DJ30 -350.33 NASDAQ -122.04 SP500 -43.85 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 371/1.85 bln/2709 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 288/853 mln/2880

3:35 pm :

The dollar index slid lower today, but this didn't provide much upside to commodities.
Crude oil traded in the red all day, helped by Greece news.
Aug crude oil ended the day -$1.35 to $58.32/barrel. Aug natural gas rose $0.04 to $2.81/MMBtu
Metals were mixed/mostly flat to given the action in the Greece/ dollar index.
Aug gold ended today's floor trading session $5.90 lower to $1179.10/oz.
July silver lost $0.07 to $15.70/oz and July copper ended unchanged at $2.63/lb.

12:06 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session- New lows (45) outpacing new highs (2) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: CYH, HCA

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, AGNC, AUY, AXON, BBRY, CNI, CNX, CP, CPN, CREE, CVX, DDD, EGO, ERIC, ETP, FLS, GGB, GMCR, GRPN, HPQ, JOY, KORS, LC, LFL, MFA, MON, MPEL, MU, MUR, NBG, NLY, NSC, NSM, OKS, PAA, PHG, SNDK, STX, TCK, TLN, UNP, WDC, WMT, WYNN, XRX

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AMJ, BJK, EGPT, ENZL, EWA, EWM, KOL, PALL, REMX, XME

Note: To reduce the list of stocks making 52 week highs/lows to a manageable size we have filtered out stocks below $2 bln in market cap and below 1 mln average volume. Without this filter 67 stocks made 52 week highs and 346 stocks made 52 week lows.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The last day of the second quarter ended with modest gains for the major indices, but they didn't come with a lot of conviction.

The market tossed and turned on a battery of headlines addressing the standoff between Greece and its creditors. There was plenty of headline innuendo on both sides, yet there still wasn't any definitive sense that a resolution can be reached ahead of the scheduled July 5 referendum in Greece.

On a related note, Greece failed to make the EUR 1.6 billion debt payment it owed today to the IMF.

With Tuesday's advance, the S&P 500 declined 2.1% for the month and lost 0.2% for the quarter.

The S&P 500 information technology sector for its part edged up 0.2% on Tuesday, slightly underperforming the market. The sector, however, had a poor performance for the month, shedding 4.4%. For the quarter, it performed in-line with the market, falling 0.2%.

The semiconductor group was a major area of weakness during the month and the quarter, evidenced by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index declining 8.7% in June and 2.2% for the quarter.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Alliance Data Systems (ADS 291.94, +0.49, +0.2%): Company's Epsilon unit signs a new multiyear agreement with Turner Broadcasting System to support the Turner Data Cloud

Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.46, -0.08, -0.3%): Company announced its intent to acquire OpenDNS, a privately held security company based in San Francisco.The acquisition will boost Cisco's Security Everywhere approach by adding broad visibility and threat intelligence from the OpenDNS cloud delivered platform. Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay $635 million in cash and assumed equity awards, plus retention based incentives for OpenDNS. The acquisition is expected to close in Q1 of FY16, subject to customary closing conditions.

Corning (GLW 19.73, +0.03, +0.2%): Acquired the pharmaceutical glass tubing business of Gerresheimer AG for EUR 196 mln. As part of this transaction, Corning and Gerresheimer will enter into a long-term supply agreement for pharmaceutical glass tubing. In addition, the companies will form an equity venture to focus on accelerating Corning innovations for the pharmaceutical glass packaging market. The equity venture will be 75% owned by Corning.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 30.01, +0.04, +0.1%): Announced that Bill Veghte, Executive Vice President of HP's Enterprise Group, will be departing the company later this summer to pursue a new opportunity. Since October, Bill has been leading the separation efforts for Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Chris Hsu, who will assume the role of COO for Hewlett Packard Enterprise upon separation, will continue to lead Hewlett Packard Enterprise's separation efforts.

Microsoft (MSFT 44.15, -0.22, -0.5%): Company and AOL announce a global, enterprise-level partnership where AOL will assume management and sales responsibility for all of Microsoft's display, mobile and video advertising inventory in nine key global markets - the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan. AOL will represent inventory from across Microsoft's suite of leading online brands, including MSN Homepage and verticals, Outlook Mail, Xbox, Skype and ads in apps.

Qualcomm (QCOM 62.63, +0.01, +0.02%): Reuters reported that Qualcomm Chairman told it that company does not have plans to spin off its chips business at present, but that the situation could change in the future.

The Western Union Company (WU 20.33, -0.03, -0.2%): Announced that it has signed an agreement to activate Western Union Money Transfer services within WHSmith high street stores via Western Union's self-service kiosks. The new agreement will allow Western Union's digital self-service kiosks to be available at 300 WHSmith stores.

Xilinx (XLNX 44.16, +0.19, +0.4%): Announced its collaboration with China Mobile Research Institute for the development of the next generation fronthaul interface. With the advent of 5G wideband multi-antenna systems, Xilinx and CMRI are working together to research the key technologies and components of a new fronthaul interface for wireless networks, in conjunction with emerging technologies such as C-RAN, large-scale-antenna-system, and 3D MIMO

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Amazon.com (AMZN 434.09, +4.23, +1.0%): Announced the launch of its physical goods store on Amazon.com.mx, a Spanish-language website with items available for customers in Mexico. Separately, Amazon Web Services announced that it will open an AWS infrastructure region in India for its cloud computing platform in 2016.

Integrated Silicon (ISSI 22.14, -0.02, -0.1%): Stockholders approve acquisition by Uphill Investment for $23 per share in cash. ISSI and Uphill expect the acquisition to close in the third calendar quarter of 2015 upon the satisfaction of the remaining closing conditions including completion of the restructuring of ISSI's operations in Taiwan and obtaining approval of the transaction by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

Workday (WDAY 76.39, +0.08, +0.1%): Announced the launch of Workday Planning, a new planning, budgeting, and forecasting application.

In industry news, Gartner said Worldwide IT spending is on pace to total $3.5 trillion in 2015, a 5.5% decline from 2014. Analysts attribute the decline to the rising U.S. dollar. In constant-currency terms, the market is projected to grow 2.5%. In Gartner's previous forecast in April, it had forecast IT spending to decline 1.3% in U.S. dollars and grow 3.1% in constant currency.

Analyst Action:

BlackBerry (BBRY 8.18, -0.11, -1.3%): target lowered to $10 from $11 at Cowen

Facebook (FB 85.76, -0.04, -0.04%): target raised to $105 from $95 at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch

Micron (MU 18.84, +0.11, +0.6%): initiated with a Buy at Standpoint Research; target $26

4:10 pm : The stock market ended the final June session on a higher note, but that did not stop the S&P 500 (+0.3%) from registering a 2.1% loss for the month.

Equity indices spent the first three hours of the day in a steady retreat from their opening highs with the S&P 500 making a momentary appearance in the red after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany cannot consider new proposals from Greece until after Sunday's referendum.

However, the benchmark index climbed to a fresh high during afternoon action with the move taking place amid reports Greece could cancel its Sunday referendum if negotiations are resumed and an agreement could be reached on required prior actions. To that point, Eurogroup Chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem acknowledged the receipt of a new proposal from the Greek government with the offer set to be reviewed at tomorrow's Eurogroup meeting.

The speculation about a potential cancellation of the referendum had little impact on the euro, which spent the afternoon near its session low reached after Ms. Merkel's comments. The single currency slid 0.6% against the dollar to 1.1145.

Meanwhile, Treasuries spent the afternoon near their flat lines after erasing their overnight losses. The 10-yr note ended just below its flat line with its yield higher by a basis point at 2.34%, which represented a 22-basis point increase since the end of May.

Seven sectors settled in the green with energy (+0.6%) and consumer discretionary (+0.5%) showing relative strength throughout the day. The energy sector rallied behind crude oil, which climbed 1.9% to $59.44/bbl. Despite today's outperformance, the energy sector still lost 3.6% for the month.

Similar to energy, eight other sectors finished the month in negative territory while the consumer discretionary sector (+0.5%) added 0.5% thanks to today's outperformance. Homebuilders represented an area of relative strength in June with iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 27.45, +0.02) adding 0.1% today to extend its monthly gain to 3.1%.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted technology sector (+0.2%) spent the day just behind the broader market as several large cap names struggled while high-beta chipmakers fared relatively well. The PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 0.4% with all but eight components ending in the green. Despite today's strength, the Semiconductor Index lost 8.7% in June.

The underperformance among large cap tech names did not stop the Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) from ending ahead of the broader market as biotechnology displayed relative strength. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 368.97, +8.40) gained 2.3% while the health care sector (+0.4%) settled ahead of other countercyclical groups.

Today's trading volume was heavier than average as quarter-end flows contributed to the increased activity with more than a billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Chicago PMI, Consumer Confidence, and Case-Shiller 20-city Index:


The Chicago PMI increased to 49.4 in June from 46.2 in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 50.0
According to the report, manufacturing activity in the Chicago region has contracted in 4 out of the last 5 months
The contraction in production eased in June, as the related index increased to 49.8 from 45.8 in May
Unfortunately, the contraction may not end next month as the Order Backlogs Index fell to 41.0 in June from 47.3 in May, which was the lowest reading since September 2009
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased to 101.4 in June from a downwardly revised 94.6 (from 95.4) in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 97.5
The Expectations Index increased to 94.6 in June from 86.2 in May while the Present Situation Index rose to 111.6 from 109.5
The Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for April rose 4.9% against a 5.6% increase expected by the Briefing.com consensus
This followed the previous month's increase of 5.0%

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while June Challenger Job Cuts will be reported at 7:30 ET. The ADP Employment Report for June (Briefing.com consensus 220K) will be released at 8:15 ET while May Construction Spending (consensus 0.3%) and June ISM Index (expected 53.2) will both be reported at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +5.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.0% YTD
S&P 500 +0.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.1% YTD

DJ30 +23.16 NASDAQ +28.40 SP500 +5.47 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1828/1.83 bln/1104 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1905/1.17 bln/1229 3:35 pm :

The dollar index continued to trade higher today, which weighed on commodities such as metals today
Grains showed some impressive volatility today following today's USDA report
Corn rallied 10% to $4.22/bushel today, wheat rallied $6% to $6.17/bu and soybeans gained 6% to $10.36/bu
However, the energy space found some buying strength
Aug crude oil ended up the day $1.12 higher to $59.44/barrel, while Aug natural gas rose $0.02 to $2.83/MMBtu
Metals showed some modest losses today
Copper lost $0.02 to finish the day at $2.61/lb
Aug gold fell $7.30 to $1171.80, while Sept silver fell $0.08 to $15.62/oz

4:07 pm CalAmp reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q2 and FY16 in-line (CAMP) :

Reports Q1 (May) earnings of $0.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.26; revenues rose 10.8% year/year to $65.4 mln vs the $65.59 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.24-0.28, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.26 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q2 revs of $66-70 mln vs. $68.36 mln Capital IQ Consensus. "We anticipate Wireless Datacom revenue in the second quarter will be up on a sequential quarter basis, due to broad-based demand in core markets and increased shipments to our OEM customer in the heavy equipment industry. Second quarter Satellite segment revenue is expected to be relatively flat on a sequential quarter basis."Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of $280-290 mln vs. $282.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus -- driven by continued growth in Wireless Datacom segment and a much stronger second half for Satellite segment.

11:43 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (280) outpacing new highs (41) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AHS, ALN, ASBB, BF.A, BNCN, BNK, BOOT, BOTJ, CACC, CAG, CFI, COTY, COWN, CPB, DMRC, DRC, EROS, ESXB, FNLC, FPT, GAIN, GIG, ITRN, JNP, JRVR, LION, LMAT, LPNT, MBVT, NGHC, ORIT, PBY, POST, ROL, SNPS, STRN, TFSL, UBCP, USNA, VAC, VRTU

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, ACST, ACTX, ACV, AIT, AMBC, AMH, AMRS, AMSC, APOL, ARO, ASM, AUY, AVP, AZN, BBF, BBK, BBRY, BCX, BDN, BDSI, BEN, BHK, BIE, BKH, BLT, BMR, BWP, CAPX, CAR, CBA, CBAY, CBL, CBT, CECO, CENX, CEQP, CETV, CHEK, CIDM, CIM, CMLP, CMU, CNAT, CNP, CNS, CNW, CNX, CPN, CPPL, CPST, CPTA, CSAL, CSI, CTCM, CTR, CUI, CVE, CXE, DDR, DNOW, DO, DRYS, DSCO, DTF, DV, ECT, EFC, EGF, EIA, EMO, ENLK, ENPH, EOX, ERIC, ESIO, ETRM, EVEP, EVM, FDML, FGB, FHCO, FMN, FMY, GEO, GG, GLRE, GMCR, GMZ, GRMN, GRPN, GTY, GWR, HH, HLX, HNW, HPQ, HSGX, HTCH, HTZ, HYI, I, ICAD, IF, INF, INTX, IO, IRC, IRR, IRT, JMF, JMM, JMT, JOY, JRS, KATE, KED, KEM, KLIC, KODK, KORS, KRO, KS, KTF, KYE, KYN, LMRK, LOR, LPT, LPTN, LXP, MAV, MBI, MCA, MDIV, MDU, MEI, MEP, MFV, MHF, MIE, MITT, MNI, MNTX, MOBL, MOD, MTR, MU, MUC, MUJ, MUR, MVO, MYJ, MYM, NAD, NAV, NBW, NEA, NEV, NFJ, NGD, NIQ, NJV, NMY, NOR, NPP, NRP, NRT, NSA, NSC, NSPH, NTG, NTN, NVG, NVX, NXC, NXQ, NYLD, OAKS, OFC, OFG, OGE, OIS, OKS, ORIG, OTEX, OUT, PAA, PBI, PCF, PGRE, PHG, PICO, PLG, PML, PSUN PSUN, PTIE, PYN, RAS, RBCN, RCAP, RCPI, RDS.A, RDS.B, RGSE, RIF, RJET, RNWK, ROYL, RWT, SD, SDPI, SGL, SIR, SKT, SLH, SMM, SMRT, SMTC, SNDK, SNI, SNR, SONS, SRC, SRET, SRF, SRSC, SRT, SRV, SSH, STAG, STB, STRA, STX, SWAY, SXC, SZC, TAC, TAXI, TC, TCK, TCO, TGB, TGD, TGH, TGP, TIVO, TLN, TPZ, TRCO, TROX, TTHI, TTP, TUES, TYG, UBA, UE, UNP, USDP, USEG, VICL, VII, VJET, VMEM, VMM, VNCE, VSH, WDC, WG, WIN, WMT, WPCS, WRLD, WTS, XCO, XONE, XRX, YLCO, YRCW, ZINC

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AMJ, DBB, EGPT, ENZL, SLX, URA, XME

9:02 am AXT appoints Hong Hou as COO; effective June 29, 2015 (AXTI) :

Co announces that it has appointed Hong Hou as COO effective June 29, 2015. Hou will have responsibility for AXT's global operations and will report to chief executive officer, Morris Young. Hou served as director, president and CEO of EMCORE Corporation (EMKR) from March 2008 to January 2015.

Xilinx (XLNX) announced its collaboration with China Mobile (CHL) Research Institute for the development of the next generation fronthaul interface. With the advent of 5G wideband multi-antenna systems, Xilinx and CMRI are working together to research the key technologies and components of a new fronthaul interface for wireless networks, in conjunction with emerging technologies such as C-RAN, large-scale-antenna-system, and 3D MIMO

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From Briefing.com: Major averages ended the midweek session on a lower note following a trading day that featured numerous trading halts at home and abroad. Once the U.S. session began, stocks retreated through the opening hour, hovering near their lows until 10:30 ET when trading at the floor of the New York Stock Exchange was halted for nearly four hours due to technical issues. Electronic trading venues were not affected by the halt, but the lack of participation from floor traders kept the market inside a narrow range until an afternoon resumption, which was followed by a drop to new lows.

Futures on the S&P 500 held a 30-point decline during the overnight session, but cut their losses in half ahead of the New York open. The rebound took place amid a rally in Europe, following reports that Greek officials have requested a three-year bailout program that includes tax reforms; however, it remains to be seen whether this proposal differs from the one that was rejected by Greek voters during Sunday's referendum.

The S&P 500 information technology sector index (-1.6%) performed essentially inline with the broader market, S&P 500 -1.7%, as semiconductors again weighed on the sector's performance (Philadelphia Sox Index -2.6%). Notable laggards in the sector include: Google (GOOGL 541.70, -8.33, -1.5%), Alliance Data (ADS 516.83, -8.19, -1.6%), Avago Tech (AVGO 293.69, -5.27, -1.8%), and Apple (AAPL 128.05, -4.79, -3.6%).

Notable news items from sector components included the following:
Amazon (AMZN 429.70, -7.02, -1.6%): Amazon's June SSS came in at 26%, a slight increase compared to May's 23.8%.

eBay (EBAY 60.99, -0.99, -1.6%): eBay's June SSS came in at 7.2%, a slight increase from May's 6.6% and about half the e-commerce growth rate of 15% as predicted by comScore.

Microsoft (MSFT 44.24, -0.06, -0.1%): Confirmed plans to restructure its phone hardware business to better focus and align resources; As a result, the company will record an impairment charge of approximately $7.6 billion related to assets associated with the acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business in addition to a restructuring charge of approximately $750 million to $850 million. Microsoft also announced the reduction of up to 7,800 positions, primarily in the phone business.

Fiserv (FISV 83.41, -1.55, -1.8%): Announced it was selected by Commerce Union (CUBN 14.25) as its core processor for its merged banks and it will convert its operations to the new processor in the fourth quarter of 2015

Symantec (SYMC 22.82, +0.03, +0.1%): Bloomberg Article reported that SYMC is close to a deal for Veritas unit sale to Carlyle (CG 26.94, -1.00, -3.6%) for $7-8 bln,

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Infosys (INFY 15.45, -0.41, -2.6%) Announced multi-year agreement with Deutsche Bank (DB 29.52, -0.63, -2.1%). Infosys will provide these services across the Deutsche Bank and will also be a strategic partner under Deutsche Bank's Supplier Partnership Program. Deutsche Bank's Supplier Partnership Program was successfully launched in June 2014 to concentrate the most strategic vendors based on business impact across all categories of the bank.

Silicom Limited (SILC 25.91, -1.18, -4.4%): Reported a design-win with a provider of high-performance storage solutions; with projected order ramp up expected at $1 mln/year.

Perficient (PRFT 15.84, -3.17, -16.7%): Lowered its FY15 (Dec) EPS to $1.15-1.25 from $1.38-1.49 and lowered FY15 (Dec) revs to $455-475 mln from $470-495 mln. Additionally, the company lowered guidance for Q2 (Jun) revs to $108.2-109.2 mln from $110.5-120.9 mln.

Analyst Action:
QAD (QADA 26.20, +0.95, +3.8%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sidoti

ePlus (PLUS 78.82, +4.80, +6.5%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sidoti

Infineon (IFNNY 11.86, -0.28, -2.3%): Upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein

Maxim Integrated (MXIM 32.86, -0.87, -2.6%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Drexel Hamilton

Syntel (SYNT 43.81, -2.06, -4.5%): Downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

Rubicon (RUBI 14.90, +0.05, +0.3%): Initiated at Buy at Craig Hallum

Marketo (MKTO 26.94, -1.54, -5.4%): Initiated at Neutral at BofA/Merrill; price target $32

HubSpot (HUBS 49.71, +1.07, +2.2%): Initiated at Buy at BofA/Merrill; price target $60

Salesforce.com (CRM 69.39, -0.87, -1.2%): Initiated at Outperform at Northland Capital; price target $85

Cypress Semi (CY 11.50, -0.23, -2%): Initiated at Overweight at Morgan Stanley; price target $15

SciQuest (SQI 13.66): Initiated at Outperform at Northland Capital; price target $20

Realpage (RP 19.24, -0.07, -0.4%): Initiated at Outperform at Northland Capital; price target $25

Textura (TXTR 29.31, +0.09, +0.3%): Initiated at Outperform at Northland Capital; price target $40

Asure Software (ASUR 5.95, -0.15, -2.5%): Initiated at Outperform at Northland Capital; price target $8

Imprivita (IMPR 15.30, +0.05, +0.3%): Initiated at Buy at Topeka Capital; price target $21

GrubHub (GRUB 31.42, +0.44, +1.4%): Initiated at Outperform at Northland Capital; price target $40

Perficient (PRFT 15.84, -3.17, -16.7%): Price target lowered to $20 from $24 at Maxim; Buy

Western Digital (WDC 78.31, -1.51, -1.9%): Price target lowered to $105 from $125 at Stifel; Buy

SunEdison (SUNE 29.36, -0.88, -2.9%): Price target raised to $39 from $38 at Northland Capital; Outperform

Ultimate Software (ULTI 164.38, -1.78, -1.1%): Resumed at Outperform at Northland Capital; price target raised to $200 from $170

4:31 pm Celestica Names Robert Mionis President and CEO (CLS) : Mionis most recently served as an Operating Partner at Pamplona Capital, a global private equity firm focused on companies across a wide variety of industries, including the industrial, aerospace, healthcare and automotive segments.

4:31 pm Micron appoints Trevor Schulze as Chief Information Officer (MU) : Schulze most recently served as Broadcom's (BRCM) corporate vice president of IT

4:15 pm : The major averages ended the midweek session on a lower note following a trading day that featured numerous trading halts at home and abroad. The S&P 500 fell below its 200-day moving average (2,056), ending lower by 1.7% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.8%) underperformed.

Equities slumped at the start of the session in response to the overnight weakness in the futures market that could be traced back to the continued selling efforts in China. The Shanghai Composite lost 5.9% on Wednesday and it was reported that more than 50% of A-share listings have now been halted due to volatility.

Futures on the S&P 500 held a 30-point decline during the overnight session, but cut their losses in half ahead of the New York open. The rebound took place amid a rally in Europe, following reports that Greek officials have requested a three-year bailout program that includes tax reforms; however, it remains to be seen whether this proposal differs from the one that was rejected by Greek voters during Sunday's referendum.

Once the U.S. session began, stocks retreated through the opening hour, hovering near their lows until 10:30 ET when trading at the floor of the New York Stock Exchange was halted for nearly four hours due to technical issues. Electronic trading venues were not affected by the halt, but the lack of participation from floor traders kept the market inside a narrow range until an afternoon resumption, which was followed by a drop to new lows.

All ten sectors registered losses with cyclical sectors showing relative weakness throughout the day. The materials sector (-2.2%) ended at the bottom of the leaderboard while top-weighted technology (-1.7%) and financials (-1.8%) also struggled to keep pace with the market.

For the second day in a row, chipmakers led the retreat in the technology sector with the PHLX Semiconductor Index tumbling 2.6%. The index extended its weekly decline to 4.4% with all 30 components ending the day in negative territory. Meanwhile, most large cap tech components did not fare much better while Microsoft (MSFT 44.24, -0.06) outperformed, shedding 0.1% after confirming plans to reduce its workforce by about 7,800 employees. The company said most of the job cuts will take place in its phone hardware division.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector was one of the leaders during yesterday's intraday turnaround, but the group finished today among the laggards. Similarly, transport stocks underperformed with the Dow Jones Transportation Average (-2.2%) ending beneath yesterday's session low. All 20 index components finished in the red with United Continental (UAL 52.82, -1.49) surrendering 2.7%. This morning, all United Continental flights were grounded for more than an hour with the company blaming a router issue for the outage.

Over on the countercyclical side, the utilities sector (-0.5%) outperformed while health care (-1.6%) finished just ahead of the broader market even as biotechnology struggled. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 362.78, -10.64) lost 2.9%.

Treasuries spent the entire day in positive territory with the 10-yr yield falling five basis points to 2.21%.

Today's participation was below average with fewer than 450 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the MBA Mortgage Index and Consumer Credit:


The weekly MBA Mortgage Index rose 4.6% to follow last week's 4.7% decline
Consumer credit increased by $16.10 billion in May after increasing an upwardly revised $21.40 billion (from $20.50 billion) in April while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of $18.20 billion

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims will be released at 8:30 ET (Briefing.com consensus 276K).

Nasdaq Composite +3.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.9% YTD
S&P 500 -0.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.7% YTD

DJ30 -261.49 NASDAQ -87.70 SP500 -34.65 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 472/1.75 bln/2773 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 490/434.9 mln/2522 3:35 pm :

The dollar index remained in negative territory today, which helped give commodities a boost
By the end of pit trading, Aug gold finished $11.60 higher at $1163.50/oz, while Sept silver gained $0.24 to $15.20/oz
Both are near today's high
Sept copper rose $0.05 today to finish at $2.50/lb
Aug crude oil finished the day $0.73 lower at $51.62/barrel following the weekly storage data
Aug natural gas lost $0.04 to $2.68/MMBtu

4:10 pm Alcoa misses by $0.04, beats on revs; Co reaffirms global aluminum demand growth at +6.5% for 2015 (AA) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.23; revenues rose 1.0% year/year to $5.9 bln vs the $5.8 bln consensus.

Revenue was driven by strong organic growth in aerospace, automotive and alumina businessesProfitability from Alcoa's growing aerospace and automotive businesses increased year-over-year as mid and downstream investments delivered positive impact.In the upstream, the Primary Metals business was resilient in the face of market headwinds and the Alumina business delivered its strongest first half results in eight years. The Company's portfolio reshaping is driving results.Organic growth in aerospace, automotive and alumina, combined with acquisitions, grew second quarter revenue by 12.7%.This profitable growth more than offset an 11.7% decline in revenue caused by closing and divesting lower-margin businesses and market headwinds.This revenue shift reflects how the Company's transformation is driving the portfolio to higher profitability.
Alcoa forecasts 2015:
Co reaffirms aluminum demand growthGlobal Aluminum demand growth of +6.5%; Prior guidance was +6.5%.Alcoa continues to project steady growth in 2015 across the majority of its end markets.

11:45 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (237) outpacing new highs (39) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABCD, ACGL, AEC, CACC, CASY, CPK, CRTO, CRWN, DBVT, DEPO, DXCM, ESNT, FAF, FL, GAIN, GNCMA, HIHO, HMPR, ICCC, JNP, LEN.B, MD, MKL, MSBF, NVEC, NVR, PFNX, PGR, RDUS, RE, SCLN, SPWH, TREE, TYL, ULTA, VBTX, VGR, WRB, WSFS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACH, ACV, ADRE, AGI, AIQ, AIRM, AIXG, AMAT, AMD, AMSC, AMTX, ANR, ARCW, ASM, ATL, ATLS, AXLL, BCA, BCX, BDBD, BHP, BIOD, BIOS, BLDP, BLT, BONT, BSI, BWG, BZUN, CAP, CAR, CBAY, CBD, CC, CCC, CCCR, CECE, CECO, CH, CIG, CLSN, CMLS, CNAT, CNIT, CNS, CNW, CNX, CP, CPHR, CPN, CPST, CRDS, CSAL, CTRL, CUI, CXSE, CZZ, DANG, DCI, DCTH, DD, DEX, DHRM, DNI, DNOW, DQ, DSCO, DTLK, EDD, EDI, EGY, ELON, EMCG, EMF, EMIF, EMMS, EMR, ENBL, ENG, ENPH, ENVA, EOD, ESIO, ESL, ETRM, FAM, FELP, FHY, FIF, FLS, FOR, FUND, GBL, GCH, GEF, GLPW, GMT, GNRC, GOGL, GRAM, HART, HEQ, HKTV, HPJ, HTLD, HTZ, IAF, IFAS, IFMI, IGD, IHD, INVN, IRM, JASN, JCAP, JOY, KANG, KB, KCAP, KMF, LADR, LEJU, LF, LINC, LITB, LONG, LOR, LPL, LTBR, MCOX, MCRN, MGRC, MNI, MOBL, MOD, MOLG, MTR, MUX, MVO, NATH, NAV, NFG, NFJ, NMA, NOR, NPO, NRP, NSC, NTAP, NTGR, NTIC, NWPX, OHRP, OI, PBM, PCI, PCTI, PDVW, PERI, PGN, PHI, PICO, PKX, PLTM, POT, POWI, PPT, PRGN, PRI, PSDV, PSF, QQQC, QUAD, RAS, RCPI, REDF, RIO, RMT, RNO, RNWK, ROYL, RUSHA, RUSHB, RYAM, SBLK, SCD, SCOK, SFY, SHG, SHLD, SJR, SKBI, SMTC, SPEX, SQM, SRF, SRT, SSH, STV, SWC, SZC, TBPH, TDF, TEO, TGH, THTI, THW, TPC, TROX, TRUE, TTF, TTM, UCP, UNIS, UNXL, URG, USAP, UUUU, VECO, VEDL, VIDI, VII, VISN, VSCP, VVUS, WG, WHZ, WIN, WOWO, XRA, YDIV, YECO, YRCW, YUMA, YZC, ZAZA, ZX

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, EEM, EPP, EWA, EWY, HAO, KOL, PPLT, REMX, TAO, URA

9:07 am Microsoft confirms plans to restructure its phone hardware business to better focus and align resources; To reduce 7.8k positions, sees impairment charge of ~$7.6 bln (MSFT) : Microsoft also announced the reduction of up to 7,800 positions, primarily in the phone business.

As a result, the company will record an impairment charge of approximately $7.6 billion related to assets associated with the acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business in addition to a restructuring charge of approximately $750 million to $850 million.

Rudolph Technologies (RTEC) announced that a leading Taiwan-based outsourced assembly and test manufacturer has selected the JetStep W2300 Advanced Packaging Lithography System for the development of next-generation advanced packaging technology

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From Briefing.com: Equities surged out of the gate after reports from last evening indicated that Greek officials sent a bailout request to the country's creditors, seeking EUR53.50 billion to cover loan obligations until June 2018. Interestingly, the proposal was very similar to the one that was rejected by 61.3% of voters in the Greek referendum on July 5. According to reports from Athens, the Greek parliament is expected to ratify the offer, but there was no official statement from the Eurogroup before the closing bell.

All ten sectors posted gains with eight groups adding more than 1.0%. The S&P information technology sector led the pack, gaining 1.6% on the day as chipmakers bounced back from a multi-session selloff.

Notable performances in the sector: Avago Tech (AVGO 129.84, +5.16, +4.14%), Broadcom (BRCM 52.06, +141, +2.8%), Apple (AAPL 123.28, +3.21, +2.7%), and Micron Tech (MU 17.57, +0.42, +2.5%)

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced steps to protect federal workers and others from cyber threats. The team has now concluded with high confidence that sensitive information, including the Social Security Numbers of 21.5 million individuals, was stolen from the background investigation databases. This includes 19.7 million individuals that applied for a background investigation, and 1.8 million non-applicants, predominantly spouses or co-habitants of applicants. In the coming months, the Administration will work with Federal employee representatives and other stakeholders to develop a proposal for the types of credit and identity theft monitoring services that should be provided to all Federal employees in the future -- regardless of whether they have been affected by this incident -- to ensure their personal information is always protected.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

HubSpot (HUBS 50.46, +0.46, +0.9%): T. Rowe Price Associates disclosed 10.4% passive stake in 13G filing; T. Rowe Price also discloses 12.3% passive stake in Lantheus Holdings (LNTH 6.91, -0.09, -1.3%)

InterCloud Systems (ICLD 2.51, +0.15, +6.4%): Announced it was awarded a series of contracts from new and existing clients valued at over $1.5 mln to provide engineering and design services for next gen wireless networks

CGI Group (GIB 38.93, +0.77, +2%): Reported that it joint venture LTC-Otso Oy, has extended its ITC outsourcing agreement with LhiTapiola Group; new agreement valid until 2021 and valued at EUR 180 mln

Digital Turbine (APPS 2.96, +0.37, +14.3%): Issued upside guidance for Q1 (Jun), sees Q1 (Jun) revs of $18.6-18.7 mln from $17-19 mln. The company also released the following statement, "Our preliminary first quarter results demonstrate accelerating sequential revenue growth driven by DT Media's advertising revenue ramp... In addition, we have made meaningful progress with multiple global Tier 1 wireless carriers for deployment of DT Ignite and DT IQ across their subscriber bases and anticipate having multiple announcements over the coming weeks and months. Co will report in early August."

Analyst Action:
Fabrinet (FN 18.52, +0.64, +3.6%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham; price target $24

Applied Materials (AMAT 18.77, +0.25, +1.4%): Upgraded to Neutral from Negative at Susquehanna

Inphi (IPHI 22.36, +1.41, +6.7%): Upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Northland Capital; price target lowered to $26 from $27

Box (BOX 16.71, -0.10, -0.6%): Initiated Neutral at BofA/Merrill; price target $20

Cohu (COHU 12.71, +0.35, +2.8%): Initiated Hold at Needham

Cyber-Ark Software (CYBR 58.55, -0.75, -1.3%): Initiated Market Perform at Wells Fargo

LinkedIn (LNKD 209.95, +2.39, +1.2%): Initiated Buy at Mizuho; price target $240

Microsoft (MSFT 44.59, +0.07, +0.2%): Price target raised to $52 from $50 at UBS; Buy

Barracuda Networks (CUDA 31.55, -7.57, -19.4%): Price target lowered to $47 from $52 at Imperial Capital; Outperform

Perficient (PRFT 15.90, +0.68, +4.5%): Price target lowered to $21 from $24 at Needham; Buy

QLogic (QLGC 11.48, +0.48, 4.4%): Price target lowered to $17 from $19 at Argus; Buy

Google A (GOOGL 556.11, +11.46, +2.1%): Price target raised to $700 from $690 at Credit Suisse; Outperform

Weekly Recap - Week ending 10-Jul-15Dow +211.79 at 17760.41, Nasdaq +75.30 at 4997.70, S&P +25.31 at 2076.62

The major averages ended the week on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 climbing 1.2%. Thanks to the advance, the benchmark index returned above its 200-day moving average (2,056), ending the week little changed.

Equities surged out of the gate after reports from last evening indicated that Greek officials sent a bailout request to the country's creditors, seeking EUR53.50 billion to cover loan obligations until June 2018. Interestingly, the proposal was very similar to the one that was rejected by 61.3% of voters in the Greek referendum on July 5. According to reports from Athens, the Greek parliament is expected to ratify the offer, but there was no official statement from the Eurogroup before the closing bell.

Furthermore, the Greek proposal includes a requirement for the creditors' commitment to restructure long-term debt; however, securing that commitment will be very difficult considering Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted yesterday by Reuters as saying debt restructuring is not possible because it would "infringe the system of the European Union."

The lack of a response from the creditor side did not stop global equities from rallying with France's CAC leading European markets higher with a 3.3% advance. Meanwhile, selling in Germany's 10-yr bund sent its yield higher by 17 basis points to 0.89% while U.S. Treasuries also retreated with the 10-yr yield rising ten basis points to 2.42%.

Treasuries extended their losses during the early afternoon after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen spoke in Cleveland, reiterating that the Fed still believes it will be appropriate to raise rates later this year. That being said, the Fed Chair said the outlook for the economy and inflation remains uncertain with unanticipated events having the potential to delay or accelerate the first rate hike.

All ten sectors posted gains with eight groups adding more than 1.0%. Most notably, the top-weighted technology sector (+1.6%) held the lead throughout the session while the second-largest group by market cap-financials (+1.2%)-followed not far behind.

The technology sector rallied behind its largest components like Apple (AAPL 123.30, +3.23), Google (GOOGL 556.11, +11.46), and Facebook (FB 87.95, +2.07) while high-beta chipmakers also displayed relative strength with the PHLX Semiconductor Index spiking 1.9%. To be fair, the index ended the week lower by 3.9% after both Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 1.96, -0.02) and QLogic (QLGC 11.48, +0.48) issued cautious guidance.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector (+1.0%) settled a bit behind the broader market, but that masked broad strength among transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 1.9% to end the week higher by 1.0%. Airlines led today's advance with Alaska Air (ALK 70.55, +4.01) spiking 6.0% in reaction to upbeat traffic flow data.

For the week, four sectors registered gains with countercyclical consumer staples (+1.1%) and utilities (+0.5%) logging respective weekly gains of 2.0% and 1.7%. On the flip side, growth-sensitive energy (+0.6%) and materials (+1.5%) both lost near 1.5% for the week.

Today's participation was roughly in-line with recent totals as 720 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Monday's data will be limited to the 14:00 ET release of the Treasury Budget for June.

Week in Review: China and Greece in the Spotlight

Monday was a busy day for equities across the globe, beginning with an overnight slide in the futures market after the Greek referendum produced 61.3% 'no' vote, rejecting the bailout terms previously proposed by eurozone creditors. The results of the referendum allowed Greece's Syriza party to stay in power, but Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis stepped down with Oxford-educated Euclid Tsakalotos assuming Mr. Varoufakis' place. The continued uncertainty about Greece's future in the eurozone pressured European markets with Germany's DAX and Italy's MIB losing 1.5% and 4.0%, respectively. Domestically, the S&P 500 (-0.4%) began the session just above its 200-day moving average (2,055), but an aggressive bid lifted the index back to its flat line about an hour after the opening bell. However, that rebound was short-lived, fading into the afternoon.

On Tuesday, the stock market was on track for a sharp decline in the early going, but the opening weakness became a distant memory by the end of the trading day. The S&P 500 gained 0.6% after being down 1.2% at the start while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%) underperformed throughout the day. Equity indices struggled at the start amid rising macroeconomic uncertainty overseas. Greece was in the headlines, but the day's Eurogroup meeting ended rather quickly with Chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem saying the Eurogroup expects Greece to submit a formal request for access to the European Stability Mechanism the following day. As for China, the Shanghai Composite lost 1.3% in the Tuesday session despite Monday's CNY1.80 trillion liquidity injection from the People's Bank of China and other emergency measures undertaken by the government. As a result nearly 25% of A-share listings were halted over the past seven days as companies scrambled to protect their market values. Investors appeared to be concerned with the overseas uncertainty at the start of the session, but the heavy selling abated just as markets across Europe closed for the day. The S&P 500 then returned above its 200-day moving average (2,055) and continued its charge into positive territory.

The major averages ended the midweek session on a lower note following a trading day that featured numerous trading halts at home and abroad. The S&P 500 fell below its 200-day moving average (2,056), ending lower by 1.7% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.8%) underperformed. Equities slumped at the start of the session in response to the overnight weakness in the futures market that could be traced back to the continued selling efforts in China. The Shanghai Composite lost 5.9% on Wednesday, which resulted in the number of companies suspended from trading for volatility increasing to 50%+. Futures on the S&P 500 held a 30-point decline during the overnight session, but cut their losses in half ahead of the New York open. The rebound took place amid a rally in Europe, following reports that Greek officials have requested a three-year bailout program that includes tax reforms; but the offer was very similar to the one that was rejected by Greek voters during Sunday's referendum.

The market ended Thursday in the green, but not before enduring a daylong retreat from its opening high. The S&P 500 was up more than 1.3% at the start, but narrowed its advance to 0.2% by the closing bell. Equity indices charged out of the gate after the overnight session featured a rebound in China's Shanghai Composite, which climbed 5.8%. The advance occurred as officials in China continued introducing measures aimed at halting the recent market plunge with reports indicating a special taskforce targeting "hostile short-sellers" will be established by China's Public Security Ministry and China Securities Regulatory Commission. Elsewhere, optimistic-sounding remarks from top Eurozone officials also contributed to the opening strength as European Council President Donald Tusk said he expects Greece to submit concrete, realistic reform proposals. The opening spike sent the S&P 500 above its 200-day moving average (2,056), but the index returned below that mark during the afternoon. Cyclical sectors displayed broad strength in the early going, but the top-weighed technology sector (-0.3%) faded from its high during the afternoon, ending among the laggards.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17730.11 17760.41 30.30 0.2 -0.4
Nasdaq 5009.21 4997.70 -11.51 -0.2 5.5
S&P 500 2076.78 2076.62 -0.16 -0.0 0.9
Russell 2000 1248.26 1252.02 3.76 0.3 3.9


Week Ahead:
Monday: June Treasury Budget (13:00 ET); U.S. Representative Neugebauer (Republican from Texas) has scheduled an event to review bond market trading challenges
Tuesday: June Retail Sales and Retail Sales ex-auto (08:30 ET); June Export Prices ex-ag and Import Prices ex-oil (08:30 ET); May Business Inventories (10:00 ET)
Wednesday: MBA Mortgage Index for the week ending 7/11 (07:00 ET); June PPI and Core PPI (08:30 ET); July Empire Manufacturing (08:30 ET); June Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization (09:15 ET); Fed Chair Yellen (FOMC voter) delivers semi-annual testimony before the House Financial Services Committee (10:00 ET); Crude Inventories for the week ending 7/11 (10:30 ET); July Beige Book (14:00 ET); San Francisco Fed President Williams (FOMC voter) speaks on the economic outlook (15:00 ET and 18:00 ET)

Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending 7/11 and Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ending 7/4 (08:30 ET); July Philadelphia Fed (10:00 ET); July NAHB Housing Market Index (10:00 ET); Fed Chair Yellen (FOMC voter) delivers semi-annual testimony on monetary policy before the Senate Banking Committee (10:00 ET); Natural Gas Inventories for the week ending 7/11 (10:30 ET); May Net Long-Term TIC Flows (16:00 ET)

Friday: June CPI and Core CPI (08:30 ET); June Housing Starts and Building Permits (08:30 ET); July Michigan Sentiment (10:00 ET)

3:32 pm Earnings Preview for the week of July 13 - 17 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of July 13 - 17 some of the bigger names include:

Monday: After Hours - OZRK

Tuesday: Pre Market - JPM, WFC, JNJ, FAST, AIR, CBSH, NORD, SKIS
After Hours - YUM, CSX, MRTN, ADTN, PPHM

Wednesday: Pre Market - BAC, DAL, USB, PNC, BLK, ASMLAfter Hours - INTC, KMI, NFLX, UFPI, UMPQ, EWBC, WTFC, CNS
Thursday: Pre Market - TSM, UNH, C, GS, PM, EBAY, PPG, SHW, BBT, BX, SON, MTB, KEY, DPZ, FRC, FCS, MTG, WBS, ANFI, FCFS, PVTB, IIIN, WNS, HOMB, SASRAfter Hours - GOOG, SLB, CE, CTAS, MAT, AMD, CYT, PBCT, ASB, MBFI, RECN, SWI, ANGO, EGP, COBZ

Friday: Pre Market - ERIC, GE, HON, PGR, GWW, SYF, ALV, STI, CMA, KSU, FHN, KNL
11:51 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (103) outpacing new highs (96) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABCO, ACGL, ADPT, AFMD, AFSI, AIZ, ANAC, ANSS, ASBI, BF.B, BHBK, BMRN, BNCN, BOFI, BOOT, BSET, BYD, CASY, CFNL, CHCO, CHRS, CLGX, CNOB, COKE, CRTO, CVC, CVS, DBVT, DEPO, DIS, DPLO, DPZ, DST, DVAX, DY, EA, EGBN, ELLI, EROS, ESNT, EVI, FAF, FRME, GKOS, GME, GNCMA, HF, HIHO, HZNP, ICCC, IMPV, ITCI, LBAI, LEG, LEN.B, MATW, MDCO, MHLD, MKL, MKTX, MORN, MRH, NEO, NGHC, NTT, NVAX, NVR, NWL, ORLY, PBIP, PGR, PRAH, PZN, Q, RARE, RDUS, RE, RLH, ROCK, RRGB, RYAAY, SREV, SSB, STRS, THG, TISI, TLMR, TPX, TREC, TSO, TSYS, TTPH, TYL, WBA, WING, WOOF

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACI, ADAT, AIXG, ALLT, APA, AQXP, AR, ARCW, ASTI, ATL, AUY, AVP, BRS, BWEN, BWP, CC, CCJ, CECE, CNX, COH, CSTM, CTRL, CVE, DCI, DFRG, DNN, DOV, DSCO, ECA, EGO, ELON, EMR, EOX, ESSX, FLR, FLS, GMCR, GRVY, GULTU, HMY, IRWD, JOY, LINC, LINE, LODE, LTBR, MARPS, MDSY, MEIL, MELA, MGCD, MHI, MUR, MUX, NCQ, NFEC, NOR, NTL, NTN, OII, ONVI, ORC, PAAS, PBM, PERI, PGH, PHIIK, PKX, PNX, POWI, PSAU, PTXP, PVA, PVCT, QUIK, RNN, ROYL, RYAM, S, SAFM, SGI, SHLD, SLW, SNDK, SPNE, SPW, STRI, STX, SU, SWSH, SYNC, TGD, TGP, TMST, TRUE, UPL, URRE, USAP, VET, VII, WDC, XRA, Z

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The stock market jumped noticeably on Monday following the news that Greece and the eurozone have struck a deal that reportedly calls for higher taxes and pension reform, as well as the establishment of a 50 billion fund using Greek assets to help pay down debt and recapitalize the country's banks.

The deal must be approved first by the Greek Parliament and then other eurozone parliaments. If those hurdles are cleared, then it has been said that further negotiations on bailout aid can take place.

Market participants appeared pleased with the notion that the worst-case scenario of a Greek exit from the eurozone will be averted. That sense of things supported the market, yet it would be remiss not to add that it isn't a done deal by any means. Parliamentary approval hangs in the balance as does the proof that Greece is actually following through with the bailout funding contingencies. In effect, it's little more than a short-term solution to what can still be thought of as a long-term problem.

The latter view notwithstanding, stocks rallied on short-covering activity and a burgeoning sense that the upcoming second quarter earnings reporting period will turn out better than feared.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+1.6%) was at the head of the performance pack on Monday, bolstered by gains in all but five of its 66 components and a solid showing from many of its most influential stocks, like Apple (AAPL 125.66, +2.38, +1.9%), Google (GOOG 546.55, +16.42, +3.1%), Cisco (CSCO 27.79, +0.51, +1.9%), Intel (INTC 29.73, +0.56, +1.9%), Microsoft (MSFT 45.53, +0.92, +2.1%), and Visa (V 69.52, +1.10, +1.6%).

Notably, Seagate Technology (STX 46.28, +0.33, +0.7%) was among the winners despite a fiscal fourth quarter revenue warning from the company before the start of trading that was attributed to weaker than expected demand.

Notable news items from sector components included the following:

Apple (AAPL 125.66, +2.38, +1.9%): Digitimes, citing upstream supply chain sources, indicates initial shipment volume for the 12.9-inch iPad has been much lower than expected. Separately, MacRumors, citing data it received from Slice Intelligence, says Apple Watch online sales in the US are estimated to have surpassed 3 million in the three-month period ended July 10.

eBay (EBAY 63.47, +1.10, +1.8%): Obtained European Central Bank PayPal separation approval (final approval needed); Separation is on track to be completed on Friday July 17. PayPal's (PYPL) stock will officially begin 'regular way' trading on the NASDAQ on Monday July 20, 2015

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 30.74, +0.09, +0.3%): Announced a High Performance Computing (HPC) alliance with Intel Corporation (INTC 29.73, +0.56, +1.9%) created to expand accessibility of HPC. To increase accessibility of HPC, the companies will launch a new Center of Excellence, which is designed to bring a community of experts from both companies to support customers in planning, developing, deploying and managing HPC solutions.

Microsoft (MSFT 45.53, +0.92, +2.1%): Announced its plans to commercially launch Windows 10 on July 29, 2015

SanDisk (SNDK 53.65, +0.12, +0.2%): Announced it has shipped more than two billion microSD cards since it started commercial shipment of the technology ten years ago.

Seagate Technology (STX 46.28, +0.33, +0.7%): Company lowered guidance for Q4 (Jun), saying it sees Q4 (Jun) revenues of $2.9 bln from $3.2-3.3 bln; sees non-GAAP gross margin of ~ 27.0% vs prior guidance of 28.5%. The difference, the company said, was driven primarily by lower than expected intra-quarter demand. Seagate expects to report unit shipments for Q4 of ~45 million, maintaining approximately 40% market share and reflecting ~52 exabytes.
Elsewhere in the technology space:

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 3.55, -0.02, -0.6%): Company and China Mobile (CHL 61.46, +0.11, +0.2%) have conducted the industry's first field trial of a virtualized radio access network-based architecture based on network functions virtualization technology. The real-time test of ALU's vRAN technology at Beijing's Tisinghua University demonstrates how NFV architecture can enhance efficiencies, reduce costs and lay foundation towards 5G

BlackBerry Limited (BBRY 7.73, +0.04, +0.5%): Announced the appointment of Carl Wiese as President of Global Sales. Wiese joins BlackBerry from Cisco (CSCO 27.79, +0.51, +1.9%), where he spent more than a decade in senior leadership positions, most recently as Senior Vice President leading the company's global collaboration business

Dangdang (DANG 6.98, +0.41, +6.2%): Company announced that its board of directors has formed a special committee consisting of three independent, disinterested directors, Ms. Ruby Rong Lu, Mr. Ke Zhang and Mr. Xiaolong Li, to consider the non-binding "going private" proposal that the Board received on July 9, 2015. As previously announced, Ms. Peggy Yu Yu, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Company, and her spouse, Mr. Guoqing Li, Chief Executive Officer and director of the Company, offered to acquire outstanding ADS for $7.812 per ADS in cash, or $1.5624 per Class A common share.

Analyst Action:

Apple (AAPL 125.66, +2.38, +1.9%): upgraded to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale; target $140

Brocade (BRCD 10.90, -0.42, -3.7%): downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform th period ended July 10at RBC Capital Markets; target lowered to $12 from $13

Corning (GLW 19.15, -0.13, -0.7%): downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch

FireEye (FEYE 49.67, -0.02, -0.04%): Dougherty & Company initiates with a Buy and price target of $65

Google A (GOOGL 571.73, +15.62, +2.8%) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Pivotal Research

Intel (INTC 29.73, +0.56, +1.9%): target lowered to $32 from $33 at Cowen

Yelp (YELP 35.43, +0.70, +2.0%): target lowered to $29.50 from $35 at Northland Capital

4:10 pm : The stock market began the trading week on an upbeat note with the S&P 500 registering the bulk of its 23-point gain shortly after the opening bell. The benchmark index padded that advance during the final hour, settling just below its 50-day moving average (2,100).

Equity indices spiked at the start after lengthy weekend negotiations between Greek representatives and eurozone officials produced a framework for the third rescue package for Greece. The agreement, which includes EUR25 billion in bank recapitalization funds, was cheered by global equity markets, but it is worth noting that the full bailout will be discussed once the country's government passes a series of reforms on Wednesday. The far-reaching concessions will require Greece to streamline value-added taxes, broaden its tax base to increase revenue, curtail pension costs, and privatize public assets worth as much as 50 billion euros.

Global risk assets surged in reaction to the developments while outflows from the Treasury market weighed on the 10-yr note, sending its yield higher by three basis points to 2.43% after testing the 2.47% level in the early morning.

Interestingly, the euro only saw a brief spike that was followed by heavy selling with the single currency sliding 1.4% against the dollar to 1.1000. As a result, the Dollar Index (96.82, +0.80) climbed 0.8%, erasing last week's decline.

All ten sectors ended in the green with five groups adding 1.0% or more. Heavily-weighted sectors fueled today's advance with the technology sector (+1.6%) holding the lead throughout the session. Large-cap sector components like Apple (AAPL 125.66, +2.38), Facebook (FB 90.10, +2.15), Google (GOOGL 571.73, +15.62), and Microsoft (MSFT 45.53, +0.92) spiked between 1.9% and 2.8% while Seagate (STX 46.28, +0.33) advanced 0.7% despite lowering its Q4 revenue and gross margin guidance. As for chipmakers, the high-beta group struggled to keep pace with the sector, but the PHLX Semiconductor Index still added 0.8%.

Elsewhere among influential groups, the consumer discretionary sector (+1.5%) finished right behind technology while financials (+1.1%) and industrials (+1.0%) ended near the broader market. Also of note, the health care sector (+0.8%) finished behind the broader market, which masked relative strength in biotechnology, evidenced by a 1.6% gain in iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 378.89, +6.09).

Similar to health care, telecom services (+0.6%) and utilities (unch) underperformed while the consumer staples sector (+1.0%) settled just behind the S&P 500. Thanks to today's gain, the staples sector is now up 4.2% for the month, trading well ahead of the remaining nine groups.

Today's participation was comparable to recent totals as more than 730 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the Treasury Budget statement for June, which showed a surplus of $51.80 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected a surplus of $51.00 billion. The Treasury data are not seasonally adjusted, so the June surplus cannot be compared to the $82.40 billion deficit recorded in May.

Tomorrow, June Retail Sales (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) and Import/Export Prices for June will be released at 8:30 ET while the Business Inventories report for May will be reported at 10:00 ET (consensus 0.2%).


Nasdaq Composite +7.1% YTD
Russell 2000 +5.1% YTD
S&P 500 +2.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.9% YTD

DJ30 +217.27 NASDAQ +73.82 SP500 +22.98 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2224/1.54 bln/820 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2265/735.9 mln/828 3:45 pm :

WTI rallied in mid-morning trade, briefly moving back above $53
However, in the last two hours of trade, WTI oil prices slid lower and moved back around the $52/barrel area
Aug crude oil closed $0.59 lower to $52.18/barrel
Aug natural gas fell $0.09 to $2.86/MMBtu
Gold, silver and copper futures traded mostly flat/modestly lower today
Aug gold ended $2.80 lower to $1155.60/oz, while Sept silver fell $0.04 to $15.45/oz
Sept copper ended flat today at $2.54/lb

12:04 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (232) outpacing new lows (114) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAN, AAP, ABCD, ABCO, ABG, ACGL, ACHC, ACN, ADMS, ADPT, AEC, AEO, AFG, AHL, AIZ, ALGT, ALK, AMCX, AMSF, AMZN, ANAC, ANSS, APPF, ASBI, ASGN, AWH, AYI, BKS, BMRN, BNCN, BOOT, BRO, BYD, CASH, CASS, CBM, CBRL, CBU, CBZ, CCL, CENT, CFI, CFNL, CHCO, CHDN, CHE, CHKE, CLFD, CLGX, CMCSA, CMCSK, CMN, CMRX, COKE, CPRX, CUBI, CUK, CVS, DBVT, DCM, DENN, DEPO, DG, DIS, DKL, DNKN, DPLO, DPZ, DST, DVAX, DXCM, EA, EBAY, EBS, EEFT, EFSC, EGBN, ELLI, EME, ENH, EPAM, ERI, EROS, ESNT, ESXB, EURN, EVI, EW, FAF, FB, FISV, FIT, FL, FNF, FNLC, FOLD, FRME, GAIN, GD, GIII, GKNT, GME, GNCMA, GRBK, GSBC, GTN, GTT, HALO, HAWK, HCA, HF, HIG, HIHO, HMN, HMPR, HQH, HQL, HZNP, IACI, ICCC, ITCI, ITRN, JAH, JLL, JNP, LBAI, LEG, LEN, LEN.B, LGND, LKFN, LLY, LXFT, MAN, MANH, MCI, MCO, MD, MDC, MGNX, MHK, MHLD, MKL, MKTX, MORN, MPC, MRH, MSCI, MTG, MTN, MYCC, NAT, NBIX, NBTB, NCLH, NFLX, NGHC, NKE, NTRI, NVLS, NVO, NWBO, NWL, OMCL, ONFC, ORLY, PBH, PENN, PETS, PGR, PLMT, POWR, PRAH, PSCF, PSMT, PULB, PZN, PZZA, Q, QABA, QGEN, RARE, RE, REMY, RLH, RUTH, SBUX, SEE, SFBS, SHOO, SKX, SNA, SPNS, SQBG, SRCE, SREV, SRNE, STBA, STFC, STNG, SUBK, SUPN, SYBT, TAST, TBNK, THG, TISI, TLMR, TOWN, TPX, TREC, TSO, TSYS, TTPH, TWX, TXRH, TYL, UA, UFCS, ULTA, VASC, VGR, VLO, WABC, WBA, WD, WING, WOOF, WRB, WSM, XNCR, ZGNX


Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAU, ABX, ACI, AGI, AIXG, AKS, AP, APA, AQXP, AR, ARCW, ARL, ARP, ASA, ASTI, ATLS, AUY, BBEP, BCEI, BEP, BFO, BOX, BOXC, BRS, BTZ, CAMT, CC, CMLS, CNX, CPG, CRK, CTRL, CVE, DDC, DLB, DNN, DNR, DSCO, ECA, ECT, EGO, EGY, EIP, ELTK, EOX, ETRM, EVA, EXFO, FLS, FTEK, GDF, GGB, GMCR, GRVY, GULTU, HH, HMY, HOV, I, JMT, LINE, LNCO, MBSD, MDSY, MGH, MUR, MUX, NBD, NBL, NFG, NRG, NTN, NVG, OII, OIS, ORC, PAAS, PCH, PGH, POWI, PSAU, PTXP, PVA, QEP, ROYL, S, SA, SAFM, SFY, SGI, SID, SLW, SMT, SMTC, SNDK, SPW, STRI, STX, SVM, SWSH, SXC, TC, TGD, TLR, TMST, ULTR, UNXL, UPL, USAP, VCIT, VCLT, VET, WDC, WIN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: PPH, XLY

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: COW, ENZL, FXA, GDX, LQD

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - Market Cannot Celebrate Return to Good Earnings (Weekend Newsletter)

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

- Market cannot celebrate a return to good earnings.
- Gap and rollover is not good technical though not automatic death.
- Large cap indexes can still hold support if the mood strikes, while the small and midcaps struggle.
- Leadership remains in the same narrow groups as wannabes suffer setbacks.
- Overall the market looks to be in a protracted topping formation, but the big names have not bought into that just yet.

Once again a key stock index, NASDAQ, moved to a new high, and once again that key index reversed and coughed up the new high. Along with it, the other indexes that failed to follow NASDAQ to a new high are struggling with a very hard downside session Friday. Even before that session things were not pleasant for indexes such as the RUTX, SP400, and SOX, and Friday put them at least on the back foot.

SP500 -22.50, -1.07%
NASDAQ -57.78, -1.12%
DJ30 -163.39, -0.92%
SP400 -0.92%
RUTX -1.52%
SOX -1.99%

VOLUME: NYSE +4%, NASDAQ flat. Some distribution as volume remained well above average on both exchanges, indicating that the net is unloading of stocks.

A/D: NYSE -2.7:1, NASDAQ -3.1:1. The breadth shows the selling started taking down most areas of the market. Perhaps not breaking all sectors down, but they were under pressure.


THE MARKET

The leadership ranks tried to grow on the last move higher, but some of the new groups attempting to join the biotechs/drugs, big name NASDAQ, restaurants/fast food leaders failed in their efforts. Indeed, even the leadership groups were hit. Biotechs struggled in the wake of the BIIB warning. Fast food/restaurants took a hard punch. Big names also had some issues, but key big names not so much. More on that later.

Moreover, set the context: there were big earnings announced Thursday night from AMZN, SBUX, SWKS, V, JNPR. Futures surged on the news and they gapped higher, taking a lot of their countrymen with them. It looked to be another good, strong move to push those NASDAQ large cap big name leaders even higher.

CHARTS

Then it did not. The plug was pulled and the gaps were reversed on the big names. They didn't collapse, but they closed well off their highs. NASDAQ on the other hand, suffered a sharp drop from the 10 day EMA it was holding. Not an implosion there thanks to its new high; that allowed NASDAQ to hold its uptrend channel.

For the smaller cap indexes, however, the picture is not quite as pretty (or should I say is a bit uglier?) with SP400 midcaps showing a big rounded top, RUTX breaking the lower trendline from December, also with a topping (head and shoulders).

As for SP500 and DJ30, the large cap indexes look better, even if it is only in a relative sense. DJ30, it is at the bottom of its trading range, the lowest support in that range. SP500 put in a third top and has ripped lower, but it can still put in an bottoming pattern off of this.

SOX is the downside leader and after such a selloff you have to look at it for possible signs of bouncing. SOX is at a lower closing low off of the early June peak, but also at some larger support. It is quite oversold and appears as if it is trying to double bottom at that bigger support. If so, it will have a lot to prove on any move higher as there are gaps yawning below way back in October.

NASDAQ still in its channel with some solid leadership from the big name large caps. SP500 was down hard Friday but it is at support, is oversold, and can put in an inverted head and shoulders here at the low of potential right shoulder. DJ30 is at the lower range of support in its trading range and after four sharp downside sessions is oversold at that support. It has used this to bounce before. Long shot? Yes, but this market has made its highs off of long shots when it looked as if it was finally done.

So that is the upside scenario in terms of the indexes, what there is of it, but the last time I laid out the reasons the market could rally the market promptly tumbled. It was at a higher level, however, and not at the threshold of hell (to quote Clark Griswold from 'Christmas Vacation').


Take a look around you Ellen, we're at the threshold of hell!' --Clark Griswold, 'Christmas Vacation' (1989)

Of course the market did recover from that tumble just when it appeared to be breaking down. Again, it managed to turn a break lower into a false breakdown and rallied.

The frequency of the failures, however, tends to wear out an uptrend. As the Tour de France winds down, it provides a good analogy. Some riders continually attack on the mountain stages, but if they cannot make the gap and make it hold, they eventual wear out, blow up, and fade back into the grupeto.



That is the concern after Friday saw some serious breaks lower from the laggard indexes. When you consider how commodities have collapsed, industrial machinery is collapsing, rails and trucks reversing a bottoming attempt -- basically all parts of the industrial complex are struggling hard -- you get the sense the foundation is crumbling out from below the economy and of course that would mean the stock market.

After that barrage of downside, it certainly appears the indexes are oversold at least near term. If DJ30, NASDAQ SOX, and even SP500 can muster a bounce off of this support the real story is how the move holds.


LEADERSHIP

Leadership remains pretty much the same, and as the market action indicates, that is not necessarily a good thing. Many leaders sold in the overall market weakness, but most remain in quite good shape. Of course they had good runs and a little selling doesn't damage their patterns. More selling . . . well that is another matter.

Big Names: AMZN gapped sharply higher on earnings but gave up 50 points of a 97 point move. EBAY gapped higher but gave it back, though it is still in a very nice test. SBUX gapped upside on its earnings then reversed most of the move. Still trending up the 10 day EMA. NFLX spent the week testing, ending Friday in a pennant/flag over the 10 day EMA. FB gapped higher on the day after getting close to the 10 day EMA Thursday.

Biotechs: BIIB, after already falling Wednesday and Thursday, opened the floodgates Friday with its warning, and that hurt some biotechs, selling in sympathy (a.k.a. fear). CELG gapped lower but no big deal after its move. GILD tumbled to the early July low. TTPH broke the 20 day EMA and we exited. KITE sold but is holding over support. XON is not even at the 10 day EMA. BRLI tested after its nice Wednesday and Thursday surge. Some selling for sure but overall holding up quite well.

Restaurants/Fast food: JACK was sold for a second session but light trade. It held the 20 day EMA on the low. CMG unscathed. BWLD Gapped to a doji at the 200 day SMA, still holding the 200 day SMA. CAKE is fine, testing its Thursday upside gap from a nice consolidation. PZZA in a normal test but heading lower. DPZ is breaking down. SONC is breaking lower.

Financial: Testing but holding up. JPM at the 20 day EMA in a test after hitting a higher high. BAC in a nice 10 day EMA after its breakout and surge. V gapped upside though it did sell off some of its gain. Regional banks, a mainstay in the prior run, are testing back, some breaking support such as the Southwest banks and their oil relationship.

Tech: Some turns in progress? SNDK, after a series of gaps lower, now shows a big gap upside. NMBL is holding up well in a lot of market turbulence. JNPR gapped out of a pullback.


MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: -57.78 points (-1.12%) to close at 5088.63
Volume: 1.945B (-0.08%)

Up Volume: 460.53M (-402.15M)
Down Volume: 1.54B (+420M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 3.12 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 2.16 to 1

New Highs: 53 (-62)
New Lows: 246 (+76)

S&P
Stats: -22.5 points (-1.07%) to close at 2079.65
NYSE Volume: 892.2M (+3.96%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 2.68 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 2.16 to 1

New Highs: 34 (-58)
New Lows: 411 (+99)

DJ30
Stats: -163.39 points (-0.92%) to close at 17568.53


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 13.74; +1.1
VXN: 15.85; +1.69
VXO: 14.32; +1.63

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 1.41; +0.38. Second close over 1.0 after 8 sessions below and 11 above before that. Jumped right back up.


Bulls and Bears: Bulls bounce right back up to the recent highs, just about, following the prior week's move higher. Now they can fall again. Bears, of course, were still flat line.

Bulls: 49.0% versus 43.7% versus 44.8% versus 49.5%

Bears: 15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.4% versus 15.4% versus 16.5%

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: 49.0%
43.7% versus 44.8% versus 49.5% versus 51.6% versus 45.5% versus 47.4% versus 51.5% versus 47.5% versus 51.5% versus 48.5% versus 50.5% versus 50.6% versus 47.5% versus 52.5% versus 57.4% versus 52.5% versus 50.5% versus 50.4% versus 54.5% versus 55.6% versus 52.0% versus 53.6% versus 58.7% versus 59.5% versus 56.6% versus 52.5% versus 49.0% versus 53.1% versus 49.0% versus 48.0% versus 50.5% versus 56.4% versus 52.5% versus 49.5% versus 51.5% versus53.4% versus 56.5%

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 15.6%
15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.4% versus 15.4% versus 16.5% versus 16.5% versus 15.8% versus 14.9% versus 15.8% versus 13.9% versus 13.9% versus 15.2% versus 13.9% versus 14.2% versus 14.2% versus 14.1% versus 14.3% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 15.2% versus 16.3% versus 16.3% versus 17.4% versus16.3% versus 15.2% versus 14.9% versus 15.8% versus 14.9% versus 14.8% versus 13.9% versus 13.8%

Background: Over 35% for bears is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. The best indication is when bears cross up through bulls as the two merge. Right now bulls are coming back down from the 60 level that has consistently marked market tops over the past two years. The rapid decline in progress is pushing the bulls/bears lines toward one another. Still far from a cross with bulls falling faster than bears are rising, but bears are warming up to the notion of market weakness.


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 2.27% versus 2.27%. Big week for bonds though Friday was something of a wash. Moved to a higher high on the week, topping the early July high.

Historical: 2.27% versus 2.32% versus 2.34% versus 2.37% versus 2.34% versus 2.35% versus 2.35% versus 2.40% versus 2.44% versus 2.42% versus 2.31% versus 2.206% versus 2.26% versus 2.29% versus 2.38% versus 2.42% versus 2.34% versus 2.364% versus 2.48% versus 2.40% versus 2.37% versus 2.40% versus 2.36% versus 2.26% versus 2.35% versus 2.32% versus 2.32% versus 2.36% versus 2.39% versus 2.39% versus 2.48% versus 2.433% versus 2.388% versus 2.40% versus 2.31% versus 2.37%


Euro/$: 1.0977 versus 1.0992. Modest test to the 10 day EMA on the week, testing the prior surge upside.

Historical: 1.0977 versus 1.0927 versus 1.0944 versus 1.0927 versus 1.0825 versus 1.0836 versus 1.0880 versus 1.0946 versus 1.1005 versus 1.0999 versus 1.1157 versus 1.1032 versus 1.11069 versus 1.1099 versus 1.1055 versus 1.1082 versus 1.1054 versus 1.1131 versus 1.1243 versus 1.1205


Oil: 48.14, -0.31. Continuing lower down the 10 day EMA. No life in oil.

Gold: 1085.50, -8.60. Big doji Friday as gold holds at the Monday intraday low and rebounds off it. Trying to set up an oversold bounce.

$/JPY: 123.79 versus 123.89. Nice easy 10 day EMA test after the surge back upside. Still below the June high but testing the initial recovery, setting up a run at that high.

Historical: 123.89 versus 123.96 versus 123.88 versus 124.31 versus 124.07 versus 124.13 versus 123.78 versus 123.38 versus 123.42 versus 122.76 versus 121.29 versus 120.66 versus 122.46 versus 122.51 versus 123.04 versus 123.115 versus 122.43 versus 122.497 versus 123.82 versus 123.63 versus 123.88 versus 123.69 versus 123.37 versus 122.66


MONDAY

Again the stock indexes find themselves in a more bearish stance, having failed another bounce attempt. That is fine; the market has rallied, failed, rallied failed, and it keeps coming back. As noted, however, that can erode the trend that has been in place for quite some time.

After the sharp week of selling and with NASDAQ at its trendline, the Dow at the bottom of its range, an oversold bounce should try to form. There are still some excellent leaders testing, putting in good patterns for entries. Biotechs tested, some of the big names, restaurants, financials. How they rebound will tell a good part of the story and again, how some of the potential new sectors trying to form up, e.g. techs, telecom, will tell the state of the market.

Overall, given the repeated sharp selloffs after new index highs, the split in the market to mostly large cap NASDAQ leadership, the out and out dives in many stocks and commodities tied directly to economic activity, the upside situation is just does not appear that bullish. Of course it has looked that way before and rallied right back.

Again, watching how the leaders react shows the prognosis. For clarity, however, it will take a pretty major sea change in leadership to give the market the kind of fresh blood it needs to sustain a broad move.

So for now we continue to look at what is working. That brings you to the big names that rallied well and are testing. If they give the buy signal, we will play them to be in what continues to work. Same with the other leadership groups: if they bounce right back and can hold the moves, showing that Friday was some sympathy selling, they can get some of our money as well.

We have some good downside positions working along with some good upside. After this selloff there is likely a bounce. Again, we can make money on that if the market puts in the kind of bounces it has in the past. After it fizzles, we see where it does, if it weakens at a lower point, then the downside bias grows even more.

Indeed, if I have to speculate, and I must, I must, even though that certainly means nothing as it is the market that makes the decisions not my speculation, I would say this is the response to the end of the Fed's 6+ year reign of stimulus.

Ever since QE ended in October 2014 the market volatility increased, the moves became shorter and choppier (look at October to early 2015), and then morphed into a trading range. Nominal new highs were met, but immediately sold. The move flattened into the trading range and now there are sectors breaking to lower lows. The rise tried to resume out of October, did for awhile, topped out into a trading range, and started putting in lower lows on the downside, one index after another. If the large cap indexes break here, the market will have to then find a new range.

This is of course not the first time stocks have struggled in their long run, but there are some economic issues thrown into the mix around the world and the US as well, and thus even if this is not a major, end of stimulus with no economic support to hold the market up kind of selloff, the action is definitely less robust to the upside.

Here is how I summed up the action late in the Friday session:

Not trying to sugar coat the selling. There is damage being done but the same leaders are holding on. They are down in sympathy but are overall holding up.

It looks like some kind of end of week dump here. If it lets up, the leaders jump back up. Of course if the selling barrage continues next week the leaders are left circling the wagons and might get cut down. I note that FB and ULTA continue to toy with the buy points even heading into the close. Indeed stocks are trying a late rebound as they usually do after getting hammered on a session.

Looked at our positions, some such as JACK are worrisome in the harder drop, but are holding support and bouncing a bit. Not the time to assume all is lost. Never like these reversals, but then again, the indexes are trading in ranges and are still in the ranges in the large cap cases and are at support for the smaller and midcaps (SP400 at the 200 day MA and March low).

Not getting too lathered up on this move though not loving it for the upside. Watching how the key stocks hold support, deciding if we want to jettison JACK with a modest gain or see if it can rebound from the 20 day EMA tap. In short, not planning on major position changes.

As always, take what the market gives, play what works. That is why we are still looking at the big name leaders because they are indeed still working. We have seen this before, and if they want to lead, so be it. We will play them.

Have a great weekend.


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 5088.63

Resistance:
5120 is the April 2015 post-bear market high
5132.52 is the 3/2000 all-time high
5150-5160 is the June peak range
5164 is the June prior all-time high
The upper trendline at 5260

Support:
The 50 day EMA at 5066
The lower trendline is at 5066
5042 is the March 2015 high
5008.57 is the early March 2015 post-bear market high
The June low at 4974
4912 the mid-April China dip
The 200 day SMA at 4849
The March lows at 4843 and 4825
4815 is the December 2014 prior market peak
4811 is the November 2014 peak (intraday)
4774 is the January high
4751 is the January 2015 lower high
4631 is the October 2014 upside gap point
4610 is the September 2014 post-bear market high.
4566 is the lower gap point from late October
4563 and 4567 are the January lows
4547 is the December low


S&P 500: Closed at 2079.65

Resistance:
The lower channel line at 2092
The 50 day EMA at 2098
2094 is the December 2014 high, the prior all-time high
2115 is the late March lower high
2119.59 is the February intraday prior all-time high
2126 was the April prior all-time high
2130 is the June 2015 peak
2135 is the May 2015 all-time high

Support:
2079 is the intraday all-time high from November
2076 is the all-time high from November
2062 is the January 2015 lower high
The 200 day SMA at 2063
2011 is the September prior all-time high
1991 is the July 2014 high
1972 is the December 2014 low
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1883.57 is the early March high.
The December and January highs at 1848
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high


Dow: Closed at 17,568.53

Resistance:
The June low at 17,715
The March low at 17,718
The 200 day SMA at 17,748
17,748 is the mid-April China margin selloff and the bottom of the 5 month trading range
The 50 day EMA at 17,909
17,923 is the January 2015 lower high
17,991 is the early December intraday high
18,104 is the December high
18,200 to 18,206 (late March lower high)
18,289 is the March 2015 high, the prior all-time high
18,351 is the May 2015 all-time high

Support:
17,585 to 17,579, the March intraday lows, helping mark the bottom of the Dow's February to present trading range.
17,515 is the early July closing low
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17067 is the December 2014 low
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
16,736 is the penultimate all-time high from May 2014
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak


ECONOMIC CALENDAR

July 24 - Friday
New Home Sales, June (10:00): 482K actual versus 550K expected, 517K prior (revised from 546K)

July 27 - Monday
Durable Orders, June (8:30): 3.0% expected, -2.2% prior (revised from -1.8%)
Durable Goods -ex tr, June (8:30): 0.5% expected, 0.0% prior (revised from 0.5%)

July 28 - Tuesday
Case-Shiller 20-city, May (9:00): 5.6% expected, 4.9% prior
Consumer Confidence, July (10:00): 100.0 expected, 101.4 prior

July 29 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 07/25 (7:00): 0.1% prior
Pending Home Sales, June (10:00): 1.0% expected, 0.9% prior
Crude Inventories, 07/25 (10:30): 2.468M prior
FOMC Rate Decision, July (14:00): 0.25% expected, 0.25% prior

July 30 - Thursday
Initial Claims, 07/25 (8:30): 271K expected, 255K prior
Continuing Claims, 07/18 (8:30): 2200K expected, 2207K prior
GDP-Adv., Q2 (8:30): 2.6% expected, -0.2% prior
Chain Deflator-Adv., Q2 (8:30): 1.5% expected, 0.0% prior
Natural Gas Inventor, 07/25 (10:30): 61 bcf prior

July 31 - Friday
Employment Cost Index, Q2 (8:30): 0.6% expected, 0.7% prior
Chicago PMI, July (9:45): 50.5 expected, 49.4 prior
Michigan Sentiment -, July (10:00): 94.0 expected, 93.3 prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Of note in the tech space today was the volatility in the Shanghai composite and the subsequent weakness in Chinese-related stocks in the US markets. Volatility related to the Shanghai Composite's 8.5% dive migrated into US markets as trading began today; subsequently the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq indexes were all were all weaker today from gun to tape.

Sectors related to tech with notable weakness today included Social Media SOCL -3.0%, Cyber Security HACK -2.8%, Solar TAN -2.5%, Software IGV -1.7%, and Internet FDN -1.3%. Among social media names, Chinese social network Sina (SINA 40.20, -2.31) ended the session notably weaker, down 5.4% on the day. In Cyber Security, aptly named Palo Alto Networks (PANW 186.29, -10.59) ended Monday trade down 5.4%. Among solar names, Chinese ADR Yingli Green Energy (YGE 0.88, -0.06) was a notable laggard, ending the session down 6.4%. Among the top 10 IGV Software holdings, all of which ended the session lower, Red Hat (RHT 77.16, -1.80) was the laggard, as shares underperformed the broader market to the tune of 2.3%. Of the Internet names in the tech space, Social-Professional platform LinkedIn (LNKD 220.66, -4.40) ended the session lower by about 2.0%, pairing early week losses with last week's weakness.

In the Mobile Gaming sector, shares of Electronic Arts (EA71.22, -1.07) and Activision Blizzard (ATVI 25.61, -0.57) were notably weak ahead of quarterly earnings for both. EA is set to report Q1 on July 30, after the market closes; ATVI will report Q2 on August 4, after the market closes. In Mobile Gaming, Glu Mobile (GLUU 5.85, -0.25) also ended the session notably weaker as it too is set to report Q2 results on August 4, after the market closes.

The rough end to last week for equities seems to have persisted. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led today's weakness, ending the session down 49 points (-0.96%) to 5039. The Dow was also notably lower today, down 128 points, while the S&P 500 outperformed the two other indices, yet also ended the day in the red at 2067.

Among Nasdaq 100 stocks:
DirectTV (DTV) spent its last day as a member of the S&P 500, the stock acquisition by AT&T (T 34.35, +0.06) was completed today, and the shares will be replaced henceforth by Signet Jewelers (SIG 118.62, -2.42) in that index.

Seagate (STX 47.91, +0.59) was notably strong today, ahead of its quarterly earnings report which is scheduled for Friday.

Qualcomm (QCOM 61.98, +0.34) was upgraded today at Morgan Stanley to Overweight, and the stock rallied % because of it - following recent weakness.

Intel (INTC 28.35, +0.29) was also notably stronger in today's session as the company announced a joint press conference with Micron (MU 18.12, -0.22) on its web site.

Facebook (FB 94.17, -2.78) was notably weaker today ahead of its quarterly earnings which are scheduled for July 29, after the market closes.

Yahoo! (YHOO 37.83, -1.01) was notably weaker today following the company's recommendation that shareholders reject 'mini tender' offer by TRC Capital Corporation; the offering price was 4.6% below the closing price per share of Yahoo!'s common stock on July 22, 2015.

Other news in the tech space:
Frontier Communications (FTR 4.59, +0.05) announced the signing of an agreement with the CWA, that is an important step forward in the process to complete Frontier's planned acquisition of Verizon's (VZ 45.83, -0.21) wireline business assets in California. Under the agreement, and after the transaction closes in the first half of 2016, Frontier would increase its workforce in California with at least 150 new, union-represented positions.

China Mobile Games (CMGE 21.49, +0.04) announced that shareholders have voted to approve its going private transaction.

Apple (AAPL 122.77, -1.73) will begin selling Apple Watches in Best Buy (BBY 32.06, -0.40) stores on August 7.

Oracle (ORCL 38.51, -0.49) announced a court ruling has expanded possible damages sought by the company, for copyright infringement by Rimini Street. The ruling will significantly increase Oracle's claimed damages beyond the more than $209 million it already sought.

Notable analyst moves in tech:
As mentioned QCOM was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, QSII was upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital Mkts, TRAK was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo, SPIL was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Societe Generale

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

6:09 pm Silicon Motion beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line with recent guidance; guides Q3 revs in-line; guides FY15 revs in-line (SIMO) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.51 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.50; revenues rose 25.6% year/year to $87.21 mln vs the $87.12 mln consensus. Co guided for Q2 revs at upper end of guidance range of ~$86.3-87.9 mln on July 7.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of +5-10% sequentially (~$91.6-95.9 mln) vs. $95.33 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees gross margin of 50-52%, operating expenses of ~$25-27 mln.

Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of +22-27% (~$353.0-367.4 mln) vs. $355.80 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees gross margin of 50-52%, operating expenses of ~$98-102 mln.

5:07 pm SunPower announced that it has acquired 1.5 gigawatts of U.S. solar power plant development assets from Australia-based Infigen Energy (SPWR) :

With the acquisition, SunPower has assumed ownership of projects in varying stages of development across 11 states. Included in the development portfolio are three projects totaling 55 megawatts with power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison.All three are located in Kern County, Calif. SunPower expects to start construction on these projects later this year with commercial operation anticipated in 2016.
4:12 pm Amkor misses by $0.03, misses on revs; guides Q3 below consensus (AMKR) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.11; revenues fell 3.9% year/year to $737 mln vs the $746.68 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.03)-0.06 vs. $0.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $700-750 mln vs. $795.80 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"We expect sluggish mobile device market conditions to persist through most of Q3, with revenues slightly down compared with Q2. We are cautiously optimistic that demand will strengthen in the fourth quarter with the anticipated launch of flagship mobile devices. Due to the changed demand outlook, we are reducing our estimate of full year 2015 capital expenditures to around $550 million, including around $150 million of spending for our new K5 facility."

4:11 pm Cadence Design beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 and FY15 EPS in-line (CDNS) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.27 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.24; revenues rose 9.8% year/year to $415.89 mln vs the $416.35 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.25-0.27 vs. $0.26 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $423-433 mln vs. $429.77 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $1.00-1.06 vs. $1.02 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $1.69-1.72 bln vs. $1.7 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:08 pm Smith Micro Software reports Q2 EPS of ($0.01) vs ($0.01) estimate; revs $9.4 mln vs $9.8 mln estimate (SMSI) : "We continue to see growth in NetWise revenues as we expanded our deployment at Comcast during the quarter, and we also saw strong demand for CommSuite services at Sprint. We are actively working on new opportunities with wireless operators, cable providers and enterprises. While we focus our energies on driving sales cycles forward, we are also closely managing our expenses in order to be non-GAAP profitable for the year."

4:03 pm Harmonic beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 revs below consensus (HLIT) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.05 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.04; revenues fell 5.9% year/year to $103.1 mln vs the $103.14 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $92-102 mln vs. $109.80 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Non-GAAP Gross Margin is expected to be in the range of 53-54%.

4:01 pm Arch Coal announces that for administrative purposes it is postponing its previously announced one-for-ten reverse stock split of Arch's common stock (ACI) : The co. announced that for administrative purposes it is postponing its previously announced one-for-ten reverse stock split of Arch's common stock. The reverse stock split previously was expected to take place after market close on July 27, 2015. As a result of the postponement, the reverse stock split is expected to take place after market close on August 3, 2015. It also is expected that Arch's common stock will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis on the New York Stock Exchange at the market open on August 4, 2015.

4:10 pm : The stock market began the trading week on a cautious note with the S&P 500 (-0.6%) settling just above its 200-day moving average (2,064) while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.0%) underperformed.

Equity indices spent the entire day in negative territory after the overnight session was highlighted by an 8.5% plunge in China's Shanghai Composite, which endured its largest one-day decline in more than eight years. The index widened its slide from June highs to 28.0%, falling to lows during the final hour of action after the International Monetary Fund voiced concerns about the degree of recent government intervention in the market.

In all likelihood, government involvement in the Chinese market will be in focus over the next few weeks, especially if the measures currently being employed fail to halt the ongoing slide. To that point, today's rout was followed by reports that China's government will step up its buying measures, but that report was refuted shortly thereafter.

The overseas weakness weighed on investor sentiment in Europe and the U.S. while German Bunds (10-yr yield -6 bps to 0.65%) and U.S. Treasuries (10-yr yield -4 bps to 2.23%) advanced.

Nine sectors finished the day in negative territory with all six cyclical groups ending in the red. Furthermore, five of six growth-sensitive groups settled behind the broader market while the industrial sector (-0.4%) ended just ahead. Similar to the sector, high-beta transport stocks fared better than the broader market with the Dow Jones Transportation Average shedding 0.2%.

Elsewhere among cyclical groups, the energy sector (-1.4%) settled at the bottom of the leaderboard while crude oil fell to early April levels, ending lower by 1.6% at $47.39/bbl. The energy component retreated despite today's greenback weakness that sent the Dollar Index (96.53, -0.71) lower by 0.7%. On the upside, the utilities (+1.3%) sector posted a solid gain after showing relative strength throughout the day while consumer staples (-0.1%), health care (-0.1%), and telecom services (-0.1%) also outperformed, but could not make it out of the red.

Notably, the health care sector was boosted by a 16.4% surge in Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA 72.00, +10.15) after the company beat earnings expectations and announced the acquisition of Allergan's (AGN 326.98, +18.77) generics business for $40.50 billion. As for biotechnology, the high-beta group struggled with iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 373.58, -4.00) falling 1.1%.

Today's participation was ahead of recent averages with more than 900 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Durable Orders, which increased 3.4% in June after declining an upwardly revised 2.1% (from -2.2%) in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 3.0%.

A large portion of the increase resulted from a significant surge in aircraft orders as Boeing (BA 141.03, -3.03) reported 161 aircraft orders in June, up from just 11 in May. That gain helped push defense and nondefense aircraft orders up 52.3%. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders increased 0.8% in June after declining a negatively revised 0.1% (from 0.0%) in May while the consensus expected an increase of 0.5%.

Tomorrow, the Case-Shiller 20-city Index for May will be released at 8:30 ET (Briefing.com consensus 5.6%) while July Consumer Confidence will be reported at 10:00 ET (consensus 100.0).


Nasdaq Composite +6.4% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.9% YTD
S&P 500 +0.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.2% YTD

DJ30 -127.94 NASDAQ -48.85 SP500 -12.00 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 819/1.79 bln/2093 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 831/900.7 mln/2273 3:40 pm :

The dollar index remained in the red today, but some commodities such as oil and copper didn't see any benefit to this move
Oil slid lower today as bearish catalysts continue to weigh on prices
Front-month Sept crude oil finished today's session -1.5% at $47.42/barrel
In electronic trade, crude fell as low as $47.05/barrel
Aug nat gas gained one cent today to $2.79/MMBtu
Gold and silver closed higher, Aug gold +1% and Sept silver +0.8%
Sept copper dropped -1.3% to $2.35/lb

11:54 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session- New lows (111) outpacing new highs (2) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AGN, TEVA

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, ACAS, AMAT, AMX, APA, APC, AR, ASX, AUO, AVP, AXP, BBRY, BEN, BSMX, BUFF, CAR, CAT, CC, CFX, CHK, CMI, CNQ, COH, COP, CPN, CSAL, CTL, CVX, CX, DAR, DD, DO, DOV, DVN, DYN, ECA, EMR, EOG, EPD, ESV, FCX, FLR, FLS, FTR, GGB, GOL, GPOR, HES, HTZ, HUN, INTC, JOY, KATE, KORS, KOS, L, LINE, MON, MRD, MRO, MTW, MUR, NBL, NE, NOV, NSC, OI, OII, OKE, OSK, OXY, PBI, POT, PPC, PSEC, PX, PXD, QEP, RDC, RDS.A, RDS.B, RIG, RIO, RYN, S, SDRL, SE, SFM, SHLD, SNI, STWD, SU, SWN, TCK, TD, TEX, TSU, TTM, TYC, UMC, UNVR, VALE, VALE.P, VIAB, VIV, WLL, WPZ, WY, X, XOM, Z

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, COW, DBA, DBB, DBC, DIG, DJP, ECH, EEM, EPU, EWC, EWW, EWZ, GREK, GSG, IDX, IEO, IGE, ILF, IXC, IYE, IYM, JJC, JO, KOL, OIH, PHO, REMX, SEA, SLX, THD, URA, UYM, XES, XLE, XME, XOP

Note: To reduce the list of stocks making 52 week highs/lows to a manageable size we have filtered out stocks below $2 bln in market cap and below 1 mln average volume. Without this filter 22 stocks made 52 week highs and 724 stocks made 52 week lows.

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From Briefing.com: The major indices all finished the week in the green, as an aggressive rebound Monday from the prior week's selloff ended the S&P 500 +1.20%, the Dow +0.73%, and the Nasdaq +0.83% on the week. July 2015 trade also closed mixed, as the indexes closed the month +1.32%, -0.35% and +2.33% respectively. The markets were volatile in morning trade as economic data out today included Employment Cost Index, Chicago PMI, and Michigan Sentiment. Today, the indexes finished all lower -0.21%, -0.29% and -0.01% respectively.

Representing the S&P 500 Information Technology sector, Broadcom (BRCM 50.63, -0.72 -1.40%), Electronic Arts (EA 71.50, -0.80 -1.11%), KLA-Tencor (KLAC 53.00, +0.94 +1.81%), Western Union (WU 20.24, +1.22 +6.41%) and Seagate Tech (STX 50.58, -0.71 -1.38%) reported earnings last night and this morning. EA and WU both reported a beat on the top and bottom lines of expectations, with BRCM, KLAC and STX reporting mixed results. The index finished the day -0.48%, but +0.3% on the week.

The technology sector was among the three sectors which ended lower in today's trade, as only Energy (-1.74%) and Financials (-0.13%) closed in the red with tech. LinkedIn (LNKD 203.33, -23.82 -10.52%) pressured tech losses today as the company reported Q2 results which were better than expected. In addition, LNKD guided Q3 better than expected, and raised FY15 guidance. In spite of the results, shares of LNKD traded lower today and ended the session down.

Notable news from sector components:
Qualcomm (QCOM 64.39, -0.02 -0.02%) it was announced that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the district trial court's decision of noinfringement in the ParkerVision (PRKR 0.31, -0.15 -32.75%) v. Qualcomm patent infringement case maintaining that ParkerVision did not prove infringement of its patents by Qualcomm.

Microsoft (MSFT 46.80, -0.08 -0.17%) reported more than 14 million devices running are Windows 10.

Nvidia (NVDA 19.94, -0.08 -0.40%) announced a voluntary recall of its SHIELD 8-inch tablets that were sold between July 2014 and July 2015, which the company will replace. NVDA has determined that the battery in these tablets can overheat, posing a fire hazard.

Moneygram (MGI 10.12, +2.24 +28.43%) in addition to reporting earnings, announced that international money transfer services into Greece will be restored July 31. Also, MGI announced the Board's decision to appoint W. Alexander Holmes as MGI's next CEO, effective on January 1, 2016.

Elsewhere in the tech space:
SMTP (SMTP 6.57, +0.62 +10.42%) announced that Rick Carlson, President of SharpSpring, will be appointed President of SMTP, effective August 1, 2015.

Neustar (NSR 30.80, +1.79 +6.41%) acquired Bombora Technologies for about $86.9 million. The transaction is expected to contribute about $8 million of revenue in 2015.

Blucora's (BCOR 14.17, -1.31 -8.46%) Infospace signed a three-year search and advertising deal to distribute Bing results through Infospace network.

Inventergy (INVT 0.35, -0.01 -3.92%) announced that pursuant to Court instruction, it will pursue third-party mediation with Sonus Networks over the next 90 days, regarding their patent infringement litigation.

Renren (RENN 3.51, -0.02 -0.57%) announced the resignation of Acting Chief Financial Officer Ashley Law Kwok Wai, to pursue other opportunities, effective July 31, 2015.

Other notable tech earnings:
Hutchinson Tech. (HTCH 1.82, +0.37 +25.52%) reported Q3 (Jun) loss of $0.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items on revenues which fell 8.5% year/year to $54.7 million.

A10 Networks (ATEN 6.46, +1.03 +18.97%) reported Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.09 per share on revenues which rose 5.3% year/year to $47.5 million.

Web.com (WWWW 24.89, +1.81 +7.84%) reported Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.60 per share on revenues which fell 3.2% year/year to $140 million.

Ingram Micro (IM 27.23, +2.73 +11.14%) reported Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.55 per share on revenues which fell 3.3% year/year to $10.55 billion. Also issued mixed guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.60-0.68 and Q3 revenues of $10.5-11.0 billion.

QLogic (QLGC 8.87, -2.51 -22.06%) reported Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.19 per share on revenues which fell 5.1% year/year to $113.41 million.

Cohu (COHU 9.91, -2.09 -17.42%) reported Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items on revenues which rose 1.2% year/year to $75.2 million.

FireEye (FEYE 44.49, -3.27 -6.85%) reported Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.41 per share on revenues which rose 55.8% year/year to $147.2 million. Also issued in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.48)-($0.44) on Q3 revenues of $164-168 million.

Rovi (ROVI 10.99, -1.79 -14.01%) reported Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.38 per share, excluding non-recurring items on revenues which fell 6.7% year/year to $127.8 million. The company also issued downside guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $1.35-1.60, excluding non-recurring items on revenues of $500-530 million.

Analyst actions:

WU was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays, GUID was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Gabelli & Co,
GPRO was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup,
YAHOY was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, DBD was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush;
FEYE was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Gabelli & Co,
SSYS was downgraded at UBS and Dougherty & Company,
BRCM was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann

Weekly Recap - Week ending 31-Jul-15Dow -56.12 at 17689.86, Nasdaq -0.50 at 5128.28, S&P -4.79 at 2103.84

The stock market ended July on a cautious note with the S&P 500 shedding 0.2%. Despite today's downtick, the benchmark index added 1.2% for the week, ending the month higher by 2.0%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite ended flat, locking in a 2.8% gain for July.

Equities held modest gains at the start thanks to a pre-market jump in the futures market after it was reported that the Employment Cost Index increased just 0.2% in the second quarter while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.6%. The lack of strong wage growth was viewed as an argument in favor of the Federal Reserve delaying its first rate hike, which gave a boost to equity futures and Treasuries. The 10-yr note surged immediately after the report was released, and remained near its high into the close, sending the benchmark yield lower by six basis points to 2.20%.

Meanwhile, stocks climbed during the first three hours of action, but relative weakness among several cyclical sectors acted as a drag on the broader market, pulling the S&P 500 to new lows during the afternoon.

Most notably, the energy sector tumbled 2.6%, widening its July decline to 7.8% after Dow components Chevron (CVX 88.48, -4.55) and ExxonMobil (XOM 79.21, -3.80) reported disappointing results. The two names posted respective losses of 4.9% and 4.6% while crude oil slid 2.9% to $47.12/bbl. For the month, the energy component plunged more than 21.0%, returning to its January low.

Elsewhere among growth-sensitive sectors, financials (-0.4%) and technology (-0.5%) lagged throughout the day with high-beta chipmakers pressuring the technology sector. The PHLX Semiconductor Index lost 1.2%, ending the month lower by 5.0% while KLA-Tencor (KLAC 53.05, +0.99) bucked the trend, rallying 1.9%, in reaction to a bottom-line beat.

Typically, underperformance in the technology sector tends to be consistent with weakness in the Nasdaq, but the tech-heavy index outperformed today thanks to gains in the biotech space. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 382.53, +3.73) gained 1.0% after Amgen (AMGN 176.59, +4.90) beat estimates and raised its guidance. Shares of AMGN spiked 2.9% while the broader health care sector (+0.5%) ended among the leaders, drawing secondary support from the likes of Molina Health (MOH 75.28, +7.28), and Universal Health Systems (UHS 145.23, +3.79) after the two reported better than expected results.

Similar to health care, the three other countercyclical groups settled ahead of the broader market. The utilities sector spiked 1.0% while consumer staples (+0.1%) and telecom services (+0.1%) posted slimmer gains.

Today's participation was ahead of recent averages with more than 915 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Employment Cost Index, Chicago PMI, and Michigan Sentiment:

Employment costs rose 0.2% in Q2 2015 after a 0.7% increase in the first quarter while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.6%
That was the smallest increase in employment costs since the index was created in 2001
The Chicago PMI increased to 54.7 in July from 49.4 in June while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 54.7
The reading represented the first increase in three months
There was a large improvement in production as the related index increased to 61.8 in July from 49.8 in June. The production gain came on the heels of strengthening growth in the new orders index, which rose to 58.5 from 51.7
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index was revised down to 93.1 in the final June reading from 93.3 in the preliminary report while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 94.0
The index is down from 96.1 in June, which was the best reading since January
The Expectations Index was revised down from 85.2 in the preliminary reading to 84.1 while the Current Conditions Index was revised up to 107.2 from 106.0

On Monday, June Personal Income/Spending data and Core PCE Prices will be reported at 8:30 ET while June Construction Spending and July ISM Index will both be reported at 10:00 ET.

Week in Review: Technical Levels in Focus

The stock market began the trading week on a cautious note with the S&P 500 (-0.6%) settling just above its 200-day moving average (2,064) while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.0%) underperformed. Equity indices spent the entire day in negative territory after the overnight session was highlighted by an 8.5% plunge in China's Shanghai Composite, which endured its largest one-day decline in more than eight years. The index widened its slide from June highs to 28.0%, falling to lows during the final hour of action after the International Monetary Fund voiced concerns about the degree of recent government intervention in the market. The overseas weakness weighed on investor sentiment in Europe and the U.S. while German Bunds (10-yr yield -6 bps to 0.65%) and U.S. Treasuries (10-yr yield -4 bps to 2.23%) advanced. Nine sectors finished the day in negative territory with all six cyclical groups ending in the red. Furthermore, five of six growth-sensitive groups settled behind the broader market while the industrial sector (-0.4%) ended just ahead. Similar to the sector, high-beta transport stocks fared better than the broader market with the Dow Jones Transportation Average shedding 0.2%.

Equities snapped their five-day losing streak with a daylong Tuesday rally that sent the S&P 500 higher by 1.2%. The benchmark index tested its 100-day moving average (2,095) during afternoon action while the Nasdaq Composite (+1.0%) underperformed throughout the day. The key indices rebounded from losses registered over the past week, starting the day on an upbeat note after the overnight session saw more volatility in Asia. Specifically, China's Shanghai Composite was down as much as 5.1% at the start of the trading day, but narrowed its loss to 1.7% by the close. The turnaround off session lows coincided with a spike in S&P 500 futures in the wee hours of the morning. All ten sectors posted gains with some of the recent underperformers leading the market higher. To that point, the energy sector surged 2.9% after sliding 4.3% over the past five days. The growth-sensitive sector was lifted by the shares of BP (BP 37.29, +1.24) after the industry giant reported a bottom-line miss on better than expected revenue. Another large sector member, LyondellBasell (LYB 92.46, +2.61) spiked 2.9% in reaction to a bottom-line beat. On a related note, crude oil rose 1.3% to $47.98/bbl, providing added support.

The market registered its second consecutive advance on Wednesday with the S&P 500 climbing 0.7% to extend its weekly gain to 1.4%. The benchmark index overtook its 100- (2,095) and 50-day moving averages (2,100) during morning action while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (+0.4%) struggled to keep pace with the broader market. Equity indices began the day with slight gains after China's Shanghai Composite spiked 3.4% overnight, which improved risk tolerance among global investors. The Dow and S&P 500 rallied throughout the session while the Nasdaq hovered near its opening levels into the afternoon before setting new highs ahead of the close. The tech-heavy index was pressured by biotechnology as iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 377.43, -5.41) lost 1.4% despite better than expected earnings from Gilead Sciences (GILD 115.71, +2.64). Shares of GILD spiked 2.3% while the broader health care sector (+0.2%) settled among the laggards. Elsewhere, Twitter (TWTR 31.24, -5.30) sank 14.5% after the company's bottom-line beat was overshadowed by cautious commentary regarding user growth outlook.

The stock market ended the Thursday session on a slightly higher note after rebounding off its opening low. The S&P 500 settled just above its flat line while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%) outperformed. Equities faced some early weakness after the overnight session saw renewed selling in China that sent the Shanghai Composite lower by 2.2%. Furthermore, index futures dropped to new lows ahead of the opening bell after the advance reading of Q2 GDP pointed to an expansion of 2.3%, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 2.5%. Meanwhile, the first quarter reading was revised up to 0.6% from -0.2%. The GDP report was met with a rally in the Treasury market as the 10-yr note spiked off its low and continued advancing into the afternoon, dropping its yield three basis points to 2.26%.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17568.53 17689.86 121.33 0.7 -0.7
Nasdaq 5088.63 5128.28 39.65 0.8 8.3
S&P 500 2079.65 2103.84 24.19 1.2 2.2
Russell 2000 1225.99 1238.68 12.69 1.0 2.8

5:09 pm This week's biggest % gainers/losers (:SCANX) : The following are this week's top 20 percentage gainers and top 20 percentage losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top 20 % gainers

Healthcare:ICLR (80.8 +21.07%),INCR (50.03 +19.83%)
Materials:CYT (74.23 +27.15%),RYAM (14.05 +20.81%)
Industrials:YRCW (19.3 +55.77%),HEES (17.94 +26.25%)
Consumer Discretionary:BOJA (24.99 +23.16%),SKX (150.45 +22.31%),SHAK (68.05 +20.34%),COLM (71.54 +19.85%)
Information Technology:SONS (8.07 +31.22%),MGI (10.2 +25.46%),ATEN (6.51 +24.71%),RKUS (12.33 +21.72%),OTEX (45.51 +21.68%),CALX (8.43 +21.12%)
Consumer Staples:SVU (9.22 +24.76%),BDBD (8.33 +21.78%),NHTC (30.3 +20.14%)
Telecommunication Services:I (9.51 +20.23%)

This week's top 20 % losers

Healthcare:IMMU (2.05 -44.74%),FMI (20.3 -35.94%),ESPR (62 -18.32%)
Industrials:RJET (5.04 -40.71%),TAL (19.8 -28.9%)
Consumer Discretionary:MMYT (14.6 -25.05%),BGFV (11.01 -24.59%),SFXE (3.18 -17.62%)
Information Technology:GCA (5.05 -27.86%),YELP (26.4 -23.61%),QLGC (8.87 -21.92%),IXYS (10.46 -21.53%),QRVO (57.95 -19.83%),CMPR (64.53 -19.18%),COHU (9.91 -18.5%),DATA (104.74 -17.81%)
Financials:OCN (8.43 -22.09%)
Energy:LNCO (3.9 -32.87%),LINE (4.04 -30.22%),SGY (5.79 -23.31%)

4:57 pm Verizon reports 'little progress' has been made in negotations over new contracts of east landline employees (VZ) : Co said, "After nearly seven weeks of challenging negotiations, Verizon is preparing for all potential scenarios following the expiration of its contracts with the CWA and IBEW, covering more than 37,000 Wireline employees in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The contracts expire at midnight, Aug. 1, 2015. While the company presented union leaders with a comprehensive initial offer on June 22 that included a solid wage increase, union leaders countered with a series of proposals that did virtually nothing to advance the progress of negotiations...Verizon is ready in the event of a work stoppage. Over the past several months, thousands of non-union Verizon employees and outside business partners have undergone extensive training in various network and customer service functions."

4:33 pm SunEdison company TerraForm Global prices $810 mln offering of 9.75% senior notes due 2022 (SUNE) :


3:30 pm Earnings Preview for the week of August 3 - 7 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of August 3 - 7 some of the bigger names include:

Monday:
Pre Market - TSN, NEE, CDW, PPL, NI, CLX, FTR, NBL, ON, MCY
After Hours - AIG, ALL, CYH, THC, XL, CAR, UGI, ALJ, DK, KBR, BKD, MRC, MDU, RBC, DPLO, SGMS, KAR, VNO, GGP, CTRP

Tuesday:
Pre Market - CVS, AET, EMR, HNT, NRG, ODP, K, PH, ETR, SRE, RRD, MOS, WNR, CHTR, MGM, NGLS, EXPD, HAR, SMG, WLK, ZTS, H, BLMN, AXTA, NCLH, AFSI, MLM, AME, MNK, COH, HCN, VMC, REGN, CHD, TIME, SNI, ABMD
After Hours - DIS, PAA, PAGP, LBTYA, DVN, OKE, DVA, OKS, GNW, CZR, TX, CERN, FSLR, PXD, CVG, ATVI, WR, PZZA, Z

Wednesday:
Pre Market - HCA, TWX, AVT, DISH, WCG, HFC, D, CTSH, CHK, PCLN, VOYA, PWR, DISCA, RL, LDOS, LPLA, ENBL, CLH, ICE, HSC, SODA
After Hours - ETE, ETP, PRU, AGU, TSO, SLF, FOXA, CTL, MUSA, CBS, SXL, ABX, KND, TS, MRO, RIG, SUN, CF, BGC, TSLA, HLF, GMCR, XPO, FMC, ALB, UHAL, AWK, FIT, WTW, ZU, NLY, COUP

Thursday:
Pre Market - NVO, MFC, DUK, AGN, BCE, GLP, CNQ, VIAB, BDX, CORE, MYL, APA, TA, HII, CC, WIN, OA, TAP, SBH, MPEL, KORS, SUNE, OWW
After Hours - ED, EOG, MHK, POST, TPC, NVDA, SFM, SEM, MNST, GXP, EGL, NUS, KMPR, CENX, MTX, BIO, NUAN, NFG, BRS, LGF, OSTK, ZNGA, MDVN

Friday:
Pre Market - JD, MGA, BAM, TU, CST, CVC, HSY, HRS, GRPN, PMC
After Hours - KRO, GST, BRK.B

11:40 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (166) outpacing new lows (123) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, ABCB, ABMD, ACN, ADPT, AEL, AF, AFG, AFSI, AMGN, AMRB, AMWD, ANIP, ANSS, ASBB, ATR, ATRI, AVGR, AVOL, AYI, BCS, BDX, BF.A, BF.B, BLDR, BLKB, BNCN, BOFI, BUFF, BWLD, CAKE, CBPO, CCE, CCL, CHE, CINF, CMG, COLM, COT, CPB, CSTE, CTLT, CUBE, CUK, CWST, DHI, DHR, DIS, DORM, EFSC, EGRX, ELLI, ELS, ENH, ENTG, ETB, EVHC, EXPE, EXPR, EXR, FAF, FBHS, FIX, FNGN, FSBW, FTNT, GIG, GIS, GLPG, GMED, GNCMA, HCSG, HF, HIG, HPY, HRL, HRS, HSP, ICCC, ICLR, ICUI, IMS, INCR, INGR, INSM, JLL, KWR, LAD, LGF, LION, LMAT, MAS, MCD, MD, MMU, MNST, MOH, MORN, MRH, MSCI, MWW, NBHC, NCLH, NJ, NKE, NLSN, NVR, NWL, NYCB, OCR, OGEN, ORA, ORI, PFBC, PFE, PGND, PGTI, PLL, PLT, PN, PRA, QQXT, RAI, RCL, RDY, RNG, RNR, ROL, RSG, RUTH, SCI, SERV, SGU, SIGI, SIRO, SKX, SNA, SOCB, SPB, SSNC, STNR, TE, TECH, THG, TMUS, TOWN, TPX, TXRH, UA, UFPI, UHAL, UHS, ULTI, VCRA, VG, VGR, VR, VRSN, VVI, WETF, WING, WIX, WWAV, XON, XRAY, ZLTQ

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: APIC, AREX, ASTI, AU, AUO, AVHI, BBG, BCOV, BOI, BSM, BTE, BVN, BVX, BXC, CAFD, CAP, CCCR, CDRB, CDTX, CHCI, CLBS, CLDN, CLUB, CNS, COP, CPAH, CPSI, CRAY, CRK, CVX, CWT, CYD, DAIO, DDD, DGI, DRQ, DTLK, EGIF, EXAR, FCFS, FLDM, FLR, GCA, GLDD, GROW, GTLS, GULTU, HART, HERO, HHS, HNRG, HSC, HST, INT, IO, ISH, JGH, KBIO, KCG, KEG, KNOP, KOOL, LF, LINE, LNCO, LPL, LSCC, LTRX, MB, MCRN, MGRC, MILL, MMYT, MN, MOD, NVTA, NXTD, OCC, PDVW, PG, PLG, PQ, PRKR, PTXP, QDEL, QLGC, QRHC, QUMU, RADA, RAS, RBCN, RCMT, RLOC, ROVI, SGY, SHLD, SMTC, SPRT, SQI, SRT, SSN, TAL, TECU, TG, TGC, TINY, TIPT, TMST, TUES, TUMI, TWTR, USAP, VCO, VPCO, VVUS, WFM, WGBS, WHZ, WLFC, XOM, XOMA, XPL, ZQK

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IHI, IYK, KIE, XHB, XLY

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: ECH, EWS, SGG, VXX

8:01 am Seagate Tech beats by $0.11, reports revs in-line (STX) : Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.77 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.66; revenues fell 11.3% year/year to $2.93 bln vs the $2.92 bln consensus.

7:31 am NVIDIA announces a a voluntary recall of its Shield 8-inch tablets, sold between July 2014 and July 2015; batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard (NVDA) : Co announced a voluntary recall of its SHIELD 8-inch tablets that were sold between July 2014 and July 2015, which the company will replace. Co has determined that the battery in these tablets can overheat, posing a fire hazard

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From Briefing.com: The technology sector ended the first trading session of August down, as did most other sectors XLE -2.1%, XLB -0.8%, XLI -0.4%, XLY -0.3%, XLF -0.1%, and XLP +0.1%, IYZ +0.3%, XLU +0.5% ending the session in the green. The broader markets were down today as well, S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow Jones -0.5%, and Nasdaq -0.3%.

We started the day on the way down, and haven't looked back. The three major indices all crossed into negative territory around noon. Pressured by worse than expected July ISM Manufacturing Index and disappointing Consumer Spending, the markets erased some of the rebound enjoyed from late last week.

Economic data out today included ISM Manufacturing Index, Personal Income and Spending data, and Construction Spending. ISM Index fell to 52.7 in July from 53.5 in June, and the Construction spending increase 0.1% in June after an upwardly revised 1.8% (from 0.8%) gain in May. Personal Income increased 0.4% for a second consecutive month in June, while personal spending increased 0.2% after a downwardly revised 0.7% (from 0.9%) increases in May.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector was notably lower today, ending Monday trading down 0.5%. ADSK +5.38%, MU +2.65%, PAYX +2.41%, PYPL +1.78% were among the leaders in the sector today, and SWKS -3.02%, GLW -2.62%, AAPL -2.36%, FFIV -2.19%, EMC -2.05% were among sector laggards. Sector component Microchip (MCHP 42.78, -0.06 -0.13%) will report Q1 earnings tonight after the market closes.

Other notable news among sector components:
Yahoo! (YHOO 36.69 ,+0.02 +0.05%) to acquire Polyvore, a social shopping site; terms not disclosed.
On Track Innovations (OTIV 1.13, -0.06 -5.04%) announced it appointed Shlomi Cohen as CEO, succeeding Ofer Tziperman. Prior to joining oti, Cohen served as president and CEO of RayV, a developer of online video-streaming solutions, which was successfully acquired by Yahoo (YHOO) last year.

Microsoft (MSFT 46.81, +0.11 +0.24%) acquired Incent Games, the developer and owner of FantasySalesTeam; terms were not disclosed.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

NICE Systems (NICE 65.40, +0.84 +1.30%) divested its Physical Security business unit to Battery Ventures for potential value of up to $100 million, comprising of $85 million in cash and up to additional $15 million based on future performance.

Global Payment (GPN 112.27, +0.18 +0.16%) closed on a new five-year senior unsecured $1.75 billion term loan facility and $1.25 billion revolving credit facility. The proceeds from the new facilities will be used to repay outstanding balances on the company's prior revolving credit facility and $1.25 billion term loan.

SMTP (SMTP 5.70 -0.86 -13.11%) announced that it intends to offer $9 million worth of common stock in an underwritten public offering, subject to market and other conditions. Of the $9 million worth of common stock to be sold in the offering, $4.5 million will be sold by the Company and $4.5 million will be sold by Semyon Dukach, Chair of the Company's Board of Directors.

Bonso Electronics Int'l (BNSO 1.27 -0.08 -5.93%) announced the sale of part of its industrial land, for $866,000. Under the sales agreement, the buyer paid approximately $244,000 and the balance of the purchase price will be paid over a two year term, with monthly installments of approximately $34,000 plus interest.

Solera (SLH 36.39, -0.20 -0.55%) announced that its collision estimating and customer communication platforms are now the sole choice of Tesla Motors (TSLA 259.99, -6.16 -2.31%) for its global certified collision repair centers.

Analyst Actions:

NVDA was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie, WBMD was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey, PLXS was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman; FFIV was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Buckingham Research, SANM was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman, DWRE was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho

(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo!)
4:50 pm Microchip misses by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (MCHP) : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.69 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.71; non-GAAP revenues rose 0.5% year/year to $534.0 mln vs the $556.3 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2 (Sep), sees EPS of $0.58-0.66, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.75 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 non-GAAP revs of $532-569 mln, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $576.2 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"Our June quarter revenue was below our guidance but was consistent with industry conditions as evidenced by what others in the semiconductor industry have reported...The June quarter started out well, but the negative effects of a very weak economy in China and challenges in Europe, led by a very weak Euro caused us to finish the quarter below our revenue guidance provided on May 7, 2015."

4:50 pm Microchip completes its acquisition of Micrel (MCRL) (MCHP) :

4:14 pm Vishay announces $35 mln in global cost reduction programs, as part of its efforts to improve efficiency and operating performance (VSH) : The programs in total are expected to lower costs by ~$35 million annually (at current volumes) when fully implemented, at expected cash costs (primarily severance) of ~ $30 million.

The Company expects to reduce SG&A costs by ~ $17 million annually. These SG&A cost reductions should be fully achieved by the end of 2016. The Company will solicit volunteers to accept a voluntary separation / early retirement offer. The targeted plans to streamline and consolidate production of certain product lines are expected to decrease costs of products sold by ~ $18 million annually (at current volumes). These plans include the Zwolle, Netherlands aluminum capacitors facility closure announced on June 30. Except for the Zwolle facility, no other facility closures are currently expected pursuant to these programs. The production transfers will be completed in steps by the end of 2017.
4:13 pm Luminex beats by $0.14, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs in-line; guides FY15 revs in-line (LMNX) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.13; revenues rose 5.9% year/year to $58.9 mln vs the $57.07 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $56-58 mln vs. $58.01 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $232-236 mln vs. $233.84 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
4:10 pm Rudolph Tech beats by $0.05, beats on revs (RTEC) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.18; revenues rose 38.2% year/year to $59.47 mln vs the $58.46 mln consensus.

4:09 pm Tessera Tech beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (TSRA) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.58 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.48; revenues rose 79.3% year/year to $64.2 mln vs the $62.88 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.55-0.57 vs. $0.49 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $64-66 mln vs. $62.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "Our customer collaboration strategy continues to bear fruit, as the Invensas team is actively involved with leading manufacturers on xFD and BVA technology. FotoNation followed record first quarter revenue with a similar performance in the second quarter, while also developing new solutions for biometric authentication and the automotive market. I remain confident that the second half of this year will yield further success -- particularly as we progress with the commercialization of our advanced packaging technologies and sign new customer agreements for our intellectual property and imaging solutions. This is an exciting time at Tessera."
4:08 pm Ultra Clean Holdings to acquire Miconex s.r.o., expecting the acquisition to be immediately accretive by ~$0.01 to $0.02 to non-GAAP EPS for Q3 2015 (UCTT) : Co announced that it has signed and closed an agreement to acquire Miconex s.r.o. Miconex is a provider of advanced precision fabrication of plastics, primarily for the semiconductor industry. Located in the Czech Republic, Miconex had revenue of ~ $40.5 million in the twelve months ending June 30, 2015, net income of ~$3.0 million and EBITDA of ~$3.7 million.

Under the agreement, which closed July 31, 2015, UCT acquired Miconex for $15.0 million in cash and 500,000 shares of UCT common stock, with up to an additional $4.0 million of potential cash "earn-out" payments payable over a two-year period based on Miconex's achievement of specified performance targets. The Company financed the cash portion of the acquisition through its existing cash from Asia operations. The Company expects the acquisition to be accretive immediately at ~$0.01 to $0.02 in non-GAAP earnings per share for the third quarter of fiscal 2015
4:07 pm Integrated Device beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line (IDTI) : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.31 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.29; revenues rose 27.4% year/year to $160.9 mln vs the $160.3 mln consensus.

"As we look out to the rest of fiscal 2016, we are confident in our ability to meaningfully outgrow the semiconductor market. Our new product design-win traction is very high, and we are in the early stages of delivering new classes of products in all three of our target market segments."

4:02 pm Veeco Instruments beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (VECO) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.17; revenues rose 38.1% year/year to $131.4 mln vs the $127.6 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.22-0.40, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.32 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $135-160 mln vs. $148.8 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:10 pm : The stock market began August on a defensive note with a retreat that sent the S&P 500 below its 50-day (2,099) moving average. The benchmark index was down as much as 0.8%, but narrowed its loss to 0.3% by the close, ending ahead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.5%).

Equities hovered near their flat lines during morning action after the overnight session saw more selling in China. To that point, the Shanghai Composite lost 1.1% after the official Manufacturing PMI hit a five-month low (50.0; expected 50.2) while the Non-Manufacturing PMI improved to 53.9 from 53.8, representing a five-month high.

Meanwhile, eurozone economies reported Manufacturing PMI readings that were mostly better than expected while economic data from the U.S. contributed to the weakness in the stock market as Construction Spending (+0.1%; Briefing.com consensus 0.6%) and the ISM Manufacturing Index (52.7; consensus 53.7) missed expectations.

Treasuries spiked after the release of today's economic data, which sent the 10-yr yield lower by four basis points to 2.15%, representing the lowest level since the start of June. That decline in yields was a supportive factor for the utilities sector, which gained 0.6%. Similar to utilities, consumer staples (+0.3%) and telecom services (+0.2%) posted gains while the health care sector (unch) settled just above its flat line.

As for cyclical sectors, financials (unch) ended ahead of the broader market while the remaining five growth-sensitive groups finished among the laggards. The energy sector (-2.0%) spent the entire session at the bottom of the leaderboard as crude oil fell 3.9% to $45.25/bbl.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted technology space (-0.5%) was pressured by large cap names with the likes of Apple (AAPL 118.44, -2.86), IBM (IBM 158.71, -3.28), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 30.02, -0.50) falling between 1.6% and 2.4%. High-beta chipmakers stayed ahead of the sector, but the PHLX Semiconductor Index still lost 0.3%.

Similar to technology, the industrial sector (-0.4%) struggled as losses among large cap names like Boeing (BA 143.69, -0.48), Caterpillar (CAT 77.26, -1.37), and General Electric (GE 25.87, -0.23) overshadowed relative strength in transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average added 0.3% with all five airline components posting gains thanks to lower fuel prices.

Today's participation was in-line with recent averages as 800 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Personal Income/Spending data, ISM Index, and Construction Spending:


Personal income increased 0.4% for a second consecutive month in June after revisions reduced the originally reported May (0.5%) growth rate
The Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.3%
Personal spending increased 0.2% in June after a downwardly revised 0.7% (from 0.9%) increase in May while the consensus expected an increase of 0.2%
Wages and salaries increased 0.2% in June following a 0.4% increase in May. That gain was in-line with the May employment data, which showed a 0.2% increase in aggregate earnings
The ISM Manufacturing Index fell to 52.7 in July from 53.5 in June while the Briefing.com consensus expected the index an increase to 53.7
The July drop occurred despite improvements in most of the regional Federal Reserve manufacturing surveys
Production growth remained strong, as the related index increased to 56.0 in July from 54.0 in June
Construction spending increased 0.1% in June after an upwardly revised 1.8% (from 0.8%) gain in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.6%
Private construction spending declined 0.5% in June after increasing 1.7% in May
Residential construction spending held up reasonably well in June, increasing 0.4% after increasing 0.9% in May
Spending on nonresidential construction projects fell 1.3% in June after increasing 2.5% in May. Considering the strong growth reported in April (+4.9%) and March (+3.3%), the pullback in June was not particularly concerning

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the Factory Orders report for June, which will be released at 10:00 ET (Briefing.com consensus 1.8%).

Nasdaq Composite +8.0% YTD
S&P 500 +1.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.3% YTD

DJ30 -91.66 NASDAQ -12.90 SP500 -5.80 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1045/1.66 bln/1817 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1214/809.4 mln/1851 3:35 pm :

In commodities, the collapse in oil prices is the big story today.
Commodities sold off today, but not very much of it was driven by the dollar index.
However, the index did climb higher off of morning trading activity and is now about 0.2% higher.
Back to oil... Brent crude oil futures fell below $50/barrel today, while WTI crude oil fell as low as $45.08/barrel.
At the end today's trading session, Sept WTI crude oil closed -4% to $45.25/barrel
In other energy, Sept natural gas +1.5% to $2.75/MMBtu
Metals declined today, but showed a more modest loss
Dec gold fell -0.5% to $1089.30/oz, while Sept silver fell -1.6% to $14.51/oz
Sept copper -0.8% to $2.34/lb.

12:04 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (242) outpacing new highs (126) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, ABCB, ABMD, ADPT, AF, AIZ, ALGT, ALK, AMCX, AMSF, AMSG, ATRC, AVGR, AVOL, BF.A, BF.B, BKFS, BLDR, BNCN, BSTC, CARA, CASY, CBPO, CFMS, CHDN, CLX, CMRX, CNBKA, COT, CPB, CSTE, CTLT, CWST, DBVT, DCM, DENN, DIS, DVAX, EFSC, ELS, EPAM, ESLT, EXPE, EXPR, FBC, FFBC, FIT, FNF, FOLD, FORTY, FSBW, FSV, GIG, GIS, GLPG, GPI, GTN.A, HAWK, HIG, HRG, IBCP, ICLR, ICUI, INCR, INFN, INSM, INTG, IRMD, KR, LBTYB, LION, LITEV, LMAT, LXRX, MDLZ, MHK, MHLD, MLAB, MNST, MOH, NEOT, NJ, NKE, NVO, PFG, PGTI, PLL, PRA, PRE, PRMW, PRTA, QLTY, QTNT, QTS, RAI, RCL, RDY, RRGB, RYAAY, SERV, SFG, SGU, SPB, SSNC, STNR, SUPN, TAST, TBNK, TDOC, TE, TMH, TMUS, TOWN, TWC, TXRH, UEPS, UHAL, UL, UN, VLRS, VNTV, VRTX, VRX, WETF, WOOF, XON

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, ABX, ACAS, ACH, AGZD, ALLT, AMAT, AMID, APIC, AR, ARCW, AREX, ARII, ARP, ATE, ATLS, ATNM, ATW, AU, AUO, AXON, BBD, BBEP, BBG, BCEI, BEN, BIND, BOX, BPT, BSM, BTE, BVN, CAFD, CAP, CASM, CCUR, CDE, CFX, CIE, CLBS, CLDN, CMLP, CNAT, CNIT, CNX, CNXC, COH, COHU, COMT, COP, CPAH, CPPL, CPTA, CRD.B, CRK, CVX, CYBE, DDD, DELT, DLB, DNOW, DOV, DRQ, DSCO, DTLK, DVN, DWCH, DWSN, DXPE, EEMA, EGN, ELON, EMCG, ENLC, ENLK, ENRJ, EOX, EPM, ERA, EXAR, EXFO, FAM, FELP, FOGO, FORR, FOSL, FSTR, FTGC, GBL, GCA, GFI, GFN, GLRE, GMLP, GNMK, GRPN, GTLS, GULTU, HART, HCLP, HDNG, HELI, HERO, HLX, HMSY, HNRG, HSC, HTGM, IIIN, INTX, IO, IRDM, ISH, ISIL, JONE, JOY, KBIO, KEG, KF, KNOP, KODK, KOOL, KOS, KUTV, L, LE, LF, LGCY, LINE, LL, LNCO, LRE, LTRX, MCEP, MCF, MCRN, MEIP, MEMP, MHR, MRD, MRIN, MRLN, MUR, MXC, NAO, NBG, NBL, NDP, NE, NEM, NGLS, NIHD, NL, NNI, NNVC, NOA, NPO, NR, NSLP, NTRA, OAS, OKE, ONTX, ORIG, PDLI, PDVW, PEIX, PG, PHII, PII, PLG, PQ, PSIX, PVA, QRHC, RADA, RATE, RBCN, RCPI, REX, REXX, RL, RLOC, ROVI, RPD, RRC, SBGL, SBR, SCM, SD, SGF, SGI, SGY, SHLD, SLH, SMT, SMTC, SPN, SQI, SQNM, SRT, SSYS, STRI, SUMR, SYX, TAXI, TECU, TGH, TGP, TINY, TIPT, TNGO, TORM, TTI, TWTR, UIS, UNT, USAP, UUUU, VCO, VECO, VEDL, VIAVV, VMI, VNCE, VNR, VOC, VPCO, VSEC, WES, WGBS, WHLR, WHZ, WLFC, WLL, WOWO, WTI, XOM, XOMA, YLCO, YNDX, ZAZA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: EIS, IYK

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, BNO, DBA, DBB, DBC, DIG, DJP, EWS, FXC, GSG, IYE, JJA, OIL, RJA, SGG, USO, VXX, XLE, XOP

9:44 am Intel displays relative strength (INTC) : Solid push in early trade with it working up toward last week's initial thrust high from last Thursday after it set a 52-wk last Monday. The 20 ema is at 29.31 with the thrust high at 29.45 (session high 29.35).

7:04 am JinkoSolar Holding signs $62mln and RMB 50 mln loan agreement with The Export-Import Bank of China (JKS) : According to the terms of the agreement, the $62 million loan will be used to support long-term fixed assets and mid-term working capital for JinkoSolar's production facility in Malaysia, while the RMB$50 million loan will be used to support near-term working capital for the Malaysia facility. The Company has already drawn down the $62 million loan.

4:28 am ON Semiconductor reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q3 revs below consensus (ON) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.22 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.22; revenues rose 16.2% year/year to $880.5 mln vs the $897.4 mln consensus.

Guidance
Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $890-930 mln vs. $935.80 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Q3 GMs: 34-36% Backlog levels for the third quarter of 2015 represent approximately 80 to 85% of our anticipated third quarter 2015 revenue
4:05 am Nokia divests HERE to automotive industry consortium for EUR 2.8 bln (NOK) : Nokia announced an agreement to sell its HERE digital mapping and location services business to a consortium of leading automotive companies, comprising AUDI AG, BMW Group (BAMXY) and Daimler (DDAIF).

The transaction values HERE at an enterprise value of EUR 2.8 billion with a normalized level of working capital and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Upon closing, Nokia estimates that it will receive net proceeds of slightly above EUR 2.5 billion, as the purchaser would be compensated for certain defined liabilities of HERE currently expected to be slightly below EUR 300 million as part of the transaction. Nokia expects to book a gain on the sale and a related release of cumulative foreign exchange translation differences totaling ~EUR 1 billion as a result of the transaction.

3:59 am Arch Coal provides response to the final 'Clean Power Plan' Rule; believes that premature and costly regulations are not the answer to addressing climate concerns (ACI) : Co issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's final "Clean Power Plan" rule.

Arch Coal believes that premature and costly regulations are not the answer to addressing climate concerns. Instead, Arch urges the Administration to ramp up dramatically its investments in low-carbon fossil fuel technologies, which currently total just a small fraction of overall government spending on energy."The Administration seems increasingly desperate to salvage an ill-advised and poorly designed rule, which won't work, won't pass muster with states, and won't stand up to legal scrutiny...Even prior to the expensive overhaul announced today, seven governors had stated that they did not plan to comply. That number seems certain to grow as other governors realize that, rather than fix the rule, EPA has in many ways made matters worse."

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Similar to how the markets traded for the majority of last week, we began the day trading in the red on all three major indices, and we ended the day with modest losses. The S&P 500 2083.56, Dow Jones 17419.75 and the Nasdaq Composite 5056.44 all finished the day down -- -0.78%, -0.69% and -1.62% respectively.

The way down, at least for the S&P 500, was led by losses among two of the top four index holdings. Microsoft (MSFT 46.65, -0.93 -1.94%), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 99.17, -1.35 -1.34%) all finished in the red today, taking the broader market with them.

In other news, the Natural Gas inventory data came out this morning, showing a bit lighter of a build to inventories than expected. In spite of that data, Energy (XLE 68.25, +1.07 +1.59%) finished higher on the day (rebounding slightly from multi-day losses), while September crude oil futures finished the day down 1% to $44.66 per barrel.

The S&P 500 Information Technology (703.52, -7.31 -1.03%) sector also finished lower with the broader market, led by Teradata (TDC 30.42, -5.87 -16.18%) which finished lower today in reaction to worse than expected Q2 earnings and revenues. Other notable component laggards included QRVO -5.47%, SWKS -3.35%, RHT -3.12%, ADI -3.01%, CRM -2.90%, CSC -2.86%, INTU -2.44%, SYMC -2.40%, ADS -2.21%, ADSK -2.16%, YHOO -2.12%, AKAM -2.12%, LRCX -2.07%, MSFT -2.02%, ADP -1.88%, V -1.87%.

Notable news items among other sector components:

Qualcomm (QCOM 62.86, -1.02 -1.60%) to acquire Ikanos Comms (IKAN 2.69, +0.94 +53.72%) for $2.75/share. The acquisition is intended to expand Qualcomm Atheros' footprint in the carrier fixed line segment with the addition of high performance broadband access and modem technologies critical to enhancing users' connected experiences in the home.
IBM (IBM 156.43, -0.17 -0.11%) to acquire Merge Healthcare (MRGE 7.11, +1.70 +31.33%) for $7.13 per share in a $1 billion deal. Under terms of the transaction, Merge shareholders would receive $7.13 per share in cash, for a total transaction value of $1 billion. The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory review, Merge shareholder approval, and other customary closing conditions, and is anticipated to occur later this year. It is IBM's third major health-related acquisition -- and the largest -- since launching its Watson Health unit in April, following Phytel (population health) and Explorys (cloud based healthcare intelligence).

Elsewhere in the tech space:
Itron (ITRI 32.57, +1.66 +5.37%) named Tom Deitrich as EVP and COO effective in October. Deitrich most recently served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Digital Networking at Freescale (FSL 39.29, -0.42 -1.06%) and has been in this position since 2012.
Imprivata (IMPR 16.10, +0.74 +4.82%) priced an offering of 4,566,666 shares of its common stock by existing stockholders at a price of $14.10 per share. The price to the public in this offering is $15.00 per share.
CYREN (CYRN 1.73, -0.32 -15.61%) announced an offering of $10 million in common shares, and also terminated prior ATM facility. The company did not sell any shares through the ATM.
RIT Technologies (RITT 1.30, -0.05 -3.71%) appointed Amit Mantsur as CFO, effective immediately.
RADA Electronics Industries (RADA 1.17, -0.09 -7.14%) was selected by an undisclosed Asian country, for the evaluation of its Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radar system.
Notable earnings among tech names:
Silicon Graphics (SGI 5.79, +0.71 +13.98%) reported Q4 (Jun) loss of $0.12 per share on revenues which rose 7.6% year/year to $152.9 million.
Silver Spring Networks (SSNI 12.77, +1.67 +15.05%) reported Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.02 per share on revenues which rose 8.6% year/year to $69.1 million.
Hortonworks (HDP 27.21, +3.06 +12.67%) reported Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.80 per share on revenues which rose 153.7% year/year to $30.7 million.
Marin Software (MRIN 4.01, -1.57 -28.14%) reported Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.20 per share on revenues which rose 12.1% year/year to $26.8 million.
SunEdison (SUNE 17.08, -5.79 -25.30%) reported Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.93 per share on revenues which rose 5.6% year/year to $455 million.

Inovalon (INOV 19.54, -5.86 -23.07%) reported Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.18 per share on revenues which rose 16.5% year/year to $117.62 million.

Other companies that reported last night/this morning: VEC +11.92%, AAOI +10.26%, WIN +9.85%, EXTR +9.01%, ACXM +8.88%, SHOR +6.71%, IL +6.61%, CSGS +6.45%, FUEL +6.20%, ITRI +5.27%, TTEC +1.58%, WK +1.42%, BCE +0.78%, MFLX +0.06%, OTIV +0.00%, SATS -0.28%, RP -0.41%, MBLY -0.57%, RST -0.59%, SEMI -1.00%, CTL -2.20%, CNSL -2.24%, HIVE -2.57%, LQDT -2.98%, CCOI -5.94%, MMS -6.46%, RSTI -6.50%, GOGO -7.27%, HILL -8.10%, MELI -8.22%, CSLT -8.65%, TTMI -9.07%, LMOS -9.58%, ACTA -9.67%, MITL -9.94%, GDDY -11.06%, MCHX -11.75%, RLD -13.57%, TDC -16.13%, ECHO -19.67%
Companies scheduled to report tonight/tomorrow morning: TWOU, AMBR, ASYS, ANAD, ANET, ABTL, BITA, WIFI, BRKS, CSOD, CVT, DMD, DIOD, ELON, FLTX, FXCM, HUBS, IMPV, SAAS, KTOS, NPTN, NEWR, EGOV, NUAN, NVDA, PSEM, PLNR, PRO, QUMU, RBCN, SREV, SWIR, TCPI, TRMR, TRUE, TCX, UBNT, OLED, VRNS, VSAT, XOXO, ZNGA/BR, EBIX, HRS, HIMX, TU
Analyst actions: S was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at FBR Capital, INXN was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity, SSYS was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup; ATVI was downgraded to Neutral from Long-Term Buy at Hilliard Lyons,
INVE was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Imperial Capital

4:41 pm MagnaChip Semi reports Q2 results; comprehensive costreduction plans initiated (MX):

Co reports Q2 EPS of ($0.32) vs ($0.40) estimate; revs $162 mln vs $160 mln estimate. "Given the current business outlook, we have already reduced our spending by ~ $20 million in the first half of 2015. We are moving to reduce total normalized spending by over $40 million in 2015 and have launched a comprehensive review to assess the feasibility of further cost reductions in 2016."
As disclosed in MagnaChip's 2015 proxy statement, the Board of Directors has established a Strategic Review Committee to assist the Board in reviewing, considering and evaluating strategic alternatives that may be available to MagnaChip. MagnaChip has engaged Barclays to serve as its financial adviser in connection with the strategic review process. No decision has been made to enter into a transaction at this time and MagnaChip can offer no assurance that it will enter into any transaction in the future. MagnaChip does not intend to disclose further developments unless and until such time as its Board of Directors has approved a specific course of action, or it otherwise deems further disclosure is appropriate or required.
4:33 pm Sierra Wireless beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q3EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (SWIR): Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.26 per share, excludingnon-recurring items, $0.03 better thanthe Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.23; revenues rose 17.0%year/year to $157.97 mln vs the $155.1 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidancefor Q3, sees EPS of $0.23-0.27, excluding non-recurring items, vs.$0.30 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $157-160 mlnvs. $163.6 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:27 pm NVIDIA beats by $0.14, beats on revs; guides Q3 revsin-line (NVDA): Reports Q2 (Jul) earnings of $0.34 per share, $0.14 better thanthe Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.20; revenues rose 4.5%year/year to $1.15 bln vs the $1.01 bln consensus.

NVDA will pay its next quarterly cash dividend of $0.0975 per share on September 11, 2015, to all shareholders of record on August 20, 2015.

Guidance : Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $1180 vs. $1.1 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be 56.2 percent and 56.5 percent, respectively, plus or minus 50 basis points. Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $25 million to $35 million.

4:20 pm Brooks Automation beats by $0.05, beats on revs (BRKS): Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.15 per share, excludingnon-recurring items, $0.05 better thanthe Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.10; revenues rose 23.5%year/year to $144.9 mln vs the $139.46 mln consensus.

Co reported Q2 Total order bookings were $151.7 million. he Company additionally announced that the Board of Directors has reiterated a dividend of $0.10/share payable on September 25, 2015 to stockholders of record on September 4, 2015.
4:18 pm Pericom Semi beats by $0.03, misses on revs; guides Q1revs below consensus (PSEM): Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.18 per share, $0.03 better thanthe Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.15; revenues fell 6.4%year/year to $30.6 mln vs the $32.03 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $30.5-32.5 mln vs. $33.32 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be in the 46.0% to 48.0% range.

4:17 pm Amtech Systems beats by $0.09, beats on revs; guides Q4revs below consensus (ASYS): Reports Q3 (Jun) loss of $0.12 per share, $0.09 better thanthe Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.21); revenues rose 334.8%year/year to $40 mln vs the $33.62 mln consensus.

Quarter-end backlog of $46.9 million (solar $32.4 million) ... Customer orders of $30.2 million (solar $13.0 million) ... Shipments of $39.0 million (solar $21.9 million).

Guidance : Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $26-$28 mln vs. $36.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Gross margin for the quarter ending September 30, 2015, is expected to be in the mid to high 20s percent range, with operating margin negative due primarily to higher R&D expense resulting from lower government grant recognition.
4:15 pm Rubicon Tech misses by $0.04, misses on revs (RBCN): Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.33 per share, $0.04 worse thanthe Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.29); revenues fell 50.9%year/year to $7.1 mln vs the $9.38 mln consensus.

The Company expects the challenging market to continue in the third quarter. While PSS wafer sales are expected to increase, visibility on two-inch and four-inch core sales is limited, so third quarter revenue is expected to be at or below second quarter levels.

4:11 pm Diodes beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q3revs below consensus (DIOD): Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.34 per share, excludingnon-recurring items, $0.02 better thanthe Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.32; revenues fell 1.7%year/year to $219.5 mln vs the $220.25 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $209-225 mln vs. $235.71 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.At the midpoint of the guidance, total revenue is projected down 1% from Q2 due to a significant reduction in the revenue associated with assembly test manufacturing services; revenue excluding manufacturing services is projected to grow ~3% sequentially."We expect gross margin to be 31.5%, plus or minus 2%. Operating expenses are expected to be ~22.2% of revenue, plus or minus 1%. We expect our income tax rate to be 26%, plus or minus 3%, and shares used to calculate diluted EPS for the third quarter are anticipated to be ~49.6 million. For 2015, we expect our capital expenditures to be 5-9% of revenue, excluding the Chengdu site expansion."
4:10 pm NeoPhotonics misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line;guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (NPTN): Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.14 per share, excludingnon-recurring items, $0.01 worse thanthe Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.15; revenues rose 4.9%year/year to $85.4 mln vs the $85.34 mln consensus.

4:10 pm Anadigics reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q3revs below consensus (shares halted, scheduled to resume at 16:20ET) (ANAD): Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.05 per share, in-linewith the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.05); revenues fell32.1% year/year to $15.8 mln vs the $16.14 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $12.0-12.6 mln vs. $17.68 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to decline sequentially by 500-800 basis points on the lower expected revenue.Operating expenses are expected to be marginally lower, sequentially.

4:05 pm Nuance Communications beats by $0.02, beats on revs; ontrack to full fiscal year guidance (NUAN): Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.32 per share, $0.02 better thanthe Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.30; revenues rose 0.4%year/year to $488.7 mln vs the $479.66 mln consensus.

"In our third quarter, Nuance delivered revenue and EPS that exceeded our non-GAAP guidance ranges, and net new bookings that have us on track to our full fiscal year guidance," In the third quarter of fiscal 2015, Nuance reported net new bookings of $484.4 million, compared to $330.4 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014.

4:10 pm : The stock market endured a broad-based retreat on Thursday that was paced by the Nasdaq Composite. The tech-heavy index lost 1.6% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 surrendered 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively, ahead of Friday's Nonfarm Payrolls report for July.

Equities opened just above their flat lines, but the S&P 500 dipped into the red and slid below its 100-day moving average (2,098) during the opening hour. Eight of ten sectors settled in the red with the consumer discretionary space (-1.3%) showing notable weakness for the second day in a row.

Specifically, media names weighed on discretionary shares once again with Viacom (VIAB 44.10, -7.31) tumbling 14.2% after reporting in-line results on light revenue. Similarly, Viacom's peer 21st Century Fox (FOXA 29.87, -2.05) sank 6.4% despite reporting a bottom-line beat while Disney (DIS 108.55, -1.98) lost 1.8% after plunging 9.2% yesterday.

The battered industry group was able to climb off its low ahead of the close, but losses in other influential areas kept the market pressured into the afternoon.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, technology (-1.0%) also settled behind the broader market amid notable weakness in high-beta chipmaker names. SunEdison (SUNE 17.08, -5.79) dove 25.3% after missing earnings estimates while the PHLX Semiconductor Index lost 1.8% with all but three components ending in the red.

In other earnings of note, Tesla (TSLA 246.13, -24.00) tumbled 8.9% after lowered delivery guidance overshadowed better than expected results for the past quarter. Tesla's loss contributed to the underperformance in the Nasdaq, but the index also had to contend with notable weakness in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 370.08, -16.64) slumped 4.3% while the broader health care sector (-2.1%) ended behind the remaining nine groups.

On the upside, energy (+1.6%) and utilities (+0.5%) settled in the green with the energy sector overcoming a 1.0% decline in crude oil, which settled at $44.66/bbl. As for utilities, the rate-sensitive sector benefited from lower rates as Treasuries ended on their highs with the 10-yr yield lower by five basis points at 2.22%.

Today's participation was ahead of recent averages with more than 930 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to weekly Initial Claims, which increased to 270,000 from an unrevised 267,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 271,000. Since reaching a 40-year low (255,000) two weeks ago, the initial claims level has slowly inched back into the bottom of its previous 270,000 - 290,000 range. These are levels that support the theory that the labor market has returned to full employment.

Tomorrow, the Nonfarm Payrolls report for July (Briefing.com consensus 229K) will be released at 8:30 ET while June Consumer Credit (expected $17.00 billion) will be reported at 15:00 ET.


Nasdaq Composite +6.8% YTD
S&P 500 +1.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.3% YTD

DJ30 -120.72 NASDAQ -83.50 SP500 -16.28 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 814/2.12 bln/2059 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1244/931.8 mln/1844
3:40 pm :

Some commodities got a boost today as the dollar index slid off of morning lows
However, not much helped give oil prices a boost today. Oil attempted a couple times to run, but it remained in the red in afternoon trading
Sept crude oil ended the day -1% at $44.66/barrel
In other energy, Sept nat gas rallied higher following the weekly EIA storage data this morning, which showed a smaller-than-expected build
Sept NG closed pit trading +0.7% at $2.82/MMBtu
Copper ended flat at $2.35/lb, while precious metals closed higher
Dec gold rose +0.4% at $1090.20/oz, while Sept silver gained +0.8% at $14.68/oz.

11:50 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows thissession- New lows (82) outpacing new highs (17) (:SCANX): Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ALK, CCE, CPB, DXCM, EL, GIS, HFC, HLF, MAS, MDLZ, SABR, SCHW,SKX, STZ, UN, VRX, XON

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AEM, APA, AR, AUO, BBD, BEN, BKD, CBS, CIG, CNX, COG, COP, CPGX,CTL, CVX, DAR, DFS, DISCA, DISCK, DRH, DVN, DYN, ECA, EGN, EMR,EPD, ESV, ETP, ETR, FCX, FOX, FOXA, GMCR, GNW, GOL, GPS, GRUB, HES,HST, HUN, ITUB, JOY, KMI, LHO, LINE, MDU, MPW, MRO, MUR, MWE, NAVI,NBL, NE, NOV, NRG, NSC, NWS, NWSA, OFC, OKE, PAA, PAGP, PG, PWR,RRC, RYN, SBS, SE, SNH, SNI, SPN, SWN, TDC, TRMB, TWTR, VIAB, WFM,WLL, WPZ, XHR, YNDX, Z

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IHI, XLP

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AMJ, BNO, DBB, DBC, DIG, DJP, EEM, EPU, EWM, EWS, EWT, EWY, EWZ,GSG, IEO, IGE, IXC, IYE, JJC, KOL, OIH, OIL, PPLT, REMX, SEA, SGG,SIL, USO, XES, XLE, XOP

Note: To reduce the list of stocks making 52 week highs/lows to amanageable size we have filtered out stocks below $2 bln in marketcap and below 1 mln average volume. Without this filter 98 stocksmade 52 week highs and 466 stocks made 52 week lows.

11:40 am Cirrus Logic vacillating near its 200 day sma,yesterday's low and its July low between 29.21/29.07 (CRUS):

SunEdison, Inc. (SUNE) announced that it has signed a 20 year power purchase agreement with the Rialto Unified School District in California for 8.4 MW DC of solar power. As part of the agreement, SunEdison will install solar canopies above the parking lots of all 28 schools in the district

Microsemi Corporation (MSCC) and Nine Ways Research & Development announced the availability of Nine Way's NetFusion, an industrial Ethernet switch development board based on Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SOC field programmable gate array device
7:15 am Extreme Networks beats by $0.13, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS and rev mid-points above consensus (EXTR) : Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.13 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.03); Non-GAAP revenues fell 4.0% year/year to $150.6 mln vs the $127.17 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.01-0.05, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.01 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Non-GAAP sees Q1 revs of $120-130 mln vs. $122.41 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. GAAP gross margin is targeted between 49.5% and 51.0% and non-GAAP gross margin targeted between 54.0% and 55.0%. Operating expenses are targeted to be between $73.0 million and $75.5 million on a GAAP basis and $62.5 million to $65.0 million on a non-GAAP basis.
7:11 am Plug Power beats by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q4 (Dec) revs in-line; reaffirms FY15 revs guidance (PLUG) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.06 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.07); revenues rose 38.7% year/year to $24 mln vs the $25.23 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4 (Dec), sees Q4 (Dec) revs of Revenues 'over $30 mln' vs. $35.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $100 mln vs. $99.47 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The markets finished down on the last session of the week. Friday trading ended with the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq Composite down -0.29%, -0.27%, and -0.26% respectively. The Dow Jones closed the trading session today on a 7-day losing streak, and closed at the lowest level since January 30, 2015. On January 30, 2015, the index closed at 17164.95, and today closed at 17373.38.

Market data out today in the form of July Nonfarm Payrolls of 215,000 took the market lower at the open and no major index turned green all day. The session ended with relatively light volume, and the week closed with all three major indices down more than 1.5%.

Action in the S&P 500 Information Technology index (703.84, +0.32 +0.05%) was dominated today by strong quarterly results from Nvidia (NVDA 22.98, +2.53). The semiconductor company ended the session up nearly 12.4%. As a result, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX 636.82, +3.69 +0.58%) and Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH 51.50, +0.13 +0.25%) both ended the session in the green.

Weakness was seen in Solar stocks today, as the Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN 33.29, -0.62) finished the session lower by 1.8%. The TAN retreat was led by weakness in SolarCity (SCTY 52.25, -3.09 -5.58%) and SunEdison (SUNE 14.97, -2.11 -12.38%).

Other notable news items among S&P 500 Information Technology components:

Motorola Solutions (MSI 64.19, -0.39 +0.61%) commenced a dutch auction tender to repurchase up to $2 billion of its common stock shares between $61 and $66.50 per share.
Nvidia (NVDA 2.98, +2.53 +12.37%) signed a licensing deal with Pixar Animation Studios for feature film production. The deal gives Pixar access to NVDA's quasi-Monte Carlo rendering methods.

Elsewhere in technology:
Zynga (ZNGA 2.64, +0.19 +7.76%) entered into a multi-year agreement with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to license the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory brand for its Social Casino games.Viavi (VIAV 6.21, +0.09 +1.47%) appointed Amar Maletira as its new EVP and CFO, effective September 9, 2015.AVG Tech (AVG 25.56, -0.28 -1.10%) filed for offering of about 7.1 million shares of ordinary shares by selling shareholders.Tremor Video (TRMR 2.45, -0.02 -0.81%) hired John Rego as its Chief Financial Officer, effective September 8, 2015.
Notable technology companies reacting to earnings:
Nvidia (NVDA 22.98, +2.53 +12.37%) reported Q2 (Jul) earnings of $0.34 per share on revenues which rose 4.5% year/year to $1.15 billion. TrueCar (TRUE 5.76, +0.22 +3.97%) reported Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.05 per share on revenues which rose 29.3% year/year to $65.3 million (The company preannounced for revenues between $65.0-65.3 million).inContact (SAAS 6.75, -2.68 -28.42%) reported Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.12 per share on revenues which rose 29.2% year/year to $53.1 million.ViaSat (VSAT 59.99, -1.27 -2.08%) reported Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.25 per share on revenues which rose 7.8% year/year to $344.38 million.
Analyst actions:
NVDA was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at ROTH Capital, TDC was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Monness Crespi & Hardt, CSOD was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse, PLNR was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at ROTH Capital,
INOV was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo; SUNE was downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research,
INTC, AVGO, XLNX, MU, FCS, TXN and IFNNY were downgraded to Hold at Drexel HamiltonWeekly Recap - Week ending 07-Aug-15

Dow -46.37 at 17373.38, Nasdaq -12.90 at 5043.54, S&P -5.99 at 2077.57

The major averages closed out the first week of August on a lower note with the S&P 500 losing 0.3%. The benchmark index settled just above its 200-day moving average (2,073) after testing that level for the first time since last Monday while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) made the first intraday appearance below its 100-day moving average (5,037) since early July. For the week, the S&P 500 lost 1.3% while the Nasdaq Composite surrendered 1.7%.

The market declined for the second consecutive day with today's retreat lubricated by the July Nonfarm Payrolls report (215,000; Briefing.com consensus 229,000), which was good enough to leave the door open for a fed funds rate hike in September.

Things didn't look that bad by the end as equities rebounded during afternoon action with the S&P 500 erasing more than half of its loss. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite was down more than 1.0% at its worst point, but recovered about 70% of that decline.

With the market gearing up for a rate hike in September, the post-NFP weakness in equities was not that surprising; however, strength in the Treasury market was. Specifically, the 10-yr note stumbled immediately after the Nonfarm Payrolls report was released, but recovered that loss in the following minutes and continued higher throughout the day. As a result, the benchmark 10-yr yield fell five basis points to 2.17%, registering its fourth consecutive weekly decline. To be fair, the 2-yr note ended in the red with its yield climbing two basis points to 0.72%.

The lower Treasury yields at the long end of the curve gave a boost to the high-yielding utilities sector (+1.2%), which climbed to a two-month high. Meanwhile, seven of the remaining nine sectors posted losses while financials (+0.1%) and technology (+0.1%) registered slim gains.

The financial sector benefited from the growing rate hike expectations while technology outperformed thanks to relative strength in Apple (AAPL 115.52, +0.39) and high-beta chipmaker names. For its part, Apple spent the day inside a narrow range, but still lost 5.0% for the week after sliding below its 200-day moving average (121.18) on Monday. Meanwhile, chipmakers stayed ahead of the market throughout the day with NVIDIA (NVDA 22.98, +2.53) spiking 12.4% after reporting better than expected earnings and revenue. The broader PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 0.6%.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, energy (-1.9%) remained pressured as crude oil futures marched lower throughout the day. The energy sector ended the week lower by 3.6% while WTI crude fell 1.7% to $43.87/bbl, ending the week with a 7.4% loss.

Also of note, the health care sector (-0.2%) paced the early decline, but erased the bulk of its loss by the close. Biotechnology appeared to be the driver as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 368.67, -1.41) lost 0.4% after briefly crossing its 100-day moving average for the first time since late April. The high-flying ETF surrendered 3.8% for the week, but remains higher by 17.7% since the end of 2014.

Today's participation was roughly in-line with average as 810 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Taking another look at today's data, nonfarm payrolls added 215,000 jobs in July after adding an upwardly revised 231,000 in June while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 229,000. Private payrolls added 210,000 jobs in July, down from an upwardly revised 227,000 from June while the consensus expected an increase of 220,000.

Average hourly earnings increased 0.2% in July after remaining flat in June while the average hourly workweek increased to 34.6 hours from 34.5. Taken altogether, aggregate earnings increased 0.7% after increasing 0.1% in June.

The July employment report fit in exactly with what the Fed is looking for. Job growth remained relatively robust after exceeding 200,000 for a third consecutive month, and the 0.7% increase in aggregate earnings should bolster consumption growth.

Separately, consumer credit increased by $20.70 billion in June after increasing by an upwardly revised $16.50 billion (from $16.10 billion) in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of $17.00 billion.

Monday's session will be free of economic data.

Week in Review: Nasdaq Leads Stocks Lower

The stock market began August on a defensive note with a retreat that sent the S&P 500 below its 50-day (2,099) moving average. The benchmark index was down as much as 0.8%, but narrowed its loss to 0.3% by the close, ending ahead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.5%). Equities hovered near their flat lines during morning action after the overnight session saw more selling in China. To that point, the Shanghai Composite lost 1.1% after the official Manufacturing PMI hit a five-month low (50.0; expected 50.2) while the Non-Manufacturing PMI improved to 53.9 from 53.8, representing a five-month high. Meanwhile, eurozone economies reported Manufacturing PMI readings that were mostly better than expected while economic data from the U.S. contributed to the weakness in the stock market as Construction Spending (+0.1%; Briefing.com consensus 0.6%) and the ISM Manufacturing Index (52.7; consensus 53.7) missed expectations. Treasuries spiked after the release economic data, which sent the 10-yr yield lower by four basis points to 2.15%, representing the lowest level since the start of June. That decline in yields was a supportive factor for the utilities sector, which gained 0.6%. Similar to utilities, consumer staples (+0.3%) and telecom services (+0.2%) posted gains while the health care sector (unch) settled just above its flat line.

The market registered its third consecutive decline on Tuesday with the S&P 500 shedding 0.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.3%) underperformed. Equity indices spent the first half of the trading day near their flat lines with the S&P 500 bouncing inside a six-point range. The benchmark index made a brief appearance in the green, but could not build on that momentary gain as the top-weighted technology sector (-0.7%) weighed. Specifically, Apple (AAPL 114.64, -3.80) was down as much as 4.4% in the early going, which kept a lid on the market. The tech heavyweight narrowed its loss to 3.2% by the close, ending near levels last seen in late January. Similar to Apple, most large cap tech components registered losses while chipmakers also underperformed with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 1.1% to widen its 2015 decline to 7.2%.

The stock market snapped its three-day skid on Wednesday with the S&P 500 climbing 0.3%. The benchmark index settled behind the Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%), but ahead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.1%), which ended in the red. The trading day began with gains, but the early strength was just a mirage for the Dow Jones Industrial Average as the price-weighted index retreated from its opening high and spent the afternoon near its flat line. Most notably, shares of Disney (DIS 110.53, -11.16) pressured the index throughout the day after the company reported earnings. Disney delivered a three-cent beat, but that was overshadowed by a poor showing from its media and parks & resorts segments. In addition to pressuring the Dow, Disney's results broadsided other media names, resulting in a 1.1% decline for the consumer discretionary sector even as retailers outperformed with SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 98.99, +1.10) climbing 1.1%. Furthermore, Time Warner (TWX 79.80, -7.85) reported better than expected results, but the stock fell victim to industry-wide selling pressure, ending lower by 9.0%.

The key indices endured a broad-based retreat on Thursday with the move paced by the Nasdaq Composite. The tech-heavy index lost 1.6% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 surrendered 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively, ahead of Friday's Nonfarm Payrolls report for July. Equities opened just above their flat lines, but the S&P 500 dipped into the red and slid below its 100-day moving average (2,098) during the opening hour. Eight of ten sectors settled in the red with the consumer discretionary space (-1.3%) showing notable weakness for the second day in a row. Specifically, media names weighed on discretionary shares once again with Viacom (VIAB 44.10, -7.31) tumbling 14.2% after reporting in-line results on light revenue. Similarly, Viacom's peer 21st Century Fox (FOXA 29.87, -2.05) sank 6.4% despite reporting a bottom-line beat while Disney (DIS 108.55, -1.98) lost 1.8% after plunging 9.2% on Wednesday.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17689.86 17373.38 -316.48 -1.8 -2.5
Nasdaq 5128.28 5043.54 -84.74 -1.7 6.5
S&P 500 2103.84 2077.57 -26.27 -1.2 0.9
Russell 2000 1238.68 1206.90 -31.78 -2.6 0.2

4:24 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Begin August on Cautious Note Amid Growing Rate Hike Expectations (:WRAPX) : The major averages closed out the first week of August on a lower note with the S&P 500 losing 0.3%. The benchmark index settled just above its 200-day moving average (2,073) after testing that level for the first time since last Monday while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) made the first intraday appearance below its 100-day moving average (5,037) since early July. For the week, the S&P 500 lost 1.3% while the Nasdaq Composite surrendered 1.7%.

The market declined for the second consecutive day with today's retreat lubricated by the July Nonfarm Payrolls report (215,000; Briefing.com consensus 229,000), which was good enough to leave the door open for a fed funds rate hike in September.

Things didn't look that bad by the end as equities rebounded during afternoon action with the S&P 500 erasing more than half of its loss. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite was down more than 1.0% at its worst point, but recovered about 70% of that decline.

With the market gearing up for a rate hike in September, the post-NFP weakness in equities was not that surprising; however, strength in the Treasury market was. Specifically, the 10-yr note stumbled immediately after the Nonfarm Payrolls report was released, but recovered that loss in the following minutes and continued higher throughout the day. As a result, the benchmark 10-yr yield fell five basis points to 2.17%, registering its fourth consecutive weekly decline. To be fair, the 2-yr note ended in the red with its yield climbing two basis points to 0.72%.

The lower Treasury yields at the long end of the curve gave a boost to the high-yielding utilities sector (+1.2%), which climbed to a two-month high. Meanwhile, seven of the remaining nine sectors posted losses while financials (+0.1%) and technology (+0.1%) registered slim gains.

The financial sector benefited from the growing rate hike expectations while technology outperformed thanks to relative strength in Apple (AAPL 115.52, +0.39) and high-beta chipmaker names. For its part, Apple spent the day inside a narrow range, but still lost 5.0% for the week after sliding below its 200-day moving average (121.18) on Monday. Meanwhile, chipmakers stayed ahead of the market throughout the day with NVIDIA (NVDA 22.98, +2.53) spiking 12.4% after reporting better than expected earnings and revenue. The broader PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 0.6%.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, energy (-1.9%) remained pressured as crude oil futures marched lower throughout the day. The energy sector ended the week lower by 3.6% while WTI crude fell 1.7% to $43.87/bbl, ending the week with a 7.4% loss.

Also of note, the health care sector (-0.2%) paced the early decline, but erased the bulk of its loss by the close. Biotechnology appeared to be the driver as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 368.67, -1.41) lost 0.4% after briefly crossing its 100-day moving average for the first time since late April. The high-flying ETF surrendered 3.8% for the week, but remains higher by 17.7% since the end of 2014.

Today's participation was roughly in-line with average as 810 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Taking another look at today's data, nonfarm payrolls added 215,000 jobs in July after adding an upwardly revised 231,000 in June while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 229,000. Private payrolls added 210,000 jobs in July, down from an upwardly revised 227,000 from June while the consensus expected an increase of 220,000.

Average hourly earnings increased 0.2% in July after remaining flat in June while the average hourly workweek increased to 34.6 hours from 34.5. Taken altogether, aggregate earnings increased 0.7% after increasing 0.1% in June.

The July employment report fit in exactly with what the Fed is looking for. Job growth remained relatively robust after exceeding 200,000 for a third consecutive month, and the 0.7% increase in aggregate earnings should bolster consumption growth.

Separately, consumer credit increased by $20.70 billion in June after increasing by an upwardly revised $16.50 billion (from $16.10 billion) in May while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of $17.00 billion.

Monday's session will be free of economic data.


Nasdaq Composite +6.1% YTD
S&P 500 +0.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.6% YTD

Week in Review: Nasdaq Leads Stocks Lower

The stock market began August on a defensive note with a retreat that sent the S&P 500 below its 50-day (2,099) moving average. The benchmark index was down as much as 0.8%, but narrowed its loss to 0.3% by the close, ending ahead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.5%). Equities hovered near their flat lines during morning action after the overnight session saw more selling in China. To that point, the Shanghai Composite lost 1.1% after the official Manufacturing PMI hit a five-month low (50.0; expected 50.2) while the Non-Manufacturing PMI improved to 53.9 from 53.8, representing a five-month high. Meanwhile, eurozone economies reported Manufacturing PMI readings that were mostly better than expected while economic data from the U.S. contributed to the weakness in the stock market as Construction Spending (+0.1%; Briefing.com consensus 0.6%) and the ISM Manufacturing Index (52.7; consensus 53.7) missed expectations. Treasuries spiked after the release economic data, which sent the 10-yr yield lower by four basis points to 2.15%, representing the lowest level since the start of June. That decline in yields was a supportive factor for the utilities sector, which gained 0.6%. Similar to utilities, consumer staples (+0.3%) and telecom services (+0.2%) posted gains while the health care sector (unch) settled just above its flat line.

The market registered its third consecutive decline on Tuesday with the S&P 500 shedding 0.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.3%) underperformed. Equity indices spent the first half of the trading day near their flat lines with the S&P 500 bouncing inside a six-point range. The benchmark index made a brief appearance in the green, but could not build on that momentary gain as the top-weighted technology sector (-0.7%) weighed. Specifically, Apple (AAPL 114.64, -3.80) was down as much as 4.4% in the early going, which kept a lid on the market. The tech heavyweight narrowed its loss to 3.2% by the close, ending near levels last seen in late January. Similar to Apple, most large cap tech components registered losses while chipmakers also underperformed with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 1.1% to widen its 2015 decline to 7.2%.

The stock market snapped its three-day skid on Wednesday with the S&P 500 climbing 0.3%. The benchmark index settled behind the Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%), but ahead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.1%), which ended in the red. The trading day began with gains, but the early strength was just a mirage for the Dow Jones Industrial Average as the price-weighted index retreated from its opening high and spent the afternoon near its flat line. Most notably, shares of Disney (DIS 110.53, -11.16) pressured the index throughout the day after the company reported earnings. Disney delivered a three-cent beat, but that was overshadowed by a poor showing from its media and parks & resorts segments. In addition to pressuring the Dow, Disney's results broadsided other media names, resulting in a 1.1% decline for the consumer discretionary sector even as retailers outperformed with SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 98.99, +1.10) climbing 1.1%. Furthermore, Time Warner (TWX 79.80, -7.85) reported better than expected results, but the stock fell victim to industry-wide selling pressure, ending lower by 9.0%.

The key indices endured a broad-based retreat on Thursday with the move paced by the Nasdaq Composite. The tech-heavy index lost 1.6% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 surrendered 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively, ahead of Friday's Nonfarm Payrolls report for July. Equities opened just above their flat lines, but the S&P 500 dipped into the red and slid below its 100-day moving average (2,098) during the opening hour. Eight of ten sectors settled in the red with the consumer discretionary space (-1.3%) showing notable weakness for the second day in a row. Specifically, media names weighed on discretionary shares once again with Viacom (VIAB 44.10, -7.31) tumbling 14.2% after reporting in-line results on light revenue. Similarly, Viacom's peer 21st Century Fox (FOXA 29.87, -2.05) sank 6.4% despite reporting a bottom-line beat while Disney (DIS 108.55, -1.98) lost 1.8% after plunging 9.2% on Wednesday.

3:30 pm Earnings Preview for the week of August 10 - 14 (:SUMRX) : Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of August 10 - 14 some of the bigger names include:

Monday:
Pre Market - SYY, AES, DF, CNP, ENDP, PGEM, TPH, HPT, DXPE, WAC, ECPG, BIOS, IPXL, RDNT, STRL, PDCE, NRZ, ICON, RESI, MPAA, NAT, EVEP, UCP, ALSK, CTRE, POZN, BDSI, MNKD, ACHN

After Hours - KHC, LYV, VIPS, MDR, IFF, SF, RAX, JPEP, LNCE, MR, TTWO, TDW, PRAA, LOPE, IMN, ESE, AMBC, FNV, SFXE, FF, ENV, APEI, ICUI, KEYW, MXL, MM, XON, REN, YUME, SHAK, TUBE, SCLN, BDE, MCC, DTSI, RENT, FRSH, HALO, GSAT, CALL, GTY, CUI, MODN, FTEK, OMED, XONE, NVAX, CDNA, CHMI, ALIM, PFIE, NSPH, ZGNX, KITE, OMER, CARA, CLDX

Tuesday:
Pre Market - ACM, AER, ZBRA, TW, ARCO, JASO, RRGB, ARES, FMSA, RTK, MGIC, MTLS, CFMS, EGRX, CGIX

After Hours - CSC, SYMC, FOSL, VIAV, CREE, HMIN, MYGN, SLW, TAHO, EPAY, PE, FENG, FOGO, EVDY, INGN, OPWR, CYBR, FRPT, EXEL, CDXS, CBYL, ZFGN

Wednesday:
Pre Market - M, ARMK, BABA, VWR, AIT, CAE, ATTO, W, STKL, MRKT, SHLX, EZCH, ENZY, HSGX

After Hours - CSCO, NWSA, RNDY, FLO, RYI, CACI, NTES, CPA, BGG, LXFT, TGB, SEDG, SPKE, ECR, AMPH, MDLY, YDLE, MXPT, UPLD, GKOS, JUNO, XNET

Thursday:
Pre Market - KSS, AAP, COTY, TRCO, VSTO, GK, CRNT, STOR, PFNX

After Hours - JWN, AMAT, DAR, KING, YY, WX, PAAS, AZPN, WB, LOCO, GLOB, PCTY, PRSS, VCYT, JYNT, BLCM, RARE

Friday:
Pre Market - JCP

3:14 pm SolarCity's subsidiary SolarCity LMC announces pricing of $123.5 mln in Solar Asset Backed Notes, Series 2015-1 notes (SCTY) :

The senior class of notes (Class A Notes) consists of $103,500,000 aggregate principal that will have an interest rate of 4.18% and an anticipated repayment date of February 21, 2022. The junior class of the notes (Class B Notes) consists of $20,000,000 aggregate principal that will have an interest rate of 5.58% and an anticipated repayment date of February 21, 2022.12:07 pm Relative sector strength (:TECHX) : Sectors showing some relative strength vs. the S&P in recent trade include: Utility XLU, REITs IYR, Coal KOL, Semi SMH, Internet FDN.

12:02 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (285) outpacing new highs (38) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACG, ALJ, ASBB, BR, BRSS, CCRN, CLX, CVT, DCM, EFOI, EGOV, EXR, FCFP, FLTX, GWB, HLF, IBCP, INBK, LHCG, MHK, MLVF, NUAN, OCR, PAC, POST, PRA, PSA, QLTY, RLH, RMAX, SPNS, SSY, STMP, TBNK, TI.A, TSE, TWOU, WIFI

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAVL, ABAC, ADRO, AEZS, AGM, AHP, AI, ALEX, AMAT, AMBR, AMH, ANAD, APPS, ARCI, ASYS, AVAL, AVL, AXTI, AZUR, BAGR, BBD, BBGI, BCLI, BDSI, BEN, BG, BITA, BLW, BONT, BRN, BRS, BSI, BSM, BSPM, BWG, CAFD, CALA, CANF, CAPL, CBD, CCM, CCOI, CCUR, CDR, CECO, CEE, CELP, CENX, CFD, CGEN, CHCT, CHN, CJES, CLBS, CLDN, CLNT, CNIT, CNS, CNXR, CPAH, CPL, CPPL, CRAI, CRD.B, CRDS, CRT, CSII, CUB, CUR, CXP, DAR, DDS, DELT, DFS, DGRE, DIOD, DLB, DRAM, DSCO, DV, DX, DXKW, DXM, DYN, EBIO, EDD, EEML, EGAS, EGN, ELP, EMES, EMF, EMR, ESES, ESSX, ETRM, EVOK, EXAR, FBP, FBZ, FLDM, FOF, FOGO, FONR, FSC, FULL, FXCM, GALT, GHDX, GLOG, GLT, GNMK, GNRC, GNW, GOL, GOV, GPRE, GRMN, GRPN, GST, GULTU, HAYN, HIX, HNSN, HNW, HPJ, HSC, HUN, HWCC, HYB, HYGS, HZN, IAF, ICON, IFMI, IGD, IID, IMMU, INF, INFI, INPH, IO, ITUB, IVR, JGH, JGW, JPEP, KBIO, KCAP, KELYA, KERX, LDF, LEE, LITB, LMIA, LMOS, LOR, LORL, LRAD, LSCC, LTS, LXU, MARPS, MCC, MCF, MCFT, MCRN, MDLY, MG, MIL, MOBL, MOC, MOG.A, MOG.B, MPO, MRLN, MSTX, MTGE, MVO, MXC, MYGN, NADL, NDLS, NDRO, NEFF, NFG, NGD, NHS, NLST, NNI, NOV, NSC, NSLP, NSPH, NTIC, NVTA, NXRT, NYLD, NYLD.A, OIBR, OIBR.C, ONTX, ONVO, ORBC, OUT, PACB, PAGP, PCI, PEGI, PFL, PFN, PHI, PKOH, PNX, PSTI, PSUN, PTR, QUMU, RADA, RBCN, RCAP, RCPI, RESI, RIGP, RL, RLOG, RMT, ROYT, RTK, RWC, RWT, RXN, SAAS, SBGL, SBS, SCD, SFM, SGF, SGM, SGNT, SJI, STAR, STEM, STML, STXS, SUN, SWIR, SXE, SYPR, TBIO, TDC, TINY, TIPT, TNGO, TOR, TPC, TRP, TRUE, TTOO, TWIN, UAM, UBIO, UIS, UNFI, UNXL, UQM, UTI, VCSH, VICL, VPG, VSCP, VTNR, WCC, WFM, WGBS, WLB, WLFC, WPCS, WPG, WSR, XBIT, XOMA, XXII, YLCO, ZAZA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BNO, CHN, EWA, EWM, EWS, EWT, EWY, EWZ, FXS, GSG, ILF, JJC, OIL, PBW, REMX, USO

7:01 am Motorola Solutions commences a dutch auction tender, to repurchase up to $2 bln of its common stock shares between $61 and $66.50/share (MSI) : The company will fund the tender offer with a combination of existing cash on the company's balance sheet and proceeds from the previously announced $1 billion strategic investment from Silver Lake.

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - Lots of Calls for the Top (Weekend Newsletter)

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


- Lots of calls for the top. Could be in the bigger picture but indexes ready to bounce.
- NASDAQ, SP400, SP500 in good position.
- Jobs show the same old (and weak) story.
- Ready to play the bounce upside.

"It's the end of the world!" 'The Birds' (1963)

Thursday and Friday saw more selling in the stock market and more speculation the market is ready to drop.

SP500 -5.99, -0.29%
NASDAQ -12.90, -0.26%
DJ30 -46.37, -.27%
SP400 -0.15%
RUTX -0.74%
SOX 0.58%

VOLUME: NYSE -17%, NASDAQ -12%. On this session a bit quieter trade on the pullback. No dumping on the day.

A/D: NYSE -1.4:1, NASDAQ -1.6:1.

Many are saying it is over. David Stockman says the top is in. Deutsche Bank sees 'seven signs' flashing red. Many other big names are calling it. With earnings posting another lackluster quarter with loads of top line misses, with another jobs report showing only low wage job production, with the Chinese economy in a midst of a bubble break (exports dive 10%), with Berkshire Hathaway seeing a 10% drop in earnings (something not seen since 2008), with the Fed ready to raise rates after ending its QE program in October, arguably the only thing that kept the economy moving, and with the market action since October, that case can be made. I made it a couple of weeks back.

Two things. First, that does not mean it has to happen. Negative sentiment is high and many are predicting the move is over. That is often good for at least a bounce.

Second (and this ties into the first) even if this is the top, just as with any other move, there are plays to make money contrary to the overall move. After a sharp decline in the stock indexes such as DJ30, there is likely a rebound here.

That isn't just an oversold condition. SP500, NASDAQ and SP400 are all in position to rebound, not just from oversold conditions, but from some pretty good setups.

The most interesting action is found in SP400 and NASDSAQ. SP400 is holding the same low as Thursday and bouncing some, the same level held in early July. Trying to put in a short inverted head and shoulders with this action attempting to form the bottom of the right shoulder. In any event, it is holding up an interesting pattern.

NASDAQ is off its lows, holding at the same low from the low two weeks back. That is the 61% Fibonacci retracement level and NASDAQ is attempting to put in a double bottom, a pattern we like at this level because of its good track record.

You can throw SP500 in as well as it holds near its 200 day MA for the third time in 5 weeks, almost the same pattern it put in from December to January that led to the February rally.

Any or all of them could make a move higher. Could. The X factor is what the big money in the market believes regarding whether the status quo, and we are talking Fed, remains the same OR whether an initial rate hike is palatable to the upside.

If they do make that move, what do you do with it? We plan on using it to play some stocks that move well and can make us good money. There are other stocks with some really nice patterns that held up in the dump lower last week; a market rebound puts them in position to make us some money. We also plan on using it to lighten up in some other areas, taking some gain and generally getting lighter upside. If the market continues moving, of course you let the positions run until it stalls. Then you have some downside plays in your pocket that you use to play any move lower.


The News

It's all about those jobs, not quality.

Jobs miss, seen as solid, but the jobs market remains sick.

215K versus 229K versus 231K (223K prior).

Unemployment: 5.3% as expected as same as June

Earnings: 0.2% as expected

Average workweek: 34.6 versus 34.5.

Participation rate: 62.6%, steady

Not in labor force: 93.77M, yet another record (+144K)

Job quality:

Retail: +36K
Food & Beverage: +29K
Professional and Business: +27K
Healthcare: +28K
Manufacturing: +15K

Since 2007 the economy has lost 1.4M manufacturing jobs and gained 1.4M waiter and bartenders

Jobs by Age

Of the 215K jobs created, 211K went to the 55+ age group.

16-24: -8K jobs

25-54: -131K jobs

So, in sum and in conclusion, the economy is producing more of the low end jobs and they are going to the older demographic.


THE MARKET

This week saw some leadership groups get hit, e.g. biotechs and drugs, restaurants. DJ30 was bombed.

CHARTS

To view mid, click on link or paste URL into browser.

http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/sp500.jpg
http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/NASDAQ.jpg
http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/DJ30.jpg
http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/RUTX.jpg
http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/SP400.jpg
http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/SOX.jpg

NASDAQ: Down hard Thursday, unable to keep the Tuesday and Wednesday bounce going. Friday, however, NASDAQ held the late July low, showing a nice doji with tail. This is the 61% Fibonacci Retracement of the early July rally, a good pattern to rally from. This is a good pattern at a good point to move. If it doesn't that speaks a lot to the NASDAQ's strength.

SP400: A tight doji with tail at the 200 day SMA and the early July low. Key support level, forming an inverted head and shoulders. As with NASDAQ, this is a pattern it should rally from, and if it doesn't and SP400 breaks lower from its range, that shows real weakness.

SP500: Doji at the 200 day SMA, the third visit of this level in the past six weeks. Losing momentum perhaps, but it did this in December/January and rallied nicely through February. Thus you cannot just write it off as 'the top'. At critical support for sure, but not breaking yet.

DJ30: Tough week, breaking to a lower low outside of its range. Six sessions lower so oversold but not horribly. Remember, DJ30 put in a false break two weeks back but could not hold the rebound.

RUTX: Doji at the lower support, and after a week downside could bounce. At that point where it has to show it as the small caps have really struggled.

SOX: Still attempting to put in a double bottom at the 630 level. MACD is improved so it has a shot, particularly given the two months of selling.


LEADERSHIP

Big Names: Some are fine, some need help. GOOG is testing the 10 day EMA. FB testing the 20 day EMA, still working in a nice pullback. AMZN struggling a bit, SBUX holding the 20 day EMA after a rough Thursday. NFLX holding its gains fine. MSFT sold on the week but is holding the 20 day EMA. Not a great week, not a collapse.

Biotechs/Drugs: Rough week. TTPH broke lower. KITE broke its trend. HZNP broke its 50 day EMA. Some trouble.

Restaurants: JACK broke lower. DRI fell to the 50 day EMA. BWLD is testing well. CMG is testing well.

Financials: Testing but holding up well. JPM, BAC, MA.


MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: -12.9 points (-0.26%) to close at 5043.54
Volume: 1.96B (-12.38%)

Up Volume: 934.86M (+348.57M)
Down Volume: 1.06B (-620M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.55 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 2.38 to 1

New Highs: 23 (-44)
New Lows: 179 (-19)

S&P
Stats: -5.99 points (-0.29%) to close at 2077.57
NYSE Volume: 831.6M (-16.84%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.42 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.49 to 1

New Highs: 29 (-21)
New Lows: 187 (-135)

DJ30
Stats: -46.37 points (-0.27%) to close at 17373.38


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 13.39; -0.38
VXN: 16.9; 0
VXO: 14.76; +0.3
Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 1.23; -0.07

Recent history: 2 over, 3 below, 1 over, 3 below, 3 over, 8 below, 11 above. Getting a bit away from the string of above 1.0 to act as an upside catalyst. Interestingly, there is purportedly a lot of pessimism regarding the stock market, but the put/call ratio is not showing that right now.


Bulls and Bears:

Bulls: 42.2% versus 43.3% versus 49.0% versus 43.7% versus 44.8% versus 49.5%

Bears: 17.5% versus 17.5% versus 15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.4% versus 15.4% versus 16.5%

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: 42.2%
43.3% versus 49.0% versus 43.7% versus 44.8% versus 49.5% versus 51.6% versus 45.5% versus 47.4% versus 51.5% versus 47.5% versus 51.5% versus 48.5% versus 50.5% versus 50.6% versus 47.5% versus 52.5% versus 57.4% versus 52.5% versus 50.5% versus 50.4% versus 54.5% versus 55.6% versus 52.0% versus 53.6% versus 58.7% versus 59.5% versus 56.6% versus 52.5% versus 49.0% versus 53.1% versus 49.0% versus 48.0% versus 50.5% versus 56.4% versus 52.5% versus 49.5% versus 51.5% versus53.4% versus 56.5%

Background: Last undercut 35%, the threshold for bullishness, in early June 2012.

Bears: 17.5%
17.5% versus 15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.4% versus 15.4% versus 16.5% versus 16.5% versus 15.8% versus 14.9% versus 15.8% versus 13.9% versus 13.9% versus 15.2% versus 13.9% versus 14.2% versus 14.2% versus 14.1% versus 14.3% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 14.1% versus 15.2% versus 16.3% versus 16.3% versus 17.4% versus16.3% versus 15.2% versus 14.9% versus 15.8% versus 14.9% versus 14.8% versus 13.9% versus 13.8%

Background: Over 35% for bears is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. The best indication is when bears cross up through bulls as the two merge. Right now bulls are coming back down from the 60 level that has consistently marked market tops over the past two years. The rapid decline in progress is pushing the bulls/bears lines toward one another. Still far from a cross with bulls falling faster than bears are rising, but bears are warming up to the notion of market weakness.


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 2.17% versus 2.227%

Historical: 2.27% versus 2.15% versus 2.19% versus 2.29% versus 2.25% versus 2.23% versus 2.27% versus 2.27% versus 2.32% versus 2.34% versus 2.37% versus 2.34% versus 2.35% versus 2.35% versus 2.40% versus 2.44% versus 2.42% versus 2.31% versus 2.206% versus 2.26% versus 2.29% versus 2.38% versus 2.42% versus 2.34% versus 2.364% versus 2.48% versus 2.40% versus 2.37% versus 2.40% versus 2.36% versus 2.26% versus 2.35% versus 2.32% versus 2.32% versus 2.36% versus 2.39% versus 2.39% versus 2.48%


Euro/$: 1.0966. Bouncing up off the recent low

Historical: 1.0906 versus 1.0953 versus 1.0978 versus 1.0936 versus 1.0983 versus 1.1058 versus 1.1092 versus 1.0977 versus 1.0992 versus 1.0927 versus 1.0944 versus 1.0927 versus 1.0825 versus 1.0836 versus 1.0880 versus 1.0946 versus 1.1005 versus 1.0999 versus 1.1157 versus 1.1032 versus 1.11069 versus 1.1099 versus 1.1055 versus 1.1082 versus 1.1054 versus 1.1131 versus 1.1243 versus 1.1205

$/JPY: 124.21 versus 124.74

Historical: 124.74 versus 124.78 versus 124.31 versus 123.99 versus 123.89 versus 124.15 versus 123.99 versus 123.56 versus 123.26 versus 123.79 versus 123.89 versus 123.96 versus 123.88 versus 124.31 versus 124.07 versus 124.13 versus 123.78 versus 123.38 versus 123.42 versus 122.76 versus 121.29 versus 120.66 versus 122.46 versus 122.51 versus 123.04 versus 123.115 versus 122.43 versus 122.497 versus 123.82 versus 123.63 versus 123.88 versus 123.69 versus 123.37 versus 122.66


Oil: 43.87, -0.97. Back at support at the January lows.

Gold: 1094.10, +5.10. Trying to bounce off the lows but still in the lateral move.


MONDAY

SP500 back at the 200 day SMA, NASDAQ back at the last low, SP400 at the bottom of its range. In position to bounce, but can they? Lots of negativity, lots of Fed speculation, lots of speculation as to what happens when the Fed moves. Ah, speculation. That is all it is.

We too are concerned as to the market putting in a top. Have been since October. Inside all of the topping action, however, there were many upside rallies and we predominantly played them to grow some accounts by 2x+. The point: even in tops you can play the upside nicely.

Thus if we get a rebound from NASDAQ, SP400, SP500, definitely want to play it. How high it rallies is the open question; the last rebound didn't make it that far. With that in mind, we are not going to load the boat but will play some choice lays and see what they can do for us, and start working in some downside plays to play that move when it shows up.


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 5043.54

Resistance:
The 50 day EMA at 5076
The lower trendline is at 5095
5120 is the April 2015 post-bear market high
5132.52 is the 3/2000 all-time high
5150-5160 is the June peak range
5164 is the June prior all-time high
5232 is the July 2015 all-time high.

Support:
5042 is the March 2015 high
5008.57 is the early March 2015 post-bear market high
The June low at 4974
4912 the mid-April China dip
The 200 day SMA at 4889
The March lows at 4843 and 4825
4815 is the December 2014 prior market peak
4811 is the November 2014 peak (intraday)
4774 is the January high
4751 is the January 2015 lower high
4631 is the October 2014 upside gap point
4610 is the September 2014 post-bear market high.
4566 is the lower gap point from late October
4563 and 4567 are the January lows
4547 is the December low


S&P 500: Closed at 2077.57

Resistance:
2094 is the December 2014 high, the prior all-time high
The lower channel line at 2097
The 50 day EMA at 2096
2115 is the late March lower high
2119.59 is the February intraday prior all-time high
2126 was the April prior all-time high
2130 is the June 2015 peak
2135 is the May 2015 all-time high

Support:
2079 is the intraday all-time high from November
2076 is the all-time high from November
The 200 day SMA at 2073
2062 is the January 2015 lower high
2046 is the July closing low
2011 is the September prior all-time high
1991 is the July 2014 high
1972 is the December 2014 low
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1883.57 is the early March high.
The December and January highs at 1848
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high


Dow: Closed at 17,373.38

Resistance:
17,515 is the early July closing low
17,585 to 17,579, the March intraday lows, helping mark the bottom of the Dow's The February to present trading range.
June low at 17,715
The March low at 17,718
17,748 is the mid-April China margin selloff and the bottom of the 5 month trading range
The 50 day EMA at 17,796
The 200 day SMA at 17,804
17,923 is the January 2015 lower high
17,991 is the early December intraday high
18,104 is the December high
18,200 to 18,206 (late March lower high)
18,289 is the March 2015 high, the prior all-time high
18,351 is the May 2015 all-time high

Support:
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17067 is the December 2014 low
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
16,736 is the penultimate all-time high from May 2014
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak


ECONOMIC CALENDAR

August 7 - Friday
Nonfarm Payrolls, July (8:30): 215K actual versus 229K expected, 231K prior (revised from 223K)
Nonfarm Private Payr, July (8:30): 210K actual versus 220K expected, 227K prior (revised from 223K)
Unemployment Rate, July (8:30): 5.3% actual versus 5.3% expected, 5.3% prior
Hourly Earnings, July (8:30): 0.2% actual versus 0.2% expected, 0.0% prior
Average Workweek, July (8:30): 34.6 actual versus 34.5 expected, 34.5 prior
Consumer Credit, June (15:00): $20.7B actual versus $17.0B expected, $16.5B prior (revised from $16.1B)

August 11 - Tuesday
Productivity-Prel, Q2 (8:30): 1.4% expected, -3.1% prior
Unit Labor Costs, Q2 (8:30): -0.1% expected, 6.7% prior
Wholesale Inventories, June (10:00): 0.8% prior

August 12 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 08/08 (7:00)
JOLTS - Job Openings, June (10:00): 5.363M prior
Crude Inventories, 08/08 (10:30)
Treasury Budget, July (14:00): -$149.0B expected, -$94.6B prior

August 13 - Thursday
Initial Claims, 08/08 (8:30): 273K expected,
Continuing Claims, 08/01 (8:30): 2247K expected,
Retail Sales, July (8:30): 0.5% expected, -0.3% prior
Retail Sales ex-auto, July (8:30): 0.5% expected, -0.1% prior
Export Prices ex-ag., July (8:30): -0.1% prior
Import Prices ex-oil, July (8:30): -0.2% prior
Business Inventories, June (10:00): 0.3% expected, 0.3% prior
Natural Gas Inventor, 08/08 (10:30)

August 14 - Friday
PPI, July (8:30): 0.1% expected, 0.4% prior
Core PPI, July (8:30): 0.1% expected, 0.3% prior
Industrial Production, July (9:15): 0.3% expected, 0.2% prior (revised from 0.3%)
Capacity Utilization, July (9:15): 78.0 expected, 77.8% prior (revised from 78.4%)
Michigan Sentiment, August (10:00): 93.9 expected, 93.1 prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:31 pm Photronics beats by $0.05, beats on revs (PLAB) : Reports Q3 (Jul) earnings of $0.17 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.12; revenues rose 5.5% year/year to $131.7 mln vs the $130.05 mln consensus.

4:16 pm Integrated Silicon submits to the Taiwan regulatory authorities an application for the approval of the transfer of the shares of its Chingis Technology subsidiary to MediaTek Capital Corp (ISSI) : In connection with obtaining the required regulatory approval related to ISSI's acquisition by Uphill Investment Co., ISSI also filed applications with the Taiwan regulatory authorities for the change of company ownership status of its remaining subsidiaries in Taiwan.

Additionally, ISSI announced that ISSI and Uphill have withdrawn and then refiled their notice to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ("CFIUS") for clearance of the pending acquisition of ISSI by Uphill. This action was taken due to recent changes in the information contained in the initial CFIUS notice related to the ownership structure of Uphill. ISSI and Uphill continue to believe that the required approval from CFIUS will be obtained. However, the refiled notice will commence a new CFIUS review period. Upon acceptance of the refiled notice by CFIUS, the initial 30 day review period will begin and such period may be extended into an investigation that can last up to an additional 45 days. ISSI expects that the closing of the merger with Uphill will occur late in the third calendar quarter or early in the fourth calendar quarter.
4:06 pm Canadian Solar beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs below consensus; guides FY15 revs below consensus (CSIQ) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.31 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.29; revenues rose 2.1% year/year to $636.7 mln vs the $596.4 mln consensus.

Gross margin in the second quarter of 2015 was 15.2%, compared to 17.8% in the first quarter of 2015 and 19.0% in the second quarter of 2014. The sequential decrease in gross margin was primarily due to one-time cumulative catch-up countervailing and anti-dumping duties due to the new U.S. Department of Commerce ruling and both lower margin and lower contribution from the Company's total solution business in Canada.

Q3 Guidance
Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $570-620 mln vs. $757.06 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. For the third quarter of 2015, the Company expects total module shipments to be in the range of approximately 970MW to 1,020MW, including approximately 70MW of shipments to the Company's utility-scale solar projects that will not be recognized in third quarter 2015 revenue. Gross margin expected to be between 12% and 14%. The gross margin guidance for the third quarter of 2015 is expected to be negatively impacted by the U.S. import duty on modules because module shipments to the U.S. are expected to increase significantly.
FY15 Guidance
Co issues downside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $2.8-3.0 bln vs. $3.02 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. For the full year 2015, the Company maintains its expectation of total module shipments to be in the range of approximately 4.0 GW to 4.3 GW, including 3,300 MW to 3,500 MW of third-party module sales, 235 MW to 275 WW of project and EPC sales, and 460 MW to 490 MW of shipments to projects which will be held on the balance sheet pending the potential launch of a YieldCo. Absent the planned change in the Company's energy business model from a build-to-sell to a build, own and operate model, revenue for 2015 would be approximately $1.0 billion to $1.1 billion higher.

4:04 pm Analog Devices beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q4 above consensus (ADI) : Reports Q3 (Jul) adj. earnings of $0.77 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.74; revenues rose 19% year/year to $863.4 mln vs the $845.82 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.79-0.87, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.79 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $880-940 mln vs. $878.68 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "stable order rates and a positive book to bill ratio lead us to plan for sequential growth in the fourth quarter."

The co disclosed a plan to convert the benefits provided to participants in its Irish defined benefits pension plan to benefits provided under its Irish defined contribution plan. In connection with this action, the Company expects to record a charge of approximately $220 million in the Company's fourth quarter of fiscal 2015.

4:10 pm : After enjoying a broad-based spike on Monday, the stock market surrendered more than half of that gain on Tuesday. The S&P 500 lost 0.3%, narrowing its weekly advance to 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.6%) underperformed.

Although the Tuesday session produced a different outcome than Monday's affair, investor participation remained below-average with fewer than 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Equities began the day with modest losses after the overnight session featured a resumption of heavy selling in China that sent the Shanghai Composite lower by 6.2%. There was no clear-cut reason for the plunge, but some pointed to a better than feared Housing Starts report, which could keep the People's Bank of China from implementing additional stimulus measures.

The overnight weakness was followed by a shaky session in Europe while U.S. indices made a brief appearance in the green before revisiting their morning lows. The S&P 500 slid below its 100-day moving average (2,098) during midday action and hit its session low just a point below the 50-day average (2,095) before settling just above that level.

Nine of ten sectors ended the day in negative territory with losses ranging from 0.01% (telecom services) and 0.7% (materials). The materials sector underperformed throughout the day with steelmakers showing notable weakness, evidenced by a 1.6% decline in Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 26.38, -0.44). Meanwhile, the other commodity-related sector-energy (-0.4%)-ended among the laggards even as crude oil spiked 1.8% to $42.62/bbl.

Elsewhere among cyclical groups, the consumer discretionary sector (+0.1%) stayed ahead of the broader market throughout the trading day thanks to a few pockets of strength. Homebuilders were propelled higher by a better than expected earnings report from Home Depot (HD 122.80, +3.10). The Dow component rallied 2.6% while apparel names were mixed after Urban Outfitters (URBN 31.55, -0.68) and TJX (TJX 76.46, +4.85) reported earnings. Urban Outfitters retreated 2.1% after below-consensus revenue and comparable store sales overshadowed a bottom-line beat while TJX spiked 6.8% after beating earnings estimates.

Staying on the earnings theme, Wal-Mart (WMT 69.48, -2.43) fell 3.4% in reaction to a bottom-line miss and lower earnings guidance for Q3 and fiscal year 2016.

Switching gears, Treasuries climbed during overnight action, but the 10-yr note reversed from its overnight high, falling to lows after the release of today's economic data. The 10-yr note slipped to a new low just ahead of the close, pushing the benchmark yield up three basis points to 2.20%.

Economic data was limited to Housing Starts and Building Permits:


Housing starts in July ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.206 million, up 0.2% from an upwardly revised 1.204 million rate (from 1.174 mln) in June
The July figure was pretty much in-line with the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which stood at 1.200 million
The upshot of this report is that the increase was powered by starts of single-family homes as they jumped 12.8% to 782,000, with increases seen in all regions
Building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.119 million, which was 16.3% below the revised June rate of 1.337 million (from 1.343 mln) and well below the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 1.257 million
Single-family permits dipped 1.9% to 679,000

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET while July CPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) will cross the wires at 8:30 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 14:00 ET release of the FOMC Minutes from the July meeting.

Nasdaq Composite +6.8% YTD
S&P 500 +1.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.8% YTD

DJ30 -33.84 NASDAQ -32.35 SP500 -5.52 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 893/1.39 bln/1949 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1072/673.7 mln/1984
3:40 pm :

The dollar index held its gains today, which helped weigh on commodities today
WTI crude oil, however, displayed a late-day rally, rising back above $42/barrel and as high as $42.90/barrel
Sept crude ended today's session +1.8% at $42.58/barrel
In other energy, Sept nat gas -1.1% at $2.70/MMBtu
Silver held deep losses today and remains near today's low
Gold held modest losses following in post-morning rally
Dec gold ended -0.1% at $1117.00/oz, while Sept silver finished -3.2% at $14.81/oz

11:57 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (246) outpacing new highs (153) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAN, ABM, ACXM, ADBE, AEO, AFAM, AFG, AHS, AIZ, ALK, AME, AMSF, AMSG, ANSS, ARMK, ATNI, ATVI, AWI, B, BDGE, BECN, BEE, BKU, BLD, BLKB, BRO, BWLD, BXLT, BYD, BZC, CASY, CCRN, CENTA, CHD, CINF, CIVI, CTAS, CTXS, DHI, ECOL, EFSC, EFX, ELLI, ELS, EXPD, EXR, FBHS, FDS, FIS, FL, FLO, FN, FSV, FXCB, GLPG, GPN, GRA, GRBK, GT, GTT, HCKT, HD, HOLX, HSP, ICUI, INFN, IQNT, IRL, IT, JBLU, JKHY, KFRC, KRNY, LDR, LEN, LEN.B, LII, LMT, LNCE, LNTH, MAN, MAS, MCD, MD, MHK, MHO, MKC, MLM, MOH, NDAQ, NDRM, NPBC, NPK, NVR, NWL, OC, OCLR, OMER, OXM, PAYC, PBH, PDCO, PPBI, PRA, PSA, QLIK, RCPT, RNG, RNR, ROL, ROST, RSG, SBAC, SCMP, SFST, SMBC, SMED, SNA, SNPS, SPF, SPNS, SRCL, SSNC, STMP, STZ, SVA, SWHC, SYK, TANH, TAST, TDG, TFSL, THG, TJX, TOL, TOWN, TPX, TREE, TSS, TTC, TTEC, ULTA, UNH, USG, VMC, VNTV, VSTO, WCG, WCIC, WNS, WRB, WSFS, WSM

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, AAIT, AAXJ, ABE, ABEV, ABGB, AGC, ALIM, ALLT, AMCF, AMSC, ANF, ANFI, AOSL, APF, APO, ARNA, ARPI, ATI, AVAL, BAS, BBD, BBDO, BBEP, BBL, BCA, BCH, BETR, BGB, BGH, BGX, BIT, BITA, BOI, BPT, BREW, BSBR, BSMX, BWG, CBD, CDOR, CEE, CENX, CETC, CG, CGEN, CGG, CH, CHN, CIB, CIF, CJES, CLUB, CMLP, CMLS, CNCO, CNET, CNQ, CNX, COMT, CPA, CPAC, CPG, CPHR, CPL, CRAY, CRCM, CTCM, CU, CVGI, CVX, CZZ, DGRE, DHF, DHY, DLB, DTLK, EAD, EBR, EC, EDD, EDF, EDI, EEMA, EEML, EFF, ELP, EMCG, EMD, EMF, ENG, ENI, EOC, EOD, ERC, EVAL, EXAR, FBP, FCX, FELP, FEO, FOGO, FRAN, FTGC, FTW, FUEL, GAIA, GBL, GCH, GFN, GHI, GIM, GLF, GOL, GRR, GTLS, GULTU, HART, HBM, HGT, HHY, HIBB, HLX, HPQ, HYB, HYI, HYT, IAE, IAF, IF, IFMI, IHD, INVN, IPDN, ISDR, ITUB, IVH, JHY, JOBS, JRO, JSD, KIO, KN, KST, LC, LFL, LINC, LINE, LITB, LNCO, LOR, MCEP, MINI, MOBL, MPET, MSF, MTR, MXE, MXPT, NDRO, NFJ, NHS, NMI, NOR, NSL, NSU, NTAP, NTIC, OCIP, OIBR.C, PACD, PAH, PBT, PDI, PDS, PER, PES, PFIE, PGN, PHIIK, PIR, PKO, PSIX, PTR, PTY, QDEL, RIGP, RLOG, SAN, SBLK, SBR, SBS, SDT, SFXE, SGF, SGMA, SID, SIXD, SJT, SMTC, SNP, SODA, SPP, SSL, STO, SWM, SXCP, TAC, TAL, TCK, TDF, TEI, TFM, THW, TKC, TKF, TLI, TROX, TTF, TTM, TWIN, TWN, UIS, VALE.P, VEDL, VIDI, VIV, VLT, VRA, VSCP, VXDN, WGBS, WHZ, WIA, WIW, WLDN, WLFC, WMT, WYNN, XGTI, XONE, YNDX, YUME, ZA, ZFC, ZUMZ

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: ITB, KIE, XHB

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, BKF, BNO, CHN, DBB, DBC, DJP, ECH, EEB, EEM, EGPT, EPP, EPU, EWA, EWT, EWY, EWZ, EZA, FUD, GSG, ILF, JJC, KOL, OIL, PALL, REMX, THD, USO, VWO

The markets ended another session in the red, as the story has so often gone in recent days. Despite a recovery for all three yesterday, shares of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all finished lower on the session to the tune of -0.19%, -0.26% and -0.64% respectively. Volume in the major indices was also a bit on the light side as both the Nasdaq and NYSE recorded lower than average trading volume on the session.

For its part, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (-0.59%) finished the session lower, mirroring broader market action. Notable sector leaders included FB +1.32%, TSS +0.85%, ADS +0.80%, MSI +0.77%, MSFT +0.55%, while SWKS -5.75%, MU -4.82%, QRVO -4.03%, KLAC -3.16%, LRCX -2.85%, ADI -2.69%, AVGO -2.61%, AMAT -2.30%, SNDK -2.23% made up the names that underperformed the rest of the sector. As is evidenced by the notable laggards, semiconductors were under notable pressure today ahead of quarterly results from Analog Devices (ADI 57.84, -1.66 -2.79%).

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index (SOX 624.01, -13.24) ended Tuesday trade lower by 2.1%. Sector components all finished on the session, with SWKS -5.75% leading the way down, and ASML -0.34% also finishing lower, but outperforming other semi names.

SOX name, SunEdison (SUNE 14.50, -0.18 -1.23%) gave us enough to digest for one day as the company announced, with West Street Infrastructure Partners, the formation of a new $1 billion warehouse investment vehicle, the WSIP Warehouse, to fund construction costs and to acquire operating assets. As an aside, TerraForm Power (TERP 25.75, -0.08 -0.31%) will have an exclusive call right over the warehoused assets. SUNE has the option to expand the facility by up to $1 billion, bringing total possible investment to $2 billion. The company then announced a proposed offering of $500 million of perpetual convertible preferred stock, likely to fund the aforementioned warehouse.

In addition, Social Media (SOCL 18.44, -0.30 -1.60%) also ended the session with notable underperformers. Shares of Yelp (YELP 25.41, -1.23) sold off today nearly 4.6%. Twitter (TWTR 28.30, -0.76 -2.62%) and LinkedIn (LNKD 186.91, -3.75 -1.97%) continued their recent selloffs with yet another day closing in the red. Shares of both are down more than 15% since late July, mirroring (but outperforming) the broader market losses.

Notable new items among S&P 500 IT sector components:

VeriSign (VRSN 70.90, -0.29 -0.39%) announced that the upside trigger on its 3.25% junior subordinated convertible debentures due 2037 has been met for the six-month interest payment period from Aug. 15, 2015, to Feb. 14, 2016. As a result, contingent interest will be paid on the Notes for that six-month interest payment period.

Akamai Tech (AKAM 73.80, +0.23 -0.31%) announced the appointment of Ashutosh Kulkarni as SVP & General Manager of the company's Web Experience Division.

Motorola Solutions (MSI 65.77, +0.50 +0.77%) in late trade filed a mixed securities shelf offering.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Inteliquent (IQNT 21.37, +3.53 +19.79%) announced that it had entered into a three-year agreement with T-Mobile US (TMUS 42.04, +0.04 +0.10%) under which Inteliquent will provide a full suite of IP voice services to T-Mobile. Inteliquent expects that the agreement will result in a significant increase in the volume of traffic carried on Inteliquent's network. The company also raised certain guidance metrics following the announcement - revenue for FY15 of $240-250 million up from $220-230 million, capital expenditures raised to $22-27 million from $11-13 million.

Identiv (INVE 5.01, +0.45 +9.87%) entered into a partnership with PSA Security Network to distribute Identiv's uTrust TS Premises Readers and credentials.

SS&C Techs (SSNC 72.55, +3.12 +4.49%) announced the acquisition of Citigroup's (C 57.55, -0.22 -0.38%) Alternative Investor Services business, which includes Hedge Fund Services and Private Equity Fund Services, for $425 million, subject to certain adjustments. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.

Science Applications (SAIC 51.65, -0.92 -1.75%) was awarded a 5-year $315 million Defense Logistics Agency contract for repair and operations for the tailored logistics support prime vendor program for Zone 1 of the Northeast region.

Edgewater (EDGW 7.17, +0.06 +0.84%) acquired Branchbird for a total cash consideration of $2.8 million.

Analyst actions:
FEYE was upgraded to Outperform from In-Line at Imperial Capital, YOKU was upgraded to Buy from Hold at T.H. Capital, ECHO was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel; SNDK and SIMO were downgraded to Underperform from Buy at BofA/Merrill

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The Bears again ruled the market as all three major indices were in the red from bell-to-bell. The third straight day of losses brought the Nasdaq Composite (-2.8%) to its 200 day simple moving average for the first time since the middle of last October. The S&P 500 index (-2.1%) fell lower, after yesterday crossing its 200 day simple moving average on the way down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-2.1%) also closed Thursday trade in the red, as sector components DIS -6.04%, MRK -4.54%, BA -3.99%, INTC -2.82%, UNH -2.78%, CSCO -2.73% led the losses.

In tech, North American Tech Software (IGV 99.42, -3.67 -3.56%) traded lower as sector components IMPV -10.1%, FEYE -8.4%, BLOX -7.6%, WDAY -6.5%, SPLK -6.4% led the sector into negative territory, while NUAN -0.6%, HUBS -1.1%, SNCR -1.5% mostly resisted the broader market/sector selloff but still finished Thursday trade in the red.

In addition, notable tech names traded lower on the session included Twitter (TWTR 26.00, -1.60 -5.80%) - which continued recent weakness, falling at one point below the 2013 IPO price of $26 per share, Facebook (FB 90.56, -4.75 -4.98%) - which turned lower along with other social media names, and Yahoo! (YHOO 34.10, -1.09 -3.10%) - which continued recent weakness lower.

In a session that saw the Dow and S&P turn negative for the year (in addition to the Dow at one point shedding 300 points), the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (685.23, -17.27 -2.46%) also turned red at the open, mirroring broader market selling pressure. Sector component Analog Devices (ADI 53.82, -4.56 ) was downgraded today after it reported Q3 results on August 18, and traded lower by more than 7.8% on the session, ending Thursday trade near the $53.70 level -- which has not been seen since early February 2015.

Notable news items among sector components:

Oracle (ORCL 38.63, -0.90 -2.28%) acquired Maxymiser, a provider of cloud-based software that enables marketers to test, target and personalize what a customer sees on a Web page or mobile app - financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Visa (V 73.95, -0.48 -0.64%) saw initial upside following a Sky News story which noted that the company was considering a $21 billion bid to merge European units. The report noted that the company is targeting to resolve these discussions by the end of October.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Dynasol Corporation of America (DYSL 1.62, +0.12 +8.00%) entered into a three year arrangement to supply crystal components to a global supplier of security inspection equipment. The company believes that it may receive orders up to $6.0 million in product over the next 12 months and potentially $20 million over the three year term of the agreement.

One Horizon (OHGI 1.45, +0.04 +2.84%) signed a cooperation agreement with YTO Express to commence a trial of the Aishou VoIP platform in Jiangsu province.

Marvell (MRVL 11.42, -0.49 -4.11%) has postponed its Q2 earnings release and conference call. The company was originally scheduled to report this afternoon, but rescheduled to allow for more time to finalize its quarterly financial results.

CGI Group (GIB 36.38, -1.14 -3.04%) won a $124 million, five year contract with the US Army TRADOC Directorate for the program management and technical support of its core training functions.

In reaction to earnings:

Tech Data (TECD 63.65, +7.38 +13.12%) reported Q2 EPS of $1.43 and revs of $6.51 billion - both of which beat expectations.

NetApp (NTAP 30.78, +1.00 +3.36%) reported Q1 EPS of $0.29 and revs of $1.34 billion - EPS was better than anticipated and revs were in-line. For Q2, NTAP sees EPS and revs better than expected.

Semtech (SMTC 16.14, +0.08 +0.50%) reported Q2 EPS of $0.24 on revs of $125.7 million - EPS was in-line and revs beat expectations. SMTC also guided Q3 EPS and revs worse than expected.

Youku Tudou (YOKU 15.79, -1.96 -11.04%) reported a Q2 EPS loss per share of $0.18 on revenues of $259.6 million - both of which were better than expected.

Synopsys (SNPS 48.60, -3.70 -7.07%) reported Q3 EPS of $0.63 on revs of $555.8 million - EPS beat anticipations and revs were mostly in-line. The company also guided Q4 EPS worse than expected, but revs in-line; guided FY15 EPS in-line and revs better than expected.

Analyst actions:

ADS was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel,
SYNT was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird, MMS was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sidoti, CHA was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup,
IQNT was upgraded to Strong Buy from Buy at BWS Financial;
MU was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird, KN was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird, BRCM was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus,
ADI was downgraded to Reduce from Neutral at Nomura

(Disclosure -- Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo!)
4:11 pm Hewlett-Packard beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS below consensus; separation on track (HPQ) :

Reports Q3 (Jul) earnings of $0.88 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.85; revenues fell 8% YoY (-2% ex-FX) to $25.35 bln vs the $25.45 bln consensus.Personal Systems revenue was down 13% YoY with a 3.0% operating margin. Commercial revenue decreased 9% and Consumer revenue decreased 22%. Total units were down 11% with Notebooks units down 3% and Desktops units down 20%. Printing revenue was down 9% YoY with a 17.8% operating margin. Total hardware units were down 2% with Commercial hardware units down 6% and Consumer hardware units flat. Supplies revenue was down 6%. Enterprise Group revenue was up 2% YoY with a 13.0% operating margin. Industry Standard Servers revenue was up 8%, Storage revenue was down 2%, Business Critical Systems revenue was down 21%, Networking revenue was up 22% and Technology Services revenue was down 9%. Enterprise Services revenue was down 11% YoY with a 6.0% operating margin. Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing revenue was down 13%, and Application and Business Services revenue declined 7%. Software revenue was down 6% YoY with a 20.6% operating margin. License revenue was down 11%, support revenue was down 3%, professional services revenue was down 8% and software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenue was down 4%. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.92-0.98, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.00 Capital IQ Consensus. "I am very pleased that we have continued to deliver the results we said we would, while remaining on track to execute one of the largest and most complex separations ever undertaken."
4:10 pm : The stock market registered its third consecutive decline on Thursday with the S&P 500 (-2.1%) slashing below its 200-day moving average (2,078). The benchmark index slid to levels not seen since early February while the Nasdaq Composite (-2.8%) displayed relative weakness throughout the day.

The daylong selloff was brought on by a heightened sense of uncertainty among investors, pulling the S&P 500 into the red for 2015 (-1.1%). To be sure, some of the uncertainty (rate-hike speculation, concerns about the global economy, plunging commodity prices) had been brewing for a while, whereas today's session reminded investors about ongoing concerns related to China and Greece.

Overnight, China's Shanghai Composite tumbled 3.4% amid reports the country's official GDP target could be lowered to 6.5% from 7.0%. Sellers maintained control despite a CNY120 billion injection from the People's Bank of China into capital markets.

As for Greece, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned from his post and called for a snap election, set for September 20, just three days after the FOMC concludes its September meeting. It is worth noting that there are indications Greece's minority parties could try to form a coalition government, which would block the September 20 vote.

All ten sectors ended the day in negative territory with cyclical sectors pacing the retreat while two of four countercyclical groups (consumer staples and utilities) posted losses slimmer than 1.0% apiece. The rate-sensitive utilities sector (-0.6%) ended ahead of its peers thanks to lower Treasury yields (10-yr yield -4 bps to 2.08%). The utilities sector is the only group that will enter the Friday session with a razor-thin week-to-date gain (+0.02%) while the remaining nine groups hold weekly losses between 0.9% (telecom services) and 5.4% (energy).

The energy sector has paced this week's retreat, but the growth-sensitive group finished today's session just behind the broader market after showing some relative strength in the early going. That brief strength coincided with an intraday gain in crude oil, but the energy component retreated during the afternoon to end the pit session little changed at $41.26/bbl.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, heavily-weighted consumer discretionary (-2.8%) and technology (-2.5%) underperformed throughout the day, which prevented the market from stringing together a rebound, considering the two groups represent more than 30% of the entire market.

The top-weighted technology sector suffered from broad weakness with large cap names like Apple (AAPL 112.65, -2.36), Google (GOOGL 679.48, -14.56), Facebook (FB 90.56, -4.75), and Microsoft (MSFT 45.75, -0.86) losing between 1.9% and 5.0%. High-beta chipmakers also registered sharp losses with the PHLX Semiconductor Index diving 3.8% with all 30 components ending in the red.

Today's selloff invited above-average participation with more than 900 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims, Existing Home Sales, Leading Indicators, and Philadelphia Fed Survey:

Initial claims for the week ending August 15 were 277,000, up from the prior week's downwardly revised level of 273,000 (from 274,000) while the Briefing.com consensus estimate expected a reading of 272,000
The four-week moving average for claims increased by 5,500 to 271,500, but remains near multi-decade lows
Existing Home Sales for July increased 2.0% from June to an annualized rate of 5.59 million units while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.42 million
Sales in July were at their highest level since February 2007 and were up 10.3% from the year-ago period, which marked the tenth consecutive month in which existing home sales increased year-over-year
The Leading Indicators report for July was down 0.2% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.2%
The Philadelphia Fed Survey for August rose to 8.3 from 5.7 while economists polled by Briefing.com had expected an improvement to 7.0

There is no economic data on tomorrow's schedule.

Nasdaq Composite +3.0% YTD
S&P 500 -1.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -4.7% YTD

DJ30 -357.91 NASDAQ -141.56 SP500 -43.85 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 440/1.98 bln/2489 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 460/903.7 mln/2638

3:35 pm :

The dollar index remained in the red today, which helped give commodities a boost
In electronic trade, metals such as gold, silver and copper are all holding gains
Dec gold closed pit trading today +2.2% at $1153.30/oz, while Sept silver +2.1% at $15.52/oz
Sept copper gained 1.8% to $2.32/lb, but is up +2.0% here in electronic trade
WTI crude oil sold off heading into the close of floor trading, finishing the day $0.01 higher at $41.26/barrel
Sept nat gas rose +1.5% to $2.75/MMBtu

11:55 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session- New lows (59) outpacing new highs (2) (:SCANX) :

Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: EXPD, FIS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, AAXJ, ABEV, AMAT, AMH, ASML, ATHM, BEN, BG, BSMX, CBS, CIG, CNQ, CP, CSX, CVX, CX, DISCA, DOV, DVN, ECA, ERIC, GGB, GMCR, GPS, GRMN, GRPN, HPQ, JMEI, KLAC, KSS, LC, LNKD, MJN, MRO, MRVL, MU, MUR, NAVI, NOV, PAH, PG, SAN, SFM, SNDK, SPN, STR, TTM, TV, TWTR, UMC, UNP, VIV, WFM, WFT, WLL, WYNN, XOM, YNDX

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

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From Briefing.com: The crux of sector gains and most trading action today was led by the nearly 9% rise in WTI Crude Oil prices - leading the energy sector (XLE 64.29, +3.03 +4.95%) higher as a whole. Not to be outdone, though, the technology sector (XLK 40.52, +0.92) also posted nice gains on Thursday, edging higher by 2.32% at the close.

The three major indices repeated yesterday's strength, beginning the session higher and never looking back. The Nasdaq Composite remained higher, ending up 115.17 +2.45% to 4812.71. The S&P 500 also finished higher, adding 47.15 +2.43% to 1987.66. The Dow Jones Industrial Average concluded Thursday trade in the green to the tune of 369.26 toward the upside +2.27% to 16,654.77. The last hour of trade, though, was more turbulent than the entire session, as the half hour between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. ET saw a rapid decline in all three major indices. By 3:00 p.m. ET, the selling had slowed, and the indices pushed higher into the closing bell, ending the session near HoDs.

Notable electronic retail names Best Buy (BBY 35.70, +0.45 +1.28%) and Gamestop (GME 46.22, +0.86 +1.90%) ended the session higher today. The former reported Q2 results on this past Tuesday, while the latter is scheduled to report Q2 tonight after the close.

In addition, the overnight session again gave us a reason to open positive as the Shanghai Composite popped 5.3%, reportedly aided by an intervention from the People's Bank of China. Notable Chinese names which saw relative strength today included CEO +16.03%, JRJC +15.69%, WOWO +12.48%, NOAH +10.37%, QUNR +9.64%, LITB +9.52%, MOBI +9.32%, CTRP +9.18%, CMCM +9.11%. Most notably, CNOOC (CEO) saw strength today in addition to being an oil name as oil also saw strength today.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (675.01, +154.84) also continued yesterday's strength, ending the day up +2.40%. Notable names MU +8.67%, AVGO +8.66%, SNDK +6.75%, APH +5.16%, AMAT +4.59%, STX +4.49% were among those leading the way up. As you can tell by the aforementioned list, Semiconductors (SOX 609.75, +21.93 +3.73%) were among sectors with notable strength in the technology space. SOX names SUNE +9.54%, MRVL +6.11%, CREE +4.95% were higher on the session, continuing yesterday's strength with the broader market.
Notable news items among sector components:
Google (GOOG 637.19, +8.57 +1.36%) filed a response to the European Commission's Statement of Objections saying it believes the conclusions are wrong as a matter of fact, law, and economics, according to a blog post written by General Counsel Kent Walker.

Apple (AAPL 112.80, +3.11 +2.84%) confirmed invitations to the September 9 event.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

VMWare (VMW 79.43, +1.31 +1.68%) appointed Ray O'Farrell as Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer effective immediately. O'Farrell most recently served as GM (GM 28.60, +0.50 +1.78%), Software-Defined Data Center Division.

21Vianet (VNET 18.00, +1.25 +7.46%) announced certain management changes; CFO Terry Wang has resigned as a director of the Board, Sean Shao was appointed as an independent director, effective on August 24.

NQ Mobile (NQ 4.11, +1.07 +35.20%) announced it entered into a legally binding framework agreement with Beijing Jinxing Rongda Investment Management Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Tsinghua Holdings Co., Ltd and an independent third party, to sell its entire stake in FL Mobile Inc. Pursuant to the FL Framework Agreement, the company, along with the other existing shareholders of FL Mobile Inc., have agreed to sell to Beijing Jinxing the entire stake in FL Mobile Inc. that they currently hold for no less than about $626 million, with the final price being subject to the valuation of an independent third party valuer. Also entered into an agreement for the sale of all of NQ Mobile's interest in the NationSky business, including the entire interest in Beijing NationSky Network Technology Co., Ltd., to Mr. Hou Shuli, a founder and senior management member of Beijing NationSky, for an aggregate consideration of US $80 million cash.

Travelzoo (TZOO 9.09, +0.26 +2.94%) announced it acquired the Travelzoo Asia Pacific business, which includes the Travelzoo businesses in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. This business was independently operated by Azzurro Capital Inc. under a licensing agreement with Travelzoo Inc.

Vimicro (VIMC 10.80, +0.50 +4.85%) disclosed that its Chief Operating Officer, Zhiyuan Chen, resigned to pursue other interests effective on August 24, 2015.

Names which reported earnings:

Workday (WDAY 75.37, +2.90 +4.00%) reported Q2 (Jul) earnings of $0.02 per share on revenues which rose 51.3% year/year to $282.7 million. The company also issued in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revenues of $300-303 million.

21Vianet (VNET) reported Q2 (Jun) adj loss per ADS of $0.02 per share on revenues which rose 30.5% year/year to $139.8 million. The company issueed downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revenues of RMB 900-940 million.

Avago Tech (AVGO 126.28, +10.08 +8.67%) reported Q3 (Jul) earnings of $2.24 per share on revenues which rose 36.0% year/year to $1.75 billion. The company also issued in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 non-GAAP revenues of $1.825-1.875 billion.

NQ Mobile (NQ) reported Q2 (Jun) ADS of $0.08 per share on revenues which rose 25.1% year/year to $102.1 million. The company issued downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revenues of $110-112 million. The company issued upside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revenues of $455-460 million.

Analyst actions:

WDAY was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup, SMI was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Bernstein, SHEN was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James; WDC was initiated with an Outperform at Wells Fargo, QLIK was initiated with a Buy at Nomura,
III was initiated with an Outperform at Macquarie

4:23 pm OmniVision beats by $0.07, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (OVTI) :

Reports Q1 (Jul) earnings of $0.46 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.39; revenues fell 18.9% year/year to $329.89 mln vs the $327.01 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.25-0.40 vs. $0.45 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $300-330 mln vs. $350.93 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"We are pleased with our results for the first quarter. We are encouraged by the sequential growth that we experienced in our mobile phones and automotive markets. Nevertheless, in the near-term, the business environment and demand from some of our end-markets will remain volatile. We will continue to drive our long-term business strategies as we aim to resume our growth trajectory in the long-term."

4:11 pm Autodesk beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 below consensus citing effects of business model change (ADSK) :

Reports Q2 (Jul) earnings of $0.19 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.17; revenues fell 4.3% year/year to $610 mln vs the $612.65 mln consensus.

Autodesk is undergoing a business model transition in which the company will discontinue selling new perpetual licenses in favor of subscriptions and flexible license arrangements. desk is undergoing a business model transition in which the company will discontinue selling new perpetual licenses in favor of subscriptions and flexible license arrangements.
Co maintains billings and subscriptions outlook but now expects a greater portion of our sales to shift from perpetual licenses to new subscription types.
According to Autodesk Chief Financial Officer "Since the revenue from these new subscription types is deferred and recognized ratably we have revised our revenue, operating margin and EPS outlook for the year. Looking beyond this year, we are currently refining our plans around the pace and timeframe for the business model transition and look forward to providing more detail at our Investor Day event scheduled for September 29th."
Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.05-0.10 vs. $0.23 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $580-600 mln vs. $627.70 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Co issues downside guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $0.60-0.72 vs. $1.04 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $2.465-2.505 bln vs. $2.59 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Stock is halted, set to resume at 16:20.

4:06 pm Tessera Tech to acquire Ziptronix for $39 mln in cash; co states that no adjustments to 3Q15 revenue or EPS guidance is necessary (TSRA) : Co announced the acquisition of Ziptronix, Inc. for $39 million in cash. Ziptronix's patented ZiBond direct bonding and DBI hybrid bonding technologies deliver scalable, low total cost-of-ownership manufacturing solutions for 3D stacking. The addition of the Ziptronix team will not change Tessera's target operating expense structure. Tessera is making no adjustments to third quarter 2015 revenue or earnings per share guidance.

4:05 pm Violin Memory beats by $0.01, misses on revs; co will provide guidance on conference call (VMEM) :

Reports Q2 (Jul) loss of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.20); revenues fell 17.7% year/year to $15.3 mln vs the $17.93 mln consensus.

Co reports Q2 non-GAAP gross margin of 47%
"With renewed growth in the second quarter and improving execution, we anticipate continued growth over the next several quarters fueled by new Flash Storage Platform wins and repeat purchases as customers begin to expand their initial Flash Storage Platform installations."

Co will provide third quarter fiscal year 2016 guidance during today's conference call. Guidance will be posted on Violin Memory's investor relations website following the conclusion of the conference call.

4:10 pm : The stock market registered its second consecutive advance on Thursday with the S&P 500 jumping 2.4% while the Nasdaq Composite (+2.5%) outperformed slightly. The market endured a late afternoon swoon, but was able to return to its high by the close.

Equities began the trading day on an upbeat note after the overnight session featured a rally across major global equity markets. China's Shanghai Composite took part in that move, soaring 5.3%, but the spike was reportedly aided by an intervention from the People's Bank of China.

Once the U.S. session got going, stocks followed the lead from Asia, rallying across the board with the energy sector pacing the advance. The growth-sensitive sector surged 5.0% while crude oil settled on its high, spiking 10.3% to $42.53/bbl., which represented the largest gain since 2009.

Similar to energy, the remaining nine sectors posted solid gains. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 surrendered 30 points in just an hour but reclaimed all 30 of those points during the next 30 minutes or so, highlighting the elevated volatility that has been in place as of late. To that point, at their Monday lows hit soon after the open, the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 were down 6.6%, 8.8%, and 5.3%, respectively. At their highs today, they were up 8.4%, 12.3%, and 6.6% from those lows, respectively.

Generally speaking, the indices have pivoted from being oversold on a short-term basis to being overbought on a short-term basis. The speed at which the sell-off and the rebound occurred has left everyone grappling to explain why it happened, what it means, and what comes next. No explanation is wholly sufficient and often matches the character of the market at the time it is provided.

While there might be reason to feel better about the market after the recent rebound, all this week's action truly succeeded in doing was damage retail investor psychology further and increase the level of uncertainty that was already in the market and had kept the S&P 500 range-bound.

On the corporate front, Avago Technologies (AVGO 126.26, +10.06) surged 8.7% after beating bottom-line estimates while the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index jumped 3.7%. For its part, the technology sector rallied 2.3%, settling not far behind the broader market.

Treasuries held gains during overnight action, but they slumped in the morning, hitting their lows right around 9:30 ET. After spending the morning in the red, the 10-yr note rallied off its low as stocks slid from highs. The benchmark note slipped from its afternoon high just ahead of the close, ending little changed with its yield at 2.18%.

Once again, participation was above average amid the heightened volatility with more than 1.2 billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims, Q2 GDP, and Pending Home Sales:

Initial jobless claims for the week ending August 22 declined by 6,000 to 271,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 275,000.
The prior week was left unrevised and there were no special factors affecting the latest claims report
The four-week moving average bumped up by 1,000 to 272,500
As expected, the second estimate for Q2 GDP produced an upward revision, but the surprise is that it was larger than expected
Q2 GDP was revised up to an annual growth rate of 3.7% from the advance estimate of 2.3% while the Briefing.com consensus estimate was looking for a jump to 3.1%
The drivers of the upward revision were personal consumption expenditures, nonresidential fixed investment, and private inventories
Pending home sales for July rose 0.5% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 1.0%

Tomorrow, July Personal Income (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%), Spending (expected 0.4%), and core PCE Prices (expected 0.1%) will be reported at 8:30 ET while the final reading of the Michigan Sentiment index for August (expected 93.0) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.DJ30 +369.26 NASDAQ +115.17 SP500 +47.15 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2361/2.15 bln/643 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2829/1.23 bln/327

3:35 pm :

Oil is the big story again. Both WTI crude brent crude oil have rallied as much as +10% today.
Front-month WTI crude oil ended today's floor session +9.8% at $42.47/barrel, while in other energy, Sept nat gas fell +0.03% to $2.66/MMBtu.
Sept copper put in a nice rally today, rising +3.6% to $2.33/lb, while Dec gold fell -0.2% to $1112.50/oz. Sept silver +2.6 to $14.41/oz.
The dollar index continued to climb higher today, which helped weigh on commodities, which are currently sitting at a 16-year low, according to the Bloomberg Commodity Index.

12:12 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (64) outpacing new highs (15) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABCD, ARL, BEAT, CDW, CVGW, DLA, DY, EFOI, EXPR, FBNK, GGAC, NEOS, OSHC, TANH, TAYD

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABX, AMTX, APWC, AVH, BETR, BVN, BXC, CBMX, CCUR, CYD, CYTX, DXPE, FLDM, FLKS, FRED, FSTR, GASS, GLBS, GPP, GRVY, HGR, HMY, INTX, ITRI, IVAC, LALT, LINC, LWAY, MAB, MYM, NAD, NID, NIQ, NSPR, NXZ, OBCI, PAI, PCTI, PLTM, PSG, QRHC, RBY, RIBT, RJET, SBGL, SVM, TG, TIF, TIGR, TUTI, TWIN, UACL, UNIS, VCIT, VPG, VPV, VSEC, WGBS, WIA, WPP, XCRA, XGTI, YUME, ZAZA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none


Other news: ANAD -5.8% (filed registration statement for up to $50 mln offering of a combination of debt and equity securities; disclosed entry into an At-The-Market Issuance Sales Agreement with MLV & Co to sell common stock),

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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : There was oil today and then there was everything else. That doesn't mean, though, that "everything else" wasn't interesting. It's just that the movement in oil prices was so spectacular that it garnered top billing throughout the session.

To the latter point, crude prices were down 3.6% in early trading to $43.60 per barrel. They would settle the day up 8.8% at $49.20 per barrel, representing a huge 13% swing from low to settlement price.

There were several factors contributing to the sharp reversal:

The Energy Information Administration released a report showing monthly production in the U.S. in June was estimated to be 9.3 million barrels per day or roughly 100,000 barrels per day less than May and 300,000 barrels per day less than April
OPEC published a bulletin in which it said it stands ready to talk to other producers about the low oil prices; and
Big short-covering activity on the last day of the month (with Monday's move, oil prices have surged 27% over the last three sessions)

The reversal in oil prices triggered a reversal in the S&P 500 energy sector, which was down 2.6% shortly after the start of trading. It would end the day up 1.1%, which left it as the best-performing sector in the S&P 500, as well as the only sector to finish the day in positive territory.

By and large, the stock market was stymied by selling efforts on Monday that were rooted in the following factors:

An awareness that Fed Vice Chairman Fischer suggested in a speech over the weekend that a rate hike at the September Federal Open Market Committee meeting is still a possibility
Mr. Fischer indicated his belief that inflation should move higher as the effects of falling oil prices and the stronger dollar dissipate
A sense the market was due for a pullback after rallying 6.5% from the low it hit last Monday
Last Friday's low in the S&P 500 (1975.19) being taken out in early action and an inability to take out last Friday's closing level (1988.87) on a subsequent rebound try; and
A general lack of convincing sector leadership

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for August was the only economic release on today's docket. It checked in weaker than expected at 54.4 (Briefing.com consensus 54.7), which was down slightly from 54.7 in July. It didn't carry much weight in moving the market since participants were keyed in more on Tuesday's release of the national ISM Index and a battery of PMI readings out of China, Japan, and the eurozone.

Notably, the Treasury market coughed up early gains even as the stock market struggled to gain upside traction. Its turnaround was precipitated by the spike in oil prices, which played into Mr. Fischer's view that inflation should move higher. The yield on the 10-yr note, which dipped to 2.14%, eventually pushed back up to 2.21%; meanwhile, the yield on the 2-yr Treasury note, which stood at 0.72%, bumped up to 0.74%.

The U.S. Dollar Index, however, was a bit weaker, falling 0.3% to 95.87 as both the euro and the yen gained ground against the greenback.

The majority of Dow components ended the day lower, led by Boeing (BA 130.68, -2.56, -1.9%), which was the biggest price loser. Conversely, Goldman Sachs (GS 188.60, +0.85, +0.6%) was the biggest price gainer and helped the Dow cut an early 199-point loss.

Boeing's weakness weighed on the industrials sector (-0.9%), but it was the health care sector (-1.9%) that was the weakest area, pressured by losses in the medical equipment and major pharmaceutical stocks. Separately, the biotech stocks also succumbed to selling efforts, evidenced by the 3.3% decline in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 341.80, -11.48).

Volume was again relatively heavy with 1.08 billion shares changing hands at the NYSE.

For the month of August, the Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500, and Russell 2000 declined 6.6%, 6.9%, 6.3%, and 6.3%, respectively.DJ30 -114.98 NASDAQ -51.82 SP500 -16.69 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1388/1.67 bln/1483 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1351/1.08 bln/1733

3:35 pm :

WTI crude oil prices surged again today, in the last day of trading for the month
Today's oil rally, following the rally seen Thursday and Friday, is the largest three-day rally since January 2009 as some short covering helped today's move higher
Overall, front-month October crude oil has rallied 27.7% since the close of Wednesday
In today's pit trading session, Oct crude oil closed +8.8% at $49.19/barrel
In other energy, Sept natural gas dropped -0.7% to $2.69/MMBtu
Metals were mostly flat/mixed
Sept copper finished the day flat at $2.34/lb
Dec gold lost -0.2% to $1131.70/oz, while Sept silver gained +0.3% to $14.58/oz

1:39 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
TWTR (28.09 +4.7%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey; tgt $38.
SNDK (54.68 +4.61%): Renewed M&A chatter.
PSX (79.11 +2.43%): Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed it had accumulated a 58 mln share stake, worth ~$4.5 bln ahead of today's trading.

Large Cap Losers
BBD (6.36 -5.22%): Brazil names underperforming (ITUB, UGP, BSBR, ABEV also underperforming).
NTES (111.91 -5.09%): Cautious trading in Chinese names as volatility in Chinese indices continues (VIPS, BABA, among other names from the region lower).
NEE (98.19 -3.57%): Utilities underperforming (DUK, SRE, EXC among peers lower).

Mid Cap Gainers
WLL (19.85 +12.78%): Outperforming amid continued recovery in crude oil prices, late Friday Integrated Core Strategies disclosed a 4.7% passive stake in a 13G filing
CALM (53.31 +6.09%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at BB&T Capital Mkts.
GWRE (56.46 +4.83%): Price target raised to $70 at Deutsche Bank.

Mid Cap Losers
W (38.26 -9.38%): Citron issued a new report on Wayfair, reiterating their prior cautious stance.
PBYI (91.03 -4.02%): Biotech's notably under performing the broad market (ALNY [had data], KITE, NVAX, CBPO, OPK among other names in the space lower).
QUNR (32.87 -4.55%): Chinese names weak in today's session, following action overseas, as mentioned above (MOMO, CTRP, also lower).

1:23 pm Intel is the top performer Dow component and has recently extended to a new session high (INTC) : The stock has established a new session high of 29.13 in recent trade leaving it slightly under its 50 day ema/sma at 29.18/29.20.

12:49 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (38) outpacing new highs (23) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AXGN, CENT, COMM, DSGX, DXLG, EDUC, EFOI, FBNK, HRTX, INCY, JHY, LJPC, MBTF, MDCO, NCIT, NDRM, POST, SIG, SMED, SPWH, SRPT, SWHC, TANH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AGM, ARTW, BGMD, BUR, CFMS, CIDM, CIG, CIG.C, CPL, CRD.B, DPW, EDE, ENRJ, ESEA, EXC, FBZ, FPP, GBSN, GLBS, GYRO, HCOM, HHS, KFS, LEE, LF, LINC, MYOS, OPGN, PLPC, PPSI, PW, RGS, SRE, SXCL, TIGR, UTI, VRS, YGE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: None

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: ENZL

9:31 am MagnaChip Semi: Pleasant Lake Partners formally submits an indication of interest to purchase all of the outstanding shares of Magnachip for $10/share in cash; PLP has a 9.9% stake (MX) :

Highlights from the letter disclosed alongside the 13D filing:

"As you know, funds managed by Pleasant Lake Partners ("PLP") are one of the largest shareholders of Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation ("Magnachip" or the "Company") with a 9.9% stake in the Company. We have stated to you our desire to increase the size of our investment and have requested that the Board consider removing the Company's poison pill. We have also requested to be included in any upcoming auction process for the Company. However, we have yet to receive a formal response to either request. Furthermore, while the Company has formed a Strategic Review Committee, shareholders have seen little tangible progress to date. We believe the Company needs major and immediate strategic change and that the best course for value maximization for all shareholders is to sell Magnachip. Accordingly, in order to effectuate this, we are writing to you today to formally submit an indication of interest to purchase all of the outstanding shares of Magnachip that PLP does not currently own at a price of $10.00 per share in cash (the "Proposal"). The Proposal represents a premium of approximately 29% to Friday's closing price and approximately 58% to PLP's average cost and is subject to confirmatory due diligence and the negotiation of definitive transaction documents."
"While we are obviously not such a strategic acquirer, we think shareholders should have the ability to decide for themselves whether to accept our Proposal at $10.00 per share, or wait for other potentially better offers; were any such offers to emerge, we would be prepared to vote our shares in favor of an offer that we believe is materially superior to our Proposal."
"We respectfully ask that you and the Board immediately engage with us to discuss the Proposal and negotiate a transaction. We are prepared to devote all necessary resources to evaluate and consummate a transaction, and believe we can obtain the necessary financing to do so.

9:10 am American Superconductor receives an ~$40 mln order for wind turbine electrical control systems from Inox Wind Limited (AMSC) : AMSC expects to begin shipments under this new order during the second quarter of fiscal 2015 and expects to complete the vast majority of shipments by the end of fiscal year 2015.

8:43 am GT Advanced Tech. reduces global headcount by ~40% (GTATQ) :

In July, the company announced it had secured a $95 million debtor-in-possession term loan facility, and is now taking steps it believes are necessary to align its cost structure with its revised business plan being developed to allow the company to successfully emerge from Chapter 11 in the first quarter of 2016.

The revised business plan's foundation will be centered on the breadth of the company's core technologies and product offerings, including its ASF sapphire equipment business, its traditional polysilicon and DSS solar PV business, the commercialization of the Merlin cell interconnect technology and its specialty sapphire materials business. In addition to its ASF equipment sales efforts, the company is taking steps to ensure that its solar PV product offerings are ready to capitalize on new demand from customers as the solar capital equipment business returns to growth over the next two years. Additionally, the company is looking at its other businesses to assess their strategic importance to the company's operations once it emerges from Chapter 11.
The action impacts all locations and functions of the company's global business operations and is expected to reduce headcount and related operating expenses by approximately 40 percent.

8:35 am Arch Coal announces extension of private debt exchange offers and support agreement, now set to expire at midnight on September 23, 2015 (ACI) :

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From Briefing.com: Trading ended the first full week of September with modest gains. All three major indices finished Friday trade above flat lines with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (16433.09, +102.69) leading the way, up +0.63% at the close. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (4822.34, +26.09) finished higher by +0.54% on the session, followed by the S&P 500 (1961.05, +8.76) which finished up +0.45% today. Early morning losses would not hold on today, September 11, 2015, as by midday we were in the green and the markets never looked back.

At the open, trading was dictated by the Energy sector (XLE 63.37, -0.57) which, as Goldman Sachs cuts its oil price forecasts for the remainder of the year and 2016, traded lower. Goldman, citing among other items, noted that the oil supply is perhaps more oversupplied than many people suspected. The firm noted that, while it is not their base case scenario, they see the potential for $20/bbl as storage continues to fill.

In other macroeconomic news, the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment index fell to 85.7 in September from 91.9 in August. There was also continued uncertainty ahead of the upcoming Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, which comes next week.

The Technology space (XLK 40.46, +0.19) for its part traded mostly lower in the morning session, as the broader market did, but rallied into the close to finish up +0.47%. Shares of Semiconductor name Marvell (MRVL 8.85, -1.71 -16.21%) traded notably lower on the session as the company reported its delayed second quarter results, and filed to delay its 10-Q filing.

In other news, tech-giant Yahoo! (YHOO 31.43, +0.28) announced that Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Media, Kathy Savitt, would be joining STX Entertainment as President, Digital beginning in October. Shares of the search-engine giant traded mostly under flat lines today, ending the session +0.90%.

In relation, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (675.09, +4.09 +0.61%) traded up and down today. The sector could not decide which direction to trade, ultimately finishing Friday trade in a rally as it mirrored broader market action. Notable sector components EMC +2.89%, MA +1.86%, AVGO +1.83%, FIS +1.31%, AAPL +1.29%, FSLR +1.18%, BRCM +1.18% traded higher, outperforming the broader market, while MSI -2.43%, MU -2.33%, JNPR -1.41%, FFIV -1.31%, HRS -1.31%, QCOM -1.21%, CSCO -0.91%, WDC -0.87% ended Friday as laggards in the sector.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Starting on September 25, Sprint (S 4.88, +0.06) customers can get Apple's (AAPL 114.21, +1.64) iPhone 6s for $15 per month and iPhone 6s Plus for $19 per month, making it the most affordable way to get the new iPhones on Sprint.

Sky News (SKYAY 63.68, -0.75) and Microsoft's (MSFT 43.48, +0.19) Bing Pulse have announced they will continue to work together to provide audience feedback and sentiment tracking around key debates and events in the future.

Citrix Systems (CTXS 70.46, +0.56) announced the authorization of $500 million in stocks repurchases.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Finisar (FNSR 12.16, -2.75) in addition to reporting quarterly results, announced the departure of CEO Eitan Gertel. As such, Executive Chairman Jerry Rawls will then assume the title of CEO.

Premiere Global (PGI 13.74, +2.39 +21.06) announced that it will be acquired by Siris Capital Group for $14.00 per share in cash, or about $1 billion. In conjunction with the agreement, PGI is allowed to exercise a 45-day 'go shop' period in which the company can attempt to achieve a superior proposal.

Telenor (TELNY 59.28, -0.94) and TeliaSonera (TLSNY 11.22, -0.03) withdrew from the previously announced merger proposal. The companies have not been able to agree to suitable conditions with the European Commission to execute the agreement.

Agilent (A 35.96, +0.10) and Ophthotech (OPHT 49.47, +0.01) announced a Commercial Manufacturing and Supple Agreement under which Aglient has agreed to manufacture and supple to OPHT a percentage of OPHT's commercial requirements of the active pharmaceutical ingredient used in OPHT's product Fovista.

Applied DNA Sciences (APDN 4.31, +0.36) announced it has acquired the assets of privately held Vandalia Research for $1.5 million in cash.

Avid Tech (AVID 8.90, +0.15) has named Rashid Desai as the company's Chief Technology Officer.

Cypress Semi (CY 10.04, -0.02) and Fujitsu Electronics (FJTSY 23.53, -0.41) announced a $500 million (in the first year) distribution agreement for Japan.

Cvent (CVT 31.43, +0.06) announced the appointment of Cynthia Russo as the company's CFO, effective as of September 28, 2015. Russo most recently served as EVP/CFO of Micros Systems (MCRS).

CVD Equipment (CVV 11.97, +0.11) disclosed it entered into a settlement agreement and mutual general release with Development Specialists. As such, the company will pay DSI $955K.

Movers following quarterly earnings:

Marvell (MRVL) reported Q2 (Jul) GAAP loss of $0.74 per share on revenues which fell 26.0% year/year to $711.3 million.

eGain Comm (EGAN 3.72, -0.27) reported Q4 (Jul) loss of $0.11 per share on revenues which were better than expected but fell 9.5% year/year to $17.1 million.

Finisar (FNSR 12.16, -2.75) reported Q1 (Jul) earnings of $0.23 per share on revenues which fell 1.9% year/year to $314 million. The company also issued downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.20-0.26; the company also sees Q2 revenues of $304-324 million.

Analyst actions:

VMW was upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna, AMD was upgraded to Mkt Perform from Underperform at Bernstein,
AGYS was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sidoti, ZEN was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse; MRVL was downgraded at Susquehanna and FBR Capital,
FNSR was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at MKM Partners, YNDX was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, MSI was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo,
BAH was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Weekly Recap - Week ending 11-Sep-15Dow +102.69 at 16433.09, Nasdaq +26.09 at 4822.34, S&P +8.75 at 1966.04

The stock market finished the abbreviated trading week on a higher note. The S&P 500 added 0.5%, extending its weekly gain to 2.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%) outperformed slightly, adding 3.0% for the week.

Broadly speaking, the Friday session was very quiet and did not feature any major macroeconomic or company-specific developments. Instead, stocks began the day under modest pressure as noteworthy weakness in the energy sector (-0.8%) fueled the opening retreat. The energy sector settled not far above its low while the remaining groups fared much better and helped the market erase its early loss.

Staying in the energy sector, the cyclical group represented the lone decliner of the week, losing 0.7% since last Friday. Crude oil contributed to underperformance in the sector as the energy component settled lower by 2.8% at $44.63/bbl after briefly dipping below $44.20/bbl in the morning. For the week, WTI crude surrendered 3.1% with today's decline following cautious comments from Goldman Sachs. Specifically, the investment bank cut its 2015 price forecast to $48.10/bbl from $52.00/bbl and lowered the 2016 outlook to $45.00/bbl from $57.00/bbl.

Elsewhere, the other commodity-related sector-materials (-0.2%)-also settled in the red while other groups posted gains. Notably, consumer discretionary (+0.7%), technology (+0.6%), and health care (+0.7%) gathered steam as the market climbed off its session low.

Thanks to today's gain, the technology sector gained 3.1% for the week, which was good enough for the sector to end ahead of its peers. The influential sector followed Apple's (AAPL 114.02, +1.45) lead as the stock jumped 1.3% on Friday and 4.4% for the week.

The relative strength in technology helped the Nasdaq stay ahead of the broader market through the week, but the tech-heavy index also received a measure of support from health care, and specifically, biotechnology. To that point, the health care sector (+0.7%) finished among today's leaders, extending its weekly gain to 2.8%. As for biotechnology, the high-beta group enjoyed a strong week, evidenced by the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 354.74, +4.02), which climbed 1.2% on Friday to end the week higher by 5.2%.

The afternoon recovery in stocks had little impact on Treasuries as the 10-yr note remained near its high with the benchmark yield ending the day lower by four basis points at 2.18%.

Today's participation was below recent averages as roughly 810 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included PPI, Michigan Sentiment, and Treasury Budget:

Producer prices were flat in August after increasing 0.2% in July while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline of 0.1%
Energy prices declined 3.3% in August, which was the largest downturn since a 10.1% drop in January, after falling 0.6% in July
Food prices increased 0.3% in August after declining 0.1% in July with the aftermath of the bird flu epidemic continuing to wreak havoc on the egg supply, driving egg prices up 32.2%
Excluding food and energy, core PPI increased 0.3% for a third consecutive month in August while the consensus expected an increase of 0.1%
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to 85.7 in the preliminary September reading from 91.9 in August while the Briefing.com consensus expected a drop to 91.5
The Current Conditions Index fell to 100.3 in September from 105.1 in August while the Expectations Index declined to 76.4 from 83.4
The overall decline in the Consumer Sentiment Index can be traced to the pullback in stock prices that began at the end of August while other measures that typically impact confidence levels --gasoline prices and employment conditions-continued to improve over the past few weeks
The Treasury Budget statement for August showed a deficit of $64.40 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected a deficit of $62.00 billion
The Treasury data are not seasonally adjusted so the August deficit cannot be compared to the $149.20 billion deficit recorded in July Investors will not receive any economic data on Monday.

Week in Review: Stocks Advance Ahead of FOMC Rate Decision Week

On Monday, bond and equity markets were closed for Labor Day.

On Tuesday, the restless stock market began the holiday-shortened week with a broad-based surge. The Nasdaq Composite led the way, spiking 2.7% while the S&P 500 jumped 2.5% with the bulk of the advance taking place at the opening bell. The buying surge at the start reflected a build-up of strength in the futures market that took root on Monday as U.S. futures labored their way higher alongside European equities. Once the Tuesday session began in Asia, China's Shanghai Composite rallied 2.9% with speculation of continued state support for equities overshadowing mediocre trade data (trade balance $60.24 billion; expected $48.20 billion) that showed a 5.5% year-over- year decline in exports (expected -6.0%) and a 13.8% drop in imports (expected -8.2%; prior -8.1%). The late-afternoon gains in China stirred up overall risk tolerance, leading to more gains in the U.S. futures market while European equities enjoyed an opening surge. Better than expected economic data highlighted the European session as eurozone Q2 GDP was unexpectedly revised up to 0.4% quarter-over-quarter from 0.3%.

The stock market ended Wednesday on a defensive note despite enjoying an upbeat start to the session. The S&P 500 began the day with a 15-point gain, which morphed into a 27-point loss by the close. The benchmark index surrendered 1.4% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.2%) settled a bit ahead. Equity indices hit their highs shortly after the opening bell with the early move fueled by strengthening risk appetite overseas. To that point, Asian markets posted solid gains with China's Shanghai Composite jumping 2.3% amid continued speculation about government involvement in the market while Japan's Nikkei soared 7.7%, registering its largest one-day gain since October 2008, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to lower the corporate tax rate by at least 3.3%. The positive vibes carried into the European session, but the demand for equities began receding once the U.S. market opened. The S&P 500 spent the first 90 minutes of the day in a slow retreat from its high and hovered near its flat line into the early afternoon. The index then dipped into negative territory alongside Apple (AAPL 110.15, -2.16) as the largest stock by market cap slid to a session low in reaction to the company's underwhelming product refresh event. Shares of Apple settled lower by 1.9% while the broader technology sector (-1.3%) had a better showing than its leading component, ending just ahead of the market.

Equity indices ended the Thursday session on a higher note after enduring a shaky start to the trading day. The S&P 500 added 0.5% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%) outperformed. The key indices opened near their flat lines after the futures market was whipped around during pre-market action. The early-morning volatility followed a defensive session in Asia while European markets also struggled. Once the U.S. session got going, the market traded in sideways fashion through the first hour before climbing higher. However, the S&P 500 found resistance near the 1,965 level in the early afternoon, slipping into the close. Heavily-weighted technology (+1.0%) and health care sectors (+0.9%) displayed strength from the start, and that dynamic kept the S&P 500 from sliding too far below its flat line during the opening hour. The top-weighted tech sector rallied behind Apple (AAPL 112.57, +2.42), which spiked 2.2%, while other large cap components posted slimmer gains.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 16102.38 16433.09 330.71 2.1 -7.8
Nasdaq 4683.92 4822.34 138.42 3.0 1.8
S&P 500 1921.22 1961.05 39.83 2.1 -4.8
Russell 2000 1136.17 1157.79 21.62 1.9 -3.9

4:32 pm Action Semi amends Dutch Auction tender offer; reaffirms guidance for Q3 revs of $13-14 mln, but expects FY15 revs to growth at a slower pace than previously expected (ACTS) : Co announces it has amended its previously announced self "Dutch auction" tender offer to (1) increase the size of the offer to up to 84,000,000 of its issued and outstanding ordinary shares (including Shares represented by ADSs), (2) increase the price range at which it will purchase the issued and outstanding ordinary shares to not greater than $23/60 per Share (or $2.30 per ADS) nor less than $20/60 per Share (or $2.00 per ADS) and (3) extend the expiration date of the tender offer to 5:00 p.m., Eastern Daylight Savings Time, on Tuesday, September 29, 2015.

Co also reaffirmed its third quarter 2015 and fiscal 2015 guidance previously announced on August 14, 2015. For third quarter 2015, the Company reaffirmed revenue guidance of $13.0 to $14.0 million. For fiscal 2015, the Company reaffirmed that it continues to anticipate revenue growth for the full year 2015 but at a slower pace than previously expected due to declining demand in tablet market and longer than anticipated design and qualification times for SoCs targeting other types of smart devices and hardware.

3:35 pm Earnings Preview for the week of September 14 - 18 (:SUMRX) :

Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of September 14 - 18 some of the bigger names include:


Monday:
After Hours - STB

Tuesday:
Pre Market - NTWK
After Hours - UNFI

Wednesday:
Pre Market - FDX, ASNA, CBRL, LITB
After Hours - ORCL, MLHR, CLC, APOG, ALOG, ARCW, SANW

Thursday:
Pre Market - RAD, MCS, MANU
After Hours - ADBE, MCFT

Friday:
Pre Market - ZAYO

11:33 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (199) outpacing new highs (22) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADUS, CDW, CNCE, DSGX, EDAP, ENVI, FALC, GB, INCY, INGN, ITI, JBLU, JNP, OTEL, PGI, PLAY, SFBS, SITO, SPWH, STRP, TRR

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABX, ABY, ACAT, AEZS, AG, AGTC, AIN, ALB, APAM, APWC, ARO, ARR, ARTW, ATEC, ATU, ATW, AUY, AVP, AXLL, BEBE, BGI, BGMD, BHK, BKE, BKH, BPK, BRC, BRG, BRS, BUFF, BUI, BWINB, CAFD, CAI, CAS, CDE, CDI, CEQP, CLW, CMLP, CNS, CNV, CPA, CPGX, CRR, CRS, CYD, DAIO, DDR, DECK, DFRG, DHX, DLR, DNR, DUK, ECR, EDR, EGO, EMCB, ENLC, EPIQ, ESND, EVY, EXC, FDML, FNSR, FRPT, FSM, FSTR, FSYS, FVE, GG, GIGA, GNT, GPRO, GTY, GWR, HGR, HHS, HI, HL, HMY, HP, HR, HUN, HURC, IMN, IPHS, IRC, ISIG, ITG, ITRI, JOY, JRS, JW.A, KGC, KLIC, KS, LEE, LF, LMNR, LNG, LWAY, MDU, MEG, MFRM, MHR, MPEL, MPLX, MR, MRVL, MSL, MT, MUR, MWE, MYE, NFG, NQP, NSLP, NUM, NWPX, NXJ, NYLD, NYLD.A, OCIP, OGE, OOMA, PAH, PBR, PBR.A, PCH, PCL, PEBO, PEI, PERF, PHIIK, PHK, PKOH, PRGN, PSAU, PSTR, PWE, QIHU, RBCN, RDNT, RGLD, RPT, RRMS, RWT, SAIC, SAN, SCX, SGI, SHLO, SJI, SJT, SLRC, SLW, SRE, SRET, STDY, SXC, SXCP, SXE, SYNL, TAC, TAL, TAXI, TEF, TGD, TGI, THST, TIF, TKC, TNC, TROX, TWI, UE, UNT, VNCE, VRNS, VRNT, VRTS, VSEC, VTG, VTR, WIA, WILC, WIW, WMAR, WPC, WPG, WRLD, WYNN, X, YLCO, ZINC, ZUMZ

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: GDX, JO, SIL

8:01 am Cypress Semi and Fujitsu Electronics (FJTSY) announce $500 mln distribution agreement for Japan (CY) :

Co and Fujitsu Electronics Incorporated (FEI) finalized an agreement that will significantly expand FEI's role as a distribution partner for Cypress.In the wake of Cypress's merger with Spansion Inc. in March 2015, the agreement replaces the two prior agreements between Spansion and FEI, providing FEI with access to the products covered by the prior agreements and adding Cypress's entire product line, including PSoC Programmable System-on-Chip devices, automotive touch-sensing solutions, SRAM and nonvolatile memories, Bluetooth Low Energy solutions and USB controllers.The agreement took effect on September 10, 2015 and is expected to generate $500 million in sales the first year.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing: The markets closed Wednesday trade with nice gains. All three major indices finished in the green as the S&P 500 led the way, ending the session up 17.15 points (+0.87%) to 1995.25. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 138.36 points (+0.83%) to 16738.21, pushed by the rally in crude oil. The Nasdaq Composite was the least strong of all three, ending up 28.72 points (+0.59%) to 4889.24.

The rally was led by the Energy sector (XLE 65.32, +1.80 +2.83%), which saw WTI Crude Oil rise 5.7% to $47.14/barrel ahead of the Fed's interest rate decision tomorrow. Crude oil strength, pared with the Energy Information Administration's storage report showed a larger than expected inventory draw drove energy higher on the session.

In addition, market data today came in the form of CPI and NAHB Housing Market Index. Consumer prices declined an in-line 0.1% in August following the 0.1% recorded in July. NAHB Housing Market Index data for September rose to 62 from 61.

As for Technology (XLK 41.05, +0.17 +0.42%), sector names EMC +1.30%, EA +1.30%, ADBE +1.26%, KLAC +1.16%, YHOO +1.16% held line with the broader market, ending the session higher. Laggards in technology were FTR -2.63%, LVLT -2.44%, AVGO -1.84%, WIN -1.48%, CTL -1.28%, RHT -1.07%.

Technology sub-sector Social Media (SOCL 18.18, +0.36 +2.02%) finished the day ahead of the pack as Yandex (YNDX 13.32, +1.08 +8.82%) was upgraded to Neutral at Goldman. In addition, Apple (AAPL 116.41, +0.13 +0.11) displayed relative strength as talk from CEO Mark Zuckerberg yesterday at a town hall meeting indicated the company is working on and will test a 'dislike' button. Also in social media today, Twitter (TWTR 27.75, +0.58 +2.13%) announced a long-term data licensing deal with Bloomberg.

For its part, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (685.36, +3.62 +0.53%) finished the session HPQ +5.02%, EBAY +2.93%, FSLR +2.53%, TEL +1.78%, AMAT +1.57%, GLW +1.55%,. Top weighted name Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 28.35, +1.24 +4.58%) was the leader in the sector, continuing strength from commentary out of the Analyst Day.

Other items among sector components:

Fitbit (FIT 37.10, +4.06 +12.29%) In a Bloomberg article, it was announced that retailer Target (TGT 78.50, +0.68 +0.87%) would offer the company's fitness trackers to about 335K employees.

Microsoft (MSFT 44.30, +0.32 +0.73%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.36 from $0.31 per share.

Harris (HRS 74.54, +0.61 +0.83%) announced it received a $100 million increase in the ceiling value of a 2011 contract from the Defense Logistics Agency.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) gave outlook for HP Inc.: sees FY 16 non-GAAP EPS of $1.67-1.77, free cash flow for same period of $2.5-2.8 billion, expects to return up to 75% of free cash flow to shareholders. Also, the company provided breakdown of restructuring plan for Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) in that it will cut up to 33,300 employees by the end of fiscal 2018. It expects the reduction to result in about $2.4 billion in severance costs.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMI 4.70, +0.22 +4.91%), China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Co and a subsidiary of Qualcomm (QCOM 55.20, +0.33 +0.60%) announced the signing of a non-legally binding term sheet relating to a contemplated investment of $280 million dollars in the aggregate in SJ Semiconductor Corp.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Adept Tech (ADEP 12.93, +4.96 +62.13%) announced it will be acquired by OMRON for $13 per share. Total consideration values the company at about $200 million.

Integrated Silicon (ISSI 21.93, -0.20 -0.90%) announced that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US has extended the initial 30 day review period of ISSI's pending acquisition by Uphill Investment.

SunEdison (SUNE 11.50, +0.25 +2.22%) announced the Northern District of California has granted the company's motion to dismiss charges filed by SunPower (SPWR 23.92, +0.47 +2.00%).

Twitter (TWTR 27.75, +0.58 +2.13%) announced it has signed a long-term data licensing agreement with Bloomberg.

Ctrip.com (CTRP 72.30, +5.38 +8.04%) announced that it signed a payments agreement with Digital River (DRIV).

Pioneer Power Solutions (PPSI 6.35, +0.25 +4.10%) announced supply awards for energy-efficient transformers. The awards are expected to result in revenue of over $30 million, of which the company anticipates $20 million will be incremental.
Itron (ITRI 30.26, +0.35 +1.17%) announced TransData filed a patent infringement lawsuit in US District Court against GE, Itron and Landis+Gyr AG.

Wi-LAN (WILN 2.04, +0.06 +2.90%) announced its subsidiary, Advanced Microscopy, entered into a patent license agreement with Nikon.

MaxLinear (MXL 12.01, +1.66 +16.04%) raised Q3 revenue guidance to about $95 million, up from prior guidance of $90-94 million. The company also reaffirmed Q3 GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin at about 53% and 57%, respectively.

Paycom Software (PAYC 38.00, -2.60 -6.40%) announced a 4.5 million share secondary offering by management and selling stockholders associated with Welsh, Carson, Anderson $ Stowe X and WCAS Capital Partners IV. The company subsequently priced the offering at $37.95 per share.

Analyst actions:

ORCL was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sun Trust Rbsn Humprey, YNDX was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman,
FCS was upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna, KT was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie; ADEP was downgraded at Lake Street and ROTH Capital,
SNDK was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman,
IMASY was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Berenberg

4:31 pm Marvell receives NASDAQ notification related to the late filing of Form 10-Q (MRVL) : As previously announced on September 11, 2015, the Audit Committee of the Company's Board of Directors is conducting an independent investigation of certain accounting and internal control matters for the fiscal quarter ended August 1, 2015. The Company intends to file a Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended August 1, 2015, as soon as practicable following the conclusion of the Audit Committee's investigation.

4:30 pm Advanced Energy: Plans to wind down inverter business (released in slides); See 16:06 for plans on capital disbursement (AEIS) :

Wind down business through remainder of 2015 Financial Implications

Pretax charge of ~$260M --$290M ($201M taken in Q2'15) Cash costs expected to be $30 to $45M ~$20M to $30M in FY2015.Q3 Non-GAAP revenues, ex inverters are expected to be $102-110 mln (Prior guidance from 8/3 was revenues in the range of $126-137 mlnOperating Income $25-30 mln.Operating Margin 24-27%.4:06 pm Advanced Energy announces its capital deployment strategy and a $150 million share repurchase program (AEIS) :

Advanced Energy's capital deployment strategy encompasses the following:

organic investments to grow its market leadership in semiconductor applications, expand into industrial markets and increase its geographic presence; acquisitions to increase the company's total addressable market with a particular focus on industrial products and applications; share repurchases to meaningfully reduce share count over time; more flexible capital structure that may include debt instruments to fund key investments. Overall, the company aspires to deploy approximately 70% of its future free cash flow to organic investments and acquisitions and 30% to share repurchases.

Co announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized it to repurchase up to $150 million of its common stock over the next 30 months.
4:06 pm Oracle beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (ORCL) :

Reports Q1 (Aug) earnings of $0.53 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.52; revenues fell 1.7% year/year to $8.45 bln vs the $8.53 bln consensus (+7% in constant FX). Cloud plus On-Premise Software Revenues were $6.5 billion, down 2% in U.S. dollars and up 6% in constant currency. Total Cloud Revenues were $611 million, up 29% in U.S. dollars and up 34% in constant currency. Cloud software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) revenues were $451 million, up 34% in U.S. dollars and up 38% in constant currency vs. +39-49% guidance. "We are still on target to book between $1.5 and $2.0 billion of new SaaS and PaaS business this fiscal year. That means Oracle would sell between 50% more and double the amount of new cloud business than salesforce.com [CRM] plans to sell in their current fiscal year. Oracle is the world's second largest SaaS and PaaS company, but we are rapidly closing in on number one."


4:15 pm : The major averages strung together their second consecutive advance with the S&P 500 climbing 0.9%. The benchmark index extended its weekly gain to 1.7% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) underperformed, but still brought its week-to-date advance up to 1.4%.

Equities spent the first hour of the day near their flat lines before racing higher alongside the energy sector (+2.8%), which had shown relative strength from the start. That strength was closely linked to the buying surge in crude oil futures that sent the energy component higher by 5.8% to $47.15/bbl. A significant portion of the rally developed after the release of the weekly EIA inventory report, which showed a draw of 2.104 million barrels.

The sharp rally in the energy sector underpinned the overall market, which rallied despite the uncertainty surrounding tomorrow's FOMC policy statement, which could be highlighted by the first rate hike in more than nine years.

To be fair, there were some other areas of relative strength. Notably, the consumer staples sector (+1.1%) saw increased activity thanks to M&A rumblings among brewers and distillers after Anheuser-Busch Inbev (BUD 115.43, +7.39) approached SABMiller (SBMRY 56.45, +9.72) about a potential acquisition. SABMiller expressed willingness to entertain discussions, and the news boosted its peers, none more so than Molson Coors Brewing (TAP 82.98, +10.34), which surged 14.2%.

The news of a merger brewing in the consumer sector invited the heaviest NYSE floor volume of the week (863 million), but tomorrow's session is all but sure eclipse today's tally once the FOMC decision is announced.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector (+0.7%) settled not far behind the broader market, doing so despite relative weakness among transport stocks. Specifically, the Dow Jones Transportation Average was limited to a gain of 0.2% as FedEx (FDX 149.63, -4.37) weighed. Shares of FDX surrendered 2.8% in reaction to below-consensus earnings and guidance, dragging its peer, UPS (UPS 100.08, -0.44), lower by 0.4%.

The industrial sector settled just ahead of financials (+0.6%) while another cyclical group-technology (+0.4%)-underperformed throughout the day with Apple's (AAPL 116.35, +0.07) flat close keeping the sector behind the broader market.

The relative weakness in the technology sector translated into underperformance for the Nasdaq, but it is worth noting the index was also pressured by biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 355.14, -2.32) lost 0.7%, erasing the bulk of yesterday's gain. For its part, the health care sector ended behind the remaining nine groups, but still added 0.3%.

Unlike stocks, Treasuries spent the day inside a narrow range, slipping to lows into the close with the 10-yr yield rising one basis point to 2.30%.

Economic data included CPI and the NAHB Housing Market Index:

Consumer prices declined an in-line 0.1% in August after increasing 0.1% in July
A steep 2.0% drop in energy costs was responsible for the downtick, representing the first decline in energy prices since a 1.3% drop in April
Food prices increased 0.2% for a second consecutive month
Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.1% for a second consecutive month in August, which is what the consensus expected
There were no outliers in the core price index and trends remain soft and stable.
The NAHB Housing Market Index for September rose to 62 from 61 while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to hold at 61

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 275,000), August Housing Starts (consensus 1.158 million), Building Permits (expected 1.158 million), and the Q2 Current Account Balance (expected deficit of $112.20 billion) will be released at 8:30 ET while the Philadelphia Fed Survey for September will cross the wires at 10:00 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 14:00 ET release of the FOMC policy statement and fed funds rate decision (consensus unchanged at 0.25%).

Nasdaq Composite +3.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.3% YTD
S&P 500 -3.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -6.1% YTD

DJ30 +140.10 NASDAQ +28.72 SP500 +17.22 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1809/1.53 bln/1066 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2379/863.4 mln/708 3:35 pm :

According to the Bloomberg Commodity Index, commodities are about 1% today. The dollar index sold off today, which has provided overall upside in commodities.
In current trade, oil, gold, silver and copper futures remain near today's highs.
WTI oil prices rallied following today's EIA weekly storage data, which showed a larger-than-expected oil draw.
Oct crude oil ultimately closed today's session at +5.7% at $47.14/barrel.
In other energy, Oct natural gas declined -2.6% at $2.66/MMBtu
Silver displayed a nice rally, ultimately climbing +4% to end the day at $14.89/oz. Dec copper rose 1.5% at $1119.20/oz/
In base metals, Dec copper rose +0.8% to $2.45/lb

11:40 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (63) outpacing new highs (51) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADEP, AF, AKO.A, AKO.B, ARL, ATVI, BECN, BFAM, BRSS, CDW, CIVI, CLVS, COLL, CPB, CSFL, ENVI, FBC, FLO, HBCP, HNNA, HTM, IBA, INCY, ITCI, JBLU, LANC, MAMS, MCRN, MLM, MYGN, NBIX, NSA, NSTG, OSIS, PAC, POST, PPBI, PRPH, SNX, SRPT, SSBI, TACT, TAP, TBK, TE, TECD, TRR, TRVN, TYL, UA, VMC

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ALIM, AMCO, ARR, BGMD, BHK, BWG, CEQP, CIG.C, CIO, CMLP, CNNX, CNXR, CPGX, CREG, DSL, ENTL, EPIQ, EVY, FREE, FRPT, GBSN, GHL, GNK, GSIT, HZN, ININ, INPH, IPHS, MHE, MHF, MIY, MPLX, MWE, NBB, NBD, NEA, NPM, NR, NVEC, NXJ, NXZ, OHAI, PBFX, PCH, PERF, PGN, RRMS, SCX, STDY, SXE, TEGP, TIGR, TMST, TSI, VSAR, VSEC, VXDN, VXUP, WEA, WGA, WIW, X, XNPT

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: CSJ

Marvell (MRVL) expanded its partnership with Swisscom, to launch a new line of Ultra HD Android IPTV set-top boxes powered by Marvell's ARMADA 1500 Ultra system-on-chip platform

AMD (AMD) announced a new agreement with Mentor Graphics Corporation (MENT) to now provide customers access to Mentor Embedded Sourcery CodeBench Lite for AMD Embedded ARM solutions alongside AMD x86 Embedded solutions8:04 am Integrated Silicon announces that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US has extended the initial 30 day review period of ISSI's pending acquisition by Uphill Investment (ISSI) : Co expects that the closing of the merger with Uphill will occur in the fourth calendar quarter of 2015.

8:02 am SunEdison: The Northern District of California has granted the co's motion to dismiss charges filed by SunPower (SPWR) (SUNE) : The Northern District of California has granted the company's motion to dismiss charges filed by SunPower (SPWR), with leave to amend. SunPower filed a lawsuit in June against SunEdison and certain SunEdison employees who previously worked for SunPower. The complaint alleged that former employees, among other things, violated the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (:CFAA) by breaching SunPower's computer use policies and misappropriating SunPower's information. SunEdison moved to dismiss the claims arising under the CFAA, SunPower's only basis for federal jurisdiction. The court granted the motion, ruling that SunPower failed to adequately plead a CFAA claim.

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From Briefing.com: The markets finished the day in an up and down spasm following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. On a session that at one point saw the Nasdaq approach +1.35% gains, and end at +0.10% gains, early slow trade gave way to the late day heavy trading action with the Nasdaq and NYSE ending the session around average trading volume. In the end, the Nasdaq Composite was the sole gainer on the session, ending Thursday trade higher by 4.71 points, or +0.10%, to 4893.95. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended lower by 65.21 points, or -0.39%, to 16674.74 and the S&P 500 was lower by 5.11 points, or -0.26% to 1990.20.

The news of the day came in the form of the FOMC interest rate decision. The FOMC decided to hold, keeping interest rates unchanged from prior rates at 0.00-0.25%.

In Technology (XLK 40.77, -0.28 -0.68%), names like WIN +3.15%, LVLT +2.41%, GOOG +1.16%, EA +1.11%, FB +0.95% held the sector positive, while names like INTU -4.14%, ORCL -4.00%, KLAC -3.53%, HPQ -3.16%, LRCX -2.84%, STX -2.83%, AAPL -2.14% dictated downward trading action through the majority of the first half of the day. Technology traded positive following the start of the FOMC press conference, but traded the entirety of the morning in the red.

Technology sub-sector Internet (FDN 70.10, +0.22 +0.31%) outperformed the broader sector today as names like TRUE +6.37%, EXPE +3.33%, MDRX +3.28%, AMZN +2.18%, BV +2.11%, P +1.41% propped the sector up. To that end, reports out yesterday regarding Expedia's (EXPE 128.83, +4.15 +3.33%) acquisition of Orbitz (OWW) drove both stocks higher, and strength continued today. In addition, strength from Allscripts Healthcare (MDRX 14.17, +0.45 +3.28%) came in the form of an analyst initiation at Canaccord Genuity with a Buy rating.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (680.73, -4.63 -0.68), trading action was relatively muted into the Fed meeting. Much like the broader market, the sector finished the last hour of trade in an up and down fashion but ultimately ended lower. The sector was held down with names like SNDK -2.01%, EBAY -1.83%, FSLR -1.76%, MU -1.62%, TDC -1.60%, YHOO -1.50%, PYPL -1.33% leading the way lower.

In today's action, Software (IGV 97.46, -0.44 -0.45%) name Oracle (ORCL 36.72, -1.56 -4.08%) continued weakness from yesterday's earnings report. The company reported mixed Q1 results of EPS of $0.53 on revenues of $8.45 billion. On the conference call, the company issued guidance for Q2 revenues to be in the range of -2% to +1%. In addition, management is calling for Q2 adjusted EPS in the range of $0.63-0.66.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Salesforce.com (CRM 72.32, +0.45 +0.63%) and Microsoft (MSFT 44.25, -0.05 -0.11%) to extend their strategic partnership to connect the Salesforce Customer Success Platform to Microsoft Office productivity apps and services.

Facebook (FB 94.34, +0.89 +0.95%) confirmed details for its 100% in-view impression buying and reporting ad analytics partnership with Moat.

Apple (AAPL 113.92, -2.49 -2.14%) according to a Re/Code article has acquired Mapsense.

Intuit Inc (INTU 85.77, -3.70 -4.14%) is partnering with OnDeck (ONDK 10.61, +0.20 +1.92%) to launch the new QuickBooks Financing Line of Credit program. This financing solution enables small businesses to use their QuickBooks Online data to apply for loan offers with the click of a button. Intuit and OnDeck will launch a new $100 million small business lending fund to back the new product.

Ericsson (ERIC 9.85, +0.12 +1.23%), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 27.58, -0.89 -3.13%) and Aruba Networks are joining forces to market a set of Wi-Fi and LTE solutions. Ericsson and HP have also signed bilateral resale agreements, whereby Ericsson can offer Aruba's enterprise Wi-Fi and connectivity solutions along with its portfolio of mobility solutions and global services

PAID (PAYD) commenced on December 20, 2013 patent infringement litigation against eBay (EBAY 26.25, -0.49 -1.83%). On September 30, 2014 the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) announced that it had granted petitions filed by eBay requesting a covered business method review of PAID's United States Patents. The PTAB has entered a final ruling and has determined the claims have failed to claim patent eligible subject matter. PAID, Inc. is currently reviewing the decision of the PTAB with counsel and preparing a response to the CBM review. PAID continues to have a patent pending.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Advanced Energy (AEIS 26.11, +0.70 +2.75%) announced its capital deployment strategy and a $150 million share repurchase program. The company also plans to wind down its inverter business.

Marvell (MRVL 8.90, -0.14 -1.55%) received a Nasdaq notification related to the late filing of Form 10-Q.

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 3.59, +0.01 +0.28%) acquired Mformation, but financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

GSI Technology's (GSIT 4.29, +0.08 +1.90%) Board unanimously rejected the unsolicited acquisition proposal from GigOptix (GIG 1.84, +0.06 +3.37%), originally announced June 4.

Frontier Communications (FTR 5.20, +0.02 +0.39%) announced it continues to expect that the transaction with Verizon (VZ 45.23, -0.96 -2.08%) will bemore than 30% accretive to leveraged free cash flow per share in the first full year following the closing of the transaction.

Verizon (VZ) announced at today's Investor Conference that FY16 earnings may plateau at 2015 levels as the company manages near-term impacts.

magicJack VocalTec (CALL 9.25, +0.17 +1.87%) announced a Nationwide Distribution Agreement with Radioshack (RSHCQ). Under the terms of the new agreement, RadioShack will distribute both the magicJack GO and Express devices. Sold for $59.95, the magicJack GO comes with 12 months of service and the Express, sold at $39.95, and comes with 3 months of service.

eMagin (EMAN 2.53, +0.01 +0.40%) announced Paul Campbell, CFO, has resigned from the company to pursue other interests effective September 14, 2015. Mr. Campbell is succeeded by Jeffrey P. Lucas.

MTS Systems (MTSC 59.09, -0.38 -0.64%) established a subsidiary in India to directly support the growth in the Indian Test market.

FXCM (FXCM 0.84, +0.00 +0.25%) reported August retail customer trading volume rose 10% from the prior year to $329 billion.

Cypress Semi (CY 9.72, -0.05 -0.51%) entered into a distribution agreement with FEI (FEIC 76.57, -0.37 -0.48%) to expand FEI's role as a distribution partner for CY.

Analyst actions:

NVDA was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies,
MXL was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham,
RMBS was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sidoti, TKC was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan; ADEP was downgraded to Neutral from Buy from Dougherty & Company, SCMWY was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

4:36 pm Texas Instruments increases its quarterly cash dividend by 12%, to $0.38/share from $0.34/share; authorizes the repurchase of $7.5 billion in common shares (TXN) : Co will raise its quarterly cash dividend by 12 percent, from $0.34 per share to $0.38, or $1.52 annualized. The board of directors also authorized the company to repurchase an additional $7.5 billion of its common stock over time. This is in addition to approximately $1.8 billion of previously authorized repurchases that remained at the end of June 2015.

4:10 pm Adobe Systems beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 below consensus; reaffirms FY15 marketing cloud bookings (ADBE) :

Reports Q3 (Aug) adj. earnings of $0.54 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.50; revenues rose 21.1% year/year to $1.22 bln vs the $1.21 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees adj. EPS of $0.56-0.62 vs. $0.64 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q4 revs of $1.275-1.325 bln vs. $1.36 bln Capital IQ Consensus. In Digital Media, Adobe has discussed how the transition to subscriptions is happening faster in its Creative business. Adobe is now seeing a similar trend with Acrobat, Lightroom and Photoshop Elements. Adobe has increased its Digital Media ARR target exiting FY2015 to $2.95 billion, with slightly lower revenue in Q4 than previously expected. In Digital Marketing, Adobe is driving larger, multi-year and multi-solution customer contracts. As a result of larger engagements and longer implementation cycles, Adobe is achieving strong growth in deferred revenue and unbilled backlog. As such, Adobe is targeting a Q4 FY2015 revenue range for Adobe Marketing Cloud of $365 million to $400 million, based on the potential variability of contracts that close as perpetual versus ratable licensing. Adobe continues to expect Adobe Marketing Cloud annual bookings growth of 30% or greater. Adobe expects LiveCycle and Connect revenue to be slightly lower on a sequential basis.Adobe expects Print and Publishing segment revenue to be relatively flat on a sequential basis.4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday session on a lower note after the Federal Reserve made no changes to its policy stance. The S&P 500 shed 0.3% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%) outperformed throughout the day.

FOMC days are known for afternoon volatility and today's affair lived up to that billing even though the policy statement from the Federal Reserve was virtually a carbon copy of the previous directive. The FOMC acknowledged positive labor market conditions in the U.S., but indicated that concerns related to an economic slowdown in China have outweighed the domestic positives. Ms. Yellen stressed that these developments have weighed on the inflation outlook, contributing to today's decision to maintain status quo.

Furthermore, Ms. Yellen emphasized that the expected rate path is more important than the first rate hike, indicating that the Committee expects to see rate normalization by 2018. Hearing '2018' in that context was music to the market's ears, inviting a stampede of buyers in stocks while Treasuries spiked to highs with the 10-yr yield falling ten basis points to 2.20%.

The post-FOMC move higher was followed by a dive to new lows, with the reversal paced by the financial sector (-1.4%), which settled in the red as bank stocks responded to rates remaining lower for longer. The sector accelerated its decline as Fed Chair Yellen responded to a question about the possibility that the U.S. falls into a Japan-like deflationary trap. To little surprise, Ms. Yellen said that such a scenario is not anticipated at this time.

Meanwhile, another influential group-technology (-0.7%)-also weighed on the broader market, ending near the bottom of the leaderboard after struggling throughout the session. The top-weighted sector was pressured by Oracle (ORCL 36.74, -1.53) as the stock lost 4.0% after its one-cent beat was not enough to dispel concerns about the company's guidance and lack of revenue growth. High-beta chipmakers also struggled with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 0.9%.

Elsewhere, another influential sector-health care (+0.9%)-settled well ahead of the S&P 500 with biotechnology powering the move. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 362.50, +7.36) surged 2.1% with the strength keeping the S&P 500 from sliding deeper into the red.

Also of note, the consumer discretionary space (+0.9%) managed to stay in the green, thanks to support from media names after Cablevision (CVC 32.51, +3.97) agreed to be acquired by Altice for roughly $17.70 billion in cash.

On the flip side, industrials (-0.5%), energy (-0.1%), and materials (-0.5%) succumbed to the afternoon selling pressure, which invited above-average volume with more than 975 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims, Housing Starts, Current Account, and the Philadelphia Fed Survey:

The initial claims level declined to 264,000 from an unrevised 275,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected no change at 275,000

Over the past four weeks, the initial claims level has averaged 272,500, and weekly volatility has been minimal, suggesting a strong labor market
The continuing claims level decreased to 2.237 mln from an upwardly revised 2.263 mln (from 2.260 mln) while the consensus expected a drop to 2.255 mln

Housing starts declined 3.0% in August to 1.126 mln from a downwardly revised 1.161 mln (from 1.206 mln) in July while the Briefing.com consensus a drop to 1.158 mln

As expected, single-family starts pulled back in August after reaching a seven-year high in July while construction levels remained strong
Single-family starts slipped only 3.0% to 739,000 in August from 762,000 in July, and new construction is running well above its three-month (729,333) and 12-month (692,417) averages

The current account deficit for the second quarter totaled $109.70 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to hit $112.20 billion

The first quarter deficit was revised to $118.30 billion from $113.30 billion

The Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook Survey declined to -6.0 in September from 8.3 in August while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 6.5

That was the first reported contraction in the Philadelphia region since February 2014
The Philadelphia region is not the only region where manufacturing activities experienced a sudden downturn. Just about all of the August regional Federal Reserve manufacturing surveys were negative, and the latest September reading of the New York Fed's Empire Manufacturing Survey reported a second consecutive sizable contraction in manufacturing activities

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the 10:00 ET release of the Leading Indicators report for August (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%).

Nasdaq Composite +3.3% YTD
Russell 2000 -1.9% YTD
S&P 500 -3.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -6.4% YTD

DJ30 -65.21 NASDAQ +4.71 SP500 -5.11 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1614/1.73 bln/1258 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1884/978.2 mln/1205

3:30 pm :

Following the Fed's decision to keep rates unchanged, the dollar index dropped to a new low for the day, which caused oil, copper, gold and silver futures to all spike to new highs for the day.
In current trade, commodities including gold, silver and copper remains near today's new high as Yellen's press conference continues.
Natural gas futures continue to hold a modest loss, while WTI oil sits near $47/barrel.
Ahead of the Fed decision, Dec gold ended floor trading -0.2% at $1117.00/oz, while Dec silver ended +0.7% at $14.99/oz.
Dec copper finished +0.3% at $2.46/lb.
In current trade, gold is at $1131.60/oz, while silver is at $15.18/oz.
In energy, Oct WTI crude oil lost -0.5% at $46.92/barrel, while Oct nat gas lost one cent to $2.65/MMBtu. Both oil and nat gas are near closing levels.

12:03 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (70) outpacing new lows (57) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACET, ADEP, ADUS, AKO.B, APLE, ARL, ASR, ATVI, BECN, BNCL, CALD, CART, CBF, CDW, CENT, CENTA, CID, CIVI, CLVS, COLL, COR, CPB, CVC, DERM, DGII, DXCM, ENVI, ESSA, EXPE, FBHS, FLO, FSGI, GB, GTT, HFWA, IBA, ITCI, JBLU, LANC, LGIH, LION, LXFT, LXRX, MAMS, MCZ, MDGN, NEO, NPK, NSA, NSTG, OSIS, PDCE, PGR, POOL, POST, PPBI, PRPH, RCL, SFBS, SFNC, STZ, TBK, TECD, TOWN, TSC, TYL, UA, ULBI, VLRS, VMC

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACW, AETI, ARCW, BBGI, BHK, CAF, CEQP, CGNT, CHCT, CLC, CMLP, CPGX, CPPL, CREG, CSII, CYD, DAIO, DCIX, DX, ENBL, EVG, EVK, GILT, GRIF, HURC, ININ, JLS, MGF, MIY, NAN, NEA, NID, NLST, NQP, NRK, OOMA, PERF, PGN, PICO, PVA, RPTP, RRMS, SCHN, SGNT, SNHY, SPAR, STDY, TEX, TG, TPLM, TSI, UNIS, VSEC, VXUP, WIW, WYY, XNPT

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: CSJ, TIP

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From Briefing.com: The markets closed with all three major indices posting gains - the Dow Jones Industrial Average laid the groundwork, ending Monday 0.77% higher, or up 125.61 points, to 16510.19. The S&P 500 closed higher by 8.94 points, up 0.46% to 1966.97. The Nasdaq Composite just barely eked out gains on the session, as a last minute uptick brought the index above flat lines with gains of 1.73 points, or +0.04%, to 4828.96. In a slight uptick at the close, all three major indices edged Monday trade higher.

Midday pressure from comments made by the Fed's Lockhart regarding the rate rise and market headwinds took all three indices lower. Lockhart said today that he supported the FOMC decision to delay the first rate hike, but also said that he still expects the FOMC to hike rates this year.

In technology, sub-sector iShares GS Software (IGV 97.88, +1.08 +1.12%) posted the most notable gains. Sector components BLKB +3.36%, QLIK +3.07%, PFPT +2.91%, ADBE +2.55%, RHT +2.34%, PRGS +2.27%, DATA +2.08% aided the sector higher. Laggards in the sector included CUDA -4.49%, PCTY -2.70%, FEYE -2.17%, BLOX -1.93%, ZNGA -0.79%, ROVI -0.45%.

Of note today, media streaming company Pandora (P 20.83, +1.13 +5.74%) was halted twice in early trade for volatility amid copyright decision chatter. The initial spike in shares was attributed to the possibility of a favorable Copyright Royalty Board decision. Subsequently, the shares were halted twice for circuit breakers. The decision regards royalty payments affiliated with SoundExchange, which is arguing for higher royalties. The case could have a material impact on Pandora as it could potentially impact their royalty costs.

In other technology news, more M&A in the semiconductor space via the Dialog Semi (DLGNF 41.25, -8.00 -16.24%) buyout of Atmel (ATML 8.19, +0.92 +12.65%) caused the Semiconductor sector (SOX 608.73, -2.01 -0.33%) to display relative strength in early trade. The ATML/DLGNF deal was for a reported $4.6 billion, or about $10.42 per share in cash and stock.

Today, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (678.42, +6.69) managed to stay above flat line for the entirety of the day, ending the session up an even 1.0%. Companies that managed to edge the session higher were PYPL +4.04%, FIS +2.05%, ADSK +2.00%, TSS +1.81%, ADS +1.72%, VRSN +1.64%, while notable laggards on the session included LRCX -4.42%, KLAC -2.42%, AMAT -1.82%, QRVO -1.64%, TDC -1.03%, TXN -0.73%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Apple (AAPL 115.21, +1.76 +1.55%) announced iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will be available at 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday, September 25 at Apple's retail stores. In addition, the iOS 9 update for the current lineup of devices was adopted by 50% of users. The update was not without its mishaps though; numerous news articles detailed a massive malware attack on hundreds of apps was perpetrated via the update. According to Fox News, the malware, given the name XcodeGhost, reached devices 'by convincing developers of legitimate software to use a tainted, counterfeit version of Apple's software for creating iOS and Mac apps, which is known as Xcode. ' Also, in later trade, AAPL announced the potential 2019 release of the company's electric car.

Symantec (SYMC 20.26, +0.09 +0.45%) announced the appointment of Dan Rogers as Chief Marketing Officer.

Fiserv, Inc. (FISV 87.81, +1.28 +1.48%) announced that it has renewed its partnership with Celero, whereby The DNA account processing platform from Fiserv, will continue to be the exclusive core account processing foundation for Celero's 84 credit union and other financial institution clients in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

NetApp (NTAP 31.22, -0.14 -0.45%) named Mark Bregman as chief technology officer (CTO). Most recently he was CTO of machine-learning start-up SkywriterRX, Inc., where he currently serves as a board member and an advisor.

Elsewhere in the technology sector:

Authentidate Holding (ADAT 0.30 -0.02 -6.16%) received a positive decision from the NASDAQ Hearings Panel, granting the request for the continued listing of the company's common stock.

Arrow Elec (ARW 56.00, +0.38 +0.68%) filed a mixed securities shelf offering of an undisclosed amount.

Fortinet (FTNT 45.60, +0.80 +1.79%) announced the appointment of Holly Rollo as Chief Marketing Officer. Rollo was most recently from FireEye (FEYE 36.99, -0.82 -2.17%) where she served as Vice President of Corporate Marketing.

Everi (EVRI 5.46, +0.05 +0.92%) appointed Todd Valli as Chief Accounting Officer.

Allot Comms (ALLT 5.02, +0.12 +2.45%) announced an expansion order of about $8 million form a major APAC tier-1 fixed-line operator.

Oi SA (OIBR 0.85, -0.08 -9.45%) disclosed that there is no discussion in progress about the restructuring of its debt and that it has not hired any banks to assist it in this subject.

Unisys Corp (UNIS 1.11, -0.08 -6.72%) announced the public offering of $350 million of senior notes due 2020.

Pioneer Power Solutions (PPSI 5.98, -0.42 -6.56%) announced a public offering of common stock, but did not disclose the size of said offering or pricing details.

CACI Intl (CACI 76.67, +1.29 +1.71%) was awarded a $63.5 million contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division to support advanced communications. The 20-month contract represents continuing work for CACI in its Communications and Command and Control market areas.

Mitek (MITK 3.35, flat) announced that it has received a $1.4 million reorder for Mobile Deposit transactions from a global banking and payment technology provider representing the third consecutive annual reorder from this partner. The agreement closed in Mitek's fiscal 2015 fourth quarter and consisted of $1.2 million in software license revenue and $200,000 in first year maintenance revenue.

Analyst actions:

PYPL was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel, CYBR was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank; ATML was downgraded at Craig Hallum, Topeka Capital, Wedbush and FBR Capital, BT was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura

4:05 pm : The stock market began the trading week on a higher note despite seeing some intraday volatility. The S&P 500 gained 0.5% while the Nasdaq Composite underperformed throughout the day, but was able to settle just above its flat line.

Equity indices rallied out of the gate with the advance continuing through the first hour of action. All ten sectors took part in the opening move higher, but health care was quick to surrender its gain. The countercyclical group ended lower by 1.4% while biotechnology struggled mightily, sending the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 340.78, -15.98) lower by 4.5%.

The biotechnology ETF struggled from the get-go, but the group accelerated its decline after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sent out a tweet saying she is ready to unveil a plan that would target price gouging among specialty drug makers. Today's selling dropped IBB below its 200-day moving average (347.36) to levels last seen at the start of September.

Outside of health care, the remaining sectors posted gains with relative strength in heavily-weighted financials (+1.1%) and technology (+1.0%) keeping the S&P 500 ahead of the Nasdaq Composite. It is worth pointing out that solid gains in large cap tech names like Apple (AAPL 115.21, +1.76), Google (GOOGL 666.98, +6.06), and Microsoft (MSFT 44.11, +0.63) masked the relative weakness in chipmaker names. The PHLX Semiconductor Index shed 0.1% while Atmel (ATML 8.19, +0.92) bucked the trend, surging 12.7% after agreeing to be acquired by Dialog Semiconductor (DLGNF 41.25, -8.00) for $4.60 billion.

Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical sectors also posted gains. The energy space rose 0.6% as crude oil surged 4.5% to $46.68/bbl while the consumer discretionary sector (+0.7%) was underpinned by retailers. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 46.40, +0.30) gained 0.7% while homebuilders lagged after a below-consensus August Existing Home Sales report (5.31 million; Briefing.com consensus 5.50 million) overshadowed better than expected earnings from Lennar (LEN 51.58, -0.17).

Strikingly, Treasuries retreated throughout the day, continuing their slide even as stocks retreated from their highs. As a result, the 10-yr note settled on its low with the benchmark yield rising six basis points to 2.21%.

Today's participation was a bit light with fewer than 800 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data reported today was limited to the Existing Home Sales report for August, which showed a 4.8% decline to an annualized rate of 5.31 million units while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.50 million.

The overall story in the housing market remains the same. Tight supplies and relatively high prices have cut into both demand and affordability conditions. Unless price growth softens or an influx of inventories gives buyers more options, sales growth will suffer.

Still, underlying demand trends aren't terrible. Even though sales in August were the lowest since April, the drop came immediately after a month where sales rose to their highest point since February 2007. That suggests the move was likely normal volatility rather than a big shift in trends.

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the 10:00 ET release of the FHFA Housing Price Index for July.

Nasdaq Composite +2.0% YTD
Russell 2000 -3.4% YTD
S&P 500 -4.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -7.4% YTD

DJ30 +125.61 NASDAQ +1.73 SP500 +8.94 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1359/1.87 bln/1500 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1839/792.8 mln/1233 3:45 pm :

The dollar index traded higher today The dollar index traded higher today, which helped pressure some commodities today.
However, other commodities such as oil rallied and held gains.
Oil was one of the best performing commodities today, ending with a gain of +4.3% at $46.94/barrel.
In other energy, Oct nat gas fell -1.1% to $2.58/MMBtu.
Metals were mixed today with copper ending the day unchanged at $2.39/lb, gold lower and silver higher.
Dec gold finished the day -0.4% at $1132.90/oz/oz, while Dec silver +0.3% at $15.21/oz.

12:44 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (100) outpacing new highs (47) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACET, ARTNA, ATVI, BWLD, CALD, CBNJ, CENT, CHFN, CIVI, CNCE, COLL, CSH, CVC, CVCY, DERM, DLA, ENR, FSFG, GLPG, HBCP, HFWA, HRC, HTM, IRMD, IROQ, MATR, MDGN, MNRO, MPG, MTS, NAVB, NEWR, NSTG, OSIS, PPBI, PRMW, PSEM, QURE, SGBK, SRPT, TACT, TAP, TBK, TMUS, UHAL, ULBI, VNTV

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABB, ABY, ACAS, AEG, AIQ, AMCO, ANW, APAM, ARC, ARCW, AVAV, AXAS, BSBR, BWA, BWEN, CFX, CMLS, CNHI, CPL, CREG, CRS, CRVP, CSII, CTIC, CVGI, CYD, DAR, DO, EQGP, ERIC, FSTR, FWM, GFA, GKOS, GOL, GRAM, HGR, HSC, HWCC, IMMY, IPI, JOY, KERX, KS, LXU, M, MCFT, MFRM, MHGC, MNK, MON, MOS, MT, NHLD, NRG, NUE, NVEC, OOMA, ORN, OTIV, PBR.A, PEBK, PHG, PKOH, PLTM, PNR, POT, PVA, QIWI, QTM, RPTP, SAIA, SCHN, SEP, SGI, SGNT, SINO, SJT, SKUL, SLRC, SPNC, STKL, STRI, SWN, TEF, THRX, TPUB, TSU, ULTR, UTI, VIV, VRNT, VTVT, WDR, WES, WWW, X, XNPT, XRA, ZINC

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EWZ, UNG

ATML (8.26 +13.62%): To be acquired by Dialog Semiconductor (DLGNF) for ~$4.6 bln, or ~$10.42/share in cash/stock, based on Dialog's Friday closing price


Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) issued a statement regarding this morning's Deutsche Bank Market Research note, saying there has yet been any share swap arrangements with ChipMOS, King Yuan, and Sigurd till this date, any such relevant information is purely a conjecture

Analyst comments: CYBR +3.9% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank),LULU +3% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley),XON +2.2% (initiated with a Buy at Stifel; $69 tgt),PYPL +2.1% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel),NVO +2% (upgraded to Strong Buy at Swedbank),MU +1.9% (initiated with an Overweight at Barclays),NOK +1.1% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank),TAP +1% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale),AER +0.7% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill),GS +0.3% (upgraded to Outperform at Oppenheimer)

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Tuesday trade ended with the markets trading lower. The Nasdaq Composite lead the way down, shedding 72.23 points at closing to end at 4756.72, or -1.50%. The S&P 500 also ended the session lower, losing 24.23 points, or -1.23%, to end Tuesday at 1942.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted the most tame losses today, ending down 179.72 points, or -1.09%, to close at 16330.47. All three major indices began the session on a gap down as weakness from European markets again impacted U.S. equities. The FTSE, DAX, CAC, IBEX, PSI, MIB, ASEX and Irish indices all posted losses between -2.3% and -3.8% on the session.

Technology (XLK) performed as you'd expect on a day when both the broader market and every other major sector posted declines -- WDC -5.52%, STX -5.22%, NTAP -3.68%, TEL -3.63%, LRCX -3.57%, AMAT -3.45%, GLW -3.08%, HPQ -2.99% were among the stocks that held the sector lower with the broader market weakness. Materials managed to end Tuesday posting the most notable weakness XLB -1.86% while technology followed suit, posting the second worst percentage declines XLK -1.68%. Other sectors finished as follows: XLI -1.45%, XLY -1.33%, XLF -1.27%, XLU -1.25%, XLP -1.09%, XLE -1.06%, IYZ -1.05%, XLV -0.61%

The most active technology sub-sector which posted noticeable losses on the session was Social Media (SOCL 17.67, -0.39 -2.16%). The sector was dragged down by losses from large cap names like YELP -3.63%, FB -2.71%, YHOO -2.47%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (667.73, -10.39) was also weaker today, ending the session lower by 1.58%. Only ADBE +1.61%, KLAC +0.41%, INTU +0.05% managed to stay out the red at closing, as Adobe (ADBE 84.66, +1.34 +1.61%) continued recent strength stemming from the mixed Q3 print. In addition, KLA-Tencor (KLAC 49.40, +0.20 +0.41%) stayed in the green today as shares were upgraded to a Buy rating from Neutral at Nomura. The analyst maintained the $60 target previously held on the shares, and the stock outperformed the sector.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT 43.90, -0.21 -0.48%) announced that is has begun the worldwide release of Office 2016.

HP (HPQ 25.65, -0.79 -2.99%) announced three new enterprise class LaserJet printers that deliver increased protection against malicious attacks. The stronger security is part of a broader HP strategy to provide the deepest security across PCs and printers.
CloudFlare announced it has raised $110 million in equity capital in a round led by Fidelity Management and Research Company, with strategic participation from Google (GOOG 622.69, -12.75 -2.01%) Capital,
Microsoft (MSFT), Baidu (BIDU 136.12, -4.72 -3.35%), and Qualcomm (QCOM 53.94, -0.45 -0.83%) Incorporated- through its venture investment group, Qualcomm Ventures.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAM 70.61, -1.48 -2.05%) announced that fuboTV has selected Akamai's Media Delivery Solutions to support its over-the-top soccer streaming service.

Applied Materials (AMAT 15.10, -0.54 -3.45%) priced $1.8 billion in senior unsecured notes.

Italy-based service provider Tiscali announced it replaced legacy time-dimension multiplexing circuits and equipment based on older protocols with products and solutions from Oracle (ORCL 36.19, -0.64 -1.74%) Communications, enabling it to offer high-quality, real-time communications services.

Woodside (WOPEY 20.74, -0.01 -0.05%) has extended its relationship with Accenture (ACN 97.67, -0.76 -0.77%) to implement predictive analytics for maintenance and process-control in production operations across its liquefied natural gas assets. Under the terms of the agreement, Woodside is using Accenture to deliver an end-to-end analytics solution for real-time actionable insights on its LNG facilities, including the Pluto LNG Plant.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Accenture (ACN) Federal Services a 30-month, $73 million contract to complete work on the Air Force's financial management system.

Elsewhere in the technology sector:

Wi-LAN's (WILN 1.89, -0.01 -0.53%) Advanced Microscopy subsidiary entered into a patent license agreement with Olympus (OCPNY). Financial terms of said deal were not disclosed.

Flex (FLEX 10.44, -0.32 -2.97%) acquired Wink Inc. for about $15 million through the bankruptcy of its parent, Quirky.

ClearOne (CLRO 11.99, +0.19 +1.61%) has been awarded a new patent related to audio streaming over IP networks.

Science Applications (SAIC 41.89, -0.55 -1.30%) was awarded a $210 million supply chain management contract by the Defense Logistics Agency.

Telecom Italia (TI 12.04, -0.32 -2.59%) received a petition from the common representative of its savings shareholders.

GigOptix (GIG 1.85, -0.13 -6.57%) acquired Terasquare for $4 million in cash and $1.15 million in debt. Said transaction is anticipated to be neutral to accretive immediately upon deal closing.

CACI Intl (CACI 76.37, -0.30 -0.39%) was awarded a $102 million contract with the SEC. The five-year contract represents continuing work in CACI's Investigation and Litigation Support market area.

Advanced Semi (ASX 5.31, -0.11 -2.03%) announced that about 36.8% of Siliconware Precision's (SPIL 6.22, -0.18 -2.81%) shares were validly tendered in its offer, exceeding the offer cap.

Carbonite (CARB 11.48, -0.11 -0.95%) acquired core technology, six patents and other assets from Rebit. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

FactSet (FDS 162.67, -3.26 -1.96%) in addition to reporting quarterly earnings, acquired multi-asset execution management system, Portware for $265 million.

Rambus (RMBS 10.81, -0.52 -4.59%) announced that Winbond Electronics Corporation has has licensed its Cryptography Research differential power analysis, to protect flash memory components.

Wave Systems (WAVX 0.21, +0.05 +34.42%) was granted an extension through January 12, 2016 to achieve compliance with NASDAQ minimum bid requirements.

HealthEquity (HQY 29.59, -0.88 -2.89%) priced an offering of 3.0 million shares of common stock by certain stockholders.

Technology stocks which reported quarterly earnings:

FactSet (FDS) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $1.48 on revenues of $261.8 million. The company also issued guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $1.46-1.48; also sees Q1 revs of $265-269 million.

Red Hat (RHT 72.72 flat) reported Q2 EPS and revs which beat expectations - EPS of $0.47 on revs of $504.1 million. The company also issued upside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.47, excluding non-recurring items, on revs of $519-523 million. The company also issued upside guidance for FY16, raised EPS to $1.85-1.87 from $1.81-1.84, excluding non-recurring items. For FY16, raised FY16 revs to $2.034-2.044 billion from $1.99-2.02 billion.

Analyst actions:

KLAC was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura; NTAP and NMBL were downgraded at Goldman, ATML was downgraded at Needham and Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey, FFIV was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim, BLOX was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

4:05 pm : The stock market endured a rough trading day on Tuesday with the S&P 500 surrendering 1.2% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.5%) underperformed.

Equity indices spent the duration of the session in the red after gapping lower at the start. The opening stumble occurred in response to continued concerns about China's economic growth, which was manifested through weakness in commodity prices. Furthermore, European automakers struggled with Volkswagen plunging 19.8% to extend this week's loss to 34.7% after announcing the establishment of a EUR6.50 billion reserve in anticipation of costs associated with the Department of Justice probe into the company's diesel engines. European markets registered losses across the board with Germany's DAX tumbling 3.8%.

Once the opening bell rang on Wall Street, the S&P 500 surrendered more than 15 points in short order and gave up another 20 into the afternoon. The index recovered about ten points during the final hour, but all ten sectors ended the day with losses.

The materials sector (-1.8%) spent the day at the bottom of the leaderboard as losses in commodities like copper (-3.8% to $2.30/lb) and gold (-0.7% to $1124.70/ozt) kept mining stocks under pressure. Accordingly, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 13.36, -0.64) lost 4.6%.

Meanwhile, another commodity-related sector-energy (-1.1%)-began the day among the laggards, but was able to climb ahead of the broader market. The rebound off session lows was aided by similar price action in crude oil as the energy component ended lower by 1.3% at $46.31/bbl after trading below $45.50/bbl in the morning.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, financials (-1.3%), technology (-1.6%), and industrials (-1.4%) underperformed throughout the day, which prevented an intraday rebound from taking shape. To be fair, the health care sector (-0.6%) settled ahead of the broader market, but the same could not be said for biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 335.45, -5.02) ended lower by 1.5%, widening its week-to-date loss to 6.0%.

Biotechnology's underperformance contributed to relative weakness in the Nasdaq while high-beta chipmakers also weighed, evidenced by a 2.3% decline in the PHLX Semiconductor Index.

Switching gears, Treasuries rallied into the afternoon, erasing their losses from yesterday with the 10-yr yield falling seven basis points to 2.14%.

Today's participation was ahead of recent averages as more than 900 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the FHFA Housing Price Index for July, which rose 0.6% to follow last month's 0.2% uptick.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +0.4% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.9% YTD
S&P 500 -5.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -8.4% YTD

DJ30 -179.72 NASDAQ -72.23 SP500 -24.23 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 637/1.88 bln/2404 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 626/937.8 mln/2476

3:40 pm :

The dollar index traded higher today, which weighed on commodities
Copper futures took a real hit, falling 4% today. Front-month Dec copper closed the session -3.8% at $2.30/lb
Gold and silver sold off this morning and largely held today's losses
Dec gold closed pit trading -0.7% at $1124.70/oz, while Dec silver -2.9% at $14.77/oz
Nov WTI crude oil sold off today, falling as low as $45.39/barrel
However, oil put in a nice little rally off that LoD, but still closing the day in the red at $46.31/barrel, down -1.3%.
Oct natural gas rose 0.3% to $2.58/MMBtu today.

11:35 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (273) outpacing new highs (13) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADUS, CNXC, CVC, HFWA, IRMD, MATR, MCZ, PRMW, SLP, TAST, TWOU, UHAL, ULBI

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ABB, ABEV, ABY, ACAS, ACW, ADTN, AEG, AEGR, AES, AIQ, AIR, ALIM, AMCO, AMS, ANW, AP, APA, APAM, ARC, ARCW, ARG, ARNA, ARTW, ASYS, ATI, ATU, AV, AVAV, AVL, AXLL, BBD, BBOX, BBVA, BEBE, BEN, BITI, BKD, BLT, BP, BSBR, BTE, BUFF, BW, BWA, CAAS, CAI, CATB, CBD, CBK, CETC, CFX, CG, CHSP, CID, CIG, CLC, CLDT, CMI, CNHI, CNV, CNXR, CPGX, CPHR, CPL, CPN, CPPL, CR, CRS, CVGI, CYD, CZZ, DAKT, DAR, DB, DDC, DDS, DNN, DRH, DXM, EBR, ECR, EEML, EGIF, EIGI, ELECU, EQGP, ERIC, EXXI, FAST, FBZ, FCH, FDML, FLDM, FLS, FMC, FMSA, FNSR, FSTR, FSYS, FWM, GFA, GLOP, GLRE, GNK, GOL, GPRO, GRAM, GSIT, GSK, HBM, HEQ, HGR, HK, HOS, HP, HSBC, HSC, HST, HTGC, HUN, ICL, IDSY, IILG, IMMY, IMN, ININ, IP, IPHS, IPI, ITUB, JOY, KAMN, KERX, KFS, KLIC, KMT, KS, KSS, LEU, LGI, LITE, LNN, LUK, LWAY, LXU, M, MCFT, MDM, MELI, MFRM, MHGC, MLNK, MNK, MNKD, MOBL, MOD, MOG.B, MON, MOS, MSL, MSM, MT, NAV, NEP, NEPT, NEWP, NEWS, NHF, NMFC, NPO, NRG, NSM, NUE, NVEC, NWPX, OLN, OOMA, ORN, OTIV, PAGG, PAH, PAY, PBR, PBR.A, PCH, PDFS, PDS, PERF, PHG, PICO, PKOH, PLCM, PLTM, PNR, POT, PTR, PTX, PVA, QIWI, QTM, RADA, RBC, RCG, RCON, RDS.A, RDS.B, RFP, SAIA, SAN, SBS, SCHN, SD, SEP, SGNT, SGOC, SJT, SKUL, SLRC, SNCR, SNHY, SNI, SPNC, SRV, STKL, STRI, STV, STX, SWC, SWFT, SWN, SXC, TAL, TCK, TEF, TEGP, TEN, TERP, TEX, TGI, THST, TIF, TKR, TLN, TMST, TNC, TPLM, TRIB, TRMB, TROX, TSU, TWIN, TX, UGP, UNIS, USAP, UTI, VIV, VMI, VNCE, VTVT, WCC, WDC, WDR, WES, WOR, WPRT, WWW, WYNN, X, XRA, YLCO, YPF, ZINC

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EWG, EWP, EWZ, EZU, JO, MOO, PPLT, VGK, XME

SunEdison (SUNE) announced the commissioning of 1.2 MW DC of solar carport and rooftop systems at four Coconino County, Ariz., government facilities

6:25 am Advanced Semi announces that ~36.8% of Siliconware Precision's (SPIL) shares were validly tendered in its offer, exceeding the offer cap (ASX) : As a result, the number of Common Shares and ADSs that will be accepted for payment will be subject to proration as described in the tender offer documents for the ROC Offer and the U.S. Offer. Going forward, ASE, as a major shareholder of SPIL, is looking forward to promptly explore future cooperation opportunities with SPIL, in a manner consistent with all applicable laws, in an effort to maintain and promote the competitiveness of both ASE and SPIL in the face of challenges arising from the increase in global competition and the consolidation trends in the global semiconductor industry.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The markets ended the week mixed. Friday trading closed with the three major indices split; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the only outperformer as the index added 113.28 points (+0.70%) to close at 16314.60. The Nasdaq Composite was the notable laggard on Friday, ending down 47.98 points (-1.01%) to 4686.50. The S&P 500 finished little changed, albeit down 0.90 points (-0.05%) to 1931.34. Equities traded higher at the start, breaking the mold of three straight days of losses, but those gains did not hold.

In the overnight session, European indices in France, Germany and the UK gained between 2.6% and 3.0% respectively. The overseas gains led into a positive open in US equities, as all three major indices began the session higher. The markets ended the session split, following comments made by Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who reiterated the Federal Reserve's intention to begin raising rates before the end of 2015.

The Technology (XLK 39.81, -0.07 -0.18%) sector traded about on the middle rung with Financials (XLF 22.81, +0.33 +1.47%) and Utilities (XLU 42.73, +0.41 +0.97%) outperforming, relatively. Cisco (CSCO 26.02, +0.61 +2.42%) was a large-cap name that outperformed on the session, helping the broader sector outperform. The communications company continued strength from yesterday's announcement of a JV in China.

Weakness today stemmed from the Internet (FDN 67.47, -0.81 -1.19%) sector which hovered near flat lines, only to trade well lower as the broader market collapsed in the last hour and a half of trading. Losses in the sector were led by names like TRUE -7.44%, BV -5.65%, ELNK -5.35%, VHC -5.10%, TWTR -4.92%, MDRX -4.27%, CSOD -3.51%, GRPN -2.97%.

In Friday trade, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (668.18, -1.14 -0.17%) finished a turbulent session slightly under flat lines. The sector traded most of the day in the green, only to shed most of those gains in the final hour and a half of trading as the broader market sold off. Holding the sector below flat lines today were large cap names like MU -2.80%, STX -2.74%, GOOGL -2.25%, GOOG -2.21%, FB -1.74%, CTXS -1.44%, WDC -1.30%, EBAY -1.09%, HPQ -0.99%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Reliance will connect the smart meters, streetlights and distribution automation equipment in Mumbai, using Intel (INTC 28.81, +0.33 +1.16%) IOT Gateways and Connode's IPv6 based wireless mesh solution, Connode 4. This will be the first roll-out in India of smart meters fully compliant to the communication standards recently adopted in the machine-to-machine roadmap by the government of India.

Apple (AAPL 114.71, -0.29 -0.25%) iPhone 6S and 6S Plus models hit retail stores today.

CSC (CSC 61.31, +0.81 +1.36%) announced it closed the acquisition of Fixnetix. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Gartner (IT 86.31, +0.27 +0.31%) acquired Capterra, a web service which connects buyers and sellers of software. Financial terms of said deal were not disclosed.

Pioneer Power Solutions (PPSI 3.80, -1.20 -24.00%) priced its 1.125 million share offering of common stock at $4.00 per share.

Digital Ally (DGLY 6.40, -0.04 -0.62%) announced several initial package orders for its FirstVu HD body-worn cameras in-car Audio/Video Systems.

Marvell (MRVL 9.33, +0.31 +3.38%) announced restructuring of its mobile platform business. The company expects the initiative to result in annualized operating expense savings in the range of $170-220 million.

Coherent (COHR 54.93, -0.24 -0.44%) announced CFO Helene Simonet will retire effective February 1.

Advanced Semi (ASX 5.14, +0.01 +0.29%) reiterated its view on the proposed share exchange between

Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL 5.99, +0.14 +2.39%) and Hon Hai Precision (FXCNY). The company believes the distribution would be dilutive for SPIL's shareholders.

2U (QTWO 23.85, -2.13 -8.20%) priced its offering of 3.5 million shares of its common stock by it and its selling shareholders at $34.00 per share.

Sysorex Global (SYRX 1.08, -0.52 -32.50%) announced a public offering of 5.25 million shares of common stock at a price of $1.00 per share.

Paylocity (PCTY 29.75, -0.89 -2.90%) priced 3.74 million shares of common stock in the offering announced earlier by a selling shareholder at $29.75 per share.

Verizon (VZ 44.22, +0.13 +0.29%) announced a new iPhone upgrade plan. Customers who purchased either the new iPHone 6S or 6S Plus models are eligible to get a new phone every year.

Leidos (LDOS 42.19, +0.41 +0.98%) was awarded a $50 million subcontract by International SOS Government Services, to provide beneficiary education and enrollment support services for the TRICARE Overseas Program.

Liquid Holdings Group (LIQD 0.07, -0.00 -5.33%) received a delisting notice from Nasdaq, and the company has until September 28 to file an appeal.

TeleNav (TNAV 8.04, +0.04 +0.50%) reached an agreement with 9.1% shareholder Nokomis Capital pursuant to which Richard Todaro was appointed to the Board.

Notable technology companies which reported quarterly results:

Jabil Circuit (JBL 21.88, +2.38 +12.21%) reported Q4 EPS and revenues which beat expectations. The company saw EPS of $0.53 on revenues of $4.68 billion. The company also issued upside guidance for Q1 EPS of $0.72-0.88 on revenues of $5.1-5.3 billion.

BlackBerry (BBRY 6.49, -0.54 -7.68%) reported Q2 EPS and revenues which were worse than anticipated. BBRY posted a Q2 EPS loss of $0.13 on revenues of $490 million. The company noted it sees profitability by Q4.

Analyst actions:

MRVL was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Craig Hallum,
BOX was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity,
AMAT and LRCX were upgraded to Buy from Outperform at Credit Agricole,
KLAC was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Credit Agricole,
ERIC was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Liberum,
INTC was upgraded to Mkt Perform from Mkt Underperform at JMP Securities,
CYBR was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura;
SLAB and SMTC were downgraded to Neutral from Buy at MKM Partners,
INAP was downgraded at Wells Fargo, Oppenheimer and DA Davidson,
SCON was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann,
FFIV was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James

Weekly Recap - Week ending 25-Sep-15Dow +113.35 at 16314.67, Nasdaq -47.98 at 4686.49, S&P -0.90 at 1931.35

The stock market finished a down week on a sloppy note with the S&P 500 (-0.1%) surrendering a solid intraday gain during the final two hours of action to end flat. The benchmark index locked in a weekly decline of 1.4% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.0%) underperformed, ending the week lower by 2.9%. For its part, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.7%) ended Friday in the green as blue chips avoided volatility in the biotech space.

Equity indices spiked out of the gate in response to early morning strength in the futures market, which coincided with solid gains in Europe. To that point equity indices in France, Germany, and the UK rebounded after yesterday's struggles, gaining between 2.6% and 3.0% with automakers taking part in the rally. That rally lifted U.S. equity futures, but once the U.S. session began, the S&P 500 nestled into seven-point range that held into the afternoon.

The S&P 500 drifted near its high through the morning, supported by the financial sector (+1.5%) in particular. That heavily-weighted group held the lead after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen spoke last evening, reminding that the Fed is still intent on raising rates by year's end. Meanwhile, most other sectors also held solid intraday gains, but a late afternoon dive in the biotech industry group proved too large to be ignored by the market.

Interestingly, the Nasdaq Composite hinted at the afternoon weakness, steadily marching lower from its opening high throughout the day. Large cap biotechnology listings like Amgen (AMGN 138.60, -4.91), Celgene (CELG 108.45, -5.43), Gilead Sciences (GILD 100.14, -2.37), and Regeneron (REGN 491.43, -30.57) lost between 2.3% and 5.9% while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 310.24, -15.98) declined through the morning, accelerating its retreat into the afternoon to end lower by 4.9% after being down more than 6.0%.

For the week, the ETF sank 13.0%, suffering from a one-two punch that started with Monday's remarks from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who said she is interested in introducing price controls into the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, yesterday's reminder from Fed Chair Yellen about the potential rate hike by year's end may have also factored into the selling considering the industry has benefited greatly from rock-bottom rates. The weakness in biotechnology ensured a sharply lower finish for the health care sector (-2.9%), which surrendered nearly 6.0% for the week.

Elsewhere, the consumer discretionary sector (unch) displayed relative strength intraday, but fell victim to the afternoon selling, ending in-line with the market. That masked an 8.9% surge in the shares of Nike (NKE 125.00, +10.21) after the athletic apparel giant cruised past earnings/revenue estimates and reported higher than expected futures orders.

Interestingly, the afternoon dive in equities had essentially no impact on Treasuries as 10-yr note held a bit above its morning low into the close with its yield rising four basis points to 2.17%.

Meanwhile, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 23.26, -0.21) started the day with a two-point loss, but inched higher through the morning, indicating some investors used the early strength to increase their hedges. The VIX then accelerated its climb during the afternoon to end little changed as the slide in the S&P 500 invited wholesale demand for downside protection.

Today's affair invited above-average volume with more than XXX million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the third revision of Q2 GDP and the Michigan Sentiment Index:

Second quarter GDP growth was revised up to 3.9% in the third estimate from 3.7% while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to remain at 3.7%
GDP increased 0.6% in Q1 2015
Real final sales were revised up to 3.9% from 3.5%, representing the biggest quarterly gain since a 4.3% increase in Q3 2014
Overall, the revisions in the third estimate were strong across the board. The only negative contributions came from inventories and net exports while all of the other sectors contributed more positively to growth in the third estimate
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index was revised up to 87.2 in the final September reading from 85.7 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a revision up to 87.0
The Expectations Index was revised up to 78.2 from 76.4, but is still down from 83.4 in August
The Current Conditions Index was revised up to 101.2 from 100.3, but remains down from 105.1 in August

On Monday, August Personal Income, Personal Spending and Core PCE data will be released at 8:30 ET while August Pending Home Sales will be announced at 10:00 ET.

Week in Review: Roller-coaster Ride Continues

The stock market began the week on a higher note despite seeing some intraday volatility. The S&P 500 gained 0.5% while the Nasdaq Composite underperformed throughout the day, but was able to settle just above its flat line. Equity indices rallied out of the gate with the advance continuing through the first hour of action. All ten sectors took part in the opening move higher, but health care was quick to surrender its gain. The countercyclical group ended lower by 1.4% while biotechnology struggled mightily, sending the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 340.78, -15.98) lower by 4.5%. The biotechnology ETF lagged from the get-go, but the group accelerated its decline after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sent out a tweet saying she is ready to unveil a plan that would target price gouging among specialty drug makers. Monday's selling dropped IBB below its 200-day moving average (347.36) to levels last seen at the start of September.

The market endured a rough trading day on Tuesday with the S&P 500 surrendering 1.2% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.5%) underperformed. Equities spent the duration of the session in the red after gapping lower at the start. The opening stumble occurred in response to continued concerns about China's economic growth, which was manifested through weakness in commodity prices. Furthermore, European automakers struggled with Volkswagen plunging 19.8% to extend this week's loss to 34.7% after announcing the establishment of a EUR6.50 billion reserve in anticipation of costs associated with the Department of Justice probe into the company's diesel engines. European markets registered losses across the board with Germany's DAX tumbling 3.8%. Once the opening bell rang on Wall Street, the S&P 500 surrendered more than 15 points in short order and gave up another 20 into the afternoon. The index recovered about ten points during the final hour, but all ten sectors ended the day with losses.

The major averages registered their second consecutive retreat on Wednesday with the S&P 500 shedding 0.2% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) ended just ahead. Overall, the midweek session was a choppy affair that saw the benchmark index spend some time on both sides of its flat line. That trading dynamic resulted from mixed performance among the ten sectors as three top-weighted groups-technology (+0.2%), financials (+0.1%), and health care (-0.1%)-displayed flashes of intraday strength while most of the remaining sectors struggled. Notably, commodity-sensitive energy (-1.4%) and materials (-2.1%) finished at the bottom of the leaderboard while the industrial sector (-0.7%) also kept the market under pressure. Altogether, the three sectors responded negatively to the overnight release of China's preliminary September Caixin Manufacturing PMI, which fell to a 6.5-year low of 47.0 from 47.3 (expected 47.5).

Thursday ended on a modestly lower note after equity indices erased the bulk of their early losses. The S&P 500 settled lower by 0.3% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.5%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.4%) underperformed. The final standing represented a notable shift from the morning dynamic that saw equity indices gap down at the start amid selling in Europe. To that point, markets in France and Germany both lost near 2.0% apiece with automakers facing continued pressure. BMW was among the weakest performers in Germany, falling 5.2%, with company executives pushing back against insinuations that the company may have taken a page out of Volkswagen's playbook, saying they are ready to provide vehicles for testing on demand. To be sure, the losses among automakers were not the culprit behind the slide in Europe, but they represented another source of pressure in market that has been wrestling with persistent growth concerns surrounding China. Those concerns were echoed by Caterpillar (CAT 65.80, -4.40) as the manufacturer of heavy machinery lowered its guidance and announced plans to reduce its workforce by 4,000 to 5,000 people by the end of next year. Shares of CAT settled lower by 6.3%, keeping the industrial sector (-0.7%) among the laggards throughout the day.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 16384.79 16314.67 -70.12 -0.4 -8.5
Nasdaq 4827.23 4686.50 -140.73 -2.9 -1.0
S&P 500 1958.08 1931.34 -26.74 -1.4 -6.2
Russell 2000 1163.37 1122.79 -40.58 -3.5 -6.8

4:03 pm Alpha and Omega Semi announces preliminary agreement with the state authority of Chongqing, China, to form a joint venture for a new power semiconductor manufacturing facility (AOSL) : Co announces it has entered into a preliminary agreement with the state authority of Chongqing, China, to form a joint venture for a new state-of-the-art power semiconductor manufacturing facility in the Liangjiang New Area of Chongqing. Under the proposed agreement, the initial capitalization of the joint venture is expected to be approximately $300 million. The Chongqing authority would own 49% of the venture's equity and invest in cash. AOS would own 51% of the equity and contribute primarily its existing assembly and testing equipment as well as certain intellectual property related to the operation of the facility.

3:33 pm Earnings Preview for the week of September 28 - October 2 (:SUMRX) :

Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of September 28 - October 2 some of the bigger names include:

Monday:
Pre Market - CALM, MTN
After Hours - SNX, CMTL

Tuesday:
Pre Market - IHS, FGP, AZZ, CMN
After Hours - COST, DMND, LNDC, CUDA

Wednesday:
Pre Market - PAYX

Thursday:
Pre Market - MKC
After Hours - MU, PRGS, CAMP

11:51 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (138) outpacing new highs (48) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADEP, AF, AMRK, AMSG, ARTNA, ATVI, AWR, AZO, BNCL, CBNJ, CENT, CENTA, COKE, CSFL, CUBE, DGII, DMND, EDAP, EEFT, EFSC, ENVI, EXLS, FBC, FDP, FL, FLO, FNFG, HFWA, HTBK, KALU, LION, LNCE, LPSB, MATR, MB, MSEX, NKE, NKSH, NVDA, PFBC, PRMW, PULB, SGBK, SIGI, SLP, STRP, TOWN, UHAL

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACW, AHGP, AHPI, AIR, AVL, AXAS, BBG, BCEI, BETR, BKD, BKE, BRS, CAS, CATB, CCCR, CETC, CFX, CGI, CHEF, CIE, CNV, CNX, CPA, CPHR, CRCM, CRR, CYAD, DCIX, DCO, DDC, DO, DRYS, DWSN, DXM, ECHO, ECR, EMCB, EMES, EXAM, FARO, FINL, FLDM, FMSA, FREE, FSTR, FUEL, GIGA, GIGM, GKOS, GNK, HBIO, HCLP, HLX, HOS, HTWR, HURC, HWCC, ICL, INAP, IPHS, JPEP, KFS, KVHI, LF, LORL, LWAY, LXU, MBUU, MCFT, MG, MHE, MHGC, MHR, MIXT, MPEL, MT, MUR, MVC, NES, NEWP, NEWS, NFG, NSPH, NYLD, NYLD.A, OMED, OREX, ORIG, OTIV, PACD, PCRX, PED, PERF, PGN, PICO, PIR, PPSI, PRKR, PVA, QIWI, RADA, RBC, RBCN, RKDA, RLOC, SBH, SCHN, SDRL, SGNL, SGOC, SINO, SLCA, SMTC, STKL, SWFT, SXC, TEX, THRX, THST, TIGR, TKR, TPLM, TRCO, TRIB, TRMR, TWI, TWIN, UTIW, VJET, VMI, VPCO, VRNT, WDR, WGA, WYNN, XPO, YGE, ZINC

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none


MU (14.91 -2.8%): Price target lowered to $17 from $19 at Wedbush.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The markets ended the last day of the week in positive territory. The Nasdaq Composite led all three major US indices with gains of 80.69 points (+1.74%) to end the day 4707.77. The S&P 500 followed that strength with gains of 27.54 (+1.43%) to 1951.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also ended with notable gains, up 200.36 points (+1.23%) to 16472.37. The indices traded red-to-green when at about 1:30 p.m. ET, all three indices popped above flat lines to close near session highs.

A disappointing Nonfarm Payrolls report for September put pressure on the markets in early trade. Per the report, only 142,000 jobs were added in the month. In addition to the poor report, last month's numbers were revised down to 136,000 from 173,000. On top of that, the report also showed no growth in hourly earnings while the expectations were for a slight increase.

Technology (XLK 40.08, +0.56 +1.42%) names which outperformed the broader market today included SNDK +6.56%, FSLR +6.51%, YHOO +6.19%, JNPR +4.34%, QCOM +3.55%, FTR +3.39%. The sector followed broader market action on the session, going red-to-green around 12 p.m. ET. Outperformance among arguably the most recognizable tech name, Google (GOOG 626.91, +15.62 +2.56%), stemmed from the news on the company's investor relations website which stated that the company's reorganization into Alphabet will be completed after the market closes today.

Strength was experienced in every technology subsector today, led by the Social Media (SOCL 17.92, +0.59 +3.40%) space. In the sector, names like WB +12.10%, YOKU +10.91%, YELP +7.24%, TWTR +6.60%, CYOU +6.34% outperformed the broader market. Twitter (TWTR 26.32, 9+1.64 +6.65%) posted notable gains on the session, as premarket the company was assumed with a Neutral recommendation at Wedbush. The analyst gave a $30 price target on the name, a roughly 13% premium to current prices.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (673.35, +10.09 +1.52%) sector, notable strength from Micron (MU 15.91, +1.14 +7.72) came after the company reported fiscal fourth quarter results which beat on the top and bottom lines of expectations. The company also gave tepid Q1 guidance on the conference call following the results, attributing the outlook to pricing pressure among the company's DRAM offerings. Other names in the sector which outperformed included MU +7.72%, PYPL +4.29%, TDC +3.20%, QRVO +3.05%, HPQ +2.84%, MCHP +2.82%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Apple (AAPL 110.38, +0.80 +0.73%) according to reports has acquired speech technology firm VocalIQ.

Blucora (BCOR 13.64, +0.27 +2.02%) and its InfoSpace subsidiary enter into a Mutual Termination Agreement with Yahoo! (YHOO 30.71, +1.80 +6.23%) pursuant to which their Yahoo! Publisher Network Contract will terminate effective Dec. 31, 2015.

Microsoft (MSFT 45.57, +0.96 +2.15%) and ASUSTek (ASUUY 44.23) announced the expansion of an earlier patent licensing agreement. Microsoft (MSFT) also acquired 3D physics provider Havok from Intel (INTC 30.51, +0.51 +1.70%). Financial terms of said deal were not disclosed. IBM (IBM 144.58, +0.99 +0.69%) announced that Charter Communications (CHTR 183.14, +1.37 +0.75%) is implementing its rules-based construction workflow and tracking system in the cloud

Google (GOOG) announced that its Alphabet reorganization is expected to complete after the close of business today. Will retain GOOG/GOOGL tickers.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Cartesian (CRTN 2.25, -0.24 -9.64%) appointed John Ferrara as CFO effective Oct. 15, 2015. Ferrara just yesterday announced his resignation from TheStreet.com (TST 1.65, +0.02 +1.23%).

Frontier Communications (FTR 4.88, +0.16 +3.39%) signed an agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The agreement is an important step forward in the process to complete Frontier's planned $10.54 Billion acquisition of Verizon's wireline business and assets in California, Florida and Texas.

RigNet (RNET 26.66, +1.62 +6.47%) announced the agreement with Inmarsat to offer Fleet Xpress, the maritime version of the Global Xpress service, to the oil and gas maritime sector.

InterCloud Systems (ICLD 1.71, +0.04 +2.40%) was awarded a $2.2 million contract for professional services in connection with the deployment of an SDN network platform.

XO Group (XOXO 14.19, +0.18 +1.28%) acquired GigMasters for $8.5 million and announced a strategic partnership with Jetaport for a minority equity ownership for $1.5 million in cash.

Barracuda Networks (CUDA 17.91, +2.02 +12.71%) announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the purchase of up to $50 million of common stock through Sept. 30, 2017.

New Relic (NEWR 39.43, +2.18 +5.85%) announced that current Chief Revenue Officer Hilarie Koplow-McAdams has been promoted to the role of President.

Travelzoo (TZOO 8.66, +0.35 +4.21%) announced Holger Bartel as global CEO. Current CEO, Chris Loughlin, will leave Dec. 31, 2015 to pursue other opportunities.

Citrix Systems (CTXS 71.57, +1.47 +2.10%) implemented an incentive program for certain executive officers and other employees to further its strategic and operational initiative.

OSI Systems'(OSIS 78.30, +1.88 +2.46%) Rapiscan Systems was selected as a supplier on a 5-year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency valued at up to $293 million to provide Medium Energy Cargo and Vehicle Inspection (CVI) Systems.

Wowo (WOWO 7.80, +0.29 +3.86%) Co-CEO Jianguang Wu tendered his resignation effective September 30. The Company also announced that on September 28, 2015, Yongming Zhang tendered his resignation as a member of the board of directors of the Company, effective on September 28, 2015.

Advanced Micro (AMD 1.83, +0.09 +5.17%) adopted a restructuring plan involving a workforce reduction of about 5%. The plan includes outsourcing IT services and application development. The plan also anticipates a charge for the consolidation of certain real estate facilities. As such, restructuring charges of $42 million, $41 million of which are expected to be realized through 3Q15, $31 million of which will be severance charges. In all, the company expects to save about $58 million in FY2016.

Autobytel (ABTL 19.11, +2.81 +17.24%) acquired AutoWeb in an all-stock and warrant transaction. In accordance with the deal, ABTL increased its fiscal 2015 revenue guidance to range between $132 million and $134 million, representing an increase of about 24% to 26% from 2014. The company has also revised its fiscal 2015 non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance to range between $1.17 and $1.23, an increase of about 41% to 48% from 2014. ABTL expects the acquisition to be accretive to its non-GAAP diluted EPS in 2016.

In reaction to earnings:

CalAmp (CAMP 18.20, +2.55 +16.29%) reported Q2 EPS and revenues which beat expectations. The company saw EPS in the period of $0.27 on revenues of $69.81 million. The company also issued in-line guidance for Q3; CAMP expects Q3 EPS of $0.26-0.30 on revenues of $71-76 million. The company also issued in-line FY16 guidance for revenues of $281-289 million.

Micron (MU) reported Q4 EPS and revenues which beat expectations. The company saw EPS of $0.37 and revenues of $3.6 billion. The company also issued guidance for Q1 which was worse than expected at revs of $3.35-3.60 billion on EPS of $0.20-0.26.

Progress Software (PRGS 23.00, -2.63 -10.26%) reported Q3 EPS which beat and revenues which missed expectations. The company saw EPS in Q3 of $0.39 on revenues of $100.7 million. PRGS also issued guidance for Q4 to the tune of EPS of $0.47-0.51 on revenues of $113-118 million.

Analyst actions:

PMCS was upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna;
TKAGY was downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC Securities

Weekly Recap - Week ending 02-Oct-15Dow +200.36 at 16472.37, Nasdaq +80.69 at 4707.77, S&P +27.54 at 1951.35

The stock market ended the week on an upbeat note despite stumbling at the start. The S&P 500 turned a 30-point loss into a 28-point gain to end higher by 1.4% while the Nasdaq Composite (+1.7%) outperformed. For the week, the S&P 500 jumped 1.0% while the Nasdaq added 0.5%.

The opening dive occurred after the release of the Nonfarm Payrolls report for September, which disappointed on all fronts. According to the report, only 142,000 jobs were added, which was a far cry from the Briefing.com consensus, which expected a reading of 205,000. Adding insult to injury, the prior month's job growth was revised down to 136,000 from 173,000 and hourly earnings showed no growth.

In sum, the weak nature of the report caused the market to reconsider its rate-hike expectations. Bond traders were quick to show their doubt about the likelihood of a rate hike before 2016, evidenced by a surge in Treasuries. The 10-yr note jumped more than a point immediately after the report, narrowing its gain to 16 ticks by the close with the 10-yr yield falling five basis points to 1.98%.

Elsewhere, the Dollar Index (95.93, -0.25) dropped to late September levels in the morning, but erased more than half of its decline by the close, ending lower by 0.3%. Most notably, the dollar/yen pair dove below the 119.00 mark in the morning, but returned above 119.00 around 10:30 ET and continued climbing into the afternoon. The pair ticked above 120.00 during the final hour of action, which is a level that has been in focus throughout the week. The 120.00 level will deserve attention going into next week considering dips below that mark have been congruent with a risk-off attitude while rallies north of 120.00 have coincided with strength in equities.

Nine of ten sectors ended in the green with energy (+4.0%) finishing well ahead of other groups. The sector received a boost from crude oil, which climbed 1.8% to $45.55/bbl. Thanks to today's spike, the energy sector gained 2.8% for the week while only two other groups-health care and materials-added more than 2.0% since last Friday.

Although the energy sector was a clear standout, the outperformance in the health care sector (+2.1%) was more notable since biotechnology powered that move. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 315.40, +10.44) spiked 3.4%, ending the week higher by 1.7% after being down almost 8.0% at its lowest point on Monday.

Biotechnology's outperformance helped the Nasdaq finish in the lead while large cap technology listings like Apple (AAPL 110.38, +0.80), Google (GOOGL 656.99, +14.99) also contributed to the Nasdaq's strength. For its part, the technology sector gained 1.5%.

On the downside, the financial sector narrowed its loss to 0.1% after showing a 2.0%+ decline in the early going in response to the disappointing jobs report.

Today's participation was well above average with more than a billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Nonfarm Payrolls and Factory Orders:

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 142,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 205,000
August nonfarm payrolls revised to 136,000 from 173,000
July nonfarm payrolls revised to 223,000 from 245,000
Private sector payrolls increased by 118,000 (Briefing.com consensus 200,000)
August private sector payrolls revised to 100,000 from 140,000
July private sector payrolls revised to 195,000 from 224,000
Unemployment rate held at 5.1%, which is what the consensus expected
The U6 unemployment rate, which accounts for the total unemployed plus persons marginally attached to the labor force and the underemployed, slipped to 10.0% from 10.3% in August
Average hourly earnings were unchanged (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) after an upwardly revised 0.4% increase (from 0.3%) in August
The labor force participation rate ticked down to 62.4% from 62.6%
Factory orders declined 1.7% in August after increasing a downwardly revised 0.2% (from 0.4%) while the Briefing.com consensus expected a 1.0% drop
That was the largest decline since a 3.7% drop was registered in December 2014
The weakness in the manufacturing sector comes as a strong dollar has curtailed export demand and low oil prices have reduced demand for drilling equipment

Monday's data will be limited to the 10:00 ET release of the ISM Services report for September.

Week in Review: Volatile Action Continues

The trading week got off to a very poor start for the major indices, which experienced steady selling pressure from the opening bell in a trend-down day. The S&P 500 lost 2.6%. Global growth concerns were at the heart of Monday's pullback along with another dastardly performance by the biotechnology sector. The growth concerns were triggered anew by a caustic research note on the business prospects for commodity producer Glencore (GLCNF 1.07, -0.41), an 8.8% year-over-year decline in China's industrial profits, a disappointing 1.4% monthly decline in pending U.S. home sales for August, and a declaration from International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Christine Lagarde that the IMF's forecasts for global growth of 3.3% this year and 3.8% next year are no longer realistic due principally to the weakness in emerging markets.

The market ended Tuesday on an uninspiring note after surrendering the bulk of its intraday gain. The S&P 500 (+0.1%) added two points after showing an eight-point gain during the opening hour. Equity indices rallied at the start, but the rebound from Monday's 2.6% dive in the S&P 500 hit resistance right beneath the 1,900 level, at which point most sectors began backing away from their morning highs. The health care sector (+0.9%) held the lead throughout the day, but the influential group also retreated from its high as market-wide selling pressure grew heavier during the afternoon.

The stock market ended the midweek session on a higher note, but could not avoid its second consecutive monthly decline. The S&P 500 gained 1.9% on Wednesday, but surrendered 2.7% in September. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (+2.3%) outperformed, but lost 3.3% for the month. The Wednesday session also marked the end of the third quarter, during which the S&P 500 fell 6.9% versus a 7.4% decline in the Nasdaq. The end of Q3 meant that quarter-end positioning and portfolio rebalancing likely played a part in the advance. Equity indices began the trading day with solid gains after index futures rallied alongside markets in Europe. The S&P 500 built on its opening spike, notching a session high just before 10:30 ET; however, that move was followed by a pullback into the middle of the day's trading range, which occurred alongside rally in the yen that briefly dropped the dollar/yen pair below the 120.00 level. The short-lived swoon in the dollar/yen pair was followed by a rebound into the 120.00 area while stocks climbed to new highs.

Thursday ended on a modestly higher note after the key indices climbed off their intraday lows. The S&P 500 (+0.20%) settled within four points of its unchanged level while the Dow and Nasdaq settled not far behind. Equities began the first session of Q4 just above their flat lines after a pre-market retreat caused S&P 500 futures to surrender a 25-point gain. The early morning slide from pre-market highs gathered steam following a Bloomberg report indicating the Bank of Japan does not plan to introduce additional stimulus at this time. In addition to pressuring stocks, the report gave a boost to the yen, sending the dollar/yen pair to a session low near 119.50; however, the currency pair was able to claw its way back into the 120.00 range in the afternoon while stocks also climbed off their lows.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 16314.67 16472.37 157.70 1.0 -7.6
Nasdaq 4686.50 4707.77 21.27 0.5 -0.6
S&P 500 1931.34 1951.36 20.02 1.0 -5.2
Russell 2000 1122.79 1114.12 -8.67 -0.8 -7.5

4:06 pm Canadian Solar closes on the purchase of three operating solar projects totaling 59.8 MW AC from KKR (CSIQ) : The total approximate enterprise value of this transaction is $203.7 mln. In conjunction with this acquisition, Canadian Solar also closed a USD$50 Million loan with Credit Suisse, who also acted as sole financial advisor on the transaction.

4:02 pm Action Semi purchases 83,999,299 shares at $2.30/ADS share, under its previously announced 84 mln share tender offer (ACTS) :

3:47 pm Earnings Preview for the week of October 5 - 9 (:SUMRX) :

Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of October 5 - 9 some of the bigger names include:


Monday:
After Hours - TCS

Tuesday:
Pre Market - PEP
After Hours - YUM, TISI

Wednesday:
Pre Market - MON, STZ, RPM, AYI, GPN
After Hours - MG, RECN

Thursday:
Pre Market - DPZ, ISCA
After Hours - AA, HELE, RT, ANGO

3:24 pm Agilent subsidiary Dako announces FDA approval for its PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx diagnostic assay, to reveal whether a patient with advanced NSCLC is likely to respond to a new form of treatment (A) : Co announced the U.S. FDA approval of a new companion diagnostic assay that can reveal whether a patient with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (:NSCLC) is likely to respond to a new form of treatment. Dako developed PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx in partnership with Merck & Co (MRK)

11:52 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (437) outpacing new highs (11) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: CUBE, FCVA, HRB, JE, LKOR, PULB, SLP, TACT, TYL, UCBA, ULBI

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: A, AAVL, ABAC, ACAT, ACPW, ACTA, ADAP, ADSK, ADT, AEGR, AFT, AGTC, AI, AIMC, AIN, AIRM, AIT, AJX, ALDX, AMBC, AMG, ANGO, ANH, APAM, ARDC, ARNA, ARTW, ASCMA, ASEI, ASTE, ASYS, AT, ATRO, AVID, AVK, AVL, AXE, AXLL, BAS, BAX, BBBY, BBEP, BBRG, BBT, BCC, BCEI, BDC, BDE, BEL, BEN, BGT, BGX, BKE, BLIN, BLT, BLX, BOBE, BOI, BOJA, BRKR, BSL, BSPM, BUFF, BV, BW, BWINB, BZH, CATB, CBK, CBL, CCCR, CDI, CDRB, CF, CFX, CG, CGG, CGI, CGNT, CIF, CIT, CKH, CLMS, CMA, CMI, CMLS, CNA, CNS, CNSL, CNV, COG, COHR, CPSI, CRR, CSG, CSLT, CSPI, CST, CTG, CTL, CUB, CVGI, CYCC, DAR, DCA, DCIX, DDD, DDS, DE, DEL, DEX, DFS, DHG, DHRM, DISCA, DISCK, DNAI, DO, DSCI, DSL, DSU, DX, ECC, ECHO, EFF, EHI, EMG, EMO, EMR, ENTL, ENV, ERA, ESL, ESV, EV, EYES, FAST, FBRC, FCO, FDEU, FDML, FEIC, FENX, FHY, FLDM, FLR, FLXN, FNGN, FNSR, FOE, FORR, FOSL, FRGI, FSTR, FWM, FWRD, GARS, GBL, GCO, GDL, GDO, GEN, GEOS, GHL, GI, GKOS, GLBL, GLDD, GLO, GLYC, GMLP, GMT, GNK, GNRC, GPS, GPT, GRIF, GRMN, GSIT, GSVC, GVA, HCCI, HCLP, HGR, HGSH, HOS, HSNI, HSTM, HTR, HWAY, HWCC, HY, HYB, HYF, HYI, I, IBM, ICFI, IDN, IDT, IGA, IGT, IID, IILG, IMMY, IMN, INO, IR, IRC, IRDM, ISH, ITT, IVZ, JASN, JBHT, JEC, JGH, JOY, JRI, JSD, JVA, JW.A, KAMN, KEG, KERX, KEYW, KHI, KKD, KND, KNX, KSS, KTOS, KYN, L, LADR, LDP, LECO, LITE, LM, LMNR, LOCO, LORL, LPLA, LPSN, LUK, LWAY, LXU, MANT, MAT, MBUU, MC, MCRB, MED, MFRM, MG, MIND, MNKD, MOS, MPW, MS, MSM, MTB, MYRG, NANO, NAV, NAVI, NC, NCV, NCZ, NE, NES, NEWP, NHS, NM, NNI, NOR, NRX, NSL, NSM, NSPR, NTRA, NVLS, NWHM, NWS, NXTD, OCIP, OESX, OPTT, ORIG, ORN, OSGB, OTIC, OXGN, OZM, PCAR, PCH, PDFS, PEB, PEBO, PERF, PFIS, PGH, PGN, PH, PHH, PHI, PHII, PHMD, PICO, PIR, PJC, PNR, POL, POT, PRGN, PRGS, PRSN, PRU, PSIX, PTC, PTEN, PVA, QUAD, R, RAX, RBC, RCG, RCII, RDNT, RELV, RES, RESI, RF, RFP, RGLS, RIBT, RICE, RJF, RLJ, RLOC, ROG, ROK, ROYT, RRTS, RST, RTK, RXN, SAAS, SAVE, SB, SBAC, SBH, SBLK, SBRA, SCON, SEM, SF, SFE, SFLY, SFY, SGI, SGNT, SHLO, SIFY, SKBI, SKY, SLB, SLCA, SLM, SMRT, SMT, SPN, SPPI, SSE, SSYS, STDY, STT, SVU, SWFT, SYMC, SZC, TAL, TBBK, TBPH, TC, TDC, TDY, TEF, TESO, TGI, THC, THR, TIME, TIVO, TLN, TNDM, TPRE, TRCO, TROW, TTGT, TUMI, TV, TWI, UAMY, UCP, UEIC, UNT, UNTD, UNVR, USAP, UTIW, VGGL, VHI, VICL, VLT, VMI, VRNS, VRTS, VSI, VTA, VVR, WAIR, WCC, WDR, WGO, WING, WPRT, WSTC, WWD, WWW, WY, X, XHR, XRX, YPF, ZBH, ZINC

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IEI

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: HYG, JNK, PPLT, UNG, XES

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From Briefing.com: Today's action ended with the markets split as only the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to hold onto gains. Sideways trading in all three major US indices ended with minimal gains and losses as about average volume was observed, with about 946 million shares traded hands at the NYSE, with about 1.9 billion shares exchanged at the NASDAQ. The Nasdaq Composite closed down 32.90 points (-0.69%) to 4748.36. The S&P 500 posted modest losses of 7.13 (-0.36%) to 1979.92, and the Dow closed up slightly, +13.76 points (+0.08%) to 16790.19.

In broader trading action, Biotech (IBB 301.91, -11.29) weighed on the markets, giving up more than 3.6% versus yesterday's closing price. At one point, the sector traded down by more than 6.4%, but recouped some of the midday losses to end in about the middle of the trading range for the day.

In Technology (XLK 40.92, +0.05 +0.12%), trading action went red-to-green as the sector finished outperforming the Nasdaq and the S&P 500. FSLR +4.76%, MU +3.70%, STX +3.03%, HPQ +3.02% led the way to the upside while FFIV -4.05%, AVGO -3.39%, VRSN -2.15%, RHT -1.79% took the sector lower.

As a subsector, Cybersecurity (HACK 25.97, -0.31 -1.18%) was notably weaker on the session. Components VASCO Data Security (VDSI 18.98, +1.58 +9.08%) and Radware (RDWR 14.01, -3.31 -19.11%) traded at opposite ends of the sector, though, pulling in both directions. VDSI was initiated with a Buy at Sidoti, possibly pulling the shares to the upside today. RDWR issued tepid guidance for the Q3 period, pressuring shares in Tuesday trade.

For what it is worth, the S&P 500 Information Technology (687.56, +1.24 +0.18%) sector ended trading today with modest gains. Losses among components like BRCM -1.57%, EA -1.54%, CTXS -1.46%, SWKS -1.42%, FB -1.29% did not hold the sector lower at the close as names like SNDK +2.98%, SYMC +2.79%, EMC +1.98%, INTC +1.70% edged the sector into the green.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Microsoft (MSFT 46.75, +0.12 +0.26%) announced Surface Pro 4, Surface Book (first laptop, to compete with MacBook Pro and Lenovo laptops), HoloLens, Microsoft Band (to compete with Apple Watch and Android Wear), Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and the Surface Pro 4 stylus (which has an eraser, unlike the Apple Pencil). Preorders for the Surface Pro 4 begin October 7.

PMC-Sierra (PMCS 10.24, +2.55 +33.16%) to be acquired by Skyworks (SWKS 80.71, -1.16 -1.42%) for $10.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at ~$2 billion. SWKS expects the deal to be immediately accretive to non-GAAP earnings upon close. SWKS then issued upside guidance for Q4. The company sees Q4 EPS of $1.52 on revenues of about $880 million (both of which are better than expectations). Xerox (XRX 9.98, +0.01 +0.10%) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries sign a Memorandum of Understanding to explore potential joint Intelligent Transport System opportunities.

Computer Sciences (CSC 63.14, -0.12 -0.19%) announced it has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire the shares of UXC Limited, confirming earlier reports the two were in deal talks.

SunPower (SPWR 23.35, +0.57 +2.50%) has launched a remote operations control center for monitoring and controlling large-scale solar power plants the company operate in the US, including those that are sold to 8point3 Energy Partners (CAFD 12.43, -0.02 -0.16%), the YieldCo joint venture formed by SunPower and First Solar (FSLR 48.88, +2.22 +4.76%). It is also being used to monitor operations at solar power plants SunPower has constructed in Latin America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia.

Stratasys (SSYS 29.66, +1.31 +4.62%) announced that they are partnering with Adobe (ADBE 85.15, -0.69 -0.80%) whereby Adobe Photoshop CC users will be able to send 3D files for production through Stratasys Direct Express.

Elsewhere in the technology sector:

Quantum (QTM 0.71, -0.03 -5.19%) repaid about $81 million in convertible notes due Nov. 15, 2015. The company also issued preliminary numbers for Q2, saying it expects revenues to be between $116-118 million.

Orbcomm (ORBC 5.79, +0.03 +0.52%) announced it will acquire WAM Technologies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Digi Intl (DGII 11.86, -0.06 -0.50%) acquired Bluenica, a temperature monitoring of perishable goods company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Wi-LAN's (WILN 1.88 flat) subsidiary Orthopedic Innovations entered into a patent license agreement with DJO Global, resolving litigation pending in the District of Delaware. The cash consideration which was paid to WILN was not disclosed.

Comtech Telecom (CMTL 22.66, -0.40 -1.73%) was awarded a $1.1 million order for infrastructure equipment from a large mobile network operator in Asia.

Sysorex Global (SYRX 1.06, +0.06 +6.00%) announced a $91 million contract to make its software and info systems the central nervous system for a new 'smart' community in Qatar.

Rackspace (RAX 25.72, -0.16 -0.60%) announced an agreement with Amazon (AMZN 537.48, -6.20 -1.14%) Web Services under which RAX will offer tools, expertise, application management, and operational support to customers on the AWS Cloud.

GlobalScape (GSB 3.31, +0.01 +0.30%) appointed Matt Goulet as COO, effective immediately.

SunEdison (SUNE 8.69, -0.35 -3.87%) disclosed a restructuring of about 15% of its global workforce in response to current and expected market conditions.

8x8 (EGHT 8.86, +0.16 +1.84%) announced a global deal with Regus to deploy its cloud-based enterprise communications service.

Leidos (LDOS 43.75, +0.33 +0.76%) announced it was recently awarded a prime contract by the US Air Force to perform architectural engineering services for a range of global programs. The ceiling value of said deal is about $950 million.

MTS Systems (MTSC 60.68, -0.41 -0.67%) Chief Compliance Officer Steven Mahon to leave the company effective November 2.

Mitek Systems (MITK 3.22, +0.07 +2.22%) received reorders worth $1.7 million from two Mobile Deposit partners. They consist of $1.4 million in software license revenue and $0.3 million in annual maintenance revenues.

NetSuite (N 87.18, -0.26 -0.30%) and Capgemini announced a partnership, naming Capgemini the sole distributor of NetSuite in France. Separately, Netsuite also announced that it is opening two major data center deployments in Europe, one in Amsterdam, Netherlands and the other in Dublin, Ireland.

Atlantic Tele-Network (ATNI 75.59, +0.08 +0.11%) announced it will acquire a controlling interest in KeyTech Bermuda for an additional $42 million investment. The company anticipates accretion per the deal to net income following the closing.

Energous (WATT 7.06, -0.13 -1.81%) Chief Commercial Officer George Holmes to leave the company, but will continue to support WATT in a consulting role.

Analyst actions:

VIVHY was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley;
HPY and VNTV were downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette,
TLSNY was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Danske Bank,
RDWR was downgraded at Oppenheimer and Wells Fargo,
KT was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman,
TI was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays

5:49 pm Altera stockholders approve pending merger with Intel (INTC) (ALTR) :

4:04 pm Adobe Systems guides at Analyst Meeting; sees FY16 below consensus; targets 20% rev and 30% non-GAAP EPS CAGRs between FY15 and FY18 (ADBE) :

Co will host a financial analyst meeting at its Adobe MAX user conference. At the meeting, Adobe management will outline the company's momentum and strategy, and discuss multi-year financial growth targets for its business.

Co sees FY16 non-GAAP EPS $2.70 vs $3.21 Capital IQ Consensus; sees revs $5.7 bln vs $5.92 bln Capital IQ ConsensusMarketing cloud bookings +30%Co sees FY15-18 non-GAAP EPS CAGR ~30%; rev CAGR ~20%; Marketing cloud bookings ~30% CAGR, rev > 20% CAGR

4:05 pm : The stock market endured a shaky session on Tuesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%) eking out a slim gain while the S&P 500 (-0.4%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.7%) underperformed throughout the day.

For the second day in a row, the U.S. trading day began after the release of some disappointing economic data overseas. Today, it was Germany's Factory Orders report for August, which showed a 1.8% decline while the market had expected an increase of 0.5%. That being said, European equities were able to register gains after erasing their early losses, but the strength did not carry over the U.S. session as continued weakness in the biotech space kept the broader market under pressure.

Specifically, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 301.91, -11.29) lost 3.6% after surrendering 0.7% on Monday. On a related note, the health care sector tumbled 2.3% while most other influential sectors also struggled.

Similar to health care, heavily-weighted financials (-0.5%) and consumer discretionary (-0.7%) underperformed throughout the day while another influential group-technology (+0.2%)-climbed ahead of the broader market during afternoon action.

The largest sector by weight received support from the likes of Apple (AAPL 111.31, +0.53), Microsoft (MSFT 46.75, +0.12), and Intel (INTC 31.74, +0.53), but several other large components finished the day in negative territory. High-beta chipmakers struggled in the early going, but the PHLX Semiconductor Index added 0.3% after erasing a 1.5% decline.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, energy (+2.2%) and materials (+1.3%) continued their recent show of relative strength, extending their respective week-to-date gains to 5.1% and 4.0%. Commodity prices were behind today's charge as crude oil surged 4.9% to $48.53/bbl with reports suggesting oil traders have taken note of rising tensions in Syria.

Unlike stocks, Treasuries ended the day near their highs after a brief morning appearance in the red. The 10-yr note added a quarter of a point, pressuring its yield two basis points to 2.04%.

Today's participation was ahead of average as more than 950 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the August trade balance, which showed a deficit of $48.30 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to come in at $44.50 billion. The prior month's deficit was revised to $41.80 billion from $41.90 billion.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET while the Consumer Credit report for August will cross the wires at 15:00 ET (Briefing.com consensus $19.50 billion).

Nasdaq Composite +0.3% YTD
S&P 500 -3.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -5.8% YTD
Russell 2000 -5.8% YTD

DJ30 +13.69 NASDAQ -32.90 SP500 -7.13 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1266/1.90 bln/1634 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1692/978.9 mln/1355

3:35 pm :

The dollar index slid lower today, which helped give commodities a boost.
The October World Economic Outlook from the IMF also came out, which played as a catalyst to the commodities space as well.
Oil prices rallied today, settling 4.9% higher at $48.53/barrel and aside from a weak dollar, oil prices got a boost from OPEC comments and output data from the EIA's short-term energy outlook.
EIA estimates that total U.S. crude oil production declined by 120,000 barrels per day (b/d) in September compared with August.
Crude oil production is forecast to decrease through mid-2016 before growth resumes late in 2016.
Projected U.S. crude oil production averages 9.2 million b/d in 2015 and 8.9 million b/d in 2016.
In other enery, Nov nat gas rose 0.4% to $2.47/MMBtu
Precious metals rose, while copper was flat.
Dec gold gained +0.7% at $1146.30/oz, while Dec silver +1.4% at $15.94/oz.

2:13 pm Microsoft confirmed earlier the new Surface, Lumia, Surface Book, HoloLens and Microsoft Band devices (MSFT) :

Co confirmed the new Surface, Lumia and Microsoft Band (to compete with Apple Watch and Android Wear) devices, taking advantage of powerful and versatile hardware to unlock new Windows 10 experiences, including fast and secured login with Windows Hello; new Cortana experiences that turn Windows 10 devices into a personal assistant; improved touch and pen experiences on Surface; and Continuum for phones, which enables the new Lumia 950 and 950 XL phones to work like PCs.

Microsoft also shared new gaming experiences from Xbox and new details on Microsoft HoloLens, the first fully untethered holographic computer.Surface Book (to compete with MacBook Pro and Lenovo laptops), the company's first featured exclusive laptop -- to start at $1,499Surface Book, Surface Pro 4 and new accessories are available for preorder in select markets Oct. 7, then for purchase in Canada and the United States on Oct. 26, with additional markets to follow. Also disclosed Windows 10 now runs on 110 million devices

11:48 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (57) outpacing new lows (38) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABTL, AGII, AIZ, AMRK, ATNI, BOFI, BRSS, CBZ, COKE, COR, CSFL, EPAM, EQC, FCN, FCVA, FIZZ, FNFG, FONR, HTBI, IOSP, JBT, JCOM, JE, JKHY, JOE, LG, LGIH, MAA, MCD, MCZ, MNRO, MPWR, MRGE, NKSH, NSSC, NVDA, OSIS, PGR, PMCS, PRMW, PSA, PULB, QLIK, RAI, RLH, RVSB, SIGI, SNX, SOCB, SSRI, TECD, UCBA, VRSN, VVI, WDFC, WHLM, XUE

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ADAP, ARO, AXX, BGT, BOX, CATB, CGNT, CPHD, DRAM, EXAS, FOGO, FSI, GKOS, GNCA, HAE, IDSA, ILMN, JASN, LITE, LNTH, NHLD, NTRA, NVLS, OZM, PRZM, RCG, RDWR, RLOC, SDPI, SIEN, SMRT, TDY, TPI, TWER, UAMY, VDTH, ZAZA, ZN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

8:31 am O2Micro lowers Q3 sales guidance; reaffirms gross margin (OIIM) :

Co lowers Q3 rev to $13.5-13.8 mln from $15-16.2 mln vs $15.67 mln Capital IQ ConsensusIn addition, gross margin for the third quarter is expected to be 50% to 52%, unchanged from the previously provided guidance. The reduction in anticipated revenue for the third quarter is primarily the result of weaker than anticipated sales by our major customers in TV and Monitors. Due to the market conditions, these customers are also maintaining lower than normal inventories. Co wil leport on Nov 4.SunEdison (SUNE) announced the completion of two solar power systems totaling 1,280 KW. The systems were developed for the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities' waste water treatment plant.5:16 am Sony to establish a Semiconductor Solutions Corporation (SNE) :

Co announced it has been implementing a series of measures to reinforce its Devices segment, a key growth driver for the Sony Group. As part of these measures, Sony will adopt a new operational structure for its Devices segment. The aim of this new structure is to enable each of the three main businesses within this segment, namely the semiconductor, battery and storage media businesses, to more rapidly adapt to their respective changing market environments and generate sustained growth.

The new company will aim to commence operations on April 1, 2016.

4:04 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) introduced its new SB0400 and SB0401 products -- the industry's first highly integrated, dedicated circuits specifically engineered for motorcycle and scooter applications.

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From Briefing.com: The markets ended today's session with modest gains. The upside was led by the Nasdaq Composite, which added 42.79 points (+0.90%) on Wednesday to end 4791.15. The S&P 500 also showed strength, ending up 15.91 points (+0.80%) to 1995.83. Rounding out the bunch, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 122.10 points (+0.73%) today to end 16912.29. The markets traded most of the day in the green, except around 11:30 a.m. ET following weakness in reaction to a larger than expected crude oil inventory build.

In other market data, the consumer credit report for August showed an increase of $16.00 billion, whereas the prior month's credit growth was revised down to $18.90 billion from $19.10 billion. Also, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index surged 25.5% to follow last week's 6.7% decline.

Among notable Technology (XLK 41.11, +0.19 +0.46%) names, Windstream (WIN 6.44, +0.35) won the day with gains of 5.75% on no news. Also strong on the session, Frontier Communications (FTR 5.38, +0.26 +5.08%) posted notable gains, outperforming the broader market, also on no news.

Specifically, Semiconductors (SOX 631.32, +9.37 +1.51%) were strong on the session. The only notable update today came in the form of the approval of the merger between Altera (ALTR 50.67, +0.75 +1.50%) and Intel (INTC 32.31, +0.57 +1.80%). The deal, announced on June 1, was for an all-cash deal valuing the company at $16.7 billion. The per share price therefore would translate to $54 per share. The deal is expected to be accretive to INTC's non-GAAP EPS and free cash flow in the first year after the closing of the deal.

In other news, the S&P 500 Information Technology (690.22, +2.66 +0.39%) sector posted modest gains. The sector ended today with modest gains, as trading action followed the broader market lower about an hour into the day, but ticked higher and eked out slight gains. Notable name Adobe (ADBE 80.65, -4.50 -5.28%) ended the session lower by % after the company provided a three year growth plan at the company's Analyst Meeting last night. The targets were not taken well by the Street, and the stock showed pressure relative to broader market trading today.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Starbucks (SBUX 58.78, +0.09 +0.15%) named former Adobe (ADBE) SVP and Chief Information Officer as their new Chief Technology Officer effective Nov. 2.

Altera (ALTR) stockholders approved the pending merger with Intel (INTC).

HP (HPQ 28.01, +0.01 +0..04%) unveiled the details of Partner First and Partner Ready, the new partner programs for HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise respectively. Both Partner First and Partner Ready will build upon HP's industry-leading PartnerOne program to help partners of both new organizations capture and capitalize on opportunities through customer-oriented, solutions-led sales.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Cyber-Ark Software (CYBR 52.86, +0.66 +1.26%) acquired Viewfinity for $30.5 million in cash. The company expects the deal to be accretive to non-GAAP EPS for 2016.

Neonode (NEON 2.26, -0.37 -14.07%) priced its underwritten public offering of 3.2 million shares of common stock at $1.90 per share.

ManTech (MANT 27.36, +0.96 +3.64%) was awarded a $250 million contract from the Department of Defense to provide cyber range services.

Electronics For Imaging (EFII 46.52, +1.10 +2.42%) acquired Corrugated Technologies, a provider of manufacturing execution software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

GigaMedia (GIGM 0.55, +0.09 +19.54%) entered into a mutual termination agreement with the shareholders of Strawberry Cosmetics, termination fee amounts to the sum of $2 million.

Cinedigm Digital Cinema (CIDM 0.55, -0.02 -3.53%) entered into a Confidential Settlement Agreement and Release with Gaiam (GAIA).

AU Optronics (AUO 3.08, +0.04 +1.32%) announced Chairman Paul Peng will resign from his concurrent role as President and assume the position of CEO. Michael Tsai will then advance to President and COO. Current CFO, Andy Yang, will change his role to Chief Strategy Officer. Benjamin Tseng, AVP of Finance, will then take the vacant CFO role.

RADA Electronics (RADA 0.74, -0.04 -5.10%) received orders for various avionics systems worth $2.5 million. RADA Electronics (RADA) received a non-compliance notice regarding the $1 minimum bid price.

VASCO Data Security (VDSI 19.15, +0.17 +0.90%) to acquire Silanis Technology for $85 million in cash. The company expects the transaction to be accretive in 2017 on a non-GAAP basis.

LogMeIn (LOGM 70.66, +1.77 +2.57%) provided an update to the succession plan, under which retiring CEO Michael Simon has agreed to serve in an advisory role until Dec. 15, 2016.

Leidos (LDOS 44.80, +1.05 +2.40%) was awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency to provide enhanced solutions for IT requirements. Total value of said contract for all awardees of about $6 billion.

6D Global Technologies (SIXD 2.90, -0.01 -0.34%) disclosed the resignation of three directors. Shares have been halted by Nasdaq since 9/10).

Analyst actions:
LXK was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup;
PMCS was downgraded at Wedbush and Mizuho,
BIDU was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Daiwa Securities

4:22 pm EXFO reports Q4 EPS in-line, misses on rev; gudies Q1 EPS below with rev in-line; guides FY16 rev in-line; names Philippe Morin COO (EXFO) :

Q4 EPS $0.04 vs $0.04 Capital IQ Consensus; revs -2% to $56.6 mln vs $58.18 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Sees Q1 EPS $0.01-0.03 vs $0.05 Capital IQ Consensus; sees revs $55-660 mln vs $58.17 mln Capital IQ Consensus. For fiscal 2016, EXFO is targeting adjusted EBITDA of US$20 million which should be achieved at a revenue level of about US$230 mln vs. $233 mln consensus. "We strengthened our executive team with the appointment of Philippe Morin in a new role as COO to improve global sales execution and product strategy. His vast executive experience at Ciena and Nortel will be strong assets for EXFO as we strive to expand our end-to-end network performance and service visibility business." 4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Wednesday session on a higher note with the S&P 500 climbing 0.8% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%) settled a bit ahead despite showing relative weakness in the early going.

Overall, the midweek session was very quiet, but there was some volatility present in the market as stocks surrendered their opening gains going into the afternoon, but returned into the middle of their ranges by the closing bell. It is worth noting that the pullback from opening highs occurred after the S&P 500 made a brief appearance above its 50-day moving average (1,997), which also served as resistance during afternoon action.

Similar to yesterday, commodity-sensitive energy (+1.3%) and materials (+1.3%) paced the opening move higher, but both sectors surrendered a portion of their gains as the session wore on. The energy sector was up nearly 2.5% at the start, but retreated from its high as crude oil erased its intraday gain. The energy component settled lower by 1.5% at $47.81/bbl after sliding from its intraday high in reaction to the latest Energy Information Administration's inventory report, which showed a 3.07 million barrel build.

Staying on the cyclical side, the largest sector by weight-technology (+0.4%)-underperformed throughout the day, but was able to climb off its low into the close. Large sector components like Apple (AAPL 110.67, -0.64), Alphabet (GOOGL 670.00, -1.64), and Oracle (ORCL 37.66, -0.07) lost between 0.2% and 0.6% while high-beta chipmakers outperformed, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index higher by 1.5%.

The afternoon rebound in technology helped the Nasdaq overtake the S&P 500 while biotechnology also contributed to the late strength in the tech-heavy index. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 307.81, +5.90) climbed 2.0%, snapping its two-day skid, while the health care sector (+1.5%) settled in the lead.

Also of note, the consumer discretionary sector (+0.3%) struggled in the early going, but ended the day in the green despite an 18.8% plunge in the shares of Yum! Brands (YUM 67.70, -15.72) after the company reported disappointing results and guided below analyst expectations.

Unlike stocks, Treasuries spent the day in negative territory, ending the day with modest losses. Accordingly, the benchmark 10-yr yield rose three basis points to 2.07%.

Today's participation was well above average with more than 1.15 billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Consumer Credit and MBA Mortgage Index:

The consumer credit report for August showed an increase of $16.00 billion, which was lower than the Briefing.com consensus estimate of $19.50 billion
The prior month's credit growth was revised down to $18.90 billion from $19.10 billion
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index surged 25.5% to follow last week's 6.7% decline

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims will be reported at 8:30 ET (Briefing.com consensus 275,000) while the September FOMC Minutes will be released at 14:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +1.2% YTD
S&P 500 -3.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -5.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.3% YTD

DJ30 +122.10 NASDAQ +42.79 SP500 +15.91 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2222/1.95 bln/810 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2407/1.16 bln/678 3:35 pm :

WTI crude oil futures were running strong today until the weekly EIA storage data came out at 10:30am ET.
Front-month Nov crude oil ran as high as $49.59/barrel, but ended the day -1.4% at $47.85/barrel
In other energy, Nov natural gas closed unchanged at $2.47/MMBtu.
Both RBOB and heating oil finished lower
Metals gained some steam, but posted modest to decent gains
Dec silver ran +0.8% today to $16.07/oz, while Dec gold rose +0.2% at $1148.70/oz
Dec copper climbed one cent to $2.37/lb

12:06 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (61) outpacing new lows (37) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AIZ, BNCL, BOFI, BRSS, BWXT, CAM, CDW, COKE, COR, CORE, CSFL, ECL, EPAM, EQC, ESSA, FBC, FCN, FNFG, FOXF, GPN, HDB, HPY, HTBI, IM, IOSP, JCOM, JE, JKHY, JNPR, LGIH, LMT, MRGE, MSEX, NKSH, NVDA, OSIS, POOL, PPBI, PRK, PRMW, PULB, QTS, RAI, RKUS, RVSB, SNX, STZ, STZ.B, SYKE, TBK, TECD, TOWN, UCBA, UVE, VLRS, VSAT, VVI, WDFC, WHLM, WK, XUE

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AEGR, ARO, BSI, CCCR, CDZI, CNOB, COSI, EARS, GPRO, HGSH, IDSA, KKD, LITE, LNTH, MDVX, MGLN, NCQ, NNBR, NTRA, NUS, PCRX, PRGN, REDF, RMGN, SAAS, SLI, SMRT, TCS, TDOC, TDY, TNDM, TWER, VDTH, VSCP, WILC, WMGI, ZSAN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

9:21 am General Electric launches Current, which will integrates its LED, Solar, Energy Storage and Electric Vehicle businesses (GE) : The co announced Current, powered by GE, an energy company that integrates GE's LED, Solar, Energy Storage and Electric Vehicle businesses with its industrial strength Predix platform to identify and deliver the most cost effective, efficient energy solutions required by customers today and in the future. Maryrose Sylvester, who as President and CEO at GE Lighting has led the transformation of one of the company's most iconic businesses, will lead the new enterprise. Current will begin with more than $1 billion of revenue

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From Briefing.com: The markets closed the week with gains of about 3.3% (S&P), 2.6% (Nasdaq) and 3.7% (Dow). Friday trading closed as all three major US indices posted gains across the board. The Nasdaq Composite lead, up 19.68 points (+0.41%) to 4830.47. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 33.74 points (+0.20%) to 17084.49, and the S&P 500 added 1.46 points (+0.07%) today to end 2014.89.

The most notable news of the day came from Software (IGV 99.87, +1.15 +1.16%) firm SolarWinds (SWI 47.49, +5.61 +13.40%). Today, the company announced the Board of Directors has commenced a review of the company's strategic alternatives. Management noted the possibility of a sale or other form of business combination as possible outcomes.

Semis (SMH 52.26, -0.61) were weak on the session, posting losses of 1.15% on Friday. Chief among the weakness were names like MU -2.99%, ON -2.91%, SNDK -2.73%, TER -2.20%, ADI -1.78%, MXIM -1.61%, LLTC -1.39%, TSM -1.35%, TXN -1.26%. News items from Nvidia (NVDA 26.07, -0.10 -0.38%) and Altera (ALTR 52.49, +0.77 +1.49%) were the only indications, besides the continued sentiment that weakness among semi names tied to weakness in PCs has not relented, that the sector was in for a hurting today. NVDA shares saw some weakness on the session as the company reportedly received an unfavorable patent ruling. As for ALTR, strength on the session was in reaction to a Reuters article discussing plans by Intel (INTC 32.14, -0.38 -1.17%) to get EU approval for the ALTR M&A deal was apparently taken well by investors as it may show signs of the 'next step' toward the deal completion.

For its part, the S&P 500 Information Technology (696.86, +3.54 +0.51%) sector posted decent gains on Friday. The index closed near session highs, and spent only a brief moment in the red today. Names which outperformed, taking the index higher were ADSK +9.00%, NTAP +2.76%, EMC +2.50%, AAPL +2.37%, CTXS +1.99%, ADBE +1.90%, RHT +1.78%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 29.30, +0.12 +0.41%) announced that the SEC has declared effective the Registration Statement in connection with the separation of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which is expected to occur on Nov. 1, 2015.

Citrix Systems (CTXS 76.02, +1.48 +1.99%) shares were active today following a Bloomberg article which highlighted the company is looking to spin off its GoToMeeting unit, as opposed to pursuing a complete sale.

Apple (AAPL 112.09, +2.59 +2.37%) shares were active today as a WSJ Digits article highlighted analyst comments that Mac sales have slowed to 2-year lows.

Autodesk (ADSK 51.57, +4.26 +9.00%) shares were trading notably higher today as the company was scheduled to meet with JP Morgan.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares were notably active today as the company received an apparent unfavorable patent ruling against Qualcomm (QCOM 57.78, +0.12 +0.21%) and Samsung (SSNLF 1000 flat).

Elsewhere in the technology space:

LogMeIn (LOGM 68.00, -3.20 -4.49%) has agreed to acquire LastPass, a single-sign-on and password management service for $110 million.

Smart Tech (SMT 0.48, -0.19 -28.36%) provided an update on its financial outlook for the rest of FY16, and announced its intent to embark on a strategic review. As such, the company noted that, 'These actions are anticipated to result in the company having sufficient liquidity and cash flow neutrality for fiscal year 2017.' Options of said review include: 'the sale of the Company or other business combination; the recapitalization of the Company; or continuing to execute the current business model.'

Daegis (DAEG 0.80, +0.39 +96.24%) announced Open Text (OTEX 46.94, +0.56 +1.21%) will acquire DAEG for $0.82 per share, for a total consideration of about $13.5 million in cash. The company will fund the deal with cash on hand.

Professional Delivery Network (IPDN 0.57, +0.02 +3.65%) announced a $1.2 million share buyback program scheduled to begin in 2016.

TripAdvisor (TRIP 67.98, -1.60 -2.30%) announced Ernst Teunissen was appointed CFO effective November 9th.

Cimpress (CMPR 81.99, -3.74 -4.36%) announced the promotion of Sean Quinn to SVP and CFO effective October 26, 2015.

Superconductor (SCON 0.28, -0.13 -32.26%) announced a $9.5 million public offering of common stock at $0.35 per share.

Newtech (NEWT 16.95, -0.26 -1.51%) announced it has priced a public offering of 2 million shares at a price of $16.50 per share.

Itron (ITRI 34.97, -0.08 -0.23%) announced Tom Deitrich joined as EVP and COO effective on Oct. 10, 2015.

RigNet (RNET 31.11, +0.73 +2.40%) announced its RigNet TSI business was awarded a multi-million dollar contract to deliver communications systems and infrastructure for a high-voltage transmission platform in an offshore wind farm located in the German sector of the North Sea.

Analyst actions:
FEYE was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Gabelli & Co,
CSLT was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at First Analysis Sec,
RCI was upgraded to Sector Outperform from Sector Perform at CIBC;
FEYE was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Dougherty & Company,
GPN was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies,
PLUS was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sidoti,
SLH was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman

Weekly Recap - Week ending 09-Oct-15

Dow +33.74 at 17084.49, Nasdaq +19.68 at 4830.47, S&P +1.46 at 2014.89

The stock market ended a strong week on a subdued note. The S&P 500 added 0.1% after spending the day in a 13-point range while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) outperformed. For the week, the benchmark index climbed 3.3% while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.6%.

The Friday session made for a quiet finish to a week that saw all ten sectors register gains. The S&P 500 began the trading day above its flat line, but slipped into the red around midday. The index traded just below its unchanged level into the afternoon, but turned green during the final hour.

With the benchmark index settling near its flat line, five sectors registered gains while the other five ended lower. Most notably, energy (-0.7%) and financials (-0.6%) spent the day below their flat lines, which prevented the market from stretching its legs.

Even though the energy sector lost 0.7% on Friday, the group still gained 7.8% for the week, finishing well ahead of its peers. To little surprise, the move was supported by strength in crude oil futures as the energy component climbed 0.4% to $49.67/bbl. For the week, WTI crude soared 9.1% to mid-July levels.

On the flip side, the technology sector (+0.5%) finished in the lead, giving a boost to the Nasdaq Composite. Top-weighted sector components like Apple (AAPL 112.09, +2.59), Alphabet (GOOGL 671.24, +4.24), Facebook (FB 93.24, +0.77), and Oracle (ORCL 38.10, +0.36) gained between 0.6% and 2.4% while high-beta chipmakers underperformed with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 0.8%. That being said, the SOX Index gained 3.5% for the week.

Elsewhere, the health care sector (+0.4%) settled just behind technology to lock in a weekly gain of 0.3%. The influential group outperformed on Friday, but struggled earlier in the week due to continued volatility in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 308.45, +1.25) climbed 0.4% on Friday, but still lost 2.2% for the week.

Also of note, the industrial sector (+0.3%) finished among the leaders thanks to relative strength among transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average rallied 0.8%, extending its weekly gain to 4.8%. Only five DJTA components ended in the green while airlines saw broad strength with United Continental (UAL 55.71, +3.45) soaring 6.6% after reporting a 1.4% year-over-year increase in September consolidated traffic.

Similar to stocks, Treasuries spent the day inside narrow ranges, posting slim gains, with the 10-yr yield slipping one basis point to 2.10%.

Economic data was limited to Import/Export Prices and Wholesale Inventories:

Export prices, excluding agriculture, decreased 0.6% in September after decreasing 1.3% in the prior reading
Excluding oil, import prices decreased 0.3%, which followed last month's decrease of 0.4%
Wholesale inventories increased 0.1% in August after a downwardly revised 0.3% decline (from -0.1%) while the Briefing.com consensus expected no change
Durable wholesale inventories increased 0.3% after declining 0.1% in July with a 0.3% decline in automotive inventories offsetting a 0.9% increase in electrical inventories and a 0.5% increase in machinery inventories
Nondurable wholesale inventories declined 0.2% in August after declining 0.5% in July with lower oil prices helping reduce petroleum inventories (-1.4%) for the second month in a row. Meanwhile, farm product inventories declined 3.1% after declining 1.2% in July

Monday's session will be free of economic data.

Week in Review: Cyclical Sectors Lead Stocks Higher

The stock market enjoyed an upbeat start to the trading week with the S&P 500 returning near its rebound high from the middle of September. The benchmark index climbed 1.8% while the Nasdaq Composite (+1.6%) followed not far behind. The Monday buying frenzy was not fueled by quarterly earnings considering the first busy portion of the reporting period was still a couple weeks away. Instead, the advance was a continuation of the Friday rally, which was predicated on the belief that a disappointing September Nonfarm Payrolls report would prevent the Federal Reserve from raising rates at the October meeting. In that same vein, the bad-is-good dynamic appeared to be on display overseas as Japan's Nikkei (+1.6%), Germany's DAX (+2.7%), and France's CAC (+3.5%) vaulted higher even though Services PMI readings in Japan (51.4; prior 53.7) and the eurozone (53.7; expected 54.0) disappointed.

The market endured a shaky session on Tuesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%) eking out a slim gain while the S&P 500 (-0.4%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.7%) underperformed throughout the day. For the second day in a row, the U.S. trading day began after the release of some disappointing economic data overseas. This time, it was Germany's Factory Orders report for August, which showed a 1.8% decline while the market had expected an increase of 0.5%. That being said, European equities were able to register gains after erasing their early losses, but the strength did not carry over the U.S. session as continued weakness in the biotech space kept the broader market under pressure. Specifically, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 301.91, -11.29) lost 3.6% after surrendering 0.7% on Monday. On a related note, the health care sector tumbled 2.3% while most other influential sectors also struggled.

The Wednesday session ended on a higher note with the S&P 500 climbing 0.8% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%) settled a bit ahead despite showing relative weakness in the early going. Overall, the midweek affair was very quiet, but there was some volatility present in the market as stocks surrendered their opening gains going into the afternoon, but returned into the middle of their ranges by the closing bell. It is worth noting that the pullback from opening highs occurred after the S&P 500 made a brief appearance above its 50-day moving average (1,997), which also served as resistance during afternoon action. Commodity-sensitive energy (+1.3%) and materials (+1.3%) paced the opening move higher, but both sectors surrendered a portion of their gains as the session wore on. The energy sector was up nearly 2.5% at the start, but retreated from its high as crude oil erased its intraday gain. The energy component settled lower by 1.5% at $47.81/bbl after sliding from its intraday high in reaction to the latest Energy Information Administration's inventory report, which showed a 3.07 million barrel build.

Thursday ended on an upbeat note after equities erased their opening losses. The S&P 500 climbed 0.9% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) underperformed throughout the day. Equity indices struggled at the start of the trading day, responding to a mixed overnight session that featured losses among most Asian indices while European stocks fought to end the day with modest gains. The advance in Europe followed the release of the latest policy meeting minutes from the European Central Bank, which stressed that a lot more stimulus still has to work its way through the financial system. Once the U.S. session got going, stocks spent the first half in the red as heavily-weighted technology (+0.5%) and health care (+0.4%) struggled; however, the two sectors were lifted off their lows during afternoon action as the S&P 500 climbed above its 50-day moving average (1,995). The afternoon rebound accelerated after the release of the September FOMC minutes, which revealed that only one Committee member believed that economic conditions do not warrant a rate hike while other members believed that a rate hike will be appropriate before the end of 2015. Despite the majority view regarding the timing of the first rate hike, several members expressed concern over downside risks to inflation.
Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 16472.37 17084.49 612.12 3.7 -4.1
Nasdaq 4707.77 4830.47 122.70 2.6 2.0
S&P 500 1951.36 2014.89 63.53 3.3 -2.1
Russell 2000 1114.12 1165.36 51.24 4.6 -3.3

3:30 pm Earnings Preview for the week of October 12 - 16 (:SUMRX) :
Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of October 12 - 16 some of the bigger names include:
Monday:
Pre Market - INFY

Tuesday:
Pre Market - JNJ, ASML, FAST, PVTB, DFRG
After Hours - JPM, INTC, CSX, HAWK, LLTC, ADTN, VOXX, OZRK, IDT

Wednesday:
Pre Market - WFC, BAC, DAL, PNC, BLK, CBSH, LRN
After Hours - NFLX, UFPI, XLNX, WTFC, CNS, DRWI, SURG

Thursday:
Pre Market - TSM, UNH, C, GS, PM, USB, PPG, BBT, BX, KEY, FRC, VAC, FCS, WGO, MTG, WBS, PSG, WNS, LNN, HOMB, NORD
After Hours - SLB, MAT, AMD, PBCT, ASB, MBFI, WAL, WDFC, EGP, COBZ

Friday:
Pre Market - GE, HON, PGR, GWW, SYF, STI, CMA, KSU, FHN, SYRG

3:23 pm Agilent subsidiary Dako announces FDA approval for its test to identify PD-L1 expression levels in non-small cell lung cancer tumor cells, for patients with non-squamous NSCLC (A) : Co announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new test that can identify PD-L1 expression levels on the surface of non-small cell lung cancer tumor cells and provide information on the survival benefit with OPDIVO (nivolumab) for patients with non-squamous NSCLC. Co developed the diagnostic through a collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)

11:38 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (112) outpacing new lows (29) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAN, ACN, ACXM, AEPI, AIZ, ALTR, AMRK, AMWD, ARTNA, ATNI, ATO, ATR, AZZ, BBCN, BGG, BNCL, BOFI, BRSS, BWXT, BZC, CACB, CAM, CLX, CSH, CTAS, CTS, DPS, EEFT, EGBN, EXPO, FBC, FCVA, FFG, FGL, FISV, FIZZ, FLO, FLTX, FONR, G, GPN, GSBC, HAWK, HCSG, HELE, HOMB, HPY, HRL, IM, JE, JJSF, JKHY, JMG, K, KRNY, LANC, LG, LGIH, LMT, LNCE, MATX, MNRO, MO, MPG, MRGE, MSEX, MTRX, MXL, NAVG, NCI, NEWR, NKSH, NOC, NP, NSA, NVX, OGS, OSIS, PAC, PFS, PGR, PNY, POOL, PRK, PRMW, PULB, QTS, RAI, RKUS, RNST, SBUX, SIGI, SNX, SPSC, STC, STZ, SYKE, TBNK, TFSL, TNK, TSN, TTC, UBSH, UFPT, UVE, VNTV, VRSN, VSAT, VVI, WCN, WDFC, Z

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ADAP, ANGO, BDE, BKE, CDZI, COO, ESSX, FEIM, FREE, FSI, GPS, ISH, LDRH, LITE, MGLN, NVET, NVLS, OIIM, QDEL, RT, SCON, SIEN, SMRT, SMT, SPNC, TAS, TNDM, TPI, WILC

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

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8 sectors posted session gains, as the XLU +0.89%, XLY +0.48%, IYZ +0.35%, XLV +0.26%, XLP +0.26%, XLK +0.12%, XLF +0.09%, XLI +0.02% finished above flat lines. Laggards on the session were XLB -0.86%, XLE -1.29%.

Strength in the Technology (XLK 41.53, +0.05 +0.12%) sector today started with the news that EMC (EMC 28.35, +0.49 +1.76%) confirmed last weeks rumored deal which it would be acquired by Dell for $67 billion in a cash and stock buyout which values the company at $33.15 per share. Under the terms of the deal, EMC shareholders will receive $24.05 per share in cash in addition to tracking stock linked to a portion of EMC's economic interest in the VMware (VMW 72.27, -6.38 -8.11%) business.

Also today, Social Media (SOCL 18.50, -0.17 -0.91%) name Twitter (TWTR 28.75, -2.10 -6.81%) was the subject of a Re/code article which suggested the company is planning layoffs for next week. The article suggested all employment areas could be impacted, but that engineers could be the main focus of the trim.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (698.31, +1.45 +0.21%), trading began in the red, but quickly turned green about an hour into trading. The sector finished the day near session highs, with EA +4.72%, PYPL +1.77%, QRVO +1.69%, HRS +1.68%, TSS +1.60%, V +1.37% outperforming. Notable laggards on the session included: TDC -3.05%, GLW -1.48%, WDC -1.15%, CTSH -1.12%, AKAM -0.87%, XRX -0.85%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

VMware (VMW) preannounced Q3 results for EPS of $1.02 on revenues of +10% to $1.67 billion, both of which are above expectations.
EMC (EMC) Elliott Management issued a statement following buyout news. The firm noted they, 'strongly support the deal.'
PTC (PTC 34.90, +0.23 +0.66%) to acquire the Vuforia business from Qualcomm (QCOM 57.79, +0.01 +0.02%) for $65 million. The company does not expect the deal to impact FY16 non-GAAP EPS.
Symphony Communication Services announced it has raised more than $100 mln in new capital to accelerate global customer adoption. New investors Google (GOOG 646.67, +3.06 +0.48%), Lakestar, Natixis, Societe Generale and UBS (UBS 19.75, -0.04 -0.20%), along with a group of existing investors (including venture firm Merus Capital) participated in the round. Symphony previously raised a total of $66 million from a consortium of 15 financial institutions.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Marvell (MRVL 9.25, -0.16 -1.70%) and interim CFO Sukhi Nagesh agreed on succession plan, effective immediately MRVL will commence search for a permanent CFO.
xG Technology (XGTI 0.59, +0.03 +6.56%) announced it will convert $500,00 of existing loans due from the company to the company's CEO into shares of the company's common stock.
Gilat Satellite (GILT 3.82, +0.18 +4.95%) announced CFO Yuval Ronen has decided to leave the company, and that he will be replaced by Adi Sfadia. The company also announced HTS, IFC, rural internet broadband and Chinese market structural changes.
Finjan (FNJN 1.63, -0.03 -1.81%) provided an update on patent litigations vs. Palo Alto Networks (PANW 167.81, -4.07 -2.37%) and Symantec (SYMC 20.88, -0.12 -0.57%). The judge, 'stayed the case pending a decision by the US Patent and Trademark Office on whether to institute Inter Partes Review of Finjan's patent claims in five of eight patents asserted against Symantec. Depending on the PTAB's decision on whether or not to institute those IPRs, Judge Gilliam will determine whether to extend the stay.'
Tableau Software (DATA 84.46, +1.46 +1.75%) and Deliotte Consulting LLP signed an alliance. Financial terms of the alliance were not disclosed.

Analyst actions:

HRS was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan, NTAP was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird; VMW was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho, TECD was downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James, MRVL was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura, EMC was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, RKUS was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray

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From Briefing.com: 4:26 pm Advanced Micro reports Q3 results, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs in-line; signs JV with Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics, who is paying AMD $371 mln (AMD) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) non-GAAP loss of $0.17 per share, or ($0.09) excluding an $0.08 inventory write down*, vs. the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.12); revenues fell 25.8% year/year to $1.06 bln vs the $995.82 mln Capital IQ Consensus. The 13% sequential increase was due to solid seasonal semi-custom and strong desktop processor and GPU sales. The year-over-year decline was primarily due to decreased sales in the Computing and Graphics segment.

Non-GAAP gross margin, including the impact of the inventory write-down was 23%, down 5 percentage points sequentially. *The inventory write-down was due to lower anticipated future demand for older-generation APUs. The gross margin impact of the inventory write-down was 6 percentage points.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of -10 to -3% QoQ to ~$955-1029 mln vs. $996.19 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

AMD and Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics (SZSE: TFWD) $436 mln JV agreement combines AMD's high-volume ATMP facilities with Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics' OSAT expertise to service broad range of customers Latest step in

AMD's strategic transformation further sharpens focus and operations on designing high-performance products AMD to contribute Penang and Suzhou assembly and test manufacturing facilities, including ~1,700 employees and management team

Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics to take 85% ownership and serve as controlling shareholder, paying AMD ~$371 million in cash
AMD expects the transaction to be cost neutral with significantly reduced AMD capital expenditures.Trading ended with all three major US indices in the green, trading near the highs as all posted gains of better than 1.0%.

The Nasdaq Composite led the way higher Thursday, up by 87.25 points (+1.82%) to 4870.10. The S&P 500 followed, edging higher by 29.62 points (+1.49%) to 2023.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted the most tame of gains, adding 217.00 points (+1.28%) to end 17141.75. Economic data during the session came in the form of initial claims which declined 255,000 for the week ending Oct. 10. CPI declined 0.2% in September and Empire Manufacturing Survey for Oct. registered a reading of -11.4.

Gains in US equities come on the heels of strength in the overnight session in European and Asian markets as the FTSE, DAX, CAC, IBEX, PSI, MIB, Irish Overall, and ASE General indices all posted notable gains between +0.7% and +2.7%. In the overnight session, two European Central Bank officials made dovish comments calling for the Federal Reserve to delay its first rate hike.

Also in the overnight period, Netflix (NFLX 101.09, -9.14 -8.29%) reported quarterly results which missed on the top and bottom lines. NFLX saw Q3 EPS of $0.07 and revenues of $1.74 billion, both of which slightly missed expectations. For the coming period, NFLX issued slightly worse than expected EPS guidance of $0.02. Among other reasons for the weak quarter, NFLX attributed higher-than-expected churn to the transition to chip-based credit and debit cards.

Notable strength on the session came from Social Media (SOCL 18.81, +0.42 +2.28%) and Software (IGV 100.54, +1.81 +1.83%) names. The sectors finished the session outperforming the broader market as DMD +7.82%, YY +5.00%, WB +4.97%, YOKU +4.88% and PFPT +6.06%, GWRE +4.64%, RP +4.07%, FEYE +4.03% respectively were among the notable outperformers.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (703.27, +7.92 +1.14%), trading got off to a quick start as the sector spiked higher out of the gate and returning to the 700-level for the first time since mid-August. Names like QRVO +3.89%, AVGO +3.85%, ADBE +3.54%, RHT +3.43%, SWKS +3.11%, CRM +2.80%, EMC +2.51%, MA +2.24%, INTU +2.23%, EBAY +2.13% helped the move higher, as the sector posted back-to-back gains.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Apple (AAPL 111.80, +1.59 +1.44%) announced that ResearchKit is enabling new research studies on autism, epilepsy and melanoma. ResearchKit turns iPhone into a powerful tool for medical research by helping doctors, scientists and other researchers gather data more frequently and more accurately from participants using iPhone apps.

Alliance Data (ADS 278.18, +1.52 +0.55%) released a September update for its Card Services segment, showing average receivables were up 28% year-over-year to $11.56 billion.

Computer Sciences (CSC 64.10, -0.23 -0.36%) appointed Peter Rutland and Robert Woods as members of the Board. Mr. Rutland will serve on co's Compensation and Nominating/Corporate Governance Committees, and Mr. Woods will serve on co's Audit Committee.

Softbank Corp. (SFTBY 26.68, +0.85 +3.31%) announced that it will deploy an upgraded architecture of Softbank's White Cloud SmartVPN, utilizing Cisco (CSCO 28.16, +0.34 +1.22%) Evolved Services Platform (ESP) Orchestration, software defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) technologies.

Yahoo! (YHOO 33.48, +1.39 +4.33%) announced new Yahoo Mail app for iOS and Android. Also announced Yahoo Account Key, secure alternative to old passwords.

Accenture (ACN 102.30, -0.13 -0.13%) announced the appointment of Marc Carrel-Billiard as managing director of Global Technology Research & Development within Accenture Technology.

Seagate Tech (STX 41.44, -6.36 -13.31%) lowered Q1 revenue guidance to about $2.9 billion from $2.9-$3.1 billion. The company also lowered gross margin guidance for Q1 to about 24% from 27%.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Imation (IMN 2.05, +0.02 +0.99%) appointed Bob Fernander as Interim CEO effective immediately. The company also acquired substantially all of the equity of Connected Data in a transaction valued at about $7.5 million. The deal is expected to be immediately accretive to IMN.

Lattice Semi (LSCC 4.40, -0.16 -3.51%) disclosed a workforce reduction initiative that will result in a 13% reduction to the overall workforce. The company will incur about $5.5 million in Q3 in one-time charges and $0.5 million over the next 6 months.

Mesa Laboratories (MLAB 107.47, +0.37 +0.35%) acquired six European distributors for its biological indicator products. The company expects about $1 million added to revenues and for the transaction to be accretive to EPS.

Gameloft (GLOFY 19.73, +0.68 +3.57%) responded to Vivendi's (VIVHY 24.98, -0.23 -0.91%) disclosure of a stake and reiterated its desire to remain independent.

LM Ericsson (ERIC 10.52, +0.19 +1.84%) concluded a preliminary share repurchase agreement for the acquisition of Ericpol's operations in Poland and Ukraine.

Ultratech (UTEK 15.96, +0.43 +2.77%) received large multiple system orders for fan-out wafer-level packaging applications.

Spark Networks (LOV 3.44, +0.07 +2.08%) acquired Smooch Labs, the owner of the Jewish dating app JSwipe. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Norsat (NSAT 4.15, +0.04 +0.97%) was awarded a $2.7 million contract form a major US military contractor for its Ku-Band and Wideband Global SATCOM VSAT terminals.

In reaction to earnings:

Xilinx (XLNX 46.27, +0.89 +1.96%) reported Q2 EPS which were better than expected at $0.48 on revenues of $527.6 million and came in in-line with expectations. The company also guided Q3 revenues up 3-7% sequentially, to about $543-565 million.

WNS (WNS 32.00, +2.04 +6.81%) reported Q2 EPS which was better than expected at $0.51 on revenues which were in-line at $133.3 million. The company also guided FY16 EPS to $1.83-1.91 from $1.69-1.80. WNS also lowered the top end of FY16 revenue guidance to $523-539 million from $523-549 million.

Taiwan Semi (TSM 21.95, -0.39 -1.75%) reported a beat on the bottom line with EPS of $2.91 on revenues of $212.5 billion, in-line with expectations. The company also guided Q4 revenues of NT$201-204 billion.

Fairchild Semi (FCS 16.86, +0.51 +3.12%) reported Q3 EPS which was in-line at $0.20 on revenues which fell 10.2% year-over-year to $342.1 million and also came in-line with expectations. The company also guided for Q4 revenues of $320-335 million, in-line with what was anticipated.

Analyst actions:

FB was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Argus,
UBSFY was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Bryan Garnier;
EMC was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank,
SLH was downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Raymond James,
IMPR was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan,
SMGZY was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Exane BNP Paribas

4:20 pm : The stock market charged higher on Thursday, erasing its entire decline from the early portion of the week. The S&P 500 spiked 1.5% while the Nasdaq Composite (+1.8%) outperformed.

The broad-based rally in the U.S. followed an overnight session that featured dovish comments from two European Central Bank members, setting expectations for more monetary easing from the central bank. This started with Vitor Constancio who spoke in Hong Kong, joining the chorus of voices calling on the Federal Reserve to delay its first rate hike while Ewald Nowotny said that more needs to be done by the ECB in light of soft inflation data.

The dovish remarks from two ECB policymakers weighed on the euro, sending the single currency lower by 0.8% against the dollar to 1.1383. To be fair, the Dollar Index (94.46, +0.47), which gained 0.5%, spiked to highs after the release of today's economic data, which included a 42-year low initial claims reading (255,000; Briefing.com consensus) and an in-line CPI report (+0.2%).

In addition to the flurry of economic data, investors received a fair batch of quarterly reports that were mostly in-line with expectations.

All ten sectors ended the day in the green with financials (+2.4%) leading the way. The influential sector was powered by Citigroup (C 52.97, +2.25) and Goldman Sachs (GS 184.96, +5.45) as the two heavyweights rallied 4.4% and 3.0%, respectively. Citigroup delivered a better than expected quarterly report while Goldman Sachs matched estimates.

The financial sector held the lead throughout the session while other groups shuffled around as the session wore on. When the dust settled, telecom services (+2.3%) and health care (+1.3%) ended not far behind financials with the health care sector rallying behind biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 314.76, +13.18) surged 4.4%, masking a 1.6% decline in the shares of UnitedHealth (UNH 59.33, -0.70), which followed a one-cent beat.

Elsewhere, the energy sector (+1.8%) finished among the leaders despite showing relative weakness in the early going. The early underperformance and the subsequent recovery followed the price action in the oil market as WTI crude was down more than 2.0% after the latest Energy Information Administration storage report showed that inventories remain near levels not seen at this time of the year for more than 80 years. However, the energy component staged a full recovery, ending the pit session lower by 0.6% at $46.38/bbl before returning to unchanged in electronic trade.

Also of note, the top-weighted technology sector (+1.3%) ended in a position of relative strength despite having a brief power outage in late morning action. That brief swoon was brought on by a pullback in chipmaker names following yesterday's M&A speculation. That being said, the PHLX Semiconductor Index still ended higher by 1.0%.

Treasuries ended the day on their session lows with the 10-yr yield rising four basis points to 2.03%.

Today's session generated the largest volume of the week with more than 933 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims, CPI, Empire Manufacturing, and Philadelphia Fed Survey:

The initial claims level declined to 255,000 for the week ending October 10 from a downwardly revised 262,000 (from 263,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 269,000
The claims level has returned to its mid-July mark, which represents the lowest level since November 1973
The continuing claims level fell to 2.158 million from an upwardly revised 2.208 million (from 2.204 million) while the consensus expected a decline to 2.200 million
The CPI declined 0.2% in September after decreasing 0.1% in August, which is what the consensus expected
The decline in prices was the result of a sizable drop in energy costs with total energy prices falling 4.7% in September after declining 2.0% in August
Gasoline prices declined 9.0% while food prices increased 0.4%
Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.2% and ended two consecutive months of 0.1% gains. The consensus expected an increase of 0.1%
The Empire Manufacturing Survey for October registered a reading of -11.4, which was above the prior month's reading of -14.7, but below the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which was pegged at -8.0
The Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook Survey increased to -4.5 in October from -6.0 in September while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to -2.5
While the headline index improved, nearly all of the sub-indices within the survey deteriorated on a month-to-month basis
Business managers claimed that activities were slightly improved in October, but stated overwhelmingly that trends in production, orders, and employment were worse off

Tomorrow, September Industrial Production (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%) will be reported at 9:15 ET while August Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey and the preliminary October Michigan Sentiment Index (consensus 88.4) will be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq +2.8% YTD
S&P 500 -1.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -3.8% YTD
Russell 2000 -3.4% YTD

DJ30 +217.00 NASDAQ +87.25 SP500 +29.62 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2414/1.77 bln/510 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2524/932.9 mln/579

3:40 pm :

Oil prices ran in afternoon trade, running from around $45.25/barrel to a new high for today at $46.87/barrel, which was just hit minutes ago
Natural gas held losses today after dropping post-EIA inventory data.
Nov nat gas ended today's pit session at -2.4% at $2.46/MMBtu.
Silver remained consolidated, closing +0.25 at $16.16/oz. Dec gold finished +0.6% at $1187.40/oz
Dec copper rose one cent to $2.42/lb today

12:09 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (69) outpacing new highs (38) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACRS, AEPI, ASR, ATVI, BSQR, CNCE, COB, CRWS, CSH, DEA, DORM, DWTR, EBSB, EFSC, ENVI, IPHI, JE, JMG, LG, MCI, MO, MPWR, MXIM, MXL, NKE, NVDA, NVX, PAC, PFGC, PRMW, PSTG, SURG, TE, UDR, UFPI, UTES, VLRS, WNS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ADAP, APAM, APOL, APPS, ARCO, BCOR, BIIB, BLCM, BNTC, CNS, CPHD, CYH, DAR, DEST, DNKN, DRWI, EPZM, ETSY, EXP, FDEU, FINL, FLKS, FREE, FRGI, FSI, GPS, GRMN, HCCI, IKNX, IMPR, ISH, JWN, KIQ, LDRH, LITE, LNN, M, MDXG, MFRM, MTW, NETE, NHLD, NTRA, OIIM, PETX, PLX, PPC, PRXI, PRZM, QKLS, RKDA, RNN, ROIQ, RT, SCON, SHLO, SIEB, SLM, STX, SYRX, TDY, THC, TLN, TMH, VICL, VOXX, WDR, WMT, ZSAN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

10:54 am Semiconductors (+1%) extend yesterday's breakout amid a flurry of positive developments in what was an out of favor sector (SMH) :

Chips stocks have extended yesterday's break out, here's a recap of some positive developments in the space over the alst two days.

Last night, Xilinx (XLNX) reported strong results last night Yesterday, Bloomberg reported 1) Maxim (MXIM) and Analog Devices (ADI) were in merger talks and 2) Fairchild Semi (FCS) had hired Goldman and Infineon (IFNNY) and ON Semi (ONNN) were potential buyers.Late Tuesday, Bloomberg reported flash memory maker SanDisk (SNDK) was in talks to be acquired by Micron (MU) or Western Digital (WDC). Seagate (STX) spiked on an M&A rumor yesterday morning but stock quickly retreated... STX lowered Q1 guidance this morning.Intel (INTC) beat Q3 estimates and guided Q4 in-line and Linear Tech (LLTC) reported in-line Q1 results and guided Q2 sales up on Tuesday night.Intel is a clear bellwether as the biggest chip maker in the world and LLTC had guided down the two previous quarters. The SMH is challenging resistance near the $54 level after breaking out to a two month high yesterday.

The SMH sold off in June, well ahead of the broader market's correction in August. Sentiment in the chip space was negative due in part to the sector's exposure to China. Advanced Micro (AMD) will report after the bell

9:23 am Siliconware Precision files civil lawsuit against Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASX) (SPIL) : SPIL claims that ASX's actions reveal its "financial investment" was in name only, when in actuality ASE is attempting to directly and indirectly control the Company's business operations. ASE's tender offer prospectus was a sham, concealing the true purpose of ASE's tender offer, thereby ASE's tender offer violated the Securities and Exchange Act, Fair Trade Act and other related regulations and breaching public order, and thus should be invalid. The Company, in order to protect the rights of Company and all its shareholders, is appealing to the courts to right the injustice of ASE's unlawful tender offer. Once the court issues a judgment in this case, the Company shall lawfully proceed with all procedures.

8:02 am Seagate Tech lowers Q1 revs guidance forecast; co now sees Q1 revs of ~$2.9 bln. vs $3.0 bln Capital IQ Consensus Est, from $2.9-3.1 bln prior forecast; co also lowers gross margin guidance (STX) :

Co also lowers non-GAAP gross margin guidance of ~24% for Q1, down from prior non-GAAP gross margin guidance of ~27%The difference in the co's non-GAAP gross margin from its forecast was driven primarily by lower than expected intra-quarter demand for the co's 4TB and 6TB nearline HDD products.

Seagate announced its 8TB nearline HDD products in September and expects to increase its market participation in this growth segment over the next several quarters. "While Seagate had strong operating cash flows and made significant progress in cost containment in the September quarter, we are disappointed we did not execute a product portfolio that fully addressed the demand in the nearline market. Looking ahead, we are confident that our nearline product portfolio will be fully competitive by our fiscal third quarter."

7:34 am Fairchild Semi reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q4 revs in-line (FCS) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.20; revenues fell 10.2% year/year to $342.1 mln vs the $340.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $320-335 mln vs. $329.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."We expect adjusted gross margin to be 32.5 to 33.5 percent due primarily to lower factory utilization and sales partially offset by improved manufacturing costs..Demand was in line with our revised guidance during the third quarter reflecting weakness from Asia and especially China in the industrial, appliance and consumer markets."

4:25 am Taiwan Semi beats by $0.05, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 revs in-line; lowers FY15 CapEx budget (Co preannounced September 23) (TSM) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $2.91 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.86; revenues rose 1.7% year/year to $212.5 bln (in-line with pre announcement in September) vs the $212.19 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of NT$201-204 bln vs. NT$202.24 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. In late September, the company warned on its Q4 guidance saying it expects Q4 (Dec) revs of NT$198-204 bln vs. the then $209.53 bln Capital IQ Consensus EstimateThe management also stated that 2015 capital budget will be about $8 bln vs. prior projections for $10.5-11 bln

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Trading closed out the week with slight gains on Friday. The S&P 500 led the way higher, up 9.25 points (+0.46%) to 2033.11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 74.22 points (+0.43%) to 17215.97, and the Nasdaq Composite added 16.59 points (+0.34%) to end 4886.69. The markets traded sideways for the majority of the session, dipping below flat lines once around 2 p.m. ET, but trading the last two hours in an upward trend to end near highs of the day.

Social Media (SOCL 19.19, +0.38 +2.02%) names were strong on the session following news that Alibaba (BABA 71.99, +0.21 +0.29%) filed a non-binding proposal to acquire all outstanding shares of Youku Tudou (YOKU 24.92, +4.51 +22.07%) for $26.60 per share in an all-cash transaction. Chinese Internet name Weibo (WB 15.57, +1.84 +13.40%) was also higher on the session in light of the YOKU/BABA deal.

Market data today came in the form of Industrial Production, Michigan Sentiment, and JOLTS. Industrial production declined 0.2% in September after declining an upwardly revised 0.1% in August. Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index increased to 92.1 in the preliminary October reading from 87.2 in September. August Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings decreased to 5.370 million from 5.668 million.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (705.28, +2.01 +0.29%), ADBE +2.19%, FB +1.65%, NVDA +1.57%, FFIV +1.44%, CRM +1.38%, INTU +1.29%, LRCX +1.22%, TSS +1.14%, QCOM +1.10%, MSFT +1.06% outperformed, helping the sector finish at highs of the day. Top weighted Nvidia (NVDA) finished strong following M&A speculation intraday.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Red Hat (RHT 77.62, -0.08 -0.10%) to acquire Ansible; financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal is expected to have no material impact to RHT's revenue for Q3 and Q4.

Cisco (CSCO 28.25, +0.10 +0.36%) announced the inauguration of openBerlin, a Cisco Innovation Center. The center is now fully operational in the Euref campus in Berlin's Schneberg district. Cisco intends to invest close to $30 million in the new site over the coming years.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Youku Tudou (YOKU) announced the receipt of a non-binding proposal from Alibaba Group (BABA) to acquire all outstanding shares of YOKU for $26.60 per share in an all-cash transaction.

Advanced Micro (AMD 1.94, -0.03 -1.52%) announced a JV with Chinese firm Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics to establish outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) expertise.

WEX (WEX 92.11, -0.11 -0.12%) acquired integrated Software-as-a-Service firm Benaissance for $80 million. The company expects some slight accretion in 2016.

Periscom Semi (PSEM 17.55, -0.39 -2.17%) responded to preliminary proxy materials filed by Montage Technology Group. The company believes Montage's offer has significant financing, regulatory and other risks.

Marcell (MRVL 9.35, -0.07 -0.74%) retained Dave Eichler to serve as Interim CFO effective as of October 16.

Vringo (VRNG 0.41, +0.03 +8.48%) to acquire privately held International Development Group. The aggregate consideration will be unregistered shares of preferred stock convertible into shares of common stock representing about 11.4% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis.

Destiny Media Tech's (DSNY 0.22, -0.03 -12.61%) Board approved a proposed private placement offering of up to about 2 million units at a price of $0.25 per unit for maximum gross proceeds of $505,000.

China Information Tech (CNIT 1.00, +0.01 +1.13%) CFO Robin Yang has resigned due to personal reasons effective October 15.

StarTek (SRT 4.55, +0.04 +0.89%) CFO Lisa Weaver gave notice of her intention to resign. In addition, CIO Kamalesh Dwivedi separated from the company effective October 14.

Cinedigm Digital Cinema (CIDM 0.60, -0.02 -3.23%) to eliminate the current Chief Operating Officer position. Effective October 16, COO Adam Mizel will transition to a consulting role with the company.

Rubicon Tech (RBCN 1.23, -0.02 -1.60%) named Hany Tamim as COO.

Net Element (NETE 0.13, +0.00 +0.58%) terminated its $5 million senior convertible note offering.

T-Mobile US (TMUS 40.54, +0.62 +1.55%) will transfer its listing from the NYSE to the NASDAQ Global Select Market effective Oct. 26.

CounterPath (CPAH 0.29, -0.06 -17.14%) issued a corporate update and announced a 1-for-10 reverse stock split. The company also stated that leveraged collaborations with infrastructure and enterprise software companies such as Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 3.76, -0.03 -0.79%), to generate a pipeline of large opportunities in the Enterprise market, will translate into new revenue for it in fiscal 2016.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Advanced Micro (AMD) reported Q3 non-GAAP loss of $0.17, or ($0.09) excluding an $0.08 inventory write down. The company also reported revenues which fell 25.8% to $1.06 billion. The company guided for Q4 revenues of minus 10%, plus or minus 3%, sequentially to about $955-1029 million.

Analyst actions:

CCOI was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Drexel Hamilton,
BOX was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan,
TWOU was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman,
BLOX was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sterne Agee CRT;
NTES was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Standpoint Research,
STX was downgraded at Craig Hallum, Needam and Pacific Crest,
OLED was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman,
WNS was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird

Weekly Recap - Week ending 16-Oct-15Dow +74.22 at 17215.97, Nasdaq +16.59 at 4886.69, S&P +9.24 at 2033.1

The stock market endured a sleepy Friday session that capped an upbeat week. The S&P 500 added 0.5%, extending its weekly gain to 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%) underperformed on Friday, but still ended the week higher by 1.2%.

Overall, the Friday affair was pretty uneventful as the S&P 500 spent the bulk of the day in a ten-point range, climbing to a new high during the final hour. Four sectors settled ahead of the S&P 500 while the remaining six ended in-line with or behind the benchmark index.

Consumer staples (+1.0%) and health care (+1.0%) settled in the lead with the health care space holding up well despite an intraday swoon in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 314.32, -0.44) shed 0.1% after being up 1.1% at the start of the trading day. For the week, the health care sector gained 1.9% while the biotech ETF also climbed 1.9%.

Moving to the cyclical side, consumer discretionary (+0.6%) and financials (+0.4%) displayed relative strength since the opening bell while energy (+0.2%), industrials (-0.2%), materials (unch), and technology (+0.3%) spent the bulk of the session in the red.

Interestingly, the energy sector faced a daylong struggle even though crude oil erased its early loss to end the day higher by 1.9% at $47.26/bbl.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector (-0.2%) spent the day behind the remaining nine groups to widen its weekly decline to 1.2%. Top-weighted sector component General Electric (GE 28.98, +0.95) spiked 3.4% after reporting operating earnings of $0.32/share, which may not compare to estimates as the company continues divesting GE capital assets, but that strength could not offset broad weakness among transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average fell 1.6% with KC Southern (KSU 87.37, -10.63) diving 10.9% in reaction to disappointing quarterly results.

Similar to stocks, Treasuries drifted inside narrow ranges, but unlike equities, the 10-yr note settled on its low with the benchmark yield rising two basis points to 2.03%.

Despite the quiet intraday action, more than 900 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor with options expiration boosting the final tally.

Economic data was limited to Industrial Production, Michigan Sentiment, and JOLTS:

Industrial production declined 0.2% in September after declining an upwardly revised 0.1% (from -0.4%) in August while the Briefing.com consensus expected a drop of 0.2%
Manufacturing production declined for a second consecutive month and for a third time over the past four months. Production fell 0.1% in September after declining 0.4% in August
The decline in manufacturing production was the result of a 0.1% decline in durable goods production. Despite lower output in the petroleum sector, nondurable goods production was flat in September
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index increased to 92.1 in the preliminary October reading from 87.2 in September while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 88.4
The Current Conditions Index increased to 106.7 in October from 101.2 in September while the Expectations Index increased to 82.7 from 78.2
The August Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings decreased to 5.370 million from 5.668 million

Monday's data will be limited to the 10:00 ET release of the NAHB Housing Market Index for October (Briefing.com consensus 62).

Week in Review: Stimulus Chatter Picks Up

The stock market began the trading week on a sleepy note with a Monday session that saw the S&P 500 bounce around an eight-point range. The benchmark index settled higher by 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) outperformed slightly. With the bond market closed for Columbus Day, a fair share of participants elected to forego the Monday session. The subdued activity was highlighted by below-average trading volume as fewer than 700 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor. Eight sectors finished the day with gains while commodity-sensitive energy (-1.1%) and materials (-0.9%) underperformed throughout the session. The energy sector finished at the bottom of the leaderboard, narrowing its October gain to 10.9% while crude oil surrendered 5.2% to settle at $47.19/bbl.

The market ended Tuesday on a lower note after the major averages failed to hold their slim intraday gains. The S&P 500 settled lower by 0.7% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.9%) underperformed. Overall, the Tuesday affair was relatively quiet with trading volume surpassing Monday's total by a relatively slim margin. To that point, fewer than 850 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor. Equity indices faced some selling pressure after China's September trade balance ($60.34 billion; expected $46.79 billion) showed a 20.4% decline in imports (expected -15.0%), which was the 11th consecutive drop in that category, stirring up concerns about China's demand for goods and services from its neighbors. Accordingly, most Asian markets posted losses on Tuesday and the defensive sentiment infiltrated the European session.

The major averages ended the midweek session on a lower note with the S&P 500 (-0.5%) registering its second consecutive decline. The benchmark index settled near its worst level of the day while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) outperformed. Equities displayed modest gains in the early going, but relative weakness in several influential sectors prevented the S&P 500 from holding its early gain. The index made another brief appearance above its flat line during the early afternoon, but slid to lows before the closing bell. The reasons for the retreat were not particularly difficult to find as economic data reported in the morning disappointed while quarterly earnings received since Tuesday's closing bell did not inspire confidence either. Eight sectors registered losses with four falling 1.0% or more. The financial sector (-1.0%) settled among the laggards after showing relative weakness throughout the day.

Equities charged higher on Thursday, erasing their entire decline from the early portion of the week. The S&P 500 spiked 1.5% while the Nasdaq Composite (+1.8%) outperformed. The broad-based rally in the U.S. followed an overnight session that featured dovish comments from two European Central Bank members, setting expectations for more monetary easing from the central bank. This started with Vitor Constancio who spoke in Hong Kong, joining the chorus of voices calling on the Federal Reserve to delay its first rate hike while Ewald Nowotny said that more needs to be done by the ECB in light of soft inflation data. The dovish remarks from two ECB policymakers weighed on the euro, sending the single currency lower by 0.8% against the dollar to 1.1383. To be fair, the Dollar Index (94.46, +0.47), which gained 0.5%, spiked to highs after the release of economic data, which included a 42-year low initial claims reading (255,000; Briefing.com consensus) and an in-line CPI report (+0.2%).

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17084.49 17215.97 131.48 0.8 -3.4
Nasdaq 4830.47 4886.69 56.22 1.2 3.2
S&P 500 2014.89 2033.11 18.22 0.9 -1.3
Russell 2000 1165.36 1162.31 -3.05 -0.3 -3.5


3:37 pm Earnings Preview for the week of October 19 - 23 (:SUMRX) :

Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of October 19 - 23 some of the bigger names include:


Monday:
Pre Market - MS, HAL, GPC, VRX, HAS, MTB, LII
After Hours - IBM, FLEX, CCK, STLD, CE, HA, ZION

Tuesday:
Pre Market - VZ, UTX, LMT, TRV, BK, OMC, DOV, CP, PNR, FITB, NVR, RF, HOG, ATI, EAT, WWW
After Hours - ACE, CB, DFS, FTI, VMW, TEX, PKG, CLS, ESND, CMG, YHOO, SHLM, ISRG, ILMN,
WERN, NAVI, CREE, IBKR

Wednesday:
Pre Market - WIT, GM, BA, KO, ABB, EMC, ABT, MAN, KMB, SVU, TMO, BHI, ITW, BIIB, WFT, LAD, IPG, ABG, NLSN, APH, PII, OC, STJ, SLGN, NTRS, CSL
After Hours - AXP, KMI, TXN, LVS, AMP, BRCM, EBAY, LRCX, URI, TSCO, SNDK, RHI, RJF, SON, FBHS, CA, CCI, CTXS

Thursday:
Pre Market - DOW, CAT, UAL, MMM, MCD, RTN, UNP, LUV, DHR, LLY, NUE, AEP, FCX, RCI, PH, SWK, PCP, RS, CAM, WCC, DGX, BEN, PHM, R, DPS, ADS, DAN, ALK, ORI, SJR, FAF, UA, SIRI, GPK, BMS, TROW, MJN, USG, BCC, CAB, HUB.B, WAB
After Hours - T, AMZN, MSFT, GOOG, COF, PFG, SYK, TRN, JNPR, SKX, BCR, LSTR, SWN, SRCL, KLAC, MXIM, BYD, SMCI

Friday:
Pre Market - ERIC, PG, AAL, LYB, WHR, LEA, VFC, TRI, STT, DTE, RCL, ALV, TEN, SHPG, CFG, VTR, BPOP, COG, FNFG, B

11:51 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (90) outpacing new lows (22) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACGL, ADBE, AEPI, AGII, ATO, ATVI, AVB, AWK, BNCL, BNK, BSQR, CBNJ, CBZ, CENT, CENTA, CHFN, CLI, CLX, CNCE, CNO, COB, COR, CTAS, DEA, DWTR, EBSB, ECL, EFX, ELS, ENVI, EQC, EXLS, FCVA, FNLC, FONR, FPRX, GABC, GE, GSBC, HTBI, IPHI, JBT, LG, LGF, MATX, MEET, MLVF, MO, MPWR, MRKT, MSCC, MSEX, MSG, NAVG, NAZ, NDAQ, NFX, NI, NKE, NKSH, NVDA, NVX, OGS, OPOF, OSIS, PAYC, PFSW, PGR, PNY, PRMW, PSA, QADB, RAI, RENX, RNR, SABR, SHEN, SIGI, SRCL, SSRI, TAI, TNK, TOWN, TYL, UBSH, UTES, VLRS, VRTU, WGL, XTLY

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ARO, ARTW, BCOR, CXRX, DAKP, DAR, FSI, I, IDSA, ISH, LNN, PDLI, PPC, PWR, ROYL, SAVE, STX, TUMI, VOXX, VXDN, VXUP, WMT

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

9:00 am Rubicon Tech names Hany Tamim as COO (RBCN) : Mr. Tamim has experience in managing crystal growth and wafer manufacturing operations in both Malaysia and the United States, including 24 years with SunEdison (SUNE).

8:30 am Pericom Semi responds to preliminary proxy materials filed by Montage Technology Group, Believes montage offer has significant financing, regulatory and other risks (PSEM) :

"Since March of this year, Pericom and its independent financial advisors and outside legal counsel have engaged in good-faith discussions and negotiations with Montage regarding a potential transaction, as described in our preliminary proxy statement filed with the SEC on September 17, 2015 and updated on October 13, 2015. "During these discussions, we have clearly communicated to Montage our belief that there are financing, regulatory and other risks associated with its offer that make Montage's ability to close a transaction uncertain and significantly less likely than closing a transaction with Diodes (DIOD). "Nevertheless, the Pericom Board is willing to continue discussions with Montage to determine if Montage can resolve the issues we have identified."

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - Economic Data Less Than Stellar (Weekend Newsletter)

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

- Quiet expiration Friday, but the indices add to the Thursday rebound from the test.
- Lots of top line earnings misses yet again to start the season.
- Economic data less than stellar yet again.
- Indices already looking at the pre-August consolidation ranges as next resistance.
- Leadership still developing and stepping up.
- Earnings dominate the landscape, making new entries a bit more difficult.

Friday was up but anticlimactic, the tag to the TV show where the main story is over and actors try to leave you with a smile at the show's end.

Indeed, the substantive moves in terms of the technical pattern occurred early in the week as the indices tested the rally off the second low in the double bottom Tuesday and Wednesday, then bolted back upside Thursday. SP500 held the test of the September closing peak, successfully testing from that position of strength discussed last week as it had broken resistance and then used former resistance as support. Ditto DJ30. SOX foreshadowed it all, however, with the Friday to Tuesday 1-2-3 test then the breakout move Wednesday as M&A fever swept the sector. Once again it would seem, SOX set the market direction, but the important point is all the indices followed suit.

That left Friday, even though it was expiration, with cleanup duty for the week. The gains were modest but they were gains, continuing the Thursday rebound that marked a successful test of the rally from the second leg of the double bottom. After the test and Wednesday rebound, the ability to continue upside is sauce for the goose.

SP500 9.25, 0.46%
NASDAQ 16.59, 0.34%
DJ30 74.22, 0.43%
SP400 0.04%
RUTX -0.04%
SOX 0.11%

VOLUME: NYSE +7%, NASDAQ -7%. Rather tame trade for expiration Friday.

A/D: NYSE 1.5:1, NASDAQ -1.1:1. After excellent breadth on the Thursday surge, taking a day off to end the week. Matches the action in the indices.

SP500 and NASDAQ 100 led the gains, each with 0.46% moves while DJ30 was right there, continuing its rebound from the test as well. SOX, SP400, RUTX all slowed the move. SOX was already out in front so a rest is fine. SP400 and RUTX continue to lag the moves overall. All in all, not bad action as the indices continue up off of the tests.


NEWS/ECONOMY

The week was full of . . . economic data and the start of earning season. Not much of it was positive, and more and more the numbers are recessionary in nature. Philly Fed negative, Empire Manufacturing negative, and that is not the first negative read. Empire three straight months, Philly down two months in a row, the first back to back losses since January and February 2013. Dramatic turns lower in New Orders and Employment, both flipping from solidly positive to negative.


Industrial Production, September: -0.2% versus -0.2% expected versus -0.1% August (from -0.4%)

Down 7 of 9 months for 2015.

Capacity Utilization, September: 77.5 versus 77.4 expected versus 77.8 August (from 77.6). At least this beat expectations.


JOLTS: A favorite of Yellen's. Job openings fell to 5.37M from 5.667M in August, and August was written down from 5.74M.

That pushed openings down to the lowest level since 2009!

Again, the economic data continues to erode, in many cases to levels not seen since the market started rallying in 2009 and indeed back to 2008 in some cases. It is no wonder earnings are not blowout.

Earnings: again a season starts with plenty of bottom line beats but also plenty of top line misses. GE, HON, WYNN, SLB, XLNX, PNC, JNJ, CSX.

There were some beats: BAC, INTC, DAL, AMD.

But surprising complete misses on the bottom line: JPM, MAT, STI, GS, NFLX.

A rather dismal report card thus far. Can only get better, right? Not necessarily, but you would think with all of the positive commentary from the financial stations that earnings would be grand. But, that is all fluff. The big names have, thanks to the old stimulus, the ACA, the EPA, and hundreds of thousands of new regulations, a massive competitive advantage and thus make the money. Things are not so great they are just printing money, but good enough where they can spend $10B on a stock buyback in the case of JNJ or $3B for HPQ. High times indeed.


THE MARKET

CHARTS

Not a lot of excitement, just a modest continuation of the Thursday break higher (Wednesday for SOX). That works, however, avoiding an immediate reversal. Monday will tell more of the tale, but it was a solid week in the test and then the renewed move upside.

SP500: Solid advance on another session of rising volume. Strong break higher Thursday took SP500 past the September peak, adding to that move Friday. Now SP500 has to start thinking about the March to August range that led to the August plunge. First resistance is at the March low (2039) and the July low (2044). SP500 closed at 2033, so the bottom of the range is rapidly becoming a reality. That is the life of a recovering anything, right? One obstacle after another.

DJ30: Held on to the gains the longest, shook off the Wednesday sacking from JPM and friends, nice solid rebound on increasing trade Thursday and Friday to close at new recovery highs. That lands DJ30 at the January low, the start of the next phase of resistance in the recovery. 17,350 is next from August, and after that 17,600 is a serious level to contend with. Thus far handling the resistance with volume.

NASDAQ: Solid moves as well though Friday volume was lower. NASDAQ is now at the September closing high and is closing in on the May and July lows that are roughly coincident with the 200 day SMA from 4900 to 4920 (200 day MA).

SOX: Modest Friday gain, but SOX started the move Wednesday, a day ahead of the other indices. So it took a day off Friday. On the breakout it cleared the September peak as well as broke into and to the upper range of the July/August lateral consolidation. Very solid move.

RUTX: Flat Friday after a solid Thursday surge. RUTX did not clear the prior week highs and it is still below the September peak. It is working on it, but it is also very much into following versus leading.

SP400: Similar to RUTX, the midcaps slept through expiration. Still below last week's highs and the September closing high, following along.


LEADERSHIP

Big Names: Some impressive moves on the week and on Friday. AMZN posted its second session in its breakout move. PCLN continued to recover from the Wednesday flop to the 10 day EMA. GOOG was flat Friday but a very solid week of gains. FB is closing in on the July peak. NFLX struggled for a second day post-earnings.

Social: Improving as TWTR broke higher after Balmer said he had taken a big stake. FB worked toward its old high. GRUB moving well. LNKD, so so.

Tech: Big names are working, e.g. MSFT, INTC, CSCO, JNPR.

China: Nice recovery after a Wednesday hiccup. ATHM, CTRP, SINA, YNDX.

Chips: Strong week. XLNX, FCS, EXAR. Many solid moves.

Telecom: Some solid advances again with SWIR, TSYS, MBT all looking solid.

Energy: Slowed a bit Friday but that was the norm. Still some good moves, e.g. CVX. Still some great setups, e.g. ESV, WLL, OIS.

Retail: Some interesting patterns trying to shape up what we will watch, e.g. DDS, W, RL.


MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: +16.59 points (+0.34%) to close at 4886.69
Volume: 1.75B (-7.36%)

Up Volume: 925.37M (-604.63M)
Down Volume: 890.4M (+481.96M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.08 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 4.52 to 1

New Highs: 57 (+10)
New Lows: 30 (-20)

S&P
Stats: +9.25 points (+0.46%) to close at 2033.11
NYSE Volume: 1B (+7.15%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.46 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 4.33 to 1

New Highs: 53 (+18)
New Lows: 18 (-10)

DJ30
Stats: +74.22 points (+0.43%) to close at 17215.97


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

The sentiment indicators are backing off as they should. They did their job as they spiked in late August. The market set up the technical pattern afterward, and voila, a breakout.

Now there is STILL a very negative sentiment from commentators on the financial stations. They feel the move is over. While I don't necessarily buy into the market making new highs, the pattern is good and there is still leadership showing up. That combination speaks to more upside.

VIX: 15.05; -1
VXN: 17.2; -0.87
VXO: 15.08; -1.09

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.87; -0.24

Recent history: 32 of 41 sessions at or over 1.0. Did its work for a bounce.


Bulls and Bears: No longer a crossover, but for almost a month they were crossed and the signal was given as bulls fell below 35% and bears moved over 35%. Again, the work has been done here.

Bulls: 36.5 versus 30.2 versus 24.7

Bears: 31.2 versus 34.4% versus 35.1%

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: 36.5%
30.2% versus 24.7% versus 26.0% versus 26.8% versus 25.7% versus 27.8% versus 31.6% versus 37.7% versus 40.2% versus 42.2% versus 43.3% versus 49.0% versus 43.7% versus 44.8% versus 49.5% versus 51.6% versus 45.5% versus 47.4% versus 51.5% versus 47.5% versus 51.5% versus 48.5%

Background: This is the lowest since the 2008 and 2009 market plummet.

Bears: 31.2%
34.4% versus 35.1% versus 30.2% versus 26.8% versus 27.9 versus 26.8% versus 22.5% versus 18.4% versus 18.6% versus 17.5% versus 17.5% versus 15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.4% versus 15.4% versus 16.5% versus 16.5% versus 15.8% versus 14.9% versus 15.8% versus 13.9%

Background: Over 35% for bears is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. The best indication is when bears cross up through bulls as the two merge. Done.


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 2.03% versus 2.03%. Bounced on the week with the lower economic data, but stalling out below the 200 day SMA Thursday and Friday.

Historical: 2.03% versus 1.98% versus 2.04% versus 2.10% versus 2.11% versus 2.07% versus 2.04% versus 1.98% versus 2.04% versus 2.05% versus 2.05% versus 2.09% versus 2.17% versus 2.11% versus 2.15% versus 2.14% versus 2.20% versus 2.13% versus 2.20% versus 2.30% versus 2.28% versus 2.17% versus 2.18% versus 2.23% versus 2.18%


Euro/$: 1.1351 versus 1.13793. Euro faded a second session after surging through Wednesday.

Historical: 1.13793 versus 1.1387 versus 1.1387 versus 1.1352 versus 1.1358 versus 1.1289 versus 1.1250 versus 1.1269 versus 1.12106 versus 1.1190 versus 1.1167 versus 1.1254 versus 1.1254 versus 1.1206 versus 1.1223 versus 1.11715 versus 1.11325 versus 1.12004 versus 1.13010 versus 1.14077 versus 1.13068 versus 1.1268 versus 1.1317 versus 1.1338 versus 1.1278 versus 1.1217 versus 1.12093 versus 1.1148


DXY0: Dollar bouncing for a second session, finding some support at the June and September lows.

USD/JPY: 119.48 versus 118.87. Dollar rebounding off the bottom of its September/October range.

Historical: 118.87 versus 119.66 versus 119.75 versus 119.89 versus 120.23 versus 119.88 versus 119.92 versus 120.22 versus 120.45 versus 119.91 versus 119.86 versus 120.07 versus 119.76 versus 119.64 versus 120.58 versus 120.30 versus 120.19 versus 120.00 versus 120.36 versus


Oil: 47.73, +0.87. Sold all week, reversed Thursday, added a bit of upside Friday.

Gold: 1177.40, -5.60. Broke through the 200 day SMA Wednesday, tested back to that level on the Friday close. No fear of a rate hike here.


MONDAY

Yes there will be data this coming week, but the economic variety takes a back seat to the earnings reports that will flood the market. Of course there is the overriding factor: the Fed. Some 47 speeches, interviews, and appearances are scheduled for next week. Shocking, and as noted Thursday night, there are too many chefs in the Fed's kitchen, too many Fed members thinking of fat salaries post-Fed, pontificating to whoever will listen so as to bolster their credentials.

All of this over the backdrop of a textbook fall pattern. Massive selloff in August spiked negative sentiment and internals. A rebound, not to an ascending triangle as that one fellow on Fast Money called it but an upward wedge that should break lower, a tumble back down to test the lows, then the late September/October rally. SP500 and DJ30 broke past the September recovery peak, tested, then resumed the move, notching higher recovery highs. Classic action in every respect.

Leadership is still present with other sectors such as energy, telecom, tech, chips all stepping in to support the move. Retail looks as if it might be ready to turn the corner and rally again after punting leadership ahead of the August selloff.

The point: there is still leadership setting up to help keep the move going.

As for Monday, we have some new plays to take advantage of these areas coming to the fore, but it is also the heart of earnings season, and that limits what we can do. While we don't mind holding some positions into earnings, as NFLX shows that can have its pitfalls. We prefer to play up to and after results, as we have a more controlled setting.

Thus we have some plays that we will watch for opportunity but factor in the time until earnings. Many sport earnings announcements in the first and second week of November; enough room to play, just know what you expect out of any particular position.

On some more upside, in addition to new positions, we will be looking at banking some gain, e.g. GOOG, AMZN. The market is coming off a test of the September/October run and is looking good. Of course we want to let this run work as much as it will for us, then bank some gain.

Definitely want to take gain when it is there on a continued move as the indices will start to bump next resistance. For SP500, DJ30, SOX that is the prior trading ranges before the August crash. For RUTX, SP400, that is the September, even last week's peaks. Resistance is not that far ahead, so yes, worth taking some more gain as it shows up.

Not that exciting, not that insightful I know, but the insight, I think you will agree, came in recognizing what was setting up starting with the internals and sentiment spiking negatively in August, and then keeping the bigger picture in focus of the textbook setup taking place when so many were panicked, including that bald guy on CNBC who, until this past week, finally said things looked better than he thought. Remember, he said the first dip after the August selloff was a successful test. Then he threw in the towel on the second decline. Now, after a big rally off of that September low where we picked up PCLN, AMZN, and friends, he is feeling more sanguine (his work from last week).

It happens. That is why I always say you have to look at what the stocks are telling you and act accordingly versus getting pulled back and forth by market swings. Keep an eye on the big picture (index patterns, internals, sentiment, time of year) but focus like a hawk on leadership and potential leadership.

Have a great weekend!


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4886.69

Resistance:
4910 is the July 2015 closing low
4912 the mid-April China dip
The 200 day SMA at 4919
The June low at 4974
5008.57 is the early March 2015 post-bear market high
5042 is the March 2015 high

Support:
4837 is the late August 2015 rebound high
The March lows at 4843 and 4825
4828 is the late August peak
4815 is the December 2014 prior market peak
4811 is the November 2014 peak (intraday)
The 50 day SMA at 4808
4774 is the January high
4751 is the January 2015 lower high
4636 is the early September 2015 low testing the recovery from the August selling.
4631 is the October 2014 upside gap point
4614 is the September 1 intraday low
4610 is the September 2014 post-bear market high.
4566 is the lower gap point from late October
4563 and 4567 are the January lows
4547 is the December 2014 low is giving way
4506 is the August 2015 selloff closing low
4370 to 4300 (March 2014 peak to June gap point)
4185 to 4130 (May 2014 gap point to October 3014 low)
4292 is the August 2015 intraday low


S&P 500: Closed at 2033.11

Resistance:
2040 is the March 2015 closing low
2046 is the July 2015 closing low
The 200 day SMA at 2060
2062 is the January 2015 lower high
2076 is the all-time high from November
2079 is the intraday all-time high from November
2094 is the December 2014 high, the prior all-time high
2115 is the late March lower high
2119.59 is the February intraday prior all-time high
2126 was the April prior all-time high
2130 is the June 2015 peak
2135 is the May 2015 all-time high

Support:
2011 is the September prior all-time high
1994 is the late August recovery peak
1991 is the July 2014 high
The 50 day SMA at 1985
1989 is the last August closing high
1972 is the December 2014 low
1913 is the early September 2015 closing low testing the bounce from the August selling
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1883.57 is the early March high.
1872 is the September 2015 test low of the August low
1867 is the August 2015 low
1862 is the October 2014 closing low
The December and January highs at 1848
1829 us the October 2014 intraday low
The April 2014 low at 1814
1808 is the November and December 2013 twin peaks
1775.22 is the October prior all-time high


Dow: Closed at 17,215.97

Resistance:
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.
17,515 is the early July closing low
17,585 to 17,579, the March intraday lows, helping mark the bottom of the Dow's The February to July trading range.
The 200 day SMA at 17,582
June low at 17,715
The March low at 17,786
17,748 is the mid-April China margin selloff and the bottom of the 5 month trading range

Support:
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17067 is the December 2014 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 peak
The 50 day EMA at 16,832
16,736 is a prior all-time high from May 2014
16,670 is the December 2014 peak and the recent August 2015 relief bounce peak.
16,665 is the late August 2015 closing high. Key, key level.
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
16,117 is the October 2014 closing low
16,058 is the early September 2015 low
16,026 is the April 2014 low
15,942 is the September 2015 low testing the August low
15,855 is the October 2014 intraday low
15,372 is the February 2014 closing low
15,370 is the August 2015 intraday low
14,803 is the October 2013 low


ECONOMIC CALENDAR

October 13 - Tuesday
Treasury Budget, September (14:00): $95.0B expected, $105.8B prior

October 14 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 10/10 (7:00): -27.6% actual versus 25.5% prior
PPI, September (8:30): -0.5% actual versus -0.3% expected, 0.0% prior
Core PPI, September (8:30): -0.3% actual versus 0.1% expected, 0.3% prior
Retail Sales, September (8:30): 0.1% actual versus 0.2% expected, 0.0% prior (revised from 0.2%)
Retail Sales ex-auto, September (8:30): -0.3% actual versus -0.1% expected, -0.1% prior (revised from 0.1%)
Business Inventories, August (10:00): 0.0% actual versus 0.1% expected, 0.0% prior (revised from 0.1%)

October 15 - Thursday
Continuing Claims, 10/03 (8:30): 2204K prior
Initial Claims, 10/10 (8:30): 255K actual versus 269K expected, 262K prior (revised from 263K)
Continuing Claims, 10/03 (8:30): 2158K actual versus 2200K expected, 2208K prior (revised from 2204K)
CPI, September (8:30): -0.2% actual versus -0.2% expected, -0.1% prior
Core CPI, September (8:30): 0.2% actual versus 0.1% expected, 0.1% prior
Empire Manufacturing, October (8:30): -11.4 actual versus -8.0 expected, -14.7 prior
Philadelphia Fed, October (10:00): -4.5 actual versus -2.5 expected, -6.0 prior
Natural Gas Inventor, 10/10 (10:30): 100 bcf actual versus 95 bcf prior
Crude Inventories, 10/10 (11:00): 3.073M prior
Treasury Budget, September (11:00): $95.0B expected, $105.8B prior
Crude Inventories, 10/10 (11:00): 7.562M actual versus 3.073M prior
Treasury Budget, September (15:30): $91.1B actual versus $95.0B expected, $105.8B prior

October 16 - Friday
Industrial Production, September (9:15): -0.2% actual versus -0.2% expected, -0.1% prior (revised from -0.4%)
Capacity Utilization, September (9:15): 77.5% actual versus 77.4% expected, 77.8% prior (revised from 77.6%)
JOLTS - Job Openings, August (10:00): 5.370M actual versus 5.668M prior (revised from 5.753M)
Michigan Sentiment, October (10:00): 92.1 actual versus 88.4 expected, 87.2 prior
Net Long-Term TIC Fl, August (16:00): $20.4B actual versus $7.7B prior (no revisions)

October 19 - Monday
NAHB Housing Market Survey, October (10:00): 62 expected, 62 prior

October 20 - Tuesday
Building Permits, September (8:30): 1170K prior
Housing Starts, September (8:30): 1150K expected, 1126K prior
Building Permits, September (8:30): 1170K expected, 1170K prior

October 21 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 10/17 (7:00): -27.6% prior
Crude Inventories, 10/17 (10:30): 7.562M prior

October 22 - Thursday
Initial Claims, 10/17 (8:30): 265K expected,
Continuing Claims, 10/10 (8:30): 2185K expected,
FHFA Housing Price Index, August (9:00): 0.6% prior
Existing Home Sales, September (10:00): 5.38M expected, 5.31M prior
Leading Indicators, September (10:00): -0.1% expected, 0.1% prior
Natural Gas Inventories, 10/17 (10:30): 100 bcf prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com:4:22 pm Celestica misses by $0.09, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (CLS) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.31; revenues fell 1.0% year/year to $1.41 bln vs the $1.46 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.27-0.33 vs. $0.32 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $1.375-1.475 bln vs. $1.48 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:16 pm Ingram Micro agrees to acquire Brazil-based Grupo AO; expects $300 mln in annual value-add solutions revs, and be modestly accretive to 2016 FY non-GAAP EPS (IM) :

Co has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sao Paulo based Grupo AO, provider of critical value-add IT solutions in Latin America.

AO key leadership has agreed to join co upon close of the transaction to assist in the integration and help drive continued growth and expanding profitability across the combined business thereafter. Transaction expected to close late in 4Q15. AO is expected to contribute in excess of $300 mln in annual value-add solutions revenue to co and be modestly accretive to 2016 FY non-GAAP EPS.

4:09 pm Yahoo! misses by $0.01, misses on revs (YHOO) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.15 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.16; revenues fell 8.3% year/year to $1 bln vs the $1.02 bln Capital IQ Consensus.Q3 Maven (Mobile, Video, Nativem and Social) Revenue +43% y/y; Q2 +60% y/y
Q3 Mobile revenue represented 20% y/y of traffic-driven revenue; Q2 22% y/y
Q3 Search Revenue:
Gross search revenue +2% y/y; Q2 +15% y/yNumber of Paid Clicks increased +5% y/y; Q2 +13%y/y
Price-per-Click increased -2% y/y; Q2 +4% y/y
Q3 Display Revenue:
GAAP display revenue +14% y/y; Q2 +15% y/y
Number of Ads Sold +8% y/y; Q2 +9% y/y
Price-per-Ad +8% y/y; Q2 +10% y/

4:06 pm EMC and VMware (VMW) announce plans to form a new cloud services business, by combining their respective cloud capabilities under the Virtustream brand (EMC) :

Co's announced plans to form the Federation's new cloud services business by combining their respective cloud capabilities, along with existing Virtustream cloud offerings, under the Virtustream brand. Virtustream will be jointly owned by VMware (VMW) and EMC and led by Rodney Rogers, CEO of Virtustream.

The parties are finalizing a definitive agreement for the transaction. Virtustream's financial results will be consolidated into VMware's financial statements beginning in Q1 2016.

4:06 pm Cree beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS and rev mid-points below consensus (CREE) :

Reports Q1 (Sep) earnings of $0.21 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.20; revenues fell 0.5% year/year to $425.5 mln vs the $418.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.21-0.26 vs. $0.26 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $425-445 mln vs. $445.11 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."Fiscal 2016 is off to a good start, with Q1 revenue and profits above the middle of our targeted range, driven by strong demand for commercial LED lighting and a solid quarter for our LED business..."

4:04 pm iRobot beats by $0.17, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (IRBT) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.42 per share, $0.17 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.25; revenues rose 0.1% year/year to $143.6 mln vs the $145.34 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Adjusted EBITDA for Q3 of 2015 was $25.9 mln, compared with $29.7 mln last year.Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.53-0.58 vs. $0.66 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $200-205 mln vs. $215.60 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."While we are experiencing weakness in a few isolated international markets, we expect the macro impact to be temporary. Global spending on robotic vacuum cleaners continues to grow."

In broader market action, all three major US indices finished the day lower. Losses were led by the Nasdaq Composite which shed 24.50 points (-0.50%) to end 4880.97. The S&P 500 was close behind, down 2.89 points -0.14%) to 2030.77. The Dow Jones Industrial Average close with the tamest of losses today, lower by 13.43 points (-0.08%) to 17217.11. Action only briefly edged higher on the day, as the markets spent the majority of the afternoon below flat lines. The Technology (XLK 42.02, -0.11 -0.26%) sector finished the session lower, but names like WIN +7.20%, LRCX +3.53%, AMAT +2.44%, AKAM +2.13%, AAPL +1.83% outperformed. Names like IBM -5.75%, EMC -0.83%, RHT -0.81%, TSS -0.66%, STX -0.59% were lower in the sector as IBM's (IBM 140.64, -8.58 -5.75%) quarterly results failed to impress. Gains out of sector component Windstream (WIN 2.54, +0.05 +1.81%), which continued strength off yesterday's announcement of the sale of its data center business to TierPoint for $575 million in cash took the shares higher. SanDisk (SNDK) was also strong today as reports were out that the name was in active talks to be acquired by Western Digital (WDC 74.86, -5.62 -6.98%).

Telecoms (FCOM 26.44, +0.25 +0.95%) were strong on the session on the back of Verizon's (VZ 45.24, +0.54 +1.21%) quarterly results. We would note that AT&T (T 33.75, +0.10 +0.28%) is also on the docket for Thursday, after hours, and T-Mobile US (TMUS 40.70, -0.52 -1.26%) is scheduled for a week from today.

On the other hand, Internet (FDN 71.19, -0.74 -1.03%) names were notable weak today. Blue chip names like P -3.88%, RAX -3.55%, GOOGL -2.85%, NFLX -2.66%, GOOG -2.38%, AMZN -2.15%, IACI -2.11%, YHOO -2.00% dragged the sector down. Pandora (P 19.33, -0.78 -3.88%) was a component that dragged the sector lower today on the back of a Virgin America (VA 34.46, +0.11 +0.32%) partnership with Spotify to offer free streaming to its entire catalogue of over 30 million songs. Shares of the media streaming service bucked the back-to-back sessions of gains to close the day near lows.

For its part, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (704.97, -2.48 -0.35%) traded weaker all day. The sector was dragged down by names like MU -10.80%, IBM -5.75%, ADBE -1.76%, FB -1.49%, HPQ -1.45%. MU displayed notable weakness today as an Intel (INTC 33.44, -0.15 -0.45%) release highlighted INTC's expansion into the 3d NAND non-volatile memory market in China. Intel reportedly made a $5.5 billion investment in the region, causing MU shares to display notable weakness.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Motorola Solutions (MSI 69.48, +0.45 +0.65%) announced its development of a three-in-one combination body-worn video camera, radio speaker and microphone, in addition to a cloud-based management system.

Avago Tech (AVGO 119.89, +0.93 +0.78%) disclosed it has declined to eliminate the position of Chief Operating Officer effective Nov. 2, 2015.

SanDisk (SNDK) traded higher in the aftermarket session last night following a report that the company is in discussions to be acquired by Western Digital (WDC).

Qualcomm (QCOM 59.00, -0.10 +0.17%) introduced the industry's first fully integrated, smart gateway system-on-chip incorporating its next generation Qualcomm Internet Processor, Qualcomm VIVE with Qualcomm MU | EFX MU-MIMO technology, built-in Gigabit Ethernet, Qualcomm StreamBoost, with support for dual band simultaneous transmission and LTE backhaul.

TE Connectivity (TEL 63.89, +0.49 +0.77%) announced Chief Technology Officer Robert Shaddock to retire effective late-2016.

Accenture (ACN 103.47, +0.37 +0.36%) Federal Services was awarded a contract to help manage digital interactions for The U.S. Census Bureau. The company's work will support the agency's five-year Digital Transformation Program. The work will be done under a Blanket Purchase Agreement which has a one-year base with four, one-year options.

Alphabet (GOOG 650.28, -15.82 -2.38%) announced in a blog post that it was committing to invest in the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project in Northern Kenya, their second clean energy investment in Africa. Google will purchase Vestas' (VWDRY 19.06, +0.09 +0.47%) 12.5% stake in Lake Turkana once it comes online, becoming the first U.S. private investor to support the project.

The New York Times (NYT 13.01, +0.10 +0.77%) announced the launch of NYT VR, a new virtual reality project in collaboration with Google (GOOG). The project includes the distribution of more than one million Google Cardboard viewers to home delivery subscribers with their copy of The New York Times. The Google Cardboard viewer, allows anyone to experience virtual reality with a smartphone

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Xplore Tech (XPLR 5.27, -0.10 -1.86%) secured an additional $1.1 million follow-up order from a major US telecommunications provider.

MAM Software Group (MAMS 6.17, +0.06 +0.98%) appointed Brian Callahan as successor to Charles Trapp for the CFO position effective immediately.

Fusion Telecom Int'l (FSNN 2.31, +0.05 +2.21%) was awarded a three year cloud networking solutions contract valued at more than $1.5 million by an unnamed health insurance organization.

Quintiles Transnational (Q 70.18, -1.57 -2.19%) promoted Kevin Gordon to COO and appointed Mike McDonnell as CFO.

Exar (EXAR 5.50, -1.16 -17.42%) announced the departure of the company's CEO in addition to Q2 preliminary results.

Shenandoah Telecom (SHEN 47.18, +0.94 +2.03%) increased its annual dividend to $0.48 from $0.47 per share and declared at two-for-one stock split to shareholders of record on December 31, 2015.

AT&T (T) and the Communication Workers of America have reached a tentative agreement in the southeast wireline contract negotiations.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Verizon (VZ) reported Q3 EPS which was better than expected at $1.04 on in-line revenues of $33.16 billion. The company also reported 1.3 million net retail postpaid connections added in the quarter; low retail postpaid churn of 0.93 percent; 110.8 million total retail connections; 105.0 million total retail postpaid connections.

IBM (IBM) reported Q3 EPS which was better than anticipated at $3.34 on worse than expected revenues of $19.28 billion. The company also issued downside guidance for FY15, lowerd EPS to $14.75-15.75, excluding non-recurring items, from $15.75-16.50; lowered FCF to flat from a modest increase YoY.

Rambus (RMBS 10.00, -3.89 -28.01%) reported Q3 EPS and revenues which missed expectations at $0.14 and $73.8 million, respectively. The company also issued downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revenues of $71-77 million. Achieving revenue in this range will require that the company sign new customer agreements for patent and solutions licensing among other matters.

GigOptix (GIG 2.17, +0.07 +3.33%) reported Q3 EPS which beat expectations at $0.06 per share on revenues which came in-line with expectations at $10.4 million. GIG also issued upside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revenues of about $10.7 million.

Flextronics (FLEX 11.79, +0.59 +5.27%) reported Q2 revenues are expected in the range of $6.2-6.8 billion and adjusted EPS is expected to be in the range of $0.28 to $0.34 per diluted share

Analyst actions:

RCI was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie;
EXAR was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen,
UBNT was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
PMCS was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Northland Capital

4:10 pm : The stock market finished Tuesday on a quiet note after spending the session inside a narrow trading range. The S&P 500 shed 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%) underperformed throughout the day.

Just like yesterday, today's affair was very quiet with the S&P 500 spending the majority of the session near its flat line. The benchmark index opened with a modest loss and rallied into the green during morning action, but could not climb above its 100-day moving average (2,039), which served as resistance. The index followed that short-lived rally with a return into the red, where it settled for the day.

Six sectors ended the day with gains, but top-weighted technology (-0.3%) and health care (-1.5%) struggled, which kept the market under pressure. Notably, the technology sector could not overcome the relative weakness in the shares of IBM (IBM 140.68, -8.54) after Big Blue reported below-consensus revenue and lowered its guidance, which overshadowed a bottom-line beat.

Staying in the tech sector, chipmakers also struggled with the PHLX Semiconductor Index shedding 0.2%. Micron (MU 17.09, -2.07) was the weakest performer, sliding 10.8%, after Intel (INTC 33.44, -0.15) announced plans to increase its investment in non-volatile memory technology.

Meanwhile, the health care sector (-1.5%) spent the day behind the remaining groups due to daylong weakness in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 305.96, -9.98) retreated into the afternoon to settle lower by 3.1%, which contributed to the weakness in the Nasdaq Composite.

On the upside, the telecom services sector (+0.8%) held the lead throughout the session thanks to a 1.2% spike in Verizon (VZ 45.24, +0.54) after the company beat earnings expectations and reaffirmed its full-year revenue growth outlook.

Similar to telecom services, financials (+0.5%) and industrials (+0.6%) ended the day with solid gains. Travelers (TRV 108.95, +2.63) spiked 2.5%, contributing to the relative strength in financials, while United Technologies (UTX 95.70, +3.65) surged 4.0%, underpinning the industrial space. Transport stocks also rallied alongside the sector with the Dow Jones Transportation Average climbing 0.6%.

Treasuries notched their lows during morning action and they remained near those levels until the close with the 10-yr yield rising five basis points to 2.07%.

Just like yesterday, investor participation was a bit below average as fewer than 800 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Housing Starts, which increased 6.5% in September to 1.207 million from an upwardly revised 1.132 million (from 1.126 million) in August while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 1.150 million. That was the second time in 2015 that total new housing starts topped 1.200 million (1.211 million in June) and the first time that the level has been exceeded on two occasions in one year since 2007. New single-family home construction remained robust in September with starts increasing 0.3% to 740,000 from 738,000

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which will be released at 7:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +3.1% YTD
S&P 500 -1.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -3.4% YTD
Russell 2000 -3.5% YTD

DJ30 -13.43 NASDAQ -24.50 SP500 -2.89 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1364/1.56 bln/1445 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1889/771.9 mln/1175

3:40 pm :

WTI oil prices recovered back above $46/barrel following the earlier sell-off
By the end of today's session, Dec crude oil gained $0.04 to close at $46.31/barrel
Nov nat gas held gains and finished +1.6% at $2.48/MMBtu
Silver spiked mid-day and held up decently, closing +0.3% at $15.89/oz Dec gold finished +0.4% at $1177.70/oz
In base metals, Dec copper rose one cent to $2.37/lb


11:47 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (100) outpacing new lows (46) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACGL, ADUS, AEPI, AGII, AMRK, AMSF, APTS, AROW, ATNI, AVB, AWK, BBCN, BRSS, BSQR, BYD, CINF, CLI, CLX, COR, CTS, DEI, DPS, DWTR, EFX, ELEC, ELS, ENVI, EQC, ERII, EXPE, EXR, FB, FF, FISV, FN, FONR, HBNC, HOMB, HTBI, JE, JNPR, KEP, KRNY, LB, LEA, LII, MAA, MATW, MCI, MNRO, MO, MTS, MXIM, NAVG, NAZ, NDAQ, NI, NKSH, NPK, NVX, ORI, PAYC, PFS, PGR, PNY, PRA, PRMW, PSA, PULB, RAI, RENX, RLI, RNR, RRM, SABR, SBUX, SFNC, SHEN, SHOR, SIG, SIGI, SIX, SRCL, SVBI, SYKE, TE, TFSL, TNK, TSS, TTEC, UBSH, UCBA, UDR, ULBI, VLRS, VNTV, VRSN, WGL, WTR, XUE

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AIMT, AMS, ASCMA, ASTE, ATRS, BCOR, BDE, BIN, DAKP, DEST, DK, EAT, ECC, FDEU, FREE, FSC, FSI, GNK, HCLP, HOG, IBM, IMMY, KOOL, LOB, MFRM, MOKO, NEOS, NNBR, NTRA, OIIM, PERF, PETX, RLOC, SHLO, SMSI, STX, SXC, SYRX, TANH, TOR, TWER, USAP, VCEL, WCC, WWW, XBIT

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

11:29 am Motorola Solutions announces its development of a three-in-one combination body-worn video camera, radio speaker and microphone, in addition to a cloud-based mgmt system (MSI) :

Co announced the debut of its first-ever, three-in-one combination body-worn video camera, radio speaker and microphone along with a new, cloud-based content management system.

Co stated; "Using the Si500 or Si300 VSM in combination with CommandCentral Vault, a new cloud-based storage solution that meets Criminal Justice Information Services standards, will make evidence management significantly easier while lowering costs."

8:34 am Exar announces departure of CEO, reports Q2 prelim EPS of $0.06 vs $0.07 Capital IQ Consensus Est, prelim revs of ~$37 mln vs. $38 mln consensus (EXAR) :

Co announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Chairman of the Board, Richard L. Leza, as interim President and Chief Executive Officer.Leza's appointment follows a mutual agreement by the Company's Board of Directors and Louis DiNardo that he will step down as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors.As interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Leza will work closely with Exar's executive team and Board of Directors to oversee the Company's ongoing operations and strategic initiatives.The Board will immediately commence a search for a permanent replacement for the President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Leza will continue to serve as a member of the Board of Directors.

8:05 am PMC-Sierra confirms the receipt of unsolicited proposal from Microsemi Corporation (MSCC), offering $8.75 in cash and 0.0736 of an MSCC share, for each PMC share (PMCS) :

Co announced that it has received an unsolicited proposal from Microsemi Corporation (MSCC) to acquire all of the outstanding shares of PMC common stock in a cash and stock transaction. Under the terms of Microsemi's proposal, PMC stockholders would receive $8.75 in cash and 0.0736 of a share of Microsemi common stock for each share of PMC. PMC had previously announced that it had entered into a merger agreement with Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) pursuant to which Skyworks would acquire all of the outstanding shares of PMC common stock for $10.50 per share in an all-cash transaction.

PMC's board of directors is evaluating Microsemi's proposal and has not made a determination as to whether the proposal constitutes a Superior Proposal under the terms of PMC's merger agreement with Skyworks. However, PMC's board of directors believes, after consultation with its financial advisors and outside legal counsel, that the Microsemi proposal would reasonably be expected to lead to a Superior Proposal,

8:01 am Pericom Semi: Montage Technology Group issues statement reiterating belief in its $18.50 per share offer being superior to Diodes' (DIOD) offer (PSEM) :

Montage Technology Group issued a statement in response to the press release issued on October 16, 2015 by PSEM responding to Montage's preliminary proxy statement. Montage believes that Pericom is misleading its shareholders by incorrectly and greatly exaggerating any antitrust or regulatory risk of a transaction with Montage, and notes that Montage has committed financing from highly regarded financing sources. Montage believes "it's clear that Pericom is determined to convince its own investors to sell their company to Diodes at a significantly lower price than the superior $18.50 Montage proposal that is currently on the table."

7:36 am Verizon beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; reaffirms expectation for full year rev growth of at least 3% (VZ) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.04 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.02; revenues rose 5.0% year/year to $33.16 bln vs the $32.98 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Reported 1.3 million net retail postpaid connections added in the quarter; low retail postpaid churn of 0.93 percent; 110.8 million total retail connections; 105.0 million total retail postpaid connections.Wireless operating income margin was 33.3%, up from 31.9% in 3Q14.Reaffirms expectation for consolidated revenue growth of at least 3% for full-year 2015, in-line with expectations.

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - Buybacks Help Fuel Stock Rise (Weekend Newsletter)

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

- Earnings, Chinese stimulus send already hot market soaring.
- Buybacks still help fuel stock rise, to wit GOOG's $5B repurchase.
- Very narrow rally pushes large cap indices back into old resistance.
- Small, midcap indices lag, but in position to throw in to the upside if money heads back their way.
- After the surge, waiting for the test to see how the large caps set up again. Can they run to the prior or new highs? Stimulus doesn't hurt.

Friday was a no-brainer, at least at the open. Thursday Mario Draghi helped ignite a new rally off the Wednesday selling with hints and winks about further ECB stimulus. Solid earnings from TXN, UA, CTXS, and even MCD didn't hurt.

Thursday evening AMZN, GOOG, and MSFT reported quite incredible earnings and gapped higher after hours. The morning was set to the upside based simply on those stocks' market caps in the various indices they are listed.

Then came China. There were hints and rumors all week, indeed those hints and rumors were credited for early week move higher. Friday morning they became reality as the PBOC announced a 25BP cut in the 1 year lending rate and a 50BP drop in reserve requirements. Very bold moves for an economy the Chinese say is in great shape. That news hit at 7:15ET and you can see the futures rocket higher on the news. Great news from earnings were goosed even more.

In 24 hours the market received a triumvirate of news stories that basically delivered all it could want. Europe talking more stimulus, US earnings showing solid beats (if you discount the plethora of top line misses), and the PBOC ratcheting up the stimulus meter. About the only thing left that would gin stocks even further is the Fed announcing second thoughts on its stimulus removal bias, opting for QE4.

But, the Fed doesn't need it. The market healed itself with a few big winners winning really big and other central banks having to do the dirty work.

SP500 22.64, 1.10%
NASDAQ 111.81, 2.27%
DJ30 157.54, 0.90%
SP400 0.49%
RUTX 1.00%
SOX 1.15%

VOLUME: NASDAQ +0.4%, NYSE -9%. Lower but still quite solid with NASDAQ above average and NYSE slipping back to average.

A/D: NYSE 1.4:1, NASDAQ 1.95:1. This is important. 1% gains on NYSE indices and less than 3:2 breadth. NASDAQ gaining 2+% and less than 2 stocks rising for every one declining. Indeed, NASDAQ new highs are at three year lows even as NASDAQ forges toward a new all-time high and NASDAQ 100 bumps at that level. The generals are leading, but no one is following right now.

Earnings outside the big three of the day were not bad. Well, perhaps outside of Friday that saw lots of top line misses again: PG, T, WHR, P. Some were really bad, missing the top and bottom line: VFC, SXK. STT missed the bottom line.

There are still some issues even with the earnings beats.

Jobs: MSFT lays off 1,000 more. That is one way to boost the bottom line.

Buybacks: GOOG goosed its move with a $5B buyback. UAL is buying $2B. Earlier UTX announced a $12B buyback; look how its stock has moved since the announcement.

There is no doubt: stimulus, buybacks work very well in driving stocks higher. They have done so for almost 6 years now even with dubious economic advances and as a few commentators on CNBC said this week, virtually no capital investment.

Indeed, buybacks have taken the place of capital investment. Recall my commentary in 2013, 2014 and early 2015 discussing the new forms of capital investment: dividends, and stock buy backs. Buybacks slowed some during mid-2015, but they are back big time here in Q4. And by gosh, so are stock prices. Beats having to actually produce sales.


'You don't know what it's like out there. I've worked in the private sector. They expect results.' Dan Aykroyd, 'Ghostbusters' (1984). Perhaps they should have worked on global warming research for the university? Unending supply of funds for keeping the belief alive.


THE MARKET

CHARTS

NASDAQ: On the back of AMZN, GOOG, MSFT, SBUX, CSCO, JNPR, BRCM and other large caps, NASDAQ gapped through the 200 day SMA and the September high. It gapped, traded up and down, closing just about where it opened, i.e. showing a doji. It is at the March peak that is coincident with gaps in June and July as well as consolidations in the mid-range of the March to July channel. A big move with some of its biggest components making it possible. The next question is whether there is anything left in the tank after such a grand move? In July both AMZN and GOOG reported strong earnings and gapped sharply higher. Both spent all their currency on that one day, basing for the next quarter. With only large caps really providing any of the upside strength, how much more can the index move? NASDAQ 100 gapped as well, gapping to its own doji just below the July all-time closing high. All kinds of strength in the big names, but it is mostly just the big names that are rallying with any kind of consistency. Just how much more can it move on any kind of news, good or bad? We will have to see how it reacts to the gap, but we do know GOOG likes to fill its big gaps. AMZN too.

SP500: Continued the Thursday break higher, gapping and clearing the 200 day SMA by a wide margin. SP500 is in the teeth of the March to August rounded top. Volume was lower and below average, not befitting such a strong move. Will it hit new highs? MACD is breaking out ahead of the stock. Will it make new highs on this move? Likely not before a test of the move to give it a rest and a clean shot at the highs. Many S&P stocks that have languished are making upside moves; if they continue to recover then SP500 has a good shot at those prior highs. Lots of beaten down stocks in the S&P 500 that have a long way to run to reach former highs. If they make a credible run at those highs, SP500 has room to move.

DJ30: Gapped and rallied through the 200 day SMA and into the lower reaches of its February to July trading range formed just before the August collapse. This moves DJ30 to the 17,600 range we saw as resistance, a 1600 point move from the late September low. As overbought now as it was oversold in late August. It will need to test this move and we want to see that test before getting deep into a lot of new upside.

SOX: Gapped and rallied as well, moving further through the 200 day SMA. Moving into some heavy resistance at this level on up to 697-700 (closed at 684). Big move here the past four weeks. As sharp as this move has been, SOX is not as overbought as it was oversold in the June to August selloff.

RUTX: Perhaps RUTX is setting up an inverted head and shoulders and will follow SP500, DJ30, and NASDAQ higher. It is bumping the same resistance the past three weeks at one of the upper gap points in the August selloff. If it can move through here it can rally to the 1200 level (closed at 1166) where the bottom fell out.

SP400: Very similar pattern to RUTX, working laterally the past three weeks, bumping the same gap point from the August selling. Definitely has room to run to near 1480 (closed at 1440).


LEADERSHIP

Big Names: Of course there were big gains. AMZN, GOOG, MSFT. SBUX, FB rallied to higher highs. NFLX tried to get off the mat. It was another strong day for large cap stocks.

NYSE large caps: UTX gapped a bit higher, extended after four upside sessions. MMM couldn't move through the 200 day SMA hit Thursday. IP continued its move higher off its inverted head and shoulders.

Energy: Took the day off after a decent week. CVX, HAL. Others still look good to move or continue moves, e.g. OIS, XEC.

Financial: MA and V resumed breakouts after a quick midweek test. Banks better with WFC moving up to the 200 day SMA in a two week run. JPM gapped through the 200 day. GS and MS are problematic: bumping resistance for more than a week, but using the time to try and set up an upside move.

Chips: A solid week. INTC still running upside after earnings, surpassing its May peak, its most recent prior high. XLNX faded at the June high. MLNX moves through the 200 day SMA. NXPI is making a nice test of its break through the 200 day SMA. AVGO gapped higher off the 200 day SMA.

China: Overall quite solid, and Chinese stimulus plans are not hurting. SINA gapped upside, continuing its move up the 10 day EMA off the lows. ATHM gapped upside, also climbing the 10 day EMA off the lows. VIPS broke higher on the week. CTRP posted a solid week.

Biotech: Showing some interesting recovery signs though the big names still have somewhat scary patterns. ANAC is bouncing off a gap fill and 200 day SMA test. CLVS has a tougher week but started to climb off the test. INFI enjoyed a strong week coming off the lows.


MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: +111.81 points (+2.27%) to close at 5031.86
Volume: 2.108B (+0.4%)

Up Volume: 1.64B (+100M)
Down Volume: 523.72M (-79.05M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.95 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.75 to 1

New Highs: 140 (+52)
New Lows: 68 (-27)

S&P
Stats: +22.64 points (+1.1%) to close at 2075.15
NYSE Volume: 1B (-9.09%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.44 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.91 to 1

New Highs: 100 (+16)
New Lows: 57 (+4)

DJ30
Stats: +157.54 points (+0.9%) to close at 17646.7


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 14.46; +0.01
VXN: 16.6; +0.97
VXO: 14.95; -0.13

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.77; -0.14

Recent history: 32 of 46 sessions at or over 1.0. Did its work for a bounce.


Bulls and Bears: Bulls move a point higher, bears move a tenth higher. They are now parting ways after crossing over and bulls falling below 35% (bullish) and bears above 35% (bullish). The work was done, the rally ensued.

Bulls: 37.5 versus 36.5

Bears: 31.3 versus 31.2

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: 37.5%
36.5% versus 30.2% versus 24.7% versus 26.0% versus 26.8% versus 25.7% versus 27.8% versus 31.6% versus 37.7% versus 40.2% versus 42.2% versus 43.3% versus 49.0% versus 43.7% versus 44.8% versus 49.5% versus 51.6% versus 45.5% versus 47.4% versus 51.5% versus 47.5% versus 51.5% versus 48.5%

Background: Bulls hit their lowest level since the 2008 and 2009 market plummet.

Bears: 31.3%
31.2% versus 34.4% versus 35.1% versus 30.2% versus 26.8% versus 27.9 versus 26.8% versus 22.5% versus 18.4% versus 18.6% versus 17.5% versus 17.5% versus 15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.6% versus 15.4% versus 15.4% versus 16.5% versus 16.5% versus 15.8% versus 14.9% versus 15.8% versus 13.9%

Background: Over 35% for bears is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. The best indication is when bears cross up through bulls as the two merge. Done.


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 2.02% versus 2.03%

Historical: 2.03% versus 2.07% versus 2.03% versus 2.03% versus 1.98% versus 2.04% versus 2.10% versus 2.11% versus 2.07% versus 2.04% versus 1.98% versus 2.04% versus 2.05% versus 2.05% versus 2.09% versus 2.17% versus 2.11% versus 2.15% versus 2.14% versus 2.20% versus 2.13% versus 2.20% versus 2.30% versus 2.28% versus 2.17% versus 2.18% versus 2.23% versus 2.18%


Euro/$: 1.1017 versus 1.1108. Plunging below the 200 day SMA versus the dollar as the selling post Mario Draghi comments continues.

Historical: 1.1108 versus 1.1339 versus 1.1347 versus 1.1320 versus 1.1351 versus 1.13793 versus 1.1387 versus 1.1387 versus 1.1352 versus 1.1358 versus 1.1289 versus 1.1250 versus 1.1269 versus 1.12106 versus 1.1190 versus 1.1167 versus 1.1254 versus 1.1254 versus 1.1206 versus 1.1223 versus 1.11715 versus 1.11325 versus 1.12004 versus 1.13010


DXY0: Still surging upside, clearing the September peaks. More for companies to grip about.

USD/JPY: 121.46 versus 120.71. Rallying up to the 200 day SMA, recovering from the August selloff and its first important test on this move.

Historical: 120.71 versus 119.925 versus 119.897 versus 119.52 versus 118.87 versus 119.66 versus 119.75 versus 119.89 versus 120.23 versus 119.88 versus 119.92 versus 120.22 versus 120.45 versus 119.91 versus 119.86 versus 120.07 versus 119.76 versus 119.64 versus 120.58 versus 120.30 versus 120.19 versus 120.00 versus 120.36 versus


Oil: 44.60, -0.89. Sold down all week, breaking through the 50 day SMA Friday. Now near support from the bottom of the September trading range.

Gold: 1162.80, -3.10. In a two week test of the October surge upside. Hit the 200 da and is testing that move.


MONDAY

Quite a week, quite a month of gains off the last September low. The past week erased the last of the August losses for the large cap indices. Again, it is the large caps that led the move higher and that pushed them to those highs.

The move leaves the large cap indices near term overbought. DJ30 is at next resistance in the February to July range. NASDAQ 100 is at the July high. SP500 has moved into the March to August range.

The small and midcaps are stalled at resistance below the September highs, leaving them far from overbought. Perhaps they can break through and follow the large cap indices. Money would have to rotate back their way to do that, and typically the year end rally waits until yearend to move back that way for the January effect.

So, do the big caps lead higher? From here? The market has enjoyed the ECB hinting at more stimulus announced at its December meeting, the big US 'brand name' stocks posted huge earnings and equally huge moves, and China has made good on its rumors and launched more stimulating measures. Again, can the news get any better for stocks outside the Fed announcing QE4? Even if that were the case, can it put in a further move given the good news saturation and commensurate run? Doubtful.

Thus the play is to let the large caps test this move and when they do, pick them up as the run toward yearend resumes. Play the run in the large caps while it is there.

At the same time we keep an eye on the midcaps and small caps. Sure the money rotated big to the large caps, but the midcaps and small caps have plenty of room to run to play catch up with the large caps.

Moreover . . . everything this year is moved up a month. The selloff started early, it finished with a second bottom in September. October was not the bottoming month as it usually is, finishing off the selling and putting in the bottom. Here it is still October and the indices have recaptured all of the August losses.

Thus, perhaps the January effect, now moving into December as seen the past few years, will come a month earlier as well. That doesn't really fit the calendar for funds and loading the portfolios with big names for year end, but we need to be ready because everything is moved forward this back half of the year.

Accordingly, we are going to look for large caps still in position to buy right now. We are going to watch for large caps to test the overbought condition next week. We are also watching for other areas that still look really good to move higher to be ready if money decides to move their way, to rotate once again, to spread out and broaden the rally.

And for some interesting counter plays, perhaps we play some gap fills on GOOG and AMZN as they filled their gaps after the July upside earnings moves. With the market so overdone on this move, that could make some good money on the downside just playing a test of a great move.

Have a great weekend!


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 5031.86

Resistance:
5042 is the March 2015 high
5100 form the April peak and early May peak
5164 is the June 2015 peak
5232 is the July high


Support:
5008.57 is the early March 2015 post-bear market high
The June low at 4974
The 200 day SMA at 4925
4912 the mid-April China dip
4910 is the July 2015 closing low
The 50 day EMA at 4840
4837 is the late August 2015 rebound high
4828 is the late August peak
The March lows at 4843 and 4825
4815 is the December 2014 prior market peak
4811 is the November 2014 peak (intraday)
4774 is the January high
4751 is the January 2015 lower high
4636 is the early September 2015 low testing the recovery from the August selling.
4631 is the October 2014 upside gap point
4614 is the September 1 intraday low
4610 is the September 2014 post-bear market high.
4566 is the lower gap point from late October
4563 and 4567 are the January lows
4547 is the December 2014 low is giving way
4506 is the August 2015 selloff closing low
4370 to 4300 (March 2014 peak to June gap point)
4185 to 4130 (May 2014 gap point to October 3014 low)
4292 is the August 2015 intraday low


S&P 500: Closed at 2075.15

Resistance:
2076 is the all-time high from November
2079 is the intraday all-time high from November
2094 is the December 2014 high, the prior all-time high
2115 is the late March lower high
2119.59 is the February intraday prior all-time high
2126 was the April prior all-time high
2130 is the June 2015 peak
2135 is the May 2015 all-time high

Support:
2062 is the January 2015 lower high
The 200 day SMA at 2060
2046 is the July 2015 closing low
2040 is the March 2015 closing low
2011 is the September prior all-time high
The 50 day EMA at 2003
1994 is the late August recovery peak
1991 is the July 2014 high
1989 is the last August closing high
1972 is the December 2014 low
1913 is the early September 2015 closing low testing the bounce from the August selling
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1883.57 is the early March high.
1872 is the September 2015 test low of the August low
1867 is the August 2015 low
1862 is the October 2014 closing low


Dow: Closed at 17,646.70

Resistance:
June low at 17,715
The March low at 17,786
17,748 is the mid-April China margin selloff and the bottom of the 5 month trading range
18,110 - 18,120 from December 2014, July 2015 peaks
18,289 from February 2015
18,351 from May 2015 and the all-time high


Support:
17,585 to 17,579, the March intraday lows, helping mark the bottom of the Dow's The February to July trading range.
The 200 day SMA at 17,574
17,515 is the early July closing low
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17067 is the December 2014 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 peak
The 50 day EMA at 16,898
16,736 is a prior all-time high from May 2014
16,670 is the December 2014 peak and the recent August 2015 relief bounce peak.
16,665 is the late August 2015 closing high. Key, key level.
16,632 is the April 2014 all-time high
16,589 is the December 2013 all-time high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
16,117 is the October 2014 closing low
16,058 is the early September 2015 low
16,026 is the April 2014 low
15,942 is the September 2015 low testing the August low
15,855 is the October 2014 intraday low
15,372 is the February 2014 closing low
15,370 is the August 2015 intraday low
14,803 is the October 2013 low


ECONOMIC CALENDAR

October 26 - Monday
New Home Sales, September (10:00): 550K expected, 552K prior

October 27 - Tuesday
Durable Orders, September (8:30): -1.3% expected, -2.3% prior (revised from -2.0%)
Durable Goods -ex transports, September (8:30): 0.2% expected, -0.2% prior (revised from 0.0%)
Case-Shiller 20-city, August (9:00): 5.0% expected, 5.0% prior
Consumer Confidence, October (10:00): 102.5 expected, 103.0 prior

October 28 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 10/24 (7:00): 11.8% prior
Crude Inventories, 10/24 (10:30): 8.028M prior
FOMC Rate Decision, October (14:00): 0.25% expected, 0.25% prior

October 29 - Thursday
Initial Claims, 10/24 (8:30): 264K expected, 259K prior
Continuing Claims, 10/17 (8:30): 2185K expected, 2170K prior
GDP-Adv., Q3 (8:30): 1.6% expected, 3.9% prior
Chain Deflator-Adv., Q3 (8:30): 1.3% expected, 2.1% prior
Pending Home Sales, September (10:00): 0.6% expected, -1.4% prior
Natural Gas Inventories, 10/24 (10:30): 81 bcf prior

October 30 - Friday
Personal Income, September (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.3% prior
Personal Spending, September (8:30): 0.2% expected, 0.4% prior
PCE Prices - Core, September (8:30): 0.1% expected, 0.1% prior
Employment Cost Index, Q3 (8:30): 0.5% expected, 0.2% prior
Chicago PMI, October (9:45): 49.0 expected, 48.7 prior
Michigan Sentiment - Final, October (10:00): 92.6 expected, 92.1 prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market capped off the week with a mixed session. The Nasdaq Composite led the way higher, as the index added 19.38 points (+0.38%) to 5147.12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 46.90 points (+0.26%) to 17910.33. The only index to finished in the red was the S&P 500 which shed only 0.73 points (-0.03%) to close 2099.20. All three major US indices turned in a choppy session at best following the October Employment Situation report, which came in above estimates.

Nonfarm payrolls came in at 271,000 on hourly earnings which rose 0.4%. Also in market data today, Consumer credit increased by $28.9 billion in September, up from a $16.0 billion increase in August. Revolving credit was up $6.7 billion in Sept. to $925.2 billion while nonrevolving credit also posted gains to the tune of $22.2 billion to $2,574.0 billion.

Technology (XLK 44.34, +0.15 +0.34%) was choppy as well today. The major averages took the sector for a ride as up and down action dictated trading from bell to bell. Notable standouts in the sector today were names like TDC +12.7%, AVGO +7.1%, BRCM +3.1%, MSFT +1.0%, ORCL +0.7% Other sectors finished as follows XLF +1.02%, XLB +0.27%, XLY +0.01%, XLI +0.00%, IYZ +0.00%, XLV -0.40%, XLE -0.53%, XLP -1.09%, XLU -3.54%.

Semiconductors (SOX 676.47, +17.10 +2.59%) surged on the session as components Qorvo (QRVO 55.55, +10.47 +23.23%) and NVIDIA (NVDA 31.55, +3.84 +13.86%) posted quarterly results which topped expectations. The Semiconductor Hldrs ETF (SMH 55.19, +1.08 +2.00%) and SPDR Semiconductor (XSD 44.42, +1.14 +2.63%) also posted nice gains today as other names like QRVO +23.23%, NVDA +13.86%, SWKS +7.11%, AVGO +7.11%, CAVM +5.58%, QCOM +4.60%, BRCM +3.07%, ON +2.84% also edged higher.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (747.73, +3.05 +0.41%) posted modest gains at the sector only dipped below flat lines twice on the session. Trading was dictated to the upside as names like WU +1.48%, XRX +1.25%, JNPR +0.99%, MSI +0.91%, XLNX +0.89%, CRM +0.89%, MA +0.80%, ORCL +0.67%, SNDK +0.42%, TXN +0.40%, GOOG +0.34%, EBAY +0.34%, ADBE +0.15%, GOOGL +0.12%, AAPL +0.12% ended higher.
Other notable news items among sector components:

Qualcomm (QCOM 53.42, +2.35 +4.60%) and Huizhou TCL Mobile Communication Co., Ltd. signed 3G/4G Chinese patent license agreement.

Alliance Data (ADS 297.95, -1.16 -0.39%) to offer 300 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2023.

Qorvo (QRVO) in addition to reporting quarterly results, announced a $1 billion offering of senior notes due 2023 and 2025.
Anoto Group AB and HP Inc (HPQ 14.01, -0.04 -0.28%) signed a technology license agreement for the development of products based upon Anoto's micro dot pattern digital writing technology. The companies have agreed not to disclose product details or launch dates at this point in time.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Youku Tudou (YOKU 26.14, +1.77 +7.26%) to be acquired by Alibaba (BABA 83.61, -1.77 -2.07%) for $27.60/ADS share in cash.

Bankrate (RATE 14.47, +2.09 +16.88%) in addition to reporting quarterly results, reached an agreement to sell its insurance business to Genstar Capital Partners for $140 million in cash.

ChannelAdvisor (ECOM 13.18, +4.09 +44.99%) in addition to reporting quarterly results, appointed Richard Cornetta as Chief Accounting Officer.

Square (SQ) provided terms for its pending IPO. The offering will consist of 27 million shares, with the expected price of $11.00-13.00.
Reports circulated that Verizon (VZ 45.78, -0.42 -0.91%) would potentially sell $10 billion in enterprise assets.

Science Applications (SAIC 46.19, +0.18 +0.39%) received a contract from the General Services Admin to provide a broad array of IT services. The total contract value stands at $549 million if all options are exercised.

Quality Systems (QSII 14.92, +0.20 +1.36%) appointed Jeff Margolis as Independent Chairman of the Board effective immediately.

Glu Mobile (GLUU 3.22, -0.44 -12.02%) entered into additional exclusive partnership agreements with a number of new male and female celebrities.

Brooks Automation (BRKS 11.34, -0.15 -1.31%) agreed to acquire BioStorage Technologies for $127 million in cash. The company expects it to become accretive to non-GAAP earnings within the first half of fiscal 2016.

Neustar (NSR 25.47, -4.22 -14.21%) agreed to acquire MarketShare Partners for $450 million. The transaction is expected to generate $10-15 million in cost synergies over the next 18 months.

TCP International (TCPI 1.02, -1.20 -54.05%) announced a delay in reporting third quarter 2015 financial results due to a pending Audit Committee investigation. The company offered prelim Q3 results to the tune of revenues of $89-91 million on diluted EPS of $0.00-0.03.

WEX (WEX 91.69, +0.22 +0.24%) announced that Roberto Simon will be appointed CFO on or about February 26.

Leidos (LDOS 55.13, +0.16 +0.29%) was awarded about $662 mln Army contract.

Synopsys (SNPS 51.53, +0.69 +1.36%) acquired open-source software management firm Protecode. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Unwired Planet's (UPIP 0.87, +0.04 +4.90%) Interim CFO Dean Witter III resigned.

In reaction to quarterly results:

ChannelAdvisor (ECOM) reported Q3 loss per share which was better than expected at ($0.07) on revenues which rose 16.3% year-over-year and were better than expected at $24.38 million. The company also guided Q4 revenues in-line at $26.2-26.6 million.

TrueCar (TRUE 8.43, +2.30 +37.52%) reported Q3 loss per share which was better than expected at ($0.03) on revenues which rose 27.5% year-over-year and were also better than expected at $72.4 million. The company also guided Q4 revenues in-line at $64.0-65.5 million. Average monthly unique visitors increased 43% to a record 6.6 million in Q3.

NVIDIA (NVDA) reported Q3 EPS and revenues which were better than anticipated; EPS came in at $0.46 on revenues of $1.3 billion. NVDA also guided Q4 revenues better than anticipated at $1.30 billion (plus or minus 2%).

Skyworks (SWKS 85.99, +5.71 +7.11%) reported Q4 EPS and revenues which were mostly in-line with expectations; EPS came in at $1.52 on revenues which rose 22.6% year-over-year to $890.8 million. SWKS also guided Q1 EPS and revenues better than expected at $1.60 and $925-930 million, respectively.

Qorvo (QRVO) reported Q3 EPS and revenues which beat expectations as EPS was $1.22 and revenues were $707.4 million for the period. QRVO also guided Q4 EPS better than expected at $1.25-1.30 on worse than expected revenues of $720-730 million.

Glu Mobile (GLUU) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues. EPS for the period was $0.06 on revenues which fell 23.0% year-over-year to $64.4 million. GLUU also guided for worse than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of ($0.03)-($0.02) and $50-52 million, respectively.

Pixelworks (PXLW 2.50, -0.99 -28.37%) reported a mixed Q3 as EPS was better than expected at ($0.01) and revenues were worse than expected at $16.6 million.

Sierra Wireless (SWIR) reported Q3 EPS and revenues which were worse than expected. EPS was $0.23 and revenues were $154.6 million for the period. The company issued worse than expected guidance for Q4 EPS and revenues; EPS is anticipated to be $0.09-0.11 and revenues are slated to be $148-151 million.

Qumu (QUMU 3.02, +0.18 +6.34%) reported Q3 EPS and revenues which came in below expectations. EPS was ($0.79) and revenues were up 62.7% year-over-year to $9.6 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results Monday morning before the open: ATTO, BITA, COMM, LIOX, NSSC

Analyst actions:

NVDA was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at MKM Partners,
ECOM was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel,
QLIK was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at FBR Capital,
DLGNF was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill;
S was downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC Securities,
NPTN was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James,
CTCT was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at ROTH Capital,
CREE was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman

Weekly Recap - Week ending 06-Nov-15

Dow +46.90 at 17910.33, Nasdaq +19.38 at 5147.12, S&P -0.73 at 2099.20

The S&P 500 could not avoid its third consecutive decline on Friday as rising rate hike expectations weighed on equities. To be fair, the benchmark index missed a green close by 0.74 points while the Dow (+0.3%) and Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) erased their opening losses.

Equities stumbled at the start after the October Employment report easily surpassed expectations, thus increasing the likelihood of a fed funds rate hike at the December policy meeting to 69.8% from yesterday's 58.1%. Specifically, October nonfarm payrolls came in at 271,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 181,000. Also of note, hourly earnings rose 0.4% while the consensus expected an uptick of 0.2%.

Once the report crossed the wires, investors rushed into the greenback while Treasuries and equity futures retreated. The Dollar Index (99.14, +1.21) held its ground to end the day higher by 1.2% near levels last seen in mid-April. As for Treasuries, the 10-yr note finished near its low with the benchmark yield rising ten basis points to 2.33%, representing the highest settlement since late July.

Similar to Treasuries, equities slumped in immediate reaction to the report, but unlike Treasuries, the stock market staged a rebound off its opening lows. Six sectors ended the day with losses while financials (+1.1%) and technology (+0.4%) outperformed throughout the day, helping the market return into the neighborhood of its flat line by the closing bell.

The financial sector rallied due to the rising probability of a December rate hike, extending this week's gain to 2.5%, which put the sector ahead of its peers. Meanwhile, the top-weighted tech space spent the day near its flat line with broad strength in the chipmaker space overshadowing a mixed performance from large cap sector components. To that point, the PHLX Semiconductor Index surged 2.6% with Skyworks (SWKS 85.99, +5.71) and NVIDIA (NVDA 31.55, +3.84) soaring 7.1% and 13.9%, respectively, in reaction to better than expected results.

On the downside, countercyclical sectors faced the most aggressive selling with consumer staples (-1.1%), telecom services (-0.7%), and utilities (-3.6%) ending at the bottom of the leaderboard. That being said, the energy sector (-0.4%) also finished among the laggards despite showing considerable strength earlier this week. The growth-sensitive group narrowed its weekly gain to 1.1% while crude oil surrendered 2.0% on Friday, ending the week lower by 4.8% at $44.29/bbl.

Today's participation was well ahead of average with more than 975 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Taking another look at today's employment data:

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 271,000 (Briefing.com consensus 181,000)
September nonfarm payrolls revised to 137,000 from 142,000
Private sector payrolls increased by 268,000 (Briefing.com consensus 160,000)
September private sector payrolls revised to 149,000 from 118,000
Unemployment rate slipped to 5.0% (Briefing.com consensus 5.1%) from 5.1% in September
The U6 unemployment rate, which accounts for the total unemployed plus persons marginally attached to the labor force and the underemployed, was 9.8% versus 10.0% in September
Average hourly earnings increased 0.4% (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) after being unchanged in September
Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen 2.5% versus 2.3% in September, representing the highest year-over-year rate since July 2009
The labor force participation rate held at 62.4% for the second month in a row

On a separate note, the Consumer Credit report for September showed an increase of $28.90 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected growth of $18.00 billion. It is worth noting that the September reading represented the biggest jump in non-revolving credit since July 2011.

Monday's session will be free of economic data.

Week in Review: Nasdaq Leads Stocks Higher

The stock market rallied to begin November with the Nasdaq Composite setting the pace. The tech-heavy index surged 1.5% while the S&P 500 (+1.2%) followed right behind. Equity indices started the trading day on an inconspicuous note after the overnight session featured some mixed economic data. In China, October Manufacturing PMI missed expectations (49.8; expected 50.0) while final Caixin PMI improved to 48.3 from 47.6, but remained below 50.0, indicating continued contraction. Asian markets ended the day on a broadly lower note, but the investor sentiment improved after European participants joined the fray and the market was treated to mostly better than expected PMI readings from regional economies. The eurozone Manufacturing PMI improved to 52.3 from 52.0 (expected 52.0), helping lift European markets off their opening lows. Once the U.S. session got going, an opening trot higher turned into a daylong charge paced by energy and biotechnology as both groups built on their October gains. Biotech names wasted no time, rallying from the opening bell to send the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 338.06, +12.60) higher by 3.9%. For its part, the health care sector spiked 2.1%, but the group was overtaken by the energy sector (+2.4%) during the afternoon.

Stocks registered their second consecutive advance on Tuesday with the S&P 500 climbing 0.3%. The benchmark index settled a bit behind the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.5%) with cyclical sectors pacing the advance. Equity indices saw modest losses at the start of the trading day, but the market was able to overcome the early weakness thanks to continued leadership from the energy sector as the growth-sensitive group surged 2.5% to extend its weekly gain to 5.0%. The Tuesday rally was powered by a 3.8% spike in crude oil, which settled at $47.90/bbl, while top-weighted components like Chevron (CVX 98.14, +3.18) and ExxonMobil (XOM 86.83, +1.55) posted respective gains of 3.4% and 1.8%.

The market snapped its two-day streak on Wednesday, but the midweek pullback was fairly modest in scope. The S&P 500 shed 0.3% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) outperformed, settling just below its flat line. Equity indices began the day on a modestly higher note, but the slight early strength faded quickly, sending the major averages into the red during the opening hour. In addition, investors heard from Fed Chair Janet Yellen who addressed the House Financial Services Committee to discuss regulation and supervision of financial institutions; however, the Q&A portion drifted towards questions about the upcoming December policy meeting with Fed Chair Yellen reiterating that a rate hike could happen in December if economic data shows improvement. Eight sectors ended the day in negative territory with energy (-1.0%) spending the bulk of the session behind the remaining nine groups. It is worth noting that the slide followed a 5.0% gain over the previous two days and the sector also had to contend with selling in the commodity market where crude oil fell 3.4%, ending the pit session at $46.32/bbl.

Equity indices posted their second consecutive decline on Thursday with the S&P 500 shedding 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) underperformed. Broadly speaking, the Thursday affair was fairly quiet, but that was not particularly surprising considering investors were set to receive the Employment Situation report for October on Friday morning. Biotechnology was largely responsible for Thursday's relative weakness in the tech-heavy Nasdaq with Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX 78.77, -13.21) back in focus, diving 14.4%, amid continued concerns about the company's revenue recognition practices.
Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17663.54 17910.33 246.79 1.4 0.5
Nasdaq 5053.75 5147.12 93.37 1.8 8.7
S&P 500 2079.36 2099.20 19.84 1.0 2.0
Russell 2000 1161.86 1199.75 37.89 3.3 -0.4
Monday:
Pre Market - DISH, HTZ, PCLN, DF, TA, COMM, WWAV, RBC, SNI, ACI, AMG, PGEM, ATTO, HPT, NRF, HSC
After Hours - CZR, UGI, TPC, IFF, MDR, WWD, APU, RAX, PRSC, LGF, SUNE, VSAT, JAZZ, SEMI, DEPO

Tuesday:
Pre Market - ACM, DHI, QIWI, ROK, AER, ZBRA, CSIQ, BZH, W
After Hours - HTHT, DOX, KGC, HIL, LXFT, BOOT

Wednesday:
Pre Market - M, GIB, ADT, MTOR, CAE, STKL, AVOL
After Hours - SPTN, SFS, RNDY, NTES, FLO, TTEK

Thursday:
Pre Market - KSS, VIAB, AAP, ICL, ECA, SBH, TDG, MMS, VSTO, HP, ENR, LIVN, FMSA
After Hours - CSCO, JWN, AMAT, DAR, RYI, FOSL, PRTY, CPA, BUFF, ESE, TAHO, BEBE, LOCO

Friday:
Pre Market - JCP, TYC, BERY, EPC
After Hours - WGL

11:38 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (157) outpacing new lows (136) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, ABCB, AEGN, AIZ, AMZN, AOS, AROW, ARQL, AZO, BABY, BANC, BANR, BBCN, BBSI, BDGE, BECN, BHLB, BKU, BNCN, BOCH, BOH, BOKF, BRKL, BUSE, BXS, BYD, CAC, CALD, CBF, CBOE, CBU, CDW, CEVA, CFFN, CFNL, CHFC, CHFN, CMN, CNO, COLB, CPS, CSFL, CTRP, CUBI, CVBF, DRAD, EBAY, EBSB, EGBN, EGOV, ERII, EVC, EVR, EXTR, FCB, FCBC, FCF, FDEF, FFBC, FFNW, FIBK, FNBC, FNWB, FRBA, FRBK, FRC, FRME, FSB, FULT, FUNC, GSBC, GWB, HA, HAFC, HFWA, HOMB, HTLF, IBOC, ICE, INDB, IRMD, KCLI, KINS, KMPR, LKFN, LTXB, LUV, MBWM, METR, MPWR, MSCC, MXL, NBBC, NBHC, NBTB, NILE, NOW, NTGR, NVDA, OLBK, ONFC, ORI, OSBC, OZRK, PAYX, PCBK, PCTY, PFBC, PGND, PNFP, PPBI, PRMW, PSTB, PVTB, QABA, QCRH, RATE, RNST, RTEC, RYAAY, SBNY, SFBS, SFNC, SGBK, SHOR, SNBC, SNV, SOCB, SRI, SSB, STBA, STL, STMP, TCBK, THFF, TMP, TPX, TRMK, TRV, TTWO, UCBI, UFCS, UFPI, VC, VLO, VLY, VMC, VRSN, WAFD, WAL, WCN, WK, WSFS, WST, YCB, YDKN, ZSPH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AGNC, AGTC, AMBR, AMFW, APT, ARCW, ARPI, ASPN, ATRS, AVID, BBRG, BEP, BIOL, BITI, BREW, BRFS, BVN, CBIO, CCO, CDE, CETC, CGIX, CKH, CMG, CMLS, CMO, CNP, CTIC, CVA, CX, DAVE, DDD, DRH, DUK, DXYN, EAC, EFF, EMMS, ENOC, ENPH, ERA, ETRM, ETSY, EVGN, EVH, FC, FDEU, FE, FRPT, FSP, FTD, GEN, GG, GKOS, GLRE, GLUU, GNRT, GRPN, GTIM, HAIN, HCP, HIFR, HMHC, HTS, ICON, IGOV, ITC, KBIO, KMI, KRNT, LBY, LEU, LNG, LXU, MBSD, MDVN, MGH, MITT, MRNS, MW, MYRG, NEPT, NGL, NM, NRX, NUS, OGE, OKE, ONCS, ORN, PHI, PPP, PRAA, PSO, PXLW, RAS, RBY, RCPI, REXI, RGLD, RLOC, RWT, SCX, SEMG, SGM, SIEB, SJT, SKM, SKUL, SMRT, SNAK, SNH, SNR, STRP, SWIR, SYRX, TAT, TCPI, TDOC, TGD, THST, TIME, TLN, TLYS, TNGO, TRGP, TWI, URG, UUU, VALE, VTR, VVR, WAB, WING, WMC, WPT

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: KRE

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BND, BWX, COW, DJP, EPOL, TIP

11:38 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (157) outpacing new lows (136) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, ABCB, AEGN, AIZ, AMZN, AOS, AROW, ARQL, AZO, BABY, BANC, BANR, BBCN, BBSI, BDGE, BECN, BHLB, BKU, BNCN, BOCH, BOH, BOKF, BRKL, BUSE, BXS, BYD, CAC, CALD, CBF, CBOE, CBU, CDW, CEVA, CFFN, CFNL, CHFC, CHFN, CMN, CNO, COLB, CPS, CSFL, CTRP, CUBI, CVBF, DRAD, EBAY, EBSB, EGBN, EGOV, ERII, EVC, EVR, EXTR, FCB, FCBC, FCF, FDEF, FFBC, FFNW, FIBK, FNBC, FNWB, FRBA, FRBK, FRC, FRME, FSB, FULT, FUNC, GSBC, GWB, HA, HAFC, HFWA, HOMB, HTLF, IBOC, ICE, INDB, IRMD, KCLI, KINS, KMPR, LKFN, LTXB, LUV, MBWM, METR, MPWR, MSCC, MXL, NBBC, NBHC, NBTB, NILE, NOW, NTGR, NVDA, OLBK, ONFC, ORI, OSBC, OZRK, PAYX, PCBK, PCTY, PFBC, PGND, PNFP, PPBI, PRMW, PSTB, PVTB, QABA, QCRH, RATE, RNST, RTEC, RYAAY, SBNY, SFBS, SFNC, SGBK, SHOR, SNBC, SNV, SOCB, SRI, SSB, STBA, STL, STMP, TCBK, THFF, TMP, TPX, TRMK, TRV, TTWO, UCBI, UFCS, UFPI, VC, VLO, VLY, VMC, VRSN, WAFD, WAL, WCN, WK, WSFS, WST, YCB, YDKN, ZSPH

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AGNC, AGTC, AMBR, AMFW, APT, ARCW, ARPI, ASPN, ATRS, AVID, BBRG, BEP, BIOL, BITI, BREW, BRFS, BVN, CBIO, CCO, CDE, CETC, CGIX, CKH, CMG, CMLS, CMO, CNP, CTIC, CVA, CX, DAVE, DDD, DRH, DUK, DXYN, EAC, EFF, EMMS, ENOC, ENPH, ERA, ETRM, ETSY, EVGN, EVH, FC, FDEU, FE, FRPT, FSP, FTD, GEN, GG, GKOS, GLRE, GLUU, GNRT, GRPN, GTIM, HAIN, HCP, HIFR, HMHC, HTS, ICON, IGOV, ITC, KBIO, KMI, KRNT, LBY, LEU, LNG, LXU, MBSD, MDVN, MGH, MITT, MRNS, MW, MYRG, NEPT, NGL, NM, NRX, NUS, OGE, OKE, ONCS, ORN, PHI, PPP, PRAA, PSO, PXLW, RAS, RBY, RCPI, REXI, RGLD, RLOC, RWT, SCX, SEMG, SGM, SIEB, SJT, SKM, SKUL, SMRT, SNAK, SNH, SNR, STRP, SWIR, SYRX, TAT, TCPI, TDOC, TGD, THST, TIME, TLN, TLYS, TNGO, TRGP, TWI, URG, UUU, VALE, VTR, VVR, WAB, WING, WMC, WPT

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: KRE

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BND, BWX, COW, DJP, EPOL, TIP

10:11 am Chinese names on watch following news that China will allow IPOs to resume by the end of the year amid continued strength in its indices (FXI) :

Chinese American Depositary Shares (ADS) are on watch today amid news that China will allow IPOs to resume by the end of the year. This news comes as China's Shanghai Composite index has rallied noticeably in recent weeks, recovering from the massive sell-off seen late this summer.

Recall that earlier this year, when the Shanghai Composite was rallying consistently, a large number of U.S. listed Chinese companies received 'going private' offers from groups that often included internal management. The belief was that American investors were improperly valuating the Chinese companies, or at least it was implied that they could receive higher valuations with a listing in China. A CEO, or Chairman, often with the help of a hedge fund, would offer to acquire the shares they already don't own, in an attempt to take the company private, off U.S. exchanges, and re-list in China to receive a substantially higher valuation. This idea led to over 30 U.S. listed Chinese companies receiving 'going private' offers. This trend ceased when the Shanghai Composite suffered the well-publicized steep selloff as valuation and growth fears took over. During this time, China suspended the issuance of new IPOs, due to the belief by some that those new issues would divert capital away from existing ones.

From the start of 2015 through June 12, the Shanghai Composite rose over 60% to 5178. Then, in a little over two months, the index fell nearly 45% to 2850, erasing all of its gains for the year. Since August though, Chinese investors have regained confidence and the Shanghai Composite has rallied 26% off the lows seen on August 26th, with an 18% gain alone since the end of September.

Into today, the following companies have each received going-private offers in the last 12 months:

MR, YOKU, EJ, MY, CNYD, JST, AMCN, RENN, GAME, CCSC, VIMC, MCOX, KANG, QIHU, GAI, CNIT, LONG, JASO, HMIN, NPD, LONG, YY, DANG, MOMO, CMGE, PWRD, MOMO, BONA, KZ, CO, TAOM, DSKY, VNET, GOMO, DATE, CMGE, XUE
Most of these deals remain outstanding, and it is unclear if the non-binding proposals will ever be completed.
If deals do heat up again, other Chinese stocks could also see interest.
Also worth considering, a few of the names mentioned above have seen revised going-private offers at a lower price than original proposed.

Some other names to monitor, as the potential for additional 'going private' offers increases as market conditions in China continue improving: FENG, CYOU, WB, XNET, STV, WBAI, MOBI, SFUN, SOHU, SINA, JMEI, TOUR, NQ, DL, KUTV, NTES, CCIH, BITA, CMCM, LITB, JRJC, EDU, TEDU, XRS, JD, JOBS, GSOL, WUBA, CTRP, VIPS, QUNR, etc...

10:07 am Dow -93 and Nasdaq Comp -34 join S&P -15 under previous session lows (:TECHX) :

8:30 am Pericom Semi receives a revised acquisition offer from Diodes (DIOD) for $17.75/share; up from $17/share prior (PSEM) : Co received a revised acquisition offer from Diodes Incorporated (DIOD) for $17.75 per share in cash for an aggregate consideration of $413 million. The new purchase price in the Revised Diodes Offer is an increase from Diodes' previously announced $17.00 per share purchase price. The Pericom Board intends to meet promptly to evaluate the Revised Diodes Offer and will communicate its recommendation to Pericom shareholders as soon as possible. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015

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From Briefing.com: The broader market closed the session with all three major US indices closing below break-even. Also, the losses on the day took the Dow Jones Industrial Average back into negative territory for the year. At closing, the Nasdaq Composite just barely eked out the Dow to lead the way lower as the Nasdaq closed down 51.82 points (-1.01%) to 5095.30. The Dow followed closely, down 178.85 points (-1.00%) to 17731.48. The S&P 500 was also lower at the close, down nearly 20.62 points (-0.98%) to 2078.58.

The Technology sector (XLK 43.91, -0.43 -0.97%) ended Monday as the broader market ended -- with notable losses. Component IBM (IBM 135.31, -2.92 -2.11%) was lower today as Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B 134.00, -2.34 -1.71%) disclosed in its 10-Q filing that it intends to hold its investment in IBM. BRK.B noted the unrealized losses of $2 billion on the position. Other sectors ended Monday XLU +0.26%, XLP -0.67%, XLB -0.68%, XLI -0.77%, XLV -0.77%, IYZ -0.77%, XLE -0.99%, XLF -1.09%, XLY -1.38% with only Utilities escaping negative territory.

Networking (IGV 104.73, -1.37 -1.29%) names took a hit today as component Cisco Systems (CSCO 28.18, -0.27 -0.95%) signed a deal with Ericsson (ERIC 9.99, +0.16 +1.63%). The deal could have a revenue opportunity of $1 billion for each company, and peers of CSCO are seeing harsh selling in reaction to it being selected for the partnership.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (740.23, -7.50 -1.00%) traded near session lows at the close. Names which were dragged down today with the rest of the technology sector included JNPR -7.79%, MU -3.71%, FLIR -3.15%, QRVO -2.63%, AVGO -2.44%, SYMC -2.19%, WU -2.17%, FSLR -2.15%. Component Teradata (TDC 27.67, -1.16 -4.02%) traded well off flat lines as the stock was downgraded today at Summit Research to a Sell rating.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Ericsson (ERIC) formed a strategic partnership. The incremental revenue opportunity for the deal is $1 billion or more for each company by calendar year 2018.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) disclosed in 10-Q filing that it intends to hold its investment in IBM (IBM). Berkshire has unrealized losses of $2 billion on the position.

Western Digital (WDC 66.61, -1.28 -1.89%) and Unisplendour Corporation Limited announced an agreement to form a JV to market and sell the company's current data center storage systems in China and to develop data center storage solutions for the Chinese market in the future. The transaction has been approved by the boards of each company, and the JV is expected to become operational by the 2Q16.

Network-1 (NTIP 2.20 flat) announced a settlement with Microsoft (MSFT) for infringement of its '227 patent. NTIP will receive a $4.65 million payment from MSFT.

Microsoft (MSFT 54.16, -0.76 -1.38%) announced a deal to acquire Secure Islands. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Littlefuse (LFUS 114.09, +9.22 +8.79%) confirmed the acquisition of TE Connectivity's (TEL 65.95, -0.60 -0.90%) circuit protection business for $350 million in cash. The deal is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings with cost synergies of at least $10 million annually starting in 2017.

Apple (AAPL 120.57, -0.49 -0.40%) announced iPad Pro is available to order online on Wednesday, November 11, from Apple.com and will arrive at the company's retail stores, select carriers and Apple Authorized Resellers starting later this week.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

RealD (RLD 10.82, +0.25 +2.37%) to be acquired by Rizvi Traverse for $11 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at about $551 million, including net debt. Upon completion of the transaction, RealD will become a privately held company.

Pericom Semi (PSEM 17.95, -0.08 -0.44%) announced that its Board has accepted the revised offer from

Diodes (DIOD 20.37, -0.68 -3.23%) for $17.75 per share in cash. The termination fee is also increased to $15.7 million.

Advanced Energy (AEIS 28.86, -0.09 -0.31%) entered into an accelerated share repurchase program, for $50 million in common stock.

Judge Karl Bemesderfer with the California Public Utilities Commission issued a favorable Proposed Decision proposing approval of Frontier Communication's (FTR 4.84, +0.19 +4.09%) proposed acquisition of Verizon's (VZ 45.30, -0.48 -1.05%) local wireline, broadband and video operations, including the FiOS network. Co expects to close the transaction at the end of 1Q16.

Rudolph Tech (RTEC 14.35, -0.18 -1.24%) reported that CEO Paul McLaughlin will retire on December 30, 2015. The Board of Directors appointed Michael Plisinski as his successor CEO effective immediately.

TiVo (TIVO 9.07, -0.16 -1.73%) reported that it has surpassed 4 million international subscriptions through its traditional TiVo offering.

Freescale Semi's (FSL 34.45, +0.13 +0.38%) announced that its popular FRDM-K64F board is available now with comprehensive support for ARM mbed IoT Device Platform technologies, including ARM's new mbed OS operating system.

Rogers Corp (ROG 51.31, -0.95 -1.82%) appointed Janice Stipp as CFO, replacing David Mathieson who recently announced his retirement.

ARM (ARMH 48.42, +0.17 +0.35%) announced it is releasing a new suite of products to accelerate secure IoT technology deployments at scale by businesses. The ARM mbed IoT Device Platform products and technologies will be unveiled at ARM TechCon 2015.

PTC (PTC 36.05, -0.35 -0.96%) announced the appointment of Craig Hayman to a newly created role of group president, Solutions Group effective Nov. 23, 2015.

UTStarcom (UTSI 2.50, -0.07 -2.72%) announced the formal release of NG-PTN product family, the next generation of UTStarcom's packet optical transport network solution to the industry.

EZchip (EZCH 23.53, -0.47 -1.96%) issued a statement reiterating its Board's unanimous recommendation that shareholders vote FOR the Merger Proposal with Mellanox Tech (MLNX 47.44, -0.06 -0.13%) .

Web.com (WWWW 24.72, -0.24 -0.96%) will change its Nasdaq ticker symbol to 'WEB'. The change will become effective on the market's open on November 10, 2015.

VeriFone (PAY 30.27, -0.76 -2.45%) acquired German payment-as-a-service firm, InterCard AG. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Wi-LAN's (WILN 1.13, -0.04 -3.42%) subsidiary Advanced Microscopy entered into a patent license agreement with Leica Microsystems; terms not disclosed.

Jason Inc.'s (JASN 3.88, -0.15 -3.72%) CEO, David Westgate, resigned. JASN named Jeffry Quinn as interim CEO.

Ingram Micro (IM 30.69, -0.21 -0.68%) expanded its distribution agreement with Acronis.

CDK Global (CDK 49.25, -0.46 -0.93%) increased quarterly dividend 12.5% to $0.135 per share.

Xplore Tech (XPLR 5.68, +0.11 +1.97%) named Tom Wilkinson as CFO. Wilkinson was XPLR's acting interim CFO since August 2015.

Action Semi (ACTS 1.87, +0.06 +3.31%) announced it will reschedule its Q3 earnings/conference call to before market open on Monday, November 30, 2015.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Commscope (COMM 28.49, -3.82 -11.82%) reported Q3 EPS which beat expectations at $0.53 per share and revenues which missed expectations and fell 2.8% year-over-year to $972.6 million. The company also guided Q4 EPS and revenues worse than expected at $0.39-0.44 and $1.125-1.20 billion, respectively.

Atento (ATTO 11.35, +0.59 +5.48%) reported Q3 EPS and revenues which beat expectations at $0.31 and $576.2 million, respectively.

Lionbridge Tech (LIOX 5.57, -0.52 -8.54%) reported Q3 EPS which beat expectations at $0.14 on revenues which missed expectations at $138.6 million. The company also guided Q4 revenues worse than expected at $140-143 million. LIOX also announced a share repurchase plan for up to $50 million, and also announced CFO Donald Muir will retire.

RealD (RLD) reported Q2 GAAP loss of $0.15 per share on revenues which fell 18.8% year-over-year to $38.5 million.

Companies reporting quarterly results tonight/tomorrow before the open: APPS, DTSI, JIVE, CALL, MODN, QNST, RAX, RNET, RBCN, SUNE, SEMI, TTGT, TTEC, TXTR, TUBE, VSAT, YDLE/ZAYO, ZBRA

Analyst actions:
RATE was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill;
QCOM was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura,
GLUU was downgraded to Hold from Buy at The Benchmark Company,
ADSK was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS,
SSYS was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank,
IPHI was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Northland Capital,
SPMYY was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup

4:12 pm Rubicon Tech misses by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q4 revs below two analyst estimate (RBCN) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the single analyst estimate of ($0.28); revenues fell 33.5% year/year to $5.35 mln vs the $6.98 mln two analyst estimate. Revenue decline was due to weaker sapphire demand, particularly for two-inch core sold into the mobile device market, which declined $2.1 million sequentially. The Company cited higher inventory of finished two-inch double side polished wafers at its customers as contributing to the weaker demand in the quarter. Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of -$0.30, may not be comparable to ($0.24) single analyst estimate; sees Q4 revs of $2-3 mln vs. $8.24 mln two analyst estimate. The Company expects the market to be particularly challenging in the fourth quarter. Given the current pricing for two and four inch core, the Company expects to limit sales of those products in the quarter to allow time for inventory in the supply chain to clear. The Company also reported some delay in the start of its purchase order with its key PSS customer based on revised end customer demand.

4:08 pm Rackspace beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q4 (RAX) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.26 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.20; revenues rose 10.7% year/year to $508.9 mln vs the $503.06 mln Capital IQ Consensus; adj. EBITDA margin 34.9%.For Q4, Rackspace expects revenue to grow between 2-3% quarter-over-quarter, on a constant currency basis (as reported consensus including FX +1.7% QoQ), and expects Adjusted EBITDA margins to be between 33-34%.

4:06 pm Rackspace announces proposed $350 mln offering of senior notes due 2024 (RAX) : Co intends to use a portion of the net proceeds from the offering to repay all outstanding amounts under its senior revolving credit facility. Co intends to use the remaining net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include share repurchases pursuant to its previously announced $1 bln share buyback authorization.

4:05 pm : The stock market began the trading week on a cautious note as persistent global growth concerns weighed on investor sentiment. The S&P 500 surrendered 1.0% while the Dow and Nasdaq posted comparable losses.

Equities retreated through the first half of the Monday session and remained near their lows into the afternoon, which kept dip-buyers on the sidelines. The cautious posture in the market took place after the weekend featured the release of China's trade data, which showed a 10-yr high in the trade surplus, but exports fell 6.9% in October, representing the fourth consecutive monthly drop.

Nine sectors ended the day in negative territory with losses between 0.7% (consumer staples) and 1.5% (energy) while the utilities space climbed 0.3%. The rate-sensitive sector eked out a modest gain thanks to higher Treasury yields; however, intraday demand lifted the 10-yr note off its low as the session wore on. As a result, the 10-yr returned to its early-morning low with the 10-yr yield rising two basis points to 2.35%.

Generally speaking, today's retreat was broad based with cyclical sectors leading the decline. Heavily-weighted consumer discretionary (-1.3%) and financials (-1.2%) ended behind seven of the remaining eight groups with the financial sector trimming its November gain to 1.5%. As for the consumer discretionary sector, the group was weighed down by a 9.6% slide in Priceline (PCLN 1311.39, -138.51) after its below-consensus guidance overshadowed better than expected results.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, energy (-1.5%) represented an early pocket of strength, but the group retreated alongside the broader market while crude oil lost 1.0%, sliding to $43.87/bbl. The energy sector narrowed its November gain to 0.9%, masking a 13.2% surge in Apache (APA 53.94, +6.27) after Bloomberg reported that the company received and rejected an unsolicited $18-billion takeover offer.

Also of note, industrials (-0.8%) traded among the laggards into the afternoon, but the sector was lifted ahead of the broader market during the afternoon amid reports Canadian Pacific (CP 142.18, +7.87) is interested in Norfolk Southern (NSC 88.67, +8.80). Shares of NSC soared 11.0% while the Dow Jones Transportation Average narrowed its loss to 0.3% after being down more than 2.0%.

Today's participation was a bit ahead of average with more than 900 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Tomorrow, October Import/Export Prices will be reported at 8:30 ET while the September Wholesale Inventories report will cross the wires at 10:00 ET (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%).

Nasdaq Composite +7.6% YTD
S&P 500 +1.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.5% YTD
Russell 2000 -1.5% YTD

DJ30 -179.85 NASDAQ -51.82 SP500 -20.62 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 860/1.68 bln/2078 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 632/938.9 mln/2469 3:35 pm :

Even though the dollar index continued to trade in the red, commodities such as oil ,natural gas, gold, silver and copper remained close to today's lows
Following a morning sell in select commodities, such as the ones noted here, losses basically held and prices remained consolidated in afternoon trade
Dec crude oil futures finished today's session -1% at $43.87/barrel
In other energy, Dec nat gas lost 3% and closed at $2.30/MMBtu
In the metals space, Dec silver dropped 2.1% today and ended at $14.40/oz, while Dec gold rose $0.10 to finish at $1087.90/oz
Dec copper lost once cent at $2.23/lb.

11:32 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (119) outpacing new highs (117) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABCB, AEPI, AMRK, ANGI, APLE, AROW, ARQL, ATEN, AXGN, BABY, BANR, BBCN, BBSI, BDGE, BECN, BNCN, BOCH, BSFT, BUSE, CABO, CAC, CASY, CBF, CFNL, CHFC, CHFN, CPS, CSBK, CUNB, CVBF, CYTK, DRAD, EBSB, EDAP, EEFT, EFSC, EGBN, ELNK, FCB, FCBC, FFG, FFIN, FIBK, FLIC, FNBC, FNHC, FNLC, FRBK, FSB, GCI, GE, GENC, GFF, GSBC, GWB, HD, HIFS, HOMB, INDB, IRMD, ISBC, JAXB, JBT, JRVR, KEP, KMPR, LFUS, LKFN, LOXO, LTXB, LYTS, MANH, METR, MITK, MLVF, MPAA, MXL, NBTB, NEO, NTI, OME, OZRK, PCBK, PCL, PCTY, PFS, PGND, PNFP, PRSC, PVTB, QABA, RIVR, RNST, SASR, SFBS, SGBK, SHOR, SNBC, SOCB, SRCE, SRI, STBA, STBZ, STL, TBK, TCBK, TMP, TRMK, UCFC, UFCS, ULBI, ULTI, VC, VLO, VLY, WAL, WVVI

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACTG, AHGP, APT, ARLP, ARPI, AVL, AVNW, AVP, BBL, BGX, BHP, BKE, BLMN, BNTC, BRFS, BVN, CBIO, CBL, CCO, CDE, CETC, CGIX, CHS, CPST, CRDC, CREG, CVA, CX, CXW, DAVE, DDD, DEST, DIN, DXYN, EAC, ENOC, ETSY, EVEP, FDEU, FE, FMI, FSP, FTD, FTGC, FWV, GARS, GEN, GKOS, GNK, GNRT, GRSHU, GSM, HCN, HCP, HIFR, IBM, IGOV, ISSC, JGW, JWN, KEN, KRC, LLEX, LUK, M, MDVX, MEMP, MGIC, MNKD, MPW, NDLS, NFG, NGL, NMM, NRX, NVS, OHI, ORN, OZM, PED, PEIX, PERF, PHI, PHM, POPE, PRAA, PRGN, PRTY, RAS, RBY, RCAP, REE, REXI, RMCF, RWT, SBRA, SCTY, SCX, SGM, SIEB, SJT, SMRT, SNH, SOHO, STRP, SWIR, TAT, TEU, THR, TK, TLYS, TRGP, TU, TWI, VALE, VTR, WAB, WILC, XHR

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AGG, BND, BWX, COW, DJP, EPOL, LQD, TIP

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From Briefing.com: 4:13 pm Cisco Systems beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (CSCO) :

Reports Q1 (Oct) earnings of $0.59 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.56; revenues rose 3.6% year/year to $12.68 bln vs the $12.65 bln Capital IQ Consensus.Gross margin and product gross margin were 63.2% and 62.3% respectively.Operating expenses were $4.1 billion, down 1%, and at 32.7% of revenueCo issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.53-0.55 vs. $0.56 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs +0-2% YoY, equates to roughly $11.94-12.17 bln vs. $12.54 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."We guided to solid growth in Q2. Our guidance reflects lower than expected order growth in Q1, driven largely by the uncertainty of the macro environment and currency impacts. Despite these headwinds, I believe we are executing very well. We are moving very fast to capture new opportunities and I feel good about how we are positioned for the second half of the year.

4:11 pm Seagate Tech forms a new business, Seagate Government Solutions, to address government data-mgmt needs (STX) : The new Seagate entity will focus on the federal government's big data, high performance computing, and security needs

4:07 pm Applied Materials reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (AMAT) :

Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.29; revenues rose 4.6% year/year to $2.37 bln vs the $2.4 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.23-0.27, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.25 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs -2 to -9% QoQ ~$2.15-2.32 bln vs. $2.28 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Tech Stocks Market Report: The broader market closed the session near lows of the day as a sell-off at the close took all three major indices down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with the worst losses, shedding 254.15 points (-1.44%) to 17448.07. The S&P 500 was not far behind, losing 29.03 points on the day (-1.40%) to 2045.97. The Nasdaq Composite rounded out the bunch lower by 61.94 points (-1.22%) to 5005.08. Reported market data today was Initial Claims and JOLTS. Initial Claims were unchanged from the prior week at 276,000, while continuing claims for the week ending October 31 rose by 5,000 to 2.174 million from an upwardly revised 2.169 million. The September Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings insreased to 5.526 million from 5.377 million.

For its part, the Technology (XLK 43.22, -0.38 -0.87%) sector posted modest losses, finishing at lows of the day though as the broader market also sold off into the close. Names in the space which posted losses included STX -5.65%, HPQ -4.38%, MA -2.58%, WU -2.54%, FLIR -2.09%, RHT -2.03%, GLW -2.00%. Other sectors finished as follows XLE -2.27%, XLB -2.01%, XLV -1.73%, XLF -1.51%, XLI -1.36%, XLP -1.35%, XLU -0.95%, XLY -0.93%, XLK -0.87%, IYZ -0.85%.

Semiconductors (SOX 649.77, -8.51 -1.29%) were again under pressure as component SunEdison (SUNE 4.53, -0.37 -7.45%) was downgraded to Sell at Axiom Capital. SUNE also reported mixed earnings on November 10, with a beat on the top line and a miss on the bottom, resulting in subsequent cautious analyst views in the days since that time. Other names in the sector under pressure today were SWKS -4.12%, CREE -4.08%, ON -3.34%, TER -2.63%, MRVL -2.38%, CAVM -2.36%, QRVO -2.36%, NXPI -2.34%, LRCX -1.80%, TXN -1.61%.

Bucking the broader market trend today was the Social Media (SOCL 19.58, -0.06 -0.31%) sector, which posted modest gains as names like DMD +6.54%, YELP +3.68%, WB +2.51%, NTES +2.18%, CYOU +2.01%, RENN +1.71%, YY +1.63% outperformed. The story of the day actually came after the close yesterday, as InterActiveCorp (IACI 65.24, -0.07 -0.11%) bid for Angie's List (ANGI 8.97, +1.05 +13.26%) at $8.75 per share. IAC has also indicated its willingness to consider a combination of ANGI with IAC's HomeAdvisor business through a tax-free stock-for-stock exchange.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (727.92, -6.71 -0.91%), action also ended near lows of the day as the broader market dragged down IT. Only three components managed the close the session with gains EA +0.50%, JNPR +0.30%, CSCO +0.11% as selling pressure ran from bell to bell.

Other notable news items among sector components:

H.B. Fuller (FUL 37.99, -1.35 -3.43%) announced it has been awarded $12.8 million in arbitration case against Accenture (ACN 104.32, -0.78 -0.74%). The arbitrator also ruled the company does not owe $1.4 million in fees.

IBM (IBM 133.04, -1.98 -1.47%) and HCL Technologies announced a strategic partnership to jointly build hybrid cloud solutions to help enterprises drive their digital transformations.

Western Digital (WDC 62.40, -0.20 -0.32%) updated on transaction with Unisplendour, received two regulatory approvals, transaction expected to close between 4Q15-1Q16.

HP (HPQ 13.31, -0.61 -4.38%) declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.124 per share following separation of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 13.70, -0.41 -2.98%).

Juniper Networks (JNPR 29.65, +0.09 +0.30%) appointed Kevin Walker as Security Chief Technology Officer.

Computer Sciences (CSC 66.38, -0.72 -1.07%) confirmed it has sent a letter to Xchanging plc's (XCNGF) Board, making an offer to acquire the company for 170 pence per share.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Angie's List (ANGI) received a proposed takeover offer from InterActiveCorp (IACI) for $8.75 per share.

NCR Corp (NCR 26.43, -0.35 -1.31%) announced an $820 million investment from Blackstone (BX), which it will use to fund a $1 billion dutch auction for common shares, between $26 and $29.50 per share.

Vringo (VRNG 0.33, +0.01 +1.70%) reported a favorable ruling in Romania and China regarding its litigation with ZTE (ZTCOF 2.25 flat).

Anadigics (ANAD 0.33, +0.09 +41.17%) to be acquired by GaAS Labs for $0.35 per share. The company also announced Q3 results with an EPS loss of $0.06 per share on revenues of $12.12 million.

Net 1 UEPS Techs (UEPS 15.78, -0.02 -0.13%) reported the closure of an investigation by the Serious Economic Offences Unit of the South African Police Service into corruption allegations.

Nokia (NOK 7.28, -0.03 -0.41%) announced that the French Stock Market Authority has approved the company's public exchange offer for the securities of Alcatel Lucent (ALU 3.94, -0.02 -0.63%) and delivered its visa on Nokia's offer document.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Netease.com (NTES 153.34, +3.27 +2.18%) reported Q3 EPS and revenues which beat expectations at $2.44 and $1.05 billion, respectively.

Digital Ally (DGLY 5.84, -1.67 -22.24%) reported Q3 GAAP EPS of ($0.45) on revenues which rose 9.2% YoY to $5.1 million. The company also noted it does not expect total 2015 revenues to reach original goal of $25 million.

MAXIMUS (MMS 53.61, -15.03 -21.90%) reported mixed Q4 results with better than expected EPS of $0.53 on worse than expected revenues of $578.7 million. The company also lowered guidance for FY16 with EPS of $2.40-2.70 from $2.85-3.05. MMS also reaffirmed FY16 revenues guidance of $2.4-2.5 billion.

Determine (DTRM 3.24, -0.88 -21.36%) reported a miss on the top and bottom lines of Q2. EPS came in at a loss of $0.32 per share on revenues which rose 30.8% YoY to $6.8 million.

Himax Tech (HIMX 6.15, +0.04 +0.65%) reported Q3 EPS in-line with expectations at $0.01 on revenues which beat and fell 25.5% YoY to $165.6 million. HIMX also guided Q4 EPS of $0.01-0.03 on revenues of flat to +5% sequentially to about $165-172 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: AMAT, AVNW, CSCO, MXPT, RPD/MTLS

Analyst action:

MGIC was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays,
GIB was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale,
ANGI was upgraded to Mkt Perform from Underperform at Raymond James,
KKPNY was upgraded to Buy from Hold at HSBC Securities;
SUNE was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Axiom Capital,
DOX was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays,
CACI was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Noble Financial

4:10 pm : The stock market could not avoid its second consecutive retreat on Thursday with the S&P 500 (-1.4%) falling below its 200-day moving average (2,064). The benchmark index retreated throughout the session while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.2%) settled a step ahead.

Equity indices faced selling pressure from the get-go with the early weakness following a cautious session in Europe where markets in France, Germany, and Spain lost between 1.2% and 2.3%. Things did not improve by the start of the New York Session, which led to opening losses in nine of ten sectors.

Most notably, the energy sector (-2.4%) struggled from the start and the significant underperformance in the growth-sensitive group set the tone for a down day. The sector widened this week's decline to 5.4% while crude oil fell 2.7% to $41.78/bbl.

Similar to energy, the materials sector (-2.0%) finished at the bottom of the leaderboard while other groups posted slimmer losses. For instance, the top-weighted technology sector (-0.9%) outperformed throughout the session, which prevented a bigger decline from unfolding.

Elsewhere on the cyclical side, the consumer discretionary space (-1.0%) settled ahead of the broader market thanks to gains in select apparel retailers after Kohl's (KSS 45.82, +2.66) reported better than expected results. Shares of KSS spiked 6.2% while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 44.05, -0.57) could not stay out of the red, falling 1.3%.

Moving to the countercyclical side, the utilities sector (-1.2%) held a slim gain at the start, but could not hold its ground into the afternoon. The rate-sensitive group settled just ahead of the S&P 500 while consumer staples (-1.4%) and health care (-1.8%) registered wider losses. Biotechnology contributed to the underperformance in health care with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 320.11, -6.74) dropping below its 50-day moving average (325.10). The high-beta ETF fell 2.1%, extending this week's decline to 3.1%.

Unlike stocks, Treasuries spent the day in the green, forcing the 10-yr yield lower by a basis point to 2.32%.

Today's participation was essentially in line with recent averages as 850 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Initial Claims, JOLTS, and the Treasury Budget:

Weekly initial claims were unchanged from the prior week at 276,000 (Briefing.com consensus 269,000) while continuing claims for the week ending October 31 rose by 5,000 to 2.174 million (Briefing.com consensus 2.155 mln) from an upwardly revised 2.169 million (from 2.163 million)
Initial claims have ranged primarily between 250,000 and 300,000 since July 2014, so there was nothing out of the ordinary about the latest claims report, which wasn't influenced by any special factors
The four-week moving average for initial claims increased by 5,000 to 267,750, which is near levels seen in April 2000
The September Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 5.526 million from 5.377 million
The Treasury Budget statement for October showed a deficit of $136.00 billion (Briefing.com consensus -$130.00 billion)
The Treasury data are not seasonally adjusted so the October deficit cannot be compared to the $91.10 billion surplus recorded in September

Tomorrow, October PPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%) and October Retail Sales (consensus 0.3%) will be reported at 8:30 ET while September Business Inventories (expected 0.0%) and the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for November (consensus 92.0) will be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +5.7% YTD
S&P 500 -0.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.0% YTD

DJ30 -254.15 NASDAQ -61.94 SP500 -29.03 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 644/1.66 bln/2281 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 564/855.3 mln/2518

3:40 pm :

The dollar index remained in the red this afternoon, but this didn't do much for some commodities
WTI crude oil remained in the red today, closing the session -2.7% at $41.78/barrel
Dec nat gas gained +0.4% at $2.27/MMBtu, but mostly remained consolidated
Gold recovered off of today's low, finishing the session -0.4% at $1081/oz. Dec silver fell -0.4% to $14.24/oz
Copper remained near today's LoD, closing -2.3% at $2.17/lb

12:32 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (272) outpacing new highs (37) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABCD, ANGI, BECN, CSWI, DNBF, EBS, EDU, EFII, FBNK, FCVA, FNWB, FRBA, FRBK, GBNK, GDDY, GDEN, GE, GENC, IBCP, LGF, LMCA, LMCK, MANU, NTES, PAM, PAR, PCBK, PFPT, PULB, SMBC, SPHS, TAP, TGS, TOWR, UHAL, VRSN, XRS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, AAMC, ACTG, ADM, ADUS, AEG, AEGR, AGI, AJRD, ALQA, AMAG, AMDA, AMFW, AMRS, ANGO, ARGS, ARLP, ARPI, ASPN, ATI, ATLS, AVNW, AVP, AXPW, AYA, BBL, BBVA, BEP, BGG, BGX, BHP, BID, BIOD, BNTC, BOBE, BOOM, BOOT, BPT, BSL, BVN, BWEN, CBIO, CC, CDI, CEN, CGG, CHS, CKH, CLMS, CMI, CMLS, CNL, CNV, COSI, CQH, CROX, CTIC, CVA, CVGI, CXW, CYAN, DAR, DB, DCO, DDC, DDD, DECK, DSCI, DSX, DV, DYN, ECPG, EFF, EGLE, EMG, EMMS, ENBL, ENLC, ENOC, ENPH, ENVA, EQT, ERA, ESMC, ETE, ETRM, EVAR, EVEP, EVRI, FAC, FEI, FEN, FINL, FLOW, FMI, FMO, FOSL, FRPT, FSTR, FTD, FUEL, GEO, GFI, GG, GLOW, GLRE, GNRT, GNT, GPRO, GRH, GSI, GSM, GULTU, HAIN, HCN, HDNG, HIBB, HIFR, HKTV, HNW, HSGX, HY, IBM, IMN, INOV, IPHS, IPI, JCS, JGW, JHS, JMLP, KED, KLXI, KMF, KMI, KONA, KOOL, KTCC, KYN, LCI, LF, LGCY, LMNR, LRN, LTRX, LUK, LWAY, MARA, MCUR, MEMP, MIE, MIFI, MMS, MSB, MT, MW, NES, NFEC, NFG, NML, NMM, NMRX, NOR, NRF, NRP, NSAM, NSPH, NSPR, NTK, NVS, NVTA, NWPX, OI, OKE, OMCL, ONCS, OPGN, ORN, OTIV, OXBR, PAA, PAGP, PERF, PFMT, PHI, PLTM, PMTS, PQ, PRAA, PRTK, PSG, PSO, QUAD, R, RAS, RBCN, RCKY, REE, RESI, REXI, RICE, RNET, ROKA, RRMS, RTK, RUN, SB, SBLK, SCVL, SEMG, SGMS, SGNL, SJT, SKUL, SLM, SMM, SMRT, SMT, SNH, SNTA, SPXC, SRF, SSYS, STRP, SUNE, SVVC, SWIR, SWN, SXC, SXCP, SYNL, SYRX, TAS, TAT, TC, TERP, TEU, TGA, TGH, TGI, THR, TIME, TINY, TK, TLN, TLYS, TOO, TRGP, TTGT, TU, TWIN, UAE, UAN, UPL, URBN, URG, VAC, VALE, VCLT, VGGL, WGP, WILN, WLH, WPG, WPT, WRES, WRN, WTT, WYY, X, XGTI, ZHNE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: DJP, GLD, GSG, IAU, JJC, PPLT, UHN, XME


10:01 am Solar3D raises FY15 sales guidance (SLTD) :

Co is increasing its guidance to $48-$52 million from its previously issued guidance of $40-$45 million. The guidance does not include revenue from acquisitions yet to be completed this year. The increase in market guidance is based on the Company's recently released sales figures, as well as its extensive sales backlog. With a sales backlog of nearly $30 million, the Company is confident in its continued sales success, allowing Company leadership to focus on identifying profitable solar companies to add to its portfolio of operation divisions.

8:34 am Pericom Semi announces that proxy firm Glass Lewis has recommended shareholders vote in favor of the pending merger w/ Diodes (DIOD) (PSEM) :

8:31 am Anadigics to be acquired by GaAS Labs for $0.35/share, announces Q3 results (shares halted) (ANAD) :

The co announced it has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger with affiliates of GaAs Labs to be acquired for $0.35 per share through a cash tender offer, representing a premium of 38.2% percent based on the average closing price of ANADIGICS' shares of common stock during the 30-day trading period ended November 11, 2015.

The co also reported Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.06 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.07); revenues fell 35.8% year/year to $12.12 mln vs the $12.22 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

8:06 am EZchip confirms the postponement of vote on merger with Mellanox (MLNX) and revised agreement to allow 30-day go-shop period and waiver of termination fee (EZCH) :


8:01 am Juniper Networks appoints Kevin Walker Security Chief Technology Officer (JNPR) : Walker most recently served as VP and assistant chief information security officer at Walmart.com

7:49 am SunPower guides FY16 revs above consensus ahead of analyst day (SPWR) :

Co sees FY16 non-GAAP revs $3.3-3.5 bln vs $2.85 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees 2016 gross margin of 13-15%, EBITDA of $515-565 mln. Fiscal year 2016 financial guidance reflects the impact of planned project sales to 8point3 Energy Partners. On a non-GAAP basis, the company expects gross margin from these project sales to be partially deferred beyond 2016. On a GAAP basis, the company expects revenue and gross margin from the sale of these projects to be deferred beyond 2016. Co is holding its Analyst Day today.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market ended Friday action at session lows. The downward action was led by the Nasdaq Composite, which shed 77.20 points (-1.54%) on the final day of the week to end 4927.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 202.83 points (-1.16%) to 17245.24. The S&P 500 posted the most tame of losses, as the index lost 22.93 points (-1.12%) to 2023.04. The weakness was not specific to US equities, though, as European markets closed lower to the tune of UK's FTSE: -1.0%, Germany's DAX: -0.7%, France's CAC: -1.0%, Spain's IBEX: -0.3%, Portugal's PSI: -0.3%, Italy's MIB Index: -0.1%, Irish Ovrl Index: -0.1%, Greece ASE General Index: -1.0%

Market data came in today as October Retail Sales, Producer Price Index (PPI), preliminary Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for November, and total business inventories. Retail sales were up a weaker than expected 0.1%, while sales excluding autos were up a weaker than expected 0.2%. PPI for final demand declined 0.4% in October on top of an unrevised 0.5% decline in September. Michigan Sentiment for November showed an uptick to 93.1 from the final reading of 90.0 for October and 88.8 a year ago. Business inventories increased 0.3% in September on top of an upwardly revised 0.1% increase in August.

As for Technology (XLK 42.37, -0.85 -1.97%), action closed near session lows as the broader market dictated movements today. Component Windstream (WIN 1.39, -0.06 -3.79%) led the way lower as last night after the close a Director disclosed the purchase of about 30K shares. The stock also beat on the top and bottom lines of Q3 expectations on November 5.

Internet (FDN 73.45, -2.05 -2.72%) names were among the worst laggards as blue chip names NFLX -4.84% LNKD -3.94% FB -3.77% TWTR -3.64% AMZN -3.49% CRM -3.45% GRPN -3.38% JNPR -3.17% YHOO -3.13% lagged the broader market today. Component Rackspace (RAX 26.93, -2.05 -7.07%) continued recent weakness after initially trading higher following better than expected Q3 results.

Cloud (SKYY 29.61, -0.67 -2.21%) names were also weak today, as FFIV -4.08%, NTCT -3.59%, ORCL -3.44%, AAPL -2.92%, RHT -2.48% underperformed. Component Cisco (CSCO 26.21, -1.62 -5.82%) was a notable laggard as the company reported Q1 EPS which beat and in-line revenues. The company also guided Q2 EPS and revenues worse than expected.

For its part, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (713.29, -14.63 -2.01%), posted modest losses to end near lows of the day. The sector finished with names like ADBE -2.00%, NVDA -1.97%, GOOG -1.95%, INTU -1.55%, ADS -1.54%, HPQ -1.50%, MA -1.44% firmly in the red.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Seagate Tech (STX 33.07, -1.01 -2.96%) formed a new business, Seagate Government Solutions, to address government data-management needs.

Alliance Data (ADS 286.35, -4.47 -1.54%) priced its offering of 300 million aggregate principal amount of 5.25% Senior Notes due 2023 at an issue price of 100% of the aggregate principal amount.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Broadsoft (BSFT 38.05, -0.78 -2.01%) acquired PBXL. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the deal is expected to be initially dilutive to EPS.

Paycom Software (PAYC 41.02, -3.32 -7.49%) announced and then later priced its secondary offering of 4.5 million shares of common stock by selling stockholders at $42.15 per share.

Mobile TeleSystems (MBT 6.16, -0.09 -1.36%) announced the repurchase of the series 08 ruble-denominated bond in the amount of about ?12.89 billion.

Points International (PCOM 8.80, -0.74 -7.76%) reported that CFO Anthony Lam will leave the company November 20, 2015, to pursue other opportunities. The company has now initiated a search for a permanent replacement.

COPsync (COYN) announced the approval for its stock to trade on the NASDAQ Stock Market effective November 13, 2015. The company priced the offering of about 3.03 million shares at $3.49 per share.

Gogo (GOGO 15.54, -0.65 -4.01%) received an STC from the FAA, which is required to launch its 2Ku next generation satellite connectivity service on board Aeromexico's Boeing 737-800 Aircraft.

Equinix (EQIX 291.07, -3.67 -1.25%) obtained EC clearance on previously-announced offer to acquire

TelecityGroup (TLEIY). The company expects the transaction to close early in the first half of 2016.

Mercury (MRCY 18.22, +0.07 +0.39%) received a $1.8 million in orders from an international aerospace and defense company for radar environment simulation systems. The orders will be booked in 1Q16.

Intevac (IVAC 4.96, +0.13 +2.69%) repurchased 1,483,171 shares of its common stock from Northern Right Capital Management in a privately negotiated transaction at $4.98 per share.

Ntelos Holdings (NTLS 9.08 flat) announced its shareholders have approved its merger with Shenandoah Telecommunications (SHEN).

DHI Group (DHX 8.69, -0.71 -7.55%) reported that investor group Quadrangle Group has distributed 3.7 million shares of its stock to general and limited partners.

Sizmek (SZMK 3.90, -1.97 -33.56%) acquired PointRoll, a Tegna Company (TGNA), for $20 million; comprised of $11 million in cash and $9 million in seller financing-transaction to close immediately.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Cisco Systems (CSCO) reported Q1 EPS which was better than expected at $0.59. Revenues which in-line with expectations and rose 3.6% YoY to $12.68 billion. The company also issued downside guidance for Q2 EPS of $0.53-0.55 on revenues which are expected to be flat to +2%, which equates to about $11.94-12.17 billion.

Applied Materials (AMAT 17.24, +0.71 +4.30%) reported Q4 EPS which was mostly in-line at $0.29 on revenues which missed expectations at $2.37 billion. The company also guided Q1 EPS and revenues in-line at $0.23-0.27 and down 2% to down 9% to about $2.15-2.32 billion, respectively.

Aviat Networks (AVNW 0.98, +0.04 +4.26%) reported Q1 EPS which was better than expected at a loss of $0.02 per share and a miss on revenues which were $79.6 million. The company also guided Q2 revenues in-line at $68-73 million.

Rapid7 (RPD 19.97, -0.93 -4.45%) reported Q3 EPS which was better than expected at a loss of $0.27 on revenues which were also better than expected at $28.3 million. The company also guided Q4 EPS worse than expected at ($0.37)-($0.35) and revenues better than expected at $28.8-30.2 million.

Notable companies to report quarterly results next week: A, CMCM, NTAP, CRM, INTU, MRVL, SPLK, WDAY, ADSK, WB, SINA

Analyst actions:

YELP was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital,
LNVGY was upgraded to Outperform at Daiwa Securities;
FFIV was downgraded at Dougherty, JMP Securities and William Blair,
NTAP was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Monness Crespi & Hardt,
MXPT was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham,
DGLY was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at ROTH Capital,
SIGM was downgraded to Hold from Buy at BWS Financial

Weekly Recap - Week ending 13-Nov-15Dow -202.83 at 17245.24, Nasdaq -77.20 at 4927.88, S&P -22.93 at 2023.04

The stock market ended a down week on a woeful note after the release of some disappointing economic data and uninspiring retail earnings. The S&P 500 lost 1.1%, widening this week's decline to 3.6% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.5%) underperformed to end the week lower by 4.3%.

Equity indices spent the duration of the trading day in negative territory, pressured mostly by heavily-weighted consumer discretionary (-2.6%) and technology (-2.0%) sectors. Both cyclical groups traded well behind the broader market throughout the day and that underperformance prevented the market from staging a meaningful rebound. The S&P 500 briefly rallied above its 100-day moving average (2,034) in late morning action, but the move was retraced fully into the afternoon as the two influential sectors remained weak and the rest of the market gave in to the weakness.

The consumer discretionary space suffered from a one-two punch as October retail sales missed expectations (+0.1%; Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) while Nordstrom (JWN 53.96, -9.51) and Fossil (FOSL 32.39, -18.62) issued disappointing guidance. The two names plunged, posting respective losses of 15.0% and 36.5% while J.C. Penney (JCP 7.44, -1.35) also struggled, tumbling 15.4% despite reporting a smaller than expected loss.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, the technology space (-2.0%) was weighed down by Cisco Systems (CSCO 26.21, -1.62) as the heavyweight sank 5.8% after below-consensus guidance overshadowed a three-cent beat. Other influential tech names also struggled with Apple (AAPL 112.34, -3.38) falling 2.9% and Alphabet (GOOGL 740.07, -16.46) surrendering 2.2%. To be fair, there were a couple bright spots among semiconductor names as Applied Materials (AMAT 17.36, +0.83) spiked 5.0% in reaction to in-line earnings on below-consensus revenue.

The relative weakness in technology kept the Nasdaq behind the broader market, which masked a solid showing in the biotech space. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 323.64, +3.53) spiked 1.1%, but could not close above its 50-day moving average (324.77), while the health care sector settled ahead of the broader market, but still lost 0.2%.

Also of note, the energy sector shed 0.4% today, ending the week lower by 5.5%. Crude oil, meanwhile, continued its recent slide, falling 2.6% to $40.68/bbl. For the week, WTI crude lost 8.2%.

Unlike stocks, Treasuries advanced throughout the day, ending near their highs with the 10-yr yield falling four basis points to 2.28%.

Today's trading volume was relatively strong as roughly 925 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Retail Sales, PPI, Michigan Sentiment, and Business Inventories:

Retail sales were up a weaker than expected 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%), while sales, excluding autos, were up a weaker than expected 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%)
Results for September were revised lower with total sales unchanged (from 0.1%) and sales excluding autos revised to -0.4% (from -0.3%)
The Producer Price Index for final demand declined 0.4% (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) in October on top of an unrevised 0.5% decline in September
The index is down 1.6% year-over-year, which is a record 12-month decline for the final demand index
The downturn in October was led primarily by the index for final demand services, which declined 0.3% while the index for final demand goods declined 0.4%.
Excluding food and energy, PPI declined 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) versus an unrevised 0.3% decline in September
The preliminary reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for November showed an uptick to 93.1 from the final reading of 90.0 for October and 88.8 in the same period a year ago
The Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 92.0
The improvement in November was driven by higher readings for both the Current Economic Conditions Index (to 104.8 from 102.3) and the Index of Consumer Expectations (to 85.6 from 82.1)
Total business inventories increased 0.3% in September on top of an upwardly revised 0.1% increase for August (from 0.0%) while the Briefing.com consensus expected no change
The inventory-to-sales ratio edged up to 1.38 in September from 1.37 in August
In September 2014, the inventory-to-sales ratio stood at 1.31

Monday's economic data will be limited to the Empire Manufacturing Index for November, which will be released at 8:30 ET.

Week in Review: Energy Sector Leads Stocks Lower

The stock market began the trading week on a cautious note as persistent global growth concerns weighed on investor sentiment. The S&P 500 surrendered 1.0% while the Dow and Nasdaq posted comparable losses. Equities retreated through the first half of the Monday session and remained near their lows into the afternoon, which kept dip-buyers on the sidelines. The cautious posture in the market took place after the weekend featured the release of China's trade data, which showed a 10-yr high in the trade surplus, but exports fell 6.9% in October, representing the fourth consecutive monthly drop. Nine sectors ended the day in negative territory with losses between 0.7% (consumer staples) and 1.5% (energy) while the utilities space climbed 0.3%.

Tuesday ended on a mixed note as the Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) settled with a modest loss while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.2%) and S&P 500 (+0.2%) overcame the weakness in the technology sector (-0.7%), eking out slim gains. Stocks stumbled at the start of the trading day with the opening move paced by the largest stock in terms of market cap. Specifically, Apple (AAPL 116.73, -3.84) fell 3.2% in reaction to a Credit Suisse report, which indicated the tech giant has cut its orders for iPhone 6s components by as much as 10.0%. Shares of Apple slid below their 100-day moving average (117.33) after struggling with the 200-day average (122.06) over the previous few days.

The market spent the Wednesday session inside a narrow range before ending with a modest loss. The S&P 500 shed 0.3% while the Nasdaq Composite settled in line with the benchmark index after showing relative strength intraday. Overall, the midweek affair was very quiet as the stock market bounced around its flat line while the bond market was closed for Veterans Day. The subdued activity was evidenced by below-average trading volume as fewer than 800 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor. Four sectors ended the day above their flat lines, but their gains were overshadowed by a significant decline in the energy sector (-1.9%) while other influential groups like health care (-0.9%), consumer discretionary (-0.5%), and financials (-0.2%) also struggled.

The stock market could not avoid its second consecutive decline on Thursday with the S&P 500 (-1.4%) falling below its 200-day moving average (2,064). The benchmark index retreated throughout the session while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.2%) settled a step ahead. The key indices faced selling pressure from the get-go with the early weakness following a cautious session in Europe where markets in France, Germany, and Spain lost between 1.2% and 2.3%. Things did not improve by the start of the New York Session, which led to opening losses in nine of ten sectors. Most notably, the energy sector (-2.4%) struggled from the start and the significant underperformance in the growth-sensitive group set the tone for a down day.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17910.33 17245.24 -665.09 -3.7 -3.2
Nasdaq 5147.12 4927.88 -219.24 -4.3 4.1
S&P 500 2099.20 2023.04 -76.16 -3.6 -1.7
Russell 2000 1199.75 1146.55 -53.20 -4.4 -4.8

5:02 pm Qorvo prices its offering of $1 bln in aggregate principal amount of its senior notes maturing in 2023 and 2025 (QRVO) : The $450 million of 2023 Notes and $550 million of 2025 Notes will pay interest semi-annually at a rate of 6.75% and 7.00%, respectively.

4:01 pm GT Advanced Tech. to conduct an auction of certain of its ASF sapphire growth furnaces currently located in Mesa, Arizona as well as a number of new furnaces in Hong Kong on November 22-23 (GTATQ) :

3:37 pm Earnings Preview for the week of November 16 - 20 (:SUMRX) :

Of the companies reporting earnings for the week of November 16 - 20 some of the bigger names include:


Monday:
Pre Market - JD, DDS, ANY, MDLY
After Hours - A, URBN, NUAN, MATW, NORD, UPLD

Tuesday:
Pre Market - WMT, HD, TJX, DKS, CMCM, JASO, SOL, KLIC
After Hours - LZB, JACK, VIPS, MTSI

Wednesday:
Pre Market - TGT, LOW, SPLS, ARMK, EJ, SFUN, LEJU
After Hours - CTRIP, HI, GBDC, FGL, LB, SINA, GEOS, CRM, NTAP, WB, SMTC, GMCR

Thursday:
Pre Market - BBY, SJM, SPB, BONT, JKS, SSI, SMRT, BKE, BRC, CATO, PERY, KIRK, LQDT
After Hours - GPS, ROST, WSM, ANW, KEYS, INTU, ADSK, TFM, WAIR, ESL, WDAY, MENT, SPWH, NGVC, SPLK, CRMT, NMBL, ZOES, MOMO, ASYS

Friday:
Pre Market - FL, ANF, SIRO, HIBB, DXLG
After Hours -

12:12 pm Atmel: Elliott Management increases stake further in Dialog Semi (DLGNF), now holding 5%; affirms previous intention to vote against pending merger with Atmel (ATML) :

11:39 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (356) outpacing new highs (19) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAME, ANGI, AVNU, CBAN, EBS, FCCO, FNWB, FRBA, FUNC, HNNA, IHC, MPV, OPB, PCBK, PEN, SNBC, SSRG, XIN, XRS

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAMC, AAN, ABUS, ACSF, ACTG, ADM, ADUS, AEG, AEGR, AFT, AHGP, AJRD, AKER, AMAG, AMDA, AMFW, ANGO, APC, APPS, ARES, ATI, ATOS, AUPH, AVNW, AVP, AWH, AXPW, BBBY, BBOX, BBRG, BBVA, BBW, BEBE, BEP, BGX, BKE, BLT, BNTC, BOBE, BONT, BOOT, BPT, BSL, BUFF, BURL, BVN, CAKE, CAL, CBIO, CC, CDI, CEN, CERN, CGG, CGI, CHCI, CHS, CKH, CLH, CLMS, CMI, CMO, CNL, CNMD, CNP, COSI, CPSS, CQH, CRAI, CREE, CROX, CSF, CTIC, CVA, CVGI, CX, CXW, CYAN, CYD, DAKP, DAN, DAVE, DB, DCO, DDC, DDD, DDS, DECK, DEST, DG, DIN, DKS, DPG, DSL, DV, DXYN, EARS, EAT, ECPG, EFF, EGLE, EMAN, ENBL, ENLC, ENTL, ENVA, EPC, EPIQ, EQT, ERIC, EROS, ESE, ESEA, ETE, EVDY, EVEP, EVRI, FEI, FEN, FENX, FFIV, FIF, FINL, FIT, FLOW, FMI, FMO, FOSL, FPL, FSTR, FTD, FTGC, FUEL, GCO, GEN, GLP, GLPI, GLRE, GMCR, GMO, GMZ, GNT, GOGL, GPOR, GPRO, GPS, GRH, GRPN, GSI, GSM, HAIN, HDP, HIBB, HIE, HIFR, HKTV, HLIT, HLS, HMY, HNP, HNSN, HOS, HY, IBM, ICLD, IILG, IMMY, IMNP, INOV, IPHS, JGW, JMF, JMLP, JWN, KED, KKD, KLXI, KMF, KMI, KMX, KND, KONA, KSS, KTCC, KYN, LEU, LMNR, LOCO, LRN, LUK, M, MARA, MCUR, MDVX, MEMP, MIE, MIFI, MITT, MSB, MSL, MT, MTSN, MW, MXPT, MYOS, NAO, NBR, NC, NDLS, NES, NFEC, NFG, NHF, NMBL, NMIH, NMM, NNI, NOR, NRF, NRG, NS, NSAM, NSH, NSL, NSPH, NTCT, NTG, NTK, NVS, OEC, OI, OKE, OMCL, ONCS, ONTX, OPGN, OSTK, OZM, PAA, PAGP, PDBC, PERY, PFMT, PICO, PIR, PLCE, PLX, PMTS, POPE, PQ, PRAA, PRGN, PRGO, PRTY, PSCD, PSG, PSO, PSTI, PVH, QBAK, QTWW, QUAD, R, RAS, RAVE, RCII, RCKY, RESI, REXI, RGSE, RIBT, RICE, RLOC, RMGN, RNET, ROSG, RPRX, RTIX, RTK, SATS, SAVE, SB, SBLK, SCX, SEMG, SGM, SGNL, SIM, SLM, SMM, SMRT, SNH, SNR, SNY, SPXC, SRET, SRF, SRG, SSYS, STRP, STRT, STX, SVVC, SWIR, SXCP, SXE, SYNL, SZMK, TASR, TAT, TDW, TERP, TEU, TGA, TGH, TGI, TIF, TIME, TLYS, TNGO, TOO, TRGP, TRP, TTGT, TU, TWER, TWI, TWIN, UPL, URBN, URG, UUUU, VAC, VALE, VCEL, VIPS, VMEM, VRX, VSAR, VVR, WDC, WGP, WILC, WING, WLB, WLDN, WLH, WMB, WMT, WPG, WPT, WRES, WSM, X, ZAYO, ZBRA

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, DBB, DBC, DJP, EPOL, GSG, JJC, JO, KOL, PPLT, UHN, XME

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market began the week with an up Monday. Leading the way higher, the S&P 500 added 30.15 points (+1.49%) to close 2053.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also closed higher, as WTI crude oil futures closed the session up 2.5% to $41.70 per barrel. The Dow was up 237.77 points (+1.38%) to 17483.01. The Nasdaq Composite posted the most shallow of gains on the session, albeit ending higher by more than 1.0%. The Nasdaq was up 56.73 points (+1.15%) at session end to 4984.62. Market data today was limited to the Empire Manufacturing Survey forNovember, which posted a decline of -10.7, above last month's mark of -11.4.

Technology (XLK 43.02, +0.65 +1.53%), for its part closed near session highs. Blue chip names like STX +3.70%, AVGO +3.34%, WDC +2.36%, YHOO +2.35%, T +2.26%, CSCO +2.21%, ORCL +2.20%, NVDA +2.01%, VZ +1.83%, HPQ +1.83%, MSFT +1.75%, JNPR +1.74%, GOOG +1.65%, AAPL +1.63% helped the session to the upside.

As 13F filings continue to swarm in, one name that outperformedtoday on the filings was Social Media (SOCL 19.41, +0.18 +0.94%) name United Online (UNTD 12.01, +01.69 +16.38%). Firm B.Riley & Co. disclosed a 7.9% active stake in the company, and sent a letterto the Board to acquire the company for $12.50 per share. Other names in the sectorwhich outperformed today included CYOU +4.33%, SINA +3.80%, NTRI +3.36%, GRPN +2.72%, WB +2.66%, DMD +2.30%, TCEHY +1.84%, LNKD +1.43%.

Also in tech, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector(723.43, +10.14 +1.42%) posted, strong gains as the sector closed near session highs, but just underperformed the S&P 500 index which grabbed gains of 1.49% today. Names like FLIR +10.33%, CSC +6.13%, STX +3.70%, AVGO +3.34%, PYPL +3.13%, ACN +3.08%, HRS +3.04%, FFIV +2.90% took the sector higher.

Other news items among sector components:

Microsoft (MSFT 53.76, +0.92 +1.75%) has launched a new fund to cultivate companies with solutions that bring affordable Internet access to underserved markets.
Qorvo (QRVO 51.84, +0.84 +1.65%) priced its offering of $1 billion in aggregate principal amount of its senior notes maturing in 2023 and 2025.
Xilinx (XLNX 47.09, +0.55 +1.18%) and IBM (IBM 133.71, +1.96 +1.49%) collaborated to develop open acceleration infrastructure, software and middleware to address emerging data center workloads.
Ericsson (ERIC 9.54, +0.30 +3.19%) provided comments on market rumors of being acquired by Cisco (CSCO 26.79, +0.58 +2.21%). The company stated recent partnership had no discussions of merger.
Alliance Data (ADS 287.14, +0.79 +0.28%) provided October update for its Card Services segment. The Average receivables were up 29% year-over-year to $11.99 billion, Delinquency rate 4.5%.
Limelight Networks (LLNW 1.87, -0.18 -8.78%) announced that a US Court of Appeals has denied its request for appeal in their long running intellectual property litigation with Akamai (AKAM 59.14, +0.57 +0.97%).

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Liberty Global (LBTYA 44.10, -1.25 -2.76%) announced a recommended offer to acquire all the outstanding shares of Cable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWIFX 1.16, +0.08 +7.41%) for about $5.3 billion.
Dynasil Corporation of America's (DYSL 1.68, -0.02 -1.18%) CFO Thomas Leonard to retire effective January 31, 2016. Corporate controller Robert Bowdring will become CFO on February 1, 2016.
Pegasystems (PEGA 28.55, +0.26 +0.92%) announced that CFO Rafe Brown has resigned to assume the role of CFO at a private technology company.
Vishay Precision (VPG 12.12, +0.14 +1.17%) announced restructuring and cost reduction actions, expected to lower operating costs by about $6 million in 2016. The company will take a $4 million charge in 4Q15.
Asure Software (ASUR 4.87, -0.71 -12.72%) approved proposed letter agreement with Wellington Management Group LLP to permit them to increase their aggregate beneficial percentage ownership up to 9.9% by open market purchases.
Telecom Italia (TI 12.40, +0.01 +0.08%) received request from Vivendi (VIVHY 21.15, -0.19 -0.91%) to supplement the agenda of upcoming shareholders meeting. Vivendi is planning to appoint four directors.
Ebix (EBIX 35.30, +1.42 +4.19%) sent a letter to Xchanging Plc's Board outlining its interest in making an offer to acquire it for 175 pence per share, or about 450 million.
First Data (FDC 16.81, -0.16 -0.94%) signed a strategic commercial agreement, to be the preferred provider of cybersecurity and payment processing solutions to NCR (NCR 26.99, +0.57 +2.16%).
SolarWinds (SWI 58.21, +0.17 +0.29%) announced expiration of the HSR waiting period for its acquisition by Silver Lake Partners and Thomas Bravo.
The9 Ltd (NCTY 2.05, +0.08 +4.06%) announced an agreement with Splendid Days Limited, for subscription of $45 million in the company's 12% senior secured convertible bonds.

Analyst action:

NVDA was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity, CA was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup, APH was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman; VMEM was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Maxim Group, TI was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Exane BNP Paribas


4:05 pm : 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.

The energy space extended its lead during afternoon action, aided by a 2.5% spike in crude oil, which put a sizable dent into last week's 8.2% decline. For its part, the energy sector was able to erase almost half of its 5.5% drop from last week.

Unlike energy, the remaining cyclical groups settled behind the broader market with the top-weighted technology sector (+1.4%) ending just behind the benchmark index. Large cap sector components had a solid showing throughout the day while chipmakers rallied into the close with the PHLX Semiconductor Index ending higher by 1.3%.

Elsewhere, financials (+1.3%) and consumer discretionary (+1.2%) spent the morning below their flat lines, but their early losses were a distant memory by the close. Notably, the discretionary sector advanced with homebuilders and retailers overshadowing losses in travel booking names like Expedia (EXPE 122.53, -2.67) and Priceline (PCLN 1266.87, -30.88). The pair lost 2.1% and 2.4%, respectively, following weekend terrorist attacks in Paris.

Staying in the discretionary sector, Urban Outfitters (URBN 22.67, -1.82) lost 7.4% ahead of its quarterly report with today's decline following eyebrow-raising news that the company acquired The Vetri Family group of restaurants. In other M&A news of note, Starwood Hotels (HOT 72.27, -2.72) agreed to be acquired by Marriott (MAR 73.72, +0.98) for $72.08/share.

Treasuries held gains during overnight action, but they returned to unchanged by the close with the 10-yr yield ending at 2.27%.

Investor participation was essentially in line with average as more than 830 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data was limited to the Empire Manufacturing Survey for November, which registered a reading of -10.7. That was above the prior month's reading of -11.4, but below the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which was pegged at -6.0.

Tomorrow, October CPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) will be reported at 8:30 ET, October Industrial Production (expected 0.1%) will be announced at 9:15 ET, and the November NAHB Housing Market Index (consensus 64.5) will be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +5.3% YTD
S&P 500 -0.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.9% YTD
Russell 2000 -3.8% YTD

DJ30 +237.77 NASDAQ +56.73 SP500 +30.15 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1824/1.65 bln/1106 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2223/840.9 mln/821

3:45 pm :

Oil prices show a strong reversal, back above $42/barrel
WTI crude oil futures were sliding lower this morning, but after failing to break below the $40/barrel level, Dec crude reversed and ended the day +2.5% at $41.70/barrel
Dec nat gas posted some gains as well, closing +1.3% at $2.39/MMBtu
Precious metals post modest gains despite the strength seen in the dollar index
Dec gold gained +0.3% to $1083.70/oz, while Dec silver +0.3% at $14.23/oz
Copper dropped -2% today to close at $2.12/lb (Dec)

4:09 pm Agilent beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q1, FY16 EPS and rev below consensus (A) :

Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.50 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.47; revenues fell 0.8% year/year to $1.03 bln vs the $1.04 bln Capital IQ Consensus; core rev +6%.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.42-0.44, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.46 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q1 revs of $1.0-1.02 bln vs. $1.04 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Co issues downside guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $1.85-1.91, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.97 Capital IQ Consensus; sees FY16 revs of $4.15-4.17 bln vs. $4.2 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

12:21 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (296) outpacing new highs (30) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: BCOM, CACB, CCRN, CID, CWST, EDUC, EFUT, FNWB, GAME, IBCP, INST, ISTR, JBT, LBAI, MCI, MLVF, MMAC, MPV, NAII, OME, PBY, RTN, SPKE, SVT, TAP, TGS, TMP, TTI, VII, VRSN

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAMC, AAN, ABG, ABUS, ACSF, ACTA, ACTG, ADK, ADM, AEG, AHPI, AI, AMAG, AMCO, AMFW, ARC, ARCB, ARDC, ARGS, ASNA, ASUR, ATI, AVNW, AWH, AXP, AZUR, BBBY, BBL, BBRG, BBW, BDR, BEBE, BGX, BITE, BKE, BONT, BOOT, BWLD, CAKE, CAL, CAR, CBL, CDI, CDRB, CGI, CGIX, CHCI, CHK, CHS, CIDM, CIZ, CLH, CLRB, CLUB, CLVS, CMG, CMO, CNHI, COMT, COSI, CPST, CPT, CRD.A, CRDC, CREG, CSF, CVGI, CVM, CXW, CYD, CYRX, DAN, DAR, DAVE, DB, DCO, DDS, DEST, DG, DIN, DKS, DSCO, DXYN, EAT, ECPG, EFF, EGLE, EMITF, ENRJ, ENSV, ENT, ENVA, EQBK, ESEA, EVDY, EVER, EVRI, FCFS, FINL, FIVE, FLWS, FOSL, FTGC, FTSL, FUEL, GASS, GCO, GDP, GEO, GFI, GILT, GLBS, GLP, GLPI, GLRE, GMCR, GMO, GMZ, GOGL, GPS, GRPN, GSI, GSM, GYRO, HAIN, HELI, HERO, HIBB, HIFR, HLIT, HMLP, HNI, HSNI, HY, HZN, IILG, INFI, IPHS, ITEQ, JGW, JMEI, KBIO, KMX, KTCC, LENS, LEU, LLEX, LOB, LUK, LULU, LXFR, M, MARA, MCRN, MDLY, MDVX, MEMP, MESO, MIFI, MIL, MITT, MRNS, MSB, MSLI, MT, MTRN, MW, MXPT, NATR, NC, NES, NFEC, NMBL, NRE, NRT, NSL, NSPH, NSPR, NTCT, NTIC, NVTA, NWY, OEC, OI, ONCS, ONTX, OPGN, ORN, ORPN, OSTK, OZM, PBYI, PDBC, PDVW, PEIX, PERF, PERY, PFMT, PICO, PII, PIR, PLCE, POPE, PRGN, PSCD, PSG, PSO, PSTI, PW, PXLW, QBAK, QCCO, QTWW, R, RACE, RAS, RBCN, RBS, RCII, RESI, REV, RMGN, RNET, ROSG, ROYT, RPRX, RTIX, RUSHA, SATS, SAVE, SBRA, SBY, SC, SGM, SGMS, SIEN, SKUL, SLM, SMM, SMRT, SNMX, SNR, SNTA, SNY, SPXC, SRET, SRG, SSI, SSYS, STML, STWD, SVVC, SXC, TAS, TAT, TERP, TEU, TGA, THST, TLYS, TNGO, TOR, TPLM, TRC, TTGT, TU, TWER, TWIN, UAE, URBN, URG, UUUU, VAC, VALE, VCEL, VFC, VGGL, VIPS, VMEM, VOXX, VVR, WAIR, WGBS, WIFI, WILC, WILN, WING, WIW, WLB, WMLP, WPG, WRK, WSM, WWW, XHR, ZAYO

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, BNO, DBB, DBC, DJP, EPOL, GSG, JJC, PPLT, UGA, UHN

Mellanox Technologies (MLNX) announced that the Texas Advanced Computing Center has selected Mellanox's end-to-end 100Gbs EDR interconnect solutions to develop EDR high-performance computing cluster. Co also announced that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has selected Mellanox's end-to-end InfiniBand solution to connect its next-generation petaflop-capable supercomputer.

8:03 am PMC-Sierra determines that the Microsemi (MSCC) proposal is not superior to the existing agreement with Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) (PMCS) :

7:31 am Vishay Precision announces restructuring and cost reduction actions, expected to lower operating costs by ~$6 mln in 2016; co to take a $4 mln charge in 4Q15 (VPG) :

Co announced restructuring and cost reduction actions that are expected to improve overall efficiency by lower operating costs by $6 million annually, beginning in 2016. The cost reductions are expected to come from lower manufacturing costs, including savings from a force sensor facility closure in Asia in the second quarter of 2016, with continued production consolidation into VPG's facility in India.

Co stated:"We have begun implementing our restructuring and cost reduction plan, which should result in a cash restructuring charge of $4 million which will impact, primarily, the fourth fiscal quarter of 2015."

3:45 am Xilinx and IBM collaborate to develop open acceleration infrastructure, software and middleware to address emerging data center workloads (XLNX) :

IBM (IBM), and Xilinx (XLNX) announced a multi-year strategic collaboration to enable higher performance and energy-efficient data center applications through Xilinx FPGA-enabled workload acceleration on IBM POWER-based systems.

IBM and Xilinx, through a private signed agreement and collaboration through the OpenPOWER Foundation, are teaming to develop open acceleration infrastructures, software and middleware to address emerging applications such as machine learning, network functions virtualization, genomics, high performance computing and big data analytics.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market closed today split. Gains were led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which added 6.49 points (+0.04%) to 17489.50. The Nasdaq Composite also closed above flat lines, higher by 1.40 points (+0.03%) to 4986.02. The S&P 500 was the only index to close in negative territory, shedding 2.75 points (-0.13%) to 2050.44. Market data today included CPI, Industrial Production, and NAHB Housing Market Index. The October CPI reading was in-line with expectations, as both total and core CPI increased 0.2%. October Industrial Production declined 0.2% on top of an unrevised 0.2% decline in September. The NAHB Housing Market Index for November fell to 62 from an upwardly revised 65 (from 64).

Technology (XLK 43.05, +0.03 +0.07%) names enjoyed modest gains as the sector climbed out of negative territory as the markets closed. MU +2.62%, CSC +2.47%, INTC +1.68%, XLNX +1.61%, WU +1.55%, RHT +1.50% all outperformed the broader market today, helping the sector stay out of negative territory. Other sectors closed the session XLV +0.43%, IYZ +0.27%, XLY +0.19%, XLP -0.04%, XLB -0.11%, XLI -0.20%, XLF -0.21%, XLE -1.10%, XLU -1.80%.

Social Media (SOCL 19.48, +0.07 +0.36%) names grabbed modest gains today as component Angie's List (ANGI 9.96, +0.13 +1.32%) rejected InterActiveCorp's (IACI 62.51, -2.23 -3.44%) offer to acquire the company for $8.75 per share. Other SOCL names which finished higher today included YNDX +6.10%, DMD +5.53%, GRPN +4.55%, DNACF +2.77%, ANGI +1.32%, FB +1.05%.

Chinese Technology (QQQC 22.61, +0.86 +3.93%) names were higher today, as the broader Asian Markets closed with mostly positive action: Japan's Nikkei +1.2%; Hong Kong's Hang Seng +1.2%; China's Shanghai Composite -0.1%. Asian markets were higher even as macro data was exceptionally light. Strength was seen in China and Hong Kong as unconfirmed reports suggested that the PBOC lowered its RRR for the Bank of Beijing in an attempt to inspire lending in rural areas. Asian names were outperformed today included: NTES +3.33%, VIMC +0.69%, WB +0.65%, VNET +0.56%. Component SINA (SINA 48.20, +1.49 +3.19%) posted a strong session ahead of their November 18 quarterly results.

For its part, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (722.78, -0.65 -0.09%), underperformed the broader sector as losses were realized at the close. The sector traded the majority of the session in positive territory, but gains would not hold as CTSH -2.66%, FSLR -2.64%, CTXS -1.26%, APH -1.21%, STX -1.21%, ADS -0.92%, FFIV -0.87%, MSFT -0.81% pressured the sector.

Other notable news items among sector components:

EMC (EMC 25.17, -0.10 -0.40%) announced the immediate availability of a broad range of products and solutions designed to seamlessly connect primary storage and data protection systems to private and public clouds.

The German power grid operator EWR Netz GmbH is using WAVE Work Group Communications from Motorola Solutions (MSI 71.05, +1.03 +1.47%) on its communications network.
Epsilon, an Alliance Data (ADS 284.49, -2.65 -0.92%) company, signed 500 new clients in its affiliate marketing segment.

Qorvo (QRVO 54.74, +2.90 +5.59%) announced that LG Electronics (LGEAF) has selected Qorvo's RF Fusion Mobile Wi-Fi integrated Front End Module for the Nexus 5X smartphone.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Angie's List's (ANGI 9.96, +0.13 +1.32%) Board unanimously determined not to pursue the unsolicited proposal from IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI 62.51, -2.23 -3.44%).

Super Micro Computer (SMCI 24.34, -0.40 -1.62%) announced for certain contracts which included extended product warranties, revenue relating to the extended warranties was recorded as revenue in prior periods instead of being deferred and amortized over the contractual period. The company also reaffirmed certain Fiscal Year 2016 guidance.

QLogic (QLGC 12.43, +0.21 +1.72%) announced the approval of a $125 million stock repurchase program.

Marvell (MRVL 8.50, -0.12 -1.39%) submitted compliance plan to NASDAQ which it says supports its request for an extension of time to March 8 to regain compliance with continued listing requirements.

SuperCom (SPCB 7.90, -0.85 -9.71%) appointed Shahar Marom as its acting CFO and Arnon Zilberman as Chief Information Officer.

Energous (WATT 7.15, +0.25 +3.62%) priced its offering of 2,608,700 common stock shares at $6.90 per share.

Lumentum (LITE 18.20, +0.01 +0.05%) determined it will be unable to file its 10-Q report within the five-day extension period permitted.

Orange (ORAN 17.77, +0.16 +0.91%) obtained two blocks of 5MHz in the 700Mhz band from French spectrum auction.

Equinix (EQIX 299.07, +3.68 +1.25%) to offer about $750 million of its common stock in a public offering.

Flex (FLEX 10.92, -0.23 -2.06%) announced an agreement to acquire Wink. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Nuance Communications (NUAN 20.21 +3.16 +18.53%) reported Q4 EPS and revenues which beat expectations at $0.41 and $513.3 million, respectively. The company also guided Q1 EPS in-line at $0.31-0.33 on revenues of $486-498 million. The company also guided FY16 EPS of $1.35-1.45 and revenues of $1.98-2.03 billion.

Cheetah Mobile (CMCM 18.14, +0.97 +5.65%) reported Q3 EPS of RMB 0.79 on revenues which rose 110.7% year-over-year to RMB 1.01 billion. The company guided in-line for Q4 revenues of RMB 1.11-1.16 billion.

Agilent (A 38.38, +1.05 +2.81%) reported Q4 EPS which beat expectations at $0.50 on in-line revenues of $1.03 billion. The company also guided worse than expected for the Q1 and FY16 periods. For Q1, EPS is expected to be in the range of $0.42-0.44 and revenues in the range of $1.0-1.02 billion. For FY16, EPS is expected in the range of $1.85-1.91 and revenues are expected in the range of $4.15-4.17 billion.

Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC 10.70, -0.39 -3.52%) reported Q4 EPS of $0.13 on revenues which beat expectations but fell 38.8% year-over-year to $119.2 million. The company issued downside guidance for Q1 revenues in the range of $90-100 million.

Analyst actions:

YNDX was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
EXLS was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill;
LEJU was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill,
AMX was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie,
IMOS was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

4:10 pm : The stock market finished the day 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.

Treasuries notched their highs in reaction to the news, but to be fair, they spent the day in a steady climb off their lows that were set around 10:30 ET. The 10-yr note ended the day with a modest gain, pressuring its yield two basis points to 2.26% after testing the 2.31% level during morning action.

Six sectors ended the day with losses while health care (+0.4%) ended in the lead thanks to daylong strength in biotechnology. To that point, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 329.14, +4.25) gained 1.3%, helping keep the Nasdaq Composite ahead of the broader market. However, that was a small victory considering the Nasdaq returned to its flat line as large cap tech sector (unch) components struggled, overshadowing a good showing from the chipmaker space where the PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 0.6%.

Similar to technology, most cyclical sectors ended the day with modest losses while energy (-1.1%) underperformed notably. The growth-sensitive sector struggled from the start after surging more than 3.0% on Monday. As for today, the sector retreated while crude oil lost 2.4%, ending the pit session at $40.74/bbl.

Although the energy sector posted a notable loss, the group still ended ahead of the utilities sector, which lagged throughout the day, settling lower by 1.8%. Elsewhere among countercyclical groups, the consumer staples sector ended flat, masking a 3.5% spike in the shares of Wal-Mart (WMT 59.92, +2.05) after the retail giant reported a one-cent beat. Meanwhile, another retailer-Home Depot (HD 126.18, +5.34)-also had a solid showing, spiking 4.4%, in reaction to better than expected results, but the consumer discretionary sector was limited to a slim gain of 0.2%.

In other earnings of note, Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS 36.96, -3.85) tumbled 9.4% after missing estimates and lowering its guidance. The report cast a pall over apparel retailers with the likes of Under Armour (UA 84.99, -5.01), Finish Line (FINL 15.52, -0.40), and Lululemon (LULU 44.09, -1.15) falling between 2.5% and 5.6%.

Today's session generated above-average activity with more than a billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included CPI, Industrial Production, and NAHB Housing Market Index:

The October Consumer Price Index was right in-line with expectations. Both total CPI and core CPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.2%.
Total CPI is up 0.2% year-over-year on an unadjusted basis while core CPI is up 1.9%, which is steady with the year-over-year change seen in September
October Industrial Production declined 0.2% on top of an unrevised 0.2% decline in September while the Briefing.com consensus estimate called for a 0.1% increase
Total industrial production is up 0.3% year-over-year
The October weakness was driven entirely by the mining and utilities groups, which saw output decline 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively, while manufacturing output increased 0.4%, which was the biggest gain since a 1.0% jump in July and the first increase in the last three months
The NAHB Housing Market Index for November fell to 62 from an upwardly revised 65 (from 64) while the Briefing.com consensus expected the reading to come in at 64.5

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while October Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.173 million) and Building Permits (consensus 1.137 million) will be reported at 8:30 ET. Also of note, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its October meeting at 14:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +5.3% YTD
S&P 500 -0.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.9% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.2% YTD

DJ30 +6.49 NASDAQ +1.40 SP500 -2.75 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1313/1.70 bln/1518 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1122/1.05 bln/1929

3:20 pm :

The dollar index trended near the flat-line in early morning trade, following the release of in-line US CPI and Core CPI data sets (showing +0.2% growth)
As the session progressed the index saw a moderate rally- which exacerbated prior sell-offs in WTI, precious metals and copper- and is now +0.2% to 99.68
Crude Oil followed its early trend-as sentiment ahead of tonight's API and tomorrow's EIA inventory reports caused a pullback from yesterday's positive close
January WTI closed -2.3% to $40.74/barrel
Natural gas got pummeled in early trading (on weather-related demand drivers) before lifting mid-session to close modestly negative at -0.8% to $2.37/MMBtu
Precious metals and copper closed lower: Gold on the dollar's strength, and silver/copper on Asian industrial demand concerns.
Gold closed -1.4% to $1068.60/oz, silver closed -0.4% to $14.17/oz and copper fell -0.9% to $2.10/lb

11:51 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (167) outpacing new highs (43) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ALKS, BCOM, BDGE, BMA, BOCH, BT, CCRN, COST, CUBE, DSGX, EDUC, EGHT, ENZ, ESLT, FBC, FLIC, GPN, HPY, JBT, JKHY, JRVR, LOXO, MITK, MMAC, NCTY, NUAN, NXST, OLBK, OME, OMI, PBY, PCBK, PCL, PE, RNG, RTN, SBGI, SPKE, SVT, TMP, VII, VRSN, WFBI

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AAMC, ACP, ACSF, ACTA, ACTG, AGFS, APPS, APT, ARDC, ASA, ASUR, ATI, AUPH, AVNW, BBW, BEBE, BKE, BONT, BOOT, CADC, CDE, CGIX, CHCI, CIDM, CLUB, CLVS, CNIT, CNL, CPST, DAR, DDC, DECK, DKS, DSCO, DTEA, DXI, DXYN, EFF, EGLE, EMAN, EMG, EMITF, ESEA, EVAR, EVER, EVRI, FCFS, FENX, FINL, FIVE, FORK, FREE, FSAM, FTGC, FUEL, GARS, GASS, GCO, GDP, GFI, GILT, GLBS, GLP, GLRE, GMCR, GOGL, GPS, GSL, GTIM, GYRO, HAIN, HIBB, HMY, HNSN, ICLD, IMN, INOV, IPHS, JGW, KOOL, KTCC, KURA, LENS, LEU, LLEX, LLNW, LULU, LXFR, MCUR, MDVX, MEMP, MIFI, MSB, MTRN, NBG, NC, NETE, NMBL, NNI, NSPH, OCC, ORN, OSIR, OSTK, OXLC, OZM, PBYI, PCOM, PDVW, PED, PEIX, PERY, PETX, PFMT, PII, PRGN, PVH, PXS, QBAK, RAS, RAVE, REV, RGLD, RMCF, RNO, ROKA, ROSG, RTIX, RTK, SBRA, SBY, SIEN, SNMX, SPXC, SSY, SSYS, SUNE, TAS, TASR, TC, TERP, TIME, TLYS, TOO, TUMI, TWER, URBN, URG, UUUU, VALE, VALE.P, VCEL, VFC, VRX, VVR, WAIR, WILC, WILN, WLB, WPG, WRK, WTT, WWW, X, XGTI, XHR, ZHNE

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: DBB, FXF, GLD, IAU, PPLT, XME

9:01 am QLogic announces approval of a $125 mln stock repurchase program (QLGC) :

Co announces that its Board of directors has authorized a program to repurchase up to $125 million of the company's outstanding common stock over a period of up to two years from the initial purchase under the new program.

8:34 am Marvell submits compliance plan to NASDAQ which it says supports its request for an extension of time to March 8 to regain compliance with continued listing requirements (MRVL) : Marvell also announced that it currently anticipates issuing preliminary financial information for the third fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2015 by early Decembe

8:12 am JA Solar --CORRECTION-- Co beats by $0.44 per ADS; beats on revs (JASO) :

Earlier we reported the co missed by $0.10 but that was incorrect. The co earned $0.68 on a Non-GAAP per ADS basis. We reported the net income number of $0.14 which was not comparable to the consensus number. We have removed the original post.

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.68 per share, $0.44 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.24; revenues rose 22.1% year/year to $600.96 mln vs the $512.37 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Total shipments were 1,126.8 megawatts, an increase of 43.5% y/y and 42.5% sequentially; Shipments of modules and module tolling were 1,073.8 MW, an increase of 54.8% y/y and 49.7% sequentially; Shipments of cells and cell tolling were 53.0 MW, a decrease of 42.3% y/y and 27.8% sequentially.
Gross margin was 17.7%, an increase of 270 basis points y/y and 130 basis points sequentially.
"Strong demand in China continued to drive shipment growth, as China represented 53% of our total shipments during the quarter".
For the fourth quarter of 2015, the Company expects total cell and module shipments to be in the range of 1.1 GW to 1.2 GW. Due to strong customer demand, the Company now expects to ship less than 100 MW of modules to its downstream projects in 2015.

7:33 am ReneSola beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q4 revs in-line (SOL) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.10 better than the two analyst estimate of ($0.02); revenues fell 1.2% year/year to $368.2 mln vs the $340.02 mln two analyst estimate. Gross profit of $59.3 million was up 33.6% q/q and 3.9% y/y. Gross margin expanded to 16.1% when compared to the third quarter of 2014, but was down slightly sequentially. During the third quarter, total solar module shipments were 405.5 MW, representing an increase of 25.9% from Q2 2015. Total wafer shipments were 341.6MW, up 21.3% q/q and 69.4% y/y.Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $275-295 mln vs. $278.62 mln two analyst estimate.Gross margin in the range of 17% to 18%

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market closed with modest losses today. Action progressed higher in the early-going as volume was scarce to begin the session. Gains flipped at about 2 p.m. ET, and equities never came pack to positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with the worst losses today, down 31.13 points (-0.17%) to 17792.68. The S&P 500 followed closely, down 2.58 points (-0.12%) to 2086.59. The Nasdaq Composite turned in the tamest losses, shedding only 2.44 points (-0.05%) to end 5102.48. Economic data today was limited to the October Existing Home Sales report which fell 3.4% from September to an annualized rate of 5.36 million units.

Technology (XLK 43.94, -0.26 -0.59%) closed Monday action slightly in the red. The sector began the session with slightly losses, and inched lower as the day progressed. Component Electronic Arts (EA 68.98, -3.44 -4.75%) closed near the bottom of the ladder as video-game retailer Gamestop (GME 37.61, -1.65 -4.20%) reported worse than expected Q3 results before today's open. Other sectors closed XLP +0.88%, XLE +0.72%, XLY +0.37%, XLB +0.13%, IYZ -0.17%, XLV -0.25%, XLF -0.41%, XLI -0.51%, XLK -0.59%, XLU -0.92%.

As trading came to a closed Monday, the majority of technology sub-sectors closed with modest losses. The worst losses were dictated by the Semiconductor (SOX 657.18, -8.57 -1.29%) sector, as the SOX, SMH -1.13% and XSD -1.07% all closed near the the worst performing tech ETFs of the day, breaking last weeks winning streak. In semis today, the EC cleared the deal between Broadcom (BRCM 53.33, -0.20 -0.37%) and Avago (AVGO 124.39, -2.01 -1.59%). Also, TerraForm Global (GLBL 5.43, +0.16 +3.04%), TerraForm Power (TERP 8.37, -0.83 -9.02%) and SunEdison (SUNE 3.00, +0.18 +6.38%) announced senior management changes.

At the end of the session, the S&P 500 Information Technology (739.98, -3.83 -0.51%) sector closed the session much like the broader sector (XLK). However, components were a bit more widespread than some of the more sectioned parts of technology. In the green, names like TDC +4.22%, ADSK +3.57%, XRX +2.77%, HPQ +1.21%, APH +1.19%, TSS +1.14%, CTXS +1.04%, STX +0.84%, FSLR +0.81%, YHOO +0.76% resisted the broader market action, while ADI -4.41%, PYPL -2.20%, INTU -2.10%, LLTC -1.81%, LRCX -1.77%, MCHP -1.65%, AVGO -1.59%, NVDA -1.50%, CTSH -1.37%, TXN -1.32%, QCOM -1.32% closed lower.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Facebook (FB 106.95, -0.37 -0.34%) founder Mark Zuckerberg disclosed he will take two months of paternity leave upon birth of daughter.
Pendrell (PCO 0.54, -0.24 -30.69%) disclosed unfavorable verdict in patent suit against Apple (AAPL 117.75, -1.55 -1.30%).
The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Broadcom (BRCM) by Avago Tech (AVGO).
Limelight Networks (LLNW 1.63, -0.02 -1.21%) to seek review by the Supreme Court of the recent decision by a U.S. Court of Appeals regarding its long-standing dispute with Akamai (AKAM 56.95, +0.03 +0.05%).

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Diebold (DBD 35.00, -2.51 -6.69%) to acquire Wincor Nixdorf (WNXDY 10.15 flat) for about $1.8 billion. The deal is structured as 38.98 in cash and 0.434 DBD common shares per WNXDY share. The combined company, should the deal be completed, will be called Diebold Nixdorf.
Zayo Group Holdings (ZAYO 23.93, +0.57 +2.44%) to acquire Allstream for CAD$465 million. The deal is basically for ZAYO to buy Allstream's fiber and colocation assets.
TeleComm Sys (TSYS 4.94, +0.55 +12.53%) to be acquired by Comtech Telecommunications (CMTL 21.11, -1.22 -5.46%) for $5.00 per share, or about $430.8 million.
TerraForm Power (TERP), SunEdison (SUNE) and TerraForm Global (GLBL) announced management changes in the sense that current SUNE CFO, Brian Wuebbels, has been named CEO of TERP and GLBL. Rebecca Cranna, current CFO at SUNE, will join TERP as CFO. Also Peter Blackmore will replace Ahmad Chatila as Chairman of the Board at TERP and subsequently step down from his position on the SUNE Board. Also, Emmanuel Hernandez has been appointed Executive Chairman of SUNE's Board.
TrueCar (TRUE 7.91, +0.50 +6.75%) will appoint Chip Perry as President and CEO effective December 15, 2015.
CSG Systems (CSGS 35.74, +0.21 +0.59%) CEO Peter Kalan to retire at the end of the year. The company's current President and COO, Bret Griess, will succeed Kalan as CEO.
Gilat Satellite (GILT 3.38, -0.08 -2.45%) announced at $12 million order from Synertone for baseband equipment that enables fixed and mobility applications on an HTS IPSTAR-based network.
Unwired Planet (UPIP 0.95, +0.14 +18.44%) received a favorable ruling from a UK court in its litigation with Samsung (SSNLF 1100 flat) and Huawei.

Analyst actions:

HPQ was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Maxim Group, TEO was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman; TSYS was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann, POWI was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sidoti, MENT was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham, CTCT was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Stifel, FCS was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna, TXTR was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, AIXG was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan, CAVM was downgraded to Mkt Underperform from Mkt Perform at JMP Securities

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning:

BRCD, PANW, YY/ADI, DAKT, DSKY, TECD, XCRA


From Briefing.com: 4:05 pm : The stock market began the trading week on a cautious note with the S&P 500 shedding 0.1%. The benchmark index surrendered its opening gain, ending in the middle of its trading range while the Dow (-0.2%) and Nasdaq (-0.1%) registered comparable losses.

Overall, the Monday session was very quiet with some market participants likely getting a head start on the Thanksgiving holiday. With that in mind, it wouldn't be surprising to see below average trading volume for the remainder of the week. As for today, roughly 820 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Equities climbed at the start with the early move supported by three sectors in particular. The energy sector (+0.7%) displayed some early volatility, but ended among the leaders even though crude oil slipped 0.3% to $41.78/bbl after making a brief appearance above $42.50/bbl. WTI crude briefly spiked in the morning after Saudi officials indicated their intent to stabilize the global energy market, but the energy component was back near its flat line in short order.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, consumer discretionary (+0.4%) and materials (+0.1%) also settled ahead of the broader market. The discretionary sector benefitted from strength among retailers with SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 44.58, +0.42) climbing 1.0% to mask a 4.2% dive in the shares of GameStop (GME 37.61, -1.65) after the company missed earnings/revenue estimates and guided below analyst expectations.

Similarly, the consumer staples sector (+0.8%) also settled well ahead of the broader market. The countercyclical group was underpinned by Tyson Foods (TSN 48.09, +4.44) after the company's better than expected revenue and upbeat earnings guidance overshadowed below-consensus earnings.

Staying on the countercyclical side, the health care sector (-0.2%) could not stay out of the red while biotechnology outperformed with iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 335.92, +2.43) climbing 0.7%. As for health care, the sector was unable to overcome losses in Allergan (AGN 301.72, -10.74) and Pfizer (PFE 31.33, -0.85) after the two agreed to a $150 billion merger.

Treasuries held modest losses during overnight action, but an intraday rally placed the 10-yr note on its high with the 10-yr yield slipping two basis points to 2.25%.

Today's economic data was limited to the October Existing Home Sales report, which fell 3.4% from September to an annualized rate of 5.36 million units while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.50 million.

Notably, sales did not increase in any regions. The Northeast was unchanged, the Midwest was down 0.8%, the South was down 3.2%, and the West down 8.7%. Median sales prices, meanwhile, were up in all regions year-over-year. The West led the way there with an 8.0% gain followed by the South (+6.2%), the Midwest (+5.7%), and the Northeast (+1.3%). Overall, the median price of an existing home increased 5.8% to $219,600.

Tomorrow, the second estimate of Q3 GDP will be released at 8:30 ET (Briefing.com consensus 2.0%) while September Case-Shiller 20-city Index (expected 5.2%) and November Consumer Confidence (consensus 99.6) will be reported at 9:00 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite +7.7% YTD
S&P 500 +1.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -1.9% YTD

DJ30 -31.00 NASDAQ -2.44 SP500 -2.57 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1574/1.53 bln/1261 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1584/830.2 mln/1459

3:40 pm :

The dollar index remained in positive territory today, which helped weigh on commodities
The big mover today was natural gas, which slowly climbed off its LoD and finished today's session +2.4% at $2.35/MMBtu
Following the early-morning rally, oil futures largely held that move, but finished -0.3% at $41.78/barrel
Gold remained in the red all day, closing at -0.9% at $1066.60/oz, while Dec silver ending -0.5% at $14.03/oz

4:09 pm Silicon Labs acquires wireless mesh networking firm Telegesis for $20 mln; expects the acquisition to be slightly accretive on a non-GAAP basis (SLAB) : Co announced the acquisition of Telegesis, a supplier of wireless mesh networking modules based on Silicon Labs' market-leading ZigBee technology. Silicon Labs completed the acquisition of Telegesis on November 20, 2015, for a cash purchase price of approximately $20 million (USD). Telegesis is expected to contribute incremental revenue at an annual run-rate of approximately $8-$10 million for the remainder of Q4 2015 and also for fiscal 2016. Silicon Labs expects the acquisition to be slightly accretive on a non-GAAP basis, including the addition of approximately 20 Telegesis employees.


9:20 am Ascent Solar reaches an agreement with its existing senior secured note holder, to restructure its outstanding senior secured convertible notes (ASTI) :

Co announced today that the Company has reached an amendment agreement with its existing senior secured note holder to further restructure the outstanding senior secured convertible notes.

Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company has now agreed to make a cash payment of $1.0 million to the Note Holder on December 21, 2015 in lieu of the original payable amount of $2.8 million, and reinstate the $1.8 million portion of the Outstanding Notes with substantially all of its current and existing conversion rights and terms.
As part of the amendment, the Note Holder has agreed to waive the true-up provision contained in such Reinstated Notes.
There will be no further issuances of the Company's common stock in connection with payments on or conversions of the $1 million portion of the Outstanding Notes, so long as the Company does not default in making the required payment on December 21, 2015.

9:01 am O2Micro announces an expense reduction plan that is expected to lower its overall operating expenses by ~$3-4 mln in FY16 (OIIM) :

Co announces an expense reduction plan as it continues to work on improving the operating performance of its businesses, with a near-term goal of reaching a cash breakeven level.
As a result of this plan, co has consolidated operations in several worldwide locations in an effort to streamline operations and reduce operating expenses. When fully implemented, co is expecting to lower its overall operating expenses by ~$3.0 mln to $4.0 mln in FY16.

7:04 am TerraForm Global announced a series of changes to its senior mgmt team and board of directors aimed at aligning the co's strategic focus around acquiring projects from its Sponsor, SunEdison (SUNE), with less reliance on third party acquisitions; names Brian Wuebbels CEO of TERP and GLBL (GLBL) :

Co announced a series of changes to its senior management team and board of directors aimed at aligning the company's strategic focus around acquiring projects from its Sponsor, SunEdison, with less reliance on third party acquisitions.

Brian Wuebbels has been named president and chief executive officer and Rebecca Cranna has been named chief financial officer, effective immediately. They will succeed Carlos Domenech and Alejandro Hernandez, respectively, who are departing TerraForm Global. Mr. Domenech will no longer serve on the company's board. eter Blackmore, Jack Jenkins-Stark and Christopher Compton were appointed by SunEdison as additional board members.

7:02 am TerraForm Power announced sr mgmt and board of director changes aimed at aligning the strategic focus around acquiring projects from its Sponsor SunEdison (SUNE) with less reliance on third party acquisitions (TERP) :

TerraForm Power names Brian Wuebbels as president and chief executive officer and Rebecca Cranna has been named chief financial officer, effective immediately. They will succeed Carlos Domenech and Alejandro Hernandez, respectively, who are departing TerraForm Power. Domenech will no longer serve on the company's board. Wuebbels currently serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer of SunEdison (SUNE) and will continue in that capacity. He has served as chief financial officer of SunEdison since 2012 and prior to that, held various management roles with the company since 2007. Before joining SunEdison, he served in various senior finance and operating roles at Honeywell (HON) and General Electric (GE). Cranna most recently served as senior vice president and chief financial officer, Global Asset Management for SunEdison which she joined in 2014. Previously, she was chief financial officer at Silver Ridge Power from 2010 until 2014.
In addition, the company announced changes to its board of directors. Peter Blackmore and Jack Jenkins-Stark were appointed by SunEdison (SUNE) and Christopher Compton was elected as additional board members. All three were determined to be independent under applicable stock exchange rules. Together with Mr. Hanif "Wally" Dahya, these new board members bring the number of independent directors up from three to four.
SunEdison names Chairman Emmanuel Hernandez as Executive Chairman, confirms CFO Brian Wuebbels will assume additional role of CEO of TerraForm Power (TERP) and TerraForm Global (GLBL)

7:40 am Trina Solar misses by $0.07, beats on revs; raises FY15 PV shipment guidance (TSL) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.21 per share, $0.07 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.28; revenues rose 28.5% year/year to $792.6 mln vs the $762.6 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Total module shipments from the Company's manufacturing facilities were 1,703.2 MW, consisting of 1,353.2 MW of external shipments and 350.0 MW of shipments to the Company's own downstream PV power projects. Total module shipments increased 38.3% sequentially and 60.1% year-over-year.
For Q4: The Company expects to ship between 1, 500 MW to 1, 650 MW of PV modules, of which 1, 350 MW to 1, 450 MW will be shipped to third party customers. The Company's downstream projects will obtain module supplies from its own manufacturing business or third party suppliers as the situation may require. The Company expects to connect 280 MW to 320 MW of PV projects to the grid in the fourth quarter of 2015.
For FY15: The Company raises its full-year guidance of total PV module shipments to 5.5 GW to 5.6 GW from its original guidance of 4.9 GW to 5.1 GW, of which 4.6 GW to 4.7 GW will be shipped to third party customers. This revised guidance would represent an increase of 50.3% to 53.0% from 2014. The Company reiterates its guidance to connect to the grid between 700 MW and 750 MW of downstream PV power projects across the world, including 30% to 40% of DG projects in China.
Update on Solyndra legal proceedings: In October 2012, the trustee of Solyndra LLC filed a lawsuit against Trina Solar and other Chinese manufacturers of photovoltaic solar panels in the U.S. District Court in California, asserting antitrust and related state-law claims against the defendants in the lawsuit. Trina Solar has entered into a settlement agreement with Solyndra on November 17, 2015, pursuant to which it has agreed to a settlement in the total amount of $45.0 million payable no later than December 31, 2015. The parties have agreed to a release of all claims and a dismissal with prejudice of the litigation against Trina Solar, and Trina Solar has not admitted to any wrongdoing or any validity to the allegations made against it in the lawsuit.
The co also announced that its accumulative shipments since 2005 have exceeded 15 GW as of the end of Q3

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From Briefing.com: 4:37 pm Photronics beats by $0.07, beats on revs (PLAB) :

Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.25 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.18; revenues rose 14.0% year/year to $141.7 mln vs the $133.85 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Gross margin of 31.5% and operating margin of 19.2%, driven by high incremental margins. EBITDA of $50 million, up 54% from Q414.

4:07 pm Violin Memory misses by $0.01, misses on revs; announces exploration of strategic alternatives (VMEM) :

Reports Q3 (Oct) loss of $0.19 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.18); revenues fell 42.4% year/year to $12.5 mln vs the $17.23 mln Capital IQ Consensus.Third quarter fiscal 2016 non-GAAP gross margin was 56% compared to 47% reported in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 and compared to 54% reported in the third quarter of fiscal year 2015. Cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments totaled $95.9 million as of October 31, 2015.The company also announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value and has retained the services of an investment banking firm to assist with the evaluation process.Co states: "Our stock price remains at a level that we do not believe reflects the true value of our business and developed technology. As a management team, we are committed to act in the best interests of our shareholders, including considering alternate methods of enhancing shareholder value."

4:05 pm Avago Tech beats by $0.13, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs in-line (AVGO) :

Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $2.51 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.13 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.38; revenues rose 15.1% year/year to $1.85 bln vs the $1.85 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $1.76-1.81 bln vs. $1.81 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Co finished fiscal 2015 on a very strong note, delivering record levels of revenue and profitability in its recently completed fourth quarterThe LSI acquisition and the synergies we have been able to realize through its integration, as well as strong year on year growth in wireless revenues were significant contributors to our 2015 results

4:10 pm : The stock market ended the midweek session on a broadly lower note with the S&P 500 sliding 1.1% while the Nasdaq (-0.6%) settled a bit ahead.

Equity indices spent the first 90 minutes of the session near their flat lines, but the energy sector (-3.1%) struggled from the start and accelerated its retreat into the afternoon, which dragged down the entire market. Meanwhile, the remaining groups held up relatively well at the start, but they could not resist the pressure, which intensified as the session wore on.

Today's plunge in the energy sector followed similar action in the oil market with WTI crude showing late morning volatility in reaction to conflicting headlines concerning this Friday's OPEC meeting in Vienna. Specifically, crude oil, and the energy sector, spiked off its morning low following reports that majority of OPEC members have agreed on an output cut; however, oil and the energy sector dove to new lows after subsequent reports indicated that Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations do not support lowering their production output. Crude oil settled lower by 4.4% at $41.78/bbl after marking a low at $39.86/bbl.

Interestingly, the selling in the market accelerated shortly after Fed Chair Janet Yellen concluded her speech at the Economic Club of Washington with the remarks being perceived as a sign that the Fed is ready to raise rates at the December policy meeting. The Dollar Index (100.00, +0.20) set a new 2015 high at 100.51 immediately after Chair Yellen's speech was released while Treasuries notched new lows for the day. The 10-yr note ended in the lower half of today's trading range, pushing its yield up four basis points to 2.18%.

In addition to the aforementioned energy sector, three other groups-financials (-1.2%), materials (-1.3%), and utilities (-2.2%)-lost more than 1.1% apiece while the remaining sectors posted slimmer losses. For instance, the industrial sector (-1.1%) ended in line with the market even though transport stocks underperformed following cautious guidance from CSX (CSX 27.53, -1.07) and KC Southern (KSU 85.12, -6.51). The two names posted respective losses of 3.7% and 7.1% while the broader Dow Jones Transportation Average fell 2.1%.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted technology sector (-0.6%) could not stay out of the red, but the group finished ahead of its peers thanks to a 5.2% jump in the shares of Qualcomm (QCOM 51.85, +2.55) after the company licensed its 3G and 4G technology to Xiaomi.

Today's participation was a bit ahead of average as roughly 930 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data released this morning included ADP Employment and Q3 Productivity/Unit Labor Cost Data:

The ADP National Employment Report revealed that employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose by 217,000 in November while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 185,000
The October reading was revised up to 196,000 from 182,000
Third quarter productivity was revised up to 2.2% (Briefing.com consensus 2.2%) from 1.6% in the preliminary estimate while unit labor costs were revised up to 1.8% (Briefing.com consensus 1.2%) from 1.4% in the preliminary estimate
The change in productivity flowed from a 1.8% increase in output and a 0.3% decrease in hours worked. That was the first decline in hours worked since the third quarter of 2009
The change in unit labor costs reflected a 4.0% increase in hourly compensation and a 2.2% increase in productivity

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 267K) will be reported at 8:30 ET while October Factory Orders (consensus +1.1%) and November ISM Services (consensus 58.3) will both be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +8.2% YTD
S&P 500 +1.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.5% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.9% YTD

DJ30 -158.67 NASDAQ -33.08 SP500 -23.12 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 953/1.90 bln/1927 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 648/929.8 mln/2429

3:40 pm :

Strength in the dollar index weighed on commodities today, including oil, natural gas and metals
WTI crude oil sold off today ahead of Friday's OPEC meeting and following today's weekly EIA storage data
Jan crude finished the day -4.4% at $39.94/barrel.
Jan nat gas lost $0.06 to finish at $2.17/MMBtu
Metals ended today's session in the red with Feb gold losing -0.9% at $1053.90/oz and Mar silver -0.4% at $14.01/oz
Mar copper dropped 1% to $2.05/lb in floor trading

12:49 pm First Solar to host its 2016 guidance call after the market closes on Wednesday, December 9 at 4:30 PM EST (FSLR) :


11:34 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (124) outpacing new lows (121) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADBE, AFL, AHL, ALK, AMWD, AMZN, AOSL, ATVI, BABY, BKMU, BWXT, CACB, CASY, CINF, CLX, CMN, CNO, CPS, CRAY, CTMX, CWAY, CYT, CYTK, DHI, DHIL, DMTX, DPS, EBF, EDU, EDUC, EGOV, EIG, EMCI, EME, EMKR, ERIE, EXR, EXTR, FBC, FBIZ, FBNC, FCVA, FDEF, FMBI, FXCB, GCBC, GDEN, GERN, GFF, GOOG, GOOGL, GT, GVA, GWB, GWRE, HOFT, HSII, HUB.A, IBCP, JBT, JKHY, KFY, LDOS, LGIH, LIQT, LKFN, LUV, MAA, MANH, MBVT, MCBC, MCRI, MDRX, MG, MGPI, MPWR, MSFT, MXL, NAII, NBBC, NCIT, NEN, NFBK, NFLX, NOW, NSA, NTGR, NUAN, NUTR, NVDA, NWL, OCLR, OSHC, OSIS, OVTI, PBY, PGI, PLAB, PNQI, PROV, PSA, PSTB, PULB, QQQ, RECN, RENX, RNR, SBCF, SFBS, SKYY, SNA, STBZ, STL, TLMR, TSN, UBFO, USLB, WINS, WSFS, XLNX, XUE, Y, YDKN, ZEN

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ADK, APU, AR, ARCB, ARP, ATLS, AUMAW, AZUR, BBEP, BDCV, BNTC, BOBE, CAR, CCO, CDRB, CEN, CEQP, CIB, CLUB, CMO, CNP, COG, CPST, CVGI, CVM, CYD, DCIX, DMLP, DRAM, DSE, DSX, DYN, EC, ELP, EMITF, EMMS, EMO, ENBL, ENI, ENLK, EPIX, EQGP, EQT, ESEA, ESNC, ESSX, ETP, EVEP, FEN, FIF, FMO, FPL, FWM, GDP, GER, GLBL, GMLP, GSI, HRT, HTLD, I, ICA, JGW, KED, KMF, KYN, LGCY, LINE, LLEX, LNCO, LUK, MEMP, MHGC, MIXT, MT, NCQ, NGLS, NMM, NS, NVS, OCIP, OHAI, OIBR, OKE, ORIG, PCO, PDII, PLTM, PQ, RBY, RICE, ROYT, SDLP, SEMG, SFY, SPEX, SPH, SQQQ, SRF, SSH, SVVC, SWN, SXC, SXE, TAC, TGP, TK, TLP, TOO, TPLM, TRGP, TYG, UNIS, UPL, VALE, VALE.P, VKTX, WLB, WPZ, WRES, ZFGN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: FDN, IGV, KIE, PSK, QQQ, SKYY

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: EPOL, GSG, IAU, UHN, UNG

7:30 am Qualcomm and Xiaomi sign a 3G/4G license agreement (QCOM) : Co and Xiaomi enter into a new 3G and 4G China patent license agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Qualcomm has granted Xiaomi a royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture and sell 3G and 4G, including 3-mode, complete devices.

7:00 am Ingram Micro agrees to acquire the Parallels Odin Service Automation platform from Parallels Holdings; terms not disclosed (IM) : The co announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets from Parallels Holdings Ltd, a provider of commercial cloud management platform technologies, connectors, billing systems and professional services. Under the terms of the transaction, Ingram Micro will acquire the Parallels Odin Service Automation platform along with associated cloud management technologies, intellectual property and the Odin brand.

Rudolph Technologies (RTEC) announces today that an outsourced assembly and test facility has placed a repeat order for the JetStep W Series Lithography system, which it will use for both fan-out and fan-in packaging approaches. Additionally, Rudolph received an order from a flat panel display manufacturer in China for its JetStep G Series Lithography system, which will be used for the development of next-generation processes for high-resolution mobile displays. The JetStep W System will ship in the 4Q15 and the JetStep G System will ship in 2Q16.

6:50 am SunEdison, TerraForm Global (GLBL), and Renova Energia terminate previously announced transactions (SUNE) :

The co announced it terminated the securities purchase agreement with Light S.A. to acquire an ~16 % stake in Renova for $250 million. In addition, the agreement among SunEdison and TerraForm Global (GLBL) and Renova Energia, which provided for the acquisition of certain development-stage projects that were intended for a subsequent sale by SunEdison to TerraForm Global as call rights projects under the sponsor support agreement was also terminated .

The previously announced fifty-fifty joint venture between Renova and SunEdison to develop, own, and operate 1 gigawatt of utility scale solar photovoltaic projects to supply the Brazilian Regulated Electricity Market remains."While it is disappointing that the agreement was terminated, we remain committed to Brazil. In addition, Renova remains a valued partner and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them on our solar development joint venture."The projects were intended for a subsequent sale by SunEdison to TerraForm Global, Inc. as call rights projects. On December 1, 2015, the Backlog Agreement was terminated, and TerraForm Global's call rights list has been decreased by 2.7 gigawatts of projects as a result.

6:02 am Ascent Solar confirms it was awarded a Schedule 56 contract, beginning December 15th, 2015, by the General Services Administration (ASTI) : The contract enables Federal customers, including all four branches of the U.S. Military, Federal Agencies and others, to easily purchase a range of Ascent Solar products including: the MilPak E and EnerPlex products such as the Kickr IV and Kickr II.

Geomerics, an ARM (ARMH) company, announced that leading Chinese gaming company Perfect World has licensed Enlighten, the advanced global illumination technology, to deliver richer graphics in its highly anticipated mobile titles.

3:50 am Nokia converts EUR750 mln convertible bond into Nokia shares (NOK) :

A total of 10,502,091 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 EUR750 mln convertible bond.

3:46 am Mattson to be acquired by E-Town Dragon for $3.80 per Share (MTSN) :

Mattson Technology and Beijing E-Town Dragon Semiconductor Industry Investment Center jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which E-Town Dragon will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Mattson for $3.80 per share in cash.

The transaction price represents a 23% premium to Mattson's closing stock price on December 1, 2015, and values Mattson's equity at approximately $300 million on a fully diluted basis.The transaction is subject to approval by Mattson's stockholders, as well as antitrust and other regulatory approvals

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From Briefing.com: Broader market action took indices deep into the red. The Nasdaq Composite closed down 85.70 points (-1.67%) to 5037.53. The S&P 500 also closed lower, losing 29.89 points (-1.44%) to 2049.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted the most modest losses of the bunch, shedding 252.01 points (-1.42%) to 17477.67. Economic data was disseminated in the form of Initial Claims, Factory Orders and ISM Services. Initial Claims for the week ending Nov. 28 were up 9,000 from the prior week to 269,000. The ISM non-Manufacturing Index for November fell to 55.9 from 59.1, and the October Factory Orders were up 1.5%.

Of note on the session, the European Central Bank made a small adjustment to its interest rate corridor (deposit facility rate down to -0.3% from -0.2%, marginal lending facility unchanged at +0.3%, and the main refinancing rate was also unchanged at +0.05%). The ECB, however, did not increase the size of its asset purchases, disappointing a global equity complex which was on tip-toes waiting for more stimulus. Fed Chair Janet Yellen also spoke today, reiterating her stance that the fed funds rate is ready to be raised at the December meeting.

Action on Thursday left Technology (XLK 43.50, -0.57 -1.29%) near lows of the day. Shares of Yahoo! (YHOO 34.34, -1.31 -3.67%) were notably weak today as reports were out that the company's Board still did not come to a definitive decision regarding the Aabaco (BABA 82.59, -2.40 -2.82%) spin-off. . Names like BRCM +4.05%, VRSN +2.83%, WDC +1.96%, HPQ +1.67% resisted the sell-off, with names like ADI -2.78%, CSC -2.59%, PAYX -2.34%, CTXS -2.32%, ORCL -2.30%, ADBE -2.29% closing well below flat lines. Other sectors closed the session XLP -0.52%, XLU -0.76%, XLB -0.88%, IYZ -1.18%, XLI -1.25%, XLY -1.51%, XLF -1.63%, XLE -2.00%, XLV -2.19%.

Leading losses today was the Software (IGV 104.07, -2.03 -1.91%) sector, which closed near session lows as broader market action took components lower. Verint Systems (VRNT 40.00, -6.46 -13.90%) was one of the worst performing components, closing near the low end of the day's trading range on the heels of worse than expected Q3 results.

Also among the worst performing sectors on the day, Internet (FDN 75.93, -1.30 -1.68%) names were weaker today as trading only briefly managed to stay above flat lines. Shares of component Pandora Media (P 12.63, -1.63 -11.43%) closed down on the session on the back of an offering which was announced last night. Other components which finished lower were TRUE -5.07%, VEEV -3.54%, CSOD -3.41%, JNPR -3.24%, IACI -2.90%, PYPL -2.62%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector () also closed just off session lows as early gains did not hold into afternoon trading. Blue chip names like INTC -2.27%, STX -2.23%, FISV -2.19%, TDC -1.96%, MSFT -1.83%, CSCO -1.79%, FB -1.59%, ACN -1.54%, FIS -1.40%, WU -1.37%, MU -1.33%, EBAY -1.31%, GOOG -1.29%, GOOGL -1.24% closed lower on the session.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Teradata (TDC) to dissolve its co-president management structure, names Robert Fair as Chief Operating Officer.

Ford (F 13.98, -0.28 -1.96%) is releasing a new software update for more than 5 million SYNC-equipped vehicles dating back to the 2011 model year, adding more convenience for Apple (AAPL 115.20, -1.08 -0.93%) iPhone users with Siri Eyes-Free capability.

TE Connectivity (TEL 66.01, -0.66 -0.99%) increased quarterly dividend to $0.37 from $0.33 per share.

NetApp (NTAP 30.86, -0.07 -0.23%) filed a mixed securities shelf offering for an undisclosed amount.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Pandora Media (P) to offer $300 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due in 2020 in a private placement.

Vantiv (VNTV 51.11, -1.48 -2.81%) announced the sale of about 13.37 million shares by Fifth Third Bank, partial warrant cancellation and partial net exercise of warrant; co expects accretion of ~$0.03-0.04 in adj EPS in 2016.

ManTech (MANT 32.39, -0.62 -1.88%) was awarded a $407 million contract to provide full-spectrum security support services to the U.S. Air Force.

MeetMe (MEET 3.00, +0.17 +6.01%) reported a new mobile monthly active user record of 4,039,950 in November.

Inphi (IPHI 29.05, -0.70 -2.35%) priced a $200 million offering of 1.125% convertible senior notes due 2020.

Bazaarvoice (BV 4.53, +0.03 +0.67%) named Elizabeth Ritzcovan as Chief Revenue Officer effective December 7.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Avago Tech (AVGO 144.78, +12.57 +9.51%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $2.51 on revenues which rose 15.1% YoY to $1.85 billion. The company also guided Q1 revenues in the range of $1.76-1.81 billion.

Verint Systems (VRNT) reported a miss on expectations for the Q3 top and bottom lines; Q3 EPS came in at $0.78 on revenues which fell 1.1% YoY to $285.3 million. The company also lowered guidance for the FY16 period - VRNT now sees EPS of $3.30 from $3.45 on revenues of $1.15-1.19 billion, down from $1.20-1.25 billion.

Box (BOX 13.21, -0.95 -6.71%) reported in-line EPS for Q3 as a loss of $0.31 per share on better than expected revenues of $78.7 million. The company also issued upside Q4 guidance of revenues in the range of $81-82 million.

Violin Memory (VMEM 0.96, -0.34 -26.40%) reported a miss on the top and bottom line for Q3 results. EPS came in at a loss per share of $0.19 on revenues which fell 42.4% YoY to $12.5 million. The company also announced the exploration of strategic alternatives.

Analyst actions:

HIMX was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Northland Capital;
NCR was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer,
VRNT was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse4:55 pm Analog Devices prices offering of $850 mln of 3.90% senior unsecured notes due December 15, 2025 and $400 mln of 5.30% senior unsecured notes due December 15, 2045 (ADI) :

4:47 pm Analog Devices to redeem its outstanding 3.00% senior unsecured notes due April 15, 2016 (ADI) :

4:35 pm Motorola Solutions agrees to acquire Airwave for ~$1.2 bln; expects transaction to be immediately accretive to non-GAAP earnings and free cash flow (MSI) :

Co and Airwave announced that they have entered into an agreement for Motorola Solutions to acquire Airwave for 817.5 million ($1.2 billion).

Motorola Solutions expects its net cash payment to be 700 million ($1 billion) at closing. In addition, a deferred cash payment of 64 million will be made in November 2018. The agreement is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016. Airwave is the largest private operator of a public safety network in the world, delivering mission-critical voice and data communications to more than 300 emergency and public service agencies in Great Britain. Motorola Solutions currently plans to fund the transaction with bank financing and cash on hand, predominantly from international funds. Upon closing, the company expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to non-GAAP earnings and free cash flow. Airwave is owned by investment fund Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 2, which is supportive of the transaction.

4:20 pm OmniVision beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (OVTI) :

Reports Q2 (Oct) earnings of $0.37 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.32; revenues fell 12.9% year/year to $343.1 mln vs the $315.04 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.24-0.39, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.29 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $310-340 mln vs. $306.56 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:01 pm SunPower starts construction on 100-Megawatt Boulder solar plant for NV Energy (SPWR) : Co announced that construction has commenced on Boulder Solar, a 100-megawatt (AC) solar power plant located in the Eldorado Valley of Boulder City, Nev. NV Energy has contracted to buy the power generated at the plant under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

4:10 pm : The stock market ended Thursday on a woeful note after global investors reduced their equity exposure in reaction to an underwhelming policy statement from the European Central Bank. The S&P 500 lost 1.4%, falling below its 200-day moving average (2,065), while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.7%) underperformed.

Equity indices held slim gains at the open, but that proved to be a mirage as the market marched lower throughout the day after the European Central Bank made a slight adjustment to its interest rate corridor (deposit facility rate down to -0.3% from -0.2%, marginal lending facility unch at +0.3%, and main refinancing rate unch at +0.05%), but did not increase the size of its asset purchases, thus disappointing a global equity complex that was hungry for more stimulus. The euro responded by having its best day of the year, soaring nearly 450 pips off its intraday low against the dollar to 1.0950. In turn, the Dollar Index (97.79, -2.25) plunged 2.3% to early November levels.

The greenback faced daylong pressure, seeing little respite from comments made by Fed Chair Janet Yellen during her appearance before the Joint Economic Committee. During her testimony, Chair Yellen maintained her recent tone, suggesting the Federal Open Market Committee is ready to raise the fed funds rate at the December meeting. Treasuries began retreating in the morning and continued their slide into the afternoon. As a result, the 10-yr yield spiked 15 basis points to 2.33%.

All ten sectors ended in the red, paced by energy (-2.0%) and health care (-2.2%). Both sectors spent the day near the bottom of the leaderboard with energy retreating despite a 2.9% surge in crude oil, which settled at $41.09/bbl.

As for health care, the top-weighted countercyclical group was pressured by biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 321.97, -11.97) plunged 3.6%, returning to levels from the middle of November. Biotech's underperformance kept the Nasdaq well behind the broader market while the technology sector (-1.3%) ended just ahead of the S&P 500. Although pockets of relative strength were few and far between, it is worth noting that Avago Technologies (AVGO 144.78, +12.57) jumped 9.5% after beating bottom-line estimates and guiding in-line with analyst expectations. Avago's big gain helped the PHLX Semiconductor Index (-0.6%) end ahead of the broader market, but that was a small victory considering 24 of 30 components of the SOX index posted losses.

Today's selloff invited above-average participation as more than 990 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data reported today included Initial Claims, Factory Orders, and ISM Services:

Initial claims for the week ending November 28 were up 9,000 from the prior week to 269,000 (Briefing.com consensus 267,000)
That dropped the four-week moving average by 1,750 to 269,000, which is near a 15-year low
There were no special factors influencing initial claims, which have been bounded between 250,000 and 300,000 since July 2014
Continuing claims for the week ending November 21 were 2.161 million (Briefing.com consensus 2.177 million), an increase of 6,000 from a downwardly revised 2.155 million (from 2.207 million) for the prior week
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index for November fell to 55.9 from 59.1 while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 58.3
The October reading was the second-highest reading for the index since December 2005, so it was in the realm of possibility that the index would pull back in November. A number above 50.0 still denotes expansion and November marked the 70th consecutive month of growth in the non-manufacturing sector
October Factory Orders increased 1.5% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 1.1%
The report showed new orders for manufactured durable goods increased 2.9%, which was a bit below the 3.0% increase reported in the Durable Orders report

Tomorrow, November Nonfarm Payrolls (Briefing.com consensus 196K) and October Trade Balance (expected -$43.00 billion) will be reported at 8:30 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +6.4% YTD
S&P 500 -0.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.9% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.5% YTD

DJ30 -252.01 NASDAQ -85.70 SP500 -29.89 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 690/1.90 bln/2300 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 578/992.8 mln/2517

3:45 pm :

The dollar index had one of its worst losses this year, giving commodities a boost today
In current trade, the dollar index is
Oil prices were volatile today ahead of the OPEC meeting overnight, closing higher in today's session
Front-month Jan crude oil rose 2.9% today to $41.09/barrel
Jan nat gas rose 0.1% to $2.18/MMBtu
Copper ended flat at $2.05/lb, while precious metals posted gains
Feb gold rose +0.8% to $1061.50/oz, while Mar silver gained +0.6% at $14.09/oz

11:35 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (166) outpacing new highs (75) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AFG, ARMK, AROW, BABY, BHLB, BRCM, BRSS, BSFT, BWXT, CASY, CLX, COST, CPS, CSBK, CVT, CWAY, CYT, CYTK, DYAX, EDU, EDUC, EGOV, ELY, EMCI, EPAY, ERIE, EXLS, EXTR, FBC, FBHS, FCVA, FFNW, FIBK, FLTX, FPRX, FXCB, GDEN, GFF, GVA, HA, HRL, IDTI, JBT, KR, KRNY, LKFN, LXFT, MG, MGPI, MKTX, MTN, NFLX, NOW, NTES, NTGR, NUAN, OCLR, OLED, PLAB, ROCK, SGA, SHOR, SIRO, SIX, SKYW, SOCB, THST, TSN, TYL, VGR, VRSN, WINS, XRAY, XRS, ZAGG

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ACP, ADK, AETI, AHGP, AP, APU, ARLP, ARO, AROC, ATLS, ATOS, AXP, BBOX, BBVA, BCA, BEL, BG, BID, BPT, BTU, CAMT, CARB, CBA, CBL, CCO, CDTI, CEN, CEQP, CHK, CHU, CLRB, CLUB, CMI, CMO, CNP, CNXR, COG, CPN, CPST, CTR, CVGI, CVM, CVO, CYD, D, DMLP, DRAM, DSE, DSX, DUK, DYN, EMG, EMO, ENB, ENI, ENLK, ENVA, EQGP, EQT, ESEA, ETP, EXC, FCX, FEI, FELP, FEN, FIF, FMO, FPL, GER, GLNG, GLRE, GMLP, GOGL, GRAM, GTU, HH, HOS, HRT, I, ICL, JMF, KED, KIN, KMF, KMI, KYE, KYN, LHO, LNCO, LSBG, MHGC, MIE, MIL, MIXT, MMLP, MXPT, NAO, NCQ, NFG, NGL, NGLS, NML, NS, NSH, OCIP, OEC, OGE, OKE, ORIG, PAA, PAGP, PCAR, PEB, PEG, PLTM, PQ, PZG, R, RAS, RBY, RCKY, RICE, RIO, RLJ, ROSG, ROYT, RWLK, SALT, SAUC, SBLK, SC, SDLP, SE, SEMG, SFY, SJI, SMM, SPH, SPXC, SRF, STML, SWN, SXE, TAC, TGP, TK, TLN, TLP, TOO, TPZ, TRGP, TTP, TYG, UNFI, UNP, UPL, VKTX, VRNT, WMLP, WPG, WPRT, WPZ, WSCI, YUMA, ZFGN

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AMJ, KOL, MBB, UNG

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From Briefing.com: Technology stocks fell alongwith the broader market this session. The market opened modestly lower then traded up as much as 0.8% beforerolling back over and selling off quite aggressively and stabilizing late in the session.

The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ -1.5%) and the technology sector (XLK -1.4%) ledthe market lower (SPY -0.8%) after outperforming yesterday.

The so-called FANG stocks were notably lower this session:Facebook (FB -1.8%, Amazon (AMZN -1.9%), Netflix (NFLX -2.2%) and Alphabet(GOOGL --1.6%). These mega-cap stocks have provided leadership in the market allyear. They have a combined market cap of almost $1.2 trillion.

Semiconductor (SMH -1.1%) stocks got hit; the chip ETF staged a 'failedbreakout' last week.
Stocks in the news:

Yahoo! (YHOO -1.5%) decided not to spin off its large stake inAlibaba (BABA) due to the market's uncertainty about the tax risk. YHOO insteadis evaluating a spin off of its core assets, which would not be subject to alarge tax bill.

SunEdison (SUNE) surged 15% after amending its acquisition of VivintSolar (VSLR). The company also announced that a Blackstone (BX) entity isproviding a $250 mln credit facility. SUNE closed back below resistance at the$4 level after hitting a multi-week high early in the session.

Elsewhere in the solar sector, Fist Solar (FSLR) is trading lower in the after hours following FY16 guidance.

Aixtron (AIXG) fell 14% after announcing an order cut and guided FY16 sales below consensus.

Sigma Designs (SIGM) is down % at a near 52 week low after beatingQ3 EPS estimates on in-line sales. Investors were disappointed that the makerof chips for smart/4K televisions guided fourth quarter sales below estimates.

MasterCard (MA) raised its quarterly dividend 19% to $0.19/shareand announced a $4 billion share buyback

Broker calls:

Nomura upgraded Maxim (MXIM) to Buy and calling it a top takeovertarget for next year, with Texxas Instruments (TXN) as a likely suitor.
The firm also upgraded chip giant Intel (INTC) to Buy and downgraded F5 (FFIV)to Reduce from Neutral
Susquehanna initiated Square (SQ) with a Neutral
Baird upgraded Agilent (A) to Outperform
Jefferies upgraded Computer Sciences (CSC) to Buy
Stifel downgraded Jabil (JBL) to Hold mostly on valuation
BB&T downgraded CACI (CACI) to Hold

4:05 pm First Solar Guides for 2016; Sees EPS in the range of $4.00-4.50, Capital IQ consensus $3.94; Revenues in the range of $3.98-4.1 bln, Capital IQ consensus $4.05 bln (FSLR) :

Net sales of $3.9 to $4.1 bln Capital IQ consensus $4.05 blnwith solar power systems net sales expected to comprise 90% to 95% of the total and third party module sales the remainder (Approx the same as 2015).Earnings per fully diluted share of $4.00 to $4.50 , Capital IQ consensus $3.94.Ending 2016 net cash of $2.0 to $2.3 billion. Capital expenditures of $300 to $400 million are higher than 2015 forecasted levels as the Company invests in further advancements in its cost and technology roadmap (FY15 gudiance is $175-200 mln). Gross Margin % 16% to 18% (FY15 guidance is 24-25%)Operating Expenses $380-400 mln (FY15 guidance is $395-405 mln) Operating Income $260-330 mln Effective Tax Rate 16% to 18% Operating Cash Flow $500-700 mlnShipments 2.9GW to 3.0GW (2015 guidance is 2.8-2.9 GW)4:10 pm : The stock market ended the midweek affair on a broadly lower note with the S&P 500 surrendering 0.8% after being up 0.8% in the early going. The benchmark index returned below its 200-day moving average (2,064) while the Nasdaq (-1.5%) underperformed throughout the day.

The early portion of today's session appeared to have the makings of a rebound, but the opening strength was entirely due to significant gains in two commodity-related sectors. The materials space (+3.1%) ended comfortably in the lead after it was reported that Dow Chemical (DOW 56.97, +6.07) and DuPont (DD 74.49, +7.89) are in advanced merger talks. Both names surged 11.9% with DuPont's strength keeping the Dow ahead of the broader market.

Similar to materials, the energy sector (+1.3%) ended well ahead of the broader market, but it is worth noting that today's gain occurred after the growth-sensitive group gave up 4.8% over the past two days. Crude oil, however, could not remain in the green, ending the day lower by 0.9% at $37.18/bbl even though the latest storage report from the Energy Information Administration showed the biggest inventory draw in four months.

That storage report briefly propelled crude into the $39.00/bbl area, but the ensuing reversal in oil coincided with the turn in the equity market that left just three sectors in the green when the closing bell rang.

The late morning slide from highs was paced by the technology sector (-1.5%), which struggled from the start. The top-weighted group kept the Nasdaq behind the S&P 500 while biotechnology also weighed on the tech-heavy index. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 325.20, -5.39) settled lower by 1.6% while the health care sector lost 1.0%.

Similar to technology, heavily-weighted financials (-1.2%) and consumer discretionary (-1.2%) contributed to the intraday selloff. Lululemon (LULU 45.31, -6.84) was among the notable laggards in the discretionary space, falling 13.1%, after below-consensus earnings and revenue guidance overshadowed a bottom-line beat.

Staying on the retail theme, Costco (COST 159.72, -9.15) fell 5.4% after missing earnings and revenue estimates while the broader consumer staples sector (-0.9%) settled just behind the broader market.

The cautious posture exhibited in the market was not unique to stocks as currency traders also displayed some unease, evidenced by a rally in the yen that caused the dollar/yen pair to slide 1.3% to 121.35. Similarly, the euro rallied 1.2% against the dollar to 1.1020, suggesting some carry trades were unwound intraday.

Treasuries retreated during the morning advance in stocks, but they climbed to highs in the afternoon, sending the 10-yr yield lower by a basis point to 2.21%.

Today's participation was better than average with more than 975 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Wholesale Inventories and MBA Mortgage Index:

October Wholesale Inventories fell 0.1% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.2%
The September reading was revised down to 0.2% from 0.5%
The inventories/sales ratio was 1.31 in October, up from 1.22 in October 2014
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index rose 1.2% to follow last week's 0.2% downtick

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 269K) and November Import/Export Prices will be reported at 8:30 ET while the November Treasury Budget will be released at 14:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +6.1% YTD
S&P 500 -0.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.9% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.6%

9:44 am TerraForm Power confirms revised terms for acquisition of Vivint Solar's (VSLR) portfolio of installed residential rooftop solar systems (TERP) :

The co announced that it has revised and improved the terms of its agreement to acquire the Vivint Solar portfolio of installed residential rooftop solar systems in connection with the planned merger of Vivint Solar (VSLR) with a subsidiary of SunEdison (SUNE).Under the revised agreement, the consideration paid will be calculated based on the number of megawatts of installed solar system in the acquired portfolio multiplied by $1.70 per watt, rather than the previously contemplated pre-set amount of $922 million before fees. At the estimated 470 MW portfolio size at closing, this would result in a purchase price of approximately $799 million before fees.

This would represent a reduction of approximately $123 million in consideration paid for the portfolio compared to the original agreement -- with approximately $30 million in savings from lower price per watt, and approximately $93 million from reduced MW volume, with the exact amount of such savings depending on the date of the closing of the merger between SunEdison and Vivint Solar, Inc., which is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2016. As a result of the amendment, TerraForm Power will no longer receive the originally contemplated short-term interest bearing note from SunEdison for residential solar systems that are not delivered on the closing date. TerraForm Power also expects to be able to assume the aggregation facility that is already in place for the portfolio, thereby reducing its expected cash payment obligation by approximately $236 million to an estimated $563 million. TerraForm Power continues to maintain an unsecured bridge financing commitment from its lenders with respect to its payment obligations under the purchase agreement. In addition, TerraForm Power is actively evaluating selling some or all of this initial portfolio to a third party.Finally, based on SunEdison's projections the term loan is expected to be repaid in full by December 31, 2016, at which point any obligations under the Take/Pay agreement would be extinguished. This anticipated repayment date is earlier than previously planned, as the term loan amount has been reduced from $500 million in the original financing to $300 million.

9:15 am SunEdison and Vivint Solar (VSLR) amend merger agreement, Blackstone (BX) to provide a $250 mln credit facility to fund SunEdison's ongoing growth (SUNE) :

The co and Vivint Solar (VSLR) have reached an agreement to amend and modify the terms of the definitive merger agreement previously announced on July 20, 2015. SunEdison also announced that 313 Acquisition LLC, the vehicle controlled by private equity funds managed by Blackstone (BX), has entered into a commitment to provide a $250 million credit facility to fund the ongoing growth of SunEdison. The merger is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2016.

Under the terms of the amended merger agreement, Vivint Solar stockholders will receive merger consideration per share consisting of $7.89 per share in cash without interest, plus the number of shares of SunEdison common stock they would have received under the terms of the original deal (presently 0.120 shares of SunEdison common stock per share of Vivint Solar common stock based on the application of the collar), plus an additional number of shares of SunEdison common stock intended to have a value equal to $0.75, plus $3.30 in principal amount of SunEdison convertible notes (modified from the original deal to have a maturity of four years rather than five years).This represents a reduction in the cash merger consideration to be received by Vivint Solar stockholders of $2.00 per share from the original deal and an increase in SunEdison common stock of $0.75 per share. Under this option, the Public Stockholders would receive, for each share of Vivint Solar common stock, $7.89 per share in cash and an additional cash amount representing the fair market value of the convertible note consideration and the stock consideration otherwise payable to the Public Stockholders in the merger as determined by Vivint Solar (and as approved by Vivint Solar's board of directors in consultation with outside counsel and an independent financial advisor).The amended merger agreement provides that in no event will SunEdison be required to complete the merger or consummate the transactions contemplated thereby prior to January 29, 2016.To support the merger transaction, SunEdison has entered into a second amended and restated commitment letter with Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Barclays Bank PLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and UBS Securities LLC for a $300 million secured term loan facility to be provided to a wholly-owned, indirect subsidiary of SunEdison that will hold certain development assets of the expanded SunEdison residential and small commercial platform following the merger with Vivint Solar.Also, in connection with the amendment of the merger agreement, SunEdison and TerraForm Power (TERP) have amended and restated their existing purchase agreement to provide that concurrently with the completion of SunEdison's acquisition of Vivint Solar, TerraForm Power will acquire Vivint Solar's then-installed rooftop solar portfolio for a purchase price of $799 million based on the number of installed megawatts, expected to be delivered at closing The board of directors of Vivint Solar may accept a competing offer that it determines to be "superior" (as further described in the merger agreement) to the merger with SunEdison, and terminate the merger with SunEdison if the Vivint Solar board determines that its fiduciary obligations require it to do so and if Vivint Solar pays a termination fee to SunEdison of $34 million.Complete release detailing all of the adjustments to the pending merger agreement

8:55 am Amtech Systems authorizes new stock repurchase program of up to $4 mln (ASYS) :

Analyst comments: AXTI +2.4% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley & Co),MXIM +2.2% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura)

SunEdison (SUNE) signed a 20 year PPA w/ the city of San Diego that will see 6.6 megawatts of solar installed across 25 city-owned sites. that will see 6.6 megawatts of solar installed across 25 city-owned sites. SunEdison plans to start construction during 2Q16, w/ completion targeted by Q4.JA Solar Holdings (JASO) announced that it has won a contract to supply 100 MW of photovoltaic modules to one of the first three large-scale ground-mounted solar power facilities in Zimbabwe. The projects will have a combined installed capacity of 300 MW and the three contractors for these projects are ZTE, China MCC17 Group and Intratrek Zimbabwe. JA Solar will supply its PV modules to China MCC17 Group for the project it is constructing.Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMI) announced that its subsidiary company SMIC Holdings, obtained approval from the Shanghai municipal government to set up its regional headquarters in Shanghai.

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From Briefing.com: Broader market action closed higher today, with all three major US indices closing better than +1.0% on the session. The advance was led by the Nasdaq Composite which added 75.77 points (+1.52%) today to close 5071.13. The S&P 500 followed, higher by 29.66 points (+1.45%) as the bell rang to end Wednesday 2073.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rounded out the trio up 224.18 points (+1.28%) to 17749.09. The big news of the day however came as the clock struck 2 p.m. ET, when the Federal Open Market Committee elected to begin the rate normalization process by increasing the fed funds target rate range to 0.25-0.50% from 0.00-0.25%. Today's decision represented the first rate hike in nine years, but the Fed has gone to great lengths to stress that it intends to continue tightening at a gradual pace. As such, the dot plot released by the Fed shows an expectation for the fed funds rate to hit 1.25% in 2016, which is down about 11 basis points from the forecast that was released in September.

The Technology (XLK 43.91, +0.59 +1.36%) sector ended Wednesday just off session highs. At the end of the day, Apple (AAPL 111.34, +0.85 +0.77%) was modestly higher as the company saw some pressure today following certain investment firms' update to iPhone estimates. Among others, UBS lowered their December iPhone estimate to 75 million units from 78 million. BofA/Merrill also lowered Q2 iPhone estimates to 51 million units from 58 million. AAPL suppliers in play today included QRVO +2.98%, INVN +2.89%, NXPI +2.38%, SWKS +1.53%, TXN +0.90%, AVGO +0.74%.

Solar (TAN 31.854, +2.61 +8.93%) names also posted relative strength today as news was out that House Republicans are pushing forward a bill lifting the ban on crude oil exports, including an extended tax credit for wind and solar and a delay in the Cadillac and medical device taxes. The bill would still need to be passed by both the House and Senate, and then approved by President Obama. This move has been expected, and while it isn't having much impact on oil futures or the energy sector, solar stocks are reacting positively to the news.

In addition to the federal oil export/solar tax credit news, the California Public Utilities Commission confirmed yesterday that Californians will continue to receive the benefits of using clean energy by proposing a successor program to the current Net Energy Metering program, providing for financial credits for power generated by an individual's on-site system and fed back to the utility. Solar names which saw strength today included SCTY +34.06%, SUNE +25.45%, SEDG +17.10%, SPWR +14.29%, FSLR +9.68%, JKS +8.35%, YGE +7.94%, CSIQ +7.40%, TERP +6.54%, JASO +5.56%, TSL +4.75%, VSLR +3.11%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (736.82, +9.54 +1.31%) also closed just shy of session highs as action only briefly flirted in negative territory. Components which closed in the green today included GLW +3.64%, XRX +2.50%, WU +2.43%, YHOO +2.27%, ACN +2.21%, GOOGL +2.17%, FB +2.14%, GOOG +1.98%, CRM +1.96%, ORCL +1.83%, MSFT +1.68%.

Other news items among sector components:

Heartland Payment Systems (HPY 94.97, +9.81 +11.60%) to be acquired by Global Payments (GPN 65.69, -5.73 -8.02%) for $4.3 billion, or $100 per share in cash and stock. GPN believes the transaction will be mid-single digit accretive on a percentage basis to cash EPS in fiscal 2017 and double-digit accretive thereafter. GPN also expects to realize at least $50 million in synergies in fiscal 2017 and about $125 million of annual run-rate synergies thereafter.

Computer Sciences (CSC 31.37, +1.06 +3.50%) appointed Mike Lawrie as Chairman, replacing Rodney Chase who has retired.Computer Sciences (CSC) also signed a contract with UK start-up bank Atom to provide ConfidentID, CSC's mobile user authentication service. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.Salesforce (CRM 78.89, +1.52 +1.96%) and Box (BOX 13.80, +0.61 +4.62%) announced new solutions that will help businesses be more collaborative, productive and connected. The two companies are introducing a content experience with Salesforce Files Connect for Box and a developer toolkit with a Box SDK for Salesforce.

NTT Communications, the ICT solutions and international communications business within NTT (NTT 39.78, +1.54 +4.03%), announced plans of extending connectivity of Multi-Cloud Connect to Microsoft (MSFT 56.13, +0.93 +1.68%) ExpressRoute for Office 365. Direct access to ExpressRoute for Office 365 is expected to be ready in London from January, followed by Tokyo in February of 2016.

Accenture (ACN 109.08, +2.36 +2.21%) has been selected by Atrias, a joint initiative of Belgium's six electricity and gas distribution grid operators, to build, deploy and manage a single clearing house application to help centralize and structure data exchange among the Belgian energy sector players.

Corning (GLW 18.52, +0.65 +3.64%) announced that the Ford GT supercar is the first production vehicle to use Corning Gorilla Glass for Automotive in a windshield. Ford is also using the optically advantaged glass for two other applications within the car, saving more than 12 pounds of vehicle weight.

Carbonite (CARB 9.54, +0.46 +5.07%) to acquire the business continuity and disaster recovery business of EVault from Seagate (STX 34.78, +0.53 +1.55%) for $14 million.

NetList (NLST 0.77, -0.03 -3.75%) reported a favorable development in its litigation with SanDisk (SNDK 75.60, -0.07 -0.09%).

Elsewhere in the tech space:

T-Mobile US (TMUS 39.13, +0.97 +2.54%) reported offering customers/prospects a holiday promotion that includes a $100 discount on Samsung (SSNLF 1100, flat) smartphones and a free year of Netflix (NFLX 122.64, +4.04 +3.41%).

Sohu.com (SOHU 51.50, +0.35 +0.68%) reported that its Board has received a non-binding proposal for investment in common stock and convertible notes, from a group formed by its Chairman and a private equity group.

EZchip (EZCH 24.52, +0.21 +0.86%) 'go-shop' period related to the merger with Mellanox Technologies (MLNX 41.80, +0.11 +0.26%) expired, no alternate proposals were submitted.

Comtech Telecom (CMTL 20.19, +0.24 +1.20%) filed a $175 million mixed securities shelf offering.

Constant Contact (CTCT 30.14, -1.51 -4.77%) disclosed it received a subpoena from the Boston Regional Office of the SEC.

Anadigics' (ANAD 0.48, +0.11 +29.76%) Board has determined that a new offer of $0.48 per share is superior to the GaAs Labs transaction.

Analyst actions:

GPN was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Credit Agricole,
BLKB was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley & Co,
SOL was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at ROTH Capital,
CEVA was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Wunderlich;
HPY was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey,
GRUB was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Northland Capital,
BT was downgraded to Sell at Deutsche Bank,
IGNMF was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Numis

4:34 pm Oracle beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; will guide on the call at 17:00 (ORCL) :

Reports Q2 (Nov) earnings of $0.63 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.60; revenues fell 6.4% year/year to $9 bln vs the $9.06 bln Capital IQ Consensus, unchanged in constant currency vs. -2 to +1% guidance. Cloud plus On-Premise Software Revenues were $7.0 billion, down 4% in U.S. dollars and up 2% in constant currency. Total Cloud Revenues were $649 million, up 26% in U.S. dollars and up 31% in constant currency. "We grew our SaaS and PaaS revenue 38% in constant dollars this past quarter, and we expect that revenue growth rate to accelerate to nearly 50% in Q3 and close to 60% in Q4. This rapid increase in our cloud revenue will help drive our SaaS and PaaS cloud gross margins from 43% in Q2 to approaching 60% in Q4 and drive significant EPS growth in Q4." "We are still on-target to sell and book more than $1.5 billion of new SaaS and PaaS business this fiscal year [previously targeted $1.5-2.0 bln]," said Oracle Executive Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison. "That is considerably more SaaS and PaaS new business than any other cloud services provider including salesforce.com."Oracle will guidef or Q3 on the call.

4:32 pm Ascent Solar reports an update on its adjourned stockholder meeting and NASDAQ status; believes a quorum will be present at the Friday meeting (ASTI) :

Co announced today an update on the status of its pending Special Meeting of Stockholders which has been adjourned due to a lack of quorum to December 18, 2015. Co stated:"We are pleased that the technical issue involving proxy vote processing has been resolved. We now believe that a quorum will be present on Friday so that the meeting can proceed at the rescheduled time."

Co also noted "Our hearing before a Nasdaq Listing Qualification Panel to review our listing status on the Nasdaq Capital Market has been scheduled for February 11, 2016. We look forward to presenting our plan to regain compliance with the Nasdaq Listing Rules at that time."

4:04 pm Jabil Circuit beats by $0.05, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs below consensus; reaffirms FY16 EPS guidance, revs guidance (JBL) :

Reports Q1 (Nov) earnings of $0.85 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.80; revenues rose 14.4% year/year to $5.21 bln vs the $5.2 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.54-0.70, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.62 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $4.4-4.7 bln vs. $4.73 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $2.65, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.57 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of Approx $20 bln vs. $19.87 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market ended the midweek session on a higher note with the S&P 500 climbing 1.4%. The benchmark index shrugged off the first fed funds rate hike in nine years, reclaiming its 50- (2,060) and 200-day moving averages (2,062) in the process.

Equity indices spiked at the start of the trading day, but the first half of the session featured a slow drip from opening highs as investors employed some caution ahead of the FOMC rate announcement; however, a rally to new highs unfolded during the late afternoon.

The Federal Reserve lived up to expectations, calling for a 25-basis point hike to the federal funds target range, which had been stuck in the 0.00-0.25% range for exactly seven years. Interestingly, today's rate hike did not stop the committee from slightly lowering its core PCE inflation outlook for 2016 to 1.5-1.7% from 1.5-1.8% that had been expected in September.

The Dollar Index (98.35, +0.13) displayed some volatility, but ended in the green. The index saw some pressure as Fed Chair Janet Yellen addressed the media, stressing the Fed's intention to stick to a gradual tightening path. Ms. Yellen acknowledged that the rate hike is taking place while inflation is well below the Fed's 2.0% target, but the Fed Chair believes that inflation will return to the 2.0% target once transitory factors fade away.

Unlike stocks, Treasuries held slim losses going into the afternoon, but they lurched back to flat after the Fed announcement; however, the 10-yr note dipped back into the red during the late afternoon, pushing the benchmark yield up to 2.29% (+2 bps).

Nine of ten sectors ended the day with gains while energy (-0.5%) spent the session below its flat line due to daylong weakness in crude oil. The energy component returned to last week's low, falling 4.7% to $35.55/bbl. after the latest EIA storage report showed a 4.8 million barrel inventory build.

Similar to energy, the materials sector (+1.1%) underperformed, but the group was lifted into the green during afternoon action.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted technology sector (+1.3%) also lagged, which contributed to the pullback from opening levels. Apple (AAPL 111.34, +0.85) was the culprit responsible for the early weakness, but the sector heavyweight benefited from the afternoon strength in the market. Thanks to the reversal, the largest stock by market cap climbed 0.8%, narrowing this week's loss to 1.6%.

Staying on the cyclical side, the industrial sector (+1.8%) spent the day among the leaders, thanks in part to a 5.7% spike in Honeywell (HON 104.08, +5.61) after the company reaffirmed its guidance. Another sector component-Joy Global (JOY 12.16, +0.70)-also had a strong showing, surging 6.1%, despite reporting in-line earnings, lowering its guidance, and cutting its quarterly dividend to $0.01 from $0.20/share.

Today's participation was well above average as more than 950 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included Housing Starts, Building Permits, Industrial Production, and MBA Mortgage Index:

Housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 1.173 million in November. That was 10.5% above October's revised level of 1.062 million (from 1.060 million) and above the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 1.135 million
Multifamily starts spiked 16.4% while single-family starts jumped 7.6%
Building permits soared to a SAAR of 1.289 million. That was 11% above the revised October rate of 1.161 million (prior 1.150 million) and well ahead of the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 1.150 million
That uptick was driven almost entirely by permits for multifamily units as single-family permit authorizations increased just 1.1%
Industrial production declined 0.6% in November on the heels of a downwardly revised 0.4% decline (from -0.2%) in October
The November reading was well below the Briefing.com consensus, which expected a downtick of 0.1%
The November decline was paced by a 4.3% drop in utilities and a 1.1% decrease in mining activities
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index fell 1.1% to follow last week's 1.2% increase

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 276,000), December Philadelphia Fed Survey (Briefing.com consensus 2.0), and Q3 Current Account Balance (Briefing.com consensus deficit of $114.20 billion) will be reported at 8:30 ET while November Leading Indicators will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +7.1% YTD
S&P 500 +0.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.4% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.3% YTD

DJ30 +224.18 NASDAQ +75.77 SP500 +29.66 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2176/1.83 bln/761 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2585/970.1 mln/563

3:35 pm :

The dollar index traded near-flat going into the afternoon's FOMC rate decision- which went as many expected, with Fed Funds raised by 25 bps.
Upon release of the data the dollar saw increased, trend-less volatility that failed to significantly press commodities. The index has since traded just above the flat line, now at +0.3% to 98.47.
Crude traded at modest negatives early, before steeply selling-off on EIA storage data that showed a larger-than-expected build (4.8 mln vs. a 2.5 mln draw estimate).
The January contract extended negative momentum into the close, with WTI finishing -4.7% to $35.55/barrel.
Natural gas saw like-able bearish price action all session, as continued calls for unseasonably warm weather in the Midwest and N.E. US dampened outlook for heating fuel.
January natural gas closed 1.76% lower at $1.79/MMBtu
Precious metals held their morning gains into and following the FOMC rate hike decision, as gold closed +1.4% to $1076.70/oz and silver finished +3.4% to $14.24/oz
Copper closed at moderate gains of +0.9% to $2.08/lb

9:30 am TerraForm Power closes acquisition of 832 megawatts of wind power plants from Invenergy Wind (TERP) :

A second closing for an additional 98 MW (net) of power plants is expected by April 2016. This acquisition adds a sizeable, high-quality contracted power plant portfolio to the TerraForm Power fleet.In connection with the acquisition TerraForm Power was provided with committed financing by a syndicate of banks in the form of a $500 million non-recourse term loan that is secured by the equity interests in the Invenergy assets and certain other drop-down assets from SunEdison. The term loan bears interest at LIBOR plus 5.50%, subject to a 1.00% LIBOR floor, and has a final maturity of January 2019 upon the execution of extension options at TerraForm Power's sole discretion. This new term loan can be fully prepaid at par.

Once all projects are operational, the first year adjusted EBITDA (before minority ownership) is expected to be $147 million, and unlevered CAFD (before all project and HoldCo debt payments) is expected to be $139 million.Select Solar names showing strength after House Republicans are pushing forward a bill lifting the ban on crude oil exports, including an extended tax credit for wind an solar: RUN +14.9%, SUNE +14.1%, PLUG +8%, SPWR +6.5%, FSLR +6.3%, CSIQ +3.9%, SOL +3.1%, ETP +3%, TSL +2.1%

8:19 am Solar stocks gapping higher on House bill proposing lifting oil export ban and extending solar tax credits (TAN) :

News reports overnight confirmed that House Republicans are pushing forward a bill lifting the ban on crude oil exports, including an extended tax credit for wind an solar and a delay in the Cadillac and medical device taxes. The bill would still need to be passed by both the House and Senate, and then approved by President Obama.

This move has been expected, and while it isn't having much impact on oil futures or the energy sector, solar stocks are reacting positively to the news.

In addition to the federal oil export/solar tax credit news, the California Public Utilities Commission confirmed yesterday that Californians will continue to receive the benefits of using clean energy by proposing a successor program to the current Net Energy Metering program, providing for financial credits for power generated by an individual's on-site system and fed back to the utility. This specifically impacts the residential solar suppliers such as Sunrun (RUN) and SolarCity (SCTY), as well as SolarEdge Tech (SEDG) and Enphase Energy (ENPH), which supply the solar photovoltaic inverter systems.

There are a number of solar stocks gapping higher this morning as a result of the news, including Sunrun (RUN) +15.9%, Plug Power (PLUG) +10.9%, SunEdison (SUNE) +10.9%, SolarCity (SCTY) +9.1%, Sunpower (SPWR) +8.1%, First Solar (FSLR) +7.8%, JA Solar (JASO) +4.5%, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) +4%, SolarEdge Tech (SEDG) +3.7%, Trina Solar (TSL) +2.9%. This will also boost the Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN).

Note that the solar space has been strong over the past two days in anticipation of the oil export/tax credit bill, so today's early strength adds to those gains.


8:00 am Anadigics' Board has determined that a new offer of $0.48/share is superior to the GaAs Labs transaction (shares halted) (ANAD) :

Co's Board of Directors, after consultation with its financial and legal advisors, has unanimously determined that an offer from a third party, to acquire shares at $0.48/share, constitutes a "Superior Offer" to the plan with GaAs Labs.

In accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement, Anadigics notified GaAs Labs of the Anadigics Board of Directors's determination and intention to effect a change of recommendation and to terminate the Merger Agreement. The notice commenced a five business day period that will expire on December 22, 2015, during which Anadigics may not change its Board's recommendation nor terminate the Merger Agreement and GaAs Labs has the right to make proposals to Anadigics.

7:02 am PMC-Sierra: Microsemi (MSCC) commences exchange offer to acquire PMC-Sierra; stockholders will receive $9.22 in cash and 0.0771 of a share of Microsemi common stock (PMCS) :

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From Briefing.com: 4:12 pm Micron beats by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (MU) :

Reports Q1 (Nov) earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.23; revenues fell 26.7% year/year to $3.35 bln vs the $3.47 bln Capital IQ Consensus.Revenues for Q1 were lower compared q/q primarily due to a 13 percent decline in DRAM average selling prices.
Non-Volatile trade revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 declined 2 percent compared to the fourth quarter primarily as a result of a 7 percent decline in average selling prices partially offset by an increase in sales volume. The company's overall consolidated gross margin of 25 percent for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 was 2 percent lower compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 primarily due to lower average selling prices partially offset by manufacturing cost reductions for DRAM and Non-Volatile products.

Guidance

Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of ($0.12)-($0.05), excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.23 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $2.9-3.2 bln vs. $3.47 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Q2 Gross Margin expected to be in the range of 17.5-20.0%.
Operatin Expense expected to be in the range of $565-620 mln
Operating Income (Loss) ($60) mln to $20 mln
FY16 CapEx expected to be in the range of $5.3-5.8 bln

Outlook Comments

PC DRAM remains under pressure; however there are signs of demand stabilizingClient SSD and eMCP prices have been impacted by increased competition We are on track with the qualification of several new technologies including 20nm DDR4 and low-power DDR4, as well as 3D NAND We are hopeful market conditions will improve in CY 2016 with stabilization in PC and continued strength in Mobile, Cloud and Embedded segmentsInvestor Presentation

From Briefing.com: The broader market had a strong session on Tuesday with all three major US indices up better than +0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 166.79 points (+0.97%) to 17418.41. The S&P 500 also had nice gains, adding 17.90 points (+0.89%) today to end 2039.05. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 32.19 points (+0.65%) to 5001.11. As it stands today, the Nasdaq still remains positive YTD, up about +5.6% -- the Dow is lower nearly -2.3% YTD -- the S&P 500 is slightly lower -1.0% since the beginning of the year. Gains in the Dow today were helped by a slight rise in February Crude Oil Futures which rose $0.35, or +1.0%, per barrel to $36.14.

Economic data today came in the form of the third estimate for Q3 GDP, which was revised slightly lower to 2.0% from the second estimate of 2.1%. Existing home sales declined 10.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.76 million. In addition, October FHFA Housing Price Index rose 0.5% to follow last month's revised reading of +0.7% (from +0.8%).

On Tuesday, Technology (XLK 42.93, +0.33 +0.77%) closed just off highs of the day. Component NetApp (NTAP) closed near the worst performers today as the company acquired SolidFire for $870 million in cash. Other sectors closed the session XLI +1.38%, XLP +1.30%, XLB +1.27%, IYZ +1.19%, XLE +1.17%, XLF +0.93%, XLU +0.85%, XLY +0.73%, XLV +0.67%.

Shares of Telecom (FCOM 26.70, +0.46 +1.75%) names were higher on today's session as component Sprint (S 3.74, +0.11 +3.03%) disclosed it began the implementation of a workforce reduction plan to reduce costs. The company expects to recognize a charge of about $150 million in the Q3. Other components in the sector closed ORBC +10.42%, IRDM +7.43%, GSAT +6.53%, SPOK +4.62%, WIFI +2.54%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (722.58, +4.85 +0.68%) edged higher ahead of the Holiday weekend. Other components in the sector closed XRX +3.88%, YHOO +3.72%, HRS +2.73%, ADBE +2.40%, TDC +2.39%, STX +2.16%, HPQ +2.01%, CA +2.01%, PYPL +2.01%, LRCX +1.83%, IBM +1.79%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Oracle (ORCL 36.59, +0.17 +0.47%) unveiled plans to construct a next-gen technology campus in Austin, Texas. The company also confirmed that it will purchase housing for employees to live affordably and conveniently nearby.

NetApp (NTAP) acquired SolidFire for $870 million in cash.

Symantec (SYMC 20.52, +0.11 +0.56%) and Carlyle (CG 15.68, -0.12 -0.76%) expect to close Carlyle's acquisition of Veritas on January 29.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 27.51, +0.26 +0.95%) updated shareholders regarding vulnerabilities in its ScreenOS software. The company said it was unable to assess financial impact of incident.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

TerraForm Power (TERP 12.39, -0.06 -0.48%): Appaloosa maintained its 9.5% active stake in amended 13D. The firm disclosed a letter demanding inspection of TERP's books and records.

SuperCom (SPCB 4.46, -0.02 -0.45%) to acquire California-based criminal justice firm, Leaders in Community Alternatives.

ORBCOMM (ORBC) announced that it has successfully launched eleven next generation OG2 satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida at 8:29 pm ET.

Benefitfocus' (BNFT 37.99, +0.80 +2.14%) CFO Milt Alpern to retire in March 2016. The company is a conducting nationwide search to fill the CFO position.

CSRA (CSRA 27.08, -0.28 -1.02%) was awarded a $247 million task order to continue its support of the ARNG GuardNet Program.

Edgewater (EDGW 7.77, +0.02 +0.26%) acquired M2 Dynamics for $16.1 million in cash. The company expects accretion to FY16 EPS.

Toshiba's (TOSBF 1.92, -0.18 -8.57%) credit rating was lowered by Moody's to Ba2. Certain ratings were placed on review for downgrade.

Leidos' (LDOS 55.92, +0.51 +0.92%) Chief Accounting Officer Kenneth Sharp resigned effective January 8.

ShoreTel (SHOR 9.44, +0.01 +0.11%) will acquire UC cloud provider Corvisa. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Level 3 (LVLT 52.69, +0.79 +1.52%) among companies awarded at $4.3 billion Department of Defense contract. Artel, AT&T (T 34.40, +0.31 +0.91%), BT Federal, Qwest Government Services, GTT Americas, CapRock Government Solutions, Level 3 Communications (LVLT), and Verizon (VZ 46.34, +0.44 +0.96%) Business Network Services were competitively awarded a combined ceiling $4.3 billion multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts for telecommunications network solutions and services.Sprint (S) disclosed it began the implementation of a workforce reduction plan to reduce costs. The company expects to recognize a charge of about $150 million in the Q3.

Electronics For Imaging (EFII 45.93, +0.16 +0.35%) hired Sheri Rhodes as its Chief Information Officer.

Rogers Corp (ROG 51.51, +1.27 +2.53%) sold its subsidiary, which makes polyimide and thermoset epoxy laminate products to an affiliate of CriticalPoint Capital. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Analyst actions:
NTAP was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts;
MCHX was initiated with a Buy at ROTH Capital,
BOX was initiated with a Mkt Outperform at JMP Securities

4:05 pm CalAmp beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (CAMP) :

Reports Q3 (Nov) earnings of $0.31 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.29; revenues rose 18.2% year/year to $74.7 mln vs the $73.97 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Adjusted EBITDA up 29% YoY to a record $12.8 million. Consolidated gross margin was 35.6% in the fiscal 2016 third quarter, compared to 35.0% in the third quarter last year.Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.28-0.32 vs. $0.31 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $73-78 mln vs. $76.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "We expect our Satellite segment revenue to be down slightly on a sequential quarter basis, with our Wireless Datacom segment revenue up sequentially in the fourth quarter and solidly higher on a year-over-year basis."

4:10 pm : The stock market registered its second consecutive advance on Tuesday with the S&P 500 climbing 0.9%. The benchmark index returned above its 100-day moving average (2,026) while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%) underperformed throughout the day.

Overall, the Tuesday affair was very quiet, which was evidenced by light trading volume as fewer than 850 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Equity indices ranged near their flat lines through the first two hours of the session, climbing to new highs during the afternoon. All ten sectors ended the day with gains, paced by the energy sector (+1.2%), which settled among the leaders.

To little surprise, the rally in the energy sector was underpinned by crude oil as the commodity advanced 1.0% to $36.14/bbl. Similarly, another commodity-linked sector-materials (+1.2%)-spent the day near the top of the leaderboard while most other cyclical groups posted slimmer gains.

For instance, the industrial sector (+1.2%) received support from transport stocks, evidenced by a 1.5% gain in the Dow Jones Transportation Average. The bellwether complex extended this week's advance to 2.2%, but the group remains down 7.1% in December versus a 2.0% decline in the S&P 500.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted technology sector (+0.7%) spent the day a bit behind the broader market due to daylong weakness in the shares of Apple (AAPL 107.23, -0.10). The largest stock by market cap continued its recent underperformance, shedding 0.1%, after Cowen lowered its AAPL price target to $130.

Staying in the tech sector, high-beta chipmakers also failed to keep pace with the market, largely due to SunEdison (SUNE 5.31, -1.43) as the stock plunged after activist investor David Tepper, who holds a stake in the company, demanded to inspect SUNE's financial records. Shares of SUNE sank 21.2% while the PHLLX Semiconductor Index added 0.2%.

Today's advance in equities was accompanied by steady selling in the bond market. The 10-yr note slumped to lows into the close, pushing its yield up to 2.24% (+5 bps).

Economic data included Q3 GDP, Existing Home Sales, and FHFA Housing Price Index:

The third estimate for third quarter GDP was revised slightly lower to 2.0% from the second estimate of 2.1%, which was in-line with the Briefing.com consensus estimate
The GDP Deflator was unchanged at 1.3%, also as expected
The slight downward revision stemmed largely from revisions to the change in private inventories, net exports, and gross private domestic investment while real final sales growth, which excludes the change in inventories, was unchanged at 2.7%
Existing home sales declined 10.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.76 million, which was well below the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 5.30 million and followed a downward revision to sales in October from 5.36 million to 5.32 million
This was the first time since January-February 2014 that existing home sales have declined in consecutive months. Furthermore, the decline in November left existing home sales down 3.8% from a year ago, which is the first year-over-year decrease since September 2014
The October FHFA Housing Price Index rose 0.5% to follow last month's revised reading of +0.7% (from +0.8%)

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while November Personal Income (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%)/Spending data (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) and November Durable Orders (Briefing.com consensus -0.7%) will be reported at 8:30 ET. The November New Home Sales report (Briefing.com consensus 505K) and the final reading of the December Michigan Sentiment Index (Briefing.com consensus 92.0) will both be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +5.6% YTD
S&P 500 -1.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.3% YTD
Russell 2000 -5.2% YTD

DJ30 +165.65 NASDAQ +32.19 SP500 +17.82 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1888/1.42 bln/1023 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2344/825.8 mln/728

3:15 pm :

The dollar index was pressed to negatives for the session in early trade, and saw no reversal to that momentum following the morning's GDP and Existing Home Sales data.
In-line Q3 GDP of 2% offered no support for the dollar going into Nov. Existing Home Sales- which were underwhelming at 4.76 mln (vs. a 5.30 mln est.)
A gradual sell-off continued in the index well through the commodity closes, with a recent bounce from the 98 level putting the current price at +% to
Crude saw a rally from near-flat in mid-morning trade, despite the re-emergence of bearish price prediction from both Goldman Sachs and the IMF.
Despite the bearish market discussion (which began to focus on weather-driven heating-demand slack), February WTI held solid gains from its sharp morning rally to close +1% to $36.14/barrel
Natural gas traded in a moderately volatile range, with price action lacking a definitive trend for the session. The January contract closed just above session support (seen near the $1.87 level) at -1% to $1.89/MMBtu
Both gold and copper failed to see support from the weakening dollar, closing near their LoDs. Silver meanwhile traded nearer to the unchanged mark.
Gold closed -0.6% to $1074.10/oz, copper finished -1.4% to $2.11/lb and silver ended $0.01 higher at $14.31/oz

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From Briefing.com: The broader market closed today with modest losses as the midday bleeding was slowly regained as the session progressed. Futures took all three US indices lower at the open, and bell-to-bell, all three indices traded in negative territory. The S&P 500 led the way down, shedding 4.49 points (-0.22%) to 2056.50. The Nasdaq Composite was also down, lower by 7.51 points (-0.15%) to 5040.98, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed the most modest losses today, down 23.90 points (-0.14%) to 17528.27. Broader market action began the session lower as the overnight session saw the Chinese November Industrial Profits dip 1.4% year-over-year (previous -4.6%). In addition, Hong Kong's November trade deficit widened to HKD 33.10 billion from HKD 29.70 billion as exports fell 3.5% month-over-month and imports also declined 8.1% (last was 8.5%).

Weakness in China led to weakness in the oil market as names likes China Petroleum & Chemical, Petrochina, and CNOOC all finished in the red overnight. February Crude Oil Futures fell $1.24 (or -3.3%) to $36.86 per barrel. In Chinese Tech names, SMI -2.12%, ATHM -2.07%, NQ -2.01%, SINA -1.93%, NTES -1.15%, SOHU -1.09% closed the session in the red.

When the bell rang, Technology (XLK 43.22, -0.03 -0.07%) was lower, albeit modestly. Broader market action dictated the candles today, and components Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.31, -0.07 -0.26%) was pressured by an unfavorable Court of Appeals ruling. Other sectors performed XLY +0.25%, XLU +0.18%, XLF -0.08%, IYZ -0.10%, XLP -0.14%, XLI -0.22%, XLV -0.47%, XLB -0.70%, XLE -1.82% today.

Shares of Social Media (SOCL 19.87, -0.07 -0.35%) names were particularly weak today as the sector performed worse than the broader market. Blue chip names GRPN -4.27%, P -2.73%, TWTR -1.92%, YELP -1.83%, YHOO -1.50% finished lower as well.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (727.93, +0.44 +0.06%) closed Monday with modest gains, outperforming the broader index. Components which closed the session higher with the sector included GOOGL +2.14% and GOOG +1.89% (which were helped by a price target increase premarket at Axiom Capital), FB +0.87%, RHT +0.73%, INTU +0.65%, MCHP +0.57%, MSFT +0.50%, CRM +0.48%, EA +0.35%, V +0.35%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Qualcomm (QCOM 49.58, +0.03 +0.06%) entered into a Chinese Patent License Agreement with QiKu Internet Network Scientific, a JV between Qihu (QIHU 72.74, -0.23 -0.32%) and Coolpad. Under the terms of the royalty bearing agreement, Qualcomm has granted QiKu a patent license to develop, manufacture and sell 3G WCDMA and CDMA2000 (including EV-DO), and 4G LTE (including "3-mode" GSM, TD-SCDMA and LTE-TDD) subscriber units for use in China.

Facebook (FB 105.93, +0.91 +0.87%) CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to criticism of the company's Free Basics project.

Intel (INTC 34.93, -0.05 -0.14%) completed the previously announced acquisition of Altera (ALTR).

Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.31, -0.07 -0.26%) received a favorable ruling in Court of Appeals case vs COMMIL USA.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Siliconware Precision (SPIL 7.94, -0.01 -0.13%) announced certain Board resolutions, and that it will evaluate Advanced Semi's (ASX 5.71, -0.07 -1.21%) acquisition proposal.

Advanced Semi (ASX) responded to SPIL's resolution. ASX plans to proceed with tender offer as previously announced.

Boingo Wireless (WIFI 6.80, -0.20 -2.86%) disclosed Nick Hulse, President of Boingo Wireless, will leave the company effective January 4, 2016.

Interdigital Comm (IDCC 49.35, +1.68 +3.52%) raised its Q4 revenues guidance. The company also signed a license agreement with Kyocera (KYO 46.49, +0.30 +0.65%).

Rovi (ROVI 17.71, +1.85 +11.66%) renewed its worldwide license agreement with Sony (SNE 24.67, -0.03 -0.12%). The multi-year agreement continues to provide Sony with a license to use Rovi's entertainment discovery patent portfolio for its consumer electronics devices worldwide.

DSP Group's (DSPG 9.62, -0.06 -0.62%) COO, David Dahan, announced his resignation effective March 27 to pursue other interests.

China Telecom (CHA 47.03, -0.83 -1.73%) confirmed that its CEO & Chairman Chang Xiaobing is being investigated by China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

ChinaCache (CCIH 8.03, -0.19 -2.31%) announced a new $5 million share buyback.

Vonage (VG 5.87, +0.01 +0.17%) amended its services agreement with Tata Communications (TTCMY).

Anadigics (ANAD 0.59, +0.03 +6.69%) received a revised takeover proposal from unnamed party.

Analyst actions:

GOOGL target raised to $1000 from $900 at Axiom Capital,
NTAP target lowered to $32 from $36 at Lake Street,
GLUU target lowered to $4 from $7 at Craig Hallum

4:10 pm : The stock market began the abbreviated trading week on a lower note with the S&P 500 surrendering 0.2%; however, Monday's participation left a lot to be desired considering fewer than 600 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Equity indices stumbled out of the gate with the energy sector (-1.8%) leading the opening slide. The growth-sensitive sector responded to a nightlong retreat in crude oil, which settled lower by 3.3% at $36.86/bbl. The energy component saw additional selling pressure after China reported its sixth consecutive monthly decline in industrial profits (-1.4% in November).

The disappointing data from China cast a pall on the overall risk sentiment and a 2.6% decline in the Shanghai Composite certainly did not help matters. Interestingly, the index held its ground through the first half of the session, but plunged in afternoon trade.

The situation was a bit different in the U.S. as stocks stumbled out of the gate, spending the afternoon in a slow rally off late-morning lows. Two sectors-consumer discretionary (+0.3%) and utilities (+0.2%)-eked out slim gains while the remaining eight groups registered losses. Slow was the operative word as light trading volume made for a quiet trading day and thin trading conditions are expected to persist throughout the week.

The energy sector (-1.8%) spent the day behind its peers, which kept the market on the defensive despite flashes of relative strength in a few other areas. For instance, the consumer discretionary sector (+0.3%) settled just above its flat line with Amazon (AMZN 675.25, +12.46) and Disney (DIS 107.25, +1.39) underpinning the modest advance. Amazon rallied in reaction to upbeat holiday shopping data while Dow component Disney benefited from a strong weekend at the box office for the latest installment of the Star Wars series.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted technology sector (-0.1%) also finished ahead of the broader market, but Apple (AAPL 106.82, -1.21) surrendered 1.1%, returning into the neighborhood of its December low. High-beta chipmakers also struggled with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling 0.4%.

Unlike stocks, Treasuries climbed in the morning and maintained slim gains into the close with the 10-yr yield falling one basis point to 2.23%.

Investors did not receive any economic data today, but tomorrow, the October Case-Shiller 20-city Index (Briefing.com consensus 5.4%) and December Consumer Confidence (Briefing.com consensus 93.5) will be reported at 9:00 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite +6.4% YTD
S&P 500 -0.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.7% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.7% YTD

DJ30 -23.90 NASDAQ -7.51 SP500 -4.49 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1018/1.21 bln/1873 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1183/597.8 mln/1916

3:45 pm :

Natural gas futures surged higher today following cooler weather forecasts
Front-month Jan nat gas closed out of today's session +8.4% at $2.23/MMBtu. Nat gas extended gains a little after hours and are now up 10%.
WTI crude oil felt some pain today as supply issues continue to be a dominant catalysts. Feb crude oil finished the day -3.3% to $36.86/barrel
Feb gold lost -0.7% today, closing at $1068.20/oz, while Mar silver ended -3.3% at $13.90/oz.
Mar copper lost 2% to $2.08/lb.

9:00 am Interdigital Comm raises Q4 rev guidance; signs license agreement with Kyocera (IDCC) :

Co raises Q4 rev guidance to $107-111 mln from $89-91 mln vs. $88.6 mln two est avg. The company expects the revenue to be comprised of recurring revenue of between $92 million and $94 million and past sales of between $15 million and $17 million. The updated total range includes, among other things, the expected impact of a new patent license agreement signed during the quarter and the collection of outstanding payments from a prior technology solutions customer.
Co also entered into a new worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty bearing patent license agreement with Kyocera (KYO). The agreement covers Kyocera's sale of certain cellular terminal unit products. See 8:01 comment.

7:36 am Siliconware Precision: ASX responds to SPIL resolution; ASX plans to proceed with tender offer as previously announced (SPIL) : Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASX) notes that in order to protect the rights and interests of SPIL shareholders, ASX will lawfully commence the Tender Offer on December 29, 2015 as previously announced. Notwithstanding the above, ASX sincerely hopes that the parties can commence negotiations on the Proposal as soon as possible, and complete such negotiations before the expiration of the Tender Offer. Price: NT$55 per common share (or NT$275 per American depositary share).

As mentioned at 5:20, SPIL announced earlier that if ASX immediately ceases its second hostile tender offer to demonstrate good will, the Company is willing to proceed with evaluation and negotiation of ASX's proposal to use a share swap, with cash as consideration, to acquire 100% of the shares of the Company.

5:20 am Siliconware Precision announces Board resolutions, will evaluate Advanced Semi's (ASX) acquisition proposal (SPIL) :

The co held a board meeting to discuss the letter from Advance Semiconductor Engineering (ASX), dated December 14, and has resolved to clarify and respond to the ASE Letter as follows: If ASE immediately ceases its second hostile tender offer to demonstrate good will, the Company is willing to proceed with evaluation and negotiation of ASE's proposal to use a share swap, with cash as consideration, to acquire 100% of the shares of the Company

Since the ASE Acquisition Proposal will materially impact the Company's future operations, the Company's board will need to take into consideration the best interests of employees, shareholders, and customers, as well as the future development of the Company and other facets when evaluating the proposal in its entirety.Prior to further evaluation of the proposal, the co requested that ASE explain specifics of its offer, including:
Can ASE please detail a concrete proposal for subsequent safeguarding of the rights of the Company's employees.
ASE proposes to uses NT$55 per share to acquire 100% of the Company's equity interest. What is the basis for determining this price? When compared to the present price for a private placement that will not interfere with the Company's management, ASE's proposed price to acquire 100% of the Company's equity interest and management control is actually comparably low. Can ASE please further explain on this, in order to facilitate the various parties' evaluation on the reasonability of ASE's proposed price.
The combination of both leading companies in the IC packaging and testing industry has already caused customers' concerns that the combination will result in disorder of market competition and seriously impact industrial supply and the whole economic benefits.

The Company requested that ASE respond to the abovementioned concerns in written form to the Company by January 4, 2016, so that the Company may evaluate and start further negotiations.

2:04 am Anadigics receives revised takeover proposal from unnamed party (ANAD) : The co announced that it has received a revised offer from an Excluded Party to acquire the Company. The Company's Board of Directors will evaluate this revised offer, which provides that it is to expire on December 31, 2015, along with the amended Acquisition Proposal from the Competing Bidder that was determined by the Company's Board of Directors to be a "Superior Offer" as disclosed by the Company on December 23, 2015.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market closed the final day of the calendar year in a fashion we've become all too accustomed to in the past few months. The Nasdaq Composite lost 58.44 points (-1.15%) to 5007.41, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 178.84 points (-1.02%) to 17425.03, and the S&P 500 closed lower by 19.42 points (-0.94%) to 2043.94. Volume was light today, as only 734 million shares traded hands on the NYSE floor today versus the average of 906 million -- volume was also light on the Nasdaq floor today, as only 1.315 billion shares were exchanged versus the average of about 1.699 billion.

Market data today came in the form of Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (CPI) which fell to 42.9 from November's 48.7. Initial Claims were up 20,000 in the week ending December 26 to 287,000. Continuing Claims for the week ending December 19 were also up, by 3,000, to 2.198 million. This year, the three major US indices finished with only the Nasdaq positive -- up about 4.2% -- the Dow Jones was the worst performer -- down about 3.5% this year -- and the S&P finished between the other two -- lower by 2.2%.

As the final bell of the year tolled, Technology (XLK 42.83, -0.61 -1.40%) ended in a sell-off, as did the broader market. This year, the worst performer was Micron (MU 14.16, flat) down about 60%, while the best performer was Computer Sciences (CSC 32.68, -0.30 -0.91%), ending the year up nearly 97%. Other sectors closed today XLE +0.45%, XLI -0.73%, XLB -0.87%, XLV -0.89%, XLF -1.00%, XLY -1.00%, XLU -1.07%, XLP -1.12%, IYZ -1.17%, and the year with the XLY posting the best YTD gains (up about 11.0%) and the XLE posting the worst losses (down about 22%).

For the last day of trading in 2015, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (721.48, -10.46 -1.43%) closed more than 10 points down. On the year, the sector was up slightly (+1.8%), outperforming the broader S&P 500. Best performing components this year included CSC +97%, NVDA +69%, VRSN +54%, FSLR +50% and the worst performers this year were MU -60%, WDC -42%, STX -41%, TDC -38%, YHOO -34%.

Technology sub-sector performance this year:

First Trust DJ Internet ETF-- FDN +23.1%
iShares GS Software-- IGV +13.5%
SPDR Semiconductor-- XSD +11.8%
Global X Social Media ETF-- SOCL +10.5%
First Trust Cloud ETF-- SKYY +7.0%
Technology Select Sector SPDR-- XLK +7.0%
iShares Semiconductor-- SOXX -0.67%

News items among sector components:
Blucora (BCOR 9.80, -0.22 -2.20%) amended its Publisher Network Contract with Yahoo (YHOO 33.26, -0.11 -0.33%). The amendment holds that the parties terminated that certain Mutual Termination Agreement dated September 28, 2015, between InfoSpace and Yahoo. The Amendment also extends the term of that certain Yahoo! Publisher Network Contract #1-23975446 effective as of January 1, 2011 between InfoSpace and Yahoo until March 31, 2016 and sets forth the revenue share for the extended term.

Anadigics (ANAD 0.63, +0.03 +6.25%) received a competing offer of $0.58 per share that the Board has determined is superior to GaAs Labs' $0.54 per share offer.

iDreamSky Technology (DSKY 13.39, +0.12 +0.90%) agreed to 'going private' offer at $14.00 per share.

On Track Innovations (OTIV 0.45, -0.03 -6.25%) disclosed an update on Supercom (SPCB 5.22, -0.13 -2.43%) $17.5 million lawsuit. The company rejected SuperCom's allegations.

Benefitfocus (BNFT 36.39, -1.10 -2.93%) filed for a common stock offering of about 6.242 million shares by a selling stockholder.

China Digital TV (STV 1.74, -0.03 -1.69%) announced the termination of its asset restructuring with Shanghai Tongda Venture Capital.

Finjan (FNJN 1.15, -0.05 -4.17%) announced the USPTO has granted its subsidiary patent covering malicious mobile code runtime monitoring system and methods.

Amtech Systems (ASYS 6.26, +0.50 +8.68%) reported that its Tempress Systems subsidiary has received $22 million in new solar orders.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results next week:

GPN, CUDA, SNX

4:15 pm : The stock market ended its last session of the year under broad-based selling pressure, which pushed the S&P 500 (-0.9%) into negative territory for the year (-0.7%). This represented the first year-to-date loss for the benchmark index since 2008. The benchmark index outperformed the Nasdaq (-1.2%) today as the technology sector paced today's retreat. On the year though, the Nasdaq outperformed with a year-to-date return of 5.7%. Unsurprisingly, it was a quiet end to the year with fewer than 740 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

The major averages slipped at the beginning of their day as pressure in oil helped to dampen futures trading. Oil prices fell through pre-market trading, but they eventually rebounded to their overnight levels. Oil rallied during the afternoon before settling near the $37.13/bbl price level with a 1.5% gain.

In sectors, energy (+0.3%), industrials (-0.7%), materials (-0.8%), and financials (-0.9%) lead, while technology (-1.4%), utilities (-1.1%), and consumer staples (-1.1%) rounded out the leaderboard. It is interesting to note, that only two cyclical sectors posted gains in 2015. The top-weighted technology sector gained 4.3% while the consumer discretionary space (-1.0%) rallied 8.4%. On the other side, energy ended the year down 23.6% while materials surrendered 10.0%. Both sectors responded to year-long weakness in commodities, which was highlighted by a 32.2% plunge in crude oil.

Looking at the energy space, Dow component Chevron (CVX 89.96, -0.13) struggled to keep pace with the broader sector while pipeline companies outperformed. Kinder Morgan (KMI 14.92, +0.38) advanced 2.6% following the developments in oil. To be fair though, pipeline companies also benefited from the strong performance of natural gas, which spiked 6.0% to $2.34/MMbtu following a bullish inventory reading.

In the heavily-weighted technology sector, large-cap constituents Apple (AAPL 105.26, -2.06), Alphabet (GOOGL 778.01, -12.29), and Facebook (FB 104.66, -1.56) saw increased pressure as the three underperformed the broader sector with performances 1.9%, 1.6%, and 1.5% respectively. For the year Apple lost 4.6% while Alphabet soared 46.6% and Facebook surged 33.8%.

Treasuries ended their abbreviated session on their highs with the 10-yr yield slipping three basis points to 2.27%.

The stock market will be closed tomorrow in observation of New Years Day.

It was a relatively quiet day on the economic front with data being limited to Chicago PMI and Initial and Continuing Claims:

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index fell to 42.9 (Briefing.com consensus 50.1) from November's 48.7.
Initial claims increased by 20,000 in the week ending December 26 to 287,000 (Briefing.com consensus 270,000).
No special factors influenced this jump which pushed the four week average up 4,500 to 272,500.
Continuing claims for the week ending December 19th increased by 3,000 to 2.198 million (Briefing.com consensus 2.213 million)
This moved the four week average higher by 9,250 to 2.220 million.

Monday's data will be limited to the 10:00 ET release of November Construction spending report (Briefing.com consensus 0.8%) and the December ISM Index (Briefing.com consensus 49.0).

Nasdaq +5.7% YTD
S&P 500 -0.7% YTD
Dow Jones -2.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -5.9% YTD



Week in Review: 2015 Ends on Shaky Note

The stock market began the abbreviated trading week on a lower note with the S&P 500 surrendering 0.2%; however, Monday's participation left a lot to be desired considering fewer than 600 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor. Equity indices stumbled out of the gate with the energy sector (-1.8%) leading the opening slide. The growth-sensitive sector responded to a nightlong retreat in crude oil, which settled lower by 3.3% at $36.86/bbl. The energy component saw additional selling pressure after China reported its sixth consecutive monthly decline in industrial profits (-1.4% in November). The disappointing data from China cast a pall on the overall risk sentiment and a 2.6% decline in the Shanghai Composite certainly did not help matters. Interestingly, the index held its ground through the first half of the session, but plunged in afternoon trade. The situation was a bit different in the U.S. as stocks stumbled out of the gate, spending the afternoon in a slow rally off late-morning lows. Two sectors-consumer discretionary (+0.3%) and utilities (+0.2%)-eked out slim gains while the remaining eight groups registered losses.

Equities enjoyed a broad-based rally on Tuesday, which lifted the S&P 500 (+1.1%) back into positive territory for the year (+1.0%). The benchmark index was outperformed by the Nasdaq (+1.3%) for the bulk of the day, as technology would lead the advance. Once again it was a very quiet day with fewer than 573 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor. Equity indices spiked out of the gate following a jump in oil prices heading into the opening hour. This led to a large initial uptick in commodity-sensitive sectors like energy (+0.7%) and materials (+0.9%). Their rally was short-lived, however, as the struggling sectors couldn't hold the lead. On a related note, WTI crude was able to end its day near its high, climbing 2.8% to $37.86/bbl.

The major indices ended Wednesday on a negative note after the market faced substantial selling pressure into the close with all the key averages settling near their lows. Despite the retreat, the S&P 500 (-0.7%) was able to stay in positive territory for the year (+0.2%). The benchmark index outperformed the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-0.8%), which narrowed its 2015 advance to 7.0%. Equity indices slipped into the open after overnight selling pressure in oil drove the commodity below the $37.00/bbl price level. This price action came after the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude stockpiles rose by 2.9 million barrels versus a decrease of 3.6 million barrels last week. An hour after the open, the Energy Information Administration disclosed a build of 2.629 million barrels on their weekly crude inventory report versus an expected draw of 2.457 million barrels. The commodity fell 2.9% on the day, ending at $36.80/bbl. Accordingly, the commodity-sensitive energy (-1.5%) and materials (-1.0%) sectors posted the largest losses while utilities (-0.2%), consumer staples (-0.4%), healthcare (-0.5%), industrials (-0.8%), technology (-0.8%), consumer discretionary (-0.8%), and financials (-0.8%) outperformed.DJ30 -178.84 NASDAQ -58.43 SP500 -19.42 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1029/1.315 bln/1930 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1164/734.6 mln/1879

3:40 pm :

The dollar index continues to trade near today's high, now +0.4%, which is helping weigh on commodities
After rallying 26% between Dec 21-29, front-month U.S. Feb natural gas futures lost steam yesterday on new weather forecasts, sliding 7% to end the session at $2.21/MMBtu
However, trading interest reversed again today and front-month U.S. nat gas futures rallied +6% in today's session to close at $2.34/MMBtu
Metals closed mixed today with Mar silver sliding three cents to $13.81/oz and Feb gold rising $0.80 to $1060.40/oz Mar copper slipped one cent to $2.14/oz.

4:10 pm Anadigics announces that a competing bidder has made a further amended offer to acquire the co at $0.68/share, previous offer was $0.58/share (ANAD) :

The December 30, 2015 Proposed Merger Agreement offers, subject to the terms thereof, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Anadigics common stock on a fully diluted basis for $0.68 per share net in cash, pursuant to an all-cash tender offer and second-step merger.
The December 30, 2015 Proposed Merger Agreement raises certain material issues that need to be negotiated and resolved with the Excluded Party and there can be no assurance that those issues will be resolved to the satisfaction of the Company's Board of Directors.

9:00 am Amtech Systems reports that its Tempress Systems subsidiary has received $22 mln in new solar orders (ASYS) :

Co announces its solar subsidiary, Tempress Systems has received ~$22 mln in new solar orders, of which ~50% is for its PECVD systems.
The majority of the orders is from a top tier solar cell manufacturer in Asia and is expected to ship within the next 6-9 months.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market closed the session with significant losses, led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average which lost 252.15 points (-1.47%) today to close 16906.51. The S&P 500 was also lower today, ending the day down 26.45 points (-1.31%) to 1990.26. The Nasdaq Composite was also in the red when the bell rang, as the index lost 55.67 points (-1.14%) to 4835.77. Market weakness came as the overnight session again focused on Asian securities. The Shanghai Composite was the lone standout, up +2.3% when the trading was done on the heels of a devaluation of the yuan to five-year lows by the People's Bank of China. The volatility in China led to weakness across Europe and drove a decline in oil prices as WTI Crude dropped 5.5% today to $33.96/barrel.

Market data today included the ADP Employment report which stated the addition of 257,000 jobs in December. Also released was the November Trade Balance report which showed the trade deficit narrowing to $42.40 billion from a downwardly revised $44.60 billion deficit in October. Factory Orders declined 0.2% in November, and the ISM Services Index for December dipped to 55.3 from 55.9 in November.

Technology (XLK 41.65, -0.51 -1.21%) outperformed the broader market today as the sector finished lower but slightly off lows of the day. Today in an update, Netflix (NFLX 117.68, +10.02 +9.31%) issued an update, stating the service is now available in 190 countries, and that the company continues to explore options to provide services in China. Other sectors closed the XLE -3.85%, XLB -2.62%, XLI -1.54%, XLF -1.53%, XLY -0.98%, IYZ -0.85%, XLV -0.82%, XLP -0.34%, XLU -0.18% with Energy leading the decline.

Particularly weak today, Semiconductors (SOX 631.20, -18.27 -2.81%) saw pressure, as did the broader markets, as the sector finished off lows of the day but still lost more than 2%. Weakness stemmed from continued pressure on Apple (AAPL 100.70, -2.01 -1.96%) suppliers following the Nikkei article which was published yesterday suggesting the company could cut production of the most recent iteration of phones in Q1. Other semi names which displayed weakness included QRVO -6.12%, ADI -4.26%, NVDA -4.13%, MU -4.05%, AVGO -3.08%, MXIM -2.90%, SUNE -2.65%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (698.20, -9.05 -1.28%) outperformed the broader market today as the sector spent the entire session in the red, yet regained some of the day's losses in the final hour of trading. Of note, component Yahoo! (YHOO 32.16, -0.04 -0.12%) outperformed the broader market in spite of being sent a letter from shareholder Starboard regarding certain ineffective measures taken by management. Other components closed the session TDC -4.08%, HPQ -3.59%, FSLR -3.48%, WU -2.28%, WDC -2.23%, INTC -2.22%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Starboard delivered a letter to Yahoo's (YHOO) Board of Directors this morning. Among other points, Starboard highlighted what it perceives as investors' lack of confidence in management and management's lack of progress on turning around the Core Business. In statements, Starboard also revealed it and YHOO have been approached in the past regarding interest in the Core Business, but ultimately those talks have not culminated in a deal.

Hortonworks (HDP 19.86, -0.44 -2.17%) amended its commercial agreement with Yahoo (YHOO).

Apple (AAPL) announced customers spent over $1.1 billion on apps or in app purchases during the two weeks ending Jan 3.

Alliance Data (ADS 270.18, -3.87 -1.41%) announced a new stock repurchase program to acquire up to $500 million of the company's common stock during 2016.

MasterCard (MA 93.35, -1.65 -1.74%) announced a partnership with Coin to bring MasterCard payments to a wide array of fitness bands, smart watches and other wearable devices.

Lattice Semi (LSCC 6.21, +0.06 -0.98%) confirmed its flexible charging controller family, the LIF-UC family, supports the Qualcomm (QCOM 48.64, -0.50 -1.02%) Quick Charge standard.

Oracle (ORCL 35.82, +0.18 +0.51%) announced the acquisition of AddThis. Deal is reportedly valued at $200 million.

Cisco (CSCO 26.01, -0.28 -1.07%) introduced the Cisco Infinite cloud software video entertainment solutions are currently provided as a service to over 70 content and service providers worldwide. These solutions are helping them grow their businesses by delivering services faster and reducing operating costs.

Sky (SKYAY 64.84, -0.74 -1.12%) announced it is using Cisco (CSCO) video software solutions to power its next-generation home entertainment system, Sky Q. Available in 2016, Sky Q is a family of advanced products, connecting wirelessly to create a new ecosystem that makes it easier than ever for customers to access their favorite TV.
Cisco (CSCO) announced that KBRO, Taiwan's largest cable television provider, is deploying the Cisco cBR-8 Evolved Converged Cable Access Platform to deliver faster Internet connections that will help KBRO's customers.

SanDisk (SNDK 75.57, -0.52 -0.68%) expanded its SSD product line with a new high-performance, durable, water-resistant portable SSD. Co also announced availability of the new SanDisk X400 SSD, the world's thinnest one terabyte M.2 solid state drive

MPS, a mutual protection organization for doctors, dentists and professionals, has selected Accenture (ACN 102.16, -0.20 -0.20%) to help the organization improve the experience it provides members. Accenture will work with Avanade and Sapiens on this initiative.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Netflix (NFLX) issued an update stating its services are now available in more than 190 countries, and that it continues to explore options for providing its service in China.

SPS Commerce (SPSC 64.64, -2.15 -3.22%) acquired ToolBox Solutions for about $18.4 million in cash and $4.5 million in stock. The company anticipates the acquisition to negatively impact Adjusted EBITDA by about $800K and expects the acquisition to be accretive to Adjusted EBITDA starting in the first quarter of 2017.

T-Mobile US (TMUS 40.05, -0.17 -0.42%) preannounced Q4 subscriber metrics with net adds up 2.1 million or about 3.4% to 63 million customers.

Enzo Biochem (ENZ 4.66, -0.07 -1.48%) reached a $9 million patent infringement settlement with Agilent (A 40.73, +0.18 +0.44%).

Rubicon Project (RUBI 15.70, -0.37 -2.30%) entered into a direct advertising pact with Zynga (ZNGA 2.57, +0.01 +0.39%).

ExOne (XONE 10.49, -0.26 -2.42%) shipped eleven 3D printing machines to customers during Q4.

ON Semiconductor (ON 9.19, -0.49 -5.06%) extended tender offer to acquire Fairchild Semi (FCS 21.10, -0.09 -0.42%) until January 20.

Mobileye N.V. (MBLY 38.03, +1.90 +5.26%) signed Memorandum of Understanding with Volkswagen (VLKAY 28.14, -0.20 -0.71%) and announces a strategic partnership to explore and integrate REM into Volkswagen's fleet.

MBLY also announced at the CES conference a new mapping technology development called Road Experience Management.

Rofin-Sinar Technologies (RSTI 25.77, -0.13 -0.50%) issued a letter to shareholders stating the company is disappointed by SilverArrow Capital's outright rejection of Rofin's settlement offer and unreasonable take-it-or-leave-it counteroffer.

Sapiens Int'l (SPNS 10.61, +0.35 +3.41%) received a new contract valued at about $30 million over the next 2 years.

Applied DNA Sciences (APDN 3.14, -0.08 -2.48%) was awarded a contract to provide metal marking product valued at between $130,000-260,000 per annum.

Anadigics (ANAD 0.66, -0.01 -1.42%) received a competing bid with superior offer to acquire the company at $0.62 per share, surpassing GaAs Labs' amended offer at $0.58 per share.

Analyst actions:

CVG was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sidoti;
AAPL was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Rosenblatt,
IFNNY was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Bernstein

4:32 pm NetApp announces departure of CFO; reaffirms guidance (NTAP) :

Reaffirmed Q3 $0.66-0.71 vs $0.68 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; revs $1.4-1.5 bln vs $1.45 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate
Co announced that Nick Noviello has decided to pursue another opportunity. Effective immediately, Jeffrey Bergmann, vice president of corporate finance, will assume the role of interim chief financial officer. NetApp has initiated a search process to identify a permanent CFO and will consider both internal and external candidates.
Co also announced organizational changes that will flatten and streamline the structure and enable focused execution in driving efficiency and velocity in the business.

4:14 pm EXFO reports Q1 IFRS EPS of $0.03 vs $0.04 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; revs -2.7% y/y to $55.2 mln vs $57.2 mln Captial IQ Consensus Estimate (EXFO) :

Co sees Q2 revs of $52-57 mln vs $53.7 mln Capital IQ consensus; sees Q2 EPS of $0.04-0.08 vs $0.03 Capital IQ consensus. IFRS net earnings include $0.01/share in after-tax amortization of intangible assets and stock-based compensation costs.
Bookings attained $58.5 mln in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 compared to $54.2 mln in the same period last year and $54.9 mln in Q4; Adjusted EBITDA totals $5.3 mln, 9.6% of sales.

4:20 pm : The major averages ended their midweek session sharply lower with the S&P 500 (-1.3%) registering its third consecutive decline as global markets responded to fresh international concerns and continued pressure in oil. The benchmark index settled just above its worst level of the day while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-1.1%) outperformed.

The selloff in futures began during the Asian session even though the Shanghai Composite (+2.3%) was able to end its day in positive territory. This came on the heels of the People's Bank of China devaluing the yuan to its lowest level in five years against the dollar. Meanwhile, other Asian markets succumbed to continuing selling pressure after North Korea announced that it successfully carried out a hydrogen nuclear device test. The resulting force from the blast was equivalent to a 5.1 magnitude earthquake, but U.S. officials expressed doubt regarding the success of this trial. These two issues weighed heavily on European markets and helped to drive down oil prices from their overnight levels. Oil sunk further on the day following the weekly gasoline inventories that reported a build of 10.5 million barrels. WTI crude ended its pit session lower by 5.4% at $34.04/bbl.

Once the U.S. session began, the stock market gapped down, spending the late morning in a slow climb off its first-hour low; however, the rebound effort found resistance in the middle of today's trading range and stocks marked new lows in afternoon action. A slight rebound during the final hour helped the S&P 500 end the day eleven points above its low.

The late-afternoon dive to lows took place about 45 minutes after the release of the FOMC Minutes from the December meeting, which showed that it was generally agreed that liftoff conditions were met in December. Interestingly, that did not stop some members from voicing concerns about a "considerable" risk to the inflation outlook. Despite the December rate hike, the minutes struck a dovish tone, leading to renewed worries that the Fed may have embarked on a tightening path amid less-than-ideal macroeconomic conditions. Speaking of less-than-ideal macroeconomic conditions, the World Bank lowered its 2016 global growth forecast to 2.9% from 3.3%, blaming a slowdown in emerging markets for the downward adjustment.

Leading the downside energy (-3.6%), materials (-2.6%), telecom services (-1.7%), and financials (-1.6%) trailed while utilities (-0.2%), consumer staples (-0.3%), health care (-0.8%), and consumer discretionary (-1.0%) outperformed.

In the consumer discretionary space, Netflix (NFLX 117.68, +10.02) was able to climb above both its 100-day (111.30) and its 50-day (117.01) moving averages after the company announced that its services are now available in 190 countries. The company soared 9.3% today. Elsewhere in the space, Amazon (AMZN 632.65, -1.14) started the day in negative territory but quickly rose to its flat line within the first hour. The stock ended its day lower by 0.2% but outperformed the broader sector.

Switching to technology (-1.3%), sector heavyweights Apple (AAPL 100.70, -2.01) and Microsoft (MSFT 54.05, -1.00) trailed the market with respective losses of 2.0% and 1.8%. Apple confronted the $100.00 price level while near its low but was able to defend that position. Microsoft on the other hand ceded it 50-day moving average (54.45). Elsewhere, the high-beta chipmakers had a sub-par day evidenced by the PHLX Semiconductor Index sliding 2.8%.

Meanwhile in energy, Dow component Chevron (CVX 86.07, -3.54) paced the retreat in the broader sector with a 4.0% decline. Fellow Dow member Exxon Mobil (XOM 77.47, -0.65) was able to outperform the space despite the heavy loss in oil.

In Treasuries, the benchmark note ended the day near its high with the yield on the 10-yr lower by six basis points at 2.18%.

Today's participation was ahead of average as more than a billion shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included ADP Employment, Trade Balance, Factory Orders, and ISM Services:

The ADP Employment report pointed to the addition of 257,000 jobs in December while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 190,000
The November Trade Balance report produced a positive headline surprise, showing the trade deficit narrowing to $42.40 billion (Briefing.com consensus $44.70 billion) from a downwardly revised $44.60 billion deficit in October (from -$43.90 billion)
However, the narrowing deficit was a byproduct of imports, which were $3.80 billion less than October, falling more than exports, which were $1.60 billion less than October
Factory orders declined 0.2% in November, which was in-line with the Briefing.com consensus estimate
November marked the third decline in factory orders over the last four months
Excluding transportation, factory orders declined 0.3%
The ISM Services Index for December dipped to 55.3 from 55.9 in November, coming in below the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which was pegged at 56.4
December marked the 71st straight month of growth for the ISM Services Index. Conversely, the ISM Manufacturing Index was at 48.2 in December, which marked the first time since June-July 2009 that it has been below 50.0 in two consecutive months.

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the Challenger Job Cut report, which will be released at 7:30 ET, and the weekly Initial Claims report (Briefing.com consensus 270k), which will cross the wires at 8:30 ET.

Russell 2000 -3.6% YTD
Nasdaq -3.4% YTD
Dow Jones -3.0% YTD
S&P 500 -2.6% YTD

DJ30 -252.15 NASDAQ -55.67 SP500 -26.45 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 817/1.959 bln/2145 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 783/1.025 bln/2301

3:40 pm :

Commodities took a hit today on broad market weakness. The dollar index traded flat/modestly lower, which helped provide a little upside to commodities, but in late-trading action, the World Bank cut its 2016 global growth forecast to 2.9% in 2016 and 3.1% in 2017, adding another negative catalysts to the space.
WTI oil futures plunged today as the near-term trend remains bearish
Front-month Feb crude dropped 5.5% today to $33.96/barrel
In other energy, Feb nat gas slipped 2.2% to $2.27/MMBtu
Gold put in a nice rally, rising $13.60 to $1091.90/oz, while Mar silver, on the other hand, ended unchanged at $13.98/oz.
Copper slid one cent to $2.09/lb

2:07 pm BlackBerry and its units introduce new platforms at CES (BBRY) :

BBRY announces a partnership with Sharecare, a digital health and wellness engagement platform, to provide consumers with better insights into their health.
BBRY unit QNX Software Systems Limited announces a new addition to its portfolio of automotive software products, the QNX Platform for ADAS. QNX also showcased advances in ADAS, V2V, V2I, and OS technologies that will enable autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles.

1:56 pm LG Elec to collaborate on Netflix's (NFLX) global business expansion (LGEAF) :

Co announces that LG has initiated a global partnership with Netflix to facilitate the expansion of Netflix's (NFLX) global on-demand Internet streaming operations beyond the Internet TV network's already established markets (the Americas, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan).
NFLX issued an update earlier & announced it is now available in more than 190 countries -- see 12:51

12:51 pm Netflix issues update, says now available in more than 190 countries, continues to explore options for providing its service in China (NFLX) :

Following Reed Hasting's keynote speech at CES, Netflix announced that it has launched its service globally, simultaneously bringing its Internet TV network to more than 130 new countries around the world. The development makes Netflix's service now available in more than 190 countries.

In 2016, the company plans to release 31 new and returning original series, two dozen original feature films and documentaries, a wide range of stand-up comedy specials and 30 original kids series -- available at the same time to members everywhere.
Netflix will not yet be available in China, though the company continues to explore options for providing the service. It also won't be available in Crimea, North Korea and Syria due to U.S. government restrictions on American companies.
Netflix today added Arabic, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese to the 17 languages it already supports.
The company also made comments at the conference about launching in India

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market closed with all three major US indices shedding more than 2.3%. Leading losses today was the Nasdaq Composite which lost 146.34 points (-3.03%) to 4689.43. The S&P 500 followed, down 47.17 points (-2.37%) to 1943.09, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 392.41 points (-2.32%) to 16514.10. Economic data out today included Initial Claims for the week ending January 2, which decline by 10,000 to 277,000. The prior week's claims level was unrevised. Continuing claims for the week ending December 26 were 2.230 million, an increase of 25,000 from the previous level.

Volatility among US securities was again brought to a head by volatility in Asia. Overnight, futures were heavily impacted by a sharp decline in China's Shanghai Composite (-7.0%) and CSI 300 (-6.9%). The CSI 300 declined 5.0% before trading was halted for 15 minutes and would cede the rest when trading was resumed. The circuit breaker provision was tripped by this secondary decline and trading was concluded 45 minutes after the opening bell. Then, during the session, reports surfaced suggesting a possible 10-15% further devaluation of the Chinese yuan currency.

As the broader market sold off, so did Technology (XLK 40.41, -1.24 -2.98%) as the sector finished near session lows when the bell rang. Component NetApp (NTAP 23.37, -1.32 -5.35%) was particularly weak today as the company announced the departure of the CFO, and a reaffirmation of the Q3 EPS and revenues guidance. Other sectors closed the session XLF -2.81%, XLB -2.72%, XLI -2.71%, IYZ -2.52%, XLE -2.44%, XLY -2.05%, XLV -2.03%, XLP -1.20%, XLU -0.67% with Tech displaying the worst losses, and Utilities showing the most tame of losses.

In light of the volatility in Asia, shares of Chinese Tech (QQQC 21.10, -0.73 -3.32%) companies were pressured today. Those which displayed weakness today included WB -9.98%, BIDU -6.06%, NQ -5.90%, SMI -5.88%, SINA -5.34%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (676.27, -21.93 -3.14%) shed another 20 points today, bringing the YTD losses to more than 45 points (or -6.3%). Component Paychex (PAYX 48.43, -2.35 -4.63%) was notably weaker today as shares were downgraded premarket to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill. Components which also closed down with the broader sector included YHOO -6.22%, ADSK -5.98%, NTAP -5.35%, QCOM -5.14%, MCHP -5.05%, FB -4.90%, FSLR -4.75%, HPQ -4.61%, AKAM -4.54%, AAPL -4.22%, CTXS -4.14%, NVDA -3.96%, XLNX -3.94%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
MobileIron (MOBL 3.83, +0.04 +1.06%) raised its Q4 revenue guidance to $42-$43 million vs. prior guidance of $41-$42 million and named Barry Mainz as CEO.

NetApp (NTAP) announced the departure of the company's CFO. NTAP also reaffirmed Q3 EPS guidance of $0.66-0.71 and revenues in the range of $1.4-1.5 billion.

Facebook (FB 97.92, -5.05 -4.90%) reported 800 million people are using Messenger each month.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Apple (AAPL 96.45, -4.25 -4.22%) acquired artificial intelligence startup Emotient.

Whirlpool (WHR 137.65, -3.51 -2.49%) entered a collaboration with IBM (IBM 132.86, -2.36 -1.75%) to connect Whirlpool connected home appliances with IBM Watson services.

Under Armour (UA 78.00, -1.93 -2.41%) announced a strategic partnership with IBM (IBM) to create and provide data-backed health and fitness insights using Watson's cognitive computing technology.

Accenture (ACN 99.16, -3.00 -2.94%) agreed to acquire Formicary, a provider of consulting and systems integration services for trading platforms in the UK and North America. The acquisition will further strengthen Accenture's capabilities in helping banks, asset managers, hedge funds and clearing organizations transform their trading technology platforms, enabling them to quickly and cost-efficiently adapt to market and regulatory change. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

ACN was awarded a 5-year, $17.9 mln support services contract to create an improved user experience for SEC.gov by the SEC.

Wirecard Singapore Pte, a Wirecard Group company, supports ComfortDelGro Taxis in offering digital payments via MasterPass, a payment service by MasterCard (MA 91.64, -1.71 -1.83%). ComfortDelGro is a Singapore-based multinational land transport company which operates 46,500 vehicles in seven countries and manages the largest taxi fleet in Singapore.
According to a BusinessInsider report, Yahoo! (YHOO 30.16, -2.00 -6.22%) is planning to cut at least 10% of its workforce.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Avnet (AVT 39.51, -1.00 -2.47%) acquired ExitCertified. The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings.

Ctrip.com (CTRP 45.25, -2.64 -5.51%) announced it will invest $180 million in MakeMyTrip (MMYT 20.29, +3.87 +23.57%) via convertible bonds. In addition, MMYT has granted CTRP permission to acquire MMYT shares in the open market, so that combined with shares convertible under the convertible bonds, CTRP may beneficially own up to 26.6% of MMYT's outstanding shares.

Inventergy (INVT 2.10, +0.86 +69.35%) amended its patent purchase agreement. The company reduced liabilities as a result of the amendment by $17.3 million.

NCR Corp (NCR 21.84, -1.22 -5.29%) sold its Interactive Printer Solutions division to Atlas Holdings. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SunEdison (SUNE 3.33, -2.18 -39.56%) priced $725 million of second lien secured term loans and entry into exchange transactions, resulting in a $738 million reduction of debt.

Siliconware Precision (SPIL 7.66, -0.02 -0.26%) announced conclusions and recommendations from its Review Committee over Advanced Semi's (ASX 5.22, -0.16 -2.97%) tender offer. The company concluded the offer by ASX was not reasonable and that the transaction price should be NT$56.33 to NT$68.60 per share versus the standing offer of NT$55 per common share.

SuperCom (SPCB 4.96, -0.12 -2.36%) added one million shares to its repurchase program.

RigNet (RNET17.81, -1.85 -9.41%) named CFO Marty Jimmerson as interim CEO, replacing Mark Slaughter.

2U (TWOU 25.23, -1.15 -4.36%) announced the planned retirement of President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Cohen. The company appointed Jim Shelton as President of the company.

Zix Corp's (ZIXI 4.78, flat) Board approved a $15 million share repurchase program.

Verizon (VZ 45.27, -0.25 -0.55%) and Sony's (SNE 23.27, -0.36 -1.52%) Sony Music agreed to original video content partnership.

Cabot Micro (CCMP 43.18, +0.63 +1.48%) initiated a quarterly cash dividend of $0.18 per share and increased its existing share repurchase program by $75 million to $150 million.

Analyst actions:
BAH, CACI, SAIC were upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo,
LXK was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Standpoint Research,
ADTN was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at MKM Partners,
EXFO was upgraded to Sector Perform from Sector Underperform at CIBC,
SPMYY was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Liberum;
CAJ was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan,
WBMD was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel,
PAYX was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill,
BRCM was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Bernstein,
HPQ was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo

4:25 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday affair broadly lower after a volatile start to the trading day. The sharply lower start to the day was brought on by renewed global growth concerns and worries about incoming deflationary pressures. A sharp decline in oil prices underscored these market concerns. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (-3.0%) trailed the S&P 500 (-2.4%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-2.3%).

Global equity markets were focused on action in China, where the CSI 300 Index tumbled 6.9%, ending its day a mere 45 minutes after the opening bell. The index declined 5.0% before prompting a 15 minute halt. This stay was unable to quell selling pressure and once trading was resumed, the index surrendered a further 1.9% before endings its day early, with a loss of 6.9%.

News of this decline worked to temper trading in other regional and international indices, pressuring oil throughout the night. Oil traded under the $34.00/bbl level but rallied into the U.S. open, which fostered a brief rebound in equities; however, stocks tumbled to new lows in the early afternoon after Reuters reported that the People's Bank of China is likely to continue devaluing the yuan by as much as 15.0%. WTI crude would eventually back away from its flat line, sliding lower by 2.1% to $33.27/bbl by the end of its pit session.

On the leaderboard, technology (-3.1%), financials (-2.8%), industrials (-2.8%), materials (-2.7%), and energy (-2.4%) lead the downside while utilities (-0.7%), telecom services (-1.3%), consumer staples (-1.3%), and consumer discretionary (-2.0%) outperformed.

In the industrial sector, the Dow Jones Transportation Average fell 3.0% with all of its components ending in negative territory. Airlines saw some of the steepest losses with United Continental Holdings (UAL 52.63,-2.57) and Delta Airlines (DAL 46.00, -1.93) surrendering 4.7% and 3.8%, respectively. Elsewhere in the index, FedEx (FDX 134.59, -6.18) outpaced the losses, falling 4.4%

In technology, the top-weighted sector was subject to heavy selling in big names and influential components like Apple (AAPL 96.45, -4.25), Microsoft (MSFT 52.17, -1.88), and Facebook (FB 97.92, -5.05). The three stocks ended with losses between 3.2% and 4.9%. Meanwhile, the high-beta chipmakers remained under heavy pressure evidenced by a 2.9% decline in the PHLX Semiconductor Index.

Elsewhere, the economically-sensitive financial sector had a rough outing, as exposure to Chinese currency devaluation and emerging markets holdings pushed the group to the bottom of the leaderboard. JPMorgan Chase (JPM 60.27, -2.54), Bank of America (BAC 15.50, -0.58), and Wells Fargo (WFC 50.40, -1.48) surrendered between 2.9% and 4.0%.

Moving to Treasuries, the benchmark note registered a slim gain after climbing off its intraday low. As a result, the 10-yr yield ticked down two basis points to 2.15%.

Once again, investor participation was above average as 1.1 billion shares changed hands on the floor of the NYSE.

Today's economic data included, Initial claims for the week ending January 2nd which decreased by 10,000 to 277,000. This was above the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 270,000 but within the 250,000 to 300,000 range that has persisted since July 2014. The prior week's claims level was unrevised. Continuing claims for the week ending December 26 were 2.230 million, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised level of 2.205 million (from 2.198 million).

Tomorrow, the December nonfarm payrolls report (Briefing.com consensus 200k) will be released at 8:30 ET. While November wholesale inventories (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%) and November consumer credit (Briefing.com consensus $18.50 billion) will be reported at 10:00 ET and 15:00 ET, respectively.



Nasdaq -6.4% YTD
Russell 2000 -6.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -5.2% YTD
S&P 500 -4.9% YTD

DJ30 -392.41 NASDAQ -146.34 SP500 -47.17 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 391/2.147 bln/2649 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 417/1.14 bln/2695

3:40 pm :

Select commodities took a hit today as notable weakness from China hit the markets again today
WTI was the big story today after oil fell below the low seen during the last recession... $33.20/barrel
Feb WTI crude oil fell as low as $32.10/barrel,but closed out the day -2% at $33.29/barrel
Natural gas got a real boost today from the weekly EIA storage data, which showed a larger-than-expected draw
Feb nat gas ended today's session +5% at $2.38/MMBtu
Precious metals climbed nicely higher today
Feb gold rose +16% to $1107.90/oz, while Mar silver gained $0.36 to $14.34/oz

ATML (8.04 -6.18%): Bloomberg reported that Microchip (MCHP) is reconsidering its interest in Atmel amid their continued business struggles

7:18 am Siliconware Precision announces conclusions and recommendations from its Review Committee over Advanced Semi's (ASX) tender offer (SPIL) :

ASE proposed to offer NT$55 per common share in cash to acquire the Company's common shares, with a maximum number of 770,000,000 shares and a minimum number of 155,818,056 shares is not reasonable.
Independent expert CPA Wei-Lin Chen of Dingshuo accounting firm has produced a reasonability opinion determining that the reasonable transaction price range should be NT$56.33 to NT$68.60 per share.
Additionally, CPA Samuel Lu of Diwan & Company accounting firm has produced a reasonability opinion determining that the reasonable transaction price range should be NT$58.32 to NT$63.44 per share.
ASE's tender offer price of NT$55 per share while the price offered by Company's private placement subscriber is also NT$55 per share.
Comparing the control rights and liquidity of the two cases, ASE should pay a higher price premium, and thus should reasonably offer a higher price.
Global Anti-Trust filing doubts:
Filing completeness.
Without obtaining approval, there is risk that the shares sold cannot be delivered

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market today closed mixed, as the Nasdaq Composite finished modestly lower and the Dow and S&P staved-off selling pressure to finish in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 52.12 points (+0.32%) today to close 16398.57. The S&P 500 finished modestly higher, up 1.64 points (+0.09%) to 1923.67, and the Nasdaq Composite was under pressure, ending Monday in the red down 5.64 (-0.12%) to 4637.99.

Volatility in the Chinese markets was again the talk of the overnight session as the Shanghai Index declined again, dipping 5.3% on Monday despite receiving limited data, which fell in-line with expectations. China's December CPI rose 0.5% month-over-month moving the year-over-year average growth to +1.6% as expected.

Technology (XLK 40.35, +0.26 +0.65%) was higher when the bell rang as in the final half hour of the session, the sector gained ground of the losses of the day and ultimately finished with gains. Other sectors closed the session XLP +0.94%, XLY +0.79%, XLU +0.53%, XLF +0.14%, IYZ +0.11%, XLI +0.06%, XLV -1.19%, XLB -1.70%, XLE -2.14% with Consumer Staples leading the charge and Energy leading the decline.

Notably lower this session, Chinese Tech (QQQC 20.22, -0.78 -3.71%) names saw pressure as the aforementioned broader country action took the majority of names into the red. Components which displayed pressure included ATHM -8.72%, VNET -5.70%, SOHU -5.36%, WB -4.42%, NQ -3.08%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (675.09, +4.21 +0.63%) grabbed gains as the final half hour of the day came to a close. The majority of the afternoon, the sector displayed weakness, but a broader market rally took some names into the green. Other components which closed the session lower included FLIR +2.91%, ADI +2.38%, CSCO +1.98%, INTC +1.75%, ADBE +1.74%, EA +1.71%, TXN +1.69%, AAPL +1.62%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

SAP SE (SAP 78.56, +1.66 +2.16%) and Accenture (ACN 99.23, +1.03 +1.05%) are joining forces in the core and industry development and go-to-market of SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA, the next-generation business suite from SAP built on the industry's most advanced in-memory platform.

Computer Sciences (CSC 29.57, +0.07 +0.24%) Xchanging updated on the recommended cash offer from CSC and stated that despite discussions, the Board is currently unable to express any confidence in the likelihood of a superior cash offer from Ebix (EBIX 29.91, +0.56 +1.91%).

Citrix Systems (CTXS 68.87, -0.81 -1.16%) Privately-held Accelerite announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Citrix CloudPlatform. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.CTXS also acquired Comtrade's SCOM Management Packs IP. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

NICE Systems (NICE 56.42, +0.88 +1.58%) acquired Nexidia for about $135 million. The company expects the acquisition be accretive to earnings on a non GAAP basis in 2016.

Schmitt Industries' (SMIT 2.40, -0.11 -4.38%) President and CEO resigned effective immediately. The company appointed David Hudson as its interim President and CEO.

United Online (UNTD 10.99, -0.02 -0.18%) appointed Jeff Goldstein as Interim CEO effective January 11. Howard Phanstiel has resigned as the company's Principal Executive Officer effective January 10.

Glu Mobile (GLUU 2.46, +0.05 +2.07%) announced its intention to implement a $50 million stock repurchase program.

Zayo Group Holdings (ZAYO 25.66, -0.09 -0.35%) announced a new $400 million term loan offering.

Nokia (NOK 7.42, +0.09 +1.23%) redeemed $1.85 billion senior notes issued by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 4.06, +0.06 +1.50%) as part of the company's planned capital structure optimization program.

Digital Ally (DGLY 5.64, -0.15 -2.59%) announced the sale of DVM-800 in-car digital/audio systems to a distributor to begin a pilot program with one of the largest metropolitan police forces in South America.

Varonis (VRNS 16.61, +0.31 +1.90%) appointed Eric Mann as Chief Operating Officer.

Microsemi (MSCC 30.85, +1.85 +6.38%) announced it expects Q1 revenues to be near the high end of the prior range between $325-329 million. The company also announced the completion of financing commitments for PMCS acquisition.

Connecture (CNXR 2.72, -0.80 -22.73%) filed $50 million mixed securities shelf offering.

Science Applications (SAIC 44.15, +0.27 +0.62%) received a $485 million contract to provide all services necessary to operate the NASA Enterprise Applications Competency Center in Huntsville.

Analyst actions:

AAPL was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Mizuho,
ADI was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo,
MLNX was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse,
AUO, SYNT were upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan,
IMPV was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim,
CEVA was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Ladenburg Thalmann;
WBMD was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey,
CUDA was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Imperial Capital

5:36 pm VOXX Intl beats by $0.20, misses on revs (VOXX) :

Reports Q3 (Nov) earnings of $0.32 per share, $0.20 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.12; revenues fell 13.8% year/year to $192.5 mln vs the $200.33 mln Capital IQ Consensus EBITDA for Q3 was $16.8 million as compared to EBITDA of $22.2 million reported in the Fiscal 2015 third quarter.The gross margin for the Fiscal 2016 third quarter came in at 29.0% as compared to 30.9% for the same period last year, a decline of 190 basis points.

4:36 pm Cray raises FY15 revenue guidance; reaffirms FY16 revenue guidance (CRAY) :

Co issues raised guidance for FY15 (Dec), sees FY15 (Dec) revs of $720-725 mln from $715 mln vs. $716.79 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co reaffirms guidance for FY16 (Dec), sees FY16 (Dec) revs of $825 mln vs. $817.98 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."Separately, we recently entered into an expanded credit agreement with Wells Fargo Bank for a $50 million revolving line of credit. The facility is intended to support general corporate purposes."

4:10 pm Alcoa beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; sees 2016 aluminum demand up 6%; business separation in 2H16 on track (AA) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.04 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.01; revenues fell 17.8% year/year to $5.25 bln vs the $5.28 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Organic growth in aerospace and acquisitions increased revenue 7%, which was more than offset by a 25% revenue decline from lower alumina and aluminum prices, the impact of divested, curtailed or closed facilities, and unfavorable currency. The Value-Add businesses reported strong performance, while the Upstream remained profitable despite lower alumina and aluminum prices. Every segment delivered productivity gains.Strong productivity gains were more than offset by lower alumina and aluminum prices. In 2015, the Midwest transaction price for primary aluminum fell $657 per metric ton, or 28%, and the Alumina Price Index dropped $154 per metric ton, or 43%.In 2016, Alcoa expects a global aluminum deficit of 1.2 million metric tons and a global alumina deficit of 2.8 million metric tons due to global curtailments. The Company also projects record global aluminum demand in 2016 of 60.5 million metric tons, up 6% over 2015. Global aluminum demand is expected to double between 2010 and 2020; so far this decade, global demand growth is tracking ahead of this projection.Alcoa's plan to separate into two publicly traded cos is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016.

4:09 pm Ultra Clean Holdings reaffirms Q4 revs guidance at the high end of $98-103 mln vs. $99.8 Capital IQ Consensus Est (UCTT) : Co reaffirmed its fourth quarter 2015 revenue guidance. The Company expects revenue for the fourth quarter of 2015 to be at the high end of the range of $98.0 million to $103.0 million. Based on its current outlook, the Company also expects a sequential increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2016 (Capital IQ consensus is $96 mln).

4:08 pm Silicon Graphics sees Q2 EPS and revenue above estimates (SGI) :

Co issues upside guidance for Q2 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.12-0.14 vs. $0.03 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 (Dec) revs of $150-152 mln vs. $140.11 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."We continue to make significant progress in our HPDA business and are very excited about our most recent and largest win in weather, part of the earth sciences vertical."

4:15 pm : The stock market began the week on a flat note with the S&P 500 adding 0.1% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-0.1%) trailed the benchmark index. Falling oil prices in the face of global growth concerns continued to weigh on the overall sentiment, short-circuiting a rebound attempt.

Looking overseas, China's Shanghai Composite surrendered 5.3% despite reporting economic data that was largely in-line with analyst expectations. In economic data, China's December CPI increased 0.5% month-over-month (expected 0.4%), moving its year-over-year growth to an increase of 1.6%, as expected. Additionally, December's Producer Price Index fell 5.9% year-over-year versus an expectation of a 5.8% decrease. Despite the slide in Asia, investor sentiment improved once the attention shifted to Europe. However, a morning retreat in crude oil weighed on the stock market as a whole. By the end of the energy-component's pit session, WTI crude had slipped 5.3% to end at $31.41/bbl.

On the leaderboard, commodity-sensitive energy (-2.1%) and materials (-1.6%) claimed the bottom two rungs followed by health care (-1.2%), industrials (+0.1%) and financials (+0.4%). Looking at the flipside, consumer staples (+1.0%), consumer discretionary (+0.9%), telecom services (+0.8%), and technology (+0.6%) lead the pack.

The health care space underperformed the other countercyclical sectors throughout the day as drug wholesalers faced pressure. McKesson (MCK 163.55, -18.84) fell 10.3% after the company narrowed its guidance for FY 2016, citing weaker pricing on generics in the second half of the fiscal year. Fellow drug wholesalers AmerisourceBergen (ABC 94.06, -9.90) and Cardinal Health (CAH 79.27, -4.59) also declined, falling 4.0% and 5.5%, respectively. Elsewhere in the space, biotechnology demonstrated relative weakness evidenced by a 3.5% dive in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 291.69, -10.51).

Looking at energy, Dow components Exxon Mobil (XOM 73.69, -1.00) and Chevron (80.77, -1.36) outperformed the sector but still sustained substantial losses, with respective declines of 1.3% and 1.7%. Independent oil and gas companies were hit harder by plummeting oil prices with Anadarko Petroleum (APC 37.75, -2.81) and ConocoPhillips (COP 41.12, -2.17) sporting losses of 6.9% and 5.0%.

In Treasuries, the benchmark note moved closer to its morning low as the afternoon session progressed with the yield on the 10-yr higher by six basis points at 2.17%.

Investor participation was above average with more than a billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

No economic data was released today and tomorrow's data will be limited to the November Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey, which will be released at 10:00 ET.

Russel 2000 -8.2% YTD
Nasdaq -7.4% YTD
S&P 500 -5.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -5.9% YTD

DJ30 +52.12 NASDAQ -5.64 SP500 +1.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1129/2.147 bln/1799 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1064/1.047 bln/2013

3:30 pm :

Commodities continues to feel pressured today, partially driven by strength in the dollar index
WTI crude oil broke below $31/barrel today as no bottom appears to be in sight. Front-month Feb crude finished the day -5.3% at $31.41/barrel
Feb nat gas futures felt some pain too, finished today's session -3.6% at $2.39/MMBtu
Precious metals saw very modest losses, while copper futures sunk 2%, closing at $1.97/lb
Feb gold slipped -$1.50 to $1096.00/oz, while Mar silver ended -0.2% at $13.88/oz

12:42 pm Semiconductor Hldrs ETF back below flat line (SMH) : Strong start to the session/week for the SMH with it up as much as 1.7% off the open. It has underperformed the S&P since the first hour push with it recently slipping back below the flat line (session low 48.44). Weighing on the sector are: (LSCC -8.9%, MU -6%, CRUS -2.5%, AMAT -1.5%, AVGO -1.4%.
10:25 am Nokia redeems $1.85 bln senior notes issued by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) as part of co's planned capital structure optimization program (NOK) :

Co announces $1.85 bln redemption of senior notes issued by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), comprising the $650 million 4.625% notes due July 2017, $500 million 8.875% notes due January 2020 and $700 million 6.750% notes due November 2020, will be redeemed in accordance with terms and conditions of the notes.

Concurrent with the redemption of the Notes, Nokia will provide Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. with a temporary revolving liquidity support facility until Nokia gains 100% ownership of Alcatel-Lucent.The redemption is part of Nokia's planned EUR 7 billion capital structure optimization program announced on October 29, 2015

10:11 am Intel tests Friday's high and pauses (INTC) : The stock broke and close under its 200 day sma (31.70) on Friday but has maintained a firmer tone thus far this morning. Important short term levels to breach and hold above are at Friday's high (32.22) and its 200 day ema (32.33) -- session high 32.22.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market ended Thursday with gains of better than +1.4%. The advance was led by the Nasdaq Composite which added 88.94 points (+1.97%) today to close 4615.00. The S&P 500 was higher by 31.56 points (+1.67%) when the day was done to end 1921.84. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 227.64 points (+1.41%) today, ending at 16379.05. Today's action leaves the three major indices -7.8%, -6..0% and -6.0% YTD, respectively.

Economic data came in today in the form of the Initial Claims report which showed that claims increased to 284,000 from last week's unrevised rate of 277,000. Also, Continuing Claims for the week ended January 2 were 2.263 million, a 33,000 increase form the previous week. Import prices excluding oil fell 0.4% in December after declining 0.2% in November, and Export prices excluding agriculture decreased 1.0% in December after falling 0.6% in November.

Technology (XLK 40.48, +0.75 +1.89%) also rebounded from yesterday's losses, finishing just down off daily highs. Component IBM (IBM 132.83, +1.66 +1.27%) finished with nice gains as the company announced the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Retail Payments Office selected the company to modernize its clearing house processing platform. Other sectors finished Thursday XLE +4.30%, XLV +2.68%, IYZ +1.86%, XLU +1.51%, XLB +1.35%, XLI +1.19%, XLF +0.87%, XLY +0.72%, XLP +0.47% as Energy led the rally.

Chinese Tech names (QQQC 20.41, +0.65 +3.29%) were among the best performers today as overnight, the People's Bank of China injected 160 billion yuan in reverse 7-day repos and continued to pin the yuan near its recently higher levels. While this intervention did little to stop a selloff in broader regional markets, the Shanghai Composite was able to advance 2.0%. QQQC components which finished the day higher included SOHU +5.67%, SINA +4.42%, BIDU +3.73%, VNET +2.94%, NQ +2.86%, YY +1.86%.

Semis (SOX 601.57, +12.08 +2.05%) were also among the best performers today as trading in the sector only briefly dipped below flat lines early in the session, then rallied the rest of the day on broader market strength. Component Taiwan Semi (TSM 21.82, +1.34 +6.54%) traded strong today as the company reported better than expected Q4 results. Other SOX names which grabbed nice gains today included SNDK +4.22%, LRCX +4.15%, SWKS +3.83%, AMAT +3.77%, ASML +3.61%, QCOM +3.54%, KLAC +2.90%, INTC +2.62%, TER +2.43%, ON +2.41%.

Shares of CTSH +4.21%, STX +3.35%, WU +3.25%, FB +3.07%, YHOO +2.99%, MSFT +2.85% led the advance in the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (677.84, +13.42 +2.02%) today as broader market strength today took the sector higher.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Best Buy (BBY 26.43, -2.83 -9.67%) reported Domestic revenue during the Holiday period of $10.1 billion decreased 0.8% versus last year, driven mostly by a comparable sales decline of 1.4%. The company also expects non-GAAP operating income rate decline of about 15 to 30 basis points versus their previous expectation of a rate decline of 25 to 45 basis points. As a result, the company expects a negative $0.01 to negative $0.03 year-over-year non-GAAP diluted EPS impact in Q4 FY16.

Dialog Semi's (DLGNF 32.00, flat) Board has determined not to revise its proposal to acquire

Atmel (ATML 7.93, -0.03 -0.38%). Dialog will inform Atmel that it will waive the remainder of the four business day notice period to which Dialog is entitled under its merger agreement with Atmel.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Seagate (STX 32.11, +1.04 +3.35%) announced the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission has selected the Seagate ClusterStor L300 for its GS1K HPC storage needs.

IBM (IBM) announced the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Retail Payments Office has selected IBM to modernize its automated clearing house processing platform.

GoPro (GPRO 12.48, -2.13 -14.58%) lowered its Q4 revenue guidance to $435 million from $500-550 million on lower than anticipated sales of its capture devices due to slower than expected sell through at retailers, particularly in the first half of the quarter. The company also lowered its non-GAAP gross margin expectations to 34.5% and 35.5% from 45.5-46.5%. Management also noted Zander Lurie has resigned from his role as Senior Vice President of GoPro Entertainment and has been appointed to serve on GoPro's board of directors.

WebMD Health (WBMD 49.12, -4.09 -7.69%) announced that in light of recent news reports, the company is reporting that it is not currently in any negotiations to be acquired.

Ericsson (ERIC 9.22, +0.12 +1.32%) extended its patent cross license agreement with Chinese-based Huawei. The company also reaffirmed expectations for full year 2015 IPR revenues of SEK 13-14 billion.

Nokia (NOK 7.38, +0.11 +1.51%) and Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 4.05, +0.07 +1.76%) announced first day of combined operations. NOK also reopened the public exchange offer for ALU shares in France and US.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Taiwan Semi (TSM) reported Q4 earnings of TWD2.81 per share on revenues which fell 8.5% year-over-year to TWD203.52 billion. The company also issued in-line guidance for Q1 of revenues of NT$198-201 billion.

Infosys (INFY 17.85, +1.39 +8.44%) reported Q3 EPS of $0.23 per share on revenues which rose 16.6% year-over-year to $2.41 billion. INFY also guided FY16 revenues of +12.8-13.2% year-over-year in constant currency versus the prior range of +11.5-13.5%.

WNS (WNS 27.44, +1.33 +5.09%) reported Q3 EPS of $0.50 per share of revenues which rose 6.2% year-over-year to $144.4 million. WNS also guided FY16 EPS in the range of $1.86-1.90, up from the prior range of $1.83-1.91. The company also narrowed FY16 revenues guidance to $528-532 million from $523-539 million.

Analyst actions:

SIMO was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Standpoint Research,
INFY was upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Credit Suisse,
RTEC was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel;
NVDA and FFIV were downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barcalys,
TEL was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Longbow,
ATML was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Strong Buy at Raymond James,
UBNT was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Bernstein,
YELP was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at B. Riley & Co

4:41 pm Analog Devices sees Q1 revenue in the range of $745-765 mln, Capital IQ consensus $829 mln; Sees EPS in the range of $0.51-0.55, Capital IQ consensus $0.69 (ADI) :
Co announced it expects revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 to be in the range of $745-765 mln (Prior $805-855 mln). The lowered revenue outlook is the result of weaker than forecasted customer demand in the company's portable consumer business unit, which began in December, and is expected to continue into the second fiscal quarter. Demand trends across ADI's core markets of industrial, automotive, and communication infrastructure are tracking within the range of prior expectations. ADI is forecasting non-GAAP gross margin of approximately 62% in the first quarter compared to its original forecast due to an inventory reserve associated with the updated revenue outlook. The company expects its non-GAAP gross margin to return to its model range in the second fiscal quarter of 2016.

4:16 pm Universal Display: USPTO has granted co patent for a new family of 'Phosphorescent Emitters' and patent for a novel 'OLED Display Architecture' (OLED) :

4:13 pm Intel beats by $0.11, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs in-line; updates FY16 guidance to include Altera (INTC) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.74 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.63; revenues rose 1.3% year/year to $14.91 bln vs the $14.8 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Client Computing Group revenue of $32.2 billion, down 8% YoY. Data Center Group revenue of $16.0 billion, up 11% YoY. Internet of Things Group revenue of $2.3 billion, up 7% YoY.Gross margin 64.3% vs. 62% guidanceCo issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $13.6-14.6 bln vs. $13.89 bln Capital IQ Consensus; gross margin 62% (+/- 2%).Co raises FY16 revs to mid to high single digits from mid single digit growth (consensus +5.6%) after completing ALtera acquisition; sees non-GAAP gross margin 63% (+/- 2%) from 62% before Altera; lowers cap-ex to $9-10 bln from $9.5-10.5 bln.

4:25 pm : The stock market ended its Thursday affair near its best level of the day thanks to daylong rallying. The last half hour saw a bit of selling pressure, but the S&P 500 settled within x points of its high. Today's rally occurred alongside a rebound in crude oil, while dovish remarks from St. Louis's Fed President James Bullard provided extra ammunition. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (+2.0%) lead the S&P 500 (+1.7%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.4%).

Before the opening bell, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 58.20, +0.86) reported above-consensus Q4 earnings of $1.32 per share while revenue rose 0.6% year-over-year to $22.89 billion. During the company's conference call, JPMorgan addressed its first loan loss reserve build in six years, which was driven by downgrades, specifically in the company's oil and gas portfolio. The company went on to state that oil companies have been surprisingly resilient and that they expect to see a normal cycle increase as the economy looks "pretty good."

Elsewhere, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard stated that the "very substantial" decline in energy pricing has implications for monetary policy, but Mr. Bullard still believes that four rate hikes this year "sounds about right." Interestingly, stocks surged immediately following the comments, all but ignoring his unchanged outlook for the fed funds rate path. For its part, crude oil also built on its gain, ending its pit session higher by 2.6% at $31.22/bbl.

The strength in crude helped the energy sector (+4.5%) end in the lead while health care (+2.7%), technology (+2.0%), telecom services (+1.8%), and materials (+1.4%) followed.

In the energy space, Dow components Chevron (CVX 85.47, +4.14) and Exxon Mobil (XOM 79.12, +3.47) took advantage of the advance in oil, leading the index, with respective gains of 5.1% and 4.6%. Elsewhere in the energy space, pipeline companies Kinder Morgan (KMI 13.98 +1.03) and Williams Companies (WMB 18.29, +4.68) showed relative strength, climbing 8.0% and 34.4%, respectively. The pair had a strong showing despite a 5.7% decline in natural gas to $2.14/MMbtu.

Switching to the consumer discretionary space (+0.7%), the sector was anchored by large-cap components Home Depot (HD 119.62, -1.78) and Lowe's (LOW 69.91, +0.01) which underperformed with performances of -1.5% and unchanged, respectively. The cyclical sector was also hurt by continued weakness in Nike (NKE 58.51, -0.27) and Netflix (NFLX 107.06, +0.50).

Despite JPMorgan's above-consensus earnings, the financial sector (+1.0%) finished its day near the bottom of the board ahead of tomorrow morning's reports from Citigroup (C 45.38, +0.19), PNC (PNC 86.87, +0.97), and Wells Fargo (WFC 50.64, +0.91).

Looking at the top-weighted technology space, the high-beta chipmakers kept pace with the broader sector, evidenced by the 2.1% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. Index component, Intel (INTC 32.74, +0.83) gained 2.6% ahead of the company's earnings release set for this evening.

Treasuries surrendered their slim overnight gains amid the rally in equities, leaving the 10-yr note unchanged with its yield at 2.09%.

True to recent form, trading volume was heavy with more than 1.2 billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included weekly Initial/Continuing Claims and December import/export prices:

The Initial Claims report showed that claims increased to 284,000 from last week's unrevised rate of 277,000 (Briefing.com consensus 275,000)
This was above the Briefing.com consensus but within the 250,000-300,000 range that has held since July 2014.
The Department of Labor said there were no special factors influencing the latest initial claims reading, which pushed the four-week moving average up by 3,000 to 278,750.
Continuing claims for the week ending January 2 were 2.263 million, an increase of 33,000 from the previous week's revised level of 2.234 million (from 2.230 million).
The four-week moving average for continuing claims increased by 5,250 to 2.224 million.
Import prices excluding oil fell 0.4% in December after declining 0.2% in November
Export prices excluding agriculture decreased 1.0% in December after falling 0.6% in November

Tomorrow, December CPI (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%), December Retail Sales (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) and January Empire Manufacturing Index (Briefing.com consensus -3.5) will be reported at 8:30 ET. The December Industrial Production report (Briefing.com consensus 77.5%) will cross the wires at 9:15 ET while November Business Inventories (Briefing.com consensus +0.0%) and the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for January (Briefing.com consensus 92.6) will both be released at 10:00 ET.

Russell 2000 -9.7% YTD
Nasdaq -7.8% YTD
Dow Jones -6.0% YTD
S&P 500 -6.0% YTD

DJ30 +227.64 NASDAQ +88.94 SP500 +31.56 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2156/2.147 bln/907 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2077/1.216 bln/1011

3:45 pm :

The dollar index traded higher today, helping weigh on commodities, such as metals
Feb gold finished out today's session -$13.70 at $1073.40/oz, while Mar silver slipped 3% to $13.77/oz
Mar copper closed two cents higher at $1.98/lb
Moving onto the energy space, natural gas futures were weak today and extended losses following the weekly EIA storage data
Feb natural gas ended the day -6% at $2.14/MMBtu. WTI oil rose some today, following severe weakness in recent weakness
Front-month Feb crude close floor trading +2.6% at $31.22/barrel

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market closed today with losses across the board. Today's decline was led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average which shed 249.28 points (-1.56%) when the bell rang (with lows today of -565 points) to end 15766.74. The S&P 500 was also lower, off yesterday's closed by 22.00 points (-1.17%) to 1859.33. The Nasdaq Composite lost 5.26 points (-0.12%) to 4471.69. This leaves the indices -3.7%, -3.2% and -3.1% YTD, respectively.

Market data today came in with the MBA Mortgage Index displaying a seasonally adjusted increase of 9.0% in mortgage applications. Also, total CPI declined 0.1% in December with core CPI up 0.1% (excludes food and energy). Building permits decreased to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.232 million in December.

Technology (XLK 39.07, -0.31 -0.79%) was also weak today, closing just off the highs of the day (albeit at a modest loss). The sector spent the entirety of the session in the red, save for a brief period in the last hour of the day. Tech-giant Netflix (NFLX 107.74, -0.15 -0.14%) finished the session modestly higher as the company reported quarterly results last night which beat on the bottom line. The company also guided Q1 EPS in-line with expectations and reported Q4 net adds which were better than guidance. Other sectors closed the session XLV +0.19%, XLB -0.74%, XLY -0.88%, XLP -1.25%, XLI -1.30%, XLF -1.96%, IYZ -2.15%, XLU -2.25%, XLE -2.65% as Healthcare was the lone sector that escaped with gains today.

Semis (SOX 578.94, +3.76 +0.65%) displayed strength today as the sector closed just off session highs. Components ASML, CREE and LLTC all reported quarterly results either last night or this morning. The sector displayed strength as all three surprised on the bottom line of expectations. Other components which were higher today included NXPI +3.48%, AVGO +3.13%, LRCX +3.13%, MCHP +2.76%, ON +2.48%, ADI +2.41%, BRCM +2.32%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (651.82, -4.23 -0.64%) finished the session with modest losses as the broader market close was mirrored in this sector. Component IBM (IBM 121.86, -6.25 -4.88%) towed the line as earnings movers go as the company reported a mixed Q4 and guided FY16 and Q1 EPS worse than anticipated. Other components which closed the session MU -6.94%, CSCO -3.98%, FFIV -3.72%, SNDK -3.36%, YHOO -3.23%, PYPL -3.11%, ACN -2.29%, HPQ -2.15%, STX -2.04%, ADS -1.98%, PAYX -1.79%, ORCL -1.77%, XRX -1.68%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Atmel (ATML 7.97, +0.01 +0.13%) agreed to be acquired by Microchip (MCHP 42.85, +1.15 +2.76%) for $8.15 per share in cash & stock, or about $3.56 billion.

Symantec (SYMC 18.82, -0.21 -1.10%) amended terms of Veritas purchase agreement with Carlyle Group (CG 12.11, -0.89 -6.85%). The purchase price will be $7.4 billion.

Accenture (ACN 99.06, -2.32 -2.29%) is expanding its collaboration with SAP Ariba (SAP 77.47, -0.87 -1.11%) to deliver next-generation Procurement business process outsourcing (BPO) services.

Apple (AAPL 96.83, +0.17 +0.17%) announced new apps to the company's musical app offerings; Music Memos and an update to Garage Band.

Yahoo, Inc. (YHOO 28.78, -0.96 -3.23%) announced the availability of programmatic native advertising on the BrightRoll Exchange.

HP Inc. (HPQ 9.55, -0.21 -2.15%) announced the HP Chromebook 11 G4 Education Edition (EE) -- a durable, lightweight Chromebook designed for students and educators.

Electronic Arts (EA 66.85, -0.52 -0.77%) announced Mike Tyson will make his mixed martial arts debut as an unlockable fighter when the game comes out starting March 15, 2016.

Western Union (WU 16.50, +0.06 +0.33%) announced its account payout network has reached a new milestone, now connecting consumers to over one billion bank accounts.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Verizon's (VZ 44.45, -0.42 -0.94%) AOL announced a strategic partnership with Taboola, plans to take equity stake.VZ also signed a multi-year contract with JCDecaux to deploy its 4G LTE small cells integrated in JCDecaux's USA street furniture assets.SunEdison (SUNE 2.35, -0.12 -5.06%) confirmed verified stockholder derivative complaint brought by Appaloosa.

CenturyLink (CTL 22.24, -0.98 -4.22%) and WISeKey have signed collaboration agreement.

Check Point Software (CHKP 74.55, -1.37 -1.80%) partnered with Argus Cyber Security to reduce threats of hackers of connected cars.

Silicon Motion (SIMO 28.77, +0.82 +2.93%) increased quarterly dividend from $0.1475 per share to $0.15 per share

GTT Communications (GTT 14.92, +0.79 +5.59%) was chosen as one of a group of service providers that will be delivering Global Network Services to the US DISA as part of a $4.3 billion contract.

In reaction to quarterly results:

IBM (IBM) reported Q4 EPS which was better than expected at $4.84 on revenues which came in in-line with expectations at $22.06 billion. The company also guided FY16 EPS of at least $13.50 with significant currency impacts. Also, IBM sees Q1 EPS of 15% of FY16 earnings or $2.02 per share.

Netflix (NFLX) reported Q4 EPS which was better than expected at $0.10 on revenues which rose 22.8% year-over-year to $1.82 billion. NFLX also reported Domestic Sub adds of 1.56 million and international subs 4.04 million. The company also guided Q1 EPS in-line at $0.03.

Advanced Micro (AMD 1.80, -0.15 -7.69%) reported Q4 loss per share of $0.10 on revenues which fell 22.7% year-over-year to $958 million. The company also guided Q1 revenues in the range of about 17-11% QoQ to about $795-853 million.

Cree (CREE 26.31, +2.02 +8.32%) reported Q2 EPS which beat expectations at $0.30 on revenues of $435.8 million. CREE also issued guidance for the Q3 period of EPS in the range of $0.22-0.29 and revenues in the range of $400-430 million.

TE Connectivity (TEL 56.30, +0.92 +1.66%) reported Q1 EPS of $0.84 and revenues of $2.83 billion, both of which beat expectations. The company also guided Q2 EPS just below expectations at $0.84-0.92 with revenues of $2.88-3.08 billion. The company also sees FY16 EPS of $3.80-4.20 on revenues of $11.9-12.7 billion.

ASML (ASML 85.26, +4.94 +6.15%) reported Q4 EPS of 0.68 on revenues which fell 4.0% year-over-year to 1.43 billion. The company also issued downside guidance for Q1 revenues of EUR1.3 billion.

Amphenol (APH 46.51, +1.09 +2.40%) reported Q4 EPS of $0.63 on revenues of $1.43 billion, both of which beat expectations. APH also guided Q1 EPS worse than expected at $0.55-0.57 on revenues of $1.38-1.42 billion. APH sees FY16 EPS of $2.54-2.62 on revenues of $6.04-6.20 billion.

Companies scheduled to report results tonight/tomorrow morning: FFIV, LOGI, PLXS, PTC, XLNX/VZ

Analyst actions:

SANM was upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital Mkts,
BSFT was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo;
CUDA and RKUS were downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim,
SYNA was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer,
FTNT was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray

4:27 pm Xilinx reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS towards high end of estimates, revs in-line (XLNX) :

Reports Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.49 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.49; revenues fell 4.6% year/year to $566 mln vs the $554.5 mln Capital IQ Consensus; gross margin 68.5%.Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of ~$0.51-0.54 (calculated off rev, gross margin 68-69%, op-ex, tax rate and share count guidance) vs. $0.51 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q4 revs flat QoQ from $566 mln vs. $565.86 mln Capital IQ Consensus."New product sales were exceptionally strong during the quarter increasing 18% sequentially, enabling Xilinx to reach the high-end of our sales guidance. Both our 7-series and UltraScale families reached new sales records during the quarter, driven by a very broad base of end markets."

4:07 pm F5 Networks beats by $0.13, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 below consensus (FFIV) :

Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $1.73 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.13 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.60; revenues rose 5.8% year/year to $489.5 mln vs the $485.36 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.61-1.64, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.67 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $480-490 mln vs. $499.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "Over the medium to long term, we are confident the superior performance and breadth of functionality in our portfolio of hybrid solutions, including new BIG-IP appliances and VIPRION blades, as well as new security solutions and high performance versions of our software-only Virtual Editions, will spur the growth of product revenue in the second half of the fiscal year."

4:05 pm Plexus beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (PLXS) :

Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.47 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.45; revenues fell 7.2% year/year to $617 mln vs the $608.86 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.47-0.55 vs. $0.51 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $600-630 mln vs. $611.65 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 4:15 pm : The major averages ended the Wednesday affair off their lowest levels as a rebound effort gained traction during the afternoon. The reversal in equities was partly fueled by recovering oil prices, but more likely, a short-term oversold market invited participants to take on more risk. Despite the rebound effort, the major indices ended in negative territory with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-1.4%) trailing the S&P 500 (-1.1%) and the Nasdaq (-0.4%) .

Ahead of today's session, the People's Bank of China disappointed market participants by not enacting new stimulus measures in light of yesterday's GDP report. The release showed that China's economy grew 1.6% quarter-over-quarter in Q4 and 6.8% year-over-year, and elicited speculation that China would institute new stimulus provisions. Asian and European indices sold off in response to inactivity from the central bank, dragging oil prices lower with them. Oil was down more than 6.5% before recovering to a 3.7% decline at $28.35/bbl.

In front of the pack, health care (+0.2%), technology (-0.6%), materials (-0.7%), and consumer discretionary (-1.0%) outperformed while energy (-2.9%), utilities (-2.3%), financials (-2.1%), and telecom services (-1.6%) displayed the steepest declines.

Prior to the open, Goldman Sachs (GS 153.75, -3.07) reported bottom-line results that may not compare to estimates due to litigation charges on above-consensus revenue. Initially, investors focused on revenue falling 5.5% year-over-year, but soon turned their focus to the company's limited oil and gas exposure. During the company's conference call, the firm disclosed $10 billion dollars of total exposure to the energy sector with reserves in the high single digits. Goldman outperformed the broader sector with its loss being limited to 2.0%. Other large banks were likely impacted by recent disclosures of increased loan loss reserves to deal with their own exposure to the oil and gas industry. This is evidenced by Citigroup (C 40.49, -1.45) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 55.51, -1.50) declining 3.5% and 2.6% after both banks disclosed expanded loan loss reserves.

Switching to the health care space, the sector climbed to the top of the leaderboard thanks to a reversal in biotechnology. This reversal was evidenced by the 3.5% gain in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 285.49, +7.65), which was down as much as 1.1% inter day. Elsewhere in the space, large-cap components AbbVie (ABBV 57.15, +2.16) and UnitedHealth (UNH 114.79, +2.21) outperformed with respective advances of 3.9% and 2.0%.

In the consumer discretionary space, large-cap Amazon (AMZN 571.77, -2.71) rallied off of its session low, narrowing its loss to 0.5%. Elsewhere in the space, Dow component Nike (NKE 59.04, +0.72) rose 1.2% and reclaimed its 200-day moving average (57.50). Netflix (NFLX 107.74, -0.15) also staged a sharp reversal after a poor initial response to its earnings as domestic growth concerns outweighed a bottom-line beat.

In the technology space, heavy-weights Microsoft (MSFT 50.79, +0.23) and Apple (AAPL 96.82, +0.16) were able to overcome heavy selling pressure and end their days in positive territory. Fellow large-cap constituents Facebook (FB 94.35, -0.91) and Alphabet (GOOGL 718.56, -0.52) were unable to move past their flat lines, but were able to mount sharp reversals.

Today's affair generated one of the highest volume totals of the year with more than 1.4 billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Treasuries began their day sharply higher as the selloff in equities attracted safe haven flows. By the close the major indices had trimmed their deepest losses and the benchmark note pulled back from its high with the yield on the 10-yr note lower by seven basis points at 1.99%.

Economic data included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, December CPI, December Core CPI, December Housing Starts, and December Building Permits.

The MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 9.0% in mortgage applications.
Total CPI declined 0.1% in December (Briefing.com consensus 0.0%) with the indexes for both energy and food declining for the second month in a row.
Excluding food and energy, core CPI was up 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%).
This was the smallest increase in core CPI since August
Total CPI is up 0.7% year-over-year, versus 0.5% in November, and core CPI is up 2.1% year-over-year versus 2.0% in November..
Building permits decreased to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.232 million in December (Briefing.com consensus 1.289 million).
Housing starts decreased 2.5% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.149 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.197 mln) which left them up 6.4% year-over-year.
The number of units under construction increased to 981,000 in December from 965,000 in November.
Building permits dipped to 1.232 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.200 mln) from a downwardly revised 1.282 million (from 1.289 mln) in November
The dip was much smaller than expected thanks to a 1.8% pickup in permits for single-family units.

Tomorrow, weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 280k) and the January Philadelphia Fed Survey (Briefing.com consensus -4.0) will cross the wires at 8:30 ET.

Russell 2000 -12.0 YTD
Nasdaq -10.7% YTD
Dow Jones -9.5% YTD
S&P 500 -9.0 YTD

DJ30 -249.28 NASDAQ -5.26 SP500 -22.00 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1356/2.147 bln/1931 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 886/1.424 bln/2267

3:45 pm :

WTI crude oil prices recovered some off of today's LoD of $27.56/barrel, closing out its floor trading session at $28.35/barrel, down 3.7%
In other energy, Feb natural gas futures finished +1% at $2.12/MMBtu
In the metals space, precious metals showed some gains, while copper slipped some
Feb gold rose $15.30 to $1106.20/oz, while Mar silver rose 1.7% to $14.15/oz
Copper fell two cents to $1.96/lb in floor trade

8:25 am Silicon Motion increases quarterly dividend from $0.1475/share to $0.15/share (SIMO) :


4:54 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

ARM (ARMH) announced it has launched its highest performing and most power-efficient 4K-capable display processor to offer cost-effective, highly efficient and superior viewing experiences. The ARM Mali-DP650 display processor aims to drive new visual content and gaming experiences on mobile devices and act as a content passport for users as they move from a smaller mobile screen to a larger screen, such as a 4K smart television.

4:11 am ASML beats by $0.08, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus; proposes to raise dividend by 50%, plan for additional EUR 1 billion share repurchases (ASML) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of 0.68 per share, 0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of 0.60; revenues fell 4.0% year/year to 1.43 bln vs the 1.42 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of EUR1.3 bln vs. 1.41 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Dividend and new Share Buyback Program ASML proposes a dividend per ordinary share which is 50 percent higher compared with last year - to declare a dividend in respect of 2015 of EUR 1.05 per ordinary share (for a total amount of approximately EUR 450 million), compared with a dividend of EUR 0.70 per ordinary share paid in respect of 2014. ASML also announces a new share buyback program, to be executed within the 2016-2017 time frame. As part of this program, ASML intends to purchase shares up to EUR 1.5 billion, which includes an amount of approximately EUR 500 million remaining from the prior program, announced on January 21, 2015. ASML intends to cancel the shares upon repurchase. This buyback program will start on January 21, 2016.

Advancers & Decliners
NYSE AMEX NASDAQ BB
Advancing Issues 876 (28%) 397 (27%) 1,252 (46%) 63 (24%)
Declining Issues 2,231 (71%) 1,048 (71%) 1,413 (52%) 134 (52%)
Unchanged Issues 47 (1%) 26 (2%) 69 (3%) 62 (24%)
Total Issues 3,154 1,471 2,734 259
New Highs 2 52 4 2
New Lows 1,291 602 784 71
Up Volume 1,567,418,191 (77%) 515,121,647 (42%) 1,295,145,675 (41%) 362,856,193 (36%)
Down Volume 330,700,555 (16%) 705,345,647 (58%) 1,812,791,412 (58%) 162,178,907 (16%)
Unchanged Volume 139,645,544 (7%) 5,899,040 (0%) 17,875,368 (1%) 491,224,504 (48%)
Total Volume 2,037,764,2901 1,226,366,3341 3,125,812,4551 1,016,259,6041

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From Briefing.com: The broader market was higher when the day was done. The advance was led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which added 282.01 points (+1.78%) to 16167.23. The S&P 500 closed up 26.55 (+1.41%) to 1903.63. The Nasdaq Composite was higher by 49.18 points (+1.09%) to 4567.67. Broader market action was predicated by overnight action. Asian Equity Markets were weak, exacerbated by a nearly 6.4% nosedive in the Shanghai Composite. Additionally, the People's Bank of China disappointed participants when assistant governor Zhang Xiaohui held that the central bank had no plans to cut the reserve requirement ratio at this time. The central bank did offer new stimulus in the way of a 440 billion yuan injection through reverse repo operations. Oil and futures were kicked lower by the resulting volatility.

Market data today came in the form of the Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for November, which rose 5.8% following a 5.5% increase in October; also, the FHFA Housing Price Index for November rose 0.5%. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased to 98.1 in January from a downwardly revised 96.3 (from 96.5) in December.

Technology (XLK 40.30, +0.39 +0.98%) also displayed strength on the session. Component Corning (GLW 17.71, +0.95 +5.67%) reported better than expected Q4 results with EPS of $0.34 on revenues of $2.4 billion. Other sectors closed the day XLE +3.78%, IYZ +2.75%, XLI +1.89%, XLB +1.72%, XLF +1.68%, XLY +1.46%, XLP +0.90%, XLV +0.76%, XLU +0.69% with gains led by the Energy and the most modest advance registered by Utilities.

Telecoms (FCOM 26.31, +0.52 +2.02%) were again among the best performers in the market today. Component Sprint (S 2.99, +0.47 +18.65%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS loss of $0.21 per share on revenues which fell 9.7% year-over-year and missed expectations at $8.11 billion. On the docket tonight for quarterly results tonight is peer AT&T (T 35.40, +0.40 +1.14%). Other components that were in play today included FTR +5.49%, TMUS +4.06%, SBAC +3.55%, TDS +3.52%, IRDM +3.45%, CTL +3.37%, USM +2.69%, VZ +2.59%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (669.13, +5.99 +0.90%) was an outperformer today, ending just shy of the highs from the session. Component Red Hat (RHT 70.96, -0.78 -1.09%) was pressured today as BofA/Merrill downgraded to stock ahead of the market open this morning to a Neutral rating. Other components which closed the session higher included WDC +6.76%, FSLR +5.08%, STX +5.08%, SNDK +3.81%, FFIV +2.65%, ORCL +2.59%, CSCO +2.37%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Broadcom (BRCM 54.47, +0.42 +0.78%) and Avago Tech (AVGO 124.39, -0.10 -0.08%) reported preliminary election results of Broadcom shareholders. The merger is expected to close on February 1.

EMC/Dell (EMC 24.30, +0.32 +1.33%) merger review by EU regulators given a provisional deadline of February 29.

Cisco (CSCO 23.72, +0.55 +2.37%) commented on Arista's (ANET 60.01, +0.18 +0.30%) antitrust lawsuit - called the filing 'bogus.'

TE Connectivity's (TEL 57.02, +0.65 +1.15%) Tyco Electronics Group priced a $350 million offering of 3.7% senior notes due 2026.

Insight Enterprises' (NSIT 22.80, +0.58 +2.61%) US operations announced a collaboration with Red Hat (RHT) enabling Insight to serve as a distributor to service providers under the Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider program in North America.

Limelight Networks (LLNW 1.28, +0.02 +1.59%) filed a petition seeking review by the Supreme Court of the Federal Circuit's decision to reinstate the 2008 jury verdict that Limelight infringed an Akamai (AKAM 46.20, +0.50 +1.09%) patent.

Elsewhere in the technology sector:

Lockheed Martin (LMT 209.93, -1.08 -0.51%) to separate and combine IT and technical services businesses with Leidos (LDOS 48.83, -4.83 -9.00%) in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction.-

Twitter (TWTR 17.01, -0.01 -0.06%) named former American Express (AXP 55.09, +0.08 +0.15%) executive Leslie Berland as Chief Marketing Officer.

CenturyLink's (CTL 24.56, +0.80 +3.37%) Qwest Corporation agreed to sell $235 million aggregate principal amount of 7% Notes due 2056.CTL also appointed Martha Bejar to its board of directors effective January 19, 2016.CTL also announced Joseph Zimmel advised the board on January 19, 2016 that he was resigning effective immediately.Greenlight Capital disclosed an increased 7.8% active stake in SunEdison (SUNE 3.05, +0.33 +12.13%). The firm also detailed recent discussions with representatives of the Board.

iDreamSky Technology (DSKY 12.96, -0.15 -1.14%) appointed Kevin Lei as CFO. Also announced the resignation of former CFO Jun Zou for personal reasons effective Jan 31.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 26.65, +0.46 +1.76%) to acquire BTI Systems. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Sprint (S) reported a better than expected Q3 EPS loss of $0.21 per share on revenues which fell 9.7% year-over-year and missed expectations at $8.11 billion. The company also raised FY15 EBITDA guidance to $7.7-8 billion (from $6.8-7.1 billion). Also, sees FY16 EBITDA of about $9.5-10 billion.

Corning (GLW) reported better than expected Q4 results with EPS of $0.34 on revenues of $2.4 billion. Also , GLW announced it expects a mid-to-high single-digit % QoQ LCD glass volume decline in Q1.

Sanmina (SANM 19.09, +1.71 +9.84%) reported Q1 EPS in-line at $0.58 and worse than expected revenues of $1.53 billion. The company also issued better than expected guidance for the Q2 period of EPS in the range of $0.55-0.59 and revenues of $1.55-1.65 billion.

Companies reporting quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: AAPL, T, BBOX, CA, MRCY, PLCM, TSS, VMW/BAH, GIB, CVLT, EMC, ERIC, OIIM, SILC, STM, UMC

Analyst actions:

AMX upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
SANM upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup,
TU upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie;
RHT downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill,
N, PCTY and MKTO were downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill,
SSYS was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan

4:33 pm Apple beats by $0.05, revenue misses estimates, near low end of guidance; guides Q2 revs and gross margin below consensus (AAPL) :

Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $3.28 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $3.23; revenues rose 1.7% year/year to $75.87 bln vs the $76.6 bln Capital IQ Consensus and $75.5-77.5 bln guidance; gross margin 40.1% vs 39.9% ests, 39-40% guidance and 39.9% last year.iPhones 74.8 mln vs 76.2 mln ests vs 74.5 mln last year.iPads 16.1 mln vs 19.1 mln ests vs 21.4 mln last year Macs 5.3 mln vs 5.7 mln ests 5.5 mln last year.Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $50-53 bln vs. $55.38 bln Capital IQ Consensus; gross margins 39.0-39.5% vs 40.0% ests and 40.8% last year.Q2 rev would be down 12.6% YoY at the midpoint of guidance.

4:15 pm : The stock market ended an upbeat Tuesday session off its high but with solid advances in the major indices. Today's rally was sustained by a sharp rebound in crude oil and a dovish tone expected from the Federal Open Market Committee's policy statement tomorrow. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.8%) settled in the lead while the S&P 500 (+1.4%) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (+1.1%) followed.

Overnight, the Shanghai Composite surrendered 6.4%, seeing little respite from a 440 billion yuan People's Bank of China injection through reverse repurchase operations. The market appeared disappointed by comments from PBoC assistant governor Zhang Xiaohui who said the central bank has no plans to introduce reserve requirement ratio cuts at this time.

Oil was resilient to this downturn and was able to eke forward after Iraq's oil minister alluded to flexibility from non-OPEC states in collaborating regarding production cuts. WTI crude was able to tack on steady gains overnight, but the commodity's rally was in full effect during today's session. Oil was able to climb above the $32.00 price level before paring some of its gains into the close. WTI crude ended its day higher by 3.6% at $31.43/bbl. On a related note the American Petroleum Institute is set to announce its weekly crude oil, gasoline, and distillates inventory report after today's close.

Energy (+3.8%) was able to capitalize on the strong price action in crude to climb the leaderboard where it was followed by telecom services (+1.9%), financials (+1.8%), industrials (+1.8%), and materials (+1.8%). Meanwhile, utilities (0.8%) and heavily-weighted health care (+0.8%) sported the slimmest gains.

Dow components Chevron (CVX 84.12, +3.23) and Exxon Mobil (XOM 76.70, +2.72) were able to help the index outperform, as the two names showed relative strength with advances of 4.0% and 3.7%, respectively. Meanwhile, 3M (MMM 144.78, +7.21) showed relative strength in the industrial sector after reporting a Q4 earnings beat this morning. 3M was the best performing component in the Dow, climbing 5.2%.

Elsewhere, the financial sector rebounded today, as the beleaguered group had surrendered 13.0% in January, before today's session. The effort was spurred forward by relative strength from money center banks. On that note, Bank of America (BAC 13.31, +0.35), Citigroup (C 40.50, +0.95), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 57.08, +1.42) advanced between of 2.4% and 2.7%. Meanwhile, American International Group (AIG 55.91, +0.55) gained 1.0% after it reported that it will be spinning off AIG Advisors to Lightyear Capital and PSP Investments among other divestment moves.

In the top-weighted tech space (+0.9%), large-cap constituents Alphabet (GOOGL 733.79, +0.17), Facebook (FB 97.34, +0.32), and Apple (AAPL 99.99) showed relative weakness throughout the day On a related note, Apple will announce its Q1 earnings report after today's close.

Similar to technology, the health care space showed relative weakness today. Heavyweight Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 101.18, +4.78) markedly outperformed in reaction to above-consensus results, but biotechnology kept the sector behind the broader market with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 282.08, -1.12) shedding 0.4%.

Today's trading volume remained above recent averages as more than a billion shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Treasuries spent most of the session trading on their lows but were able to tick higher as stocks backed away from their highs. The yield on the benchmark note closed its day flat at 2.01%.

Today's economic data included November's Case-Schiller 20-city Index, the FHFA Housing Price Index for November, and January's Consumer Confidence report.

The Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for November rose 5.8% (Briefing.com consensus 5.8%).
This followed the previous month's increase of 5.5%.
The FHFA Housing Price Index for November rose 0.5%, from an unrevised October reading of +0.5.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased to 98.1 in January (Briefing.com consensus 96.8) from a downwardly revised 96.3 (from 96.5) in December.
The Expectations Index increased from 83.0 to 85.9 in January. The Present Situation Index was unchanged at 116.4.
According to the Conference Board, the takeaway is that consumers do not foresee the volatility in financial markets as having a negative impact on the economy.

Tomorrow's economic data includes the weekly MBA Mortgage Index set to be released at 7:00 ET while New Home Sales (Briefing.com consensus 506k) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET. The day will culminate with the FOMC policy statement for January (Briefing.com consensus 0.5%), which will be announced at 14:00 ET.

Russell 2000 -10.5% YTD
Nasdaq -8.8% YTD
Dow Jones -7.2% YTD
S&P 500 -6.9% YTD

DJ30 +282.01 NASDAQ +49.18 SP500 +26.55 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2110/1.794 bln/811 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2602/1.016 bln/504

3:35 pm :

Oil prices rallied today after comments that OPEC would reduce production if other nations did
Mar crude oil closed out of today's floor trading session +3% at $31.26/barrel, ending off the day's high of $32.41/barrel
In other energy, Mar natural gas ended +1.4% at $2.18/MMBtu
Metals founds some nice gains, helped by weakness in the dollar index
Feb gold finished the day +$16.20 to close at $1120.70/oz, while Mar silver closed +2.2% to $14.55/oz

6:51 am JinkoSolar Holding has entered into an agreement to supply up to one gigawatt of solar PV modules to sPower (JKS) :

The company states that this agreement is JinkoSolar's largest contract in the United States to date. JinkoSolar will supply over three million of its high efficiency solar PV modules to sPower for use in various projects that are to be built before the end of 2016.

6:06 am Broadcom and Avago Tech (AVGO) report preliminary election results of Broadcom shareholders; merger expected to close on February 1 (BRCM) :

6:00 am Sony to acquire Altair Semiconductor for ~$212 mln (SNE) : Altair is an Israel-based company that owns modem chip technology and related software for LTE, a 4G cellular standard for mobile devices. No material impact is anticipated on Sony's consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016 as a result of this acquisition.


Advancers & Decliners
NYSE AMEX NASDAQ BB
Advancing Issues 2,569 (82%) 1,078 (76%) 1,847 (69%) 86 (38%)
Declining Issues 507 (16%) 307 (22%) 769 (29%) 96 (42%)
Unchanged Issues 59 (2%) 26 (2%) 68 (3%) 46 (20%)
Total Issues 3,135 1,411 2,684 228
New Highs 17 3 5 2
New Lows 75 12 81 44
Up Volume 3,925,436,158 (185268%) 508,497,294 (70%) 1,493,590,381 (77%) 157,591,368 (42%)
Down Volume 363,496,291 (17156%) 208,837,899 (29%) 438,746,844 (23%) 81,736,405 (22%)
Unchanged Volume 8,153,640 (385%) 4,035,717 (1%) 11,683,596 (1%) 136,611,041 (36%)
Total Volume 2,118,7931 721,370,9101 1,944,020,8211 375,938,814

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From Briefing.com: Big earnings day so I copied everything from after the bell first... RtS 4:36 pm Texas Instruments beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (TXN) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.71 per share, ex-$0.09 in items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.69; revenues fell 2.4% year/year to $3.19 bln vs the $3.2 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
"We experienced slowing demand within a sector of the personal electronics market late in the quarter. Our combined core businesses of Analog and Embedded Processing performed well in the quarter and comprised 87 percent of fourth-quarter revenue. Gross margin of 58.5 percent, a new record, reflects 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 guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.57-0.67 vs. $0.63 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $2.85-3.09 bln vs. $3.12 bln Capital IQ Consensus. This outlook includes about a $150 million decline in revenue from a year ago within a sector of the personal electronics market. Aside from this, overall expectations for the remainder of our business are about even with the first quarter of 2015.

4:32 pm MKS Instruments beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (MKSI) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.34 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.27; revenues fell 15.3% year/year to $172 mln vs the $159.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.25-$0.38 vs. $0.37 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $165-$185 mln vs. $174.93 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:13 pm Qualcomm beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q2 below consensus (QCOM) :

Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.97 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.91; revenues fell 18.7% year/year to $5.78 bln vs the $5.71 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Preannounced EPS at high end or above $0.80-0.90 range in December.
MSM chip shipments -10% to 242 mln.
Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.90-1.00, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.02 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $4.9-5.7 bln vs. $5.67 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:11 pm SanDisk beats by $0.38, beats on revs (SNDK) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.26 per share, $0.38 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.88; revenues fell 11.1% year/year to $1.54 bln vs the $1.44 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
In light of the pending acquisition of SanDisk by Western Digital Corporation (WDC), SanDisk will not hold a conference call to discuss its financial results.

4:11 pm Facebook beats by $0.11, beats on revs (FB) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.79 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.68; revenues rose 51.7% year/year to $5.84 bln vs the $5.37 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Daily active users (DAUs)- DAUs were 1.04 billion on average for December 2015, an increase of 17% year-over-year.
Mobile DAUs- Mobile DAUs were 934 million on average for December 2015, an increase of 25% year-over-year.
Monthly active users (MAUs)- MAUs were 1.59 billion as of December 31, 2015, an increase of 14% year-over-year.
Mobile MAUs- Mobile MAUs were 1.44 billion as of December 31, 2015, an increase of 21% year-over-year.
Mobile advertising revenue- Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 80% of advertising revenue for the fourth quarter of 2015, up from 69% of advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Capital expenditures- Capital expenditures for the fourth quarter of 2015 were $692 million.

4:11 pm Intersil beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (ISIL) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.20 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.14; revenues fell 3.4% year/year to $126.6 mln vs the $127.29 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Q4 non-GAAP gross margin declined as expected to 57.8% as a result of manufacturing variances and mix. Non-GAAP operating expenses declined to $47.9 million as the company continued to closely manage spending.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.14-$0.16 vs. $0.14 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $125-$131 mln vs. $127.27 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:11 pm Mellanox Tech beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus (MLNX) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.77 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.70; revenues rose 25.4% year/year to $176.94 mln vs the $174.03 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $180-185 mln vs. $174.61 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:09 pm Lam Research beats by $0.15, reports revs in-line; guides MarQ EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (LRCX) :

Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $1.57 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.15 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.42; revenues rose 15.7% year/year to $1.43 bln vs the $1.41 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q3 (Mar), sees EPS of $0.97-1.17, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.34 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $1.225-1.375 bln vs. $1.39 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Non-GAAP operating margin came in at 20.8% vs 23.8% in Q1 (Sep).

4:05 pm Cirrus Logic beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line with pre-announcement; guides Q4 revs below consensus (CRUS) :

Reports Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.82 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.81; revenues rose 16.5% year/year to $347.9 mln vs the $346.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co pre-announced $347 mln in revs on January 7 vs $386.05 mln CIQ consensus at that time. Q3 GAAP gross margin of 47.4% and non-GAAP gross margin of 47.5%.
Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $210-240 mln vs. $257.94 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 GAAP gross margin is expected to be between 47-49%.

Briefing Note: CRUS is an Apple (AAPL) supplier.

FROM BRIEFING.COM: The broader market was higher when the day was done. The advance was led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which added 282.01 points (+1.78%) to 16167.23. The S&P 500 closed up 26.55 (+1.41%) to 1903.63. The Nasdaq Composite was higher by 49.18 points (+1.09%) to 4567.67. Broader market action was predicated by overnight action. Asian Equity Markets were weak, exacerbated by a nearly 6.4% nosedive in the Shanghai Composite. Additionally, the People's Bank of China disappointed participants when assistant governor Zhang Xiaohui held that the central bank had no plans to cut the reserve requirement ratio at this time. The central bank did offer new stimulus in the way of a 440 billion yuan injection through reverse repo operations. Oil and futures were kicked lower by the resulting volatility.

Market data today came in the form of the Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for November, which rose 5.8% following a 5.5% increase in October; also, the FHFA Housing Price Index for November rose 0.5%. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased to 98.1 in January from a downwardly revised 96.3 (from 96.5) in December.

Technology (XLK 40.30, +0.39 +0.98%) also displayed strength on the session. Component Corning (GLW 17.71, +0.95 +5.67%) reported better than expected Q4 results with EPS of $0.34 on revenues of $2.4 billion. Other sectors closed the day XLE +3.78%, IYZ +2.75%, XLI +1.89%, XLB +1.72%, XLF +1.68%, XLY +1.46%, XLP +0.90%, XLV +0.76%, XLU +0.69% with gains led by the Energy and the most modest advance registered by Utilities.

Telecoms (FCOM 26.31, +0.52 +2.02%) were again among the best performers in the market today. Component Sprint (S 2.99, +0.47 +18.65%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS loss of $0.21 per share on revenues which fell 9.7% year-over-year and missed expectations at $8.11 billion. On the docket tonight for quarterly results tonight is peer AT&T (T 35.40, +0.40 +1.14%). Other components that were in play today included FTR +5.49%, TMUS +4.06%, SBAC +3.55%, TDS +3.52%, IRDM +3.45%, CTL +3.37%, USM +2.69%, VZ +2.59%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (669.13, +5.99 +0.90%) was an outperformer today, ending just shy of the highs from the session. Component Red Hat (RHT 70.96, -0.78 -1.09%) was pressured today as BofA/Merrill downgraded to stock ahead of the market open this morning to a Neutral rating. Other components which closed the session higher included WDC +6.76%, FSLR +5.08%, STX +5.08%, SNDK +3.81%, FFIV +2.65%, ORCL +2.59%, CSCO +2.37%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Broadcom (BRCM 54.47, +0.42 +0.78%) and Avago Tech (AVGO 124.39, -0.10 -0.08%) reported preliminary election results of Broadcom shareholders. The merger is expected to close on February 1.

EMC/Dell (EMC 24.30, +0.32 +1.33%) merger review by EU regulators given a provisional deadline of February 29.

Cisco (CSCO 23.72, +0.55 +2.37%) commented on Arista's (ANET 60.01, +0.18 +0.30%) antitrust lawsuit - called the filing 'bogus.'

TE Connectivity's (TEL 57.02, +0.65 +1.15%) Tyco Electronics Group priced a $350 million offering of 3.7% senior notes due 2026.

Insight Enterprises' (NSIT 22.80, +0.58 +2.61%) US operations announced a collaboration with Red Hat (RHT) enabling Insight to serve as a distributor to service providers under the Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider program in North America.

Limelight Networks (LLNW 1.28, +0.02 +1.59%) filed a petition seeking review by the Supreme Court of the Federal Circuit's decision to reinstate the 2008 jury verdict that Limelight infringed an Akamai (AKAM 46.20, +0.50 +1.09%) patent.

Elsewhere in the technology sector:

Lockheed Martin (LMT 209.93, -1.08 -0.51%) to separate and combine IT and technical services businesses with Leidos (LDOS 48.83, -4.83 -9.00%) in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction.-

Twitter (TWTR 17.01, -0.01 -0.06%) named former American Express (AXP 55.09, +0.08 +0.15%) executive Leslie Berland as Chief Marketing Officer.

CenturyLink's (CTL 24.56, +0.80 +3.37%) Qwest Corporation agreed to sell $235 million aggregate principal amount of 7% Notes due 2056.

CTL also appointed Martha Bejar to its board of directors effective January 19, 2016.
CTL also announced Joseph Zimmel advised the board on January 19, 2016 that he was resigning effective immediately.

Greenlight Capital disclosed an increased 7.8% active stake in SunEdison (SUNE 3.05, +0.33 +12.13%). The firm also detailed recent discussions with representatives of the Board.

iDreamSky Technology (DSKY 12.96, -0.15 -1.14%) appointed Kevin Lei as CFO. Also announced the resignation of former CFO Jun Zou for personal reasons effective Jan 31.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 26.65, +0.46 +1.76%) to acquire BTI Systems. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Sprint (S) reported a better than expected Q3 EPS loss of $0.21 per share on revenues which fell 9.7% year-over-year and missed expectations at $8.11 billion. The company also raised FY15 EBITDA guidance to $7.7-8 billion (from $6.8-7.1 billion). Also, sees FY16 EBITDA of about $9.5-10 billion.

Corning (GLW) reported better than expected Q4 results with EPS of $0.34 on revenues of $2.4 billion. Also , GLW announced it expects a mid-to-high single-digit % QoQ LCD glass volume decline in Q1.

Sanmina (SANM 19.09, +1.71 +9.84%) reported Q1 EPS in-line at $0.58 and worse than expected revenues of $1.53 billion. The company also issued better than expected guidance for the Q2 period of EPS in the range of $0.55-0.59 and revenues of $1.55-1.65 billion.

Companies reporting quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: AAPL, T, BBOX, CA, MRCY, PLCM, TSS, VMW/BAH, GIB, CVLT, EMC, ERIC, OIIM, SILC, STM, UMC

Analyst actions:
AMX upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
SANM upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup,
TU upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie;
RHT downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill,
N, PCTY and MKTO were downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill,
SSYS was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan

4:10 pm : The stock market ended its Wednesday affair under heavy selling pressure as the major indices sold off in response to the Federal Open Market Committee's policy statement for January. Today's trade saw a break with tradition as a jump in crude prices was not enough to alter the trajectory of the market. The S&P 500 (-1.1%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-1.4%) returned all of their inter-day gains, but finished ahead of the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-2.2%), which spent the day in negative territory.

A rebound in crude oil helped lift equity markets from their opening lows, but the stock market stopped following oil once the FOMC statement crossed the wires. As for oil, WTI crude managed to attract buyers despite the commodity showing larger than expected builds in both the EIA and API weekly inventories. This bullish activity in the face of poor data and increasing chatter regarding production cut agreements between OPEC and non-OPEC states may have been enough to signal a bottom to some investors, or at the very least a spot to cover short positions. WTI crude ended its pit session higher by 2.5% at $32.22/bbl.

In the early afternoon, the latest directive from the Federal Open Market Committee demonstrated less dovish undertones than market participants may have been expecting. The statement partly acknowledged that growth had slowed and that inflation is expected to remain low in the near-term. However, the Fed's belief that inflation is expected to rise to 2.0% over the medium term in the face of declines in energy and import prices creates doubt as to whether the central bank will revise its glide path. Stocks ticked up immediately after the release, but followed that move with a slide to new lows.

A key earnings miss in the influential technology sector (-2.5%) helped keep the group at the bottom of the leaderboard. Technology was joined by heavily-weighted consumer discretionary (-1.5%) and health care (-1.1%) while telecom services (+0.8%) and utilities (+0.2%) ended in the green.

In the top-weighted technology space Apple (AAPL 93.44, -6.54) underperformed after issuing Q2 guidance below expectation while reporting a miss on revenue in their Q1 earnings report. Other heavyweight constituents like Alphabet (GOOLG 717.58, -16.21) and Facebook (FB 94.45, -2.89) shed 2.2% and 3.0%, respectively, with Facebook set to report after today's close.

Elsewhere, large-cap component Amazon (AMZN 583.35, -17.90) demonstrated relative weakness in the consumer discretionary space. Meanwhile, fellow heavyweight Disney (DIS 94.32, -1.95) outpaced the losses in the sector with a decline of 2.0%. Also of note, Netflix (NFLX 91.15, -6.68) slid 6.8% as the company continues to show weakness after reporting earnings last week.

Biotechnology showed relative weakness in the health care space, evidenced by the 3.1% decline in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 273.40, -8.68). This downshift came despite a strong performance from Biogen (BIIB 273.26, +13.39), which climbed 5.2%, after the company reported an earnings beat before today's open.

Treasuries moved to their lows during today's rally but were able to climb to session highs during the pullback in equity markets. The yield on the benchmark note ended its day unchanged at 2.00%.

Today's participation was true to recent form with more than a billion shareschanging hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the New Home Sales report. Later today the FOMC policy statement for January (Briefing.com consensus 0.5%) will be announced at 14:00 ET

The MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 8.8% in mortgage application from last week's 9.0 increase.
New home sales were up 10.8% month-over-month in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000 (Briefing.com consensus of 506,000) versus 491,000 in December (revised from 490,000).
An estimated 501,000 new homes were sold in 2015, which is up 14.5% from 2014.

Tomorrow's economic data includes weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 285k) and Durable Orders for December (Briefing.com consensus -0.5%) being reported at 8:30 ET. Meanwhile, Pending Home Sales for December (Briefing.com consensus 0.8%) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Russell 2000 -11.8% YTD
Nasdaq -10.8% YTD
Dow Jones -8.5% YTD
S&P 500 -7.9% YTD

DJ30 -222.77 NASDAQ -99.51 SP500 -20.68 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 845/1.926 bln/2094 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1153/1.091 bln/1899

3:40 pm :

Post-FOMC, the dollar index slid lower, pushing gold and silver futures higher in electronic trade
Feb gold ended pit trading -$5.40 at $1115.30/oz, but rose as high as $1128/oz following the Fed
Meanwhile, Mar silver ended floor trading -0.8% at $14.43/oz, but rose near $14.60 in more recent trade
WTI crude oil has been volatile again, rallying in floor trade today. Mar crude ended the session +3% at $32.31/barrel, but pulled back below $32 in electronic trade
Mar nat gas ended the day flat at $2.18/MMBtu

8:36 am Silicom Limited beats by $0.31, beats on revs (single estimate) (SILC) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) non-GAAP earnings of $0.86 per share, $0.31 better than the single analyst estimate of $0.55; revenues rose 20.2% year/year to $27.4 mln vs the $20.38 mln single analyst estimate.
"Our rising sales demonstrate our continued success in our traditional networking appliance markets as well as in our 'hot' new target markets, including those driven by the Cloud Computing, SDN, NFV, IoT, Virtualization and other trends."

8:31 am Ixia increases maximum aggregate amount available on its revolving credit facility from $75 mln to $150 mln and extends the term by an additional 2 years (XXIA) : The amended credit facility also includes additional covenant flexibility and an accordion option, which allows the company to increase the size of the revolving credit facility by up to an additional $100 million under certain circumstances, potentially extending its total line of credit borrowing capacity to $250 million.

8:03 am O2Micro misses by $0.35, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs in-line (OIIM) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.50 per share, $0.35 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.15); revenues fell 7.0% year/year to $13.3 mln vs the $13.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Lower operating expense levels reflect new cash breakeven level estimate of $16.5-$17.5 million and new profitability breakeven level estimate of $18.5-$19.5 million on a quarterly basis
Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs down 5% to up 2% sequentially (approx $12.63-13.97 mln) vs. $12.80 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

7:06 am EMC reports EPS in-line, misses on revs -- merger with Dell on track (EMC) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.65 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.65; revenues fell 0.5% year/year to $7.01 bln vs the $7.13 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
"Together, EMC and Dell will be better positioned in the market. We believe that the coming together of the companies is the best strategic option for all stakeholders. I'm pleased to report that progress on closing the transaction remains on track under the original terms and timeline."
No guidance given merger with Dell.

6:51 am SunEdison and Greenlight Capital announce two mutually agreed upon corporate governance initiatives, new independent director appointed effective immediately (SUNE) :

Under the arrangement, SunEdison's Board of Directors appointed Claire Gogel as an independent director, effective immediately. Ms. Gogel is a private investor and a former Partner at Greenlight Capital, with 20 years of experience in portfolio and hedge fund management. She will also be joining the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the Finance and Investment Committee of SunEdison's Board of Directors.
Under the same arrangement, following the closing of its pending acquisition of Vivint Solar (VSLR), SunEdison will amend its bylaws to provide that, for a period of two years, the Company will not be permitted to make equity issuances without a supermajority vote of the Board (which is not obtained if two or more directors vote against such issuances), except in limited circumstances. This bylaw amendment will not affect any of the Company's contractual commitments existing at the time it is adopted. Until the bylaw amendment is effective, the Company will consult with Greenlight Capital regarding issuances of equity securities, with certain exceptions.

4:56 am United Micro beats by $0.13, reports revs in-line (UMC) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.25 per share, $0.13 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.12; revenues fell 9.1% year/year to $33.85 bln vs the $33.71 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Quarter-over-Quarter Guidance:
Wafer Shipments: To remain flat
ASP in USD: ASP softness offset by favorable USD to NTD exchange rate
Profitability: Gross profit margin will be in high teens % range
2016 CAPEX for Foundry Segment: $2.2bn

4:39 am STMicroelectronics misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs above consensus; to restructure Set Top Business (STM) :
Reports Q4 (Dec) net of breakeven, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.01; revenues fell 8.8% year/year to $1.67 bln vs the $1.66 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of -3% sequentially to ~$1.62 bln vs. $1.61 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Review of co's Set Top Business
As a result of this, the Company announced a global workforce review, including:
A global workforce re-alignment that may affect approximately 1,400 employees worldwide, of which about 430 in France through
Annualized savings are estimated at $170 million upon completion and restructuring costs at about $170 million.

Advancers & Decliners
NYSE AMEX NASDAQ BB
Advancing Issues 1,148 (37%) 516 (37%) 745 (28%) 92 (39%)
Declining Issues 1,892 (60%) 849 (60%) 1,824 (69%) 94 (39%)
Unchanged Issues 91 (3%) 42 (3%) 82 (3%) 52 (22%)
Total Issues 3,131 1,407 2,651 238
New Highs 22 4 8 1
New Lows 50 13 90 43
Up Volume 2,143,208,074 (499%) 511,377,773 (61%) 456,539,641 (22%) 26,582,598 (4%)
Down Volume 2,533,475,576 (590%) 316,863,886 (38%) 1,613,101,724 (77%) 563,875,012 (87%)
Unchanged Volume 47,860,600 (11%) 10,342,921 (1%) 19,807,190 (1%) 58,066,511 (9%)
Total Volume 429,576,9541 838,584,5801 2,089,448,5551 648,524,1211

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From Briefing.com and Yahoo Finance:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tech-stocks-briefing-com-155520118.html?u

Stocks took it on the chin today after a mixed Januaryjobs report. While the headline Nonfarm Payrolls number missed estimates, wagesticked up and the Unemployment rate fell to 4.9%, leaving the outlook for ratehikes uncertain.

The Nasdaq 100 fell a staggering 3.5% while the S&P500 fell 1.9%. Technology stocks led the decline (XLK -2.8%) asmultiples contract across the board. The Nasdaq has been a market leader but its strongestconstituents ('FANG': FB -6%, AMZN -6%, NFLX -8%, GOOG -3%) were unable to hold onto gains despite solid reports over recent weeks.

Growth stocks are vulnerable when the momentum dries upand valuations come into question. Investors are seeking shelter as the technicaldamage in equities is palpable. The decline in another former leader, biotech stocks,was a leading indicator for the broader market's risk off sentiment.

The current environment is very unforgiving of companiesthat disappoint investors...

Tableau (DATA) is fell a whopping 49% to an all-time lowafter the company beat quarterly estimates on the top and bottom line for theeleventh straight quarter, since its May 2013 IPO. However, the beat was muchmore modest than in the past and license revenue of $133 mln (+31%) actually missedestimates. The company also guided Q1 below estimates and lowered FY16 guidance.Management cited a weakness in the domestic market and downplayed competitivefears [Microsoft (MSFT) is delving more into DATA's big data market]. DATAstill trades at 7x FY16 sales estimates. Big data peer Splunk (SPLK) fell 23% while enterprisesoftware stocks gled the decline in the tech sector: ZEN -19%, CALD -16%, QLIK-15%, WDAY -16%, CRM -13%, NOW -11%.

LinkedIn (LNKD) is down the most in its five year history(44%) after beating Q4 estimates and guiding Q1 and FY16 well below consensus,marking a notable deceleration in growth. At least seven firms downgraded thestock this morning. LNKD typically guides conservatively but the loftyvaluation was in focus today. After today's 44% decline, LNKD still trades at33x FY16 adj. EPS estimates and 7x sales.

Enterprise software company Atlassian's (TEAM) stock is gettingcrushed despite beating Q2 estimates and guiding Q3 and FY16 above consensus.The stock is at new lows after going public last December.

Lumentum (LITE +7%) is a notable outperformer aftercompany beat Q3 estimates. Needham and MKM remained positive on the stock thismorning. LITE was spun off from Viavi (VIAV -0.8%), the former JDSU, lastsummer.

Symantec (SYMC +3%) has pared much of its gains after aflurry of news. PE firm Silver Lake invested $500 mln in SYMC after it soldVeritas to The Carlyle Group. The company also raised it capital return programto $5.5 billion, including a $4/share special dividend and beat Q2 estimates

http://biz.yahoo.com/mu/update.html

Weekly Recap - Week ending 05-Feb-16The stock market endured another shaky week, which ended with a Friday pounding in the wake of an Employment Situation report for January that missed on the headline level (151K; Briefing.com consensus 188K), but better than expected hourly earnings growth (+0.5%; Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) re-invited fears about the Federal Reserve potentially hiking the fed funds rate again as early as March.

Including the Friday plunge, the S&P 500 lost 3.1% for the week while the Nasdaq underperformed, diving 5.4% for the week. The two indices ended the first week of February with respective year-to-date losses of 8.0% and 12.9%.

Nasdaq's underperformance was fueled by a woeful Friday session that featured a 43.6% collapse in the shares of LinkedIn (LNKD 108.38, -83.90) and a 49.4% dive in Tableau Software (DATA 41.33, -40.42) after both names issued cautious guidance. The broader technology sector lost 3.4% on Friday, ending the week lower by 5.4%.

The Friday plunge in equities followed two days of volatile action that ended with slight gains. Going into Friday, the slight upticks from Wednesday and Thursday appeared somewhat encouraging while dovish comments from New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley provided added, albeit fleeting, support. Mr. Dudley's remarks fostered a belief that the Fed will be cautious in its approach to future rate hikes, but Friday's Employment Situation report shook that belief.

The market will be on the lookout for policy cues next week when Fed Chair Janet Yellen takes part in the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress starting with a February 10 appearance before the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 ET. The next day, Chair Yellen will appear before the Senate Banking Committee, but the first day of testimony is likely to receive the highest degree of attention from market participants.

Treasuries ended the week just below their highs with the 10-yr yield registering its lowest weekly close (1.85%) since April 2015, which represented an eight-basis point decline for the week.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 16466.30 16204.83 -261.47 -1.6 -7.0
Nasdaq 4613.95 4363.14 -250.81 -5.4 -12.9
S&P 500 1940.24 1880.02 -60.22 -3.1 -8.0
Russell 2000 1035.38 985.95 -49.43 -4.8 -13.2

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/inplay-briefing-com-055139997.html#


4:20 pm Closing Market Summary: Indices End Week Under Pressure (:WRAPX) :

The major averages ended the final session of the week under heavy selling pressure as the health of the U.S. economy and its ability to sustain further fed funds rate hikes remained in focus following the release of the January Employment Situation Report. The report contained diverging metrics that showed weaker than expected job growth but stronger than expected wage growth. Additionally, the data showed that the unemployment rate fell to an eight-year low of 4.9%. The Nasdaq Composite (-3.3%) finished behind both the S&P 500 (-1.9%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-1.3%).

Other contributing headwinds to today's session included:

A reversal in the dollar that weighed on oil A lack of leadership from market cornerstones; and Weaker than expected earnings results Overnight sessions and futures were fairly restrained as global markets awaited the U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls report. Participants found the report disjointed with misses on headline metrics but positive growth from other benchmarks. For instance, both nonfarm payroll and private sector payroll numbers grew less than expected, but the unemployment rate dropped to 4.9%. Furthermore, hourly earnings rose 0.5% showing potential for an uptick in inflation. This disconnect between data points fueled anxiety over the health of the economy and increased speculation regarding future rate increases.

Countercyclical telecom services (+0.8%) and utilities (+0.3%) were able to end the day in positive territory while heavyweight sectors like technology (-3.4%) consumer discretionary (-3.2%) and health care (-2.0%) finished on the bottom of the leaderboard.

In the top-weighted technology space, large-cap constituents showed relative weakness with Facebook (FB 104.06, -6.42), Alphabet (GOOGL 703.76, -26.27), and Microsoft (MSFT 50.16, -1.84) declining between 3.5% and 5.8%. Elsewhere, LinkedIn (LNKD 108.38, -83.90) plunged 46.6% after below consensus guidance overshadowed a bottom line beat. The high-beta chipmakers showed relative weakness, evidenced by the 3.5% decline in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. Component Qorvo (QRVO 37.25, -1.53) underperformed in the sub-group after issuing below-consensus guidance.

Discretionary component Amazon (AMZN 502.13, -34.13) saw continued weakness, falling 6.4%. The stock has surrendered 20.5% since reporting its Q4 earnings on January 28th. Netflix (NFLX 82.79, -6.92) also extended its recent slide, diving 7.7%.

The commodity-sensitive energy space was hurt by falling oil prices as dollar strength weighed on the commodity and sector. WTI crude ended its pit session down 2.4% at $30.87/bbl. ConocoPhillips (COP 32.90, -2.42) extended its post-earnings losing streak as it declined 6.9%, registering its second consecutive loss after cutting its dividend.

Biotechnology showed relative weakness, evidenced by the 3.2% decline in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 256.24, -8.45). To be fair though, large-cap health care names Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 100.54, -3.36) and AbbVie (ABBV 53.12, -3.64) did not fare any better with respective declines of 3.2% and 6.4%.

Today's participation was above the recent average with more than 1.1 billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Treasuries fell to their lows after the release of January's Employment Situation Report but eventually inched higher even as the sell off in equities continued. The yield on the 10-yr note ended its day higher by one basis point at 1.85%.

Today's economic data included the January Nonfarm Payrolls report, December's Trade Balance, and Consumer Credit for December.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 151,000 (Briefing.com consensus 188,000)
December nonfarm payrolls revised to 262,000 from 292,000
November nonfarm payrolls revised to 280,000 from 252,000Private sector payrolls increased by 158,000 (Briefing.com consensus 183,000)December private sector payrolls revised to 251,000 from 275,000November private sector payrolls revised to 279,000 from 240,000Unemployment rate was 4.9% (Briefing.com consensus 5.0%) versus 5.0% in December

The U6 unemployment rate, which accounts for the total unemployed plus persons marginally attached to the labor force and the underemployed, was unchanged at 9.9%
Persons unemployed for 27 weeks or more accounted for 26.9% of the unemployed versus 26.3% in December

January average hourly earnings were up 0.5% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) after increasing x% in DecemberOver the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen 2.5% versus 2.5% in DecemberAggregate earnings were up 0.9%, which should be a positive portent for consumer spending
The average workweek was up 0.1 to 34.6 hours (Briefing.com consensus 34.5)

January manufacturing workweek was up 0.1 hours to 40.7 hours
Factory overtime was unchanged at 3.3 hours

The labor force participation rate was 62.7% versus 62.6% in DecemberThe December trade deficit widened to $43.4 billion from an upwardly revised deficit of $42.2 bln (from $42.4 bln) for November (Briefing.com consensus estimate of -$43.5 billion).
The widening in the deficit was owed to imports increasing by $0.6 billion from November to $224.9 billion in December and exports decreasing by $0.5 billion to $181.5 billion.
On a year-over-year basis, exports were down 6.9% while imports were down 6.5%. December marked the 12th straight month that exports have declined on a year-over-year basis. Imports have declined year-over-year for the last nine months.
For 2015, the goods and services deficit increased by $23.2 billion to $531.5 billion with exports decreasing $112.9 billion to $2,230.3 billion and imports falling $89.7 billion to $2761.8 billion. The real trade deficit averaged $60.2 billion in the fourth quarter versus $58.8 billion in the third quarter. That increase helps explain the negative contribution net exports had on fourth quarter GDP.The Consumer Credit report for December showed an increase of $21.27 billion (Briefing.com consensus$16.50 billion). November's credit growth was revised higher to $14.02 billion from $13.95 billion.Investors will not receive any economic data on Monday.

Russell 2000 -13.1% YTDNasdaq -12.9% YTD
S&P 500 -8.0% YTD
Dow Jones -7.0% YTD

Week in Review: Rate Hike Jitters Keep Market Pressured

The stock market endured another shaky week, which ended with a Friday pounding in the wake of an Employment Situation report for January that missed on the headline level (151K; Briefing.com consensus 188K), but better than expected hourly earnings growth (+0.5%; Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) re-invited fears about the Federal Reserve potentially hiking the fed funds rate again as early as March.

Including the Friday plunge, the S&P 500 lost 3.1% for the week while the Nasdaq underperformed, diving 5.4% for the week. The two indices ended the first week of February with respective year-to-date losses of 8.0% and 12.9%.

Nasdaq's underperformance was fueled by a woeful Friday session that featured a 43.6% collapse in the shares of LinkedIn (LNKD 108.38, -83.90) and a 49.4% dive in Tableau Software (DATA 41.33, -40.42) after both names issued cautious guidance. The broader technology sector lost 3.4% on Friday, ending the week lower by 5.4%.

The Friday plunge in equities followed two days of volatile action that ended with slight gains. Going into Friday, the slight upticks from Wednesday and Thursday appeared somewhat encouraging while dovish comments from New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley provided added, albeit fleeting, support. Mr. Dudley's remarks fostered a belief that the Fed will be cautious in its approach to future rate hikes, but Friday's Employment Situation report shook that belief.

The market will be on the lookout for policy cues next week when Fed Chair Janet Yellen takes part in the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress starting with a February 10 appearance before the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 ET. The next day, Chair Yellen will appear before the Senate Banking Committee, but the first day of testimony is likely to receive the highest degree of attention from market participants.

Treasuries ended the week just below their highs with the 10-yr yield registering its lowest weekly close (1.85%) since April 2015, which represented an eight-basis point decline for the week.

2:49 pm Earnings preview for the week of February 8th (:SUMRX) :
Confirmed companies reporting earnings next week include:

Monday (Feb 8)
Pre Market: L, CTSH, CNA, HAS, ON, LII, MCY, DO, BWP, WEX, VRTU, CTS, NAT
After Hours: FOXA, PAGP, PAA, MOH, OMI, OI, BKD, PRE, RBC, WCN, ALSN, BRS, BFAM, AGII, BRX, CMP, PINC, OTTR, YELP, MXL, etc..

Tuesday (Feb 9)
Pre-Market: CVS, KO, CNC, ACM, OMC, GT, WCG, CDW, IR, VIAB, AGU, TEN, FIS, MAS, ICL, WYN, REGN, GPK, MLM, SABR, SABR, SAVE, GWR, WEN, SALE, etc..
After-Hours: DIS, AIZ, CSC, NCR, WU, WLTW, ACGL, SCSC, RGC, KS, PNRA, NGHC, AKAM, TRMB, NUAN, OTEX, CTLT, VSAT, KFRC, SCTY, RKUS, SGEN, DWRE, ATEN, etc..

Wednesday (Feb 10)
Pre-Market: HUM, TWX, ARMK, DTE, HSIC, VOYA, SEE, BERY, OC, AFSI, AXTA, BGCP, CAE, FLOW, CG, EEFT, ACCO, ENSG, CRL, FSV, MRKT, GWPH, etc..
After-Hours: CSCO, PRU, WFM, CTL, MYL, PPC, ORLY, FNF, TSLA, EXPE, NSIT, ANDE, CNO, FMC, BGC, FLO, PXD, SCI, IFF, GPRE, TWTR, IRBT, ZNGA, LOCK, etc..

Thursday (Feb 11)
Pre-Market: PEP, MFC, BG, INT, TEVA, PAG, ALU, NOK, PBF, TRI, K, CVE, RAI, GPI, HUN, AAP, BWA, TCK, MOS, AVP, SHPG, Q, WWAV, TAP, DBD, GNC, VSTO, MGI, LC, CPLA, etc..
After-Hours: AIG, CBS, DVA, RSG, ATVI, HE, LPLA, GRPN, COLM, NUS, DNB, P, EGN, KN, KNL, SCSS, VRSN, CRAY, INFN, DDR, FEYE, ZG, ROVI, BCOR, LOGM, CYBR, etc..

Friday (Feb 12)
Pre-Market: BAM, IPG, LPNT, CPN, AXL, BPL, VTR, XRAY, NSP, ITT, POR, ZAYO, RRGB, IPGP, OFC, RUTH, ESNT
After-Hours: None confirmed

M&A news: MFLX +39.9% (Multi-Fineline to be acquired by Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing for $23.95 share in cash,BSI +18.5% (receives offer from the Zeevi Group to acquire 51% of BSI's outstanding shares from Alon Retail Ltd. for NIS 85 mln)

3:16 am United Micro reports Jan sales declined 6.8% YoY to NT$12.0 bln (UMC) :

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market closed Tuesday action with all three major US indices in the red. The Nasdaq Composite closed down 14.99 points (-0.35%) to 4268.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 12.67 points (-0.08%) to 16014.38, and the S&P 500 followed close behind, down 1.23 points (-0.07%) to 1852.21. Market data today came in the form of Wholesale Inventories which declined 0.1% month-over-month in December. In addition, December Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)results showed that job openings increased to 5.610 million from a revised 5.350 million (from 5.431 million) in November.

The Technology (XLK 38.75, -0.18 -0.46%) sector was lower today, but only just so. Trading in component CenturyLink (CTL 24.81, -0.82 -3.20%) was notable to the downside ahead of the company's quarterly results which are scheduled to be released tomorrow after the market close. Other sectors finished XLB +1.24%, XLV +0.74%, XLP +0.67%, XLI +0.60%, XLU +0.34%, XLF -0.15%, XLY -0.16%, IYZ -1.10%, XLE -2.41% with Materials leading the upside and Energy lagging.

Social Media (SOCL 15.93, -0.24 -1.48%) was again a notable laggard of the broader market as component Yelp (YELP 15.69, -0.37 -2.30%) reported quarterly earnings mid-session yesterday, and weakness continued today. Other SOCL names which displayed weakness today included LNKD -8.17%, CYOU -3.92%, GRPN -3.90%, TWTR -3.36%, YY -2.80%, ZNGA -2.39%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (636.18, -2.55 -0.40%) was also lower today, finishing just below flat lines. Component Salesforce.com (CRM 57.33, +3.28 +6.07%) was a notable standout today as the name was upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies before the market opened. Other components which displayed weakness with the broader sector included WDC -4.13%, ADS -3.60%, QRVO -3.51%, AKAM -3.44%, XRX -3.20%, CTSH -3.18%, STX -3.13%, PYPL -2.71%, SYMC -2.70%, WU -2.35%, IBM -2.29%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

King Digital's (KING 17.96, +0.03 +0.17%) acquisition by Activision Blizzard (ATVI 28.81, +0.09 +0.31%) received clearance from The Fair trade Commission of the Republic of Korea.

PayPal's (PYPL 32.70, -0.91 -2.71%) Chief Technology Officer James Barrese to resign effective April 1.PYPL later named Sri Shivananda as the company's new Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer effective April 1, 2016.Fiserv (FISV 92.09, +0.28 +0.30%) announced that Tandem Bank has selected Agiliti from FISV as its technology platform.

Silicon Graphics (SGI 5.57, +0.55 +10.96%) entered into a non-exclusive Outsourced Manufacturing Agreement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 12.72, +0.21 +1.68%).

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Advanced Energy (AEIS 27.71, -0.13 -0.47%) appointed Grant Beard as Chairman.

Heartland Payment Systems (HPY 87.58, -0.06 -0.07%) has acquired privately held Beanstalk Data. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

GTT Communications (GTT 13.57, +0.61 +4.79%) to acquire Telnes Broadband for $18 million in cash and stock.

Infoblox (BLOX 14.86, +0.07 +0.47%) acquired cyber threat intelligence firm IID for $45 million in cash.

Silver Spring Networks (SSNI 11.12, +1.38 +14.17%) filed a $200 million mixed securities shelf offering.

SSNI was selected by Con Edison (ED 73.61, +0.52 +0.71%) and Orange & Rockland to support its Advanced Metering Infrastructure plan for electric and gas customers.

CSRA's (CSRA 22.34, -0.57 -2.49%) SRA International was awarded a five-year task order valued at $233 million.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Viacom (VIAB 32.86, -8.99 -21.48%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $1.18 on revenues which were worse than expected and came n 5.7% worse than a year ago at $3.15 billion. Among other areas, VIAB reported Domestic Advertising revenues which declined 4% (versus a 7% decline in Q3) as pricing increases were more than offset by a decline in traditional ratings at some of the company's networks.

21st Century Fox (FOXA 24.14, -0.45 -1.85%) reported Q2 EPS of $0.44 per share on revenues which were worse than expected and fell 8.4% year-over-year to $7.38 billion.

Omnicom (OMC 71.62, +1.86 +2.67%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $1.35 and $41.54 billion, respectively.

Fidelity Nat'l Info (FIS 57.93, +1.93 +3.45%) reported in-line EPS for Q4 of $0.93 on revenues which rose 11.0% year-over-year to $1.87 billion. The company also guided FY16 EPS worse than expected at $3.70-3.85 per share.

Benchmark Electronics (BHE 21.27, +0.77 +3.76%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.45 on revenues which fell 11.8% year-over-year to $626 million. BHE guided Q1 EPS worse than expected at $0.29-0.33 on in-line revenues for Q1 of $565-590 million.

MaxLinear (MXL 14.62, +1.07 +7.90%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.46 on revenues which rose 204.7% year-over-year to $98.95 million. MXL also guided Q1 revenues in-line at $100-105 million.

ON Semiconductor (ON 7.08, -0.32 -4.32%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.19 on revenues which fell 2.8% year-over-year to $840.3 million. The company also guided Q1 revenues in-line at $800-840 million.

Companies that report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: ATEN AKAM BLKB CALX CALD CSC DIS DWRE APPS FDC INST LLNW MKTO MTSN MTSC NCR NUAN OTEX PAYC PRO QNST RSYS RKUS SCSC TRMB TCX VSAT WU/ARMH CRTO EEFT ORBK WIX

Analyst actions:

CRM was upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies,
SSNC was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James;
QLYS was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at DA Davidson

5:07 pm Mattson beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (MTSN) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.03); revenues fell 41.5% year/year to $32 mln vs the $25.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.08)-($0.04) vs. ($0.01) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $22-28 mln vs. $30.88 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, citing ongoing challenges in the semiconductor and semiconductor equipment industries, and particularly due to the continued postponement of orders from the Company's largest customer.While the Company realized a net benefit in revenue from acceptance of previously shipped systems in the fourth quarter of 2015, the Company expects a net deferral of revenue in the first quarter of 2016. In addition, higher margin revenue from spares, service and upgrades in the first quarter of 2016 is expected to be lower than the fourth quarter of 2015. For these reasons, gross margin in the first quarter of 2016 is estimated at 31 percent plus or minus 2 points.

5:01 pm Computer Sciences beats by $0.02, misses on revs (CSC) :

Reports Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.71 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.69; revenues fell 10.2% year/year to $1.75 bln vs the $1.85 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

4:34 pm Corning and Altechna R&D (Workshop of Photonics) enter into a joint development agreement to develop new laser glass processing technologies. (GLW) :

4:32 pm Celestica to file with the TSX a notice of intention to commence a new normal course issuer bid during 1Q16 (CLS) : If this notice is accepted by the TSX, the co expects to repurchase (for cancellation), at its discretion during the 12 months following such acceptance, up to 10% of the public float of the co's issued and outstanding subordinate voting shares

4:22 pm SolarCity reports Q4, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus (SCTY) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.04 per share, which may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus of ($2.59); revenues rose 60.8% year/year to $115.48 mln vs the $105.67 mln Capital IQ Consensus.MW Installed: Record 272 MW, up 54% year-over-year (Guidance 280-300 MW) MW Deployed: 253 MW, up 44% year-over-year Value of MW Deployed under Energy Contracts: $3.64 per watt at a 6% discount rate ($3.32 per watt contracted and $0.32 per watt estimated renewal)Cost per Watt: $2.71 per watt, down 5% year-over-year; Asset Financing in Q4 2015: $2.40 per watt. As of December 31, 2015, unrestricted Cash and Investments totaled $394 million, as compared to $418 million on September 30, 2015. The quarterly decline in cash of $137 million.Residential has consistently performed above expectations over the last year, and missed guidance largely on commercial installations.Going forward, plan on removing from guidance any large projects with construction deadlines late in the quarter.Guidance

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($2.65)-($2.55) vs. ($2.36) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Looking ahead to 2016, continue to target 1.25 GW Installed. Though the ITC extension certainly provides more tailwinds to growth, the primary focus is goal of generating positive cash by year-end."Though we are projecting a lower rate of growth in 2016 than in years past, our guidance still implies over 40% annual growth in 2016, a rate of growth that would be the envy of most industries and companies in this country".
For Q1 2016 expect to install 180 MW, representing growth of 18% y/y, and a 34% decline as compared to Q4 2015. This represents a higher-than-usual seasonal slowdown that have historically experienced after strong fourth quarters
Expect installations-and cash generation-to ramp throughout 2016. For Q1 2016, expect GAAP Operating Expenses of $230-240 mln.

4:10 pm : The stock market ended a volatile Tuesday affair with a final hour rally that led the major averages to within striking distance of their flat lines. Today's action was hallmarked by a rebound in the short-term oversold market as global growth concerns, the recent rout in financials, and an oil supply glut remained in focus for much of today's session. The S&P 500 (-0.1%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.1%) were able to end their day ahead of the Nasdaq Composite (-0.4%).

Other contributing factors to today's action included:

Uncertainty ahead of Congressional testimony from Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday and Thursday
Looking ahead to influential earnings from Disney (DIS 92.32, +0.20), Time Warner (TWX 63.21, -4.09), Cisco Systems (CSCO 22.65, -0.28), CBS (CBS 42.65, -1.71), and American International Group (AIG 52.25, -0.05) later this week; and
Awaiting retail sales data for January that will be released on Friday (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%)

Today's early weakness saw concerns tied to Japan's sharp losses, the yield on its government bond turning negative, and ongoing worries about the health of Europe's banking sector. On that note, the simmering sense of angst about the European banking sector's exposure to bad loans and negative interest rates continues to weigh especially heavy on Deutsche Bank (DB 15.38, -0.16), which has surrendered 36.3% since the beginning of 2016.

Oil was driven lower amidst the selling action overseas but rebounded into today's session. The rebound in oil helped lift the market from its opening lows, but a bearish report from the International Energy Agency sent oil lower. The report stated that supply glut concerns may be understated for the first half of 2016 and precedes the API Weekly Crude Inventory Report which will be released today at 16:35 ET. WTI crude tumbled 6.0% to $27.93/bbl.

The stock market struggled through the first half of the session, returning to its opening low around 13:15 ET. However, biotechnology began flashing some relative strength at the start and held its ground even as the market was revisiting its worst level of the day. The subsequent rebound saw the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 248.40, +0.28) surge to a new high while the broader market followed suit. Neither the market nor the ETF could hold its ground, backing away from highs into the close.

Five sectors were able to end their day in positive territory with materials (+1.2%) and health care (+0.7%) showing the largest advance. The remaining advancers posted gains between 0.7% (health care) and 0.4% (utilities).

In the consumer discretionary space (-0.3%), media companies showed relative weakness after Viacom (VIAB 32.86, -8.99).announced a fifth straight quarter of missing sales estimates. The company's miss weighed on fellow media company Time Warner, which fell 5.1% ahead of its earnings release tomorrow morning. On a related note, Netflix (NFLX 86.13, +2.81) managed a 3.4% advance as headwinds for conventional cable and media companies served as a tailwind for the streaming company.

Independent oil and gas names saw the largest losses from the tumble in oil with EOG Resources (EOG 65.59 -2.84) and Anadarko Petroleum (APC 37.24, -2.81) surrendering 4.2% and 7.0%, respectively

In the heavyweight technology space, large-caps Facebook (FB 99.54, -0.21) and Alphabet (GOOGL 701.02, -3.14) were unable to end in positive territory. Meanwhile, Salesforce.com (CRM 57.33, +3.28) climbed 6.1% after Jefferies upgraded the stock to 'Hold' from 'Underperform'.

Today's participation was slightly above the recent average with 1.12 billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Treasuries ticked higher during the heaviest selling but backed away from these level as the stock market rallied in the final hour. The yield on the 10-yr note ended its day lower by two basis point at 1.73%.

Today's economic data included the Wholesale Inventories report for December and the December Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey:

Wholesale inventories declined 0.1% month-over-month in December (Briefing.com consensus unchanged) on top of a downwardly revised 0.4% decline (from -0.3%) in November. On a year-over-year basis, wholesale inventories were up 1.9%.
Inventories of durable goods in December declined 0.3% after a 0.4% decline in November. The December downturn was governed by a 0.5% decline in machinery inventories and a 4.4% decline in metals inventories.
The only areas that saw inventories increase were automotive (+0.3%), electrical (+1.0%), and miscellaneous durables (+1.6%).
Inventories of nondurable goods increased 0.1% in December after declining 0.3% in November. The uptick was paced by a 0.8% increase in inventories for drugs and a 2.1% increase in apparel inventories. The only nondurable areas that saw inventories decline in December were petroleum (-7.8%) and alcohol (-1.0%).
Wholesale sales were down 0.3% in December after declining 1.3% in November. The inventory-to-sales ratio held steady at 1.32, yet that was up noticeably from 1.24 in the same period a year ago.
The December Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 5.610 million from a revised 5.350 million (from 5.431 million) in November

Tomorrow's economic data will include the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the Treasury Budget for January crossing the wires at 7:00 ET and 14:00 ET, respectively.

Russell 2000 -15.1% YTD
Nasdaq -14.8% YTD
S&P 500 -9.4% YTD
Dow Jones -8.1% YTD

DJ30 -12.67 NASDAQ -15.04 SP500 -1.23 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1081/2.147 bln/1984 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 937/1.128 bln/2153

3:45 pm :

Commodities had a tough day despite the weakness seen in the dollar index
WTI oil sold off today, falling below $38/barrel momentarily
Mar crude ended today's session -6% at $27.93/barrel, led continued oversupply issues and uncertainty that OPEC will coordinate and cut global oil production
Mar nat gas lost steam as well, closing -2% at $2.10/MMBtu
Copper sold off notably, ending the day at today's low. Mar copper closed -3% at $2.03/lb
Apr gold fell 0.1 to $1197.80/oz today, while Mar silver lost 0.1% to end at $15.45/oz

Ultratech (UTEK) received a multiple system order from a leading outsourced semiconductor assembly and test company. Ultratech's AP300E lithography systems will be utilized for various advanced packaging applications including copper pillar, wafer-level packaging and emerging technologies including fan-out WLP and silicon interposers to support growth driven by mobile devices.

7:33 am Vishay beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs in-line (VSH) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.14 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.12; revenues fell 9.0% year/year to $555.9 mln vs the $556.31 mln Capital IQ Consensus.Commenting on the results for the fourth quarter 2015, Dr. Gerald Paul, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Revenues for the quarter came in close to expectations. Margins benefitted from belt tightening. Excluding exchange rate effects, revenues were virtually on the same level as in the previous quarter and down 5% compared to the fourth quarter 2014."Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $540-580 mln vs. $558.05 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees gross margins of 22% - 24%

7:07 am Entegris beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line; Announces $100 mln share buyback (ENTG) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.16; revenues fell 1.8% year/year to $266.8 mln vs the $255.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.13-0.17, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.16 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $250-265 mln vs. $254.65 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Entegris announced that the Company's Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $100 million of its common stock

7:06 am Silicon Graphics announces SGI management will host a conference call for investors to discuss a new OEM agreement today at 6:15 AM PT (SGI) : The conference call can be accessed by dialing [phone] (toll-free) or [phone] (international) and entering the confirmation code: 48957521.

7:05 am Benchmark Electronics beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (BHE) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.45 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.41; revenues fell 11.8% year/year to $626 mln vs the $625.23 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Q4 Bookings Update - New program bookings in the fourth quarter were $115 to $135 million.
Co issues guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.29-0.33, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.35 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $565-590 mln vs. $590.04 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Capital AllocationFourth quarter 2015 common share repurchases totaled $16 million or 770,000 shares. $135 million remains available under the current share repurchase program.

SunEdison (SUNE) signed a solar power purchase agreement with Stockton East Water District in Northern California. SunEdison plans to install 2.2 MW of high-performance SunEdison solar panels on the water district's property. By going solar, the district expects to save more than $9.5 mln on energy costs over the next 20 years and 20 mln gallons of water annually.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market closed the Wednesday session split. The notable outperformer was the Nasdaq Composite, which added 14.83 points (+0.35%) today to close 4283.59. The S&P 500 was lower by less than one point (-0.02%) to 1851.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 99.64 points (-0.62%) today to close 15914.74 as March Crude Oil futures closed down -1.6% to $27.54/barrel following today's EIA storage data. Today's action was most notably to the upside, but gains did not hold as highs of the day from just after 10 a.m. ET slowly peeled off as the session progressed.

About an hour into the session, Fed Chair Janet Yellen began her semiannual monetary policy report before the House Financial Services Committee. Briefly, the takeaway from Ms. Yellen's testimony sounded like Ms. Yellen was open to taking a pass on raising the fed funds rate in March, but that she was not willing to concede anything past that meeting because more time and data need to pass to help the Fed gain a better feel for the effects on the U.S. economy of the recent tightening in financial conditions and foreign economic developments.

Also today, the January Treasury Budget showed a surplus of $55.2 billion versus a deficit of $17.5 billion for the same period a year ago. The Treasury data are not seasonally adjusted, so the January surplus cannot be compared to the December deficit of $14.4 billion.

Technology (XLK 38.87, +0.12 +0.31%) was also higher when the day was done as component Akamai Tech (AKAM 47.96, +8.39 +21.20%) reported better than expected Q4 results and announced a $1 billion share buyback program. Other sectors finished the day XLV +0.89%, IYZ +0.34%, XLU -0.11%, XLP -0.12%, XLY -0.17%, XLE -0.41%, XLI -0.48%, XLF -0.54%, XLB -0.95% as Materials were the worst performing sector and Healthcare led the way higher.

Cloud Computing (SKYY 25.38, +0.61 +2.46%) names were among the best performing today as component Open Text (OTEX 47.01, +4.16 +9.71%) reported better than expected Q2 results. Other SKYY components which displayed strength included ZNGA +4.93%, ATVI +4.65%, RHT +3.15%, EQIX +3.13%, TDC +2.83%, NFLX +2.69%.

In the end, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (638.45, +2.27 +0.36%) was modestly higher as the entire session was spent in the green. A notable underperformer in the sector today was component Computer Sciences (CSC 27.72, -3.08 -10.00%) which reported a mixed Q3 print. The company beat on the bottom line, but missed on the top line of expectations. Other components which displayed relative strength in line with the broader sector were V +2.87%, ADS +2.81%, STX +2.65%, ADSK +2.53%, CRM +2.49%, ADBE +2.27%, CTSH +1.89%, TEL +1.66%, MA +1.63%, VRSN +1.61%, EMC +1.57%, NTAP +1.54%, FB +1.47%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Western Union (WU 17.01, +0.01 +0.06%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.16 per share from $0.155 per share.

Corning (GLW 18.14, -0.33 -1.79%) and Altechna R&D (Workshop of Photonics) announced effective Feb. 4, 2016, they have entered into a joint development agreement to develop new laser glass processing technologies.

On the company's earnings conference call, Akamai Tech (AKAM) CEO stated he intends to enter into purchase plans to purchase $10 million worth of stock over the next six month.AKAM also announced a $1 billion share repurchase program, and the re-alignment of the company's current products and development organization and global sales, channels and marketing teams into two divisions to focus on the company's Media and Web customers and solutions.RSA has extended its relationship with Accenture (ACN 94.21, +0.98 +1.05%), selecting the company as its preferred supplier for insurance business process outsourcing (BPO) services for an additional six years to 2021.

On the company's blog, Microsoft (MSFT 49.71, +0.43 +0.87%) announced it acquired iOS music app Groove.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Zayo Group Holdings (ZAYO 22.98, +1.09 +4.98%) was awarded a $15.6 million, 12-year contract by the City of Fort Worth to provide a dark fiber solution to upgrade its municipal network.

Time Warner (TWX 60.07, -3.14 -4.97%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.4025 per share from $0.35 per share.

TWX also announced a $5 billion share repurchase program.


Tucows (TCX 19.96, +1.52 +8.24%) announced a $40 million share buyback.

Wix.com (WIX 17.85, +2.00 +12.62%) to separate the positions of Chairman and CEO.

FXCM (FXCM 9.96, -0.04 -0.40%) reported January trading metrics. Retail customer trading volume was $331 billion, down 13% year-over-year.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Walt Disney (DIS 88.82, -3.59 -3.88%) reported better than expected Q1 results with EPS of $1.63 and revenues which rose 13.8% year-over-year to $15.24 billion. Media Networks revenues increased 8% to $6.3 billion, Cable Networks revenues were up 9% to $4.5 billion, Broadcasting revenues were up 7% to $1.8 billion, Parks and Resorts revenues were up 9% to $4.3 billion, Studio Entertainment revenues were up 46% to $2.7 billion and Consumer Products and Interactive Media revenues were up 8% to $1.9 billion.

Time Warner (TWX) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $1.06 on worse than expected revenues which fell 5.9% year-over-year to $7.08 billion. The company also guided FY16 EPS better than expected at $5.30-5.40 (up from $5.25 previously).

ARM Holdings (ARMH 37.74, -3.65 -8.82%) reported in-line Q4 EPS of GBP0.08 on better than expected revenues of GBP269.1 million.

Western Union (WU) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.42 on worse than expected revenues which also fell 2.1% year-over-year to $1.38 billion. The company also guided FY16 EPS in-line at $1.58-1.70 and expects low to mid-single digit constant currency revenue increase.

Akamai Tech (AKAM) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.72 and $579.16 million, respectively. The company also guided Q1 EPS and revenues in-line at $0.61-0.64 and $554-570 million, respectively.

Trimble Navigation (TRMB 21.38, +2.56 +13.60%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.27 and $559.7 million, respectively. The company also guided Q1 EPS and revenues in-line at $0.25-0.30 and $565-595 million, respectively.

Open Text (OTEX) reported better than expected Q2 results with EPS of $1.01 and revenues of $465.35 million.

Nuance Communications (NUAN) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.36 on revenues which rose 4.4% year-over-year to $494.9 million.

Computer Sciences (CSC) reported Q3 EPS which was better than expected at $0.71 and worse than expected revenues which fell 10.2% year-over-year to $1.75 billion.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: APDN BKFS CTL CSCO CGNX CSOD DTRM EXPE FORR HDP HUBS NSIT JCOM LPSN MB MOSY NCIT QUIK RPD TTGT TWTR ZNGA/ALU DBD ETM FLIR LIOX MANU MGI TYPE MWW NTWK NICE NLSN NOK TRI TIME TZOO TRIP VG WWE

Analyst actions:

CRM was upgraded to Buy from Outperform at Credit Agricole,
TRMB was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham, PRO and
AKAM were upgraded at Craig Hallum,
TXTR was upgraded to Hold from Sell at The Benchmark Company;
RKUS was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey,
WU was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie,
KS was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

5:10 pm After-hours earnings summary: TSLA +12%, CSCO +8%, TWTR little changed after initially trading lower (:SUMRX) :

Tesla Motors (TSLA) +12% in extended hours after missing Q4 estimates but offering better than feared FY16 guidance, reaffirmed deliveries. TSLA also said it sees net cash flow positive in FY16.Twitter (TWTR) is little changed after initially trading lower by more than 10%, following a mixed quarter and downside guidance. TWTR reported Q4 earnings of $0.16 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.12; revenues rose 48.3% year/year to $710.47 mln vs the $710.05 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Q4 Monthly Active Users 320 mln vs. expectations for a slightly higher number, similar to Q3's 324 mln. Cisco Systems (CSCO) is +8% after it beat on the top and bottom lines; guided Q3 EPS in-line, approved $15 billion increase to stock repurchase program. iRobot (IRBT) is lower by 11% after it beat on the top and bottom lines but guided Q1 EPS and revs below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY16 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus.LifeLock (LOCK) is little changed after it beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY16 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus.Skechers USA (SKX) is higher by 8% after it reported EPS in-line, beats on revs; comfortable with Q1 consensus estimates.Whole Foods (WFM) beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; reaffirms FY16 revs guidance. Expedia (EXPE) is +14% after they missed misses by $0.24, reports revs in-line. Zynga (ZNGA) is -7% reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs below consensus; announces acquisition of Zindagi Games.

4:32 pm Cisco Systems increases qtrly dividend to $0.26 from $0.21/share; increases repurchase program (CSCO) : Also, as noted in the 16:10 earnings comment, CSCO's BoDs approved a $15 bln increase to the co's stock repurchase authorizationCisco's board had previously authorized up to $97 billion in stock repurchases.

4:10 pm Cisco Systems beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, approves $15 billion increase to stock repurchase program (CSCO) :

Reports Q2 (Jan) earnings of $0.57 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.54; revenues fell 0.1% year/year to $11.93 bln vs the $11.75 bln Capital IQ Consensus.Non-GAAP total gross margin and product gross margin were 64.2% and 63.3%, respectively.Cash Flow from Operating Activities was $3.9 bln, an increase of 36% compared with $2.9 bln for 2Q15.Co approves a $15 bln increase to the authorization of the stock repurchase program. CSCO had previously authorized up to $97 bln in stock repurchases. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.54-$0.56 vs. $0.55 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees 1-4% revenue growth, which is normalized to exclude SP Video CPE business.

4:16 pm MoSys reports EPS in-line, beats on revs (MOSY) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.09 per share, in-line with the single analyst estimate of ($0.09); revenues rose 60.0% year/year to $1.6 mln vs the $1.46 mln two analyst estimate.

4:04 pm iRobot beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY16 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (IRBT) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.60 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.57; revenues rose 29.6% year/year to $206.4 mln vs the $202.89 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.03)-$0.04, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.29 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $125-135 mln vs. $138.16 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues downside guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $1.20-1.40, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.64 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $630-642 mln vs. $688.37 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:01 pm QuickLogic reports EPS in-line, misses on revs (QUIK) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the two analyst estimate of ($0.08); revenues fell 36.8% year/year to $3.6 mln vs the $4 mln two analyst estimate.

4:20 pm : The major averages ended Wednesday's affair under heavy selling pressure, which left the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 in negative territory when the closing bell rang. The Nasdaq managed a modest gain, yet still gave back a huge chunk of an earlier 101-point gain. Once again, trade centered on troubles inthe oil patch, concerns over global and domestic growth, currency swings, and the future path of the fed funds rate. Today saw limited articulation of that final point as Fed Chair Yellen gave her semiannual monetary policy report before the House Financial Services Committee.

The major averages hit session highs within the first hour of trading but were unable to hold those levels as participants once again showed a propensity to sell into strength. The financial sector, for instance, was an early leader -- and an influential one at that -- as it followed in the footsteps of European banks, which attracted a bargain-hunting bid on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank (DB 16.21, +0.83), which has been under heavy selling presure of late on investor concerns about its financial condition, helped lead that effort. Financials (-0.5%) here, though, were unable to hold their gains and helped precipitate the late-day selling interest.

Oil prices attempted an early rally, climbing above $29.00/bbl after the weekly inventory report from the EIA report showed a draw of 0.754 million barrels. That rally was short-lived though and the commodity soon rolled over. The disappointing price action there after an ostensibly bullish catalyst took some wind out of the stock market's sails. WTI crude settled the day down 1.6% at $27.54/bbl. The S&P 500 energy sector declined 0.5%.

Fed Chair Yellen's testimony was largely a middle-of-the-road presentation as she made it sound as if the Fed is open to holding off on another rate hike at its March meeting; however, she didn't make it sound as if the Fed is willing to concede anything past that meeting. One notable thing she said in the Q&A portion of her testimony was that she doesn't think it will be necessary to cut rates soon, yet she did add the Fed will do what is necessary to achieve its goals.

By and large, the response to Ms. Yellen's presentation was mixed and was reflected in the S&P closing the day relatively flat.

Healthcare (+0.9%) and technology (+0.4%) were the only sectors that were able to end the day with a gain, yet both groups ended the session well off their highs (+2.4% and +1.8%, respectively). The technology group saw leadership from large-cap components like Facebook (FB 101.00, +1.46) and Microsoft (MSFT 49.71, +0.43) while health care could attribute its relative strength to the biotechnology stocks.

The commodity-sensitive materials sector (-1.0%) ended the day with the worst performance.

At their highs of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite, and S&P 500 were up 1.2%, 2.4%, and 1.3%, respectively.

There were 1.05 billion shares traded at the NYSE, which was a bit light of the recent average.

Treasuries traded in a narrow range for most of the session, but came on strong in the afternoon and rolled to their best levels of the session as stocks sold off in the final hour of trading. The yield on the 10-yr note dropped four basis points to 1.69%.

Strikingly, the late selling in the equity market took place alongside a strengthening in the Japanese yen. The stronger yen has been problematic for Japanese exporters and has been a catalyst for heavy selling in Japan's stock market this month.

Today's economic data included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the Treasury Budget for January:

Mortgage applications were up 9.3% in the latest week driven by a 16.0% surge in refinancing applications.
The January Treasury Budget showed a surplus of $55.2 billion versus a deficit of $17.5 billion for the same period a year ago. This Treasury data is not seasonally adjusted, so the January surplus cannot be compared to the December deficit of $14.4 billion.
Total receipts in January were $313.6 billion while total outlays were $258.4 billion. Receipts were $6.8 billion more than January 2015 receipts while total outlays were $65.9 billion less than January 2015. The 12-month deficit decreased by $72.7 billion to $405.3 billion.

Tomorrow's economic data is limited to the weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 280k). Tomorrow will also conclude Fed Chair Yellen's semiannual monetary policy report before the House Financial Services Committee

Russell 2000 -15.2% YTD
Nasdaq -14.5% YTD
S&P 500 --9.4% YTD
Dow Jones -8.7% YTD

DJ30 -99.64 NASDAQ +14.83 SP500 -0.35 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1489/2.147 bln/1415 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1650/1.049 bln/1427

3:40 pm :

The dollar index has been sliding lower since morning trade and is now in negative territory
However, commodities such as precious metals are still sitting in the red
WTI oil prices were a big mover today, surging today above $29/barrel following the weekly EIA storage data
However, this move was short-lived and Mar crude closed the day -1.6% at $27.54/barrel
In other energy, natural gas lost steam today as well, with the Mar contract ending the day -2.4% at $2.05/MMBtu
Metals closed lower today as well. Apr gold finished -0.3% at $1194.70/oz, while Mar silver ended -1.2% at $15.27/oz

4:47 am Nokia publishes results for its public exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent (ALU); Nokia to hold ~91% of the share capital of ALU (NOK) :

Co published the results of the reopened offer period of Nokia's public exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent securities.

426 695 572 Alcatel-Lucent ordinary shares, 52 286 499 ADSs, 4 795 096 OCEANE 2018 convertible bonds, 19 971 720 OCEANE 2019 convertible bonds, and 56 644 832 OCEANE 2020 convertible bonds have been tendered into the Reopened Offer in France and/or in the U.S As a consequence, following settlement of the Reopened Offer which is expected to occur on February 12, 2016, Nokia will hold 91.25% of the share capital and at least 91.17% of the voting rights of Alcatel Lucent, 99.62% of the outstanding OCEANE 2018 convertible bonds, 37.18% of the outstanding OCEANE 2019 convertible bonds, and 68.17% of the outstanding OCEANE 2020 convertible bonds. This equates to Nokia holding 88.07% of the share capital on a fully diluted basis

3:21 am ARM Holdings reports EPS in-line, beats on revs (ARMH) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of GBP0.08 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of GBP0.08; revenues rose 19.1% year/year to GBP269.1 mln vs the GBP263.15 mln Capital IQ Consensus.OutlookChips based on ARMv8-A technology are expected to continue to gain share in mobile and enterprise markets, and the higher royalty rate earned on these products helps to underpin growth in royalty revenues. Increased economic uncertainty may influence consumer and enterprise spending, potentially impacting semiconductor revenues and industry confidence. Based on current conditions in the semiconductor market, co expects Group dollar revenues for the full year to be broadly in line with market expectations.

Thanks for the well wishes Bob and everyone. Sorry to hear about your second Dad... Bob. You are a great guy, always positive, even in the face of great adversity. I am sure he was as proud to know you as you were him. RtS

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From Briefing.com: The broader market was all negative at the end Thursday trading. Leading the way down, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 254.56 points (-1.60%) to 15660.18. The S&P 500 followed closely behind, lower by 22.78 points (-1.23%) to 1829.08. The Nasdaq Composite rounded out the trio down 16.75 points (-0.39%) to 4266.84. Toward the end of the session, the market saw a big bounce off the lows, aided by a Dow Jones headline suggesting OPEC members are ready to cooperate on a possible production cut. This led to a quick rebound in oil, which jumped over a point before retracing a bit. It also provided some relief to the equity markets at a convenient time, as the S&P 500 was testing lows of the day which also correspond with the January lows. Oil and the stock market retraced a portion of said knee-jerk spikes on the news, albeit still finishing well off lows.

Market data today came in the form of Initial Claims which showed claims falling by 16,000 for the week ending February 6 to 269,000. In addition, today was day two of Fed Chair Janet Yellen's testimony on monetary policy in front of the Senate Banking Committee. While Ms. Yellen acknowledged in the Q&A portion that negative interest rates have not been taken off the table as a policy tool of accommodation, she also asserted that the current economic evidence is not enough to suggest a rate cut is the Fed's next move.

Technology (XLK 38.71, -0.10 -0.26%) was also vulnerable to the selling pressure today. Component Computer Sciences (CSC 27.05, -0.67 -2.42%) was pressured to the downside today as the company filed to delay its Form 10-Q. Other sectors closed the session IYZ +1.15%, XLY -0.06%, XLE -0.42%, XLP -0.80%, XLV -1.61%, XLU -1.76%, XLI -1.99%, XLB -2.17%, XLF -3.06% with Telecoms the only standout and Financials posting the worst losses.

Technology bellwether Twitter (TWTR 14.31, -0.67 -4.47%) also released quarterly results last night after the close. Results for the Q4 period were mostly better than expected, but all eyes were on the Q1 guidance (which came in worse than expected). The stock was subsequently downgraded at Pacific Crest and Topeka Capital Mtks today as the firms noted challenging Monthly Active User growth in an environment that requires the company to post anything but stagnation.

In the Internet (FDN 58.89, +0.68 +1.17%) sector, component LivePerson (LPSN 4.09, -0.94 -18.59%) reported a mixed Q4 print. The attention was on LPSN's guidance, though, which on the top and bottom lines for Q1 and FY16 was worse than the Street expectations. Other FDN names which saw red today included AMTD -2.43%, NFLX -2.37%, ETFC -2.22%, RAX -2.05%, BV -1.68%, VHC -1.45%, YHOO -1.25%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (637.19, -1.26 -0.20%), action was most notably to the downside -- at least initially. The late session surge pulled the sector out of the red, but gains were short-lived and action settled in the red to close the session. Component Cisco Systems (CSCO 24.68, +2.17 +9.64%) was among the best performing large-cap stocks across the entire market today as the company released better than expected Q2 results after last night's closing bell. Other components which finished lower included FSLR -4.74%, STX -3.84%, NTAP -2.90%, HPQ -2.80%, XRX -2.14%.

Other news items among sector components:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Cisco Systems (CSCO) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.26 per share from $0.21 per share. The company also increased its share repurchase program by $15 billion.

Microsoft (MSFT 49.69, -0.02 -0.04%) and hardware firm Acer, Inc. expanded their existing relationship to now include pre-installing Microsoft services and apps on its portfolio of Android smartphones and tablets.

Computer Sciences (CSC) filed to delay form 10-Q. The company expects to file the report on or before February 16.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, FLIR Systems (FLIR 28.62, +0.09 +0.32%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.12 per share from $0.11 per share.

Yahoo! (YHOO 26.76, -0.34 -1.25%) and PGA TOUR announced a relationship to deliver free, live, and on-demand video content from the PGA TOUR to fans around the world, no cable subscription or authentication required.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Ingram Micro (IM 27.18, -0.84 -3.00%) acquired the Central & Eastern Europe Division of RRC Group. The deal is expected to be slightly accretive to IM's 2016 non-GAAP earnings.
A Dealbook report in afternoon trading pegged music-streaming service Pandora Media (P 9.09, +0.69 +8.21%) as being in talks to be acquired.

Amazon (AMZN 503.82, +13.34 +2.72%) authorized a $5 billion share repurchase.
In addition to reporting quarterly results, j2 Global (JCOM 74.64, +10.50 +16.37%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.3250 per share from $0.315 per share. The company also extended its share repurchase program by an additional year.

Insight Enterpr's (NSIT) Board authorized a $50 million stock repurchase program.
In addition to reporting quarterly results, Cornerstone OnDemand's (CSOD 24.62, +0.24 +0.98%) CFO Perry Wallack provided notice of his intent to retire.

Travelzoo (TZOO 7.18, +0.34 +4.97%) authorized the repurchase of up to 1 million common shares.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Cisco Systems (CSCO) reported better than expected Q2 results with EPS of $0.57 and revenues which fell 0.1% year-over-year to $11.93 billion. The company also guided Q3 EPS in-line at $0.54-0.56.

Nokia (NOK 5.88, +0.06 +1.03%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of 0.15 on revenues which rose 2.8% year-over-year to 3.61 billion.

Thomson Reuters (TRI 34.62, -1.00 -2.81%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.65 on revenues which fell 2.0% year-over-year to $3.15 billion.

CenturyLink (CTL 27.28, +2.69 +10.94%) reported better than expected Q4 results with EPS of $0.80 and revenues of $4.48 billion. The company also guided Q1 EPS better than expected at $0.67-0.73 and revenues of $4.40-4.45 billion. CTL also sees better than expected FY16 EPS of $2.50-2.70 on revenues of $17.55-17.8 billion.

Expedia (EXPE 103.37, +9.02 +9.56%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS of $0.77 on revenues which rose 25.3% year-over-year to $1.7 billion. Gross bookings increased 40%.

Twitter (TWTR) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.16 on revenues which rose 48.3% year-over-year to $710.47 million. The company also guided Q1 revenues worse than expected at $595-610 million. Advertising revenue were $641 million, an increase of 48% year-over-year.

TripAdvisor (TRIP 61.07, +6.72 +12.36%) reported better than expected Q4 results with EPS of $0.45 on revenues which rose 7.3% year-over-year to $309 million.

Zynga (ZNGA 1.81, -0.32 -15.02%) reported in-line EPS and revenues for the Q4 period of ($0.00) and $185.77 million, respectively. In addition, ZNGA guided Q1 EPS in-line at ($0.01)-$0.00 on worse than expected Q1 revenue guidance of $160-175 million.

LivePerson (LPSN) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.07 on revenues which rose 1.7% year-over-year to $59.2 million. LPSN also guided Q1 EPS and revenues worse than expected at ($0.02)-0.00 and $55-56 million, respectively. Further, LPSN also guided FY16 EPS and revenues worse than expected at $0.05-0.10 and $230-235 million, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow before the open: ATVI AMBR AMKR BCOR BCOV CBS COHU CRAY CYBR ELON ELLI FEYE GRPN GUID INFN KN LOGM LXFT MGI P PDFS QLIK ROVI SSNC VRNS VRSN WEB ZG/IPG IPGP ZAYO

Analyst actions:

CSCO was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies,
NCIT was upgraded at Noble Financial and Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey,
HDP was upgraded to Neutral from Negative at Susquehanna,
FDC was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse,
LVLT was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley;
TWTR was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Topeka Capital Mkts,
V and MA were downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill,
ARMH was downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Bernstein,
WIT was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley,
MWW was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at FBR Capital,
SEMI and CCMP were downgraded at Citigroup

4:16 pm Cohu beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs above consensus (COHU) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.09 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the two analyst estimate of $0.06; revenues fell 29.9% year/year to $63.5 mln vs the $62.94 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of ~$64 mln vs. $59.95 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:12 pm Amkor reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below two analyst estimate, revs below consensus (AMKR) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.02 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.02; revenues fell 21.3% year/year to $671 mln vs the $688.43 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.15)-($0.03) vs. $0.02 two analyst estimate; sees Q1 revs of $785-$835 mln vs. $863.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co states: "Market conditions in Q1 remain sluggish, with particular weakness in the high-end smartphone market.Despite challenging market conditions, we expect that Q1 revenues will increase 21% sequentially, driven by incremental revenue from J-Devices. At this time, we expect full year 2016 capital expenditures of around $650 million."

4:10 pm Cray beats by $0.09, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs in-line; reaffirms FY16 revs guidance (CRAY) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.79 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.70; revenues rose 2.1% year/year to $267.5 mln vs the $265.28 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Total non-GAAP gross profit margin for 2015 was 32%, compared to 34% for 2014. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of approx $100 mln vs. $97.19 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of approx $825 mln vs. $817.70 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Guidance CommentaryFor 2016, while a wide range of results remains possible, the Company expects revenue to be in the $825 million range. Revenue is expected to be in the range of $100 million for the first quarter of 2016, with the remainder of the year heavily weighted to the fourth quarter. Non-GAAP gross margin for the year is expected to improve and to be one to two percentage points higher than for 2015. Non-GAAP operating expenses for the year are anticipated to be about $205 million. Based on this outlook, the Company expects to improve its GAAP and non-GAAP operating profit margin for 2016 as compared to 2015.

4:20 pm : The capital markets have been a hot mess in 2016 and things heated up again on Thursday on a series of headlines that led mostly to a risk-averse disposition.

The concise overview is that stock prices declined, oil prices fell, gold prices surged, the yen continued to strengthen, and the 10-year Treasury yield slipped to its lowest level (1.54%) since August 2012.

To say the least, there were a lot of factors at play on Thursday, including a second day of monetary policy testimony from Fed Chair Yellen in front of the Senate Banking Committee. The key headline items contributing to the broader market's weakness included the following:

A 3.9% decline in Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index in its first day of trading after the Lunar New Year celebration
A decision by Sweden's Riksbank to take its key borrowing rate further into negative territory with a 15 basis point cut to -0.50%
Renewed concerns about the financial position of European banks, which took a heavy toll on European bourses and the S&P 500 financial sector (-3.0%)
Reports that Boeing (BA 108.44, -7.92, -6.8%) is the subject of an SEC investigation into its accounting for costs and sales of its 747 and 787 planes; and
Underlying angst about the state of the global economy and earnings prospects in general
The confluence of these factors, and others, led to a decidedly negative start to the day for the equity market.

Fed Chair Yellen didn't provide any reprieve from the selling pressure during her testimony either. She did acknowledge that negative interest rates are still on the table as a potential tool for further policy accommodation, yet she also asserted that economic evidence to date is not enough to suggest a rate cut is the Fed's next move.

Strikingly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell to new lows for the day after the conclusion of her testimony while the Nasdaq Composite came back to test its morning low. In the case of the S&P 500, it cut a path through its January 20 intraday low (1812.29) to 1810.10. Just as it did, however, a headline from Dow Jones crossed the wires suggesting OPEC members are ready to cooperate on a possible production cut.

That headline led to a dramatic change in the trading tone, as the major indices rallied late in the day on the back of a resurgent energy sector (-0.4%), which had been down as much as 3.1% in response to a 5.1% drop in oil prices during pit trading to $26.14 per barrel.

At the same time, there was a large wave of buying interest in large-cap technology stocks that bolstered the S&P 500 technology sector (-0.2%) and helped drive the Nasdaq Composite back into positive territory after being down as many as 74 points earlier in the session. A closing volley of selling interest left the Nasdaq down 0.4% for the day.

By the time the closing bell rang, all S&P 500 sectors had worked their way back from larger losses but none ended with a gain. The financial sector (-3.0%) was the most conspicuous underperformer.

The technology sector (-0.2%), which got a nice boost from Cisco (CSCO 24.68, +2.17, +9.6%) after its pleasing earnings report, exhibited relative strength along with the consumer staples (-0.8%), telecom services (-0.5%), energy sector (-0.4%) and consumer discretionary (-0.1%) sectors.

The US Treasury market was a picture of strength throughout Thursday's trading. Granted the benchmark 10-yr note finished off its best levels of the session, yet it drew some notable buying interest that dropped its yield to 1.64% from 1.70 % on Wednesday.

That move was precipitated by a flight-to-safety amid the volatility elsewhere. Similarly, gold prices also benefited from the safety trade, rising 4.4% to $1247.30/troy ounce.

The only economic release today was the weekly initial claims report. It was better than expected with claims decreasing by 16,000 to 269,000 (Briefing.com consensus 280,000) for the week ending February 6. Friday will feature the influential Retail Sales report for January at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Volume on Thursday was heavier than average with 1.32 billion shares trading at the NYSE. The advance-decline line favored decliners at the NYSE by a 4-to-1 margin, which was better than earlier in the day but still indicative of a market lacking conviction from buyers.DJ30 -254.56 NASDAQ -16.76 SP500 -22.78 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 879/2.15 bln/2200 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 572/1.32 bln/2554

3:40 pm :

The big story in electronic trading was the headlines that OPEC is ready to cooperate on a production cut, according to a UAE Minister
Who knows now exactly where we go from here. In recent months, there have been a number of rumors about en OPEC meeting
However, today's news does seem to have a little more weight.
Mar crude oil closed floor trading -5.1% at $26.14/barrel
Following the OPEC headlines, Mar crude ran from $26.05 to about $27.33/barrel... oil is now
In other energy, Mar nat gas slid 3.4% to $1.98/MMBtu
Precious metals rallied notably today
Apr gold surged $54.51 to $1249.21/oz, while Mar silver surged $0.51 to $15.78/oz

7:34 am Photronics reports prelim Q1 results with sales below prior guidance and consensus (PLAB) :

Co sees Q1 (Jan) EPS of $0.15-0.17, excluding items, down from prior guidance of $0.14 -0.23, vs. $0.19 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 (Jan) revs of $128 -130 mln, prior $133-143 mln vs. $137.33 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."Similar to the last several quarters, demand for high-end memory and FPD photomasks during the first quarter was very strong; however high-end logic, which can be lumpy, was soft due to lower demand from some foundry costumers in Asia, causing our sales to be lower than we previously communicated.... Additionally, the seasonal slowdown we experienced in mainstream IC was greater than normal, causing demand for those products to be lower than our projections. As a result of the lower demand for our products and the operating leverage in our model, we anticipate earnings will be in the low-end of our previous guidance, excluding the one-time gain. Nevertheless, we were able to continue our trend of positive cash flow, building our net cash position to over $100 million. While our first quarter results were slightly below expectations, we remain confident that the long-term growth outlook for our business is positive and are committed to our strategic growth plan."

2:16 am Nokia beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; proposes special dividend (NOK) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of 0.15 per share, 0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of 0.12; revenues rose 2.8% year/year to 3.61 bln vs the 3.58 bln Capital IQ Consensus.5% year-on-year net sales decrease in Q4 2015 and 3% net sales growth in full year 2015. On a reported basis, Greater China and Middle East & Africa were the strongest regions.170% year-on-year net sales growth in Q4 2015 and 77% net sales growth in full year 2015. On a year-on-year basis, non-IFRS operating profit grew 318% in Q4 2015 and 102% in full year 2015, primarily related to the growth in net sales resulting from a settled arbitration.Nokia's Board of Directors will propose a dividend of EUR 0.16 per share for 2015 and a special dividend of EUR 0.10 per share (dividend of EUR 0.14 per share for 2014). Proposed dividend is estimated to result in a maximum payout of approximately EUR 960 million in dividend and EUR 600 million in special dividend.

Outlook:Due to the very recent acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), Nokia believes it is not appropriate to provide an annual outlook for the new combined Networks business at the present time, and intends to provide its full year outlook in conjunction with its Q1 results announcement. Q1 2016 net sales and non-IFRS operating margin are expected to be influenced by factors including: A flattish capex environment in 2016 for overall addressable market; A declining wireless infrastructure market in 2016, with a greater than normal seasonal decline in Q1 2016Additionally, co announced that its Board of Directors has approved the Nokia equity program for 2016

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 12-Feb-16

The past week featured another weak showing from the equity market with the S&P 500 surrendering 0.8%. The benchmark index was down 2.3% going into Friday, but a broad-based 2.0% surge helped the S&P 500 narrow its weekly loss.

The S&P 500 ended the week ahead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 1.4%, while equity markets across the world had a similar showing to U.S. stocks. Japan's Nikkei faced particularly heavy selling that sent the index lower by 11.1% in just four sessions. That weakness coincided with noteworthy yen strength as the Japanese currency extended its aggressive advance that began the day after the Bank of Japan's decision to implement negative rates. The dollar/yen pair fell more than 350 pips to 113.25 from 116.85 after being down 600 pips on Thursday.

The unwavering yen strength indicated the presence of caution in the foreign exchange market while gold and bonds also advanced, benefitting from the defensive sentiment across financial markets. Gold futures rocketed into the $1,250 area, ending the week higher by 7.1% at $1239.40/ozt. For its part, the 10-yr note hit a three-year high on Thursday, which lowered its yield to 1.57%. Friday selling in the 10-yr note ran the benchmark yield to 1.75%, representing a ten basis point decline for the week.

With safe-haven assets on the rise, crude oil struggled mightily, setting a fresh 2016 low at $26.05/bbl on Thursday, but a Friday rebound lifted the energy component to $29.44/bbl, representing a 4.7% decline for the week.

For the most part, the selling that defined the week's action was tied to persistent growth concerns. The financial sector (-2.4%) was among the weakest performers, ending only ahead of utilities (-2.5%). The financial sector widened its 2016 loss to 14.4% partly due to an ongoing adjustment in the market's rate hike expectations. Furthermore, growing worries about the exposure of major financials to the battered commodity sector have also taken a toll on the economically-sensitive group. Deutsche Bank (DB) was in the spotlight last week as the stock set a 30-year low with investors showing concern over the bank's derivative exposure.

Similar to financials, eight of the remaining nine sectors registered losses for the week while the consumer staples sector ended the week higher by 0.8%.
Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 16204.83 15973.84 -230.99 -1.4 -8.3
Nasdaq 4363.14 4337.51 -25.63 -0.6 -13.4
S&P 500 1880.02 1864.78 -15.24 -0.8 -8.8
Russell 2000 985.95 971.83 -14.12 -1.4 -14.4

Technology stocks lagged gains seen in the broader marketthis session, which were led by commodity stocks as crude oil surged 12%. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) rose 1.5% as the S&P 500 (SPY) rose2% vs. the Energy sector XLE +2.6%. Volume in the SPY was light and gains in oil futures were due in part to renewed hopes that OPEC might possibly meet to consider production cuts.

The technology sector XLK rose 1.4% while Internet stocks FDNrose 1.3%. Notable tech stocks in the news today:
Groupon (GRPN) rose +29% after reporting a strong Q4 results;co also raised EBITDA guidance. A tough 2015 and a high short interest ishelped shares trade higher.

Qlik (QLIK) fell 11% but has recovered from a five year lowafter missing Q4 estimates and guiding Q1 and FY16 sales below consensus. RBC,Mizuho and Wedbush all lowered their target while defending the stock thismorning.

Pandora (P) fell 12% after the company reported a mixed Q4and guided for an unprofitable FY16 with rev below consensus. Pandora has decidedto invest in growth, including an on demand subscription service to competewith Spotify. FBR upgrade the stock to Outperform this morning.

FireEye (FEYE) fell 3% after reporting in-line Q4 resultsand giving mixed Q1 and FY16 guidance .

Web.com (WEB +11%) acquired digital marketing company Yodlefor over $300 mln in cash; WEB also reported earnings and guided Q1 below consensusand FY16 in-line.

Square (SQ) rose 8% after Visa disclosed a stake just under10%. FBR Capital downgraded NFLX to Market Perform.

Quotient (QUOT) is rose 35% after beating Q4 sales andguiding Q1 and FY16 above consensus. Craig Hallum upgraded the stock to Buythis morning.

Rovi (ROVI) rose 17% after beating Q4 estimates.

Zillow (ZG) fell 2% after reporting a small Q4 adj. net loss,below estimates. The company guided FY16 rev above consensus.

Equities markets are closed on Monday for Presidents Day.

On Tuesday morning, Russian search engine Yandex (YNDX) andSonus Networks (SONS) will report earnings.

:22 pm Closing Market Summary: Indices Rebound to End Volatile Week (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended its week in upbeat fashion, with the major indices recouping large portions of their weekly losses. As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average cut its loss to 231 points (-1.4%) from last Friday's close while the S&P surrendered 15 points (-0.8%) over that same period. Today's trade saw a higher tolerance for risk investments as the beleaguered financial sector (+4.0%) and oil were able to lead the market higher while a positive reading from January's Retail Sales report boosted investor sentiment.

Yesterday's chatter regarding OPEC members being ready to cooperate on production cuts gained traction overnight as oil lifted in overseas trade. The energy component was able to maintain this momentum in our session and managed a 12.2% pop to close at $29.33/bbl. Short covering likely provided additional fuel to this rally, but despite this impressive run, WTI crude ended its week down 5.0%.

European indices were able to get a reprieve from recent sharp selling action after better than feared earnings results from Commerzbank lifted their financial sector. This positive sentiment was echoed by Deutsche Bank (DB 17.38, +1.87), which announced that it will buy back more than $5 billion worth of its senior debt.

The U.S. financial sector was able to build off this momentum, cutting this week's loss from 6.4% to 2.4%. The rebound was helped by news from JPMorgan Chase (JPM 57.49, +4.42) indicating that CEO Jamie Dimon purchased 500,000 more shares of JPM for roughly $26 million. Other money center banks also rallied in the financial sector with JPMorgan Chase ending the week virtually flat (57.75).

Commodity-sensitive materials (+2.9%) and energy sectors (2.6%) were able to follow financials on the leaderboard with energy being the main beneficiary from the upswing in oil. Independent oil and gas companies benefited the most while Dow component Chevron (CVX 85.43, +2.44) finished in-line with the energy sector.

The heavily-weighted technology (+1.4%) and health care spaces (+1.4%) followed telecom services (+1.2%) and utilities (-0.3%) on the bottom of the leaderboard as large-cap constituents underperformed. To that point, Facebook (FB 102.01, +0.10) and Alphabet (GOOGL 706.89, +0.53) ended the session near their flat lines while Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 101.82, +0.12) and Merck & Co. (MRK 49.03, +0.18) also finished little changed.

Today's rally in equities took a toll on safe-havens with gold and Treasuries retreating. Gold surrendered 0.6% to end its pit session at $1,239.40/ozt while selling in the 10-yr note sent its yield higher by nine basis points to 1.75%.

The positive retail sales report contributed to a rally in the dollar, which advanced against the yen and euro. The dollar/yen pair ended at 113.25 (+0.9%) while the euro slid 0.5% against the dollar to 1.1256.

Today's participation was heavier than the recent average with 1.12 billion shares changing hands ahead of the extended weekend.

Today's economic data included the Retail Sales report for January, the December Business Inventory Report, and the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for February:

Total retail sales increased 0.2% in January (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) while sales, excluding autos, increased 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus 0.0%).
The January gains were logged on top of an upwardly revised 0.2% increase (from -0.1%) for total sales in December and a 0.1% increase for sales, excluding autos, which were previously reported to be down 0.1%.
The only other retail areas experiencing sales declines in January were furniture and home furnishing stores (-0.5%), sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores (-2.1%), department stores (-0.8%), and food services and drinking places (-0.5%).Those declines, it should be noted, followed on the heels of decent-sized sales gains in December.
While this report doesn't capture any spending on services, which account for two-thirds of consumer spending, it does offer some encouraging data on goods spending.
Core retail sales, which exclude auto, gasoline station, and building material sales, were up 0.4% in January after being flat in December. This will factor favorably in the goods component for personal consumption expenditures in the first quarter GDP report.
U.S. import prices in January declined 1.1% for the second consecutive month, driven primarily by lower fuel prices.
Excluding fuel, import prices declined 0.2%. Export prices fell 0.8% in January, continuing a streak of declines that stretches back to June 2015. Excluding agriculture, export prices also declined 0.8%. Excluding fuel, import prices are down 2.9% year-over-year. Excluding agriculture, export prices are down 5.0% year-over-year.
Import fuel prices declined 12.4% in January after an 8.7% decline in December. The January decline was the largest since a 12.7% decline in August 2015. Prices for overall fuel have declined 34.5% over the past 12 months, after decreasing 43.8% between January 2014 and January 2015.
Prices for export capital goods fell 0.1%, leaving them down 0.7% year-over-year, which was the largest 12-month decrease since January 2004.
The latest installment of import price data doesn't do much in terms of supporting tighter monetary policy. Then again, the Fed remains convinced the forces driving down prices are transitory. On that note, there hasn't been a monthly advance in the nonfuel import price index since March 2014.
Total business inventories increased 0.1% in December, as expected, following an upwardly revised revised 0.1% decrease (from -0.2%) in November.
Manufacturer inventories (+0.2%) and merchant wholesaler inventories (-0.1%) were already known. Retailer inventories were the only unknown and they increased 0.4% in December on top of a 0.3% increase in November.
The total business inventory-to-sales ratio pushed up a notch to 1.39 from 1.38 in November. In December 2015 the ratio stood at 1.33.
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index slipped to 90.7 in the preliminary reading for February from the final reading of 92.0 for January (Briefing.com consensus 92.7).
The downturn in February was driven by a dip in both the Index for Current Economic Conditions (to 105.8 from 106.4) and the Index of Consumer Expectations (to 81.0 from 82.7).
Strikingly, it was also noted that consumers anticipated the lowest long-term inflation rate (2.4%) since the question was first asked in the late 1970s.

The market will be closed on Monday in observance of Presidents Day. Tuesday's economic data includes the 8:30 ET release of the Empire Manufacturing Report (Briefing.com consensus -9.9) for February. Meanwhile, the NAHB Housing Market Index for February (Briefing.com consensus 60) and December's Net Long-Term TIC Flows will cross the wires at 10:00 ET and 16:00 ET, respectively.

Russell 2000 -14.4% YTD
Nasdaq -13.4% YTD
S&P 500 -8.8% YTD
Dow Jones -8.3% YTD

Week in Review: Pressure Persists

The past week featured another weak showing from the equity market with the S&P 500 surrendering 0.8%. The benchmark index was down 2.3% going into Friday, but a broad-based 2.0% surge helped the S&P 500 narrow its weekly loss.

The S&P 500 ended the week ahead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 1.4%, while equity markets across the world had a similar showing to U.S. stocks. Japan's Nikkei faced particularly heavy selling that sent the index lower by 11.1% in just four sessions. That weakness coincided with noteworthy yen strength as the Japanese currency extended its aggressive advance that began the day after the Bank of Japan's decision to implement negative rates. The dollar/yen pair fell more than 350 pips to 113.25 from 116.85 after being down 600 pips on Thursday.

The unwavering yen strength indicated the presence of caution in the foreign exchange market while gold and bonds also advanced, benefitting from the defensive sentiment across financial markets. Gold futures rocketed into the $1,250 area, ending the week higher by 7.1% at $1239.40/ozt. For its part, the 10-yr note hit a three-year high on Thursday, which lowered its yield to 1.57%. Friday selling in the 10-yr note ran the benchmark yield to 1.75%, representing a ten basis point decline for the week.

With safe-haven assets on the rise, crude oil struggled mightily, setting a fresh 2016 low at $26.05/bbl on Thursday, but a Friday rebound lifted the energy component to $29.44/bbl, representing a 4.7% decline for the week.

For the most part, the selling that defined the week's action was tied to persistent growth concerns. The financial sector (-2.4%) was among the weakest performers, ending only ahead of utilities (-2.5%). The financial sector widened its 2016 loss to 14.4% partly due to an ongoing adjustment in the market's rate hike expectations. Furthermore, growing worries about the exposure of major financials to the battered commodity sector have also taken a toll on the economically-sensitive group. Deutsche Bank was in the spotlight last week as the stock set a 30-year low with investors showing concern over the bank's derivative exposure.

Similar to financials, eight of the remaining nine sectors registered losses for the week while the consumer staples sector ended the week higher by 0.8%.

8:05 am IPG Photonics beats by $0.03 (:GAAP), reports revs in-line; guides Q1 below consensus (IPGP) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $1.14 per share (including $0.04 gain from R&D tax credit and $0.03 FX benefit), $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.11; revenues rose 7.8% year/year to $223.6 mln vs the $223.54 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Materials processing sales in the fourth quarter increased 9% year-over-year, primarily reflecting strong growth in welding applications, and growth in cutting applications, offset by a decline in marking and engraving applications. Sales to other applications were down 11% from the fourth quarter of 2014 as strong growth in medical and telecommunications was more than offset by lower sales in advanced applications. Geographically, IPG achieved double digit growth in China and Japan, more moderate growth in Northern and Western Europe and sales declines in Russia and Turkey. In North America, double-digit growth in materials processing applications was offset by a decline in advanced applications sales.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.88-1.03 vs. $1.11 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q1 revs of $200-215 mln vs. $222.52 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"We continue to be optimistic for 2016 and are managing the company to achieve double-digit growth for the year. Our optimism is grounded in our strong core products, our backlog and many new product introductions planned this year. We exited 2015 with a backlog of $442.5 million, representing an increase of 38% from $321.0 million at year-end 2014. Backlog for orders with firm shipment dates increased by 6% to $185.1 million from $174.5 million while backlog of frame agreements expected to ship within one year increased by 76% to $257.4 million from $146.5 million."

7:13 am Nokia announces that its reopened public exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) in France and in the US has been settled and that its new shares have been entered into the Finnish Trade Register (NOK) : As a result of the Reopened Offer Nokia now holds 91.25% of the share capital and at least 91.17% of the voting rights of Alcatel-Lucent, 99.62% of the outstanding OCEANE 2018 convertible bonds, 37.18% of the outstanding OCEANE 2019 convertible bonds, and 68.17% of the outstanding OCEANE 2020 convertible bonds. This equates to Nokia holding 88.07% of the share capital on a fully diluted basis.

6:01 am Chipmos Technology reports January revs of $47.9 mln, -10.7% YoY (IMOS) : Co also confirmed that as noted in its press release on February 6, 2016, it resumed normal operations on February 6, 2016 after only a very minor impact at its manufacturing operations in the Tainan Science Park following the earthquake earlier that day.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: The broader market posted another day of gains. The three major US indices were led by the Nasdaq Composite which added 98.11 points (+2.21%) today to close 4535.06. The S&P 500 was higher by 31.24 points (+1.65%) to 1926.82. Rounding out the trio was the Dow Jones Industrial Average which was higher by 257.42 points (+1.59%) to 16453.83.

In market data today, the MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 8.2% in mortgage applications. The Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand increased 0.1% in January after a 0.2% decline in December. Housing starts declined 3.8% in January as building permits slipped 0.2% to an annualized rate of 1.202 million, with single family permits down 1.6% and multi-unit permits up 2.1%. Industrial production was up 0.9% in January, slightly hindered by a large winter storm late in the month. Total industry capacity utilization rate increased to 77.1% in January.

Technology (XLK 40.78, +0.81 +2.03%) was also higher when the session was done. Shares of bellwether names like AAPL +1.53%, MSFT +2.60%, GOOG +2.52%, FB +3.53% led the sector higher. Other sectors finished Wednesday XLE +3.28%, XLY +2.15%, XLB +1.97%, IYZ +1.90%, XLI +1.54%, XLF +1.34%, XLV +1.27%, XLP +1.03%, XLU -0.20% led by an advance in Energy and the sole laggard of the day being Utilities.

Software (IGV 90.22, +2.77 +3.17%) names were some of the best performers today as component Zendesk (ZEN 17.45, +1.54 +9.68%) reported better than expected revenues for the Q4 period and gave better than expected Q1 and FY16 revenue guidance. Other IGV names which were higher today included WDAY +8.41%, IMPV +7.68%, SPLK +7.07%, CRM +6.31%, NOW +6.19%, HUBS +5.99%, ELLI +5.80%, CTXS +5.41%, MANH +5.36%.

Internet (FDN 63.32, +1.91 +3.11%) stocks were also strong today following component Priceline's (PCLN 1235.56, +124.88 +11.24%) quarterly results which beat Street expectations on the top and bottom lines. Other FDN names which posted solid gains today included EIGI +11.55%, P +11.50%, DWRE +7.65%, TWTR +6.72%, NFLX +6.41%, CSOD +5.62%, EXPE +5.16%, LNKD +4.73%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (673.27, +15.29+ 2.32%), action spent the entire session in the green. Shares of semi name Qorvo (QRVO 41.59, +0.81 +1.99%) were particularly strong as the company announced a $500 million accelerated share repurchase program with Bank of America (BAC 12.57, +0.34 +2.74%). Other stocks which finished in the green included MU +5.74%, TDC +4.70%, ADSK +3.97%, RHT +3.92%, ADBE +3.77%, SWKS +3.69%, INTU +3.15%, HPQ +2.75%, IBM +2.74%, ORCL +2.61%, MSI +2.57%, APH +2.54%, PYPL +2.54%.

Other news items among sector components:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Analog Devices (ADI 52.73, +0.66 +1.27%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.42 per share from $0.40 per share. The company also increased its share buyback to $1 billion.

Harris (HRS 74.26, +0.82 +1.09%) was awarded a contract by Rockwall County, Texas to enhance its county-wide public safety and public service radio system. The contract was awarded during the second quarter of Harris' fiscal 2016.

Electronic Arts (EA 59.84, +0.48 +0.81%) announced a public offering of senior notes. EA intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including but not limited to, the payment of amounts due upon conversion, maturity or repurchase of EA's 0.75% Convertible Senior Notes due 2016, and the repurchase of EA shares, including under the new $500 million stock repurchase program contingent upon the launch of the senior notes offering.

Qorvo (QRVO) entered into a $500 million accelerated share repurchase program with Bank of America (BAC).

IBM (IBM 126.10, +3.36 +2.74%) and GBM Corporation announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the use of IBM's Watson cognitive computing capabilities in Latin America.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Hortonworks' (HDP 9.51, +0.52 +5.78%) CEO Robert Bearden voluntarily cancelled a stock option to purchase 1,185,000 shares dated September 12, 2014.

Cheetah Mobile (CMCM 16.99, +1.74 +11.41%) named Charles Fan as Chief Technology Officer.

Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH 26.80, +0.21 +0.79%) received a $115 million three-year task order to provide support to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Vishay (VSH 11.71, +0.19 +1.61%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.0625 per share from $0.06 per share.

FICO (FICO 94.35, +0.37 +0.39%) was awarded 2 new patents related to cyber-security and utility network protection.

Live Nation's (LYV 20.32, +0.17 +0.84%) Canada unit acquired the festival portfolio of Union Events.

Mentor Graphics (MENT 18.01, +0.31 +1.75%) signed a multi-year subscription agreement with ARM Holdings (ARMH 39.87, +1.36 +3.53%) to enable early access to a broad range of ARM intellectual property and related technologies.

Nuance Communications (NUAN 18.35, +0.70 +3.97%) filed an application to cease to be a reporting issuer in Canada.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Priceline (PCLN) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $12.63 and $2 billion, respectively. Also, the company guided Q1 EPS of $9.00-9.60, slightly worse than expected at the mid-point. PCLN sees revenues of $2.01-2.14 billion for Q1.

T-Mobile US (TMUS 36.85, +0.40 +1.10%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.34 on revenues which rose 1.1% year-over-year to $8.25 billion. TMUS also guided FY16 capex in the range of $4.5-4.8 billion. The company added 2.1 million net customers in the period.

Analog Devices (ADI) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.56 and $769.4 million, respectively. The company also guided Q2 EPS in-line at $0.58-0.66 and revenues in-line at down 2% to up 4%.

Agilent (A 37.87, +0.79 +2.13%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.46 on revenues which were worse than expected at $1.03 billion. The company also guided Q2 EPS and revenues worse than expected at $0.37-0.39 and $965-985 million, respectively. The company also expects in-line FY16 EPS of $1.81-1.87 on in-line revenues of $4.10-4.12 billion.

Rackspace (RAX 18.71, +0.53 +2.92%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.31 on revenues which rose 10.7% year-over-year to $522.8 million. RAX also guided Q1 and FY16 revenues worse than expected at $517-521 million and $2.08-2.16 billion, respectively.

Zendesk (ZEN 17.45, +1.56 +9.82%) reported in-line Q4 EPS at a loss per share of $0.07 on better than expected revenues which rose 62.9% year-over-year to $62.7 million. ZEN also guided Q1 and FY16 revenues better than expected at $65-67 million and $290-300 million, respectively.

Shopify (SHOP 22.37, +1.90 +9.28%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS at a loss of $0.01 per share on better than expected revenues which also rose 99.4% year-over-year to $70.2 million. The company also guided Q1 and FY16 revenues better than expected at $65-67 million and $320-330 million, respectively.

Companies reporting quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: ARRS BRCD CSLT ELNK EPAM GLOB GDDY ITRI JIVE LSCC MANT NTAP NVMI NVDA SPRT SNPS TYL UNTD/CBB DISCA DISH EIGI IQNT IDCC LDOS SYNT TVPT VPG

Analyst actions:

RAX was upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at FBN Securities,
DISH was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Wunderlich,
SEMI was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman;
RAX was downgraded at Pacific Crest, Stifel and Credit Suisse,
CCO was downgraded to Sell from Buy at Topeka Capital Mkts

4:50 pm Ingram Micro: Additional color on IM buyout at premium valuation (IM) :

As mentioned in our 16:25 comment, IM agreed to be acquired by Tianjin Tianhai for $38.90/share in cash, representing a 31% premium to today's closing price and the highest valuation since the tech-bubble. Upon close of the merger, IM will become a part of HNA Group, a Hainan-based Fortune Global 500 enterprise group and a "leader in aviation, tourism and logistics" and the largest stockholder of Tianjin Tianhai.Ingram Micro's executive management team will remain in place, with Alain Moni continuing to lead as CEO.For background, IM is a wholesale technology distributor and involved in supply chain management and mobile device lifecycle services. IM distributes and markets a large variety of technology and mobility products from companies such as Acer, Apple, Cisco, Citrix, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, Samsung, Symantec, VMware and many others. Competitors aren't reacting much in after-hours, but could see some positive read-through from the premium valuation paid for IM.IM notes that within its Technology Solutions business, it competes against broad-based IT distributors such as Tech Data (TECD) and Synnex (SNX). IM also notes other specialized competitors such as Avnet (AVT) and Arrow (ARW) in components and enterprise products; Westcon in networking and security; D&H Distributing, ADI, and Petra in consumer electronics; and ScanSource (SCSC), BlueStar and Jaritech in AIDC/POS products.

4:25 pm Ingram Micro enters into agreement to be acquired by Tianjin Tianhai for $38.90/share in cash; co suspends quarterly dividend & share buyback (IM) :

Transaction valued at ~$6.0 bln, or $38.90/shareIngram Micro will continue to be headquartered in Irvine, California, operating as a subsidiary of Tianjin Tianhai Transaction will enable Ingram Micro to accelerate strategic investments, adding expertise, capabilities and geographic reach according to IngramTransaction represents a premium of ~39% over the average closing share price of Ingram Micro for the 30 trading days ended Feb 16, 2016Expected to close in second half of 2016Co suspends quarterly dividend and share buyback prior to closing the transaction

4:24 pm NVIDIA beats by $0.08, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus (NVDA) :

Reports Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.52 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.44; revenues rose 12.0% year/year to $1.4 bln vs the $1.31 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $1.235-1.285 bln vs. $1.23 bln Capital IQ Consensus; non-GAAP gross margin 57-58%.For fiscal 2017, NVIDIA intends to return ~$1.0 billion to shareholders through ongoing quarterly cash dividends and share repurchases.

4:12 pm Marvell and Carnegie Mellon University have settled their patent infringement lawsuit; MRVL to pay $750 mln to university (shares halted) (MRVL) :

The parties have resolved the case on mutually acceptable terms, including an aggregate payment by Marvell to CMU of $750 million, with no ongoing royalty payments.

As of January 30, 2016, MRVL's cash and short term investments exceeded $2.3 billion. Marvell had previously recorded approximately $388 million for litigation reserves in fiscal 2016 related to CMU.

4:11 pm SunPower beats by $0.20, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus; lowers FY16 guidance (SPWR) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.73 per share, $0.20 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.53; revenues rose 123.7% year/year to $1.36 bln vs the $1.28 bln Capital IQ Consensus.Gross Margin 28.8% compared to 17.7% in Q3 and 20.4% in prior year; Q4 financial results reflected a shift of approximately $65 million in EBITDA originally forecasted to be recognized in fiscal year 2016.Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $290-340 mln vs. $694.99 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Gross margin of 12 percent to 13 percent, EBITDA of $0 to $25 million and megawatts deployed in the range of 315 MW to 340 MW.Co issues guidance for FY16, lowers FY16 non-GAAP revs to $3.2-3.4 bln from $3.3-3.5 bln vs. $3.36 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.As a result of this ~$65 million EBITDA shift, the company now expects 2016 EBITDA to be in the range of $450 million to $500 million compared to previous guidance of $515 million to $565 million.Gross margin of 14 percent to 16 percent, capital expenditures of $210 million to $240 million and gigawatts deployed in the range of 1.7 GW to 2.0 GW.For 2017, the company believes that with the ITC extension, further investment in the U.S. market and a strong global project pipeline, it is well positioned to sustainably grow its EBITDA.

4:06 pm Anadigics declares a competing bidder's proposal to acquire the co for $0.78/share a 'superior offer' to the previously announced offer of $0.66/share (ANAD) : Party B has offered to acquire all of the outstanding shares of ANAD common stock on a fully-diluted basis for $0.78/share net in cash, pursuant to an all-cash one-step merger.The co's Board of Directors, after consultation with its financial and legal advisors, has unanimously determined in good faith that the Feb 16, 2016 Party B merger agreement is an constitutes a 'Superior Offer', as those terms are defined in the previously announced Jan 15, 2016 agreement and plan of merger pursuant to which an affiliate of II-VI has offered to acquire all of the outstanding shares of ANAD common stock on a fully diluted basis for $0.66/share net in cash, pursuant to an all-cash tender offer and second-step merger.

4:06 pm NetApp beats by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (NTAP) :

Reports Q3 (Jan) earnings of $0.70 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.68; revenues fell 10.6% year/year to $1.39 bln vs the $1.45 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.55-0.60 vs. $0.73 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $1.35-1.50 bln vs. $1.51 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."We launched a transformation program designed to streamline the business and reduce our cost structure, while at the same time, maintaining our ability to invest in strategic opportunities."

4:02 pm Brocade beats by $0.05, beats on revs -- Guides on call at 16:30 (BRCD) :

Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.24; revenues fell 0.3% year/year to $574 mln vs the $561.29 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

4:15 pm : The major averages ended their Wednesday affair on a higher note, rallying throughout the day alongside crude oil. Adding to today's positive sentiment was sustained sector leadership from the heavily-weighted technology (+2.3%) and consumer discretionary spaces (+2.1%), dovish commentary from Boston Fed President Rosengren. The Nasdaq Composite (+2.2%) ended in the lead while the S&P 500 (+1.7%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.6%) followed.

Throughout today's session oil climbed on speculation that OPEC ministers would convince Iran to cooperate on a production freeze. However, while Iran voiced support for market stabilization efforts, the country has yet to agree to take part in yesterday's proposed production freeze. Nevertheless, WTI crude ended its day higher by 5.5% at $30.65/bbl.

In central bank news, the minutes from the FOMC's January meeting echoed a dovish tone that was voiced yesterday by Boston Fed President and FOMC voter Eric Rosengren. The minutes reported concerns over a potential drag on the U.S. economy from larger-than-expected slowdowns in China and other emerging markets. On that note, Fed President Rosengren argued for a more gradual approach to hiking rates in response to headwinds from abroad.

Energy (+2.9%) and technology led the other sectors while materials (+2.0%) and consumer discretionary jockeyed one another. On the flipside, countercyclical utilities (-0.2%), telecom services (+0.3%),consumer staples (+1.0%), and health care (+1.3%) rounded out the board.

The commodity-sensitive energy space topped the leaderboard thanks to the rebound in crude oil. Energy giant Chevron (CVX 88.31, +3.50) climbed 4.1% to outperform the broader sector. Conversely, natural gas company Devon Energy (DVN 20.33, -0.93) surrendered 4.4% after reporting below-consensus revenue in Q4 and announcing a 75.0% dividend cut.

Separately, Salesforce.com (CRM 63.49, +3.77) showed relative strength in the technology sector. The company outperformed after Mizuho issued bullish commentary on the company when previewing Salesforce.com's Q4 earnings (February 24th). Large-cap Facebook (FB 105.19, +3.58) was able to recover from early relative weakness while Apple (AAPL 98.12, +1.48) ended its session behind the broader sector.

Priceline (PCLN 1,235.56, +124.88) outperformed in the consumer discretionary space after reporting above-consensus earnings prior to today's open. Meanwhile, fellow sector heavyweight Disney (DIS 95.50, +2.59) climbed 2.8%. The discretionary group has climbed 4.6% over the last two days, but remains lower by 1.7% for the month.

In the health care space, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 102.50, +0.18) and Pfizer (PFE 29.63, -0.18) weighed on the broader sector while biotechnology outperformed today, evidenced by a 2.9% increase in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 266.32, +7.60).

Treasury yields traded higher throughout today's session as the rally in equities continued, but an afternoon bid in the Treasury complex pressured yields from their highs. The yield on the 10-yr note ended the day higher by four basis points at 1.81%.

Today's participation was true to the recent average with more than 1.2 billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, January PPI, January Housing Starts, January Building Permits, the January Industrial Production Report, Capacity Utilization, and thee FOMC's January Minutes.

MBA Mortgage Index was reported at 7:00 ET, showing a seasonally adjusted increase of 8.2% in mortgage applications.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand increased 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%) in January after an unrevised 0.2% decline in December.
Excluding food and energy, final demand prices increased 0.4% (Briefing.com consensus 0.0%) on top of an upwardly revised 0.2% increase (from 0.1%) in December.
A 0.5% increase in prices for final demand services drove the uptick in the PPI for final demand. That overrode a 0.7% decrease in prices for final demand goods, which flowed from a 5.0% decline for final demand energy goods.
With the January reading, total PPI is down 0.2% year-over-year on an unadjusted basis while core PPI is up 0.6%. There is still much room for improvement, yet January's readings would seem to have PPI headed in the right direction in the Fed's mind.
Housing starts declined 3.8% in January to an annualized rate of 1.099 million units (Briefing.com consensus 1.171 mln), as single-family starts dropped 3.9% and multi-units starts fell 3.7%.
Single-family starts in the South were flat in January; otherwise, there were declines in all other regions with the Northeast down 14.1%, the West down 10.0%, and the Midwest down 3.8%.
The number of housing units under construction at the end of the period stood at 978,000 versus 976,000 at the end of December and the fourth quarter average of 962,000. This should be a slight positive as it relates to first quarter GDP computations.
Building permits slipped 0.2% to an annualized rate of 1.202 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.200 mln), with single-family permits down 1.6% and multi-unit permits up 2.1%.
There was an outsized 55.4% decline in total permits for the Northeast region, which was likely due to the expiration of tax credits for building multi-family properties in New York City.
That decline was offset by a 26.5% increase for total permits in the Midwest and a 24.5% increase for total permits in the West.
Industrial production increased a robust 0.9% in January and could have bee a little bit stronger if not for a big winter storm late in the month, according to the Federal Reserve.
The January reading was much stronger than the Briefing.com consensus estimate of +0.3% and the downwardly revised 0.7% decline (from -0.4%) in December. On a year-over-year basis, total industrial production is still down 0.7%.
Following unseasonably warm weather in December, proper winter temperatures arrived in January and cranked up the demand for heating. That demand fueled a 5.4% increase in the index for utilities, which interrupted a string of three straight monthly declines. A 0.5% increase in manufacturing output was another big driver of the headline surprise. That increase was a byproduct of near 0.5% increases for both nondurables and durables.
The durables increase was powered by a 2.8% increase for motor vehicles and parts. On a related note, total motor vehicle assemblies increased 4.0% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 12.11 million units. Mining output was surprisingly unchanged in January as substantial decreases for oil and gas well drilling and servicing, for coal mining, and for nonmetallic mineral mining were offset by increases for oil and gas extraction and for metal ore mining. That was the first time since August 2015 that mining output has not declined.
Separately, the total industry capacity utilization rate increased to 77.1% in January from a downwardly revised 76.4% (from 76.5%) in December. The bulk of that improvement stemmed from capacity utilization for utilities increasing to 77.5% from 73.6%.

St. Louis Fed President and FOMC voting member James Bullard will be speaking at 18:00 ET.

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 274k) and the February Philadelphia Fed Survey (Briefing.com consensus -2.9) with both reports set to cross the wires at 8:30 ET.

Russell 2000 -11.0% YTD
Nasdaq -9.5% YTD
S&P 500 -5.7% YTD
Dow Jones -5.6% YTD


DJ30 +257.42 NASDAQ +98.11 SP500 +31.24 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2307/2.109 bln/774 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2575/1.186 bln/521

3:40 pm :

Energy futures rallied today, some extending recent gains
Mar crude oil futures rallied today, closing the session +5.5% at $30.65/barrel
Mar heating oil futures rallied as well, rising +7% to $1.10/gallon, while Mar RBOB gasoline rose 3.1% to $1.00/gallon
In other energy, Mar natural gas gained some steam, closing today's session +2.1% at $1.94/MMBtu
Metals climbed higher today as well, but showed much smaller gains
Apr gold rose 0.3% to $1211.20/oz, while Mar silver rose 0.3% to $15.38/oz
Copper gained three cents to end at $2.08/lb.

11:12 am Rackspace: Huge reversal in RAX (+4%) after stock gapped down 16% to a six year low following downside Q1/FY16 guidance (RAX) :

8:04 am Analog Devices beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line; raises quarterly dividend 5% to $0.42/share, Board approves an increase in its share repurchase authorization to $1 bln (ADI) :

Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.56 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.53; revenues fell 0.3% year/year to $769.4 mln vs the $755.02 mln Capital IQ Consensus.ADI also announced on February 16, 2016 that its Board of Directors has approved a $0.02 increase in its quarterly dividend, from $0.40 to $0.42 per outstanding share of common stock. The dividend will be paid on March 8, 2016 to all shareholders of record at the close of business on February 26, 2016In addition, the Board of Directors approved an increase to the Company's share repurchase authorization to $1 billion. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.58-0.66, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.63 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs in the range of down 2% to +4%, sequentially, which calculates to ~$754.0-800.2 mln vs. $793.39 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

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InvestmentHouse - CPI Core Jumps Over 2.2% (Weekend Newsletter)

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

- Quiet expiration as sellers don't try to exploit any weakness.
- Stock indices continue a test of the 3-day move.
- CPI core jumps over 2.2%
- Stocks reload for the new expiration to try and continue past the January recovery high.

Friday was expiration, but it was a pretty quiet one. All of the action took place early as stocks started lower and sold in the first hour. CPI for January was flat overall, but cores jumped 0.3% (0.1% expected), a 2.2% year/year gain. That was the highest since June 2012 and the biggest jump since August 2011. That had stocks a bit unnerved as it works to handcuff the Fed's options regarding renewing any monetary easing. As for the session, however, it was, to use one of the Fed's favorite words, transitory.

Indeed after the first hour of trade the selling was over. It took the indices lower in a second day of testing the prior Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday sharp rally, but by the end of the session the indices were in very good shape. Indeed, they were never really in bad shape even with the early lows. It was a day of further testing or consolidating the 3-day surge, and frankly, the action was not bad at all for the upside to try and consolidate the gains and try for more.

SP500 -0.05,
DJ30 16.89, 0.38%
NASDAQ 21.44, 0.13%
SP400 -0.01%
RUTX 0.53%
SOX 0.49%

VOLUME: NYSE 7.5%, NASDAQ -7%

A/D: NYSE decliners lead slightly, NASDAQ 1.2:1 advancers


This market is an interesting dichotomy. We know the big names led the move higher through year end while the majority of stocks had already engaged in selloffs, many down well over 20%, the level the pundit class calls a bear market.

When the big name leaders broke, many of the downtrodden, the oppressed areas longing for money to come their way did indeed start to recover. Industrial equipment, metals, department stores all have enjoyed money moving their way. Not huge, blowout moves, but some money fleeing the big names trying to find some place to go while staying in the market. These beaten up areas are getting some money parked in them. We saw that with good moves in FCX, CENX, AKS as they come off their lows.

The market now is at something of a crossroads. The stock indices set up big tops and broke lower, then set up a smaller topping pattern. They were breaking lower two Thursdays back when the OPEC production cut story hit, reversing oil from 26 to 34, and reversing the stock indices from new selloff lows. After a three-day move following the intraday reversal, the stock indices are testing the prior recovery high as is oil.

Will the indices fold or continue higher? Will the big names continue to recover or falter? If they falter, will money keep moving into the beaten down areas and thus keep the stock market from wholly rolling over even if the big names that move the needle on the indices again sell?

Overall we still view the stock market as in a major top. Fifteen months of putting in a rounded top, a breakdown, the formation of a head and shoulders pattern after the breakdown. Pretty negative, but the stock indices wanted to find a story to help them rally, and they did. Now they are trying to turn the selling back and continue a rebound move.

As of Friday, the upside move attempt is still alive. Three sharp days up, two very mild selling sessions that function as nice consolidations. The setup is still there to continue the move near term as money is put into those beaten down areas and the prior big name leaders try to continue their recoveries as well.

The indices are at the January recovery highs, and as discussed last week, that is the next major test of the rebound from the August, January, and February lows (in terms of DJ30, SP500, and more or less NASDAQ), and the Thursday and Friday consolidation action is a good way to digest the initial move and setup a continuation higher.

This week the indices will show if they can continue setting up. As noted, nothing as of Friday suggested they cannot, at least nothing technically. Oil is on everyone's radar, however, and it hit the 50 day MA's and the January high Thursday and stalled. If oil stumbles back down, those that are managing their funds via the price of oil will pressure the stock market as well.



THE MARKET

CHARTS

DJ30: The three day recovery took the Dow to its January recovery high as of Wednesday. Thursday and Friday DJ30 tested, but Friday showed a nice intraday recovery off the early low. Definitely no sellers trying to exploit the stall at the prior highs, at least not yet. This is pretty solid consolidation action, taking a breather after a strong three day surge, holding the gains and trying to set up a new move.

SP500: Similar action, though SP500 has not made it quite back to the January highs. Testing as well, reaching lower Friday early session, then rebounding to close flat. Holding over the August and September lows, digesting the gains, in great position to continue the move.

NASDAQ: Started lower than the NYSE indices, making it back to the September lows by the end of the week. still below the January recovery high that failed at the 20 day EMA, but over the 20 day EMA on the Wednesday move and held it to close out the week. As with DJ30, SP500, even though it is lower, this is a key test in the recovery for NASDAQ as the big names try to continue their recovery and thus push NASDAQ.

SOX: Looks a lot like SP500, rallying close to the January high but not quite there. Indeed it touched at the 50 day EMA on the Thursday high and faded, and showed similar action Friday. Not as clear in terms of a quality consolidation, but it is holding its recovery gains.

SP400: The midcaps are also very similar to SP500, testing the nice move to near the January highs, bouncing back from intraday weakness.

RUTX: More like NASDAQ, posting a recovery off the lower low, now trying to consolidate the move to take on the January high.


LEADERSHIP

Big Names: GOOG bounced to the 50 day EMA but appears to be stalling. AMZN touched the 200 day SMA Thursday then reversed, but Friday it rebounded close to that level. FB managed to close over the 50 day MA Friday after struggling there all week. AAPL rallied early week then faded it Thursday and Friday. Still looks as if it can continue higher, but showed this same action in late January right before it gapped lower. NFLX recovered to the 20 day EMA then reversed late week. MSFT rallied to the 50 day EMA Wednesday, tried to extend the move, faded late week. Still a good recovery off the 200 day SMA test.

Retail: Department stores in some cases are not bad, e.g. DDS, even with JWN earnings.

Metals: Solid week moving up off the lows, some testing nice moves to end the week, e.g. FCX. CENX surged and AKS remains solid.

Financial: Still in downtrends, e.g. GS, BAC. JPM is trying to hold a recovery off the January low, but choppy. MA and V are off the lows but are at the next step where they need to show they can continue.

Utilities: Still holding the line in some good tests of prior moves, e.g. AEP, PCG. Defensive group and that suggests there is still some downside worry.

Industrials: Testing after good moves from CAT, CMI. Others such as TEX are not even resting. Recovering off of the lows, trying to change the trend.

Chips: Still a struggle. NXPI faded from a 20 day EMA test. AVGO still below the 200 day SMA. MCHP, SWKS are trying to use the market pause to set up the next try at moving higher.


MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: +16.89 points (+0.38%) to close at 4504.43
Volume: 2.076B (-7.16%)

Up Volume: 1.13B (+442.25M)
Down Volume: 741.44M (-508.56M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.25 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.51 to 1

New Highs: 20 (0)
New Lows: 57 (-6)

S&P
Stats: -0.05 points (0%) to close at 1917.78
NYSE Volume: 1.13B (+7.62%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.02 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.04 to 1

New Highs: 30 (-2)
New Lows: 41 (+10)

DJ30
Stats: -21.44 points (-0.13%) to close at 16391.99


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 20.53; -1.11
VXN: 24.91; -1.69
VXO: 22.33; -0.69

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 1.06; -0.01

Three sessions back over 1.0 as the put action remained heavier on expiration after the market posted such a strong rebound. That has a lot of positions being rolled or closed.

Recent history: 6 of 12 sessions below 1.0, 23 of the last 35 sessions above 1.0, including the last three.


Bulls and Bears: Bulls recovered a bit of ground after falling the prior week from over 30. Bears remain very skeptical with their numbers rising despite a market bounce. Still in a crossover position. This indicator is strongly suggesting a bounce, but this is not a timing indicator.

Bulls: 26.5 versus 24.7. Some recovery from the plunge from over 30 three weeks back.

Bears: 39.8 versus 39.2. Still no faith in bears the market has bottomed.

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: 26.5%
24.7% 34.0% versus 29.2% versus 26.8% versus 28.6% versus 34.7% versus 36.7% versus 37.8% versus 44.9% versus 41.2% versus 45.4%

Background: Bulls hit their lowest level in 2015 since the 2008 and 2009 market plummet.

Bears: 39.8%
39.2% versus 38.1% versus 35.4% versus 36.1% versus 35.7% versus 31.6% versus 29.6% versus 29.6% versus 27.6% versus 26.8% versus 26.8% versus 28.9% versus 28.1% versus 29.2% versus 31.3% versus 31.2% versus 34.4% versus 35.1% versus 30.2% versus 26.8% versus 27.9 versus 26.8% versus 22.5% versus 18.4% versus 18.6% versus 17.5%

Background: Over 35% for bears is the threshold to be really be a good upside indicator. The best indication is when bears cross up through bulls as the two merge. Both occurred in fall 2015.


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 1.75% versus 1.74%. After a test of the 20 day EMA through Wednesday, a bounce Thursday, pause Friday. Big surge higher is now tested.

Historical: 1.74% versus 1.81% versus 1.78% versus 1.75% versus 1.64% versus 1.69% versus 1.73% versus 1.76% versus 1.85% versus 1.85% versus 1.88% versus 1.86% versus 1.96% versus 1.93% versus 1.99% versus 2.019% versus 2.01% versus 2.01% versus 2.05% versus 2.01% versus 1.99% versus 2.05% versus 2.03% versus 2.09% versus 2.07% versus 2.105% versus 2.17% versus 2.11% versus 2.15% versus 2.18% versus 2.25%


EUR/USD: 1.1130 versus 1.1103. EUR still testing the 20 day EMA after the big break higher. 7 session test, showing doji. EUR rallied when US stocks struggled.

Historical: 1.1103 versus 1.1124 versus 1.1275 versus 1.1154 versus 1.1249 versus 1.1322 versus 1.1293 versus 1.1294 versus 1.1197 versus 1.1159 versus 1.1206 versus 1.1110 versus 1.0916 versus 1.0905 versus 1.0836 versus 1.0939 versus 1.0899 versus 1.0854 versus 1.0849 versus 1.0798 versus 1.0769 versus 1.0815 versus 1.0910 versus 1.0917 versus 1.0869


USD/JPY: 112.65 versus 113.25. Dollar touched the 10 day EMA early week, has sold since.

Historical: 113.25 versus 114.04 versus 114.33 versus 114.747 versus 113.29 versus 112.39 versus 113.36 versus 115.085 versus 115.74 versus 116.83 versus 116.76 versus 117.88 versus 120.04 versus 121.014 versus 121.055 versus 118.27 versus 118.64 versus 118.48


Oil: 31.75, -0.98. Gapped to the 50 day EMA Thursday but sold back. Friday oil filled the upside gap. Trying to change things up a bit, and did make it through the 20 day EMA this time.


Gold: 1231.30, 0.00. After the big surge Thursday off the 10 day EMA test, oil held steady.


MONDAY

The indices are sitting on a big three day push higher, testing Thursday and Friday. They held the moves and the shorts did not try to take new positions ahead of expiration. Now we see if DJ30, SP500 et al can push higher again to continue the advance. Key test of the move and prior levels as discussed earlier.

We have a balanced mix of upside downside plays for the start of the week. Some areas that are recovering could continue doing so. Others continue to struggle even after the bounce, setting up some possible downside plays. As we have seen, both can work in this market.

You have to acknowledge the overall negative market pattern yet defer to the recent strength until the sellers show up again. Given the overall top in the market, we feel they will show up, but perhaps not until there is more of a relief move upside.


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4504.43

Resistance:
4517-4506 from the September 2015 and August 2015 closing lows
4615 from September 2014 highs, October 2014 upper gap point, late August 2015 low.
4620 is the February 1 closing high
4637 is the February intraday high
The 50 day EMA at 4631
4736 is the early January lower gap point downside, the last downside gap in the selloff.
4751 is the January 2015 lower high
4774 is the January 2-15 high
4811 is the November 2014 peak (intraday)
4815 is the December 2014 peak
The March 2015 lows at 4843 and 4825
4902 is the July 2015 low
The 200 day SMA at 4909
4916 is the mid-November 2015 low
4920 is the lower gap point from mid-October
4894 is the September 2015 closing high
4999 is the October upper gap point
5008.57 is the early March 2015 post-bear market high
5042 is the March 2015 high
5100 from the April peak and early May peak
5162 is the early November peak, 5176 is the December intraday peak

Support:
4485 are the twin July 2014 peaks
4471 is the January 2016 closing low
4363 is the February upper gap point
4352 is the March 2014 peak
4313 is the January 2016 intraday low
4292 is the August 2015 low
4212 is the February intraday low
4116 is the October 2014 low

S&P 500: Closed at 1917.78

Resistance:
1940 is the January 2016 recovery bounce peak closing high
The 50 day EMA at 1940
1947 is the February 2016 intraday high
1972 is the December 2014 low
1991 is the July 2014 high
1995 is the September 2015 recovery peak
2011 is the September prior all-time high
2020 is the September 2015 intraday high
The 200 day SMA at 2031
2040 is the March 2015 closing low
2046 is the July 2015 closing low
2062 is the January 2015 lower high
2079 is the intraday all-time high from November 2014
2094 is the December 2014 high, the prior all-time high
2104 is the December 2015 high
2116 is the November 2015 high
2119.59 is the February intraday prior all-time high
2126 was the April prior all-time high
2130 is the June 2015 peak
2135 is the May 2015 all-time high

Support:
1913 is the early September 2015 closing low testing the bounce from the August selling
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1872 is the September 2015 test low of the August low
1867 is the August 2015 low
1862 is the October 2014 closing low
1859 is the January 2016 closing low
1820 is the October 2014 intraday low
1815 is the April 2014 low
1812 is the January 2016 intraday low
1772 are the Q4 2013 highs and lows


Dow: Closed at 16,391.99

Resistance:
16,466 is the January 2016 recovery closing peak.
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
16,511 is the January 2016 intraday high
16,526 is the early January resistance
The 50 day EMA at 16,552
16,589 is the December 2013 former all-time high
16,632 is the April 2014 peak
16,665 is the late August 2015 closing high
16,670 is the December 2014 peak and the recent August 2015 relief bounce peak.
16,736 is a prior all-time high from May 2014
16,740 is the mid-September peak and potential apex for a right shoulder to a head and shoulders pattern
16,933 is the September 2015 recovery intraday peak
16,946 is the June 2014 peak
16,970 is the June 2014 former all-time high
17067 is the December 2014 low
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17,152 is the mid-July post bear market high
The 200 day SMA at 17,253
17,351 is the September 2014 all-time high.
June 2015 low at 17,715
17,748 is the mid-April China margin selloff and the bottom of the 5 month trading range
The March low at 17,786
17,978 is the November 2015 peak

Support:
16,368 is the August 2014 low
The 20 day EMA 16,227
16,117 is the October 2014 closing low
16,058 is the early September 2015 low
16,026 is the April 2014 low
15,855 is the October 2014 intraday low
15,766 is the January closing low
15,666 is the August 2015 closing low
15,450 is the January 2016 intraday low
15,372 is the February 2014 low
15,370 is the August 2015 low


ECONOMIC CALENDAR

February 19 - Friday
CPI, January (8:30): 0.0% actual versus -0.1% expected, -0.1% prior
Core CPI, January (8:30): 0.3% actual versus 0.1% expected, 0.2% prior (revised from 0.1%)

February 23 - Tuesday
Case-Shiller 20-city, December (9:00): 5.8% expected, 5.8% prior
Consumer Confidence, February (10:00): 97.3 expected, 98.1 prior
Existing Home Sales, January (10:00): 5.30M expected, 5.46M prior

February 24 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 02/20 (7:00): 8.2% prior
New Home Sales, January (10:00): 523K expected, 544K prior
Crude Inventories, 02/20 (10:30): 2.150M prior

February 25 - Thursday
Initial Claims, 02/20 (8:30): 270K expected, 262K prior
Continuing Claims, 02/13 (8:30): 2268K expected, 2273K prior
Durable Orders, January (8:30): 2.0% expected, -5.0% prior
Durable Goods -ex tr, January (8:30): 0.4% expected, -1.0% prior
FHFA Housing Price I, December (9:00): 0.5% prior
Natural Gas Inventor, 02/20 (10:30): -158 bcf prior

February 26 - Friday
GDP - Second Estimat, Q4 (8:30): 0.4% expected, 0.7% prior
GDP Deflator - Secon, Q4 (8:30): 0.8% expected, 0.8% prior
Personal Income, January (8:30): 0.4% expected, 0.3% prior
Personal Spending, January (8:30): 0.3% expected, 0.0% prior
Core PCE Prices, January (8:30): 0.1% expected, 0.0% prior
Michigan Sentiment -, February (10:00): 91.0 expected, 92.0 prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:21 pm Motorola Solutions beats by $0.12, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus; guides FY16 EPS above consensus (MSI) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.58 per share, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.46; revenues fell 7.7% year/year to $1.68 bln vs the $1.69 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of 0.37-0.42 vs. $0.45 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees revs down 4-6% YoY vs. consensus expectations for revenue to fall 3%. Co issues upside guidance for FY16, sees EPS of 4.45-4.65 vs. $4.03 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees revs +5-7% vs. +1% consensus.

4:07 pm Veeco Instruments beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (VECO) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.01 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.02); revenues fell 6.3% year/year to $106.5 mln vs the $99.87 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.35)-($0.25), excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.00 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $70-80 mln vs. $101.75 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate"Entering 2016, we continue to face a weak macro-economic environment and challenging LED industry conditions.

As a result, we expect investments for Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition ("MOCVD") equipment will remain soft through the first half of this year. During this time, we continue to strengthen our product portfolio and recently introduced the TurboDisc K475i MOCVD reactor to complement our industry leading EPIK 700 MOCVD product. We remain focused on positioning the Company for long term growth and are encouraged by our prospects."

4:15 pm : The major U.S. indices began their week on an upbeat note as equities rallied in tandem with crude oil. Meanwhile, a reversal in industrial metals buoyed investor sentiment while chatter regarding a merger between industrial giants Honeywell (HON 105.17, -2.10) and United Technologies (UTX 92.37, +4.14) pushed the stock market to its highest level of the day. The averages ended off their best levels with the Nasdaq Composite (+1.5%) and the S&P 500 (+1.5%) leading the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.4%). To be fair, conviction in today's rally was lacking, evidenced by relatively light trading volume as fewer than 976 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Ahead of today's session, oil continued its rebound from the last week as a report from the International Energy Agency elicited a bullish response from investors. The IEA reported that U.S. shale production was expected to decline by 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2016 while falling an additional 200,000 bpd in 2017. As a result, the oil market would begin rebalancing in 2017. Market participants ran with the mid-term outlook and bid WTI crude, sending the commodity higher by 5.1% to $33.38/bbl. Separately, rising industrial metal prices boosted investor confidence as it reportedly reflected receding worries regarding economic growth.

Predictably, commodity-sensitive energy (+2.2%) and materials (+1.9%) were able to end their day in the front of the pack as consumer discretionary (+1.9%) and industrials (+1.7%) followed. Oil and gas companies demonstrated relative strength in the energy sector and helped move the cyclical sector into positive territory for the month (+0.4%).

In the material sector, Alcoa (AA 8.91, +1.04) gained 13.2% amid today's rebound in aluminum (+1.4%) while Eastman Chemical Co. (EMN 64.52, +2.12) outperformed with a gain of 3.4%.

Consumer discretionary names Amazon (AMZN 559.50,+24.60) and Netflix (NFLX 91.93, +2.70) benefited from a a positive profile in Barron's. The two companies were cited as possible beneficiaries of the FCC's decision to move forward with efforts to open the cable box market.

Honeywell and United Technologies initially spiked when CNBC reported that the two companies held merger talks. By the end of the day though, Honeywell settled lower by 2.0% while United Technologies climbed 4.7%. However, it is worth noting that United Technologies reportedly expressed concerns about the deal getting blocked on anti-trust grounds.

The Treasury complex traded in a narrow range, showing modest losses throughout the day. As a result, the yield on the 10-yr note edged up one basis point to 1.76%.

Participants received no economic data of note today, but tomorrow's economic calendar will include the 9:00 ET release of the December Case-Shiller 20-city Index (Briefing.com consensus 5.8%). Separately, February Consumer Confidence (Briefing.com consensus 97.3) and the Existing Home Sales report for January (Briefing.com consensus 5.30 million) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Russell 2000 -9.8% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -8.7% YTD
S&P 500 -4.8% YTD
Dow Jones -4.6% YTD

DJ30 +228.67 NASDAQ +66.18 SP500 +27.72 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2132/1.618 bln/839 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2396/975.6 mln/672

3:40 pm :

Oil prices were the big mover again today
WTI oil futures rallied in early morning trade after the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its Medium-Term Oil Market Report
Apr crude oil finished today's floor session +5.3% at $33.43/barrel
Mar nat gas closed +1.1% at $1.82/MMBtu today
However, the dollar index traded higher all day, and remained near today's high, which pressured most other commodities today, such as precious metals
Apr gold ended today's session -1.7% at $1209.90/oz, while Mar silver ended -1.3% at $15.18/oz
Copper, on the other hand, traded higher all day, finishing +2% at $2.12/lb


The broader market finished Monday trading on a rebound from the close to last week which ended in two days of losses. Out-performing the others, the Nasdaq Composite added 66.18 points (+1.47%) to 4570.61. The S&P 500 was close behind, higher by 27.72 points (+1.45%) to 1945.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rounded out the trio higher by 228.67 points (+1.40%) to 16620.66. Early gains would hold throughout the session as all three major US indices rallied to begin Monday trade; action closed near the highs of the daily range in all three major indices as highs of the session rang in around 2 p.m. ET and pulled back slightly into the close.

Action in Technology (XLK 41.20, +0.54 +1.33%) was decidedly to the upside today as component Qualcomm (QCOM 51.28, +1.86 +3.76%) announced its Snapdragon 820 chip-sets would be powering Samsung's (SSNLF 1000, flat) latest iteration of the Galaxy smartphone lines - the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. Other sectors were XLE +2.55%, XLY +1.94%, XLB +1.91%, XLI +1.70%, XLF +1.57%, IYZ +1.48%, XLV +1.43%, XLU +1.17%, XLP +0.49% when Monday was done.

Today's positive action among tech sub-sectors was spearheaded by the Social Media (SOCL 17.46, +0.46 +2.71%) sector as component Nutrisystem (NTRI 22.48, +2.27 +11.23%) soared to multi-month highs as the stock was added to B. Riley & Co's Focus List ahead of the open. Other SOCL names which out-performed today included P +7.24%, GRPN +5.38%, YNDX +5.21%, GREZF +4.44%, NTES +3.99%, YELP +3.98%, WB +3.89%, YHOO +3.76%.

As is happened, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (679.93, +9.60 +1.43%) soared to highs as well, spending almost the entirety of the session at the top of the daily range. Component Western Digital's (WDC 46.10, +1.98 +4.49%) shareholder Alken Asset Management issued an open letter regarding WDC's acquisition of SanDisk (SNDK 67.68, -1.17 -1.70%), noting they believe the deal should be cancelled. Other names in the sector which displayed strength included VRSN +4.12%, ADBE +3.62%, NVDA +3.55%, HPQ +3.49%, ADS +3.20%, CRM +2.96%, STX +2.84%, AKAM +2.54%, FB +2.48%, XRX +2.46% FSLR +2.34%, INTC +2.23%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Salesforce.com (CRM 63.98, +1.84 +2.96%) to acquire PredictionIO. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Alliance Data's (ADS 210.89, +6.53 +3.20%) Epsilon signed a multi-year agreement with Shire plc (SHPG 163.90, -0.32 -0.19%) to build, host and manage a consolidated database of consumer and healthcare professional information that will enable improved and more effective communication in the U.S. and around the world.

Western Digital (WDC) investor Alken Asset Management confirmed it will vote against WDC's acquisition of SanDisk (SNDK) . The firm issued an open letter to the Board of Directors, stating it believes the deal should be cancelled.

HP (HPQ 10.68, +0.36 +3.49%) announced the HP Elite x3, a mobile solution which bridges phablet, laptop and desktop use cases from a single computing device while enabling users to run key productivity apps across these different experiences seamlessly.

IBM (IBM 133.77, +0.69 +0.52%) and VMware (VMW 49.95, +0.73 +1.48%) announced a strategic partnership whereby the companies will enable enterprise customers to easily extend their existing workloads, as they are, from their on-premises software-defined data center to the cloud.

Qualcomm (QCOM) announced its Snapdragon 820 processor will power Samsung's (SSNLF) latest iteration of the Galaxy phones lineups, the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.

Ericsson (ERIC 9.33, +0.10 +1.08%) and Cisco (CSCO 26.63, +0.08 +0.30%) reported significant progress in all areas of their next- generation strategic partnership, announced in November 2015. The companies' sales forces have successfully engaged with customers across the world on business deals spanning networking, mobility and cloud technologies, IP transformation and managed services agreements, resulting in new and expanded businesses opportunities.

In addition, CSCO announced a collaboration with ERIC and Intel (INTC 29.35, +0.64 +2.23%) to develop a next-generation 5G router for business and residential services.

Visa (V 73.06, +1.53 +2.14%) is expanding its Visa Ready program to include Internet of Things companies, such as manufacturers of wearables, automobiles, appliances, public transportation services, clothing and almost any other connected device.V also announced Visa Checkout, will be available to merchants and consumers across France, India, Ireland, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom this year. In addition, V is making the Visa Token Service available to auto manufacturers. Intel's (INTC) Security and Samsung Elect (SSNLF) announced an expanded relationship whereby Security will come pre-installed with McAfee VirusScan on Samsung Galaxy S7 and GalaxyS7 Edge phones.

MasterCard (MA 87.82, +1.02 +1.18%) and WISeKey announced a partnership to enable contact-less payments on select luxury brand watches and wearables.

Adobe (ADBE 83.80, +2.93 +3.62%) announced Adobe Experience Manager Mobile, an application to aid developers.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

AT&T (T 36.86, +0.29 +0.79%) to deploy nearly $10 billion of Capex to drive agility for businesses worldwide. The company continues to expect Capex of about $22 billion in 2016.

Central European Media (CETV 2.45, +0.18 +7.93%) entered into a new 469 million term loan guaranteed by Time Warner (TWC 190.76, +1.92 +1.02%).

Verizon (VZ 51.07, +0.21 +0.41%) purchased XO Communications' fiber-optic business for about $1.8 billion.

Nokia (NOK 6.19, +0.19 +3.17%) announced the planned acquisition of Nakina Systems. The deal is expected to close in Q1 2016.

Nxt-ID (NXTD 0.67, -0.09 -11.96%) announced a $15 million purchase order for a new SmartCard being developed for WorldVentures vacation club Members.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Intelsat (I 2.72, -0.29 -9.63%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.55 on revenues which fell 7.7% year-over-year to $571.3 million. Also, the company guided FY16 revenues of $2.14-2.20 and EBITDA in the range of $1.625-1.675 billion.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: MSI, ROG, SREV, VECO/AIXG, ANGI, CTG, DAKT, EXLS, FTR, LXK, SNI

Analyst actions:

CREE was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray,
IMAX was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush,
SMI was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan,
BITA was upgraded to Buy from Underperform at Credit Agricole;
EXPE and TRIP were downgraded to Sell from Hold at Stifel

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:11 pm First Solar beats by $0.83, beats on revs; reaffirms FY16 EPS guidance, guides FY16 revs in-line; Stock will resume trading at 4:45pm ET (FSLR) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.60 per share, $0.83 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.77; revenues fell 6.5% year/year to $942 mln vs the $928.98 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues guidance for FY16, reaffirms EPS of $4.00-4.50, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $4.12 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $3.88-4.00 bln vs. $3.77 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Additional 2016 Guidance UpdateRaises low end of Gross Margin guidance to 17-18% from 16-18%OpEx reaffirmed at $380-400 mlnOperating Income reaffirmed at 260-330 mlnOperating Cash Flow $400-600 mln (Prior $500-700 mln)CapEx reaffirmed at $300-400 mlnShipments reaffirmed at 2.9-3.0 GW

4:09 pm Ultra Clean Holdings beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS, revs above consensus (UCTT) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.01 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.02); revenues fell 13.8% year/year to $103.42 mln vs the $102.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.01-0.04 vs. ($0.01) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $108-113 mln vs. $105.12 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2015 was 12.9%, compared to 15.4% for the previous quarter and 15.3% for the same period a year ago.

4:07 pm Ixia beats by $0.06, beats on revs; announces new stock buyback (XXIA) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.22 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.16; revenues rose 9.2% year/year to $138.9 mln vs the $129.75 mln Capital IQ Consensus.Co also announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program under which the company may, over the next 12 months, acquire up to $25 million of its common stock.

4:10 pm : The major averages ended their day on a lower note as the broader market felt renewed pressure from the oil patch. Additionally, the underperformance of influential sectors and a worse than anticipated consumer confidence reading helped end the market's recent winning streak. Before today's session, the stock market had advanced in four of the last six sessions and the S&P 500 (-1.3%) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (-1.1%) were in positive territory for the month. Following today's decline, the two indices now hold respective month-to-date losses of 1.0% and 0.2%.

Oil was pressured today as investors weighed whether an output cap would be enough to combat the persisting oil glut. Any hopes of larger action by OPEC and non-OPEC states were dashed when Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi stated that the proposed production cap would not lead not an eventual output cut by Saudi Arabia. Mr. al-Naimi underscored his point by stating that higher cost drillers will need to find a way to become more efficient, borrow cash, or liquidate. Separately, comments from Iran's oil minister Bijan Zangane indicated that Iran would not be joining in the proposed output freeze. As a result, WTI crude ended its day lower by 4.9% at $31.80/bbl.

Commodity-sensitive energy (-3.3%) and materials (-2.4%) were the obvious losers with today's action in oil while financials (-1.8%) and technology (-1.8%) followed them on the bottom of the leaderboard.

In the energy space, independent oil and gas names showed the largest losses in the sector as the companies represent some of the higher cost drillers. Conversely, Dow component, Exxon Mobil (XOM 81.23, -1.16) managed to trade ahead of the broader sector, but trailed the benchmark index.

Economically-sensitive financials were hurt by a poor showing from money center banks. To that point, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 56.12, -2.45) led the downside in the sub-group after the company disclosed, at its analyst day, an additional $600 million in loan loss reserves for energy and material sector loans. JPMorgan Chase also disclosed that they see investment bank revenue declining 20.0% in the first quarter.

In the heavyweight technology space, Western Digital (WDC 42.77, -3.33) plummeted 7.2% after the company agreed to alter its deal to acquire SanDisk (SNDK 66.61, -1.07) despite a division of Unisplendour terminating its deal to purchase a 15.0% stake in Western Digital. Elsewhere, large-cap constituent Microsoft (MSFT 51.18, -1.47) surrendered 2.8% while Apple (AAPL 94.69, -2.19) lost 2.3%.

The Treasury complex saw increased buying interest throughout the day as the yield on 10-yr note sank from 1.81% to 1.74% by the end of the session.

Meanwhile, safe haven investments were bid higher with gold and the yen ending their day on a positive note. The dollar yen/pair ended at 112.10 (-0.7%) while gold gained 1.0%, climbing to $1,224.10/ozt.

Today's participation remained below the recent average with less than 914 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's data included the December Case-Shiller 20-city Index, the February Consumer Confidence report, and the Existing Home Sales report for January.

The Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for December rose 5.7% (Briefing.com consensus of 5.8%). This followed the previous month's increase of 5.7% (revised from 5.8%).
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index decreased to 92.2 (Briefing.com consensus 97.3) in February from a downwardly revised 97.8 (from 98.1) in January.
February marked the lowest level for consumer confidence since October 2015.
The drop in February stemmed from a drop in both the Present Situation Index (from 116.6 to 112.1) and the Expectations Index (from 85.3 to 78.9).
Notably, the report attributed the weakening in the present situation to greater apprehension about business conditions, their personal financial situation, and to a lesser degree, labor market prospects.
Existing home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.47 million units in January (Briefing.com consensus 5.30 million), up 0.4% from a downwardly revised 5.45 million (from 5.46 million) in December.
Existing home sales are 11.0% higher than a year ago. At the current sales pace, there is a 4.0-month supply of inventory of unsold homes, which is well below the 6.0 month supply that is typically maintained during normal periods of buying and selling.
The lack of supply has helped push median prices higher, which in turn is limiting sales activity since price increases are outpacing income gains for a large swath of potential buyers. The share of first-time homebuyers remained at 32.0% for the second consecutive month.
Overall, the median home price for all housing types in January was $213,800, up 8.2% year-over-year.
The slight improvement in existing home sales in January was surprising as many economists thought low inventory levels, the winter blizzard in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast late in the month, and a normal pullback from a much stronger than expected December home sales gain would produce a modest downturn in existing home sales. That wasn't the case.

It is worth noting that Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer will speak at 20:30 ET.

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the 7:00 ET release of the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the January New Home Sales Report (Briefing.com 523k), which will cross at 10:00 ET.DJ30 -189.08 NASDAQ -67.02 SP500 -24.24 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 872/1.598 bln/2112 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 998/913.9 mln/2077

4:28 pm Marvell names Deloitte & Touche LLP as its new independent registered public accounting firm (MRVL) :

3:50 pm :

Energy was weak today with WTI oil selling off, falling 5%
Front-month Apr crude oil closed today's session at $31.80/barrel
Apr nar gas lost steam as well, closing -1.6% at $1.83/MMBtu
Apr gold, on the other hand, ran 1% higher today to $1222.40/oz, while Mar silver gained 0.3% to $15.23/oz

The broader market closed the session near daily lows. The downward action was led by the Nasdaq Composite which lost 67.02 points (-1.47%) to 4503.58. The S&P 500 was down 24.23 points (-1.25%) to 1921.27 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rounded out the trio lower by 188.88 points (-1.14%) to 16431.78. The markets pushed lower as the session began as weakness overseas, oil/energy losses and a weaker than expected Consumer Confidence report pressured the broader market. Losses progressed into midday, and the three major indices all finished near the lows of their respective trading ranges today. Stocks retraced most of yesterday's advance which took the Dow and the S&P above late January highs.

Market data today came in the form of the Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for December which rose 5.7%. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined to 92.2 in February from a downwardly revised 97.8 (from 98.1) in January. Also, the existing home sales reading was 11.0% higher than a year ago.

Today's action in the Technology (XLK 40.55, -0.65 -1.58%) sector was mostly to the downside, but resisting the selling action today component Frontier Communications (FTR 5.08, +0.57 +12.64%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and noted that the pending acquisition of Verizon's (VZ 50.61, -0.46 -0.90%) wire-line operations in certain states is on track. Other sectors closed trading IYZ +0.50%, XLU +0.09%, XLP -0.02%, XLY -0.55%, XLV -0.75%, XLI -1.00%, XLF -1.78%, XLB -2.46%, XLE -3.42% at Telecoms were out-performers and Energy lagged.

Action to the downside was led today by the Semi (SOXX 82.03, -0.31 -1.57%) space as component Western Digital (WDC 42.77, -3.33 -7.22%) saw pressure today on a morning news release which held that the company is still committed to the SanDisk (SNDK 66.61, -1.07 -1.58%) acquisition, and that it submitted an altered offer to merge the two companies for $67.50 per share in cash and 0.2387 shares of WDC. Other SOXX components which displayed weakness today included SUNE -6.99%, MU -5.07%, SWKS -2.60%, NXPI -2.39%, TSM -2.34%, ADI -2.19%, MXIM -2.00%, TXN -1.99%, AVGO -1.90%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (667.43, -12.52 -1.84%), action was decidedly to the downside, but component Motorola Solutions (MSI 70.78, +4.03 +6.04%) out-performed as the company reported better than expected Q4 EPS last night after the market closed. Also helping shares to the upside today was the company's better than expected FY16 EPS guidance. Other components which displayed weakness today included FSLR -3.80%, HPQ -3.46%, SYMC -2.83%, MSFT -2.79%, EA -2.77%, NTAP -2.60%, EBAY -2.54%, AAPL -2.26%, WU -2.23%, TDC -2.11%, ADS -2.10%, CSCO -1.93%, MCHP -1.88%, INTC -1.87%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Western Digital (WDC) announced its agreement with Unisplendour Corporation Limited (Unis), and Unis Union Information System Ltd. (Unis Union), a subsidiary of Unis that agreed to make a $3.775 billion equity investment in WDC, has been terminated by Unis Union after a decision by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to conduct an investigation into the proposed investment. WDC also affirmed its commitment to the acquisition of SanDisk (SNDK) and announced that the shareholders of SNDK will receive the alternate merger consideration as outlined in the merger agreement. Under the terms of the merger agreement with SNDK announced on Oct. 21, 2015, if the transaction with Unis Union and Unisplendour has not closed or has been terminated by the time of the consummation of the merger, WDC will pay $67.50 per share in cash and 0.2387 shares of WDC common stock per share of SNDK common stock.

Oracle (ORCL 36.55, -0.56 -1.51%) acquired cloud application provider Ravello Systems.

Skyworks (SWKS 62.62, -1.67 -2.60%) and Sequans Communications (SQNS 2.17, +0.11 +5.34%) have delivered the world's first solution optimized for LTE Category M (Cat M) applications addressing the growing demand for embedded cellular connectivity across the Internet of Things (IoT).
Metro de Madrid has selected Accenture (ACN 99.65, -0.68 -0.68%) to support the design of a new operational model for control of station equipment, security, and passenger information management.

Qualcomm's (QCOM 50.42, -0.86 -1.68%) Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and Ericsson (ERIC 9.22, -0.11 -1.18%) will collaborate on 5G technology development, early inter-operability testing and coordination on select initiatives with leading mobile operators.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Tribune Publishing (TPUB 7.21, -0.13 -1.77%) appointed Justin Dearborn as CEO effective immediately.

Newport (NEWP 22.76, +7.72 +51.33%) to be acquired by MKS Instruments (MKSI 31.98, -1.63 -4.85%) for $23.00 per share in cash or about $980 million.

Synacor (SYNC 1.67, flat) will acquire privately held digital advertising pioneer Technorati. SYNC expects that the transaction will be accretive to its 2016 adjusted EBITDA, and brings the potential for revenue growth.

eBay (EBAY 23.62, -0.62 -2.56%) priced $750 million of its 6.00% Notes due 2056.

NXP Semi's (NXPI 68.24, -1.67 -2.39%) NXP B.V., together with NXP Funding LLC, has issued redemption notices for an aggregate principal amount of $200 million of its $500 million outstanding 3.5% senior notes due 2016.

Viacom (VIAB 37.01, +0.15 +0.41%) has initiated a process to explore opportunities for a significant strategic minority equity investment in Paramount Pictures.

Lexmark (LXK 30.08, -1.29 -4.11%) in addition to reporting quarterly results announced certain restructuring program initiatives which would result in the elimination of some 550 positions. The program is expected to generate about $67 million in savings in 2016 and annualized savings of about $100 million beginning in 2017.

Mobileye N.V. (MBLY 28.75, -0.24 -0.83%) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nissan (NSANY 17.13, -0.24 -1.39%) aimed to integrate its new Road Experience Management technology into Nissan's fleets.

Monster Worldwide's (MWW 2.66, -0.28 -9.52%) CFO Michael McGuinness resigned to pursue another career opportunity.

TeleTech (TTEC 27.62, +0.51 +1.88%) increased its semi-annual dividend to $0.185 per share from $0.18 per share. The company also increased its share repurchase allowance by $25 million.

Ingram Micro (IM 35.73, -0.18 -0.50%) extended the availability of cloud data protection solutions from Acronis.

ViaSat (VSAT 71.29, +0.83 +1.18%) signed a MoU agreement with Qantas Airways to bring in flight internet to Qantas flights.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Motorola Solutions (MSI) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $1.58 on revenues which fell 7.7% year-over-year to $1.68 billion. MSI also issued worse than expected Q1 EPS guidance of $0.37-0.42, but better than expected FY16 EPS guidance of $4.45-4.65.

Frontier Communications (FTR) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.05 on revenues which rose 6.2% year-over-year to $1.41 billion. The company also noted the Verizon (VZ) transaction is on track, and increased their synergy estimate to in excess of $600 million.

Scripps Networks Interactive (SNI 58.04, +2.24 +4.01%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $1.35 and $851.8 million, respectively.

Lexmark (LXK) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $1.16 and revenues of $982 million.

Angie's List (ANGI 8.14, -1.20 -12.85%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.24 and $86.26 million, respectively.

Veeco Instruments (VECO 17.07, -2.02 -10.58%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.01 and $106.5 million, respectively. The company also guided Q1 EPS and revenues worse than expected at ($0.35)-($0.25) and $70-80 million, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: BNFT CVG DWA FIVN HCKT XXIA RP RUBI UCTT WBMD/CNK SATS MBLY PLAB SSTK SBGI

Analyst actions:

TWTR was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James,
MSI was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Bernstein,
HIMX was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Craig Hallum;
MMYT was downgraded to Reduce from Neutral at Nomura,
CCOI was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan,
SOHU was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

11:56 am Aixtron down 4% following Q4 results, guidance (AIXG) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of 0.02 per share, 0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of (0.03); revenues rose 7.8% year/year to 62.5 mln vs the 56.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co preannoucned FY15 rev on December 9.Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of EUR 170-200 mln vs. 190.72 mln Capital IQ Consensus, with a significantly stronger revenue generation in the second half of 2016 compared to the first half of 2016. Currency-adjusted order intake is expected to be at the same level as in fiscal year 2015. Depending on the successful completion of qualification processes and market entry efforts as well as the achievement of revenues at the high end of the revenue guidance range, Management expects to achieve another improvement of results in 2016. EBITDA, EBIT, net result and free cash flow are expected to improve slightly compared to 2015 but to remain negative for the full year 2016. Management expects to report a positive EBITDA for full year 2017.

8:34 am Texas Instruments and Volkswagen (VLKAY) collaborate on a new infotainment platform (TXN) :

Texas Instruments and Volkswagen have collaborated on a new infotainment platform that delivers one of the most dynamic technologies available and offers new levels of performance, flexibility and adaptability.

The Volkswagen MIB II infotainment platform incorporates a range of TI's "Jacinto" processors, as well as power management integrated circuits (ICs), and FPD-Link III serializers and deserializers. Together, the TI devices provide improved processing performance, platform scalability and a responsive user interface.

7:19 am Newport beats by $0.04, misses on revs; MKSI to acquire NEWP for $23 a share - see 7:03 comment (NEWP) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.39 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.35; revenues fell 5.2% year/year to $150.49 mln vs the $153.98 mln Capital IQ Consensus.Being acquired by MKSI (see 7:03 comment)

Newport announced that it has entered into an agreement with MKS Instruments, Inc. (MKSI), pursuant to which MKS has agreed to acquire Newport for $23.00 per share in cash, in a transaction valued at approximately $980 million. In anticipation of this transaction, Newport will not be conducting conference calls to discuss its results for the fourth quarter or any subsequent periods, and will not be issuing financial guidance for future periods.SunEdison (SUNE) signed two 20-year PPAs with utility co Southern California Edison for 2.7 megawatts DC of solar

5:40 am SanDisk: Western Digital (WDC) alters merger agreement Sandisk; to acquire SNDK for $67.50 per share in cash and 0.2387 shares of WDC (SNDK) :

Western Digital (WDC) announced its agreement with Unisplendour Corporation, and Unis Union Information System), a subsidiary of Unis, agreed to make a $3.775 billion equity investment in Western Digital, has been terminated by Unis Union after a decision by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to conduct an investigation into the proposed investment.

Western Digital affirmed its commitment to the acquisition of SanDisk (SNDK) and announced that the shareholders of SanDisk will receive the alternate merger consideration as outlined in the merger agreement. Western Digital believes the combination is compelling and will create significant value for its shareholders.Under the terms of the merger agreement with SanDisk announced on Oct. 21, 2015, if the transaction with Unis Union and Unisplendour has not closed or has been terminated by the time of the consummation of the merger, Western Digital will pay $67.50 per share in cash and 0.2387 shares of Western Digital common stock per share of SanDisk common stock. This alternate merger consideration is in lieu of the consideration that would have been paid if the Unis Union investment had closed. The alternate merger consideration values SanDisk at $78.50 per share based on Western Digital's closing share price on Feb. 22, 2016.Western Digital, Unis and Unis Union have been notified by CFIUS that it is undertaking an investigation of the proposed Unis Union investment under the Exon-Florio Amendment to the Defense Production Act, triggering a 15-day period during which either Western Digital or Unis Union may terminate the stock purchase agreement.As a result, Unis Union has informed Western Digital that it has decided to terminate the agreement under which Unis Union would have acquired a 15% equity stake in Western Digital for $3.775 billion through the purchase of newly issued Western Digital common stock at a price of $92.50 per share. None of Western Digital, Unis or Unis Union will incur a termination fee as a result of the termination.CalAmp (CAMP) announced the LMU-3200, a tracking device designed to facilitate a broad array of connected vehicle applications. The LMU-3200 provides an OBD-II vehicle interface coupled with GPS tracking to deliver extensive telematics services. In addition, it provides an integrated mobile Wi-Fi hotspot to enable mobile internet connectivity for passengers, all in one device. Pericom Semiconductor, now part of Diodes (DIOD) announced multiple new products supporting next generation embedded chipsets and platforms, including automotive-infotainment, industrial PC, medical, and other related applications. Sierra Wireless (SWIR) announced that Valeo (VLEEY) has selected smart automotive modules from Sierra Wireless for a new generation of telematics control units to enable connected car services internationally. Arrayent announced that it collaborated with NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) to demonstrate a Thread-enabled device that can be remotely monitored and controlled from anywhere in the world with the support of Arrayent's Connect IoT platform.NXP (NXPI) detailed plans to accelerates Smart Wearable Product Development with multiple open-source reference platforms deliver a wide range of capabilities to wearable designers.

3:16 am Cisco Systems prices 6 series of senior unsecured notes in an aggregate principal amount of $7 bln (CSCO) :

Of these notes:

$1 billion will mature in February 2018 and will bear interest at a floating rate equal to three-month LIBOR plus 60 basis points$1.25 billion will mature in February 2018 and will bear interest at an annual rate of 1.400%$1 billion will mature in February 2019 and will bear interest at an annual rate of 1.600%$2.5 billion will mature in February 2021 and will bear interest at an annual rate of 2.200%$500 million will mature in February 2023 and will bear interest at an annual rate of 2.600% $750 million will mature in February 2026 and will bear interest at an annual rate of 2.950%

ARM (ARMH) announced the integration of industry-leading MISRA conformance tools into the ARM DS-5 Development Studio tool suite. Co also announced it is accelerating industrial Internet of Things deployments with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) by enabling greater device interoperability.

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From Briefing.com: 4:18 pm AXT misses by $0.02, beats on revs (AXTI) : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.04 per share, $0.02 worse than the single analyst estimate of ($0.02); revenues fell 7.7% year/year to $18.1 mln vs the $17.52 mln Capital IQ Consensus."2015 was a year of transformation for AXT as we continued to realign our business with the trends that are driving growth in compound semiconductor substrates. We focused on strategic investments in our technology and manufacturing capabilities that would improve our competitive positioning, and enable us to drive better consistency and efficiency across our substrate portfolio. We are pleased with these investments, and in the early results of our efforts. Although raw material pricing is providing a near-term headwind, we expect to continue to see a positive shift in our revenue mix in 2016 driven by InP, providing the potential for both revenue and margin expansion."

4:50 pm Transocean beats by $1.04, beats on revs (RIG) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.68 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $1.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.64; revenues fell 17.3% year/year to $1.85 bln vs the $1.41 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Other revenues increased $356 million due to early contract terminations on the Polar Pioneer, Discoverer Americas, and Sedco 714. Contract drilling revenues decreased $113 million due to reduced activity and rig retirements partially offset by higher ultra-deepwater revenue efficiency and higher demobilization revenues.Cash flows from operating activities increased $312 million sequentially to $960 million due primarily to early contract terminations. Capital expenditures totaled $665 million, down from $940 million in the prior quarter. The decrease was associated with the company's newbuild program. During the quarter, the company took delivery of the newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Proteus, and the floater is expected to be placed into service in the second quarter of 2016.

4:10 pm HP reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line; reaffirms FY16 EPS guidance (HPQ) :

Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.36; revenues fell 11.6% year/year to $12.25 bln vs the $12.03 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Personal Systems net revenue was down 13% year over year (down 6% in constant currency) with a 3.1% operating margin. Commercial net revenue decreased 11% and Consumer net revenue decreased 16%. Total units were down 13% with Notebooks units down 8% and Desktops units down 13%. Printing net revenue was down 17% year over year (down 11% in constant currency) with a 17.0% operating margin.Total hardware units were down 20% with Commercial hardware units down 15% and Consumer hardware units down 23%. Supplies revenue was down 14% (down 8% in constant currency).Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.35-0.40, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.39 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $1.59-1.69, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.61 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:07 pm Applied Optoelectronics misses by $0.09, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (AAOI) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.31; revenues rose 45.6% year/year to $53 mln vs the $50.61 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.21-0.28, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.25 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $50-54 mln vs. $49.11 mln Capital IQ Consensus EstimateThe broader markets ended Wednesday above flat lines as a late surge took all three major US indices into positive territory. Leading the way higher was the Nasdaq Composite which added 39.02 points (+0.87%) to 4542.61. The S&P 500 was up 8.53 points (+0.44%) to 1929.80 when the session closed. Rounding out the bunch, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 53.21 points (+0.32%) to 16484.99. Market data today came in the form of the weekly MBA Mortgage Index which showed a seasonally adjusted decline of 4.3% in mortgage applications. Also, sales of single-family homes in January ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 494,000.

In Energy, oil remained pressured this morning as a bearish reading from the API inventory report and commentary from Saudi Arabia's oil minister weighed on the commodity overnight. However, WTI crude was able to rally off its low after the Department of Energy's weekly inventory report showed a draw of 2.236 million barrels from the gasoline inventory compared to the forecast 1.033 million barrel draw. Additionally, largely in-line results regarding a crude oil build (3.502 mln barrels vs est. 3.427 mln) bolstered the commodity. April Crude Oil futures closed up $0.41 (+1.3%) to $32.21 per barrel.

Action in Technology (XLK 40.86, +0.31 +0.76%) was mixed today as component First Solar (FSLR 69.45, +7.66 +12.40%) showed strength following the company's Q4 report. FSLR posted a beat on EPS and revenues for the period and gave certain FY16 guidance. Other sectors closed the session IYZ +1.85%, XLB +1.04%, XLE +1.01%, XLY +0.58%, XLU +0.47%, XLV +0.33%, XLP +0.31%, XLI +0.06%, XLF -0.24%.

Telecoms (FCOM 27.78, +0.33 +1.20%) were among the best performers today as components TMUS, CCI, AMT, T, FTR, VZ, S, CTL, WIN and SBAC were all initiated at Deutsche Bank ahead of the open. Other telecom names which performed well today included GSAT +9.40%, USM +7.01%, FTR +4.33%, VG +3.41%, S +3.39%, SBAC +3.17%, CTL +2.60%, EGHT +2.57%, WIN +2.48%, TMUS +1.60%, LVLT +1.21%, T +0.98%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (673.38, +5.95 +0.89%), trading was mixed as component Motorola Solutions (MSI 72.84, +2.06 +2.91%) outperformed following an upgrade of shares at Macquarie. Other sector components which displayed relative strength included HPQ +4.95%, SNDK +4.94%, MCHP +3.36%, MSI +2.91%, TSS +2.80%, PYPL +2.79%, NTAP +2.75%, EA +2.73%, WDC +2.69%, QCOM +2.18%, ADS +2.08%, LRCX +1.79%, SWKS +1.74%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

HP (HPQ 10.81, +0.51 +4.90%) announced it is extending its collaboration with iPass Inc (IPAS 0.95, +0.04 +5.38%) to bring iPass' global Wi-Fi network to HP customers on select HP notebook and tablet PCs worldwide.

Oc, a Canon (CAJ 29.17, +0.04 +0.14%) company, has partnered with Intel Security (INTC 29.19, +0.39 +1.35%) to further strengthen security of its PRISMAsync controller driven production printers. Intel Security will be providing McAfee Embedded Control to be included on PRISMAsync printers.

Motorola Solutions (MSI) and Ericsson (ERIC 9.21, -0.01 -0.11%) will develop next-generation push-to-talk communications for the public safety market, creating a way for traditional radio communications to integrate and extend via LTE broadband networks.

The European Commission Directorate-General for Informatics has selected a consortium of Accenture (ACN 99.55, -0.12 -0.12%), Comparex and Microsoft (MSFT 51.36, +0.18 +0.35%) to provide public cloud services to institutions in the EU, enabling access to new cloud and digital capabilities for public services. The contract is for two years with the option for two one-year extensions. Accenture and Comparex will lead the consortium, with Microsoft as subcontractor.

BlackBerry (BBRY 7.34, +0.08 +1.10%) announced Microsoft (MSFT) customers now have access to BBRY's secure enterprise mobility solutions in the open, flexible, enterprise-grade cloud computing platform Azure.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 24.84, +0.28 +1.14%) priced $350 million of its 3.125% senior notes due 2019 and $150 million of its 4.500% senior notes due 2024.

Xilinx (XLNX 47.58, -0.88 -1.82%) announced that Jon Olson plans to retire from his full-time role as CFO in May this year, soon after the company's FY2016 financial closing process. At that time, Lorenzo Flores, Corporate Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller for Xilinx, will be appointed SVP and CFO. Jon will continue to support the transition through July in an advisory role.

Texas Instruments (TXN 52.46, +0.22 +0.42%) filed a mixed securities shelf offering for an undisclosed amount.

Elsewhere in the tech sector:

BlackBerry (BBRY) announced the acquisition of Encription Limited. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Monolithic Power (MPWR 57.29, -0.93 -1.60%) announced Meera Rao has informed the company of her intention to retire. The company has retained an executive search firm to secure a successor. Ms. Rao will continue in her role at MPS until March 31, 2016 and will remain available in an advisory capacity until the transition is complete. Following Ms. Rao's departure, Bernie Blegen, MPS' corporate controller, will serve as the interim CFO until a permanent replacement is found.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, RealPage (RP 19.77, +1.86 +10.39%) to acquire NWP Services Corp for about $68 million in cash.

US Cellular (USM 39.86, +2.73 9 +7.35%) filed a $500 million debt securities shelf offering.

JetPay (JTPY 2.75, +0.15 +5.77%) announced the signing of a merger agreement with CollectorSolutions. CSI is expected to bring about $700 million of annual credit and debit card processing volume and about $4.50 billion of annual e-check processing volume to JetPay.

Ingram Micro (IM 35.82, +0.09 +0.25%) entered into a separation agreement with President and Chief Operating Officer Paul Read.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Cinemark (CNK 31.55, +0.88 +2.87%) raised the quarterly dividend to $0.27 per share from $0.25 per share.

Discovery's (DISCA 25.20, +0.01 +0.04%) CFO, Andrew Warren, will resign from the company effective December 31.

Computer Programs (CPSI 54.90, -0.61 -1.10%) filed a common stock offered by selling stockholders for about 1.965 million shares.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Mobileye N.V. (MBLY 29.27, +0.52 +1.81%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.15 and $71.8 million, respectively. MBLY also guided FY16 EPS of $0.68-0.70 on revenues of $336-440 million.

Cinemark (CNK) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.50 on revenues which rose 7.2% year-over-year to $707.2 million.

Convergys (CVG 26.09, +1.67 +6.84%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.53 on revenues which fell 1.6% year-over-year to $752 million. CVG guided FY16 EPS in-line with expectations of +5-8% which equates to about $1.85-1.91.

First Solar (FSLR) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $1.60 and $942 million, respectively. Also, FSLR guided FY16 EPS of $4.00-4.50 and FY16 revenues in the range of $3.88-4.00 billion.

WebMD Health (WBMD 56.89, +4.96 +9.55%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.60 and $192.1 million, respectively. WBMD also guided for better than expected Q1 revenues of $154.5-157.5 million. For the FY16 period, WBMD sees EPS of $1.75-1.90 on revenues of $685-705 million.

Sinclair Broadcast (SBGI 29.46, -0.80 -2.64%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS of $0.61 on better than expected revenues of $611.8 million.

Dreamworks Animation (DWA 25.63, +4.57 +21.70%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.55 and $319.3 million, respectively.

RealPage (RP) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.16 on revenues which rose 16.3% year-over-year to $121.2 million. RP also gave guidance for Q1 EPS of $0.16 on non-GAAP revenues of $125-127 million. For the FY16 period, EPS is expected in the range of $0.68-0.72 on revenues of $565-575 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: AAOI AXTI RATE CLGX PMTS DTLK DMRC FARO FLTX HPQ IMAX IL KEYW NTES FUEL RBCN CRM TXTR ZPIN/ACIW AMCX ANSS CVC CCOI CNSL GOGO IRDM MITL NEWM NXST WIN XCRA ZBRA

Analyst actions:

MLNX was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Topeka Capital Mkts,
XXIA was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Wunderlich,
MSI was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Macquarie,
EXLS was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham;
NEWP was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham

4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Wednesday affair on a positive note as the major indices managed to recover from steep morning losses. Today's trade saw equity markets moving in tandem with oil while heavily-weighted sectors like financials (-0.2%) and industrials (+0.1%) recovered from respective morning losses of 2.2% and 1.8%. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%) ended its session ahead of the S&P 500 (+0.4) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.3%).

This morning oil conceded to heavy selling pressure as a bearish reading from the weekly API inventory report and concerns over the effectiveness of a supply cap weighed on the commodity. The energy component found room to rally after the Department of Energy reported a gasoline inventory draw of 2.236 million barrels compared to the forecast 1.033 million barrel draw. Additionally, largely in-line results regarding a crude oil build (3.502 mln barrels vs est. 3.427 mln) bolstered the commodity. WTI crude rallied off its session low of $30.70/bbl to end its day higher by 1.3% at $32.21/bbl.

As a result of this rally in crude oil, the commodity-sensitive energy space (+0.9%) was able to move from laggard to leader. Independent oil and gas companies saw the largest rebound but Chevron (CVX 85.27, +0.36) and Exxon Mobil (81.52, +0.29) were able to end their day with gains of 0.4% apiece. Separately, Chesapeake Energy (CHK 2.69, +0.50) surged 22.8% after reporting above consensus bottom-line results and announcing plans to divest $700 million in assets by the end of the second quarter.

The early underperformance of heavily-weighted sectors contributed to the sharp opening losses as technology (+0.9%) and consumer discretionary (+0.6%) weighed on the benchmark index. Meanwhile, financials (-0.2%) and industrials (+0.1%) underperformed the broader market throughout the day.

In the financial sector, money center banks demonstrated relative weakness after JPMorgan Chase (JPM 56.14, +0.02) admitted Tuesday that it increased its loan loss reserves for its oil, gas, and mining exposures. The broader financial sector was to recover from a 2.2% loss to end its day down 0.1%.

In the heavyweight technology space, top-weighted constituent Apple (AAPL 96.10, +1.41) gained 1.5% while the high-beta chipmakers outperformed. The PHLX Semiconductor Index climbed 1.4% today as SanDisk (SNDK 69.90, +3.29) led the index. Separately, HP (HPQ 10.82, +0.51) jumped 5.0% ahead of its earnings report after today's closing bell.

Retail names boosted the consumer discretionary space after TJX (TJX 74.24, +1.55) reported an earnings beat while Target (TGT 76.94, +2.95) impressed investors with above-consensus guidance.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (-0.5%) underperformed with components Avis Budget (CAR 22.04, -7.95) and Matson (MATX 38.39, -1.84) displaying relative weakness after disappointing investors with their earnings reports and guidance. Meanwhile, industrial large-caps General Electric (GE 28.96, -0.26) and Boeing (BA 115.59, -1.31) also underperformed.

Today's trade saw a steady retreat from safe haven assets as the Treasury complex slid to its lows. The yield on the 10-yr note ended higher by two-basis points at 1.74%. On a related note, the U.S. Dollar Index (97.47, -0.02) climbed back to its flat line as the safe haven yen pulled back from its session high (111.07). The dollar/yen pair ended at 111.91. The euro also fell from its high (1.1044), pressuring the euro/dollar pair to 1.1012 (-0.1%).

Today's participation fell beneath the recent average with fewer than 1.012 billion shares changing hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the January New Home Sales Report:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted decrease of 4.3% in mortgage applications.
Sales of new single-family houses in January ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 494,000 (Briefing.com consensus 523,000)
That was 9.2% below the sales rate in December and new home sales in January were down 5.2% year-over-year.
Weather can't really be blamed as the culprit for the drop in sales for a few reasons. First, the Northeast, which was struck by a blizzard late in the month, saw sales increase 3.4%. Secondly, the West, which did not have to contend with blizzard conditions, saw a huge 32.1% month-over-month decline in new home sales. Separately, sales were down 5.9% in the Midwest and up 1.8% in the South.
Pricing can't be thought of as the culprit either. The median sales price of $278,800 was down 5.8% from the prior month and down 4.5% year-over-year.
This January downturn, then, has the appearance at first blush of simply being the result of a drop off in demand. As a reminder, new home sales are counted when the contract is signed versus existing home sales which are counted when the sale is closed.
At the sales pace seen in January, the inventory of new homes for sale stretched to a 5.8-months supply from 5.1 months in December. That is the highest inventory level since September 2015.

Separately, St. Louis President and Federal Open Market Committee voting member James Bullard will speak at 19:00 ET.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the 8:30 ET release of weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 270k) and Durable Orders for January (Briefing.com consensus +2.0%). Meanwhile, the FHFA Housing Price Index for December will cross the wires at 9:00 ET.

Russell 2000: -10.1% YTD
Nasdaq -9.3% YTD
S&P 500 -5.6% YTD
Dow Jones -5.4% YTD

DJ30 +53.21 NASDAQ +39.02 SP500 +8.53 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1817/1.799 bln/1102 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1955/1.011 bln/1084

3:45 pm :

Oil prices have fully recovered today weakness and is now at today's high
In floor trading, Apr crude finished +1.3% at $32.21/barrel
Apr natural gas rose one cent to $1.84/MMBtu
Precious metals reversed today's rally
However, Apr gold did end with a gain, closing +1.4% at $1239.20/oz, while Mar silver ended +0.5% at $15.30/oz
Apr gold is now at $1230.00/oz

9:02 am Xilinx appoints Lorenzo Flores as CFO; Jon Olson to retire after FY16 (XLNX) : Lorenzo joined the co as VP of Finance & Corporate Controller in 2008. Prior to joining Xilinx, he spent 10 years at Intel (INTC), served as CFO of a venture funded start up, & was assistant VP of Financial Planning & Analysis at Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH).

9:01 am GigOptix signs UKC Holding as its distributor for all product line sales in Japan (GIG) : Co today announced that it has signed UKC Holding Corporation, the largest distributor of electronic components in Japan, as its distributor for all its product lines sales in Japan.

8:02 am Juniper Networks prices $350 mln of its 3.125% senior notes due 2019 and $150 mln of its 4.500% senior notes due 2024 (JNPR) :

Juniper intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, which is expected to include repayment of $300 million aggregate principal amount of the Company's outstanding 3.100% senior notes that mature on March 15, 2016, share repurchases and payment of dividends under its program to return capital to shareholders and funding for working capital, capital expenditures, other corporate expenses and acquisitions of products, technologies or businesses; however, the Company does not currently have any agreements with respect to any such material acquisitions.

8:01 am Benchmark Electronics: Engaged Capital delivers letter to co nominating four individuals for Board (BHE) :

Engaged Capital, a 4.8% shareholder, delivers a letter to the Board nominating the four individuals for election to the Board
at the upcoming 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.The four nominees are:

Robert K. Gifford -- former President of Supply Chain at Ingram Micro;
Lisa M. Kelley -- current Chief Audit Executive at Avnet and former Vice President of Corporate Development at Plexus;
Jeffrey S. McCreary -- former Senior Vice President at Texas Instruments; and
Brendan B. Springstubb -- Senior Analyst at Engaged Capital.

7:08 am Canadian Solar enters into a $26 mln financing agreement for its 10.2 MWp Aomori-Misawa Solar Power Plant in Rokunohe-cho, Kamikita-gun, Aomori Prefecture, Japan (CSIQ) :

6:03 am Photronics beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS, revs below consensus (PLAB) :

Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.17 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.16; revenues rose 5.2% year/year to $129.96 mln vs the $129.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

"Looking into the second quarter, we expect continued strong demand from high-end memory and FPD. We anticipate continued softness in high-end logic due to low demand from Asian foundries, as well as potential headwinds in Asia due to the Chinese New Year." Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.08-0.16 vs. $0.19 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $120-130 mln vs. $134.67 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

5:29 am BlackBerry announces acquisition of Encription Limited; terms not disclosed (BBRY) : As part of the new Professional Cybersecurity Services practice - and aligned with BlackBerry's core emphasis on securing mobile communications across all platforms - BlackBerry acquired UK-based Encription Limited. The acquisition of Encription was completed on February 19, 2016. Encription's specialties range from deep technical skills in software security to hardware capabilities.

BlackBerry (BBRY) announced Microsoft customers now have access to BlackBerry's secure enterprise mobility solutions in the open, flexible, enterprise-grade cloud computing platform Microsoft (MSFT) Azure. NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) and Xiaomi introduced its next-generation flagship Mi 5 equipped with NXP's Secure Element and Near Field Communication (:NFC) solution, which will help accelerate the adoption of mobile payments in China.

5:09 am Advanced Semi receives extension for review of ASX's proposed acquisition of Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) to March 17 (from Feb 16 prior) (ASX) :

5:07 am Siliconware Precision proposes cash distribution of NT$2.8 cash dividend per share and NT$1.0 capital reserve per share (SPIL) :

Motorola Solutions (MSI) and Ericsson (ERIC) announced that they will develop next-generation push-to-talk communications for the public safety market, creating a way for traditional radio communications to integrate and extend via LTE broadband networks. Juniper Networks (JNPR) announced that Saudi Telecom Company has for the first time in the region deployed Juniper Networks PTX5000 Series Packet Transport Routers to expand its fixed and mobile Internet backbone.Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) launched SkyOne Ultra 2.0, a highly integrated, single LTE SKU solution that solves harmonically-related carrier aggregation challenges through design while delivering the highest linear RF power as well as power added efficiency in the world.

2:29 am Anadigics receives revised offer from II-VI (IIVI) for $0.81 per share (ANAD) :

Anadigics (ANAD) announced that it received from II-VI Incorporated (IIVI) a further revised set of proposed amendments and agreements to the previously announced January 15, 2016 agreement and plan of merger pursuant to which an affiliate of II-VI has offered to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Anadigics common stock on a fully diluted basis for $0.66 per share net in cash, pursuant to an all-cash tender offer and second-step merger.

Among the proposed amended terms set forth in the February 23, 2016 II-VI Proposed Amendment is the increase from $0.66 to $0.81 of the per-share offer price set forth in the II-VI Merger Agreement and the extension of a loan to ANADIGICS, on the terms set forth in a proposed loan agreement submitted as part of the February 23, 2016 II-VI Proposed Amendment.After consultation with its financial and legal advisors, the Company's Board has unanimously determined in good faith that the February 23, 2016 II-VI Proposed Amendment renders the Acquisition Proposal received by the Company on February 20, 2016 from the competing bidder that has been identified by the Company as Party B no longer a Superior Offer, as defined in the II-VI Merger Agreement. The Company's Board of Directors has directed the Company to enter into the February 23, 2016 II-VI Proposed Amendment

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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm Universal Display misses by $0.13, misses on revs; guides FY16 revs below consensus (OLED) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.39 per share, $0.13 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.52; revenues rose 10.9% year/year to $62.3 mln vs the $71.59 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of +10-20% to ~$210.1-229.3 mln vs. $245.82 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"We believe that 2016 is poised to be a year in which the OLED industry builds meaningful new capacity for the continued proliferation of OLEDs in the marketplace. This groundwork is paving the foundation for the next wave of expansion in OLED mass production, which we believe is set to commence in 2017."

4:42 pm JA Solar expects Q4 revenues in the range of RMB 4.4-4.6 bln, Capital IQ consensus RMB 3.947 bln (JASO) :

Gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2015 is expected to be in the range of 16.4% to 17.4%.
Shipments for the fourth quarter of 2015 were expected to be in the range of 1.32 GW to 1.35 GW, exceeding the Company's previously provided shipment guidance of 1.1 GW to 1.2 GW. As anticipated, nearly all shipments were to external customers.

4:24 pm Ingram Micro misses by $0.03, misses on revs (IM) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.01 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.04; revenues fell 18.9% year/year to $11.31 bln vs the $12.36 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

4:15 pm : The major U.S. indices managed to end their session on a higher note as news from the oil patch helped lift the averages to their best levels of the day. Additionally, a stronger than expected reading in the durable goods report (+4.9%; Briefing.com consensus 2.5%), and strong sector leadership from financials contributed to today's sharp reversal. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.3%) managed to climb 239 points off its morning low to end ahead of the S&P 500 (+1.1%) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (+0.9%). Meanwhile, the benchmark index was able to close above its 50-day simple moving average (1946.71).

Oil was pressured in the early going as mixed trade overseas and concerns over the persisting supply glut weighed on the commodity. The energy-component was able to mount a rally after Venezuela's oil minister Eulogio Del Pino announced that the country, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Qatar had settled on meeting in March to discuss their proposed production freeze. As a result, oil was able to rally 4.6% from where it was trading before the news ($31.63/bbl). WTI crude ended its day higher by 2.8% at $33.11/bbl.

The energy sector (+0.2%) was able to climb of its low (-1.9%), but found it difficult to move beyond its flat line. The main beneficiary of the move in oil was the the commodity-sensitive materials sector (+1.3%), which climbed the leaderboard to jockey financials (+1.4%). In the materials space large-cap constituents Dow Chemical (DOW 48.10, +0.91) and DuPont (DD 60.42, +1.40) rose to their best levels of the day in the ensuing rally. Elsewhere in the group, CF Industries (CF 33.16, +1.41) rallied 4.4% after it was disclosed that its CEO and Senior Vice President bought 33,000 shares valued at $1 million.

The financial group outperformed throughout the day, continuing yesterday's rebound. Morgan Stanley (MS 24.63, +0.92) showed relative strength as it climbed 3.9%. Meanwhile, LendingTree (TREE 85.50, +15.56) rocketed higher by 22.3% after the company reported a beat on top and bottom-line figures while issuing above-consensus guidance for Q1.

Aerospace and defense names capitalized on the strong durable orders report after it showed that non-defense aircraft and parts surged 54.2% in January. Additionally, orders for defense aircraft and parts increased 84.8% over that same period, following a 66.8% decline in December. To that point, Boeing (BA 116.82, 1.23) and Lockheed Martin (LMT 220.03, +3.40) gained 1.1% and 1.6%, respectively. Additionally, United Technologies (UTX 98.07, +4.46) climbed 4.8% today after an antitrust attorney for Honeywell (HON 104.19, +0.89) stated that a potential deal could meet antitrust requirements, given a set list of divestitures.

Meanwhile, the countercyclical sectors managed to outperform during the entirety of the session as the groups gained between 0.7% (telecom services) and 1.3% (health care).

The Treasury complex was forced off is high during the second-half rally but managed to maintain most of its advance. The yield on the 10-yr note ended its day lower by five basis points at 1.70%.

Today's rally was forged on trading volume that was a bit below recent averages with 930 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data included weekly initial claims, Durable Orders for January, and the FHFA Housing Price Index for December.

Initial claims for the week ending February 20 increased 10,000 from the prior week to 272,000 (Briefing.com consensus 270,000).
Despite the increase, weekly claims remain in the lower half of the 250,000 to 300,000 range they have been in since July 2014. The four-week moving average dipped by 1,250 to 273,250. There were no special factors influencing the latest initial claims reading.
Continuing claims for the week ending February 13 decreased 19,000 to 2.253 million (Briefing.com consensus 2.268 mln). The four-week moving average for this series decreased 5,250 to 2.257 million.
Durable goods orders jumped 4.9% in January (Briefing.com consensus 2.0%) on the heels of an upwardly revised 4.6% decline (from -5.0%) in December. Excluding transportation, orders rose 1.8% (Briefing.com consensus +0.4%) after declining an upwardly revised 0.7% (from -1.0%) in December.
The January upturn followed on the back of month-over-month declines in both November and December. On a year-over-year basis, durable goods orders are up just 0.6%.
The durable goods orders data are notoriously volatile due to the influence of aircraft and defense spending. Both played a big part in driving the January turnaround. Orders for nondefense aircraft and parts surged 54.2% after a 29.1% decline in December while orders for defense aircraft and parts increased 84.8% following a 66.8% decline in December.
New order gains, however, were seen in a host of areas, including primary metals (+0.7%), fabricated metal products (+1.6%), and machinery (+6.9%).
The strength in January could simply be a rebound from a depressed base of order activity. We'll know more when the February report is released. For now, it can be seen as encouraging news, particularly since nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft -- a proxy for business spending -- increased 3.9%.
The one damper on things is that shipments of these goods, which factor into GDP computations, declined 0.4%.
The FHFA Housing Price Index for December rose 0.4% month-over-month after increasing a revised 0.6% (from 0.5%) in November.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the second estimate of Q4 GDP (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%) and PCE Prices for January (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%), which will both cross the wires at 8:30 ET. Meanwhile, the final reading of the February Michigan Sentiment Index (Briefing.com consensus 91.0) will be released at 10:00 ET.

Russell 2000 -9.2% YTD
Nasdaq -8.5% YTD
S&P 500 -4.5% YTD
Dow Jones -4.2% YTD

DJ30 +212.30 NASDAQ +39.60 SP500 +21.90 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1764/1.512 bln/1109 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2277/925.1 mln/777

3:45 pm :

WTI oil futures gained some real steam today, rallying sharply above
Apr crude found some buyers around 11am ET around the $31 area and rallied to near $33.50/barrel within three hours
By the end of floor trading, Apr crude closed +2.8% at $33.11/barrel
In other energy, nat gas recovered some off its LoD, finishing -3.3% at $1.78/MMBtu
Apr gold slipped 20 cents to $1239.00/oz, while Mar silver lost 1% to end at $15.17/oz

The markets began the session with modest gains, and whipping action took all three indices lower within a matter of minutes. Action stayed choppy until midday when the indices enjoyed a notable upward trend. The three major US indices finished off the session on a positive trend as action was led higher by the Dow Jones Industrial Average which added 212.30 points (+1.29%) to 16697.29. The S&P 500 ended higher by 21.90 points (+1.13%) to 1951.70. Rounding out the bunch, the Nasdaq Composite was up 39.60 points (+0.87%) to 4582.21.

Market data today came in the form of Initial Claims which for the week ending February 20 increased 10,000 from the prior week to 272,000. Continuing Claims for the week ending February 13 declined 19,000 to 2.253 million, and durable goods orders jumped 4.9% in January on the heels of an upwardly revised 4.6% decline (from -5.0%) in December. The FHFA Housing Price Index for December rose 0.4% month-over-month after increasing a revised 0.6% (from 0.5%) in November.

Action in Technology (XLK 41.37, +0.51 +1.25%) was much the same, as early gains quickly turned to losses and markets rebounded into midday. Component Windstream (WIN 6.74, +0.13 +1.97%) was a notable outperformer today as the company reported Q4 results anf gave certain FY16 guidance. Other sectors closed the session XLF +1.39%, XLI +1.32%, XLB +1.29%, XLV +1.25%, XLP +1.13%, XLU +1.02%, XLY +1.00%, IYZ +0.73%, XLE +0.09% led by Financials, with Energy lagging yet still finishing in the green.

Software (IGV 93.49, +2.28 +2.50%) names were also strong today as component ANSYS (ANSS 84.22, -2.32 -2.68%) reported a mixed Q4, and authorized an increase to the share repurchase program to 5.0 million shares. Other IGV names which displayed strength included HUBS +6.02%, PFPT +5.74%, SNCR +5.68%, QLIK +5.51%, SPLK +5.33%, IMPV +4.62%, ADBE +3.91%, RHT +3.55%, ZNGA +3.38%, WDAY +3.16%, FICO +3.12%, NOW +3.06%.

Cloud computing (SKYY 27.57, +0.51 +1.88%) was also in the green today as cloud bellwether Salesforce.com (CRM 69.42, +6.90 +11.04%) reported an in-line Q4 and raised FY17 revenue guidance. Other SKYY names that enjoyed gains today included EQIX +4.23%, NFLX +3.19%, VMW +2.66%, SAP +2.59%, ATVI +1.92%, MSFT +1.44%, IBM +1.28%, CSCO +1.06%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology sector (682.10, +8.72 +1.29%) also dabbled a bit of both sides of break-even for the beginning part of the session, only to stick with an uptrend into midday. Component HP (HPQ 10.34, -0.48 +4.44%) was under pressure today following the company's Q1 report. Other components which finished the session in positive territory included EA +2.34%, ADI +2.28%, SNDK +2.26%, V +1.98%, ORCL +1.80%, FFIV +1.75%, INTC +1.47%, FIS +1.45%, XLNX +1.41%, ACN +1.37%, VRSN +1.36%, YHOO +1.32%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Visa (V 73.27, +1.42 +1.98%) and China UnionPay signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Shanghai with both parties agreeing to collaborate on payments security, innovation and financial inclusion.

Cisco (CSCO 26.60, +0.28 +1.06%) and Ooredoo created a relationship to set Ooredoo's roadmap for Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployments and to deliver Virtual Managed Services (VMS) to the Qatar market.

NetApp (NTAP 24.63, -0.36 -1.44%) announced that UK recruitment consultant Randstad has chosen NTAP to revamp its data storage infrastructure and ensure the reliability of its core business applications.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Level 3's (LVLT 48.61, -0.05 -0.10%) CEO Jeff Storey to take medical leave of absence. He is expected to make full recovery and return on limited basis in about 2 months.
In addition to reporting quarterly results, Netease.com (NTES 136.23, -23.67 -14.80%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.64 per share from $0.5575 per share.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, ANSYS (ANSS 84.22, -2.32 -2.68%) announced its Board of Directors increased the authorized share repurchase program to 5.0 million shares.

Rocket Fuel (FUEL 3.43, +0.30 +9.58%) appointed Rex Jackson as CFO effective March 16.

Newtech (NEWT 9.50, -0.26 -2.66%) lowered their quarterly dividend to $0.35 per share from $0.40 per share. The company also reconfirmed their FY16 dividend forecast of $1.50 per share.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Salesforce.com (CRM) reported Q4 EPS of $0.19 on better than expected revenues which rose 25.3% year-over-year to $1.81 billion. CRM issued guidance for the Q1 period of EPS of $0.23-0.24 on revenues of $1.885-1.895 billion. CRM also issued in-line EPS guidance for the FY17 period, and raised revenue guidance for FY17 to $8.08-8.12 billion from the prior expectation of $8.00-8.10 billion.

Netease.com (NTES) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS of $2.52 on better than expected revenues which also rose 105.5% versus last year to $1.22 billion.

HP (HPQ) reported in-line Q1 EPS of $0.36 on better than expected revenues which fell 11.6% versus last year to $12.25 billion. HPQ also issued in-line Q2 EPS guidance of $0.35-0.40, and reaffirmed the FY16 EPS outlook of $1.59-1.69.

ANSYS (ANSS) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.91 on worse than expected revenues of $252.01 million. ANSS also guided Q1 EPS and revenues worse than expected at $0.74-0.77 and $224-232 million, respectively. For the FY16 period, ANSS sees in-line EPS of $3.53-3.69 on worse than expected revenues of $0.995-1.03 billion.

Cablevision (CVC 32.45, +0.08 +0.25%) reported Q4 EPS of $0.12 on revenues of $1.63 billion.

AMC Networks (AMCX 66.32, -4.51 -6.37%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $1.23 on revenues which rose 11.4% versus last year to $678.95 million.

IMAX (IMAX 28.50, -3.65 -11.35%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS of $0.39 on better than expected revenues which rose 16.5% year-over-year to $119.33 million.

Gogo (GOGO 10.20, -0.28 -2.67%) reported in-line Q4 EPS at a loss per share of $0.43 on revenues which were better than expected and rose 26.2% versus last year to $137.8 million. GOGO also guided FY16 revenues in-line at $575-595 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: TWOU ALRM ADSK BIDU WIFI CVT EVC GSAT IMMR BLOX IM INOV INTU LYV MELI NCMI NTRI PANW PEGA RLOC SBAC SPLK STRZA OLED/GTN MEG SSP

Analyst actions:

CHTR was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan,
MSCC was upgraded to Top Pick from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts,
KEYW was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Chardan Capital Mkts;
RATE was downgraded at Topeka Capital Mkts and RBC Capital Mkts,
CVG was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo,
DTLK was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Craig Hallum,
NTES was downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Credit Agricole

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From Briefing.com: The broader market closed the session with notable gains. Strongest on the session, the Nasdaq Composite added 131.65 points (+2.89%) to 4689.60. The S&P 500 was up 46.12 points (+2.39%) to 1978.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 348.58 points (+2.11%) to 16865.08. The session began strong as weaker data overseas and subsequent stimulus chatter, oil/energy gains, dovish commentary from a Fed member, above consensus data at 10 ET, generally strong auto sales and strong leadership (finance/technology) allowed the markets to finish the session at highs of the day.

Market data today included the ISM Index for February which checked in at 49.5, up from 48.2 in January. Also, total construction spending was up 1.5% month-over-month in January.

Technology (XLK 42.19, +1.22 +2.98%) was also higher for the entirety of the session as component Cisco Systems (CSCO 26.83, +0.65 +2.48%) announced its intent to acquire cloud platform firm CliQr Technologies for $260 million. Other sectors closed the session XLF +3.37%, XLY +2.65%, XLE +2.62%, XLB +2.56%, XLV +2.15%, XLI +1.96%, IYZ +1.05%, XLP +0.96%, XLU -0.50% with the advance led by Financials and Tech, while Utilities were the only sector in the red.

Component Workday (WDAY 71.74, +11.29 +18.68%) propped Software (IGV 96.36, +3.43 +3.69%) names today as the company reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues. The company also guided Q1 revenues worse than expected and guided FY17 revenues in-line with expectations. Other IGV names which displayed relative strength today included MSTR +7.15%, PFPT +6.66%, DATA +6.46%, IMPV +6.43%, CTXS +6.27%, MANH +5.70%, SPLK +5.48%, ZEN +5.46%.

Internet (FDN 67.35, +2.02 +3.09%) stocks were strong today as component Ebix (EBIX 41.22, +4.19 +11.32%) reported better than expected Q4 results Friday night after the market closed, thus driving the stock higher in today's action. Other FDN names which were higher today included ETFC +6.05%, TRIP +5.56%, NFLX +5.23%, AMTD +5.11%, AMZN +4.80%, TRUE +4.05%, EXPE +3.92%, ELNK +3.90%, GOOGL +3.48%.

Cyber-security (HACK 22.72, +0.66 +2.99%) names were also higher today as component Widepoint (WYY 0.64, +0.07 +12.51%), which albeit is thinly traded, posted gains of % following the company's unification of certain subsidiaries under a main brand. Other HACK names which displayed strength today included QLYS +6.41%, AVG +5.22%, FEYE +4.31%, FTNT +4.26%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (696.43, +20.80 +3.08%), trading ended at the highs of the day as component Qualcomm (QCOM 52.11, +1.32 +2.60%) posted gains in spite of an agreement to pay $7.5 million to the SEC to settle charges the company violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Other components which finished the session higher included STX +5.96%, SWKS +5.94%, WDC +5.90%, QRVO +5.06%, SYMC +5.02%, ADSK +4.97%, RHT +4.65%, NVDA +4.43%, MU +4.14%, AAPL +3.97%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Qualcomm's (QCOM) Qualcomm Life, and UnitedHealthcare (UNH) are collaborating to develop and deliver connected health solutions to consumers across the United States.QCOM also agreed to pay $7.5 million to the SEC to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.The Italian Ministry of Interior has selected Accenture (ACN 103.45, +3.19 +3.18%) to provide IT services under a four-year contract. Accenture will provide application development and maintenance services to help the Ministry evolve the Italian voting system. The contract was secured following a competitive European Union wide public tendering process.

ACN also took an equity position in Endgame. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Cisco Systems (CSCO 26.83, +0.65 +2.48%) announced the intent to acquire CliQr for $260 million.

Autodesk (ADSK 54.31, +2.57 +4.97%) and Siemens (SIEGY 94.99, +2.39 +2.58%) announced an interoperability agreement aimed at helping manufacturers decrease the costs associated with incompatibility among product development software applications and avoid potential data integrity problems.

Red Hat (RHT 68.39, +3.04 +4.65%) and Eurotech announced a collaboration to simplify IoT integration and accelerate implementations of IoT projects.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, TriNet Group (TNET 12.28, -0.81 -6.19%) increased the company's share repurchase program by $50 million.

GoPro (GPRO 11.89, +0.01 +0.08%) announced agreements to acquire mobile video editing apps Replay and Splice. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.GPRO also disclosed an update in its Form 10-K. The company expects to record a substantial net loss in Q1 2016 vs the prior year.Cinemark's (CNK 33.88, +0.78 +2.36%) President and COO Robert Copple resigned to pursue personal interests.

WEX (WEX 67.92, +2.62 +4.01%) named Roberto Simon as CFO effective immediately.

SunEdison (SUNE 1.50, -0.48 -24.24%) filed to delay its 10-K. The company intends to file the Form 10-K within the 15 calendar day period.

Rovi (ROVI 23.44, +0.66 +2.90%) entered into an entertainment discovery patent license agreement with LG Uplus.

WidePoint (WYY) has changed the names of two of its primary subsidiaries to expand its visibility in all of its target markets. Another expected benefit of the unified branding will be a broader and expanded perception of WYY's unique expertise and solution sets in identity and telecommunications/mobility management.

In reaction to quarterly results:

TriNet Group (TNET) reported in-line Q4 EPS of $0.31 on worse than expected revenues of $725.7 million.

Workday (WDAY) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of a loss per share of $0.01 and better than expected revenues which rose 42.9% year-over-year to $323.4 million. The company also issued downside guidance for Q1 revenues of $3337-339 million. For the FY17 period, WDAY expects revenues in the range of $1.54-1.55 billion.

Carmike Cinemas (CKEC 25.18, +3.24 +14.77%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.27 and $220.7 million, respectively.

RigNet (RNET 11.69, -1.51 -11.44%) reported cash earnings of $0.03 on better than expected revenues of $61.8 million.

Opower (OPWR 6.35, -1.92 -23.22%) reported in-line Q4 EPS at a loss per share of $0.14 on better than expected revenues which rose 16.4% year-over-year to $40.55 million. The company also guided Q1 EPS and revenues worse than expected at ($0.16)-($0.14) and $36.2-37.0 million, respectively. For the FY16 period, OPWR guided EPS in-line at ($0.45)-($0.36) and revenues worse than expected at $157-165 million.

Companies reporting quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: BV, DMD, EPIQ, GWRE, NPTN, TIVO, VEEV, WK/INXN, MTLS, TPUB

Analyst actions:

WDAY was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan;
SNDK was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel,
WIN was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James,
LLTC was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill,
ASCMA was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray

4:10 pm : The stock market began March with a broad-based rally as the major averages responded to a better-than-expected reading of the ISM Index for February. Additionally, today's rally was supported by key sector leadership from the financial (+3.5%) and technology (+3.1%) sectors, positive trade from the oil pit, dovish remarks from New York Fed President William Dudley, and new monthly inflows. The Nasdaq Composite (+2.9%) was able to end ahead of the S&P 500 (+2.4%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+2.1%).

The major indices were able to rally off their opening levels after the ISM Index report showed a smaller contraction in manufacturing during February (49.5; Briefing.com 49.0) than was reported in January (48.2). Improvement in U.S. economic data, as well as hopes for further economic easing in the wake of weaker-than-expected economic data from overseas, helped bolster sentiment in global equities.

Sector leadership from the heavily-weighted technology (+3.1%) and financial (+3.5%) sectors helped maintain and extend today's rally. The groups outperformed throughout the session, even during a momentary downturn in crude oil. For its part, the energy component ended the Tuesday affair higher by 1.7% at $34.39/bbl.

In the economically-sensitive financial sector (+3.5%), money center banks showed relative strength, as Citigroup (C 41.27, +2.42) and Bank of America (BAC 13.19, 0.67) jumped 6.2% and 5.4%, respectively. Despite today's showing, the two names remain down a respective 22.1% and 23.7% in 2016. Meanwhile, the broader financial sector is down 8.7% during that same period.

In the influential technology space, large-cap names like Facebook (FB 109.82, +2.90), Alphabet (GOOGL 742.17, +24.95), and Oracle (ORCL 37.99, +1.21) climbed between 2.7% and 3.5%. Meanwhile, Dow component Apple (AAPL 100.53, +3.84) surged 4.0%. The high-beta chipmakers also outperformed the broader market as the PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 2.9%, trimming its year-to-date loss to 3.6%.

On the flipside, the countercyclical sectors showed the worst performances for the day. Utilities (-0.5%), consumer staples (+1.0%), and telecom services (+1.3%) finished behind the broader market. To be fair though, the three sectors show the best and only positive performances among the S&P sectors on a year-to-date basis. To that point, the groups show respective gains of 5.8%, 1.6%, and 9.8%.

The heavyweight health care space managed a 1.9% gain despite the underperformance of Medtronic (MDT 74.18, -3.21), which plummeted 4.2% after reporting results that fell in-line with analyst estimate. Separately, biotechnology showed relative strength as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 265.27, +11.18) gained 4.4% today. For the year, the ETF remains down 22.7%.

Adding to today's optimistic mood were dovish remarks from New York Fed President and FOMC voting member William Dudley, who acknowledged that the balance of risks to growth and inflation outlooks for the U.S. might be starting to tilt slightly to the downside.

The Treasury complex plunged after the release of the ISM Index reading with the 10-yr yield ending higher by six basis points at 1.82%.

On the currency front, the U.S. Dollar Index (98.35, +0.14) retreated from its best level of the day as the yen and the euro sought to make up some ground. The dollar/yen rose 1.1% to 113.91 after reaching a session high of 114.14. Meanwhile, the euro/dollar ticked down 0.1% to 1.0866 after hitting a session low of 1.0841.

Trading volume was roughly in-line with the recent average as 1.09 billion shares changed hands on the floor of the NYSE.

Today's economic data included Construction Spending for January and the ISM Index for February:

The ISM Index for February checked in at 49.5, up from 48.2 in January and above the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 49.0.
A number below 50.0 denotes contraction. What the improvement from January says, then, is that manufacturing activity on a national basis contracted in February but at a slower rate than January..
This is the fifth straight month the ISM Index has been below 50.0. That hasn't happened since the throes of the financial crisis in 2009.
The uptick in February wasn't a broad happening, as revealed by the sub-indices. The New Orders Index held steady at 51.5; the Imports Index dropped from 51.0 to 49.0; the Exports Index slipped from 47.0 to 46.5; the Supplier Deliveries Index fell from 50.0 to 49.7; and the Customers' Inventories Index declined from 51.5 to 47.0.
Where there was improvement was in the Production Index (from 50.2 to 52.8), the Employment Index (from 45.9 to 48.5), the Backlog of Orders Index (from 43.0 to 48.5), the Prices Index (from 33.5 to 38.5), and the Inventories Index (from 43.5 to 45.0).
The report stipulated that the average PMI reading for January and February (48.9) corresponds to real GDP growth of 1.8% on an annualized basis.
Total construction spending was up 1.5% month-over-month in January (Briefing.com consensus +0.5%). Furthermore, construction spending in December was revised up to a 0.6% increase from a previously reported 0.1% gain.
Total construction spending is up 10.4% year-over-year, with private construction spending up 9.5% and public construction spending up 13.0%.
The strength in January was driven by public construction spending, which increased 4.5% on the back of a 4.6% jump in nonresidential spending. Public residential spending, which accounts for a tiny portion of total construction spending, was down 1.9%.
The uptick in public construction spending was driven by increases in most categories, but none more prominent than highway and street spending, which surged 14.7%. The only areas experiencing a decline in spending were office (-4.2%), health care (-5.0%), educational (-1.9%), and transportation (-3.7%).
On the private side, construction spending increased 0.5% in January. That improvement also flowed from the nonresidential side of things, which saw a 2.5% increase in spending. There, too, highway and street spending led the way with a 14.6% gain. The weakest area in private nonresidential spending was commercial (-4.3%). Private residential spending was flat in January.

Tomorrow's economic data includes the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which will be released at 7:00 ET. Meanwhile, the February ADP Employment Change report (Briefing.com consensus 190k) and the Fed's Beige Book for March will be released at 8:15 ET and 14:00 ET, respectively.

Russell 2000 -7.3% YTD
Nasdaq -6.4% YTD
S&P 500 -3.2% YTD
Dow Jones -3.2% YTD

DJ30 +248.58 NASDAQ +131.65 SP500 +46.12 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2319/1.916 bln/699 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2553/1.099 bln/537 3:40 pm :

Natural gas futures put in nice rally starting in late morning trade and extending into early afternoon trade
NG held its gains pretty well, closing today's session +1.8% at $1.74/MMBtu
WTI crude oil rallied in morning trade, holding most of its gains as well
At the end of today's floor session, Apr crude finished +2% at $34.39/barrel
Precious metals slid lower today, only recovering modestly off of today's lows
Apr gold finished -0.3% at $1230.70/oz, while May silver ended -1% at $14.75/oz
May copper rallied 0.5% to $2.14/lb

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:06 pm Agilent acquires 48% interest ownership in Lasergen for $80 mln; prior guidance unchanged (A) :

Co invests $80 million in Lasergen, an emerging biotechnology company with next-gen sequencing technology.

With this investment, Agilent will acquire a 48% ownership stake in privately held Lasergen and will join the board. Agilent has the option to acquire the remaining shares of Lasergen until March 2, 2018, for an additional consideration of $105 mln. The two companies will collaborate on building a next-generation sequencing solutions workflow for clinical applications, based on Lasergen's Lightning Terminators sequencing chemistry. The investment will result in $0.02-$0.03 EPS dilution impact on both FY16 and FY17. However, Agilent's overall company-level guidance communicated on Feb. 16 remains unchanged. Agilent's management will present more details about this transaction on a conference call with investors today at 2 p.m. PT.

The broader market closed Monday split, as the Nasdaq Composite was the laggard. Leading the session higher, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 67.18 points (+0.40%) to close 17073.95, helped by crude oil which finished +5.5% today. The S&P 500 also finished in the green, advancing 1.77 points (+0.09%) to 2001.76. Rounding out the bunch, the Nasdaq Composite was pressured on the session as large-cap tech names held the index down; to that end, the Nasdaq lost 8.77 points today (-0.19%) to close 4708.25. In all, it was an up and down day as stocks initially rallied off morning lows to enjoy some time in the green. Gains were short-lived, though, as all three major US indices turned negative around 1 p.m. ET. The final two hours of trading were also volatile, as around 3 p.m. ET, indices rallied slightly off lows of the session and finished split.

Ahead of today's session futures followed European bourses lower as both markets looked to consolidate from their recent rallies. To that point, the benchmark index has rallied 10.7% off its February 11 low (1810.10) while the Euro Stoxx 50 Index has climbed 12.7% over that same period. In addition to the general consolidation, equity markets reacted to the National People's Congress in China softening its target GDP growth for 2016 (6.5% to 7.0%; 2015: 7.0%).

In the Technology (XLK 42.16, -0.26 -0.61%) sector, trading ended in the red, as action never got above flat lines. Component Apple's (AAPL 101.87, -1.14 -1.11%) target was lowered to $127 from $132 at Pacific Crest as they noted supply and demand appear stable, but more consistent with results at the low end of guidance. Other sectors closed the session XLE +2.35%, XLB +1.15%, XLV +0.80%, IYZ +0.76%, XLU +0.55%, XLI +0.30%, XLF -0.04%, XLY -0.43%, XLP -0.61% with Tech and Consumer Staples leading the decline.

By comparison, Internet (FDN 67.14, -0.74 -1.09%) names were mostly weaker today as component Netflix (NFLX 95.49, -6.09 -6.00%) was pressured by cautious commentary from ITG Research regarding domestic streaming estimates. Other FDN names which finished lower today included VHC -3.83%, LNKD -3.75%, EQIX -3.32%, EXPE -2.89%, FB -2.45%, GOOGL -2.39%, JCOM -2.36%, AMZN -2.15%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (694.55, -5.13 -0.73%), trading crept safely below flat lines for the entirety of the session as large cap names held the sector down. Component Micron (MU 11.58, -0.30 -2.53%) was downgraded to Reduce from Neutral at Nomura before the market opened. Other components finished the day MSFT -1.92%, V -2.65%, MA -1.94%, ACN -0.76%, AVGO -1.75%, PYPL -0.15%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Logitech (LOGI 16.56, +0.36 +2.22%) announced the Logitech ConferenceCam Kit with Intel (INTC 30.94, +0.31 +1.01%) NUC video conferencing system.

Xerox (XRX 10.42, -0.08 -0.76%) closed a $1 billion senior unsecured term loan, to be drawn by April 1, 2016.

Elsewhere in the tech sector :

ComScore (SCOR 27.04, -13.67 -33.58%) filed to further delay its form 10-K. The company postponed the previously-announced investor day pending the completion of an internal review. In addition, SCOR suspended the company's share repurchase program.

Brooks Automation (BRKS 10.22, +0.30 +3.02%) announced a restructuring plan through which the company expects to achieve $15 million in annualized cost savings. In addition, BRKS announced COO Mark Morelli will be leaving as of March 31.

Lattice Semi's (LSCC 5.85, +0.06 +1.04%) CFO Joe Bedewi to leave the company.

NXP Semi (NXPI 76.98, +0.35 +0.46%) filed an ordinary share shelf offering for an undisclosed amount.

Advanced Semi (ASX 5.70, -0.16 -2.81%) reported February revenues declined 7.0% YoY to NT$17.7 billion (down 16.7% sequentially).

Gogo (GOGO 11.75, -0.49 -4.00%) and Intelsat (I 2.30, +0.31 +15.58%) partnered to leverage the first shared GEO/LEO satellite network for in-flight connectivity.

NCR (NCR 25.78, +1.10 +4.46%) announced a $250 million share repurchase and increased its 2016 full year EPS guidance to $2.85-2.95, up from its previous guidance of $2.72-2.82.

Analyst actions:

CCOEY was upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies;
RMBS was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sidoti,
MU was downgraded to Reduce from Neutral at Nomura,
SSYS was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan,
QLYS was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Wunderlich

4:10 pm : The major averages began their week on a flat note as an oil rally was unable to bolster the broader market through the closing bell. Contributing factors to today's trade included a consolidation from the recent three-week winning streak, the underperformance of the heavyweight technology (-0.7%) and consumer discretionary (-0.5%) spaces, and anxiety regarding upcoming central bank policy meetings. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) ended its day behind S&P 500 (+0.1) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.4%).

The benchmark index was unable to maintain the bulk of its advance despite a sustained rally in energy (+2.4%) and crude oil. The energy component surged 5.5% to $37.90/bbl, continuing its recent winning streak. On that note, WTI crude has jumped 45.5% from its 52-week low of $26.05/bbl on February 11.

The materials sector (+1.2%) was a distant second while countercyclical health care (+0.8%), telecom services (+0.7%), and utilities (+0.6%) followed. Conversely, heavily-weighted technology (-0.7%) and consumer discretionary (-0.5%) rounded out the leaderboard.

Commodity-sensitive materials received a boost from an overnight surge in iron ore, but also outperformed thanks to large cap DuPont (DD 64.71, +1.53). The company climbed 2.4% on news that BASF (BASFY 69.95, +0.66) is considering a counter bid for DuPont during its pending merger with Dow Chemical (DOW 49.76, -0.53).

In the technology sector, large-cap components underperformed with Facebook (FB 105.73, -2.66) and Alphabet (GOOGL 712.80, -17.42) diving 2.4% apiece. Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index demonstrated relative strength as it ticked higher by 0.3%. The relative strength came despite noticeable weakness from constituents Micron Technology (MU 11.58, -0.30) and Broadcom (AVGO 143.51, -2.55) which surrendered 2.5% and 1.8%, respectively.

Meanwhile, large names also suffered in the consumer discretionary space (-0.5%). To that point, Amazon (AMZN 562.80, -12.34) and Nike (NKE 59.25, -2.01) plunged a respective 2.2% and 3.3%. Separately, influential Netflix (NFLX 95.49, -6.09) plunged 6.0% after ITG Research cast doubt on the company's domestic streaming estimates.

On the central bank front, slightly diverging opinions between Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer and Fed Governor Lael Brainard cast some light on next week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Mr. Fischer contended that inflation is showing signs of acceleration in the U.S. while Ms. Brainard cautioned patience for raising rates in light of tightening financial conditions and softer inflation expectations.

The U.S. Dollar Index (97.10, -0.24) fell today as the euro and the yen gained some steam against dollar. The euro/dollar pair trades higher by 0.1% at 1.1014 while the dollar/yen pair slipped 0.3% to 113.41, but ended off its high (113.73).

Trading volume fell roughly in-line with the recent average as more than 1.10 billion shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Treasuries hit their lows during the height of the rally in equities and ended their day near those levels. The yield on the 10-yr note ended higher by three basis points at 1.91%.

Today's economic data included the January Consumer Credit report:

Total outstanding consumer credit increased by $10.5 billion in January. That was below the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which called for growth of $16.5 billion, but up from December when total outstanding consumer credit, which can be prone to sizable revisions, increased by a downwardly revised $6.4 billion (from $21.3 billion).
Total outstanding consumer credit of $3.54 trillion increased at an annual rate of 3.6% in January.
The growth in January was led by a pickup in nonrevolving credit, which increased by $11.6 billion. Revolving credit actually contracted by $1.1 billion.
In the preceding 12-month period leading up to January, consumer credit had risen by an average of $18.0 billion.

There is no economic data of note on tap for tomorrow.

Nasdaq Composite -6.0% YTD
Russell 2000 -3.9% YTD
S&P 500 -2.1% YTD
Dow Jones -2.0% YTD

DJ30 +67.18 NASDAQ -8.77 SP500 +1.77 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2015/1.917 bln/963 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2014/1.105 bln/1020

3:35 pm :

The dollar index continued to slide lower today, which helped give as boost to select commodities such as energy futures
Apr crude oil ended the day +5.5% at $37.90/barrel
Natural gas perked up today, rising +1.8% to $1.69/MMBtu (Apr contract)
Metals were another story. Despite the sell off in the dollar index, Apr gold closed -0.5% at $1264.00/oz, while May silver lost -0.3% at $15.64/oz
May copper finished the day flat at $2.28/lb

Notable energy-sector gainers along with short-interest are listed below.

LNCO +95% at 1.47 (short interest 5.6% of float)
LINE +78% at 1.77 (short interest 5.6% of float)
SDOC +74.2% at 0.11 (short interest 12.0% of float),
BCEI +31.6% at 2.79 (short interest 32.4% of float),
SGY +22.3% at 3.13 (short interest 19.7% of float),
HERO +16.0% at 2.32 (short interest 0.7% of float),
CRC +13.1% at 1.99 (short interest 14.2% of float),
EMES +11.6% at 5.67 (short interest 13.1% of float),
CJES +11.6% at 1.93 (short interest 50.8% of float),
UNT +10.8% at 11.49 (short interest 13.1% of float),
BTU +10.6% at 3.75 (short interest 42.7% of float),
PAGP +10.2% at 8.44 (short interest 1.9% of float),
SDLP +9.6% at 3.88 (short interest 1.7% of float),
SN +9.5% at 5.44 (short interest 19.4% of float),
WTI +9.4% at 3.14 (short interest 39% of float),
CEQP +9.4% at 8.85 (short interest 6.9% of float),
WLL +8.0% at 7.66 (short interest 19.9% of float),
EVEP +7.9% at 2.61 (short interest 4.7% of float),
LEI +7.2% at 4.17 (short interest 19.0% of float).

In corporate news of note, Marvell (MRVL 10.15, +0.40) has jumped 4.1% after the NY Post reported that the company would be open to a sale.

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From Briefing.com: 5:13 pm Integrated Device issues statement regarding U.S. Department of Commerce ruling on ZTE (ZTCOF) (IDTI) :

Co provided a statement regarding the publication by the United States Department of Commerce in the Federal Register of a "final rule" amending the Export Administration Regulations to add four entities to the "Entity List" maintained by the Department for actions contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. The four entities added to the "Entity List" include Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corp and its subsidiaries, ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd., Beijing 8-Star, and ZTE Parsian. This amendment became effective immediately. Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corp ("ZTE") is a communications infrastructure customer of IDT.IDT's ZTE-related revenue has historically ranged between ~$3-4 million per quarter

IDT expects this event to have minimal impact to its current fiscal Q4, ending April 3, 2016.Co believes this ruling could cause changes to revenue trends beginning in its first fiscal quarter of 2017, ending July 3, 2016The magnitude and longevity of any impact will depend on the timing and specific rebalancing that may occur across the co's customer base for related applications in similar end marketsThe co currently believes that any adverse impact will be transitory, as IDT is strongly positioned across a wide range of customers and applications in communications infrastructure.

4:35 pm SunEdison Semiconductor misses by $0.35, misses on revs; No update on previously disclosed strategic alternatives evaluation (SEMI) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) GAAP loss of $0.74 per share, $0.35 worse than the Capital IQ GAAP Consensus of ($0.39); revenues fell 3.9% year/year to $181.7 mln vs the $186.86 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Full year 2015 gross margin increased to 9.9% from 9.4% despite 7.5% lower net salesThe Company ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $83.5 million, down $7.3 million compared to the prior quarter, and down only $4.7 million year-over-year."Despite tough market conditions in the second half of 2015, we executed well to grow our Adjusted EBITDA over 12% in 2015, and we continue to work towards our long-term EBITDA goals. We are also evaluating various strategic alternatives and will provide updates when appropriate."

Broader market trading took the three major US indices to average losses. Leading the action lower, the Nasdaq Composite lost 59.43 points (-1.26%) to 4648.83. The S&P 500 followed, down 22.50 points (-1.12%) to 1979.26. The most modest losses today were turned in by the Dow Jones Industrial Average which shed 109.85 points (-0.64%) to 16964.10. Action in the Dow briefly turned green today near 1:10 p.m. ET, but the slight upside did not last long as indices pared midday gains to end at lows of the session.

Indices bounced off morning lows as the session began with heavy selling pressure as signs of slowing out of China reigned in the major averages following their three-week winning streak. Last night's growth concerns regarding China's economy took center stage after the country reported that its February trade surplus came in at $32.59 billion versus the previous month's reading of $63.29 billion. The session ended with a flurry of selling into the bell, taking indices to their lows of the day as the bell rang.

In the Technology (XLK 41.86, -0.30 -0.71%) sector, trading was mostly negative, but turned to the green a few times during the session. Gains did not last, and the sector closed just shy of lows of the day as component Qualcomm (QCOM 52.46, -0.84 -1.58%) was slightly weaker in spite of the company raising its quarterly dividend payout to $0.53 per share. Other sectors closed the session XLU +0.99%, XLP +0.29%, IYZ -0.72%, XLY -0.79%, XLV -1.22%, XLI -1.41%, XLF -1.62%, XLB -1.96%, XLE -4.20% as Utilities led the way higher, and the Energy complex was notably weak.

Solar (TAN 24.11, -0.57 -2.31%) names were particularly weak today as component Vivint Solar (VSLR 4.17, -1.04 -19.96%) announced the termination of the merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE 2.00, +0.10 +5.26%). Other components in action today included TERP +3.82%, SCTY +3.68%, CSIQ -6.03%, SPWR -6.98%.

Select Software (IGV 95.25, -0.86 -0.89%) names were higher today in spite of the broader sector weakness as component Red Hat (RHT 68.28 +1.35 -2.02%) was strong following a Mizuho research note that called for better than expected Q4 results for the upcoming print on March 22, after the close. Other IGV names that displayed strength included NOW +3.64%, MSFT +1.21%, FDS +0.30%.

When the bell rang, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (689.19, -5.36 -0.77%) was near session lows as component Western Digital (WDC 46.44, -3.63 -7.25%) felt pressure following a morning press release that discussed the company's Hitachi and SanDisk (SNDK 76.00, -0.68 -0.89%) merger synergies. Other names in the space which displayed weakness included STX -3.49%, NTAP -3.42%, AMAT -3.40%, FSLR -3.34%, ADS -3.33%, YHOO -3.03%, GLW -2.76%, AVGO -2.70%, FLIR -2.65%, XLNX -2.48%, TDC -2.44%, HPQ -2.30%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Qualcomm (QCOM) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.53 per share from $0.48 per share.

MasterCard (MA 86.87, -1.39 -1.57%) disclosed executive officers Gary Flood and Robert Reeg entered into pre-arranged stock trading plans to sell a limited amount of the shares of Class A common stock.

Western Digital (WDC) discussed its Hitachi and SanDisk (SNDK) merger synergies. The company has been able to identify up to about $650 million of annual run rate cost synergies from new China approvals of the Hitachi merger to be achieved over a two year period. In regards to the SNDK acquisition, WDC expects to achieve annual run-rate synergies of approximately $500 million within 18 months post-closing and annual run-rate synergies of approximately $1.1 billion by 2020.

IBM (IBM 139.07, -1.02 -0.73%) acquired ecx.io, a full-service digital agency headquartered in Germany. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.05, -0.09 -0.33%) announced a $500 million investment in Germany during the next three years to help accelerate the country's digitization.

Intuit (INTU 99.27, -0.11 -0.11%) sold its QuickBase business to private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Geoswift and Western Union (WU 19.11, -0.41 -2.10%) Business Solutions have announced the inclusion of Tenpay, a third-party online payment platform in China, as one of the payment channels in the proprietary online tuition payment portal www.paytuitionnow.com.

KPMG LLP and IBM (IBM) announced plans to apply IBM's Watson cognitive computing technology to KPMG's professional services offerings. The agreement, including a focus on auditing services, builds on several recent successful KPMG initiatives demonstrating the promise of cognitive technologies in transforming the firm's ability to deliver innovative and enhanced business services.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

Agilent (A 38.09, -1.35 -3.42%) acquired a 48% interest ownership in biotech firm, Lasergen, for $80 million. The company's prior guidance unchanged. The investment will result in $0.02-$0.03 EPS dilution impact on both FY16 and FY17.

Wins Finance's (WINS 11.40, -0.10 -0.87%) co-President, Hary Gu, has resigned.

Vivint Solar (VSLR) terminated its merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE) on SUNE's 'failure to consummate the merger when required.'

Level 3 (LVLT 49.94, -1.00 -1.96%) commenced a $500 million debt offering of senior notes due 2026.

SolarCity (SCTY 25.08, +0.89 +3.68%) and Whole Foods (WFM 33.57, -0.04 -0.12%) announced a plan to install solar power systems on locations across the US.

Smith Micro Software (SMSI 0.64, -0.00 -0.77%) to acquire Birdstep Technology in an all-cash transaction. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Intelli-Check (IDN 1.19, +0.01 +0.85%) sued Honeywell (HON 107.58, +0.11 +0.10%) for infringing on several Intellicheck patents.

In reaction to quarterly results:

John Wiley & Sons (JW.A 44.89, -0.28 -0.62%) reported worse than expected Q3 EPS and better than expected revenues of $436.4 million. JW.A also reaffirmed its FY16 outlook of flat revenue and flat adjusted EPS on a constant currency basis and excluding the adverse transitional impact of shifting to time-based journal subscriptions.

Bitauto Holdings (BITA 24.71, +1.16 +4.93%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.25 on revenues which rose 21.7% YoY to $191.3 million. The company also guided Q1 revenues better than expected t $162.4-167.8 million.

ReneSola (SOL 1.45, -0.01 -0.68%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.07 and $296.4 million, respectively. For the Q1 period, SOL expects revenues in the range of $260-270 million; for the FY16 period, SOL sees revenues of $1.0-1.2 billion.

Analyst actions:

SHOP was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at Pacific Crest,
TI was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse;
SUNE was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan,
SCOR was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie

4:10 pm : The S&P 500 snapped a five-day win streak on Tuesday as the U.S. market reacted to rekindled growth concerns out of China. Meanwhile, a tumble in oil prices, consolidation after the recent leg higher in the major averages, and the underperformance of the heavyweight financial sector (-1.7%) also contributed to today's decline. The Nasdaq Composite (-1.3%) settled behind both the S&P 500 (-1.1%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.6%).

Equity indices started their day beneath their flat lines as a weaker-than-expected reading of China's February trade data weighed on the market. The report showed that exports fell 25.4% (consensus -12.5%; last -11.2%) while imports declined 13.8% (expected -10.0%; previous -18.8%). The headline figure showed that the country's trade surplus came in at $32.59 billion (expected $50.15 billion) against the previous month's reading of $63.29 billion.

Stocks climbed off their lows for the bulk of the trading day, but the rally in equities lost steam shortly after the Nasdaq 100 flashed a brief gain. After crude oil's pit session ended, the averages tumbled back towards their lows, reaching their lowest point in the last half hour of trade.

The energy sector (-4.1%) rounded out the leaderboard as a plunge in crude oil weighed on the sector. WTI crude ended its day lower by 3.8% at $36.48/bbl. Meanwhile, the broader energy sector trimmed its March advance to 5.3% as independent oil and gas names demonstrated relative weakness. To that point, Anadarko Petroleum (APC 41.14, -3.96) plummeted 8.8%, but still remains up 5.1% in the month of March.

The materials space (-2.0%) followed energy on the leaderboard as the sector pulled back from its 3.0% gain so far in March. Meanwhile the heavyweight financial sector (-1.7%) followed the pair in the back of the pack.

In the economically-sensitive financial sector, money center banks demonstrated relative weakness while Goldman Sachs (GS 151.60, -3.75) was the second worst performer in the Dow Jones. Life insurance companies underperformed today as MetLife (MET 41.78, -1.07) and Prudential (PRU 70.32, -1.81) fell 2.5% apiece. The two names have climbed a respective 4.5% and 4.6% in March, compared to the 3.8% advance in the broader sector.

The heavily-weighted technology (-0.8%) and consumer discretionary (-0.8%) spaces outperformed throughout today's session as large cap names continued to garner buying interest. Facebook (FB 105.93, +0.20) and Alphabet (GOOGL 713.53, +0.73) managed to recover from early weakness while Nike (NKE 59.81, +0.56) rebounded from yesterday's 3.3% decline.

Biotechnology weighed on the health care sector (-1.3%) as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 260.13, -9.63) surrendered 3.6%. The sub-group continues to show relative weakness with the ETF surrendering 21.5% since the beginning of 2016 while the broader sector has declined 7.1%.

Utilities (+0.8%), consumer staples (+0.3%), and telecom services (UNCH) were the only three sectors able to end the day in positive territory, as the groups benefited from an early and sustained safe haven bid.

The U.S. Dollar Index (97.19, +0.12) ended its day in positive territory as the euro returned its gain against the greenback while the yen trimmed its advance. The euro/dollar pair slipped 0.1% (1.1007) after falling from a session high of 1.1056. Meanwhile, the dollar/yen pair fell 0.7% to 112.64 after trading as low as 112.44.

The Treasury complex climbed higher to begin the session, but backed away from its high. The yield on the 10-yr note ended lower by eight basis points at 1.82%.

Today's participation was true to the recent average as more than 1.08 billion shares changed hands at the New York Stock Exchange floor.

There was no economic data of note released today.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the January Wholesale Inventories Report (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%), which will cross the wires at 7:00 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq -7.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -6.0% YTD
S&P 500 -3.2% YTD
Dow Jones -2.7% YTD

DJ30 -109.85 NASDAQ -59.43 SP500 -22.50 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 637/1.804 bln/2294 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 736/1.088 bln/2310

3:40 pm :

Apr WTI crude oil prices lost steam today and sold off following the strength seen in recent session
Apr crude finished pit trading -3.8% at $36.48/barrel. However, in electronic trading, oil prices are extending losses
In other energy, Apr natural gas futures gained 1.2% today to $1.71/MMBtu.
Metals lost steam today as well, partially hurt by the dollar index, which reversed higher today
Apr gold slipped 0.1% to $1263.20/oz, while May silver fell -1.5% to $15.40/oz
Apr copper dropped 3% to $2.22/lb

12:01 pm Cisco Systems announced $500 mln investment in Germany over the next three years, to help accelerate the country's digitization (CSCO) : The program is called "Deutschland Digital" and focuses on innovation, security and education. Planned investments foresee funds for specific digitization projects, research projects, an expansion of the Cisco Networking Academy, and direct investments in venture funds, as well as to human resources and infrastructure spending

9:21 am American Superconductor and BASF (BASFY) form strategic relationship to develop lower cost superconductor wire - AMSC to host call March 10 at 10am ET to detail strategic relationship (AMSC) :

The cos have entered into a set of agreements to jointly develop an advanced low cost manufacturing process for second generation high temperature superconductor wire. In the joint development, AMSC's manufacturing know-how for its Amperium superconductor wire and BASF's chemical solution deposition production technology will be combined. As part of the agreements, AMSC and BASF also entered into a royalty-bearing, non-exclusive license under which AMSC will provide BASF a specified portion of AMSC's second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire manufacturing technology. AMSC intends to continue its focus on HTS system-based solutions, such as its Resilient Electric Grid and Ship Protection Systems and to provide wire for those solutions as well as to AMSC's strategic partners. The parties expect these agreements to result in the development of a potentially low cost manufacturing process at BASF and to enable AMSC to focus resources on driving down the total system cost. If the development is complete and successful, AMSC may utilize wire produced by this advanced manufacturing process for its systems business.

M&A news: SUNE +33.2% (Vivint Solar terminates merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE)),VSLR +1%,TERP +15.3% (Vivint Solar terminates merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE))

8:46 am Marvell: Nasdaq determines co will not meet the terms of the previously granted extension, which expires on March 8; co intends to request a hearing on/before March 11 to request further extension (MRVL) :

Co intends to request a hearing before the Nasdaq Hearings Panel on or before March 11, 2016 to request a further extension.

The Panel has the authority to grant Marvell an extension of up to 360 days from the due date of the first missed periodic report, or September 5, 2016. Such request will automatically stay any suspension or delisting action until March 28, 2016, and the Company will request a further stay of any suspension or delisting action pending the issuance of the Panel decision following the hearing. The Panel will notify Marvell no later than March 28, 2016 whether its request for a stay of suspension or delisting action pending the hearing has been granted.

Axcelis Tech (ACLS) received multiple system orders from several leading chipmakers in China for the Purion XE high energy implanter. The systems will be used to support the design and volume production of both 3D NAND Flash and custom planar logic devices in multiple fabs across China. The systems are scheduled to ship in the first quarter.

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From Briefing.com: The three major US indices closed the session modestly higher. Gains were led by the Nasdaq Composite which added 25.55 points (+0.55)% to 4674.38. The S&P 500 closed up 10.00 points (+0.51%) to 1989.26, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 36.26 points (+0.21%) to close 17000.36. Action was mostly positive in the indices today as we are in the middle of a nearly seven year bull market. The recovery began back in 2009, post the housing market crash in 2008 -- the S&P is up about +130% since that time, while the Dow +135% and the Nasdaq +220% post similar strong gains since that time.

Trading in the Technology (XLK 42.26, +0.40 +0.96) sector was mostly in the green today. Posting notable weakness today was component Frontier Communications (FTR 5.17, -0.38 -6.76%), which was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup ahead of today's opening bell. Other sectors closed the day XLE +1.62%, XLP +0.75%, XLB +0.63%, XLU +0.46%, XLI +0.32%, XLY +0.20%, XLV +0.18%, XLF +0.14%, IYZ -0.93% as Tech and Energy led the advance and Telecoms were the notable laggard.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector ( 696.27, +7.09 +1.03%), trading closed near the session high while component Qualcomm (QCOM 51.95, -0.51 -0.97) posted modest losses in spite of the company being denied a petition by the PTAB for IPR against claims of three Parkervision (PRKR 0.26, +0.04 +18.74%) patents. Other components which finished the day higher included SYMC +3.78%, XRX +2.83%, HPQ +2.81%, FSLR +2.42%, RHT +2.37%, QRVO +2.31%, MSFT +2.30%, WDC +2.15%, AMAT +2.08%, CSCO +2.07%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.61, +0.56 +2.07%) acquired Synata. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Intel (INTC 30.86, +0.31 +1.00%) acquired Replay Technologies for immersive sports. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 25.23, +0.20 +0.80%) and Lenovo (LNVGY 16.43, -0.02 -0.12%) announced a collaboration & global partnership.

Hilton Worldwide (HLT 20.77, -0.16 -0.76%) and IBM (IBM 140.41, +1.38 +0.99%) announced a collaboration to pilot "Connie" -- the first Watson-enabled robot concierge in the hospitality industry. Connie draws on domain knowledge from Watson and WayBlazer to inform guests on local tourist attractions, dining recommendations and hotel features and amenities.

Towergate is undertaking an IT infrastructure transformation across its entire business to address challenges posed by legacy systems and lack of integration and has chosen Accenture (ACN 103.40, +0.78 +0.76%) as its strategic service provider.

Parkervision (PRKR) announced the PTAB has denied Qualcomm's (QCOM) petitions for IPR against various claims of three ParkerVision patents.

Elsewhere in the technology space:

CSG Systems (CSGS 40.90, +2.50 +6.51%) to offer $200 million aggregate principal amount of Convertible Senior Notes due 2036.

IDT Corp (IDT 14.29, +0.40 +2.88%) announced that its Zedge subsidiary has filed for planned spin-off.

Vivint Solar (VSLR 4.22, +0.05 +1.20%) to seek damages for willful breach of merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE 1.91, -0.08 -3.77%).

SUNE confirmed VSLR's lawsuit and stated that prior to the termination it and VSLR commenced discussions regarding a possible negotiated termination of their proposed merger.

Air Transport Services Group (ATSG 13.73, +1.96 +16.65%) confirmed a deal with Amazon (AMZN 559.47, -0.79 -0.14%) to operate the company's air transport network. AMZN was also granted rights to purchase ATSG equity.

Unisys (UIS 7.96, -3.07 -27.87%) proposed an offering of $150 million of its Convertible Senior Notes due 2021.UIS also announced its Australian subsidiary signed a two-year contract extension worth about $54 million with the Australian Department of Defence to provide IT support.Dangdang (DANG 7.18, +0.57 +8.62%) received a non-binding proposal to be acquired by iMeigu Capital for $8.80 per ADS.

First Data (FDC 188.95, +0.60 +0.32%) announced a $500 million offering of 5.00% senior secured first lien notes due 2024.

Toshiba (TOSBF 1.83, -0.01 -0.71%) granted exclusive rights to Canon (CAJ 29.68, +0.54 +1.85%) to negotiate over a potential acquisition of Toshiba's Medical Systems unit.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Atento (ATTO 7.26, -1.57 -17.78%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS of $0.31 and revenues which fell 17.5% versus last year to $457.8 million.

SunEdison Semiconductor (SEMI 7.30, +0.44 +6.41%) reported worse than expected Q4 GAAP EPS and revenues of $0.74 and $181.7 million, respectively.

Phoenix New Media Limited (FENG 4.23, +0.28 +7.09%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.10 and $66.5 million, respectively. For the Q1 period, FENG sees revenues between RMB290-305 million.

Analyst actions:

FEYE was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray,
BITA was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse,
CHU was upgraded to Buy from Outperform at Credit Agricole;
GRPN and YELP were downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS,
FTR was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup,
ATTO was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill

4:15 pm : The major averages ended their midweek affair on a higher note as a leg higher in oil supported a modest gain in the stock market. Additionally, leadership from the heavyweight technology sector (+1.0%) countered some choppy trade from the likes of the financial (+0.1%), consumer discretionary (+0.1%), and health care (+0.2%) sectors. Today's action preceded tomorrow's policy statement from the European Central Bank, which is widely believed to call for additional stimulus measures. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) settled ahead of the S&P 500 (+0.5%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.2%).

Equities displayed modest gains in the early going, reaching their best levels shortly after the release of the Department of Energy's weekly inventory report. The report showed that crude oil inventories rose in-line with analyst estimates, but that gasoline inventories experienced a larger-than-expected draw (4.53 million; consensus 1.39 million). This echoed the results of the API report and led to a bid in crude oil, as investors believed that drawdowns in gasoline inventories would drive increased demand in oil for future refining. As a result, WTI crude ended its day higher by 4.8% at $38.23/bbl.

Commodity-sensitive energy (+1.5%) was able to take advantage of this swing in oil prices, climbing the leaderboard. Meanwhile, the top-weighted technology sector (+1.0%) finished in the second spot.

In the energy sector (+1.5%), oil and gas refining names were able to outperform as Marathon Petroleum (MPC 37.06, +1.89) gained 5.4%. Meanwhile, Dow component Chevron (CVX 92.82, +4.08) managed to top the price-weighted index as it climbed 4.6%. The energy space managed to re-enter positive territory for the year with today's trade, as the group shows a gain of 0.7% over that period.

Heavily-weighted technology (+1.0%) received a boost from large-cap component Microsoft (MSFT 52.84, +1.19), which managed to reclaim its 50-day moving average (52.24). Separately, Cisco Systems (CSCO 27.61, +0.56) benefited from some M&A news as the company announced that it would be acquiring Synata for an undisclosed amount.

On the bottom of the leaderboard, telecom services (-0.3%) led the downside while heavily-weighted financials (+0.1%), consumer discretionary (+0.1%), and health care (+0.2%) underperformed. Biotechnology weighted on the health care space as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 257.13, 3.00) surrendered 1.2%.

In the economically sensitive financial sector (-0.1%), Morgan Stanley (MS 24.61, -0.40) surrendered 1.6%. The company has plunged 4.8% since Monday whereas the broader sector has lost 1.6% over that period. Meanwhile, Franklin Resources (BEN 37.41, -0.59) tumbled 1.6% after the company reported that preliminary month-end assets under management totaled $714 billion compared to the $728.1 billion under management in January.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 506.63, -18.06) displayed relative weakness in the consumer discretionary space (+0.1%) after it was confirmed that one of the sick employees at its Billerica, Massachusetts location was infected by norovirus. The location has been cleared to open on Thursday. Separately, large-cap Home Depot (HD 126.03, -0.69) fell 0.5%.

The Dollar Index (97.17, -0.03) ticked up off its session low as the euro/dollar pair backed away from its high of 1.1029 to trade lower by 0.1% at 1.1002. Separately, the dollar/yen pair rose 0.7% to 113.40.

The Treasury complex traded broadly lower throughout the day as the yield on the 10-yr note slipped five basis points to 1.88%.

Today's participation was below the recent average with fewer than 933 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the January Wholesale Inventories Report:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index was showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 0.2% in mortgage applications.
Wholesale inventories increased 0.3% in January from an upwardly revised unchanged reading (from -0.1%) for December. The Briefing.com consensus estimate called for a 0.2% decline in January wholesale inventories, which are up 2.0% year-over-year.
The gain in January was driven by a 1.1% increase in nondurable inventories. Inventories of durable goods actually declined 0.3%.
The uptick in nondurable inventories was driven by drug (+3.3%) and farm products (+2.9%) inventories. The biggest increase was in paper inventories (+4.2%), although they make up just 3.6% of total nondurable inventories.
With respect to durable inventories, the biggest weights were the declines in electrical (-3.6%) and metals (-1.8%) inventories. Machinery inventories, which account for 29% of total durable inventories, rose 0.2% after a 0.4% decline in December.
Wholesale sales dropped 1.3% in January after a 0.6% decline in December. Durable sales were down 1.9% while nondurable sales fell 0.8%.
The wholesale inventories to sales ratio jumped to 1.35 in January from 1.33 in December. This ratio stood at 1.28 in the same period a year ago.

Tomorrow's economic data includes weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 275k) and the Treasury Budget for February, which will cross the wires at 8:30 ET and 14:00 ET, respectively. DJ30 +36.26 NASDAQ +25.55 SP500 +10.00 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1756/1.634 bln/1140 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2110/932.4 mln/896

3:40 pm :

Oil ran higher today, extending gains heading into the close of floor trading
Apr crude oil finished today's floor trading session +4.8% at $38.23/barrel and is just below that level in electronic trade
In other energy, Apr natural gas finished +2.7% at $1.76/MMBtu
Metals finished the day mixed with precious metals closing in the red and copper rising
Apr gold closed -0.5% to $1257.20/oz, while May silver slipped -0.3% to $15.36/oz
May copper closed today +0.5% at $2.23/lc

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From Briefing.com: 6:36 pm Marvell responds to press reports that Broadcom (AVGO) might purchase MRVL; confirms it has not been and is not engaged in discussions with AVGO with respect to any possible offer to acquire MRVL (MRVL) :

Co is aware of certain press reports speculating that Avago Technologies (Broadcom) is a potential purchaser of Marvell. Marvell's policy is not to comment on rumors or speculation, but because this particular rumor has the potential to be disruptive to Marvell's business, Marvell is confirming that it has not been and is not engaged in discussions with Avago with respect to any possible offer to acquire Marvell. Marvell does not intend to comment further on this or other rumors or speculation.5:21 pm QuickLogic proposes public offering of common stock for an undisclosed amount (QUIK) : The Company expects to use the net proceeds from the Offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.

5:11 pm Chipmos Technology reports February 2016 revs of $45.1 mln, -6.5% MoM (IMOS) :


4:02 pm Finisar beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (FNSR) :

Reports Q3 (Jan) earnings of $0.25 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.22; revenues fell 3.7% year/year to $309.2 mln vs the $311.23 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.22-0.28, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.21 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $307-327 mln vs. $313.45 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.


The broader market turned green to red this afternoon, but finished mixed as the stocks finished off afternoon lows. The S&P 500 finished modestly higher, advancing less than one point (+0.02%) to 1989.57. The Nasdaq Composite shed 12.22 points (-0.26%) today to close 4662.16, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 5.23 points (-0.03%) to 16995.13. Indices began the day higher, but after advancing modestly following the open, the indices went green to red and bounced off lows to end mixed.

Meanwhile, a raft of new easing measures from the European Central Bank was met with a sell-the-news reaction as the market wonders whether the ECB has reached its monetary policy limits. Ahead of today's session, the ECB released its latest policy statement, which exceeded investor expectations regarding the size and scope of its quantitative easing program. The central bank lowered its interest rate corridor and expanded its monthly asset purchases to 80 billion euros. Furthermore, the ECB added investment grade euro-denominated bonds of non-bank corporations to its list of assets eligible for purchases. However, the spike in risk assets has been retraced after ECB President Mario Draghi signaled that further interest rate cuts are "unlikely."

Related, in the currency markets the U.S. Dollar Index lost 1.15% today to close 96.05 after the ECB policy announcement. The EUR/USD pair closed up 1.91% to $1.1195 as the central bank cut its deposit rate by 10 basis points today to -0.40% from -0.30% but expanded its monthly asset purchases.

In the Technology (XLK 42.23, -0.03 -0.07%) sector, trading modestly lower today, well off lows. Component Yahoo! (YHOO 32.82, -0.69 -2.06%) traded lower on news that the company added two directors to the board, increasing the overall size of the board to nine from seven. Other sector closed Thursday XLB +0.53%, XLY +0.25%, XLE +0.08%, XLU +0.08%, XLV +0.06%, XLP +0.04%, XLF -0.09%, XLI -0.15%, IYZ -0.33% as Materials were strong and Telecoms lagged.

The S&P 500 Information Technology (695.41, -0.86 -0.12%) sector was also modestly lower as component Microsoft (MSFT 52.05, -0.79 -1.50%) signed a worldwide patent licensing agreement with Rakuten through a MSFT subsidiary. Other sector names which displayed relative weakness today included WU -2.39%, FLIR -1.94%, TDC -1.73%, QRVO -1.62%, SWKS -1.48%, INTU -1.46%, FFIV -1.33%, ADSK -1.31%, CTSH -1.12%, ORCL -1.12%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Microsoft's (MSFT) Microsoft Technology Licensing and Rakuten signed a worldwide patent cross-licensing agreement covering each company's respective consumer electronics products, including Linux and Android-based devices.

ServiceNow (NOW 60.72, +0.23 +0.38%) settles patent litigation with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 15.90, +0.41 +2.65%).

Yahoo! (YHOO) appointed Catherine Friedman and Eric Brandt to the Board effective Mar 8, thereby increasing the number of Board members to nine from seven.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, MaxPoint Interactive (MXPT 2.12, +0.33 +18.44%) authorized a $4.0 million stock repurchase program.

Orbcomm (ORBC 9.47, -0.01 -0.16%) and Lockheed Martin (LMT 216.56, +0.15 +0.07%) signed a memorandum of understanding for satellite connectivity and services for IoT applications.

Nuance Communications (NUAN 19.81, -0.40 -1.98%) agreed to repurchase $500 million, or about 26.32 million shares of common stock, from Carl Icahn (IEP 63.05, -0.33 -0.52%) for $19.00 per share.

Tableau Software (DATA 42.80, +0.16 +0.38%) acquired HyPer. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

First Data (FDC 13.23, -0.74 -5.30%) priced an offering of $900 million aggregate principal amount of senior secured first lien notes due 2024.

Unisys (UIS 7.58, -0.39 -4.89%) priced a $190 million private offering of Convertible Senior Notes due 2021.

CSG Systems (CSGS 36.50, -4.40 -10.76%) priced an offering of $200 million of 4.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2036.

Travelport Worldwide (TVPT 12.85, -0.84 -6.14%) announced a secondary common share offering of 10.6 million by selling shareholders.

Uni-Pixel (UNXL 0.60, +0.06 +11.11%) confirmed a $750,000 settlement with the SEC. The company said current management was not involved, but cooperated fully.

In reaction to quarterly results:

MaxPoint Interactive (MXPT) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues at a loss per share of $0.14 and $25.2 million, respectively. MXPT also guided Q1 revenues in-line at $17-18 million. The company also guided FY16 revenues of $91-95 million.

Canadian Solar (CSIQ 18.89, -2.88 -13.21%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $1.05 and $1.12 billion, respectively. CSIQ also guided Q1 and FY16 revenues worse than expected at $645-695 million and $2.9-3.1 billion, respectively.

Square (SQ 11.30, -0.73 -6.07%) reported Q4 GAAP loss of $0.34 per share and revenues which rose 49.2% versus last year to $374.4 million. SQ also guided Q1 revenues of $132-137 million and FY16 revenues of $600-620 million.

Box (BOX 12.68, +0.16 +1.28%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues at a loss per share of $0.26 and $85 million, respectively. BOX also guided Q1 EPS and revenues better than expected at ($0.24)-($0.23) and $88-89 million, respectively. The company also guided FY17 EPS slightly better than expected at ($0.85)-($0.83) and guided for revenues of $390-394 million.

Analyst actions:

EXPE was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray;
FDS was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS,
MBT was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup,
SEMI was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie,
BCOM was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Chardan Capital Markets

4:10 pm : The stock market endured a shaky session on Thursday as the major averages backed away from recent rebound highs. Today's decline was goaded by a lack of sector leadership from the heavyweight technology (-0.1%) and financial (-0.1%) sectors, uncertainty over whether the European Central Bank has reached its easing limits, and losses in crude oil. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) ended behind the Dow Jones Industrial Average (UNCH) and the S&P 500 (UNCH).

Today's trade took on a sell the news posture despite the ECB's latest policy statement exceeding investors expectations regarding the size and scope of the central bank's easing program. To that point, the ECB lowered its interest rate corridor and expanded the amount of its monthly asset purchases to 80 billion euros. To be fair though, participants likely responded to comments from ECB President Mario Draghi, which cast doubts on future interest rate cuts. As a result, equity markets pulled back from their early highs.

On the domestic front, the two top-weighted sectors of the S&P 500 underperformed the broader market as technology (-0.1%) and the financial sector (-0.1%) trimmed their month-to-date advances to 2.9% and 3.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, doubts regarding the likelihood of a production cap between OPEC and non-OPEC states weighed on crude oil. Consequently, WTI crude surrendered 1.2% ($37.78/bbl) and forced energy (UNCH) near the bottom of the leaderboard.

In the influential technology space (-0.1%), the underperformance of heavyweight components Apple (AAPL 101.17, +0.05) and Microsoft (MSFT 52.05, -0.79) brought the broader sector to its worst level of the day (-1.5%). However, both names were able to recover from their respective lows. Apple saw increased buying interest after it announced an event on March 21, where it is expected to refresh its product line. Separately, the high-beta chipmakers outperformed in the group, evidenced by the 0.5% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index.

Asset management companies underperformed in the economically-sensitive financial sector (-0.1%) throughout the day. To that point, Franklin Resources (BEN 36.76, -0.65) tumbled 1.7% in continuation of yesterday's move lower. Elsewhere, the money center banks ended their day on a mixed note with Bank of America (BAC 13.27, +0.13) climbing 1.0% while JPMorgan Chase (JPM 58.61, -0.51) ended lower by 0.9%.

Conversely, health care (+0.1%), consumer discretionary (+0.2%), telecom services (+0.5%), and materials (+0.5%) topped the leaderboard.

In the heavyweight health care space (+0.1%), biotechnology underperformed, evidenced by the 0.8% loss in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 255.08, -2.05). The ETF has now surrendered 23.0% year-to-date, compared to the 6.9% loss in the broader health care sector.

The U.S. Dollar Index (96.19, -0.98) finished near its session low as the yen and euro maintained their respective advances against the greenback. The euro/dollar pair rose 1.7% to 1.1181 after trading as low as 1.0849. Meanwhile, the dollar/yen tumbled 0.2% (113.14) after trading as high as 114.40.

The Treasury complex moved sharply lower in the morning, retracing a portion of that move in the afternoon. The yield on the 10-yr note fell from its best level of the day (1.95%) to end its session higher by five basis points at 1.93%.

Today's participation fell in-line with the recent average as more than 1.019 billion shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included weekly initial and continuing claims and the Treasury Budget for February:

The latest initial claims report has produced more encouraging news that should help highlight the burgeoning divergences between the ECB and the Federal Reserve.
Initial claims for the week ending March 5 were 259,000 (Briefing.com consensus 275,000), a decrease of 18,000 from the prior week.
There were no special factors behind the drop in claims, which are at the lower end of the 250,000 to 300,000 range that has persisted since July 2014. The four-week moving average fell to 267,500 from 270,000.
Continuing claims for the week ending February 27 were 2.225 million (Briefing.com consensus 2.251 million), a decrease of 32,000 from the prior week.
The latest reading left the four-week moving average for continuing claims at 2.252 million versus 2.257 million previously.
The Treasury Budget for February showed a deficit of $192.6 billion, nearly matching the deficit of $192.4 billion for the same period a year ago.
The Treasury data are not seasonally adjusted, so the February deficit cannot be compared to the January surplus of $55.2 billion.
Total receipts in February were $169.1 billion while total outlays were $361.8 billion. Receipts were $29.8 billion more than receipts in February 2015 while total outlays were $30.0 billion more than February 2015.
The 12-month deficit was little changed at $405.52 billion versus $405.26 billion in January.

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to Febraury Import/Export Prices, which will be reported at 8:30 ET.

Nasdaq Composite -6.9% YTD
Russell 2000 -6.4% YTD
S&P 500 -2.7% YTD
Dow Jones -2.5% YTD

DJ30 -5.23 NASDAQ -12.22 SP500 +0.31 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1030/1.776 bln/1940 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1306/1.019 bln/1730 3:45 pm :

The dollar rallied initially following the ECB decision. However, following domestic econ data, the dollar began to slide lower
The weakness in the dollar helped give select commodities a boost today
But, overall, commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity index, is near the unchanged line. Precious metals, however, outperformed with gold and silver each rising 1.2% in pit trade today. Apr gold ended at $1272.80/oz, while May silver finished at $15.55/oz.
May copper, on the other hand, slipped one cent to $2.22/lb
Moving on to energy... WTI oil futures sold off today
But by late morning activity, Apr crude began to recover some, rising back above $38/barrel. At the end of floor trade, crude was -1.2% at $37.78/barrel
Apr natural gas rallied today, finishing +2.3% at $1.79/MMbtu

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From Briefing.com: 5:13 pm Diodes revises Q4 GAAP EPS to ($0.10) vs $0.01 which was reported prior; Non-GAAP earnings remained unchanged at $0.14 (DIOD) :

In March 2016, subsequent to the Company's February 16, 2016 unaudited fiscal fourth quarter 2015 earnings release but prior to the filing of its audited Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, the Company revised its initial acquisition accounting related to the stock awards and change-in-control agreements for Pericom employees. The effect was to reduce amounts previously included in the purchase price of Pericom and goodwill in the balance sheet by approximately $12 million and reduce fourth quarter 2015 net income as reported under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles by ~$5.5 million.

For the fourth quarter, GAAP net income per diluted share was initially reported at $0.01 per share. GAAP net income has been revised to a net loss of $0.10 per share. Non-GAAP net income did not change, remaining at $0.14 per diluted share.

Stocks broke out to levels not seen since December 31 and ended near a session high after paring notable losses late in yesterday'ssession. Global equity markets soldoff yesterday following aggressive monetary stimulus from the European Central.Markets have grown weary of Central Banks' ability to continue to supportfinancial markets in an effort to combat deflationary pressures. Sentimentreversed today, however, as investors piled into stocks.

The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) closed up 1.75% while the S&P 500 (SPY) closed 1.6%higher. The tech sector (XLK) rose 1.5%. The S&P 500 climbed above its 200day moving averages today for the first time since late December.It was a relatively quiet day in the technology sector. IDC forecasted PC shipments falling 5.4% this year and 1.1% nextyear.

Semiconductor stocks (SMH +2%) also broke out to a two month high.

Notable chip stock strength: SWKS +4.00%, STM +3.81%, CAVM +3.45%, CRUS +3.40%, CY +3.32%, MCHP +3.21%, AVGO +3.05%, Notable movers following earnings:

Optical/networking company Finisar (FNSR) rose % afterbeating Q3 estimates and guiding Q4 EPS above consensus. B. Riley upgraded thestock to Buy this morning; Needham was also out positive. The stock finds a lot of resistance in the $17-18area. Payment processor VeriFone (PAY 26.69, +0.13) reported betterthan expected Q1 results and guided Q2 and FY16 earnings and sales above consensus. QAD (QADA) fell 4% after beating Q EPS on lower thanexpected rev. QAD also guided Q1 and FY17 EPS and sales below consensus. Violin Memory (VMEM) fell 26% after missing sales estimatesand reporting a slightly better than expected net loss., Co announced restructuringafter a review of strategic alternatives seemingly failed to find an acquirer.Broker calls:

RBC upgraded Symantec (SYMC) to Outperform. They like the risk/reward on a 12-month basisand believe that with low expectations and a series of potential catalystsoutlined below, Symantec is a value stock that doesn't have to get a lot rightfor shares to move higher. Bernstein initiated cyber security stocks: PANW at Outperformand CHKP at Underperform Wells Fargo initiated ERIC Market Perform.Weekly Recap - Week ending 11-Mar-16

After registering three consecutive weekly gains, the stock market endured a volatile trading week, but was able to log its fourth weekly gain in a row once it was all said and done. The S&P 500 added 1.1% for the week, extending its four-week run to 8.4%.

The benchmark index spent the bulk of the week near its 100-day moving average (1998.9) after running up to that level last Friday. A strong rally into the weekend lifted the S&P 500 from its 100-day average into the neighborhood of the 200-day moving average (2019.9). Investors did not receive any market-moving data during the week, which put a bright spotlight on Thursday's policy meeting at the European Central Bank.

Going into Thursday, the market had high hopes for new stimulus from the central bank and the ECB delivered, expanding its quantitative easing by EUR20 billion to EUR80 billion/month and lowering the interest rate corridor. Furthermore, the ECB announced it will now include corporate bonds in its asset purchase program and add four new targeted longer-term refinancing operations with four-year maturities.

In sum, the actions undertaken by the ECB represented everything the market had hoped for, but the decidedly bullish response to the policy statement reversed in a flash once ECB President Mario Draghi hinted that the market should not be girding its loins for more easing. For instance, the euro was down more than 1.5% against the dollar immediately after the policy statement was released, but surged nearly 2.0% against the greenback by day's end. For its part, Germany's DAX whipped around a 5.0%+ range on Thursday, ending the day lower by 2.3%. The German index surged 3.2% on Friday, ending the week little changed.

Next week will be much busier on the economic front, but central banks will remain in the spotlight with the Federal Reserve set to release its latest policy statement on Wednesday. Market expectations for the next fed funds rate hike have been brought forward over the past few weeks, but the fed funds futures market remains convinced that there is a zero percent chance of a hike at the March meeting. The market sees a 45.0% chance of a rate hike in June and a 51.0% probability of a rate increase in July.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17006.77 17213.11 206.34 1.2 -1.2
Nasdaq 4717.02 4748.47 31.45 0.7 -5.2
S&P 500 1999.99 2022.18 22.19 1.1 -1.1
Russell 2000 1081.93 1086.15 4.22 0.4 -4.4

4:12 pm Closing Market Summary: Financials and Energy Lead Indices to Weekly Gain (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended an upbeat week on a higher note as investors backpedaled from yesterday's initial response to the European Central Bank's latest policy statement and remarks from ECB President Draghi. Meanwhile, supportive conditions from the oil patch and leadership from the heavyweight financial (+2.7%) sector expanded the stock markets winning-streak to four weeks. The Nasdaq Composite (+1.9%) finished ahead of the S&P 500 (+1.6%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.3%).

Equity indices jumped out of the gate, as global equity markets rebounded after yesterday's muddled trade. Yesterday's flat performance followed remarks from ECB President Draghi indicating that he does not anticipate that rates will need to be lowered further. Today, investors focused on the ECB's policy statement itself, which expanded asset purchases and lowered the interest rate corridor. As a result, European bourses rallied with financials at the forefront. To that point, Deutsche Bank (DB 20.62, +1.35) jumped 7.0%.

The heavyweight financial sector (+2.7%) displayed strength from the start as it traded higher in sympathy with European banks. The group entered positive territory for the week (week-to-date +1.0%) and extended its March advance to 6.6%. Strength in the financial sector was broad based with money center banks, asset management names, and insurance companies all helping to push the economically-sensitive sector higher.

Meanwhile, a rally in crude oil enabled commodity-sensitive energy (+2.2%) and materials (+1.8%) to top the leaderboard. WTI crude benefited from a report from the International Energy Agency, which contended that production declines from the U.S. and other non-OPEC members may be signaling a bottom in oil. To be fair though, the report also pointed to largely flat demand from the United States. The energy component ended its day higher by 2.4% at $38.67/bbl.

Heavily-weighted health care (+1.9%) was able to swing from a week-to-date loss to a 1.7% gain as biotechnology outperformed. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 261.94, +6.86) climbed 2.7% today as the ETF moves off a year-to-date loss of 20.9%. The broader health care sector is down 5.1% over that period. Separately, Dow component Pfizer (PFE 30.50, +0.91) climbed 3.1% after receiving FDA approval for expanded use of XALKORI to treat patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Pfizer topped the price-weighted index.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (+2.3%) displayed relative strength today as rail names outperformed in the index. Meanwhile, Avis Budget (CAR 27.47, +1.60) jumped 6.2% as it traded higher in sympathy with Hertz Global (HTZ 11.09, +1.22), which surged 12.4 % after receiving an upgrade at Morgan Stanley to "Overweight."

The dollar pared early gains against the euro. The euro/dollar pair ended lower by 0.2% (1.1151) after slipping from a high of 1.1189. Meanwhile, the dollar/yen pair ended near its intra-day high (113.81).

The Treasury complex moved to session lows as the equity market extended its rally. All in all, the yield on the 10-yr note began the day at 1.94% before moving to a session high of 1.98% (+4 bps) and drifting there until the close.

Today's participation fell below the recent average with fewer than 974 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data was limited to February Import/Export Prices:

We saw in today's Import/Export Price Index report that declining fuel prices again acted as a major drag on import prices, which fell 0.3% in February after a 1.0% drop in January. That left import prices down 6.1% year-over-year.Excluding fuel, import prices edged down 0.1% month-over-month and are down 2.7% year-over-year. Translation: price declines aren't just energy driven. For the record, nonfuel import prices haven't recorded a monthly increase sine July 2014.Export prices, meanwhile, declined 0.4% with declining nonagricultural prices more than offsetting rising agricultural prices. Export prices are down 6.0% year-over-year.Excluding agriculture, export prices declined 0.4% in February and are down 5.6% year-over-year.There are no economic releases of note scheduled for Monday.

Nasdaq Composite 5.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -4.3% YTD
Dow Jones -1.2% YTDS&P 500 -1.1% YTDWeek in Review: Four in a Row

After registering three consecutive weekly gains, the stock market endured a volatile trading week, but was able to log its fourth weekly gain in a row once it was all said and done. The S&P 500 added 1.1% for the week, extending its four-week run to 8.4%.

The benchmark index spent the bulk of the week near its 100-day moving average (1998.9) after running up to that level last Friday. A strong rally into the weekend lifted the S&P 500 from its 100-day average into the neighborhood of the 200-day moving average (2019.9). Investors did not receive any market-moving data during the week, which put a bright spotlight on Thursday's policy meeting at the European Central Bank.

Going into Thursday, the market had high hopes for new stimulus from the central bank and the ECB delivered, expanding its quantitative easing by EUR20 billion to EUR80 billion/month and lowering the interest rate corridor. Furthermore, the ECB announced it will now include corporate bonds in its asset purchase program and add four new targeted longer-term refinancing operations with four-year maturities.

In sum, the actions undertaken by the ECB represented everything the market had hoped for, but the decidedly bullish response to the policy statement reversed in a flash once ECB President Mario Draghi hinted that the market should not be girding its loins for more easing. For instance, the euro was down more than 1.5% against the dollar immediately after the policy statement was released, but surged nearly 2.0% against the greenback by day's end. For its part, Germany's DAX whipped around a 5.0%+ range on Thursday, ending the day lower by 2.3%. The German index surged 3.2% on Friday, ending the week little changed.

Next week will be much busier on the economic front, but central banks will remain in the spotlight with the Federal Reserve set to release its latest policy statement on Wednesday. Market expectations for the next fed funds rate hike have been brought forward over the past few weeks, but the fed funds futures market remains convinced that there is a zero percent chance of a hike at the March meeting. The market sees a 45.0% chance of a rate hike in June and a 51.0% probability of a rate increase in July.

10:05 am Intel runs to new two month high near Jan gap (INTC) : Noted here yesterday that the stock was testing its 200 day sma (31.20) and was just below last week's high. It pushed above yesterday and this morning gapped above its 200 ema (31.51) to challenge it Jan bear gap top and congest at 31.80/31.90 (session high 31.79).

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From Briefing.com: 4:06 pm Oracle beats by $0.02, misses on revs; adds $10 bln to buyback (ORCL) :

Reports Q3 (Feb) earnings of $0.64 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.62; non-GAAP rev fell 3.4% year/year to $9.01 bln vs the $9.13 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Cloud software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) revenues were $583 million, up 57% in U.S. dollars and up 61% in constant currency vs. +49-53% guidance. Cloud plus On-Premise Software Revenues were $7.1 billion, down 1% in U.S. dollars and up 3% in constant currency. Cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) revenues were $152 million, down 2% in U.S. dollars and up 2% in constant currency. Total Cloud Revenues were $735 million, up 40% in U.S. dollars and up 44% in constant currency. Total On-Premise Software Revenues were $6.3 billion, down 4% in U.S. dollars and unchanged in constant currency. Total Hardware Revenues were $1.1 billion, down 13% in U.S. dollars and down 8% in constant currency. Total Services Revenues were $793 million, down 7% in U.S. dollars and down 2% in constant currency. Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $10 bln of common stock under its existing share repurchase program. "Our SaaS and PaaS gross deferred revenue grew 96% in Q3 -- twice as fast as Workday (WDAY) and three times faster than Salesforce.com (CRM) reported in their most recent quarters... This dramatic revenue increase drove our non-GAAP SaaS and PaaS gross margins up to 51% in Q3 as compared with 43% in Q2. Our cloud business is now in a hyper-growth phase. Our gross margins are climbing toward our target of 80%. These two factors will ignite substantial EPS and cash flow growth over Oracle's next few quarters."Co will guide on call; previously called for Q4 non-GAAP revenue +1-3% ex-FX.

The broader market finished Tuesday trading with a mixed bias. The lone out-performer, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 22.40 points (+0.13%) to 17251.53 in spite of the -2.3% loss in April WTI Crude Oil Futures. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was a different story, shedding 21.61 points (-0.45%) today to close 4728.67. The S&P 500 finished in between the two, and under flat lines, lower by 3.71 points (-0.18%) to 2015.93. Market data today came in the form of retail sales which declined 0.1% in February as expected while sales excluding autos also declined 0.1%. The February Producer Price Index report showed a 0.2% decline in final demand prices, and an unchanged reading in core PPI, which excludes energy and food. The Empire Manufacturing Survey came in much better than expected at 0.6 for March. Total business inventories were up 0.1% in January while the NAHB Housing Market Index for March came in at 58 from an unrevised reading of 58 in February. All eyes remain on the upcoming Fed decision, which is scheduled for a 14:00 ET release tomorrow.

The stock market succumbed to early selling pressure today as investors weigh a disappointing reading from the February Retail Sales Report while oil continues its recent reversal. Overnight, U.S. equity futures and global bourses sold off following the latest statement from the Bank of Japan, which left the policy stance unchanged. Furthermore, the central bank did not indicate that it would take its rates further into negative territory despite downgrading its economic outlook. As a result, the U.S. dollar lost ground against the Japanese yen today with the USD/JPY pair closing the session -0.62% to 113.09 as some risk-off trading in global markets spurred safe-haven buying interest.

Action in the Technology (XLK 43.08, +0.16 +0.37%) sector was mixed today as the session began in the red, but buying pressure took the sector to positive territory as component Western Digital's (WDC 45.61, -2.58 -5.35%) shareholders approved the issuance of common stock in connection with acquisition of SanDisk (SNDK 75.74, -0.53 -0.69%). The company expects transaction to close during the second calendar quarter of 2016. Other sector closed the session XLP +0.25%, XLB +0.23%, XLU +0.19%, XLY -0.03%, XLF -0.04%, XLI -0.06%, XLE -0.19%, XLV -1.55%, IYZ -1.56% as Tech led the advance and Telecoms lagged.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (711.03, +2.96 +0.42%), trading took the sector higher as early losses did not hold. Component eBay (EBAY 23.58, -0.70 -2.88%) and Shyp announced an extension of their shipping integration into the Los Angeles market. Other components which traded higher with the broader sector included AAPL +2.01%, EA +1.44%, SWKS +1.13%, QRVO +1.11%, CSC +0.88%, VRSN +0.87%, ADI +0.79%, MSFT +0.79%, FB +0.71%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Western Digital (WDC) shareholders approved the issuance of common stock in connection with acquisition of SanDisk (SNDK). The company expects transaction to close during the second calendar quarter of 2016.

Symantec (SYMC 18.46, -0.08 -0.43%) announced the worldwide availability of Encryption Everywhere, a website security package available through web hosting providers. Co also announced it has signed an original equipment manufacturing agreement with VNC to incorporate VNCtalk, VNC's chat and conferencing solution, into the Zimbra Email and Collaboration platform.

Cognizant (CTSH 58.03, -0.09 -0.15%) was selected by the Storebrand Group to improve operational efficiencies, enhance customer experience and drive digital transformation.

SAP SE (SAP 79.32, +0.56 +0.71%) announced StepStone now runs its business on the SAP Business ByDesign solution.

R. R. Donnelley & Sons (RRD 16.02, -0.13 -0.80%) entered into a strategic relationship with Adobe (ADBE 86.83, -0.18 -0.21%) to integrate Adobe Marketing Cloud into its technology platform.

Farmers Edge, a company specializing in precision agriculture and independent data management solutions, announced a collaboration with The Weather Company, an IBM Business (IBM 142.96, +0.18 +0.13%). Under the terms of the deal, Farmers Edge has integrated hyper-local forecasts from Weather's superior Forecasts on Demand weather forecasting engine into its field-centric approach to predictive modeling.

eBay (EBAY) and Shyp announced an extension of their shipping integration into the Los Angeles market.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Acacia Research's (ACTG 3.68, -0.03 -0.81%) Nexus Display Technologies entered into a settlement and license agreement with Dell.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Rosetta Stone (RST 6.95, -0.58 -7.70%) said John Hass will continue his service as CEO, in addition to becoming Chairman of the Board. In addition, the company announced the restructuring of its enterprise language business.

Comtech Telecom (CMTL 23.89, +0.68 +2.93%) received a $3.1 million contract extension for US Navy's advanced time division multiple access interface processor terminals from the Space & Naval Warfare Systems Command.

In reaction to quarterly results:

FactSet (FDS 146.67, -8.16%) reported better than expected Q2 GAAP EPS of $1.63 on in-line revenues of $281.8 million, up 13.7% YoY. FDS also guided Q3 EPS and revenues in-line at $1.54-1.58 and $286-289 million, respectively.

TeleTech (TTEC 26.67, -1.25 -4.48%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.47 and $341.8 million, respectively. For FY16, TTEC sees worse than expected revenues of $1.34-1.35 billion.

Leju Holdings (LEJU 5.37, -0.17 -3.07%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.13 and $173.36 million, respectively. For the FY16 period, LEJU sees worse than expected revenues in the range of $660-690 million.

JA Solar (JASO 8.94, -0.17 -1.87%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS of $0.49 on better than expected revenues which also rose 28.5% YoY to $709.3 million (RMB 4.6 billion). JASO also guided for Q1 2016 total cell and module shipments to be in the range of 1,000 to 1,100 MW, including ~100 MW of module shipments to the Company's downstream projects..

Vivint Solar (VSLR 3.65, -0.31 -7.83%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS at a loss per share of $0.50 on worse than expected revenues which rose 133.7% YoY to $16.03 million, yet were shy of Street views.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: EVRI, CALL, ORCL, VEC/CMCM

Analyst actions:

PHI was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup;
QIHU was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel;
QTWO was initiated with a Buy at Craig Hallum,
NNDM was initiated with a Buy at Maxim Group

4:10 pm : The stock market finished the day on a mixed note as the major averages recovered from steeper opening declines. Today's trade saw equity markets moving in tandem with oil, as participants weighed a disappointing reading of the February Retail Sales report against a data heavy week that will include the latest policy decision from the Fed. Furthermore, the underperformance of the heavily-weighted health care sector (-1.6%) kept pressure on the major indices throughout today's session. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%) finished the day behind the S&P 500 (-0.2%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%).

Equity markets saw their largest losses at the start of today's session as participants eyed the February Retail sales figures. The report showed a contraction in February and also revealed a negative revision to January's reading (to -0.4% from +0.2%). The major indices spent the bulk of today's trade moving off their early lows as investors shifted their focus to the remainder of the data heavy week, and the highly anticipated March policy statement from the Fed.

Six sectors ended the day in negative territory with health care (-1.6%), materials (-0.9%), and energy (-0.1%) rounding out the leaderboard. Meanwhile, the heavyweight technology sector (+0.4%) managed to top countercyclical utilities (+0.2%), consumer staples (+0.2%), and telecom services (+0.2%) to finish in the lead.

Biotechnology underperformed in the health care space (-1.6%) as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 251.47, -9.97) plunged 3.8%. The sub-group traded lower throughout the session with Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX 33.51, -35.53), which sank 51.5% after reporting below-consensus fourth quarter results and guiding below consensus. To be fair though, McKesson (MCK 157.30, -7.69) and Pfizer (PFE 29.54, -0.56) also markedly underperformed.

The commodity-sensitive energy (-0.1%) and materials (-0.9%) spaces responded to a 2.3% ($36.33/bbl) tumble in crude oil. Today's downtick looked to be a continuation of yesterday's fall following Iran's announcement that it would not join in production freeze efforts until it regained its pre-sanction market share. As a result, pipeline names and independent oil and companies sported the largest losses in the sector. Elsewhere, Dow component Chevron (CVX 94.27, +0.01) managed to finish its day in positive territory as the sector enjoyed an end of the day bid.

Meanwhile, the heavyweight technology sector (+0.4%) managed to lend support to the broader market as large cap constituent Apple (AAPL 104.58, +2.06) jumped 2.0%. The tech giant responded to a note from Morgan Stanley, which cited promising iPhone demand. Meanwhile, fellow sector heavyweights were able to garner buying interest near their lows.

The economically-sensitive financial sector (-0.1%) initially weighed on the broader market, but was able to move up to trade in-line with the benchmark index. On that note, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 59.20, +0.08) was able to recover from a 1.0% loss to end its day higher by 0.1%.

Treasuries carved out their session highs during the market's initial tumble, but slipped from those highs throughout the session. The yield on the 10-yr note ended unchanged at 1.97%.

The U.S. Dollar Index (96.61, -0.01) ended its day relatively unchanged despite its early vacillation. The euro/dollar pair ended at 1.1111 (+0.1%) after ticking off a session low of 1.1073. Separately, the dollar/yen pair ended lower by 0.6% at 113.10.

Today's volume was one again lighter than the recent average as fewer than 809 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included February Retail Sales, February PPI, and March Empire Manufacturing, Business Inventories for January, and the NAHB Housing Market Index for March:

Retail sales declined 0.1% in February as expected while sales, excluding autos, also declined 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%).
The minus signs aren't comforting to see, yet the added source of discomfort is that January retail sales were revised lower. Specifically, total retail sales for January were revised to -0.4% from +0.2% while sales excluding autos were also revised to -0.4% from +0.1%.
The February report saw its share of minus signs in it, the most prominent of which was the 4.4% decline in gasoline station sales, which weighed on the overall result.
The retail categories that did enjoy sales gains were building materials (+1.6%), sporting goods (+1.2%), food services and drinking places (+1.0%), clothing and accessories (+0.9%), and health and personal care stores (+0.7%). Core retail sales, which exclude gasoline station, auto, and building material sales,were up just 0.1% and were revised down to a 0.1% decline in January (from +0.4%).
Core sales factor into the goods component of personal consumption expenditures for the GDP report, so this isn't the best of news as it relates to first quarter GDP.
The February Producer Price Index report revealed a 0.2% decline in final demand prices (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%) and an unchanged reading for core PPI, which excludes food and energy (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%).
On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index is unchanged over the last 12 months while core PPI is up 1.2%. Not much inflation pressure there.
The Empire Manufacturing Survey isn't going to move the Fed's policy dial either, although it was much better than expected at 0.6 for March (Briefing.com consensus -9.5).
That was the first positive reading since last July thanks to increases in the indexes for both new orders and shipments
Total business inventories increased 0.1% in January, which was slightly above the Briefing.com consensus estimate that called for no change.
Business inventories for December were revised down to unchanged from an originally reported increase of 0.1%.
Manufacturer inventories (-0.4%) and merchant wholesaler inventories (+0.3%) were already known. Retailer inventories were the only unknown and they increased 0.3% on top of a 0.4% increase in December.
The breakdown of retailer inventories showed increases in all areas, except furniture and home furnishings (-0.5%) and department stores (-0.5%). Motor vehicle and parts dealers inventories were up 0.6%.
The total business inventory-to-sales ratio pushed up to 1.40 from 1.39 in January. In January 2015 the ratio stood at 1.36.
The NAHB Housing Market Index for March came in at 58 from an unrevised reading of 58 in February while the Briefing.com consensus expected 59.0.

Tomorrow's economic data includes the weekly MBA Mortgage Index set to be released at 7:00 ET. Meanwhile, February CPI (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%) and Core CPI (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%), February Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1137k), and February Building Permits (Briefing.com consensus 1204k) will be released at 8:30 ET. Separately, the February Industrial Production Report (Briefing.com consensus -0.3%) and Capacity Utilization (Briefing.com consensus 76.9%) will cross the wires at 9:15 ET. Finally, the Federal Open Market Committee's March rate decision will be announced at 14:00 ET.

Russell 2000 -6.1% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -5.6% YTD
S&P 500 -1.4% YTD
Dow Jones -1.0% YTD

DJ30 +22.40 NASDAQ -21.61 SP500 -3.71 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 718/1.544 bln/2207 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 788/808.7 mln/2259

3:40 pm :

Oil futures sold off again today, finishing today's session -2.3% at $36.33/barrel
In electronic trade, oil has come back a little and is now down 2%
Natural gas, on the other hand, is on the rise again despite bearish fundamentals
Apt nat gas closed out of today's session +1.7% at $1.85/MMBtu
Apr gold slipped -1.2% to $1230.70/oz today, while May silver lost -1.7% to end at $15.27/oz
May copper lost one cent to $2.23/lb

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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm Rambus announces that its cryptography research division has signed a license agreement with Altis Semiconductor for the use of 'advanced' security technologies (RMBS) : These technologies, developed by Cryptography Research, include differential power analysis countermeasure techniques and are designed to protect against DPA and other side-channel attacks, according to the co. The agreement also extends to software developed by Altis Semiconductor customers when executed on certain Altis Semiconductor manufactured chips.

4:21 pm FedEx beats by $0.16, beats on revs; narrows FY16 EPS, in-line (FDX) :

Reports Q3 (Feb) adj. earnings of $2.51 per share, $0.16 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.35; revenues rose 8% year/year to $12.7 bln vs the $12.38 bln Capital IQ Consensus.Express operating income +51% to $95 mln with rev down 1% to $6.56 bln; domestic volume +2%Ground OI down 0.4% to $557 mln; rev +30% to $4.4 bln. Operating results were negatively impacted by higher costs, driven significantly by network expansion and by peak season demand that exceeded both volume and package size expectations. Increased self-insurance expense and higher purchased transportation rates also negatively impacted the quarter.Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, raises EPS to $10.70-10.90 from $10.40-10.90, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $10.57 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The outlook assumes moderate economic growth and excludes certain legal matters as well as any TNT-related costs or operating results. The capital spending forecast for the fiscal year is now $4.8 billion. "Our positive financial momentum should continue into our upcoming fiscal 2017, where we expect solid growth in earnings and cash flow."

4:06 pm Jabil Circuit misses by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS and rev well below consensus; lowers FY16 guidance (JBL) :

Reports Q2 (Feb) earnings of $0.57 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.59; revenues rose 2.2% year/year to $4.4 bln vs the $4.49 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.12-0.18, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.51 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $4.1-4.3 bln vs. $4.71 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues downside guidance for FY16, lowers EPS to $2.12, excluding non-recurring items, from $2.65 vs. $2.61 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs to ~$18.5 bln from $20 bln vs. $19.63 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "The performance of our EMS segment was outstanding and above expectations, while our DMS segment grew modestly as we faced a slight downturn in product demand late in our fiscal quarter specific to our mobility business."

Broader market trading held onto modest action until the Fed decision. Trading began in the red, but modest gains turned all three major US indices to positive territory, with pressure eventually pushing them lower into the Fed. That's when the fun began, as the market road the Fed wave higher, with advances led by the Nasdaq Composite which gained 35.30 points (+0.75%) to 4763.97. The S&P 500 added 11.29 points (+0.56%) to close 2027.22. Rounding out the trio, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 74.23 points (+0.43%) to close 17325.76.

Today, the Fed left the target range for the benchmark federal funds rate at 0.25-0.5%. Additionally, the tone of the FOMC statement and projections seemed dovish as the Fed noted a range of economic indicators like job gains pointed to additional strengthening in the labor market. Also, today's statement dictated the an update to 2016 real GDP projections, which was lowered to 2.1% to 2.3% from 2.3% to 2.5%, the slight change in the central tendency projection for core PCE inflation in 2016, which was lowered to 1.4% to 1.7% from 1.5% to 1.7%, and the 50 basis point reduction in the 2016 target rate projection to 0.90% from 1.40%.

Market data besides the Fed included the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading which declined 0.2% in February as expected. Housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.178 million in February, the highest rate since September. Building permits dipped 3.1% to 1.167 million due entirely to an 8.4% drop in permits for multi-unit buildings. Also, industrial production was down 0.5% in February.

Much like broader market trading, the Technology (XLK 43.58, +0.50 +1.16%) sector held modest gains until the Fed when trading to the upside picked up as component EMC (EMC 26.28, +0.11 +0.42%) announced a favorable patent ruling and a strategic alliance. Other sectors closed the session XLE +1.73%, XLU +1.53%, IYZ +0.91%, XLB +0.84%, XLY +0.81%, XLI +0.35%, XLP +0.23%, XLF -0.22%, XLV -0.24% as Energy posted the most impressive gains and Healthcare lagged the rest of the sectors.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (718.87, +7.84 +1.10%), trading also ramped higher following the Fed statement as component Oracle (ORCL 40.22, +1.48 +3.82%) led gains following the company's mixed Q3 report; in addition, ORCL added $10 billion to the stock repurchase program. Other sector components finished the day higher included NVDA +2.99%, YHOO +2.25%, AKAM +2.09%, TSS +2.05%, HPQ +1.93%, SWKS +1.89%, RHT +1.83%, FSLR +1.81%, NTAP +1.78%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Oracle (ORCL) added $10 billion to common stock repurchase authorization.

Radware (RDWR 11.53, -0.02 -0.17%) reported F5 Networks (FFIV 99.78, +0.78 +0.79%) conceded infringement of its patents. The company was awarded $6.4 million in damages.

A jury returned a verdict in EMC's (EMC) patent trial relating to U.S. Patent Nos. 6,904,556 and 7,373,464, and that the '015 patent. The court ruled Pure Storage (PSTG 12.36, flat) did not infringe on said patents. The jury awarded EMC $14.0 million in reasonable royalty damages. The jury declined to award any lost profit damages.EY and EMC (EMC) announced a strategic alliance to help accelerate return on investment and build greater confidence in their strategic initiatives and technology implementations.Adobe (ADBE 88.17, +1.34 +1.54%) announced its new Digital Economy Project with the launch of three digital measurements of the U.S. economy.

Analog Devices (ADI 56.86, +0.75 +1.34%) announced two series of low dropout regulators (LDOs) offering ultra-low noise performance that eliminate unwanted system noise and improve receiver, transmitter, and audio quality.

Broadcom Limited (AVGO 148.63, +0.65 +0.44%) will conduct multiple demonstrations of its industry-leading PAM-4 PHY chips driving copper cables designed for 40GbE, 100GbE and 200GbE data center interconnects.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, magicJack VocalTec (CALL 7.22, -1.44 -16.63%) acquired Broadsmart for $30 million in cash $2 million in stock. The company expected the deal to be accretive to earnings.
Verizon (VZ 53.21, +0.54 +1.03%) to acquire Volicon. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
SunEdison (SUNE 2.08, flat) to delay the filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 beyond the extended due date of March 15. Management noted the scope of work required has expanded due to the identification by management of material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting, primarily resulting from deficient information technology controls in connection with newly implemented systems.

TerraForm Power (TERP 9.72, -0.83 -7.87%) announced the delay of the filing of the company's annual report on Form 10-K.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Oracle (ORCL) reported better than expected Q3 EPS of $0.64 on worse than expected revenues which fell 3.4% YoY to $9.01 billion.

Cheetah Mobile (CMCM 15.96, +0.11 +0.69%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of RMB 1.09 on in-line revenues which increased 92% YoY to RMB 1.13 billion. Also, CMCM issued downside guidance for the Q1 period's revenues in the range of +61-64% to RMB 1.08-1.10 billion.

Vectrus (VEC 147.00, +0.40 +0.27%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.55 and $311.19 million, respectively. VEC also guided FY16 EPS and revenues in-line at $1.94-2.31 and $1.11-1.19 billion, respectively.

Everi (EVRI 2.38, -0.78 -24.68%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS of $0.10 on better than expected revenues which rose 34.4% YoY to $204.4 million. Additionally, EVRI noted it does not expected adjusted EBITDA growth in 2016.

magicJack VocalTec (CALL) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.29 and $24.6 million, respectively.

Stocks reporting quarterly results tonight after the close: JBL

Analyst actions:

SUNE was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Mkt Outperform at Avondale,
FDS was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel,
LNKD was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley,
EVRI was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Craig Hallum,
MTNOY was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman

4:15 pm : The stock market ended its Wednesday affair broadly higher as the major indices rallied in response to the Federal Open Market Committee's policy statement for March. Other contributing factors to today's gain included a sharp uptick in oil prices and key sector leadership from the heavyweight technology sector (+1.1%). The Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%) ended its day ahead of both the S&P 500 (+0.6%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.4%).

The first half of today's trade was a balancing act as investors weighed a hotter-than-expected core CPI reading (+0.3%; Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) against the impending rate decision from the FOMC. The concern was initially that the above-consensus data might support continued tightening. As a result, the benchmark index traded in a narrow six point range. Also of note, the financial sector (-0.2%) displayed some early strength, but the group slid down the leaderboard in the afternoon.

In the early afternoon, the latest directive from the FOMC provided enough dovish undertones to illicit a rally from the equity market. The FOMC voted 9-1 to leave its benchmark interest rates unchanged. Furthermore, the Fed lowered its target rate projection for 2016 to 0.875% from 1.40% and cut the 2017 outlook from 2.40% to 1.90%. This was essentially in-line with the projections in the fed funds futures market.

Eight of ten sectors ended the day in positive territory with commodity-sensitive materials (+1.7%) and energy (+1.6%) leading the pack, while influential technology (+1.1%) rounded out a distant third place. On the flipside, the heavyweight financial (-0.2%) and health care (-0.3%) sectors ended in the red.

The energy (+1.6%) space enjoyed a sharp rebound in oil prices as investors responded to smaller than expected builds in this week's American Petroleum Institute and Department of Energy stockpile reports. To be fair though, the energy component was also boosted by headlines that OPEC and non-OPEC members will meet in Qatar on April 17 to discuss a potential production cap agreement. WTI crude ended its pit session higher by 5.6% at $38.52/bbl.

Large-cap names saw increased interest following the FOMC's rate decision as investors demonstrated an increased appetite for risk. Heavily-weighted Microsoft (MSFT 54.35, +0.76) and Apple (AAPL 105.97, +1.39) ended near their highs with respective gains of 1.4% and 1.3%. Elsewhere, Oracle (ORCL 40.22, +1.48) gained 3.8% after beating bottom-line estimates in the third quarter and raising its fourth quarter earnings estimates above consensus.

The economically-sensitive financial (-0.2%) sector abandoned some early strength and tumbled to the bottom of the leaderboard by the end of the session. Money center banks bore the brunt of the decline as Wells Fargo (WFC 49.54, -0.44) and Citigroup (C 42.23, -0.36) ended lower by 0.9% apiece. The sub-group was likely responding to decreased earnings prospects in light of revisions to the Fed's projected rate hike path.

Biotechnology also abandoned some early strength, as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 250.20, -1.27) slipped 0.5% after showing a gain of 1.6% at the start of today's session. To be fair though, large cap constituents like Allergan (AGN 272.76, -10.24) and Dow component Pfizer (PFE 29.04, -0.50) also weighed on the sector. The health care space settled lower by 0.3%, extending this week's decline to 2.3%.

The Treasury complex slipped to session lows shortly after receiving the hotter-than-expected core CPI data and floated there until the FOMC'c policy statement was released.Treasuries rallied to new session highs following the policy statement, sending the 10-yr yield lower by six basis points to 1.91%.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.67, -0.97) plunged as the greenback surrendered gains against both the yen and euro. The dollar/yen finished lower by 0.5% at 112.57 while the euro/dollar pair rose to 1.1225 (+1.1%).

Today's trading volume fell beneath the recent average as fewer than 913 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's data has included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, February CPI /Core CPI, February Housing Starts, February Building Permit, February Industrial Production Report, Capacity Utilization:

The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) is going to give the Fed something extra to think about at today's meeting as it helped the argument for another rate hike, perhaps as early as the April meeting.
The point of debate won't be total CPI. It declined 0.2% in February as expected, driven lower by a 13.0% decline in the gasoline index that offset a 0.2% increase in the food index.
The main point of debate will be core CPI, which excludes food and energy. It rose 0.3% for the second straight month and is now up 2.3% year-over-year on an unadjusted basis.
The Fed has gotten tuned in more to core price trends based on its belief that the adverse impact of the decline in energy prices and the strong dollar is transitory.
Frankly, the February CPI report gives the Fed some data-based room to raise rates at today's meeting considering core CPI is now above the longer-run inflation target of 2.0% (to go along with a 4.9% unemployment rate) and knowing that the February uptick was spurred by price increases in almost all major components, namely shelter (+0.3%), apparel (+1.6%), and medical care (+0.5%).
At the least, this February CPI report could sway the FOMC to create an impression for the market that a rate hike at the April meeting is indeed a "live" possibility.
Housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.178 million in February (Briefing.com consensus 1.137 million), which was the highest rate since September and up 5.2% from an upwardly revised January rate of 1.120 million (from 1.099 million).
The Housing Starts report also provided some good news with respect to first quarter GDP forecasts. That good news was wrapped up in the number of homes under construction, which jumped to 987,000 from 978,000 in January. The first quarter average here is 983,000 versus the fourth quarter average of 962,000.
The increase in starts was powered by a 7.2% jump in single-family starts. The West region led the way there with a 24.8% increase in single-family starts.
Building permits dipped 3.1% to 1.167 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.204 million) due entirely to an 8.4% drop in permits for multi-unit buildings. Single-family permits were up 0.4%.
Industrial production declined 0.5% in February (Briefing.com consensus -0.3%) after increasing a downwardly revised 0.8% in January (from 0.9%). on a year-over-year basis, industrial production is down 1.0%.
The downturn in February was fueled by large declines in the indexes for utilities (-4.0%) and mining (-1.4%). The former was the result of unseasonably warm weather, which lowered the demand for heating, while the latter was a byproduct of decreases in crude oil extraction, coal mining, and oil and gas well drilling and servicing.
The silver lining in the report is that manufacturing output increased 0.2% on top of a 0.5% increase in January. That uptick was led by a 0.4% increase for durable manufacturing, which offset a 0.1% decrease for nondurable manufacturing. Total manufacturing output was up 1.8% year-over-year.
With less demand for heating, total capacity utilization slipped to 76.7% from 77.1% in January.
The capacity utilization rate for utilities fell to 74.8% from 78.0%. Manufacturing capacity utilization was unchanged at 76.1%, which is 2.4 percentage points below its long-run average.

Tomorrow's data will include weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 266k), March Philadelphia Fed Survey (Briefing.com consensus -1.4), and Q4 Current Account Balance (Briefing.com consensus -$116.0 Billion) each crossing the wires at 8:30 ET. Meanwhile February's Leading Indicators (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) will be reported at 10:00 ET. DJ30 +74.23 NASDAQ +35.30 SP500 +11.29 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1794/1.613 bln/1120 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2470/912.5 mln/588

3:35 pm :

Select commodities rallied and the dollar index fell sharply following the Fed announcement
The dollar index fell back below 96.00 and is now -1% at 95.68
Precious metals closed today's floor session modestly lower. Apr gold ended -0.1% at $1229.90/oz, while May silver was -0.3% at $15.22/oz
However, this was before the Fed announcement
Apr gold is now +2.4% at $1260.60/oz and May silver is +2.4% at $15.63/oz in electronic trade
Apr crude oil remains near today's HoD in electronic trade. In its floor session, Apr crude finished +5.6% at $38.52/barrel.
In electronic trade, Apr crude is at $38.46/barrel
In other energy, Apr natural gas gained 1.1% to $1.87/MMBtu

3:38 pm Intel hovering near session high at 31.75 and last week's high/gap (INTC) : Last week's high comes in at 31.79 with the top of the Jan gap at 31.80.


9:50 am First Solar displays relative strength as price attempts to breakout over 3-month resistance along the 72/73 vicinity.. (FSLR) : A leading Solar name from our proprietary Liquid Momentum Focus List, FSLR shows early relative strength as buyers lift price higher in an attempt to breakout over 3-month resistance along the 73/73 vicinity. Note the stock's price action has been highlighted as constructive the last few weeks upon each recovery from a pullback to its rising 50-day moving average.

9:02 am QuickLogic priced underwritten public offering of 10 mln newly issued shares of common stock at $1.00 per share (QUIK) :


6:56 am II-VI completes its acquisition of Anadigics (ANAD) & updates its outlook for Q3 FY16 (IIVI) :

Revenue is updated to $190 mln to $198 mln from the prior range of $185 mln to $195 mlnAdjusted EPS, excluding one-time items, is expected to be $0.26-$0.29/share, inside the co's original guidance range of $0.25 to $0.29/share. The results exclude one-time items, but do include the results of operations for two months of EpiWorks, and the results of Anadigics (ANAD) from Mar 15 to Mar 31, 2016. One-time items are expected to range from $0.05 to $0.06/share and include investment banking and legal fees and one-time expense for fair value inventory adjustments. EPS on a reported basis is now expected to be $0.21 to $0.23/share.Capital IQ Consensus calls for EPS of $0.27 & revenue of $191.72 mln6:50 am

TerraForm Power announces delayed filing of annual report on Form 10-K (TERP) :

On Mar 16, 2016, SunEdison (SUNE) announced a further delay in filing its Form 10-K. This delay is principally due to the additional scope of work required from the identification by SunEdison's management of material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting, primarily due to deficient information technology controls in connection with newly implemented systemsDue to our management services arrangement with SunEdison under the Management Services Agreement, our financial reporting and control processes rely to a significant extent on SunEdison systems and personnel. As a result, if there are control deficiencies at SunEdison, including with respect to the systems we utilize, it is necessary for us to assess whether those deficiencies could affect our financial reporting and, if so, address them to the extent necessary and appropriate prior to filing our Form 10-KWe currently have identified material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting primarily due to ineffective controls in relation to our Enterprise Resource Planning systems and processes for validating revenue recognition. We are working to remediate these issues as promptly as practicable

6:47 am SunEdison to delay the filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 beyond the extended due date of March 15 (SUNE) :

The co states that the scope of work required to finalize the Company's financial statements included in the 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K has expanded due to the identification by management of material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting, primarily resulting from deficient information technology controls in connection with newly implemented systems. Because of these material weaknesses, additional procedures are necessary for management to complete the Company's annual financial statements and related disclosures, and for the Company's independent registered accounting firm, KPMG LLP, to finalize its audits of the Company's annual financial statements and the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting as of December 31, 2015.

In addition, the investigation by the Audit Committee, previously disclosed by the Company on Form 12b-25 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 29, 2016, concerning the accuracy of the Company's anticipated financial position previously disclosed to the Company's board of directors, has not yet been finalized. To date, the additional procedures performed as a result of the material weaknesses identified and the investigation by the Audit Committee have not resulted in the identification of any material misstatements or restatements of the Company's audited or unaudited consolidated financial statements or disclosures for any period previously reported by the Company.

6:13 am ReneSola has repurchased all of its remaining $5.6 mln convertible notes due March 15, 2018 upon exercise by note holders of the put option which expired on March 14 (SOL) :

Co announced on September 23, 2015 that its Board authorized a share repurchase program, under which it may repurchase up to $20 mln of its outstanding American depositary shareswithin the next 12 months.

Since the announcement of such ADSs repurchase program, the Company has repurchased 877,348 ADSs.

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 18-Mar-16

The stock market continued its rebound off February lows, locking in its fifth consecutive weekly gain. The S&P 500 spiked 1.3% for the week and the advance lifted the benchmark index into positive territory for the year. As a result, the S&P 500 will enter the last full week of March with a year-to-date gain of 0.3%.

Two weeks ago, the market's main focus was on the European Central Bank and there was no shortage of central bank talk during this past week either. However, unlike the ECB, the Bank of Japan, Bank of England, Swiss National Bank, and the Federal Reserve all stuck to their guns and held the policy line.

The stock market saw little movement on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday afternoon featured a rally in equities after the Federal Reserve acquiesced to the market's desire and did not introduce another rate hike. The Fed held pat even though a 4.9% unemployment rate and a 2.3% year-over-year increase in core CPI offered data-based grounds to raise the fed funds rate or, at the very least, to strike a more hawkish-sounding tone regarding the glide path to normalization. Instead, the Fed struck a more dovish tone than what the market had expected and dialed back its own rate hike outlook. Specifically, the Fed's dot plot now shows that policymakers expect only two more rate hikes in 2016 after the previous forecast called for four.

According to the dot plot, the median fed funds rate at the end of 2016 is projected at 0.875% vs 1.375% in December while the median rate at the end of 2017 is projected at 1.9% versus 2.4% after the December meeting.

Furthermore, the Fed cut its 2016 growth forecast for the U.S. to 2.2% from 2.4% and adjusted its 2016 core PCE forecast to 1.4-1.7% from 1.5-1.7%. In addition to a dimmed view of domestic growth, the Fed mentioned that "global economic and financial developments continue to pose risks" after not expressing a similar concern in December.

Altogether, the Fed's newfound dovishness was music to the stock market's ear while the Dollar Index logged its third consecutive weekly decline, falling 1.1% to levels last seen in October.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17213.11 17599.42 386.31 2.2 1.0
Nasdaq 4748.47 4795.65 47.18 1.0 -4.2
S&P 500 2022.18 2049.50 27.32 1.4 0.3
Russell 2000 1087.56 1101.94 14.38 1.3 -3.0

4:13 pm Closing Market Summary: Heavyweights Push the S&P to Year-to-Date Uptick (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended an upbeat week on a positive note as the S&P 500 (+0.4%) extended its win streak to five weeks and also managed to enter positive territory on a year-to-date basis (year-to-date +0.3%). Contributing factors to today's trade included leadership from the weary health care (+1.3%) and financial (+1.0%) sectors, a reversal in crude oil, and the inability to clear a key resistance level in the benchmark index.

Today's trading day began on a higher note as strength from the oil patch lent support to the broader market. However, this early support reversed as volatility increased in the oil trade. WTI crude came under pressure as investors took to profit taking in light of the week-to-date gain of 6.4% in the energy component. To be fair though, the first uptick of the year in the Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count (387; prior 386) may have contributed to the air of selling pressure. WTI crude ended its day lower by 1.2% at $41.16/bbl.

Despite the tumble in crude, the major averages were able to maintain their footing in positive territory as heavyweight sectors outperformed. To that point, health care (+1.3%), financials (+1.0%), and industrials (+0.8%) were able to end the day with the largest gains. Meanwhile, the largest losses came from telecom services (-1.0%), utilities (-0.6%), and consumer staples (-0.2%). Interesting to note though, the two best performers of the day show the largest year-to-date declines with health care and financials down a respective 7.1% and 4.6% so far in 2016. Conversely, the two worst performers have the largest gains in 2016 with utilities and telecom services climbing a respective 12.4% and 13.3%.

Heavily-weighted health care (+1.3%) benefited from some broad-based strength as drug manufactures, drug wholesalers, and biotechnology all demonstrated relative strength. On that note, McKesson (MCK 158.31, +6.62) outperformed after the company announced its restructuring plan. Meanwhile, biotechnology trimmed its weekly losses. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 251.34, +4.25) ended its day higher by 1.7%, but finished with a loss of 4.1% over the week.

In the economically-sensitive financial sector, money center banks demonstrated relative strength as increases to JPMorgan Chase's (JPM 60.48, +1.73) and Bank of America's (BAC 13.79, +0.39) share buyback programs moved them to the top of the sector. The broader group traded higher in sympathy, extending its week-to-date gain to 1.5%.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (+1.5%) continued its recent streak of outperformance as airlines topped the index, which benefited the broader industrial sector (+0.8%). Separately, large-cap Boeing (BA 133.96, +3.26) climbed 2.5% in the aerospace sub-group. To be fair though, the entire space is likely benefiting from recent weakness in the U.S. Dollar.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.11, +0.35) ended its days near its high, but lost 1.2% for the week. The greenback managed to make up some ground against the yen and the euro today with the dollar/yen pair ending higher by 0.2% at 111.57 while the euro/dollar pair ended down 0.3% (1.1277).

Today's trade saw the S&P 500 (+0.4%) re-test a resistance level at 2050/52, but the index was unable to clear that level. As a result, the broader market ended off its best levels of the day with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.7%) finishing ahead of the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) and the S&P 500 (+0.4%).

The Treasury complex traversed a narrow range today as the yield on the 10-yr note fluctuated between 1.87% and 1.89% before ending at the bottom of that range.

Today's participation was well above the recent average as options expiration boosted the number of shares traded on the NYSE floor to more than 2.147 billion.

Today's economic data was limited to the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for March:

In a bit of a surprise, the preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey showed a dip in consumer sentiment to 90.0 from the final reading of 91.7 for February. The Briefing.com consensus estimate projected a slight increase to 92.2.
The downturn in consumer sentiment in March did not match at all with the strong upturn in investor sentiment in March, as expressed in quickly rising stock prices. The reason being, according to the report, is that consumers were worried more about prospects for the economy and had an expectation that gas prices would start moving higher during the year ahead.
The latter may have contributed to a pickup in consumers' expected change in inflation rates for the next year and next five years to 2.7%, respectively. In February, the expected inflation rate for both periods was 2.5%. In March 2015, however, the expected change in the inflation rate for the next year was 3.0% while the expected change in the inflation rate for the next five years was 2.8%.
Concerns about the economy and rising gas prices helped drive a downturn in the Expectations Index to 80.0 from 81.9, although the Current Economic Conditions Index also slipped to 105.6 from 106.8.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned concerns, consumers reportedly still felt good about their own personal financial situations as they did not expect the low growth to lead to an appreciable rise in the unemployment rate.
The report said consumers do not anticipate a recession, yet they no longer expect the economy either to do better than the 2.4% growth rate recorded in the past two years.

Monday's economic calendar will also be light with Existing Home Sales for February (Briefing.com consensus 5.37 million) set to cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Week in Review: Chugging Along

The stock market continued its rebound off February lows,locking in its fifth consecutive weekly gain. The S&P 500 spiked 1.3% for the week and theadvance lifted the benchmark index into positive territory for the year. As aresult, the S&P 500 will enter the last full week of March with a year-to-date gain of 0.3%.

Two weeks ago, the market's main focus was on the EuropeanCentral Bank and there was no shortage of central bank talk during this pastweek either. However, unlike the ECB, the Bank of Japan, Bank of England, SwissNational Bank, and the Federal Reserve all stuck to their guns and held thepolicy line.

The stock market saw little movement on Monday and Tuesday,but Wednesday afternoon featured a rally in equities after the Federal Reserve acquiescedto the market's desire and did not introduce another rate hike. The Fed heldpat even though a 4.9% unemployment rate and a 2.3% year-over-year increase incore CPI offered data-based grounds to raise the fed funds rate or, at the veryleast, to strike a more hawkish-sounding tone regarding the glide path tonormalization. Instead, the Fed struck a more dovish tone than what the markethad expected and dialed back its own rate hike outlook. Specifically, the Fed'sdot plot now shows that policymakers expect only two more rate hikes in 2016after the previous forecast called for four.

According to the dot plot, the median fed funds rate at theend of 2016 is projected at 0.875% vs 1.375% in December while the median rateat the end of 2017 is projected at 1.9% versus 2.4% after the December meeting.

Furthermore, the Fed cut its 2016 growth forecast for theU.S. to 2.2% from 2.4% and adjusted its 2016 core PCE forecast to 1.4-1.7% from1.5-1.7%. In addition to a dimmed view of domestic growth, the Fed mentionedthat "global economic and financial developments continue to pose risks"after not expressing a similar concern in December.

Altogether, the Fed's newfound dovishness was music to thestock market's ear while the Dollar Index logged its third consecutive weeklydecline, falling 1.1% to levels lastseen in October.


Broader market action finished Friday with decent gains. Leading the action higher, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 120.81 points (+0.69%) to close 17602.30. The S&P 500 ended higher 8.97 points (+0.44%) to 2049.56, and the Nasdaq Composite posted the most shallow gains today, up 20.66 points (+0.43%) when the bell rang to close 4795.65. This week's action takes the three major US indices +1.0%, +0.3% and -4.2% YTD, respectively.

Technology (XLK 43.59, -0.15 -0.34%) traded modestly lower, in contrast to the broader market as component Western Digital (WDC 49.02, +3.02 +6.57%) displayed strength following proposed offerings of $1.5 billion of senior secured notes and $4.1 billion of senior unsecured notes. Other components which finished with modest weakness with the broader sector included WIN -2.41%, MSFT -2.14%, VRSN -1.51%, T -1.43%, FSLR -1.05%, FIS -0.82%, ACN -0.73%.

Best performing, the Semiconductor (SOXX 91.57, +1.19 +1.32%) sector posted gains which out-paced the broader market as components Fairchild Semi (FCS 20.04, +0.05 +0.25%) and ON Semiconductor (ON 9.48, +0.22 +2.38%) announced the extension of the tender offer for ON to acquire FCS for $20 per share in cash to May 31. Other components which showed strength today included QRVO +3.03%, NVDA +3.02%, SWKS +2.80%, NXPI +2.66%, MU +2.48%, SUNE +2.40%, INTC +2.19%.

Leading the select sectors which were in the red today, Telecoms (FCOM 29.26, -0.14 -0.48%) were modestly lower as BT Group plc (BT 32.76, flat) appointed Simon Lowth as Group Finance Director. Telecoms have generally out-performed the broader market so far this year, with the bias even more skewed as of recent trading as the Spectrum Auction approaches (scheduled for March 29). Additionally, a Wall Street Journal article out overnight discussed the potential for Orange (ORAN 17.53, -0.42 -2.34%) to purchase Bouygues Telecom for GBP 10 billion and then sell some assets to SFR. Other sector components which displayed relative weakness included S -4.12%, SHEN -1.50%, ATNI -1.36%, TDS -0.98%, USM -0.80%, VZ -0.73%, TMUS -0.62%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (724.04, +1.84 +0.25%), trading was volatile, but ultimately the sector managed to eke out slight gains as component Adobe (ADBE 93.42, +3.46 +3.85%) reported better than expected Q1 results after last night's close with strength continuing in today's session. ADBE reported Q EPS of $0.66 on revenues which rose 24.4% YoY to $1.38 billion. The company also guided Q2 EPS and revenues in-line with Street expectations, and guided for a better than expected FY16 EPS and revenue print. Other sector components that finished the session modestly higher included YHOO +2.61%, TEL +2.37%, NTAP +2.18%, ORCL +2.14%, RHT +1.86%, MCHP +1.40%, FFIV +1.37%, ADSK +1.31%.

Notable news items among sector components:

IBM (IBM 147.09, +0.05 +0.03%) acquired Optevia. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Western Digital (WDC) announced proposed offerings of $1.5 billion of senior secured notes and $4.1 billion of senior unsecured notes.

Ingram Micro (IM 36.35, +0.11 +0.30%) acquired NETXUSA. The company expects the deal to be modestly accretive to 2016 non-GAAP earnings.

Analyst actions:

JBL was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus,
PYPL was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel,
MU was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna;
NVDA was initiated with a Buy at Argus

10:07 am NVIDIA continues to work higher, nearing its multi-year high from Dec at 33.94 -- session high 33.82 (NVDA) :

10:03 am GT Advanced Tech. emerges from Chapter 11 as a newly reorganized company (GTATQ) : The company's $80 million of exit financing was provided by a group of financial sponsors with combined assets under management of more than $30 billion.

9:49 am Adobe Systems (+5%) opens at all time high following beat and raise results and quickly fades back below resistance near the $96 level (ADBE) :

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From Briefing.com: 4:38 pm Nanometrics achieves record 3D-NAND Bookings Quarter (NANO) :

Co announced record 3D-NAND bookings totaling over $38 million for the first quarter of 2016.
Strong follow-on orders by a key customer account for its next phase of 3D-NAND build-out drove a large portion of the overall record, while the announcement and rapid ramp of a 3D-NAND fab from the newest entrant to the sector, along with orders from a key memory customer for Nanometrics, each represented all-time high 3D-NAND bookings for these customer accounts.

Broader market action was relatively tepid today as volume came in light ahead of the Fed Chair tomorrow. The markets ended split today as the action was taken lower by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which lost 6.72 points (-0.14%) to closed 4766.79. Modest gains were had by both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 with the former gaining 19.66 points (+0.11%) to closed 17535.39 and the latter adding 1.11 points (+0.05%) to close 2037.05. Easter Monday ended as only about 707 million shares traded hands on the NYSE and only 1,375 million share exchanged on the NASDAQ floor versus averages near 1,138 million and 2,084 million, respectively.

Technology (XLK 43.52, -0.10 -0.23%) trading was mostly in the red following the modestly positive start as component Qualcomm (QCOM 50.19, -0.67 -1.32%) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays. The firm noted a 'harder road ahead' for the company and also took the target down to $50. Other sectors closed the session XLP +0.54%, XLY +0.45%, XLB +0.43%, IYZ +0.40%, XLF +0.31%, XLI +0.04%, XLV -0.28%, XLU -0.37%, XLE -0.53% with Consumer Staples leading the positive action and Energy posting a notably weaker finish.

Social Media (SOCL 18.01, -0.18 -0.99%) names were notably weaker in comparison today , ending near session lows as component Pandora Media (P 9.60, -1.33 -12.17%) dictated action in other names following an executive shake-up. Pandora Founder Tim Westergren was named CEO, ousting Brian McAndrews. The company also reaffirmed certain Q1, FY16 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance. Other names which were weak today included NTES -3.10%, YELP -2.92%, RENN -2.46%, TWTR -1.95%, LNKD -1.72%, JIVE -1.66%, YNDX -1.16%, ZNGA -0.91%, GRPN -0.76%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (721.73, -2.05 -0.28%), trading ended slightly off lows as component Yahoo! (YHOO 35.23, +0.37 +1.06%) displayed relative strength following a weekend report suggesting Microsoft's (MSFT 53.54, -0.67 -1.24%) interest in financing a potential PE bid for YHOO. Other components which displayed relative weakness today included SYMC -1.28%, MU -1.14%, ORCL -0.85%, MA -0.73%, CRM -0.68%, PYPL -0.46%, AAPL -0.45%.
Other notable news items among sector components:

Yahoo! (YHOO) displayed relative strength following a report out during the weekend detailing Microsoft's (MSFT) interest in financing a potential PE bid for YHOO.

Visa (V 74.12, -0.02 -0.03%) signed a Cooperation Plan with the China National Tourism Administration, establishing Visa as a strategic partner of the U.S.-China Tourism Year. The landmark collaboration between the CNTA, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Visa will provide for a year-long series of events designed to enhance tourism, trade cooperation, and cultural understanding between China and the United States.

Costco (COST 152.67, +1.24 -0.82%) announced the Anywhere Visa (V) Card by Citi (C 41.92, -0.02 -0.05%) will start being accepted on June 20, 2016. Co advises to keep American Express (AXP 60.28, -0.19 -0.31%) Cards until June 19.

Littelfuse (LFUS 118.69, -0.38 -0.32%) completed its acquisition of the circuit protection business of TE

Connectivity (TEL 61.03, +0.07 +0.11%) for $350 million in cash.

eBay (EBAY 24.12, -0.21 -0.86%) sold its Enterprise Marketing Solutions' Studio Division to Industrial Color Brands. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Pandora Media (P) names founder Tim Westergren as CEO effective immediately, replacing Brian McAndrews. Additionally, management noted expectations that results would come in at the high end range of revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for the quarter (Q1), and also reaffirmed FY16 targets.

First Data (FDC 179.00, -0.45 -0.25%) received affirmative responses from new and existing lenders to provide about $3.7 billion of term loans due March 2021.

Violin Memory (VMEM 0.41, -0.03 -8.48%) named Ebrahim Abbasi as Chief Operating Officer.

Abengoa (ABGB 1.50, +0.08 +5.63%) reached a standstill contract with 75.04% of lenders.

Trina Solar (TSL 9.93, -0.11 -1.10%) signed a facilities agreement for an aggregate amount of about $143 million.

Analyst Actions:

QCOM was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays,
EIGI was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

4:15 pm : The stock market began the week on a flat note as the S&P 500 added 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) underperformed. Today's action featured a slide in crude oil, a noteworthy revision to economic data from January, and relative strength from the consumer discretionary space (+0.5%).

Overall, the Monday affair was very quiet as post-holiday trade failed to garner much interest ahead of a data-heavy week. To that point, fewer than 688 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor, versus last week's average of 833.8 million shares.

A cautious tone was set this morning as a tumble in oil helped drag the major averages to opening lows. Meanwhile, some mixed data readings clouded sentiment as investors weighed a cooler-than-expected reading of Core PCE Prices for February (0.1%; Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) and an above-consensus reading of February Personal Income (+0.2%; Briefing.com consensus +0.1%). The former is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, and investors will be on the lookout for any implications this may hold for future fed funds rate hikes.

The major indices hit their highs around 14:00 ET as WTI crude ended its rally off its low. The energy component would end its pit session near those levels, ticking down 0.3% to $39.38/bbl.

Four sectors ended beneath their flat lines with energy (-0.5%), utilities (-0.4%), technology (-0.3%), and health care (-0.3%) leading to the downside. Meanwhile, consumer discretionary (+0.5%), consumer staples (+0.5%), materials (+0.4%), and financials (+0.3%) outperformed.

Lodging names outperformed in the consumer discretionary space following reports that Starwood Hotels (HOT 83.75, +1.62) received a revised non-binding offer from the Chinese consortium headed by Anbang Insurance Group. Elsewhere, Time Warner (TWX 72.54, +2.53) rallied 3.6% following the release of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice', which resulted in the third largest global opening for a March release in IMAX (IMAX 30.38, +0.20) theaters.

The top-weighted technology space (-0.3%) spent most of its day behind the benchmark index as Microsoft (MSFT 53.54, -0.67) weighed on the sector. The tech giant underperformed following headlines that it may be interested in acquiring Yahoo! (YHOO 35.23, +0.37). Meanwhile, Oracle (ORCL 40.62, -0.35) underperformed among software names while Qualcomm (QCOM 50.19, -0.67) displayed relative weakness in the PHLX Semiconductor Index (-0.1%).

The industrial sector (UNCH) finished above its flat line, as a rally in large cap General Electric (GE 31.49, +0.38) outweighed the underperformance of rail names in the Dow Jones Transportation Average (-0.9%). Elsewhere in the Transportation Average, JetBlue (JBLU 20.79, +0.55) spiked after reports indicated that the company put in a bid for Virgin American (VA 37.70, +3.53).

Biotechnology endured a choppy session as the iShare Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 252.08) swung from a 1.5% loss to a 0.9% gain. The ETF ended its day down 1.3% despite strength from constituent Gilead Science (GILD 92.46, +1.14). The biotech name ended higher by 1.6% after a ruling in a patent dispute case was deemed better than feared.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.97, -0.20) finished lower as the greenback lost ground to the euro. The euro/dollar pair ended higher by 0.3% at 1.1200. For its part, the dollar gained 0.2% against the yen to end at 113.38.

Treasuries ended in the green, but off their best levels. The yield on the 10-yr note settled lower by three basis points at 1.88% (-1 bps) after dipping into the 1.86% area.

Today's economic data included PCE Prices for February, Personal Income for February, Personal Spending for February, and Pending Home Sales for February:

The Personal Income and Spending report for February was released to little fanfare as the report came in right around expectations. Income increased 0.2% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%), spending increased 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%), and the core PCE Price Index, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%).
Overall, this set of figures is not expected to do much in terms of strengthening or weakening a rate-hike argument, but it is worth noting that a 0.5% increase in January Personal Spending was revised down to an increase of just 0.1% in today's report.
The Federal Reserve is looking for 2.0% year-over-year inflation as expressed by the core PCE Index. Following today's report, the index remains unchanged at 1.7% year-over-year.
The personal savings rate edged up to 5.4% from 5.3%.
Pending home sales for February climbed 3.5% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 1.1%. Meanwhile, the January reading was revised to -3.0% from -2.5%.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the Case-Shiller 20-city Index for March (Briefing.com consensus +5.7%) and Consumer Confidence for March (Briefing.com consensus 94.5), which will be released at 9:00 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Separately, Fed Chair Janet Yellen will speak at the Economic Club of New York at 12:20 ET.DJ30 19.66 NASDAQ -6.72 SP500 +1.11 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1294/1.273 bln/1575 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1739/687.3 mln/1285

3:35 pm :

The dollar index initially consolidated near the lows for the day before heading slightly higher in the afternoon but ultimately giving back those gains and settling in around the lows
Commodities as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity index were further boosted by the lower-trending dollar, trading up +0.3% at 79.48
WTI crude oil futures saw a steep drop this morning before smoothly trending upwards the rest of the day to end just below last week's closing price
May WTI crude oil futures closed down -0.3% at $39.38/barrel
Natural gas futures were particularly volatile, briefly falling below last week's previous closing price before spiking off those lows to consolidate and close near the high of the day
May natural gas closed up +3.2% at $1.94/MMBtu
In precious metals, gold initially traded lower before bouncing off the $1216/oz level, still closing slightly in the red for the day
April gold futures closed down -0.1% at $1220.30/oz
Silver futures teeter-tottered slightly between gains and losses with no meaningful direction, eventually settling just below last week's close
May silver futures closed down -0.1% at $15.19/oz
Base metal copper had a notable mid-day jump before dropping slightly and then consolidating higher
May copper futures closed up +0.9% at $2.25/lb

6:52 am Trina Solar signs facilities agreement for an aggregate amount of ~$143 mln (TSL) :

Co announces the launch of operations at its new manufacturing facility in Thailand. Co also announced that it has signed a financing facilities agreement for an aggregate amount of ~$143 mln with a consortium of banks led by The Siam Commercial Bank Public Company.

So far, the facility has achieved every milestone on schedule, from groundbreaking to production to serving its overseas markets, which is expected to occur by the end of March.
To finance the capital expenditure of the new production facility, co has signed a syndicated loan agreement for a total of $100 mln w/ SCB and China Minsheng Banking Corporation, maturing in June 2020.
In addition, according to the agreement, the co has been granted a line of credit by SCB for ~$43 mln, which will be used for working capital.

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm FormFactor lowers Q1 EPS and rev guidance below consensus; sees Q2 revs in line with estimates (FORM) :

Co issues lowered guidance for Q1 (Mar), sees EPS of ($0.12) - ($0.10) vs. $0.05 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 (Mar) revs of $53-54 mln vs. $68.12 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Prior guidance called for EPS of $0.03-0.07 and revenues of $65-70 mlnCo issues in-line guidance for Q2 (Jun), sees Q2 (Jun) revs of $72-80 mln vs. $78.41 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.This revision is the result of two timing-related factors. First and primarily, to meet a doubling in demand for SoC probe cards by a key customer, the company increased capacity, although at a rate slower than originally planned. The company holds record backlog for this product line, and expects to continue to produce at record levels through the remainder of 2016. Second, the company experienced push-outs of DRAM probe card deliveries by certain customers from the first quarter to the early part of the second quarter. This SoC and DRAM demand is secured by firm customer purchase orders.

TechStocks: Stocks surged today after Fed Chair Yellen gave a dovish speechat the Economic Club of New York mid-day. The technology heavy Nasdaq 100 (QQQ +1.7%) led the way. TheQQQ and the broader market (SPY +0.9%) closed at a near three month.

FANG stocks were strong while chip stocks (SMH) rose 1.3%.

Facebook (FB +2.2%) rose for the seventh session in a row andset a new all-time closing high. Stifel raised their Amazon (AMZN +2.4%) tgt to $775. They view thecompany's investments in supply chain initiatives favorably as they believethey are necessary to support continued retail growth and present an attractiveROI opportunity. Netflix (NFLX +2.9%) broke out to a two month high. Earnings:

Science Applications (SAIC +11.5%) surged to a three monthhigh after beating Q4 EPS on lower than expected salesSynnex (SNX) fell 7% after reporting in-line Q1 EPS on lowerthan expected rev; co also guided Q2 EPS and rev below consensus The Feds dropped their suit against Apple (AAPL +2.4%) after hacking the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone without the help of the tech giant. Many believe the gov't just wanted to set a precedent.

SunEdison (SUNE) extended its epic collapse today asbankruptcy fears mount. The co needs to file its 10-K by tomorrow in order toavoid negotiations with lenders over a technical default. The WSJ last night reportedthe SEC is investigating its liquidity disclosures. The stock is down 98% sincehitting a seven year high in July of last year.

Himax Tech (HIMX +14%) broke out to two year high; its LCOSbusiness supplies components for virtual reality (VR) devices.

Broker calls:

AMBA upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley
MU downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Needham
TEL to Neutral from Buy at Sun Trust
SWKS to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
LNKD downgraded to Equal Weight at Barclays EBAY downgraded to Underweight at Barclays PYPL initiated Neutral at Atlantic Equities ZBRA, SSNI and QADA initiated Mkt Perform at Avondale Verint (VRNT) missed estimates for the second quarter in arow after the bell. Paychex (PAYX) will report earnings tomorrow morning.

4:10 pm : The stock market ended its day on a sharply higher note as Fed Chair Janet Yellen boosted equities by striking a decidedly dovish tone. Meanwhile, the outperformance of the heavily-weighted technology (+1.6%) and health care (+1.2%) spaces added support to the move higher. Conversely, a downturn in crude oil and the underperformance of the financial sector (+0.2%) provided for some early weakness in the broader market. The Nasdaq Composite (+1.7%) ended ahead of the S&P 500 (+0.9%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.6%).

Equity indices opened their day modestly lower as global bourses struck a risk-off posture ahead of remarks from Fed Chair Janet Yellen. At the same time, a continued tumble in crude oil took some steam out of the equity market. To that point, oil carved out fresh session lows in the morning as investors eyed this evening's weekly API data. However, an increase in risk appetite, courtesy of dovish commentary from Fed Chair Yellen, lifted the energy component off its low. Nevertheless, WTI ended its day lower by 2.7% at $38.32/bbl.

Chair Yellen channeled the dovish undertones from her March 16 press conference as she cited growing risks to the global economy to justify a gradual path in raising rates. Particularly, the Fed Chair mentioned uncertainty over China, low oil prices, and tightening in financial conditions. Furthermore, Fed Chair Yellen pointed to possible shortcomings in monetary policy if another disturbance were to manifest itself. Ms. Yellen noted the "asymmetric" response of monetary policy if economic conditions worsened, given the fed funds rate this close to zero.

All ten sectors ended the day in the green with heavily-weighted technology (+1.6%), utilities (+1.4%), and health care (+1.2%) leading the upside. Meanwhile, the economically-sensitive financial sector (+0.2%) and commodity-sensitive energy (+0.4%) and materials (+0.4%) showed the slimmest gains.

The influential technology sector (+1.6%) outperformed throughout the day, but enjoyed a strong bid following the conclusion of Fed Chair Yellen's speech. Apple (AAPL 107.70, +2.51) and Microsoft (MSFT 54.71, +1.17) outperformed as large names saw an influx of buying interest. Meanwhile, Yahoo! (YHOO 36.32, +1.09) gained 3.1% after reports indicated that interested parties have until April 11 to submit offers for the web portal's core business and Asian assets.

Biotechnology outperformed in the health care group (+1.2%), as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 256.61, +4.53) gained 1.8%. To be fair though, the entire space experienced an uptick in buying interest as the beleaguered sector sought to rebound from its 5.7% year to date decline.

In the consumer discretionary space (+0.9%), homebuilders outperformed following above-consensus first quarter results from Lennar (LEN 48.18, +1.48). Meanwhile, Amazon (AMZN 593.86, +13.99) tacked on to its recent winning streak as the retail giant gained 2.4%.

Conversely, rate-sensitive money center banks and life insurance companies underperformed in the financial sector (+0.2%). The groups saw little reprieve from the dovish commentary as their earnings prospects are expected to suffer from lower rates. On that note, MetLife (MET 42.46, -0.54) tumbled 1.3% while Dow component JPMorgan Chase (JPM 59.03, -0.37) fell 0.6%.

On the commodities front, gold spiked following comments from Fed Chair Yellen, which helped diminish inflation expectations. Gold rallied 1.3% to $1,235.80/ozt.

The yield on the 10-yr note ended its day lower by nine basis points to 1.80%.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.15, -0.79) came under fire as traders again reconsidered the policy divergence trade. The euro gained 0.9% against the dollar to end at 1.1294. Meanwhile, the dollar lost 0.7% to the yen and kicked the pair to 112.70 after trading at 113.46.

Once again, today's participation was above last week's average as more than 945 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's data included the Case-Shiller 20-city Index for January and Consumer Confidence for March:

The Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for January rose 5.7%, which fell in-line with the Briefing.com consensus. This followed the previous month's unrevised increase of 5.7%.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence index increased to 96.2 in March from an upwardly revised 94.0 (from 92.2) in February. The March reading was ahead of the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which was pegged at 94.5.
The March reading leaves the series roughly in the middle of a 91-104 range that has been in effect since November 2014.
The improvement in March stemmed from an increase in the Expectations Index (from 79.9 to 84.7), which outweighed a decline in the Present Situation Index (from 115.0 to 113.5).
The report indicated that the strengthening in the Expectations Index was due in part to an improved outlook for the labor market.

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the ADP Employment Change for March (Briefing.com consensus 214k), which will be released at 7:00 ET and 8:15 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite -3.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.5% YTD
S&P 500 +0.5% YTD
Dow Jones +1.2% YTD

DJ30 +97.72 NASDAQ +79.84 SP500 +17.96 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2130/1.632 bln/739 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2449/945.6 mln/594 3:35 pm :

After a morning of sideways and choppy directionless trading, the dollar index slid notably lower midday, following Janet Yellen's speech
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -0.2% to 79.31
Oil trended lower all day with an afternoon spike to $38.60/barrel before retracing back near the low of the day and consolidating lower until the close
May WTI oil futures closed down -2.7% to $38.32/barrel
Natural gas had a huge morning spike before consolidating and trading even higher still in the afternoon, closing near the high of the day
May natural gas futures closed up +2.1% at $1.98/MMBtu
In precious metals, gold trended up all day with a notable spike intraday, finishing even higher still
April gold futures closed up +1.3% at $1235.80/oz
Silver mirrored gold but with more volatility, dropping below the previous day's close in early afternoon trading before spiking to new highs of the day
May silver futures closed up +0.3% at $15.23/oz
Base metal copper closed down -1.8% to $2.21/lb

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From Briefing.com: 6:10 pm SolarCity closes second financing within its renewable energy tax equity program (SCTY) : SCTY has closed the second financing within its renewable energy tax equity investment program with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and another investor. The program will finance approximately $188 million in solar projects, covering the capital cost of the solar equipment and installation, enabling thousands of homeowners to pay for the power the system produces, typically at a lower rate than their local utility charges.

4:09 pm Pixelworks implements restructuring plan; Sees Q1 revenues of approx $11.1 mln, Capital IQ consensus $10.5 mln; sees a GAAP loss of approx ($0.15) (PXLW) :

Co announced a restructuring to streamline its product offerings and organization, including an approximately 24% reduction in workforce, in the areas of development, operations, sales and marketing. Pixelworks expects the restructuring to result in annualized savings of at least $5.0 million. The Company expects to incur total charges of approximately $4.4 million related to asset disposal costs and employee severance and benefits, which will largely be recorded in the first quarter of 2016. Pixelworks expects the restructuring to be substantially completed by the end of its third quarter.Co reported preliminary Q1 results with revenue of approximately $11.1 million. Q1 GAAP net loss per share excluding anticipated charges of $4.2 million, or $0.15 per share, is expected to be within the Company's original quarterly guidance range of a net loss between $0.16 and $0.23 per share. Reports Thursday, April 28th at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time. 4:10 pm : The stock market ended the day on a broadly lower note as uncertainty over the global economy led investors towards safe havens. Today's loss dragged the S&P 500 (-1.2%) back into negative territory for the year (year-to-date -0.1%) as relative weakness from the heavily-weighted financial (-1.9%) and technology (-1.4%) pressured the broader market. The Nasdaq Composite (-1.5%) ended its day behind the benchmark index (-1.2%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-1.1%).

Today's session started on a lower note as weakness in overseas trade undercut yesterday's post-Fed minutes rally. The major headlines overnight included an extended gain in the yen, a downturn in oil, and a bid in safe havens. The defensive posture continued throughout today's session as investors shifted their attention to growth concerns here at home. On that note, first quarter earnings are scheduled to pick-up next week as investors continue to lower their expectations for the quarter. Additionally, if earnings fall, this would mark the fourth consecutive quarterly decline in corporate earnings.

All ten sectors ended their day beneath their flat lines with financials (-1.9%), telecom services (-1.4%). technology (-1.4%), and materials (-1.3%) leading the downside. Conversely, utilities (UNCH), energy (-0.6%), and industrials (-0.7%) ended with the slimmest losses.

A downturn in European banks led to a tumble in the heavyweight financial sector (-1.9%) as money center banks, investment brokerages, asset management companies, and life insurance names all traded lower in sympathy. The broader financial sector extended its week to date decline to 3.4% and its year to date loss to 8.1%. Separately, Dow component Goldman Sachs (GS 150.41, -4.78) ended its day as the worst performer in the price-weighted index.

In the technology space (-1.6%), heavily-weighted Apple (AAPL 108.54, -2.42) moved into negative territory for the month (month-to-date 0.4%) after having its price target lowered to $130 from $140 at BTIG Research. Elsewhere, Yahoo! (YHOO 36.17, -0.49) briefly moved into the green after reports indicated that both Verizon (VZ 52.00, -1.52) and Alphabet's (GOOGL 760.12, -7.95) Google were considering bids for the web portal.

Biotechnology underperformed in the health care (-1.1%) group after yesterday's 6.0% gain in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 280.69, -5.11). The ETF lost 1.8% today, but remains higher by 4.5% for the week.

The commodity-sensitive energy (-0.8%) sector was able to finish near the top of the leaderboard despite a downturn in crude oil. WTI crude ended its day down 2.4% ($36.84/bbl), extending its April loss to 2.7%. In the space, refining names displayed relative strength after yesterday's dip by the group. Separately, Baker Hughes (BHI 41.93, -0.90) lost 2.1% in light of a declining rig count and as its merger with Halliburton (HAL 36.25, -0.19) remains in jeopardy.

The U.S. Dollar Index (94.56, +0.13) ended its day slightly higher after recouping some losses against the yen and gaining some ground against the euro. The dollar/yen pair finished lower by 1.3% at 108.41 while the euro lost 0.3% against the dollar (1.1370).

The Treasury complex gained as equities continued their retreat. By the end of the session, the yield on the 10-yr note was lower by seven basis points at 1.69%.

Today's participation was above the recent average as more than 913 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included weekly initial claims and consumer credit for February:

The latest initial claims report provided some economic news worth cheering about. Claims for the week ending April 2 were 267,000 (Briefing.com consensus 270,000), a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level.
That marked the 57th straight week initial claims have been below 300,000, which is the longest streak since 1973.
The four-week moving average for initial claims increased slightly to 266,750, yet still remains near its lowest level since April 2000.
Continuing claims for the week ending March 26 rose to 2.191 million from 2.172 million in the prior week.
Even so, the four-week moving average for this series dipped to 2.189 million from 2.191 million.
Total outstanding consumer credit increased by $17.3 billion in February (Briefing.com consensus $14.4 billion) after increasing an upwardly revised $14.8 billion (from $10.5 billion) in January.
The growth in February was powered by a $14.3 billion increase in nonrevolving credit. Revolving credit increased by $3.0 billion.
In the preceding 12-month period leading up to February, consumer credit had risen by an average of $18.3 billion.
In February, consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75%.

Tonight, Fed Chair Yellen and former Fed Chairs Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, and Paul Volcker will take part in a panel titled, "When the Federal Reserve Speaks...the World Listens." The discussion will begin at 17:30 ET.

Tomorrow's data will be limited to Wholesale Inventories for February (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%), which will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Russell 2000 -3.8% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -3.2% YTD
S&P 500 -0.1% YTD
Dow Jones +0.7% YTD

DJ30 -174.09 NASDAQ -72.34 SP500 -24.67 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 755/1.727 bln/2076 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 684/913.9 mln/2338

3:30 pm :

The dollar index consolidates near the highs of the day in afternoon pit trading, weighing on commodities
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -0.3% at 77.45
Crude oil initially saw losses in the morning before bouncing of the low of the day and rallying into the close, still below the previous day's closing price
May crude oil futures closed down $0.47 (-1.3%) at $37.27/barrel
Natural gas initially spikes upward and remains in a sustained uptrend all day into the close of pit trading after the release of EIA inventory data
May natural gas futures closed up $0.11 (+5.8%) at $2.02/MMBtu
EIA weekly natural gas inventory data showed a build of +12 bcf vs expectations for a build of about +7 bcf
In precious metals, gold heads slightly lower and consolidates, closing near its lows for the day but still above the previous day's closing price
June gold futures closed up $13.20 (+1.1%) at $1237.30/oz
Silver saw a similar move compared to gold, dropping slightly lower during the day, but still closing above the previous day's pit trading closing price
May silver futures closed today's session $0.12 higher (+0.8%) at $15.18/oz
Base metal copper consolidated around the lows seen in the morning to close afternoon pit trading notably lower
May copper futures closed $0.06 lower (-2.8%) at $2.08/lb

When the bell rang on Thursday, the three major US indices were all well lower. Action took the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite down 72.35 points (-1.47%) to 4848.37. The S&P 500 was lower by 24.75 points (-1.20%) to end 2041.91. The mildest losses today were in the Dow Jones Industrial Average which lost 174.09 points (-0.98%) to close Thursday 17541.96. Today's negative bias was interesting for a few reasons -- 1) the lack of follow through on yesterday's rally; 2) the renewed decline in oil prices; 3) the ongoing, and surprising strength in the yen; 4) and valuation concerns stemming from declining earnings growth and weak global economic activity.

Today's market data came in the form of the latest initial claims reading for the week ending April 2, which was down 9,000 from last week to 267,000. Continuing claims for the week ending March 26 rose to 2.191 million from 2.172 million in the prior week. Additionally, the February Consumer Credit reading showed an increase by $17.3 billion after increasing an upwardly revised $14.8 billion (from $10.5 billion) in January.

In the Technology (XLK 43.89, -0.58 -1.30%) space, trading followed the tepid broader market bias. Component F5 Networks (FFIV 97.72, -6.17 -5.94%) was notably weak today as the stock was downgraded to a 'Negative' rating this morning at OTR Global. Other sectors closed XLF -1.88%, XLB -1.45%, IYZ -1.35%, XLY -1.13%, XLV -1.10%, XLP -1.08%, XLI -0.96%, XLE -0.59%, XLU -0.04% as Financials and Materials were notably weak.

Trading in the S&P 500 Information Technology (728.90, -10.60 -1.43%) sector was also weak as action took a leg lower at the open and never looked back. Component Yahoo! (YHOO 36.17, -0.49 -1.34%) popped higher in afternoon action as a Bloomberg report came out detailing that Verizon (VZ 52.00, -1.52 -2.84%) is planning on moving ahead with a bid for the company's web business. At the end of the day, EBAY -5.23%, QRVO -3.50%, WDC -3.29%, NTAP -3.16%, EA -2.89%, AKAM -2.74%, CTXS -2.70%, HPQ -2.36%, XLNX -2.35%, PYPL -2.25% were among the worst performing components.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Yahoo! (YHOO) rose modestly in the afternoon session following a Bloomberg report that Verizon (VZ) is planning to move ahead with a bid for YHOO's web business. Additionally, the article suggested that

Alphabet's (GOOG 740.28, -5.41 -0.73%) Google may be mulling a bid for the core business.

Pfizer (PFE 32.77, -0.16 -0.49%) and IBM (IBM 148.25, -1.77 -1.18%) announced a first-of-its-kind research collaboration to develop innovative remote monitoring solutions aimed at transforming how clinicians deliver care to patients suffering from Parkinson's disease. The experimental approach will rely on a system of sensors, mobile devices, and machine learning to provide real-time, around-the-clock disease symptom information to clinicians and researchers.

IBM (IBM) announced Interra Systems has integrated high-speed transfer technology from Aspera, an IBM company into Baton, a leading enterprise-class quality control solution for file-based content.

As discussed in a Re/Code report, Softbank (SFTBY 25.46, +0.27 +1.07%) wants to end $240 million in annual fees it pays to Yahoo! (YHOO) instead of purchasing the company.

According to Bloomberg, EMC (EMC 26.02, -0.39 -1.48%) and Dell are negotiating the sale of EMC's Documentum as part of the acquisition financing between the two parties.

Red Hat (RHT 73.62, -1.11 -1.49%) announced C.A. Mobile built a flexible infrastructure to support its websites with an OpenStack cloud solution from Red Hat and Dell.

eBay (EBAY 24.10, -1.33 -5.23%) and BigCommerce announced a strategic relationship to enable BigCommerce merchants to seamlessly list their products and manage their inventory on the eBay marketplace.

Paychex (PAYX 52.87, -0.77 -1.44%) is announcing solutions to assist financial advisors in meeting the new requirements regarding retirement investment advice.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Sprint (S 3.51, -0.09 -2.50%) entered into a transaction with several bankruptcy remote entities for the sale and leaseback of certain existing network assets, which is expected to close next week and provide the company with $2.2 billion of funding. When closed, the transaction will immediately improve the company's liquidity position at an attractive cost of capital in the mid-single digits.

GoDaddy (GDDY 31.60, +0.77 +2.50%) announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 16,500,000 shares of its Class A common stock offered by certain of its existing stockholders at a price to the public of $30.25 per share.

MAXIMUS (MMS 47.88, -4.11 -7.91%) responded to a recent press article in the United Kingdom reporting that the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is considering terminating one specific program for which MMS serves as a contractor to the Department of Work and Pensions. In fact, MAXIMUS serves as a contractor to DWP under two similar but unrelated programs.

Agilent's (A 39.47, -0.77 -1.91%) Dako announced the commercial availability in the EU of a new test that can identify PD-L1 expression levels on the surface of non-small cell lung cancer tumor cells and provide information on the survival benefit with OPDIVO (nivolumab) for patients with non-squamous NSCLC.

TriNet (TNET 14.94, +0.21 +1.43%) has completed the acquisition of assets from Teleborder, a provider of immigration HR services for employers. As part of the acquisition, James Richards, Teleborder's co-founder and CEO, along with the entire Teleborder team, will join TriNet and help drive TriNet's expansion into servicing international companies and their employees.

DragonWave (DRWI 6.91, -1.89 -21.48%) is raising about $4.35 million in gross proceeds in a registered direct offering and a concurrent private placement to institutional investors in the United States. DRWI intends to use the net proceeds from the sale of shares in the registered direct offering for general corporate purposes, which may include working capital, general and administrative expenses, capital expenditures and implementation of its strategic priorities.

Analyst actions:

CHKP was upgraded to Positive from Mixed at OTR Global,
AUO was upgraded to Buy from Sell at Citigroup;
VZ was downgraded at Bernstein and Jefferies,
FFIV was downgraded to Negative from Mixed at OTR Global,
WSTC was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
EMC was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James;
INTC was initiated with a Buy at Brean Capital,
VG was initiated with a Buy at Needham,
AMD was initiated with a Hold at Craig Hallum,
WNS was initiated with an Outperform at Barrington Research

11:02 am Agilent and Applied Spectral Imaging announce co-marketing agreement for fluorescence in situ hybridization (A) : According to Agilent, this agreement is expected to bring to pathology labs the components for a fully automated, end-to-end FISH workflow.

8:04 am Silicon Motion follow up: SIMO guides Q1 revenue well above consensus; sees gross margins at upper end of guidance (SIMO) :

SIMO sees revenue significantly better than guidance; sees Q1 revs up 14-15% sequentially vs. guidance for -2.5% to +2.5%. The sequential guidance equates to Q1 revenue of $111.8-$112.7 mln vs. the $97.6 mln Capital IQ consensus. Gross margin (non-GAAP) is expected to be in the upper half of the company's original guidance range of 49% to 51%.

4:05 am Advanced Semi reports Q1 revs declined 3.5% YoY to NT$62.37 bln vs NT$61.46 bln consensus (ASX) :

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From Briefing.com: 4:03 pm Ixia guides Q1 below guidance and consensus (XXIA) : Ixia currently expects Q1 revenue to be between $108-11 mln (Prior guidance $121-126 mln), Capital IQ consensus $123.3 mln.Expects Q1 Non-GAAP EPS to be between $0.05-0.08 (Prior $0.10-0.14), Capital IQ consensus $0.12.Our topline performance was primarily impacted by an unexpected and marked slowdown in network test spending from our North America network equipment manufacturer customers in March, and we continued to experience delays in closing network visibility deals".

4:03 pm Ixia lowers Q1 guidance (XXIA) :

4:15 pm : The stock market ended Thursday on a flat note as the indices surrendered their slim intraday gain during the final hour. Meanwhile, better than feared earnings reports from the beleaguered financial sector (+0.3%) lent support to the major averages for a second day in a row. Additionally, today's action also featured the latest inflation data for the month of March, and continued trepidation regarding this quarter's corporate earnings reports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%) ended its day ahead of both the S&P 500 (UNCH) and ahead of the Nasdaq Composite (UNCH).

The trading day began on a choppy note as investors weighed quarterly earnings reports from names like Wells Fargo (WFC 48.79, -0.24), Bank of America (BAC 14.14, +0.35), and BlackRock (BLK 354.91, +6.62) against their diminished expectations for the first quarter. At the same time, March CPI data came in cooler-than-expected, which could justify the Fed leaving rates unchanged at the April 26-27 meeting. As a side note, this is the last inflation reading ahead of that meeting.

Risk appetite managed to pick up as the session went on, and the benchmark index was able to extend out of its initial six-point trading range. By the end of the session, six sectors traded above their flat lines as energy (+0.4%) led financials (+0.3%), telecom services (+0.3%), and health care (+0.1%).

In the economically-sensitive financial sector (+0.3%), money center banks again helped lead the advance as Bank of America (BAC 14.14, +0.35) gained 2.5% after reporting a bottom-line beat on light revenue. The company attributed part of the revenue shortfall to a 16.0% decline in trading revenue for the quarter. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo (WFC 48.79, -0.24) ended its day beneath its flat line as investors weighed a $200 million increase to its loan loss reserves against a top and bottom-line beat. The broader sector has gained 4.3% this week, but remains down 3.7% on the year.

Baker Hughes (BHI 43.18, +1.88) displayed relative strength in the energy space (+0.4%). The company rallied 4.6% after reports indicated that Carlyle (CG 17.05, -0.19) is discussing a potential acquisition of $7 billion worth of assets from the company and Halliburton (HAL 38.38, +0.07). This deal would help Baker Hughes and Halliburton complete appropriate divestments to aid their proposed merger. Separately, WTI crude ended its day lower by 0.6% at $41.45/bbl.

In the health care space (+0.1%) large cap components Bristol-Myers (BMY 67.87, +0.30) and Merck (MRK 56.45, +0.49) outperformed. Bristol-Myers gained 0.4% after announcing that the FDA accepted priority review of its Hodgkin's Lymphoma drug. Meanwhile, Merck outperformed after its Zepatier medication received positive results in a head-to-head clinical trial against a competitor's medication.

Conversely, four sectors ended in the red with consumer staples (-0.5%), materials (-0.1%), utilities (-0.1%), and technology (-0.1%) rounding out the leaderboard. In the technology space (-0.1%), the high-beta chipmakers underperformed after Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM 25.30, -0.87) issued below-consensus guidance for the second quarter.

The U.S. Dollar Index (94.96, +0.21) rebounded throughout the day after the below-consensus CPI readings pressured the greenback. The dollar ended its day 0.1% higher against the yen at 109.40 while the euro/dollar pair finished lower by 0.2% at 1.1258.

The Treasury complex ended its session off its low with the yield on the 10-yr note ending higher by three basis points at 1.79%.

Today's participation was above the recent average as more than 882 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included Core CPI for March and weekly initial claims:

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March showed only a 0.1% increase for the all items index (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%). Similarly, core CPI, which excludes food and energy, was up only 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) after a 0.3% increase in February.
With the March data, total CPI was up 0.9% over the last 12 months versus 1.0% in February while core CPI rose 2.2% versus 2.3% in February.
The moderation in those year-over-year growth rates will likely draw the Fed's attention as a basis for holding off on a rate hike at the April 26-27 meeting. This CPI report is the last inflation report ahead of that meeting.
The energy index (+0.9%) drove the increase in the all items index, logging its first increase since November. The food index was down 0.2% following a 0.2% increase in February.
Driving the modest gain in core CPI were the indexes for shelter, recreation, medical care, education, tobacco, and personal care, although increases there were offset to a large extent by declines in the indexes for apparel, airline fares, communication, household furnishings, and used cars and trucks. The apparel index, in particular, was down 1.1% after a 1.6% increase in February.
Initial claims for the week ending April 9 were 253,000 (Briefing.com consensus 268,000), a decrease of 13,000 from the prior week.
There were no special factors influencing initial claims, which logged their 58th straight week below 300,000 -- the longest streak since 1973!
The four-week moving average for initial claims decreased by 1,500 to 265,000.
Continuing claims for the week ending April 2 dropped to 2.171 million, a decrease of 18,000 from the prior week.
The four-week moving average for this series stands at 2.178 million -- the lowest level since November 18, 2000.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the 8:30 ET release of Empire Manufacturing for April (Briefing.com consensus 2.3). Meanwhile, Industrial Production (Briefing.com consensus +0.0%) and Capacity Utilization (Briefing.com consensus 75.5%) for March will be reported at 9:15 ET. Finally, the day's data will be capped off with the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index for April (Briefing.com consensus 92.0) and the Net Long-Term TIC Flows for February, which will cross the wires at 10:00 ET and 16:00 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite -1.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.7% YTD
S&P 500 +1.9% YTD
Dow Jones +2.9% YTD

DJ30 +18.15 NASDAQ -1.53 SP500 +0.36 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1386/1.508 bln/1425 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1329/882.8 mln/1655

3:30 pm :

The dollar index trends lower in the afternoon, recovering those losses near the closing of pit trading and trading near 94.90
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -0.7% at 80.65
Crude oil plummets in afternoon trade to fresh new lows of the day, closing just above those lows
May Crude Oil futures fell $0.25 (-0.6%) to $41.45/barrel
The April 17 meeting between OPEC & non-OPEC members in Doha, Qatar is fast-approaching, expected to be a near-term catalyst to move oil prices
Natural gas trends notably lower, sees a brief spike following the release of EIA inventory data, and then resumes its downtrend, closing just off the low for the day
May Natural Gas closed $0.06 lower (-3.0%) at $1.97/MMBtu
EIA Natural gas inventory released at 10:30 ET showed a draw of -3 bcf vs expectations for inventory to remain unchanged (+/- 0 bcf)
In precious metals, gold consolidated in the afternoon, trading sideways after the steep morning drop
June gold ended today's session down $21.50 (-1.7%) to $1226.60/oz
Silver trended modestly up in the afternoon, consolidating near the close of pit trading to close higher for the day
May silver closed today's session $0.14 lower (-0.9%) at $16.18/oz
Base metal copper closes unchanged
May copper closed flat at $2.17/lb
At the end of the day, markets were split. Upside was led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average which added 18.15 points (+0.10%) to close 17926.43. The S&P 500 was up less than a point (+0.02%) when the day was done to end 2082.78. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was the lone laggard today as the index lost 1.53 points (-0.03%) to end 4945.89. A quite, mixed session was met with quiet volume, as only 882 million shares traded at the NYSE versus an average near 1,035 million while as the NASDAQ floor, only 1,508 million shares exchanged hands versus the average near 1,768 million.

Market data today came in the form of the Consumer Price Index which for March showed only a 0.1% increase for the all items index. This CPI report is the last inflation report ahead of the April 26-27 Fed meeting. Additionally, the initial claims reading for the week ending April 9 was 253,000, a 13,000 decline from the prior week. Continuing claims for the week ending April 2 dropped to 2.171 million, a 18,000 decline from last week.

Markets parsed earnings reports from major financial institutions this morning as both Bank of America (BAC 14.14, +0.38 +2.76%) and Wells Fargo (WFC 48.79, -0.24 -0.49%) reported quarterly prints this morning. Results at BAC were mixed while peer WFC reported results which were better than anticipated. Financials (XLF 22.99, +0.06 +0.26%) were again one of the best performing sectors today as measured by the S&P.

Technology (XLK 44.49, -0.05 -0.11%) ended on modest losses as the sector hovered near flat lines for almost the entirety of the session. Component SunEdison (SUNE 0.58, +0.21 +58.14%) spiked higher today as the company announced the completion of the investigation by the Audit Committee and Independent Directors. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed the day IYZ +0.29%, XLE +0.23%, XLF +0.22%, XLI +0.18%, XLB +0.07%, XLV +0.06%, XLY +0.00%, XLU -0.12%, XLP -0.45% as Telecoms and Energy led the way higher and Consumer Staples was the worst performer.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (741.21, -0.80 -0.11%) sector, trading closed Thursday on modest losses. Component Seagate Tech (STX 27.11, -6.82 -20.10%) was under severe pressure today as the company announced preliminary Q3 revenues which were worse than expected, sending the stock near YTD lows. Other names in the space which were in the red with the broader sector included WDC -6.65%, MU -4.41%, NTAP -3.97%, FSLR -2.00%, SYMC -1.49%, GLW -1.47%, LRCX -1.45%, SNDK -1.12%, JNPR -1.05%, INTC -1.03%, HRS -0.88%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Seagate Tech (STX) announced preliminary Q3 revenues which were worse than expected. For the Q3 period, STX expects revenues of about $2.6 billion, slightly worse than Street expectations.

ServiceNow (NOW 63.00, -0.77 -1.21%) and BMC Software entered into a confidential settlement agreement to resolve all patent-related litigation between the two parties. NOW took total aggregate charges of $270 million for litigation settlement expenses in the quarter ended March 31, 2016.

Micron (MU 10.40, -0.48 -4.41%) intends to offer $1 billion aggregate principal amount of senior secured notes due 2023 through an offering to qualified institutional buyers.

Alliance Data (ADS 214.48, -0.66 -0.31%) announced that Precima, a consulting and analytics firm specializing in shopper insights and housed within its LoyaltyOne business, and U.K.-based Wm Morrison

Supermarkets PLC (MRWSY 13.87, -0.22 -1.56%) signed a new multi-year agreement to use Precima's expertise in analyzing data and generating insights to improve customers' shopping trips.

Fiserv (FISV 99.67, -0.62 -0.62%) announced that Xceed Financial Credit Union, a $1 billion asset credit union based in El Segundo, California, has extended its relationship with Fiserv and is transitioning its in-house DNA account processing platform to a Fiserv-hosted environment.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

SunEdison (SUNE) disclosed the completion of the investigation by the Audit Committee and Independent Directors. The Independent Directors also identified several specific issues regarding the cash forecasting and liquidity management practices. Additionally, SUNE was the subject of a Bloomberg article last night highlighting the company missed a $2.6 million payment on a bond.

Synaptics (SYNA 87.21, +5.94 +7.31%) saw relative strength today following reports that the company was in talks with a Chinese investor group regarding a potential buyout.

DragonWave (DRWI 7.38, +1.42 +23.83%) successfully completed five customer trials of the newly launched Harmony Enhanced MC dual carrier product.

Utopia Global announced the signing of a global reseller agreement with SAP (SAP 79.03, +0.70 +0.89%). As part of the agreement, SAP will resell Utopia's Master Data Governance for Retail and Fashion Management solution under the name SAP Master Data Governance application, retail and fashion management extension by Utopia.

Genpact (G 27.54, -0.06 -0.22%) filed for mixed securities shelf offering.

Sphere 3D (ANY 1.19, flat) filed for about a 7.3 million common share offering by selling shareholders.

Lattice Semi (LSCC 5.73, -0.63 -9.91%) was actively traded today following reports that Tsinghua is apparently not interested in a full acquisition of the company.

TiVo (TIVO 9.27, +0.04 +0.43%) popped midday on reports that it and Rovi (ROVI 17.97, -0.01 -0.06%) remain in active merger discussions.

Analyst actions:

AMAT was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS,
RHT was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at Pacific Crest,
IGNMF was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays;
was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Craig Hallum,
CPSI was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird,
STWRY was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays;
INTU was initiated with a Buy at Brean Capital

7:43 am Micron announces proposed $1 bln offering of senior secured notes due 2023 to qualified institutional buyers (MU) : The co intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including to fund capital expenditures, working capital, and to pay related fees and expenses.

7:07 am iRobot sends letter to shareholders arguing against Red Mountain Capital (IRBT) :

Co announces it mailed a letter to shareholders to set the record straight about Red Mountain Capital's campaign in connection with iRobot's upcoming 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on May 25, 2016. IRBT believes that Red Mountain Capital has a fundamental lack of understanding of IRBT's business and Willem Mesdag has a personal agenda to join the board despite no known operating experience or industry expertise.

5:58 am Taiwan Semi beats by NT 0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 revs below consensus (TSM)

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of NT 2.50 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of NT 2.49; revenues fell 8.3% year/year to NT 203.5 bln vs the NT 202.3 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of NT 215-218 bln vs. NT 226.46 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Gross margin for the quarter was 44.9%, operating margin was 34.6%, and net profit margin was 31.8%. The February 6, 2016 earthquake negatively impacted TSMC's gross margin by 2.2 percentage points and operating margin by 2.4 percentage points.Outlook: "We expect our business in the second quarter will benefit from continued inventory restocking and recovery of the delayed shipments from the earthquake...Gross profit margin is expected to be between 49% and 51%."

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From Briefing.com: 4:14 pm Lam Research beats by $0.08, reports revs in-line; mid-point of JunQ EPS and revenue guidance is above consensus (LRCX) :

Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $1.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.10; revenues fell 5.7% year/year to $1.31 bln vs the $1.31 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues guidance for Q4 (Jun), sees EPS of $1.53-1.73, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.54 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $1.45-1.60 bln vs. $1.49 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Co reports MarQ non-GAAP gross margin of 45.1% and non-GAAP operating margin of 18.4%.
Note: co previously announced in October 2015 it will acquire KLA-Tencor (KLAC). Deal has not closed yet. KLAC will report earnings on April 26 after the close.

4:13 pm Polycom reports EPS in-line, misses on revs (PLCM) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.19 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.19; revenues fell 12.3% year/year to $290.08 mln vs the $301.4 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Announced merger agreement with Mitel (MITL) on 4/15

4:11 pm Qualcomm beats by $0.08, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (QCOM) :

Reports Q2 (Mar) non-GAAP earnings of $1.04 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.96; revenues fell 19.5% year/year to $5.55 bln vs the $5.33 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.90-1.00 vs. $1.00 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $5.2-6.0 bln vs. $5.51 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:11 pm F5 Networks beats by $0.05, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs below consensus; adds $1 bln to buyback (FFIV) :

Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $1.68 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.63; revenues rose 2.5% year/year to $483.7 mln vs the $486.02 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues mixed guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $1.77-1.80, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.74 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $490-500 mln vs. $502.72 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Board of directors had authorized an additional $1 billion for the company's common stock share repurchase program. This new authorization is incremental to the $73.8 million currently unused in the existing program which was initially authorized in October 2010.
"Given the backdrop of a continued difficult macro and spending environment, I was pleased with our execution, as we delivered revenue within our guided range while maintaining solid profitability." said John McAdam, F5 President and Chief Executive Officer. "In addition, sales of our Better/Best software bundles, Virtual Editions, and Silverline subscription services all grew during the quarter as customers continued to embrace hybrid strategies and venture into public and private clouds."

4:09 pm Mellanox Tech beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs below consensus (MLNX) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.81 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.75; revenues rose 34.2% year/year to $196.8 mln vs the $192.52 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $210-215 mln vs. $216.22 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:07 pm Plexus beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (PLXS) :

Reports Q2 (Mar) adj earnings of $0.55 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.51; revenues fell 5.0% year/year to $618.7 mln vs the $614.97 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.73-0.81, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.67 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $640-670 mln vs. $648.76 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
ROIC for the fiscal second quarter of 2016 was 11.6%. The Company defines ROIC as tax-effected annualized operating profit, before special items, divided by average invested capital over a three-quarter period for the second quarter. Invested capital is defined as equity plus debt, less cash and cash equivalents.

4:03 pm Qualcomm signs 3G/4G Chinese patent license agreement with Hisense, resolves arbitration dispute over licensing terms, reporting earnings tonight (QCOM) :

Under the terms of the patent agreement, Qualcomm has granted Hisense a royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture and sell 3G WCDMA and CDMA2000 (including EV-DO) and 4G LTE terminals for use in China. The royalties payable by Hisense are consistent with the terms of the rectification plan submitted by Qualcomm to China's National Development and Reform Commission
Co also announces that the companies have resolved through good faith negotiations an arbitration dispute over certain terms in their license agreement under Qualcomm's portfolio of patents covering 3G WCDMA and CDMA2000 and 4G LTE wireless technologies as well as numerous other technologies implemented in wireless devices. Under this resolution, LGE will continue to benefit from access to Qualcomm's portfolio of patented technologies that enable LGE to deliver devices to its customers globally

4:03 pm Plexus CEO Dean Foate to retire at end of fiscal 16; COO Todd Kelsey will become CEO on October 2 (PLXS) : Foate will continue with Plexus as an Executive Chairman until September 30, 2017, at which time the Board intends to appoint him non-executive Chairman of the Board.

4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Wednesday affair on a slightly higher note as the major averages rallied in lockstep with crude oil. Other factors impacting today's gain included a slew of quarterly earnings reports and key sector leadership from financials (+0.9%), health care (+0.6%), and technology (+0.2%). The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.2%) finished in-line with the Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) and ahead of the S&P 500 (+0.1%).

Today's session began on a choppy note as oil ticked lower following the American Petroleum Institute's latest stockpile data. Additionally, investor sentiment was briefly dampened as participants ruminated over commentary out of China, which cast some doubts on future easing measures from the People's Bank of China.

The major averages were able to shake the early weakness after the Department of Energy's weekly inventory report showed a smaller than expected crude oil build (2.08 million barrels; consensus 2.40 million barrels). Furthermore, speculation grew throughout the day that OPEC and non-OPEC members might be planning another meeting to vote on a proposed supply cut agreement. However, Russian Energy minister Alexander Novak denied plans for a May meeting. Nevertheless, WTI crude ended its day at a new 2016 closing high ($44.15/bbl; +4.3%).

As a result of the rally in crude oil, the benchmark index managed to break out above yesterday's high (2104.05) before notching a new intraday high for 2016 (2111.05). However, the broader market pulled back in the final hour of trade as investors looked ahead to tomorrow's policy statement from the European Central Bank and subsequent remarks from ECB President Draghi. Five sectors ended the day above their flat lines as financials (+0.9%), energy (0.8%), health care (+0.6%), and technology (+0.2%) topped the leaderboard.

In the economically-sensitive financial sector (+0.9%), consumer finance names outperformed after Discover Financial Services (DFS 56.84, +4.29) reported above-consensus results for the first quarter. Elsewhere, investment brokerages displayed relative strength as Morgan Stanley (MS 27.41, +0.95) gained 3.6%. The broader sector has extended its April gain to 4.5%, but remains down 1.3% on a year to date basis.

The energy space (+0.8%) helped lead the final hour pullback, trimming a 1.6% gain. Independent oil and gas names pared larger upticks as ConocoPhillips (COP47.08, +0.02) and Anadarko Petroleum (APC 50.66, +0.13) surrendered respective gains of 1.3% and 2.2%. The two names ended their day narrowly above their flat lines. For its part, the energy sector has gained 7.2% in April.

Medical equipment names outperformed in the health care space (+0.6%) after St. Jude Medical (STJ 60.94, +2.34) topped earnings estimates in the first quarter. The company also increased its full-year earnings guidance above consensus. Biotechnology underperformed today after Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN 399.75, -14.03) was downgraded from "Outperform" to "Market Perform" at Wells Fargo.

In the technology space (+0.2%), Yahoo! (YHOO 37.84, +1.51) gained 4.2% after beating bottom-line estimates in the first quarter, but lowering its second quarter revenue estimates below consensus. The company also voiced its commitment to pursuing strategic options. Elsewhere, Intel (INTC 32.00, +0.40) recovered from early weakness as investors looked to above-consensus bottom-line results in the first quarter and restructuring plans.

The Treasury complex ended its day off its session low as the yield on the 10-yr note rose six basis point to 1.85%.

The U.S. Dollar Index (94.55, +0.57) finished its day at its high as the yen and euro lost ground to the greenback. The euro/dollar pair finished at 1.1298 (-0.5%) while the dollar gained 0.6% against the yen (109.80).

Today's participation was above the recent average as more than 961 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data was limited to the MBA Mortgage Index and March Existing Home Sales:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 1.3%.
Existing home sales in March increased 5.1% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.33 million units (Briefing.com consensus 5.30 million).
February sales were revised slightly lower to 5.07 million (from 5.08 million).
The March increase featured an uptick in sales in all regions. The Northeast led the way with an 11.1% gain, followed by the Midwest (+9.8%), the South (+2.7%), and the West (+1.8%).
While the West enjoyed a month-over-month increase, it was the only region that saw existing home sales decline on a year-over-year basis (-2.5%).
The median home price increased 5.7% year-over-year to $222,700, which is the 49th consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
Those rising prices, along with limited inventory at the low end, have impeded buying opportunities for first-time buyers, whose share of existing home purchases in March held steady at 30% (the average for all of 2015).
It was also said in today's release that limited inventory and affordability pressures were also leading to softer sales at the very high end of the market.
At the March sales pace, the inventory of homes for sale stood at just 4.5 months, up from 4.4 months in February but still well below the 6.0-month supply typically seen during normal periods of buying and selling.
Another sign of the inventory constraint, and the competition to buy an existing home, is that properties listed for sale typically stayed on the market for 47 days in March, matching the lowest time on the market since August 2015. The typical time on the market stood at 59 days in February and 52 days in March 2015.
Distressed sales fell to 8% in March from 10% last month and the same period a year ago.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the the 8:30 ET release of weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 263k) and the Philadelphia Fed Survey for April (Briefing.com consensus 9.9). Meanwhile, the FHFA Housing Price Index for February and March Leading Indicators (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%) will cross the wires at 9:00 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Dow Jones +3.9% YTD
S&P 500 +2.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.6% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -1.2% YTD

DJ30 +42.67 NASDAQ +7.80 SP500 +1.60 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1558/1.622 bln/1259 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1704/961.5 mln/1289

3:30 pm :

The dollar index rallies in afternoon pit trading, up +0.6% around the 94.51 level
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are up +1.8% at 84.18
Crude oil trends upwards to close near its high of the day after a notable morning surge & after the release of EIA petroleum storage data
June crude oil futures rose $1.81 (+4.3%) to $44.15/barrel
The 3-day Kuwaiti worker strike has come to an end, initially weighing on oil prices in morning pit trading
API inventory data released yesterday showed a build of +3.1 mln barrels compared to expectations for a build of +1.6 mln barrels, also appearing to initially weigh on oil in the morning but failing to keep oil down in afternoon pit trading
EIA crude oil inventory data showed a build of +2.08 mln compared to estimates for a build of +2.05 mln, oil initially rallied after this news was released
Natural gas falls in afternoon pit trading, consolidating and closing near its low of the day
May Natural Gas closed $0.02 lower (-1.0%) at $2.07/MMBtu
EIA natural gas inventory data is scheduled to be released tomorrow at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold trends lower but still manages to close in the green
June gold ended today's session up $0.20 to $1254.40/oz
Silver trades sideways in afternoon pit trading after staging a modest morning rally
May silver closed today's session $0.18 higher (+1.1%) at $17.15/oz
Silver extends yesterday's gains of +4.4% as the gold:silver ratio narrows, traders/investors placing bets on the narrowing of the gold:silver ratio is a contributing factor to the notable recent gains seen in silver futures
Base metal copper edges higher in afternoon pit trading
May copper closed $0.02 higher (+0.9%) at $2.24/lb

12:15 pm SolarCity (+10%) leading solar stocks higher after San Francisco Board of Supervisors passes legislation to require solar panels on new residential and commercial buildings (SCTY) :
Sentor Wiener's release.
Solar stocks: SCTY +10.45% YGE +4.82% CSIQ +4.68% SPWR +3.86% JKS +3.29% JASO +3.18% FSLR +2.91% TSL +2.15% TAN +1.86%... RUN +0.6%, VSLR -0.6%, SUNE +17%

11:30 am Benchmark Electronics: Engaged Capital issues letter to shareholders (BHE) :

Engaged Capital, a 4.9% shareholder of Benchmark Electronics, announced that it has issued a third letter to BHE shareholders in connection with its campaign to elect three highly-qualified directors at the Company's upcoming May 11, 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Additionally, Engaged has issued a second presentation highlighting flaws in the Company's presentation to investors. Highlights:

'BHE Continues to Use Misleading Metrics and Performance Periods in an Attempt to Cover Up a Long History of Underperformance.'
'Engaged Capital Details the Significant and Relevant EMS Experience of its Highly-Qualified Nominees.'
'Engaged Capital Releases Second Presentation Highlighting Flaws in Benchmark's Presentation to Shareholders.'
'Vote the BLUE Engaged Capital Proxy Card today to Elect Robert K. Gifford, Jeffrey S. McCreary, and Brendan B. Springstubb.'

Microsemi (MSCC) & Avnet (AVT) announce Microsemi has launched a master distributor program with Avnet USI, part of the co's defense/aerospace specialty distribution biz; Avnet USI will sell products exclusively to other distributors

6:57 am EMC misses by $0.02, misses on revs -- merging with Dell (EMC) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.31 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.33; revenues fell 2.5% year/year to $5.47 bln vs the $5.64 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
EMC Information Infrastructure business first-quarter revenue was down 6% year over year (down 4% on a constant currency basis2). In the first quarter EMC significantly expanded its all-flash storage portfolio with the introduction of VMAX All Flash and the DSSD Rack-Scale Flash solution. EMC also introduced a new Hyper-Converged VCE VxRail Appliance family in the first quarter, complemented by reseller agreements with Dell.
"Looking forward, the upcoming merger with Dell and the broader technology and solutions portfolio of the combined company will enable us to become an even more strategic partner for our customers and partners."

4:05 am ASML beats by EUR0.04, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs above consensus (ASML) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of EUR0.46 per share, EUR0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of EUR0.42; revenues fell 19.2% year/year to EUR1.33 bln vs the EUR1.32 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Reports Q1 gross margin of 42.6% (in-line with guidance)
Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of ~EUR1.7 bln vs. EUR1.66 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate
Sees Q2 gross margin of around 42%

3:48 am ARM Holdings reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides FY16 revs in-line (ARMH) :
Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of GBP0.08 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of GBP0.08; revenues rose 21.5% year/year to GBP276.4 mln vs the GBP272.71 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Growth in adoption of ARM processor technology - 39 processor licenses signed by a broad range of companies, including leading semiconductor vendors and OEMs
Target applications included mobile computing, automotive, networking infrastructure and servers
4.1 billion ARM-based chips shipped, up 10% year-on-year
Continuing growth in chips for networking infrastructure, up 10% year-on-year

Outlook

Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees FY16 Group dollar revenues in-line with $1.63 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Commentary: "...We expect that ARMv8-A technology will continue to penetrate in mobile and enterprise markets, and the higher royalty rate earned on these products will underpin future royalty revenues. Macroeconomic uncertainty remains, and could influence consumer and enterprise spending in 2016, potentially impacting semiconductor sales and industry confidence. Based on current conditions in the semiconductor industry, we expect Group dollar revenues for the full year to be in line with market expectations..."

When Wednesday trading was done, action was higher despite an afternoon sell-off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 42.67 points (+0.24%) to 18096.27. The Nasdaq Composite added 7.80 points (+0.16%) to 4948.13. The S&P 500 was higher by 1.60 points (+0.08%) to 2102.40 when the day was finished. Action was aided by a rebound in June crude oil futures (+4.3%), and by extension a less than expected increase from the Department of Energy's weekly stockpile report, which showed crude inventories up 2.08 million barrels. Additionally, strong earnings out of tech name Yahoo! (YHOO 37.84, +1.51 +4.16%) helped bolster the tech sector near the head of the pack today in terms of percentage gaining sectors.

Market data today included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index which showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 1.1%. Existing home sales in March increased 5.1% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.33 million units. The median home price increased 5.7% versus last year to $222,700.

Technology (XLK 44.37, +0.06 +0.14%) trading was in the green for most of the session. Component VMware (VMW 58.52, +7.06 +13.72%) also posted a strong period, with Q1 EPS coming in ahead of expectations. Other sectors as measures by the S&P closed today XLE +0.90%, XLF +0.77%, XLV +0.54%, XLY +0.13%, IYZ +0.00%, XLI -0.16%, XLB -0.30%, XLP -1.13%, XLU -2.50% with Energy pushing the markets higher.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (7.7.58, +1.59 +0.22%) sector, Wednesday ended above flat lines. Component Intel (INTC 32.00, +0.40 +1.27%) came out with a strong Q1 print, pushing the stock higher as EPS and revenues for the period came in ahead of expectations; additionally, the company announced restructuring efforts which include the reduction of about 11% of the global workforce, and announced a CFO transition plan. Other names in the space which displayed relative strength included WDC +4.74%, YHOO +4.16%, LLTC +3.95%, EMC +3.21%, ADS +2.98%, MCHP +2.21%, PYPL +2.14%, FSLR +1.98%, ADI +1.63%, QRVO +1.55%, TDC +1.51%.

Other notable news items in the sector:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Intel (INTC) announced a CFO succession plan under which current CFO Smith would take on a new role leading the company's sales and operations and the company therefore has begun a search for a new CFO, with Smith remaining on in that capacity until a replacement is found. Additionally, INTC announced a restructuring plan through which the company plans to eliminate about 11% of its total workforce worldwide.
The European Commission sends 'Statement of Objections' to Alphabet's (GOOG 752.67, -1.26 -0.17%) Google on Android operating system and applications. Google later responded to the EU's 'Statement of Objections', saying it looks forward to working with it to demonstrate the 'careful way we've designed the Android model in a way that's good for competition and for consumers'.
Symantec (SYMC 18.07, -0.06 -0.33%) announced a partnership with Rockwell Automation (ROK 115.62, -0.51 -0.44%) to secure connected industrial systems from malicious attacks.
Fiserv (FISV 99.56, -1.18 -1.17%) announced an agreement with Cisco (CSCO 28.44, +0.11 +0.39%) to deliver communications solutions that help financial institutions enhance internal collaboration and drive customer engagement. The partnership enables integrated communications capabilities essential for financial institutions to execute their branch of the future strategies, including virtual interaction with remote experts and secure wireless access that supports a universal banker model.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, VMware (VMW) announced the authorization of a share repurchase of up to $1.2 billion in 2016.
Lexmark (LXK 37.90, +3.24 +9.35%) to be acquired by consortium including Apex Technology for $40.50 per share.
Yelp (YELP 21.15, +0.37 +1.78%) named Charles Baker as CFO effective May 9.
Verizon's (VZ 51.75, -0.33 -0.63%) AOL to acquire RYOT Corp. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Alarm.com (ALRM 23.05, +0.32 +1.41%) announced CFO Jennifer Moyer will be leaving to accept CFO position at an early stage private company.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Intel (INTC) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.54 on revenues which rose 8.0% versus last year to $13.8 billion. Also issued downside guidance for the Q2 period of revenues in the range of $13-14 billion. INTC also lowered its FY16 revenue growth guidance to mid-single digits from mid-to-high single digits.
EMC (EMC 26.37, +0.82 +3.21%) reported worse than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.31 and $5.47 billion, respectively.
ASML (ASML 96.43, -3.32 -3.33%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of EUR0.04 and EUR 1.33 billion, respectively. Additionally, the company guided Q2 revenues ahead of expectations at about EUR1.7 billion.
Yahoo! (YHOO) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.08 and $859 million, respectively. Q1 Maven revenues were up 6% versus last year, gross search revenues were down 15% versus last year and the number of paid clicks declined 21% compared to last year. Also, Q1 price per ad was down 6% compared to last year.
VMware (VMW) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.86 on in-line revenues which rose 5.2% versus last year to $1.59 billion.
ARM Holdings (ARMH 40.98, -0.94 -2.24%) reported in-line Q1 EPS of GBP0.08 on better than anticipated revenues of GBP276.4 million. Additionally, the company guided FY16 revenues in-line at GBP 1.63 billion.
Companies scheduled to report tonight/tomorrow morning: CTXS CLGX EFII FFIV LRCX MLNX PLXS PLCM PTC QCOM NOW/ADS BHE CLS DST ERIC FCS SILC SYNT UTEK VZ

Analyst actions:

VOD was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill; LXK was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Standpoint Research, INTC was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Northland Capital, AMTD was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays, ININ was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sidoti, KS was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Dundee, BT was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, AEIS was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill; VNTV and TSS were initiated with Buy ratings at Nomura, FDC was initiated with a Neutral at Nomura, GPN was initiated with a Reduce at Nomura, ORCL was initiated with an Outperform at Northland Capital, BATS was initiated with an Underperform at Raymond James

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:17 pm Advanced Micro beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 rev above estimates (AMD) : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.12 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.13); revenues fell 19.2% year/year to $832 mln vs the $818.41 mln Capital IQ Consensus.Gross margin of 32 percent, up 2 percentage points sequentially, due primarily to a richer product mix and the mix of revenue between business segments. Co sees Q2 rev +12-18% QoQ to ~$932-982 mln vs $889.66 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate

4:15 pm Microsoft misses by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 on call (MSFT) :

Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.62 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.64; revenues rose 1.6% year/year to $22.08 bln vs the $22.11 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Productivity and Business Processes rev +1% to $6.5 bln vs. $6.4-6.6 bln guidance.
Office commercial products and cloud services revenue grew 7% in constant currency driven by Office 365 revenue growth of 63% in constant currency

Office consumer products and cloud services revenue grew 6% in constant currency with Office 365 consumer subscribers increasing to 22.2 million

Dynamics products and cloud services revenue grew 9% in constant currency with Dynamics CRM Online seat adds more than doubling year-over-year.

Intelligent Cloud rev +3% to $6.1 bln vs. $6.1-6.3 bln guidance

Server products and cloud services revenue increased 5% in constant currency driven by double-digit annuity revenue growth

Azure revenue grew 120% in constant currency with usage of Azure compute and Azure SQL database more than doubling year-over-year

Enterprise Mobility customers more than doubled year-over-year to over 27,000, and the installed base grew nearly 4x year-over-year.

Personal Computing revs +1% to $9.5 bln vs. $9.1-9.4 bln guidance.

Windows OEM revenue declined 2% in constant currency, outperforming the PC market, driven by higher consumer premium device mix

Surface revenue increased 61% in constant currency driven by Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book

Phone revenue declined 46% in constant currency

Xbox Live monthly active users grew 26% year-over-year to 46 million.

4:11 pm Ultra Clean Holdings misses by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (UCTT) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) net of breakeven, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.02; revenues fell 10.5% year/year to $112.2 mln vs the $109.86 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.05-0.08 vs. $0.06 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $123-128 mln vs. $114.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:10 pm E*TRADE beats by $0.10, reports revs in-line (ETFC) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.43 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.33; revenues rose 7.0% year/year to $472 mln vs the $475.14 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Reports Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) of 165,000.Net new brokerage accounts of 45,000 and an annualized attrition rate of 7.3%, excluding the impact of shutting down the Company's Hong Kong and Singapore operations.Reports allowance for loan losses of $322 mln resulting in a benefit to provision for loan losses of $34 mln.Co utilized $301 mln to repurchase 13.1 mln shares at an average price of $23.01, bringing the total utilization under the company's program to $351 mln.

4:03 pm Maxim Integrated misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (MXIM) :

Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.41 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.42; revenues fell 3.8% year/year to $555 mln vs the $555.35 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.45-0.51 vs. $0.47 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $555-595 mln vs. $568.85 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The Company's 90-day backlog at the beginning of the June quarter of 2016 was $370 million.

4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday affair on a lower note as the major averages pulled back after a recent run higher. Today's downturn can be attributed to retreating oil prices, mixed earnings results, and the underperformance of the heavily-weighed financial sector (-1.0%). The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.6%) finished its day behind both the S&P 500 (-0.5%) and the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%).

Equity indices began the day under pressure as an overnight retreat in oil weighed. The dip in crude preceded the latest policy statement from the European Central Bank, which left the central bank's interest rate corridor unchanged. Additionally, ECB President Draghi struck a dovish tone in his remarks as he reiterated that rates will remain at their present levels or lower for an extended period of time. Furthermore, Mr. Draghi said financing conditions in the eurozone improved in March, but the central bank head believes that inflation could turn negative in the coming months.

On the home front, investors turned their attention towards the slew of mixed quarterly earnings reports released since yesterday's close. However, despite some better-than-expected readings the major averages were unable to maintain their recent momentum. The benchmark index was unable to reach yesterday's high (2111.05) or maintain its position near yesterday's low (2096.32).

By the end of the session, nine sectors traded in negative territory with countercyclical telecom services (-2.7%), utilities (-2.2%), and consumer staples (-1.7%) outpacing the losses in the broader market. Meanwhile, financials (-1.0%), and energy (-0.5%) registered slimmer losses. On the flip side, the heavyweight health care space (+0.6%) ended its day as the lone advancer.

In the lightly-weighted telecom services sector (-2.7%), large cap component Verizon (VZ 50.03, -1.72) weighed after hinting that its second quarter earnings may be pressured due to timing of certain cost reductions in relation to the CWA and IBEW strike.

Insurance names underperformed in the financial sector (-1.0%) as the sub-group moved lower in sympathy with Travelers (TRV 108.79, -7.01). The stock fell 6.1% after missing bottom-line estimates for the first quarter. The broader sector trimmed its April advance to 3.5%. On the flipside, Bank of New York Mellon (BK 40.70, +0.98) gained 2.5% after reporting bottom-line results above analysts' estimates.

In the industrial space (-0.3%), relative weakness from airlines outweighed an uptick in rail names. The airline sub-group traded lower in sympathy with United Continental (UAL 52.76, -5.84), which tumbled 10.0% after lowering passenger revenue guidance for the second quarter. Separately, Union Pacific (UNP 87.32, +3.47) rallied 4.1% on mixed earnings, with investors focusing on a bottom-line beat. The Dow Jones Transportation Average (-1.2%) trimmed its weekly gain to 0.4%.

The biotechnology sub-group outperformed in the health care space (+0.6%), thanks to Biogen (BIIB 279.60, +13.71). The company reported a bottom-line beat on in-line revenue ahead of today's opening bell. Biogen also reported that revenue grew 6.7% year-over-year thanks in part to a 15.0% increase in revenue from Tecfidera.

The influential technology sector (-0.1%) ended near its flat line as Apple (AAPL 105.97, -1.16) underperformed following Qualcomm's (QCOM 51.67, -0.42) mixed guidance for the June quarter. The below-consensus estimate is believed to be linked to weakness in smartphone components. Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT 55.78, +0.19) and Alphabet (GOOG 759.14, +6.47) outperformed ahead of this evening's quarterly earnings reports.

The U.S. Dollar Index (94.64, +0.15) ended its day above its flat line as the greenback recovered from sharp losses against the euro. The euro/dollar pair jumped to 1.1381 immediately following remarks from ECB President Mario Draghi. However, this move would prove to be short-lived as the currency pair retraced its way down to negative territory at 1.1288 (-0.1%). Separately, the dollar lost 0.4% against the yen (109.45).

Despite the larger move in the equities market, Treasuries managed to remain in a narrow range with the yield on the 10-yr note fluctuating between 1.86% and 1.88%. The yield on the benchmark note settled at 1.86% (+2 bps).

Today's participation was above the recent average with more than 987 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included weekly initial claims, the Philadelphia Fed Survey for April, FHFA Housing Price Index for February, and March Leading Indicators:

Initial claims were 247,000 for the week ending April 16 (Briefing.com consensus 263,000), a decrease of 6,000 from the prior week's unrevised level.
The latest initial claims reading, which was not influenced by special factors, is the lowest level of initial claims since November 24, 1973 and marked the 59th straight week claims have been below 300,000, which is the longest streak since 1973!
The claims data is a clear reflection of a strong labor market -- or so it would seem. The other important piece to corroborate that statement -- average hourly earnings growth -- has yet to follow convincing suit.
With the latest reading, the four-week moving average for initial claims fell to 260,500 from 265,000.
Continuing claims for the week ending April 9 dropped by 39,000 to 2.137 million, which is the lowest level since November 4, 2000.
That lowered the four-week moving average to 2.169 million, which is the lowest level since November 11, 2000
The Philadelphia Fed Index was a big disappointment. After turning positive in March (+12.4) following six straight negative readings, it dropped back into negative territory in April (-1.6; Briefing.com consensus +9.9).
There were several key elements making this a particularly disappointing report: (1) the new orders index decreased from 15.7 to zero (2) the shipments index fell from 22.1 to -10.8 (3) the employment index decreased 17 points and registered its fourth straight negative reading (-18.5) and (4) this is a second quarter report showing a relapse in growth of the region's manufacturing sector.
The latter point notwithstanding, the diffusion index for future general activity increased from 28.8 to 42.2.
The FHFA Housing Price Index for February rose 0.4% month-over-month after increasing a revised 0.4% (from 0.5%) in January.
The Leading Economic Index increased 0.2% in March (Briefing.com consensus+ 0.4%). The added disappointment in the report is that February was revised lower to show a 0.1% decline after an originally reported 0.1% increase.
The biggest contributors to the March increase were stock prices (0.24 percentage points) and the interest rate spread (0.17 percentage points).
They were offset to a certain degree by building permits, which subtracted 0.25 percentage points.
The building permits impact effectively accounted for much of the difference between the consensus estimate and the actual number. The building permits data for March was released earlier in the week.
The other two components estimated by the Conference Board were manufacturers' new orders and nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft.
Neither was accorded much strength as the estimated contributions were 0.01 and 0.03 percentage points, respectively.
In the six-month period ending March 2016, the leading economic index increased 0.7% versus 1.5% in the previous six months.
Separately, the Coincident Economic Index remained unchanged in March while the Lagging Economic Index increased 0.4%.

There is no economic data of note scheduled for release tomorrow.

Dow Jones +3.2% YTD
S&P 500 +2.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.0% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -1.2% YTD

DJ30 -113.75 NASDAQ -2.24 SP500 -10.92 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1323/1.575 bln/1498 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1089/987.0 mln/1905

3:30 pm :

The dollar index stages a brief afternoon rally before drifting slightly off its high of the day, currently up +0.1% at 94.61 & weighing on commodities
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -0.7% at 83.59
Crude oil sees a notable downtrend, consolidating near its low of the day and closing slightly above this level
June Crude Oil futures fell $0.97 (-2.2%) to $43.18/barrel
Natural gas exhibited notable volatility, initially selling off after the release of EIA storage data before rebounding and then drifting lower, closing unchanged on the day
May Natural Gas closed flat at $2.07/MMBtu
Natural gas inventory showed a build of +7 bcf vs expectations for inventory to be a build of ~0-6 bcf
Working gas in storage was 2,484 Bcf as of Friday, April 15, 2016, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of +7 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 881 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 811 Bcf above the five-year average of 1,673 Bcf. At 2,484 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range
In precious metals, gold initially plummets at the open of pit trading and drifts lower all day, consolidating near the lows for the day
June gold ended today's session down $4.20 (-0.3%) to $1250.20/oz
Silver trends and closes lower on the day
May silver closed today's session $0.06 lower (-0.4%) at $17.09/oz
Base metal copper trades sideways, managing to carve out a modest gain near the close of pit trading
May copper closed $0.01 higher (+0.5%) at $2.25/lb

When the final bell rang, the markets were modestly lower. Trading ended with the Dow Jones Industrial Average as the worst performer (helped lower by the -2.2% loss in June Crude Oil Futures), shedding 113.75 points (-0.63%) to close 17982.52. The S&P 500 was down 10.92 points (-0.52%) to 2091.48. To round out the trio, the Nasdaq Composite was lower by 2.24 points (-0.05%) to 4945.89. Today's session began on a modestly lower note as participants digested remarks from ECB President Draghi. Mr. Draghi's remarks generally fell in-line with market expectations, as he stated that interest rates will likely remain lower for longer. President Draghi also stated that financing conditions generally improved in the eurozone in March, but that inflation could turn negative in the coming months.

Market data today came in the form of the initial claims reading for the week ending April 16 which showed a decline of 6,000 to 247,000. Continuing claims for the week ending April 9 were down by 39,000 to 2.137 million -- the lowest level since November 4, 2000. The Philadelphia Fed Index was a disappointment, as after turning positive in March (+12.4), it dropped back into negative territory in April (-1.6). The FHFA Housing Price Index for February rose 0.4% month-over-month after increasing a revised 0.4% (from 0.5%) In January. Finally, the Leading Economic Index increased 0.2% in March, and adding to the disappointment in the report was that February was revised lower to show a 0.1% decline after an originally reported 0.1% increase.

Trading in the Technology (XLK 44.21, -0.16 -0.36%) sector was in the red for pretty much the entirety of the day, save for a few brief moments in the first two hours of action. Component F5 Networks (FFIV 102.54, +5.38 +5.54%) was the best performer in the sector as the company reported better than expected Q2 EPS and issued mixed Q3 guidance; additionally, FFIV's BoDs authorized an additional $1 billion to the common stock repurchase program. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed XLV +0.59%, XLI -0.25%, XLY -0.35%, XLB -0.45%, XLE -0.59%, XLF -0.89%, IYZ -1.61%, XLP -1.64%, XLU -2.09% with Healthcare the only sector managing gains and Utilities and Consumer Staples lagging.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (736.71, -0.87 -0.12%) sector, action was modestly to the downside as the sector hovered near flat lines for the majority of the session. Component Alliance Data (ADS 202.60, -15.32 -7.03%) was the worst performer in the sector as the company reported mixed Q1 results and issued weak guidance for the Q2 period. Other names in the space which underperformed included LRCX -2.24%, PAYX -2.06%, FIS -1.82%, APH -1.71%, HPQ -1.64%, SWKS -1.58%, INTU -1.39%, KLAC -1.34%, QRVO -1.28%, TSS -1.27%, AVGO -1.23%, FISV -1.16%, AAPL -1.08%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, F5 Networks' (FFIV) Board of Directors announced the authorization of an additional $1 billion for FFIV's common stock share repurchase program.

Qualcomm (QCOM 51.67, -0.42 -0.81%) signed a 3G/4G Chinese patent license agreement with Hisense, resolving arbitration dispute over licensing terms.

Onvia (ONVI 3.47, -0.01 -0.29%) announced integration capabilities with Salesforce (CRM 77.15, +1.01 +1.33%). Clients can now easily export Onvia leads to Salesforce, enabling their teams to respond more quickly and efficiently.

Box (BOX 13.00, +0.21 +1.64%) and Cognizant (CTSH 60.05, -0.04 -0.07%) announced a collaboration that will help enterprises transform the way they work with Box Platform.

Acorns raised $30 million in financing, including strategic investments from PayPal (PYPL 40.10, +0.02 +0.05%) and Rakuten Fintech Fund.

MasterCard (MA 97.54, -0.36 -0.37%) and the MLB announced an extension of their longstanding partnership agreement. The expanded partnership agreement provides MasterCard the presenting sponsorship role beginning with the 2016 All-Star Game, as well as increased opportunity to deliver advanced payment technologies to baseball fans.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

SunEdison (SUNE 0.33, -0.00 -0.33%) confirmed it has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company noted yieldcos TerraForm Power (TERP 10.46, +0.60 +6.09%) and TerraForm Global (GLBL 2.99, +0.39 +15.00%) are not part of the filing.Later, both TERP and GLBL announced they had 'no plans to file for bankruptcy themselves.' Both stated they still have sufficient liquidity to operate their respective businesses. In addition to reporting quarterly results, Ericsson (ERIC 8.27, -1.48 -15.18%) announced certain structural changes. Among these - a new organizational structure will be implemented July 1, 2016 whereby the company will have five businesses and one dedicated customer group. Additionally, ERIC announced certain appointments to the ERIC Executive Leadership Team and regional heads.

Vectrus (VEC 173.52, +0.72 +0.42%) received a $12 million telecom contract for the USAF in Europe.

Plexus' (PLXS 41.82, +3.24 +8.40%) CEO Dean Foate to retire at end of FY16. COO Todd Kelsey will become CEO on October 2.

Smiths Group (SMGZY 16.79, +0.56 +3.45%) acquired Morpho Detection from Safran S.A. (SAFRY 17.02, -0.42 -2.41%) for $710 million.

PTC (PTC 37.55, +3.34 +9.76%) disclosed recent shareholder lawsuit as well as investigation by the China Administration for Industry and Commerce.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Verizon (VZ 50.03, -1.72 -3.32%) reported in-line Q1 EPS of $1.06 on in-line revenues which rose 0.6% versus last year to $32.17 billion. Additionally, VZ reported 640,000 postpaid net additions in the quarter. Looking ahead, VZ reaffirmed FY16 EPS guidance of comparable to $3.99 in 2015.

Qualcomm (QCOM) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $1.04 and $5.55 billion, respectively. Additionally, QCOM issued in-line guidance for Q3 EPS and revenues in the range of $0.90-1.00 and $5.2-6.0 billion, respectively.

Ericsson (ERIC) reported worse than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.87 and $52.2 billion, respectively.

Citrix Systems (CTXS 84.03, +3.51 +4.36%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $1.18 and $826 million, respectively. CTXS also guided Q1 EPS better than expected at $1.12-1.15 with revenue expectations in-line with anticipations at $810-820 million. Looking ahead, CTXS sees FY16 EPS and revenues better than expected at $4.90-5.00 and $3.34-3.36 billion, respectively.

Alliance Data (ADS) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and in-line revenues of $3.84 anf $1.68 billion, respectively. Additionally, the company issued tepid guidance for the Q2 period's EPS and revenue numbers -- $3.58 and $1.62 billion, respectively. Also stated it remains on-track to deliver EPS of $16.75 and revenues of $7.1 billion for FY16.

F5 Networks (FFIV) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $1.68 on mostly in-line revenues which rose 2.5% versus last year to $483.7 million. Additionally, management guided Q3 EPS better than expected at $1.77-1.80, but guided Q3 revenues worse than expected at $490-500 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight: AMD GOOG ETFC MRVL MXIM MSFT PFPT SPSC UCTT UIS V

Analyst actions:

CA was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse;
CHKP and FFIV were downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James,
WIT was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup,
QCOM was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Rosenblatt,
ERIC was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill,
IMPV was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
INOV was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird;
INTU was initiated with a Neutral at Credit Suisse,
PFSW was initiated with an Outperform at Northland Capital

2:08 pm TerraForm Global comments on SunEdison's chapter 11 restructuring filing, notes that TerraForm Global & its sister company are not part of the SunEdison (SUNE) bankruptcy (GLBL) :
TerraForm Global and its sister company, TerraForm Power (TERP), are not part of the SunEdison (SUNE) bankruptcy filing and have no plans to file for bankruptcy themselves

TerraForm Global believes that it has sufficient liquidity to operate its business. Although SunEdison's bankruptcy will present challenges, TerraForm Global expects to continue to operate in the ordinary course and to meet its financial obligations on a timely basis. In addition, TerraForm Global intends to coordinate with SunEdison so that the Company's facilities and their operations continue to perform uninterrupted

SunEdison has secured commitments for new capital totaling up to $300 mln in debtor-in-possession financing from a consortium of first and second lien lenders. Subject to Court approval, these financial resources will be made available to SunEdison to support its continuing business operations, minimize disruption to its worldwide projects and partnerships, and make necessary operational changes

TerraForm Global's corporate level revolving credit facility and indenture for its senior unsecured bonds do not include an event of default provision triggered by a SunEdison bankruptcy. In addition, as previously disclosed in the Company's 8-K filing from March 29, 2016, the majority of its existing power purchase agreements ("PPAs") do not include provisions that permit the offtake counterparty to terminate the contract in the event that SunEdison files for bankruptcy

9:40 am SunEdison confirms it has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy (shares halted) (SUNE) :

The co announced that it has commenced a process to restructure its balance sheet and position the Company for the future. To facilitate this restructuring, SunEdison and certain of its domestic and international subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

SunEdison's publicly-traded yieldcos, TerraForm Power (TERP) and TerraForm Global (GLBL), are not part of the filing.SunEdison has secured commitments for new capital totaling up to $300 million in debtor-in-possession (:DIP) financing from a consortium of first and second lien lenders. Subject to Court approval, these financial resources will be made available to the Company to support its continuing business operations, minimize disruption to its worldwide projects and partnerships, and make necessary operational changes.

9:02 am Ultratech beats by $0.18, beats on revs (UTEK) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.18 better than the two analyst estimate of ($0.08); revenues rose 7.9% year/year to $45.2 mln vs the $39.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus. "Our first quarter results demonstrate the broad applicability of our major product lines, laser spike annealing, advanced packaging, and inspection, for multiple applications. Our revenue and bookings momentum in the quarter provide a strong foundation for the remainder of fiscal 2016, particularly driven by LSA and the second wave of demand for 28nm production coming from Asian foundries."

8:34 am Sunworks CEO issues letter to shareholders; says prospects for 2016 look even stronger (SUNW) : "In 2015, each of the original operating entities we acquired, Solar United Network, MD Energy and Elite Solar, all achieved rapid organic growth, and prospects for 2016 look even stronger. We finished the year with contracted backlog of approximately $47.5 million, a record for our company. This foundation gives us a clear line of sight to achieving our conservative 2016 revenue guidance of $100 million. Just as important, we expect to deliver stronger profitability in 2016 as well."

8:13 am Silicom Limited misses by $0.07, beats on revs (limited coverage) (SILC) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.41 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 worse than the single analyst estimate of $0.48; revenues rose 13.8% year/year to $21.4 mln vs the $20.64 mln single analyst estimate.

7:35 am Fairchild Semi misses by $0.04, beats on revs; Note: co previously announced it's being acquired by ON (FCS) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.14; revenues fell 8.1% year/year to $327.0 mln vs the $323.6 mln Capital IQ Consensus."First quarter sales were largely as expected with normal seasonal demand patterns evident across all our end markets...Adjusted gross margin decreased sequentially due primarily to lower factory loadings as we reduced internal inventory by $20 million from the prior quarter."As previously announced in November 2015, FCS has agreed to be acquired by ON Semiconductor (ON) for $20 per share in cash. The two cos are working to obtain required regulatory approvals in connection with the transaction.

7:31 am Verizon reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; reaffirms FY16 EPS guidance; sees pressure on Q2 earnings due to the timing of cost reductions (VZ) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.06 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.06; revenues rose 0.6% year/year to $32.17 bln vs the $32.48 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Excluding AOL (non-GAAP), which was not part of Verizon a year ago, total operating revenues declined 1.5 percent. AOL had its highest first-quarter revenues in the last five years. New revenue streams from IoT (Internet of Things) are growing, with revenues of ~$195 million in first-quarter 2016, a year-over-year increase of about 25 percent.

Wireless highlights Verizon reported 640,000 retail postpaid net additions in first-quarter 2016, a seasonally low-volume quarter. These net adds exclude all wholesale connections, including IoT. At the end of first-quarter 2016, Verizon had 112.6 million retail connections, a 3.7 percent year-over-year increase, and 107.2 million retail postpaid connections, a 4.4 percent year-over-year increase. Customer retention remained high, with retail postpaid churn at a low 0.96 percent in first-quarter 2016, a year-over-year improvement of 7 basis points. Segment operating income was $7.9 billion, and segment operating income margin was 35.8 percent. In first-quarter 2016, Verizon Wireless generated $10.2 billion in EBITDA (non-GAAP), a year-over-year increase of 1.7 percent. Segment EBITDA margin (non-GAAP) was 46.2 percent, compared with 44.8 percent in first-quarter 2015. Total revenues were $22.0 billion in first-quarter 2016, a decline of 1.5 percent compared with first-quarter 2015 as more customers continued to choose unsubsidized device payment plans. Service revenues plus installment billings increased 1.6 percent, comparing first-quarter 2016 with first-quarter 2015. The percentage of phone activations on installment plans grew to 68 percent in first-quarter 2016, compared with 67 percent in fourth-quarter 2015. The company expects this percentage to grow to 70 percent in second-quarter 2016.

Co reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees EPS of comparable to $3.99 in 2015, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $3.97 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Verizon continues to expect full-year 2016 adjusted earnings to be at a level comparable to the company's strong full-year 2015 adjusted earnings. However, given the status of labor contract negotiations, there will be pressure on second-quarter earnings due to the timing of cost reductions.

7:04 am Benchmark Electronics misses by $0.06, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (BHE) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.32; revenues fell 11.6% year/year to $549 mln vs the $573.44 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Q1 New program bookings in the first quarter were $110 to $140 million.Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.29-0.33, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.38 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $570-600 mln vs. $626.82 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

7:03 am Celestica beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (CLS) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.26 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.22; revenues rose 4.2% year/year to $1.35 bln vs the $1.35 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.25-0.31 vs. $0.27 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.4-1.5 bln vs. $1.44 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

7:03 am iRobot mails letter to shareholders from its independent Director, Deborah Ellinger urging stockholders to vote for all Director nominees (IRBT) :

7:02 am Dana Holding misses by $0.09, misses on revs; guides FY16 EPS in-line, revs in-line (DAN) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.34 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.43; revenues fell 9.9% year/year to $1.45 bln vs the $1.51 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $1.65-1.75, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.70 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $5.8-6.0 bln vs. $5.84 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Capital spending of $320 to $340 million; Free cash flow of $120 to $140 million.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 29-Apr-16The stock market ended April on a lower note with the Nasdaq Composite leading the decline. The tech-heavy index lost 2.7% for the week, ending April lower by 1.9%. The S&P 500 fell 1.3%, ending April with a slight gain of 0.3%.

The last week of April was busy on all fronts. Investors received a heavy batch of economic data and earnings, but it was two central bank meetings that stole the attention. On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee held the fed funds rate unchanged between 0.25% and 0.50%. Going into the meeting, the market believed that the statement could begin setting the stage for a rate hike in June, but the FOMC Statement was dovish and contained no hints of an impending rate hike. Stocks wobbled immediately after the announcement, but rallied into the afternoon.

The Bank of Japan followed the Fed, releasing its policy statement late Wednesday evening. The central bank made no changes to its interest rate, but did announce a JPY300 billion, 0%, lending facility for companies affected by the Kumamoto earthquake. The yen surged on the news, dropping the dollar/yen pair into the neighborhood of this year's low near 108.00. The sharp rally in the yen proved that the market expected the Bank of Japan to step up its easing efforts, but the central bank did not deliver. The yen spent Thursday near its overnight high and the risk-off sentiment filtered through to the equity market while the yen continued its climb into Friday.

Stocks stumbled on Thursday afternoon with Apple (AAPL) receiving a lot of attention after Carl Icahn revealed that he closed his position in the stock. Earlier in the week, the company reported disappointing results for the second quarter, showing a 13.0% year-over-year decline in revenue. In other tech earnings, Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) missed bottom-line estimates while Facebook (FB) beat expectations.

The technology sector was the weakest performer during the last week of April (-3.6%), which put the largest sector by weight at the bottom of the monthly leaderboard (-5.5%). On the flip side, energy and materials outperformed, posting respective April gains of 8.7% and 4.9%.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 18003.75 17773.64 -230.11 -1.3 2.0
Nasdaq 4906.23 4775.36 -130.87 -2.7 -4.6
S&P 500 2091.58 2065.30 -26.28 -1.3 1.0
Russell 2000 1146.69 1130.81 -15.88 -1.4 -0.4

Markets fell off their highs this week, capped off by losses on Friday led by the Nasdaq Composite which shed 29.93 points (-0.62%) to end 4775.36. The S&P 500 followed, lower by 10.51 points (-0.51%) to 2065.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day with the most modest losses, down only 57.12 points (-0.32%) to 17773.64. Today's action takes the three major US indices -2.3%, -1.2% and -1.2% YTD, respectively.

A flurry of market data was digested by investors today as the personal income and spending report for March showed a 0.4% increase in income and a 0.1% increase in spending. The PCE Price Index was up 0.1% month-over-month. The first quarter Employment Cost Index increased 0.6%. The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index fell to 50.4 in April from 53.6 in March. The final reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey for April checked in at 89.0.

Technology (XLK 42.13, -0.37 -0.87%) trading was no different as the sector was riding on highs coming into the week, and the action took a negative turn on Wednesday, never to look back. Component Western Digital (WDC 40.87, -5.19 -11.28%) was an underperformer on the back of worse than expected Q3 EPS and revenues; WDC also guided for worse than expected Q4 EPS of $1.00-1.10 and worse than expected revenues of $2.6-2.7 billion. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed today XLU +0.60%, XLY +0.51%, XLE -0.16%, XLP -0.21%, XLF -0.55%, XLI -0.58%, XLB -0.59%, IYZ -0.61%, XLV -1.56%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (696.81, -6.23 -0.89%) sector, Friday ended with losses. Component Seagate Tech (STX 21.77, -5.13 -19.07%) was notably weaker today on the heels of the company's worse than expected Q3 print; the company also guided Q4 revenues worse than expectations at $2.3 billion. Other components which finished with notable downside today included MU -7.49%, SWKS -6.91%, VRSN -3.38%, QCOM -3.09%, TXN -2.81%, NTAP -2.76%, AKAM -2.71%, INTC -2.67%, ADI -2.66%, ADSK -2.56%, LLTC -2.46%, HPQ -2.39%.

Other news items among sector components:

Harris (HRS 80.01, -0.04 -0.05%) received $29 million in orders to provide Falcon family of tactical radios to a customer in Europe.

PayPal (PYPL 39.18, -0.89 -2.22%) disclosed the receipt of a Civil Investigative Demand from the Federal Trade Commission.

Apple (AAPL 93.74, -1.09 -1.15%) filed a S-3 ASR registration statement related to debt securities offering of an indeterminate amount.

Infosys (INFY 18.80, -0.09 -0.48%) announced an expanded relationship with Microsoft (MSFT 49.87, -0.03 -0.06%) to simplify and automate migration to MSFT products and to accelerate Microsoft Azure-based and other digital transformations for clients.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

TiVo (TIVO 9.98, +0.56 +5.94%) to be acquired by Rovi (ROVI 17.62, +0.27 +1.56%) for $10.70 per share, or about $1.1 billion.

MaxLinear (MXL 16.75, -0.09 -0.53%) acquired certain assets and the assumption of certain liabilities related to Microsemi (MSCC 33.79, -2.39 -6.61%) Broadband Wireless Division for about $21 million in cash. The company expects EPS accretion related to the deal in 2017.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Groupon (GRPN 3.62, -0.81 -18.28%) named Mike Randolfi as CFO.

Knowles (KN 4.82, -0.09 -1.85%) priced a $150 million of convertible senior notes due 2021, upsized from $125 million prior.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Amazon (AMZN 659.59, +57.59 +9.57%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $1.07 on better than expected revenues which rose 28.2% versus last year to $29.13 billion. AWS operating income was up 210% to $604 million, and sales were up 64% to $2.6 billion. Additionally, AMZN issued in-line guidance for Q2, as they see Q2 revenues of $28.0-30.5 billion. Also, they see operating income of $375-975 million.

Baidu.com (BIDU 194.30, +8.28 +4.45%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $1.06 on revenues which rose 19.5% versus last year to $2.45 billion. BIDU reported mobile search monthly active users (MAUs) were 663 million for the month of March 2016, an increase of 9% versus last year. The company also gave better than expected Q2 revenue guidance in the area of $3.119-3.192 billion.

Expedia (EXPE 115.77, +8.78 +8.21%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.09 on better than expected revenues which rose 38.6% versus last year to $1.9 billion. Gross bookings in the period increased 32% and revenue increased 42% versus last year.

LinkedIn (LNKD 125.31, +2.30 +1.87%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.74 and $861 million, respectively. LNKD also guided Q2 EPS better than expectations at $0.74-0.77 and guided revenues in-line at $885-890 million. For the FY16 period, LNKD sees better than anticipated EPS of $3.30-3.40 and raised revenue guidance to $3.65-3.70 billion from $3.60-3.65 billion.

Skyworks (SWKS 66.82, -4.96 -6.91%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $1.25 on in-line revenues of $775.1 million. Additionally, SWKS guided Q3 EPS and revenues worse than expected at $1.21 and $750 million, respectively.

Western Digital (WDC) reported worse than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $1.21 and $2.82 billion, respectively. WDC guided Q4 EPS in the range of $1.00-1.10 and sees revenues of $2.6-2.7 billion.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 23.40, -0.01 -0.04%) reported Q1 in-line with downside pre-announcement of EPS $0.37 and revenues $1.1 billion. JNPR issued in-line guidance for Q2 EPS in the range of $0.44-0.50 and revenues of $1.16-1.22 billion.

Seagate Tech (STX) reported missed expectations on the bottom line with Q3 EPS of $0.22 on revenues which fell 22.1% versus last year to $2.6 billion. For Q4, STX sees revenues of about $2.3 billion.

Groupon (GRPN) reported better than expected results for Q1. GRPN saw a loss per share of $0.01 and revenues of $732 million in the quarter. The company also guided FY16 revenues in-line at $2.75-3.05 billion.

Analyst actions:

FSLR was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Standpoint Research,
BIDU was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Brean Capital,
BCOR was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Craig Hallum,
WEX was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan,
WNS was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan;
SYNA was downgraded at Northland Capital and Mizuho,
WDC was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird,
IPGP was downgraded to Outperform from Buy at Credit Agricole,
AVT was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Brean Capital,
LVLT was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill,
EPAY was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James

5:17 pm Verizon deploys 'thousands' of additional employees to assist with operations during strike (VZ) :

4:36 pm Texas Instruments prices $500 mln of 1.850% senior unsecured notes due May 15, 2022 (TXN) : TXN expects to use the net proceeds of this offering for repayment of a portion of outstanding debt and the remainder, if any, for general corporate purposes.

4:21 pm Closing Market Summary: Indices End Off Lows as Heavyweights Underperform (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended a downbeat week on a lower note as the major averages surrendered to month-end selling pressure. Today's trade featured a slew of economic data, a downturn in oil, continued strength in the yen, and the underperformance of the heavily-weighted health care (-1.5%), technology (-0.9%), and financial (-0.7%) sectors. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.6%, extending its weekly loss to 2.7% while the S&P 500 fell 0.5%, losing 1.3% for the week.

Today's session opened under selling pressure as weak international and domestic economic data dampened investor sentiment. On the home front, March PCE Price Index (+0.1%; Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) was largely in-line while Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (50.4; Briefing.com consensus 53.3) and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey for April (89.0; Briefing.com consensus 90.0) each came in below consensus. Additionally, oil slipped out of the gate as WTI crude fell from the $46.76/bbl (+1.6%) price level.

The major averages briefly rebounded following comments from Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan. The non-FOMC voter stated that a potential "Brexit" would be need to be factored into the Fed's rate decision when it meets next on June 14 and 15. This short-term rally faded as heavily-weighted health care (-1.5%), technology (-0.9%), and financials (-0.7%) weighed.

The major indices would lift from their lows in the final hour as utilities (+0.6%), consumer discretionary (+0.5%), telecom services (UNCHF), and energy (-0.1%) tried for gains. Conversely, health care (-1.5%), technology (-0.9%), and financials (-0.7%) rounded out the leaderboard.

Biotechnology weighed on the health care space (-1.5%) as the sub-group moved lower in sympathy with Gilead Sciences (GILD 88.21, -8.79). The company declined 9.1% after missing top- and bottom-line estimates for the first quarter. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 267.95, -7.32) declined by 2.7%, extending its weekly loss to 7.1%. This compares to a loss of 3.0% in the broader sector over that time.

In the technology space (-0.9%), data storage names displayed relative weakness after Seagate Technology (STX 21.77, -5.13) missed bottom-line estimates for the quarter and lowered its third quarter revenue guidance below-consensus. Elsewhere, Skyworks (SWKS 66.82, -4.96) lagged other high-beta chipmakers after lowering guidance for its third quarter below analysts' estimates. Separately, Apple (AAPL 93.75, -1.08) extended its post-earnings losing streak, as it declined 1.1%. Since reporting on April 26, the stock has declined 10.8%.

Travel names demonstrated relative strength in the consumer discretionary sector (+0.5%). The sub-group moved higher following better than expected quarterly results from Expedia (EXPE 115.77, +8.78). Meanwhile, Amazon (AMZN 659.59, +57.59) ended its day on top of the Nasdaq 100 (-0.5%) after beating analysts' estimates for the first quarter. Conversely, retail names underperformed, evidenced by the 1.3% loss in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 44.20, -0.56).

On the commodities front, WTI crude ended its day lower by 0.2% to $45.96/bbl. This represents a gain of 5.0% over the last week, and 20.0% in April. This compares to respective gains of 0.4% and 8.6% in the broader energy sector (-0.1%) over those periods.

The U.S. Dollar Index (93.04, -0.72) extended its recent losing streak as the yen and the euro gained against the greenback. The move higher in the yen followed yesterday's decision by the Bank of Japan to maintain its monetary policy stance. Investors had been looking for signs of monetary policy intervention given the recent run in the yen. On that note, the dollar/yen pair declined 1.6% to 106.40.

The Treasury complex climbed off its low throughout the day as the yield on the 10-yr note dropped from 1.87% (+5 bps) to 1.82% (UNCHF). The 10-yr note ended at 1.83% (+1 bps).

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

Today's economic data included Core PCE Prices for March, Personal Income for March, Personal Spending for March, the Q1 Employment Cost Index, Chicago PMI for April, and the final reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for April:

The Personal Income and Spending report for March showed a 0.4% increase in income (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) and a 0.1% increase in spending (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%).The income and spending data were embedded in the advance estimate for first quarter GDP released yesterday, so that left the PCE Price Index as the focal point of today's report -- and that metric was supportive of the Fed's patient stance on raising the fed funds rate.The PCE Price Index, which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, was up 0.1% month-over-month. That resulted in a 0.8% year-over-year increase, which was down from 1.0% in February and well below the Fed's 2.0% longer-run objective.

Core PCE, which excludes food and energy, was up 0.1%, as expected, in March. That left the year-over-year change at 1.6%, down from 1.7% in February.

The first quarter Employment Cost Index increased 0.6%, which was in-line with expectations, and followed in the wake of a 0.5% increase for the fourth quarter.
The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (:PMI) fell to 50.4 in April from 53.6 in March. The April reading was below the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 53.3 and disappointing primarily because the downturn was driven by a drop in the New Orders Index, which isn't comforting knowing there was also reportedly a big drop in the Order Backlogs Index.The added disappointment in this report is that it is a second quarter reading. There is a lot of hope tied up in the idea that the U.S. economy is poised to rebound smartly in the second quarter after growing at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of just 0.5% in the first quarter. While the Chicago PMI is a survey, as opposed to hard data, it nonetheless sets a bad tone.The dividing line between expansion and contraction is 50.0, so manufacturing activity in the Chicago region, which has important ties to the auto industry, was barely expanding in April. The soft start to the second quarter has reportedly made respondents more anxious about the impact of another rate hike in the next six months than they were in March.The final reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey for April checked in at 89.0 (Briefing.com consensus 90.0). That was below the preliminary reading of 89.7 and the final reading of 91.0 for March.Monday's economic data will be limited to the April ISM Index (Briefing.com consensus 51.4) and Construction Spending for March (Briefing.com consensus -0.5%), which will each cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Dow Jones +2.0% YTD
S&P 500 +1.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.4% YTDNasdaq Composite -4.6% YTDWeek in Review: Central Banks Hold, Stocks Fold

The stock market ended April on a lower note with the NasdaqComposite leading the decline. The tech-heavy index lost 2.7% for the week,ending April lower by 1.9%. The S&P 500 fell 1.3%, ending April with aslight gain of 0.3%.

The last week of April was busy on all fronts. Investorsreceived a heavy batch of economic data and earnings, but it was two centralbank meetings that stole the attention. On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committeeheld the fed funds rate unchanged between 0.25% and 0.50%. Going into themeeting, the market believed that the statement could begin setting the stagefor a rate hike in June, but the FOMC Statement was dovish and contained nohints of an impending rate hike. Stocks wobbled immediately after the announcement,but rallied into the afternoon.

The Bank of Japan followed the Fed, releasing its policy statementlate Wednesday evening. The central bank made no changes to its interest rate,but did announce a JPY300 billion, 0%, lending facility for companies affectedby the Kumamoto earthquake. The yen surged on the news, dropping the dollar/yenpair into the neighborhood of this year's low near 108.00. The sharp rally inthe yen proved that the market expected the Bank of Japan to step up its easingefforts, but the central bank did not deliver. The yen spent Thursday near itsovernight high and the risk-off sentiment filtered through to the equity marketwhile the yen continued its climb into Friday.

Stocks stumbled on Thursday afternoon with Apple (AAPL)receiving a lot of attention after Carl Icahn revealed that he closed hisposition in the stock. Earlier in the week, the company reported disappointingresults for the second quarter, showing a 13.0% year-over-year decline inrevenue. In other tech earnings, Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) missedbottom-line estimates while Facebook (FB) beat expectations.

The technology sector was the weakest performer during the lastweek of April (-3.6%), which put the largest sector by weight at the bottom ofthe monthly leaderboard (-5.5%). On the flip side, energy and materialsoutperformed, posting respective April gains of 8.7% and 4.9%.

10:01 am Intel extending gap down start (INTC) : Noted the repeated tests of support at its 200/50 day sma yesterday with it penetrating and closing below. Today's gap down has been extended near a Mid-March reaction low at 30.38 (session low 30.36) with the 50% retracement of the Feb-March surge at 30.22.

8:07 am Seagate Tech misses by $0.17, reports revs in-line with lowered guidance; gudies on call at 9:00 (STX) :

Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.22 per share, $0.17 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.39; revenues fell 22.1% year/year to $2.6 bln vs the $2.61 bln Capital IQ Consensus; gross margin 22.7%.Preannounced: Lowered rev to $2.6 bln from $2.7 bln; gross margin to 23% from 25.6% on April 14. "Our quarterly results fell short of our expectations as a result of several near-term demand factors. Despite these challenges, we believe we have the product portfolio, technology roadmap and operational leverage to ensure we are well-positioned for long-term success... Accordingly, we are aggressively working to position Seagate to respond to new demand levels and are committed to ongoing financial discipline." Luczo continued, "Although the short-term dynamics of our industry are challenging, we continue to see significant and growing Exabyte demand, particularly as enterprise applications shift to cloud environments. As we look forward, our strategic focus is unchanged -- we are broadening our storage portfolio to meet the needs of our growing global customer base, building upon our strong competitive position and optimizing our business for continued financial performance. These focus areas will enable us to build lasting value for shareholders."Guides on call at 9:00.

7:33 am Ingram Micro misses by $0.18, misses on revs (IM) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.35 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.18 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.53; revenues fell 12.3% year/year to $9.34 bln vs the $9.95 bln Capital IQ ConsensusCash flow from operations for the 2016 first quarter significantly improved to $275 million when compared to ~$60 million last yearCash flow benefited from strong global execution on the company's working capital improvement program, which helped reduce working capital days at the end of the 2016 first quarter to 23 days, an 8 day improvement year-over-year

ON Semiconductor (ON) announces that it has extended its previously announced tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS) for $20.00/share in cash. The offer will now expire one minute following 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on May 12, 2016, unless further extended as required or permitted by the merger agreement. All other terms and conditions of the Offer remain unchanged

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From Briefing.com:4:32 pm Marvell appoints Richard S. Hill as Chairman of the Board, effective May 1 (MRVL) : Hill has served as a member of the Board of Tessera Technologies since August 2012 and as Chairman of the Board since March 2013.

4:17 pm AXT beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line (AXTI) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) net of breakeven, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.04); revenues fell 10.0% year/year to $18.1 mln vs the $18.07 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
"Q1 was a strong quarter for AXT in which we exceeded our revenue and profitability guidance, and posted a strong increase in both our gross and operating margins from the prior quarter," said Morris Young, chief executive officer. "Our indium phosphide revenue was our strongest in recent years. In addition, our manufacturing team continues to work on efficiency and yield improvement, and these efforts along with our product mix helped improve our gross margin in the quarter."

4:12 pm Luminex beats by $0.13, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line; guides FY16 revs in-line (LMNX) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.29 per share, $0.13 better than the two analyst estimate of $0.16; revenues rose 9.2% year/year to $63 mln vs the $60.98 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Consolidated gross profit margin was 71% for Q1.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $60-$62 mln vs. $61.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, raises low end of revenue guidance by $2.0 mln to $247-$255 mln vs. $250.37 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:09 pm Rudolph Tech beats by $0.01, beats on revs (RTEC) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.17; revenues rose 3.4% year/year to $54.4 mln vs the $52.78 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Non-GAAP results excluded items that had a net impact of increasing GAAP income by $8.2 million, after tax, including a patent litigation judgment, share-based compensation expense, litigation expense and amortization of intangibles.

4:05 pm Integrated Device beats by $0.03, beats on revs (IDTI) :

Reports Q4 (Mar) earnings of $0.36 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.33; revenues rose 19.6% year/year to $189.4 mln vs the $187.06 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

4:05 pm Monolithic Power beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (MPWR) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.45 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.44; revenues rose 15.0% year/year to $84.5 mln vs the $82.99 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $91-95 mln vs. $91.51 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Sees Q2 GAAP gross margin between 53.6% and 54.6%. Non-GAAP gross margin between 54.6% and 55.6%

4:04 pm Tessera Tech signs license and development agreement with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASX) (TSRA) : The co announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Invensas Corporation signed a new technology license and development agreement with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. (:ASE), the world's largest semiconductor assembly and test service provider, to collaborate on the development and commercialization of Invensas Bond Via Array (BVA) technology. ASE will move to the final stage of qualification of Invensas BVA vertical interconnect technology for Package-on-Package (PoP) applications and begin engaging customers. With Invensas BVA technology, ASE will be able to meet its customers' desire for low profile and low cost PoP solutions for current and future generations of application processors aimed at smartphones and tablets

4:04 pm Axcelis Tech beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (ACLS) :

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.02 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.01; revenues fell 7.9% year/year to $67.5 mln vs the $65.95 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.00-0.01, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.03 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of 'Mid-$60 mln range' vs. $72.29 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

A positive bias in the markets today left all three major US indices higher at the end of the day. Upside rebounded from last week's weakness toward the end of the week, led today by the Nasdaq Composite which added 42.24 points (+0.88%) to close 4817.59. The S&P 500 followed, higher by 16.13 points (+0.78%) to 2081.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted the most modest gains today, edging higher by 117.52 points (+0.66%) to 17891.16.

Economic data today was in the form of the Manufacturing ISM Index for April which checked in at 50.8. That mark is down from 51.8 in March and 51.5 in the same period a year ago. Additionally, total construction spending increased 0.3% in March, and followed some sizable revisions to construction spending data for the prior two months.

Trading in Technology (XLK 42.44, +0.31 +0.74%) also ended near highs after spending most of the morning hovering near flat lines. Component Oracle (ORCL 40.29, +0.43 +1.08%) traded modestly higher today following the company's acquisition of Opower (OPWR 10.29, +2.39 +30.25%) for $10.30 per share in cash.. Other sectors as measured by the S&P ended today's action IYZ +1.73%, XLY +1.40%, XLP +1.15%, XLF +0.90%, XLU +0.81%, XLV +0.57%, XLI +0.52%, XLB +0.36%, XLE -0.10% with Energy the lone laggard as June Crude Oil Futures dipped -2.6%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (701.40, +4.59 +0.66%) sector, Monday's action closed with the sector modestly lower from highs of the day. Component Seagate Tech (STX 20.48, -1.29 -5.93%) was an under-performer following downgrades at RBC Capital Mkts (to Sector Perform) and JP Morgan (to Underweight). Other names in the space which closed modestly higher included ADSK +2.59%, FIS +2.04%, VRSN +2.00%, CRM +1.91%, EA +1.68%, V +1.58%, MCHP +1.56%, XLNX +1.53%, MSFT +1.48%, TXN +1.42%, FISV +1.41%, ACN +1.31%, INTU +1.31%, EMC +1.30%.

Other news items among sector components:

Oracle (ORCL) acquired Opower (OPWR) for $10.30 per share in cash.
Texas Instruments (TXN 57.85, +0.81 +1.42%) priced $500 million of 1.85% senior unsecured notes due May 15, 2022.
NVIDIA (NVDA 36.00, +0.47 +1.32%) announced it and Samsung (SSNLF 1050, flat) have agreed to settle all pending intellectual property litigation between the two companies.
According to the company's blog, Alphabet (GOOG 698.21, +5.20 +0.75%) acquired Google Apps for Work training platform Synergyse. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Verizon (VZ 51.32, +0.36 +0.71%) deployed 'thousands' of additional employees to assist with operations during employee strike. The company confirmed union leaders have denounced VZ's proposal.
Cree (CREE 24.32, -0.19 -0.78%) entered into settlement in its patent infringement lawsuit with Harvatek.
SunEdison (SUNEQ 0.24, +0.00 +2.95%) appointed John Dubel to Chief Restructuring Officer in relation to the chapter 11 filing in the Southern District of New York.
BCE (BCE 58.67, -0.17 -0.29%) will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Manitoba Telecom Services in a transaction valued at approximately $3.9 billion. MTS shareholders will be able to elect to receive $40 in cash or 0.6756 of a BCE common share for each MTS common share, subject to pro-ration such that the aggregate consideration will be paid 45% in cash and 55% in BCE common shares. BCE expects immediate free-cash-flow accretion due to the deal.
Sprint (S 3.49, +0.05 +1.45%) entered into an agreement with i-wireless. The partnership will merge Sprint's Assurance Wireless and i-wireless' Access Wireless into one entity.
GigPeak (GIG 2.35, +0.05 +2.17%) promoted Dr. Raluca Dinu to the position of COO.
Qlik Tech (QLIK 31.46, +0.67 +2.18%) acquired Industrial CodeBox. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Imation (IMN 1.60, +0.03 +1.91%) appointed Danny Zheng as CFO.
PTC (PTC 36.97, +0.51 +1.40%) commenced a $500 million offering of aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2024.

Analyst actions:

BCOR was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Barrington Research; TIVO was downgraded to Market Perform from Overweight at Albert Fried and to Hold from Buy at Topeka Capital Markets, STX was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan and to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts, GRPN was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Mkts, ARW and AVT were downgraded to Sell from Buy at Citigroup, TECD was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup, SNX was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup

4:10 pm : The major averages began their week on a higher note as the S&P 500 (+0.8%) rebounded from last week's decline of 1.3%. Contributing factors for today's trade included below-consensus economic data, weakness from the oil pit, a leg lower in the dollar, and the outperformance of the heavily-weighted consumer discretionary (+1.4%) and financial (+1.1%) sectors. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%) ended ahead of the benchmark index (+0.8%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.7%).

Equity indices began their session on a wobbly note as investors digested below-consensus economic data out of China and the U.S. Over the weekend, China released April PMI data that missed expectations (50.1; estimate: 50.3), but continued to show expansion. Reaction from China was muted as both the Shanghai Composite and the Hang Seng were closed for public holidays.

On the home front, the U.S. ISM Index for April (50.8; Briefing.com consensus 51.4) and Construction Spending for March (+0.3%; Briefing.com consensus +0.6%) each missed estimates. However, the datapoints could be seen as supportive of the Fed opting to hold off on raising rates at its June meeting.

The major averages extended their rally throughout the day as upticks in the heavily-weighted consumer discretionary (+1.4%) and financial (+1.1%) sectors outweighed weakness from the oil pit. All ten sectors ended in positive territory with countercyclical consumer staples (+1.0%) and utilities (+0.8%) following the pair on the leaderboard.

In the consumer discretionary space (+1.4%), Amazon (AMZN 683.85, +24.26) extended its post-earnings winning streak by gaining 3.7%. Since reporting earnings on April 28, the company has gained 13.6%. Conversely, fellow F.A.N.G. member Netflix (NFLX 93.11, +3.08) gained 3.4%, but remains down 14.1% since disappointing investors with its quarterly report on April 18. Separately, Wynn Resorts (WYNN 94.28, +5.98) gained 6.8% after revenue, as reported by the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, came in better-than-feared (-9.5% year-over-year).

Heavily-weighted component Microsoft (MSFT 50.61, +0.74) displayed relative strength in the technology sector (+0.7%). Fellow large-cap Apple (AAPL 93.65, -0.09) ended off its low, but extended its losing streak to an eighth session. On the M&A front, Oracle (ORCL 40.30, +0.44) jumped 1.1% after agreeing to acquire Opower (OPWR 10.29, +2.39) for $10.30 per share in an all cash transaction. The broader technology space gained 0.7% as it rebounded from last week's 3.6% decline.

In the financial sector (+1.1%), rate-sensitive real estate investment trusts demonstrated related strength after underperforming last week. On that note, Public Storage (PSA 252.57, +7.76) gained 3.2% after declining 4.7% last week. Elsewhere, AIG (AIG 56.59, +0.77) gained 1.4% ahead of this evening's earnings report.

The commodity-sensitive energy sector (UNCH) ended its day above its flat line as natural gas and oil finished lower. WTI crude ended its day lower by 2.6% at $44.75/bbl while natural gas finished down 6.4% to $2.04/MMbtu. In the group, Halliburton (HAL 42.05, +0.74) gained 1.8% after announcing that it would terminate its merger with Baker Hughes (BHI 47.40, -0.96).

The U.S. Dollar Index (92.60, -0.48) ended off its low as the greenback trimmed losses against the euro. The euro/dollar pair ended at 1.1525 (+0.6%) after bouncing off the 1.1470 level earlier today. Meanwhile, the dollar/yen pair ended flat at 106.45.

The Treasury complex finished at its session low with the yield on the 10-yr note rising three basis points to 1.87%.

Today's participation was above the recent average as more than 960 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the April ISM Index and Construction Spending for March:

The Manufacturing ISM Index for April checked in at 50.8. That is down from 51.8 in March and 51.5 in the same period a year ago. The Briefing.com consensus estimate was pegged at 51.4, so the Manufacturing ISM Index report will qualify as another piece of weaker than expected data.
A number above 50 for this series denotes expansion in the manufacturing sector; however, the dip from March implies there was a slowdown in activity in April. This isn't the best signal for early second quarter growth expectations, yet it is a number the market could construe as being supportive of the argument that the Federal Reserve will hold off on raising rates at its June meeting.
The dip in April was driven by a drop in the New orders Index to 55.8 from 58.3. That is the fourth month in a row that the pace of new orders has slowed.
The Production Index fell to 54.2 from 55.3, and although the Employment Index rose to 49.2 from 48.1, it was below 50.0 for the fifth straight month.
The biggest uptick was seen in the Prices Index, which jumped to 59.0 from 51.5 as manufacturers responded to higher raw material prices.
The Inventories Index fell to 45.5 from 47.0, marking the tenth consecutive month that they have contracted at a faster pace.
Total construction spending increased 0.3% in March (Briefing.com consensus +0.6%), and followed some sizable revisions to construction spending data for the prior two months.
Specifically, revised data showed total construction spending increased 1.0% in February after it was previously reported to have declined 0.5%. The upshot of that positive revision was offset by a downward revision to January, which saw a 0.3% decline in total construction spending after a previously reported increase of 2.1%.
The increase in March was powered by a 1.1% increase in total private construction spending. That uptick was fueled by a 1.6% increase in residential spending and a 0.7% increase in nonresidential spending.
Total public construction spending declined 1.9% in March, dragged lower primarily by a 1.9% decline in nonresidential spending. The main pockets of weakness were a 7.6% decline in transportation spending and a 4.2% decline in sewage and waste disposal spending.
On a year-over-year basis, total construction spending is up 8.0%, which is a slower pace of growth than the 9.3% year-over-year rate seen in February.

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to April Auto and Truck Sales, which will be released throughout the day. Separately, China's Caixin Manufacturing PMI will be released at 21:45 ET.

Dow Jones +2.7 % YTD
S&P 500 +1.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.4% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -3.8% YTD

DJ30 +117.52 NASDAQ +42.23 SP500 +16.13 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1809/1.717 bln/1218 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1906/960.6 mln/1106

3:30 pm :

The dollar index extends this morning's losses even further, currently down -0.5% at the 92.66 level
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -0.9% around the 84.72 level
Crude oil extends Friday's losses, consolidating near the lows of the day in afternoon pit trading
June crude oil futures fell $1.21 (-2.6%) to $44.75/barrel
Reminder: The next OPEC meeting is scheduled for June 2, 2016
Natural gas plummets and closes notably lower, giving up all of Friday's gains and more
June natural gas closed $0.14 lower (-6.4%) at $2.04/MMBtu
A contributing factor to today's notable losses is a reaction to Friday's Texas Eastern pipeline explosion in Salem Township
This pipeline connects Louisiana & Texas to New England/New York and has 1.3 bln cubic feet of daily capacity, has yet to be fully operational
Friday, natural gas rallied and closed up +4.8%
In a knee-jerk reaction to Friday's pipeline explosion, natural gas futures have erased all of Friday's notable gains and more
In precious metals, gold closes near its year-to-date highs, extending yesterday's notable rally
June gold ended today's session up $5.20 (+0.4%) to $1295.90/oz
Silver consolidates and closes near the lows of the day
July silver closed today's session $0.13 lower (-0.7%) at $17.70/oz
Base metal copper drifts lower in afternoon pit trading
July copper closed $0.01 lower (-0.4%) at $2.27/lb

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From Briefing.com: 4:48 pm Sierra Wireless beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q2 & FY16 in-line (SWIR) : •Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.08 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.01; revenues fell 5.1% year/year to $142.8 mln vs the $139.85 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
•Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.09-0.17 vs. $0.14 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $150-160 mln vs. $154.13 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
•Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $0.60-0.90 vs. $0.70 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $630-670 mln vs. $640.13 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:13 pm Motorola Solutions beats by $0.11, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line; guides FY16 EPS in-line (MSI) :
•Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.52 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.41; revenues fell 2.5% year/year to $1.19 bln vs the $1.17 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
•Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.82-0.88 vs. $0.96 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees revs up 1-3%
•Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $4.45-4.65 vs. $4.58 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; reaffirms rev growth outlook of 5-7%

4:12 pm SunPower misses by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line; guides FY16 revs above consensus (SPWR) :
•Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.23); revenues rose 0.7% year/year to $433.6 mln vs the $328.76 mln Capital IQ Consensus.?Non-GAAP Gross Margin 13.6%.

•Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $310-360 mln vs. $684.74 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. ?Gross margin of 12-14%;
? EBITDA of $0 to $25 million;
?MW deployed in the range of 360 MW to 385 MW.

•Co issues reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of $3.2-3.4 bln vs. $3.17 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.?Gross margin of 14-16%;
?EBITDA of $450-500 mln;
?Capital expenditures of $210-260 mln;
?GW deployed in the range of 1.6 GW to 1.9 GW.



4:11 pm Universal Display beats by $0.05, misses on revs; reaffirms FY16 revs guidance (OLED) :
•Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.04 per share, $0.05 better than the single analyst estimate of ($0.01); revenues fell 4.8% year/year to $29.7 mln vs the $30.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
•Co reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of +10-20% to ~$210.1-229.3 mln vs. $221.06 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
•"The OLED landscape continues to expand. New OLED products are launching, capacity is building, equipment bookings are increasing and the pipeline of OLED design activities is broadening."

4:12 pm Amtech Systems beats by $0.33, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs in-line (ASYS) :
•Reports Q2 (Mar) loss of $0.11 per share, $0.33 better than the two analyst estimate of ($0.44); revenues fell 7.4% year/year to $22.48 mln vs the $21.15 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
•Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $30-33 mln vs. $30.82 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Gross margin for the quarter ending June 30, 2016 is expected to be in the mid 20s percent range, negatively impacted by product mix, with operating margin slightly negative.
•At March 31, 2016, the Company's total order backlog was $67.3 million (solar $51.3 million), compared to total backlog of $42.9 million (solar $31.3 million) at December 31, 2015.

4:10 pm Diodes beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 revs in-line (DIOD) :
•Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.12 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.11; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $222.7 mln vs the $224.4 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
•Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $230-240 mln vs. $235.72 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday affair on a flat note as investors looked ahead to tomorrow's release of the April Employment Situation Report (Briefing.com consensus 207k). Other contributing factors for today's trade included an uptick in oil, a bid in the Treasury complex, a leg higher in the dollar, and the underperformance of the heavily-weighted consumer discretionary sector (-0.6%). The Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) ended its day behind the S&P 500 (UNCH) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%).

Overnight, international bourses adopted a risk-off posture ahead of tomorrow's release of the Employment Situation Report for April. The Briefing.com consensus expects nonfarm payrolls to increase by 207,000 and the consensus expects hourly earnings to increase 0.3%. The influential jobs report follows yesterday's ADP Employment Change for April (156,000; Briefing.com consensus 196,000), which likely lowered expectations for the employment reading.

The U.S. market opened on a higher note as a rebound in crude helped increase risk appetite in the broader market. WTI crude traded as high as $45.98/bbl as investors weighed the impact of a wildfire in the Canadian oil sands town of Fort McMurray. The area produces approximately 17.0% of Canada's oil output and evacuation efforts impacted short-term production from the area. WTI crude ended its day off its high as an uptick in the U.S. Dollar Index (93.76, +0.58) acted as a headwind for the dollar-denominated commodity.

The major averages pared gains along with oil as risk appetite declined ahead of tomorrow's data. By the end of the day, six sectors ended beneath their flat lines as consumer discretionary (-0.6%), telecom services (-0.6%), materials (-0.5%), and utilities (-0.4%) rounded out the leaderboard. On the flipside, energy (+0.7%) and health care (+0.5%) finished with the largest gains.

In the consumer discretionary space (-0.6%), Amazon (AMZN 659.09, -11.81) lost 1.8%, trimming its post-earnings gain to 9.5%. Elsewhere, Dow component Nike (NKE 58.19, -0.92) slipped 1.6% as it traded lower in sympathy with retail names. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 42.91, -0.90) fell 2.1% after April same store sales readings disappointed.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (-1.1%) displayed relative weakness as FedEx (FDX 160.37, -4.88) trimmed its year-to-date gain to 7.6%. Matson (MATX 32.82, -4.71) plunged 12.6% and rounded out the index after missing earnings estimates for the first quarter. Elsewhere, airlines name continued their recent retreat as American Airlines (AAL 32.80, -0.40) extended its weekly loss to 5.5%. The Transportation Average has declined 2.6% so far this week.

Independent oil and gas companies outperformed in the commodity-sensitive energy space (+0.7%). Apache (APA 54.82, +4.09) gained 8.1% after beating bottom-line estimates for the quarter and raising its North American onshore production guidance. EOG Resources (EOG 81.26, +1.92) gained 2.4% ahead of this evening's earnings report. WTI crude ended its day higher by 1.3% at $44.34/bbl. The broader energy sector has declined 2.8% this week, compared to a loss of 3.5% in oil over that period.

The Treasury complex rallied as equities remained near their session lows. The yield on the 10-yr note sank from 1.80% (+3 bps) at the beginning of the session to 1.74% (-4 bps) by the close. The yield on the 10-yr note has fallen nine basis points since last Friday's settlement at 1.83%.

Today's volume was above the recent average as more than 949 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included April Challenger Job Cuts and weekly initial claims:

•The Challenger Job Cuts report revealed 250,061 job cut announcements from January to April, marking the highest total for that period since 2009.
•Initial claims filings for the week ending April 30 were 274,000 (Briefing.com consensus 259,000), an increase of 17,000 from the prior week's unrevised level.?Notwithstanding the jump in initial claims, they remained below 300,000 for the 61st straight week, extending their best streak since 1973. The four-week moving average for initial claims bumped up 2,000 to 258,000.

•Continuing claims for the week ending April 23 decreased by 8,000 to 2.121 million. ?That is the lowest level since November 4, 2000, and the four-week moving average of 2.140 million is the lowest level since November 11, 2000.


Tomorrow's economic data will include the Employment Situation Report for April (Briefing.com consensus 207k) and Consumer Credit for March (Briefing.com consensus $18.0 billion), which will cross the wires at 8:30 ET and 15:00 ET, respectively.
•Nasdaq Composite -5.8% YTD
•Russell 2000 -2.4% YTD
•S&P 500 +0.3% YTD
•Dow Jones +1.4% YTD

DJ30 +9.45 NASDAQ -8.55 SP500 -0.49 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 11236/1.736 bln/1869 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1419/949.8 mln/1550


3:30 pm :
•The dollar index rallies for the third consecutive day, weighing on commodities, currently up +0.6% near the 93.77 level?Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -0.8% at 82.71

•Crude oil sees a notable and sustained downtrend after opening near $46.00/barrel and clocking in initial morning gains, still green for the day?June crude oil futures rose $0.56 (+1.3%) to $44.34/barrel
?Oil supply is being threatened due to unrest in Libya and a wildfire in Canada, A contributing factor to the boost in oil prices ?A huge wildfire spreading in Canada has caused 88,000 people to evacuate their homes in Fort McMurray, which happens to be the center of the country's oil sands region
?This area produces approximately 17% of Canada's oil output
?In other news, unrest in Libya is also helping prop up oil prices as a stand-off between eastern and western political factions threatens oil supplies


•Natural gas plummets & consolidates near the lows of the day after EIA nat gas storage data showed a larger than expected build?June natural gas closed $0.06 lower (-2.8%) at $2.08/MMBtu
?Working gas in storage was 2,625 Bcf as of Friday, April 29, 2016, according to EIA estimates
?Natural gas inventory showed a +68 of bcf vs expectations for inventory to be a build of approximately +66 bcf
?At 2,625 Bcf, total working gas is above the five-year historical range

•In precious metals, gold sees an early morning drop & consolidates just below the previous day's close?June gold ended today's session down $2.50 (-0.2%) to $1271.70/oz

•Silver declines to a fresh new low of the day and closes there to end afternoon pit trading?July silver closed today's session $0.03 higher (+0.2%) at $17.33/oz

•Base metal copper experiences its third consecutive day of declines in afternoon pit trading?July copper closed $0.04 lower (-1.8%) at $2.15/lb



Stocks were in the green for the majority of the morning session, reversing the two-day losing streak. Gains would not hold, however, as the markets sold off near midday and ultimately ended split. Action was led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average which added 9.45 points (+0.05%) to 17660.71. The Nasdaq Composite was the worst performer, down 8.54 points (-0.18%) to 4717.09. The S&P 500 ended with losses less than a point (-0.02%) to 2050.63. Economic data today was limited to the Challenger Job Cuts report which revealed 250,061 job cut announcements from January to April and Initial Claims for the week ending April 30, which were 274,000; Continuing Claims for the week ending April 23 declined by 8,000 to 2.121 million.

Equities jumped out of the gate as a rally in crude oil helped spur the broader market; June Crude Oil Futures rose +1.3% today. The energy component gained in overseas trade as stories pointing to a potential short-term supply shortage made the rounds. Specifically, concerns emerged that a wildfire in the Canadian oil sands town of Fort McMurray may impact production levels. The entire town has been evacuated as the area continues to deal with wildfires that erupted on Sunday. Furthermore, continued unrest in Libya also contributed to supply shortage speculation.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the Employment Situation Report for April and Consumer Credit for March, which will cross the wires at 8:30 ET and 15:00 ET, respectively.

Sector trading, as measured by the S&P, ended Thursday XLE +0.82%, XLV +0.42%, XLP +0.02%, XLF -0.04%, XLI -0.05%, XLU -0.39%, XLB -0.50%, XLY -0.64%, IYZ -2.14%. For its part, Technology (XLK 41.94, +0.01 +0.02%) also managed modest gains after a volatile session. Component and telecom name CenturyLink (CTL 28.20, -2.77 -8.94%) was the worst performing name in the space today following better than expected Q1 EPS, and in-line revenues on tepid Q2 EPS guidance.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (692.67, +0.09 +0.01%) sector, trading was up and down buy ultimately ended with slight gains after most of the latter half of the session was in the red. Component Teradata (TDC 26.27, +1.87 +7.66%) was a notable out-performer today following the company's better than expected Q1 print and FY16 guidance; additionally, TDC announced the replacement of CEO Mike Koehler with Victor Lund. Other names in the space which closed higher today included YHOO +2.61%, PYPL +1.67%, IBM +1.54%, QCOM +1.27%, CSC +1.07%, GOOG +0.82%, NVDA +0.60%, ADBE +0.60%, MU +0.60%, EA +0.58%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
•Apple (AAPL 93.24, -0.38 -0.41%) and German software firm SAP AG (SAP 77.07, -0.41 -0.53%) announce partnership for mobile work experience through SAP HANA platform.
•Valeant Pharma (VRX 34.49, -0.28 -0.81%) and IBM (IBM 146.47, +2.21 +1.53%) announced a collaboration to develop an iPhone/iPad app to assist surgeons who perform cataract surgery.
•In addition to reporting quarterly results, Microchip (MCHP 47.82, -0.60 -1.24%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.3595 per share from $0.359 per share.
•Harris (HRS 74.78, +0.36 +0.48%) received $41 million in orders for production, spare parts, depot, and installation of advanced satellite communications terminals under the U.S. Army's Modernization of Enterprise Terminals (MET) program.
•CA Tech (CA 29.36, -0.05 -0.17%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.255 per share from $0.25 per share.
•CSC (CSC 33.05, +0.35 +1.07%) has completed the acquisition of Xchanging plc.
•In addition to reporting quarterly results, Teradata (TDC) announced Victor Lund will replace Mike Koehler as CEO effective immediately.
•Alliance Data Systems (ADS 200.24, -0.51 -0.25%) announced its Columbus, Ohio-based card services business signed a new long-term agreement to provide private label credit card services for Hot Topic stores. Under the new agreement, Alliance Data will offer a customized private label credit program for Hot Topic.
•According to the company's blog, eBay (EBAY 23.81, +0.01 +0.04%) acquired Swedish-based Expertmaker. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elsewhere in the tech space:
•Synacor (SYNC 3.64, +2.23 +158.16%) was awarded a contract from AT&T (T 38.74, -0.14 -0.36%). SYNC noted expected revenues from the contract are about $100 million per year, after full product deployment in 2017.
•In addition to reporting quarterly results, Vonage (VG 4.11, -0.80 -16.21%) to acquire Nexmo for $230 million in cash and stock. The company projects annual cost synergies of $5 million related to the deal.
•Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH 27.24, -0.18 -0.66%) received a contract with max ceiling vale of $400 million from the Department of Defense.
•Zhaopin (ZPIN 16.05, +1.14 +7.65%) received a non-binding proposal letter to be taken private by executives of the company and Sequoia Investment Management for $17.75 per ADR in cash.
•In addition to reporting quarterly results, Baring Private Equity Asia to acquire a 35% stake in telecom firm Telus (TU 30.77, -0.07 -0.23%), valuing Telus at CAD 1.2 billion.
•Atlas Air Worldwide (AAWW 48.66, +10.34 +26.98%) to provide air cargo services to support Amazon's (AMZN 659.09, -11.81 -1.76%) package deliveries, expects earnings and cash flow accretion over time. The company granted AMZN the option to acquire up to 20% of common shares.
•Science Applications (SAIC 52.25, +0.10 +0.19%) received a $141 million task order from the US Navy to provide technical solutions to the Naval Sea Systems Command Program.
•In addition to reporting quarterly results, NICE Systems' (NICE 63.99, +0.87 +1.38%) CFO Sarit Sagiv announced her intention to leave the company in the coming months to pursue other opportunities.
•United Online (UNTD 10.78, +0.03 +0.28%) to be acquired by B. Riley (RILY 10.11, flat) for about $170 million in cash or $11.00 per share. Closing is expected by the end of the third calendar quarter of 2016. RILY also noted, "We are also providing guidance regarding Adjusted EBITDA of $9 to $13 million for the year-to-date period through July 2016."
•Fleetmatics (FLTX 38.27, +2.09 +5.78%) announces Jill Ward to Succeed Jim Travers as CEO effective January 1, 2017. Travers will remain Chairman.
•Kratos Defense and Security (KTOS 4.50, -0.83 -15.57%) subsidiary receives $3.87 mln award from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

In reaction to quarterly results:
•Equinix (EQIX 330.89, -3.94 -1.18%) reported worse than expected Q1 funds from operations of $1.68 on in-line revenues which rose 31.2% versus last year to $844.16 million. Additionally, EQIX guided Q2 revenues in the range of $893-899 million and FY16 revenues of at least $3.595 billion (up from prior $3.55 billion) - both of which are ahead of expectations.
•Telus (TU) reported in-line Q1 EPS and revenues of C$0.70 and C$3.11 billion, respectively.
•CenturyLink (CTL) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.71 on in-line revenues which fell 1.1% versus last year to $4.4 billion. Further, CTL guided Q2 EPS worse than expectations at $0.57-0.62 and revenues in-line at $4.38-4.43 billion.
•Microchip (MCHP) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.70 on revenues which rose 3.9% versus last year to $568.4 million. MCHP also guided Q1 EPS and revenues in-line at $0.70-0.79 and $799.1-841.9 million, respectively.
•TripAdvisor (TRIP 62.04, -1.09 -1.73%) reported worse than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.32 and $352 million, respectively.
•Gartner (IT 95.16, +7.57 +8.64%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.61 and $557.3 million, respectively. IT also guided FY16 EPS and revenues in-line at $2.67-2.89 (up from $2.15-2.37) and $2.41-2.47 billion (up from $2.39-2.45 billion), respectively.
•Mobileye N.V. (MBLY 35.67, -0.87 -2.38%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.15 and $75.2 million, respectively.
•Qorvo (QRVO 46.66, +2.15 +4.83%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $1.04 and $608.1 million, respectively. QRVO also issued upside guidance for Q1 of EPS of about $1.05 and revenues of about $650 million.
•Companies scheduled to report earnings tonight/tomorrow morning: TWOU ATVI MDRX AMBR ASYS ANET TEAM ABTL WIFI ECOM CVT CYBR DIOD ELON EGAN FEYE FISV GSAT GPRO GSIT GUID IMMR IMPV SAAS INAP JCOM MCHX MRIN MRVL MELI MTD MSI MFLX UEPS PCTY PCTI PEGA QLGC SWIR SQ SSNC SPWR SNCR DATA TRMR TRUE UBNT UNXL UNTD OLED WEB YELP/CTSH GOGO GSIG MOSY TDS USM

Analyst actions:
•FRP was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Drexel Hamilton, NXPI was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:13 pm Cisco Systems beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, rev in-line/mostly above estimates (CSCO) : Reports Q3 (Apr) earnings of $0.57 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.55; revenues fell 1.1% year/year to $12 bln vs the $11.95 bln Capital IQ Consensus with product revenue up 1% and service revenue up 11%. Revenue by geographic segment was: Americas up 4%, EMEA down 2%, and APJC up 10%. Product revenue growth was led by Security, Collaboration and SP Video which increased by 17%, 10% and 18%, respectively. Wireless and Data Center each increased by 1%, while Switching and NGN Routing decreased by 3% and 5%, respectively. Non-GAAP total gross margin and product gross margin were 65.2% and 64.5%, respectively. The non-GAAP product gross margin was unchanged compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2015 as continued productivity improvements were offset by pricing and to a lesser extent product mix; non-GAAP service gross margin was 67.1%.Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.59-0.61, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.58 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q4 revs +0-3% (ex-divested SP Video CPE Business) to ~$12.36-12.73 bln vs. $12.43 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:08 pm TerraForm Global receives notification letter from Nasdaq indicating firm remains delinquent in filing form 10-K, firm has until May 31 to submit plan to regain compliance with listing requirements (GLBL) :

4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Wednesday affair on a flat note as the major averages rebounded following a hawkish reading of the FOMC's April minutes. Other focal points of today's action included continued weakness from the retail sub-group, a rebound in the dollar, and the outperformance of the heavily-weighted financial (+1.9%), technology (+0.5%), and health care (+0.3%) groups. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%) finished ahead of the S&P 500 (UNCH) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (UNCH).

The major averages began their day on a choppy note as overseas indices responded to raised expectations regarding the timing and speed of interest rate normalization in the U.S. Meanwhile, a weaker-than-expected outlook from Target (TGT 67.84, -5.77) pressured the retail sub-group and big box names. However, equities recovered from their opening-hour weakness as strength from the oil patch extended into the broader market.

Equity indices climbed through the afternoon as support from oil and the heavyweight financial (+1.9%), technology (+0.5%), and health care (+0.3%) spaces bolstered the broader market. The major averages notched session highs shortly before the release of the FOMC Minutes from the April meeting.

The minutes from the April FOMC meeting indicated that a June rate hike remains wholly on the table. The committee did note that it would continue to assess incoming economic data and whether it was consistent with the Fed's dual mandate. As a result, the fed funds futures market ended the day with a 33.8% likelihood of a rate hike at the June meeting, compared to yesterday's 15.0% probability.

Seven sectors ended in the red with utilities (-1.9%), materials (-1.5%), telecom services (-1.4%) and consumer staples (-1.0%). Conversely, the heavyweight financial (+1.9%), technology (+0.5%), and health care (+0.3%) groups finished with the only gains.

In the financial sector (+1.9%), money center banks demonstrated relative strength as the group responded to the increased likelihood of an interest rate hike in the short term. Bank of America (BAC 14.69, +0.68) and Citigroup (C 45.87, +2.17) ended with gains of 4.9% and 5.0%, respectively. Conversely, interest-rate sensitive real estate investment trusts (REITs) underperformed in the space.

The high-beta chipmakers outperformed in the technology space (+0.5%), evidenced by the 1.6% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. Micron Technology (MU 10.05, +0.38) and Cavium Networks (CAVM 47.77, +1.30) finished at the top of the price-weighted index. In the broader sector, Apple (AAPL 94.56, +1.07) gained 1.1% after announcing it would establish a Design and Development Accelerator in Bengaluru, India.

In the health care space (+0.3%), biotechnology outperformed, evidenced by the 1.4% gain in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 262.77, +3.60). The ETF sports a loss of 1.9% for the month of May.

Big box names weighed in the consumer staples space (-1.0%) as the group traded lower with consumer discretionary (-0.6%) name Target. The company disappointed investors with its guidance, but topped bottom-line estimates for the quarter. Elsewhere, Wal-Mart (WMT 63.15, -1.95) lost 3.0% ahead of tomorrow morning's earnings report.

A downturn in Treasuries weighed on the interest-rate sensitive utilities (-1.9%) sector as yields rose throughout the complex. The yield on the 10-yr note ended its day higher by seven basis points at 1.85%.

The Dollar Index (95.22, +0.67) spiked following the release of the FOMC minutes, which could breathe new life into the policy divergence trade. The euro/dollar pair ended lower by 0.9% (1.1216) while the dollar/yen pair finished at 110.22 (+1.0%).

Today's volume on the NYSE floor came in below the recent average with fewer than 758 million shares changing hands. However, a trading unit at the NYSE experienced technical issues, which temporarily suspended trading in 199 symbols.

Today's economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted decrease of 1.6% in mortgage applications.

Tomorrow's economic data will include weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 278k) and the Philadelphia Fed Survey for May (Briefing.com consensus 2.7), which will both cross the wires at 8:30 ET. Finally, April Leading Indicators (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) will be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite -5.4% YTD
Russell 2000 -3.1% YTD
S&P 500 +0.2% YTD
Dow Jones +0.6% YTD

DJ30 -3.36 NASDAQ +23.39 SP500 +0.42 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1838/1.77 bln/1228 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1044/758.4 mln/1977

3:30 pm :

The dollar index sees a notable afternoon spike after the release of the Fed Minutes stating a June rate hike is on the table, index is up +0.6% around the 95.14 level
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -0.4% at 85.40
Crude oil closes lower following the release of EIA storage data that showed an unexpected build compared to estimates for a draw
June crude oil futures fell $0.15 (-0.3%) to $48.15/barrel
Crude oil inventories had a build of +1.31 mln (consensus called for a draw of about -2.7 mln)
Gasoline inventories had a draw of -2.496 mln
Distillate inventories had a draw of -3.17 mln
Contributing factors affecting the price of oil include:
Goldman Sachs has made bullish comments about WTI crude, suggesting the oil market has gone to a supply deficit situation
Nigerian supply concerns after Nigerian output has been curtailed substantially on unrest there
Venezuelan oil production concerns amid political instability in the region
Oil investor T. Boone Pickens believes supply & demand are now balanced, expects $50-$60/barrel oil prices as early as 2 months from now
API inventory data released yesterday after the bell showed a build of +3.5 mln barrels compared to expectations for a draw of about -3.2 mln barrels
The next OPEC meeting is scheduled to take place on June 2, 2016
Natural gas declines for the fourth consecutive trading session, closing near the lows of the day
June natural gas closed $0.05 lower (-2.4%) at $2.00/MMBtu
EIA natural gas inventory data is scheduled to be released tomorrow at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold plunges to finish pit trading at fresh lows of the day
June gold ended today's session down $2.00 (-0.2%) to $1274.60/oz
Silver moved in tandem with gold, finishing at fresh lows of the day in afternoon pit trading
July silver closed today's session $0.10 lower (-0.6%) at $17.14/oz
Base metal copper continues its initial morning decline in afternoon pit trading
July copper closed $0.01 lower (-0.5%) at $2.08/lb

Equity indices began the session under pressure as global bourses followed U.S. futures lower overnight. The negative bias in equities can be attributed to yesterday's hawkish remarks from a string of FOMC members. Taken as a whole, the group emphasized that a June rate hike remains on the table. Additionally, disappointing guidance from Target (TGT 68.00, -5.61 -7.62%) weighed on big box names and the already beleaguered retail sub-group.

The major averages shook early weakness as investors shifted their attention toward the latest inventory data from the Department of Energy. The results were mixed with crude oil inventories (+1.31 million barrels) missing the mark while gasoline inventories (-2.49 million barrels) showed a larger-than-expected draw. As a result, traders momentarily stymied the advance in oil with the energy component ultimately ending lower, down -0.3% to $48.15/barrel.

Wednesday trade rebounded from yesterday's weakness as a pullback following the April Fed minutes took stocks lower, but the three major indices ended split. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 23.39 points (+0.50%) today to end 4739.12. The S&P 500 closed up less than a point (+0.02%) to 2047.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.36 points (-0.02%) to 17526.62. The April Fed Minutes were released today, and highlights from the comments held that the Fed is leaving open the possibility of an increase to the federal funds rate at the June FOMC meeting.

Economic data, save the Fed minutes, was limited today to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index which showed a seasonally adjusted decline of 1.6% in mortgage applications.

Technology (XLK 42.45, +0.12 +0.28%) for its part closed the session modestly higher as gains were cut following the Fed, but the sector was able to climb out of the red. Component Salesforce.com (CRM 77.87, +1.10 +1.43%) was modestly higher today ahead of the company's latest quarterly print, which is scheduled for release after the closing bell tonight. Other sectors as measured by the S&P ended the session split with XLF +1.75%, IYZ +1.22%, XLV +0.42%, XLI -0.34%, XLY -0.58%, XLE -0.96%, XLP -1.16%, XLB -1.53%, XLU -1.87% as Financials ended at the top and Utilities were pressured.

Semis (SOX 649.36, +10.47 +1.64%) were a notable standout today as names like MU +3.93%, QRVO +3.03%, ARMH +2.93%, ON +2.91%, CAVM +2.80%, NXPI +2.69%, NVDA +2.55%, TSM +2.48% puffed a collective chest and ended in the green. Component Analog Devices (ADI 55.82, +0.45 +0.81%) released its latest quarterly numbers ahead of the open this morning, and beat on both the top and bottom lines of expectations, much to the delight of investors. The company did guide Q3 EPS and revenues worse than expected, but the overall out-performance of the group kept the name in the green.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (703.01, +3.63 +0.52%) sector, Wednesday jostling ultimately ended with gains. Names like STX +3.08%, SWKS +2.02%, AVGO +1.92%, EBAY +1.80%, FFIV +1.72%, QCOM +1.54%, AMAT +1.43%, LLTC +1.24%, MCHP +1.15%, AAPL +1.14%, LRCX +1.13%, NTAP +1.02%, TXN +1.01%, XLNX +0.92% resisted the Fed minutes sell-off and ended with gains.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Apple (AAPL 94.56, +1.07 +1.14%) announced a new initiative to support engineering talent and accelerate growth in India's iOS developer community. The company will establish a Design and Development Accelerator in Bengaluru, the home of India's startup scene.

Fiserv (FISV 102.46, -0.69 -0.67%) announced that Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, a leading Thai bank with about 17 million customer accounts, is making financial services faster and easier with new mobile banking functionality.

Microsoft (MSFT 50.81, +0.30 +0.59%) reached an agreement to sell the company's entry-level feature phone assets to FIH Mobile Ltd., a subsidiary of Hon Hai/Foxconn Technology Group (HNHPF 4.59, flat), and HMD Global, Oy for $350 million.

Castlight Health (CSLT 4.05, +0.85 +26.56%) announced a strategic alliance with SAP (SAP 77.52, +0.56 +0.73%). SAP acquired shares and warrants from CSLT.

SAP (SAP) and UPS (UPS 101.30, +0.21 +0.21%) to partner to simplify industrial on-demand manufacturing through end-to-end 3D printing innovation.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

inContact (SAAS 13.83, +4.82 +53.50%) to be acquired by NICE (NICE 66.56, +2.75 +4.31%) for $14.00 per share in cash.

Inteliquent (IQNT 16.32, -0.27 -1.63%) acquired Shopety for $4.4 million.

KEYW Holding (KEYW 8.39, +0.53 +6.74%) sold its HawkEye G product line business of Hexis Cyber Solutions. The combined deal value along with a previously announced sale totals about $20 million in cash and purchaser stock.

Nxt-ID (NXTD 0.39, +0.06 +18.45%) entered into a purchase agreement to acquire 100% membership interests in LogicMark for $20 million in cash.

Gogo (GOGO 9.67, +0.12 +1.26%) commenced a $500 million offering of senior secured notes due 2022.

Novanta (NOVT 14.88, -0.02 -0.13%) to acquire Reach Technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

RealPage (RP 21.34, +0.29 +1.38%) acquired AssetEye for $4.8 million. RP noted the deal is not expected to have a material impact to its 2016 financial performance.

Synopsys (SNPS 48.36, +0.58 +1.21%) acquired Simpleware. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed

Mercury (MRCY 20.04, +0.04 +0.20%) received a $4.2 million follow-on order from a defense prime contractor for digital signal processing modules for an unmanned airborne synthetic aperture radar application.

GoDaddy (GDDY 30.48, +0.68 +2.28%) acquired FreedomVoice for $42 million in cash plus up to $5 million in potential future milestones payments.

ARM Holdings (ARMH 41.06, +1.17 +2.93%) acquired Apical for $350 million. The company noted the deal closed on May 17.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Analog Devices (ADI) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $0.64 on in-line revenues which fell 5.1% versus last year to $778.8 million. The company also guided Q3 EPS at the midpoint of expectations at $0.66-0.74 with revenues expected to come in light at $800-840 million.

Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH 28.94, +1.43 +5.20%) reported in-line Q4 EPS of $0.41 with better than expected revenues which rose 6.1% versus last year to $1.42 billion. BAH also issued in-line guidance for FY17 EPS of $1.65-1.75.

Acxiom (ACXM 19.67, -2.71 -12.11%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.18 and $224.66 million, respectively. ACXM also guided FY17 EPS and revenues worse than expected at $0.55 to slightly higher, and $870-890 million, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: CSCO, CRM, SNPS, TTWO, WSTL/CMCM, HQCL

Analyst actions:

SNX was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Raymond James;
SAAS was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Lake Street and to Hold from Buy at Summit Research;
BATS was initiated with a Hold at Deutsche Bank,
BBRY was initiated with an Underperform at Macquarie,
CLS and SHOP were initiated with an Outperform at Macquarie,
XTLY was initiated with a Buy at Lake Street,
BRCD was initiated with a Buy at BofA/Merrill

10:13 am Semiconductor Hldrs ETF continues to provide relative strength (SMH) : Noted earlier that Semi SMH / XSD was displaying relative strength with the recent following through in the SMH setting a new high for the week at 52.84 near its 50 day ema and May peak at 52.89/52.92 -- MU +5.7%, AMD +3.6%, MRVL +2.6%, CRUS +2.5%, NVDA +2%, AVGO +1.7%, LSCC +1.4%, TER +1.4%, MCHP +1.2%, TSM +1.1%.

8:04 am Analog Devices beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS midpoint below consensus, revs below consensus (ADI) :

Reports Q2 (Apr) earnings of $0.64 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.62; revenues fell 5.1% year/year to $778.8 mln vs the $777.65 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.66-0.74, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.74 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $800-840 mln vs. $840.44 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."Looking ahead, stable order flows in the B2B markets lead us to plan for a largely seasonal third quarter in these markets, and for sequential revenue growth to resume in the consumer market.

Importantly for ADI, we expect our B2B markets, in the aggregate, to grow in the mid-to-high single digits on a year-over-year basis in the third quarter."

7:51 am NXP Semi announces intention to offer senior unsecured notes due 2021 & senior unsecured notes due 2023 for total proceeds of $1.0 bln pursuant to Rule 144A & Regulation S
(NXPI) : The co intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the notes and cash on hand to repay $500 mln aggregate principal amount of its existing secured term loan B due 2020 and $500 mln aggregate principal amount of its outstanding senior secured notes due 2021.

6:04 am Photronics reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (PLAB) :

Reports Q2 (Apr) earnings of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.13; revenues fell 3.5% year/year to $122.9 mln vs the $125.54 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.10-0.18 vs. $0.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $118-128 mln vs. $132.91 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:36 am ARM Holdings acquires Apical for $350 mln, acquisition closed on May 17 (ARMH) :

ARM has acquired the entire share capital of Apical, an imaging and embedded computer vision intellectual property products for a cash consideration of $350 mln

The acquisition accelerates the ARM ecosystem's growth into new markets such as connected vehicles, robotics, smart cities, security systems, industrial/retail applications and Internet of Things devices.Apical technology extends ARM's product portfolio in existing markets such as smartphones and cameras.

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 20-May-16The stock market ended the trading week on a modestly higher note thanks to a Friday rally that helped the S&P 500 lock in a 0.3% gain for the week. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed, climbing 1.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.2%) lagged.

The S&P 500 was able to eke out a slim gain even though the week was dominated by discussions concerning rate hike expectations. Comments from several Federal Reserve officials suggested that a rate hike in June is within the realm of possibilities while the FOMC Minutes from the April meeting reinforced that idea.

According to the Minutes, "Most participants judged that if incoming data were consistent with economic growth picking up in the second quarter, labor market conditions continuing to strengthen, and inflation marking progress toward the Committee's 2.0% objective, then it would likely be appropriate for the Committee to increase the target range for the federal funds rate in June."

As for inflation, the April CPI report that was released on Tuesday showed hotter-than-expected headline inflation (+0.4%; Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) while core CPI increased an in-line 0.2%.

The commentary emanating from the Fed led to an uptick in rate hike expectations as expressed by the fed funds futures market. Last Friday, the probability of a rate hike at the June meeting was sitting at a lowly 8.0%, which increased to 30.0% by the end of the week. Furthermore, the fed funds futures market is pricing in a 55.0% likelihood of a rate hike in July.

The rate-hike discussion gave a boost to the greenback, helping the Dollar Index (95.34) register its third consecutive weekly advance after notching a fresh low for 2016 during the first week of May.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17539.77 17500.46 -39.31 -0.2 0.4
Nasdaq 4718.89 4769.56 50.67 1.1 -4.7
S&P 500 2047.10 2052.23 5.13 0.3 0.4
Russell 2000 1102.30 1112.06 9.76 0.9 -2.1

4:15 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Rebound as Technology Leads (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended a flat week on a higher note as the S&P 500 (+0.6%; week-to-date +0.3%) broke a three-week losing streak. Today's action featured a rebound in global equity markets, a modest gain in the dollar, and the outperformance of the heavyweight technology (+1.1%), health care (+0.8%), and consumer discretionary (+0.7%) spaces. The Nasdaq Composite (+1.2%) ended its week ahead of the benchmark index (+0.6%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.4%).

Today's session began on a higher note as investors looked to a rebound in global indices after this week's recent Fed-fueled selling. Participants recently dialed up their expectations for the speed and path of future fed funds rate hikes, responding to Fed speakers and the FOMC minutes from the April meeting.

The major averages extended their opening gains as investors looked to sector leadership from the heavily-weighted technology (+1.2%), health care (+0.8%), and financial (+0.6%) spaces. However, equity indices pulled back after the benchmark index fell short of testing its 50-day simple moving average (2060.54).

The broader market ticked lower in the final hour, but nine sectors finished above their flat lines. The influential technology (+1.2%) sector led health care (+0.8%) and consumer discretionary (+0.7%) while countercyclical consumer staples (-0.4%) ended with the only loss.

In the technology space (+1.2%), the high-beta chipmakers ended the week on a strong note as the PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 3.2%. In the sub-group, Applied Materials (AMAT 22.66, +2.75) spiked 13.8% after beating estimates for the quarter and issuing above-consensus guidance. Elsewhere, Yahoo! (YHOO 36.50, -0.52) displayed relative weakness after headlines speculated that bids for the web portal would register between $2 billion and $3 billion. The broader technology space gained 1.4% this week, trailing only energy (+0.4%; week-to-date +1.5%).

Biotechnology demonstrated relative strength as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 264.18, +5.28) gained 2.0%. For the week, the ETF climbed 4.1% compared to the gain of 0.6% in the broader sector. Elsewhere, Pfizer (PFE 33.74, +0.36) led the drug manufacturer sub-group while Dow component Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 112.64, +0.59) underperformed the broader market.

Retail names ended their week on a mixed note as disappointing guidance from Ross Stores (ROST 52.49, -3.03) and Foot Locker (FL 54.77, -3.78) weighed on the names. Elsewhere, Gap (GPS 18.01, +0.73) gained 4.2% after announcing that it would close 75 stores worldwide. Separately, Nordstrom (JWN 38.12, +1.01) and L Brands (LB 63.54, +2.92) rebounded 2.7% and 4.8%, respectively.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (+1.1%) demonstrated relative strength with courier and logistics names leading. In the broader industrial sector (+0.5%), Deere (DE 77.74, -4.51) underperformed after lowering its year-over-year cash flow guidance. However, the company did beat analysts' estimates for the quarter.

Campbell Soup (CPB 59.90, -4.08) underperformed in the consumer staples space (-0.4%) after a sales metric missed its mark.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.34, +0.05) ended its day modestly higher, but the greenback trimmed its gain against the yen and the euro. The dollar/yen pair finished higher by 0.2% (110.16) after slipping from the 110.55 level. Separately, the euro gained 0.1% against the dollar (1.1217).

The Treasury complex finished flat with the yield on the 10-yr note ending unchanged at 1.85%.

Today's volume was above the recent average with more than 953 million shares changing hands on the NYSE floor. However, this is relatively light given that today marked an option expiration date.

Today's economic data was limited to April Existing Home Sales:

Existing home sales increased 1.7% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million (Briefing.com consensus 5.40 million) from an upwardly revised 5.36 million (from 5.33 mln) in March. The April number was better than expected and qualifies as another data point supporting a pickup in second quarter growth.
The uptick in April was fueled by a 12.1% increase in home sales in the Midwest.
That gain, and a 2.1% increase in home sales in the Northeast, offset existing home sales declines of 2.7% and 1.7%, respectively, in the South and West.On a year-over-year basis, existing home sales are up 6.0%, which incorporates a 3.7% year-over-year decline in the West that was attributed to the constraints of supply shortages and price growth.The bulk of the total existing home sales increase was led by sales of existing condominiums and co-ops, which jumped 10.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 640,000 units. Single-family home sales were up just 0.6% to 4.81 million, although they are up 6.2% year-over-year.The median existing condo price was $223,300 in April, up 6.8% year-over-year, while the median existing single-family home price was $233,700 in April, up 6.2% year-over-year. The median price for all housing types in April was $232,500, up 6.3% year-over-year.The share of first-time buyers in April was 32% versus 30% in March and the same period a year ago. The pickup in first-time buyers is good to see since they are integral to driving existing home sales activity.At the current sales pace, unsold inventory sits at a 4.7-month supply, which is up from 4.4 months in March. Still, that is well below the 6.0-month supply typically seen during normal periods of buying and selling.There is economic data of note scheduled for Monday.

Nasdaq Composite -4.8% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.1% YTD
Dow Jones +0.4% YTD
S&P 500 +0.4% YTD
Week in Review: Rate Hike Odds Rising

The stock market ended the trading week on a modestly highernote thanks to a Friday rally that helped the S&P 500 lock in a 0.3% gainfor the week. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed, climbing 1.1%, while the DowJones Industrial Average (-0.2%) lagged.

The S&P 500 was able to eke out a slim gain even though the weekwas dominated by discussions concerning rate hike expectations. Comments from severalFederal Reserve officials suggested that a rate hike in June is within therealm of possibilities while the FOMC Minutes from the April meeting reinforcedthat idea.

According to the Minutes, "Most participants judged that ifincoming data were consistent with economic growth picking up in the secondquarter, labor market conditions continuing to strengthen, and inflationmarking progress toward the Committee's 2.0% objective, then it would likely beappropriate for the Committee to increase the target range for the federalfunds rate in June."

As for inflation, the April CPI report that was released onTuesday showed hotter-than-expected headline inflation (+0.4%; Briefing.comconsensus 0.3%) while core CPI increased an in-line 0.2%.

The commentary emanating from the Fed led to an uptick inrate hike expectations as expressed by the fed funds futures market. LastFriday, the probability of a rate hike at the June meeting was sitting at alowly 8.0%, which increased to 30.0% by the end of the week. Furthermore, thefed funds futures market is pricing in a 55.0% likelihood of a rate hike inJuly.

The rate-hike discussion gave a boost to the greenback,helping the Dollar Index (95.34) register its third consecutive weekly advanceafter notching a fresh low for 2016 during the first week of May.

The major averages began the day on a higher note as rebounds in global bourses helped support an uptick in U.S. futures. Dollar strength waned ahead of the session while oil vacillated between a modest gain and loss. WTI crude established a new session low within the first hour of trading ($47.95/bbl) before ticking off those levels and ending with modest losses, -0.5%.

Yesterday's losses turned into today's gains as the back-and-forth trading bias continued on Friday as the markets rebounded off Thursday's negative action. Last Friday, the markets turned loweron Monday, we ended higherTuesday was a down sessionWednesday was split but mostly higherThursday ended with lossesand now Friday completes the cycle. The Nadsaq Composite blew out the other two indices today, advancing 57.02 points (+1.21%) to close 4769.56. The S&P 500 halfed the Nasdaq's gains, ending higher 12.28 points (+0.60%) to 2052.32. Rounding out the trio, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 65.54 points (+0.38%) to 17500.94 when the day was done. This week's action takes the three major indices -4.8%, +0.4% and +0.4% YTD, respectively.

Market data today consisted of existing home sales, which increased 1.7% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million from an upwardly revised 5.36 million (from 5.33 million) in March. Single-family home sales were up just 0.6% to 4.81 million, although they are now up 6.2% versus a year ago. At the current sales pace, unsold inventory sits at a 4.7-month supply, up from 4.4 months in March.

Technology (XLK 42.67, +0.45 +1.07%) for its part traded lockstep with the broader market, trading days up and down while ultimately ending Friday on a high note. Component Windstream (WIN 7.99, +0.56 +7.54%) was strong today as last night after the close, Steadfast Capital disclosed a 5.1% passive stake in the company. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed Friday IYZ +1.08%, XLV +0.93%, XLB +0.72%, XLF +0.69%, XLY +0.66%, XLE +0.59%, XLI +0.51%, XLU +0.23%, XLP -0.51% as Tech and Telecoms led, and Consumer Staples were the lone laggard.

Chip stocks (SOX 665.09, +20.35 +3.16%) were also strong today as component Applied Materials (AMAT 22.66, +2.75 +13.81%) reported a strong Q2 and guided Q3 ahead of expectations. Other names in the space that got a lift today included MU +7.25%, QRVO +4.73%, LRCX +4.58%, QCOM +3.34%, CREE +3.24%, TSM +2.84%, SWKS +2.80%, AVGO +2.80%, CAVM +2.59%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (707.20, +8.28 +1.18%) sector, trading wrapped up the week much like it did in other areas permeated by tech names. Component Autodesk (ADSK 56.19, -1.33 -2.31%) bucked the broader market trend today, falling as results for the Q1 period were mostly positive, but shares were hit on the Q2 guide. Other names in the space which finished higher today included MCHP +2.48%, TXN +2.27%, TDC +2.24%, LLTC +2.22%, XLNX +2.08%, AKAM +2.07%, FSLR +1.97%, HPQ +1.92%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Microsoft (MSFT 50.62, +0.30 +0.60%), Mojang and NetEase (NTES 166.81, +5.58 +3.46%) announced a five-year exclusive agreement to license Mojang's Minecraft mobile and PC editions to a NTES affiliate in mainland China. As part of the agreement, Mojang will develop a version of Minecraft tailored for the Chinese market and release it in partnership with NetEase.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Brocade (BRCD 7.97, flat) increased their quarterly dividend to $0.55 from $0.45 per share.

According to a Wall Street Journal article, Yahoo! (YHOO 36.50, -0.52 -1.40%) suitors are expected to make bids between $2-3 billion for YHOO unit, below prior expectations.

Harman (HAR 75.15, +3.46 +4.83%) and Alphabet's (GOOG 709.74, +9.42 +1.35%) Google announced an extended collaboration between the two companies to include modules for GOOG's new modular mobile device, Ara. In addition, HAR and Google's Advanced Technology and Projects Group (ATAP) are also working closely together on Project Soli.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

RADCOM (RDCM 11.29, -0.53 -4.48%) priced an offering of 1,818,182 ordinary shares at $11.00 per share.

Knowles (KN 4.40, +0.06 +1.45%) sold its mobile consumer electronics speaker and receiver product line to Loyal Valley Innovation Capital. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Telephone & Data (TDS 27.52, +0.19 +0.70%) filed for a mixed debt securities shelf offering.

Steadfast Capital disclosed a 5.1% passive stake in Windstream (WIN).

Indiegogo and Arrow Electronics (ARW 61.59, +0.55 +0.90%) formed a strategic alliance to create a new crowdfund-to-production platform aimed at accelerating the pace of innovation for technology and Internet of Things (IoT) entrepreneurs.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Applied Materials (AMAT) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $0.34 on in-line revenues which rose 0.3% versus last year to $2.45 billion. The company also guided Q3 ahead of expectations on EPS of $0.46-0.50 and revenues of +14-18% quarter-over-quarter to about $2.79-2.89 billion.

Autodesk (ADSK) reported a better than expected Q1 loss per shares of $0.10 on revenues which came in in-line with Street views and fell 20.8% versus a year ago to $511.9 million. ADSK also guided Q2 worse than expected at EPS of ($0.18)-($0.11) on revenues of $500-520 million. Additionally, ADSK guided in-line FY17 EPS of ($0.95)-($0.70) on revenues of $1.95-2.050 billion.

Brocade (BRCD) reported in-line Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.22 and $523 million, respectively. For Q3, BRCD guided EPS and revenues worse than expectations at $0.19-0.21 and $510-530 million, respectively.

Mentor Graphics (MENT 20.80, +1.44 +7.44%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.02 and $227.6 million. MENT also guided Q2 EPS and revenues ahead of expectations at $0.09 and about $245 million, respectively. The company also reaffirmed FY17 EPS and revenue guidance of $1.68 and $1.215 billion, respectively.

8x8 (EGHT 12.60, +0.86 +7.33%) reported in-line Q4 EPS of $0.03 on better than expected revenues which rose 31.7% versus last year to $57.3 million. The company also guided FY17 revenues ahead of expectations at $249-253 million.

Scheduled to report quarterly results ahead of the open on Monday: SOL

Analyst actions:

CMCM was downgraded to Underperform at Credit Suisse and to Neutral at Macquarie
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo! and Microsoft)

4:33 pm Action Semi receives prelim non-binding going private proposal from its former CEO to purchase Co for $2.00 per ADS (ACTS) :

Co announced that its Board of Directors has received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter, dated May 19, 2016, from Mr. Hsuan-Wen Chen, former CEO of the Company, and certain of his affiliates and affiliated entities, that proposes a "going-private" transaction involving the acquisition of all of the outstanding equity interest of the Company not already owned by the Consortium Members at price of $2.00 per American depositary share. According to the proposal letter, the Consortium Members beneficially owned, in the aggregate, approximately 34.61% of the Company's outstanding share capital.

The Company's Board of Directors has formed a special committee of independent directors to consider the proposal.

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From Briefing.com: 4:11 pm NetApp misses by $0.03, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; increases quarterly dividend 6% (NTAP) :

Reports Q4 (Apr) earnings of $0.55 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.58; revenues fell 10.4% year/year to $1.38 bln vs the $1.4 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.34-0.39, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.45 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of 1.20-1.35 bln vs. $1.26 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.The Company will increase the first quarter fiscal year 2017 dividend by 6% to $0.19 per share.'We executed well in the fourth quarter and I'm pleased with the progress we are making with our strategic solutions portfolio in addressing customers' needs. We continue to advance our pivot to the growth segments of the market while, at the same time, streamlining the business and reducing our cost base. The team remains sharply focused on disciplined execution and is fully committed to return the company to long-term growth.'

4:11 pm HP beats by $0.03, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus; guides FY16 EPS above consensus (HPQ) :

Reports Q2 (Apr) earnings of $0.41 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.38; revenues fell 10.7% year/year to $11.59 bln vs the $11.71 bln Capital IQ Consensus.Personal Systems net revenue was down 10% year over year (down 5% in constant currency) with a 3.5% operating margin.

Commercial net revenue decreased 7% and Consumer net revenue decreased 16%. Total units were down 9% with Notebooks units down 6% and Desktops units down 10%. Printing net revenue was down 16% year over year (down 10% in constant currency) with a 17.3% operating margin. Total hardware units were down 16% with Commercial hardware units down 12% and Consumer hardware units down 18%. Supplies revenue was down 16% (down 10% in constant currency).

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.37-0.40 vs. $0.41 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Co issues upside guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $1.59-1.65 vs. $1.58 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:09 pm Emcore awarded $4.7 mln purchase order to supply RFoG Optical Networking Units to 'major' US supplier of network infrastructure solutions for the Cable TV market (EMKR) : The products are expected to be shipped over the next year

4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Wednesday affair on a higher note as the S&P 500 (+0.7%) extended its May gain to 1.2%. Focal points for today's trade included a positive reading of the Department of Energy's stockpile data, leadership from the heavily-weighted financial (+1.0%) and technology (+0.7%) sectors, and Greece receiving approval for its next bailout tranche. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.8%) finished ahead of the S&P 500 (+0.7%) and the Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%).

Equities gapped higher to begin their day, boosted by a positive bias in overseas trade. Global bourses ended higher, responding to yesterday's rally in U.S. markets, bullish API Inventory data, and a freshly minted agreement for Greece to unlock the next bailout tranche. Additionally, there was an underlying sense that markets are becoming more comfortable with increased U.S. rate hike expectations.

The major averages traded lockstep with oil as the energy component extended its gain. However, the pair briefly paused their advance as investors ruminated over the Department of Energy's latest stockpile data. The Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil inventories declined by 4.22 million barrels, compared to the estimated 2.45 million barrel draw. Furthermore, the report also showed that gasoline inventories rose by 2.04 million barrels, compared to the estimated 1.06 million barrel draw.

The broader market extended its gain through the afternoon as commodity-sensitive energy (+1.5%) and materials (+1.2%) led heavily-weighted financials (+1.0%) and technology (+0.7%). Conversely, countercyclical utilities (-0.3%) ended with the only loss.

The energy space (+1.5%) demonstrated broad-based strength as a rally in oil continued to add support. Independent oil and gas companies, pipeline names, and oilfield servicers each outperformed. Meanwhile, oil and gas refiners displayed relative weakness as the group weighed disappointing gasoline inventories. Phillips 66 (PSX 80.13, +0.43) gained 0.5%, but still ended behind the broader sector and market. For its part, WTI crude jumped 1.9% ($49.56), ending its day at the best level of 2016.

The economically-sensitive financial sector (+1.0%) outperformed as market participants digested more hawkish commentary from FOMC members. St. Louis Fed President and FOMC voter James Bullard commented last night that labor market strength appears to support more interest rate hikes. However, President Bullard did also say that a June or July hike is not set in stone. Money center banks finished in front of the sector on the anticipation that their earnings prospects and net interest margins will improve.

In the technology space (+0.7%), Dow component IBM (IBM 151.69, +3.38) outperformed, gaining 2.3%. Elsewhere, heavyweight constituent Microsoft (MSFT 52.12, +0.53) gained 1.0% after announcing that it would cut 1,850 jobs in order to streamline its smartphone division. Elsewhere, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 17.35, +1.10) reported above-consensus results for the quarter and announced a tax-free spin-off of its Enterprise Services business with Computer Sciences (CSC 50.65, +15.00).

In the consumer discretionary space (+0.5%), retail names continued their recent rebounds, evidenced by the 1.2% gain in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 41.70, +0.50). In the sub-group, Tiffany & Co (TIF 63.89, +0.04) gained 0.1% despite disappointing investors with its quarterly results and guidance.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.42, -0.15) ended off its low as commodity currencies and the euro gained against the greenback. The euro/dollar pair finished higher by 0.1% (1.1152) while the dollar lost 0.8% against the commodity-sensitive Canadian dollar (1.3025).

The Treasury complex finished on a flat note with the yield on the 10-yr note unchanged at 1.87%.

Today's participation was below the recent average as fewer than 891 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, April International Trade in Goods, and the March FHFA Housing Price Index:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 2.3%
April International Trade in Goods showed a deficit of $57.53 billion, compared to the March deficit of $56.90 billion.
The FHFA Housing Price Index for March rose 0.7%, which followed an increase of 0.4% in February

Tomorrow's economic data will include weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 275k) and April Durable Good Order (Briefing.com consensus 0.6%), both crossing the wires at 8:30 ET. Finally, Pending Home Sales for April (Briefing.com consensus 0.6%) will be released at 10:00 ET.

Dow Jones +2.5% YTD
S&P 500 +2.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.4% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -2.3% YTD

DJ30 +145.46 NASDAQ +33.84 SP500 +14.48 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1817/1.616 bln/999 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2050/890.4 mln/939

3:30 pm :

The dollar index gives up its initial morning gains & trends lower, boosting commodities, down -0.2% around the 95.35 level
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are up +1.2% at 85.19
Crude oil surges to fresh year-to-date highs into the close after an initial morning drop post-EIA
July crude oil futures rose $0.91 (+1.9%) to $49.56/barrel
Reminders:
Crude oil inventories had a draw of -4.226 mln (consensus called for a draw of about -2.65 mln)
Gasoline inventories had a build of +2.043 mln
Distillate inventories had a draw of -1.284 mln
Demand for gasoline is high as memorial day weekend approaches
The next OPEC meeting is scheduled to take place on June 2, 2016
Natural gas snaps its two-day streak of losses, reversing off its lows in afternoon pit trading and closing near the highs of the day
July natural gas closed $0.03 higher (+1.4%) at $2.18/MMBtu
EIA natural gas inventory data is scheduled to be released tomorrow at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold stages a modest afternoon rally off its morning lows as the dollar weakens, closing still lower on the day
June gold ended today's session down $5.20 (-0.4%) to $1223.60/oz
Silver exhibits notable volatility, briefly dropping near parity with the previous session's close before trending upwards in the afternoon, aided by dollar weakness
July silver closed today's session $0.01 higher (+0.1%) at $16.26/oz
Base metal copper finishes afternoon pit trading notably higher, after two days of flat-lining
July copper closed $0.03 higher (+1.5%) at $2.10/lb

The major averages began their day on a higher note as global bourses advanced following yesterday's rally in U.S. equities. The positive bias overseas can also be attributed to a leg higher in oil and news that eurozone finance ministers reached an agreement to release the next bailout tranche to Greece. To that end, the commodity closed Wednesday ***.

Markets took another leg higher, compounding yesterday's aggressive advance. The first back to back days of gains across the board were led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average which added 145.46 points (+0.82%) to 17851.51. The S&P 500 was up 14.48 points (+0.70%) to 2090.54, and the Nasdaq Composite also advanced (+0.70%), higher by 33.83 points to 4894.89.

Market data today included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index which showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 2.3%. The April International Trade in Goods showed a deficit of $57.53 billion, compared to the March deficit of $56.90 billion. Additionally, the FHFA Housing Price Index for March rose 0.7%.

Technology (XLK 43.69, +0.20 +0.46%) posted respectable gains today, posting back to back positive sessions for the first time in a month. Component Yahoo! (YHOO 35.59, -1.94 -5.17%) was the worst performer today following a Bloomberg article out today highlighted AT&T's (T 38.62, +0.12 +0.31%) possible interest in the company's internet assets. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed Wednesday XLE +1.58%, XLB +1.23%, XLF +1.06%, XLI +0.68%, XLV +0.62%, XLY +0.55%, IYZ +0.42%, XLP +0.15%, XLU -0.29% as Energy led the sectors higher on the back of a +1.9% advance in July Crude Oil Futures.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (726.77, +5.31 +0.74%) sector, action was also higher today as the broader market bias carried trading. Component Computer Sciences (CSC 50.66, +15.01 +42.10%) was the best performer today as the company reported mostly better than expected Q4 results and announced a tax-free merger with Hewlett Packard Enterprise's (HPE 17.35, +1.10 +6.77%) Enterprise Services Business. Other names in the space which posted decent gains today included TDC +3.84%, STX +2.87%, XRX +2.59%, HPQ +2.43%, IBM +2.28%, AAPL +1.76%, LRCX +1.70%, CSCO +1.62%, ADS +1.51%, AVGO +1.42%, NTAP +1.23%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced plans for a tax-free spin-off and merger of its Enterprise Services Business with Computer Sciences (CSC). Immediately following the transaction, currently targeted to be completed by March 31, 2017, HPE shareholders will own shares of both HPE and about 50% of the new company. The transaction is expected to deliver about $8.5 billion to HPE's shareholders on an after-tax basis. The transaction is intended to be tax-free to HPE and CSC and their respective shareholders for federal income tax purposes. The merger of the two businesses is expected to produce first-year cost synergies of about $1 billion post-close, with a run rate of $1.5 billion by the end of year one.

For fiscal 2016, HPE estimates non-GAAP diluted net EPS to be in the range of $1.85 to $1.95 and GAAP diluted net EPS to be in the range of $1.68 to $1.78.
In addition to reporting quarterly results and announcing the merger/spin-off with CSC, HPE's Board authorized an additional $3 billion for share repurchases. There is currently $4.8 billion now remaining in the stock repurchase authorization.

Microsoft (MSFT 52.12, +0.53 +1.03%) announced plans to streamline its smartphone hardware business, which will impact up to 1,850 jobs. As a result, the company will record an impairment and restructuring charge of about $950 million, of which about $200 million will relate to severance payments.

Medtronic plc (MDT 81.08 +0.14 +0.17%) and Qualcomm (QCOM 55.98, +0.39 +0.70%) through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Life, Inc., announced a global, multi-year collaboration to jointly develop future generation continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems that aim to improve health outcomes for people with diabetes.

Harris (HRS 79.36, +0.38 +0.48%) was awarded $106 million in follow-on contract options to sustain ground-based systems that support the U.S. missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance missions. Under the agreement, HRS provides all the support required -- including depot-level maintenance, repairs and upgrades, contractor logistics support and more -- to ensure the weapon systems are continually available and capable.

According to a Bloomberg report, AT&T (T) may by interested in Yahoo!'s (YHOO) internet assets.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Jabil Circuit (JBL 18.50, +0.22 +1.20%) announced a $300 million private placement of senior unsecured notes due 2023.

Match Group (MTCH 14.25, +0.21 +1.50%) to sell $400 million aggregate principal amount of 6.375% senior notes due 2024 in a private placement.

Nano Dimension (NNDM 618.80, +88.10 +16.60%) announced it has 'successfully' lab-tested a proof of concept 3D bioprinter for stem cells in conjunction with Accellta.

IMS Health Holdings (IMS 25.39, -0.25 -0.98%) acquired Privacy Analytics. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Energous (WATT 10.38, +0.22 +2.17%) confirmed the FCC approval of the Miniature WattUp transmitter reference design.

Open Text (OTEX 57.88, +1.78 +3.17%) to offer $500 million aggregate principal amount of its senior unsecured fixed rate notes due 2026.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) reported in-line EPS for Q2 of $0.42 on better than expected revenues which rose 1.3% versus last year to $12.71 billion. The company also issued downside guidance for Q3 EPS of $0.42-0.46. For the FY16 period, HPE issued in-line guidance for EPS in the range of $1.85-1.95.

Intuit (INTU 105.02, -2.29 -2.13%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $3.43 and $2.3 billion, respectively. INTU guided Q4 EPS in-line at breakeven. For Q4 revenues, INTU sees them coming in ahead of expectations at $720-740 million. As such, the company raised FY16 EPS guidance to $3.63-3.65 on revenues of $4.66-4.68 billion.

Computer Sciences (CSC) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.73 on revenues which came in in-line at $1.81 billion. CSC also guided FY17 EPS in-line at $2.75-3.00.

ViaSat (VSAT 69.41, -3.27 -4.50%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS of $0.29 and revenues of $372 million.

Nimble Storage (NMBL 8.56, +1.21 +16.46%) reported a better than expected Q1 loss per share of $0.24 on better than expected revenues which also rose 21.2% versus last year to $86.4 million. For Q2, NMBL sees EPS in-line at ($0.21)-($0.19) on better than expected revenues of $93-96 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: APIC, CSRA, EXA, HPQ, BLOX, NTAP, PSTG/TECD, TSL

Analyst actions:

CSC and WDC were upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays,
NOK was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Credit Agricole,
AMAT was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup,
FLTX was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at Pacific Crest;
CSC was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James,
TSS was downgraded to Outperform from Buy at Credit Agricole,
VIV was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse;
QRVO and SWKS were initiated with an Underperform at Credit Agricole,
ON was initiated with an Outperform at Credit Agricole,
TYPE was initiated with a Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann,
DST was initiated with an Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

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

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 27-May-16To little surprise, the week leading into Memorial Day weekend saw below-average trading volume, but the reduced activity did not prevent the stock market from registering its second consecutive weekly advance. The rally lifted the S&P 500 into the neighborhood of this year's high as the benchmark index gained 2.3% for the week while the Nasdaq Composite (+3.4%) outperformed thanks to relative strength in technology and biotechnology.

The trading week was pretty quiet on the economic front, but a handful of reports that did cross the wires pointed to a potential rebound from the weakness at the end of the first quarter. April New Home Sales (619K, Briefing.com consensus 521K), April Pending Home Sales (+5.1%; Briefing.com consensus 0.6%), and April Durable Orders (+3.4%; Briefing.com consensus 0.6%) beat expectations while the second estimate of first-quarter GDP (+0.8%; Briefing.com consensus 0.9%) and the final reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for May (94.7; Briefing.com consensus 95.5) were close to expectations, but missed.

Altogether, the economic data released during the past week kept the possibility of a summer rate hike alive. As a result, Fed officials that spoke since last Friday reminded investors that the FOMC is ready to raise rates if economic data does not take a turn for the worse. This message was consistent with remarks from two weeks ago that boosted the probability of a June hike from 8.0% to 30.0%.

Rate hike expectations, as indicated by the fed funds futures market, essentially held their ground throughout the week with the likelihood of a June hike remaining at 30.0%. However, expectations for a hike in July inched up to 62.0% from 55.0% at the end of last week.

The Dollar Index (95.75) enjoyed its fourth consecutive weekly rise, but the 0.4% increase represented the slowest weekly advance during the past month, which saw the index notch a fresh low for the year and climb 4.2% from that low point.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17500.46 17873.22 372.76 2.1 2.6
Nasdaq 4769.56 4933.50 163.94 3.4 -1.5
S&P 500 2052.23 2099.06 46.83 2.3 2.7
Russell 2000 1112.06 1149.46 37.40 3.4 1.2

The trading day began on a flat note amid a muted response to a modest revision to the second estimate of first quarter GDP (0.8%). Futures also tracked overseas bourses as the group looked to lock in their weekly gains. For its part, crude oil ticked lower, slipping further from the $50.00/bbl price level.

Following yesterday's mixed finish, the markets wrapped up the week with modest gains. Trading was relatively flat to start the session, but quickly picked up, ultimately ending higher led by the Nasdaq Composite which added 31.74 points (+0.65%) today to close 4933.50. The S&P 500 ended up 8.96 points (+0.43%) to 2099.06, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 44.93 points (+0.25%) to 17873.22. Action YTD in the three major US indices stands at -1.5%, +2.7% and +2.5% YTD, respectively.

Market data today included the aforementioned GDP number for Q1. Additionally, the final reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey for May was revised to 94.7 from the preliminary 95.8 reading.

After yesterday's modestly higher session, Technology (XLK 44.16, +0.27 +0.62%) closed the week higher, as Friday action ended near HoDs. Component Applied Materials (AMAT 24.44, +0.71 +2.99%) was an out-performer as the stock was mentioned positively this morning at Barron's. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed Friday XLF +0.68%, IYZ +0.51%, XLY +0.47%, XLV +0.45%, XLI +0.38%, XLU +0.17%, XLP +0.11%, XLE +0.06%, XLB -0.04% as Materials lagged and Financials out-performed.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (732.64, +4.10 +0.56%) sector, trading wrapped up the session near highs as the broader market surge took the sector higher. Component Apple (AAPL 100.35, -0.06 -0.06%) closed the session with modest losses as the stock was downgraded this morning to a Negative rating from a Mixed rating at OTR Global. Other names in the space that closed modestly higher included YHOO +2.88%, LRCX +2.41%, XRX +2.29%, CSC +2.18%, ADSK +2.12%, GLW +1.89%, NTAP +1.65%, KLAC +1.49%, GOOGL +1.45%, ADS +1.42%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

A judge ruled for Alphabet's (GOOG 732.66, +8.54 +1.18%) Google over Oracle (ORCL 40.07, +0.11 +0.29%) in a fair use patent fight.

Western Digital (WDC 44.99, +0.61 +1.37%) updated certain guidance following the completion of the SanDisk (SNDK) acquisition. Reflecting the ownership of SanDisk as of May 12, 2016, WDC now expects its Q4 revenue in the range of $3.35 billion to $3.45 billion compared to its earlier forecast of $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion. Further, WDC now expects its Q4 quarter EPS on a non-GAAP basis to be between $0.65 to $0.70, compared with its earlier forecast of $1.00 to $1.10 per share.

Xerox (XRX 9.83, +0.22 +2.29%) announced Ursula Burns will serve as the Chairman of the Board of the Document Technology company following completion of the separation of Xerox into two independent, publicly-traded companies -- a Document Technology company and a Business Process Outsourcing company.

According to Reuters, Verizon (VZ 50.62, +0.46 +0.92%) is working with former Yahoo! (YHOO 37.82, +1.06 +2.88%) investment banks to bid for YHOO unit.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

TerraForm Power (TERP 8.56, +0.02 +0.23%) announced the resignation of Ahmad Chatila as a Director. The company also announce the receipt of an extension to regain compliance with Nasdaq listing requirements.

Applied Materials (AMAT) was an out-performer as the stock was mentioned positively at Barron's this morning.

According to the Department of Labor's Thomas Perez, Verizon (VZ) and workers on strike have reached an agreement in principle. Perez noted VZ expects workers to be back on the job by next week.

FEI (FEIC 108.13, +13.55 +14.33%) to be acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO 152.13, +0.93 +0.62%) for $107.50 per share in cash, or about $4.2 billion. TMO expects the transaction is expected to be accretive to its adjusted EPS by $0.30 in the first full year after close. Additionally, TMO expects to realize total synergies of about $80 million by year three following the close, consisting of about $55 million of cost synergies and about $25 million of adjusted operating income benefit from revenue-related synergies.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Palo Alto Networks (PANW 129.86, -18.32 -12.36%) reported in-line Q3 EPS of $0.42 on better than expected revenues which rose 47.7% versus last year to $345.8 million. PANW also guided Q4 EPS in-line at $0.48-0.50 on in-line revenues of $386-390 million.

Splunk (SPLK 56.34, +1.41 +2.57%) reported an in-line Q1 loss per share of $0.02 on revenues which were better than anticipated and rose 48.0% versus last year to $186 million. For Q2, SPLK sees revenues in-line at $198-200 million. For FY17, the company expects revenues ahead of Street views at $892-896 million.

Veeva Systems (VEEV 32.18, +2.42 +8.13%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.15 and $119.8 million, respectively. VEEV guided Q2 EPS in-line at $0.13 on better than expected revenues of $125.5-127.0 million. For the FY17 period, VEEV sees EPS of $0.55-0.57 on better than expected revenues of $516-520 million.

21Vianet (VNET 13.67, -0.10 -0.73%) reported worse than expected Q1 EPS and revenues at a loss per share of $0.13 and $133.7 million, respectively.

JinkoSolar Holding (JKS 22.71, -0.69 -2.95%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $1.72 and $847.8 million, respectively. For FY16, the company reaffirmed shipment guidance of 6 GW and 6.5 GW which includes 5.4 GW to 5.7 GW module shipments to third parties.

Analyst actions:

VSLR was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Barclays,
GIB was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Desjardins,
MIXT was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at First Analysis Sec;
AAPL was downgraded to Negative from Mixed at OTR Global,
PANW was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank and Needham,
TSL was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank,
WDAY was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Wedbush,
EMC was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Longbow,
LNVGY was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan;
PYPL was initiated with a Hold at Needham
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo!)

4:19 pm Verizon confirms it has reached an 'agreement in principal' with the Co's wireline employees and a small number of wireless employees in the Northeast (VZ) : 'Verizon is very pleased with this 'agreement in principle.' The agreement is consistent with our objective of creating high quality American jobs and achieving meaningful changes and enhancements to the contracts that will better enable our wireline business unit to compete and succeed in the digital world. We also reached an 'agreement in principle' on contracts for about 165 Verizon Wireless employees. In the meantime, we look forward to having all of our employees soon back at work in their regular positions and doing what they do best -- serving our customers.'

4:16 pm Closing Market Summary: Averages Climb as Heavyweights Lead (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended the week on a higher note as the S&P 500 (+0.4%) navigated a ten-point range. Focal points for today's trade included commentary from Fed Chair Janet Yellen and key sector leadership from the heavily-weighted financial (+0.7%), technology (+0.6%), health care (+0.5%), and consumer discretionary (+0.5%) sectors. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%) ended ahead of the benchmark index (+0.4%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.3%).

Global bourses traded on a flat note as investors adopted a wait-and-see stance ahead of scheduled remarks from Fed Chair Janet Yellen. For the most part, U.S. equities followed suit, as participants eyed potential policy rate implications ahead of the upcoming three-day holiday weekend. The benchmark index mounted a modest advance in the first half of trading as heavily-weighted financials (+0.7%), consumer discretionary (+0.5%), and technology (+0.6%) led.

Equity indices pulled back in the afternoon as participants ruminated over commentary from Chair Yellen, which fell largely in-line with what was conveyed in the FOMC Minutes from April. Ms. Yellen acknowledged a recent uptick in economic conditions, indicating that a rate hike is probably appropriate in the coming months.

The broader market climbed into the afternoon, lifting the major indices to new session highs. All ten sectors finished in the green with financials (+0.7%), technology (+0.6%), telecom services (+0.6%), consumer discretionary (+0.5%), and health care (+0.5%) leading the advance. Conversely, commodity-sensitive energy (+0.1%) and materials (UNCHF) ended with the slimmest gains.

The economically-sensitive financial sector (+0.7%) outperformed as market participants continue to come to terms with the increasing probability that the market will see more rate hikes in the short term. On that note, the odds of a rate hike at the June meeting rose to 30.0% from yesterday's reading of 26.0%. For the week, the broader sector has gained 2.6%, compared to a gain of 2.3% in the benchmark index.

In the telecom services group (+0.6%), Verizon (VZ 50.62, +0.46) outperformed after headlines indicated that the company reached an agreement with striking workers. CWA and IBEW union members will vote whether to ratify the agreement and workers could potentially return to work next week.

The high-beta chipmakers demonstrated relative strength, evidenced by the 0.6% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. In the broader technology group (+0.6%), Yahoo! (YHOO 37.82, +1.06) gained 2.9% as rumors circulated regarding potential bids for the web portal. Separately, Alphabet (GOOG 732.66, +8.54) outperformed after a judge ruled in the company's favor in a licensing dispute with Oracle (ORCL 40.07, +0.12).

Retail names gained in the consumer discretionary space (+0.5%) as Ulta Salon (ULTA 233.15, +19.46) and Big Lots (BIG 50.95, +6.29) rallied following better that expected quarterly reports.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.75, +0.58) ended near its best level as the dollar extended gains against commodity currencies and the euro. The dollar gained 0.5% against the Canadian dollar (1.3040) while the single currency lost 0.7% against the dollar (1.1113).

The Treasury complex finished on a lower note as the yield on the 10-yr note rose two basis points to 1.85%.

Today's volume fell below the recent average as fewer than 816 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the second estimate of Q1 GDP, Q1 GDP Deflator, and the final reading of the May University of Michigan Sentiment Index:

The second estimate for first quarter real GDP produced an upward revision to 0.8% growth on an annualized basis (from 0.5%).
That was slightly below the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 0.9% and it isn't going to generate a lot of applause for several reasons.
First, 0.8% growth is still weak. Secondly, personal consumption expenditures growth was left unchanged at 1.9%.
The third drawback was that the upward revision had a good bit to do with the change in private inventories, which was smaller than previously estimated.
With the second estimate, the change in private inventories subtracted 0.2 percentage points from growth versus 0.33 percentage points with the advance estimate.
The other driver behind the upward revision was gross private domestic investment, which subtracted 0.45 percentage points from growth in the second estimate versus 0.60 percentage points with the advance estimate.
Real final sales of domestic product, which exclude the change in inventories, were up 1.0% versus the prior 10-quarter average of 2.4%.The final reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey for May was revised to 94.7 from the preliminary reading of 95.8. The revised figure was below the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 95.5, yet it was still up nicely from the final reading of 89.0 for April and the 90.7 reading registered for May 2015.The downward revision is owed entirely to the Index of Consumer Expectations, which was lowered to 84.9 from the preliminary reading of 87.5. The Current Economic Conditions Index was revised up to 109.9 from the preliminary reading of 108.6.
It was noted in the report that there were only four prior months since the peak in January 2007 that the Sentiment Index was higher than in May 2016.
Interestingly, it was said the biggest uncertainty for consumers is not whether the Fed will hike rates in the next few months, but rather what government economic policies will look like under a new president; hence, consumers have placed an added emphasis on maintaining precautionary savings.Bond and equity markets will be closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day.

On Tuesday, Personal Income (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%), Person Spending (Briefing.com consensus 0.7%), and core PCE Prices (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) for April will each cross the wires at 8:30 ET. Separately, the Case-Shiller 20-city Index for May (Briefing.com consensus 5.1%), May Chicago PMI (Briefing.com consensus 50.9), and May Consumer Confidence (Briefing.com consensus 96.2) will be released at 9:00 ET, 9:45 ET, and 10:00 ET, respectively.

S&P 500 +2.7% YTD
Dow Jones +2.6% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.7% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -1.5 YTD

Week in Review: Stocks Climb Ahead of Holiday Weekend

To little surprise, the week leading into Memorial Dayweekend saw below-average trading volume, but the reduced activity did notprevent the stock market from registering its second consecutive weekly advance.The rally lifted the S&P 500 into the neighborhood of this year's high as thebenchmark index gained 2.3% for the week while the Nasdaq Composite (+3.4%)outperformed thanks to relative strength in technology and biotechnology.

The trading week was pretty quiet on the economic front, buta handful of reports that did cross the wires pointed to a potential rebound fromthe weakness at the end of the first quarter. April New Home Sales (619K,Briefing.com consensus 521K), April Pending Home Sales (+5.1%; Briefing.comconsensus 0.6%), and April Durable Orders (+3.4%; Briefing.com consensus 0.6%)beat expectations while the second estimate of first-quarter GDP (+0.8%;Briefing.com consensus 0.9%) and the final reading of the Michigan SentimentIndex for May (94.7; Briefing.com consensus 95.5) were close to expectations,but missed.

Altogether, the economic data released during the past weekkept the possibility of a summer rate hike alive. As a result, Fed officialsthat spoke since last Friday reminded investors that the FOMC is ready to raiserates if economic data does not take a turn for the worse. This message wasconsistent with remarks from two weeks ago that boosted the probability of aJune hike from 8.0% to 30.0%.

Rate hike expectations, as indicated by the fed fundsfutures market, essentially held their ground throughout the week with thelikelihood of a June hike remaining at 30.0%. However, expectations for a hikein July inched up to 62.0% from 55.0% at the end of last week.

The Dollar Index (95.75) enjoyed its fourth consecutive weekly rise,but the 0.4% increase represented the slowest weekly advance during the pastmonth, which saw the index notch a fresh low for the year and climb 4.2% fromthat low point.

4:10 pm KVH Industries announces Peter Rendall is leaving to pursue other opportunities, John McCarthy appointed interim CFO, effective immediately (KVHI) : Rendall will remain with the co for thirty days to support the transition of his responsibilities. John McCarthy most recently served as a partner at Ernst & Young.

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Wednesday affair on a flat note as the major averages rebounded from opening weakness. Additional factors for today's trade included a reversal in crude oil, weakness in the dollar, mixed economic data, and the outperformance of the heavily-weighted financial (+0.3%) and health care (+0.4%) sectors. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%) ended its day in-line with the S&P 500 (+0.1%) and ahead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (UNCH).

Today's session started on a lower note as equity futures responded to a negative bias in international bourses. Overnight, Japan's Nikkei (-1.6%) led the retreat after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that he would delay the next sales tax hike until 2019. Prime Minister Abe also stated that he would unveil a new fiscal stimulus package in the fall. Meanwhile, tepid readings from China's May Caixin Manufacturing PMI (49.2; consensus 49.3) and German Manufacturing PMI for May (52.1; consensus 52.4) added to the shaky start.

Equity indices climbed off their opening lows as investors examined a strong reading of the ISM Service Index for May (51.3; Briefing.com consensus 50.4). However, April Construction Spending (-1.8%; Briefing.com consensus +0.5%) missed estimates, but contained a positive revision to the March reading (to 1.5% from 0.3%). The major averages climbed through the afternoon as a reversal in crude oil bolstered the move higher in equities. WTI crude ended its day lower by 0.1% at $49.06/bbl.

Seven sectors finished in the green as consumer staples (+0.7%), health care (+0.4%), financials (+0.3%), and materials (+0.3%) led the pack. Conversely, telecom services (-1.0%), technology (-0.3%), and consumer discretionary (-0.1%) rounded out the board.

In the consumer staples sector (+0.7%), household product names displayed relative strength with Colgate-Palmolive (CL 71.20, +0.79) and Estee Lauder (EL 92.99, +1.21) gaining 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively. Elsewhere, Costco (COST 152.52, +3.75) outperformed after receiving an upgraded to "Buy" from "Neutral" at Goldman Sachs.

Generic drug names sported the largest gains in the health care space (+0.4%). Mylan Labs (MYL 44.46, +1.12) led the group after it reported that it will launch generic versions of Cephalon's Nuvigil and Mayne's Doxteric medications. Elsewhere, Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX 29.79, +1.34) jumped 4.7% after announcing that it will release its quarterly report on June 7.

In the financial sector (+0.3%), money center banks demonstrated relative strength as the sub-group moved higher in sympathy with JPMorgan Chase (JPM 65.69, +0.42). The company gained 0.6% after it raised its second-quarter trading revenue guidance. Conversely, real estate investment trusts (REITs) with primary holdings in residential properties underperformed. Equity Residential (EQR 66.37, -2.84) fell 4.1% after lowering its second-quarter revenue growth estimates to 4.0-4.5% (from 4.5-5.0%).

Automotive names underperformed in the consumer discretionary space (-0.1%) as Ford (F 13.11, -0.38) and General Motors (GM 30.22, -1.06) fell 2.8% and 3.4%, respectively. The two companies reported disappointing May sales. AutoNation (AN 49.67, -0.77) and CarMax (KMX 52.09, -1.57) ticked lower in sympathy with the names. Separately, Demandware (DWRE 74.81, +26.82) rallied 55.9% after Salesforce.com (CRM 83.45, -0.26) announced that it would acquire the company for $75.00 per share in cash, or approximately $2.8 billion.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.42, -0.47) ended near its session low as the euro and the yen extended their gains against the greenback. The euro/dollar pair finished higher by 0.5% (1.1190) while the dollar lost 1.1% against the yen (109.57).

The Treasury complex ended on a mixed note with the yield on the 10-yr note flat at 1.84%. Meanwhile, the yield on the 2-yr note rose two basis points to 0.89%.

Today's volume was above the recent average as more than 880 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the MBA Mortgage Index, ISM Service Index for May, and Construction Spending for April:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted decline of 4.1% in mortgage applications.
The ISM Manufacturing Index for May checked in at 51.3. That was up from 50.8 in April and was ahead of the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 50.4.
The dividing line between expansion and contraction is 50.0, so May marked the third straight month of expansion for the manufacturing sector
The weakening dollar from earlier in the year and the spike in oil prices has offered some relief to the sector.
There was a nice headline surprise here then, with the improvement from April, yet a look under the hood didn't exactly reveal a manufacturing sector running on all cylinders.
Notably, the improvement in May was not a function of an increase in new orders, production, inventories, or the backlog of orders. Those indexes all declined from April.
In particular, the New Orders Index slipped from 55.8 to 55.7, the Production Index dropped from 54.2 to 52.6, the Inventories Index fell from 45.5 to 45.0, and the Backlog of Orders Index went from 50.5 to 47.0.
The main drivers of the uptick in May were the Prices Index, which jumped from 59.0 to 63.5, and the Customers' Inventories Index, which rose from 46.0 to 50.0.
The indexes for employment, new export orders, and imports were all unchanged.
Construction spending declined 1.8% month-over-month in April, which created a jarring headline surprise given the understanding that the Briefing.com consensus estimate called for a 0.5% increase.
Part of the headline disappointment, though, can be attributed to the large upward revision for March.
Specifically, it was reported that construction spending in March increased 1.5% after it was previously reported to be up just 0.3%.
That upward revision stemmed from positive revisions for both private (from 1.1% to 2.3%) and public (from -1.9% to -0.6%) spending.
That should help somewhat when the third estimate for Q1 GDP is released, especially since February also saw an upward revision to 1.4% from 1.0%.
Conversely, the decline in construction spending in April stands as a negative input for Q2 GDP forecasts.
The spending activity for April featured a 1.5% decline in private construction and a 2.8% decline in public construction.
The drop in private construction was accented by a 1.5% decline in residential construction and a 1.5% decline in nonresidential construction, which was weighed down by a 1.5% drop in manufacturing and a 3.6% decline in both commercial and health care.
In terms of public construction, the biggest weights there were highway and street and educational, which declined 6.6% and 2.5%, respectively.
On a year-over-year basis, total construction spending is up 4.5%, with private construction up 5.7% and public construction up 1.2%.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the Challenger Job Cuts for May and the May ADP Employment Change Report (Briefing.com consensus 180k), which will be released at 7:30 ET and 8:15 ET, respectively. Meanwhile, weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 268k) will cross the wires at 8:30 ET. DJ30 +2.47 NASDAQ +4.20 SP500 +2.37 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1814/1.645 bln/1124 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1987/880.5 mln/1008

3:30 pm :

The dollar index weakens in the afternoon, down -0.5% around the 95.40 level, boosting commodities
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are up +0.7% at 85.91
Crude oil exhibited notable volatility in pit trading, opening below $48.00/barrel and rallying near parity with the previous session's close ahead of tomorrow's OPEC meeting
July crude oil futures fell $0.04 (-0.1%) to $49.06/barrel
Due to the shortened week, weekly EIA petroleum inventory data is now scheduled to be released at 11:00 am ET on Thursday, 30 min after EIA natural gas data
Monthly IEA data is scheduled to be released on June 14
The next OPEC meeting is fast-approaching, scheduled to take place tomorrow in Vienna, Austria
API petroleum storage data is scheduled to be released today after the bell
Natural gas surges for the third consecutive session, buyoed by updated warmer weather forecasts signaling possible increases in near-term demand for natural gas
July natural gas closed $0.09 higher (+3.9%) at $2.38/MMBtu
EIA natural gas inventory data is scheduled to be released at its normal time this Thursday at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold stages a modest afternoon rally off the $1209/oz level as the dollar lost momentum, closing lower on the day
August gold ended today's session down $2.80 (-0.2%) to $1214.70/oz
Reminder: Yesterday gold futures switched their front month to August from June, as indicated by the active amount of volume in the contracts
Silver sees a move similar to gold, rallying in the afternoon but closing lower on the day as the dollar experiences losses
July silver closed today's session $0.05 lower (-0.3%) at $15.93/oz
Base metal copper inches lower in afternoon pit trading
July copper closed $0.02 lower (-1.0%) at $2.07/lb

It was another relatively quiet day in the US equity marketsas the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) was flat. Strong ISMManufacturing data was offset by weaker Construction Spending while a reversalin crude oil ahead of tomorrow's OPEC meeting provided support to stocks.

The most notable story out of the technology sector was Salesforce.com's(CRM -0.3%) acquisition of Demandware (DWRE) at a 56% premium for $2.8 bln. The7x next year's sales multiple drew some eyebrows but many analysts haveapplauded the bold strategic move as the deal will only be mildly dilutive toFY17 operating margins. CEO Marc Benioff said it was a very competitive deal. DWREcompetes with Oracle (ORCL), SAP (SAP) and NetSuite (N). This was the secondsoftware deal in as many days after Marketo (MKTO) was taken private yesterday.

IDC sees worldwide smartphone shipments growing just 3.1% in2016 after growing 10.5% last year and 28% in 2014. Apple (AAPL -1.4%) fell for the second day in a row afterNikkei reported the iPhone won't see any major enhancements until next year. Thenext iPhone is expected to be out in September.

Alibaba (BABA -6.5%) fell through its 50 day mobbing average after Softbank said it was reducing its staketo 28%. BABA is buying $2 bln in shares from the Japanese conglomerate.

Other headlines from the technology sector came from the thirdannual Code Conference.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gave an interview last night. Interestingly,he said that 1000 people at Amazon are working on the popular artificial intelligenceproject dubbed Alexa.
Facebook (FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg said she is not interestedin the being the next CEO of Walt Disney (DIS). Some have speculated she wouldemerge from Mark Zuckerburg's shadow for that coveted role as CEO Bob Iger's successoris currently up in the air.

Saudi Arabia invested a whopping $3.5 bln in Uber at a $62.5bln valuation. The ride-sharing behemoth operates in 69 countries.

Broker calls:

Axiom downgraded Cimpress (CMPR) to Sell
Sidoti downgraded Daktronics to Neutral

In the after hours:

Box (BOX) is down 8% after the company beats quarterly salesand reported a smaller than expected net loss but missed billings estimates(growing only 9%). Box reaffirmed its goal to be FCF positive by Q4.
Guidewire (GWRE) is up 5% after beating Q estimates andguiding Q4 in-line

Looking ahead, networking company Ciena (CIEN) will reporttomorrow morning while chip giant Broadcom (AVGO) and will report tomorrow afternoon.

It was another relatively quiet day in the US equity marketsas the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) was flat. Strong ISMManufacturing data was offset by weaker Construction Spending while a reversalin crude oil ahead of tomorrow's OPEC meeting provided support to stocks.

The most notable story out of the technology sector was Salesforce.com's(CRM -0.3%) acquisition of Demandware (DWRE) at a 56% premium for $2.8 bln. The7x next year's sales multiple drew some eyebrows but many analysts haveapplauded the bold strategic move as the deal will only be mildly dilutive toFY17 operating margins. CEO Marc Benioff said it was a very competitive deal. DWREcompetes with Oracle (ORCL), SAP (SAP) and NetSuite (N). This was the secondsoftware deal in as many days after Marketo (MKTO) was taken private yesterday.

IDC sees worldwide smartphone shipments growing just 3.1% in2016 after growing 10.5% last year and 28% in 2014. Apple (AAPL -1.4%) fell for the second day in a row afterNikkei reported the iPhone won't see any major enhancements until next year. Thenext iPhone is expected to be out in September.

Alibaba (BABA -6.5%) fell through its 50 day mobbing average after Softbank said it was reducing its staketo 28%. BABA is buying $2 bln in shares from the Japanese conglomerate.

Other headlines from the technology sector came from the thirdannual Code Conference.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gave an interview last night. Interestingly,he said that 1000 people at Amazon are working on the popular artificial intelligenceproject dubbed Alexa.
Facebook (FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg said she is not interestedin the being the next CEO of Walt Disney (DIS). Some have speculated she wouldemerge from Mark Zuckerburg's shadow for that coveted role as CEO Bob Iger's successoris currently up in the air.

Saudi Arabia invested a whopping $3.5 bln in Uber at a $62.5bln valuation. The ride-sharing behemoth operates in 69 countries.

Broker calls:

Axiom downgraded Cimpress (CMPR) to Sell
Sidoti downgraded Daktronics to Neutral

In the after hours:

Box (BOX) is down 8% after the company beats quarterly salesand reported a smaller than expected net loss but missed billings estimates(growing only 9%). Box reaffirmed its goal to be FCF positive by Q4.
Guidewire (GWRE) is up 5% after beating Q estimates andguiding Q4 in-line

Looking ahead, networking company Ciena (CIEN) will reporttomorrow morning while chip giant Broadcom (AVGO) and will report tomorrow afternoon.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:07 pm Broadcom beats by $0.15, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 revs in-line (AVGO) :

Reports Q2 (Apr) earnings of $2.53 per share, $0.15 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.38; revenues rose 116.5% year/year to $3.56 bln vs the $3.55 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Gross margin from continuing operations was $2,138 million, or 60 percent of net revenue. This compares with gross margin of $1,089 million, or 61 percent of net revenue, in the prior quarter, and gross margin of $998 million, or 61 percent of net revenue, in the same quarter last year.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $3.675-3.825 bln vs. $3.71 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Capital expenditures for the third fiscal quarter are expected to be approximately $230 million. For the third fiscal quarter, depreciation is expected to be $106 million and amortization is expected to be approximately $942 million.

The Company's Board of Directors has approved a quarterly, interim cash dividend of $0.50 per ordinary share ($0.49 previously).

4:07 pm Exar enters into agreement to sell its Integrated Memory Logic subsidiary to Beijing E-Town Chipone Technology for $136 mln net of cash acquired, updates 1Q17 outlook (EXAR) :

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. Co's Board of Directors has unanimously approved the transaction. The consideration of $136 million is to be paid in cash at closing, less $5 million to be held in escrow subject to customary adjustments after closing. The transaction is currently expected to close by the end of the calendar year.

Co noted that it expects to have a transition services agreement in place to support E-Town Chipone for a period of approximately one year.After reflecting iML as a discontinued operation, co anticipates net sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 to be in the range of $26.1 million to $27.1 million, up 3% to 7%, sequentially from previous guidance $39.4-41.2 mln, which is not comparable to $40.2 mln consensus; Operating income in the range of $2.8 million to $4.3 million; Anticipates adjusted net income per diluted share in the range of $0.06 to $0.09 from previous guidance of $0.08 to $0.10, may not compare

4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday affair on a flat note as a reversal in oil facilitated a rebound in the broader market. The S&P 500 gained 0.4% and closed above the psychological 2100 price level. Focal points for today's trade included a modest uptick in the dollar, a rally in Treasuries, and the outperformance of the heavyweight health care (+1.3%) and consumer discretionary (+0.5%) spaces. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) ended ahead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.3%) and the S&P 500 (+0.3%).

Today was a busy day on the macroeconomic front with both the European Central Bank and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries holding their meetings.

The biannual OPEC meeting failed to result in an agreement to establish an output ceiling. Furthermore, the group agreed on no other apparent means of curbing excess production. However, crude oil staged a rebound as investors shifted their attention to the Department of Energy's weekly stockpile report. The Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil inventories shrank by 1.36 million barrels, compared to the estimated 2.49 million barrel draw. Meanwhile, gasoline inventories declined by 1.49 million barrels, compared to the estimated 0.15 million barrel draw. As a result, oil ended its day with a marginal gain ($49.14/bbl; +$0.08; +0.2%).

In central bank news, the ECB maintained its monetary policy stance, leaving its interest rate corridor unchanged. However, ECB President Mario Draghi did state that risks are tilting to the downside and that interest rates will remain at their present levels, or lower, for an extended period of time. The policy statement and press conference went largely as expected.

Equity indices gapped down at the beginning of the session as the downturn in crude oil weighed on the broader market. The S&P 500 (+0.3%) index ticked down to the 2088/2089 price level before finding its bearings. The benchmark index climbed through the session, ending at its best level of the day (2105.26). Seven sectors ended in the green with health care (+1.3%), telecom services (+0.5%), and consumer discretionary (+0.5%) leading. On the flipside, energy (-0.3%), technology (-0.1%), utilities (-0.1%) rounded out the board.

Biotechnology demonstrated relative strength in the health care space (+1.3%), as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 286.28, +5.10) extended its weekly gain to 3.3%. AbbVie (ABBV 65.09, +2.26) rallied 3.6% after announcing an accelerated share repurchase agreement. Elsewhere, Medtronic (MDT 82.99, +2.47) notched a new all-time high ($83.29). The broader sector has gained 1.8% this week, compared to a gain of 0.3% in the benchmark index and a gain of 0.8% in the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

In the consumer discretionary group (+0.5%), retail names demonstrated relative strength, responding to better-than-feared comparable store sales readings for May. L Brands (LB 71.33, +2.92) jumped 4.3% after reporting flat sales over that period. Gap (GPS 18.33, +0.46) and Macy's (M 34.35, +1.32) gained 2.6% and 4.0%, respectively. The broader SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 42.95, +0.49) gained 1.2%, trimming its yearly loss to 0.7%.

The influential technology sector (-0.1%) underperformed as large cap Oracle (ORCL 38.66, -1.60) declined by 4.0%. The stock saw pressure from a lawsuit brought on by a former company accountant, who alleged that sales figures were altered. Elsewhere, Alphabet (GOOGL 744.27, -4.19), Microsoft (MSFT 52.48, -0.37), and Apple (AAPL 97.72, -0.74) ended with losses between 0.6% and 0.8%.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.56, +0.10) ended modestly higher as the greenback gained against commodity currencies and the euro. The euro/dollar pair ended lower by 0.4% (1.1149) while the dollar gained 0.2% against the Canadian dollar (1.3104).

Treasuries finished higher with the yield on the 10-yr note sliding four basis points to 1.80%.

Today's participation was above the recent average with more than 952 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

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

The Challenger Job Cuts report for May revealed 30,200 job cut announcements since April, marking a decline of 26.5% on a year-over-year basis.
The ADP Employment Change report was close to the market's mark. Private sector jobs were estimated to have increased by 173,000 (Briefing.com consensus 180,000)
This followed an upwardly revised 166,000 increase (from 156,000) for April.
The May job growth was driven exclusively by the service-providing sector, which added 175,000 positions.
The goods-producing sector saw a decline of 1,000.
Small businesses added the most jobs (76,000) followed by medium-sized businesses (63,000), and then large businesses (34,000).
This ADP report won't alter the market's expectations for the nonfarm payrolls report on Friday (Briefing.com consensus 155,000).
Some might be bothered by job growth being below 200,000 again, yet it is still at levels that will be seen as healthy by the Federal Reserve.
Initial claims for the week ending May 28 dipped by 1,000 to 267,000 (Briefing.com consensus 268,000).
There were no special factors influencing initial claims, which were below 300,000 for the 65th straight week.
The four-week moving average for initial claims fell from 278,500 to 276,750.
The latest initial claims report seems to fit the Fed's script, which points to labor market strength.
Continuing claims for the week ending May 21 increased by 12,000 to 2.172 million.
The four-week moving average for this series jumped from 2.151 million to 2.163 million.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the Employment Situation Report for May (Briefing.com consensus 155k) and the April Trade Balance (Briefing.com consensus -$41.6 billion), which will both cross the wires at 8:30 ET. Meanwhile, Factory Orders for April (Briefing.com consensus +1.6%) and ISM Services for May (Briefing.com consensus 55.4) will be released at 10:00 ET.

S&P 500 +3.0% YTD
Russell 2000 +3.0% YTD
Dow Jones +2.4% YTD
Nasdaq -0.7% YTD

Today's session began on a lower note as participants weighed developments from OPEC's biannual meeting. The meeting failed to produce an output target or any other apparent means for the oil collective to rein in excess production. As a result, oil tumbled to the $48.00/bbl price level at the beginning of trading in the cash market. At the close, July Crude Oil Futures were +0.2% to $49.14/barrel following the EIA Petroleum Inventory Data which showed Crude Oil inventories registered a draw of 1.366 million, while gasoline and distillate inventories posted draws of 1.492 million and 1.255 million, respectively.

Following a mixed session yesterday, the three major US indices closed all higher. Gains were led by the Nasdaq Composite which added 19.11 points (+0.39%) today to 4971.36. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed both up nearly the same as the former added 5.93 points (+0.28%) to 2105.26, and the latter ended higher by 48.89 points (+0.27%) to 17838.56.

Market data today came in the form of the Challenger Job Cuts, which for May revealed 30,200 job cut announcements since April, a 26.5% year-over-year decline. The ADP Employment Change report was close to the market's mark as private sector jobs were estimated to have increased by 173,000. The initial claims reading for the week ending May 28 dipped by 1,000 to 267,000. Continuing claims for the week ending May 21 increased 12,000 to 2.172 million.

Following a mildly lower close yesterday, Technology (XLK 44.04, -0.07 -0.16%) turned in another session in the red today. Component Apple (AAPL 97.72, -0.74 -0.75%) was a laggard following a target and estimate cut at Goldman; the firm lowered their target on the name to $124 from $136, but maintained their Buy rating citing lowered estimates for FY17 and FY18 due to lower growth expectations for the smartphone industry as well as a lower view of Apple average selling prices. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed today XLV +1.28%, IYZ +1.12%, XLY +0.56%, XLB +0.55%, XLF +0.21%, XLI +0.13%, XLU +0.04%, XLP +0.04%, XLE -0.13% as Healthcare led, and losses in Tech were bested only by the Energy sector.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (730.75, -0.98 -0.13%) sector, trading was dictated by the lower session in component Oracle (ORCL 38.66, -1.60 -3.97%) which defended itself against allegations per a lawsuit made by a former employee who alleges she was told to change sales figures. Other names in the space which closed lower included SWKS -1.03%, MSFT -0.70%, ADI -0.63%, GOOGL -0.56%, XLNX -0.53%, GOOG -0.51%, TXN -0.51%, LLTC -0.48%, FSLR -0.46%, MSI -0.38%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

A former Oracle (ORCL) employee filed a lawsuit claiming she was told to change sales figures.

Guidewire Software (GWRE 61.62, +1.27 +2.10%) and Accenture (ACN 119.24, +0.23 +0.19%) announced ACN has joined the wire PartnerConnect as a Consulting 'Select' alliance partner for Guidewire Products.

CA Tech (CA 32.80, +0.32 +0.99%) named Anthony Radesca as principal accounting officer effective June 3.

FLIR Systems (FLIR 31.23, +0.25 +0.81%) priced an offering of $425 million of 3.125% notes due 2021.

Juniper Networks (JNPR 23.46, +0.23 +0.99%) completed the first phase of Yonsei University's wired and wireless network integration project.

HP Inc (HPQ 13.54, +0.10 +0.74%) announced that Shutterfly (SFLY 48.43, +0.07 +0.14%) has leased 25 new HP Indigo 12000 Digital Presses, marking the largest customer installation in HP Indigo history.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Qlik Tech (QLIK 30.08, +1.11 +3.83%) agreed to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $30.50 per share in cash, or about $3 billion.

GoPro (GPRO 10.72, +0.40 +3.88%) announced an exclusive partnership with Reliance Digital, India's largest Consumer Electronics retailer. This partnership will put GPRO's cameras, along with various mounts and accessories, on the shelves of 1800 Reliance Digital spread across 500 cities.

Stratasys (SSYS 23.29, +0.41 +1.79%) announced David Reis has decided to step down from his position as the Chief Executive Officer effective June 30, 2016. Effective July 1, Ilan Levin, a member of the Board and Executive Committee of SSYS, will assume the role of CEO.

GoDaddy's (GDDY 33.33, +0.02 +0.06%) Chief Marketing Officer Philip Bienert announced his resignation effective immediately.

Tyler Tech (TYL 156.98, +2.13 +1.38%) acquired ExecuTime Software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Box (BOX 11.34, -1.47 -11.48%) reported a better than expected Q1 loss per share of $0.18 on revenues which rose 37.5% versus last year to $90.2 million. Billings in Q1 were $75.9 million, an increase of 9% versus last year. For Q2, BOX sees EPS of ($0.20)-($0.19) on revenues of $94-95 million. For FY17, the company raised EPS guidance to ($0.78)-($0.75) from ($0.85)-($0.83). BOX also raised FY17 revenue guidance to $391-395 million from $390-394 million.

Guidewire Software (GWRE) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $0.14 and $98.9 million, respectively. For Q4, GWRE sees EPS of $0.30-0.34 on revenues of $133.5-137.5 million. The company also issued a guidance correction for the FY16 period's EPS, which was changed to $0.76-0.80 from $0.73-0.76 due to the misapplication of the estimated Q4 tax rate.

Ciena (CIEN 20.03, +2.27 +12.78%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.34 and $640.7 million, respectively. For Q3, CIEN sees revenues in the range of $655-685 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight: AMBA, BV, AVGO

Analyst actions:

PSTG was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS;
DWRE was downgraded at Canaccord Genuity, Citigroup, Raymond James, RBC Capital Mkts,
QLIK was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie and to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho,
BOX was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan,
EMC was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee CRT,
XLNX was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman;
NVDA was initiated with a Buy at Goldman,
LLTC, MXIM were initiated with a Neutral at Goldman,
ADI was initiated with a Sell at Goldman,

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - Workers Flee From the Labor Force (Weekend Newsletter)

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

- Jobs bomb, building on the April rollover and following the rest of the
economy lower.
- Rate hike odds for June and July plummet, but not so sure the Fed will be
that quick to knuckle under.
- Unemployment rate drops to 4.7% as workers flee from the labor force.
- Same old story: all May jobs were part-time as the economy lost 312K
full-time jobs the past two months.
- Stock indices do a credible job of recovering.
- Large caps still at resistance. RUTX, SOX, SP400 likely ready to test a
good rally.
- Same groups still look pretty solid, and that is the rally's hope.
- A test is likely, and the question is who will lead out of the test:
growth upside or large caps downside?

Some big moves on Friday. Not in the stock market. After a shockingly bad
Jobs Report stocks did a fairly good job of managing the aftermath. The big
moves? Jobs. Bonds. Dollar. Rate hike expectations.

As you would expect after a 38K print for May jobs, stocks started lower.
After the first half hour, however, the turned to a slow steady rise into
the last hour. Only SOX closed positive on the session, but DJ30 and even
SP500 put in credible recovery performances even if SP500 missed the 2100
level that so many watch by a mere 0.87 points.

SP500 -6.13, -0.29%
NASDAQ -28.84, -0.58%
DJ30 -31.50, -0.18%
SP400 -0.41%
RUTX -0.55%
SOX 0.31%

VOLUME: NYSE -7%, NASDAQ -3%. No big surge in selling on the weak jobs, so
no real dumping of shares and no churn as SP500, DJ30, NASDAQ bump against
the April highs. That is a better scenario than volume rising as they bump
those levels but cannot break through.

A/D: NYSE 1.2:1, NASDAQ -1.6:1.

JOBS: If it was not so sad it would have been comical watching the
Administration trying to talk up an utterly pathetic jobs report.

Non-Farm: 38K versus 155K expected versus 123K April (from 160K). March
and April revisions -59K

3-month average: 116K/month. Pathetic.


Harry Doyle (Bob Uecker): How many jobs did we get? 38K G** D*** jobs?
Color man: You can't say 'G** D***' on the air.
Doyle: That's okay. No one is listening anyway.
'Major League,' 1989

Unemployment rate: 4.7% vs 5% expected vs 5.0% April. Why so low? 458,000
left the workforce. Take away a half million people from the labor pool and
you get a better unemployment rate the same way a company buys back stock
and raises its EPS even if earnings were actually worse. Magic! Except --
94.7M people are not in the workforce have no jobs.

Workweek: 34.4 versus 34.5 expected versus 34.4 prior (revised down from
34.5). The workweek just cannot gain traction and it is no wonder given the
Affordable Care Act is such that it behooves companies to not work an
employee more than 29 hours per week. That incentive is keeping the
workweek lower . . . along with an economy that is nowhere near as good
those against 'fiction peddling' are peddling.

Participation rate: 62.6% versus 62.8%. Big drop as 458K left the
workforce.

Part-time workers due to economic conditions (cannot find a full-time job):
+468K

Not in the workforce: 94.7M, +664K

Number of fulltime jobs since January: 0
Number of fulltime jobs lost the past two months: 312,000
Percentage of service jobs created of all jobs in May: 100%

Jobs breakdown:
Construction -15K
Mining: -10K
Manufacturing -18K
Temporary -21K

Healthcare +45K. The lion's share of jobs. Thank you Affordable Care Act,
right?
Professional and Business: +10K
Food and Beverage +22K
Retail +11K
Government +13K. It takes a lot of people to enforce bathroom rules, to
monitor bakeries to make sure they serve everyone, to collapse the
healthcare system, to spy on every conversation of every man, woman, child,
trans-gender person, etc.

As you can see, all of the jobs are again in the lower wage service areas of
the economy. Services. 100% of the jobs gains. Basically you can say the
US took a few steps back in the jobs picture.

Indeed, since 2014, the US added 455K waiters and bartenders, LOST 10K
manufacturing jobs.

Insult to injury: Payrolls would have been negative but for seasonal
adjustments.

BONDS

Ten year Treasury: 1.70% versus 1.80%. Bonds exploded higher, gapping
through the April and May twin peaks. Bonds are now knocking at the early
February high, the last high before the current four month trading range.
Quite the breakout as the market trashes any chance of a June and likely
July rate hike.


DOLLAR

As the rate hike chances faded, so too did the dollar's value. Supposedly
this is good for US businesses. Then why was it down so much when business
was so bad it was not hiring?

EUR/USD: 1.13668 versus 1.1149. Euro explodes higher off the 200 day SMA
test. Over the February peak, taking back half of the losses sustained since
the early May higher high.

USD/JPY: 106.55 versus 108.85. So much for breaking out of the downtrend.
That breakout move had all but failed and then came the insult, slamming the
dollar back down to the late April/early May lows. No breakout.


Jobs dive, bonds soar, the dollar dumps. Stocks? They sold but not hard,
managing a fairly decent recovery.

SP500 closed just below 2100 and that had the correction tongues wagging.
Could be correct as that is the April high and a potential double top with
lower MACD, indicating slowing momentum.

NASDAQ shows similar action, also at the April high on lower MACD. DJ30 is
not even at that level.

It appears the large cap indices are slowing at resistance. The small cap
and midcaps, however, blew through the April peaks. That does not mean they
won't test, but the money is moving their way, and they can test back toward
the April high and still be in position to rally.

That will be the main question: will the small and midcaps test then
rebound? If so, will they carry the large caps with them? Or, will the
large caps stall and fall, unable to move past the April peaks?

Thus far the leadership groups are still working, and that has been the tell
for the market direction. Biotechs and drugs struggled Friday, but they
have good patterns and have started breaking higher. Software still looks
strong. Oil as well. Financial stocks are of course weak after the
terrible economic data, and while many discount them in the market's bigger
picture, I would note that the market has performed better when they were
setting up positive patterns versus when they suffer interest rate related
drops.

Friday we didn't do much. We banked some solid 20% stock gain and 50+%
option gain on SWN. That was it. We figured the market has to recover from
what the jobs report dropped on it and thus the Friday direction may not be
that indicative of next week. With the leadership groups holding up well,
however, we were content to let our positions work.


THE MARKET

The large cap indices are at resistance from the April highs and elsewhere.
The small, midcap, and SOX indices broke to higher rally highs and are a bit
extended. Their test will be key as will the action of the large caps if
there is a successful test by the smaller caps. There are still leadership
groups performing nicely, and that is what has kept the rally alive.

CHARTS

RUTX: Sold back from Thursday's higher recovery high, but did cut the
losses in half. Easily above the 10 day EMA after its 9 session run.
Likely tests, and the April high (1154 closing) and the 10 day EMA (1148)
are logical targets.

SOX: Continued its rally though with less power. Gapped to the session
high, filled the gap, but then recovered some of the early gains. Long 15
session rally has SOX bumping the last trading range that held the June 2015
peak. About due for a test. 692 is the early December 2015 peak as well as
the 10 day EMA (689).

SP400: Punched a new rally high Thursday, then faded Friday. Tapped near
the 10 day EMA on the low, recovered to a more modest decline. Following
RUTX and SOX higher, working nicely up the 10 day EMA.

NASDAQ: Posted a higher closing high Thursday over the April closing high
but then gave it up Friday. Tested the 10 day EMA on the low, rebounded to
cut the losses by the close. Nice double bottom bounce off the 38% Fibonacci
retracement yielded this rally. Now it is at the prior high and
experiencing some resistance from that level as well as the October through
December trading range. Key test of resistance for NASDAQ.

SP500: Very similar situation to NASDAQ, at the April high that is also in
the October through December trading range. MACD lower. 2100 is a level
many watch as a key resistance point and thus far SP500 has not taken it
out. That will embolden some sellers and they will likely try to sell it
next week. Given the market is due a test that is okay. A lot will depend
upon how the other indices test their higher highs.

DJ30: Just following along, still below the April high but in the upper
half of the November through December range. Not bad action at all, holding
at the 20 day EMA and trying to put in a higher low.


LEADERSHIP

Everything was more or less under pressure Friday post-jobs, but the same
groups held their patterns and moves and look solid overall.

Oil: SWN surged early and gave us our initial target. NGL was up yet
again. CWEI was holding up at the 10 day EMA just fine. WMB, UNT also
holding nicely at the 10 day EMA. Overall just a solid group, holding their
trends and moving higher.

Drugs/Biotech: Struggled but holding up. XLRN reached down to the 10 day
EMA but rebounded to cut the losses. GALE gapped lower but then moved back
up. EVHC lost some ground but is trending higher. EXAS holding fine.
Basically not an up session, but taking a breather.

Financial: Struggled as interest rate hikes are deferred. MS, GS gapped
lower, but both held support and rebounded to doji. BAC, JPM did the same,
gapping, holding support on the low, recovering some lost ground. Not a
total washout and we will have to see what Yellen says Monday.

Construction: Not bad. GRAM moved higher off its test, posting a solid 4.6%
gain. MDR held steady at the 10 day EMA.

Industrial machinery: some good moves. DE gapped higher and cleared the
April and May peaks. CAT looks very good right now.

Chips: Not bad at all. XLNX trying to break higher from a two week lateral
move. MXL tested, but showing a doji at the 10 day EMA. QRVO up modestly
after a nice Wednesday and Thursday move. AVGO gapped higher on earnings.
NXPI testing the 10 day EMA after a nice two week run.

Software: Solid week. CYBR was flat on the day, but this after a solid
Tuesday to Thursday rally. RHT was flat as well, but it too put in a good
move on the week. VMW enjoyed a strong week, hitting our initial target
along the way.


MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: -28.85 points (-0.58%) to close at 4942.52
Volume: 1.68B (-3.04%)

Up Volume: 520.83M (-639.17M)
Down Volume: 1.14B (+591.43M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.6 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.61 to 1

New Highs: 71 (-15)
New Lows: 33 (+8)

S&P
Stats: -6.13 points (-0.29%) to close at 2099.13
NYSE Volume: 888M (-6.72%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.17 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.86 to 1

New Highs: 182 (+64)
New Lows: 10 (+2)

DJ30
Stats: -31.5 points (-0.18%) to close at 17807.06


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 13.47; -0.16
VXN: 15.03; -0.12
VXO: 12.59; -0.13

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.88; -0.03

4 of the last 6 below 1.0. 19 of 26 over 1.0. They did their job, playing
a part in bouncing the market. Now the extremes are backing off as you
would expect. Even so, they are still fairly high readings after a solid
move higher.


Bulls and Bears: As fast as bulls plunged the prior week they surged,
jumping 10 points. Highest reading in 7 weeks (47.5). Bears fell, but not
at the same rate. Back and forth action shows investment advisors are being
fickle, right? They were caught napping with the move, as bulls tumbled to
35 just as the rally started. Now they are right back in, saying they knew
it all along. While not at the 60 level that would condemn a rally, the big
moves show how fickle the big money is right now.

Bulls: 45.4 versus 35.4

Bears: 23.7 versus 24.0

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: 45.4%
35.4% versus 40.2 versus 39.2 versus 40.2% versus 44.3% versus 47.4% versus
41.2% versus 45.4% versus 43.3% versus 47.4% versus 44.4% versus 39.4%
versus 36.4% versus 34.7% versus 26.5% versus 24.7% 34.0% versus 29.2%
versus 26.8% versus 28.6% versus 34.7% versus 36.7% versus 37.8% versus
44.9% versus 41.2% versus 45.4%

Bears: 23.7%
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%
versus 34.3% versus 35.7% versus 39.8% versus 39.2% versus 38.1% versus
35.4% versus 36.1% versus 35.7% versus 31.6% versus 29.6%


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 1.70% versus 1.80%

Historical: 1.80% versus 1.84% versus 1.85% versus 1.85% versus 1.83% versus
1.87% versus 1.86% versus 1.83% versus 1.85% versus 1.85% versus 1.85%
versus 1.76% versus 1.75% versus 1.70% versus 1.75% versus 1.735% versus
1.75% versus 1.75% versus 1.78% versus 1.74% versus 1.77% versus 1.80%
versus 1.87% versus 1.83% versus 1.83% versus 1.86% versus 1.94% versus
1.90% versus 1.88% versus 1.86% versus 1.95% versus 1.79% versus 1.77%


EUR/USD: 1.13668 versus 1.1149. The dollar strikes back with a gain,
sending the Wednesday upside bounce in the euro back to the showers.

Historical: 1.1149 versus 1.1186 versus 1.1128 versus 1.1113 versus 1.1181
versus 1.1155 versus 1.1142 versus 1.1221 versus 1.1216 versus 1.1199 versus
1.1219 versus 13.1317 versus 1.13145 versus 1.1307 versus 1.13791 versus
1.4252 versus 1.13707 versus 1.13869 versus 1.1405 versus 1.1399 versus
1.14864 versus 1.14864 versus 1.1478 versus 1.15306 versus 1.1450 versus
1.1382 versus 1.1329 versus 1.1293 versus 1.1261 versus 1.2249 versus 1.1289
versus 1.1295 versus 1.1360


USD/JPY: 106.55 versus 108.86

Historical: 108.86 versus 109.99 versus 111.285 versus 110.233 versus
109.70 versus 109.72 versus 109.99 versus 109.25 versus 110.165 versus
109.985 versus 110.187 versus 109.073 versus 108.856 versus 108.65 versus
108.95 versus 108.47 versus 109.28 versus 108.343 versus 107.10 versus
107.41 versus 107.126 versus 107.312 versus 106.16 versus 106.33


Oil: 48.62, -0.44. Spent the week testing the prior week's gains. Modest
loss Friday, closing just below the 10 day EMA. This even as the dollar was
hammered. If the dollar stays lower, that acts as support for oil as oil is
priced in dollars. The weaker the dollar, the more dollars it takes to buy
oil, and thus the price rises.

Gold: 1242.90, +30.30. After slipping to the late March lows last week,
Friday gold exploded higher as the rate hike odds dropped sharply. Back to
the middle of the February to June range.


MONDAY

The carefully, if not foolishly, constructed meme to further raise interest
rates received a sharp blow. Jobs are one of the Fed's main indicators
prompting its new found courage to talk about hiking rates. Not hiking
rates, just talking about it. Of course the Fed could dogmatically focus on
the unemployment rate, but to do so reveals the Fed as totally mechanical
and almost pandering to a false narrative. I mean, we all know why the
unemployment rate is at 4.7%: almost one-third of the country is not
working, and that group is a much larger portion of the actual working-aged
group in society. Hey, if the other 7.4M people who are 'officially'
unemployed decided to leave the workforce, unemployment would be 0%! Surely
the Fed would hike rates then.

Yellen will talk Monday in Philadelphia and everyone will listen and watch
closely. You know what? I think she sticks to her guns regarding hiking to
get more ammo for when the next crisis arises. If she does not, what kind
of fool would the chairman and her fellow FOMC members appear? They
carefully construct the reasons for hiking, then one report and they go
running as if a skunk snuck in the committee room? Of course Yellen could
panic and revert to her nature, the one where she has the urge to migrate
every year and coo in the mornings. One would hope not.

Thus, the market could be right back where it was pre-jobs in terms of rate
hike expectations. All it takes is the chairman saying it was just one
report and the hikes are still on track. Then the financials start to
recover from Friday, and quite likely we see the same leadership groups
continue to work. We may see the latter group continue to work regardless.

That said, near term the market still could use a test. SOX and RUTX are up
nicely over the April highs and it is normal to test breaks through
resistance. SP500 and NASDAQ are struggling at the April highs, a natural
place to fade. As noted earlier, the question then becomes whether the
large caps drag down the leadership indices, or if the leaders (SOX, RUTX)
represent where the money is moving and pull the big names back up.

It is noteworthy that money actually moved back into equity funds last week
after fleeing for its life just as the market bottomed for this current
rebound move. Not a huge amount, but a net positive of $1.6B. Late to the
party? Perhaps, but pulling that short money back into the upside is how
rallies maintain themselves.

We are going to continue looking at the leadership groups of late, and if
there is a pullback we want to use that as stocks rebound, if they do
rebound. This current leg likely cannot rally much more before it needs to
test, and if there is a further move higher we want to use it to bank some
more gain. Then we let it test, see how the leadership groups hold and
setup, see if any new groups emerge, and if so, play them on a bounce.

Of course, the market is still in that big 1.5 year top and this level for
the indices is starting to tug on Superman's cape, so to speak. In other
words, we have to exercise caution and watch closely as any pullback starts.
What are the leadership groups doing? How are their stocks holding support?
What is the overall market volume? Breadth? The economy is weak, jobs are
rolling over to follow it, and the Fed likely still wants to hike rates.
Heck, even if it does not hike that won't prevent issues relating to a
weaker and weaker economy. So, we play the good stocks but we also have to
recognize where the market is.

Have a great weekend! Enjoy graduations and early summer. We have another
graduation party this weekend. It is a great time and everyone should make
a point of sharing it with friends and family.


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 4942.52

Resistance:
4960 is the September 2015 intraday high, an important reversal point for
NASDAQ.
4969 is the April 2016 recovery high
4999 is the October upper gap point
5007 is the 12/31 upper gap point from that big gap lower
5008.57 is the early March 2015 post-bear market high
5042 is the March 2015 high
5100 from the April peak and early May peak
5162 is the early November peak, 5176 is the December intraday peak

Support:
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
The March 2015 lows at 4843 and 4825
The 50 day SMA at 4845
4836 is the March 2016 peak
4815 is the December 2014 peak
The 200 day SMA at 4810
4811 is the November 2014 peak (intraday)
4774 is the January 2-15 high
4751 is the January 2015 lower high
4637 is the February intraday high
4736 is the early January lower gap point downside, the last downside gap in
the selloff.
4620 is the February 1 closing high
4615 from September 2014 highs, October 2014 upper gap point, late August
2015 low.
4517-4506 from the September 2015 and August 2015 closing lows
4485 are the twin July 2014 peaks
4471 is the January 2016 closing low
4425 is the late February intraday low
4363 is the February upper gap point
4352 is the March 2014 peak
4313 is the January 2016 intraday low
4292 is the August 2015 low
4212 is the February intraday low


S&P 500: Closed at 2099.13

Resistance:
2104 is the December 2015 high
2111 is the April 2016 recovery high
2116 is the November 2015 high
2119.59 is the February intraday prior all-time high
2126 was the April prior all-time high
2130 is the June 2015 peak
2135 is the May 2015 all-time high

Support:
2094 is the December 2014 high, the prior all-time high
2079 is the intraday all-time high from November 2014
2062 is the January 2015 lower high
The 50 day EMA at 2061
2046 is the July 2015 closing low
2040 is the March 2015 closing low
2023 is the November 2015 low
2020 is the September 2015 intraday high
The 200 day SMA at 2011
2011 is the September prior all-time high
1995 is the September 2015 recovery peak
1991 is the July 2014 high
1972 is the December 2014 low
1947 is the February 2016 intraday high, the late February peak
1940 is the January 2016 recovery bounce peak closing high
1913 is the early September 2015 closing low testing the bounce from the
August selling
1905 is the August 2014 low
1902 from early May was the intraday all-time high.
1897 is the prior all-time high hit in April 2014
1891 is last week's intraday low prior to the miraculous reversal.
1872 is the September 2015 test low of the August low
1867 is the August 2015 low
1862 is the October 2014 closing low
1859 is the January 2016 closing low
1820 is the October 2014 intraday low
1815 is the April 2014 low
1812 is the January 2016 intraday low
1772 are the Q4 2013 highs and lows


Dow: Closed at 17,807.06
Resistance:
17,978 is the November 2015 peak
18,100 to 18,181: interim peaks in the December 2014 to July 2015 range
18,168 is the April 2016 recovery high
18,288 from March 2015
18,351 is the all-time high from May 2015

Support:
The March low at 17,786
June 2015 low at 17,715
17,748 is the mid-April China margin selloff and the bottom of the 5 month
trading range
The 50 day EMA at 17,635
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 post bear market high
The 200 day SMA at 17,131
17,068 is the early July 2014 peak
17067 is the December 2014 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
16,740 is the mid-September peak and potential apex for a right shoulder to
a head and shoulders pattern
16,736 is a prior all-time high from May 2014
16,670 is the December 2014 peak and the recent August 2015 relief bounce
peak.
16,665 is the late August 2015 closing high
16,632 is the April 2014 peak
16,621 is the late February 2016 peak
16,589 is the December 2013 former all-time high
16,526 is the early January resistance
16,511 is the January 2016 intraday high
16,506 is the March 2014 peak
16,466 is the January 2016 recovery closing peak.
16,368 is the August 2014 low
16,117 is the October 2014 closing low
16,058 is the early September 2015 low
16,026 is the April 2014 low
15,855 is the October 2014 intraday low
15,766 is the January closing low
15,666 is the August 2015 closing low
15,450 is the January 2016 intraday low
15,372 is the February 2014 low
15,370 is the August 2015 low


ECONOMIC CALENDAR

June 3 - Friday
Nonfarm Payrolls, May (8:30): 38K actual versus 155K expected, 123K prior
(revised from 160K)
Nonfarm Private Payr, May (8:30): 25K actual versus 160K expected, 130K
prior (revised from 171K)
Unemployment Rate, May (8:30): 4.7% actual versus 4.9% expected, 5.0% prior
(no revisions)
Hourly Earnings, May (8:30): 0.2% actual versus 0.2% expected, 0.4% prior
(revised from 0.3%)
Average Workweek, May (8:30): 34.4 actual versus 34.5 expected, 34.4 prior
(revised from 34.5)
Trade Balance, April (8:30): -$37.4B actual versus -$41.6B expected, -$35.5B
prior (revised from -$40.4B)
Factory Orders, April (10:00): 1.9% actual versus 1.6% expected, 1.7% prior
(revised from 1.1%)
ISM Services, May (10:00): 52.9 actual versus 55.4 expected, 55.7 prior (no
revisions)

June 7 - Tuesday
Productivity-Rev., Q1 (8:30): -0.6% expected, -1.0% prior
Unit Labor Costs - R, Q1 (8:30): 4.0% expected, 4.1% prior
Consumer Credit, April (15:00): $18.5B expected, $29.6B prior

June 8 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 06/04 (7:00): -4.1% prior
JOLTS - Job Openings, April (10:00): 5.757M prior
Crude Inventories, 06/04 (10:30): -1.366M prior

June 9 - Thursday
Initial Claims, 06/04 (8:30): 265K expected, 267K prior
Continuing Claims, 05/28 (8:30): 2172K prior
Wholesale Inventories, April (10:00): 0.1% expected, 0.1% prior
Natural Gas Inventor, 06/04 (10:30): 82 bcf prior

June 10 - Friday
Michigan Sentiment - Pre, June (10:00): 94.0 expected, 94.7 prior
Treasury Budget, May (14:00): -$84.1B prior

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market endured a quiet midweek session, but the light participation did not stop the S&P 500 from rising 0.3% to register its third consecutive gain. The benchmark index extended its weekly advance to 1.0% with materials (+0.7%) and industrials (+0.7%) ending in the lead. Market participants turned some lemons into lemonade today after the World Bank served up some lemons by lowering its 2016 global GDP growth forecast to 2.4% from 2.9% and slashing the U.S. growth outlook to 1.9% from 2.7%. The downgrade did not pressure stocks as investors interpreted the news as a sign that domestic and global monetary policy may remain highly accommodative for longer.

The S&P 500 marked its morning high within the first 30 minutes of action, but the index followed that move with a short-lived retreat to its flat line. Early weakness in sectors like consumer discretionary (+0.1%), financials (+0.2%), and technology (+0.4%) fostered that slip, but the S&P 500 proved resilient thanks to strength in heavily-weighted sectors like industrials (+0.7%) and health care (+0.5%). Furthermore, the technology sector overcame its early weakness thanks in part to Alphabet (GOOGL 742.93, +11.84). The stock climbed 1.6% after a few analysts made positive comments about the company.

To be fair, there were some weak spots among tech shares as the PHLX Semiconductor Index ended flat with Micron (MU 12.58, -0.42) falling 3.2% after announcing that its acquisition of Inotera, which was expected to complete in mid-July, will not be completed in the timeframe that was specified previously.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, the energy space (-0.2%) jumped out to an early lead, but could not hold its ground even though crude oil climbed 1.7% to $51.23/bbl, settling at a fresh 2016 high. The energy component posted a solid gain even though the latest weekly inventory report from the Department of Energy showed that gasoline inventories increased by 1.01 million barrels against expectations for a draw. As for crude inventories, they declined by 3.226 million barrels (consensus draw of 2.700 to 3.400 million barrels). Despite today's downtick, the energy sector is still up 4.0% for the week, which puts the group well ahead of the remaining nine sectors.

In other commodities, gold (+1.2% to $1262.20/ozt) and silver (+3.7% to $17.00/ozt) also rallied, benefiting from the fourth consecutive decline in the Dollar Index (93.61), which slipped 0.2% to levels from early May.

Treasuries climbed early on and maintained their gains into the close with the 10-yr yield slipping two basis points to 1.70%.

Today's participation was below average as fewer than 870 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and JOLTS:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index increased 9.3% to follow last week's 4.1% decline
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for April pointed to an increase in openings to 5.788 million from last month's 5.757 million (revised from 5.670 million)

Tomorrow's data will feature weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 265K) and April Wholesale Inventories (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%), which will be released at 8:30 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Russell 2000 +4.7% YTD
S&P 500 +3.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +3.3% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -0.7% YTD

DJ30 +66.77 NASDAQ +12.89 SP500 +6.99 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1920/1.57 bln/1004 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2040/863.2 mln/977 3:30 pm :

The dollar index drops, down -0.3% around the 93.60 level, boosting commodities across the board
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are up +1.9% at 89.94
Crude oil closes at new 8-month highs for the second consecutive trading session, buoyed by a weak dollar and production drops in parts of the world
July crude oil futures rose $0.85 (+1.7%) to $51.23/barrel
Crude oil inventories had a draw of -3.226 mln (consensus called for a draw between -2.7 to -3.4 mln)
Monthly IEA data is scheduled to be released June 14
API data released yesterday after the close showed a draw of -3.6 mln barrels
Nigerian crude oil output is at 20-year lows, a contributing factor boosting oil prices
Natural gas futures close unchanged ahead of tomorrow's EIA storage data
July natural gas closed flat at $2.47/MMBtu
EIA natural gas storage data is scheduled to be released tomorrow at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold closes near highs of the day as the dollar shows marked weakness
August gold ended today's session up $15.20 (+1.2%) to $1262.20/oz
Silver surges to highs not seen since Mid-May 2016 as the dollar holds its early morning losses
July silver closed today's session $0.61 higher (+3.7%) at $17.00/oz
Base metal copper inches higher in afternoon pit trading
July copper closed $0.01 higher (+0.5%) at $2.06/lb

The market indices opened the session on a modestly firmer note but the pushed stalled out after the first 30 minutes of action. Helping to underpin in the early going were strength in oil/energy and emerging market gains. While it did push above Tuesday's high (by less than one point) it again stalled near this zone with backtracking into mid-morning following weaker jobs openings data and a slip in oil. The choppy and limited action persisted into the bell.

Market participants helped the situation following the World Bank's lowering of the 2016 global GDP growth forecast to 2.4% from 2.9% and slashing the U.S. growth outlook to 1.9% from 2.7%. The downgrade did not pressure stocks as investors interpreted the news as a sign that domestic and global monetary policy may remain highly accommodative for longer.

The market data which came across today included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index which increased 9.3% to follow last week's 4.1% decline. Additionally, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for April pointed to an increase in openings to 5.788 million from last month's 5.757 million (revised from 5.670 million).

Broader market action capped off the Wednesday session with modest gains as the Dow turned above 18,000 for the first time since April. On that note, the Dow Jones Industrial Average led the charge higher today, adding 66.77 points (+0.37%) to 18005.05. The S&P 500 was next, up 6.99 points (+0.33%) to 2119.12, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 12.89 points (+0.26%) to 4874.64.

When the day was done, the Technology (XLK 44.32, +0.12 +0.27%) sector closed near the top of the day's trading range. Components GOOGL +1.62%, CTSH +1.47%, CSC +1.37%, MA +1.35%, MSI +1.34%, V +1.30%, HPQ +1.24%, TDC +1.08%, CA +1.07% were among the best performers today. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed the day XLI +0.63%, XLU +0.60%, XLP +0.60%, XLB +0.58%, IYZ +0.35%, XLV +0.35%, XLY +0.11%, XLF +0.08%, XLE -0.23%, led higher by Industrials, as Energy lagged.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (733.70, +2.62 +0.36%) sector, action also culminated near session highs. Component Micron (MU 12.58, -0.42 -3.23%) was a notable under-performer today as the company announced an updated timeline for the Inotera acquisition. The company noted it does not see the deal closing by mid-July 2016, as previously thought; rather, MU sees the deal closing in the latter part of calendar 2016. Other names in the space which closed higher included CTXS +1.02%, ADP +1.02%, QRVO +0.99%, SYMC +0.93%, TXN +0.84%, FISV +0.84%, WU +0.76%, FSLR +0.75%, APH +0.72%, YHOO +0.65%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Symantec (SYMC 17.43, +0.16 +0.93%) introduced Symantec Anomaly Detection for Automotive to protect against zero-day attacks and never-before-seen issues facing modern connected vehicles.

Micron (MU) announced an update regarding its effort to acquire the remaining interest in Inotera. While the acquisition was initially expected to close in mid-July 2016, the parties have concluded that closing the transaction on this timeframe is not possible. Micron now expects to provide an update toward the latter part of calendar 2016.

The U.S. International Trade Commission institutes Section 337 investigating certain mobile and portable electronic devices incorporating haptics and components thereof. The USITC identified Apple (AAPL 98.94, -0.09 -0.09%) and AT&T (T 39.86, +0.07 +0.18%) as respondents in the investigation.

Apple (AAPL) announced changes to the App Store. The company launched Search Ads, a way for the user to promote an app directly within the U.S. App Store search results, helping customers discover or reengage with an app, while respecting their privacy. Starting this summer, customers will be able to participate in the Search Ads beta and see the ads in action. Additionally, the company is opening auto-renewable subscriptions to all app categories including games, increasing developer revenue for eligible subscriptions after one year, providing greater pricing flexibility, and more.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

MTS Systems (MTSC 44.01, -5.55 -11.20%) commenced an underwritten public offerings of common stock and common units.

Liberty TripAdvisor (LTRPA 23.91, +0.14 +0.59%) agreed to the terms of a variable postpaid forward transaction on 7.0 million TripAdvisor (TRIP 69.24, +0.61 +0.89%) common shares.

AT&T (T) reached a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America in benefits negotiations covering all CWA-represented Mobility employees nationwide.

Polycom (PLCM 12.08, +0.12 +1.00%) received a revised, non-binding proposal from a private equity sponsor that was previously described as 'Sponsor 1' for $12.25/share in cash.

Monster Worldwide (MWW 2.90, +0.06 +2.11%) acquired Jobr. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Trimble Navigation (TRMB 26.17, +0.01 +0.04%) sold its Advanced Public Safety business to Aptean. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Sohu.com (SOHU 41.03, -0.08 -0.19%) announcesd CFO Carol Yu will retire July 31. Joanna Lv will assume the position of acting CFO upon Yu's retirement.

Finjan (FNJN 1.81, +0.23 +14.56%) announced a license and settlement agreement with Proofpoint (PFPT 64.40, +0.87 +1.37%).

In reaction to quarterly results:

HealthEquity (HQY 29.12, +1.51 +5.47%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.15 on revenues which also came in ahead of expectations and were up 47.4% versus last year to $44.01 million. For the FY17 period, HQY issued guidance better than expected EPS and revenues of $0.47-0.49 (versus prior guidance for $0.45-0.47) and $173-177 million (versus prior guidance of $170-174 million), respectively.

SeaChange (SEAC 3.48, -0.04 -1.14%) reported in-line Q1 EPS at a loss per share of $0.20 on revenues which fell 6.9% versus last year to $21.6 million. The company also guided Q2 EPS and revenues lower than expected at ($0.15)-($0.10) and $23-25 million, respectively. Further, SEAC guided FY17 EPS better than expected at $0.05-0.10 on revenues of $110-120 million.

VeriFone (PAY 21.27, -6.96 -24.65%) reported worse than expected Q2 EPS of $0.47 on in-line revenues which rose 8.6% versus last year to $532 million. For the Q3 and FY16 period, PAY announced worse than expected guidance. For Q3, the company sees EPS of $0.40 on revenues of $515 million.

Verint Systems (VRNT 36.71, +1.67 +4.77%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.46 on in-line revenues of $249 million. For the FY17 period, the company expects EPS to be similar to FY16 which equates to about $3.04. The company also sees FY17 revenues similar to FY16, plus or minus 2%, which calculates to about $1.11-1.16 billion.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight: CMTL

Analyst actions:

IVAC was upgraded to Buy from Hold at The Benchmark Company;
PAY was downgraded at Barclays, Monness Crespi & Hardt, JP Morgan, Pacific Crest and Compass Point, SNX was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James,
MKTO was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Bernstein;
HIVE and NTGR were initiated with a Buy at Wunderlich,
ZBRA was initiated with a Neutral at Goldman,
NTDOY was initiated with an Overweight at JP Morgan

Ultratech (UTEK) announces that its Cambridge Nanotech biz unit Ultratech-CNT has entered into a Joint Development Program with IMEC in the field of Area-Selective Deposition technology. The ASD project will concentrate on the study and use of Self-Assembled Monolayers as a means of functionalizing surfaces to selectively inhibit ALD-grown films.

Trina Solar (TSL) announces that its cumulative shipments of solar modules to India have exceeded 1 GW to date with around 20% market share in the region in 2015.

6:03 am Micron provides an update on its closing date for the acquisition of Inotera, expects to provide an update toward the latter part of 2016 (MU) :

The acquisition was initially expected to close in mid-July 2016. The parties have concluded that closing the transaction on this timeframe is not possible.As previously announced, the co agreed to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Inotera pursuant to a share swap agreement dated Feb 3, 2016.

6:02 am Chipmos Technology reports May revs of $47.6 mln (-7% y/y) (IMOS) :

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 10-Jun-16The stock market endured its second consecutive range-bound week, but this time around, the S&P 500 could not avoid a lower close. The benchmark index shed 0.2% for the week while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.0%) underperformed amid weakness in biotechnology.

Equity indices climbed through the first half of the week, but stumbled into the weekend as investors focused on global growth concerns. On Wednesday, the World Bank lowered its 2016 global growth forecast to 2.4% from 2.9%, but stocks climbed despite the warning.

The renewed grumblings about the state of the global economy got louder on Thursday after the Bank of Korea unexpectedly cut its key interest rate to a record low of 1.25% from 1.50%. Separately, China reported a 0.5% month-over-month decline in May CPI (expected -0.2%). Commodity markets flashed some red flags as copper futures abruptly reversed from a one-month high to a four-month low, ending the week at $2.028/lb. For its part, crude oil marked an 11-month high $51.67/bbl on Thursday, but reversed from that level and continued its retreat through Friday to end the week at $49.06/bbl. Gold (+2.9% to $1275.70/ozt) and silver (+5.7% to $17.31/ozt) advanced even though the Dollar Index ticked up 0.6%.

Another sign of defensive posturing could be found in global bond markets as European yields plummeted after the European Central Bank launched its bond purchase program. Germany's 10-yr Bund yield ended the week at 0.02% after marking a record low at 0.01%.

The global risk-off cocktail pushed out rate hike expectations with the probability of a June hike dropping to just 1.9% from 6.0% at the end of last week, according to the fed funds futures market. The likelihood of a hike in July dropped to 23.0% from 35.0%, leaving December (59.1%) as the month that shows the first 50.0%+ probability of a rate hike.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17807.13 17865.34 58.21 0.3 2.5
Nasdaq 4942.52 4894.55 -47.97 -1.0 -2.3
S&P 500 2099.13 2096.07 -3.06 -0.1 2.6
Russell 2000 1163.36 1163.93 0.57 0.0 2.5

4:30 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks and Global Yields Slide (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended a mixed week on a lower note as investors eyed a rally in global sovereign bonds and a downturn in equity markets. Other focal points for today's action included a leg lower in oil, strengthening in the dollar, and relative weakness in the heavyweight financial (-1.2%), health care (-0.9%), technology (-1.1%), and the industrial (-1.0%) sectors. The Nasdaq Composite finished lower by 1.3%, extending its weekly loss to 1.0%. Separately, the S&P 500 (-0.9%) ended the week lower by 0.3%.

Equity indices opened under selling pressure as investors eyed sizable losses in European bourses and sinking yields from overseas. Germany's DAX (-2.5%) helped lead the losses as participants reacted to weakness in equities and a continued bid in the Bund. On that note, the yield on 10-yr Bund carved out a new all-time low overnight (0.01%). The weakness in Europe led to yield chasing in U.S. Treasuries and safe-haven inflows to the dollar.

The broader market ebbed lower through the morning as heavily-weighted components helped pace the retreat. Economically-sensitive financials (-1.5%) underperformed noticeably while growth-sensitive groups such as the Dow Jones Transportation Average (-1.5%) and the PHLX Semiconductor Index (-1.7%) also saw their fair share of selling interest.

The S&P 500 (-0.9%) fell to a session low as strengthening in the U.S. Dollar Index (94.54, +0.60) pressured dollar-denominated oil. The energy component carved out a new low ($48.87/bbl) through the afternoon before ending its pit session lower by 2.9% ($49.06/bbl; -$1.47). Nine sectors ended beneath their flat lines with energy (-2.0%), financials (-1.2%), technology (-1.1%), health care (-0.9%) ending behind the broader market. The countercyclical telecom services (+0.8%) and consumer staples (+0.1%) sectors ended with the only gains.

In the financial sector (-1.2%), money center banks, asset management companies, and investment brokerages underperformed as the groups weighed global growth concerns. Citigroup (C 43.90, -1.11) and Bank of America (BAC 13.83, -0.36) both lost 2.5%. Meanwhile, Dow component Goldman Sachs (GS 149.89, -3.28) finished at the bottom of the price-weighted index.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index (-1.7%) ended behind the broader market as the group erased a weekly gain, finishing down 0.9% over that time.

In the group, Marvell (MRVL 9.82, -0.38) fell 3.7% after warning investors that its first quarter revenue may miss estimates.

On the flipside, Intel (INTC 32.04, +0.10) outperformed after headlines stated that the company won an order to supply Apple (AAPL 98.83, -0.82) with chips for its new iPhone.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (-1.5%) underperformed as FedEx (FDX 160.87, -3.24) declined by 2.0%. Rail names also weighed with Norfolk Southern (NSC 84.09, -1.51) and Kansas City Southern (KSU 88.50, -1.68) losing 1.8% and 1.9%, respectively. For the week, the index gained 0.5%, compared to a gain of 0.8% in the broader industrial sector (-1.0%).

The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 41.71, -0.61) declined by 1.4% as investors examined sales metrics and guidance. Urban Outfitters (URBN 26.32, -1.61) fell 5.8% after disappointing with its quarter-to-date comparable store sales data. Influential Netflix (NFLX 93.75, -3.34) ended lower by 3.4%.

The U.S. Dollar Index (94.58, +0.63) finished off its high, gaining against the euro, commodity currencies, and the pound. The euro/dollar pair ended at 1.1255 (-0.5%) while the dollar gained 0.3% against the Canadian dollar (1.2757). The pound fell 1.4% against the dollar (1.4260) as investors ruminated over the potential implications of the looming Brexit vote.

The Treasury complex settled higher as the yield on the 10-yr note slid five basis points to 1.64%.

Today's participation was relatively light as 853 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for June and the Treasury Budget for May:

The preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report for June checked in at 94.3 (Briefing.com consensus 94.0), down slightly from the final reading of 94.7 for May and down from the 96.1 reading seen in June 2015.This dip was entirely related to a downturn in the Index of Consumer Expectations, which slipped from 84.9 to 83.2. The Current Economic Conditions Index jumped from 109.9 to 111.7. The takeaway from those respective readings is that consumers are feeling a little better about their current situation, yet have grown more concerned about the outlook. The report itself said wage gains aided in consumers' assessment of their current financial situation, which is at the best level since the 2007 cyclical peak. Consumers, though, don't think the economy is as strong as it was last year and they don't expect it to enjoy the same financial health in the year ahead as they thought it might a year ago. Reservations about the outlook could ultimately curtail their spending behavior; however, it is important to note that income gains are a much more influential driver of spending than sentiment.The Treasury Budget for May showed a deficit of $52.5 billion versus a deficit of $84.1 billion in May 2015.The Treasury Budget data is not seasonally adjusted, so the May deficit cannot be compared to the $106.5 billion surplus registered in April (coincided with filing of individual tax returns).Total receipts in May were $224.6 billion while total outlays were $277.1 billion.Receipts were $12.2 billion more than receipts from May 2015. Total outlays, meanwhile, were $19.3 billion less than the same period a year ago.The 12-month deficit narrowed to $479.3 billion from $510.9 billion in April.Monday's economic data will include Import (Briefing.com consensus) and Export Prices (Briefing.com consensus) for May and May Retail Sales (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%), which will each cross the wires at 8:30 ET. Separately, Business Inventories for April (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) will be released at 10:00 ET.

Week in Review: S&P 500 Backs Away From 11-Month High

The stock market endured its second consecutive range-boundweek, but this time around, the S&P 500 could not avoid a lower close. Thebenchmark index shed 0.2% for the week while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.0%)underperformed amid weakness in biotechnology.

Equity indices climbed through the first half of the week,but stumbled into the weekend as investors focused on global growth concerns.On Wednesday, the World Bank lowered its 2016 global growth forecast to 2.4%from 2.9%, but stocks climbed despite the warning.

The renewed grumblings about the state of the global economygot louder on Thursday after the Bank of Korea unexpectedly cut its keyinterest rate to a record low of 1.25% from 1.50%. Separately, China reported a0.5% month-over-month decline in May CPI (expected -0.2%). Commodity marketsflashed some red flags as copper futures abruptly reversed from a one-monthhigh to a four-month low, ending the week at $2.028/lb. For its part, crude oilmarked an 11-month high $51.67/bbl on Thursday, but reversed from that leveland continued its retreat through Friday to end the week at $49.06/bbl. Gold(+2.9% to $1275.70/ozt) and silver (+5.7% to $17.31/ozt) advanced even thoughthe Dollar Index ticked up 0.6%.

Another sign of defensive posturing could be found in globalbond markets as European yields plummeted after the European Central Banklaunched its bond purchase program. Germany's 10-yr Bund yield ended the weekat 0.02% after marking a record low at 0.01%.

The global risk-off cocktail pushed out rate hikeexpectations with the probability of a June hike dropping to just 1.9% from6.0% at the end of last week, according to the fed funds futures market. Thelikelihood of a hike in July dropped to 23.0% from 35.0%, leaving December(59.1%) as the month that shows the first 50.0%+ probability of a rate hike.

The major averages opened their day on a broadly lower note as investors responded to a downturn in global equity markets. Overnight, European bourses led the retreat as investors weighed the potential implications of a continued rally in global sovereign bonds. Germany's DAX lost 2.5% as the yield on the 10-yr Bund briefly hit an all-time low at 0.01%.

Market data today included the preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report for June which checked in at 94.3, down slightly from the final reading of 94.7 for May and down from the 96.1 reading seen in June 2015. Also, the Treasury Budget for May showed a deficit of $52.5 billion versus a deficit of $84.1 billion in May 2015. It's worth noting that the Treasury Budget data is not seasonally adjusted, so the May deficit cannot be compared to the $106.5 billion surplus registered in April (coincided with filing of individual tax returns).

The week's action culminated in a weak Friday session. Trading was in the red for the entirety of the day as the Nasdaq Composite led the downside all session, hurt mostly by shares of TSLA -4.6%, SWKS -3.6% and NFLX -3.4%. To that end, the Nasdaq Composite was the worst performer, shedding 64.07 points (-1.29%) today to end 4894.55. The S&P 500 was next, lower by 19.41 points (-0.92%) to 2096.07, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 119.85 points (-0.67%) to 17865.34. Today's action moved the three major US indices -2.2%, +2.6% and +2.5% YTD, respectively.

The week ended with some decent losses in the Technology (XLK 43.96, -0.34 -0.77%) sector. Component's Verizon (VZ 52.67, +0.72 +1.39%) and AT&T (T 40.33, +0.24 +0.60%) managed to stave off the broader market decline as headlines crossed late in the session which suggested that the companies were making bids (T for the patents, VZ for the web assets) for Yahoo! (YHOO 36.83, -0.52 -1.39%). Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed the day XLP +0.07%, XLU -0.26%, XLB -0.75%, XLV -0.80%, XLY -1.05%, IYZ -1.05%, XLI -1.17%, XLF -1.24%, XLE -2.16% with Consumer Staples edging out the rest, and Energy lagging as July Crude Oil Futures shed 2.9% to $49.06/barrel.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (725.36, -7.77 -1.06%) sector, trading wrapped up the week with losses. Component Corning (GLW 20.52, -0.51 -2.43%) was notably weak following a premarket downgraded to a Sell rating from Hold at Drexel Hamilton. Other names in the space which closed the day with losses included AKAM -4.89%, STX -4.14%, FSLR -3.85%, QRVO -3.64%, ADS -3.15%, MU -2.96%, ADSK -2.79%, TDC -2.76%, WDC -2.74%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

According to Bloomberg, Apple (AAPL 98.83, -0.82 -0.82%) has selected Intel (INTC 32.04, +0.10 +0.31%) chips for new iPhones.

Applied Materials (AMAT 24.07, -0.35 -1.43%) announces a new $2 billion share repurchase program.In late trading, headline crossed the wires suggesting AT&T (T) made an approximate $5 billion bid for Yahoo!'s (YHOO) patents, and that Verizon (VZ) may only be bidding for the company's core web assets.


Elsewhere in the tech space:

MKS Instruments (MKSI 41.15, -1.36 -3.20%) repriced an existing secured term loan and repaid $50 million of principal, reducing amount outstanding to $730 million.

SunEdison (SUNEQ 0.17, +0.01 +7.92%) confirmed it received final Bankruptcy Court approval of debtor-in-possession financing in the form of new capital totaling up to $300 million provided by a consortium of first and second lien lenders.

Gogo (GOGO 8.97, -0.54 -5.68%) priced $525 million aggregate principal amount of 12.50% senior secured notes due 2022.

Baidu.com (BIDU 164.28, -4.71 -2.79%) signed a five-year $2 billion term and revolving facilities agreement with a group of 21 arrangers.

Orbotech (ORBK 26.03, -1.96 -7.00%) priced 3.85 million ordinary share offering at $26.52 per share.

GigPeak (GIG 2.16, -0.46 -17.56%) to offer common stock in an underwritten public offering. In addition, selling shareholders to offer about 1.2 million common shares. GIG later priced the 11.3 million public offering of common stock at $2.00 per share for gross proceeds of about $22.6 million.

West Corp (WSTC 22.06, -0.86 -3.75%) priced a private placement of $400 million in aggregate principal amount of 4.75% senior secured notes due 2021.

BATS Global (BATS 27.07, -0.17 -0.62%) to refinance its existing $656 million Term Loan B facilities and $100 million revolving credit facility.

Analyst actions:

GLW was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Drexel Hamilton,
EEFT was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Monness Crespi & Hardt,
MLAB was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sidoti;
HRS and MRCY were initiated with a Buy at Citigroup,
HUBS was initiated with an Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts,
MBLY was initiated with an Overweight at Piper Jaffray,
LXFT was initiated with a Buy at Berenberg

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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The stock market began its week on a lower note as investors weighed ambiguities in the global economic outlook. Furthermore, participants showed a lack of buying conviction ahead of this week's policy meetings at the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan. Focal points for today's trade included a bid in safe havens, weakening in the U.S. dollar, a violation of technical support at the 2081/2082 price level, and relative weakness from the technology (-1.1%) and industrial (-1.1%) sectors. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.9%) finished behind the S&P 500 (-0.8%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.7%). Equities gapped lower to begin the Monday affair as a negative bias in global indices weighed on domestic stocks. The health of the global economy remained in focus as a mass shooting in the United States, steep losses in Asia, and defensive positioning in Europe each contributed to weakness overseas. Furthermore, tepid economic readings from China and bearish commentary from the IMF regarding China's corporate debt levels also unnerved participants.

The major averages pared some of their opening losses as oil attempted to gain on a softening dollar. However, the reversal in oil would prove to be short lived. WTI crude ended its day lower by 0.4% ($48.88/bbl; -$0.18). The S&P 500 (-0.8%) ebbed lower through afternoon trade, breaking support at the 2084/2085 and finally the 2081/2082 levels. The benchmark index finished near its low as all ten sectors ended in the red with materials (-1.3%), technology (-1.1%), and industrials (-0.7%) showing the largest losses.

The influential technology sector (-0.9%) underperformed as large cap component Apple (AAPL 97.34, -1.49) declined by 1.5%. The stock remained pressured after Nikkei reported that iPhone sales may fall in 2016. Elsewhere, Microsoft (MSFT 50.14, -1.34) finished lower by 2.6% after announcing that it would acquire LinkedIn (LNKD 192.21, +61.13) for $196 per share. Facebook (FB 113.95, -2.67) lost 2.3% after Andrew Left of Citron indicated that he has shorted the stock.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (-1.1%) ended behind the broader market as weakness in airlines pressured the index and the broader industrial sector (-1.1%). The U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS 22.37, -0.70) ended lower by 3.0%. On the flipside, Kansas City Southern (KSU 89.36, +0.62) outperformed among rail names.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 20.99, +3.96) jumped 23.3% as investors look forward to the potential macroeconomic implications of the coming weeks. The Federal Reserve will meet tomorrow and Wednesday while the Bank of Japan will meet June 15 and 16. Furthermore, voting in the "Brexit" referendum will conclude on June 23.

The U.S. Dollar Index (94.34, -0.23) ended off its low as the euro and yen each finished with gains against the greenback. The euro/dollar pair ended higher by 0.4% (1.1295) while the dollar lost 0.8% (106.20) against the safe haven yen. Separately, the pound/dollar pair ended lower by 0.1% (1.4237) as investors attempted to account for a shift in "Brexit" polling.

The Treasury complex settled higher as the yield on the 10-yr Note slid three basis points to 1.61%.

Today's participation was below the recent average as fewer than 843 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Investors did not receive any economic data today.

Tomorrow's economic data will include Import and Export Prices for May and May Retail Sales (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%), which will each cross the wires at 8:30 ET. Separately, Business Inventories for April (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) will be released at 10:00 ET. DJ30 -132.86 NASDAQ -46.11 SP500 -17.01 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 743/1.732 bln/2324 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 743/842.9 mln/2297

3:40 pm :

Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, pulled back today, but are still holding a 0.2% gain
WTI crude oil pulled back below $49/barrel in afternoon trade, finishing up the session -0.4% at $48.88/barrel
Natural gas sold off some as well, but held some gains, closing +1.2% at $2.59/MMBtu
Metals finished higher as well
Aug gold closed today's session +0.9% at $1286.90/oz, while July silver ended +0.8% at $17.45/oz
July copper rose 1% to $2.05/lb today

4:04 pm Rubicon Tech announces that ISS has recommended that stockholders vote for its two director nominees (RBCN) : ISS notes, "As the dissident has failed to make a compelling case that additional change at the board level is necessary, no support for the dissident nominees is warranted. Shareholders should vote on the WHITE management card FOR the election of the two management nominees."

Equity indices opened on a lower note as investors weighed sharp declines in global bourses. Overseas indices ticked lower as participants weighed the impact of a tragic act of terrorism in Orlando, growing uncertainty regarding a potential "Brexit" vote, and some lukewarm economic data out of China. Equity indices pared some of their losses in the opening hour as oil reversed. The broader market reached its best level of the day in the first hour before tilting back to the downside.

Action in the markets today was cautious at best. At the bell, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite weighed, lower by 46.11 points (-0.94%) to 4848.44. The S&P 500 was down 17.01 points (-0.81%) to 2079.06, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 132.86 points (-0.74%) to 17732.48 following a modest session in July Crude Oil Futures, $48.88/barrel, -$0.18 (-0.4%).

Technology (XLK 43.47, -0.49 -1.11%) trading was now different, as the sector compounded the losses from Friday's tepid affair to end near lows of the day. Component Microsoft (MSFT 50.14, -1.34 -2.60%) traded modestly lower today following the company's announced acquisition of LinkedIn (LNKD 192.21, +61.13 +46.64%) this morning for $196 per share in all-cash. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed the day XLB -1.11%, XLI -1.08%, XLP -0.83%, XLV -0.79%, XLF -0.69%, XLY -0.55%, IYZ -0.38%, XLE -0.30%, XLU -0.12% led by losses in Tech and relative strength in the Utility sector.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (717.24, -8.12 -1.12%) sector, trading strayed little from the broader market as the sector was weighed down to lows at the close. Component Symantec (SYMC 18.21, +0.91 +5.26%) was the best performer today as the company acquired Blue Coat for about $4.651 billion in cash in a deal which is expected to close Q3 2016. Other names in the sector which under-performed today included HPE -2.72%, HPQ -2.59%, FB -2.29%, V -2.22%, STX -1.99%, QCOM -1.86%, TSS -1.83%, CSRA -1.69%, WU -1.55%, FSLR -1.48%, VRSN -1.44%, EA -1.38%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Microsoft (MSFT) and LinkedIn (LNKD) entered into an agreement under which MSFT will acquire LNKD for $196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion, inclusive of LNKD's net cash. LNKD will retain its distinct brand, culture and independence. Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LNKD, reporting to Satya Nadella, CEO of MSFT. Reid Hoffman, chairman of the board, co-founder and controlling shareholder of LNKD, and Weiner both fully support this transaction. The transaction is expected to close this calendar year. MSFT will finance the transaction primarily through the issuance of new indebtedness. Upon closing, MSFT expects LNKD's financials to be reported as part of MSFT's Productivity and Business Processes segment. MSFT expects the acquisition to have minimal dilution of ~1% to non-GAAP earnings per share for the remainder of fiscal year 2017 post-closing and for fiscal year 2018 based on the expected close date, and become accretive to MSFT's non-GAAP earnings per share in MSFT's fiscal year 2019 or less than two years post-closing.

Shares of Apple (AAPL 97.34, -1.49 -1.51%) were modestly lower today as the company held its annual WWDC conference in San Francisco. Among the highlights of the event, AAPL announced iOS 10 will be available this fall to all users as a free upgrade. Further, the company announced a new iteration of Apple News, Apple Music, facial recognition for the iPhone, mac OS Sierra, Siri for Mac, Apple Pay for the Internet, Apple TV remote app, and WatchOS 3.

Shares of Facebook (FB 113.95, -2.67 -2.29%) were weak today on the heels of cautious commentary from Citron Research.

Symantec (SYMC) will acquire Blue Coat for about $4.651 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close Q3 2016. Additionally, Greg Clark, CEO of Blue Coat, will be appointed CEO of Symantec.

Nxtra Data Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, and CenturyLink (CTL 26.89, -0.07 -0.26%) announced an exclusive business partnership to provide advanced hosting and managed IT services to enterprises in India. This exclusive partnership brings Nxtra Data's India data centre management expertise together with CenturyLink's cost-effective hosting, managed services and cloud capabilities to serve businesses and government organizations in India.

Wal-Mart (WMT 70.53, -0.61 -0.86%) issued an official statement confirming it will no longer accept Visa (V 78.40, -1.78 -2.22%) cards in its Canadian stores.

The American Diabetes Association and IBM Watson Health (IBM 151.28, -1.09 -0.72%) announced a long-term collaboration to bring together the cognitive computing power of Watson and the Association's vast repository of clinical and research data.

TSYS (TSS 51.56, -0.96 -1.83%) has acquired - from The Merchants Group Limited (a Dimension Data company) - the remaining 45% ownership share in its TSYS Managed Services EMEA joint venture. TSYS Managed Services is now a wholly owned TSYS company focused on providing outsourced business process and contact-centre services and support to TSYS' international clients.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Net 1 UEPS Techs (UEPS 10.14, -0.37 -3.52%) filed for an offering of about 9.98 million shares of common stock on behalf of selling shareholders.

Square (SQ 8.92, -0.22 -2.41%) announced a settlement with REM Holdings 3. The financial details of said settlement were not disclosed.

Comtech Telecom (CEL 6.76, -0.82 -10.82%) commenced a $100 million common stock offering.

VMware (VMW 62.79, -0.41 -0.65%) announced the intention to acquire Arkin Net. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in Q2 2016.

Aviat Networks (AVNW 0.55 -0.02 -3.51%) announced a 1:12 reverse stock split which will begin trading ex-split June 14.

TechTarget (TTGT 8.15, -0.18 -2.16%) announced its Board of Directors has authorized a $20 million stock repurchase program.

Analyst actions:

NVDA was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura,
ON was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at Pacific Crest;
SAP was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Jefferies,
GSAT was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Chardan Capital Markets,
VOD was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie,
INXN was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies,
BIDU was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup;
SITO was initiated with a Buy at Maxim Group

3:01 pm Apple confirms updates to several software products which were announced at WWDC (AAPL) :

Apple previews major update with macOS SierraFeatures include: Use Siri on the Mac, Access your desktop from anywhere, copy and paste between devices & rediscover favorite memories in photos.Co also announced powerful new Siri capabilities & single sign-on for Apple TV.Co previewed watchOS 3, featuring significantly improved performance with the ability to launch favorite apps instantly, enhanced navigation like the new Dock and all-new fitness and health capabilities for Apple Watch.Co previewed iOS 10, featuring an update to Messages that delivers more expressive and animated ways to message friends and family, like stickers and full-screen effects.Apple introduced Swift Playgrounds, a new app for iPad that makes learning to code easy for anyone. All software updates will be released this Fall.

2:05 pm Microsoft announces latest console iteration in the Xbox lineup, the Xbox One S (MSFT) :

At the Xbox E3 2016 Briefing, Microsoft Corp. unveiled a new family of Xbox One devices, a host of new Xbox Live features and the biggest lineup of games in Xbox history. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer underscored the Xbox team's commitment to building a future of gaming beyond console generations and inviting gamers to play without boundaries.

New Xbox One S will debut at $299/249 pounds/299 euros for the 500GB model1TB model starts at $349/299 pounds/349 eurosLimited launch edition 2TB Xbox One S will be available in select markets for $399/349 pounds/399 eurosAlso announces new wireless controller, Xbox Design Lab and Xbox Elite ControllerPre-ordering is liveMSFT also announces the "Project Scorpio." Coming holiday 2017, "Project Scorpio" will be the most powerful console ever created, with 6 teraflops of GPU delivering a premier console gaming experience including true 4K gaming and high-fidelity virtual reality. "Project Scorpio" will join the Xbox One family and coexist alongside Xbox One and Xbox One S and all of your Xbox One games and accessories are compatible.

10:37 am Microsoft finds early footing along multi-month support in the $49 area after initially gapping -3.5% lower on LNKD take-over headlines (MSFT) : Since last October's bullish gap from the $48 level, MSFT has found support on multiple occasions the last few month on each drop below the $50-mark. Today's gap down to $49 on news of its acquisition of LNKD has yet to differ...so far.

8:46 am Ultratech shareholder Neuberger Berman is seeking to elect two candidates to its Board (UTEK) : Neuberger states, "I am writing on behalf of Neuberger Berman LLC to request your support at the upcoming annual meeting of stockholders of Ultratech for our two highly qualified, independent nominees to the board of directors, Ms. Beatriz V. Infante and Dr. Ronald Black.

8:41 am LinkedIn follow-up: Microsoft (MSFT) issues complete press release detailing planned $26.2 bln ($196/share in cash) acquisition of LinkedIn - see 7:31 comment for original announcement of deal (LNKD) :

As detailed earlier, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and LinkedIn announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire LinkedIn for $196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion, inclusive of LinkedIn's net cash. LinkedIn will retain its distinct brand, culture and independence. Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LinkedIn, reporting to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Reid Hoffman, chairman of the board, co-founder and controlling shareholder of LinkedIn, and Weiner both fully support this transaction. The transaction is expected to close this calendar year.

Microsoft says it will finance the transaction primarily through the issuance of new indebtedness. Upon closing, Microsoft expects LinkedIn's financials to be reported as part of Microsoft's Productivity and Business Processes segment. Microsoft expects the acquisition to have minimal dilution of ~1 percent to non-GAAP earnings per share for the remainder of fiscal year 2017 post-closing and for fiscal year 2018 based on the expected close date, and become accretive to Microsoft's non-GAAP earnings per share in Microsoft's fiscal year 2019 or less than two years post-closing. Non-GAAP includes stock-based compensation expense consistent with Microsoft's reporting practice, and excludes expected impact of purchase accounting adjustments as well as integration and transaction-related expenses. In addition, Microsoft also reiterated its intention to complete its existing $40 billion share repurchase authorization by Dec. 31, 2016, the same timeframe as previously committed.The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both LinkedIn and Microsoft. The deal is expected to close this calendar year and is subject to approval by LinkedIn's shareholders, the satisfaction of certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.Microsoft shares, currently halted, are scheduled to resume trading at 08:50 ET

Analyst comments: ON +1.5% (upgraded to Overweight at Pacific Crest)

8:02 am Silicom Limited achieved its first Design Win from a fast-growing Cyber Security company for Intelligent Bypass Switch products that it will use as part of its security solution for a Fortune 500 healthcare company (SILC) : Before selecting Silicom for the Design Win, both the cyber security company, which specializes in intrusion prevention solutions, and its client, the giant healthcare company, evaluated and qualified Silicom's IBS offerings. To date, the orders that Silicom has received from this Design Win have totaled approximately $500,000, and another $500,000 order is expected to be received soon. In addition, the cyber security company has begun planning a next-generation security system that will use additional Silicom Bypass products.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : U.S. equity markets ended the Thursday affair broadly higher, discounting the probability of a "Leave" vote in today's Brexit referendum. Additional focal points impacting today's trade included support from the oil pit, softening in the dollar, and leadership from the heavily-weighted financial (+2.1%) and technology (+1.5%) sectors. The Nasdaq Composite (+1.6%) ended its day ahead of the S&P 500 (+1.3%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.3%).

The major averages began the day on a higher note as investors weighed a rally in global bourses. European indices extended their recent winning streak as the final round of preliminary Brexit polls indicated that the "Remain" group held a lead over the "Leave" camp in today's highly anticipated Brexit vote. In response, investors adopted a risk-on posture while safe haven assets extended their recent losing streak.

The benchmark index gapped higher at the beginning of the session, climbing above technical and psychological resistance at the 2100 area. The S&P 500 (+1.3%) extended its opening advance in the early afternoon as the heavyweight financial (+2.1%) and technology (+1.5%) groups bolstered a move higher in the broader market. Additionally, WTI crude lifted the broader market as it finished higher by 2.0% ($50.12/bbl; +$1.00), extending its weekly gain to 4.4%.

The S&P 500 (+1.3%) extended its advance in the final hour of trade, finishing the day at a freshly minted session high (2113.32). All ten sectors finished in the green with the economically-sensitive financial (+2.1%) sector leading energy (+1.7%) and materials (+1.6%). The remaining cyclical sectors posted gains between 0.9% (consumer discretionary) and 1.5% (technology) while countercyclical utilities (+0.3%) ended at the bottom of the board.

The financial sector (+2.1%) rebounded alongside European banking names as the group responded to shifting expectations regarding the probability of a Brexit. On the home front, life insurance names and investment brokerages finished with the largest gains as Prudential (PRU 76.95, +2.92) and Charles Schwab (SCHW 29.69, +1.35) gained 3.9% and 4.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, Bank of America (BAC 14.04, +0.43) and Citigroup (C 44.46, +1.78) outperformed ahead of results from the latest supervisory stress tests. On a side note, the banking names will not receive approval to bolster their capital return programs until the Federal Reserve releases results from its Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review after the close on June 29.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index (+2.6%) outperformed the broader technology space (+1.5%) as Micron (MU 14.05, +1.33) rallied 10.5%. The company benefited from upgrades to "Buy" and "Positive" at Nomura and Susquehanna, respectively. Elsewhere, software names outperformed with Adobe Systems (ADBE 96.21, +2.20) rebounding 2.3%. Conversely, Red Hat (RHT 78.39, -1.36) was under pressure after disappointing investors with its mixed outlook.

Biotechnology outperformed in the health care space (+1.3%), evidenced by the 2.2% gain in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 262.10, +5.54). The sub-group was likely benefiting from yesterday's positive ruling regarding Medicare spending. On the flipside, Humana (HUM 187.31, -0.36) lost 0.2% after the California Department of Insurance voiced concerns regarding the company's proposed merger with Aetna (AET 121.00, +0.84).

The U.S. Dollar Index (93.38, -0.34) ended lower as the greenback lost ground to the euro and the pound. The single currency gained 0.7% against the buck (1.1372) while the cable gained 1.2% (1.4891). Separately, the dollar climbed 1.5% against the yen (105.93) as safe haven assets remained pressured.

The Treasury complex retreated today as the yield on the 10-yr note rose five basis points to 1.74%.

Today's participation was below the recent average as fewer than 831 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor

Today's economic data included weekly initial claims, New Home Sales for May, and BC Leading Indicators for May:

Initial claims for the week ending June 18 fell by 18,000 from the prior week to 259,000 (Briefing.com consensus 273,000)
The four-week moving average dipped by 2,250 to 267,000.
There were no special factors influencing the initial claims reading, which held below 300,000 for the 68th straight week.
Continuing claims for the week ending June 11 decreased by 20,000 to 2.142 million.
With that reading, the four-week moving average for continuing claims decreased by 4,500 to 2.147 million.
New home sales declined 6.0% month-over-month in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 551,000 (Briefing.com consensus 560,000) from a downwardly revised 586,000 (from 619,000) in April.
Despite the monthly sales drop, new home sales in May were 8.7% above the same period a year ago.
The downturn in May featured a 33.3% decline in sales in the Northeast, although every region experienced a sales drop with the exception of the Midwest (+12.9%).
Notably, the South and the West -- the two biggest regions for new home sales -- saw sales decline 0.9% and 15.6%, respectively.
The median sales price of a new home increased 1.0% year-over-year to $290,400.
With the slower sales pace in May, the inventory of new homes for sale jumped to a 5.3-month supply from 4.9 months in April.
The Conference Board reported a 0.2% decline in its Leading Economic Index for May.
That was well below the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which called for a 0.2% increase, and it followed on the heels of two consecutive monthly gains.
In the six-month period ending May 2016, the leading economic index was flat after increasing 1.2% during the previous six months.
The Conference Board added that the weakness among the leading indicators has become somewhat more widespread than the strengths in recent months.
The decline in May was led by average weekly initial claims, which subtracted 0.23 percentage points, offsetting gains in six other components.
The strongest of those gains was the interest rate spread, which added 0.16 percentage points to the index.
The Conference Board estimated small positive contributions for manufacturers' new orders for:
Consumers goods and materials (+0.01 percentage points) and nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft (+0.02 percentage points).
Separately, the Coincident Index was unchanged in May while the Lagging Economic Index increased 0.3%.

Tomorrow's economic data includes Durable Orders for May (Briefing.com consensus -0.6%) and the final reading of Michigan Consumer Sentiment for May (Briefing.com consensus 94.0), which will cross the wires at 8:30 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

S&P 500 +3.4% YTD
Dow Jones +3.4% YTD
Russell 2000 +3.0% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -1.9% YTD

DJ30 +230.24 NASDAQ +76.72 SP500 +27.87 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2408/1.587 bln/627 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2547/830.2 mln/511 3:30 pm :

The dollar index recovers half of this morning's losses, currently down -0.2% around the 93.54 level, aiding select commodities
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are up +0.3% at 88.35
Crude oil closes near its year-to-date highs, breaking above the $50/barrel resistance in afternoon pit trading
August crude oil futures rose $1.00 (+2.0%) to $50.12/barrel
Baker Hughes rig data is scheduled to be released tomorrow at 12:00 pm ET
Monthly IEA data is scheduled to be released on July 13
Natural gas breaks above afternoon resistance after an initial decline post-EIA data, which showed a larger-than-expected build compared to Consensus
July natural gas closed $0.02 higher (+0.8%) at $2.69/MMBtu
Working gas in storage was 3,103 Bcf as of Friday, June 17, 2016, according to EIA estimates
Stocks were 618 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 678 Bcf above the five-year average of 2,425 Bcf
Natural gas inventory showed a build of +62 bcf vs expectations for inventory to be a build of approximately +58 bcf
At 3,103 Bcf, total working gas is above the five-year historical range
In precious metals, gold sees a modest downtrend as the dollar recovers some of its morning losses, ending lower on the day
August gold ended today's session down $6.70 (-0.5%) to $1263.10/oz
Silver trades near parity with the previous day's close
July silver closed today's session $0.03 higher (+0.2%) at $17.35/oz
Base metal copper trades to a 6-week high in afternoon pit trading
July copper closed $0.03 higher (+1.4%) at $2.16/lb

Today's session began on a higher note as U.S. equity futures traded higher lockstep with European bourses. Equity indices in the region displayed a bullish bias as investors responded to the final round of preliminary Brexit polls. The polling data indicated that the "Remain" camp leads the "Leave" faction. As a result, risk assets received a bid with a rally in the pound leading the move. Cable notched a new six-month high overnight, climbing to the 1.4950 price level.

Economic date today came in the form of the initial claims reading, which for the week ending June 18 fell by 18,000 from the prior week to 259,000. Continuing claims for the week ending June 11 decreased by 20,000 to 2.142 million. Further, new home sales declined 6.0% month-over-month in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 551,000 from a downwardly revised 586,000 (from 619,000) in April. Also, the Conference Board reported a 0.2% decline in its Leading Economic Index for May.

The session was capped off with solid gains as stocks pushed to highs when the bell rang. Bullish action began to persist about a half hour before the close, and continued until the finish ahead of tonight's Brexit decision. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the way higher, advancing 76.72 points (+1.59%) to close 4910.04. The S&P 500 was up 27.87 points (+1.34%) to 2113.32 when the bell rang, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished above 18K, adding 230.24 points (+1.29%) to end 18011.07.

Technology (XLK 43.97, +0.59 +1.36%) posted impressive gains today as component Micron (MU 14.05, +1.33 +10.46%) was higher by % following two premarket upgrades at Nomura and Susquehanna. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed the day XLF +2.10%, XLE +1.65%, XLB +1.54%, XLV +1.31%, XLI +1.16%, XLY +0.98%, XLP +0.61%, XLU +0.28% with Financials leading the charge and Utilities lagging, but still ending the day in the green.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (727.30, +10.76 +1.50%) sector, trading ended near highs with components Red Hat (RHT 78.39, -1.36 -1.71%) and Accenture (ACN 118.94, -0.14 -0.12%) ending among the few laggards, feeling the pressure following quarterly results. Other names in the sector which closed the day higher included WDC +5.09%, QRVO +4.74%, AKAM +4.52%, JNPR +4.48%, NTAP +3.29%, ADSK +2.93%, SWKS +2.85%, QCOM +2.79%, HPQ +2.70%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Red Hat (RHT) announced the acquisition of 3scale; financial details of the deal were not disclosed. RHT also announced a $1 billion share buyback.

Harris (HRS 84.14, +0.75 +0.90%) received a $1.7 billion multi-year contract from the US Army.
Biological Industries announced a co-branding agreement with Corning's (GLW 20.79, +0.24 +1.17%) subsidiary, Mediatech, Inc., which will enable cell therapy, research, and manufacturing organizations around the world to purchase the innovative, xeno-free NutriStem human pluripotent stem cell medium in conjunction with GLW's existing portfolio of stem cell-focused technologies. Before the end of this year, Corning and BI will launch a jointly-branded NutriStem hPSC XF Medium, which will continue to be manufactured by BI, but marketed, distributed and supported worldwide by Corning's global commercial team.

HP (HPQ 12.95, +0.34 +2.70%) recalled batteries for HP and Compaq notebook computers due to fire and burn hazards. The recall involves lithium-ion batteries containing Panasonic (PCRFY 9.20, +0.31 +3.43%) cells used in the notebook computers.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Alarm.com (ALRM 25.09, +2.57 +11.41%) to acquire two business units from Icontrol Networks for about $140 million. The deal is expected to be EPS accretive on a non-GAAP basis for FY17.

SunEdison (SUNEQ 0.13, -0.00 -2.43%) CEO Ahmad Chatila resigned. The company will appoint John Dubel as CEO, both effective June 22.

Groupon's (GRPN 3.35, +0.10 +3.08%) on-demand delivery service OrderUp enters into partnership with Qdoba Mexican Eats, a sub of Jack in the Box (JACK 87.72, +1.68 +1.95%), to deliver from a number of the restaurants' locations.

T-Mobile US (TMUS 43.67, +0.97 +2.27%) appointed Peter Osvaldik as Chief Accounting Officer.

CACI Intl (CACI 90.89, -8.41 -8.47%) issued worse than expected guidance for 2017 in the form of EPS of $6.02-6.43 and revenues of $4.05-4.25 billion.

58.com (WUBA 46.63, +1.38 +3.05%) divested 65.7% its stake in Mayi in exchange for a minority stake in Tujia by completing a share swap in Mighty Talented Limited.

Black Knight Financial (BKFS 34.99, +0.99 +2.91%) acquired Motivity Solutions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Accenture (ACN) reported in-line Q3 EPS of $1.41 on better than expected revenues which rose 8.6% versus last year to $8.43 billion. The company also guided Q4 revenues of $8.25-8.50 billion. For the FY16 period, the company raised EPS expectations to $5.29-5.33 from $5.21-5.32 - also raised revenue expectations to growth of 9.5-10.5% from 8-10%.

BlackBerry (BBRY 7.00, +0.26 +3.86%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of net breakeven and revenues which fell 39.2% versus last year and came in worse than expectations to $400 million ($424 million in non-GAAP). For the FY17 period, the company issued better than expected guidance for EPS of ($0.15).

Red Hat (RHT) reported in-line EPS for Q1 of $0.50 on revenues which rose 18.1% versus last year to $567.9 million. For Q2, the company sees EPS of about $0.54 on revenues of $587-593 million. For FY17, RHT expects EPS of $2.19-2.23 (down from $2.22-2.26 due to the 3scale acquisition) and revenues of $2.38-2.42 billion.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight: SNX

Analyst actions:

MU was upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna and to Buy from Reduce at Nomura;
SCTY was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley,
MTD was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup,
CACI was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo,
POWI was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sidoti;
GRPN, EBAY and AMZN were initiated with Buy ratings at Maxim Group,
MTSC was initiated with an Overweight at JP Morgan,
VDSI was initiated with a Buy at Sidoti,
ZEN was initiated with a Buy at UBS

4:33 pm Rambus extends its license agreement with NAGRA (RMBS) : Co has extended the license agreement with NAGRA, a digital TV division of the Kudelski Group, for the use of its Differential Power Analysis countermeasures in selected NAGRA digital TV offerings.

4:31 pm Universal Display to acquire Adesis for ~$36 mln in cash (OLED) :

Co will acquire Adesis, Inc for $36 mln in cash.

Adesis is a privately held contract research organization (:CRO) with 43 employees specializing in organic and organometallic synthetic research, development, and commercialization. Adesis is a critical technology vendor to companies in the pharmaceutical, fine chemical, biomaterials, and catalyst industries, and has worked with Universal Display over the last few years to help advance and accelerate a number of Universal Display's product offerings. Andrew Cottone will continue as the President of Adesis, and Steve Abramson will become the Chairman of the Board of Adesis.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Wednesday affair on a broadly higher note, extending its recent rebound alongside European bourses. Equity markets continued their uptrend as investors maintained their risk-on posture, bidding oversold currencies, commodities, and the heavily-weighted financial (+2.3%), health care (+1.9%), and industrial (+1.7%) sectors. The Nasdaq Composite (+1.9%) finished ahead of the S&P 500 (+1.7%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.6%).

Global equity markets tilted to the upside overnight as European bourses continued to recover from their recent weakness. The Euro Stoxx 50 (+2.8%) trimmed its post-Brexit decline to 6.8% while the U.K.'s FTSE (+3.6%) erased its loss, and is now up 3.6% since Thursday's referendum. Additionally, strength from the oil patch contributed to the early positive bias as the energy component gained following the American Petroleum Institute's weekly inventory data.

The major U.S. averages gapped higher at the start of the session, bolstered by a largely in-line reading of the Personal Income and Spending Report for May. The release was largely a non-event, having little impact on rate hike expectations. On that note, Federal Reserve Governor Powell commented overnight that global risks have shifted to the downside following the British referendum.

The benchmark index climbed through the afternoon, eventually finding resistance near the 2070 price level. The area is significant as it represents the underside of Friday's gap down and rests within five points of the index's 50-day simple moving average (2076.49). Ten sectors ended in the green with financials (+2.3%) and energy (+2.0%) leading the pack while health care (+1.9%), industrials (+1.8%), and technology (+1.7%) followed.

The economically-sensitive financial sector (+2.3%) ended the session near its best level of the day as money center banks outperformed. In the group, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 61.20, +1.68), Citigroup (C 42.12, +1.68), and Bank of America (BAC 13.19, +0.49) gained between 2.8% and 4.2% ahead of this evening's Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) results. Expectations remain high that most banks will be granted approval to boost their respective capital return programs. The broader sector trimmed its monthly loss to 4.9%, but still sports a loss of 5.6% for the year.

Biotechnology displayed relative strength in the health care space (+1.9%), evidenced by the 2.2% rebound in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 256.05, +5.39). The ETF has rallied 6.0% since notching a four-month closing low on Monday (241.49). In the sub-group, large cap Biogen (BIIB 238.91, +10.39) jumped 4.6% after receiving an upgrade to "Outperform" at Bernstein.

The transports outperformed in the industrial sector (+1.8%), evidenced by the 2.2% gain in the Dow Jones Transportation Average. In the sector, airlines outperformed as the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS 20.96, +0.58) rebounded 2.9%. The ETF has trimmed its post-Brexit loss to 5.1%. Elsewhere, General Electric (GE 30.55, +0.61) rallied 2.0% after the company received approval to have its nonbank Systemically Important Financial Institution designation rescinded.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.79, -0.45) extended its losing streak, weakening for the second session. The euro gained 0.4% against the dollar (1.1106) while the pound finished higher by 0.7% against the buck (1.3437). Separately, the dollar gained 0.1% against the safe haven yen (102.84).

Treasuries spent most of their session near their flat lines despite a persistent rally in equities. However, the complex notched new session lows in the final hour as the yield on the 10-yr note rose four basis points to 1.51%.

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

Today's economic data included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, the Personal Income and Spending Report, and Pending Home Sales for May:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted decrease of 2.6% in mortgage applications.
Personal income increased 0.2%, which was weaker than expected (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%), and personal spending jumped 0.4%, which was stronger than expected (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%).
The core PCE Price Index, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.2%, which was just as expected.
Income growth was led by a 0.2% increase in wages and salaries.
Spending growth featured a 0.5% increase in goods spending and a 0.4% increase in services spending.
The personal savings rate dipped from 5.4% to 5.3%.
The PCE Price Index increased 0.2%, which left it up 0.9% year-over-year.
That is down from the 1.1% year-over-year increase seen in April.
The core PCE Price Index was up 1.6% year-over-year for the third straight month.
All in all, this was not a report that would have triggered an increased fear of a Fed rate hike at the July meeting even if Brexit didn't happen.
Brexit, of course, did happen, so the fact that the May report was mixed, and didn't feature a pickup in inflation on a year-over-year basis, will only help to solidify the belief that the Fed is likely on hold for some time yet.
Pending Home Sales for May declined by 3.7% while the Briefing.com consensus expected a downtick of 1.4%. Meanwhile, the April reading was revised to 3.9% from 5.1%.

Tomorrow economic data will be limited to weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 265k) and Chicago PMI for June (Briefing.com consensus 50.8), which will be released at 8:30 ET and 9:45 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite -4.6% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.4% YTD
S&P 500 +1.3% YTD
Dow Jones +1.6% YTD

Broader market trading capped off the Wednesday session with a modestly strong close, compounded by modestly higher volume. The Nasdaq Composite led the session higher, up today 87.38 points (+1.86%) to 4779.25. The S&P 500 was up 34.68 points (+1.70%) to 2070.77, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 284.96 points (+1.64%) to 117694.68. As it were, trading volume was moderately higher today as about 1,924 million shares traded hands on the NASDAQ floor versus an average near 1,744 million and about 1,025 million shares were exchanged on the NYSE floor versus an average near 980 million.

Market data came through the wires today in the form of the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which showed a seasonally adjusted decrease of 2.6% in mortgage applications. Also, personal income increased 0.2%, which was weaker than expected, and personal spending jumped 0.4%, which was stronger than expected. Additionally, Pending Home Sales for May declined by 3.7%. Meanwhile, the April reading was revised to 3.9% from 5.1%.

A positive bias in the Technology (XLK 42.90, +0.65 +1.54%) sector took it to highs at session end as component NetApp (NTAP 24.47, +1.29 +5.57%) was strong amid news disclosed last night that the company prepaid certain lenders in the amount of $850 million on July 27. Other sectors as measured by the S&P ended the day XLF +2.27%, XLV +1.91%, XLE +1.90%, XLI +1.78%, XLB +1.69%, XLY +1.61%, XLP +1.16%, XLU +0.27% with Financials leading the charge higher and Utilities lagging, but ultimately finishing higher.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (705.59, +11.53 +1.66%) sector, trading was higher with the broader market as component Oracle (ORCL 40.55, +1.42 +3.63%) was among the best performers following a premarket upgrade to Neutral at JP Morgan, and an Information article which suggested the company could be a possible suitor for Salesforce.com (CRM 79.00, +1.45 +1.87%). Other names in the space which ended in positive territory included FSLR +3.71%, QRVO +3.60%, AVGO +3.49%, ADS +3.39%, ADSK +3.38%, HPQ +3.31%, INTU +3.11%, AKAM +2.85%, AMAT +2.70%, JNPR +2.60%.
Other notable news items among sector components:

NetApp (NTAP) announced the prepayment to certain lenders in the realm of $850 million of outstanding borrowings occurred on June 27, 2016. Also approved a new form of double trigger Change of Control Severance Agreement.

Western Digital (WDC 45.60, +1.99 +4.56%) introduced a new suite of 256 gigabyte (GB) microSD cards, which includes the new 256GB SanDisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card -- the fastest microSD card in its class.

Facebook (FB 114.16, +1.46 +1.30%) was notably higher today following a Reuters report that the company received a favorable ruling in a Belgian privacy case.

Salesforce.com (CRM) ticked higher on the session following an Information report which suggested a potential takeout, specifically mentioning Microsoft (MSFT 50.54, +1.10 +2.22%) and Oracle (ORCL).

FLIR Systems (FLIR 30.17, +0.48 +1.62%) acquired Armasight, Inc., a developer of precision sporting, hunting, and military optics products, for about $41 million in cash. The company anticipates this transaction will be neutral to 2016 net earnings and accretive thereafter.

MasterCard (MA 92.13, +1.71 +1.89%) announced a collaboration with Microsoft (MSFT) to bring simple and secure e-commerce payments to Microsoft Dynamics users.

F5 Networks (FFIV 112.52, +2.21 +2.00%) announced the availability of its firewall solution focused on delivering end-to-end security across service provider networks. The standalone carrier-class firewall supports up to 1.2 billion concurrent connections and over 20 million connections per second. Today's announcement is aligned with F5's commitment to expand its portfolio of dedicated security offerings.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

CenturyLink (CTL 28.45, +0.61 +2.19%) acquired certain strategic assets of the company formerly known as Active Broadband Networks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Advanced Micro (AMD 5.13, +0.01 +0.20%) to acquire HiAlgo. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ComScore (SCOR 23.71, -0.12 -0.48%) entered into a multi-market agreement with Hearst Television for the use of its ratings system in three of its stations. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Science Applications (SAIC 56.30, +1.09 +1.97%) named Corporate Controller Maria Bishop as the interim CFO effective July 1 while the company continues its ongoing search for a new CFO.

Arris (ARRS 20.58, +0.21 +1.03%) sold its Whole Home Solution platform to Espial. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

SunEdison (SUNEQ 0.13, +0.00 +0.57%) announced a new leadership team including Philip Gund as CFO.

CalAmp (CAMP 14.20, +0.11 +0.78%) authorized a $25 million share repurchase over the next 12 months.

Universal Display (OLED 66.19, +0.64 +0.98%) acquired the OLED Intellectual Property assets of BASF SE (BASFY 75.09, +1.84 +2.52%) for about EUR 87 million.

Vishay (VSH 11.98, -0.02 -0.17%) acquired from a holder about $12.4 million principal amount of its floating rate exchangeable unsecured notes due 2102.

Gogo (GOGO 8.23, +0.24 +3.00%) expanded its coverage on the eastern seaboard of North America and in central Canada, providing about 1 hour of additional air-to-ground inflight connectivity in both locations for business aircraft.

GameLoft (GLOFY 35.62, flat) announced its shareholders appointed five members proposed by Vivendi (VIVHY 18.28, +0.68 +3.86%) to the Board.

TerraForm Power (TERP 10.34, +1.59 +18.17%) was strong today on the heels of a 12.13% active stake filed by Brookfield Asset Management.

Orange (ORAN 16.20, +0.59 +3.78%) to acquire Pay TV provider Sun Communications in Moldova. The company also announced a new investment in Wi-Fi connectivity marketplace BandwidthX.

Earnings:

CalAmp (CAMP) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.30 and $91.1 million, respectively. The company also guided for in-line Q2 EPS of $0.25-0.31 and worse than expected revenues of $90-95 million.

Analyst actions:

ORCL was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan,
AUO was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse,
IPGP was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity;
SCOR was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna,
ZBRA was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Northcoast;
SHOP was initiated with a Buy at Monness Crespi & Hardt,
EPAY was initiated with an Overweight at First Analysis Sec,
FLTX was initiated with an Overweight at Morgan Stanley,
KN was initiated with a Hold at The Benchmark Company,
PSTG was initiated with an Outperform at Macquarie,
DMD was initiated with a Buy at Roth Capital

4:12 pm Ultratech sends letter to shareholders urging them to vote for its Director nominees at the upcoming Annual Meeting of Stockholders scheduled for July 19 (UTEK) :

Co announced that it has mailed a letter to stockholders in connection with its 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders scheduled for July 19, 2016.

The Board of Directors continues to unanimously recommend that stockholders vote the WHITE proxy card "FOR" all seven of the co's director nominees.
The co has been under pressure from activist Neuberger Berman because the co's stock price has been stuck at roughly $20/share for 20 years.
Co believes that the co's 12 month stock appreciation represents progress and argues that the board should stay fully intact.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:52 pm Linear Tech beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (LLTC) :

Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.54 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.53; revenues fell 1.5% year/year to $373.77 mln vs the $373.78 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

As a result of the pending transaction with Analog Devices (ADI), the Company will not provide expected financial results for the fiscal first quarter of 2017 or future periods.

4:49 pm QLogic beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line (QLGC) :

Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.29 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.25; revenues rose 2.6% year/year to $116.4 mln vs the $115.44 mln two analyst estimate.

Due to the pending acquisition by Cavium (CAVM), QLogic will not be providing earnings guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2017.

4:39 pm II-VI announces ramp up of shipments of LAN-WDM optics to serve the 100GBASE-LR4 and ER4 transceiver market (IIVI) : Transceivers operating at 100 Gb/s are becoming the connectivity workhorse for spine-leaf network topologies. II-VI is ramping up its production output to meet the increasing demand for micro-optics used in transceivers for intra-data center connectivity.

4:38 pm Unisys beats by $0.58, beats on revs, will guide on the 2Q16 earnings call (UIS) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.81 per share, $0.58 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.23; revenues fell 2.1% year/year to $748.9 mln vs the $688.38 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Overall operating profit margin of 6.6 percent includes cost reduction charges and pension expense.

Second quarter 2016 non-GAAP operating profit margin was 10.8 percent, an increase of 690 basis points from the prior year.

Unisys re-affirms full-year guidance for total company revenue, non-GAAP operating profit margin and adjusted free cash flow, co will guide on their earnings call

4:36 pm Apple beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 rev mostly above estiamtes, gross margin a little light (AAPL) :

Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $1.42 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.38; revenues fell 14.6% year/year to $42.36 bln vs the $42.1 bln Capital IQ Consensus; gross margins of 38.0% vs 37.9% ests vs 39.7% last year.

iPhones 40.4 mln vs 40.2 mln ests vs 47.5 mln last year.
iPads 9.95 mln vs 8.7 mln ests vs 10.9 mln last year.
Macs 4.2 mln vs 4.6 mln ests vs 4.4 mln last year.
Americas rev -11%; Europe -7%; China -33%; Asia/Pac -20%.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $45.5-47.5 bln vs. $45.8 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; gross margin 37.5-38% vs. 38.3% ests.

4:30 pm IBM files mixed securities shelf offering for undisclosed amount (IBM) : Net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

4:27 pm Juniper Networks beats on top and bottom lines; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (JNPR) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.50 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.47; revenues fell 0.1% year/year to $1.22 bln vs the $1.19 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

JNPR's non-GAAP operating margin for Q2 of 2016 was 22.5%, a decrease from 25.2% in the second quarter of 2015, and an increase from 19.3% in the first quarter of 2016.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of 0.48-0.54 vs. $0.54 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of 1.22-1.28 bln vs. $1.24 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Juniper Networks remains constructive on rev for 2016 and expects modest growth despite the current macro envm't. Co will continue to prudently manage operating expenses. However, it expects gross margins to remain approx at their Q2 levels in the NT. As a result, co expects operating margins for FY16 to decline slightly relative to the FY15. Co remains confident in its LT model and remains focused on growth and operating margin expansion.

4:12 pm iRobot beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS & revs in-line; guides FY16 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (IRBT) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.17 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.11; revenues fell 0.1% year/year to $148.7 mln vs the $148.09 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.40-0.45 vs. $0.45 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $155-160 mln vs. $159.18 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $1.26-1.40 vs. $1.31 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $640-645 mln vs. $633.68 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."Based on our Q2 results, and our outlook for the rest of 2016, fueled by the U.S. momentum, we are increasing our full-year financial expectations."

4:10 pm Nanometrics reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (NANO) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.26; revenues rose 14.8% year/year to $55.8 mln vs the $54.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.23-0.30 vs. $0.32 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $55-59 mln vs. $56.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"Our results for the second quarter reflect continued strength in our key customer positions, especially in
3D-NAND, and continued improvements in financial performance. As expected, the second quarter showed solid top-line growth, while improvements in our operational efficiency led to multi-year records in both product gross margin and operating margin. Our outlook for the year is unchanged from last quarter, as we continue to expect the second half of 2016 to be stronger than the first half, driven by increased contributions from the Foundry and DRAM markets. Combined with our strengthened customer footprint and opportunity to expand our positions in integrated and thin-film metrology, we expect 2016 will be another year in which our revenue growth meaningfully outperforms overall spending on wafer fab equipment, with significant year-on-year improvements in gross margin, operating margin, and EPS."

4:07 pm Cavium Networks reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (CAVM) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.29; revenues rose 5.2% year/year to $107.2 mln vs the $106.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Non-GAAP gross margin was 67.3% and Non-GAAP operating margin (non-GAAP income from operations as a percentage of revenue) was 16.6%.

4:02 pm Aehr Test Systems receives $4 mln in follow-on orders for its Advanced Burn-in and Test Systems (AEHR) : Co announced that it has received $4 million in follow-on orders for its Advanced Burn-in and Test Systems (:ABTS) from a leading multi-national manufacturer of advanced logic integrated circuits (ICs) for automotive, embedded processing, digital signal processing and analog applications. The orders include significant prepayments to lock in short lead times and special pricing. The systems are expected to ship over the first three quarters of co's fiscal 2017.

4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Tuesday affair on a flat note as investors eyed an influx of quarterly reports and upcoming policy statements from the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan. The major indices recovered from an early pullback, responding to a modest rebound in crude oil and sector leadership from heavily-weighted technology (+0.4%) and industrials (+0.7%). The Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) finished ahead of the S&P 500 (UNCH) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.1%).

The major averages began the day on a modestly higher note, mirroring an early rebound in crude oil. The positive move in oil helped lift the broader market as the major indices notched early highs alongside the energy component. However, the rebound in oil proved to be short-lived as investors remained cautious ahead of inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute and the Department of Energy. The energy component pulled back mid-morning, bringing the broader market along with it.

The benchmark index inched off its low throughout the session as investors set their sights on the remainder of a busy macroeconomic week. Five sectors finished in the green as materials (+0.7%) and industrials (+0.7%) topped the leaderboard. The remaining gainers finished with upticks between 0.2% (financials) and 0.4% (technology). Conversely, defensively-oriented telecom services (-1.5%), utilities (-0.9%), consumer staples (-0.8%), and health care (-0.2%) rounded out the board. For its part, WTI crude ended its pit session lower by 0.5% ($42.91/bbl; -$0.22).

The heavily-weighted industrial sector (+0.7%) helped lead the broader market as United Technologies (UTX 107.89, +3.24) and Caterpillar (CAT 82.75, +4.06) outperformed. United Technologies jumped 3.1% after beating analysts' estimates for the quarter and raising its full-year earnings estimates. On the flipside, 3M (MMM 177.66, -1.97) underperformed after reporting a mixed quarter and lowering its local currency sales growth estimates. Separately, airlines outperformed alongside positive quarterly results from JetBlue Airways (JBLU 18.67, +1.39).

The high-beta chipmakers outperformed in the technology space (+0.4%), evidenced by the 3.8% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. The index jumped alongside Linear Technology (LLTC 62.49, +14.02) after speculation mounted that Analog Devices (ADI 62.87, +2.34) was interested in the company. Additionally, Texas Instruments (TXN 71.42, +5.20) outperformed after reporting positive quarterly results. In the broader space, Apple (AAPL 96.67, -0.67) lagged ahead of this evening's earnings release.

In the consumer discretionary space (-0.2%), Dow component McDonald's (MCD 121.71, -5.69) finished at the bottom of the price-weighted index. The stock was under pressure as investors weighed a bottom-line beat against slower than expected second-quarter comparable store sales growth. Conversely, retail names outperformed as the sub-group traded higher in sympathy with Nordstrom (JWN 43.93, +1.19). The stock was upgraded to "Overweight" from "Neutral"at Piper Jaffray.

Biotechnology finished behind the broader health care (-0.2%) sector as the sub-group moved lower in sympathy with Gilead Sciences (GILD 81.05, -7.50). The drug maker fell 8.5% after lowering its full-year sales guidance. In the broader sector, Anthem (ANTM 137.59, -2.39) underperformed ahead of tomorrow morning's earnings report. Conversely, medical equipment names displayed relative strength as the group moved higher following positive earnings results from Baxter (BAX 48.01, +1.91) and Waters (WAT 155.09, +6.65).

The U.S. Dollar Index (97.14, -0.15) settled modestly lower as the pound, euro, and yen each gained against the greenback. Sterling ticked higher by 0.1% against the dollar (1.3134) while the single currency gained 0.1% against the buck (1.0988). Separately, the dollar fell 1.1% against the yen (104.63) amid jitters leading into Friday's policy decision from the Bank of Japan.

Treasuries settled higher as yields slipped throughout the complex. The yield on the 10-yr note finished lower by one basis point at 1.56%.

Today's trading volume was below the recent average as fewer than 803 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the Case-Shiller 20-city Index for May, Consumer Confidence for July, and New Home Sales for June:

The Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for May fell to 5.2%, which was below the Briefing.com consensus of 5.4%. This followed the previous month's unrevised reading of 5.4%.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index dipped to 97.3 in July from a downwardly revised 97.4 (from 98.0) in June.
The Briefing.com consensus estimate for July was 96.0, so this report was better than expected.
The slight change can be attributed entirely to the Expectations Index, which fell from 84.6 in June to 83.3 in July as consumers softened their stance somewhat on the outlook for business and labor market conditions.
Conversely, the Present Situations Index rose from 116.6 to 118.3.
Confidence levels contribute to the outlook for consumer spending, but ultimately, spending activity rests predominately on income trends.
New home sales in June were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 592,000, up 3.5% from the revised May rate of 572,000 (from 551,000).
The June number was well ahead of the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 560,000 and 25.4% above the same period a year ago.
The strong year-over-year growth reflects a robust improvement in the context of the current economic environment.
Still, there is a long way to go to get back to the peak rate of 1.389 million seen in July 2005 and, for that matter, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of 891,000 seen in January 2007 (i.e. pre-Great Recession).
The gain in June was paced by a 10.9% increase in the West region and a 10.4% increase in the Midwest.
The Northeast and the South saw sales declines of 5.6% and 0.3%, respectively.
Notably, there was a large sales pickup in homes priced between $400,000 and $499,999, which accounted for 18% of sales versus 10% in May.
The percentage of home sold at all other price points were either flat, or down, from the prior month..
Altogether, homes priced under $300,000 accounted for 48% of homes sold (vs. 53% in May) while homes priced over $300,000 accounted for 52% of homes sold (vs. 48% in May).
The median sales price was $306,700, up 6.1% year-over-year
At the current sales pace, the inventory of new homes for sale is at a 4.9-months supply versus 5.1 months in May

Tomorrow's economic data will include the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which will be released at 7:00 ET. Durable Orders for June (Briefing.com consensus -1.0%) and Pending Home Sales for June (Briefing.com consensus +1.1%) will be released at 8:30 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively. The day's data will be capped off with the FOMC's July rate decision, which will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.

Russell 2000 +7.1% YTD
S&P 500 +6.1% YTD
Dow Jones +6.0% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +2.1% YTD

DJ30 -19.31 NASDAQ +12.42 SP500 +0.70 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1840/1.870 bln/1121 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1822/802.2 mln/1147 3:30 pm :

The dollar index is down -0.2% around the 97.12 level
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -0.2% at the 83.72 level
Crude oil slides to fresh 3-month lows for the second day in a row, ahead of the API data
September crude oil futures fell $0.22 (-0.5%) to $42.91/barrel
API data will be released at 4:30 pm ET today
EIA crude oil data will be released tomorrow at 10:30 am ET
Monthly IEA data will be released Aug 11
Natural gas reverses off its afternoon highs around $2.72/MMBtu to close near the midpoint of session lows
September natural gas closed $0.03 lower (-1.1%) at $2.68/MMBtu
In precious metals, gold reverses off its morning lows and turns positive in the afternoon as the dollar weakens
August gold ended today's session up $1.30 (+0.1%) to $1320.80/oz
Silver sees an afternoon of consolidation after a brief morning spike, closing modestly higher for the day
September silver closed today's session $0.03 higher (+0.2%) at $19.68/oz
Base metal copper inches higher in afternoon pit trading
September copper closed $0.01 higher (+0.5%) at $2.23/lb

3:42 pm Analog Devices updates Q3 guidance in conjunction with Linear Tech (LLTC) acquisition (shares halted) (ADI) :

Analog Devices said it sees Q3 EPS of $0.77-0.78 (Prior guidance was for $0.66-0.74) vs $0.70 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees revs of ~$865 mln (Prior guidance was for $800-840 mln) vs $819.92 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate3:36 pm Linear Tech confirms deal with Analog Devices (ADI), agrees to be acquired for ~$60.00/share, or ~$14.8 bln ($46.00 in cash, 0.2321 in ADI shares) (shares halted) (LLTC) :

The co's announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Analog Devices will acquire Linear Technology in a cash and stock transaction that values the combined enterprise at approximately $30 billion. Upon completion of the acquisition, Analog Devices will be the premier global analog technology company with approximately $5 billion in anticipated annual revenues.

Linear Technology shareholders will receive $46.00 per share in cash and 0.2321 of a share of Analog Devices common stock for each share of Linear Technology common stock they hold at the closing of the transaction. The transaction values Linear Technology at approximately $60.00 per share, representing an equity value for Linear Technology of approximately $14.8 billionThe transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Analog Devices' non-GAAP EPS and free cash flow. Analog Devices expects to achieve $150 million of annualized run-rate cost synergies within 18 months post transaction closeClosing of the transaction is expected by the end of the first half of calendar year 2017Equity futures signaled a flat start as investors responded to a gaggle of earnings reports and fading expectations of easing measures from the Bank of Japan. Six Dow components reported quarterly results ahead of the open with 3M (MMM 177.66, -1.97 -1.10%) and United Technologies (UTX 107.89, +3.24 +3.10%) beating expectations. Separately, Japan's Nikkei (-1.4%) under-performed as commentary from Japanese officials lowered expectations regarding immediate stimulus measures. However, reports indicated that the government continues to consider a JPY6 trillion fiscal stimulus package.


Market data today included the Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index for May which fell to 5.2%. This followed the previous month's unrevised reading of 5.4%. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index dipped to 97.3 in July from a downwardly revised 97.4 (from 98.0) in June. Additionally, new home sales in June were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 592,000, up 3.5% from the revised May rate of 572,000 (from 551,000).

When the bell rang today, the three major US indices finished split as the back half of the session carried a mostly positive bias. Out-performance was led by the Nasdaq Composite which added 12.42 points (+0.24%) to 5110.05. The S&P 500 added less than a point (+0.03%) to 2169.18, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 19.31 points (-0.10%) to 18473.75 as September crude oil futures fell a modest $0.22 (-0.5%) to $42.91/barrel.

A modest advance in the Technology (XLK 45.89, +0.12 +0.26%) sector was helped along by a modest session in the top dozen holdings - INTC +1.15%, CSCO +0.29%, MSFT +0.05%, GOOGL +0.02%, GOOG -0.18%, IBM -0.33%, FB -0.34%, ORCL -0.53%, V -0.57%, AAPL -0.69%, T -1.30%, VZ -1.90%. Component Linear Tech (LLTC 62.51, +14.04 +28.97%) was the best performer as the company was bought by Analog Devices (ADI 62.87, +2.34 +3.87%) ahead of the market close for about $60 per share in cash and stock. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed Tuesday XLI +0.83%, XLB +0.76%, XLE +0.58%, XLF +0.08%, XLY -0.12%, XLV -0.17%, IYZ -0.20%, XLP -0.78%, XLU -0.87% with Industrials out-performing and Utilities lagging.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (759.25, +3.20 +0.42%) sector, trading ended near the top of the daily range as the last half of the session was mostly positive, rebounding off morning weakness. Component Texas Instruments (TXN 71.42, +5.20 +7.85%) was also higher today as the company reported a better than expected Q2 print. Select names in the space WU +0.99%, HRS +0.96%, NTAP +0.91%, ADSK +0.91%, TSS +0.86%, TDC +0.85%, PAYX +0.74%, JNPR +0.67%, KLAC +0.65%, XRX +0.61%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Linear Tech (LLTC) and Analog Devices (ADI) confirmed an agreement under which ADI would acquire LLTC for about $60 per share, or about $14.8 billion in cash and stock. The deal constitutes LLTC shareholders will receive about $46 per share in cash and 0.2321 of a share of ADI for each share of LLTC they hold. Further, ADI updated guidance in conjunction with the LLTC acquisition - ADI sees Q3 EPS of $0.77-0.78 versus prior guidance of $0.66-0.74 on revenues of about $865 million versus prior guidance of $800-840 million.

CSRA (CSRA 26.60, +0.69 +2.66%) was among parties named to a $1.75 billion US Navy contract.

Accenture (ACN 114.26, +1.19 +1.05%) will provide Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) with application services. In this role, Accenture will support HMRC to increase its use of digital technologies across HMRC's primary personal tax platform, the National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS).

Activision Blizzard (ATVI 41.56, -0.84 -1.98%) will host a conference call on July 29 at 4:30pm ET to discuss changes to way it externally reports its financial results in response to SEC's updated Compliance/Disclosure Interpretations.

Seagate (STX 32.45, +1.01 +3.21%) unveiled a high-capacity drive that can help data centers more easily accommodate exponential data growth, while still maintaining high levels of computing power and performance. The two terabyte (TB) version of its Nytro XM1440 M.2 non-volatile memory express (NVMe) Solid State Drive (SSD) is the highest-capacity, enterprise-class M.2 NVMe SSD available today.

Western Digital (WDC 53.74, +1.67 +3.21%) has developed its next generation 3D NAND technology, BiCS3, with 64 layers of vertical storage capability. Pilot production of the new technology has commenced in the Yokkaichi, Japan joint venture facilities and initial output is expected later this year. Western Digital expects meaningful commercial volumes of BiCS3 in the first half of calendar 2017.

Cognizant (CTSH 58.62, +0.22 +0.38%) has been selected by PetSmart, Inc. to improve the omni-channel brand and shopping experience across its brick and mortar, online and mobile sales channels.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 20.45, +0.24 +1.19%) announced the HPE Privileged Account Management (PAM) Service offering, an extension to its HPE Managed Security Services (MSS) portfolio.

In partnership with CyberArk (CYBR 56.98, +1.98 +3.60%), this offering is designed to help customers mitigate the risk associated with privileged accounts, enforce more consistent application of security policies, and reduce manual efforts and administrative costs.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Smith Micro Software (SMSI 0.66 -0.06 -8.90%) acquired iMobileMagic. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ePlus (PLUS 83.98, +1.22 +1.47%) appointed COO Mark Marron as CEO. Marron succeeds Phillip Norton, who will assume the new position of Executive Chairman effective August 1.
According to a Bloomberg report, Pandora (P 13.17, +0.17 +1.31%) hired Centerview Partners to advise the company about options.

Amazon (AMZN 735.59, -4.02 -0.54%) partnered with the UK Government to explore the delivery of parcels by small drones, which would allow AMZN to trial new methods of testing its delivery systems.

SunPower (SPWR 15.64, +0.39 +2.56%) disclosed an agreement with First Philippine Electric to settle all claims, counterclaims, disputes, and proceedings.

A10 Networks (ATEN 7.32, +0.17 +2.38%) acquired Appcito. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Verizon (VZ 54.81, -1.06 -1.90%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $0.94 on worse than expected revenues which fell 5.3% versus last year to $30.53 billion. VZ also reported 615,000 retail postpaid net additions in second-quarter 2016. Additionally, retail postpaid churn was 0.94 percent, a year-over-year increase of 4 basis points, as strong retention in the phone base was offset by increased churn in tablets. The company also guided for 2016 adj. earnings to be at a level comparable to 2015, excluding the 7-cent-per-share impact of the 2016 work stoppage.

Texas Instruments (TXN) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.76 and $3.27 billion, respectively. TXN also guided Q3 EPS and revenues in-line at $0.81-0.91 and $3.34-3.62 billion, respectively.

Fidelity Nat'l Info (FIS 80.84, +2.94 +3.77%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.90 and $2.36 billion, respectively. FIS also raised FY16 EPS and revenue guidance to $3.75-3.85, from $3.70-3.80 and growth of 4-5% from expected growth of 3-4%, respectively.

Check Point Software (CHKP 80.53, -3.11 -3.72%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $1.09 on in-line revenues of $422.8 million.

Mobileye N.V. (MBLY 45.33, -3.97 -8.05%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.17 and $83.5 million, respectively. The company also raised FY16 revenue guidance to $344-350 million from $336-340 million and sees FY16 EPS of $0.70-0.71.

Sanmina (SANM 24.70, -4.44 -15.24%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS of $0.63 on in-line revenues which rose 8.5% versus last year to $1.67 billion. The company also sees in-line Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.64-0.68 and $1.675-1.725 billion, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: AKAM, DOX, AAPL, CAVM, CTXS, DMRC, ITRI, JNPR, KN, LLTC, MTCH, NANO, NCR, RSYS, TSS, TWTR, ULTI, UIS, ZIXI/ANGI, ARMH, AUO, AVX, BAH, CRCM, GIB, GLW, DHX, ENTG, FLIR, IMS, I, LVLT, MMYT, TYPE, SLAB, SONS, STM, TMUS, UMC, WEX, WIX

Analyst actions:

S was upgraded to Sector Weight from Underweight at Pacific Crest,
TXN was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill;
VMW was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup,
ARMH was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Berenberg,
CYOU was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Macquarie,
YHOO was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley;
ADBE and TYL were initiated with Overweight ratings at Piper Jaffray,
FTV was initiated with a Buy at BofA/Merrill

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 6:46 pm Microsoft priced offering of $19.75 bln aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes (MSFT) : The notes consist of the following tranches: $2.50 billion of 1.100 percent notes due Aug. 8, 2019; $2.75 billion of 1.550 percent notes due Aug. 8, 2021; $1.50 billion of 2.000 percent notes due Aug. 8, 2023; $4.00 billion of 2.400 percent notes due Aug. 8, 2026; $2.25 billion of 3.450 percent notes due Aug. 8, 2036; $4.50 billion of 3.700 percent notes due Aug. 8, 2046; $2.25 billion of 3.950 percent notes due Aug. 8, 2056. Microsoft intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include, among other things, acquisitions (including its previously announced acquisition of LinkedIn LNKD), funding for working capital, capital expenditures, repurchases of its capital stock and repayment of its existing debt. The offerings are expected to close on Aug. 8, 2016.

4:23 pm Advanced Energy beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (AEIS) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.73 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.67; revenues rose 9.3% year/year to $118.8 mln vs the $111.52 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.70-0.80, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.62 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $116-126 mln vs. $110.46 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:16 pm Intevac beats by $0.10, beats on revs (IVAC) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.28); revenues fell 27.3% year/year to $14.9 mln vs the $14.37 mln Capital IQ Consensus, including $6.1 million of Thin-film Equipment revenues and Photonics revenues of $8.8 million. Order backlog totaled $75.3 million on July 2, 2016, compared to $44.7 million on April 2, 2016 and $43.5 million on July 4, 2015. "The second quarter of 2016 marked an inflection point in the execution of our strategic growth initiatives for our Thin-film Equipment business," commented Wendell Blonigan, Intevac's president and chief executive officer. "We booked nine systems, building our Thin-film Equipment backlog to nearly $50 million, its highest level since 2010. We booked multi-unit orders in each of our three equipment end markets.""Photonics revenues increased 9% from the first quarter, primarily due to an increase in contract R&D sales, supporting our confidence that we will see a similar level of Photonics business this year, compared to 2015... The same can be said for our hard-drive equipment revenues this year, which we also expect to be similar to last year. The revenue growth forecast for 2016 will therefore come from our new Thin-film Equipment systems, which require customer sign-off for revenue recognition. Timing of customer sign-off can be difficult to predict, but, with most of the systems scheduled to ship before year end, a majority of the current Thin-film Equipment backlog will be received in cash before year end."

4:13 pm Exactech beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS below two analyst estimate, revs in-line; guides FY16 in-line (EXAC) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.31 per share, $0.01 better than the two analyst estimate of $0.30; revenues rose 7.5% year/year to $66.1 mln vs the $64.22 mln two analyst estimate. Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.21-0.23 vs. $0.24 two analyst estimate; sees Q3 revs of $58-60 mln vs. $58.75 mln two analyst estimate. Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $1.15--1.19 vs. $1.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $253-258 mln vs. $254.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:08 pm Amkor beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS above two analyst estimate, revs above two analyst estimate (AMKR) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.02 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.08); revenues rose 24.4% year/year to $917 mln vs the $876.18 mln two analyst estimate. Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.12-0.28 vs. $0.09 two analyst estimate; sees Q3 revs of $1.01-1.09 bln vs. $943.01 mln two analyst estimate."Strong Android smartphone demand and a quicker recovery at our earthquake-damaged Kumamoto factory were the key drivers of our financial performance for the quarter. Our growth in sequential sales also drove an 8.1% improvement in EBITDA.""In the second quarter of 2016, during our post-acquisition integration of J-Devices, we identified an error in the provision for income taxes in the financial statements for J-Devices for the periods beginning in 2012 through the fourth quarter of 2015. During those periods we did not control J-Devices and, accordingly, we accounted for our investment in J-Devices using the equity method. As a result of the J-Devices error, our equity in earnings of J-Devices was overstated by the cumulative amount of $8.0 million. We believe that the error is not material to Amkor for the periods impacted..."

4:07 pm Integrated Device reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; co will guide on conference call at 16:30 ET (IDTI) :

Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.36; revenues rose 19.4% year/year to $192.1 mln vs the $191.11 mln Capital IQ Consensus. "Operationally, we achieved two significant milestones in our integration of ZMDI. First, we reached an agreement on the labor-related aspects of the restructuring, and second, we completed the automotive qualification of our test facility in Penang, Malaysia. With both of these goals successfully met, we are tracking ahead of plan on the combination. Design-win traction remains strong across all of our target market segments, and we look forward to continuing to deliver exceptional operating results as the fiscal year unfolds,"

4:07 pm Veeco Instruments beats by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (VECO) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.21); revenues fell 42.7% year/year to $75.3 mln vs the $77.05 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.26)-($0.10), excluding non-recurring items, vs. ($0.18) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $70-85 mln vs. $79.04 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:13 pm Closing Market Summary: Averages Finish Mixed as Crude Oil Weighs (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended a volatile start to the week on a mixed note as a prolonged downturn in crude oil pressured equities. However, the broader market continued to show marked resilience to selling pressure as the S&P 500 (-0.1%) finished eight points off a freshly minted all-time intraday high (2178.29). Focal points impacting today's trade included strengthening in the dollar, an assortment of global manufacturing reports, bearish commentary from Goldman Sachs, and the outperformance of heavily-weighted technology (+0.4%) and health care (+0.6%). The Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) finished ahead of the S&P 500 (-0.1%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.2%).

U.S. equities began the day on a choppy note, responding to a negative bias in European averages. Regional bourses slipped as participants eyed mixed manufacturing readings out of China and a downward revision to the U.K.'s Manufacturing PMI for July (48.2; expected 49.1). Separately, Friday's stress test results from the European Banking Authority failed to elicit buying interest. The results came in largely as expected with Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMDPF 0.386, +0.006) showing the weakest capital position.

The major averages marched off their opening levels shortly after the release of the ISM Index for July (52.6; Briefing.com consensus 53.1) and construction spending for May (-0.6%; Briefing.com consensus +0.7%). Both reports missed consensus estimates, but the ISM Index marked the fifth straight month of expansion for the manufacturing sector. The S&P 500 (-0.1%) pulled back shortly after notching a fresh all-time intraday high, succumbing to pressure from the oil patch. The energy component finished lower by 3.5% ($40.09/bbl; -$1.47), extending its decline from the June 8th closing high to 21.8%.

The benchmark index settled off its worst level of the day, buoyed by strength from the technology (+0.4%) and health care (+0.6%) sectors. Conversely, six sectors ended in the red with materials (-0.7%), telecom services (-1.0%), and energy (-3.3%) leading the downside.

The economically-sensitive financial sector (-0.2%) settled behind the broader market as money center banks and life insurance names underperformed. Citigroup (C 43.42, -0.39) and Bank of America (BAC 14.33, -0.16) lagged as they traded lower alongside European financial names like Deutsche Bank (DB 13.07, -0.37), which declined by 2.8%. The broader sector finished behind the benchmark index as investors look ahead to tomorrow's latest inflation reading. Separately, the Employment Situation Report for July is scheduled to cross the wires at 8:30 ET on Friday.

In the technology sector (+0.4%), heavily-weighted components Alphabet (GOOG 772.88, +4.09) and Apple (AAPL 106.05, +1.84) outperformed, gaining 0.5% and 1.8%, respectively. Both names reported positive bottom-line results last week. Apple also benefited from news that Uber and Didi Chuxing entered into a strategic agreement. The high-beta chipmakers settled slightly behind the broader sector, evidenced by the 0.2% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index.

Biotechnology demonstrated relative strength in the health care sector (+0.6%), as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 294.07, +4.63) jumped 1.6%. In the ETF, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN 434.00, +8.88) gained 2.1% after the European Medicines Agency agreed to review the company's sarilumab medication. Biogen (BIIB 301.83, +11.90) outperformed after Phase-3 trial results of nusinersen met their primary endpoints.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.77, +0.24) ended off its best level of the day as the greenback gained against the euro, pound, and yen. The single currency slipped 0.1% against the dollar (1.1166) while sterling lost 0.4% against the buck (1.3180). Separately, the safe-haven yen lost 0.3% against the dollar (102.37).

Treasuries settled lower as volatility in equities failed to elicit much buying interest in the bond market. The yield on the 10-yr note rose five basis points to 1.51%.

Participation was above the recent average as more than 829 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data was limited to the July ISM Index and Construction Spending for June:

The ISM Manufacturing Index slipped to 52.6 in July (Briefing.com consensus 53.1) from 53.2 in June. That signals a slowdown in growth, but importantly, a number above 50.0 still reflects an expansion in manufacturing activity.July marked the fifth straight month of expansion for the manufacturing sector on a national level and it is the second-highest reading over the last 12 months. If the PMI reading for July is annualized, it corresponds to a 3 percent increase in real GDP annually, according to the ISM.
The only components below 50.0, though, were the Employment Index (to 49.4 from 50.4) and the Backlog of Orders Index (to 48.0 from 52.5).
The Prices Index (to 55.0 from 60.5) saw the biggest monthly drop, reflecting prices that are increasing but at a slower pace. The New Orders Index dipped to 56.9 from 57.0; the Production Index rose to 55.4 from 54.7; and the New Export Orders Index fell to 52.5 from 53.5. The Import Index was flat at 52.0.Construction spending declined at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.6% in June. That was well below the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which called for a 0.7% increase.An upward revision to May from -0.8% to -0.1% helped temper some of the headline disappointment.The downturn in June featured a decline in both private construction (-0.6%) and public construction (-0.6%).On the private side, nonresidential spending (-1.0%) accounted for nearly all of the decline.The biggest drags included spending in highway and street (-1.4%), manufacturing (-4.5%), educational (-1.0%), commercial (-2.2%), and health care (-1.4%) sectors.Private residential spending was down only 0.1%. Public residential spending fell 6.0%, but at roughly 2.2% of total public construction spending, that had little bearing on the monthly drop.Nonresidential public spending declined 0.5% due largely to drops in highway and street spending (-1.4%), educational spending (-0.5%), and sewage and waste disposal spending (-2.7%).On a year-over-year basis, total construction spending was up 0.3%, bolstered by a 2.5% increase in total private construction spending that offset a 6.0% decline in total public construction spending.Tomorrow's economic data will include Personal Income (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) and Personal Spending (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) reports for June and Core PCE Prices for June (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%), which will each cross the wires at 8:30 ET. Separately, Auto & Truck Sales for July will be released throughout tomorrow's session.

Russell 2000 +7.2% YTDS&P 500 +6.2% YTDDow Jones +5.6% YTDNasdaq Composite +3.5% YTD
Equity indices began the day on a lower note, inching down in sympathy with European bourses. A mixed bag of Manufacturing PMI readings weighed on the equities as China's Official July Manufacturing PMI (49.9) showed further contraction while July Caixin Manufacturing PMI (50.6) topped consensus estimates. Additionally, the U.K.'s July Manufacturing PMI was revised lower (48.2) ahead of Thursday's policy statement from the Bank of England.

The major averages briefly shook opening hour weakness as investors responded to a weaker than expected reading of the ISM Index for July (52.6) and construction spending for May (-0.6%).

As the week, and the month began, trading closed split. The Tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was the lone gainer, adding 22.06 points (+0.43%) to 5184.20. Top Nasdaq 100 components which helped the index out-perform today included BIIB +4.1%, ALXN +3.8%, NFLX +3.4%, ILMN +2.6%, BIDU +2.3%, CELG +2.2% he Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 27.73 points (-0.15%) to 18404.51, and the S&P 500 closed down 2.76 points (-0.13%) to 2170.84.

This morning in the Technology (XLK 46.54, +0.08 +0.17%) sector, a merger between Tesla (TSLA 230.01, -4.78 -2.04%) and SolarCity (SCTY 24.72, -1.98 -7.42%) took both stocks modestly lower to start the session, and the two never looked back. The deal held that TSLA would acquire SCTY fo $25.37 per share in an all-stock deal. Other sectors as measured by the S&P finished the day XLV +0.64% XLY +0.16% XLP +0.11% XLU +0.06% XLI -0.12% XLF -0.25% IYZ -0.55% XLB -0.55% XLE -3.29% as Healthcare narrowly beat out Tech to lead all sectors higher, and Energy lagged as September crude oil futures fell $1.47 (-3.5%) to $40.09/barrel.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (771.80, +3.06 +0.40%) sector, trading began the week with a middle of the range performance. Component Citrix Systems (CTXS 86.62, -2.51 -2.82%) was weak today as the stock was downgraded this morning to an Underperform rating from a Hold at Jefferies. Other names in the space which finished up with the sector included AAPL +1.77%, CTSH +1.67%, YHOO +1.60%, FSLR +1.50%, STX +1.25%, HPQ +1.21%, GOOGL +1.21%, KLAC +1.15%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

TE Connectivity (TEL 60.12, -0.16 -0.27%) filed a mixed securities shelf offering, the size of which was not disclosed.

Qualcomm (QCOM 61.85, -0.73 -1.17%) signed a new 3G and 4G patent license agreement in China with GuangDong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK 45.25, +0.18 +0.40%) announced an agreement with Alphabet's (GOOG 772.88, +4.09 +0.53%) Verily Life Sciences to form Galvani Bioelectronics to enable the research, development and commercialisation of bioelectronic medicines.

Limelight Networks (LLNW 1.75, +0.06 +3.55%) entered into a licensing agreement with Akamai (AKAM 50.60, +0.07 +0.14%) regarding intellectual property settlement.

VirnetX Holding (VHC 2.43, -1.90 -43.88%) confirmed the issuance of new order by the US District Court in its patent litigation vs Apple (AAPL 106.05, +1.84 +1.77%).

Accenture (ACN 112.88, +0.07 +0.06%) completed its acquisition of dgroup. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Intel (INTC 34.85, -0.01 -0.03%) appointed Paula Tolliver as corporate vice president and chief information officer.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

SolarCity (SCTY) confirmed a merger agreement with Tesla (TSLA). SCTY agrees to be acquired for $25.37 per share in stock. The combined company expects to achieve cost synergies of $150 million in the first full year after closing. As part of the agreement, SCTY has a 45-day period known as a "go-shop", which runs through September 14, 2016. SCTY also pre-announced certain Q2 operating metrics and updated investors on FY16 guidance. SCTY stated that a range of sales process improvements and the introduction of a new loan offering began to help improve bookings in Q2, but residential bookings in the first half of the year were still lower than anticipated overall. As a result, SCTY lowered its 2016 guidance for MW Installed to 900-1,000 MW, as compared to previous guidance of 1,000-1,100 MW.

Trina Solar (TSL 10.33, +2.08 +25.21%) entered into a merger agreement with an investor consortium for an all-cash transaction implying an equity value of about $1.1 billion or $11.60 per ADS.

Fleetmatics (FLTX 59.59, +16.63 +38.71%) to be acquired by Verizon (VZ 54.50, -0.91 -1.64%) for $60 per share in cash, or about $2.4 billion.

Kyocera Corp (KYO 47.28, +0.20 +0.42%) announced they will acquire all shares in IDEX (IEX 90.00, +0.21 +0.23%) subsidiary Melles Griot KK. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Support.com (SPRT 0.87, +0.01 +1.15%) disclosed an extended master services agreement with

Comcast (CMCSA 67.54, +0.29 +0.43%).

Blucora (BCOR 10.07, -0.14 -1.37%) extended its publisher network contract with Yahoo! (YHOO 38.80, +0.61 +1.60%).

Travelport Worldwide (TVPT 13.53, +0.04 +0.30%) and Expedia (EXPE 117.37, +0.72 +0.62%) announced an expanded European partnership.

Patriot National's (PN 9.49, +1.60 +20.28%) Board to consider a 'revised and enhanced' offer from Ebix (EBIX 53.49, +0.17 +0.32%) to acquire the company for a total enterprise value of $475 million.

SBA Comm (SBAC 116.01, +1.01 +0.88%) commenced a private offering of $800 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2024.

In reaction to quarterly results:

First Data (FDC) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $0.35 on revenues which were in-line with market expectations and rose 1.9% versus last year to $2.93 billion.

Sohu.com (SOHU 37.91, -0.77 -1.99%) reported a worse than expected Q2 loss per share of $1.62 on revenues which also missed market expectations and fell 14.9% versus a year ago to $420.14 million. The company also guided Q3 EPS and revenues worse than expectations at ($2.60)-($2.35) and $400-430 million.

Changyou.com (CYOU 19.94, +0.19 +0.96%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $0.68 on in-line revenues which fell 36.1% versus a year ago to $129.16 million. CYOU also guided Q3 EPS in-line at $0.47-0.56, but gave worse than expected revenue guidance of $125-135 million.

Broadsoft (BSFT 44.34, -0.49 -1.09%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.49 and $81.7 million, respectively. BSFT also guided Q3 EPS and revenues worse than expectations at $0.26-0.41 and $78-83 million, respectively. For FY16, the company sees EPS of $1.95-2.15 and revenues of $332-340 million.

MeetMe (MEET 7.43, +1.00 +15.55%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.09 and $16.39 million, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: AEIS, AMKR, BLKB, CGNX, FTR, INST, IDTI, ININ, IVAC, TNET, VECO, WSTC, XOXO/ALLT, ARW, CARB, EIGI, HRS, IQNT, IDCC, STX, TDC, VSH, VG

Analyst actions:

FDC was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BTIG Research;
CTXS was downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies,
AVG was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Mkt Outperform at JMP Securities,
FLTX was downgraded at RBC Capital Mkts, First Analysis, William Blair, Stifel and Imperial Capital,
SCTY was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim;
VSAT was initiated with a Hold at Jefferies,
SHOP was initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup,
PTC was initiated with a Buy at Citigroup,
CUDA, GIMO and PFPT were initiated with a Buy at Rosenblatt

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:22 pm Rubicon Project beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS, revs below consensus; lowers FY16 revs outlook (RUBI) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.17 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.10; revenues rose 34.1% year/year to $65.11 mln vs the $63.62 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.07-0.09 vs. $0.12 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $60-64 mln vs. $70.32 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Co updates guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $0.75-0.85 (Unch from prior guidance) vs. $0.90 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $260-275 mln (Prior $275-295 mln) vs. $295.25 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"The digital advertising market is undergoing changes that have fueled headwinds that we expect will continue through the remainder of the year-particularly as it relates to desktop advertising in the U.S."

4:18 pm Cray misses by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q3 revs below consensus; slashes FY16 revs outlook (shares halted) (CRAY) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.29 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.27); revenues fell 46.2% year/year to $100.24 mln vs the $101.36 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Overall gross profit margin on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis for the second quarter of 2016 was 36%, compared to 27% for the second quarter of 2015.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $80 mln vs. $133.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. GAAP and Non-GAAP gross margin for the year is expected to be in the range of 34%.

Co lowers guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of $650 mln (Prior $825 mln) vs. $795.39 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The change in the Company's revenue outlook was driven by the level and timing of new orders and the delays of key third-party components, the risks of which were outlined last quarter, as well as a very recent electrical smoke event caused by a failed manufacturing facility power component that will delay the Company's ability to deliver on some customer contracts in 2016, including an impact on anticipated third quarter revenue.

Based on this outlook, the Company expects to be profitable on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis for 2016.

4:17 pm FormFactor beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (FORM) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.13 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.10; revenues rose 12% year/year to $83.1 mln vs the $77.99 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.17-0.23 vs. $0.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $118 mln vs. $117.22 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"Our strong revenue result -- the highest level since 2007 -- reflects our solid execution as we doubled our Foundry and Logic shipments for a key customer and experienced improvement in our DRAM business," said Mike Slessor, CEO of FormFactor, Inc. "In addition, we completed the acquisition of Cascade Microtech, to create a more valuable industry player, with a larger addressable market, extended product breadth, greater diversification, and new growth opportunities."

"We are currently expecting strong second half performance in each of our businesses," said Mike Slessor. "We are enthusiastic about the Cascade product line-up's ability to expand our market share in the Foundry and Logic probe card business driven by secular trends in RF filter growth as well as continued strength at FormFactor's historical Foundry and Logic customers. Our third quarter guidance includes the immediately accretive impact of Cascade, and we are confident that 2016 will be a solid growth year for FormFactor."

4:12 pm Axcelis Tech beats by $0.06, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (ACLS) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.10 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.04; revenues fell 17.8% year/year to $64.45 mln vs the $65.43 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.03-0.06 vs. $0.13 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $65-70 mln vs. $71.96 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:12 pm Maxwell Tech misses by $0.04, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (MXWL) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.09); revenues fell 9.8% year/year to $34.1 mln vs the $35.13 mln Capital IQ

Consensus. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2016 was $(0.7) million, compared with $(1.3) million for the first quarter of 2016. The quarter-over-quarter improvement was primarily driven by margin improvements from increased high-voltage product sales and reduced operating expenses.

Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.18), excluding non-recurring items, vs. ($0.05) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $24-27 mln vs. $37.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Guidance: Gross margin for the third quarter of 2016 is expected to be in the range of 28% to 31%. Non-GAAP gross margin for the third quarter of 2016 is expected to be in the range of 29% to 32%.

4:06 pm Ixia beats by $0.11, beats on revs (XXIA) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.07; revenues fell 8.7% year/year to $120.1 mln vs the $114.12 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

"In the second quarter we achieved revenue at the high-end of our guidance range and delivered solid earnings that were driven by our strong gross margin performance and continued focus on financial discipline."

Ixia also announces that it plans to appoint Patti Key as its senior vice president, global sales, and that Key has assumed leadership of Ixia's global sales team. Ixia and Hans-Peter Klaey have mutually agreed that he will step down from his position as senior vice president, global sales, and will leave the company, on August 31, 2016.

4:05 pm Qorvo beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides SepQ EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (QRVO) :

Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $1.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.05; revenues rose 3.7% year/year to $698.54 mln vs the $650.64 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q2 (Sep), sees EPS of $1.35-1.45, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.26 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $820-850 mln vs. $713.7 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Gross margin, which was 39.6%, decreased sequentially on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis, primarily due to a mix shift to lower margin products.
"In the June quarter, Qorvo saw customer order activity accelerate as the quarter progressed, and the entire

Qorvo Team ran hard to satisfy demand. In the September quarter, we continue to see strong demand in support of this year's most popular devices, and we're rapidly expanding our capabilities to develop new highly integrated solutions for large customer opportunities launching in 2017 and 2018."

4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Tuesday affair on a lower note as the key U.S. indices moved lower lockstep with global bourses. Today's decline was facilitated by disappointment surrounding Japan's latest fiscal stimulus package and continued weakness from European banking names. Additionally, a failed rebound attempt in oil and the underperformance of heavily-weighted technology (-0.8%), industrials (-0.9%), financials (-0.9%), and consumer discretionary (-1.5%) contributed to today's loss. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.9%) settled behind the S&P 500 (-0.6%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.5%).

U.S. equities began the day under pressure, responding to losses from Japan's Nikkei (-1.5%) and European markets. In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's latest round of stimulus elicited a sell-the-news response as participants eyed limited direct stimulus. Separately, weak earnings results from Commerzbank kept pressure on European banks while Deutsche Bank (DB 12.58, -0.49) and Credit Suisse (CS 10.81, -0.53) lost their spots in the Euro Stoxx 50 Index (-2.0%).

The major averages pulled back through the afternoon as oil and equities yielded to selling pressure in the broader market. The energy component trimmed an early advance, falling into negative territory near midday. WTI crude finished its session lower by 1.5% ($39.49/bbl; -$0.60), extending its weekly loss to 5.0%. On a side note, investors will receive the latest stockpile data from the American Petroleum Institute this evening while the Department of Energy's more influential stockpile data will be release tomorrow at 10:30 ET.

The S&P 500 (-0.6%) finished off its worst level of the day, reclaiming technical support near the 2152/2153 price level. However, nine sectors finished in the red with technology (-0.8%), industrials (-0.9%), financials (-0.9%), and consumer discretionary (-1.5%) rounding out the leaderboard. The remaining decliners finished with losses between 0.1% (consumer staples) and 0.6% (utilities). Conversely, energy (+0.9%) ended with the only gain.

The consumer discretionary space (-1.5%) displayed broad-based weakness as Ford (F 11.94, -0.54) and General Motors (GM 29.93, -1.37) weighed among auto names. The two fell 4.4% apiece after July U.S. auto sales disappointed. Retail names also underperformed in the group, evidenced by the 2.5% decline in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 43.80, -1.13).

Airlines underperformed in the industrial sector (-0.9%) as the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS 21.63, -0.92) lost 4.1%. Delta Air Lines (DAL 36.39, -3.09) pressured the ETF after reporting that passenger revenue per available seat mile declined 7.0% in July. This missed prior guidance given by the airline. Separately, Emerson (EMR 53.03, -2.75) fell 4.9% after missing top- and bottom-line estimates for the quarter and lowering its full-year guidance.

In the technology space (-0.8%), top-weighted Apple (AAPL 104.48, -1.57) was under pressure after being downgraded to "Outperform" from "Buy" at Daiwa. On a side note, the tech giant sports a gain of 8.1% since reporting earnings on July 26. Conversely, data storage names underperformed as Seagate Technology (STX 30.65, -1.78) lost 5.5%. Seagate Technology released its earnings report ahead of today's session, showing in-line results with its pre-announcement from July 11. The high-beta chipmakers underperformed in the group, evidenced by the 1.6% decline in the PHLX Semiconductor Index.

Biotechnology demonstrated relative strength in the health care sector (-0.3%) as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 294.69, +0.62) rose 0.2%. The group benefited from intraday reports indicating that Allergan (AGN 250.75, -4.11) and Merck (MRK 58.33, -0.33) may be interested in acquiring Biogen (BIIB 330.11, +28.28). In the broader sector, Dow component Pfizer (PFE 36.39, -0.92) rounded out the price-weighted index after reporting a slight beat.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.08, -0.63) finished off its worst level of the day, but the euro, pound, and yen each finished with gains against the greenback. The single currency jumped 0.5% against the greenback (1.1223) while sterling rallied 1.3% against the dollar (1.3345). Separately, the dollar/yen pair finished lower by 1.5% (100.90) as investors responded to the latest fiscal stimulus plan out of Japan.

The Treasury complex ended on a mixed note, but the group finished off its worst level of the day. The yield on the 10-yr note ended higher by two basis point (1.55%) after backtracking from the 1.57% (+4 bps) level.

Participation was above the recent average as more than 916 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included June Personal Income/Personal Spending reports and Core PCE Prices for June:

Personal income increased 0.2% in June (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) on the heels of a 0.2% increase for May.
The improvement was driven largely by a 0.3% increase in wages and salaries.
Personal spending was up 0.4% (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) on top of a 0.4% increase for May.
The personal savings rate fell to 5.3% in June from 5.5% in May.
The PCE Price Index increased 0.1% and the core PCE Price Index, which excludes food and energy, also rose 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%).
On a year over-year basis, both the PCE Price Index and Core PCE Price Index held steady versus May, up 0.9% and 1.6%, respectively.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the 7:00 ET release of the weekly MBA Mortgage Index. Separately, the ADP Employment Change Report (Briefing.com consensus 165k) and ISM Services for July (Briefing.com consensus 55.8) will cross the wires at 8:15 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Russell 2000 +5.8% YTD
S&P 500 +5.5% YTD
Dow Jones +5.1% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +2.6% YTD

DJ30 -90.74 NASDAQ -46.46 SP500 -13.81 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 721/1.982 bln/2152 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 690/916.5 mln/2318 3:30 pm :

The dollar index plunges -0.7%, currently trading around the 95.07 level
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are down -0.2% at 82.73
Crude continues its slide, ending near 5-month lows ahead of tonight's API data
September crude oil futures fell $0.60 (-1.5%) to $39.49/barrel
API data will be released today after the bell
EIA petroleum storage data will be released tomorrow at 10:30 am ET
Baker Hughes rig count data will be released on Friday at 1 pm ET
Natural gas extends yesterday's losses, ending near session lows in afternoon pit trading
September natural gas closed $0.04 lower (-1.4%) at $2.73/MMBtu
EIA natural gas data will be released Thursday at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold ends near session highs as the dollar index takes a beating
December gold ended today's session up $12.70 (+0.9%) to $1372.50/oz
Silver consolidates near highs of the day, moving in tandem with gold as the dollar index sees a notable drop
September silver closed today's session $0.19 higher (+0.9%) at $20.69/oz
Base metal copper inches higher, adding onto yesterday's gains in afternoon pit trading
September copper closed $0.01 higher (+0.5%) at $2.21/lb

Equity futures were under pressure this morning as investors responded to a negative bias in global markets. Japan's Nikkei (-1.5%) under-performed as the country's latest stimulus package was met with a sell-the-news reaction. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a JPY28 trillion stimulus package overnight, but reports indicated that direct stimulus will be limited to JPY7.5 trillion. Separately, European banks under-performed for the second consecutive session as disappointing earnings results from Commerzbank weighed on the group.

Market data today included personal income increased 0.2% in June on the heels of a 0.2% increase for May. Also, personal spending was up 0.4% on top of a 0.4% increase for May. Lastly, the PCE Price Index increased 0.1% and the core PCE Price Index, which excludes food and energy, also rose 0.1%.

Tuesday trading turned lower after a split Monday affair. The Nasdaq Composite was the worst performer, shedding 46.46 points (-0.90%) to 5137.73. Dragging the tech-heavy index lower, the worst performing Nasdaq 100 components included AAL -5.9%, CA -3.6%, EXPE -3.3%, ADSK -3.1%, NXPI -2.8%. The S&P 500 was down 13.81 points (-0.64%) to 2157.03 at the end of the day, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 90.74 points (-0.49%) to 18313.77.

In a session of losses, Technology (XLK 46.19, -0.35 -0.75%) followed suit. The sector kept pace with the broader market sell-off, despite a strong session from component Teradata (TDC 29.42, +1.03 +3.63%) which reported better than expected quarterly results, propelling the stock higher today in the face of the broader market weakness. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed the session IYZ -1.90% XLY -1.49% XLI -0.93% XLF -0.85% XLU -0.65% XLV -0.38% XLB -0.27% XLP -0.15% XLE +0.91% as only Energy managed gains, and Telecoms lagged.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (765.42, -6.38 -0.83%) sector, the day ended near (but modestly higher off) lows. Component Seagate Tech (STX 30.65, -1.78 -5.49%) was particularly weak today following this morning's earnings which beat on the bottom line, and were about in-line with market expectations on the top. Other notable components which closed in the red today included CA -3.59%, TEL -3.44%, XRX -3.25%, QRVO -3.18%, GPN -3.00%, CSRA -2.71%, RHT -2.58%, TSS -2.45%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Salesforce.com (CRM 80.50, -0.52 -0.64%) disclosed an agreement to acquire Quip.

Microsoft (MSFT 56.58, flat) priced an offering of $19.75 billion aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes.

Teradata (TDC) determined that the position of Chief Operating Officer of the company will no longer be required.

Cloud DC Inc. has just executed a global CSP Distribution agreement with Citrix (CTXS 83.47, -3.15 -3.64%). The Cloud DC Workspace virtualizes applications and delivers them to end devices of the user's choice. It is a white labelled, bundled infrastructure/management layer, fully automated and highly scalable platform purely developed for the channel as a turnkey solution.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Emerson (EMR 53.03, -2.75 -4.93%) confirmed it sold its Leroy-Somer and Control Techniques business units to Nidec (NJDCY 20.04, -0.02 -0.10%) for $1.2 billion.

Avnet (AVT 39.95, -1.06 -2.57%) expanded its global franchise agreement with Cypress Semiconductor (CY 11.22, -0.41 -3.53%) to include the portfolio of their recently acquired wireless IoT products, effective immediately.

Digital Ally (DGLY 5.69, -0.19 -3.23%) received a three-year supply contract exceeding $1.0 million for body cameras, service and storage systems.

Izea (IZEA 6.86, +0.12 +1.78%) acquired ZenContent for up to $4.5 million in cash and equity, including performance-based earn outs over a three-year period.

TD Ameritrade's (AMTD 29.57, -0.35 -1.17%) COO Marv Adams to resign. The company is eliminating the COO position.

WPCS Intl (WPCS 1.60, -0.06 -3.67%) announced it added $2.7 million of new contracts during its first quarter ended July 31, 2016.

Cree (CREE 27.85, -0.78 -2.72%) confirmed a favorable decision in the ITC case against Feit and Unity.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Frontier Communications (FTR 4.85, -0.23 -4.53%) reported a worse than expected Q2 loss per share of $0.07 on revenues which came in worse than expectations and rose 90.6% versus a year ago to $2.61 billion.

Seagate Tech (STX) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.69 on revenues which fell 9.3% versus last year to $2.65 billion.

Vonage (VG 6.26, +0.43 +7.38%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.08 and $233.7 million, respectively.

Integrated Device (IDTI 19.56, -2.63 -11.85%) reported in-line Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.36 and $192.1 million, respectively. On the conference call, management guided for Q2 revenues of $179-189 million, worse than expectations.

Teradata (TDC) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.71 and $599 million, respectively. The company also reaffirmed FY16 EPS and revenue guidance at $2.35-2.50 and $2.32-2.39 billion, respectively.

Harris (HRS 87.97, +2.40 +2.80%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $1.45 and worse than expected revenues of $1.9 billion. The company also guided FY17 EPS of $5.70-5.90.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: ATTO ACLS BBOX CALX CALD CRAY ESIO EA ENPH FARO FISV FIT FORM FTV GLUU GUID IMPR XXIA JIVE MXWL MRCY NEWR NOVT OCLR PAYC PCTI PLT PRO QRVO QUMU FUEL RUBI DATA TNAV TSRA TRMB ZEN/CDK CEVA CRTO INXN KLIC LMOS NVMI OIIM ORBK PERI SHOP ZAYO

Analyst actions:

FORM was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel,
VECO was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank;
IDTI was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Buy at Charter Equity,
IMPR was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo,
FLTX and SCTY were downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird,
AAPL was downgraded to Outperform from Buy at Daiwa,
SCTY was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Strong Buy at Raymond James,
N downgraded to Neutral from Buy at MKM Partners;
NXPI was initiated with an Outperform at Robert W. Baird,
PFPT was initiated with a Buy at Needham,
PSTG was initiated with a Market Perform at Wells Fargo,

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm Extreme Networks reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (EXTR) :

Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.10; revenues fell 7.1% year/year to $140 mln vs the $142.19 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues guidance for Q1 of FY17, sees EPS of $0.04-0.09, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.05

Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $121-131 mln vs. $125.40 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:25 pm Exar beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (EXAR) :

Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.07; revenues fell 3.8% year/year to $27.1 mln vs the $26.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.07-0.09 vs. $0.08 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs Flat to +3% q/q (Approx $27.1-27.9 mln) vs. $27.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Non-GAAP gross margin is targeted between 56.7% and 58.1%.

4:07 pm First Solar beats by $0.32, beats on revs; guides FY16 EPS above consensus, reaffirms FY16 revs guidance (FSLR) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.87 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.32 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.55; revenues rose 4.2% year/year to $934 mln vs the $862.68 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $4.20-4.50 (Prior $4.10-4.50), excluding non-recurring items, vs. $4.19 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $3.8-4.0 bln vs. $3.86 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Gross Margins 18.5-19.0% (Prior 18-19%)
Operating Expense $380-400 mln (Reaffirm)
Operating Cashe Flow $400-650 mln (Prior $500-700 mln)
CapEx $275-325 mln (Prior $300-400 mln)
Shipments 2.9-3.0 GW (Reaffirm)

4:02 pm QuickLogic reports EPS in-line, misses on revs (QUIK) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.07 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the single analyst estimate of ($0.07); revenues fell 45.7% year/year to $2.7 mln vs the $3 mln single analyst estimate.

GAAP and Non-GAAP cost of goods for three and six months period ended July 3, 2016, include an inventory reserve of $203,000 for PolarPro III product.

4:10 pm : The stock market ended the midweek affair on a flat note as investors looked ahead to tomorrow's policy statement from the Bank of England and significant data due out later in the week. The S&P 500 (+0.3%) snapped a two-day losing streak, benefiting from a rebound in crude oil and key sector leadership from the heavily-weighted technology (+0.4%), industrial (+0.4%), and financial (+1.0%) sectors. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) finished slightly ahead of the benchmark index (+0.3%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.2%). Equity indices gyrated at the start of the session as investors responded to a negative bias in global markets. Japan's Nikkei (-1.9%) underperformed for a second session as investors continued to dissect the country's latest stimulus package. Investor apprehension was related to the lack of labor market reforms and limited productivity improvements contained in the new policy measures. Separately, the U.K.'s July Services PMI (47.4; previous 52.3) sparked further growth concerns ahead of tomorrow morning's policy decision from the Bank of England. The central bank is widely expected to offer further easing after holding in July.

The major averages shook off opening weakness as investors poured over the Energy Information Administration's latest stockpile data. The Department of Energy reported that crude oil inventories rose by 1.41 million barrels (estimated: -1.36 million barrels), but that gasoline inventories fell by 3.26 million barrels (estimated: -0.20 million barrels). In response, WTI crude ticked off the $40.00/bbl price level, finishing its day higher by 3.4% ($40.82/bbl; +$1.33).

The S&P 500 (+0.3%) endured a sleepy session, maintaining a meager 11-point trading range. The index finished at its best level of the day as six sectors ended above their flat lines. In front of the pack, the commodity-sensitive energy (+1.8%) sector led financials (+1.0%), industrials (+0.4%), and technology (+0.4%). Conversely, countercyclical utilities (-0.6%), consumer staples (-0.5%), and health care (-0.2%) rounded out the leaderboard.

The financial sector (+1.0%) finished ahead of the broader market as positive quarterly results from Credit Agricole and ING (ING 11.43, +0.87) helped facilitate a rebound among European banking names. On the home front, American International Group (AIG 58.10, +3.96) boosted insurance names after the company beat top- and bottom-line estimates for the quarter and announced an additional $3 billion in share repurchases. Prudential (PRU 76.15, +2.18) and MetLife (MET 43.70, +1.49) gained a respective 3.0% and 3.5% ahead of this evening's quarterly earnings results.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (+0.8%) outperformed as Avis Budget (CAR 36.89, +2.13) rebounded. The stock jumped 6.1% after posting better-than-expected guidance and mixed quarterly results. Separately, rail names also displayed relative strength as Union Pacific (UNP 92.87, +1.57) and CSX (CSX 28.20, +0.54) jumped 1.7% and 2.0%, respectively.

The heavily-weighted health care sector (-0.2%) ended beneath its flat line as Biogen (BIIB 321.34, -8.77) underperformed in the biotechnology sub-group. The stock finished lower by 2.7% after the company indicated that despite yesterday's reports, it has not received any acquisition offers. Elsewhere, Dow component Pfizer (PFE 35.29, -0.80) rounded out the price-weighted index as investors continue to weigh yesterday's quarterly results and conference call.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.55, +0.49) finished off its best level of the day as the yen, pound, and euro each gave up ground to the greenback. The dollar/yen pair finished higher by 0.3% (101.20), rebounding from yesterday's 1.5% decline. The pound lost 0.3% against the dollar (1.3312) ahead of tomorrow's Bank of England policy statement while the euro declined 0.7% against the buck (1.1148).

The Treasury complex ended its day on a higher note as yields declined throughout the curve. The yield on the 10-yr note finished lower by two basis points at 1.54%.

Participation was above the recent average as more than 873 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, the ADP Employment Change Report, and ISM Services for July:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted decrease of 3.5% in mortgage applications after declining 11.2% in the prior week.
The ADP Employment Change report was better than expected, showing an estimated 179,000 jobs (Briefing.com consensus 165,000) were added to private sector payrolls.
However, those gains weren't as robust as some might have hoped coming off last month's very large increase in nonfarm payrolls.
In addition, all of the growth in the ADP number for July came from the service-providing sector (185,000). The goods-producing sector lost 6,000 jobs, according to ADP.
The ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI dipped to 55.5 in July from 56.5 in June (Briefing.com consensus 55.8), declining from 59.6 in the same period a year ago.
The dividing line between expansion and contraction for the non-manufacturing sector is 50.0. July marked the 78th straight month of growth.
The headline disappointment, though, was offset to a large extent by the increases registered in the indexes for new orders (from 59.9 to 60.3), backlog of orders (from 47.5 to 51.0), and new export orders (from 53.0 to 55.5).
The biggest drags on the non-manufacturing index in July were the indexes for prices (from 55.5 to 51.9), supplier deliveries (from 54.0 to 51.0), inventories (from 55.5 to 54.0), employment (from 52.7 to 51.4), and imports (from 54.0 to 53.0).
It was noted in the report that the past relationship between the non-manufacturing PMI and the overall economy indicates that the 55.5 level for July corresponds to a 2.6% increase in real GDP on an annualized basis.

Tomorrow's economic data will include Challenger Job Cuts for July and weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 264k), which will be released at 7:30 ET and 8:30 ET, respectively. The day's data will be capped off with Factory Orders for June (Briefing.com consensus -1.9%), which will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Russell 2000 +6.6% YTD
S&P 500 +5.9% YTD
Dow Jones +5.3% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +3.0% YTD

DJ30 +41.23 NASDAQ +22.00 SP500 +6.76 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1860/1.735 bln/967 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2009/873.9 mln/966

3:30 pm :

The dollar index was up +0.5% around the 95.57 level, weighing on precious metals
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, are up +1.0% around the 83.55 level
Crude oil rallied to close near session highs after EIA data showed a notable surprise draw in gasoline inventory
September crude oil futures rose $1.33 (+3.4%) to $40.82/barrel
Baker Hughes rig count data will be released Friday at 1 pm ET
Monthly IEA data will be released August 11
EIA data highlights:
Crude oil inventories had a build of +1.413 mln (consensus called for a draw between -900K & -1.9 mln barrels)
Gasoline inventories had a draw of -3.262 mln
Distillate inventories had a build of +1.152 mln
Natural gas erased all of the previous day's losses, seeing a sustained rally into the close ahead of tomorrow's inventory data
September natural gas closed $0.11 higher (+4.0%) at $2.84/MMBtu
EIA natural gas inventory data will be released tomorrow at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold saw a sustained downtrend, closing near lows of the day as the dollar index gained momentum
December gold ended today's session down $7.90 (-0.6%) to $1364.60/oz
Silver saw a move similar to gold, trending lower all day and closing at session, weighed down by the dollar index
September silver closed today's session $0.22 lower (-1.1%) at $20.47/oz
Base metal copper inched lower in afternoon pit trading
September copper closed $0.01 lower (-0.5%) at $2.20/lb

The major indices began the day on a choppy note as investors weighed a negative bias in global bourses against a rebound in crude oil. Japan's Nikkei (-1.9%) led the losses overnight as participants continued to express misgivings surrounding the country's recently-announced stimulus package. Separately, the U.K.'s FTSE (-0.2%) finished its day modestly lower as investors assessed a contraction in July Services PMI (47.4; previous 52.3) ahead of tomorrow's policy statement from the Bank of England. The central bank is widely expected to call for further easing measures following the surprise Brexit vote in June.


Further, the Department of Energy announced its weekly inventory data. The EIA reported that crude inventories unexpectedly rose (+1.41 million barrels) while gasoline inventories fell faster than expected (-3.26 million barrels). At the end of floor trading today, September crude oil futures rose $1.33 (+3.4%) to $40.82/barrel.

Additional market data today included the ADP Employment Change report which was better than expected, showing an estimated 179,000 jobs were added to private sector payrolls. Also, the ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI dipped to 55.5 in July from 56.5 in June, declining from 59.6 in the same period a year ago.

When Wednesday trading wrapped up, the markets were near highs. Morning modesty melted away as the Nasdaq Composite once again led the three major US indices higher by 22.00 points (+0.43%) to 5159.74. Helping the Nasdaq out-perform, top performing Nasdaq 100 components CERN +7.0%, MYL +4.0%, ALXN +3.0%, BMRN +2.4% and CSX +2.0% all closed higher. The S&P 500 was up 6.76 points (+0.31%) when the day ended to 2163.79, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average again finished at the bottom of the pack, albeit still higher by 41.23 points (+0.23%) to 18355.00.

A mostly flat session out of the Technology (XLK 46.35, +0.16 +0.35%) sector turned higher as the broader market, too, turned a flat session into a positive affair. Component Electronic Arts (EA) turned in a higher period as the company reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed XLE +1.93% XLF +1.03% XLI +0.49% XLY +0.29% XLB +0.25% IYZ +0.18% XLV -0.28% XLP -0.55% XLU -0.60% with action being led higher by the Energy space and Utilities under-performing.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (768.31, +2.89 +0.38%) sector, action finished near HoDs as a mediocre morning session ramped higher near midday. Component Qorvo (QRVO 55.12, -6.33 -10.30%) posted an especially weak Wednesday despite better than expected Q1 results and Q2 guidance as gross margins were apparently pressured. Other names in the space which were active today included AKAM -1.04%, FLIR -0.85%, PAYX -0.63%, FB -0.47%, YHOO -0.47% and XRX +1.33%, AAPL +1.25%, LRCX +1.18%, SYMC +1.06%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Xilinx (XLNX 50.84, +0.08 +0.16%) disclosed that on July 29, it received written notification that the Joint Committee on Taxation had completed its review and had taken no exception to the conclusions reached by the Internal Revenue Service.

CyberSource, a Visa Inc. (V 78.71, +0.43 +0.55%) company, announced the launch of its Loyalty Fraud Management Solution, a new service that helps businesses guard against fraudulent account creation and protect customers from illegal use of their loyalty accounts, including theft of points, miles and misuse of payment credentials.

Mastercard (MA 95.08, -0.17 -0.18%) announced that 80% of its U.S. consumer credit cards have chips, representing an 88% increase in chip card adoption since the October 1, 2015 liability shift started to bring EMV-secured payments to the U.S.

Skyworks Solutions (SWKS 64.39, -0.65 -1.00%) announced that for $76.5 million, it has acquired the remaining 34% interest it did not already own in the filter joint venture it created with Panasonic (PCRFY 9.77, +0.11 +1.14%) in 2014. The acquisition is not expected to impact SWKS' consolidated financial statements as operations have been consolidated with SWKS' financial statements since the date of the initial joint venture.

First Solar (FSLR 49.24, +1.48 +3.10%) and D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments announced the acquisition by a DESRI affiliate of the 11 MW AC Rancho Seco Solar Project from First Solar. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

DragonWave (DRWI 3.19, -0.45 -12.36%) announced the pricing of a $6.0 million public offering.

AT&T (T 43.14, -0.02 -0.05%) announced that AT&T Mobility reached a new tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America in benefits negotiations covering CWA-represented Mobility employees nationwide - more than 40,000 employees.

Sizmek (SZMK 3.86, +1.20 +45.11%) to be acquired by Vector Capital for $3.90 per share in an all-cash tender offer.
In addition to reporting quarterly results, CDK Global (CDK 58.55, +1.74 +3.06%) announced it will add two independent directors to its Board under an agreement with Elliott Management.

Plantronics' (PLT 50.68, +2.96 +6.20%) CEO Ken Kannappan to retire at the end of Q2. Current EVP and Chief Commercial Officer, Joe Burton, will become president and CEO effective Oct. 2.

Rocket Fuel (FUEL 2.333, +0.10 +4.48%) announced it concurrently entered into a Controlled Equity Offering with Cantor Fitzgerald of up to $30 million of the $50 million offering it filed for in May.

Take-Two (TTWO 40.79, +0.62 +1.54%) to change non-GAAP financial measures - will have no effect on the business.

Cincinnati Bell (CBB 4.75, -0.03 -0.63%) announced its shareholders approved a 1:5 reverse stock split of its common shares.

In reaction to quarterly results:

CDK Global (CDK) reported in-line Q4 EPS of $0.49 on better than expected revenues which rose 7.8% versus last year to $542.2 million. The company also guided FY17 EPS better than market expectations at $2.28-2.35 with revenues of about $2.2 billion.

Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC 11.87, -0.53 -4.27%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $0.45 and $216.4 million, respectively. The company also guided Q4 revenues worse than market expectations at $135-145 million.

Orbotech (ORBK 28.26, -0.37 -1.29%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $0.60 on revenues which were in-line with market expectations and rose 3.7% versus the prior year to $195.98 million. ORBK also guided Q3 revenues in-line at $200-208 million.

Shopify (SHOP 36.79, +3.26 +9.72%) reported a better than expected Q2 loss per share of $0.04 on revenues which rose 92.9% compared to a year ago to $86.6 million. SHOP guided Q3 and FY16 revenues ahead of expectations at $93-95 million and $361-367 million, respectively.

Fortive (FTV 49.28, +1.78 +3.75%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $0.69 on better than expected revenues of $1.56 billion. FTV also guided Q3 EPS in-line at $0.56-0.60.

Fiserv (FISV 104.45, -4.96 -4.53%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $1.08 and revenues which missed market expectations at $1.36 billion. The company also guided FY16 EPS in-line at $4.38-4.45.

Qorvo (QRVO) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $1.08 and $698.54 million, respectively. QRVO also guided Q2 EPS and revenues ahead of market expectations at $1.35-1.45 and $820-850 million.

Electronic Arts (EA) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.07 and $682 million, respectively. The company also reaffirmed FY17 GAAP revenue guidance of $4.750 billion and raised FY17 GAAP EPS guidance to $2.56 from $2.53.

Fitbit (FIT 14.93, +1.77 +13.45%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.12 and $586.5 million, respectively. For Q3, the company sees EPS of $0.17-0.19 and revenues of $490-510 million. For FY16, the company continues to see EPS of $1.12-1.24 and revenues of $2.5-2.6 billion.

Tableau Software (DATA 53.20, -3.20 -5.67%) reported worse than expected Q2 EPS of breakeven and better than expected revenues of $198.5 million. DATA also guided Q3 revenues of $210-215 million and FY16 EPS of $0.18-0.31 and revenues of $825-840 million.

Cray (CRAY 21.81, -9.47 -30.27%) reported a worse than expected Q2 loss per share of $0.29 on revenues which fell 46.2% compared to a year ago to $100.24 million. The company sees Q3 revenues of $80 million and lowered FY16 revenue guidance to $650 million from $825 million.

Rubicon Project (RUBI 9.20, -4.47 -32.70%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.17 and $65.11 million, respectively. For Q3, the company sees EPS of $0.07-0.09 and revenues of $60-64 million. For FY16, RUBI expects EPS of $0.75-0.85 and revenues of $260-275 million, down from $275-295 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: HIVE BNFT CTL CSGS EQIX EXAR EXTR FSLR FIVN G GDDY HUBS INOV NSIT IL ITRI JCOM LITE PEGA QTWO QLYS QUIK RP RNG RST SQ SEMI SNCR TTEC TRIP WU WK/ACTA ALSK ANSS BCE CBB CCOI CNSL EPAM FCS IT GOGO KVHI LIOX LQDT LFUS MMS MITL NOK ORBC PRFT SPNS SSYS TU TSEM TVPT WIN

Analyst actions:

RUBI was downgraded at Cantor Fitzgerald, SunTrust, Raymond James and RBC Capital Mkts,
WDC was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman,
CSIQ was downgraded to Underweight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley,
GLUU was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Northland Capital,
DATA was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at DA Davidson,
ESIO was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham,
EIGI was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts,
KOPN was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Wunderlich,

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:26 pm NVIDIA beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs above consensus -- Strong launch of Pascal-based GPUs, growing demand for deep learning (NVDA) : Reports Q2 (Jul) non-GAAP earnings of $0.53 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.48 (GAAP EPS $0.40 vs. 0.38 consensus); revenues rose 23.9% year/year to $1.43 bln vs the $1.35 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Non-GAAP gross margin 58.1%vs. 57.5-58.5% guidance.

Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of ~$1.65-1.71 bln vs. $1.45 bln Capital IQ Consensus; non-GAAP gross margin 57.5-58.5%.

"Strong demand for our new Pascal-generation GPUs and surging interest in deep learning drove record results," said Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer, NVIDIA. "Our strategy to focus on creating the future where graphics, computer vision and artificial intelligence converge is fueling growth across our specialized platforms -- Gaming, Pro Visualization, Datacenter and Automotive." "We are more excited than ever about the impact of deep learning and AI, which will touch every industry and market. We have made significant investments over the past five years to evolve our entire GPU computing stack for deep learning. Now, we are well positioned to partner with researchers and developers all over the world to democratize this powerful technology and invent its future."4:23 pm Silicon Graphics beats by $0.07, beats on revs (Being acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)) (SGI) :

Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.08 per share, $0.07 better than the two analyst estimate of $0.01; revenues fell 19.7% year/year to $122.71 mln vs the $120.67 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

As covered earlier, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SGI for $7.75 per share in cash, a transaction valued at approximately $275 million, net of cash and debt. Due to the acquisition announcement, the previously scheduled conference call has been cancelled. 4:15 pm : The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.6%) finished ahead of the S&P 500 (+0.5%) and the Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%), but all three indices carved out new all-time closing highs. The benchmark index erased a modest weekly loss as stronger-than-expected earnings results from retail names and a reversal in crude oil spurred a risk rally in the broader market. Other focal points impacting today's trade included a rebound in the dollar and leadership from the heavily-weighted health care (+0.6%), industrial (+0.6%), and consumer discretionary (+1.0%) sectors.

The major averages began the day on a higher note as above-consensus bottom-line results from the likes of Alibaba (BABA 91.77, +4.44), Kohl's (KSS 44.19, +6.15) and Macy's (M 39.81, +5.81) improved investor sentiment. The three names bolstered the consumer discretionary space (+1.0%), which ended among the leaders. Additionally, a rebound in oil futures contributed to a positive bias at the start of today's session.

Crude oil was in focus as investors examined a mixed reading of the International Energy Agency's monthly report and responded to commentary from Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih. The IEA trimmed its 2017 global oil demand estimate to 1.2 million barrels per day (from 1.3 million barrels), but also stated that it expects the supply overhang to be gone by the end of 2016. Separately, the Saudi oil minister indicated that the current market situation and potential plans to stabilize oil prices would be discussed at the cartel's next meeting on September 26-28. Market participants likely took this news with a grain of salt, remaining skeptical of potential production cuts from the oil collective. Nevertheless, crude oil rallied 4.2% ($43.50/bbl; +$1.74) on the news, likely benefiting from a fair amount of short covering.

The S&P 500 (+0.5%) found resistance near the 2186/2187 price level in the final hour. Nine sectors finished in the green with industrials (+0.6%), health care (+0.6%), consumer discretionary (+1.0%), and energy (+1.3%) leading.

Retail names outperformed in the consumer discretionary space (+1.0%) as the group moved higher in sympathy with Kohl's (KSS 44.19, +6.15) and Macy's (M 39.81, +5.81). Fellow retail name Nordstrom (JWN 47.56, +3.33) rallied 7.5% ahead of this evening's quarterly report. Separately, Netflix (NFLX 95.89, +1.96) jumped 2.1% after a Director disclosed the purchase of 300,000 shares. The purchase is valued at approximately $28.3 million.

In the technology space (+0.5%), software names outperformed as Adobe Systems (ADBE 101.67, +1.05) and Salesforce.com (CRM 81.48, +1.24) moved higher by 1.0% and 1.6%, respectively. The high-beta chipmakers were able to shake early weakness as Cavium Networks (CAVM 50.50, +2.01) topped the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+0.5%).

The heavyweight health care sector (+0.6%) outperformed as biotechnology displayed relative strength. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 291.91, +3.10) gained 1.1%, narrowing its weekly loss to 1.7%. In the group, Dow component Merck (MRK 63.63, +0.99) gained 1.6%. On the flipside, Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX 24.49,- 2.83) underperformed after reports indicated that the Southern District of New York is investigating the company. The investigation allegedly involves the company's prior relationship with Philidor Rx Services.

The U.S. Dollar Index (95.91, +0.26) ended higher as the pound, euro, and yen each lost ground to the greenback. Cable declined by 0.4% (1.2959) while the single currency lost 0.4% against the buck (1.1139). Conversely, the dollar/Canadian dollar slipped 0.6% (1.2984) amid today's rebound in oil futures.

Treasuries settled near session lows as yields rose throughout the complex. The yield on the 10-yr note finished higher by seven basis points at 1.56%.

Today's participation was below the recent average as fewer than 761 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data was limited to weekly initial claims and Import/Export Prices for July:

Initial claims for the week ending August 6 were 266,000 (Briefing.com consensus 266,000) versus a downwardly revised 267,000 (from 269,000) in the prior week.
There were no special factors influencing the initial claims reading, which was below 300,000 for the 75th consecutive week -- the longest streak since 1970
The four-week moving average increased to 262,750 from 259,750
Continuing claims for the week ending July 30 increased by 14,000 to 2.155 million
The four-week moving average is 2.143 million, up 500 from the prior week
Import prices for July increased 0.1% on top of a 0.6% increase in June.
The key difference is that the uptick in July was led by increasing nonfuel prices, which were up 0.3% after declining 0.2% in June.
Import prices fell 3.7% year-over-year and have not recorded a 12-month advance since two years ago when they rose 0.9% between July 2013 and July 2014
Import prices, excluding fuel, were up 0.3% after declining 0.2% in June
On a year-over-year basis, import prices, excluding fuel, are down 1.2%
Export prices for July were up 0.2% after increasing 0.8% in June, led by higher nonagricultural prices
Export prices declined 3.0% year-over-year and have not advanced on a year-over-year basis since August 2014
Excluding agriculture, export prices were up 0.3% on the heels of a 0.5% increase in June
On a year-over-year basis, export prices, excluding agriculture, are down 3.0%

Tomorrow's economic data will include July PPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.0%) and July Retail Sales (Briefing.com consensus +0.4%), which will each cross the wires at 8:30 ET. Separately, the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for August (Briefing.com 90.2) and Business Inventories for June (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) will be released at 10:00 ET. DJ30 +117.86 NASDAQ +23.81 SP500 +10.30 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1884/1.371 bln/1041 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1862/760.9 mln/1140

3:30 pm :

The dollar index was up +0.2% around the 95.87 level, weighing on precious metals
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, +0.9% around the 83.97 level
Crude oil ends near 4-week highs after comments from the Saudi oil minister that he is willing to help stabilize oil prices
September crude oil futures rose $1.74 (+4.2%) to $43.5/barrel
Baker Hughes rig count data will be released tomorrow at 1 pm ET
Next OPEC meeting will take place in Algeria on September 26-28
Natural gas drifted lower after EIA data showed a larger-than-expected build compared to Consensus
September natural gas closed $0.01 lower (-0.4%) at $2.55/MMBtu
In precious metals, gold ends nearly flat while silver trades lower
December gold ended today's session down $1.50 (-0.1%) to $1350.20/oz
September silver closed today's session $0.17 lower (-0.8%) at $20.02/oz
Base metal copper extends yesterday's gains
September copper closed $0.02 higher (+0.9%) at $2.19/lb

Today's session began on a higher note as investors weighed better-than-expected earnings results from the likes of Kohl's (KSS 44.21, +6.17 +16.22%) and Macy's (M 39.83, +5.83 +17.15%). The two department stores rallied in response, adding support to the retail sub-group and the broader market. A rebound in crude oil also buttressed today's move higher as oil shrugged off a mixed reading of the International Energy Agency's monthly report.
The IEA estimates that global oil demand growth will slow from 1.4 million barrels per day in 2016 to 1.2 million barrels per day in 2017. This compares to its prior outlook, which projected next year's global demand growth at 1.3 million barrels per day. The organization believes that the supply overhang will be gone by the end of this year.

Economic data today came in the form of initial claims which for the week ending August 6 were 266,000 versus a downwardly revised 267,000 (from 269,000) in the prior week. Continuing claims for the week ending July 30 increased by 14,000 to 2.155 million. Also, import prices for July increased 0.1% on top of a 0.6% increase in June. Lastly, export prices for July were up 0.2% after increasing 0.8% in June, led by higher nonagricultural prices.

Rebounding off yesterday's weakness, the broader market finished higher, albeit off HoDs as a last-minute sell-off toward the close took stocks modestly lower. Leading the advance, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 117.86 points (+0.64%) to close 18613.52. The index's gains were helped along by a decent session in crude oil; September crude oil futures rose $1.74 (+4.2%) to $43.5/barrel. The S&P 500 was next, up 10.30 points (+0.47%) to 2185.79, and the Nasdaq Composite was higher by 23.81 points (+0.46%) to 5228.40. Top Dow components in the green today included NKE +2.9%, MRK +1.6%, CVX +1.3%, MMM +1.2% and AXP +1.1%.

Among the better performing sectors, Technology (XLK 47.19, +0.20 +0.43%) closed near highs on a start-to-finish positive affair. Component Yahoo! (YHOO 41.27, +1.34 +3.36%) was strong as its ties to Alibaba (BABA 91.77, +4.34 +4.96%), which reported a better than expected Q1 and took that stock higher about +5% today, aided the advance. Other sectors as measured by the S&P ended Thursday XLE +1.47%, XLY +1.00%, XLI +0.65%, XLV +0.58%, XLB +0.43%, XLU +0.24%, XLF +0.21%, XLP +0.00%, IYZ -0.51% with Energy leading the way higher and US Telecoms the lone laggard.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (782.63, +2.71 +0.35%) sector, trading capped off the day barely off highs as a last minute decline ended the day. Component NVIDIA (NVDA 59.70, +1.19 +2.03%) was strong ahead of its quarterly report, which is scheduled for tonight after the bell. Other names in the space which out-performed today included CTXS +1.83%, NTAP +1.77%, SYMC +1.75%, MSI +1.67%, WDC +1.67%, MU +1.62%, AMAT +1.55%, CRM +1.55%, SWKS +1.51%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

First Solar's (FSLR 39.01, +0.35 +0.91%) Indian subsidiary First Solar Power India Pvt. Ltd. announced the successful commercial operation of 80 MWAC and 50 MWAC capacity in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana respectively. These projects are part of the 260MWAC project portfolio wholly owned by First Solar in India. FSLR also announced it has booked 160 Megawatts (MW)DC of photovoltaic (PV) module sales in Turkey in the first half of 2016. The orders were placed by Basariarge Enerji A.S. and Zorlu Enerji.

FIS (FIS 80.50, +0.65 +0.81%) announced it intends to make an offering, subject to market and other considerations, of senior notes in one or more tranches with intermediate maturities. FIS intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay all or a portion of the approximate $2.2 billion principal amount outstanding on its revolving credit facility (together with accrued interest thereon), with any remaining proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes.

Microsoft (MSFT 58.30, +0.28 +0.48%) acquired Beam interactive livestreaming service. No financial terms were disclosed.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

American Science & Engineering (ASEI 36.74, -0.43 -1.16%) disclosed that OSI Systems (OSIS 61.17, -0.04 -0.07%) voluntarily withdrew Notification and Report Form with the DOJ and refiled the Form on August 9 following informal discussions with the agency.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, MaxPoint Interactive (MXPT 10.73, -0.03 -0.28%) also announced strategic alliance with Adobe (ADBE 101.67, +1.05 +1.04%) Audience Manager, the data management platform within Adobe Marketing Cloud.

Cypress Semi (CY 10.92, -0.40 -3.53%) named Hassane El-Khoury as CEO; also, Chairman Ray Bingham was appointed Executive Chairman.

Ituran Location and Control (ITRN 23.77, -0.60 -2.44%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.18 per share from $0.17 per share.

Spark Networks (LOV 1.62, -0.07 -4.14%) issued and sold an aggregate of 5 million shares of common stock at $1.55 per share to PEAK6 Investments, L.P.

In reaction to quarterly results:

CSRA (CSRA 26.50, +0.22 +0.84%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.51 on in-line revenues of $1.25 billion. CSRA also guided FY17 EPS and revenues in-line at $1.91-2.04 and $5.0-5.2 billion, respectively.

Himax Tech (HIMX 8.87, +0.74 +9.10%) reported Q2 EPS and revenues in-line with pre-announcement at $0.12 and $201.1 million, respectively. For Q3, the company sees in-line EPS and revenues of $0.10-0.12 and QoQ growth of about +5-10% to about $211.2-221.1 million.

Globant (GLOB 43.91, +1.58 +3.73%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.29 and $79.9 million, respectively. For Q3, the company guided EPS worse than expectations at $0.27-0.31 and revenues ahead of expectations at $80-82 million. For FY16, GLOB sees EPS in-line at $1.14-1.20 and revenues ahead of expectations at $318-322 million.

Materialise (MTLS 6.85, +0.01 +0.15%) reported an in-line Q2 loss per share of EUR0.01 on revenues which missed expectations at EUR27.6 million. For FY16, the company reaffirmed guidance for revenues of EUR115.0-120.0 million.

MaxPoint Interactive (MXPT) reported a worse than expected loss per share for Q2 of $0.87 on revenues of $23.2 million. The company also sees Q3 revenues in-line at $23.5-26.5 million. For FY16, MXPT expects revenues in-line at $93-97 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight: ACIA APDN AZPN ITRI LXFT NVDA SGI ANY UNXL UPLD VIAV

Analyst actions:

TU was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Desjardins;
LITE was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
EPIQ was downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Barrington Research,
LRCX was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura,
WDDYF was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies;
TRUE and RATE were initiated with Hold ratings at Loop Capital

[ReturntoSender]

Leavitt Brothers Weekly Update - Market Remains in Good Shape:

http://www.leavittbrothers.com/pdfs/lb%20weekly%2020160814.pdf

RtS

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:21 pm Marvell announces Jean Hu as new CFO effective August 22, 2016 (MRVL) : Ms. Hu joins Marvell from QLogic Corporation, where she was SVP and CFO. She also held the Acting CEO role at QLogic since August 2015.

4:05 pm Applied Materials beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 well above consensus (AMAT) :

Reports Q3 (Jul) earnings of $0.50 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.48; revenues rose 13.3% year/year to $2.82 bln vs the $2.84 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.61-0.69 vs. $0.48 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $3.2-3.36 bln vs. $2.86 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"With earnings and orders at an all-time high, Applied is performing better than ever and in a great position to sustainably outperform our markets," said Gary Dickerson, president and CEO. "We are in the early stages of large, multi-year industry inflections that are driving our business today and creating new opportunities for future growth."

4:15 pm : The stock market ended a range-bound day on a flat note as caution prevailed despite yesterday's dovish FOMC minutes from the July meeting. The S&P 500 (+0.2%) maintained a seven-point range, crossing into positive territory for the week (week-to-date:+0.1%).

Equity indices struggled for direction as investors continued to adjust rate hike expectations for the year. Yesterday's release of the FOMC minutes for July indicated that Fed officials were divided on whether or not an interest rate hike would be appropriate in coming months. Specifically, concerns about the sustainability of recent hiring trends and consistently weak inflation readings compelled some members to hold off on raising rates.

New York Fed President and FOMC voter William Dudley, however, maintained a somewhat hawkish tone. The Fed President stated that a rate hike remains in the cards at the September FOMC meeting. Mr. Dudley also indicated that two strong employment reports helped offset his prior concerns regarding U.S. labor markets. Participants shrugged off the commentary as it mirrored comments from earlier in the week. Investors will hear from San Francisco Fed President Williams (non-FOMC voter) and Dallas Fed President Kaplan (non-FOMC voter) at 16:00 ET and 20:00 ET, respectively.

The market inched higher in the early going, but reversed from its morning high after CNBC reported that influential hedge fund manager Paul Singer warned his investors that the bond market appears "broken" and that a loss of confidence in central bank policy could facilitate a broader market downturn. Mr. Singer's concerns come after other influential investors like George Soros and Carl Icahn have complained about market participants being in the dark due to low/negative interest rates in most sovereign bonds.

The S&P 500 (+0.2%) at its session high, testing resistance near the 2186/2188 price level. Seven sectors ended in the green with materials (+0.7%), utilities (+1.2%), and energy (+1.8%) leading the advance. Conversely, consumer discretionary (-0.1%) and telecom services (-0.8%) lagged the broader market.

The influential technology sector (+0.1%) finished roughly in-line with the market as strength in high-beta chipmakers outweighed a downturn in Dow component Cisco Systems (CSCO 30.48, -0.24). The stock ended lower by 0.8% as disappointing first-quarter revenue guidance masked a bottom-line beat.

In the consumer discretionary space (-0.1%), home improvement retailers underperformed, marking a weak sport in the broader retail sub-group. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 45.75, +0.41) finished higher by 0.9% as better-than-expected bottom-line results from L Brands (LB 77.87, +3.81) bolstered the group. The ETF also benefited from above-consensus bottom-line results from Dow component Wal-Mart (WMT 74.30, +1.37).

The commodity-sensitive energy space (+1.8%) buttressed the broader market as the energy component finished higher by 3.0% ($48.21/bbl; +$1.40). Dow components Exxon Mobil (XOM 88.91, +0.80) and Chevron (CVX 103.55, +1.33) ended with gains of 0.9% and 1.3%, respectively.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (+0.5%) settled ahead of the broader market as rail names outperformed. In the group, Union Pacific (UNP 95.83, +1.26) and Norfolk Southern (NSC 91.67, +1.85) ended higher by 1.3% and 2.1%, respectively.

Treasuries ended the day on a higher note as the short-end of the curve enjoyed a decent bid. The yield on the 2-yr note settled lower by two basis points (0.71%) while the yield on the benchmark 10-yr note slipped one basis point to 1.53%.

Today's participation was below the recent average as fewer than 737 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included weekly initial claims, the Philadelphia Fed Survey for August, and Leading Indicators for July:

Initial claims for the week ending August 13 slipped to 262,000 (Briefing.com consensus 265,000) from last week's unrevised level of 266,000.
The key takeaway from the report is that it will feed expectations for another month of strong nonfarm payrolls gains.
Continuing claims for the week ending August 6 jumped 15,000 to 2.175 million.
The Philadelphia Fed Index for August produced a positive surprise, checking in at 2.0 (Briefing.com consensus +0.6) after a negative 2.9 reading in July.
The report wasn't as positive as it appears at first blush considering higher prices, versus new order activity, drove the strength.
The Conference Board's Leading Economic Index for July increased 0.4%, as expected by the Briefing.com consensus estimate, on top of an unrevised 0.3% increase in June.
The increase was a broad-based affair. Only one index component -- average consumer expectations for business conditions -- made a negative contribution (-0.05 percentage points).

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

There is no economic data of note scheduled to be released tomorrow. DJ30 +23.76 NASDAQ +11.49 SP500 +4.80 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1980/1.485 bln/904 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2094/736.1 mln/882

3:30 pm :

The dollar index was down -0.6% around the 94.16 level, boosting commodities
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, +1.0% around the 86.74 level
Crude oil closed at fresh 5-week highs, gaining for the sixth consecutive session ahead of tomorrow's rig count data
September crude oil futures rose $1.40 (+3.0%) to $48.21/barrel
The next OPEC meeting will be in Algeria on Sept 26-28
Natural gas rallied for the fifth consecutive session, seeing gains after EIA data showed a smaller-than-exected build compared to Consensus
September natural gas closed $0.05 higher (+1.9%) at $2.67/MMBtu
Natural gas inventory showed a build of +22 bcf vs expectations for inventory to be a build of +27 bcf.
Working gas in storage was 3,339 Bcf as of Friday, Aug 12, 2016, according to EIA estimates.
Stocks were 327 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 405 Bcf above the five-year average of 2,934 Bcf.
At 3,339 Bcf, total working gas is above the five-year historical range.
In precious metals, gold & silver gained as the dollar index saw notable losses
December gold ended today's session up $8.70 (+0.7%) to $1357.10/oz
September silver closed today's session $0.10 higher (+0.5%) at $19.74/oz
Base metal copper erases yesterday's decline in afternoon pit trading
September copper closed $0.02 higher (+0.9%) at $2.17/lb

The major averages began the day on a choppy note as mixed economic readings from overseas resulted in split performances from global markets. Japan's Nikkei (-1.6%) underperformed after Japan's trade balance report for July disappointed. The report featured a 14.0% year-over-year decline in exports and a 24.7% year-over-year decline in imports. Conversely, a stronger-than-expected reading of July retail sales out of the U.K. contributed to an advance in European bourses and a bid in the pound.

The U.S. Dollar Index (94.32, -0.40, -0.43%) trades near a session low as investors continue to dial back rate hike expectations after yesterday's dovish interpretation of the FOMC minutes from the July meeting. The minutes indicated that Federal Reserve officials were split on whether or not an interest rate hike would be appropriate in coming months. The committee agreed that economic data and labor markets showed improvements, but the potential sustainability of hiring and consistently weak inflation readings worried some members.

New York Fed President and FOMC voter William Dudley was unable to spur forward rate hike expectations when he echoed somewhat hawkish remarks from earlier in the week. The Fed President stated that two strong months of employment data helped offset prior concerns regarding the labor market. Investors will hear from San Francisco Fed President Williams (non-FOMC voter) and Dallas Fed President Kaplan (non-FOMC voter) at 16:00 ET and 20:00 ET, respectively.

Additionally, market data that crossed the wires today included initial claims, which for the week ending August 13 slipped to 262,000 from last week's unrevised level of 266,000. Also, the Philadelphia Fed Index for August produced a positive surprise, checking in at 2.0 after a negative 2.9 reading in July. Lastly, the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index for July increased 0.4% on top of an unrevised 0.3% increase in June.

Stocks made it back to back sessions in the green, as the broader market was led higher today by the S&P 500 which added 4.80 points (+0.22%) to 2187.02. The Nasdaq Composite was not far behind, advancing 11.49 points (+0.22%) to 5240.15 on Thursday, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 23.76 points (+0.13%) to 18597.70.

Sellers kept the Technology (XLK 46.96, -0.01 -0.02%) sector lower for a third straight session, but just barely. Component NetApp (NTAP 33.88, +5.03 +17.44%) was among the best performers today in the sector following a better than expected Q1 report. Other sectors as measured by the S&P ended the day XLE +2.06, XLU +1.23%, XLB +0.64%, IYZ +0.53%, XLP +0.35%, XLI +0.31%, XLV +0.04%, XLY -0.06%, XLF -0.08% as Energy led all other sectors on the back of a strong session in crude oil; September crude oil futures rose $1.40 (+3.0%) to $48.21/barrel.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (781.79, +0.60 +0.08%) sector, managed to withstand the selling pressure today and ended modestly above flat lines. Component Cisco Systems (CSCO 30.48, -0.24 -0.78%) managed a tepid session following the Q4 results and Q1 guidance. Other names in the space which grabbed gains today included WDC +2.41% SWKS +2.29% FSLR +1.71% MU +1.61% XLNX +1.57% NVDA +1.55% EA +1.52% AMAT +1.43% QCOM +1.22% QRVO +1.17% SYMC +1.16% ADSK +1.13% MCHP +1.06% CTXS +1.03% HPE +1.02%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Cisco Systems (CSCO) disclosed a restructuring plan which would eliminate up to 5,500 positions, or about 7% of its global workforce.
In addition to reporting quarterly results, NetApp (NTAP) appointed former IBM (IBM 161.36, +0.92 +0.57%) VP, Jean English, as Chief Marketing Officer.

Accenture (ACN 112.35, -0.58 -0.51%) extended its contract with Dixons Carphone (DSITF 4.60, flat). Under the agreed multi-year agreement, ACN will extend its provision of application development and maintenance services to the business. It will also help grow the group's Connected World Services platform "honeyBee," an industry-leading guided sales and customer experience platform that Dixons Carphone has developed in collaboration with ACN.

Analog Devices (ADI 64.13, -0.07 -0.11%) acquired the Cyber Security Solutions business of Sypris Electronics. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
At the IDF Investor Day, Intel (INTC 34.97, -0.05 -0.14%) announced plans to accelerate autonomous driving vision. INTC and Baidu (BIDU 175.40, +2.67 +1.55%) are evaluating and developing new computing technologies.

Elsewhere in the tech sector:

SunEdison Semiconductor (SEMI 11.51, +3.23 +39.01%) to be acquired by GlobalWafers for $12.00 per share.

YY's (YY 50.74, +1.66 +3.38%) Chairman, Jun Lei, resigned effective immediately; David Xueling Li to succeed Lei as the Chairman and resign as CEO.

TerraForm Power (TERP 11.59, -0.06 -0.52%) disclosed that it and its advisors have been engaged in confidential discussions regarding potential revisions to the Consent Solicitation with a steering committee of Holders representing about 40% of the outstanding principal amount of the 2023 Notes and 25% of the outstanding principal amount of the 2025 Notes.

SolarCity (SCTY 23.42, -0.17 -0.72%) adopted and began implementing initiatives to realign operating expenses to match the reduced guidance for Megawatts Installed.
In addition to reporting quarterly results, Photronics (PLAB 9.03, -1.07 -10.59%) announced plans to invest in China through the IC photomask market. Through the next five years, the company will invest $160 million.

Unisys (UIS 10.48, +0.08 +0.77%) was awarded a contract by the USDA Rural Development agency with a ceiling value of about $232 million over the base period and seven option years.

Momo (MOMO 16.01, +0.43 +2.76%) received a letter from its Chairman and CEO stating that his buyer group would like to withdraw the non-binding going private proposal dated June 23.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Cisco Systems (CSCO) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.63 on in-line revenues which fell 1.6% compared to a year ago to $12.64 billion. The company also guided Q1 EPS in-line at $0.58-0.60 and revenues worse than expected at -1% to +1% (which equates to about $12.15-12.39 billion).

NetApp (NTAP) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.46 and $1.29 billion, respectively. For Q2, the company sees in-line EPS of $0.51-0.56 and in-line revenues of $1.265-1.415 billion.

Netease.com (NTES 207.62, -5.71 -2.68%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $3.10 and $1.35 billion, respectively.

Agilent (A 46.72, -1.71 -3.53%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS of $0.49 on in-line revenues of $1.04 billion. For Q4, the company sees EPS and revenues worse than expectations at $0.50-0.52 and $1.05-1.07 billion, respectively.

Canadian Solar (CSIQ 14.35, +2.14 +17.53%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.68 and $805.9 million. For Q3, CSIQ expects revenues of $660-710 million, and the company reaffirmed FY16 revenue guidance of $3.0-3.2 billion.

Photronics (PLAB) reported worse than expected Q3 EPS of $0.12 on revenues which fell 6.5% compared to a year ago to $123.2 million. For Q4, PLAB sees in-line EPS and revenues of $0.09-0.17 and $118-128 million, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/ tomorrow morning: AMAT, MENT/CMCM
Analyst actions:

NTAP was upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna and to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan,
SEMI was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup,
CHU was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Bernstein;
TWTR was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Evercore ISI,
GOGO was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Standpoint Research;
DGLY was initiated with a Buy at Maxim Group,
IDTI was initiated with an Overweight at JP Morgan

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - Market Still In Its Uptrend - Weekend Update:

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

- SOX surges to a higher high again paving the way but will the others
follow?
- Market still in its uptrend but bearish banks, billionaires, brokerages,
and Bloomberg say it cannot last.
- Momentum has slowed, the market has run far, but leadership has not given
in.
- There are reasons for caution, but there are still stocks that look very
good.

Most of the stock market managed to hang on Friday. All but SOX. It shot
to a new high. The other indices struggled in a back and forth week, in a
move that was less than inspired, especially for expiration. The market
definitely has some leadership groups and Friday, notably semiconductors,
and Friday saw that group put in some inspired moves. That helped lead SOX
to gains but not a lot else.

SP500 -3.15, -0.14%
NASDAQ -1.77, -0.03%
DJ30 -45.13, -0.24%
SP400 0.08%
RUTX -0.01%
SOX 0.87%

VOLUME: NYSE 12%, NASDAQ 2%. Expiration so volume is naturally a bit
elevated. Not very much, however.

A/D: NYSE -1.5:1, NASDAQ -1.1:1. Nothing outrageous here.

Again, the market has leadership, but it also has headwinds including the
time of year and the number of big names turning bearish.

Time of year. It is typically tough for the market to make headway in late
summer. That techs (e.g. chips, software) have led the market is unusual in
itself. This rally could be viewed as being on borrowed time just for that
reason. I hate fearing highs just for being high. New highs are not bad
things in and of themselves, but you do have to factor in time of year and
how that plays with momentum. The indices are maintaining their uptrends
but the move has lost momentum even as some groups, again chips for example,
hit higher highs.

Big Bears. I have chronicled the bearish turns of big brokerages and big
billionaires. GS, BAC, Faber, Tepper, Soros, Icahn, and more. This weekend
Citigroup talks of the "seven signs of a deeply dysfunctional market" and
warns of "surprising, sudden, intense" selloffs. Morgan Stanley tells its
clients "this is the most dangerous time as hope and greed overtake fear and
loathing."

Bloomberg is also bearish with a weekend story noting that markets appear to
be "extravagantly confident" that brokers are too bearish on their profit
forecasts. Moreover, Bloomberg notes history, something we are fond of: S&P
earnings are down four straight quarters and that equity bear markets follow
such protracted declines. Typically the market LEADS the actual news. This
time, however, the central bank activity is extraordinary and it has kept
markets propped up even as fundamentals such as earnings deteriorate.

Wow, hard to be happy about that. I have to say the apprehension is shared,
but you know we have been worried for some time that the lack of
fundamentals would ultimately catch up with the market. It could be
happening now as the momentum wanes on this run to lower volume and lower
MACD new highs, but just why is this time different? Does all the big
brokerages and billionaires turning negative mean the top is in or are they
just a sign that this hated rally is still hated and thus still has that
inverse sentiment driver?

Perhaps the market again vexes the doubters, proving them wrong at least
near term with more new highs and solid gains. Perhaps, but you have to
respect the slow volume, lower MACD, and overall slowing move. Bullish
sentiment is knocking at the 60 level that has preceded all of the selloffs
in this long market uptrend. We have seen this before at highs. You can
argue that the move is just consolidating but then the consolidation pulls a
Wylie Coyote out over the mountain's edge and suddenly plunges.

Contrast that, again, with the leadership. It is not just chips.
Industrial equipment, retail, biotechs/drugs, groups in software all are
rallying. Financial stocks are markedly improved. Oil stocks are
admittedly precarious as they ride oil's move, but they are moving well
right now. There are groups that are concerning, e.g. the NASDAQ big names,
but as of right now there are not collapses.

Of course, most do hang on until they start rolling over. With all of the
indications of slowing momentum, when a few of the big names started to show
some signs of slowing and struggling with near support we started closing
some positions and taking a lot more gain off the table. That is simply
prudent.

Okay, maybe a bit of some fear of flying, but if nothing else it makes us
leaner in terms of positions and the brokerage accounts fatter with some
very, very nice profits taken the past few weeks. Thus no emotional baggage
if the market starts to slide from a from a month of higher highs but also a
month that was very flat in terms of the SP500, SP400.

NASDAQ? Okay, it was flat for the two weeks, overall still very strong.
And SOX? Goodness it is putting on a show. Of course for the bears, too
much of a show, suggesting it is getting overdone as well. Oh well, good
moves always upset half of the traders and investors out there, right?

We still see many upside plays from several sectors in solid position to
move higher and add more to the upside. Semiconductors and electronics,
internet, biotech, retail, metals -- several possibilities if the market
wants to continue higher. We are adding a few downside plays, however, to
start getting ready in the event the slowing market momentum turns into
downside momentum. Not a lot of stocks are in downtrends right now so many
of the downside plays are more short term with targets more along the line
of near term pullbacks. You keep watching the leaders while you play these,
if they show the moves, and if the leaders start breaking their patterns,
then you move toward them as well as those drops can be quite precipitous
when the momentum leaves.


THE MARKET

CHARTS

SOX: Gapped to a higher post-2000 high Monday, tested midweek, then rallied
to a higher high Friday. The only index to do so Friday as SOX shows it is
the true leader in the market. SOX typically sets the trend for the other
indices and there is nothing weak about how it is working right now. The
bears of course might think the semiconductors are in a greed/blow off
phase. No doubt some of the important names have surged and are extended,
e.g. AVGO, NVDA, perhaps AMD, but there are many still in great patterns,
still making good moves but just coming out of a solid consolidation.

NASDAQ: New high Monday, reversed to the 10 day EMA by Wednesday, closing
out the week working laterally just over that near support. Volume wobbly
on the new high but it was excellent on the rally into early August. MACD
has flattened but not rolled over from a higher high on the price highs.
Overall NASDAQ remains solid but it will need some help from the big names
to advance. The chips, software, and others are helping, but NASDAQ could
use GOOG et al to really make a new significant run after this pretty heady
late June to August 650ish point run to all-time highs.

RUTX: New recovery high Monday then reversed and struggled Thursday and
Friday to try and recover it. Did not succeed, MACD has flattened out, and
we know NYSE volume is weak. RUTX remains in its uptrend but each move
higher the past 4 weeks has been quickly sold. It doggedly fights back but
the nominal higher highs are just that, nominal. Momentum is lower near
term, but RUTX is still trending upside, one of the market leaders.

SP500, DJ30, SP400: All present similar patterns, moving to a higher high
in July but then basically working laterally since. Lower MACD on the SP500
and SP400 higher highs, while DJ30 shows lower MACD on the second high this
past week that matches the mid-July high. Potential double top there.


LEADERHIP

Semiconductors: Big moves on the week and to end the week from AMAT
(earnings), AMD, MU, MRVL. AVGO is balking a bit at the upper channel line,
NVDA is testing the 10 day EMA after hitting a new high; both are very
strong leaders but possibly extended thanks to their strength. Stocks such
as PXLW, VECO still look ready to make stronger upside moves.

Big Names: FB spent the week testing the 20 day EMA, still working on a
very decent consolidation of the late July higher high. AAPL tested its
move by holding the 10 day EMA all week and starting upside Friday; nice.
AMZN is fading through the 20 day EMA. NFLX still looks good to move higher
off its 10 day EMA test. GOOG is not overtly bad, but it is struggling a
bit after a good move. If it sets up with a bit more pullback toward
770-768ish we can look at a new upside play.

Biotechs/Drugs: Some good moves testing, e.g. EXAS, AGEN. Some others in
consolidations and looking good, e.g. KITE, BLUE. BIIB is starting to move
and if it continues we can move in. CELG looks good to move higher as well.

Retail: Still quite solid. TGT imploded on its earnings and forecast, but
it has personal problems. KSS, JWN, M all look very good. Discounters such
as WMT (even after its good earnings) and DG don't look all that healthy.
ROST is surging and COST is working still very well. Hard to call the
market dead with retailers performing in good patterns.

China: Some great moves and patterns. SINA is consolidating a strong move.
SOHU, CTRP setting up. XXIA sporting a nice test. BIDU shows a good run to
the 200 day SMA. YNDX testing its breakout.

Rails: After a Thursday surge they took Friday off, but they look very
good, e.g. UNP, KSU, CSX.

Metals: CENX could present a new aluminum opportunity. FCX, SCHN are still
consolidating nicely. AKS is bombing. SID is at the 50 day EMA;
questionable. STLD breaking lower after giving up the 50 day EMA and a
test. Precious metals are iffy, e.g. HMY, GG.

Software: RHT is still struggling a the 50 day EMA/200 day SMA. PANW still
looks too run. SPLK is still rallying. CYBR is attempting to recover from
a selloff 2 weeks back. VMW nice after a 3 week test. FFIV in a nice 20
day EMA test.

Oil: Select groups are working, e.g. services (HAL, SLB), certain
independents (APC, APA, CWEI). Big names not so great, e.g. CVX, XOM.

Financial: MS and GS holding moves higher. JPM, BAC, C consolidating good
upside breaks. TCBI could be interesting.


MARKET STATISTICS

NASDAQ
Stats: -1.77 points (-0.03%) to close at 5238.38
Volume: 1.61B (+2.04%)

Up Volume: 906.65M (-64.24M)
Down Volume: 621.48M (-41.39M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.1 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.17 to 1

New Highs: 125 (+7)
New Lows: 21 (-9)

S&P
Stats: -3.15 points (-0.14%) to close at 2183.87
NYSE Volume: 844.4M (+11.65%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.46 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.4 to 1

New Highs: 101 (-44)
New Lows: 11 (0)

DJ30
Stats: -45.13 points (-0.24%) to close at 18552.57


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 11.34; -0.09
VXN: 13.42; -0.73
VXO: 10.32; -0.07

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.84; -0.02

26 of 30 below 1.0, 18 of last 47 over 1.0.
One 1.0+ read Tuesday, then the put action has died right back down.


Bulls and Bears: Once gain the Bulls continue higher, the bears lower.
Getting very close to those complacent levels where the market tops. Still
has some room up to 60ish for bulls, but not much room to play. Thus have
to watch other areas, particularly the leaders to see if the market is
rolling.

Bulls: 56.2 versus 54.3

Bears: 20.0 versus 20.9

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: 56.2 versus 54.3
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 versus 40.2% versus 44.3% versus 47.4% versus 41.2%
versus 45.4% versus 43.3% versus 47.4% versus 44.4% versus 39.4% versus
36.4% versus 34.7% versus 26.5%

Bears: 20.0% versus 20.9%
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%
versus 34.3% versus 35.7% versus 39.8% versus 39.2% versus 38.1% versus
35.4% versus 36.1%


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 1.58% versus 1.53%. Gapped lower to a tight doji Friday
holding the 50 day SMA. Despite the back and forth, TLT is working on a nice
2 month pennant consolidating the June to July run.

Historical: 1.53% versus 1.55% versus 1.57% versus 1.558% versus 1.51%
versus 1.56% versus 1.51% versus 1.54% versus 1.59% versus 1.585% versus
1.503% versus 1.54% versus 1.558% versus 1.51% versus 1.46% versus 1.50%
versus 1.51% versus 1.56% versus 1.57% versus 1.56% versus 1.558% versus
1.58% versus 1.56% versus 1.59% versus 1.58% versus 1.53% versus 1.47%
versus 1.51% versus 1.434% versus 1.36% versus 1.39% versus 1.373% versus
1.367% versus 1.44% versus 1.475% versus 1.51% versus 1.468% versus 1.46%
versus 1.57% versus 1.74% versus 1.68%

EUR/USD: 1.13251 versus 1.1342. Solid move higher on the week, resting just
a bit at the weekend.

Historical: 1.1342 versus 1.13036 versus 1.12773 versus 1.11824 versus
1.11636 versus 1.11372 versus 1.11803 versus 1.1115 versus 1.1080 versus
1.10882 versus 1.1130 versus 1.1148 versus 1.1219 versus 1.1164 versus
1.1173 versus 1.10806 versus 1.10732 versus 109857 versus 1.0992 versus
1.0977 versus 1.1021 versus 1.1022 versus 1.1021 versus 1.10654 versus
1.1035 versus 1.1117 versus 1.1099


USD/JPY: 100.21 versus 100.248. Sold on the week, tried to firm at the
early July low. Did firm, but all it did was stop selling versus start
bouncing.

Historical: 99.843 versus 100.529 versus 100.953 versus 101.308 versus
101.864 versus 101.23 versus 101.857 versus 102.356 versus 101.832 versus
101.178 versus 101.256 versus 101.09 versus 102.599 versus 102.045 versus
104.679 versus 105.98 versus 104.731 versus 105.76 versus 106.05 versus
106.11 versus 107.16 versus 106.139 versus 105.95 versus 104.85 versus
105.31 versus 104.74 versus 102.686 versus 100.59 versus 100.768 versus
101.15 versus 100.89 versus 102.497 versus 103.128 versus 102.912 versus
102.60


Oil: 49.11, +0.22. 49.11, +0.22. Rallied to the May and June penultimate
highs, posting strong moves as the dollar weakened. Friday a softer
session. Three strong weeks upside, a bit overdone near term perhaps as it
comes close to resistance at 50.

Gold: 1346.20, -11.00. Back and forth the past 10 sessions in a narrow
range over the 20 day EMA. Still a bullish setup, but getting to the point
where it will need to make its next move.


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 5238.38

Resistance:
5271.36 is the August 2016 intraday all-time high

Support:
5231.94 is the 2015 all-time high
The 10 day EMA is 5222
5162 is the early November peak, 5176 is the December intraday peak
5100 from the April peak and early May peak
The 50 day EMA at 5068
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
The 200 day SMA at 4863
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
4517-4506 from the September 2015 and August 2015 closing lows
4485 are the twin July 2014 peaks


S&P 500: Closed at 2183.87

Resistance:
2194 is the August 2016 all-time high

Support:
2175 is the June 2016 high
The 50 day EMA at 2145
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 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
The 200 day SMA at 2050
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 18,552.27

Resistance:
18,595 is the July 2016 peak

Support:
The 20 day EMA at 18,492
18,351 is the all-time high from May 2015
18,288 from March 2015
The 50 day EMA at 18,272
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
17,978 is the November 2015 peak
17,600 is the rough bottom of the April to June range.
The 200 day SMA at 17,512
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

August 23 - Tuesday
New Home Sales, July (10:00): 580K expected, 592K prior

August 24 - Wednesday
MBA Mortgage Index, 08/20 (7:00): -4.0% prior
FHFA Housing Price I, June (9:00): 0.2% prior
Existing Home Sales, July (10:00): 5.54M expected, 5.57M prior
Crude Inventories, 08/20 (10:30): -2.51M prior

August 25 - Thursday
Initial Claims, 08/20 (8:30): 265K expected, 262K prior
Continuing Claims, 08/13 (8:30): 2175K prior
Durable Orders, July (8:30): 3.5% expected, -4.0% prior
Durable Orders, Ex-T, July (8:30): 0.4% expected, -0.5% prior
Natural Gas Inventor, 08/20 (10:30): 22 bcf prior

August 26 - Friday
GDP - Second Estimate, Q2 (8:30): 1.1% expected, 1.2% prior
GDP Deflator - 2nd, Q2 (8:30): 2.2% expected, 2.2% prior
International Trade , July (8:30): -$63.3B prior
Michigan Sentiment - Final, August (10:00): 90.6 expected, 90.4 prior

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From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market endured a choppy start to the week, but the S&P 500 (-0.1%) finished its day little changed. Equity markets exhibited a slight degree of caution as participants ruminated over recent commentary from central bankers and looked ahead to the Kansas City Fed's Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Fed Chair Janet Yellen is slated to speak Friday at 10:00 ET.

Fed Vice Chair Fischer struck a somewhat hawkish tone over the weekend when he stated that the U.S. economy is close to hitting employment and inflation targets. The upbeat view on the U.S. economy had some participants question whether Mr. Fischer would advocate for at least one fed funds rate hike before the end of the year. The implied probability of a rate hike at the September meeting, as measured by the fed funds futures market, rose to 18.0% from 12.0% on Friday. The odds of a rate hike at the December meeting increased to 53.5% from 46.2%.

The prospect of a policy divergence trade was entertained overnight when Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda talked up the potential for the central bank to cut interest rates further into negative territory. However, that view appears to have been slightly discounted throughout the session. The dollar/yen pair ended higher by 0.1% (100.31) after jumping to the 100.90 level overnight.

The S&P 500 (-0.1%) maintained a narrow ten-point trading range after falling to its 20-day simple moving average (2176.51) at the start of the session. Other focal points impacting today's trade included a downturn in crude oil futures and sector leadership from the heavily-weighted health care (+0.1%) space. Six sectors ended in the red with commodity-sensitive energy (-0.9%) rounding out the leaderboard. Conversely, defensively-oriented consumer staples (+0.1%) health care (+0.1%), and utilities (+0.3%) outperformed.

Biotechnology demonstrated relative strength in the health care sector, evidenced by the 2.0% gain in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 296.01, +5.70). The group moved higher after Medivation (MDVN 80.42, +13.26) agreed to be acquired by Pfizer (PFE 34.84, -0.14) for $81.50 per share in cash. Separately, Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX 31.27, +2.53) spiked 8.8% after announcing that Paul Herendeen would assume the role of Chief Financial Officer. Conversely, Dow component Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 119.13, -0.79) ended lower by 0.7%.

The influential technology sector (-0.1%) finished in-line with the broader market as top-weighted Apple (AAPL 108.51, -0.81) weighed. The stock declined 0.8%, trimming its post-earnings rally to 12.3%. Fellow large cap Facebook (FB 124.15, +0.59) jumped 0.5% after receiving positive commentary in Barron's. Separately, Intersil (ISIL 18.74, +3.10) outperformed among chipmakers after reports indicated that Renesas Electronics interested in acquiring the company.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (-0.5%) ended behind the benchmark index as airlines underperformed. American Airlines (AAL 36.00, -0.49) weighed on the sub-group, declining 1.3%.

WTI crude finished the day lower by 3.4% ($47.42/bbl; -$1.65) amid concerns regarding the extent of the recent oil rally. The energy component was also under pressure after it was reported that Iraq is preparing to increase its oil exports by approximately 150,000 barrels per day.

Relative strength among long-dated Treasuries led to some flattening in the yield curve. The yield on the 30-yr bond slipped five basis points (2.24%) while the yield on the benchmark 10-yr note fell four basis points (1.54%).

Today's participation was below the recent average as fewer than 685 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

There was no economic data of note released today.

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the New Home Sales Report for July (Briefing.com consensus 580k), which will be released at 10:00 ET.DJ30 -23.15 NASDAQ +6.22 SP500 -1.23 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1553/1.445 bln/1338 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1488/684.2 mln/1461

3:30 pm :

Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, were -0.7% around the 85.67 level
Crude oil snapped its 7-day streak, closed near session lows ahead of tomorrow's API data
October crude oil futures fell $1.65 (-3.4%) to $47.42/barrel
The next OPEC meeting is in Algeria from Sept 26-28
API data will be released tomorrow at 4:30 am ET
EIA petroleum data will be released Wed at 10:30 am ET
Contributing factors weighing on crude include:
Reports that Iraq is increasing oil exports by around 150K barrels per day (+5%) as a pipeline dispute is being resolved
Increased exports out of China
Cautious analyst comments out of Barclays downplaying the 25% rally during the first several weeks of Aug
Short-covering, which was a factor behind the gains earlier this month, may be getting exhausted following the 20%+ increase
Friday's rig count data which showed that the total U.S. rig count was up 10 to 491 rigs following last week's increase of 17 rigs
200-300K barrels of oil are expected to come back online in Libya near-term
"Shoulder season" has begun as refineries undergo seasonal maintenance between Aug & Oct, demand is expected to drop
Natural gas erased all of the previous session's losses, closed at fresh session highs
September natural gas closed $0.10 higher (+3.9%) at $2.68/MMBtu
EIA natural gas data will be released Thursday at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold & silver extended Friday's losses, silver doubled last session's decline
December gold ended today's session down $2.80 (-0.2%) to $1343.40/oz
September silver closed today's session $0.47 lower (-2.4%) at $18.85/oz
Base metal copper slid notably lower in afternoon pit trading
September copper closed $0.03 lower (-1.4%) at $2.14/lb

Equity indices began the day on a lower note as investors responded to recent remarks from central bank officials. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda struck an accommodative tone overnight, indicating that the central bank has room to take rates further into negative territory. Recall that the central bank underwhelmed with its policy statement on July 29. The BoJ expanded its ETF purchase program and increased its dollar lending program, but steered away from more aggressive easing measures.

On the home front, Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer stated over the weekend that the U.S. economy is close to hitting its employment and inflation targets. Investors inferred that Mr. Fischer's upbeat read on the U.S. economy indicated that the Vice Chair favors hiking the fed funds rate at least one more time before the end of the year. Investors will hear from Fed Chair Janet Yellen later in the week. Ms. Yellen will speak at the Kansas City Fed's Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole on Friday at 10:00 ET.

As the week began, trading held onto a modestly split (and relatively tepid volume) session. Leading the higher move, the Nasdaq Composite added 6.23 points (+0.12%) to 5244.60. Helping outperform, Nasdaq 100 components INCY +7.7%, BMRN +6.7%, REGN +3.6%, ALXN +3.3% and VRTX +3.0% all finished in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average under-performed, shedding 23.15 points (-0.12%) today to end 18529.42, and the S&P 500 closed lower by 1.23 points (-0.06%) to 2182.64. The energy complex was weaker as October crude oil futures fell $1.65 (-3.4%) to $47.42/barrel

Among the sectors in the red today, Technology (XLK 47.02, -0.02 -0.04%) was down but only just so. On a light day on the wires, there was no news that stood out among sector components that drove a stock particularly one way or the other. Other sectors as measured by the S&P ended XLU +0.26%, XLV +0.20%, XLP +0.15%, XLF +0.00%, IYZ -0.03%, XLI -0.08%, XLY -0.10%, XLB -0.14%, XLE -1.15% with Energy lagging and Utilities starting the week off in the green.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (782.89, -0.47 -0.06%) sector, Monday was mostly lower except for a brief few minutes toward to first half of the day. Select components in the space which under-performed included AMAT -1.65%, STX -1.42%, YHOO -1.16%, WDC -0.99%, AAPL -0.78%, ADSK -0.71%, FLIR -0.63%, KLAC -0.61%, ADI -0.47%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Fiserv (FISV 102.84, +0.30 +0.29%) announced that Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC (MBSL) has selected the Signature core account processing platform and Teller front-end teller system from Fiserv.

Microsoft (MSFT 57.67, +0.05 +0.09%) acquired AI-scheduling service Genee. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Apple's (AAPL 108.51, -0.85 -0.78%) 2017 premium iPhone model will feature a curved display.

According to Fast Company, Apple (AAPL) is planning to purchase startup Gliimpse.

A Globes report was out over the weekend suggesting Cisco Systems (CSCO 30.63, +0.11 +0.36%) is mulling the exit of an Israeli fiber-optic venture.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Intersil (ISIL 18.74, +3.10 +19.82%) is said to be in talks to be acquired by Japan's Renesas (RNECF 5.75, flat) for about $3 billion.

Rovi (ROVI 20.98, +1.32 +6.71%) signed a 10-year patent renewal license agreement with DISH Network (DISH 49.89, -0.51 -1.01%).

Nam Tai Property (NTP 7.50, +0.03 +0.40%) announced a $50 million stock repurchase program for the period of four weeks starting from September 3, 2016.

Sky-mobi Limited (MOBI 2.03, +0.13 +6.84%) has entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger with Amber Shining Investment Limited, an exempted company with limited liability incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands and Power Rich Limited, an exempted company with limited liability incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Parent. If completed, the Merger will result in the company becoming a privately-held company and its ADSs will no longer be listed on the NASDAQ Global Market.

Giga-tronics (GIGA 1.05, flat) appointed W. Joseph Thompson as Chairman and Acting CEO.

TerraForm Power Operating, LLC (TERP 11.26, -0.15 -1.31%) launched the amended and restated consent solicitation related to senior notes.

Dynasil Corporation of America (DYSL 1.08, -0.01 -0.92%) announced that its contract research subsidiary, RMD Inc., has received grants totaling $1.86 million under the U.S. Department of Energy's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs.

Echo Global Logistics (ECHO 25.59, -0.09 -0.35%) entered into an Amended and Restated Employment Agreement with each of Douglas Waggoner, the company's Chief Executive Officer, David Menzel, the company's President and Chief Operating Officer, and Kyle Sauers, the company's Chief Financial Officer. The Agreements are effective as of August 19, 2016 and may be terminated at any time, with or without "cause." The Agreements replace the prior employment agreements with the executives which, by their terms, were set to expire on December 31, 2016.

Analyst actions:

WDAY was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham,
MWW was downgraded to Mkt Underperform from Mkt Perform at Avondale

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From Briefing.com: 4:36 pm Advanced Micro intends to commence concurrent public offerings of ~$600 mln of its common stock and $450 mln aggregate principal amount of its convertible senior notes due 2026 (AMD) :

Additionally, AMD expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to approximately $90 mln of additional shares of common stock at the public offering price and up to $67.5 mln principal amount of additional convertible senior notes.

AMD intends to use net proceeds of $1,020 mln received from the offerings to repay its borrowings under its credit facility and/or to purchase its outstanding senior notes.

After the completion of a tender offer for its outstanding senior notes, AMD has the option, but not the obligation, to call any and all of the untendered 7.75 % senior notes due 2020 with any remaining net proceeds. AMD will use any remaining net proceeds for capital expenditures, working capital and other general corporate purposes.

4:17 pm Microchip narrowed Q2 sales/EPS guidance (MCHP) :
Co narrows guidance for Q2 (Sep) EPS to $0.85-0.89, prior $0.83-0.91 vs. $0.86 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 (Sep) revs of +1-3% with a mid-point unchanged at 2%, prior guidance non-GAAP net sales to be flat to up 4% with a mid-point of up 2%. (~$852-869 vs. $859.86 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Due to Microchip's recent acquisition of Atmel and the related purchase accounting, Microchip is not able to provide GAAP guidance at this time.

"Our business through the first two months of the September 2017 quarter is tracking towards our August 8, 2016 guidance... The integration activities associated with our acquisitions of Atmel and Micrel continue to make significant progress. Micrel's 6-inch fab in San Jose is on schedule to close in October 2016. Each of Atmel's 8-bit microcontroller, 32-bit microcontroller, wireless and memory business units that have substantial overlap with Microchip's business units are now fully integrated and each one is running as one business unit under a Microchip Vice President, with common roadmaps and Microchip's pricing discipline..."We have also implemented a strong operating expense discipline at Atmel with non-GAAP operating expenses for the Atmel business in the September quarter expected to be about 30% of net sales, down from over 40% of net sales at the close of the acquisition."

4:09 pm Sigma Designs beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line (SIGM) :
Reports Q2 (Jul) earnings of $0.07 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.01; revenues rose 5.2% year/year to $61.32 mln vs the $61.19 mln Capital IQ Consensus and vs prior guidance of $60-63 mln.

"We had a strong second quarter with revenue up 14% sequentially led by robust demand and early adoption of our Connected SmartTV Platforms business. With gross margins approaching 50% and continued control of our operating expenses, we delivered a healthy net income for the quarter."

4:10 pm : The stock market began an abbreviated week on a higher note as a weaker-than-expected reading of the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index for August led investors to dial back rate hike expectations for the year. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%) finished the day slightly ahead of the S&P 500 (+0.3%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.3%).

The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index for August was a big disappointment, dropping to 51.4 (Briefing.com consensus 54.7) from 55.5 in July. The August reading was the lowest reading for this index since February 2010. The key takeaway from the report is that it appears as if both the manufacturing sector and the non-manufacturing sector experienced a noticeable slowing of activity in August.

The added takeaway is that the slowdown seen on both sides of the economy will likely leave the Fed reluctant to raise the fed funds rate at its September meeting. Recall that it was shown last week that the ISM Manufacturing Index dropped to 49.9 from 52.6 in July. A number below 50.0 denotes a general contraction in manufacturing activity. The U.S. Dollar Index (94.85,-0.99, -1.03%), fed funds futures, and the economically-sensitive financial sector (-0.1%) fell in response while Treasuries and defensively-oriented telecom services (+0.9%) and utilities (+1.1%) enjoyed a bid.

The benchmark index erased its opening loss by midday as heavily-weighted health care (+0.4%) and technology (+0.5%) demonstrated relative strength. The broader market settled near its best level of the day with seven sectors ending in the green. The defensively-oriented telecom services (+0.9%) and utilities (+1.1%) sectors followed energy (+1.5%) on the top of the board. Conversely, financials (-0.2%) and industrials (-0.3%) led the downside.

The commodity-sensitive energy space (+1.5%) demonstrated relative strength amid a string of M&A news and a rebound in dollar-denominated oil. EOG Resources (EOG 94.83, +5.92) rallied 6.7% after announcing a deal to merge with Yates Petroleum. The deal to merge is valued at approximately $2.5 billion. Spectra Energy (SE 41.00, +4.85) surged 13.4% after announcing a stock-for-stock merger with Enbridge (ENB 43.06, +2.07). For its part, WTI crude ended its pit session higher by 1.0% ($44.85/bbl; +$0.46).

In the technology sector (+0.5%), Facebook (FB 129.73, +3.22) outperformed, notching a fresh all-time high (129.94). Conversely, top-weighted Apple (AAPL 107.68, -0.05) ended lower by 0.1% ahead of tomorrow's special event. The company is expected to introduce the iPhone 7 at 13:00 ET. The PHLX Semiconductor Index (-0.2%) underperformed as iPhone suppliers weighed. Skyworks (SWKS 73.01, -1.61) and Qorvo (QRVO 56.02, -1.58) rounded out the price-weighted index.

The health care space (+0.4%) finished ahead of the broader market as biotechnology outperformed. In the group, Gilead Sciences (GILD 77.88, +0.99) jumped 1.3% after being upgraded to "Buy" from "Hold" at Jefferies. Separately, health care plan names underperformed with Cigna (CI 127.58, -0.60) losing 0.5% after reaffirming its full-year adjusted net income guidance.

The financial sector (-0.2%) underperformed amid diminishing rate hike expectations for the year and a downturn in Treasury yields. The fed funds futures market estimates the implied probability of a rate hike at the September meeting at 18.0%, falling from the prior session's estimate of 21.0%. Money center banks and life insurance names underperformed with Prudential (PRU 78.59, -0.90) and Wells Fargo (WFC 49.99, -0.56) declining 1.1% apiece.

Treasuries ended on a higher note with yields dropping through the curve. The yield on the 2-yr note ended lower by seven basis points (0.72%) while the yield on the 10-yr note settled lower by seven basis points (1.54%).

Today's participation was above the recent average as more than 835 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data was limited to ISM Services for August:

The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index for August was a big disappointment, dropping to 51.4 (Briefing.com consensus 54.7) from 55.5 in July.
This was the lowest reading for this index since February 2010.

For further details on this economic release, be sure to visit Briefing.com's Economic Calendar page.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the 7:00 ET release of the weekly MBA Mortgage Index. Separately, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for July and the Fed's Beige Book for September will cross the wires at 10:00 ET and 14:00 ET, respectively. DJ30 +46.16 NASDAQ +26.01 SP500 +6.50 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1578/1.628 bln/1357 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1755/835.1 mln/1223

3:30 pm :

The dollar index hit new session lows, -1.1% around the 94.85 level, boosting commodities overall
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, were up +0.5% around the 83.39 level
Crude oil reversed initial morning losses & closed at session highs after headlines citing Iran's President as being in support of measures to support an oil price recovery
October crude oil futures rose $0.46 (+1.0%) to $44.85/barrel
Contributing factors affecting the price of oil include:
The next OPEC meeting will take place in Algiers, Algeria from Sept 26-28
Iran's President came out with comments in support of measures to aid in an oil price recovery
Non-OPEC producer Russia & Saudi Arabia (the two largest producers in the world collectively responsible for ~20% of global oil production) agreed to form a coalition to track oil markets and recommend action to OPEC members, announced after the G-20 Summit
Saudi Arabian oil minister has stated that he does not see the need for a production freeze at current price levels after the G-20 announcement
China released data on its strategic petroleum reserves, totalled 31.97 mln tons equal to 33-36 days of China's imports, China notes they have been stockpiling oil in anticipation of a future oil price recovery
The dollar index hits fresh lows of the session, notably -1.1% around the 94.82 level
Upcoming data:
EIA data will be released Thursday at 11:00 am ET, 30 min after natural gas inventory data
API data will be released tomorrow after the bell
Monthly IEA data will be released Sept 13
Natural gas consolidated near its morning lows, closed notably lower ahead of Thursday's inventory data
October natural gas closed $0.07 lower (-2.5%) at $2.72/MMBtu
EIA natural gas inventory data will be released at 10:30 am ET on Thursday, its normally scheduled time
In precious metals, gold & silver ended at highs of the day as the dollar index plummeted further in the afternoon
December gold ended today's session up $27.10 (+2.0%) to $1353.90/oz
December silver closed today's session $0.76 higher (+3.9%) at $20.13/oz
Base metal copper inched higher in afternoon pit trading
December copper closed $0.01 higher (+0.5%) at $2.09/lb

The stock market began the holiday-shortened week on amodestly higher note with the Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%) settling ahead of theS&P 500 (+0.3%). Equity indices stumbled at the start of the session,notching lows after the release of a disappointing ISM Services Index (51.4;Briefing.com consensus 54.7) for August. The report followed a weak ISMManufacturing Index (49.4; Briefing.com consensus 52.2), which was releasedlast week.

Rate hike expectations receded in the wake of the disappointingdata while stocks recovered their opening losses shortly thereafter. The energysector (+1.5%) led the market higher while technology (+0.5%) alsooutperformed.

Top-weighted sector components ended the day in mixedfashion with Alphabet (GOOGL 808.02, +11.15) and Facebook (FB 129.73, +3.22) posting gains while Apple(AAPL 107.68, -0.05) and Microsoft (MSFT 57.61, -0.06) lagged.

Apple slipped 0.1% ahead of tomorrow's product launch event,which is scheduled for 13:00 ET. The company is expected to unveil the next iterationof the iPhone tomorrow, but hype has been contained going into Wednesday.

On the earnings front, MarvellTechnology (MRVL 12.94, -0.07) fell 0.5% afterabove-consensus earnings were overshadowed by cautious guidance. Most otherchipmakers also struggled, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index lower by 0.2%.

Elsewhere in technology, 3D printing names like 3D Systems (DDD 15.75, +0.83), Stratasys (SSYS 22.76, +0.83), and Voxeljet (VJET 4.32, +0.19) rallied after General Electric (GE 31.05, -0.24) announced it willacquire Arcam AB and SLM Solutions Group for $1.40 billion.

Taking a glance at other sectors: XLF -0.2%, XLV +0.4%, XLY +0.2%,XLI -0.3%, XLE +1.5%, XLP +0.2%, XLB -0.2%, XLU +1.1%, IYZ +0.2%

Other news among sector components:

SemiLEDs (LEDS 7.35, +0.94) received patent approval
Arris (ARRS 28.22, -0.23) pressured by WSJ report about FCC pushing for more competition in TV set-top box market
Pandora (P 14.52, +0.09) expected to provide information on licensing deals tomorrow, according to Re Code

Elsewhere in the tech space:

GoDaddy (GDDY 33.23, +0.55) agreed to acquire ManageWP, terms not disclosed
Nokia (NOK 5.74, -0.02) to offer EUR3.50/share for remaining Alcatel-Lucent shares
NVIDIA (NVDA 63.12, +0.59) investor PRIMECAP lowered passive stake to 4.75%

In reaction to quarterly results:

Marvell (MRVL 12.94, -0.07) beat earnings expectations, but guided cautiously.

Analyst actions:

MOMO was upgraded to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley, FNSR was upgraded to Buy at Stifel, and INTC was upgraded to Buy at Evercore ISI; CRTO was downgraded to Neutral at Susquehanna.

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 16-Sep-16

The stock market endured a volatile week, but was able to settle above last Friday's levels. The Nasdaq Composite was a clear outperformer, climbing 2.3%, while the S&P 500 added 0.5% after testing its 100-day moving average (2122.5) on several occasions.

The rate hike conversation remained top of mind throughout the week, but fears of a September hike were stomped out by the weekend. A disappointing August Retail Sales report (-0.3%; Briefing.com consensus -0.1%) contributed to the change in expectations, but somewhat surprisingly, Treasuries still sold off. Weakness in the 10-yr note drove its yield to a brief test of 1.75% before ending the week at 1.69% (+1 bp). The retreat in Treasuries suggest the bond market may be sniffing out some inflation down the road.

Taking a glance at the fed funds futures market, the implied likelihood of a September hike declined to 15.0% from last week's 24.0% while the implied odds of a hike in December slipped to 55.5% from 58.4% last week.

The technology sector (+3.0%) was a clear outperformed during the week, largely thanks to an 11.4% surge in the shares of Apple (AAPL). The top-weighted stock rallied on reports of strong iPhone 7 sales, ending the week near levels not seen since the end of 2015.
Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 18085.45 18123.18 37.73 0.2 4.0
Nasdaq 5125.91 5244.57 118.66 2.3 4.7
S&P 500 2127.81 2139.11 11.30 0.5 4.7
Russell 2000 1219.21 1223.10 3.89 0.3 7.7

4:12 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks End Volatile Week on a Lower Note (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended a volatile week on a lower note as participants responded to a downturn in European banking names and a hotter-than-expected reading of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.5%) settled behind the S&P 500 (-0.4%) and the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%). For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.5% while the Nasdaq surged 2.3%.

European markets led to the downside as financials paced the retreat. Deutsche Bank (DB 13.37, -1.39) was under pressure after the U.S. Department of Justice proposed that the bank pay $14 billion in order to settle civil claims associated with the residential mortgage-backed securities crisis. Deutsche Bank has since announced that it is negotiating with the Justice Department to have the penalty reduced.

The future path of interest rate normalization was also in focus as investors assessed another round of inflation data for August. Total CPI increased 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) in August while core CPI, which excludes food and energy, jumped 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%). On a year-over-year basis, CPI has increased 1.1% while core CPI is up 2.3%. The report signaled that inflation is firming, which underpinned a similar observation in yesterday's in-line core PPI reading.

Fed funds futures ticked higher following the inflation data, however, rate hike expectations remain tempered for next week's policy meeting. The implied probability of an interest rate hike at the September meeting increased to 15.0% from 12.0% in the prior session. Meanwhile, the implied probability of an interest rate hike at the December meeting rose to 52.9% from yesterday's 47.4% likelihood. The U.S. Dollar Index (96.06, +0.77, +0.81%) and short term Treasury yields also gained on the news.

The S&P 500 (-0.4%) remained pressured throughout the session as participants continued to assess a resurgence in volatility ahead of central bank policy meetings next week. Other factors impacting today's trade included a downturn in crude oil futures and another mixed performance from the Treasury complex. The energy (-0.9%) and financial (-0.9%) sectors ended with the largest losses while health care (+0.1%) and utilities (+0.9%) finished with the only gains.

In the financial sector (-0.9%), money center banks underperformed as Citigroup (C 46.41, -0.67) and Wells Fargo (WFC 45.43, -0.72) declined 1.4% and 1.6%, respectively. Wells Fargo was under pressure after being downgraded to "Underweight" from "Neutral" at Atlantic Equities. The stock declined 6.8% this week amid concerns regarding its sales practices. The broader space fell 1.3% this week, leading only energy (-0.9%; week-to-date: -2.9%) over that time.

The commodity-sensitive energy sector (-0.9%) was under pressure as crude oil extended its recent losing streak. The energy component ended the day lower by 1.9% ($43.04/bbl; -$0.81), extending its weekly loss to 6.2%. In the sector, Dow components Exxon Mobil (XOM 84.03, -1.05) and Chevron (CVX 97.84, -1.66) each finished behind the price-weighted index. The broader sector has declined 1.7% so far in September.

The technology sector (-0.3%) finished ahead of the broader market as the group pulled back from a larger weekly gain. Apple (AAPL 114.92, -0.65) finished lower by 0.6%, narrowing its weekly gain to 11.4%. Meanwhile, Oracle (ORCL 38.92, -1.94) fell 4.8% after missing bottom-line estimates for the quarter and issuing disappointing second-quarter guidance.

In the health care space (+0.1%), health care plan providers outperformed as Anthem (ANTM 125.52, +1.18) and CIGNA (CI 131.99, +3.35) gained 1.0% and 2.6%, respectively. The names outperformed following reports that the Department of Justice has dropped a claim in the lawsuit to block their potential merger. Separately, Abbott Labs (ABT 41.87, +0.75) gained 1.8% after Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 118.25, -0.38) agreed to acquire Abbott's Medical Optics division for $4.325 billion in cash.

Treasuries ended on a mixed note with the short end of the curve demonstrating relative weakness. The yield on the 2-yr note rose four basis points to 0.77% while the yield on the 10-yr note finished flat at 1.69%. The spread between the 2-yr and 10-yr note expanded to 92 basis points from 89 basis points last Friday.

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

Today's economic data included CPI for August and the Michigan Sentiment Index for September:

Total CPI increased 0.2% in August (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) while core CPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%).
On a year-over-year basis, CPI is up 1.1% (vs. +0.8% in July), while core CPI is up 2.3% (vs. +2.2% in July).
Consumer inflation is firming (as is producer price inflation) and there is some data-based rationalization in the core CPI rate for the Fed to raise the fed funds rate.
However, the Fed keys in on the PCE Price Index as its primary inflation gauge and that index -- both total and core -- still shows consumer inflation below the Fed's 2 percent objective.
The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey for September was unchanged from the final August reading, holding at 89.8.

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

Monday's economic data will be limited to the NAHB Housing Market Index (Briefing.com consensus 59), which will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Russell 2000: +7.8% YTD
S&P 500: +4.7% YTD
Nasdaq: +4.7% YTD
Dow Jones: +4.0% YTD

Week in Review: Nasdaq Leads Stocks Higher

The stock market endured a volatile week, but was able tosettle above last Friday's levels. The Nasdaq Composite was a clearoutperformer, climbing 2.3%, while the S&P 500 added 0.5% after testing its100-day moving average (2122.5) on several occasions.

The rate hike conversation remained top of mind throughoutthe week, but fears of a September hike were stomped out by the weekend. Adisappointing August Retail Sales report (-0.3%; Briefing.com consensus -0.1%)contributed to the change in expectations, but somewhat surprisingly,Treasuries still sold off. Weakness in the 10-yr note drove its yield to abrief test of 1.75% before ending the week at 1.69% (+1 bp). The retreat inTreasuries suggest the bond market may be sniffing out some inflation down theroad.

Taking a glance at the fed funds futures market, the impliedlikelihood of a September hike declined to 15.0% from last week's 24.0% whilethe implied odds of a hike in December slipped to 55.5% from 58.4% last week.

The technology sector (+3.0%) was a clear outperformedduring the week, largely thanks to an 11.4% surge in the shares of Apple (AAPL). The top-weighted stock ralliedon reports of strong iPhone 7 sales, ending the week near levels not seen sincethe end of 2015.


5:43 pm TerraForm Global reports prelim Q2 results with adj EBITDA $40-46 mln and revs $52-56 mln vs $57.17 mln Cap IQ consensus (GLBL) :
Net MW Owned increased by 26 MW in 2Q due to the acquisition of Alto Cielo (Uruguay solar) in April.

Production and Revenue below management expectations due primarily to curtailment in China, and some wind turbines offline in India and Brazil.

Total production up 20% from 1Q 2016 primarily due to normal seasonality.

Revenue / MWh down 11% from 1Q 2016 due to mix, as a larger percentage of total production was from lower priced wind PPAs in 2Q 2016.

CAFD negatively impacted by $13M in accumulation of restricted cash in South Africa and India due to SunEdison (SUNEQ) bankruptcy-triggered or related defaults.

5:40 pm TerraForm Power releases prelim Q2 results with adj $152-160 mln and adj revs $198-206 mln (TERP) :
Production and revenue somewhat below management expectations due to wind resource 7% below normal, primarily in the Northeast. Fleet operations slightly better than expected.

Revenue per MWh up 27% vs. 1Q due to mix, as a higher percentage of 2Q production was from solar, which has higher pricing

($68M) negative impact to CAFD as a result of accumulation of restricted cash due to SunEdison bankruptcy-triggered or related defaults; CAFD midpoint would have been $55M had there been no change in restricted cash due to SunEdison bankruptcy-triggered or related defaults.

5:21 pm SolarCity issues statement on Nevada Public Utilities Commission vote to grandfather existing solar customers (SCTY) :
Co confirms the Public Utilities Commission's unanimous vote to ratify the stipulation negotiated by SolarCity, the Bureau of Consumer Protection, NV Energy and Public Utilities Commission Staff to grandfather solar customers in Nevada, Jon Wellinghoff, former Consumer Advocate for the State of Nevada and current SolarCity Chief Policy Officer.

The ratified agreement will grandfather all Nevadans who applied to install rooftop solar before December 31, 2015 on the net metering program they signed up under, for a period of 20 years. These customers include thousands of Nevadans who applied to go solar but have not yet installed their systems, and now have the ability to install solar under the grandfathered net metering program. SolarCity intends to commit the resources necessary to complete those installations and help all of their existing customers power their homes and communities. This order does not reverse the higher fees and charges on Nevadans who wish to go solar in the future. SolarCity intends to work with the Public Utilities Commission, legislators, and stakeholders to find a long-term solution that gives all Nevadans the freedom to install rooftop solar without being punished with higher charges.

Equity indices began the day under pressure as investors responded to a downturn in European markets. Regional bourses tilted to the downside amid weakness in financial names. Deutsche Bank (DB) led the retreat after the U.S. Department of Justice proposed a $14 billion settlement for civil claims relating to the bank's role in the residential mortgage-backed securities crisis. Deutsche Bank has since confirmed that it is negotiating with the DoJ and is seeking to have the fine reduced.

The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August also contributed to early selling interest. CPI rose 0.2% in August while core CPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.3%. The inflation reading raised rate hike expectations for the coming months as participants mulled a firming inflation picture. CPI has increased 1.1% year-over-year while core CPI is up 2.3% year-over-year. The fed funds futures market shows that the implied probability of a rate hike at the September meeting has ticked up to 15.0% (from 12.0%) while the odds of a rate hike at the December meeting register at 52.9% (from 47.4%).

Also among market data readings, the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey for September was unchanged from the final August reading, holding at 89.8.

The markets closed out the week in the red. Losses were led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average which shed 88.68 points (-0.49%) to 18123.80. The S&P 500 was next, lower by 8.10 (-0.38%) to 2139.16, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 5.12 points (-0.10%) to 5244.57. This week's movements left the three major US indices +4.0%, +4.7% and +4.7%, respectively. Therefore, the lone bright spot this week was the Nasdaq, which added +2.3% in the past five trading days, as the other two indices hovered near flat lines. Top Nasdaq 100 components which aided today's advance included TSLA +2.5%, INCY +2.2%, NFLX +2.2%, BMRN +1.6% and REGN +1.5%.

As it were, all S&P sectors were lower today with Technology (XLK 47.21, -0.37 -0.78%) falling somewhere in the middle of the pack as losses went today and was near the middle of the daily trading range when the bell rang. Component Oracle (ORCL 38.92, -1.94 -4.75%) posted the worst session among sector constituents today following worse than expected Q1 EPS and in-line revenues. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed Friday XLE -1.55%, XLFS -1.51%, XLF -1.38%, XLI -1.38%, XLP -0.94%, XLB -0.91%, XLY -0.60%, XLRE -0.34%, XLV -0.32%, IYZ -0.25%, XLU -0.04%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (792.05, -2.61 -0.33%) sector, trading capped off the week with modest losses as the sector was down -0.8% at lows. Component Intel (INTC 37.67, +1.11 +3.04%) was among the better performers today, resisting the broader market selling, as the company raised guidance in the premarket session for revenues and gross margins in the Q3 period. Other names in the space which under-performed today included JNPR -2.35%, GPN -2.30%, FIS -2.04%, TSS -1.92%, CA -1.57%, FSLR -1.50%, CSCO -1.49%, CTSH -1.44%, QRVO -1.36%, TDC -1.33%, PAYX -1.32%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Oracle (ORCL) reported worse than expected Q1 EPS of $0.55 on in-line revenues which rose 1.9% compared to a year ago to $8.61 billion. SaaS and PaaS revenue were up 82% year-over-year and are expected to grow 75-80%. Software and Cloud were up 5% compared to a year ago, and are expected to grow 5-7%. ORCL guided on the conference call for Q2 in constant currency of $0.59-0.62 and revenue growth in constant currency of 0-3%.

Intel (INTC) raised its Q3 revenue and gross margin guidance, primarily driven by replenishment of PC supply chain inventory and an improving PC demand market. Specifically, INTC raised Q3 revenue guidance to $15.3-15.9 billion from $14.4-15.4 billion. Gross margin guidance also goes to 63%, up 1 point from the prior 62% guidance.

VeriSign's (VRSN 76.88, -0.33 -0.43%) Q2 domain name registrations were up 2.4% versus last quarter or by about 7.9 million.

PayPal's (PYPL 40.70, -0.13 -0.32%) Braintree detailed its partnership with China's UnionPay.

IBM (IBM 153.84, -1.82 -1.17%) and JFE Steel Co., Ltd., signed a five-year outsourcing agreement enabling the steel company to migrate core systems to the IBM Cloud while consolidating its IT infrastructure and streamlining its business operations. The company also signed a contract with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) to examine the design, management and execution of contracts among business partners using blockchain technologies. The two companies will begin by piloting blockchain to automate business transactions between the two companies.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Samsung (SSNLF 1250, flat) to recall about 1 million Galaxy Note7 smartphones. The company also said new Note7 replacement devices will be available in the United States at most retail locations no later than September 21.

Pandora Media (P 13.45, +0.14 +1.05%) and Warner Music Group announce direct licensing agreement.

Mad Catz (MCZ 0.24, +0.05 +28.03%) announced the sale of Saitek Simulation product line to Logitech (LOGI 21.78, -0.23 -1.04%) for $13 million in cash.

Travelport Worldwide (TVPT 14.02, -0.25 -1.75%) announced an underwritten public offering of 7,986,979 common shares by selling shareholders.

Benchmark Electronics (BHE 23.93, -0.66 -2.68%) appointed Paul Tufano as President and CEO to replace Gayla Delly, who resigned to pursue other interests. The company also reaffirmed certain Q3 guidance for revenues between $570-660 million; also, diluted non-GAAP EPS between $0.33-0.38 (ex-restructuring charges).

ComScore (SCOR 32.46, +2.38 +7.91%) determined that various prior financial statements should no longer be relied upon. Further, based on the results of the Audit Committee investigation to date and management's review, the company cannot support the prior accounting for the non-monetary transactions recorded by the company during the years ended December 31, 2013, 2014 and 2015. The company later stated it expects to be a current SEC filer by early 2017.

Mobileye N.V. (MBLY 42.94, -1.27 -2.87%) issued a statement responding to allegations made by Tesla (TSLA 205.40, +4.98 +2.48%). The company noted it believes allegations recently attributed to a spokesperson for Tesla regarding Mobileye's position in respect of Tesla internal computer visions efforts are incorrect and can be refuted by the facts.

Demand Media (DMD 5.91, +0.22 +3.87%) acquired The Other Art Fair. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Analyst actions:

MU was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Cleveland Research;
GWRE was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill;
GPRO was initiated with a Buy at BofA/Merrill,
BOX was initiated with a Neutral at Mitsubishi UFJ

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From Briefing.com: 4:40 pm Samsung announces that over 500k new Galaxy Note7 replacement devices have arrived in the U.S. and have been shipped to carrier and retail stores (SSNLF) : New Galaxy Note7 devices will be available for exchange at retail locations nationwide tomorrow.

4:24 pm FedEx beats by $0.12, beats on revs; raises FY17 EPS guidance (FDX) :

Reports Q1 (Aug) earnings of $2.90 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.78; revenues rose 19.5% year/year to $14.7 bln vs the $14.44 bln Capital IQ Consensus.Express revenue increased slightly as improved base yields, higher package volume and increased freight pounds more than offset lower fuel surcharges and unfavorable currency exchange rates.

U.S. domestic package volume increased 1% due to growth in overnight box and envelope volumes. FedEx International Economy volume grew 1%, while FedEx International Priority volume decreased 1%. Average daily freight pounds increased 8% due to higher U.S. Postal Service volume.

Freight revenue increased as less-than-truckload average daily shipment growth of 8% more than offset the impact of lower fuel surcharges and weight per shipment.

Ground revenue increased due to higher volume and revenue per package. FedEx Ground average daily volume grew 10% in the first quarter, driven by e--commerce and commercial package growth. FedEx Ground yield increased 2% due to higher base yields partially offset by lower fuel surcharges.

Co raises guidance for FY17, raises EPS to $11.85-12.35 from $11.75-12.25, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $11.88 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; guideance calls for EPS of $10.85-11.35 including TNT Express.The capital spending forecast for the fiscal year, which includes TNT Express, remains $5.6 bln

"The integration of TNT Express is proceeding smoothly, and the level of team members' engagement is outstanding," said Frederick W. Smith, FedEx Corp. chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Managing our operating companies as a portfolio of customer solutions helped FedEx achieve strong financial and operating results in the quarter, especially given the global economy's continued low growth."

4:24 pm Microsoft announces $40 bln share buyback; increases dividend 8% to $0.39 (MSFT) :

Co announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.39 per share, reflecting a 3 cent or 8 percent increase over the previous quarter's dividend. The board of directors also approved a new share repurchase program authorizing up to $40 billion in share repurchases. The new share repurchase program, which has no expiration date, may be terminated at any time. The company reaffirmed that it is on track to complete its current $40 billion stock repurchase program by December 31, 2016.

4:15 pm Adobe Systems beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs in-line; reaffirms digital media, marketing cloud targets (ADBE) :

Reports Q3 (Aug) earnings of $0.75 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.72; revenues rose 20.2% year/year to $1.46 bln vs the $1.45 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Digital Media segment revenue was a record $990 million, with Creative revenue growing 39 percent year-over-year to a record $803 million. Strong Creative Cloud and Document Cloud adoption drove Digital Media Annualized Recurring Revenue to $3.70 billion exiting the quarter, a quarter-over-quarter increase of $285 million, in-line with guidance. Adobe Marketing Cloud achieved record revenue of $404 million.Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.83-0.89, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.78 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q4 revs of $1.55-1.60 bln vs. $1.58 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Raises FY16 EPS to $2.94-3.00 from $2.80 vs. $2.87 consensus; raises rev to $5.80-5.85 bln from $5.8 bln.
Expect to add slightly more than $300 million of net new Digital Media ARR during Q4 to achieve full year target of ~$4 billion of Digital Media ARR exiting the year.
Expect to achieve Adobe Marketing Cloud year-over-year revenue growth of ~30% in Q4 to achieve Adobe Marketing Cloud annual growth target of ~20% for the year.Reaffirms FY16 marketing cloud rev +20% bookings +30%

4:15 pm : The stock market ended the Tuesday affair on a flat note as investors favored a cautious approach ahead of policy statements from the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%) settled in-line with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%) and slightly ahead of the S&P 500 (UNCH).

Equity indices advanced at the start of the session as investors mulled the potential rate hike implications of some weaker-than-expected housing data. Housing starts for August came in at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.142 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.186 million) while building permits fell to 1.139 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.160 million). The data follows yesterday's above-consensus reading of the NAHB Housing Market Index for September (65; Briefing.com consensus 59).

The fed funds futures market ticked higher following the negative data, however, the move was likely related to some last-minute positioning. The implied probability of a rate hike at the September meeting rose to 18.0% from 12.0% in the prior session. Participants have heavily discounted the potential for a rate hike at this meeting, hoping to hear clues about the path of interest rate normalization in the central bank's guidance. Looking down the road, the odds of a rate hike at the December meeting rose to 60.7% from 53.9% on Monday.

The U.S. Dollar Index (96.00, +0.16, +0.17%) also enjoyed a modest bid as participants eyed the potential for a policy divergence trade. The Bank of Japan is scheduled to release its latest policy decision and a comprehensive assessment of its monetary policy this evening. It remains unclear how the central bank will proceed, but reports indicated earlier in the week that the BoJ may favor expanding its negative interest rate policy. The central bank will release its policy decision around 23:00 ET.

The benchmark index settled near the bottom of today's trading range after failing to clear resistance near the 2150/2153 price level. Five sectors finished in the green with financials (+0.1%), consumer staples (+0.2%), and health care (+0.4%) leading the advance. On the flipside, defensively-oriented real estate (-0.2%), telecom services (-0.2%) and utilities (-0.2%) led energy (-0.8%) on the bottom of the board.

The health care sector (+0.4%) outperformed as drug manufacturers and biotechnology names displayed relative strength. Biotechnology rallied after Allergan (AGN 238.67, -6.62) agreed to acquire Tobira Therapeutics (TBRA 38.91, +34.17) for an upfront payment of $28.35 per share. This constitutes a 498.0% premium from Tobira's prior closing price. The agreement also contains Contingent Value Rights that could increase total considerations up to $49.84 per share.

In the financial sector (+0.1%), banking names outperformed as Wells Fargo (WFC 46.56, +0.55) jumped 1.2%. The stock rallied after being upgraded to "Overweight" from "Equal-Weight" at Morgan Stanley. However, Wells Fargo finished off its best level of the day (47.20) as participants weighed heated commentary from the Senate Banking Committee. Senator Elizabeth Warren called for a more stringent investigation into the bank's sales practices.

Crude oil finished the session modestly higher after shaking early weakness. The energy component erased an early loss after reports indicated that Russia may back a one-year agreement to stabilize oil prices. WTI crude settled higher by 0.4% ($44.08/bbl; +$0.18). On a side note, the American Petroleum Institute is scheduled to release its weekly inventory report this evening while the Department of Energy will release its more influential inventory report tomorrow morning at 10:30 ET.

Treasuries ended on a higher note with the long end of the curve outperforming. The yield on the 2-yr note fell one basis point (0.77%) while the yield on the 10-yr note declined three basis points (1.69%).

Today's participation was below the recent average as fewer than 741 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data was limited to Housing Starts and Building Permits for August:

Housing starts in August declined 5.8% from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.142 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.186 million).
Building permits fell 0.4% from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.139 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.160 million) due entirely to a 7.2% decline in permits for multi-unit dwellings.

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

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which will be released at 7:00 ET. Meanwhile, the FOMC will release its September policy statement and rate decision at 14:00 ET.

Russell 2000: +8.2% YTD
S&P 500: +4.7% YTD
Nasdaq: +4.7% YTD
Dow Jones +4.1% YTD

DJ30 +9.79 NASDAQ +6.33 SP500 +0.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1347/1.548 bln/1494 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1296/740.9 mln/1668

3:30 pm :

The dollar index was +0.2% around the 95.98 level ahead of tomorrow's FOMC meeting
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, +0.8% around the 84.29 level
Crude oil reversed initial morning losses to end near session highs ahead of tonight's API data
November crude oil futures rose $0.18 (+0.4%) to $44.08/barrel
Factors affecting the price of oil include:
Shipments originally expected to resume at the ports of Ras Lanuf & Sidra last week in Libya have now been delayed by ongoing conflict in the region.
Statements from Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro that OPEC & non-OPEC members are nearing a potential deal to restrict output.
However, comments from OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo over the weekend conflict with what was said by Maduro, as Barkindo suggested that no deal to freeze output will be reached at next week's meeting as the talks are informal and will not be a decision-making meeting.
Data reminders:
The next OPEC meeting will take place in Algiers, Algeria from Sept 26-28
API data will be released today after the bell
Weekly EIA data will be released tomorrow at 10:30 am ET
China will release oil trade data tomorrow
Rig count data will be released Friday at 1 pm ET
Natural gas futures closed at 1.5-year highs ahead of Thursday's inventory data
October natural gas closed $0.12 higher (+4.1%) at $3.05/MMBtu
EIA natural gas storage data will be released Thursday at 10:30 am ET
In precious metals, gold & silver ended nearly flat as the dollar index remained directionless ahead of tomorrow's FOMC meeting
December gold ended today's session up $0.30 (+0.1%) to $1318.00/oz
December silver closed today's session $0.01 lower (-0.1%) at $19.27/oz


The major averages began the day on a higher note as some weaker-than-expected housing data further diminished expectations for a rate hike at tomorrow's FOMC policy meeting. Housing starts for August came in at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.142 million in August while building permits fell to 1.139 million.

The broader market collapsed into the close ahead of tonight's Bank of Japan meeting and statements from the Federal Reserve. The bank stated in its July meeting that it was undertaking an in-depth review of its policy decision making. The BoJ is slated to release a comprehensive assessment of its monetary policy which could entail changes to overnight lending rates and/or its asset purchase program. Markets fell from a would-be strong session to only modest gains with the Nasdaq Composite narrowly edging higher by 6.33 points (+0.12%) to 5241.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also barely managed to stave off the selling pressure, ending up 9.79 points (+0.05%) to 18129.96, and the S&P 500 added less than a point (+0.03%) to 2139.76.

Again posting a modest decline yesterday, the Technology (XLK 47.09, -0.03 -0.06%) sector was higher into the close when a last minute sell-off took the heavily weighted sector from green to red. Component Broadcom (AVGO 168.23, -2.50 -1.46%) was weaker today despite a premarket initiation at Susquehanna with a Positive rating. Other sectors as measured by the S&P ended Tuesday IYZ -1.15%, XLE -0.80%, XLB -0.30%, XLU -0.22%, XLRE -0.19%, XLF +0.05%, XLY +0.08%, XLI +0.11%, XLFS +0.17%, XLP +0.27%, XLV +0.35%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (790.01, -0.14 -0.02%) sector, trading collapsed into the close as the broader market sold off. Component Autodesk (ADSK 68.79, +0.66 +0.97%) resisted the selling pressure in the broader market today following the authorization of a share repurchase program of up to 30 million shares of common stock. Other names in the space which slightly under-performed today included QRVO -2.80%, NTAP -1.85%, AVGO -1.46%, JNPR -1.32%, FSLR -1.22%, STX -1.17%, ADS -1.06%, XLNX -1.05%, CSRA -0.95%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Intel (INTC 37.14, -0.02 -0.05%) appointed Robert Swan as EVP and CFO effective October 10, 2016.

Autodesk (ADSK) authorized a share repurchase program of up to 30 million shares of common stock.

Hortonworks (HDP 8.04, +0.35 +4.55%) and IBM (IBM 154.45, -0.42 -0.27%) announced the planned availability of Hortonworks Data Platform for IBM Power Systems enabling POWER8 clients.
IBM also announced an extended Red Hat (RHT 75.78, -0.16 -0.21%) collaboration for next-generation cloud platforms and plans for new facility in Boston expected to open in mid-2017.

Epsilon, an Alliance Data (ADS 213.74, -2.30 -1.06%) company, signed a new multi-year agreement with Amica Mutual Insurance Company, a national writer of auto, home, marine and umbrella insurance.

Alphabet's (GOOG 771.41, +5.71 +0.75%) Google acquired speech recognition startup company Api.ai.

Analog Devices (ADI 62.34, -0.12 -0.19%) voluntarily withdraws, then resubmits filing under the HSR Act relating to its proposed acquisition of Linear (LLTC 58.48, -0.18 -0.31%) in order to provide the FTC with additional time to review the proposed deal.

Xilinx (XLNX 52.93, -0.56 -1.05%) was awarded a single phase $9,000,000 technology investment agreement for the Analog Mixed Signal (AMS) Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) System on Chip (SoC) program.

T-Mobile US (TMUS 44.50, -1.43 -3.11%) reiterated its current financial guidance and full year outlook and announced 'the strongest iPhone pre-order in Company history'.

Accenture (ACN 110.70, +0.20 +0.18%) was awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to support the National Service Desk (NSD) -- a key component of the Department's MyVA strategy for improving VA employee experience across the enterprise. The contract has a nine-month, $36.5 million base period with three, one-year options. The contract value is capped at $286 million.
ACN also created a prototype of a new capability that enables blockchain technology to be edited under extraordinary circumstances to resolve human errors, accommodate legal and regulatory requirements, and address mischief and other issues, while preserving key cryptographic features. The prototype represents a significant breakthrough for enterprise uses of blockchain technology particularly in banking, insurance and capital markets.

Computer Sciences' (CSC 49.31, -0.48 -0.96%) pending acquisition of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Services (HPE 22.62, -0.06 -0.26%) was cleared by the EU.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Broadridge Financial (BR 68.72, +0.13 +0.19%) acquired tech and assets of Inveshare for about $95 million plus a deferred payment of $40 million upon delivery of blockchain applications.

DTS (DTSI 42.24, +7.91 +23.04%) to be acquired by Tessera Technologies (TSRA 35.28, +1.80 +5.38%) for $42.50 per share in cash, or about $850 million.

Inteliquent (IQNT 15.34, -1.37 -8.20%) announced that Kurt Abkemeier has resigned as CFO to pursue another career opportunity, effective Sept 23.

Oclaro (OCLR 8.62, -0.48 -5.27%) announced a 13 million share underwritten public offering of common stock.

SunPower (SPWR 8.17, +0.34 +4.34%) acquired AUO's (AUO) stake in Malaysian JV for $170 million.

MGT Capital Investments (MGT 1.89, -0.63 -25.00%) announced that the New York Stock Exchange informed the company that it will not approve the listing on the Exchange of the 43.8 million shares that the company is required to issue in order to complete the closing of the D-Vassive merger.

Analyst actions:

TECD was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel, to Buy at CLSA, and to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill, AMD was upgraded to Mkt Perform from Underperform at Bernstein,
BLOX was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank,
FLEX and APH were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman,
JBL was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman,
BCOM was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Chardan Capital Markets;
AVT was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel,
ARW was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman,
IQNT was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James,
FIVN was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill,
AVT was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Cross Research,
BLOX was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim,
DTSI was downgraded to Market Perform at William Blair;
NOW was initiated with a Market Perform at BMO Capital,
MBLY was initiated with a Buy at SunTrust,
VSM was initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer,
NVDA was initiated with a Neutral at SunTrust,
COMM was initiated with an Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
ARRS was initiated with an Overweight at Morgan Stanley,
PCTY was initiated with a Sector Weight at Pacific Crest,
INTC, AVGO, MXIM, MSCC, LSCC, CAVM were initiated with a Positive at Susquehanna,
NVDA, MRVL, AMD, AMCC were initiated with a Neutral at Susquehanna,
KN was initiated with a Negative at Susquehanna,
ULTI was initiated with an Overweight at Pacific Crest,
VOD was initiated with a Hold at Argus

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From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 11-Nov-16The stock market enjoyed an upbeat week, rallying despite a surprising outcome in the U.S. presidential election. The S&P 500 gained 3.8% for the week while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+5.4%) outperformed. Domestically-oriented small caps had an even better showing with the Russell 2000 surging a remarkable 10.1%.

Equity indices rallied at the start of the week amid rising expectations that Hillary Clinton would win Tuesday's election. That sentiment led to another round of gains on Tuesday before the surprising election results were announced in the evening.

Capital markets were startled when it became clear that Donald Trump would come away victorious. However, a huge overnight slide in equity futures gave way to broad-based gains on Wednesday and Thursday.

The post-election rally developed despite warnings that a Trump victory would be negative for stocks. On the contrary, Mr. Trump's victory, combined with Republicans retaining control of both the House and the Senate, was met with a sell-off in the Treasury market while stocks surged, riding the expectation that Republican control of the executive and legislative branches will lead to lower tax rates, reduced regulation, and fiscal stimulus oriented toward infrastructure spending.

The advance in equities was paced by the financial sector (+11.3%), which benefited from a rapid steepening in the yield curve as the 2s10s spread jumped 25 basis points to 123 basis points. The health care sector (+5.8%) also displayed relative strength due to receding fears about government-imposed price controls on the horizon.

Expectations for aggressive infrastructure spending by the new administration helped fuel strength in growth-sensitive groups like industrials (+8.0%) and materials (+3.6%).

The same expectations boosted concerns about inflation, which contributed to selling in longer-dated Treasuries. The benchmark 10-yr yield surged 37 basis points to 2.15%, its highest level since January while the 5y5y forward rate spiked 22 basis points to a 14-month high of 2.05%.

For its part, the Dollar Index swooned on Tuesday night, but recovered swiftly to add 2.0% for the week, ending within a point of its 2016 high of 99.95 that was notched in mid-January.

The upset victory in the presidential race did not upset rate hike expectations. Instead, the implied probability of a December rate hike increased to 81.1% from last Friday's 71.5%, per the CME's FedWatch Tool.

Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 17888.28 18847.66 959.38 5.4 8.2
Nasdaq 5046.37 5237.11 190.74 3.8 4.6
S&P 500 2085.18 2164.45 79.27 3.8 5.9
Russell 2000 1163.81 1281.53 117.72 10.1 12.8

4:16 pm Closing Market Summary: Russell 2000 Leads Post-Election Rally (:WRAPX) :

The stock market ended an extremely strong week on a fairly solid note as the post-election rally effort was maintained for the most part. The S&P 500 slipped just 0.1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended with a gain of 0.2%. The two indices locked in respective weekly advances of 3.8% and 5.4%. The Russell 2000 (+2.4%), however, managed to extend its weekly gain to an impressive 10.2%.

The major averages rallied in the prior two sessions as investors rapidly re-positioned to account for the expected pro-growth policies of a Trump Administration. Mr. Trump is expected to advance a reduction in regulations, lower tax rates, and fiscal stimulus through large infrastructure projects. That combination resulted in heavy positioning in the financial (+0.4%), industrial (+0.3%), and materials (-1.7%) sectors throughout the week.

Conversely, increased inflation concerns and fiscal stimulus expectations drove investors out of the Treasury market and defensively-oriented positions.

The S&P 500 (-0.1%) finished modestly lower on some otherwise light profit-taking from a huge move that was highlighted by an 11.3% gain for the financial sector, the vast majority of which came after the election. Six sectors lost ground on Friday.

The health care sector (-1.5%) displayed relative weakness as pharmaceutical and biotechnology names narrowed their weekly gains. Those groups had been on the rise as investors dialed back fears that they might face drug pricing legislation. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 288.00, -1.78) finished lower by 1.1%, but ended the week up 14.4%. The broader health care sector rose 5.8% this week.

Banking names continued to outperform in the financial sector (+0.4%) as the S&P Bank ETF (KBE 38.94, +0.71) jumped 1.9%. Bank stocks benefited handsomely this week from a steepening yield curve and talk the Trump Administration is looking at dismantling a good chunk, if not all, of Dodd-Frank.

In the consumer discretionary space (+0.6%), Dow component Disney (DIS 97.68, +2.72, +2.9%) finished at the top of the price-weighted average as some upbeat guidance for the company's ESPN division overshadowed weaker-than-expected quarterly results. On the flip side, mixed results from the retail sub-group kept the sector in check. Michael Kors (KORS 49.70, -2.06) finished down 4.0% after missing top- and bottom-line estimates for the quarter and lowering its third quarter and full year outlook.

The high-beta chipmakers outperformed, evidenced by the 3.9% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. NVIDIA (NVDA 87.97, +20.20, +29.8%) led the group after beating consensus estimates for the quarter and issuing upbeat guidance. The company also increased its buyback and quarterly dividend.

Bonds sold off in recent days as the yield on the benchmark 10-yr note jumped 38 basis points from last Friday's settlement to 2.15%. There was no action in the Treasury market today, however, as the bond market was closed in observance of Veterans Day.

There was plenty of action in the oil pit. Crude futures settled 2.8% lower at $43.39 per barrel, facing ongoing pressure from concerns about excess supply and a strengthening dollar. Crude futures settled the week 1.5% lower.

Today's trading volume at the NYSE was above the average of 914 million as more than 1.1 billion shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data was limited to the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for November:

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for November increased to 91.6 (Briefing.com consensus 87.9) from the final reading of 87.2 for October. That was the highest reading since mid 2016, although it won't be taken at face value since the data were compiled before the election result was known.There is no economic data of note scheduled to be released on Monday.

Russell 2000: +12.8% YTDDow Jones: +8.2% YTDS&P 500: +5.9% YTDNasdaq Composite: +4.6% YTD

Stocks rallied late in the session to finish a verystrong week for equities after Donald Trump was elected president of the UnitedStates.

The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) was flat while Dow rose 0.2% andthe S&P 500 fell 0.1%. The Russell 2000 (small caps) outperformed, rising 2.5%to a seventeen-month high.

Large cap technology stocks lagged other cyclicalplays yesterday as money rotated toward sectors that would benefit from inflationand fiscal stimulus -- financials, materials and industrials.

The F A N G stocks -- Facebook (FB -1.5%), Amazon(AMZN -0.4%), Google (GOOG/GOOGL -1.1%) and Netflix (NFLX -0.6%) were allvictims again today. Fears of a more protectionist US may also be weighing onthese global technology companies.

NVIDIA (NVDA) rose 30% to a new all-time highafter blowing out Q3 estimates and guiding Q4 well above consensus. NVIDIA alsoraised its dividend and added to its buyback. The stock has literally goneparabolic and is now up 167% YTD. NVDA led the semiconductor index 3.9% higher. "We had a breakout quarter - record revenue,record margins and record earnings were driven by strength across all productlines," said Jen-Hsun Huang, founder and chief executive officer, NVIDIA."Our new Pascal GPUs are fully ramped andenjoying great success in gaming, VR, self-driving cars and datacenter AIcomputing. "We have invested years of work andbillions of dollars to advance deep learning. Our GPU deep learning platformruns every AI framework, and is available in cloud services from Amazon, IBM,Microsoft and Alibaba, and in servers from every OEM. GPU deep learning hassparked a wave of innovations that will usher in the next era ofcomputing."

The Trade Desk (TTD) rose 8.6% after its firstreport as a public company. The profitable ad-tech company beat Q3 estimatesand guided Q4 ~in-line.

Acacia Communications (ACIA) fell 1.1% after guidingQ4 EPS above consensus with revenue in-line with estimates. The companyreported Q3 EPS above guidance that had been raised twice during the quarter.

Stifel and Needham downgraded Photronics (PLAB-12.6%) after the company lowered fourth quarter guidance.

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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm TTM Tech's largest shareholder commences secondary offering of 12,000,000 shares of its common stock (TTMI) : The Selling Stockholder will receive all of the proceeds from the offering. The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,800,000 shares of common stock from the Selling Stockholder. No shares of common stock are being sold by TTM in the offering.

4:20 pm : The stock market ended Monday's affair on a mixed, and relatively flat, note as investors continued to fine-tune their positioning following last week's election. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.4%) finished behind the S&P 500 (UNCH) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%). Separately, mid-cap and small-cap indices led as the Russell 2000 and the S&P Mid Cap 400 rose 1.3% and 1.6%, respectively.

Equity indices jumped out of the gate as market participants looked to build on last week's post-election rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (18934.05) and the Russell 2000 (1306.56) each notched new all-time highs while the S&P 500 tested technical resistance near the 2171 price level. The latter marked an approximate 7.0% gain from the lows the S&P futures hit the morning after Election Day.

The major indices did encounter some selling pressure and continued to see some divergences as investors contemplated the potential policies of a Trump Administration.

The financial sector (+2.3%) extended its recent gain while technology (-1.7%) continued to pull back amid weakness in widely-owned issues. Financials have advanced 12.2% so far this month while technology is down 3.2%.

Bonds have been far less fortunate, however, as selling pressure has accelerated in the wake of the election with fixed-income investors showing some angst about the potential for rising inflation that many think will follow on the back of increased fiscal stimulus. The yield on the benchmark 10-yr note kissed 2.30% in overnight action before garnering some buying interest from a short-term oversold condition. Even so, the yield still settled today up seven basis points at 2.23%. That marks a 51 basis point increase from the election night low on the 10-yr yield.

The economically-sensitive financial sector (+2.3%) outperformed as a rapid steepening in the yield curve in the past week has continued to bolster the group's earnings prospects. The sector also benefited from speculation regarding reduced regulations under the Trump Administration. Dow component JPMorgan Chase (JPM 79.51, +2.82) finished higher by 3.7%. The stock has rallied 14.8% so far in November compared to an equally heady 12.2% gain for the broader sector.

In the technology group (-1.7%), large-cap tech names underperformed as investors continued to evaluate their growth prospects under the next administration. Facebook (FB 115.09, -3.94) and Alphabet (GOOG 736.08, -17.94) finished down 3.3% and 2.4%, respectively. Top-weighted Apple (AAPL 105.71, -2.72) declined 2.5%, extending its November loss to 6.9%.

Pharmaceutical names underperformed in the health care space (-0.3%) as the group pulled back from its recent winning streak. Dow component Pfizer (PFE 32.38, -0.21) finished lower by 0.6%, narrowing its November gain to 1.4%. On the other hand, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 293.09, +5.09) ended higher by 1.8%

The energy sector gained 0.3% despite a modest loss in crude oil futures. WTI crude ended its day lower by 0.2% ($43.30/bbl; -$0.09). However, it is worth noting that crude prices rebounded smartly from an earlier 2.8% decline after news reports suggested OPEC is working to narrow its divide with Iran and Iraq, prompting speculation that such efforts could bode well for formalizing a production cap agreement at the November 30 OPEC meeting.

Today's trading volume was above the average of 961 million as more than 1.16 billion shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

There was no economic data of note released today.

Tomorrow's economic data include Retail Sales for October (Briefing.com consensus +0.6%), Import/Export Prices for October, and Empire Manufacturing for November (Briefing.com consensus -0.5), which will each cross the wires at 8:30 a.m. ET. The day's data will be capped off with Business Inventories for September (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Russell 2000: +14.3% YTD
Dow Jones: +8.3% YTD
S&P 500: +5.9% YTD
Nasdaq Composite: +4.2% YTD

DJ30 +21.03 NASDAQ -18.72 SP500 -0.25 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1716/2.13 bln/1201 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1589/1.16 bln/1438 3:30 pm :

The dollar index was sitting near its 1-year high hit earlier in the session, was +0.9% around the 100.00 level, weighing heavily on precious metals
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, were -0.04% around the 82.34 level
Crude oil ended a volatile session nearly unchanged after sinking to fresh 3-month lows earlier in pit trading, & subsequently rallying 1% after OPEC headlines crossed, although it failed to sustain those gains
December crude oil futures fell $0.09 (-0.2%) to $43.30/barrel
Color on recent price action in crude oil:
Crude oil has had a volatile morning, trading as low as 1.5% before reversing and rallying to fresh session highs after headlines crossed about OPEC stating they are looking to close the gap on the divide between Iraq & Iran, although OPEC is still divided over the details of how to implement output cuts, despite a weekend of meetings.
In addition, the Saudi Arabian oil Minister Khalid al-Falih reiterated that it was essential for OPEC to reach a consensus on activating the deal agreed in September.
It is also worth noting that over the weekend, Iran announced it was developing three new oil fields.
Reminder: Iran, Nigeria, & Libya are expected to be exempt from the Algiers Accord, Iraq is also seeking exemption from the previously announced production cut.
Data reminders:
API data will be released tomorrow after the bell
The next official OPEC meeting will take place in Vienna, Austria on November 30.
EIA data will be released on Wed at 10:30 am ET.
Rig count data will be released Friday at 1 pm.
Natural gas closed at a 1-week high on updated colder weather forecasts, compared to last week's milder weather forecasts, ahead of Thursday's inventory data
November natural gas closed $0.12 higher (+4.6%) at $2.75/MMBtu
Weekly EIA inventory data will be released on Thursday at 10:30 am ET.
Color on recent price action in natural gas futures:
Updated forecasts showed cold weather pushing into the western U.S. later this week, expected to track toward the eastern U.S. next weekend, bringing rain, snow, and cooler than normal temps. This colder weather is expected to result in increased demand for natural gas. This compares to last week's weather forecast models which showed that high pressure weather systems will dominate over the central & southern U.S. this week, resulting in much warmer than normal conditions & negatively impacting demand for natural gas.
In precious metals, gold declined to a 5-month low, down for the fourth consecutive session on notable strength in the dollar index
December gold ended today's session down $3.40 (-0.3%) to $1221.70/oz
December silver closed today's session $0.53 lower (-3.0%) at $16.88/oz
Base metal copper closed just shy of Friday's 17-month high
December copper closed $0.01 higher (+0.4%) at $2.52/lb
Closing split, the broader market began the week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average the only major US index posting gains...adding 21.03 points (+0.11%) to 18868.69. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Compsite on the other hand closed lower by 18.72 points (-0.36%) to 5218.40, and the S&P 500 was little changed (-0.01%) to 2164. Heavily-weighted Dow names UNH +4.00%, JPM +3.68%, MCD +3.19%, GS +2.57%, TRV +1.72%, CAT +1.25% kept the index out of the red today.

The worst performing S&P sector today, Technology (XLK 46.02, -0.71 -1.52%) finished just off lows as action quickly turned sour in the morning and never looked back. Component NVIDIA (NVDA 83.64, -4.33 -4.92%) posted a weak session on the back of last week's earnings, but despite a premarket upgraded to Buy at Needham. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed Monday XLF +2.49%, XLFS +2.19%, XLRE +1.96%, XLE +0.59%, XLI +0.43%, XLB +0.23%, IYZ +0.20%, XLY +0.01%, XLU -0.07%, XLP -0.18%, XLV -0.30% as Financials led the positive bias and Healthcare lagged.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (775.19, -13.50 -1.71%) sector, trading was hurt by the broader tech decline as investors allocated funds elsewhere. Payment names Global Payments (GPN 66.56, -2.93 -4.22%), Visa (V 78.38, -3.50 -4.27%), and MasterCard (MA 101.14, -3.48 -3.33%) were all weaker today as money rotated out of tech stocks and into more cyclical sectors which are expected to benefit from the upcoming Trump presidency. Other names in the space which closed lower included ATVI -4.15%, FB -3.31%, PYPL -3.17%, VRSN -3.13%, YHOO -2.77%, EBAY -2.62%, AAPL -2.48%, CRM -2.45%, GOOGL -2.40%, CTXS -2.35%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Global Payments (GPN) and American Express (AXP 72.42, +1.92 +2.72%) announced an agreement that will enable Global Payments to provide enhanced payment acceptance solutions to American Express small merchants in the UK. These technology solutions include payment processing, settlement, reporting, support and statementing services on behalf of American Express.

IBM (IBM 158.21, -3.06 -1.90%) and NVIDIA (NVDA) announced collaboration on a new deep learning tool optimized for the latest IBM and NVIDIA technologies to help train computers to think and learn in more human-like ways at a faster pace.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 23.35, +0.04 +0.17%) announced that its Enterprise Services business secured a $600 million agreement with Sykehuspartner, an ICT service provider serving the eleven health trusts in Norway's Southern and Eastern regional health authority (Helse Sr-st). The agreement will help transform and modernize the ICT infrastructure of Helse Sr-st health region to improve patient safety and free up resources for patient care.

Microsoft (MSFT 58.12, -0.90 -1.52%) announced its largest purchase of wind energy to date with the signing of two agreements. Combined, these agreements represent 237 megawatts of wind energy, which brings Microsoft's total investment in wind energy projects in the U.S. to more than 500 megawatts.

Elsewhere in the tech space:

Harman (HAR 109.72, +22.07 +25.18%) to be acquired by Samsung (SSNLF 1250.00, flat) for $112.00 per share.

Digi Intl (DGII 13.40, +1.75 +15.02%) on Friday, received a proposal from Belden (BDC 71.22, +1.52 +2.18%) to be acquired for about $380 million or $13.82 per share in cash. BDC noted DGII's CEO was 'expressing unwillingness to engage in discussions.' Then, on Monday, DGII confirmed the rejection of BDC's unsolicited, non-binding proposal for $13.82 per share.

On Sunday, Reuters was out suggesting Mentor Graphics (MENT 36.29, +5.61 +18.29%) was near a deal to be acquired by Siemens AG (SIEGY 117.60, +0.11 +0.10%). On Monday morning, MENT confirmed the acquisition by SIEGY for $37.25 per share.

Verizon (VZ 46.18, -0.51 -1.09%) acquired privately-held LQD WiFi. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SunEdison (SUNEQ 0.14, +0.01 +9.85%) responded to Terraform Power's (TERP 13.11, +0.47 +3.72%) settlement briefing.

IDT Corp (IDT 21.15, +2.24 +11.85%) signed a global franchise agreement with Future Electronics.

Avnet (AVT 44.31, +0.55 +1.26%) acquired Hackster. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ViaSat (VSAT 80.59, -0.56 -0.69%) to acquire Arconics. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Edgewater (EDGW 7.12, -0.88 -11.00%) concluded its formal review of strategic alternatives, and plans to continue as a stand-alone company.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Ceragon (CRNT 2.54, 0.25 +10.92%) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $0.06 and $79.13 million, respectively.

NII Holdings (NIHD 2.10, -0.20 -8.70%) reported a Q3 loss per share of $14.10 on revenues which came in worse than market expectations at $260.8 million.

Companies scheduled to report tonight/tomorrow morning: ALRM GLOB ANY/CYRN DBD KLIC MBLY SSYS TSEM ZBRA

Analyst actions:

NVDA was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham,
KN was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird,
GRUB was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel,
CIEN was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank,
SQ was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at Pacific Crest;
HEAR was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley & Co.,
CLGX was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray,
QTWO was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG Research

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 5:35 pm Tower Semi: Audio Pixels fabrication partner Tower Semiconductor reached a 'critical milestone' with the initial delivery of half structure MEMS devices (TSEM) : Over the coming weeks a number of additional interim delivery milestones have been coordinated with Tower to further enable compliance testing without disrupting Tower's rapid advancement toward the production of fully functional MEMS devices. Audio Pixels and Tower personnel are making every effort to improve on the initial advised timelines for the delivery of fully functional MEMS devices by May 31st 2017; which would eclipse the latest advised delivery by our second MEMS vendor.

4:24 pm Juniper Networks beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (JNPR) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.66 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.63; revenues rose 5.0% year/year to $1.39 bln vs the $1.36 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Non-GAAP operating margin for the fourth quarter of 2016 was 26.5%, an increase from 26.0% in the fourth quarter of 2015, and an increase from 24.4% in the third quarter of 2016.

Co issues guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.38-0.44, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.45 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $1.190-1.210 bln vs. $1.2 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Non-GAAP gross margin will be approximately 62.5%, plus or minus 0.5%.
Non-GAAP operating expenses will be approximately $515 million, plus or minus $5 million.
Non-GAAP operating margin will be approximately 19.5% at the midpoint of revenue guidance.

4:20 pm Super Micro Computer beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (SMCI) :

Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.48 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.46; revenues rose 2.0% year/year to $651.9 mln vs the $609.2 mln Capital IQ Consensus and guidance of $570-640 mln.

Non-GAAP gross margin for the second quarter was 14.4% compared to 16.7% in the same period a year ago.

Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.34-0.42, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.32 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $570-630 mln vs. $552.03 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"We expect to continue the growth of last quarter and be reflected in the year-over-year revenue growth in the March quarter based on an increasing number of sizable customer engagements demanding the performance and advantages of our leading product lines. In addition, we are well positioned to benefit from technology transitions in 2017 and have upgraded our product lines to optimize these new technologies."

4:18 pm Celestica beats by $0.09, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (CLS) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.41 per share, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.32; revenues rose 7.2% year/year to $1.62 bln vs the $1.55 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.24-0.30 vs. $0.27 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $1.4-1.5 bln vs. $1.41 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"Celestica delivered a strong fourth quarter, with growth in revenue of 7% and growth in operating earnings of 16%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2015," said Rob Mionis, Celestica's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Celestica's strong close to the year helped deliver full-year 2016 revenue growth of 7%, 14% growth in operating earnings and over $100 million of free cash flow. Among the many highlights for 2016, we achieved our highest level of operating margins since 2001 and the highest revenue levels since 2012."

4:17 pm KLA-Tencor beats by $0.12, beats on revs (KLAC) :

Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $1.52 per share, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.40; revenues rose 23.5% year/year to $877 mln vs the $838.99 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co states: "In addition, new orders topped $1 billion for the first time in the December quarter, reflecting KLA-Tencor's market leadership and the critical role process control plays in enabling our customers' success at the leading edge. These outstanding results are against the backdrop of a healthy overall demand environment for wafer fab equipment in the marketplace today, and position KLA-Tencor with good momentum heading into calendar 2017."

4:16 pm Maxim Integrated beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line with midpoint above consensus, revs in-line (MXIM) :

Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.46 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.43; revenues rose 7.9% year/year to $551 mln vs the $540.48 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.49-0.55, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.50 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $555-595 vs. $568.33 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Backlog $388 mln.

"Our December quarter marked the beginning of our return to revenue growth, as Automotive, Core Industrial and diversification in Consumer all contributed gains from the same quarter last year." Mr. Doluca continued, "In the March quarter, we expect to build upon our growth momentum in our Automotive and Industrial businesses."

4:15 pm Microsoft beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides on call (MSFT) :

Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.83 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.79; revenues rose 1.5% year/year to $26.07 bln vs the $25.29 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $7.4 billion and increased 10% (up 12% in constant currency),

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $6.9 billion and increased 8% (up 10% in constant currency),
Revenue in More Personal Computing was $11.8 billion and decreased 5% (down 4% in constant currency) driven primarily by lower phone revenue,

"I am pleased with our results this quarter. We see strong demand for our cloud-based services and are executing well on our long-term growth strategy,"
Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance on its conference call at 5:30 pm ET

4:12 pm Flex beats by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (FLEX) :

Reports Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.34 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.33; revenues fell 9.6% year/year to $6.12 bln vs the $6.21 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Adjusted gross margin increased approximately 40 basis points on a year-over-year basis.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.27-0.31, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.29 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $5.5-5.9 bln vs. $5.72 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:10 pm Intel beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus; guides FY17 EPS below consensus (INTC) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.79 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.75; revenues rose 10.1% year/year to $16.4 bln vs the $15.75 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Client Computing Group revenue of $9.1 billion, up 4 percent year-over-year
Data Center Group revenue of $4.7 billion, up 8 percent year-over-year
Internet of Things Group revenue of $726 million, up 16 percent year-over-year

Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.65 vs. $0.61 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $14.8 bln vs. $14.51 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees 63% gross margin.

Co issues guidance for FY17, sees EPS of $2.80 vs. $2.81 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY17 revs flat, which would imply roughly $59.5 bln vs. $60.85 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees 63% gross margin.

"The fourth quarter was a terrific finish to a record-setting and transformative year for Intel. In 2016, we took important steps to accelerate our strategy and refocus our resources while also launching exciting new products, successfully integrating Altera, and investing in growth opportunities," said Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO. "I'm pleased with our 2016 performance and confident in our future."

4:10 pm Alphabet misses by $0.26, beats on revs (GOOG) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $9.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.26 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $9.62; revenues rose 22.2% year/year to $26.06 bln vs the $25.14 bln Capital IQ Consensus.Other Bets revenue $262 mln compared to $150 mln in prior year; Loss of ($1.08 bln) compared to a Loss of ($1.213 bln) in prior year.Cost of Revenue- 41% compared to 38% in prior year.Operating Expense as % of revenue 34% compared to 36% in prior yearFree Cash Flow $6.335 blnEffective Tax Rate 22%Aggregate Paid Clicks-Q4- +36%, street expectations were +25%; Q3 +33%; Q2 +29%; Q1 +29%.
Paid Clicks on Google websites- Q4 +43%; Q3 +42%; Q2 +37%; Q1 +38%.
Paid clicks on member sites- Q4 +7%; Q3 +1%; Q2 0%; Q1 +2%.
Aggregate cost per click-
Q4- -15%, street expectations were for approx -15%; Q3 -11%; Q2 -7%; Q1 -9%.
CPC on Google sites- Q4- -16%; Q3 -13%; Q2 -9%; Q1 -12%.
CPC on member sites- Q4- -19%; Q3 -14%; Q2 -8%; -8%; Q1 -8%.

4:05 pm Microsemi reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (MSCC) :

Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.86 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.86; revenues rose 32.3% year/year to $435.5 mln vs the $435.25 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.86-0.96 vs. $0.89 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $430-450 mln vs. $439.99 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"During our first fiscal quarter of 2017, we continued to execute on our winning strategy," stated James J. Peterson, Microsemi's chairman and CEO. "Gross margins improved 90 basis points sequentially, benefiting from strong results in our data center and optical end markets as well as the realization of expected integration synergies. These efforts will enable us to outgrow the industry and outperform our peers to the benefit of our shareholders."4:10 pm : Investors were very selective of their pitches when they stepped up to the plate on Thursday, ultimately choosing to take ball four rather than risking a swing and miss. Despite news, earnings, and economic data, the major averages finished in the neighborhood of where they began, with the S&P 500 (-0.1%) closing just a tick lower.

Conversely, Donald Trump did take a swing today tweeting that Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto should cancel his upcoming meeting with the U.S. President "if Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall." The Mexican President responded by doing just that.

The market ticked down ever so slightly on Mr. Pena Nieto's response, but regardless, the incident does highlight some concerns about Mr. Trump's ability to play nice with foreign leaders. Only time will tell if President Trump's international agenda will be as friendly to the stock market as his domestically focused, pro-growth one has been so far.

Sector standings looked just as unenthusiastic as the market itself with some sectors green, some red, but no one space swinging too far from its flat line. Cyclical sectors had a slight edge over the defensive groups, with four of the six finishing higher. Technology (-0.2%) and energy (unch) bucked the trend, however, with the latter sector ignoring crude oil's 1.9% climb. The energy component closed its trading day at $53.75/bbl.

The downtick in technology stemmed from a downbeat response to Qualcomm's (QCOM 54.05, -2.85) quarterly report. The company finished 5.0% lower after missing on revenues, signaling a possible slowdown in demand for semiconductors, which are a component of nearly every modern technological device.

Industrials (+0.3%) finished near the top of the leaderboard, beside financials (+0.3%), as airlines willed the industrial sector to a modest gain. Southwest Airlines (LUV 53.92, +4.46) added 9.0% after reporting favorable earnings per share, however, the industrial sector's gains were capped by a lackluster earnings report from Caterpillar (CAT 97.22, -0.93) and continued weakness from United Technologies (UTX 110.36, -0.60), who reported quarterly results before yesterday's session. The two names finished down 1.0% and 0.5%, respectively.

On the countercyclical side, health care (-0.7%) finished in last place after Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY 46.82, -2.73) missed earnings per share estimates and issued downbeat guidance. The company slipped 5.5%, putting pressure on its fellow health care components. Consumer staples (-0.4%) finished just a hair better than the health care sector, while the lightly-weighted telecom services, utilities, and real estate sectors finished near their flat lines.

U.S. Treasuries closed modestly higher, bouncing back in the afternoon after succumbing to morning selling pressure. The benchmark 10-yr yield finished one basis point lower at 2.50%.

Today's economic data included Initial Claims, International Trade in Goods, New Home Sales, and Leading Indicators:

The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 259,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 246,000. Today's tally was above the revised prior week count of 237,000 (from 234,000). As for continuing claims, they rose to 2.100 million from the revised count of 2.059 million (from 2.046 million).
The headline for initial claims was a bit disappointing, yet the key takeaway is that there wasn't really any major deviation from the underlying trend considering how low the initial claims reading has been in recent weeks.
December International Trade in Goods decreased by $65.00 billion on the back of a unrevised $65.30 billion decline in November.
New Home Sales in December hit an annualized rate of 536,000, which was below the revised November rate of 598,000 (from 592k), and less than the 589,000 that was expected by the Briefing.com consensus.
The key takeaway from the report is that the combination of higher prices and higher mortgage rates appears to have squeezed the home-buying capability of lower-income consumers, evidenced by the drop in sales of new homes priced under $299,999.
The Conference Board's Leading Indicators report for December ticked up 0.5% (Briefing.com consensus +0.5%) after a 0.1% increase (from 0.0%) in November.
The key takeaway from the December report is that the component indexes suggest the economic expansion should continue and possibly increase in the near term.

Tomorrow's economic data will include advance fourth quarter GDP (Briefing.com consensus 2.2%) and December Durable Orders (Briefing.com consensus 3.0%) at 8:30 am ET, with the final reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for January following at 10:00 am ET.

Russell 2000 +1.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.7% YTD
S&P 500 +2.6% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +5.1% YTD

DJ30 +32.40 NASDAQ -1.16 SP500 -1.69 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1170/1.66 bln/1796 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1402/958.9 mln/1522 3:30 pm :

Crude oil erased all of yesterday's post-EIA losses & closed pit trading nearly +2% ahead of tomorrow's rig count data
Mar crude oil futures rose $0.99 (+1.9%) to $53.75/barrel
Baker Hughes rig count data will be released tomorrow at 1 pm ET.
Rig count data released last Friday showed the biggest single weekly oil rig count increase in 4 years.
The U.S. oil rig count increased by 29 to 551 rigs last week.
It is worth noting that this pick-up in US activity could potentially cap oil price gains in the future.
Natural gas closed higher for the 4th consecutive session on a bullish EIA reading; supported by a colder weather outlook released earlier in the week
Mar natural gas closed $0.05 higher (+1.5%) at $3.40/MMBtu
Color on 4-day rally in natural gas:
In addition to today's EIA data giving natural gas a boost, U.S. natural gas futures have been trading higher the past 4 sessions on forecasts for colder-than-normal weather and higher heating demand expected to last into the second week of Feb.
This rally came despite a warmer-than-normal outlook through Jan 27 and for much of the rest of Feb and Mar, ahead of tomorrow's EIA data.
In precious metals, gold closed pit trading near this morning's 2-week low on continued dollar index strength
Feb gold ended today's session down $8.10 (-0.7%) to $1,189.90/oz
Mar silver closed today's session $0.13 lower (-0.8%) at $16.85/oz
The dollar index was +0.4% around the 100.45 level, weighed on precious metals
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, were -0.1% around the 88.27 level
After a record-setting day yesterday, the broader market closed flat, albeit mixed. Action in the Dow Jones Industrial Average made new all-time highs despite broad weakness in other areas, ultimately ending Thursday up 32.40 points (+0.16%) to 20100.91. The S&P 500 was the worst performing index, shedding 1.69 points (-0.07%) to 2296.68, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.16 points (-0.02%) to 5655.18.

Donald Trump made more news today after tweeting that Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto should cancel his upcoming meeting with the U.S. President "if Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall." The Mexican President responded by doing just that.

The market ticked down ever so slightly on Mr. Pena Nieto's response, but regardless, the incident does highlight some concerns about Mr. Trump's ability to play nice with foreign leaders. Only time will tell if President Trump's international agenda will be as friendly to the stock market as his domestically focused, pro-growth one has been so far.

Market data today included the latest weekly initial jobless claims count which totaled 259,000; for continuing claims, they rose to 2.100 million from the revised count of 2.059 million (from 2.046 million). Also, the December International Trade in Goods report came out today, declining by $65.00 billion on the back of an unrevised $65.30 billion decline in November. Further, New Home Sales in December hit an annualized rate of 536,000, which was below the revised November rate of 598,000 (from 592k). Lastly, the Conference Board's Leading Indicators report for December ticked up 0.5% after a 0.1% increase (from 0.0%) in November.

Following suit, the Technology (XLK 50.54, -0.14 -0.28%) space was pressured out of the gate by sellers. Component F5 Networks (FFIV 133.72, -12.03 -8.25%) was the worst performing name today after reporting what amounted to be a tepid quarter and forward guidance. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed out the session IYZ +0.88%, XLB +0.26%, XLI +0.26%, XLF +0.25%, XLY +0.16%, XLE +0.08%, XLU +0.04%, XLRE -0.06%, XLP -0.43%, XLV -0.77%.

Media names, and Telecoms in general, were strong today on reports that Charter Comm (CHTR 333.15, +22.84 +7.36%) and Verizon (VZ 49.12, -0.65 -1.31%) had entered into merger talks. Reports circulated premarket about the potential transaction, with follow up reports by Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and CNBC highlighting the details (or lack thereof) at the moment of the potential tie-up. Peers which also traded higher today included LBRDA +8.86%, LVNTA +5.38%, CABO +3.54%, CMCSA +2.81%, SNI +2.61%, FOXA +2.31%, VIAB +2.10%, LBTYA +1.96%, CBS +1.84%, SBGI +1.80%, MSGN +1.80%, DISCA +1.16%, AMCX +0.43%

The S&P 500 Information Technology (852.39, -1.78 -0.21%) space had an equally bad day, but even a 'bad day' in the space wasn't all that bad. Component eBay (EBAY 31.74, +1.51 +5.00%) helped the sector stay afloat while the rest of the broader market was tumbling as investors rewarded shares after a mixed quarter. Despite EBAY, the broader trend was lower today; stocks which ended today in the red included CTXS -6.50%, QCOM -5.01%, XLNX -3.68%, HPQ -2.63%, ADS -2.45%, WU -2.44%, MSI -2.26%, CTSH -2.22%, LRCX -2.22%, WDC -1.94%, GPN -1.89%, FSLR -1.88%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Shares of Charter Comm (CHTR) spiked in the premarket session following reports that the company may be in merger talks with Verizon (VZ). After the open, a Wall Street Journal report was out suggesting VZ was in talks with CHTR. Then, CNBC's David Faber chimed in that not much had occurred between VZ and CHTR thus far. Reuters was then out on the deal, suggesting VZ had not yet proposed an acquisition, while the FT reported that both VZ and CHTR had hired advisors to evaluate the deal.

Moneygram (MGI 12.92, +1.04 +8.75%) agreed to be acquired by Alibaba's (BABA 102.75, -1.31 -1.26%) Ant Financial for $13.25 per share in cash, or about $880 million. This agreement confirmed a Wall Street Journal report which came out last night, suggesting the deal may occur.

Fidelity Nat'l Info (FIS 79.56, -0.32 -0.40%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.29 from $0.26 per share.

LogMeIn (LOGM 102.60, -7.05 -6.43%) stockholders approved issuance of shares of its common stock to equity holders of Citrix Systems (CTXS 89.52, -6.22 -6.50%) in connection with its proposed merger with CTXS. The merger is expected to be completed on January 31, 2017.

Nuance Communications (NUAN 15.97, -0.03 -0.19%) shareholder Carl Icahn lowered passive stake to 4.43% (to about 12.91 million shares vs. about 19.68 million held at the end of Q3).

Quality Systems's (QSII 14.17, +0.39 +2.83%) Principal Accounting Officer John Stumpf announced resignation, effective February 10.

Cimpress (CMPR 86.57, -11.60 -11.82%) announced its intention to implement organizational changes aimed at decentralizing its operations.

In reaction to quarterly results:

AT&T (T 41.77, +0.39 +2.83%) reported in-line Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.66 and $41.84 billion, respectively. Also rees FY17 revenue growth in the low-single digits, adjusted EPS growth in the mid-single digit range, and adjusted operating margin expansion. Also expects capital expenditures in the $22 billion range and free cash flow near the $18 billion range.

Qualcomm (QCOM 54.05, -2.85 -5.01%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $1.19 on revenues which came in below expectations at $6 billion. The company also guided Q2 EPS and revenues in-line at $1.15-1.19 and $5.5-6.3 billion, respectively.

eBay (EBAY) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.54 and revenues of $2.4 billion. For Q1, the company sees worse than expected EPS of $0.46-0.48 and worse than expected revenues of $2.17-2.21 billion. For FY17, EBAY expects EPS below market expectations at $1.98-2.03 on revenues of $9.3-9.5 billion.

Western Digital (WDC 78.47, -1.55 -1.94%) reported better than expected Q2 EPS and revenues of $2.30 and $4.89 billion, respectively. For Q3, sees EPS of $2.00-2.10 and revenues of about $4.55 billion.

Ericsson (ERIC 6.07, +0.18 +3.06%) reported Q4 EPS of SEK0.62 on revenues of SEK65.2 billion.

Lam Research (LRCX 114.33, -2.59 -2.22%) reported Q2 EPS and revenues which came in ahead of expectations at $2.24 and $1.88 billion, respectively. For Q3, the company sees EPS and revenues ahead of market expectations at $2.45-2.65 and $2.075-2.2 billion, respectively.

F5 Networks (FFIV) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $1.98 and revenues of $516 million. For Q2, the company sees in-line EPS and revenues of $1.95-1.98 and $518-528 million, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight: MSFT GOOG INTC PYPL VMW KLAC MXIM JNPR ETFC FLEX MSCC AZPN NATI PFPT LITE SYNA CLS OSIS SMCI INVN AMCC UIS SHOR DGII GSIT

Analyst actions:

WDC was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at FBN Securities;
MGI was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair,
ADS was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James

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InPlay from Briefing.com:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inplay-briefing-com-055139997.html

4:12 pm Ultra Clean Holdings beats by $0.09, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (UCTT) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.27; revenues rose 68.8% year/year to $174.5 mln vs the $173.07 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.40-0.45, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.27 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $190-197 mln vs. $168.00 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate."By expanding our capabilities beyond gas panels and keeping pace with exceptional market demand, we are creating an even stronger link with our customers and have been able to capitalize on new opportunities. We are well positioned to reach our longer-term revenue and profitability goals."

4:11 pm HP beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line (HPQ) :

Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.38 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.37; revenues rose 3.6% year/year to $12.68 bln vs the $11.83 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Personal Systems net revenue was up 10% year over year (up 11% in constant currency) with a 3.8% operating margin.
Commercial net revenue increased 7% and Consumer net revenue increased 15%. Total units were up 8% with Notebooks units up 12% and Desktops units flat.
Printing net revenue was down 3% year over year (down 2% in constant currency) with a 16.0% operating margin.
Total hardware units were up 6% with Commercial hardware units up 2% and Consumer hardware units up 7%.
Supplies net revenue was down 3% (down 2% in constant currency).

Personal Systems net revenue was up 10% year over year (up 11% in constant currency) with a 3.8% operating margin. Commercial net revenue increased 7% and Consumer net revenue increased 15%. Total units were up 8% with Notebooks units up 12% and Desktops units flat. Printing net revenue was down 3% year over year (down 2% in constant currency) with a 16.0% operating margin. Total hardware units were up 6% with Commercial hardware units up 2% and Consumer hardware units up 7%. Supplies net revenue was down 3% (down 2% in constant currency).Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.37-0.40, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.38 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "We are confident in our ability to manage our business and deliver our FY17 financial commitments."

4:08 pm Tessera Tech misses by $0.11, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY17 revs above consensus; Changes Name to Xperi, ticker symbol to "XPER" (TSRA) :

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.45 per share, $0.11 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.56; revenues rose 13.4% year/year to $70.1 mln vs the $73.4 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.15)-($0.09) vs. $0.40 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $60-$63 mln vs. $74.03 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Co issues upside guidance for FY17, sees FY17 revs of $370-$445 mln vs. $359.40 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.Commentary: "2016 was a transformational year with the combination of Tessera and DTS, which today we are excited to have rebranded as Xperi, reflecting our new vision of bringing together digital and physical experiences in smart, connected and personalized ways. While the transaction and related accounting had a significant impact on the fourth quarter results, the effect is transitory and does not reflect the underlying cash flow strength of the business.

We are pleased to report the integration of DTS is on track and we are confident in our ability to realize the full benefits of the transaction."New Company Name & Stock Symbol: The company announced it has changed its name to Xperi Corporation. The company's common stock will officially begin trading under the new Nasdaq stock ticker symbol, XPER, effective at the market open on February 23, 2017.4:08 pm Omega Protein's Board initiates a strategic alternati

4:15 pm Closing Market Summary: Averages Close Wednesday Mixed (:WRAPX) :

Investors tapped the brakes on Wednesday, displaying slight caution amid a wave of potentially influential economic reports. The Nasdaq (-0.1%) closed in line with the S&P 500 (-0.1%) while the Dow outperformed (+0.2%), recording its ninth consecutive gain.

The major averages started today's session with modest losses, but they ticked up following Existing Home Sales for January. The report came in better than expected, showing an annualized rate of 5.69 million units while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.57 million.

Equity indices then slid slowly into the next event on Wednesday's calendar, a speech from Fed Governor Jerome Powell. However, the speech turned out to be a non-event as Mr. Powell provided little to no new information, stating that a gradual tightening of policy is appropriate as long as the economy continues to behave roughly as expected.

Finally, the last major event on the calendar, the FOMC Minutes, was met with a muted response from investors. The minutes showed that many FOMC members see a rate hike "fairly soon if incoming information on the labor market and inflation was in line with or stronger than their current expectations."

And while recent hotter than expected ISM Index, Nonfarm Payrolls, PPI, CPI, Retail Sales, Housing Starts, and Existing Home Sales readings met the rate hike prerequisite, the statement's vague "fairly soon" clause gives little indication as to the timeline of said rate hike.

In summary, after all the noise, the fed funds futures market now points to May as the most likely time for the next rate hike to be announced with an implied probability of 52.1%, up from 45.9% yesterday. The implied probability of a March rate hike increased to 22.1% from yesterday's 17.7%.

On the earnings front, Toll Brothers (TOL 33.93, +1.94) spiked 6.1% after the luxury homebuilder reported better than expected top and bottom lines and issued upbeat delivery guidance. More notably, Toll Brothers' bullish disposition lifted the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB 30.04, +0.12) to its highest level in over a decade. The consumer discretionary sector (unch) capitalized on hombuilders' solid showing, outperforming the benchmark index.

Financials (+0.1%) and telecom services (+0.1%) closed in line with the consumer discretionary sector while technology (+0.2%), materials (+0.3%), and utilities (+0.4%) performed a bit better.

Energy (-1.6%) led the five remaining sectors lower, succumbing to a 1.4% loss in crude oil. The energy component trades in the red for the week after squandering all of Tuesday's gain in Wednesday's session. WTI crude closed its trading day at $53.59/bbl.

Treasuries closed Wednesday's session slightly higher. The benchmark 10-yr yield finished one basis point lower at 2.42%.

Today's economic data included January Existing Home Sales and the MBA Mortgage Index:

Existing home sales for January increased 3.3% from December to an annualized rate of 5.69 million units while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.57 million.

The key takeaway from the report is that high prices and limited inventory continue to compress the affordability factor for prospective buyers, and have prevented existing home sales from being even stronger.

The key takeaway from the report is that high prices and limited inventory continue to compress the affordability factor for prospective buyers, and have prevented existing home sales from being even stronger.The weekly MBA Mortgage Index decreased 2.0% to follow last week's 3.7% decline.Tomorrow's economic data will include Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 242,000) and December FHFA Housing Price Index (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%). The two reports will cross the wires at 8:30 am ET and 9:00 am ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite +8.9% YTDS&P 500 +5.5% YTDDow Jones Industrial Average +5.1% YTD Russell 2000 +3.4% YTD

9:21 am Advanced Micro announced the global launch of its Ryzen 7 desktop processors; pre-orders begin today (AMD) : Product demonstrations featured Ryzen 7 1800X outperforming a similarly configured 8-core, 16-thread Intel Core i7-6900K in Cinebench R15 multi-threaded and Handbrake-based video transcoding, as well as showing comparable 4K gaming performance.

9:02 am Samsung and Verizon (VZ) have completed deployment of 5G systems in five U.S. cities in preparation to begin customer trials of 5G technology in April 2017 (SSNLF) :

The 5G trials involve innovative network systems, including the use of 28GHz millimeter wave spectrum and advanced beam-forming antenna technology. Samsung's 5G Access Units, installed throughout a city's business and residential neighborhoods, will link radio signals to a virtualized core network that is set up within Verizon's data centers.

Samsung's next-generation core solution is software-driven and designed on a scalable platform to accommodate operator needs. In pre-commercial testing, which began in December 2016, the 5G system demonstrated multi-gigabit throughputs at radio distances of up to 1,500 feet (nearly 500 meters) across each of the different environments selected for the customer trials. The Samsung 5G system is designed to be upgradable to support 3GPP standards for New Radio and Next-Generation Core, once available.

9:01 am Tessera Tech will change its name to 'Xperi Corporation' and its Nasdaq ticker symbol to 'XPER', effective tomorrow (TSRA) :

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More from Briefing.com: President Trump's first address to Congress appeared to be a hit, at least among investors, as traders confidently pushed the major averages to fresh record highs on Wednesday. All-time highs were had in the Dow Jones Industrial Average which gained 303.31 points (+1.46%) to 21115.55, the S&P 500 +32.32 points (+1.37%) to 2395.96, and the Nasdaq Composite +78.59 points (+1.35%) to 5904.03.

It wasn't necessarily 'what' Mr. Trump said on Tuesday evening that fueled investors' confidence, it was 'how' he said it. The new president looked, well, 'presidential', a good sign that his controversial style can be toned-down when need be. More importantly, he showed investors that he is committed to getting his pro-growth promises through Congress, even if it means a little compromise.

Additionally, selling pressure plagued U.S. Treasuries after hawkish comments from New York Fed President Dudley (FOMC voter) on Tuesday evening. Mr. Dudley got investors seriously thinking about the possibility of a March rate hike, saying the case for increasing interest rates has become "a lot more compelling."

The fed funds futures market now points to March as an increasingly likely time for the next rate hike to be announced with an implied probability of 66.4%, spiking from yesterday's reading of 35.4%.

Today's economic data included the January personal income reading, which rose 0.4. January personal spending increased 0.2% and Core PCE prices for January. The ISM Index for February rose to 57.7 from an unrevised reading of 56.0 in January. Also, the Construction Spending report for January showed a 1.0% decrease and the prior month's reading was revised to +0.1% from -0.2%. Lastly, the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index, which was released earlier this morning, increased 5.8% to follow last week's 2.0% downtick.

Technology (XLK 53.09, +0.74 +1.41%) rode the strong session in the broader market to highs of its own dating back to September of 2000. Component Micron (MU 24.55, +1.11 +4.74%) performed the best today after a premarket upgrade of the stock to a 'Buy' rating at Goldman. The Financial XLF +2.85% sector out-performed all other S&P sectors today, followed by the XLE +2.00%, XLB +1.95%, XLI +1.69%, XLY +1.12%, IYZ +1.05%, XLV +1.00%, XLP +0.47%, XLRE -0.25%, XLU -0.89%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (897.10, +13.05 +1.48%) space, trading moved to new all-time highs today. Component Salesforce.com (CRM 83.81, +2.46 +3.02%) was among the better performing names today as the company reported better than expected Q4 results. Other names in the space which closed higher today included ATVI +4.45%, ADSK +3.05%, NTAP +2.82%, STX +2.68%, QRVO +2.65%, APH +2.41%, CTXS +2.31%, PAYX +2.26%, ADI +2.23%, TEL +2.23%, GLW +2.14%, AAPL +2.04%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Square (SQ 17.21, -0.11 -0.64%) upsized its latest offering by $50 million and priced $400 million of convertible senior notes due 2022.
In addition to reporting quarterly results, Palo Alto Networks' (PANW 115.21, -36.69 -24.15%) BoDs authorized a $500 million increase to the existing repurchase program. The company also announced the acquisition of LightCyber for $105 million in cash.

In addition to reporting quarterly revenues, Ambarella (AMBA 56.34, -2.61 -4.43%) approved a share repurchase plan of an aggregate of $75 million through June 30, 2017.

Twilio (TWLO 32.32, +0.60 +1.89%) appointed former Salesforce (CRM) COO George Hu as its COO.

Yelp (YELP 34.66, +0.96 +2.85%) acquired Nowait, a restaurant technology company with waitlist system and seating tool, for $40 million in cash and includes the partial stake which Yelp acquired previously.

Alphabet's (GOOG 835.24, +12.03 +1.46%) Youtube confirmed the launch of live TV (TV membership is only $35 a month).

NVIDIA (NVDA 102.79, +1.31 +1.29%) unveiled the latest Pascal architecture-based GPU, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, and GameWorks DX12, a collection of resources for game developers that will increase realism and shorten product cycles in titles designed using DirectX 12, Microsoft's API that unifies graphics and simulation.

Accenture (ACN 124.07, +1.57 +1.28%) acquired Davies Consulting. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Xerox (XRX 7.39, -0.05 -0.67%) announced plans to retire $300 million in debt. The company is targeting to exchange $300 million of existing debt for new debt.

Advanced Micro (AMD 14.95, +0.49 +3.42%) and Bethesda Softworks announce partnership.

Maxwell Tech (MXWL 5.28, +0.20 +3.94%) to acquire substantially all of the assets and business of Nesscap for $23.175 million.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Salesforce.com (CRM) reported better than expected Q4 earnings of $0.28 on revenues which rose about 26.8% compared to last year to $2.29 billion. For Q1, the company sees EPS and revenues below market expectations at $0.25-0.26 and $2.34-2.35 billion, respectively. For FY18, CRM sees EPS in-line at $1.27-1.29 on better than expected revenues in the range of $10.15-10.20 billion, from $10.10-10.15 billion.

Palo Alto Networks (PANW) reported better than expected Q2 EPS of $0.63 on worse than expected revenues and billings of $422.6 million and $561.6 million, respectively. For Q3, the company sees EPS and revenues below market expectations at $0.54-0.56 and $406-416 million, respectively.

Veeva Systems (VEEV 44.90, +1.21 +2.77%) reported worse than expected Q4 EPS of $0.15 on revenues which beat market expectations at $150.2 million. Further, the company guided Q1 EPS in-line with revenues ahead of expectations at $0.18 and $151-152 million, respectively. For FY18, VEEV sees EPS in-line and revenues above market expectations at $0.78-0.80 and $655-660 million, respectively.

Ambarella (AMBA) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.92 on revenues which also came in ahead of market expectations at $87.5 million. For Q1, the company sees revenues worse than expected at $62.5-64.5 million.

XO Group (XOXO 16.50, -1.93 -10.47%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.13 on in-line revenues which rose 7.6% versus last year to $41 million.

Maxwell Tech (MXWL) reported a worse than expected Q4 loss of $0.23 per share on better than expected revenues which fell about 47% compared to last year to $26.4 million. MXWL also sees Q1 EPS below market expectations at ($0.26)-($0.22) on in-line revenues of $25-27 million.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: BOX, AVGO, PMTS, PSTG, VEC/ACIW, KVHI, MEI, SFE

Analyst actions:

AMBA was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Dougherty,
MU was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman,
MRVL was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman;
PANW was downgraded at First Analysis Sec, JP Morgan, Robert W. Baird, William Blair, Morgan Stanley, Imperial Capital, UBS and Wunderlich,
INTC was downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Bernstein,
CRUS was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer,
WDAY was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Bernstein,
AVT was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman,
XOXO was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel,
JBL was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Standpoint Research;
PTC was initiated with a Buy at Seaport Global Securities

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - US Bombs, Jobs Report Bombs (Weekend Newsletter)

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

- US bombs, Jobs Report bombs, stock market hangs in its trends.
- SP500, DJ30, SOX testing 50 day EMA, NASDAQ holds its trend, while
RUTX/SP400 try to return to more bullish looks.
- Jobs report weak and weather is blamed as retail and construction drop.
- Steel stocks show signs of returning to the upside as did retail before
them.
- Market still sets up new patterns and they are breaking higher as well.

Friday you had your choice for breakfast, 59 Tomahawk missiles that bombed
Syria or a Jobs Report that bombed itself. Neither were good market
scenarios. Futures were lower as you would expect, but not horrid.

Overnight when news of the bombing broke, stock futures dove into the abyss,
more or less. They quickly recovered, however. It took a crappy jobs
report to send them back down ahead of the open. From there, however, a
steady recovery into early afternoon. That even took the market positive --
before it gave up the recovery and all but RUTX and SOX closed flat.

SP500 -1.95, -0.08%
NASDAQ -1.14, -0.02%
DJ30 -6.85%, -0.03%
SP400 -0.10%
RUTX 0.01%
SOX 0.47%

VOLUME: NYSE -6%, NASDAQ -10%

A/D: NYSE -1.1:1, NASDAQ slightly negative breadth.

All in all, considering the news, this was not bad action. Reason to sell
but no sellers. Meaning? SP500 and DJ30 continued holding support of the
50 day MA. NASDAQ is holding its position near the top of its range, using
the 20 day EMA as support. SOX did a good job of testing the 50 day MA late
week and bouncing.

The two black sheep, SP400 and RUTX, are attempting to rejoin the flock.
SP400 midcaps are in something of a 4+ month head and shoulders, but the
past 6 weeks look as if they are putting in an inverted head and shoulders.
RUTX is similar, though not quite as elegant perhaps as SP400.

Mind you Friday was no great shakes, but it avoided a selloff when it would
appear the market could have found plenty of reason to sell.

Jobs Report

Q1 ended with weak jobs, particularly from retail that saw another loss,
dropping 30K jobs. So much for the 'predictive' powers of the ADP report.
And it was supposedly redesigned a couple of years ago to more closely track
the BLS number. Sounds as if another iteration is needed.

Non-Farm Payrolls: 98K versus 175K expected versus 219K prior (from 235K)

Unemployment 4.5% versus 4.7% expected and 4.7% February

Hourly Wages: 0.2% versus 0.3% expected versus 0.3% February (from 0.2%)
Year/year: 2.7% versus 2.6%

Workweek: 34.3 versus 34.4 expected versus 34.3 prior (from 34.4)

Participation rate: 63.0% versus 63.0% February. 94.213M working aged
people are still outside the working class. Impressive number of
non-working working aged people. Retirees? Some brush off the number
saying they are just baby boomers. But with so many older people joining
the workforce the past 8 years to make ends meet there are many younger
workers who are out of the workforce, opting to draw upon the various
programs available to nonworkers versus take on one of the menial jobs this
economy is good at producing. Why have the hassle of a job you are
overqualified for when you can play video games and stay on social media all
day and get paid to do it? I know of people who are doing this and have
been doing this for quite some time. The old adage is as true as it ever
was: if you pay someone not to work, unless the options for working are VERY
good, the person won't work. We make it very easy for people to choose not
to work.

Where the jobs are and are not:

Retail: -30K, another sharp decline
Professional/Business services: +56K
Healthcare: +14K
Mining: +11K
Manufacturing: +11K (26K prior month)
Construction: +6K (down from 59K, 46K Feb and Jan)

Most are saying, given the construction numbers, that weather knocked down
the number. Plausible explanation, for the very weak report, but there is
no question the jobs numbers remain, despite Zandi's commentary that the
market is roaring, are not that powerful.

Interestingly, last week Trump penned an order sharply limiting the use (and
abuse) of H1-b visas. Tech companies, the ones screaming the loudest about
not enough qualified labor, have used the program to bring in tech workers
(exempted from any restrictions) and REPLACE US-born workers. Trump removed
that exemption for tech, requiring the people to meet the requirements for
all other areas. Now the tech titans will scream all the more. Hey, it
takes a lot of cheap labor to make your billions. Hmmm, WHERE in US history
have we seen imported free or low-cost labor used to prop up the wealthy
class? I believe that was pre-civil war . . .


THE MARKET

CHARTS

All of the large cap indices held the same relative position. It was the
SP400 and RUTX that may be altering their patterns in a more upside
direction, but at this point they are still not there. You have to keep an
open mind when looking at chart patterns. They do not always speak to you,
at least clearly, and in those situations you have to be patient and let
them work through the patterns, keeping an eye on how leaders are
performing.

SP400: Peaked to start March and has since worked in a range of lower highs
and lower lows, but as noted earlier, has the possibility of a 6 week
inverted head and shoulders setting up. Possibility. It has to show it.

SP500, DJ30: Still holding over the 50 day MA's in their 3 week tight
lateral ranges, holding that important support level.

NASDAQ: Just off the all-time highs bumped in March and last week.
Trending higher, still has tech, software, and chip support.

SOX: This is a promising result for the entire market. SOX trended up the
20 day EMA after bouncing off the 50 day EMA in December. It went ahead and
made the 50 day MA test, getting it out of the way, somewhat clearing the
decks for a new move higher. As with SP500, DJ30, a test of an important
level.

RUTX: You can trace out a potential inverted head and shoulders the past 5
weeks somewhat similar to SP400 pattern. A bit rougher but the same idea,
and if SP400 uses it to break higher, the odds are RUTX would follow.


LEADERSHIP

Recently the market showed new life in retail and oil. Some others are
attempting to join the continuing group of leaders.

Metals: Yes some of them are back. AKS, ZEUS, STLD are very interesting.

Semiconductors: Keep pulling winners out of the hat. QRVO broke higher
Friday. SWKS as well. SIMO still looks very good as does AMKR, BRKS, PLAB,
MU.

Retail: Some are taking a breather after a great move, others still look
good. PIR broke higher Friday on good volume. WSM is taking a breather as
is LL after blistering break higher.

Oil: Not a grand week, but working on the move. APC still setting up the
inverted head and shoulders. APA started back up last week. SWN still
looks very strong to move higher. HAL is even putting in something of a
bottom at the 200 day SMA.

Biotechs/Drugs: Some fell out of patterns but many did not. CNAT is
screaming upside again. INVA is setting up for another move higher as is
TTPH.

China: Some of these stocks are coming around again, e.g. CTRP, VIPS.

Financial: Noncommittal, trying to ascertain what the Fed comments re the
balance sheet reduction mean for rates. BAC, JPM, KEY look less than great.


MARKET STATS

DJ30
Stats: -6.85 points (-0.03%) to close at 20656.1

Nasdaq
Stats: -1.14 points (-0.02%) to close at 5877.81
Volume: 1.656B (-9.4%)

Up Volume: 784.91M (-305.09M)
Down Volume: 852.69M (+179.8M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.02 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.14 to 1

New Highs: 66 (+18)
New Lows: 41 (-24)

S&P
Stats: -1.95 points (-0.08%) to close at 2355.54
NYSE Volume: 752.7M (-5.59%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.12 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 3.14 to 1

New Highs: 72 (-20)
New Lows: 11 (-23)


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 12.87; +0.48
VXN: 13.49; +0.76
VXO: 11.66; +0.35

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.95; +0.05


Bulls and Bears: Bulls jumped back up to the higher end of the range after
a week of market doubt. When the market did not plunge farther off that
nasty Tuesday break lower a couple of weeks back, confidence stabilized.
Still cannot forget the 7 weeks over 60%, however, and that is still lurking
out there and is historically a market top indicator, just not a timing
indicator. Don't forget those 60+ readings in the equation.

Bulls: 55.8 versus 49.5. After a panic week, bulls rebound.

Bears: 18.3 versus 18.1. The bear rose as well but that means they were
more bearish, moving the opposite direction in terms of the view of the
market.

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: 55.8 versus 49.5
49.5 versus 56.7 versus 53.4 versus 57.7 versus 63.1 versus 61.2 versus 61.8
versus 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: 18.3 versus 18.1
18.1 versus 17.3 versus 13.75 versus 17.3 versus 16.5 versus 17.5 versus
17.6 versus 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): 2.37% versus 2.34%. Double bottom, inverted head and
shoulders, whatever, bonds look as if they want to break higher again near
term.

Historical: the last sub-2% rate was in November 2016 (1.867%). 2.34%
versus 2.33% versus 2.34% versus 2.33% versus 2.35% versus 2.40% versus
2.41% versus 2.382% versus 2.418% versus 2.376% versus 2.40% versus 2.41%
versus 2.40% versus 2.43% versus 2.463% versus 2.50% versus 2.529% versus
2.502% versus 2.602 versus 2.617% versus 2.58% versus 2.60% versus 2.55%
versus 2.51% versus 2.49% versus 2.48% versus 2.46% versus 2.260% versus
2.367% versus 2.31% versus 2.38% versus 2.42% versus 2.43% versus 2.42%
versus 2.45% versus 2.50% versus 2.473% versus 2.43% versus 2.41% versus
2.398% versus 2.340%


EUR/USD: 1.05906 versus 1.0645. Euro breaking lower from the lateral
consolidation at the 50 day MA.

Historical: 1.0645 versus 1.06760 versus 1.06804 versus 1.06702 versus
1.06584 versus 1.06855 versus 1.07546 versus 1.0815 versus 1.08640 versus
1.07894 versus 1.07670 versus 1.07920 versus 1.08117 versus 1.0748 versus
1.07395 versus 1.07710 versus 1.0732 versus 1.06070 versus 1.0636 versus
1.06746 versus 1.06746 versus 1.05384 versus 1.0566 versus 1.05764 versus
1.06266 versus 1.05214 versus 1.05327 versus 1.05710 versus 1.05877 versus
1.05616 versus 1.05830 versus 1.0557 versus 1.05474 versus 1.06108 versus
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


USD/JPY: 111.096 versus 110.85. Little double bottom at the 200 day SMA.

Historical: 110.85 versus 110.794 versus 110.705 versus 111.386 versus
111.255 versus 111.114 versus 110.581 versus 111.335 versus 111.242 versus
111.295 versus 111.502 versus 112.289 versus 112.707 versus 113.349 versus
113.447 versus 114.726 versus 114.833 versus 114.807 versus 115.259 versus
114.563 versus 113.498 versus 113.966 versus 114.042 versus 114.169 versus
113.951 versus 112.966 versus 223.982 versus 112.169 versus 112.745 versus
113.324 versus 113.399 versus 112.906 versus 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


Oil: 52.24, +0.54. Broke through the 50 day SMA and is trying to get back
to the 55ish level that has acted as resistance.

Gold: 1257.30, +4.00. Surged through the 200 day SMA Friday, but could not
hold that move. Reminiscent of late February when it tested the 200 day but
could not make the break.


MONDAY

US carrier battlegroup is steaming to North Korea, Russian warships steaming
to Syria, and who knows what more will transpire ahead of Monday. Similar
news Friday did not sink stocks. Didn't help them, but the sellers were not
selling.

SP500, DJ30, SOX are in good 50 day MA tests. NASDAQ is holding the 20 day
EMA. Could it be that SP400 and RUTX are forming up near term upside
patterns?

Some metals stocks, namely steel, are setting up new patterns, getting money
thrown at them. Retail, chips, drugs/biotechs still look solid. Oil is
trying to follow oil prices higher; perhaps those stocks will move if oil
breaks 55/bbl.

The point: there is leadership and some nascent new leadership trying to
form up. The indices are holding support, and those that broke just might
try to put in an upside pattern. As improbable as it would appear given the
Fed tightening and wanting to dump its balance sheet, the lack of tax and
healthcare reform, weaker Q1 economic activity, and a lot more international
intrigue, stocks are not selling and indeed appear as if they could move
higher. Again.

The Jobs Report stunk it up, again not acting as a catalyst up or down. The
market has not surged after those reports, but it has shown a slow build
upside with the leaders making the moves.

With that background we will continue looking at solid upside plays in solid
sectors. We have some really good ones to go for Monday, and if the
patterns in the market hold, there will be more of those as we have a pretty
good list from this weekend. Again, as improbable as the continuing move
may seem, it continues not to crack and to produce good upside patterns, and
importantly, breakouts.

Have a great weekend!


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 5877.81

Resistance:
5912
5928 is the March all-time high.

Support:
5800 from the February consolidation lows
The 50 day SMA at 5815
The 50 day EMA at 5795
The 2016 trendline at 5723
5661 is the late January upper gap point
5601 is the January lower gap point
The November prior all-time high at 5404
The 200 day SMA at 5395
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
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


S&P 500: Closed at 2355.54

Resistance:
2390 is the March interim recovery high
2401 is the all-time high

Support:
The 2016 trendline at 2371
The 50 day SMA at 2347
The 50 day EMA at 2341
2301 is the late January 2017 high
2282 - 2280 from January 2017
2277.53 is the December 2016 high
The 200 day SMA at 2222
The November 2016 all-time high at 2213.25
2194 is the August 2016 prior all-time high
2175 is the June 2016 high
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


Dow: Closed at 20,656.10

Resistance:
21,100 is the March interim recovery high
21,169 is the all-time high

Support:
The 50 day SMA at 20,604
The 50 day EMA at 20,535
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
19750 is the lows of the December/January range
The 200 day SMA at 19,192
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.

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:23 pm Closing Market Summary: Tech Stocks Rally on Monday (:WRAPX) :

The stock market opened the week on a positive note with the top-weighted technology (+0.9%) and financials (+0.5%) sectors pacing the advance. The S&P 500 (+0.2%) traded within a ten-point range, settling near its opening level after challenging its all-time closing high (2,395.96). Meanwhile, the Nasdaq (+0.7%) outperformed, ending the session convincingly higher, while the Dow (-0.1%) posted a small loss.

Investors received several headlines from the nation's capital on Monday. The first was news of an agreement between congressional leaders that, if approved, will keep the government funded through September. The deal, which puts fears of a government shutdown on hold, sent the S&P 500 into positive territory at the opening bell.

However, the next headline, which was a statement from President Trump, resulted in a small sell-off in the early-afternoon session. Mr. Trump said that he may favor breaking up the nation's biggest banks, which briefly sent the financial sector lower. However, stocks recovered shortly thereafter as the headline provided little new information; President Trump has mentioned reinstating Glass-Steagall prior to today's announcement.

Lastly, Mr. Trump said that he was open to raising the federal tax on gasoline in order to finance his infrastructure package. This news had a minimal impact on today's activities, however, it's worth noting as the Trump administration will likely continue playing with different tax ideas to supplement the president's tax reform package.

In the end, news from the nation's capital came and went, but the real driver behind today's victory was large-cap names like Apple (AAPL 146.60, +2.95), Amazon (AMZN 948.43, +23.44), Microsoft (MSFT 69.41, +0.95), Alphabet (GOOGL 932.82, +8.30), and Facebook (FB 152.46, +2.21). The five names settled with gains between 0.9% (Alphabet) and 2.5% (Amazon) and carried the top-weighted technology sector to the top of the day's leaderboard.

The heavily-weighted financial sector also played a big part in today's positive performance, pairing with the technology group to carry the broader market. The two sectors that comprise around 35.0% of the broader market watered-down the effects of bearish countercyclical groups like consumer staples (-0.5%), utilities (-0.7%), and telecom services (-0.8%).

Crude oil weighed on the energy sector (-0.2%), finishing its trading day 0.9% lower at $48.86/bbl. However, outside of real estate (+0.6%), the remaining sectors--industrials, consumer discretionary, materials, and health care--finished relatively flat, settling within 0.3% of their unchanged marks.

In the bond market, Treasuries settled lower across the board, however, selling pressure was not distributed equally across the yield curve. The 10-yr yield (2.32%) finished four basis points higher while the 2-yr yield (1.29%) added only two basis points.

It's worth noting that today's trading volume was relatively light. Market were closed across Europe and most of Asia in observance of Labor Day. 874.2 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor (50-day simple moving average: 1.09 billion).

On the data front, investors received several economic reports on Monday, including March Personal Income and Personal Spending, the April ISM Index, and March Construction Spending:

March personal income rose 0.2%, which is below the Briefing.com consensus of 0.3%. Meanwhile, March personal spending was unchanged (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%). February Personal Income was revised to 0.3% (from 0.4%) while February Personal Spending was revised to 0.0% (from 0.1%). Separately, PCE prices for March declined by 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus N/A) while Core PCE prices ticked down by 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus 0.0%).

The key takeaway from the report is that it showed a deceleration in both the PCE Price Index and the core PCE Price Index year-over-year. That will temper concerns about the Fed being behind the curve in fighting inflation and it will quiet concerns about the Fed needing to be more aggressive in tightening monetary policy than is currently projected.

The ISM Index for April declined to 54.8 from an unrevised reading of 57.2 in March while the Briefing.com consensus expected a downtick to 56.5.

The key takeaway from the report is that the manufacturing sector registered growth for the eighth consecutive month, albeit at a slower pace from recent months which featured the highest reading for the index in February (57.7) since August 2014.

The Construction Spending report for March showed a decrease of 0.2% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.4%. The prior month's reading was revised to 1.8% from 0.8%.

The key takeaway from the report is that the headline disappointment for March was more than offset by the upward revision to February, meaning the March miss wasn't a true miss.

Tomorrow, investors will not receive any economic reports, but April auto and truck sales will be released throughout the day.
Nasdaq Composite +13.2% YTD
S&P 500 +6.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +5.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +3.7% YTD

4:19 pm Advanced Micro reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q2 revs mostly above consensus (AMD) :
Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.04 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.04); revenues rose 18.3% year/year to $984 mln vs the $984.4 mln Capital IQ Consensus, driven by higher revenue in both the Computing and Graphics and Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom business segments. Revenue was down 11 percent sequentially, due primarily to seasonality in both segments. However, Computing and Graphics segment revenue decline was better than seasonal due to the initial sales from high performance Ryzen desktop processors.

Computing and Graphics segment revenue was $593 million, up 29 percent year-over-year and down 1 percent sequentially. The year-over-year increase was driven primarily by higher desktop and graphics processor sales. The sequential decrease was primarily due to a decrease in mobile and graphics processor sales largely offset by initial revenue from high performance Ryzen desktop processors.

Co issues guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs +14-20% Q/Q to ~$1.12-1.18 bln vs. $1.12 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:09 pm Advanced Energy beats by $0.08, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (AEIS) :
Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.04 per share, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.96; revenues rose 45.0% year/year to $149.35 mln vs the $147.86 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.00-1.10 vs. $0.97 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $150-160 mln vs. $147.31 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"Our financial performance this quarter continued to reach new highs, with increases in Semiconductor and Service revenues and a sizable rebound in Industrial applications," said Yuval Wasserman. In total, our business performed significantly better than last year's first quarter due to our operational leverage and robust business model."

4:06 pm Rudolph Tech beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (RTEC) :
Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.26 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.24; revenues rose 11.6% year/year to $60.7 mln vs the $58.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.28-0.34 vs. $0.33 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $63-68 mln vs. $66.80 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"This strong performance in the first quarter is a record start to the year for Rudolph and is a result of continued demand in advanced packaging and strong growth in leading-edge memory which grew 20% over the prior quarter. Our integrated process control solutions for both AP and front-end applications offer a compelling value to our customers by providing critical process data and software solutions that enable their engineers to rapidly quantify, characterize, and perform root cause analysis of critical defects. This translates to faster ramp rates for new devices, with higher quality levels and reduced manufacturing cost for our customers."

4:06 pm Integrated Device beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (IDTI) :
Reports Q4 (Mar) earnings of $0.35 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.34; revenues fell 7.2% year/year to $175.7 mln vs the $175.05 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Non-GAAP gross profit for 4Q17 was $106.1 million, or 60.4%, compared with non-GAAP gross profit of $108.7 million, or 61.6% last quarter, and $117.0 million, or 61.8%, reported in the same period one year ago.

Commentary: "During the first week of fiscal 2018, we closed our announced acquisition of GigPeak, a leading provider of high-performance optical interconnect solutions, which further accelerates our existing growth strategy. Entering the new fiscal year, IDT is strongly positioned and levered to multiple growth vectors that are tied to IDT's unique analog and mixed-signal expertise. We continue to see robust demand for our expanding product and technology portfolio, and with our ongoing focus on driving operational excellence, we look forward to delivering exceptional value to our shareholders in the coming year."

Monday closed a mixed affair as opening gains stretched in the Nasdaq and S&P, but a weaker final 30 minutes spelled losses for the Dow. That being said, the Nasdaq Composite performed the best today, adding a stout 44 points (+0.73%) to 6091.60. The S&P 500 gained 4.13 points (+0.17%) to 2388.33, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 27.05 points (-0.13%) to 20913.46.

On the data front, March personal income rose 0.2%, while March personal spending was unchanged. February Personal Income was revised to 0.3% (from 0.4%) while February Personal Spending was revised to 0.0% (from 0.1%). Separately, PCE prices for March declined by 0.2% while Core PCE prices ticked down by 0.1%. Also, the ISM Index for April declined to 54.8 from an unrevised reading of 57.2 in March. Lastly, the Construction Spending report for March showed a decrease of 0.2% while the prior month's reading was revised to 1.8% from 0.8%.

Leading all other S&P sectors on Monday, the Technology (XLK 54.79, +0.41 +0.75%) space finished the session just off highs. Component Autodesk (ADSK 91.98, +1.91 +2.12%) enjoyed some healthy gains following a premarket upgrade out of Morgan Stanley. Behind the Tech space, the remaining S&P sectors shook out as follows -- XLF +0.68%, XLRE +0.63%, XLV +0.21%, XLY +0.11%, XLB +0.06%, XLE -0.24%, XLI -0.30%, XLP -0.40%, IYZ -0.44%, XLU -0.60%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (936.19, +7.86 +0.85%) space, trading declined modestly at the close yet still finished Monday with solid gains. Component Harris (HRS 109.71, -2.18 -1.95%) was one of the worst performing names after Barclays took the name to Equal Weight. Other names in the space which outperformed with the sector included AMAT +2.68%, NVDA +2.24%, MU +2.24%, ADSK +2.12%, AAPL +2.05%, JNPR +1.76%, SYMC +1.55%, ADS +1.54%, FB +1.47%, MSFT +1.39%, ADBE +1.02%, CTXS +1.00%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
Twitter (TWTR 17.54, +1.06 +6.43%) shares were higher today in reaction to CEO Jack Dorsey disclosing a 574K share purchase after the market closed on Friday. Additionally, a WSJ story today suggested the company will partner with Bloomberg for a streaming news service.

Nintendo (NTDOY 31.65, -0.03 -0.09%) announced Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch system was the fastest-selling game in the Mario Kart series with more than 459,000 combined packaged and digital sales in the U.S. on launch day alone (April 28).

Jive Software (JIVE 5.27, +0.22 +4.46%) to be acquired by ESW Capital for $5.25 per share in cash.

Cognex (CGNX 85.63, +0.29 +0.34%) increased its quarterly dividend to $0.085 per share from $0.075 per share. The company also announced a new $100 million share repurchase program.

Motorola Solutions (MSI 86.16, +0.19 +0.22%) to acquire Kodiak Networks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Broadsoft (BSFT 35.20, -3.20 -8.33%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.19 on in-line revenues of $79.7 million. The company also guided Q2 EPS and revenues below market expectations at $0.20-0.32 and $84-88 million, respectively. BSFT reaffirmed FY17 EPS guidance of $2.20-2.50 and lowered revenue guidance to $380-390 million from $390-400 million.

Plantronics (PLT 57.24, +2.64 +4.84%) reported better than expected Q4 EPS of $0.81 on worse than expected revenues of $209.0 million. The company also guided Q1 EPS and revenues below market expectations at $0.70-0.80 and $211-221 million, respectively.

Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: AEIS, AMD, BLKB, CGNX, HLIT, INST, IDTI, IVAC, EGOV, RTEC, SBAC/CDK, EIGI, EXLS, FIS, IPGP, MA, SQNS, SHOP, VSM

Analyst actions:

FSLR was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse,
ADSK was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
PYPL was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at FBN Securities;
WDC was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies,
HRS and BAH were downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclay,
TYPE was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley & Co.,
SHOP was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Monness Crespi & Hardt,
EGHT was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair;
ELVT was initiated with a Buy at Stifel and an Outperform at William Blair

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:21 pm Closing Market Summary: Stock Market Ends Week at Record High (:WRAPX) :

The major averages wrapped up the range-bound week with modest Friday gains. The S&P 500 (+0.4%) and the Nasdaq (+0.4%) finished at new record highs while the Dow (+0.3%) settled just a step behind its peers. For the week, the S&P 500 added 0.6%.

Buyers had a slight edge from the jump after the Employment Situation Report for April showed better than expected nonfarm payrolls (211,000 actual vs 180,000 Briefing.com consensus) and lower than expected unemployment (4.4% actual vs 4.6% Briefing.com consensus). However, the Jobs report did have a few blemishes. Namely, the labor force participation rate dipped to 62.9% from 63.0% and average hourly earnings decelerated on a year-over-year basis (to 2.5% from 2.6%).

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York revised its second quarter GDP forecast to +1.8% from last week's +2.3% following today's data. However, investors in the bond market lacked conviction to push Treasuries one way or the other. The benchmark 10-yr yield (2.35%) settled at its unchanged mark.

Crude oil registered a much needed bounce-back performance on Friday, jumping 1.5% to $46.23/bbl. However, the positive showing only put a dent into the 8.0% week-to-date loss that the commodity brought into Friday's session. WTI crude faced multiple challenges this week, including persistently high U.S. inventories, weak economic data from China, and deteriorating technical support. Nonetheless, the energy sector appreciated the late-week rally, adding 1.6%.

The lightly-weighted telecom services (+1.5%) and materials (+1.4%) sectors closed in line with the energy space at the top of the day's leaderboard. Like energy, the materials group received some support from the commodity market with copper ($2.53/lb, +0.8%) finishing solidly higher after dropping 5.7% over the three previous sessions. Gold (1,226.90/ozt, -0.1%) and silver ($16.28/ozt, -0.1%) closed just below their flat lines, however, in light of their respective weekly losses of 3.3% and 5.7%, the slight downtick was a positive.

Retailers helped push the consumer discretionary sector (+0.6%) ahead of the benchmark index, evidenced by the 1.5% increase in the SPDR S&P 500 Retail ETF (XRT 43.39, +0.62). The industrial group (+0.6%) also settled ahead of the broader market with aerospace and defense names providing a pocket of strength. The real estate (+0.8%), utilities (+0.6%), consumer staples (+0.3%), and technology (+0.3%) spaces also finished in the green.

On the flip side, the influential financials (-0.1%) and health care (-0.1%) sectors ended Friday's session a tick below their flat lines. Biotech names weighed on the health care sector with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 295.87, -2.58) losing 0.9%. The financial space experienced broad weakness with most of its largest components settling in the red.

In Europe, the major bourses finished higher across the board with France's CAC (+1.1%) leading the advance. The positive performance precedes the French presidential run-off, which will take place on Sunday. The latest polls give Emmanuel Macron a healthy 62-38 advantage over Marine Le Pen. This has been construed as a positive for equity markets in light of Ms. Le Pen's anti-EU rhetoric. Germany's DAX and the UK's FTSE settled higher by 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively.

The U.S. Dollar Index (98.44, -0.17) slipped 0.2% as the greenback lost 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively, against the euro (1.0994) and the pound (1.2978).

In addition to the Employment Situation Report, investors received the March Consumer Credit report on Friday:

The April Jobs Report showed that nonfarm payrolls hit 211,000 (Briefing.com consensus 180,000), nonfarm private payrolls added 194,000 (Briefing.com consensus 175,000), the unemployment rate fell to 4.4% (Briefing.com consensus 4.6%), average hourly earnings increased 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%), and the average work week was 34.4 (Briefing.com consensus 34.4).
The key takeaway from the report for us is that there were some elements that left it a little out of sync with the view that the economy is poised to hit, and sustain, escape velocity. The asynchrony we are referring to is the drop in the labor force participation rate and the deceleration in average hourly earnings growth on a year-over-year basis. The former dipped to 62.9% from 63.0% while the latter slipped to 2.5% from 2.6%. Friday's last economic report--March Consumer Credit (Briefing.com consensus $16.0 billion)--will cross the wires at 15:00 ET.
The Consumer Credit report for March showed an increase of $16.4 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected growth of $16.0 billion. The prior month's credit growth was revised to $13.8 billion from $15.2 billion.
Consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.25% during the first quarter (and 5.25% in March), with revolving credit little changed and nonrevolving credit increasing at an annual rate of 5.75%.

Investors will not receive any economic data on Monday.
Nasdaq Composite +13.3% YTD
S&P 500 +7.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.9% YTD

Week In Review: Flat & Happy

The S&P 500 opened the week by eking out back-to-back wins. Monday's marginal victory was fueled by the top-weighted technology and financials sectors while Tuesday's uptick took place despite the lack of sector leadership and crude oil's 2.5% decline. On the political front, Congress reached an agreement to keep the government funded through September while President Trump reiterated that he might like to break up the nation's biggest banks.

On Wednesday, the benchmark index registered its first, and only, loss of the week (-0.1%) after Apple (AAPL) reported lower than expected iPhone unit sales. However, the tech giant's upbeat earnings kept losses in check. The FOMC voted to leave the fed funds target range unchanged at 0.75%-1.00%, as expected, with the accompanying policy statement providing little to no new information.

The House of Representatives passed the revised American Health Care Act on Thursday, a big victory for the GOP. However, the bill will face heavy resistance in the Senate, where it can only afford to lose two Republican votes. Crude oil also made headlines, plunging 4.7% to a five-month low near $45.50/bbl. The tumble was credited to a string of disappointing inventory reports, some weak data out of China, and the deteriorating technical picture for the commodity. The S&P 500 added 0.1%.

Buyers were intrigued by Friday's better than expected Employment Situation Report for April, however, gains were capped once again ahead of the final round of the French presidential election, which will take place on Sunday. Polls suggest that Emmanuel Macron will easily defeat his rival Marine Le Pen, which has been construed as a positive for global equity markets given Ms. Le Pen's anti-EU rhetoric. France's CAC ended the week at its highest level in over ten years.

In the end, despite the range-bound action, this week will be remembered as a happy one with the S&P 500 advancing for the fourth week in a row, adding 0.6%. The fed funds futures market still points to the June FOMC meeting as the most likely time for the next rate-hike announcement with an implied probability of 83.1%, up from last week's 66.6%.
Tech Stocks from Briefing.com

The broader market ended Friday on a high note with all three major US indices hitting highs at the bell. The Nasdaq Composite led all others, up 25.42 (+0.42%) to 6100.76. The S&P 500 added 9.77 points (+0.41%) to 2399.29, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 55.47 points (+0.26%) to 21006.94. This week's moves take the three major US indices to +13.3%, +7.2% and +6.3% YTD, respectively.

The Technology (XLK 54.97, +0.20 +0.37%) space also ended at highs. Component IBM (IBM 155.03, -4.02 -2.53%) was weak today after it was reported that Warren Buffett sold a portion of his stake in the company. Other sectors as measured by the S&P closed XLE +1.58%, IYZ +1.53%, XLB +1.42%, XLRE +0.79%, XLY +0.62%, XLU +0.54%, XLI +0.51%, XLP +0.27%, XLV -0.05%, XLF -0.17%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (940.98, +2.93 +0.31%) space, trading rebounded off morning weakness to end at highs. Component Cognizant Tech (CTSH 63.22, +2.47 +4.07%) was the best performer today after the company reported better than expected Q1 earnings and guided Q2 earnings ahead of market expectations. Other names in the space which closed higher today included STX +2.28%, XRX +2.02%, WDC +1.74%, FFIV +1.70%, AAPL +1.65%, MU +1.48%, ATVI +1.37%, AVGO +1.37%, TDC +1.20%, CTXS +1.07%, EA +1.03%, NTAP +0.98%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
According to reports, activist investor Warren Buffett sold about 30% of his stake in IBM (IBM). Sales occurred mostly in Q1.

Cisco Systems (CSCO 34.39, +0.21 +0.61%) said the ITC ruled that Arista (ANET 144.64, +4.44 +3.17%) switches infringe on two additional CSCO patents.

Verizon (VZ 46.69, +0.81 +1.77%) issued a statement, stated it no longer expects to be able to achieve an upgrade to its pre-Vodafone credit rating by the 2018-2019 timeframe.

GoDaddy (GDDY 38.90, +0.03 +0.08%) priced its offering of shares of Class A common stock at a price to the public of $38.50 per share.

HubSpot (HUBS 70.70, +0.50 +0.71%) priced $350 million aggregate principal Convertible Senior Notes due 2022 to institutional buyers; size of the transaction was increased from previous amount of $300 million.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Activision Blizzard (ATVI 53.83, +0.73 +1.37%) reported Q1 EPS of $0.56 on revenues of $1.2 billion.

Cognizant Tech (CTSH) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.84 on in-line revenues of $3.55 billion. For Q2, CTSH sees EPS ahead of market expectations of at least $0.89 and in-line revenues between $3.63-3.68 billion. For FY17, CTSH guided EPS and revenues ahead of expectations at at least $3.64 and $14.56-14.84 billion, respectively.

Motorola Solutions (MSI 84.44, -1.66 -1.93%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.71 and $1.28 billion, respectively. For Q2, the company sees EPS below market expectations at $0.98-1.03, but revenues ahead of market expectations on growth of +2-3% which equates to about $1.458-1.472 billion. For FY17, the company sees EPS in-line between $5.08-5.23 (from $5.05-5.20) on better than expected revenues on growth of +2% (from +1-2%).

Arista Networks (ANET) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.93 and $335.48 million, respectively. For Q2, the company sees revenues ahead of market expectations at $354-364 million.

LogMeIn (LOGM 120.95, +8.20 +7.27%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.85 and $201.1 million, respectively. For Q2, the company sees EPS and revenues ahead of market expectations at $0.92-0.94 and $264-266 million, respectively. For FY17, the company sees EPS and revenues ahead of market expectations at $3.80-3.92 and $1.004-1.014 billion, respectively.

Universal Display (OLED 111.30, +21.45 +23.87%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS and revenues of $0.22 and $55.6 million, respectively. For FY17, OLED sees revenues ahead of market expectations at $260-280 million.

Zynga (ZNGA 3.20, +0.36 +12.68%) reported a Q1 loss per share of $0.01 on better than expected revenues of $194.3 million. The company sees Q2 revenues in-line at $200 million.
Companies scheduled to report quarterly results Monday morning: FDC, NSSC, NOVT, TSEM

Analyst actions:

LITE was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays,
VIAV was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies,
QTWO was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BTIG Research,
WEB was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Cantor Fitzgerald,
ZNGA was upgrade to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill,
OLED was upgraded to Buy at Cross Research,
CACI was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Noble Financial;
AKAM was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird,
MMS was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies,
BCOV was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley & Co.,
MB was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at Pacific Crest,
IDSY was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth Capital;
SNAP was initiated with a Buy at Cleveland Research

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - Retail Sales Are Decent, But Decent Only (Weekend Newsletter)

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

- Friday a microcosm of the recent action.
- NASDAQ, SOX lead higher while the NSYE indices continue to test.
- Same group of leaders into the weekend.
- CPI cooler but inflation is not in the prices.
- Retail sales are decent, but decent only.
- Move remains narrow but the market is throwing you winners.

Friday another off session for most of the market -- nothing new for the
NYSE indices, but for NASDAQ and SOX, it would be. Only, it wasn't. Both
NASDAQ and SOX managed gains, modest, but still gains. Apparently, when in
doubt, go for the status quo leaders: some FAANG (AAPL, AMZN, NFLX), some
chips (AVGO, MXL, NVDA), China (BITA, BABA, VIPS, YNDX), and a mix of
miscellaneous stocks (SSYS, SPLK, ZBRA).

Thus, while the overall market was again flat, there were again leaders.
That of course leads to questions about the market's ability to further
generate further upside, and indeed, it has lacked a major break higher --
if you discount NASDAQ and SOX. Both of those broke to higher highs of
late, and that is where the leaders are coming from.

SP500 -3.54, -0.15%
NASDAQ 5.27, 0.09%
DJ30 -22.81, -0.11%
SP400 -0.48%
RUTX -0.53%
SOX 0.27%

VOLUME: NYSE -11%, NASDAQ -11%. Dipping back below average after a very
nice string of above average volume, at least on NASDAQ's rise. NYSE trade
is lower on its lateral move, also better price/volume action.

A/D: NYSE -1.3:1, NASDAQ +1.4:1. Flat as you would expect.


So, no change, just the same leaders moving higher, the same indices moving
higher (kind of), and the same indices not going anywhere. Still in
position to move, but not finding any reason to do so.

Even so, when the market is down early, its tendency is to move back to the
upside. Did it Wednesday, Thursday, and indeed Friday, though Friday was
all over the map before it recovered.

Okay, so it finds the upside bias thanks to a group of leaders, it just
still cannot find reason enough to capitalize on some good NYSE index
pullbacks. Keep looking for NASDAQ and SOX to pull them up, still not
happening yet.


NEWS/ECONOMY

Not necessarily an easy task with the economic data coming in, though the
Friday data was a bit better though still passable.

Retail Sales grow, but at a 2017 low.

Retail Sales, April: 0.4% versus 0.6% expected versus 0.1% prior
(from -0.3%). 4.5% year/year growth.

Control Group: 0.2% versus 0.4% expected versus 0.7% prior (from 0.5%).

Some upside revisions helped paper over some rather disappointing April
numbers. Retail sales are yes still growing, but this no consumption
renaissance. Sales were at the 2017 low. JCP, JWN same store sales
plunged. Plunged. Department stores are in a sad death spiral. Hardly the
stuff of legendary months.


CPI heads the opposite way of PPI

CPI: 0.2% versus 0.2% expected versus -0.3% prior. 2.2% year/year versus
2.4%

Core: 0.1% versus 0.2% versus -0.1% prior. 1.9% year/year. This after 18
consecutive months over 2.0%, falling to a 19 month low.

So much for a stagflation argument -- this month. Thus far no pressure
pushing over from the PPI, and to be fair, often it does not cross over as
sellers try to absorb costs to avoid losing customers.

Ah, but that is kind of a lie isn't it? While they may not be raising
prices, they are 'getting even' in other ways. Have you noticed the
so-called silent inflation? You pay the same amount for an item to but the
package is slightly smaller or perhaps the same size but less contents? I
have noticed some manufactured products, while the same size, are 25% to 30%
lighter, using less steel to fabricate the same item. The thickness is
lessened, thus allowing for less material used. Of course it costs the SAME
as before, just made of less material. THAT is how manufacturers 'absorb'
the higher costs -- by passing them along to the consumer in a way other
than an overt price hike.

A similar inflation technique was used in the time of European kings and
monarchies: 'sweating' coins, i.e. putting coins in a leather bag and
violent shaking them to flake off gold from the coins, then collecting the
gold flakes and dust. The coin, after several sweating sessions, was well
short of the original amount of gold used to mint it.

So, yes, consumer inflation may appear low or lower, but it is all around
you, just not in the traditional price sense. So, once again we reveal that
the government numbers, the data painstakingly put together by the
professionals in the multitudinous government agencies is really not all
that helpful. Not knocking the job those people are doing, but I am
wondering why we are paying so many to put out data that does not accurately
measure what we are all experiencing. And believe me, those jobs will be
there long after all of the private sector jobs are burned away by events
such as the financial crisis and the 'recovery' we experienced the past 10
years. How on earth could the US have experienced such a great recovery as
we were told and still be losing more businesses per year than created? Of
course it cannot. Again, it is just numbers manipulated to make everyone
feel better.


THE MARKET

CHARTS

SOX: Modest gain but nonetheless continuing the Wednesday gap to a new
post-2000 high. The chips continue as one of the best leadership groups,
rallying again after a bit of volatility during the late April/early March
lateral move.

NASDAQ: NASDAQ gained modestly Friday, continuing the move up the 10 day
EMA after its breakout to a new high in late April. NASDAQ has slowed its
ascent, but the move remains as the same leadership stocks continue to show
gains as noted at the first of the report. FAANG and friends still
garnering the bids.

SP500: Lower Friday, still fading from the high set just a week before.
SP500 gapped and rallied higher in late April, consolidated, rallied
modestly higher, and is not consolidating again, holding near the 10 day
EMA. Still in excellent position to make a new break higher. Still of
course waiting for that to happen. Friday C looked better; perhaps it can
lead a group of financials and thus help the SP500 make a breakout.

DJ30: Tight doji Friday at the 20 day EMA as the Dow tests back from its 2
week lateral consolidation. This perhaps is the shakeout that finally
launches DJ30 higher out of its three month consolidation.

SP400: The midcaps struggled to close the week after looking so good
Wednesday as they attempted a break higher. Once again that failed, and
they are at the 50 day MA's. Possibly a double bottom at that level that is
also at the 50% Fibonacci retracement of the April rally. Okay, the midcaps
tried an inverted head and shoulders that didn't pan out. put in a double
bottom that broke higher, and now are testing that move with another double
bottom.

RUTX: Same action as the midcaps, fading the hew high the past 2+ weeks,
falling to the 50 day MA's and 50% Fibonacci retracement Friday. That makes
for a small double bottom similar to SP400 and now we see if RUTX can make a
new upside break.


LEADERSHIP

Chips: AVGO breaking sharply higher. MXL ditto. Many quality stocks here
looking very good.

China: Another group that was strong, got a bit shaky, and now is looking
mostly good. BITA, VIPS, YNDX, SINA. SOHU is kind of the monkey in the
wrench, and NTES failed to hold an initial nice move on earnings.

FAANG: FB is in good shape to move and we are putting on a new play. AMZN,
AAPL, NFLX all moved well Friday and indeed on the week. GOOG was resting
with a nice 1-2-3 pullback to the end of the week.

Internet: Saw some rocks to end the week. LLNW surged Thursday but purged
to the 10 day EMA Friday. BCOR is still fine. GOOG looks good. VIPS up
big all week.

Machinery: Weaker to end the week but not bad at all with good test that
might set up good buys, e.g. CAT, CMI.

Oil stocks: Still setting up some decent patterns. HFC looks very good for
us. GPOR is set up well. JONE is slipping. BTE, however, is setting up
well.


Retail: Still Anti-leadership as JCP dove lower, JWN down even harder. M
still falling. For the non-department stores, WMT is testing a nice move,
AMZN is still moving up. Eateries are testing nicely, e.g. WEN, SONC.



MARKET STATS

DJ30
Stats: -22.81 points (-0.11%) to close at 20896.61

Nasdaq
Stats: +5.27 points (+0.09%) to close at 6121.23
Volume: 1.74B (-11.22%)

Up Volume: 806.58M (-16.83M)
Down Volume: 907.31M (-202.69M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.38 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.73 to 1

New Highs: 118 (-3)
New Lows: 76 (+14)

S&P
Stats: -3.54 points (-0.15%) to close at 2390.9
NYSE Volume: 768.9M (-10.7%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 1.28 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.61 to 1

New Highs: 74 (-9)
New Lows: 41 (-2)


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 10.4; -0.2
VXN: 12.3; -0.46
VXO: 9.56; -0.35

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.85; -0.06


Bulls and Bears: Despite the negativity, bulls rose and bears fell. Again,
still near that 60 level that has launched selloffs in the past, and there
is that string of 60+ closes still hanging over this rally. A return to 60+
would have us looking at a possible end to the upside after SP500, DJ30
break higher from their current pullbacks. Of course, with the rallying
bulls it could be that they don't breakout.

Bulls: 58.7 versus 58.5

Bears: 17.3 versus 17.9

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: 58.7 versus 58.5
58.5 versus 54.7 versus 51.9 versus 56.3 versus 55.8 versus 49.5 versus 56.7
versus 53.4 versus 57.7 versus 63.1 versus 61.2 versus 61.8 versus 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

Bears: 17.3 versus 17.9
17.9 versus 17.9 versus 18.3 versus 17.5 versus 18.3 versus 18.1 versus 17.3
versus 13.75 versus 17.3 versus 16.5 versus 17.5 versus 17.6 versus 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


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds (10 year): 2.34% versus 2.393%. Bonds certainly rallied Friday after
trending lower all week. Gapped higher and moved back through the 50 day
MA's.

Historical: the last sub-2% rate was in November 2016 (1.867%). 2.393%
versus 2.401% versus 2.394% versus 2.381% versus 2.354% versus 2.322% versus
2.289% versus 2.322% versus 2.30% versus 2.31% versus 2.33% versus 2.275%
versus 2.236% versus 2.234% versus 2.21% versus 2.15% versus 2.248% versus
2.232% versus 2.264% versus 2.30% versus 2.36% versus 2.37% versus 2.34%
versus 2.33% versus 2.34% versus 2.33% versus 2.35% versus 2.40% versus
2.41% versus 2.382% versus 2.418% versus 2.376% versus 2.40% versus 2.41%
versus 2.40% versus 2.43% versus 2.463% versus 2.50% versus 2.529% versus
2.502% versus 2.602


EUR/USD: 1.09328 versus 1.08665. Euro makes a big jump higher off the 20
day EMA test. Still ready to continue the break higher.

Historical: 1.08655 versus 1.08671 versus 1.08843 versus 1.09286 versus
1.09994 versus 1.09086 versus 1.08923 versus 1.09284 versus 1.090984 versus
1.08987 versus 1.08691 versus 1.09093 versus 1.09358 versus 1.08449 versus
1.07255 versus 1.07255 versus 1.07188 versus 1.0717 versus 1.07304 versus
1.06431 versus 1.06138 versus 1.0671 versus 1.06068 versus 1.05984 versus
1.05906 versus 1.0645 versus 1.06760 versus 1.06804 versus 1.06702 versus
1.06584 versus 1.06855 versus 1.07546 versus 1.0815 versus 1.08640 versus
1.07894 versus 1.07670 versus 1.07920 versus 1.08117 versus 1.0748 versus
1.07395 versus 1.07710 versus 1.0732 versus 1.06070 versus 1.0636 versus
1.06746 versus 1.06746 versus 1.05384 versus 1.0566 versus 1.05764 versus
1.06266 versus 1.05214


USD/JPY: 113.349 versus 113.759. Modest test of the 10 day EMA after the
nice run higher.

Historical: 113.759 versus 114.263 versus 113.771 versus 113.217 versus
112.683 versus 112.495 versus 112.782 versus 112.779 versus 111.793 versus
111.524 versus 111.197 versus 111. 177 versus 111.234 versus 109.704 versus
110.022 versus 109.00 versus 109.357 versus 108.974 versus 108.525 versus
109.150 versus 109.170 versus 108.926 versus 109.691 versus 110.704 versus
111.096 versus 110.85 versus 110.794 versus 110.705 versus 111.386 versus
111.255 versus 111.114 versus 110.581 versus 111.335 versus 111.242 versus
111.295 versus 111.502 versus 112.289 versus 112.707 versus 113.349 versus
113.447 versus 114.726 versus 114.833 versus 114.807 versus 115.259 versus
114.563 versus 113.498 versus 113.966 versus 114.042 versus 114.169 versus
113.951 versus 112.966 versus 223.982 versus 112.169 versus 112.745 versus
113.324 versus 113.399 versus 112.906 versus 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


Oil: 47.84, +0.01. Up on the week though flat Friday, sitting right at the
March lows. Some resistance is there.


Gold: 1227.70, +3.50. Modest bounce Thursday and Friday toward a 10 day
EMA test. Gold still under pressure.


MONDAY

Empire manufacturing Monday. Housing starts, Industrial production and
Capacity Tuesday. Philly Fed to end the week. A bit lighter on the
economic data front. Even earnings are winding on down.

Looks as if the market will be more or less on its own as the NYSE indices
try to follow the path of NASDAQ and SOX, i.e. to higher highs and actually
make them stick.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, there are still a lot of good
setups out there, a lot of good leaders, at least the stocks we are
following and playing. There are of course many out there doing nowhere,
but there is potential for more to follow as this consolidation is allowing
more stocks to carve out good patterns. Oil stocks, for example, are trying
to make a new move to the upside. Machinery is setting up to rally again
just as chips and China stocks after they suffered a hiatus and some
volatility.

With plenty to choose from we will continue playing the stocks that are
making moves with the trend. Of course with the NYSE indices again in a
lateral to lower consolidation there is a lot of negativity about the
market's future. As noted last week, that type of sentiment is a positive
for the upside. I recall Tepper being nervous and the market bottoming and
surging. Gundlach is shorting. We will see. I will say when Tepper made
his comments NASDAQ was not punching out new highs.

Now don't get me wrong. Gundlach is very smart and may be right. The thing
is, the market is not showing it yet. Sure leadership is narrower than you
like, but it is also trying to expand some. Yes the stocks moving higher
are a limited group, but they are solid stocks and the indices are not
flopping. That said, this is no broad, lift all boats kind of move. So, we
play the upside because it is paying off, but you always watch for failed
breakouts, good moves that reverse, etc. as a normal course of watching the
market, even more so when leadership is a bit narrow.

Some great plays from a wide swath of sectors. Somewhat belies the
narrowness argument, but it is true the move upside is narrower than not.
Okay, so we play the stocks that are moving.

Have a great weekend!


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 6121.23

Resistance:

Support:
The 10 day EMA at 6092
5937 is the all-time high from April, hit intraday
The 50 day EMA at 5937
The 50 day SMA at 5930
The 2016 trendline at 5835
5800 from the February consolidation lows
5661 is the late January upper gap point
5601 is the January lower gap point
The 200 day SMA at 5521
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
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


S&P 500: Closed at 2390.99

Resistance:
The 2016 trendline at 2419
2401 is the March 2017 all-time high

Support:
The 50 day SMA at 2368
The 50 day EMA at 2364
2329 is the March and April twin lows
2322 is the March 2017 low
2319 is the 78% Fibonacci retracement
2301 is the late January 2017 high
2298 is the late January 2017 high
2282 - 2280 from January 2017
2277.53 is the December 2016 high
The 200 day SMA at 2252
The November 2016 all-time high at 2213.25
2194 is the August 2016 prior all-time high
2175 is the June 2016 high
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


Dow: Closed at 20,896.61

Resistance:
21,169 is the March 2017 all-time high

Support:
The 50 day SMA at 20,787
The 50 day EMA at 20,724
20,412 is the March 2017 low
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
19750 is the lows of the December/January range
The 200 day SMA at 19,510
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.

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From Briefing.com: 4:27 pm Closing Market Summary: Equities End the Week on a Positive Note (:WRAPX) :

After posting its worst one-day loss in eight months on Wednesday (-1.8%), the stock market ended the week with two bounce-back performances that left the S&P 500 with just a modest loss for the week (-0.4%). The benchmark index challenged its flat line for the week at the peak of Friday's slow and steady climb, but couldn't hold its session high into the closing bell. The major averages settled in the middle of the day's trading range with the S&P 500 and the Dow adding 0.7% apiece. The Nasdaq (+0.5%) settled just a tick below its peers.

Thursday's positive sentiment lingered in the stock market on Friday morning, granting the major averages modest gains at the opening bell. From there, the industrials (+1.4%), energy (+1.2%), and financials (+0.8%) groups led the stock market in a slow and steady climb. The industrial sector rallied around Deere's (DE 120.90, +8.23) stronger than expected earnings and upbeat guidance. DE shares jumped 7.3% while peer Caterpillar (CAT 102.43, +2.21) also profited from the positive sentiment, adding 2.2%.

Crude oil underpinned the energy sector's positive performance, jumping 2.0% to $50.33/bbl, after reports that an OPEC panel is considering the possibility of not only extending its deal to cut oil production, which Russia and Saudi Arabia spoke in favor of earlier in the week, but also increasing the size of the production cut. For the week, the energy component added 5.2%.

The financial sector held strong into the final hour of action but lost some of its vigor following a Washington Post report that claims a White House official is a person of interest in the investigation on Russia's influence in the U.S. presidential election. The broader market was in the midst of challenging last Friday's closing level before the report was released, but ticked down with the financial sector in the aftermath.

All eleven sectors ended the day in the green, but some groups showed relative weakness with the top-weighted technology sector (+0.5%) being the most notable laggard. The tech group failed to capitalize on chipmakers' relatively upbeat performance, evidenced by the 1.1% increase in the PHLX Semiconductor Index, as mega-cap names like Apple (AAPL 153.06, +0.52) and Microsoft (MSFT 67.69, -0.02) weighed. Salesforce.com (CRM 87.40, -0.35) also underperformed despite beating top and bottom line estimates.

In the currency market, the euro (1.1202) added 0.9% against the U.S. dollar after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said late on Thursday that the eurozone crisis is now in the past and that the recovery was resilient and increasingly broad-based. The euro/dollar pair settled at a seven-month high while the U.S. Dollar Index (97.03, -0.74) finished at its lowest level since early November.

U.S. Treasuries saw some selling pressure amid the stock market's rebound performance, leaving the benchmark 10-yr yield one basis point higher at 2.23%. However, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 12.18, -2.48, -16.9%) better captured the day's risk-on tone, dropping over two points.

Investors did not receive any economic data on Friday. Monday's economic calendar is also blank.
Nasdaq Composite +13.0% YTD
S&P 500 +6.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +5.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.8% YTD

Week In Review: Buy the Dip

After opening the week with a record-high close, equities took a hit in the midweek session after an article in the New York Times highlighted a potential obstruction of justice move by President Trump. However, the bulk of Wednesday's loss was retraced in the second half of the week as a 'buy the dip' mentality set in. The S&P 500 ended the week lower by 0.4%.

Crude oil was a focal point on Monday, jumping 2.1% to $48.86/bbl, on news that the world's top two oil producers--Saudi Arabia and Russia--are in favor of extending the original OPEC/non-OPEC supply cut agreement, which is currently scheduled to end in June, by another nine months. The commodity's positive performance helped the benchmark index climb 0.5% to a fresh all-time high.

The major averages ended the second session of the week little changed, but a solid performance from mega-cap names like Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) pushed the Nasdaq to another record high. Led by NVIDIA (NVDA), chipmakers also underpinned the tech-heavy Nasdaq with the PHLX Semiconductor Index adding 1.5% for the second day in a row.

On Wednesday, equities suffered their worst one-day decline since September following a New York Times article that claimed President Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to shut down the Bureau's investigation of former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. If true, some legal experts believe the alleged incident would qualify as obstruction of justice, which is an impeachable offense.

The allegation forced Wall Street to come to a quick realization that President Trump's pro-growth agenda items (i.e. tax reform, deregulation, and infrastructure spending) might not come to fruition as quickly as envisioned or perhaps not at all. The S&P 500 settled Wednesday's session with a loss of 1.8%. However, the bearish sentiment didn't last long as investors 'bought the dip' on Thursday.

Underpinned by the semiconductor and biotechnology industries, the S&P 500 advanced 0.4% on Thursday in the face of a Reuters report that the Trump campaign might have had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties leading up to, and after, the U.S. presidential election. The potentially concerning report helped keep the S&P 500 below its 50-day simple moving average, but the key technical level was no match for the bulls on Friday.

The major U.S. indices ended the week on a positive note with the S&P 500 adding 0.7%. The Friday session had a risk-on feel to it with cyclical sectors showing relative strength, Treasuries ticking down, and the CBOE Volatility Index (:VIX) dropping over two points. Crude oil came back into focus once again, jumping 2.0% to $50.33/bbl, following reports that top oil producers will consider increasing the size of the OPEC/non-OPEC production cut when they meet on May 25.

The fed funds futures market still points to the June FOMC meeting as the most likely time for the next rate-hike announcement with an implied probability of 78.5%, unchanged from last week's 78.5%.
Tech Stocks from Briefing.com

Technology stocks rebounded along with the broader market for the second straight day. Wednesday's sell-off and a pullback late in today's session came as President Trump's many miss-steps cast some uncertainty over his mostly bullish agenda.

The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) closed up 0.4% and is less than 2% away from its all-time closing high.

Semiconductors (SMH +1.2%) led the Nasdaq higher after Applied Materials (AMAT +0.4%) gave a strong outlook yesterday afternoon. The semiconductor equipment company reported solid second quarter results and guided third quarter results well above analyst estimates. Applied Materials guided industry spend above estimates for this year and next, citing strong demand for memory, DRAM, logic and display. Semiconductors have lead the Nasdaq higher along with mega cap tech stocks so far this year -- the SMH and QQQ are both up ~17% year-to-date.

Semiconductors continue to do well as demand for digital-everything is at all-time highs. The group may remain strong ahead of the highly-anticipated iPhone 8 launch from Apple (AAPL) this fall.

AutoDesk (ADSK) surged to a new all-time high after the company reported better than expected first quarter results. The company provides AutoCAD (computer-aided design) software. RBC and BofA/Merrill upgraded the stock this morning.

Next week, video game maker Take Two (TTWO) will report first quarter result on Tuesday morning. HP (HPQ) and NetApp (NTAP) will report on Wednesday and Brocade (BRCD), Marvell (MRVL), Nutanix (NTNX), Splunk (SPLK) and Veeva Systems (VEEV) will report on Thursday.

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From Briefing.com: 4:27 pm Closing Market Summary: Equity Indices Open the Week Slightly Lower (:WRAPX) :

Investors lacked conviction in the first session of the abbreviated week, which made for flat, range-bound action in the stock market on Tuesday. The major U.S. indices settled just a tick below their unchanged marks with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq slipping 0.1% apiece and the Dow losing 0.2%. However, the domestically-oriented Russell 2000 suffered a more substantial loss, dropping 0.8%.

Seven of the eleven sectors finished in negative territory with the energy (-1.3%) and financials (-0.8%) groups leading the retreat. Crude oil weighed on the energy sector early, opening Tuesday's session with a loss of over 1.0%. However, the commodity rallied in the afternoon to settle lower by just 0.3% ($49.63/bbl). For financials, banks finished lower across the board with Goldman Sachs (GS 218.42, -4.36) showing relative weakness (-2.0%).

The health care sector (-0.2%) also finished in negative territory, but held up relatively well considering the biotechnology industry's negative performance; the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 284.30, -3.92) dropped 1.4%. The remaining laggards--industrials (-0.1%), materials (-0.1%), consumer staples (unch), and real estate (-0.3%)--settled just a step below their unchanged marks.

On the flip side, the telecom services sector (+1.4%) led Tuesday's session from start to finish with the group's top components by market cap--AT&T (T 38.55, +0.43) and Verizon (VZ 46.20, +0.88)--adding 1.1% and 1.9%, respectively. Verizon's strength followed positive commentary from BTIG Research while AT&T's positive performance was prompted by an upgrade to 'Neutral' from 'Sell' at MoffettNathanson.

The top-weighted technology sector (+0.3%) was underpinned by chipmakers, which pushed the PHLX Semiconductor Index higher by 0.6%, while the utilities group (+0.3%) outperformed amid broad strength. The last advancer--consumer discretionary (unch)--eked out a slim victory.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries moved higher in a curve-flattening trade as Core CPE inflation fell to a 1.5% year-on-year pace in April from 1.6% in March. Fed Governor Lael Brainard came out later in the session and said that another rate hike would likely be appropriate soon. The 10-yr yield (2.21%) dropped four basis points while the 2-yr yield (1.28%) lost two basis points.

The fed funds futures market continues to sit on the expectation that the Fed will raise the fed funds rate again at the June 13-14 FOMC meeting, but then hold off on another rate hike until 2018. The CME's FedWatch Tool shows only a 45.3% probability of a subsequent rate hike at the December meeting, down from 53.5% a week ago.

Today's participation was a bit light following the extended holiday weekend; 770.4 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor (50-day simple moving average: 1.0 billion).

Investors received several economic reports on Tuesday, including April Personal Income and Personal Spending, the May Consumer Confidence Index, and the March Case-Shiller 20-City Index:

Personal income and personal spending were both up 0.4% for the month of April, which was in-line with the Briefing.com consensus estimates. The PCE Price Index was up 0.2%, as was the core-PCE Price Index, which excludes food and energy (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%), and the personal savings rate as a percentage of disposable income held steady at 5.3%.
The key takeaway from the report is the year-over-year changes for the PCE Price Index (1.7% from 1.9% in March) and the core-PCE Price Index (1.5% from 1.6% in March) decelerated from the prior month. That is unlikely to alter the prevailing view that the Fed will raise the target range for the fed funds rate at its June meeting, although it will stir some belief that another rate hike this year may not happen.
The consumer confidence reading for May fell to 117.9 from the prior month's revised reading of 119.4 (from 120.3). The Briefing.com consensus expected the survey to hit 119.5.
The key takeaway from the report is that a downshift in consumers' view of the short-term outlook triggered the lower overall reading for May.
The March Case-Shiller 20-city Index hit 5.9% to follow last month's unrevised 5.9% increase.

Tomorrow, investors will receive the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index at 7:00 ET, May Chicago PMI (Briefing.com consensus 57.3) at 9:45 ET, April Pending Home Sales (Briefing.com consensus 0.8%) at 10:00 ET, and the Fed's Beige Book for May at 14:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +15.2% YTD
S&P 500 +7.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.4% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.0% YTD

Beginning the shortened week, the broader market closed lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 50.81 points (-0.24%) to 21029.47. The S&P 500 lost 2.91 points (-0.12%) to 2412.91, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed about 7.00 points (-0.11%) to 6203.19.

Economic data today came in the form of the Personal income and personal spending reports, which were both up 0.4% for the month of April. The PCE Price Index was up 0.2%, as was the core-PCE Price Index, which excludes food and energy, and the personal savings rate as a percentage of disposable income held steady at 5.3%. The consumer confidence reading for May fell to 117.9 from the prior month's revised reading of 119.4 (from 120.3). Lastly, the March Case-Shiller 20-city Index hit 5.9% to follow last month's unrevised 5.9% increase.

As it were, the Technology (XLK 56.62, +0.24 +0.43%) space was the best performer in the S&P today. Component Micron (MU 30.70, +0.94 +3.16%) was the best stock in the space as reports surfaced over the weekend that the company may opt to invest $2 billion in a Japanese memory chip facility. After Technology, the next best sector in the S&P today was the Utility space XLU +0.32%, followed by IYZ +0.09%, XLY +0.08%, XLB -0.02%, XLI -0.03%, XLP -0.04%, XLV -0.14%, XLRE -0.28%, XLF -0.68%, XLE -1.34%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (969.77, +3.00 +0.31%) space, trading also bucked the broader market trend lower, closing at a new all-time high. Aiding that advance was component First Solar (FSLR 39.50, +2.66 +7.22%), part of broader Solar strength today behind comments from President Trump about the Paris Climate Accord as well as reports of possible tariffs on solar imports into the U.S. Other names in the space which outperformed today included HPQ +2.54%, ADI +2.40%, NVDA +2.14%, FLIR +1.94%, STX +1.67%, SYMC +1.52%, WDC +1.42%, TEL +1.28%, MSI +1.18%, XRX +1.14%, LRCX +1.13%.

Other notable news items among sector components:
TiVo (TIVO 18.70, +2.30 +14.02%) received final initial determination issued by the administrative law judge in the Company's ITC case against various respondents, including Comcast (CMCSA 41.10, +0.19 +0.46%).

The Nikkei Asian Review detailed the possibility that Micron (MU) may invest $2 billion a Japanese memory chip facility.

Trimble (TRMB 35.86, +0.10 +0.28%) acquired Network Mapping Group; financial terms not disclosed.

Xactly (XTLY 15.55, +2.15 +16.04%) to be acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $15.65 per share in cash.

Vonage's (VG 6.85, -0.06 -0.87%) CEO Alan Masarek adopted a pre-arranged stock trading plan.

Telephone and Data (TDS 28.00, +0.14 +0.50%) announced James Butman, currently Chief Operating Officer (COO) at TDS Telecom, will succeed retiring TDS Telecom President and CEO, David Wittwer at the end of 2017. Wittwer will continue to serve as a member of the TDS Board of Directors.

CardConnect (CCN 15.05, +1.40 +10.26%) to be acquired by First Data (FDC 16.82, +0.18 +1.08%) for $15.00 per share.

Orbotech (ORBK 35.61, +0.39 +1.11%) received a $24 million order from Xianyang CaiHong Optoelectronics Technology.

Parkervision (PRKR 2.17, +0.07 +3.33%) announced that the Middle District of Florida granted ParkerVision's request to lift the stay and reopen its patent infringement case against Apple (AAPL 153.67, +0.06 +0.04%), LG (LPL14.46, +1.05 +7.83%) and Qualcomm (QCOM 57.34, -0.18 -0.31%).

Tyler Tech (TYL 170.76, +0.26 +0.15%) acquired Modria, a company specializing in online dispute resolution (ODR) for government and commercial entities. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Cevian Capital disclosed a 5.57% active stake in Ericsson (ERIC 7.19, +0.20 +2.86%).

Analyst actions:

ZNGA was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray,
SYMC was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays,
T was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at MoffettNathanson,
MSI was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Northcoast,
VOD was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Bernstein;
AMBA was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight t Pacific Crest,
BBRY was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James,
DRWI was downgraded to Sector Underperform from Sector Perform at CIBC,
DCM was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman,
XTLY was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Lake Street;
DXC was initiated with a Hold at Stifel,
RPD was initiated with a Buy at Monness Crespi & Hardt,
SWIR was initiated with a Hold at TD Securities,
DGLT was initiated with a Buy at Lake Street

7:06 am Cypress Semi announces that Glass Lewis has recommended stockholders vote for the election of Messrs. Martino and McCranie to the Cypress Board (CY) : In its May 26 report, Glass Lewis says that CypressFirst has made the case to support replacement of executive chairman Ray Bingham and lead director Eric Benhamou, "two current directors whose continued service we believe unaffiliated investors have been afforded adequate cause to view skeptically," adding that CypressFirst candidates Messrs. Martino and McCranie are "experienced industry executives" who "appear highly credible."

3:11 am Samsung exploring various investment options in order to respond to the NAND flash memory market (SSNLF) :

Co states this includes but not limited to investment in Xi'an. However, no final decision has been made at this time.
Co states it will provide an update on this matter within one month or when more details become available and indicated
(updated disclosure is expected to be made on or before June 28)

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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm Closing Market Summary: Stock Market Closes at Record High (:WRAPX) :

The major U.S. indices advanced to new record highs on Friday, for the second day in a row, after investors made the most of a disappointing Employment Situation Report for May. The Nasdaq (+0.9%) led the charge, more than doubling the gains of the S&P 500 (+0.4%) and the Dow (+0.3%). For the week, the S&P 500 added 1.0%.

Thursday's bullish tone carried into pre-market action on Friday, but the Employment Situation Report for May forced investors to hit pause. The report showed a much weaker than expected gain in nonfarm payrolls (138,000 actual vs 185,000 Briefing.com consensus), decent-sized downward revisions to March and April nonfarm payrolls, and no wage growth. Still, looking at the bigger picture, the report did have some positives. For instance, nonfarm payrolls increased, wages didn't deflate, and the unemployment rate fell to a 16-year low.

In summary, the reading turned out to be another 'Goldilocks' report, tempering concerns of an aggressive path to normalization by the Fed while at the same time doing just enough to highlight the fact that the economy is still growing at a modest rate.

Treasuries moved higher immediately following the jobs report in a curve-flattening trade. The 2yr - 10yr spread decreased to 89 basis points with the 10-yr yield dropping five basis points to 2.16% and the 2-yr yield slipping two basis points to 1.27%. As one might expect, the flattening of the yield curve didn't bode well for the financial sector (-0.4%).

The only space to register a wider decline than the financial group was the energy sector (-1.2%), which was weighed down by crude oil. The energy component dropped 1.5% to $47.62/bbl following President Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, which was announced on Thursday afternoon. The telecom services space (-0.1%) also finished in negative territory.

On the flip side, the top-weighted technology sector (+1.0%) registered yet another solid performance, extending its year-to-date gain to 21.3%. The sector's top-performing component was Broadcom (AVGO 254.53, +19.94), which added 8.5% on better than expected earning/revenues and upbeat guidance.

Meanwhile, Apple (AAPL 155.45, +2.27), Amazon (AMZN 1006.73, +10.78), Alphabet (GOOGL 996.12, +7.83), Facebook (FB 153.61, +2.08), and Microsoft (MSFT 71.76, +1.66) underpinned the tech sector, and the Nasdaq, with gains between 0.8% and 2.4%. The biotech industry also contributed to the Nasdaq's outperformance, evidenced by the 1.7% increase in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 295.79, +4.90).

The health care (+0.6%), industrials (+0.5%), and real estate (+0.9%) sectors finished ahead of the broader market, but the remaining groups settled with modest gains between 0.1% (utilities) and 0.4% (consumer discretionary).

Also of note, the New York Times reported late on Friday afternoon that President Trump has selected Randal Quarles and Marvin Goodfriend as candidates to fill two of the three open positions for the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors.

Reviewing today's economic data:

Employment Situation Report for May
May nonfarm payrolls hit 138,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 185,000. The prior month's reading was revised to 174,000 from 211,000. Nonfarm private payrolls added 147,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 172,000. The previous month's reading was revised to 173,000 from 194,000.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.3% (Briefing.com consensus 4.4%). Average hourly earnings increased 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%), while the previous month's reading was revised to 0.2% (from 0.3%). The average workweek was reported at 34.4, which is in line with the Briefing.com consensus. The previous month's reading was left unrevised at 34.4.
The key takeaway from the employment report is that wage inflation continues to be dormant despite increased hiring activity. That understanding will temper concerns about the Fed having to walk an aggressive rate-hike path.
Trade Balance Report for April
The April trade balance showed a deficit of $47.6 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to hit $44.3 billion. The previous month's deficit was revised to $45.3 billion from $43.7 billion.
The key takeaway from the report is that it will create a drag on second quarter GDP growth since the real trade deficit for April was higher than the first quarter average.

On Monday, investors will receive the revised readings of first quarter productivity (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%) and unit labor costs (Briefing.com consensus 2.4%) at 8:30 ET, April Factory Orders (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%) at 10:00 ET, and the May ISM Non-Manufacturing Index (Briefing.com consensus 57.0) at 10:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +17.1% YTD
S&P 500 +8.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +7.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +3.6% YTD

Week In Review: Broken Record

The stock market got off to a sluggish start this week as investors begrudgingly returned to their trading desks following the extended Memorial Day weekend. However, things picked up in the second half of the week as employment data for the month of May came into focus. The S&P 500 ended the week higher by 1.0%.

Equities ticked down on Tuesday and Wednesday, breaking the S&P 500's seven-session winning streak, as the energy and financials sectors weighed on the broader market. Crude oil influenced the energy sector lower following reports of heightened production in Libya while cautious comments about second quarter results from major players negatively impacted the heavily-weighted financial group.

Things turned around on Thursday after the ADP National Employment Report for May soundly beat expectations. The S&P 500 hit some technical resistance at its then all-time high, but a bullish EIA inventory report and solid leadership from the financials, consumer discretionary, and health care sectors helped the benchmark index, and its peers, advance to new record highs.

The positive momentum carried into pre-market action on Friday, but a disappointing Employment Situation Report for May forced investors to hit pause. Specifically, nonfarm payrolls (138,000 actual vs 185,000 consensus), nonfarm private payrolls (147,000 actual vs 172,000 consensus), and average hourly earnings (0.2% actual vs 0.3% consensus) all missed expectations.

However, in the grand scheme of things, the jobs report wasn't all that bad; nonfarm payrolls still increased, there was no wage deflation, and the unemployment rate fell to a 16-year low of 4.3%. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it made for another 'Goldilocks' report, neither too hot nor too cold, highlighting modest economic growth without amplifying worries of inflation.

Investors took the report in stride, pushing the major averages to new record highs for the second day in a row. The technology sector led the charge, but the energy and financials spaces showed relative weakness, yet again. A flattening of the yield curve weighed on financials while energy moved lower with crude oil following President Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord.

The fed funds futures market still points to the June FOMC meeting as the most likely time for the next rate-hike announcement with an implied probability of 95.8%, up from last week's 83.1%.
Tech Stocks from Briefing.com

The technology sector led the broader market today as stocks charged higher to fresh all-time highs. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher by 0.94% (+58.97 pts), notably outperforming the S&P 500 (+0.37%, +9.01 pts) & the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.29%, +62.11 pts).

The S&P Tech Sector (+0.97%) stood out in comparison to its fellow industries, while Real Estate (+0.72%) and Health Care (+0.57%) also performed well. Conversely, Energy (-1.32%) fared the worst as crude oil futures continued to slip further following's President Trump's announcement late Thursday to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.

The market was largely unaffected by this morning's Nonfarm Payrolls data: Nonfarm payrolls were 138k vs. the Briefing.com consensus for 185k and Nonfarm private payrolls were 147k vs. the Briefing.com consensus for 172k. The unemployment rate came in at 4.3%. The Employment Situation Report for May produced a headline disappointment with nonfarm payrolls being lower than expected and far lower than the job gains reported in the ADP Employment Change Report on Thursday. Nevertheless, the unemployment rate fell to a 16-year low. The key takeaway from the employment report is that wage inflation continues to be dormant despite increased hiring activity. That understanding will temper concerns about the Fed having to walk an aggressive rate-hike path.

Broadcom (AVGO 254.53, +19.94) led the Technology Select Sector (XLK 57.19, +0.52), spiking more than 8% to new all-time highs after reporting better than expected quarterly top and bottom-line results. The company also offered upside fiscal third quarter projections. Analysts cheered the report, boosting their price target on shares as a result. On the flip-side, Automatic Data Processing (ADP 100.98, -2.37) slipped more than 2% after analysts at Evercore ISI downgraded shares to Underperform.

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From Briefing.com: 4:32 pm Closing Market Summary: Tech Bounces Back on Tuesday (:WRAPX) :

Investors pushed the S&P 500 (+0.5%) and the Dow (+0.4%) to new record highs on Tuesday, breaking the stock market's two-session losing streak. And while the Nasdaq didn't post a new record close, it did outperform its peers with a gain of 0.7%.

The top-weighted technology (+0.9%) and financials (+0.4%) sectors led the stock market into positive territory at Tuesday's opening bell, but the tech group soon faded as several of its most influential components retraced their opening gains. Luckily, the financial sector teamed up with the consumer discretionary (+0.6%) and materials (+1.3%) groups during this time to help mitigate technology's influence on the broader market.

Eventually, the technology sector regained its footing to finish with the materials and consumer discretionary groups at the top of the day's leaderboard. However, the financial sector couldn't maintain its early strength, settling in line with the broader market. The major averages never touched negative territory, even during technology's period of weakness, and eventually closed near their best levels of the day.

Within the technology space, mega-cap tech names like Apple (AAPL 146.59, +1.17), Microsoft (MSFT 70.65, +0.87), Facebook (FB 150.68, +2.24), and Alphabet (GOOGL 970.50, +8.69) settled with gains between 0.8% and 1.5% while chipmakers pushed the PHLX Semiconductor Index higher by 0.6%. The technology sector's overall solid performance was an encouraging sign for the broader market, especially after the drubbing the sector took over the last two sessions.

There were pockets of weakness within the consumer discretionary sector, but Amazon's (AMZN 980.79, +15.88) big advance of 1.7% did more than enough to outweigh their bearish influence. McDonald's (MCD 149.82, +1.35) also put together a solid performance, adding 0.9%, after the company's target price was raised to $175 from $165 at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

Like many of its cyclical peers, the energy sector (+0.7%) also finished ahead of the broader market, thanks in part to crude oil's positive performance. The commodity held a loss of around 1.0% early in the morning session, but jumped into positive territory amid headlines that Kazakhstan's oil production is expected to decline this summer. WTI crude finished 0.7% higher at $46.43/bbl.

On the countercyclical side, the health care (+0.1%), consumer staples (unch), and utilities (+0.2%) groups finished just a tick above their flat lines while the telecom services sector (-1.0%) ended the day solidly lower as both Verizon (VZ 46.46, -0.73) and AT&T (T 38.68, -0.39) weighed. The wireless giants finished with losses of 1.6% and 1.0%, respectively.

Elsewhere, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 10.44, -1.02, -8.9%), sometimes referred to as the 'investor fear gauge', slipped nearly one point on Tuesday after jumping to a three-week high in Monday's session. However, despite the day's risk-on tone, the 10-yr Treasury note ticked up on Tuesday with its yield slipping one basis point to 2.21%.

On the data front, investors received only one economic report--May PPI--on Tuesday:

May producer prices came in at 0.0%, which is in line with the Briefing.com consensus. Core producer prices rose 0.3% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.2%.

The key takeaway from the report is that it supports the Fed's inclination to favor a policy tightening bias.

Tomorrow, investors will receive a slew of economic reports, including the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index at 7:00 ET, May Retail Sales (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%) and May CPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.0%) at 8:30 ET, April Business Inventories (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%) at 10:00 ET, and the FOMC Rate Decision at 14:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +15.6% YTD
S&P 500 +9.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +7.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +5.1% YTD

Tech Stocks from Briefing.com

The stock market closed Tuesday broadly higher as technology rebounded from its multi-day sector rotation slump. The Nasdaq Composite (+44.90 pts) outpaced the other indices, gaining 0.73%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+92.80 pts) rose 0.44%, and the S&P 500 (+10.96 pts) climbed 0.45%.

The S&P Technology Sector (+0.85%) was the second best performing industry, only behind Materials (+1.31%). Conversely, Telecoms (-1.03%) were today's biggest decliner.

Looking inside the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK 56.09, +0.40), Western Digital (WDC 90.05, +3.41) was the top performer after being initiated with a Buy at Aegis Capital and a price target of $130. CenturyLink (CTL 27.24, +0.64) & Visa (V 95.08, +1.58) also enjoyed relative strength in today's session. On the contrary, Yahoo (YHOO 52.00, -1.12) was the worst-performing component after the company completed the sale of its operating business to Verizon (VZ 46.46, -0.73) for $4.48 bln. As a results of the sale, Yahoo will change its name to Altaba and register as a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company.

Top Sector Developments

Notable Earnings

Science Applications International (SAIC 74.52, -6.92) slipped 8.5% after reporting mixed Q1 results as revenues were shy of analyst estimates and the company detailed that margins came in below expectations.

Notable News

Cognizant (CTSH 66.43, +0.14) announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Health Care Service Corporation's subsidiary TMG Health; terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Fiserv (FISV 74.52, -6.92) announced a recommended cash offer to acquire Monitise plc, a specialist in financial services technology focused on accelerating the digital transformation of banks and financial institutions, for approximately 70 million.

Synaptics Incorporated (SYNA 54.14, -4.65) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Conexant Systems for approximately $300 mln in cash and 726,666 shares of Synaptics' common stock. The company also disclosed that it would acquire the Multimedia Solutions Business of Marvell

Technology Group (MRVL 17.74, +0.29) for approximately $95 mln. The company further detailed that it expected its fiscal Q4 revenues to be slightly below the mid-point of its prior guidance.
Kerrisdale Capital issued a new short report on shares of ViaSat (VSAT 69.52, -2.11).

Notable Analyst Actions

Electronics For Imaging (EFII 48.90, +0.77) initiated with a Buy at Aegis Capital; tgt $58

Guidewire Software (GWRE 67.50, +1.19) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray

Seagate Tech (STX 42.03, +0.49) initiated with a Buy at Aegis Capital; tgt $50

Tableau Software (DATA 62.15, +1.93) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman

Veeco Instruments (VECO 31.70, +1.90) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 1:08 pm Closing Market Summary: Tech Stocks Pressured in Abbreviated Session (:WRAPX) :

The major averages ended an abbreviated Monday session on a mixed note. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%) could not hold its opening gain and spent the session in a steady slide, preventing the broader S&P 500 (+0.2%) from finishing near its own opening high. The limited number of technology stocks in its composition helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.6%) settle near its best level of the day, marking a fresh intraday record high (21562.75) in the process.

With the market closed on Tuesday for Independence Day, today's session was not expected to be particularly active. However, the daylong weakness in the technology sector (-0.9%) prevented the key indices from rising in unison. The top-weighted sector was a clear laggard while other decliners-consumer discretionary (-0.2%), consumer staples (-0.1%), and utilities (-0.5%)-ended closer to their flat lines.

The weakness in technology was not isolated to any single component. Instead, top-weighted names like Apple (AAPL 143.50, -0.52), Microsoft (MSFT 68.17, -0.76), and Alphabet (GOOGL 919.46, -10.22) began on a higher note, but slid into the close. High-beta chipmakers followed suit, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index lower by 1.4%.

Unlike the Nasdaq, the S&P 500 remained in the green until the close as technology's underperformance was offset by gains among financials (+1.3%), industrials (+0.6%), and energy (+2.0%). Lightly-weighted sectors also chipped in with materials, real estate, and telecom services adding between 0.8% and 0.9%.

Industrials were underpinned by the Dow Jones Transportation Average, which gained 1.1% to end the day at a fresh record high while the energy sector followed crude oil, which jumped 1.5% to $46.73/bbl.

Elsewhere, the consumer discretionary sector finished among the laggards, but it worth noting that Ford (F 11.56, +0.37) and General Motors (GM 35.57, +0.64) posted respective gains of 3.3% and 1.8% even though both saw their June sales fall roughly 5.0% year-over-year. Toyota Motor (TM 106.03, +1.01) climbed 1.0% after reporting a 2.1% increase in sales while Honda Motor (HMC 27.41, +0.02) added 0.1% after announcing that its June sales grew 0.8%.

Treasuries held modest gains in early morning action, but slid into the afternoon. The bond market will remain open for another hour, but the 10-yr note is on track to finish in the red with its yield rising four basis points to 2.34%.

Today's economic data included May Construction Spending and June ISM:

Total construction spending was basically flat in May (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) following an upwardly revised 0.7% decline (from -1.4%) for April. Nonresidential spending was up 0.3% month-over-month, so the drag in May was residential spending, which declined 0.5%.
The key takeaway from the report is that private residential spending was down in May, signaling that the housing market growth will continue to be pinched by limited supply.
The ISM Manufacturing Index for June hit 57.8, which was above the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 55.0 and the highest level since August 2014. The dividing line between expansion and contraction is 50.0 and June marked the 10th consecutive month the ISM Index has been above 50.0.
The key takeaway from the report is that it featured a faster pace of new orders, which bodes well for future production and serves as a good sign of increased manufacturing demand.

Bond and equity markets will be closed tomorrow for Independence Day. On Wednesday, investors will receive the weekly MBA Mortgage Index at 7:00 ET while May Factory Orders will be reported at 10:00 ET. The FOMC will release the minutes from its June policy meeting at 14:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +13.5% YTD
S&P 500 +8.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +8.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +5.2% YTD

Tech Stocks from Briefing.com

The broader market finished on a flat note in the abbreviated pre-holiday session on Monday. Action in the Dow Jones Industrial Average outperformed today as the index notched new all-time highs on its way to a 21479.27 close (+129.64, +0.61%). The S&P 500 also gained today, ending at 2429.01 (+5.60, +0.23%) while the Nasdaq Composite (along with the tech space as a whole) took a hit to 6110.06 (-30.36, -0.49%).

Today's finish was a contrast to Friday's final moments when the market was riding highs but quickly collapsed as sellers got out into the bell.

Technology (XLK 54.34, -0.38 -0.69%) opened with some modest gains but quickly fell to the dogs about an hour past the bell. Component Western Digital (WDC 85.29, -3.31 -3.74%) was one of the worst performing names today after Toshiba (TOSBF 2.32, -0.08 -3.33%) filed in opposition to the case between the two parties. The tech space was the worst performing sector today; the S&P ended with Energy XLE +1.93% posting the best gains, followed by XLF +1.46%, XLRE +0.93%, XLB +0.84%, XLI +0.62%, IYZ +0.43%, XLV +0.19%, XLY -0.10%, XLP -0.13%, XLU -0.46%.

The S&P Information Technology (932.29, -7.99 -0.85%) ended near lows today despite modest opening gains. Particularly, Semi (SOX 1020.51, -14.40 -1.39%) names took a hit today with components NVDA -3.65%, AMD -2.64%, MRVL -2.60%, MU -2.41%, CAVM -2.25%, MPWR -2.24%, ADI -2.17%, CY -2.05%, IDTI -2.02%, MCHP -1.78%, ON -1.71% turning in especially tough sessions. Other names in the IT space which underperformed today include FB -1.69%, XLNX -1.65%, ORCL -1.56%, LRCX -1.51%, PYPL -1.49%, ADSK -1.45%, AVGO -1.41%, NTAP -1.20%, GOOG -1.10%, MSFT -1.10%.

[ReturntoSender]

InvestmentHouse - Better Jobs Headlines Help the Market Rally (Weekend Newsletter)

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

- Friday rebound post-jobs, trying to stave off a serious tech, chip
selloff.
- Jobs headlines are better, the rest is all the same and will remain the
same without policy changes
- Better jobs headlines help the market rally as market needs good economics
to rally with the Fed hiking.
- Just a tech/chip bounce or rotation back to those areas? Still better
patterns in other groups, making this week a tell between the two.

A back and forth week ended on the upside with a jobs report that easily
topped expectations. With the FOMC in a tightening mode the best thing for
the stock market is stronger economic activity. The market needed some good
economic data given the recent data has proved less than solid; otherwise a
Fed hiking campaign is not good news for the rally. With a good enough jobs
report, the market responded with sharp upside.

Friday the action was not as bifurcated as the prior sessions for the week.
Other sessions on one day would show NASDAQ and SOX stronger when recent
leaders such as biotech, machinery, manufacturing, financial were weaker.
The next session was the flip. Friday, many sectors rallied. Still, the
focus was on tech, chips, and even FAANG as they were scooped up after being
rejected the prior month.

SP500, SP400, RUTX bounced off their tests near the 50 day MA, moving up off
of or back through the that level. Good responses to the dives lower
Thursday. DJ30 shows no wear and tear, holding at the 20 day EMA in rather
normal action as it moves up the near term moving averages.

NASDAQ and SOX rebounded as well, posting solid percentage moves. NASDAQ
recovered the 50 day EMA but could not take out the 50 day SMA. SOX gapped
and rallied to the 50 day SMA. It faded from there and indeed closed just
below the 50 day EMA.

Good responses to the back and forth action, particularly the very weak
action early week for SOX and the Thursday sharp selling on SP500, SP400,
and RUTX.

SP500 15.43, 0.64%
NASDAQ 63.62, 1.04%
DJ30 94.30, 0.44%
SP400 0.96%
RUTX 1.07%
SOX 1.72%
NASDAQ 100 1.05%

VOLUME: NYSE -16%, NASDAQ -14%. Despite the solid price surges Friday,
volume lagged. NYSE trade was lower and well, well below average. NASDAQ
volume was lower and also well below average. Despite the moves higher,
volume did not track with it. All buyers on the session but not more buyers
than the Thursday sellers. That is a telling aspect.

A/D: NYSE 2.2:1, NASDAQ 2.6:1. Breadth was decent but with 1+% moves on
NASDAQ to SOX to RUTX to almost SP400, this was puny breadth. Indeed, if
you compare NASDAQ to NASDAQ 100 you see virtually identical percentage
gains; in other words, NASDAQ moved higher thanks to its large caps stocks.

So, the internals were not great. Passable. Enough to support a recovery
and a new rally to higher highs? This current uptrend has seen its share of
less than inspiring recoveries off of sharp selloffs. At least this one had
strong price moves.

Nice price moves, weaker internals than they should have been for the price
moves. The weakest indices, NASDAQ and SOX, are off the recent lows but
still below key resistance. To us that means Friday was not definitive in
terms of a new upside rally leg. So we opted to limit our action and see
how the moves play out to start the next week, to see if the back and forth
moves establish a trend.

Our own belief is that the Fed is in a different mode this time, i.e. it is
going to hike rates and reduce its balance sheet regardless, and that
economic data is not going to improve. Indeed, in its July Monetary Policy
Report released Friday (basically the testimony Yellen will deliver to
Congress next week), the Fed stated that "valuation pressures across a range
of assets and several indicators of investor risk appetite have increased
further since mid-February."

That does not bode well for the markets, but right now the NYSE indices are
still holding their trends while the bond and gold markets are now selling
as they should if economics are improving. That means they can still rise
and rally yet again. If they are showing more of that Friday upside
strength this coming week, the market is going to try yet another run. We
feel that the runs are on their last gasps, but if they run, they run, and
we will play choice stocks accordingly.


ECONOMICS/NEWS

Jobs Report tops, prior months revised upside.

222K versus 173K expected versus 152K May (from 138K) versus 207K April
(from 174K)

Unemployment Rate: 4.4% versus 4.3% versus 4.3% May

U6 rate (those wanting full-time but cannot find it, those recently giving
up looking for work): 8.6% versus 8.4%.


Average Hourly Wages: 0.153% versus 0.3% expected versus 0.1% May.
2.5% year/year, barely with inflation.

Participation Rate: 62.8% versus 62.7% May


How can there be changes when nothing has changed?

Sounds great, and there are some real positives. Also, however, the same
problems. Why? Because there are structural changes in the jobs market
wrought by the economic policies of the past 12 years that the past six
months have not changed. The ACA is still in place, the taxes are still in
place, most of the massive numbers of regulations remain in place, minimum
wage laws are pushing people out and machines in (see the recent University
of Washington study of Seattle's jobs market after implementing its $15/hour
minimum wage) -- quite simply, not nearly enough has changed to spark
business creation, innovation, and of course, jobs.

Thus, most all areas showed the same recent trends.

The one change: Government jobs posted strong gains at 35K, almost 100% of
which was at the local level. Fiscal year end for most states and time to
hire and use up your budget or lose it. Heaven forbid any department risk a
budget cut.

Manufacturing: a strong 1K jobs created. Overheating, huh?

Healthcare: 37K
Education: 8K
Construction: 16K
Professional: 45K
Food and Restaurant: 29K
Mining: 8K
Temp: 13.4K

Prognosis: Marginally better but still the same market with 180K jobs per
month average the past six months. No real change, and as noted above,
without serious policy change there is no turning back from an economy that
produces lots of low wage hourly jobs. You cannot do the same thing and
expect change.


THE MARKET

CHARTS

Bounces on low volume and breadth not commensurate with price gains? A
'poser' move?

SP500: The volatility of the past 3 weeks continues. Four times in that
span the index has either gapped up followed immediately by a gap down or
gapped down only to be followed by a gap up, the latest on Thursday and
Friday. That last action occurred at the 50 day MA on Thursday and Friday
and keeps SP500 in position to bounce as it has since March, using the 50
day as support. The volatility is a bit more violent this time around and
this week it will show us if Friday's news-driven, quite low volume bounce
meant anything.

NASDAQ: After breaking the 50 day EMA and the bottom of the four week
pennant attempt, NASDAQ recovered some ground Friday, but remains below the
50 day EMA. Weak volume on the Friday recovery attempt. The Friday action
did not change the struggles for techs and leaves NASDAQ questionable.

SOX: So important to the market. After breaking below the 50 day MA the
prior week and bombing lower Monday, SOX gapped up Wednesday and again
Friday, recovering to the 50 day EMA. Something of an ABCD bounce attempt,
but as noted earlier in the week, not a great ABCD and thus the test of the
50 day MA currently in progress is a major tell for SOX and the overall
market.

RUTX: Small caps are also key as an economic indicator. Thursday they
bombed from the cusp of a new high to the 50 day MA. Friday a strong
rebound definitely keeps them in the game as the jobs report encouraged
small cap investors. The pattern remains solid enough, particularly with
the reaction off the 50 day MA dive.

DJ30: Not really impacted by all of the volatility plaguing the other
indices. DJ30 is in a 3 week lateral choppy range, but is easily holding
the 20 day EMA and is in very good position to finish consolidating and
continue upside. Ironically, DJ30 and the small caps are the most stable
patterns in the market right now.

SP400: Gave up the 50 day MA Thursday with a nasty gap and selloff, but it
held the June intraday lows and reversed Friday with a strong surge back
through the 50 day. That keeps SP400 in the upper part of its range and
similar to RUTX, in contention for a breakout to a higher high. Well, not
as much as RUTX as SP400 has the April, March and then June highs still
ahead of it as of the Friday close.


LEADERSHIP

Buying growth was back on Friday tech, chips, and FAANG attracted the most
interest and thus the largest gains. Before that, those stocks saw weakness
all week with biotechs, machinery, manufacturing and other more 'stoic'
sectors receiving some money. Friday there was rotation back to the growth
and the question is whether they last. From looking at the recent leaders
that tested and the patterns they have, it appears the late week move to
techs, chips is temporary.

FAANG: FB managed to hold through the chop at the 50 day MA and bounce
Friday, but even lower volume here. AMZN moved back through the 50 day MA,
also on very low volume. AAPL remains in a lateral move below the 10 day
EMA. NFLX sold to a Thursday doji, bounced Friday, stronger trade, trying
to bounce back from a selloff in a head and shoulders. GOOG rebounded to
end the week, closing below the 50 day MA after a big break lower. Overall
these stocks still look weak.

Chips: Finished the week on an upside rebound after struggling the most of
any sector. Analyst comments on LRCX, AMAT helped bolster the group Friday.
Key tests for stocks such as AMAT that is back at the 50 day SMA, ditto
LRCX. AVGO managed to break through the 50 day MA Friday. Important week
ahead: a real move higher or just a rebound in overall selling.

Biotechs/Drugs: The stronger moves from Wednesday tempered into the weekend
as money moved back toward chips, tech. CELG jumped Wednesday, then just
drifted higher into Friday. IMGN posted another strong week with higher
highs. ARRY looked good but then struggled Friday. AGEN looks solid to
break higher. Still very good patterns in this group.

Financial: Excellent week. JPM surged early and then drifted upside to end
the week, posting a second good week. GS was up early week but then faded
back to the 10 day EMA Friday; still in great position. C in a very nice
test to end the week, waiting on the 10 day. TCBI tested its break higher,
showing a big doji at the 10 day EMA Friday. Group looks good.

Machinery: Still very good setups after a modest test on the week. TEX at
the 10 day EMA and looks good. CAT is in a flat lateral move after a higher
high. CMI to a higher high. Looks good.

Telecom: Down for 5 weeks after good moves on earnings, many of these are
in very good patterns: SWIR, CIEN.

China: Faded, we will see. NTES at the 50 day MA and we see if it can
bounce. BABA continues working along the 10 day EMA in a 3 week lateral
move. SINA still in its shallow double bottom pullback. SOHU at the 50 day
MA.

Materials: Still solid in many cases, e.g. USCR, CX (concrete), MAS
(general building materials).

Metals: Some good tests to end the week setting up moves. SCHN in a great
breakout test. SID trying to set something up. STLD testing a solid 3 week
move to the top of the range. AKS is the downer of the group, struggling
all week.


MARKET STATS

DJ30
Stats: +94.3 points (+0.44%) to close at 21414.34

Nasdaq
Stats: +63.61 points (+1.04%) to close at 6153.08
Volume: 1.71B (-14.07%)

Up Volume: 1.21B (+853.48M)
Down Volume: 461.67M (-1.148B)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 2.6 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 3.41 to 1

New Highs: 45 (+4)
New Lows: 57 (+17)

S&P
Stats: +15.43 points (+0.64%) to close at 2425.18
NYSE Volume: 735.3M (-16.21%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 2.23 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 4.19 to 1

New Highs: 82 (+49)
New Lows: 72 (+23)


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 11.19; -1.35
VXN: 16.81; -1.19
VXO: 9.97; -2.19

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.93; -0.19


Bulls and Bears: No real change, just back and forth in the recent ranges,
Bulls just off highs earlier in the year in the 60's, bears just off lows
around 15. Those readings in the 60's suggest a market pullback, but to
this point, no serious backtracking.

Bulls: 52.5 versus 54.9

Bears: 18.8 versus 18.6

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: 52.5 versus 54.9
54.9 versus 51.5 versus 50.00 versus 55.8 versus 50.00 versus 51.9 versus
58.1 versus 58.7 versus 58.5 versus 54.7 versus 51.9 versus 56.3 versus 55.8
versus 49.5 versus 56.7 versus 53.4 versus 57.7 versus 63.1 versus 61.2
versus 61.8 versus 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

Bears: 18.8 versus 18.6
18.6 versus 18.3 versus 19.2 versus 18.3 versus 17.1 versus 17.3 versus 17.9
versus 17.9 versus 18.3 versus 17.5 versus 18.3 versus 18.1 versus 17.3
versus 13.75 versus 17.3 versus 16.5 versus 17.5 versus 17.6 versus 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


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds: 2.386% versus 2.368%. Bonds continued to sell all week, now down 8
sessions off the late June rally high, taking out the 200 day SMA Thursday.
Showing the weakness you would anticipate when the Fed is serious about
hiking and, supposedly, economics are better.

Historical: the last sub-2% rate was in November 2016 (1.867%). 2.368%
versus 2.34% versus 2.304% versus 2.268% versus 2.20% versus 2.140% versus
2.140% versus 2.148% versus 2.165% versus 2.156% versus 2.191% versus 2.155%
versus 2.162% versus 2.209% versus 2.21% versus 2.21% versus 2.19% versus
2.176% versus 2.14% versus 2.183% versus 2.154% versus 2.21% versus 2.20%


EUR/USD: 1.14010 versus 1.14220. Modest dollar recovery Friday, but euro
made a strong move off a flag test Thursday.

Historical: 1.14220 versus 1.13508 versus 1.13710 versus 1.13510 versus
1.14208 versus 1.14432 versus 1.13786 versus 1.13409 versus 1.11834 versus
1.11928 versus 1.11484 versus 1.11670 versus 1.11346 versus 1.11419 versus
1.11968 versus 1.11466 versus 1.12213 versus 1.12086 versus 1.11930 versus
1.11965 versus 1.1199 versus 1.12491 versus 1.12798 versus 1.12684 versus
1.12811 versus 1.12181 versus 1.12547 versus 1.11768 versus 1.11810 versus
1.12148 versus 1.12240 versus 1.11868 versus 1.12390 versus 1.11916 versus
1.23077 versus 1.10985 versus 1.11557 versus 1.10862 versus 1.09833 versus
1.09328 versus 1.08655 versus 1.08671


USD/JPY: 113.913 versus 113.126. Solid new break higher Thursday and
Friday after a quick test following the move over the 200 day SMA. Dollar
looking better and now very near the May high, the last high before the
selloff into June.

Historical: 113.126 versus 113.253 versus 113.270 versus 112.413 versus
111.993 versus 112.340 versus 112.24 versus 111.943 versus 111.299 versus
111.357 versus 111.278 versus 111.470 versus 111.729 versus 110.873 versus
110.854 versus 109.560 versus 110.060 versus 109.97 versus 110.334 versus
110.299 versus 109.355


Oil: 44.23, -1.29. Well, after a very solid rebound into the range, oil
stalled at the 50 day MA and has suffered two big downside sessions
Wednesday and Friday.


Gold: 1209.70, -13.60. No doubt vexing those believing gold must surge,
instead gold plunges below the May low and is heading for the March low at
1200.


MONDAY

The market did have a jobs report reaction, likely given the Fed set on a
rate hiking and balance sheet reducing mindset. Again, if the Fed is
hiking, the market wants to see positive economic data. But there are
problems. As seen in the GDP reports, corporate profits are falling based
upon the real test, i.e. the tax receipts. That is the real measure of
earnings, not the fake news non-GAAP earnings reported each quarter. The
toads in the Senate are now starting to say they cannot repeal the ACA and
will just have to tinker with its small business and jobs-killing
structures. Hell, there is even talk now that republicans cannot agree on
removing the onerous taxes inside the ACA that utterly crush small
businesses.

If this legislature impotence remains, if they cannot find a shipment of
backbones or at least Viagra for Congress, there won't be any changes in
healthcare or tax policy and the lethargy will continue. That will be
cemented in the midterm elections when the conservatives who voted to have
action taken once again are burned and once again realize voting for the GOP
is pointless. The market figures this stuff out. With no 'got your
backside' Fed, you get reality check. That is some of what you were seeing
in tech and chips during the past month or so.

That does not mean there is not more upside. There are still plenty of good
patterns to play upside. The next decision for the market is which groups
rise. Outside of Wednesday, not much new money is coming in. It is more a
game of moving money around inside the market. If the Fed is on, rates are
rising, growth may have issues. It has had issues the past 6 or so weeks,
and Friday was not really, as shown from the technical discussion, a rebirth
of growth upside.

We will see this week if the Friday money movement to growth sustains.
There are many other solid upside patterns in other groups that have good
roots versus just rebounds from selling. The former is typically more
reliable in making money unless there is a sea change of money on short
order. Likely not the case. They can bounce near term, and we will play
good patterns in those if they are there. At the same time we look at those
really good patterns as well. And of course, bigger picture, it is a weaker
time of the year ahead, the Fed is hiking, economics are not great,
legislative agendas are highly questionable. At some point it all breaks,
but technically it is not at hand unless, again, there is something that
causes a sea change.

Have a great weekend!


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 6153.08

Resistance:
6205 is the late May all-time high
6300 is the mid-June interim high
6341.70 is the all-time high.

Support:
The 50 day EMA at 6132
The 2016 trendline at 5997
5996 is the recent May 2017 low
5937 is the all-time high from April
5915 is the tops of the March to April 2017 range
5910 is the lower gap point from mid-April
5800 from the February consolidation lows
The 200 day SMA at 5705
5661 is the late January upper gap point
5601 is the January lower gap point
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
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


S&P 500: Closed at 2425.18

Resistance:
2439 is the early June prior all-time closing high
2453.46 is the all-time closing high

Support:
The 50 day EMA at 2412
2406 is the all-time high from May 2017
2401 is the March 2017 all-time high
2352 is the recent May 2017 low
2348 is the April 2017 lower gap point
2329 is the March and April twin lows
2322 is the March 2017 low
2319 is the 78% Fibonacci retracement
2301 is the late January 2017 high
The 200 day SMA at 2299
2298 is the late January 2017 high
2282 - 2280 from January 2017
2277.53 is the December 2016 high
The November 2016 all-time high at 2213.25
2194 is the August 2016 prior all-time high
2175 is the June 2016 high


Dow: Closed at 21,414.34

Resistance:
21,535 is the all-time high

Support:
21,169 is the March 2017 all-time high
The 50 day EMA at 21,161
20,553 is the lows of the week of May 15
20,547 is the lower gap point from late April 2017
20,412 is the March 2017 low
20,400 is the mid-April 2017 low.
20,126 is the January 2017 intraday high
20,101 is the late January closing high.
The 200 day SMA at 20,040
19,994 - 19,999 (early January high, upper gap point from late January
19750 is the lows of the December/January range
19,732 is the January 2017 low
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

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:34 pm Closing Market Summary: Averages Settle Tuesday Mixed (:WRAPX) :The S&P 500 gave back its slim Monday advance in the second session of the week, dropping 0.1%, with nine of its eleven sectors settling in negative territory. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq (+0.3%) cruised to its second win of the week as technology stocks outperformed and the Dow (unch) eked out a very narrow victory.

With the week's first major event--Wednesday's testimony from Fed Chair Janet Yellen--on the horizon, investors were cautious at the start of Tuesday's session, leaving the S&P 500 near its unchanged mark for the majority of the morning. However, the benchmark index made a sharp move into the red around 11:00 ET, dropping as low as 0.6% below its flat line, after Donald Trump Jr. tweeted an email exchange that involved him setting up a meeting with a Russian lawyer in an attempt to gain some possibly incriminating information on then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The market's initial reaction was likely prompted by the notion that there might have been collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. However, the risk-off sentiment didn't stick and the benchmark index quickly rebounded, retracing about half of its loss in just 30 minutes.

Outside of the equity market, safe-haven assets like U.S. Treasuries, gold, and the Japanese yen did move modestly higher on Tuesday, but the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 10.91, -0.20)--which points to the market's anticipation of short-term uncertainty--declined by 1.8%. Gold climbed 0.2% to $1,215.90/ozt, the yen added 0.2% against the U.S. dollar, and the benchmark 10-yr yield--which moves inversely to the price of the 10-yr Treasury note--dropped one basis point to 2.36%.

Only the energy and technology sectors finished Tuesday in the green with energy (+0.5%) being the top-performing group, thanks in large part to crude oil's positive performance. The commodity jumped 1.5% to $45.07/bbl despite trading around 1.0% below its Monday closing price in early-morning action. It's tough to credit a single bullish catalyst for crude oil's advance as technical forces have been coming into play within the crude futures market as of late, but it's worth noting that a European inventory report showed a decline in European product stockpiles.

Meanwhile, the top-weighted technology sector (+0.4%) put together another solid performance, extending its two-day gain to 1.2%, with Facebook (FB 155.27, +1.77) showing relative strength. FB shares jumped to a new session high after the company announced that ads for Facebook Messenger will become available to advertisers globally. Chipmakers also outperformed, pushing the PHLX Semiconductor Index higher by 0.8%.

On the downside, the influential financial sector (-0.7%) struggled on Tuesday, especially following the release of Donald Trump Jr.'s email exchange, and eventually settled with the telecom services group (-0.7%) at the very bottom of the day's leaderboard. However, Dow component Goldman Sachs (GS 226.95, +1.11) was able to register its second win of the week, climbing 0.5%.

In Washington, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the upper house will delay its August recess by two weeks, giving Senate Republicans some extra time to iron out their version of the health care reform bill. The health care sector (-0.1%) finished in line with the broader market.

Reviewing today's economic data, which was limited to May Wholesale Inventories and May JOLTS:

May Wholesale Inventories increased 0.4% (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%). The prior month's reading was revised to -0.4% from -0.5%.

The market doesn't typically pay much attention to this release since the full business inventories report is usually released a short time later.

The May Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings decreased to 5.666 million from a revised 5.967 million (from 6.044 million) in April.On Wednesday, investors will receive the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index and the Fed's Beige Book for July. The two reports will be released at 7:00 ET and 14:00 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite +15.1% YTD
S&P 500 +8.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +8.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.1% YTD

Tech Stocks from Briefing.com

A rocky Tuesday ended with the broader market split on either side of flat lines. For the most part, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended flat (21409.07, +0.55 +0.00%). The S&P 500 turned in a losing affair, but only just, as the index lost 1.90 points (-0.08%) to 2435.53. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite registered the strongest Tuesday session, adding 16.91 points (+0.27%) to 6193.30 as heavily-weighted NASDAQ 100 names AAPL +0.3%, GOOGL +0.3%, MSFT +0.0% and INTC +0.8% all turned in strong sessions.

The Technology (XLK 55.53, +0.12 +0.22%) space finished higher, one of only two S&P sectors which could say that at the bell on Tuesday. Component Micron (MU 31.37, +0.87 +2.85%) held up nicely among the up and down action on Tuesday as the stock benefitted from favorable sell side commentary regarding strong June PC data. The Energy XLE +0.55% space was the other S&P sector which ended the session in the green, followed by XLU -0.08%, XLI -0.09%, XLB -0.11%, XLV -0.11%, XLRE -0.16%, XLY -0.23%, XLP -0.26%, XLF -0.76%, IYZ -1.61%.

Looking at a tech name which didn't fare as well today, however, social media platform Snap (SNAP 15.47, -1.52 -8.95%) saw shares break the IPO price lower today only to commence a free-fall (of sorts) to post-IPO lows. The stock was downgraded ahead of the open this morning to an Equal Weight rating at Morgan Stanley, one of the lead underwriters of the IPO from early-March. The street was tough on this name today, but rightfully so as Facebook's (FB 155.27, +1.77 +1.2%) Instagram is hot on its heels with some strong offerings of its own.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (956.67, +3.39 +0.36%) space, trading climbed out of an afternoon dip to end just shy of highs. Component Western Digital (WDC 91.73, +2.46 +2.76%) captured solid gains today after reports surfaced that it has submitted a matching bid for Toshiba's (TOSBF 2.13, -0.10 -4.48%) flash memory unit. Other names in the space which outperformed today included AMAT +2.70%, FLIR +2.24%, LRCX +1.91%, ADI +1.44%, QRVO +1.43%, NVDA +1.42%, KLAC +1.36%, NTAP +1.30%, ADS +1.28%, MA +1.22%, FB +1.15%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Symantec (SYMC 29.01, +0.01 +0.03%) to acquire U.S. and Israel-based Skycure; terms not disclosed.

Western Digital (WDC) was strong today after reports suggested WDC submitted a matching bid for

Toshiba's (TOSBF) flash memory unit.

Facebook (FB 155.27, +1.77 +1.15%) said Messenger ads to become available to advertisers globally.

Sphere 3D (ANY 0.13, -0.02 -16.69%) completed a 1:25 reverse stock split; to begin trading ex-split tomorrow.

Citrix Systems (CTXS 78.56, -1.37 -1.71%) announced a leadership transition to accelerate cloud transformation, enhance profitability and return capital to shareholders; reaffirmed Q2 guidance.

Immersion (IMMR 8.60, +0.04 +0.47%) filed a complaint in the US District Court alleging Fitbit (FIT 5.24, +0.01 +0.19%) infringed 3 of its US patents.

Cypress Semi (CY 13.77, +0.06 +0.44%) director Wilbert van den Hoek resigned due to a disagreement with the Board.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Barracuda Networks (CUDA 23.18, -0.82 -3.42%) reported in-line Q1 EPS of $0.18 on better than expected revenues of $94.18 million. The company also guided Q2 revenues in the range of $92-94 million on EPS between $0.16-0.18. For FY18, the company expects revenues between $370-380 million on EPS of $0.73-0.78.

Analyst actions:

STM was upgraded to Overweight at JP Morgan;
SNAP downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley;
TWLO was initiated with an Outperform at Robert W. Baird,
VSM was initiated with a Buy at Needham

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:32 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Rally Following Yellen Testimony (:WRAPX) :The stock market cruised to a comfortable win on Wednesday as investors dialed back their rate-hike expectations a bit following Fed Chair Janet Yellen's semi-annual monetary policy testimony. The Dow climbed 0.6% to a new record high while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 settled with gains of 1.1% and 0.7%, respectively.

Fed Chair Yellen came off a bit more dovish in the prepared remarks she delivered before the House Financial Services Committee, saying that "...the federal funds rate would not have to rise all that much further to get to a neutral policy stance." This statement created a sense that the Fed may in fact follow a shorter path of rate hikes that will keep the longer-run neutral level of the federal funds rate below levels that prevailed in previous decades.

Today's statement eased some of the rate-hike concerns that surfaced last week following the release of the FOMC minutes from the June meeting, which initially left the impression that the Fed plans to press on with a tightening of policy despite the persistence of below-target inflation data. At the stock market's close, the implied probability of a December rate hike had declined to 52.0% from 58.9% on Tuesday, according to the fed funds futures market.

Treasuries rallied across the curve on Ms. Yellen's remarks with the benchmark 10-yr yield dropping four basis points to 2.32%. However, currency traders were a bit more undecided in their interpretations, leaving the U.S. Dollar Index (95.49, 0.00) at its unchanged mark.

On Wall Street, all 11 sectors finished in positive territory with the top-weighted technology group (+1.3%) pacing the advance. The tech space's heaviest component by market cap--Apple (AAPL 145.74, +0.21)--struggled amid continued concerns of production and delivery delays for the newest iPhone, but mega-cap names like Facebook (FB 158.90, +3.63), Microsoft (MSFT 71.15, +1.16), and Alphabet (GOOGL 967.66, +14.13) picked up the slack, settling with gains between 1.5% and 2.3%.

Chipmakers also outperformed, pushing the PHLX Semiconductor Index higher by 1.6%, with NVIDIA (NVDA 162.51, +6.63) leading the charge. The company jumped 4.3% after NVDA shares were upgraded to 'Buy' from 'Hold' at Sun Trust.

However, on the downside, a couple of notable sectors underperformed on Wednesday, keeping the broader market's gain somewhat in check. The most influential of these groups was the financial sector (+0.1%), which was weighed down by the notion that interest rates could be suppressed for longer than some expected.

The energy sector (+0.3%) also struggled after the weekly crude inventory report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that U.S. production increased by 59,000 barrels per day last week. However, on a positive note, the EIA did report a draw of 7.6 million barrels, which was much larger than the 2.9 million barrel decline that the consensus was anticipating.

Crude oil was trading around 2.5% above its flat line going into the EIA release, but gave back a good portion of that gain in the aftermath. The energy component settled higher by 1.1% at a price of $45.53/bbl.

As for the remaining sectors--consumer discretionary (+0.8%), industrials (+0.6%), materials (+1.1%), health care (+0.7%), consumer staples (+0.6%), utilities (+0.9%), telecom services (+0.5%), and real estate (+1.3%)--most finished roughly in line with the benchmark index.

Wednesday's economic data was limited to the Fed's Beige Book and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index:

The Fed's Beige Book showed that economic activity expanded across all 12 Federal Reserve Districts in June at a slight to moderate pace. In addition, the majority of districts expect to see modest to moderate economic growth in the months ahead.The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index declined 7.4% to follow last week's 1.4% increase.On Thursday, investors will receive several economic reports, including the Producer Price Index for June (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%) at 8:30 ET, the weekly Initial Claims Report (Briefing.com consensus 245,000) also at 8:30 ET, and the June Treasury Budget at 14:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +16.3% YTD
S&P 500 +9.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +9.0% YTD
Russell 2000 +5.0% YTD

Tech Stocks from Briefing.com

The market ran on Wednesday, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite which added 67.87 points (+1.10%) to 6261.17. The S&P 500 was higher by 17.72 points (+0.73%) to 2443.25, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average turned in an impressive 123.07 points session (+0.57%) to 21532.14.

The Technology (XLK 56.25, +0.72 +1.30%) space was strong again on Wednesday, edged out only by the Real Estate sector. Component Activision Blizzard (ATVI 61.02, +3.04 +5.24%) led all other names higher today following news that the company would sell its first Overwatch League teams; among new team owners, CEO of the Kraft Group and owner of the New England Patriot franchise, Robert Kraft. All 11 S&P sectors ended higher on Wednesday, led by the Real Estate space XLRE +1.31%, XLB +1.16%, XLU +0.86%, XLY +0.76%, XLV +0.68%, XLP +0.56%, XLI +0.55%, XLF +0.32%, XLE +0.28%, IYZ +0.16%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (969.19, +12.52 +1.31%) space, trading ended near highs. Component NVIDIA (NVDA 162.51, +6.63 +4.25%) ended as one of the better performing names following an upgrade of the stock to a Buy rating at SunTrust. Other names in the space which outperformed today included PYPL +3.27%, SYMC +3.14%, NTAP +2.82%, WDC +2.59%, STX +2.53%, TEL +2.46%, EBAY +2.39%, CTXS +2.38%, FB +2.34%, QRVO +2.34%, CRM +2.32%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Twitter (TWTR 19.25, +0.61 +3.27%) appointed Ned Segal as Chief Financial Officer effective in late August.

Forrester Research (FORR 40.45, +0.50 +1.25%) expects to exceed or be at the high end of its revenue and earnings guidance for Q2; named Kelley Hippler Chief Sales Officer.

Western Digital (WDC 94.13, +2.38 +2.59%) won a court ruling ordering Toshiba (TOSBF 2.28, +0.15 +7.04%) to allow WDC to access databases and chip samples, according to Reuters.

Logitech Intl SA (LOGI 39.19, +1.49 +3.95%) to acquire console gaming brand ASTRO Gaming for $85 million in cash.

I.D. Systems (IDSY 6.19, +0.63+ 11.33%) to acquire substantially all of the assets of electronics manufacturer/marketer Keytroller for $9 million (and up to $3 million earn-out consideration); proposes underwritten public offering.

PayPal (PYPL 56.55, +1.79 +3.27%) stated the company's service is now available on Apple's (AAPL 145.74 +0.21 +0.14%) App Store, Apple Music, iTunes and more.

Nam Tai Property (NTP 10.00, +1.80 +21.95%) confirmed a share purchase agreement to sell 6,504,355 shares of the Company held by the company's Chairman M.K. Koo and his wife at $17.00 per share to the Kaisa Group.

Commscope (COMM 35.52, -2.48 -6.53%) to acquire Cable Exchange; term not disclosed. Also commented that the overall business environment remains challenging.

Accenture (ACN 125.47, +1.62 +1.31%) acquired Clearhead a digital optimization company, to strengthen the personalization services of Accenture Interactive.

Analyst actions:

NVDA was upgraded to Buy from Hold at SunTrust,
GRUB was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen,
PDFS was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Craig Hallum;
AUO was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse;
INTC was initiated with a Long-term Buy at Hilliard Lyons,
SHOP was initiated with a Hold at The Benchmark Company,
TRVG was initiated with a Market Perform at Wells Fargo,
OTIV was initiated with a Buy at Lake Street,
ELVT was initiated with a Buy at Maxim Group

[ReturntoSender]

From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Tick Down on Friday (:WRAPX) :

The major averages rode a late-afternoon rally to fresh session highs, but, unfortunately, it just wasn't quite enough to get them into the green. The Nasdaq (unch) finished just a tick below its flat line, breaking its ten-session winning streak. The S&P 500 (unch) settled in line with the Nasdaq while the Dow (-0.2%) and the Russell 2000 (-0.5%) underperformed. For the week, the S&P 500 ended higher by 0.5%.

Five of eleven sectors settled Friday's session in negative territory, but losses were modest for the most part. The energy sector registered the widest decline, dropping 0.9%, after reports of increased OPEC oil production sent crude oil into negative territory. The energy component lost 2.7%, finishing at a price of $45.64/bbl.

Like energy, the industrial sector settled below the broader market, slipping 0.2%, with its largest component by market cap--General Electric (GE 25.91, -0.78)--leading the retreat. GE shares tumbled 2.9%, to their worst level since October 2015, after disappointing organic revenue growth for the company's industrial segment overshadowed better than expected top and bottom lines.

Microsoft (MSFT 73.79, -0.43) also declined after beating top and bottom line estimates, losing 0.6%. However, the company did enjoy a ten-day rally in front of the release, suggesting that its upbeat earnings report was priced in ahead of time. Conversely, Visa (V 99.60, +1.49) climbed 1.5%, to a new all-time high, after reporting above-consensus earnings and revenues, in addition to raising its guidance for the fiscal year.

The top-weighted technology sector (-0.1%), which houses both Microsoft and Visa, managed to settle roughly in line with the broader market. However, in addition to MSFT's slide, the tech space had to overcome a negative performance from chipmakers in order to do so; the PHLX Semiconductor Index dropped 0.8% amid broad weakness.

Conversely, biotech stocks rallied on Friday, pushing the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 324.88, +1.96) higher by 0.6%. However, the health care sector wasn't able to finish ahead of the broader market, ending the day lower by 0.1%.

The influential financial space (unch) outperformed for much of the day, but eventually slipped back into the middle of the sector standings. Capital One (COF 87.94, +6.93) was the sector's top-performing component, jumping 8.6%, after the company reported better than expected earnings.

Countercyclical sectors like utilities (+0.8%), consumer staples (+0.3%), and telecom services (unch) settled near the top of the leaderboard. The rate-sensitive utilities group benefited from a rally in the Treasury market that left the 10-yr yield (2.23%) and the 2-yr yield (1.34%) lower by two basis points apiece.

Meanwhile, on the cyclical side, the consumer discretionary (+0.1%), real estate (+0.2%), and materials (unch) groups also outperformed. Netflix (NFLX 188.54, +4.94) led consumer discretionary's advance, jumping 2.7%, to end the week higher by 17.0%. The company surged 13.5% on Tuesday after reporting a much larger than expected increase in subscribers.

In the currency market, the U.S. Dollar Index (93.74, -0.34) slipped another 0.4% on Friday to end the week with a loss of 1.3%. Both the euro (1.1667) and the yen (111.06) climbed against the greenback, adding 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively.

Investors did not receive any notable economic data on Friday.

On Monday, market participants will receive just one piece of economic data--June Existing Home Sales. The report will be released at 10:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +18.7% YTD
S&P 500 +10.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +9.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +5.8% YTD

Week In Review: Record Highs

Equities kept chugging along this week, underpinned by a generally solid batch of earnings reports and the notion that monetary policy will remain accommodative for the foreseeable future. The S&P 500 ended the week higher for the third-consecutive time, adding 0.5%, but the real star was the Nasdaq, which climbed 1.2% and settled at a new record high for three sessions in a row. The Dow lagged this week, finishing with a small loss of 0.3%.

The stock market kicked off the week with a rather uneventful performance on Monday that left the major averages little changed. However, activity picked up on Tuesday as the Nasdaq climbed to a new record high for the first time since June 8. Netflix (NFLX) headlined the earnings front, surging 13.5%, after adding a surprisingly-large number of new subscribers in the second quarter.

Buyers were in the driver's seat during the midweek session, pushing the Nasdaq, the S&P 500, the Dow, and the small-cap Russell 2000 to new all-time highs. Each of the S&P 500's 11 sectors finished in the green with the energy group setting the pace following an upbeat EIA crude inventory report. Conversely, financials and transports struggled once again, shrugging off some relatively upbeat earnings reports.

However, it's important to note that the S&P 500's financial sector and the Dow Jones Transportation Average both had bullish, multi-week runs ahead of earnings season, making it difficult for their components to advance on upbeat results alone.

On Thursday, monetary policy was the focal point as investors digested the latest policy decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. Both central banks decided to leave interest rates unchanged and sounded dovish about future accommodation. However, the euro rallied against the U.S. dollar nonetheless as ECB President Mario Draghi failed to dispel the notion that the ECB might soon announce a tapering of its asset purchase program.

The Nasdaq eked out another record close, extending its winning streak to ten sessions in a row, while the S&P 500 and the Dow finished just shy of their unchanged marks. The telecom services sector was the top-performing group--which has been a rarity this year--following an upbeat earnings report from T-Mobile US (TMUS). However, ironically, TMUS shares finished solidly lower.

Equity indices ended the week with small losses on Friday. General Electric (GE) weighed on the industrial sector, dropping 2.9%, after reporting disappointing organic revenue growth for its industrial segment. Microsoft (MSFT) also faced selling pressure as its better than expected earnings and revenues failed to fully justify its preceding ten-day rally. Energy was the worst-performing sector following news of increased OPEC production, which sent crude oil on a 2.7% plunge.

The fed funds futures market still points to the December FOMC meeting as the most likely time for the next rate-hike announcement with an implied probability of 52.0%, up slightly from last week's 50.6%. The Fed will release its latest policy statement on Wednesday afternoon at 14:00 ET.
Tech Stocks from Briefing.com

Perhaps the biggest surprise on the street today, at least in the tech world, was Microsoft (MSFT 73.79, -0.43 -0.58%). Shares slipped despite an earnings beat as broader tech weakness today was perhaps the culprit for the losses. Not to mention, MSFT has enjoyed some pretty substantial gains month-to-date, up 6.4%.

In the broader market, action was decidedly negative today as the recent win streak in the S&P and Nasdaq ran dry on Friday. That being said, losses were modest as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (today's worst performer) lost only 31.71 points (-0.15%) to 21580.07. The S&P 500 was down less than a points today (-0.04%) to 2472.54, while the Nasdaq Composite also posted a tempered decline, down 2.25 points (-0.04%) to 6387.75.

The Technology (XLK 57.47, -0.07 -0.12%) space opened lower today and steadily climbed into the close, and modest losses. Component eBay (EBAY 36.61, -0.57 -1.53%) was one of the weaker names today after a mostly in-line earnings report precipitated modest losses after yesterday's all-time highs. Performing the best on Friday, the Utility XLU +0.72% space was followed by IYZ +0.69%, XLRE +0.19%, XLP +0.16%, XLY +0.07%, XLF +0.00%, XLB -0.04%, XLV -0.12%, XLI -0.19%, XLE -0.99%.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (991.97, -0.74 -0.07%) space, trading snapped the recent win streak. Component Visa (V 99.60, +1.49 +1.52%) was the best performing names today as an earnings beat and guidance raise pushed the stock higher in the face of broader weakness. Other names in the space which xxx.

Other notable news items among sector components:
eBay (EBAY) in addition to reporting quarterly results, announced the addition of $3 billion to its buyback program.

Nuance Communications (NUAN 17.20, +0.35 +2.08%) expected June global malware incident to have impact on Q3/Q4 financial results; sees Q3 revenues and EPS below consensus.

Arista Networks (ANET 152.92, -3.88 -2.47%) confirmed that the International Trade Commission has denied Arista's motions to suspend the limited exclusion order and cease and desist order issued in connection with Investigation No. 337-TA-945 against Cisco (CSCO 31.84, -0.02 -0.06%).

Jabil's (JBL 30.74, +0.09 +0.29%) Board authorized a $450 million share repurchase program, represents the second portion of the previously announced two-year capital return framework.

Sphere 3D (ANY 4.59, +0.23 +5.28%) filed for 2,176,797 common share offering by holders.

In reaction to quarterly results:

Microsoft (MSFT) reported better than expected Q4 EPS and revenues of $0.75 and $24.7 billion, respectively.

Visa (V) reported better than expected Q3 EPS and revenues of $0.86 and $4.57 billion, respectively. For FY17, the company raised its outlook; now sees annual net revenue growth of about 20% on a nominal dollar basis, including about 2.0 ppts of negative foreign currency impact (Prior guidance was for High end of 16% to 18% range on a nominal dollar basis, including 2.0 to 2.5 ppts of negative foreign currency impact).

eBay (EBAY) reported in-line Q2 EPS and revenues of $0.45 and $2.33 billion, respectively. For Q3, the company sees EPS and revenues of $0.46-0.48 and $2.35-2.39 billion, respectively. For FY17, EBAY reaffirmed EPS guidance of $1.98-2.03 and revenue guidance of $9.3-9.5 billion.

Analyst actions:

DXC was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Mkts,
JNPR was upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James,
VIAV was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley & Co.;
ADP and PAYX were downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at William Blair,
ADS was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays,
CHKP was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray,
HIMX was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Rosenblatt,
EGOV was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sidoti;
PFPT was initiated with a Buy at Needham,
CARS was initiated with a Hold at Craig Hallum,
SPSC was initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer

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From Briefing.com: 4:29 pm Closing Market Summary: Equities Finish Monday Mixed (:WRAPX) :Equities opened the week with a mixed performance; the Nasdaq (+0.4%) finished at another record close, its fourth in the last five sessions, while the S&P 500 (-0.1%) and the Dow (-0.3%) settled with modest losses. Monday's action was fairly range-bound with the benchmark index staying true to a seven-point range from start to finish.

Investors understandably lacked conviction on Monday ahead of several notable events on this week's calendar, including:

a Senate vote on health-care reform, which President Trump says will take place on Tuesdaythe Fed's latest policy directive, which will cross the wires at 14:00 ET on Wednesday the advance estimate for second-quarter GDP, which will be released at 8:30 ET on Fridayand a slew of influential earnings reports that will be delivered throughout the week The cautious sentiment was present in pre-market action on Monday morning, leaving the major averages modestly lower at the opening bell. Nine of eleven sectors finished in negative territory with the two advancers being the top-weighted technology (+0.3%) and financials (+0.3%) groups.

Financials exhibited relative strength throughout the session while tech stocks took awhile to come around. In the end, the positive performances of mega-cap tech names like Apple (AAPL 152.09, +1.82), Facebook (FB 166.00, +1.57), and Alphabet (GOOGL 998.31, +4.47) were enough to push the tech sector to victory. Chipmakers underperformed, leaving the PHLX Semiconductor Index lower by 0.4%.

As for the declining sectors, they finished with losses ranging between 0.1% and 1.0%. The telecom services (-1.0%) and utilities (-0.9%) groups were the weakest performers while the remaining laggards finished with losses of no more than 0.4%.

The consumer discretionary sector (-0.4%) underperformed following a negative reaction on the earnings front. Hasbro (HAS 105.00, -10.95) dropped 9.4% after concerns surrounding economic conditions overseas overshadowed the company's better than expected earnings. Similarly, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK 143.70, -3.09) slipped 2.1% despite beating top and bottom line estimates.

In addition, Hibbett Sports (HIBB 13.10, -6.60) plunged 33.5% after the company issued a profit warning, saying that it expects comparable-store sales to drop around 10.0% in the second quarter. Peer Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS 35.12, -2.04) also sold off following the announcement, dropping 5.5%.

Crude oil jumped 1.3% to $46.36/bbl on Monday following news that Saudi Arabia will limit its oil exports to 6.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, nearly one million bpd below the level it produced a year ago. In addition, Nigeria, which was originally exempt from the OPEC-led production cut agreement, has pledged to limit its exports to 1.8 million barrels per day.

However, the energy sector, which typically moves in tandem with crude oil, lost 0.3%. Halliburton (HAL 42.51, -1.87) weighed on the sector, dropping 4.2%, after saying that North American customers are 'tapping the brakes'. However, the company did beat top and bottom line estimates.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries settled the day with modest losses. The benchmark 10-yr yield, which moves inversely to the price of the 10-yr Treasury note, climbed one basis point to 2.25%.

Reviewing Monday's economic data, which was limited to June Existing Home Sales:

Existing home sales for June decreased 1.8% from May to an annualized rate of 5.52 million units while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.58 million. The prior month's reading was left unrevised at 5.62 million.

The key takeaway from the report is that neither the availability nor the affordability of homes is high, which is keeping sales activity from being all that it could be otherwise.

On Tuesday, investors will receive the May FHFA Housing Price Index (Briefing.com consensus 0.7%) at 9:00 ET, the May S&P 500 Case-Shiller Home Price Index (Briefing.com consensus 5.7%) at 9:00 ET, and the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for July at 10:00 ET.

In addition, several notable companies will report earnings on Tuesday morning, including 3M (MMM 210.00, -1.16), McDonald's (MCD 151.85, -2.07), United Technologies (UTX 123.13, -0.36), DuPont (DD 84.35, -0.19), and Caterpillar (CAT 108.18, +1.59), among many others.

Nasdaq Composite +19.1% YTD
S&P 500 +10.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +8.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +6.0% YTD

Tech Stocks from Briefing.com

After a slide into the weekend, the broader market bounced back on Monday. Given that, only the Nasdaq Composite ended higher, yet all three major US indices finished off lows. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day up 23.05 points (+0.36%) to 6410.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, by contrast, was the worst performing average, losing 66.90 points today (-0.31%) to 21513.17. The S&P 500 shed about 2.63 points (-0.11%) to 2469.91.

The lone piece of economic data today, the existing home sales reading for June decreased 1.8% from May to an annualized rate of 5.52 million units while the prior month's reading was left unrevised at 5.62 million.

The Technology (XLK 57.61, +0.14 +0.24%) space was the only S&P sector in the green today, along with the Financial space. Component Xerox (XRX 30.56, +1.11 +3.77%) was the best performer on an overall tepid session as the stock got a premarket upgrade at Barclays to an Equal Weight rating. As mentioned, the Financial space XLF +0.40% led all others higher today, followed by XLRE -0.06%, XLV -0.06%, XLB -0.09%, XLE -0.18%, XLI -0.22%, XLP -0.27%, XLY -0.34%, XLU -0.94%, IYZ -1.47%.

As a subsector of Tech, the Social Media (SOCL 30.41, +0.33 +1.10%) space had a mini-breakout today as shares of components YY +4.59% RENN +4.23% WB +3.75% NTRI +3.38% TCEHY +2.06% SINA +2.03% P +1.80% MTCH +1.41% NTES +1.40% YNDX +1.37% LN +1.29%all surged today. The main reason for the outperformance could be pegged on Alphabet's (GOOG 980.34, +7.42 +0.76%) quarterly print which is scheduled for tonight after the close.

In the S&P 500 Information Technology (994.48, +2.51 +0.25%) space, trading came back off Friday's modest losses, making fresh all-time highs. Component Seagate Tech (STX 39.76, +0.18 +0.45%) was another name which stood out today, edging higher ahead of tomorrow morning's quarterly results. Other names in the space which outperformed today included ADS +1.53%, EA +1.36%, TSS +1.35%, AAPL +1.21%, GPN +1.09%, INTU +1.05%, VRSN +1.02%, ADSK +0.97%, FB +0.95%.

Other notable news items among sector components:

Applied Materials (AMAT 46.78, 0.03 -0.06%) announced that Dan Durn will join the company as senior vice president on August 7, 2017 and assume the role of CFO, on August 24. Durn disclosed his departure from NXP Semi (NXPI 109.55, -0.31 -0.28%) today as well.

Motorola Solutions (MSI 90.67, +0.15 +0.17%) filed new patent infringement complaints with the Regional Court of Mannheim in Germany against Hytera Communications.

WebMD Health (WBMD 66.10, +10.91 +19.77%) confirmed agreement to be acquired by KKR (KKR 19.30, -0.08 -0.41%) for $66.50 per share in cash.

Analyst actions:
XRX was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays;
NPTN was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James;
WIX and MSCC were initiated with Overweight ratings at KeyBanc Capital Mkts

Expect quarterly earnings tonight/tomorrow morning from the following companies: GOOG, CDNS, LOGI, RMBS, SANM/AXE, CVLT, CTG, STX

4:09 pm Sanmina reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (SANM) :

Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.74 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.74; revenues rose 2.5% year/year to $1.71 bln vs the $1.74 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Non-GAAP operating income in the third quarter was $71.4 million or 4.2 percent of revenue, compared to $61.9 million or 3.7 percent of revenue in the third quarter fiscal 2016.

Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.73-0.79, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.79 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $1.725-1.775 bln vs. $1.78 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:09 pm Cadence Design beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line; raises bottom end of FY17 EPS/rev guidance (CDNS) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.34 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.32; revenues rose 5.7% year/year to $479 mln vs the $476.21 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.33-0.35, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.35 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $475-485 mln vs. $481.52 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Co issues narrows guidance for FY17, sees EPS of $1.36-1.42 from $1.32-1.42, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.38 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY17 revs of $1.91-1.95 bln from $1.90-1.95 vs. $1.93 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"Our excellent financial results for the second quarter were highlighted with revenue near the high end of our guidance range and operating margin, EPS and operating cash flow all exceeding expectations."4:09 pm Alphabet beats by $0.58, beats on revs (GOOG) :

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $5.01 per share, $0.58 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $4.43; revenues rose 21.0% year/year to $26.01 bln vs the $25.61 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Operating Margin 16% compared to 28% in prior year; Recall this year includes the $2.7 bln fee paid to the EU.
Google Properties revenue $18.42 bln, +19.6% y/y.
Google Network Members properties revenue $4.24 bln, +13% y/y
Other Bets Revenue- $248 mln, +34% y/y; Other Bets operating loss was ($772 mln), compared to street expectations of ($970 mln)
Total TAC as a percentage of revenue was 22% compared to 21% in prior year period.

Aggregate Clicks Paid: 52%; Q1 +44%; Q4 +36%, Q3 +33%; Q2 +29%.

Paid Click on Google Properties +61%
Paid Clicks on Google Network Member +9%

Aggregate cost per click: -23%; Q1 -19%; Q4 -15%, Q3 -11%; Q2 -7%,

CPC on Google Properties -26%
CPC on Google Network Members properties -11%

On June 27, 2017, the EC announced its decision that certain actions taken by Google regarding its display and ranking of shopping search results and ads infringed European competition law. The EC decision imposes a 2.42 billion (approximately $2.74 billion) fine, which we accrued in the second quarter of 2017. The fine is included in "accrued expense and other current liabilities" on our Consolidated Balance Sheet.

4:09 pm Rambus beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (RMBS) :
Reports Q2 (Jun) adj. earnings of $0.14 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.13; revenues rose 23.8% year/year to $94.7 mln vs the $93 mln Capital IQ Consensu; execution in Security Division and Lighting Division offset the anticipated seasonality of our business. As a result of our execution on acquisitions, revenue for Memory and Interface Division was up 24% year over year and revenue for the Security Division was up 42% year over year.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.14-0.20, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.16 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $96-102 mln vs. $98.06 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

"We continue to build upon our positive start to the year with strength in our patent and technology licensing programs, as well as ongoing validation from our partners and customers that our technologies are solving the critical problems facing the data center and mobile edge markets," said Dr. Ron Black, chief executive officer of Rambus. "We are excited by the momentum in our Security Division, signing agreements with Cybertrust and Synopsys on our CryptoManager Infrastructure and introducing our in-field CryptoManager IoT Device Management service for easy and broad adoption of our provisioning solutions."

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Buy-the-Dip Rally Pushes S&P 500 Above 50-Day Moving Average

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/8/22/buythedip-rally-pushes-s-and-p-500-above-50day-moving-average.htm

22-Aug-17 16:30 ET
Dow +196.14 at 21899.89, Nasdaq +84.35 at 6297.46, S&P +24.14 at 2452.47

[BRIEFING.COM] Wall Street rallied on Tuesday as investors bought the dip that has dented the major averages in recent weeks. Equities crept higher throughout the morning, hit some resistance at the S&P 500's 50-day simple moving average (2,450.29), and then overcame the key technical level in the late afternoon. The Nasdaq (+1.4%) led the advance, followed by the S&P 500 (+1.0%), and then the Dow (+0.9%).

Tax reform came back into focus on Tuesday following a Politico report that President Trump's team has made significant progress on a tax-reform proposal. The potential framework laid out in the article fell somewhat short of the market's original expectations, but Wall Street took it as a positive nonetheless as investors have been starved for some sense of progress on tax reform.

Strength was broad-based on Tuesday with six sectors--financials, consumer discretionary, industrials, materials, technology, and health care--settling with gains of at least 1.0%. The top-weighted technology sector (+1.5%) led the charge, breaking a three-session losing streak. Within the tech group, chipmakers showed notable strength, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index higher by 1.6%.

Like chipmakers, biotechnology names outperformed, evidenced by the 1.9% increase in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 310.52, +5.84). The biotech rally helped the influential health care sector (+1.2%) settle just a step below the technology group at the top of the sector standings. The lightly-weighted materials space also outperformed, adding 1.2%.

On the flip side, the consumer staples (unch), utilities (+0.2%), and real estate (-0.1%) sectors struggled, finishing solidly behind the broader market. The energy space (+0.7%) did notably better, but also finished a ways behind the broader market. Crude oil reclaimed some of Monday's plunge, climbing 0.6% to $47.64/bbl, but not enough to really excite the bulls within the energy space.

As for earnings, DSW (DSW 18.43, +2.74) surged 17.5% after beating both top and bottom line estimates. Conversely, Medtronic (MDT 81.76, -1.76) and Toll Brothers (TOL 37.27, -0.99) dropped 2.1% and 2.6%, respectively, despite reporting better than expected earnings.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries tumbled across the yield curve with longer-dated issues settling at their session lows. The benchmark 10-yr yield climbed four basis points to 2.22% while the 2-yr yield advanced three basis points to 1.32%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (93.45, +0.45) jumped 0.5%, reclaiming all of Monday's slide.

Reviewing Tuesday's economic data, which was limited to the FHFA Housing Price Index for June:

The FHFA Housing Price Index for June rose 0.1%. The prior month's reading was revised to 0.3% (from 0.4%).

On Wednesday, investors will receive just two pieces of economic data--the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index and July New Home Sales (Briefing.com consensus 615K). The two reports will cross the wires at 7:00 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite +17.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +10.8% YTD
S&P 500 +9.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.0% YTD

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Investors Cautious Ahead of Jackson Hole Speeches
24-Aug-17 16:30 ET
Dow -28.69 at 21783.40, Nasdaq -7.08 at 6271.31, S&P -3.72 at 2440.28
https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/8/24/investors-cautious-ahead-of-jackson-hole-speeches.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Equities ticked lower in a range-bound trade on Thursday as central bankers kicked off a three-day symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Dow (-0.1%) and the Nasdaq (-0.1%) settled roughly in line with the benchmark S&P 500, which dropped 0.2%.

Investors hesitated to move the market ahead of comments from the world's two most influential central bankers--Fed Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. The two will speak on Friday at 10:00 ET and 15:00 ET, respectively.

Lingering concerns over a potential government shutdown also held sentiment in check on Thursday, but House Speaker Paul Ryan helped ease those concerns a bit, saying he is confident that the debt ceiling will be raised before it hits the limit.

Ten of the eleven sectors finished Thursday's session in negative territory, but losses were pretty modest in general. The consumer staples space (-1.3%) exhibited notable weakness, but the remaining laggards finished with losses of no more than 0.4%. The health care group (+0.3%) was the lone advancer.

Grocers like Wal-Mart (WMT 78.34, -1.62), Costco (COST 151.33, -8.04), and Kroger (KR 21.10, -1.86) weighed on the consumer staples group, dropping 2.0%, 5.0%, and 8.1%, respectively, following news that Amazon's (AMZN 952.45, -5.55) acquisition of Whole Foods Market (WFM 41.98, +0.30) will close on Monday.

In addition, J.M. Smucker (SJM 107.51, -11.34) and Hormel Foods (HRL 32.09, -1.83) also influenced the consumer staples group lower, losing 9.5% and 5.4%, respectively, after missing both top and bottom line estimates

Elsewhere on the corporate front, retailers were a focal point following another large batch of retail earnings. The reactions were largely positive, evidenced by the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 38.84, +0.35), which moved higher by 0.9%.

Dollar Tree (DLTR 78.50, +4.18), Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF 11.25, +1.64), Guess? (GES 14.86, +2.38), Signet Jewelers (SIG 60.54, +8.65), Michaels Stores (MIK 21.27, +1.66), and Burlington Stores (BURL 86.11, +1.16) added between 1.4% and 19.1% after all six companies beat earnings estimates.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries moved lower across the curve, sending the benchmark 10-yr yield two basis points higher to 2.19%. The 2-yr yield also climbed two basis points, finishing at 1.33%.

Reviewing Thursday's economic data, which included the weekly Initial Claims Report and July Existing Home Sales:

The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 234,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 237,000. Today's tally was above the unrevised prior week count of 232,000. As for continuing claims, they stayed unchanged at 1.954 million from the revised count of 1.954 million (from 1.953 million).
The report marked the 129th straight week initial claims have been below 300,000, which is reflective of a tight labor market.
Existing home sales for July decreased 1.3% from June to an annualized rate of 5.44 million units while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.56 million. The prior month's reading was revised to 5.51 million from 5.52 million.
The key takeaway from the report is that neither the availability nor the affordability of homes is high, which is keeping sales activity from being all that it could be otherwise.

On Friday, investors will receive just one piece of economic data--July Durable Orders (Briefing.com consensus -6.0%). The report will cross the wires at 8:30 ET.

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Friday Maintains the Status Quo (Weekend Newsletter)

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

- Friday maintains the status quo but of course that leaves the stock
indices still split heading into this week.
- NASDAQ, SOX, DJ30 still solid upside. SP500, RUTX, SP400still struggling.

Hello everyone! Apologies for the delayed report -- things got a bit wet
down here, and preparing for the event stole away a lot of our time last
week as well. Right now we are watching almost horizontal rain -- still!
And forecasts are for 15" to 20" through Wednesday. Hey, it rained 15" in
just over 3 hours last night. Spread out over 3 days, that now seems like a
cakewalk. At least it lets the water drain some in between the squalls.
Finding those silver linings.

Friday's silver lining for the stock market was it did not collapse. A rise
in futures failed to result in a new break higher, but the market also
avoided the sharp declines experienced late week the prior two weeks. So,
not falling was a win. High praise indeed!

SP500 4.08, 0.17%
NASDAQ -5.69, -0.09%
DJ30 30.27, 0.14%
SP400 7.50, 0.44%
SOX -5.44, -0.50%
RUTX 0.26%

VOLUME: NYSE -8%, NASDAQ -11%. Volume fell farther below average in a week
of very anemic trade. NYSE well below average, NASDAQ way below average as
well. No volume either way as the market closes the week noncommittal.

ADVANCE/DECLINE: NYSE 2.1:1, NASDAQ 1.5:1.

Cohn said Friday there would be tax reform before year end and that the
Administration would start a push this coming week. Futures jumped on the
news, but staying power was so-so at best.

Durable Goods orders were not bad once you took out Boeing. Of course, if
you take out defense spending Durables were -7.85 versus -6.8% overall. At
least business investment rose 0.4%, the third highest of the year.

The news helped, didn't hurt, didn't do much for the market in the end.
After the session, the stock indices remain in their same patterns, some
quite nice, some quite worrisome.

CHARTS

http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/sp500.jpg
http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/NASDAQ.jpg
http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/DJ30.jpg
http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/RUTX.jpg
http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/SP400.jpg
http://investmenthouse1.com/ihmedia/f/charts/SOX.jpg

NASDAQ continues its rather solid 5 week consolidation of its last high,
holding the early week bounce up to the 50 day MA's. Not selling, working
on a positive pattern, not bad action.

DJ30 bounced from the 50 day MA early week, then spent the rest of the week
testing laterally. Still a pretty solid ACBD pattern here as well, making
the first bounce, and now after this test it needs to show a new break
higher in the pattern.

SOX faded Friday, but is holding the 50 day MA, trying to put in a higher
low at that important point to try to make the break higher. Important
index for next week.

SP500 made a big recovery Tuesday off the prior sharp selloff. After that,
however, SP500 stalled out and then moved laterally the rest of the week.
That closed it below the 50 day MA's, and the 2017 trendline. Precarious
position for the large caps.

SP400 still shows the bear flag despite moving higher Friday. After the
selloff, SP500 gapped higher Tuesday, rallying to the 200 day SMA. That
slammed the door shut on the rebound, however, and indeed a Friday move
higher through the 200 day MA was pushed back to close below that level.
Yes it enjoyed a gain, but it could not hold a break over that important
level.

RUTX shows very similar action, posting a Friday gain but also a doji below
the 200 day MA. This after a week of recovering from the prior sharp
Thursday selloff.

SUMMARY: Three indices working on some pretty darn decent upside patterns.
Three indices still unable to recover with any strength, and are also in
real danger of breaking back lower. Which one takes charge is STILL the
question for this upcoming week.


MARKET STATS

DJ30
Stats: +30.27 points (+0.14%) to close at 21813.67

Nasdaq
Stats: -5.68 points (-0.09%) to close at 6265.64
Volume: 1.44B (-10.56%)

Up Volume: 746.12M (-156.83M)
Down Volume: 650.23M (-36.36M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.51 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.47 to 1

New Highs: 79 (+16)
New Lows: 33 (-12)

S&P
Stats: +4.08 points (+0.17%) to close at 2443.05
NYSE Volume: 663.3M (-7.72%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 2.07 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.03 to 1

New Highs: 110 (+13)
New Lows: 18 (-17)


MONDAY

Still some great index patterns, still some sucking on the tailpipe. Still
some great leaders, just not a mass of leaders across the market. Some of
the weaker patterns became oversold then rebounded last week. Retailers
enjoyed some good moves after their long selloffs. Some potential
recoveries, some potential rollovers. Same position as the week before,
just older and wiser right?

That still leaves stocks such as NVDA, SOHU, DATA, NFLX, ACAD and others in
position to make a new move higher.

Looking at SDS again, the upside play on a downside SPY move, because it is
in a position to move higher as SPY moves lower. IWM? Looks like a
classic bear flag: after a violent selloff through the prior Thursday, IWM
has had its rebound to test the 200 day SMA break.

With the market still not coming together with either the good index
patterns pulling the weaker indices higher or vice versa, look at both sides
of the ledger and play the moves that are solid moves.

Hopefully the rain that won't stop will stop, at least maybe 'falling'
horizontally. Whether it does or not, however, the market will open Monday
and perhaps this week will show the break from the patterns.

[ReturntoSender]

Limited Moves for the Major Indices
28-Aug-17 16:20 ET
Dow -5.27 at 21809.70, Nasdaq +17.37 at 6283.00, S&P +1.19 at 2445.69
https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/8/28/limited-moves-for-the-major-indices.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] It was a mixed outing on Wall Street to begin the week, as trading volume and conviction were both on the light side. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%) and Russell 2000 (+0.4%) were today's winning standouts among the major indices while the S&P 500 (+0.05%) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.02%) lagged behind.

Today's session wasn't accompanied by any market-moving headlines, so much of the trading interest revolved around specific stocks and/or industry groups.

One stock of note that outperformed was Apple (AAPL 161.47, +1.61, +1.0%). The market's most heavily-weighted issue gained 1.0% on the back of a report that the company is planning a product event for Tuesday, September 12. It is widely thought the event will feature the introduction of the iPhone 8, which has been eagerly anticipated by legions of customers and investors.

Apple's relative strength lent a measure of support to the broader market along with the biotech stocks, which jumped in the wake of an announcement from Gilead Sciences (GILD 74.69, +0.90, +1.2%) that it is going to acquire Kite Pharmaceuticals (KITE 178.05, +38.95, +28.0%) for approximately $11.9 billion, or $180.00 per share, in cash.

The offer from Gilead was a 29% premium over Kite's closing price on Friday. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 316.89, +5.84, +1.9%) advanced 1.9%.

Some other trading activity of note surrounded plays related to Hurricane Harvey. Property insurance stocks were laggards all day on concerns about rising claim costs associate with the storm, which produced record flooding and forced the closure of the Port of Houston and many oil refineries along the Texas coast.

While gasoline futures traded higher on news of the closures, crude futures settled the day 2.7% lower at $46.57 per barrel on concerns about weaker demand for oil in the short-term due to the refinery shutdowns.

Separately, home improvement retailers Home Depot (HD 151.20, +1.55, +1.0%), Lowe's (LOW 73.80, +0.45, +0.6%), and Lumber Liquidators (LL 38.70, +1.64, +4.4%) moved up on the notion that they will be beneficiaries of remodeling/refurbishment/new construction activity in the affected areas.

The energy sector (-0.5%) was one of the day's biggest laggards, but it did manage to cut its losses in half after oil prices rebounded off their lows of $46.15. On a related note, there were reports that Saudi Arabia and Russia are seeking a 3-month extension to the oil production cut deal that has been embraced by OPEC and certain non-OPEC nations.

The financial sector (-0.5%) was the other key laggard of the day, yet relative strength in the health care (+0.6%) and information technology (+0.3%) sectors offset the weakness elsewhere and enabled the S&P 500 to eke out a slim gain to begin the week.

Elsewhere, the Treasury market manged some modest gains of its own, bolstered by the strong demand seen at the 2-yr note and 5-yr note auctions, as well as a modicum of safe-haven buying interest in front of next month's budget and debt ceiling debates. The 10-yr note yield dipped one basis point to 2.16%.

The dollar was on the defensive throughout the day, which pushed the U.S. Dollar Index (92.26, -0.48, -0.5%) to its lowest close since 2015.

Today's lone economic release showed a widening in the goods deficit to $65.1 billion in July (Briefing.com consensus -$64.3 billion) from $64.0 billion in June and a 0.4% increase in Wholesale Inventories (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) in July versus a 0.6% increase in June.

Neither the stock market nor the Treasury market showed much reaction to that report. On Tuesday the economic calendar will feature the Case-Shiller Home Price Index for June (Briefing.com consensus 5.7%) at 9:00 a.m. ET and the Consumer Confidence report for August (Briefing.com consensus 120.3) at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Nasdaq Composite +16.7% YTD
Dow Jones industrial Average +10.4% YTD
S&P 500 +9.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +1.8% YTD

[ReturntoSender]

Rolling to New Record Highs
11-Sep-17 16:30 ET
Dow +259.58 at 22058.67, Nasdaq +72.07 at 6432.23, S&P +26.68 at 2489.56

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/9/11/rolling-to-new-record-highs.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] The U.S. equity market kicked off the week with a solid bounce-back performance that reclaimed all of last week's decline and sent the S&P 500 (+1.1%) to a new all-time high. Investors happily dialed back their estimates for damages related to Hurricane Irma--which was downgraded to a tropical storm on Monday morning--and cheered a show of restraint from North Korea. The Nasdaq (+1.1%), the Dow (+1.2%), and the small-cap Russell 2000 (+1.1%) settled roughly in line with the benchmark index.

Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys on Sunday morning as a Category 4 hurricane, but the once historically powerful storm quickly petered out, falling to a Category 2 storm by the mid-afternoon. Millions of Florida residents are still without power and Jacksonville--Florida's most populous city--is experiencing substantial flooding, but the storm ultimately did far less damage than forecasts were predicting.

The prospect of fewer-than-expected hurricane related claims underpinned insurers like Travelers (TRV 122.56, +2.80) on Monday, helping the heavily-weighted financial sector (+1.7%) finish at the top of the sector standings. Meanwhile, home-improvement retailers like Home Depot (HD 158.37, -1.29) struggled, leaving the consumer discretionary sector (+0.5%) near the bottom of the sector standings, as investors curtailed their expectations for home-repair demand.

A tempering of geopolitical concerns related to North Korea also fed into Monday's bullish bias after the hermit nation proved analysts wrong over the weekend, deciding to celebrate the 69th anniversary of its founding without another long-range missile launch. The tranquility may prove to be short-lived, however, as the U.N. is expected to vote on further sanctions against Pyongyang on Monday evening.

Each of the eleven sectors settled Monday's session in the green, but gains varied pretty widely. In addition to financials, the technology (+1.5%) and materials (+1.4%) sectors outperformed. Within the tech group, Apple (AAPL 161.50, +2.87) showed relative strength, climbing 1.8%, ahead of Tuesday's product event, in which the company is expected to unveil its latest iPhone lineup, including the high-end iPhone X--which is reportedly the much-anticipated tenth anniversary edition that's been generating buzz for months.

Chipmakers also had a solid showing on Monday, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index higher by 2.0% and into positive territory for the month (+0.1%).

Most other sectors finished with gains between 0.7% and 1.0%, but the lightly-weighted telecom services space underperformed, climbing higher by just 0.4%. Following today's relatively disappointing performance, the telecom services space now holds a month-to-date loss of 4.1% and trades at the very bottom of the 2017 sector standings with a year-to-date loss of 14.9%. The energy sector is the only other space trading in the red for the year (-14.1%).

Biotechnology stocks also struggled on Monday, evidenced by the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 334.41, +0.31), which settled just a tick above its flat line. However, the influential health care sector, which houses biotech names, held up relatively well (+0.8%), extending its month-to-date gain to 2.3%.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries sold off across the curve, pushing yields above the multi-month lows that they hit last week. The benchmark 10-yr climbed six basis points to 2.12% after falling to its lowest level since November on Thursday.

Meanwhile, U.S. dollar climbed 1.5% against the Japanese yen (109.47), which is considered a safe-haven asset, and the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 10.81, -1.31) tumbled 10.8%.

Investors didn't receive any economic data on Monday. Tuesday's lone economic report--the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for July--will be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +19.5% YTD
S&P 500 +11.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +11.6% YTD
Russell 2000 +4.3% YTD

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Reining in the Bulls
14-Sep-17 16:25 ET
Dow +45.30 at 22204.78, Nasdaq -31.10 at 6429.06, S&P -2.75 at 2497.07

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/9/14/reining-in-the-bulls.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Investors reined in the stock market on Thursday following three straight days of gains, which culminated in new record highs for all three major U.S. indices in the prior session. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.1% and 0.5%, respectively, but the price-weighted Dow (+0.2%) leaned on some of its most influential components to finish at a new all-time high for the third session in a row.

While the market's current record-high level is in itself a reason for investors to take some money off the table, Thursday's downtick could also be attributed to increased rate-hike expectations following a hotter-than-expected CPI reading (+0.4% actual vs +0.3% Briefing.com consensus) and continued concerns surrounding North Korea's insistent prodding.

On a year-over-year basis, Thursday's CPI reading for the month of August showed an increase of 1.9%, which is just a tick below the Fed's target of 2.0%. Accordingly, the fed funds futures market adjusted the implied probability of a December rate hike to 52.9% from 41.3% on Wednesday, showing that the Fed's forecast of three rate hikes in 2017 is still believed to be feasible.

Meanwhile, North Korea appears ready to tighten geopolitical tensions once again after issuing some provocative remarks towards the U.S. and Japan. In addition, reports indicate that Pyongyang might be preparing yet another missile launch, its first since the August 29th launch over northern Japan.

However, U.S. Treasuries had a muted response to the aforementioned headlines, showing that investors were not all that concerned--at least for the time being. The yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note ended Thursday unchanged at 2.20%, breaking its three-session winning streak. The 2-yr yield also finished flat, closing at 1.36%.

As for the equity market, six of the eleven sectors settled the day in positive territory. The lightly-weighted utilities space (+0.9%) showed particular strength, bouncing back from two straight days of losses, but the remaining advancers finished with gains of no more than 0.6%.

On the flip side, the consumer discretionary sector (-0.5%) settle at the bottom of the leaderboard amid broad weakness. The top-weighted technology group (-0.4%) also struggled, even though chipmakers put together a relatively positive performance, evidenced by the PHLX Semiconductor Index, which climbed 0.5%.

The influential financial sector also underperformed on Thursday, breaking its four-session winning streak. However, the group still holds a solid week-to-date gain of 2.8%, which places it in second place--right behind energy (+3.2% WTD)--on the weekly leaderboard.

In Europe, the Bank of England left its key policy rate at 0.25% and its asset purchase program at £435 billion, as expected, but noted that it could potentially raise rates more aggressively than the market expects if the economy keeps evolving as expected. The British pound spiked 1.4% against the U.S. dollar to 1.3399, hitting a 52-week high, following the BoE's comments.

Reviewing Thursday's economic data, which included the Consumer Price Index for August and the Weekly Initial Claims Report:

Total CPI increased 0.4% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) in August while core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%). On a year-over-year basis, total CPI and core CPI are up 1.9% and 1.7%, respectively.
The key takeaway from the report is that the year-over-year bump in headline inflation toward the Fed's 2.0% target will prompt the market to consider more carefully the prospect of another rate hike before the end of the year.
The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 284,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 310,000. Today's tally was below the unrevised prior week count of 298,000. As for continuing claims, they declined to 1.944 million from the revised count of 1.951 million (from 1.940 million).
The key takeaway from the report is that the underlying trend in initial claims remains solid and on point with a tight labor market, evidenced by the unadjusted claims figure, which fell by 36,500 to 214,121.

On Friday, investors will receive a slew of economic reports, including August Retail Sales (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%) at 8:30 ET, the September Empire State Manufacturing Index (Briefing.com consensus 20) also at 8:30 ET, Industrial Production (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) and Capacity Utilization (Briefing.com consensus 76.8%) at 9:15 ET, the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for September (Briefing.com consensus 95.5) at 10:00 ET, and July Business Inventories (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) also at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +19.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +12.4% YTD
S&P 500 +11.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +5.0% YTD

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S&P 500 Advances to New All-Time High; Hits 2,500
15-Sep-17 16:30 ET
Dow +64.86 at 22269.64, Nasdaq +19.38 at 6448.44, S&P +4.61 at 2501.68

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/9/15/s-and-p-500-advances-to-new-alltime-high-hits-2500.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Equities ticked up on Friday, capping off this week's run to record highs on a positive note. The Dow (+0.3%) advanced to a new-all time high once again, as did the S&P 500 (+0.2%), which settled right at the round mark of 2,500. The Nasdaq (+0.3%) also finished modestly higher, but didn't gain enough to erase its Thursday decline, leaving the index about 12 points below its record-high close. For the week, the S&P 500 added 1.6%.

On one hand, Friday's uptick was surprising considering that it came on the heels of yet another North Korean missile launch, which crossed over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. However, on the other hand, the market's response was entirely consistent with the recent past as investors have generally taken Pyongyang's missile tests in stride.

Eight of the eleven sectors advanced on Friday, with the lightly-weighted telecom services group (+1.8%) leading the charge by a wide margin, securing its spot at the top of the week's leaderboard (+3.9%). The financials (+0.5%) and energy (+0.2%) sectors also outperformed on Friday, finishing the week on telecom's heels with weekly gains of 3.3% and 3.5%, respectively.

The top-weighted technology sector (+0.3%) broke its two-day losing streak, thanks in large part to chipmakers, which sent the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+1.7%) higher for the fifth day in a row. NVIDIA (NVDA 180.11 +10.71) led the semiconductor rally, climbing 6.3% to a new all-time high, after its target price was raised to $250 from $180 at Evercore ISI on Friday morning.

Apple (AAPL 159.88, +1.60) also played a major role in the tech sector's positive Friday performance, snapping out of its recent funk, which started immediately following the company's annual product event on Tuesday. The tech titan climbed 1.0% to settle with a weekly gain of 0.8%.

On the flip side, Oracle (ORCL 48.74, -4.05) dropped 7.7%, giving back all of its September gain, after issuing cautious guidance that overshadowed its better-than-expected earnings and revenues.

The health care (-0.3%) and consumer discretionary (-0.2%) spaces were the weakest sectors on Friday, trimming their weekly gains to 0.4% and 0.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, the rate-sensitive utilities group (+0.1%) eked out a narrow victory, but its Friday performance was far from enough to prevent a last place finish in the weekly sector standings (-0.4%).

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries didn't do much to relieve the huge weekly losses they carried into Friday's session. The yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note finished flat at 2.20%, locking in a 14 basis point gain for the week. Meanwhile, the 2-yr yield climbed two basis points to 1.38%, extending its weekly gain to 13 basis points.

Reviewing Friday's big batch of economic data, which included August Retail Sales, August Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization, the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for September, the September Empire State Manufacturing Index, and July Business Inventories:

August retail sales decreased 0.2%, missing the Briefing.com consensus estimate, which called for an increase of 0.1%. The prior month's reading was revised to +0.3% from +0.6%. Excluding autos, retail sales increased 0.2% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.5%. The prior month's reading was revised to +0.4% from +0.5%.
The key takeaway from the report is that it will temper forecasts for Q3 consumer spending as core retail sales, which exclude auto, gasoline station, building equipment and materials, and food services and drinking places sales, declined 0.2%.
Industrial Production decreased 0.9% in August (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) while Capacity Utilization declined to 76.1% (Briefing.com consensus 76.8%) from a revised reading of 76.9% in July (from 76.7%).
The key takeaway from the report is that industrial production, excluding the hurricane impact, was still weak in August.
The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for September declined to 95.3 (Briefing.com consensus 95.5) from 96.8 in August.
The key takeaway from the report is that consumers' assessment of their financial situation is the best it has been in more than a decade.
The Empire Manufacturing Survey for September declined to 24.4 from the prior month's reading of 25.2. The Briefing.com consensus estimate was pegged at 20.0.
Business Inventories rose 0.2% in July, which is in line with the Briefing.com consensus. The prior month's reading was left unrevised at +0.5%.
The key takeaway from the report is that pricing power will still be hard to come by given the elevated inventory-to-sales ratio, which held steady at 1.38 (down from 1.40 a year ago).

On Monday, investors will receive just one notable piece of economic data--the NAHB Housing Market Index for September--which will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +19.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +12.7% YTD
S&P 500 +11.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +5.5% YTD

Week In Review: Movin' On Up

Stocks rallied to new record highs this week--more than making up for last week's decline--following Hurricane Irma's weaker-than-expected Florida landfall and ahead of next week's FOMC meeting. The Dow led this week's advance, climbing 2.2%, followed by the S&P 500 (+1.6%), and then the Nasdaq (+1.4%). For the year, the S&P 500 now holds a gain of 11.7%.

The bulk of this week's gain came right off the bat as investors happily dialed back their estimates on Monday for damages related to Hurricane Irma, which quickly petered out after hitting the Florida Keys on Sunday. Insurers like Travelers (TRV) led the Monday rally, underpinned by the prospect of fewer-than-expected hurricane related claims, but much of their gains were unwound by the end of the week.

Equities followed up their stellar Monday performance with another win on Tuesday, but conviction was much more modest. Apple (AAPL) held its annual product event, in which the company unveiled a trio of iPhones, including the iPhone 8, the iPhone 8 Plus, and the high-end iPhone X--which CEO Tim Cook called "the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone."

On the whole, Tuesday's product event provided little new information as many of the details had been leaked beforehand. Apple sold off immediately following the event, with some investors citing concerns related to the iPhone X's later-than-expected release date (November 3). However, the tech giant bounced back on Friday, extending its massive year-to-date gain to 38.0%.

Following Tuesday's modest victory--which sent all three major U.S. indices to new record highs--the stock market took a breather, ending the week in a sideways trend. The Nasdaq ticked lower in the latter half of the week, settling just a step below its record high, while the S&P 500 and the Dow ticked up, further extending their record marks.

Investors largely ignored North Korea's latest missile launch, which flew over northern Japan on Friday morning, continuing the week's safe-haven sell off. After hitting a 10-month low last week, the yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note climbed 14 basis points this week, settling at 2.20%. Meanwhile, the 2-yr yield climbed 13 basis points to finish at 1.38%.

A hotter-than-expected August CPI reading (+0.4% actual vs +0.3% Briefing.com consensus), which showed a year-over-year increase of 1.9%, prompted an adjustment in rate-hike expectations. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, investors currently place the chances of a December rate hike at 57.8%, up from last week's 31.0%.

However, the Fed's massive balance sheet will be the focus of next week's FOMC meeting as it is widely expected that Fed Chair Janet Yellen will announce the start of a gradual reduction of assets bought in response to the 2008 financial crisis. The two-day FOMC meeting will kick off on Tuesday.

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InvestmentHouse - Q3 GDP Beats Upside for Back to Back 3% Gains (Weekend Newsletter)

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

- Earnings of the mega caps blast NASDAQ, SOX higher.
- Strong moves, narrow breadth.
- Q3 GDP beats upside for back to back 3% gains. Inventories rise
presumptively in anticipation of Q4 holiday sales.
- Stock buybacks down 15% but authorizations are up.
- Some of the big names still in the buy zone and we see other forgotten
names setting up a familiar upside pattern that has returned nice gains.
- Big question: was Friday the start of a new break higher based on new
rotation?

Friday showed definitely no earnings or good news saturation in the stock
market as a sack full of strong earnings provided the fuel for new breaks
higher and new highs for NASDAQ, SP400, SP500 and SOX, and a solid break
higher for RUTX off its test. FB, AMZN, GOOG, AAPL, MSFT, INTC all broke
out as well. Impressive moves and of course all of the financial station
analysts were spluttering all over themselves as is always the case when
there are impressive moves. That is okay; GOOG and others show strong
breakout moves.

SP500 20.67, 0.81%
NASDAQ 144.49, 2.20%
DJ30 33.33, 0.14%
SP500 0.54%
RUTX 0.73%
SOX 2.14%
NASDAQ 100 2.91%

VOLUME: NYSE +2%, NASDAQ +14%. NYSE volume moved a bit farther above
average, matching Wednesday, showing some good accumulation. NASDAQ volume
jumped to the highest in six weeks as it gapped and rallied. Plenty of
NASDAQ accumulation, but in what stocks?

ADVANCE/DECLINE: NYSE 1.65:1, NASDAQ 1.7:1. The breadth shows you which
stocks: the large cap stocks. Huge percentage moves on NASDAQ and SOX and
very decent gains on SP500 and even RUTX. But breadth was paltry by
comparison. It was a large cap move. Not that there is anything wrong with
that -- for the short term.


Impressive breakout move but not a broad move. Money poured into the FAANG
and large cap tech stocks. It stayed in software, machinery, retail,
financial, semiconductors -- most of the same leaders. It continued out of
China stocks and biotechs, very solid leadership groups that are not so
solid now.

With still solid leadership groups and big funds finding love again in FAANG
and massive cap tech, it could be this is a new breakout for a new run
higher. Money moving into new areas fuels moves and everyone has seen how
when money goes to FAANG NASDAQ moves up.

The other side of the coin is this good news is being piled on top of
already reported good news and could be the last hurrah of money moving in
on this earnings season. That would mean the market has hit or is near the
good news saturation point, something discussed over the past week. So one
question is whether the Friday action was the last great surge of this last
part of the rally?

Whether this is a saturation point gap remains to be seen, but other than
overall weak breadth Friday the moves did not have that look. We will wait
and see how they shake out to start the coming week as per the plan, but we
are ready to play upside off of these moves if they set up. The moves were
too strong not to be ready for that.

Moreover, it was not just these gap moves Friday. There are many stocks
again setting up patterns after long declines, trying to 'turn the corner'
back to the upside out of these bases. The semiconductors did this and we
made a lot of money on them. The China stocks did this and the same
outcome. Biotech stocks. Financial stocks. Hated, loathed, despised
downtrodden groups that had the look of turning, did so, and are now loved
and adored market leaders. They have established bases at the lows, the
FAANG and large cap tech have done so off their last rallies, both can rally
and thus continue the overall market rally.

Early this week we will see how sticky is the money that entered the market
Friday. Does it build on the Friday breakouts and do the new areas that are
setting up make breakouts or do the great moves upside reverse indicating
money is using the upside to exit? It will be one or the other, whether it
takes a day or several days to show the verdict.


NEWS/ECONOMY

Q3 GDP, 1st: 3.0% versus 2.8% expected versus 3.1% Q2.

Not a boom, nothing really changed, but many took heart of back to back 3%
reads. Why? Well, after a weak end to 2016 and start of 2017, the economy
is back to 'trend,' though 'trend' the past 9 years has been well below the
3% historical trend.

Indeed, the prior 10 years were the first since the Great Depression to not
have a single year that averaged 3% GDP annual growth. If tax cuts should
perhaps get a relatively quick thumbs up, perhaps confidence could jump and
what looks to be a good quarter 4 gets to be a great quarter 4 and posts the
first 3% annual growth rate in over 10 years? Highly unlikely as Q4 would
need to grow at roughly 4.7%, but there is promise there.

What caused the expectations beat?

INVENTORIES: added 0.7% to GDP. That can be good, that can be bad. In an
upswing economy, rising inventories indicate producers and sellers building
inventories in anticipation of future sales. The holiday season is coming,
and this kind of inventory build shows anticipation of coming sales. That
is economically bullish.

CONSUMPTION: 2.4% versus 2.2% expected and 2.24% prior. Added 1.62 points
to GDP.

Harvey and Irma: Apparently they had NO impact, or they had an impact and
prevented GDP from being huge. I would think the Bureau of Economic
Statistics just muffed the storm impact.

TAKEAWAY: If tax reform is passed the economy gets interesting. If
healthcare reform is passed and gets the ACA monkey off small business'
back, the combination could be a real boom, not just the ultra large cap
company boom seen thus far.


Stock Buybacks: Down 15% through Q3 in 2017. Big market driver as we know.

Buyback authorizations: Corporate resolutions to buy back shares for the
company treasury are way up, they simply have not been implemented. If
companies start announcing buybacks then the rally has new fuel for DJ30 25K
by yearend.

Caveat: It is earnings season, companies are reporting some pretty solid
results (lots of top line beats again versus cost-cutting bottom line beats
the prior 8 years), but they are as of yet not announcing buybacks.


THE MARKET

Of course some huge moves with NASDAQ even outpacing SOX' gain. Yet,
breadth was paltry (1.7:1 NASDAQ, 1.6:1 NYSE) as a few big names led the
move. Staying power? We will see.

CHARTS

NASDAQ: Have to lead with NASDAQ as its components were exploding higher.
Boom, boom, boom, boom. NASDAQ gapped upside rallied through the prior
highs earlier in October, and surged, closing near the session high. Volume
rallied Wednesday to Friday as it tested the 20 day EMA then on the blast
higher Friday.

SOX: SOX worked through its personal problems and chop over the past two
weeks, all the while holding the 10 day EMA. Then Friday, boom, a gap and a
fill, then a race higher and closing at a new post-2000 high near the
session high.

SP400: After a quite volatile week, and indeed Friday, the midcaps surged
to a new high, closing at that high. Not out of the woods but a good move.

SP500: Very similar action to the midcaps, gapping upside, testing the 10
day EMA then rallying to a new high. Lots of volatility the past week but
held support and we will see if this breakout on good volume holds.

RUTX: After lots of volatility the past two weeks, RUTX fell below the 20
day EMA intraday Wednesday but recovered. Friday was the big move, breaking
upside for 3/4%. No new high but got the test and now breaking upside.


LEADERSHIP

China stocks: Struggling as money moves out. BABA earnings this week and
perhaps it can bring them back. BABA trying to hold the 50 day EMA. SINA
breaks the 50 day. BIDU dives lower on earnings. BZUN as well. HTHT
trying to hang on. Overall the sector is a lot weaker.

Biotech: An awful week. CELG gapping lower and lower. AMGN plunges to the
200 day SMA. BIIB breaks the 50 day MA's. IDRA plummets. IMMU, INFI still
solid enough. Overall, very volatile.

FAANG: Of course a big day with AMZN, GOOG leading the way. FB strong as
well, AAPL surging upside. NFLX was quiet but has earnings this week. FB
as well.

Software: MSFT earnings helped surge the market and that stock. Others
were solid as usual, e.g. DATA, NTNX, VMW, CRM.

Financial: A solid week with JPM at a new rally high, BAC ditto. GS testing
decently.

Semiconductors: A big group of course but some big names made big moves,
e.g. INTC, TXN while others held gains and continued higher, e.g. AMAT,
LRCX, ON, BRKS. AMD bombed but even XLNX that had reversed managed a very
nice comeback.

Machinery/Manufacturing: Strong week for CAT, CMI, EMR. HON, HOLI holding
up very well.

Retail: WMT, TGT, WSM all solid either rallying farther or testing a bit.
Others such as TLRD, SIG look as if they might be ready to turn the corner.


MARKET STATS

DJ30
Stats: +33.33 points (+0.14%) to close at 23434.19

Nasdaq
Stats: +144.49 points (+2.20%) to close at 6701.26
Volume: 2.41B (+13.68%)

Up Volume: 1.43B (+571.19M)
Down Volume: 946.7M (-263.3M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.7 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.04 to 1

New Highs: 197 (+65)
New Lows: 76 (+6)

S&P
Stats: +20.67 points (+0.81%) to close at 2581.07
NYSE Volume: 888.7M (+2.31%)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.64 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.1 to 1

New Highs: 181 (-6)
New Lows: 79 (-4)


SENTIMENT INDICATORS

VIX: 9.80; -1.50
VXN: 14.30; -1.52
VXO: 8.27; -1.05

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.88; +0.01


Bulls and Bears: Third week over 60 for the bulls as they are banging at the
top of the sentiment range that has rallies in check. Look at the chart
below: every time the 60 level is hit and holds consistently there is a
selloff. Sentiment has spent a LOT of time in 2017 at 50 or above.

Bulls: 62.3 versus 60.0

Bears: 15.1 versus 15.2

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: 62.3 versus 60.60
60.6 versus 60.4 versus 57.5 versus 54.3 versus 50.5 versus 47.1 versus 49.5
versus 49.5 versus 48.1 versus 50.5 versus 57.5 versus 60.0 versus 60.2
versus 57.8 versus 50.0 versus 52.5 versus 54.9 versus 51.5 versus 50.00
versus 55.8 versus 50.00 versus 51.9 versus 58.1 versus 58.7 versus 58.5
versus 54.7 versus 51.9 versus 56.3 versus 55.8 versus 49.5 versus 56.7
versus 53.4 versus 57.7 versus 63.1 versus 61.2 versus 61.8 versus 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

Bears: 15.1 versus 15.2
15.2 versus 15.1 versus 17.0 versus 17.1 versus 19.0 versus 20.2 versus 19.1
versus 19.1 versus 18.3 versus 18.1 versus 17.0 versus 16.2 versus 16.5
versus 16.7 versus 18.6 versus 18.8 versus 18.6 versus 18.3 versus 19.2
versus 18.3 versus 17.1 versus 17.3 versus 17.9 versus 17.9 versus 18.3
versus 17.5 versus 18.3 versus 18.1 versus 17.3 versus 13.75 versus 17.3
versus 16.5 versus 17.5 versus 17.6 versus 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


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds: 2.419% versus 2.456%. Bonds were hammered lower with TLT breaking
below the 200 day SMA. A bit of recovery Friday, but hitting the 200 day
SMA from below.

Historical: the last sub-2% rate was in November 2016 (1.867%). 2.456%
versus 2.435% versus 2.421% versus 2.366% versus 2.383% versus 2.318% versus
2.341% versus 2.30% versus 2.302% versus 2.275% versus 2.321% versus 2.345%
versus 2.345% versus 2.361% versus 2.348% versus 2.327% versus 2.326% versus
2.341% versus 2.339% versus 2.312% versus 2.307% versus 2.236% versus 2.222%
versus 2.253% versus 2.276% versus 2.273% versus 2.246% versus 2.234% versus
2.201% versus 2.186% versus 2.19% versus 2.167% versus 2.134% versus 2.042%


EUR/USD: 1.16091 versus 1.16330. Dollar rallied, euro dropped below the
September and October lows to close the week. Kind of a 3 month head and
shoulders formed on the euro.

Historical: 1.16330 versus 1.18163 versus 1.17570 versus 1.1759 versus
1.17798 versus 1.18476 versus 1.17995 versus 1.1771 versus 1.17932 versus
1.1823 versus 1.1834 versus 1.18662 versus 1.1813 versus 1.17460 versus
1.17352 versus 1.17100 versus 1.1754 versus 1.17676 versus 1.17315 versus
1.1812 versus 1.17817 versus 1.1746 versus 1.17852 versus 1.18540 versus
1.19476 versus 1.19420 versus 1.19420 versus 1.19954 versus 1.19436 versus
1.1918 versus 1.1874 versus 1.19706 versus 1.19551 versus 1.20379 versus
1.2025 versus 1.19258 versus 1.19143 versus 1.18621 versus 1.19131 versus
1.18938 versus 1.19731 versus 1.19678 versus 1.19212 versus 1.18 versus
1.17516 versus 1.1813 versus 1.17595 versus 1.17107 versus 1.17812 versus
1.17445 versus 1.17751 versus 1.18216 versus 1.17652 versus 1.17596 versus
1.17619 versus 1.17975 versus 1.1774 versus 1.18718 versus 1.18457 versus
1.18072 versus 1.18281 versus 1.18293 versus 1.1683 versus 1.17419 versus
1.1646 versus 1.1637 versus 1.16640 versus 1.16271 versus 1.15280 versus
1.15549 versus 1.14735


USD/JPY: 113.675 versus 114.071. Dollar moving up the 10 day EMA but up
one session, down the next.

Historical: 114.071 versus 113.607 versus 113.913 versus 113.31 versus
113.530 versus 112.561 versus 113.031 versus 112.21 versus 112.20 versus
111.852 versus 112.25 versus 112.413 versus 112.41 versus 112.700 versus
112.653 versus 112.818 versus 112.79 versus 112.667 versus 112.716 versus
112.442 versus 112.86 versus 112.289 versus 111.649 versus 1.12125 versus
111.995 versus 112.454 versus 111.559 versus 111.435 versus 110.846 versus
110.01 versus 110.62 versus 110.216 versus 109.434 versus 107.847 versus
108.444 versus 109.132 versus 108.747 versus 110.254 versus 110.049 versus
110.289 versus 109.652 versus 108.04 versus 109.160 versus 109.573 versus
109.195 versus 109.648 versus 109.173 versus 109.205 versus 109.333 versus
109.842 versus 110.6621 versus 109.927


Oil: 53.90, +1.26. Spent all week bumping up at the start of resistance at
the top of the range (52.50ish) then -- boom -- breaking higher Friday.
Key, key test of the February high at 54.90 - 55.00 ahead.


Gold: 1271.80, +2.20. Nice rally from late June to early September
followed by a September fade to the 200 day SMA and 61% Fibonacci
retracement. A bounce then a fade the past two weeks back to that same
level. This setup is typically a pretty darn solid upside setup that would
move gold higher. Why would gold move higher? North Korea? Interesting
incongruity.


MONDAY

The big story? The revival of the front shooter theory in the JFK
assassination after the release of -- almost -- all of the remaining
government documents.

Okay, perhaps that is not the biggest story but it has a lot of people
talking. Also the false flag operations of the CIA and FBI on US soil,
plans to assassinate Castro -- things we kind of knew were happening and
many claim are happening to this day in other areas. Surprise! Or not.

Or how about the first charges in the Russia probe to be released Monday?
Will Mueller be one of the ones charged? From the stories reported, the
whole group on both sides ought to be handcuffed on down to those conducting
the investigation.

No, the reaction to the mega cap Friday move is the first big story though
Personal Income and Spending to come out ahead of the Monday open.

The Friday move was on Friday and it was rather limited to some really big
stocks that announced earnings. Was enough momentum created to keep the
move going, to keep new money chasing the large caps AND continue into
stocks that look to be turning the corner for a new move higher? THAT is
the big question in our view.

If it continues there are stocks we like quite a bit to the upside, some
that have broken out of bases, some that are looking to turn the corner.
Some that are loved, some that are forgotten but are setting up that old
pattern where they consolidate a long downtrend then start turning the
corner. If money stays in the market and continues flowing their way, we
want to be ready to make the plays and move up with them as they turn the
corner and rally. Just as with biotechs, chips, China stocks, etc. as they
made their turns.

Have a great weekend!


SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE

NASDAQ: Closed at 6701.26

Resistance:
More new highs

Support:
The 20 day EMA at 6578
6477 is the September intraday high
6461 is the July 2017 prior all-time high
6450 is the early September high
The 50 day EMA at 6492
The 2016 trendline at 6418
6341.70 is the all-time high from early June.
6300 is the mid-June interim high
6205 is the late May all-time high
The 200 day SMA at 6135
5996 is the recent May 2017 low
5937 is the all-time high from April
5915 is the tops of the March to April 2017 range
5910 is the lower gap point from mid-April
5800 from the February consolidation lows


S&P 500: Closed at 2581.07

Resistance:
New highs again

Support:
The 20 day EMA at 2552
2525 is the upper channel line from the March 2009 uptrend channel
The 50 day EMA at 2520
2491 is the August all-time high
2480 the late August and early August highs
2453.46 is the June prior all-time closing high
The 200 day SMA at 2418
2409 is the July 2017 closing low
2406 is the all-time high from May 2017
2401 is the March 2017 all-time high
2352 is the recent May 2017 low
2348 is the April 2017 lower gap point
2329 is the March and April twin lows
2322 is the March 2017 low
2301 is the late January 2017 high
2298 is the late January 2017 high
2282 - 2280 from January 2017
2277.53 is the December 2016 high
The November 2016 all-time high at 2213.25
2194 is the August 2016 prior all-time high
2175 is the June 2016 high


Dow: Closed at 23,434.19

Resistance:

Support:
The 10 day EMA at 23,246
The 50 day EMA at 22,579
22,420 is the September high
22,179 is the August 2017 all-time high
22,086 is the mid-August lower high
21,681is the July prior all-time high
21,638 is the July 2017 closing high
21,529 is the June 2017 high
The 200 day SMA at 21,338
21,169 is the March 2017 all-time high

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Mixed Outing in the Midweek Session
01-Nov-17 16:30 ET
Dow +57.77 at 23435.01, Nasdaq -11.14 at 6716.52, S&P +4.10 at 2579.36

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/11/1/mixed-outing-in-the-midweek-session.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks touched record highs at Wednesday's opening bell, but the bullish sentiment was quickly stifled, leaving the market little changed. The major indices finished the session mixed, settling in the lower half of their trading ranges. The Dow and the S&P 500 added 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.2%. Small caps struggled, sending the Russell 2000 lower by 0.7%.

The Federal Open Market Committee announced its latest policy decision on Wednesday afternoon, but the event came and went without much impact on the financial markets. As expected, the FOMC voted unanimously to leave the fed funds target range at 1.00%-1.25% and reiterated its belief that the economy will continue to expand at a moderate pace.

Wednesday's policy statement did little to alter the market's belief that the Fed will hike rates at the December FOMC meeting, evidenced by the CME FedWatch Tool--which places the chances of a December rate hike at 98.2%. On a related note, President Trump is expected to unveil his Fed Chair nominee on Thursday, with reports indicating that it'll likely be Fed Governor Jerome Powell.

In addition, House Republicans say they'll release their tax reform bill on Thursday--one day later than their original self-imposed deadline.

Energy stocks led Wednesday's modest rally, even though WTI crude futures declined 0.4% to $54.18/bbl. Crude oil held a gain of more than 1.0% early in the session, but moved back to its flat line after the Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude stockpiles declined by 2.4 million barrels last week. Still, the commodity finished near an eight-month high.

The S&P 500's energy sector added 1.1%, but gains from the other groups were pretty modest. The consumer staples space was one of the top performers outside of energy, adding 0.3%, thanks in part to cosmetic giant Estee Lauder (EL 122.12, +10.31), which surged 9.2% on better-than-expected earnings and revenues.

Meanwhile, the materials sector (+0.6%) also outperformed, with DowDuPont (DWDP 73.32, +1.01) adding 1.4% before its Thursday morning earnings release.

On the flip side, Apple (AAPL 166.89, -2.15) struggled on Wednesday, losing 1.3%, following three straight sessions of big gains. The tech giant will report earnings on Thursday evening and goes into Thursday's session with an incredible year-to-date gain of 44.1%. With a market cap of around $860 billion, Apple is the largest component within the S&P 500.

Telecom stocks continued their bearish 2017 campaign in the midweek session, with CenturyLink (CTL 17.85, -1.14) pacing the retreat. The company finished with a loss of 6.0% after completing its acquisition of Level 3 Communications--a process that took nearly a year. The S&P 500's telecom services sector declined by 0.5%, extending its year-to-date loss to 16.4%.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries finished mostly lower, but longer-dated issues showed relative strength. The yield on the 2-yr Treasury note climbed four basis points to 1.63%, while the benchmark 10-yr yield finished flat at 2.38%. Generally speaking, Treasuries ticked lower following the Fed's policy release. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index finished higher by 0.3% at 94.69.

Reviewing Wednesday's economic data, which included the October ADP Employment Change Report, the October ISM Index, September Construction Spending, and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index:

The ADP National Employment Report showed an increase of 235,000 in October (Briefing.com consensus 215,000). The September reading was left unrevised at 135,000.
The ISM Index for October declined to 58.7 from an unrevised reading of 60.8 in September, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a downtick to 59.0.
The key takeaway from the report is that manufacturing conditions remain solid, as the October dip is most likely just a cooling off from what was a very hot September reading.
The Construction Spending report for October rose 0.3%, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decrease of 0.2%. The prior month's increase was revised to 0.1% from 0.5%.
The key takeaway from the report is that overall construction spending remains modest and an inhibitor of stronger real GDP growth.
The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index decreased 2.6% to follow last week's 4.6% decline.

On Thursday, investors will receive the weekly Initial Claims Report (Briefing.com consensus 235K), third quarter Productivity (Briefing.com consensus 2.8%), and third quarter Unit Labor Costs (Briefing.com consensus 0.0%)--all of which will be released at 8:30 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +24.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +18.6% YTD
S&P 500 +15.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +10.0% YTD

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Wall Street Ends Busy Session Little Changed
02-Nov-17 16:30 ET
Dow +81.25 at 23516.26, Nasdaq -1.59 at 6714.93, S&P +0.49 at 2579.85
https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/11/2/wall-street-ends-busy-session-little-changed.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Equities ended Thursday little changed after a late-afternoon rally trimmed modest losses from earlier in the session. The S&P 500 ended a tick above its flat line, while the Nasdaq finished slightly lower and the Dow (+0.4%) outperformed, settling at a new record high. Small caps had a good showing, pushing the Russell 2000 higher by 0.3%.

Highlights of the House's tax reform bill include an immediate--and permanent--reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35.0% to 20.0%, a repeal of state and local tax deductions--with the exception of a $10,000 limit for property taxes, a limit for mortgage interest deductions on new home loans of less than $500,000 (adjusted from $1,000,000), and no major changes to 401(k) tax laws.

The bill also calls for reducing the number of tax brackets from seven to four--12%, 25%, 35%, and 39.6%--with the rate for top earners remaining unchanged.

Stocks initially sold off after the media leaked details of the bill in the morning, but the market bounced back soon thereafter. Financials helped fuel the turnaround and remained strong for the remainder of the session; the S&P 500's financial sector finished with a gain of 0.9%. The industrials (+0.5%), utilities (+0.4%), and real estate (+0.9%) groups also outperformed.

Meanwhile, the technology sector (+0.1%) manged to eke out a slim victory, but was weighed down by Facebook (FB 178.92, -3.74), which dropped 2.1% despite reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenues. Conversely, chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM 54.84, +1.38) jumped 2.6% after beating both top and bottom line estimates.

In other earnings news, Tesla (TSLA 299.26, -21.82) plunged 6.8% after reporting worse-than-expected earnings and delaying its Model 3 production target of 5,000 per week by another quarter. Newell Brands (NWL 30.01, -10.99)--which owns names like Sharpie, Crock-Pot, and Yankee Candle--also tumbled, losing 26.8%, after missing earnings estimates and cutting its outlook.

Dow component DowDuPont (DWDP 72.04, -1.28) also declined, losing 1.8%, despite reporting above-consensus earnings. The materials sector (-0.8%), which houses DowDuPont, finished near the bottom of the sector standings, alongside the telecom services (-1.0%) and consumer discretionary (-0.8%) groups.

Elsewhere, the Bank of England announced its first rate hike in a decade, increasing the Bank Rate by 25 basis points to 0.50% in a 7-2 vote. However, the British pound dropped 1.4% against the U.S. dollar to 1.3064, hitting a fresh one-month low.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries climbed in a curve-flattening trade; the yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note dropped three basis points to 2.35%, while the 2-yr yield slipped one basis point to 1.62%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Also of note, President Trump nominated Fed Governor Jerome Powell to replace Fed Chair Janet Yellen when her term ends in February--as expected.

Reviewing Thursday's economic data, which included third quarter Productivity, third quarter Unit Labor Costs, and the weekly Initial Claims Report:

The preliminary unit labor costs ticked up 0.5% during the third quarter, while the Briefing.com consensus expected no change (0.0%). The preliminary productivity reading showed an increase of 3.0%, while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 2.8%.
The key takeaway from the productivity report is that it was the highest quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2014, offering a hopeful sign that U.S. economic activity and workers' standard of living will be improving.
The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 229,000, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 235,000. Today's tally was below the revised prior week count of 234,000 (from 233,000). As for continuing claims, they declined to 1.884 million from the revised count of 1.899 million (from 1.893 million).
The key takeaway is the initial claims are holding at historically low levels, underscoring the tightness in the labor market.

On Friday, investors will receive the Employment Situation Report for October (Briefing.com consensus 300K) at 8:30 ET, the September Trade Balance (Briefing.com consensus -$43.5 billion) also at 8:30 ET, and both the October ISM Services Index (Briefing.com consensus 58.5) and September Factory Orders at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +24.7% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +19.0% YTD
S&P 500 +15.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +10.3% YTD

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Before the Open (Nov 6)

http://leavittbrothers.com/blog/index.php/2017/11/06/before-the-open-nov-6-6/

by admin on November 6, 2017
in Before the Open

Share Your Thoughts

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.

The Asian/Pacific markets traded quietly and closed with a slight lean to the upside. China, Thailand and the Philippines posted gains; South Korea fell. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are trading mixed. Poland, Turkey, Denmark, South Africa, Kenya and Hungary are up; the UAE, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Austria are down. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.

Webinar Series…

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Webinar: The Real Keys to Surviving and Making Solid Profits in the Market, Part I
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Webinar: The Real Keys to Surviving and Making Solid Profits in the Market, Part II
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—————
Webinar: The Real Keys to Surviving and Making Solid Profits in the Market, Part III
—————

The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up.

Stock headlines from barchart.com…

Cavium (CAVM +3.42%) jumped 14% in pre-market trading after the WSJ reported that Marvell Technology is in advanced talks to combine with Cavium. Marvell Technology (MRVL +1.26%) dropped 9% in pre-market trading on the news.

Dish Network (DISH -0.41%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Pivotal Research Group LLC with a price target of $65.

Berkshire Hathaway ({=BRK/A=}) lost almost 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 operating EPS of $2,094, below consensus of $2,347.

Qualcomm (QCOM +12.71%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after Nomura said that Broadcom paying $70 a share for Qualcomm feels a “little low.”

Host Hotels (HST +0.87%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Wells Fargo Securities with a price target of $21.

Hyatt Hotels (H +0.97%) were downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at B Riley FBR.

Twitter (TWTR +0.96%) was upgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Sell’ at Citigroup.

Electronics for Imaging (EFII +0.64%) was downgraded to ‘Equal-Weight’ from ‘Overweight’ at Barclays.

Hilton (HLT +0.99%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Wells Fargo Securities.

TherapeuticsMD (TXMD -5.42%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after it said it will provide a “TX-004HR regulatory update” with its Q3 earnings conference call Monday morning.

Sprint (S +3.73%) was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Sector Weight’ at Keybanc Capital Markets with a 12-month target price of $5.50.

—————
Join our email list – get technical research reports sent directly to you.
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Today’s Economic Calendar
12:30 PM TD Ameritrade IMX

Other…

today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com

this week’s Earnings from Morningstar

this week’s Economic Numbers/Reports powered by ECONODAY

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Slim Victory Leaves Stocks at Fresh Record Highs
08-Nov-17 16:30 ET
Dow +6.13 at 23563.36, Nasdaq +21.34 at 6789.13, S&P +3.74 at 2594.38

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/11/8/slim-victory-leaves-stocks-at-fresh-record-highs.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Equities ticked higher on Wednesday, with all three major indices--the Nasdaq (+0.3%), the S&P 500 (+0.1%), and the Dow (unch)--finishing at new record highs.

Technology shares outperformed in the midweek session, with video game developers showing particular strength. Take-Two Interactive (TTWO 117.65, +11.26)--which owns labels like Rockstar Games and 2K Games--jumped 10.6% after reporting better-than-expected revenues for its fiscal second quarter and issuing above-consensus sales guidance for the holiday season.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500's consumer staples sector finished at the top of the sector standings, settling higher by 1.1%. Heavyweights like Wal-Mart (WMT 90.26, +1.31), PepsiCo (PEP 112.00, +1.53), Kraft Heinz (KHC 79.58, +1.40), Costco (COST 169.05, +2.77), and Walgreens Boot Alliance (WBA 68.90, +0.98) all finished with gains between 1.4% and 1.8%.

Conversely, the heavily-weighted financial sector (-0.6%) moved lower for the fourth session in a row, keeping the broader market's gain in check. Within the group, lenders like Bank of America (BAC 26.79, -0.39), Wells Fargo (WFC 54.26, -0.79), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 97.64, -1.11) finished with losses between 1.1% and 1.4%.

In other corporate news, Snap (SNAP 12.91, -2.21) tumbled 14.6% after reporting below-consensus revenues and daily active user growth for the third quarter. Snap shares were down as much as 22.0% in overnight trading, but strengthened following news that Chinese tech giant Tencent (TCEHY 49.77, +0.01) has purchased a 12.0% stake in the social media company.

Shares of Time Warner (TWX 88.50, -6.16) also declined on Wednesday, finishing lower by 6.5%, following a Financial Times report that the U.S. Department of Justice may force the company to sell CNN in order to be acquired by AT&T (T 33.44, +0.37). An alternative option would be selling AT&T's satellite television unit DirecTV--according to the New York Times.

Elsewhere, crude oil futures had a volatile session following the Department of Energy's weekly inventory report, which showed that U.S. stockpiles unexpectedly increased by 2.2 million barrels last week. In the end, WTI crude futures settled lower by 0.4% at a price of $56.81/bbl, and energy stocks within the S&P 500 finished behind the broader market, moving lower by 0.4%.

U.S. Treasures moved lower during the midweek session, sending yields higher across the curve; the benchmark 10-yr yield climbed two basis points to 2.33%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index slipped 0.1% to 94.75, gold climbed 0.6% to $1,283.70/ozt, and the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 9.76, -0.13) dropped 1.3%.

Wednesday's economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index--which was unchanged from the prior week.

On Thursday, investors will receive two economic reports--the weekly Initial Claims Report (Briefing.com consensus 231K) and September Wholesale Inventories (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%). The two pieces of data will be released at 8:30 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

In addition, the Senate's version of a tax reform bill is scheduled to be released on Thursday.

Nasdaq Composite +26.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +19.2% YTD
S&P 500 +15.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +9.2% YTD

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Slim Victory Ends Two-Session Slide
13-Nov-17 16:30 ET
Dow +17.49 at 23439.70, Nasdaq +6.66 at 6757.60, S&P +2.54 at 2584.84
https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2017/11/13/slim-victory-ends-twosession-slide.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks crept toward record highs on Monday, ending a two-session losing streak. The S&P 500, the Nasdaq, and the Dow added 0.1% apiece.

With the third quarter earnings season nearly in the books, investors continued to chew on the prospect of tax reform. The House is expected to vote on its version of a tax reform bill this Thursday, but, even if the bill passes, the lower chamber still has some work to do in order to reconcile its version with the version that the Senate unveiled last week.

The two versions must match and be approved by both chambers in order to put the bill on President Trump's desk.

The S&P 500's utilities sector was the best-performing group on Monday, finishing with a gain of 1.2%, followed from a distance by the consumer staples (+0.6%), materials (+0.5%), and consumer discretionary (+0.3%) groups. In total, seven of the eleven sectors settled in positive territory, but General Electric (GE 19.02, -1.47) kept the upbeat sentiment in check.

GE shares dropped 7.2%, hitting a fresh five-year low, after the company cut its divided by half and dialed back its profit forecast for 2018. The dividend cut was expected by many and was deemed necessary by new CEO John Flannery in order to restructure the 125-year-old industrial giant. Following Monday's decline, GE shares are down 39.8% year to date.

In other corporate news, toymaker Mattel (MAT 17.64, +3.02) spiked 20.7% following weekend reports that rival Hasbro (HAS 96.83, +5.38) has made a bid to acquire the company; Hasbro shares also moved higher, adding 5.9%. The reported bid comes two weeks after a disappointing third quarter earnings report for Mattel and at a time when MAT shares are challenging their lowest level since 2009.

Meanwhile, pharmacy retailers like CVS Health (CVS 71.48, +0.49) breathed a sigh of relief after Amazon (AMZN 1129.17, +3.82) announced that it plans to use recently obtained state pharmacy licenses to sell medical devices and supplies, not prescriptions--as was previously rumored. CVS shares climbed 0.7%.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries kicked off the week on a mostly flat note, with the yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note finishing unchanged at 2.40%. Shorter-dated issues showed relative weakness, however, leaving the 2-yr yield higher by three basis points at 1.69%.

Elsewhere, the Euro Stoxx 50 (-0.4%) moved lower for the sixth session in a row, while equities in the Asia-Pacific region ended Monday mixed with Japan's Nikkei (-1.3%) showing relative weakness. In the UK, 40 Conservative members of parliament have reportedly agreed to sign a letter of no confidence against Prime Minister Theresa May--just eight members shy of forcing a leadership vote.

Reviewing Monday's economic data, which was limited to the October Treasury Budget:

The Treasury Budget for October showed a deficit of $63.2 billion versus a deficit of $45.8 billion for October 2016.
The Treasury Budget data is not seasonally adjusted, so the October deficit cannot be compared to the $8.0 billion surplus registered in September.

On Tuesday, investors will receive just one notable economic report--the Producer Price Index for October (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%)--which will be released at 8:30 ET. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for October will cross the wires at 7:00 ET, but is not expected to have much impact on the financial markets.

Nasdaq Composite +25.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +18.6% YTD
S&P 500 +15.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +8.7% YTD

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Stocks Take Powell's 'Dovish' Comments in Stride
28-Nov-18 16:25 ET
Dow +617.70 at 25365.33, Nasdaq +208.89 at 7291.80, S&P +61.65 at 2743.99

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2018/11/28/stocks-take-powells-dovish-comments-in-stride.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 confidently extended weekly gains by 2.3% on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he sees current interest rates "just below" neutral. That proved to be a rally point because the language Mr. Powell used early last month indicated a view that the fed funds rate was "a long way from neutral."

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.5%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 3.0%, and the Russell 2000 gained 2.5%.

Fed Chair Powell added that there is no preset policy path, and the Fed will be data-dependent in its decision making, which pleased investors. By highlighting risks, though, that included previous rate increases, trade disputes, and Brexit/EU political uncertainty, the market chose to read between the lines that the Fed chair isn't wedded to three rate hikes in 2019.

Mr. Powell's perceived dovish remarks sent bond yields and the dollar lower. The U.S. Dollar Index dropped 0.6% to 96.84, the 2-yr yield fell three basis points to 2.80%, and the 10-yr yield slipped one basis point to 3.04%.

Regarding trade disputes, investors remain hopeful that some kind of agreement can be struck between the U.S. and China to forestall further protectionist trade measures. There is a burgeoning belief that President Donald Trump might aim to keep a floor of support under the stock market by striking a more conciliatory tone in his Saturday meeting with China President Xi Jinping. Nevertheless, it remains a speculative trade given President Trump's tough-minded tariff position.

Back to the stock market, the S&P information technology (+3.4%), consumer discretionary (+3.2%), and health care (+2.5%) sectors provided strong support for the broader market.

The heavily-weighted tech sector welcomed a solid showing from heavyweights Apple (AAPL 180.94, +6.70), Microsoft (MSFT 111.12, +3.98), Visa (V 141.38, +5.47), and MasterCard (MA 202.28, +9.30), which rose between 3.7% and 4.8%. Amazon (AMZN 1677.75, +96.33) and UnitedHealth (UNH 280.95, +9.80) jumped 6.1% and 3.6%, respectively, with the latter rising to a record close.

Also, the cyclical transport and chip stocks had noteworthy performances, evidenced by the strong gains within the Dow Jones Transportation Average (+2.5%) and Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (+2.3%). Alaska Air (ALK 74.74, +3.99) outperformed with a gain of 5.6% after Cowen raised its ALK price target to $84 from $80. Chipmaker Micron (MU 38.71, +1.71) rose 4.6% after it said earnings were tracking towards the higher-end of its outlook and was very pleased with the progress on tariffs.

Conversely, the utilities (-0.1%), real estate (+0.9%), and consumer staples (+1.0%) groups finished at the bottom of the sector standings.

In earnings, Salesforce (CRM 140.64, +13.10) and Burlington Stores (BURL 167.56, +19.00) jumped 10.3% and 12.8%, respectively, after releasing upbeat reports. On the other hand, Tiffany & Co (TIF 92.54, -12.41) fell 11.8% after the company missed revenue expectations due to weaker spending among Chinese tourists.

Also, WTI crude dropped 2.7% to $50.20/bbl after crude stockpiles rose for the 10th consecutive week, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Specifically, the EIA reported a higher-than-expected build of 3.6 million barrels. Nevertheless, the oil-sensitive energy sector (+1.7%) rose in tandem with the stock market.

Reviewing Wednesday's economic data, which included New Home Sales for October; the second estimate of Q3 GDP; Advance Reports for International Trade in Goods, Retail Inventories, and Wholesale Inventories for October; and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index:

New home sales declined 8.9% month-over-month in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000 (Briefing.com consensus 575,000). September was revised up to 597,000 from 553,000.
Regardless of the upward revision to September, the key takeaway from the report is that the pace of new home sales is weak across all regions and reflects the affordability constraints fueled by rising mortgage rates. The October sales pace is the slowest since March 2016.
The second estimate for Q3 real GDP showed output increasing at an annualized rate of 3.5% (Briefing.com consensus 3.6%), unchanged from the advance estimate as downward revisions to personal spending and state and local government spending offset upward revisions to nonresidential fixed investment and private inventory investment. The GDP Price Deflator was also unchanged at 1.7% (Briefing.com consensus 1.4%).
The key takeaway from the report is that real final sales, which exclude the change in inventories, were up just 1.2%, which was the weakest growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2016.
The Advance report for International Trade in Goods for October showed a deficit of $77.2 billion. Meanwhile, the Advance report for Wholesale Inventories for October showed an increase of 0.7%, and the Advance report for Retail Inventories for October showed an increase of 0.9%.
The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index showed an increase of 5.5%, reversing course from the 0.1% decline in the prior week.

Looking ahead, investors will receive Personal Income and Spending for October, PCE Price Index for October, FOMC Minutes for November, weekly Initial and Continuing Claims, and Pending Home Sales for October.

Nasdaq Composite +5.6% YTD
S&P 500 +2.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.6% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.3% YTD

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Stocks Extend Rally on Trump-Xi Trade Ceasefire
03-Dec-18 16:20 ET
Dow +287.97 at 25825.33, Nasdaq +110.98 at 7441.72, S&P +30.20 at 2790.64

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2018/12/3/stocks-extend-rally-on-trumpxi-trade-ceasefire.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 extended last week's rally by 1.1% on Monday, as investors breathed a sigh of relief that U.S.-China trade relations did not worsen over the weekend. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.5%, and the Russell 2000 gained 1.0%.

President Trump and President Xi agreed at their Saturday dinner meeting to suspend further tariff actions for 90 days, during which time further negotiations will be conducted with an aim of trying to settle disagreements over structural trade issues. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters the 90-day clock will start Jan. 1 and expects changes across a broad range of issues to happen "very quickly."

Stocks retreated from their best levels, though, reined in by an underlying sense that the morning's positive reaction to the Trump-Xi agreement to suspend further tariff actions was probably an overreaction since nothing concrete was achieved in terms of resolving the most important structural trade issues between the two countries. Also, the specter of moving the tariff rate to 25% (from 10%) on $200 billion of Chinese goods continues to hang there as a stick in the event an acceptable deal to the U.S. is not struck within the 90-day deadline.

Nevertheless, the stock market still had a solid day with the energy (+2.3%), consumer discretionary (+2.2%), information technology (+2.1%), and material (+1.8%) sectors outperforming the broader market.

WTI crude bounced 4.3% to $53.06/bbl to help lift the oil-sensitive energy group. Contributing to crude's advance was an upbeat growth perspective from the trade ceasefire and Canadian province Alberta's decision to cut oil production by 325,000 barrels per day, or 8.7%, starting in January to help curtail excess supply. Separately, Qatar surprisingly announced plans to withdraw from OPEC to focus on gas production; Qatar has been a member of OPEC since 1961.

Within the consumer discretionary space, heavyweights Amazon (AMZN 1772.36, +82.19) and Nike (NKE 77.94, +2.82) helped carry the sector with strong gains of 4.9% and 3.8%, respectively. Auto stocks also had a solid showing amid some trade tension relief.

President Trump tweeted Sunday evening, "China has agreed to reduce and remove tariffs on cars coming into China from the U.S. Currently the tariff is 40%." Larry Kudlow noted in a Reuters interview on Monday that he expects China to reduce car tariffs to zero. Ford Motor (F 9.60, +0.19) and General Motors (GM 38.46, +0.51) added respective gains of 2.0% and 1.3%.

Chip stocks also had a notably strong performance on Monday, as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 2.7%. Advanced Micro (AMD 23.71, +2.41, +11.3%), which led the S&P 500 in gains on Monday, provided strong support for the index and the tech sector. Apple (AAPL 184.82, +6.24) also contributed to the tech sector's advance with a strong gain of 3.5%.

Conversely, the real estate (+0.4%), communication services (+0.1%), and consumer staples (-0.1%) sectors finished at the bottom of the sector standings. Notable laggards from each respective sector included American Tower (AMT 163.08, -1.41, -0.9%), Verizon (VZ 58.16, -2.14, -3.6%), and PepsiCo (PEP 118.98, -2.96, -2.4%). Verizon was downgraded to 'Neutral' from 'Overweight' at JP Morgan.

In M&A news, pharmaceutical company Tesaro (TSRO 73.50, +27.12) soared 58.5% after it agreed to be acquired by UK-based GlaxoSmithKline (GSK 38.61, -3.26, -7.8%) for roughly $5.1 billion. Also, Tribune Media (TRCO 44.98, +4.72) gained 11.7% after Nexstar (NXST 88.32, +5.68, +6.9%) agreed to acquire the media company for $46.50/share in a cash transaction that is valued at $6.4 billion.

Separately, U.S. Treasuries had a much better day than many participants might have expected in the face of some optimism in the stock market. The 2-yr yield added one basis point to 2.82%, and the 10-yr yield lost two basis points to 2.99%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.3% to 96.99. The resiliency of the Treasury market reflected a more practical awareness that an agreement to keep talking is still a long way from an economically-material solution on major trade issues.

Reviewing Monday's economic data, which included the ISM Index for November and Construction Spending for October:

The ISM Manufacturing Index for November checked in at 59.3% (Briefing.com consensus 57.2%) versus 57.7% for October, led by strength in the New Orders Index.
The key takeaway from the report is that it reflects an acceleration in national manufacturing activity at a time when concerns have been picking up about a general growth slowdown. Accordingly, it can help mitigate some of the slowdown concerns and potentially foster an improved outlook for Q4 GDP growth. According to the ISM, the past relationship between the PMI and overall economy indicates the November reading corresponds to a 4.9% increase in real GDP on an annualized basis.
Total construction spending declined 0.1% in October (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) following a downwardly revised 0.1% decline (from 0.0%) in September.
The key takeaway from the report is that the weakness was driven by a decline in new single-family construction, providing further evidence of the softening in housing market activity.

Looking ahead, investors will receive Auto and Truck Sales for November throughout the day.

Nasdaq Composite +7.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +4.5% YTD
S&P 500 +4.4% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.9% YTD

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InvestmentHouse - OPEC Cuts Production More Than Expected (Weekend Newsletter)

https://news.investmenthouse.com/2018/12/the-daily-part-1-of-3-12-8-18.html

- Thursday intraday reversal flops with the indices back down to the bottom of the range.
- Trade and yield curve inversion issues likely showing no near-term resolution.
- OPEC cuts production more than expected.
- Some leaders remain solid, others continue eroding.
- Market heads into the week trying to hold the selloff trading range.

The Thursday rebound from the bottom of the late October to present trading range failed Friday. From the get go. Stocks had no upside follow through to the 1492 point round trip on DJ30. Sure futures bumped higher off the lows after the jobs report was a bit weaker than anticipated and OPEC struck a deal to cut production by 1.2M bbl/day, more than anticipated. Indeed, stocks even started to recover as the trading session started. Within 10 minutes, however, the bids died and a half hour into trading the selling started in earnest. Stocks sold all session, taking the indices back down to the October/November lows with RUTX even closing below those lows.

SP500 -62.87, -2.33%
NASDAQ -219.01, -3.05%
DJ30 -558.72, -2.24%
SP400 -3.74%
RUTX -1.98%
SOX -3.74%
NASDAQ 100 -3.30%

VOLUME: NYSE -19%, NASDAQ -12%. Volume faded from the spikes Tuesday and Thursday, but was still above average as NYSE sold off. NASDAQ trade remained at average levels, elevated since it started selling back from the 200 day SMA test.

ADVANCE/DECLINE: -2.2:1 NYSE, -2.6:1 NASDAQ

So what was the problem? A bounce off the bottom of the range, the WSJ reporting the Fed will adopt a wait and see view to further hikes after the December hike -- if that even occurs as some on the Fed (Bullard) are now suggesting the Fed pass on a December hike, and the US and China calling a truce on the trade war for 90 days. Everything would appear conducive to the market rebounding.

Perhaps not. There is the yield curve that is stating to invert among the shorter maturities and the concern is the Fed will hike in December right into an inverted curve and bring about the usual result of a Fed hiking campaign: bear market, recession. The irony drips with bitterness: the Fed is always trying to prevent overheating leading to inflation that it causes a recession -- and inflation.

The yield curve is a huge, unresolved issue.

Then there is trade, truce or no. Thursday Canada arrested the CFO of Huawei for extradition to the US on charges of fraud. It is alleged she lied to US banks, inducing them to fund projects that were in violation of the US sanctions against Iran. Kudlow on Friday said he did not believe the arrest would impact the trade negotiations, but that may be just hope. He is an optimistic guy after all.

The real issue with trade is that a truce is just a truce. It is not resolution. So now, unless something happens faster than expected, at best we are in for 90 days of perhaps not a trade war but a truce war where we hear the daily back and forth sausage making process and have to deal with good and the bad that comes out. That is another way of saying uncertainty as to the future, and you know how the market disdains uncertainty.

Thus, as the 'truce war' proceeds the market has to deal with the possible outcomes, overlaid with the concerns of yield curve inversion and what that can mean for stocks.

Both of those are weighing on stocks and quite frankly the best outcome could very well be moves up and down inside the trading range while investors and traders and algorithm programs react to the daily news and events. Those algorithm trading programs, as we saw ahead of the Wednesday market closure, can be unpredictable as the word was that they were not programmed on how to react to an unexpected market closure. Not very comforting explanation.

That is not a great prognosis for the market, at least in terms of upside outside the current range. It may even prove difficult to hold the range given the uncertainties.


THE MARKET

CHARTS

After starting the week at or near the early November high, the top of the two-month trading ranges, stocks sold off to the bottom of the range to end the week. RUTX undercut its range on the Friday close. Now they show if they can hold the range. Every upside has been undercut by the ongoing issues and the 200 day SMA MA's are broken with the 50 day MA's crossing down through them in the so-called 'death cross.' Thus the overall bias has to be to the downside with these bounces off the bottom of the range.

SP500: Closed just over the November low, at the bottom of the October to present trading range. MACD continues to rise, to put in higher lows suggesting still upside momentum. Yes, there is that: some big surges inside the range for certain. As with the other indices, SP500 will have to show it can hold the range bottom and mount another bounce.

DJ30: Same action as SP500, testing the prior lows, its third trip to these levels. As with SP500, MACD continues to trend higher and looks as if it will put in a higher low -- if DJ30 can hold here again. That would suggest a hold yields another bounce higher in the range. Unlike SP500, the 50 day MA has not moved down through the 200 day MA, that is, no 'death cross' that suggests further downside to come.

NASDAQ: Sold below the October closing low, still over the November low (6908; closed 6929). Approaching the 2016 trendline it held and bounced from mid-November. MACD continues to trend higher here as well despite the 'death cross' on November 26. NASDAQ has the prior lows in the range as well as the 2016 trendline to try and bounce it back upside in the range.

RUTX: First close below the October low. No rebound this time. Small caps are the most economically sensitive stock group and their break below the October and November selloff lows suggests the Fed has again overshot in its zeal to remove what we worked so hard to achieved after 10 years of economic decline.

SP400: The midcaps are not as damning as the small caps though they did close at a lower closing low. Still above the October intraday lows and thus hanging in the range.

SOX: After peaking at the early October lower gap point SOX sold off into Friday. It closed below the November closing low but is still well above the October lows. MACD continues trending higher here as well. Chips were hard hit Friday on trade worries even as AVGO beat earnings expectations.


LEADERSHIP

Still some leaders, but the trend is less leaders versus more appearing. The week saw what was left of retail leaders collapse with drugs and software under pressure.

Retail/Apparel: Leading downside with so many breaking lower. LULU, ULTA, DG, WMT. Lots of heavy breaks by retail leaders as other leaders fall from leadership, at least upside.

Utilities: Not exciting, not leadership that breaks the market to new highs, but performance is performance, e.g. AEP moving higher Friday, keeping the uptrend in place.

Personal products: Makeup is now struggling as EL reversed a Monday breakout. PG, CLX continue their uptrends, now testing the 20 day EMA.

Food: Under pressure to end the week though holding up. YUM tested the 20 day EMA on the week, still a solid pattern. KO broke higher two Fridays back but then faded to the 20 day EMA to end last week. PEP broke higher the same Friday but fell to close below the 20 day EMA Friday. MCD tested the 20 day EMA but did slip below it Friday though very low volume. CMG holding the 50 day EMA as it tests. Still overall a solid sector.

Software: Showing some resilience and relative strength, but down for the week. TEAM still looks great VMW, VRSN, CRM, GLUU still holding their patterns but fighting to do so. ADBE broke lower below the 200 day SMA Friday in a sign of weakness.

Drugs: Biotechs tried to breakout but reversed hard, e.g. AMGN, the leader of the pack. Smaller biotech still has some winners e.g. BCRX, CRMD, ZGNX. Big pharma is under pressure, testing support to end the week having started to sell Tuesday. LLY, PFE, MRK.

FAANG: FB is still trying to rise up through the 20 day EMA as it tests that level for the sixth time since breaking below it in late July. AAPL sold to a lower low Friday as its woes regarding smart phone saturation and Chinese trade. AMZN broke over the 200 day SMA Tuesday then gave it back immediately. NFLX tried to rebound but failed at the 20 day EMA. GOOG gapped upside to the 200 day SMA Tuesday then reversed and sold off through Friday.

Chips: Under real pressure. NVDA tested the 20 day EMA and rolled over into Friday. AMAT and AMD reversed an early week move and broke support. SLAB showed the same action. ON as well. The pattern repeats all over the sector.

Financial: AXP broke out 7 sessions back. It hit a higher high Monday but reversed to give up the breakout. Banks still struggling, diving lower Tuesday and Friday, e.g. JPM, C. GS selling to lower lows as is MS.


MARKET STATS

DJ30
Stats: -558.72 points (-2.24%) to close at 24388.95

Nasdaq
Stats: -219.01 points (-3.05%) to close at 6969.25
Volume: 2.5B (-12.28%)

Up Volume: 426.6M (-1.203B)
Down Volume: 2.03B (+850M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 2.63 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.6 to 1

New Highs: 17 (+8)
New Lows: 270 (-195)

S&P
Stats: -62.87 points (-2.33%) to close at 2633.08
NYSE Volume: 1.031B (-19.36%)

Up Volume: 196.07M (-267.342M)
Down Volume: 821.558M (+16.826M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Decliners led 2.19 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.58 to 1

New Highs: 39 (+4)
New Lows: 259 (-389)


SENTIMENT

VIX: 23.23; +2.04
VXN: 28.03; +2.06
VXO: 27.13; +3.60

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 1.17; +0.09

Bulls and Bears:

Seriously? Bulls surge over 8 points past the mid-forties. The trend, however, is lower. Bears continued higher, taking out the prior 2018 high. That is a positive longer term. Bears have been absent for over 2 years.

Bulls: 46.7 versus 38.3

Bears: 21.5 versus 20.6

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: 46.7 versus 38.3
38.3 versus 39.6 versus 42.9 versus 42.5 versus 50.5 versus 51.9 versus 56.3 versus 61.8 versus 60.6 versus 59.0 versus 57.7 versus 60.1 versus 59.6 versus 57.7 versus 57.3 versus 54.9 versus 54.5 versus 54.9 versus 55.3 versus 52.4 versus 47.1 versus 47.6 versus 52.0 versus 55.5 versus 52.9 versus 50.0 versus 49.1 versus 46.6 versus 43.1 versus 43.6 versus 48.0 versus 43.6 versus 42.2 versus 49.5 versus 55.5 versus 54.9 versus 48.6 versus 48.1 versus 48.5 versus 41.9 versus 54.4 versus 66.00

Bears: 21.50 versus 20.6
20.6 versus 19.8 versus 19.0 versus 19.8 versus 19.8 versus 19.0 versus 18.3 versus 18.5 versus 18.6 versus 18.3 versus 18.1 versus 18.3 versus 18.1 versus 18.3 versus 18.3 versus 18.6 versus 18.8 versus 18.6 versus 18.5 versus 18.5 versus 18.6 versus 18.4 versus 17.6 versus 17.8 versus 17.7 versus 19.2 versus 19.2 versus 19.4 versus 19.4 versus 20.6 versus 20.8 versus 19.6 versus 19.8 versus 18.6 versus 17.5 versus 16.8 versus 15.7 versus 15.5 versus 14.4 versus 14.6 versus 14.4 versus 15.5 versus 12.6 versus 12.8 versus 12.7 versus 13.5 versus 15.2 versus 15.1 versus 15.2 versus 15.1 versus 15.1 versus 15.4 versus 15.4 versus 14.4 versus 14.4 versus 15.1 versus 15.2 versus 15.1 versus 17.0 versus 17.1 versus 19.0 versus 20.2


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds: 2.854% versus 2.892%. Surged to the 200 day SMA and managed to hold near that level into Friday. This suggests there is concern about the economics and it also flattens the yield curve.

Historical: the last sub-2% rate was in November 2016 (1.867%). 2.892% versus 2.915% versus 2.979% versus 2.993% versus 3.032% versus 3.061% versus 3.058% versus 3.059% versus 3.048% versus 3.065% versus 3.074% versus 3.056% versus 3.065% versus 3.116% versus 3.127% versus 3.147% versus 3.186% versus 3.239% versus 3.228% versus 3.222% versus 3.201% versus 3.22% versus 3.146% versus 3.149% versus 3.119% versus 3.089% versus 3.079% versus 3.126% versus 3.111% versus 3.1692% versus 3.20% versus 3.196% versus 3.1779% versus 3.209% versus 3.165% versus 3.158% versus 3.167% versus 3.146% versus 3.169 versus 3.206% versus 3.233% versus 3.189% versus 3.183% versus 3.061% versus 3.087% versus 3.061% versus 3.052% versus 3.048% versus 3.048% versus 3.085% versus 3.066% versus 3.068% versus 3.076% versus 3.057% versus 2.99%


EUR/USD: 1.1404 versus 1.1376. Breaking over the 50 day MA for the first time in two months.

Historical: 1.1376 versus 1.13970 versus 1.13360 versus 1.13199 versus 1.13934 versus 1.13682 versus 1.12973 versus 1.13325 versus 1.13380 versus 1.13829 versus 1.13818 versus 1.14484 versus 1.14172 versus 1.13308 versus 1.13264 versus 1.13124 versus 1.12348 versus 1.13475 versus 1.1364 versus 1.14329 versus 1.14228 versus 1.14090 versus 1.13881 versus 1.14019 versus 1.13394 versus 1.13455 versus 1.13760 versus 1.14042 versus 1.13757 versus 1.3972 versus 1.14682 versus 1.14626 versus 1.1538 versus 1.14556 versus 1.14961 versus 1.1578 versus 1.15906 versus 1.15592 versus 1.15901 versus 1.15324 versus 1.4966 versus 1.4916 versus 1.1598 versus 1.15164 versus 1.14762 versus 1.15517 versus 1.15774 versus 1.16038 versus 1.16357 versus 1.17501


USD/JPY: 112.66 versus 112.71. Just below the 50 day MA after that Monday flop lower.

Historical: Last below 109 in June 2018: 112.71 versus 112.813 versus 113.581 versus 113.474 versus 113.402 versus 113.559 versus 113.781 versus 113.510 versus 112.972 versus 113.007 versus 113.077 versus 112.617 versus 112.831 versus 113.585 versus 113.576. Was at 110 three weeks back.


Oil: 52.61, +1.12. Up on OPEC reducing daily production 1.2M bbl, but gave up a move over 54 intraday. That leaves oil still below the 10 day MA.


Gold: 1252.60, +14.50. Continued to surge toward the 200 day SMA, a level it has not touched since June.


MONDAY

The indices start the week testing the bottom of the range formed with the October selling. The patterns and technical indicators suggest a trading range with moves from where the indices closed Friday back up to the November highs. After a reversal off the trading range lows Thursday, however, stocks fell right back to the bottom of the range. The range is there but the indices are not just surging off the lows given the trade, yield curve overlays that don't appear to have any near term resolution.

Heading into this week we watch how the indices hold the bottom of the range. We have upside plays that are still holding support; if the indices bounce, they will as well. We also have some more upside plays on leaders that have tested well while maintaining their trends as well as some downside plays ready -- if the bottom of the range does not hold, of course a possibility after the Thursday reversal bounce folded on Friday.

With the continuing uncertainty in key areas the market likely trades in the range as the best possible upside outcome, and if not, then we play downside.

Have a great weekend!

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Stocks Close Mixed ahead of Apple's Earnings Report
29-Jan-19 16:25 ET
Dow +51.74 at 24579.96, Nasdaq -57.39 at 7027.80, S&P -3.85 at 2639.96

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2019/1/29/stocks-close-mixed-ahead-of-apples-earnings-report.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Wall Street closed on a mixed note on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 losing 0.2%, ahead of a big batch of earnings reports. The market has heard its share of guidance cuts during the Q4 earnings season so far, which presumably led investors to employ some caution in front of Apple's (AAPL 154.68, -1.62, -1.0%) report after Tuesday's close.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%, the tech-sensitive Nasdaq Composite lost 0.8%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 lost 0.1%.

The S&P 500 communication services (-1.1%), information technology (-1.0%), and consumer discretionary (-0.8%) sectors underperformed the broader market. Conversely, the industrials (+1.4%), materials (+1.1%), and real estate (+0.8%) sectors outperformed.

Buying interest was largely absent within the market's most heavily-weighted tech sector in front of Apple's earnings report. Investors were perhaps fearful that there could be some cautious-minded guidance, with a nod to weakness in China, that could drive a spillover effect to Apple suppliers and the broader tech sector.

Dow component 3M (MMM 196.95, +3.75, +1.9%) for its part lowered its fiscal 2019 guidance, in part due to slowing segments in China. The stock outperformed, though, helped by an earnings beat and by the view that its guidance cut was better than feared.

Fellow Dow components Pfizer (PFE 40.77, +1.24, +3.1%) and Verizon (VZ 53.28, -1.79, -3.3%) also reported better-than-expected profit estimates and issued underwhelming guidance. Pfizer guided fiscal 2019 earnings and revenue below consensus, and Verizon issued mixed guidance for fiscal 2019.

In other earnings news, Xerox (XRX 27.07, +2.77, +11.4%), Corning (GLW 33.72, +3.36, +11.1%), and Whirlpool (WHR 136.49, +12.03, +9.7%) all climbed after impressing investors with their corporate results.

U.S. Treasuries edged higher, pushing yields lower across the curve. The 2-yr yield decreased one basis point to 2.57%, and the 10-yr yield decreased three basis points to 2.71%. The U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.1% to 95.82. WTI crude rose 2.4% to $53.22/bbl.

Overseas, the UK Parliament backed an amendment to renegotiate a Brexit deal, according to Bloomberg. The outcome produced little effect on U.S. markets, but the voting was seen as a victory for UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The offset to the news is that the EU has said the Brexit deal is not renegotiable, particularly with respect to the Irish backstop worked out previously in the Withdrawal Agreement.

Reviewing Tuesday's economic data, which included the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for January and the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for November:

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 120.2 in January (Briefing.com consensus 126.1) from a downwardly revised 126.6 (from 128.1) in December.
The key takeaway from the report is that it showed the outlook among consumers was dampened by the volatility in financial markets and the government shutdown, which threatens to register in consumer spending data that would be a drag on first quarter GDP.
The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for November increased 4.7% (Briefing.com consensus 4.9%), down from an unrevised increase of 5.0% in October.

Looking ahead, investors will receive the FOMC Rate Decision for January, Pending Home Sales for December, the ADP Employment Change for January, and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index on Wednesday.

Russell 2000 +9.1% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +5.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +5.4% YTD
S&P 500 +5.3% YTD

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InvestmentHouse - AMZN Guidance Drags on NASDAQ (Weekend Newsletter)

https://news.investmenthouse.com/2019/02/the-daily-part-1-of-3-2-2-19.html

- A mix of data to end the week closes the market mixed but nicely higher for the week.
- AMZN guidance drags on NASDAQ.
- Jobs report stronger than expected, revisions placate worries of too much strength.
- Trade talks end with an agreement for Trump/Xi meeting.
- Well entrenched leaders enjoy a strong week while other areas are trying to form up and join leadership as did the chips.

Friday produced a ton of data about the economy, but it was all somewhat anticlimactic. Good jobs data pushed stocks higher from weaker futures, helping offset AMZN's earnings guidance and the lack of a trade deal after the US/China meeting. On balance the market handled all the news decently, closing mostly higher though NASDAQ was weighed down by AMZN.

SP500 2.43, 0.09%
NASDAQ -17.87, -0.25%
DJ30 64.22, 0.26%
SP400 0.33%
RUTX 0.18%
SOX 1.20%
NASDAQ 100 -0.45%

VOLUME: NYSE -36%, NASDAQ -18%.

ADVANCE/DECLINE: NYSE +1.3:1, NASDAQ +1.4:1.

The week was so much more than Friday, however. Other earnings from big names kept the upside working. AAPL and BA led the move with their earnings and gap rallies Wednesday. FB led higher Thursday with a big upside gap. Lots of earnings on the week, lots of beats, lots of top line misses attesting to the economic slowing that resulted just as the FOMC's Powell issued his October proclamation against the economy and by extension the markets. What is new about that? Nothing at all. The Fed always acts too late, it always reacts to the prior cycle, not the current one. I think that is called fighting the last war.

Ah, the Fed. It was a huge contributor to the market as well. Already indicating it had flipped its view from the October announcement it was hiking a set number of times regardless, the FOMC meeting simply confirmed that. But confirmation is very important -- putting it in writing means more. Stocks were up Wednesday before the FOMC (AAPL, BA), but the FOMC statement and Powell's conference comments jumped stocks further upside.

Friday saw jobs, AMZN and other earnings, and ISM January. Jobs beat expectations and was solid though December was written 90K lower (222k vs 312k); that revision actually helped as investors decided that was not too strong to impact the Fed.

Let's face it: the Fed basically told everyone it was a non-factor for at least a quarter, some say 6 months. It is data dependent, but after recognizing it was wrong in its economic assessment, it is not going to jump back to hikes anytime soon as that would expose it for what it is -- clueless, no better at timing economic cycle turns than most investors are at telling when the market is topping or bottoming. Thus, good economic data is likely read by the market as good for the market.

Stocks jumped higher on the jobs report and managed to rally into the first half hour and indeed midday. Then they tailed off in the afternoon session. Just a weak effort for most stocks though the chips put in a decent performance.

That left DJ30 at the 200 day SMA, NASDAQ and SP500 moving toward that next resistance with the small and midcaps doing the same. SOX is similar to DJ30 as the chips are bumping up against the 200 day SMA as well.


THE ECONOMY

Jobs Report

Jobs: 304K vs 160K exp vs 222K Dec (from 312K)

Unemployment: 4.0% vs 3.9%. That is to be expected.

Wages: 0.1% vs 0.3% exp. 3.2% year/year, not bad

Participation: 63.2%. Nice

Average week: 34.5 vs 34.4 exp vs 34.5 prior. Did not drop during shutdown.

Govt says limited shutdown impact as Federal workers will get back pay. Makes sense.

Leisure: +74K
Construction: +53K
Healthcare: +42K
Retail: +21k
Mining: +7K
Manufacturing: +13K
Professional/Business: +30K


The Fed and Jobs

It just so happened that FOMC voting member Bullard appeared on CNBC and was able to give the Fed's (at least from his perspective) take on the jobs report. For background, remember that Bullard is from Chicago with the Chicago economic theory of markets that is more akin to the Austrian model that actually reflect historical data. He was against the rate hikes as he saw the Fed hiking into the slowdown. He was correct, though he never wants rate hikes either, even when the Fed could have gotten away with it.

Bullard said he was pleased with the current interest rate level and that the Fed was now at a point where there were no rate hikes 'penciled in,' that the Fed had no presumption one way or the other regarding rates.

Bullard noted the rest of the world (EU, Japan) had negative rates and growth and economic issues while the US was 'normalized' at 2.25% to 2.5% with ongoing growth. According to Bullard, that acted as a buffer of sorts, allowing the Fed to back off and leave the economy to itself.

What Bullard DID NOT say, something that is SCREAMING at us while many in the US push for socialism, indeed in some cases communism, is that the REASON the US has growth and can leave rates alone with some acceptable inflation is because the US once again adopted pro-growth strategies and policies in 2017.

Ten years of pathetic economic performance after big government growth, big government taxes, massive big government regulation that saw the first 10 year period without a year where growth averaged 3% or better. The first such decade since the Great Depression.

All of that was transformed into world-leading growth with just a FEW policy changes. That is the difference between the US and the rest of the world. This is another real-time, live textbook example of what capitalism accomplishes versus the socialism of the EU, Japan, and Venezuela, or the totalitarianism of Saudi Arabia, Russia and . . . China.

Everyone is obsessing over the slowdown in the world economies outside the US, yet fail to make the connection that the reason the US is doing well when others are not is that our system is different. It works. People are talking socialism when the policies in the last two years have reduced unemployment overall and in minority groups to historic and indeed all-time lows.

What about China? I know everyone thinks China is so strong. It is not. Its economy is dangerously weak. No doubt China could be an economic monster if it was free enterprise system. As it is, however, it chooses communism and a crappy economy that has to steal to 'advance.' That is why China will not make the structural changes the administration seeks: if it does so it loses its only method of technological gain: theft. If your economy provides no incentive to innovate, there is little innovation. The numbers of the past 10 years show China rolling back its move to open up its economy. That is the hardline communists trying to live the 'good old days' of strongarm governance. That is not compatible, however, with a burgeoning economy.

Gorbachev saw this as leader of the USSR. He tried to make economic changes and cut deals with the US. Reagan had surged the US economy with his growth policies and the US was crushing the USSR in military development. Gorbachev saw the USSR could not compete, tried to make deals, Reagan saw the USSR was dealing from a position of weakness and turned the deals down. The USSR ultimately collapsed without a shot fired.

We have that chance with China. The Fed is now on board. If we don't get bogged down in the absurd bifurcation in the US, we could live to see the last big communist government fail. We just have to be smart enough to realize what is happening and take advantage of it -- for the betterment of the entire world. I remember communism. Everyone should read about the hundreds of millions who have died under these regimes. Pushing the Chinese communist party to oblivion is a noble cause.

Yet, you have people here in the US pushing socialism, indeed labeling communist ideas as socialist (as if that makes them better!). It all sounds great: free stuff for everyone. But it is never free. When you have over 50% of people not paying any income tax as it is, you cannot given away free healthcare and college as well, at least not quality. It turns into what socialist and communist nations provide: low grade services.

Thus you see spectacles such as senator Warren chiding Howard Shultz. Shultz was born dirt poor. His father suffered a serious accident when Shultz was a boy and his family lost everything it had. Shultz just did what you do, that is keep working hard and smart. He recognized the opportunity with Starbucks when he saw it, and after years of trying was able to convince the original owners it could be big. Even then they sold out to him because they didn't see it, could not dream that big. Shultz had nothing but intelligence, a strong work ethic, the dream and the drive to do it. MOST IMPORTANTLY, he could use the system we have in the US, a system that would allow him the opportunity to be great. He did it. With his success he made many, many millionaires. His company provides some of the best healthcare there is for its workers, many of whom are simply hourly employees.

For those accomplishments, Warren calls him a freeloader. The liar about being of Native American heritage calls a great entrepreneur, creator, jobs maker, worker benefits provider, and classic American success story a freeloader. That is the state of our politics. I cannot say I agree with Shultz on all his social and political positions, but he has definitely earned the right to espouse them, dare I say more so than Warren.

But, I digress.


THE MARKET

CHARTS

SOX led the Friday move, moving close to the 200 day MA, ready to join the Dow that made the move Wednesday. Chips are still leading nicely higher. Again, 1300 is next resistance, and just 13 points away.

DJ30: Gapped upside and rallied to the 200 day SMA Wednesday, held that position through Friday. Oh, that is 25,000, the next resistance, right in the middle of the October/December trading range. Dow 25,000 hats were out starting Wednesday, a questionable practice. Still, a good move higher with next resistance at 26K, though 25K is not a done deal.

SP500: Excellent break higher starting Wednesday, bouncing up off the 50 day MA second test. Doji Friday, 45 points off the 200 day SMA. 2750 to 2800 is next serious resistance.

NASDAQ: FAANG helped break NASDAQ higher from the second 50 day MA test. Rallied Wednesday and Friday, hitting some resistance at 7265, pausing Friday. Of course, the move higher was gratis AAPL, GOOG, AMZN and strong software stocks. Friday the modest loss was due to AMZN gapping lower after earnings results, but the rest of the stocks performed quite decently to keep the losses quite minimal. Next serious resistance at the top of the October/December range from 7485 to 7575 along with the 200 day SMA at 7453.

SP400, RUTX: As with the other indices, the midcaps and small caps started higher again Wednesday from a weeklong lateral move. Nice new breaks higher, moving up near the center of their October/December trading range. Trying to play catch up to the large cap indices, doing a decent job.

LEADERSHIP

FAANG: AAPL, FB gapped sharply higher on earnings, gapping into next resistance but holding the move. GOOG, AMZN gapped upside to the 200 day SMA just following along. Of course Friday AMZN gapped back down on its earnings guidance. NFLX moved over the 200 day SMA and is holding on to close out the week.

Software: Nice solid week. ZS exploded higher Thursday. NOW gapped upside on results. COUP continued flying higher after a strong Thursday move. CRM started a new break higher Wednesday into Friday. FIVN moved well for us the past week, breaking higher out of its triangle. SPLK moving to higher rally highs. A good group. Still.

Semiconductors: AVGO hit a higher recovery high midweek, tested back to the 10 day EMA. UCTT posted another strong week. MU lagged but Friday started higher again. AMD gapped upside Wednesday and continued. RMBS posted a strong week, CY gapped to the 200 day SMA Friday. The group remains very good.

China: These stocks have come back around. BABA at the 200 day SMA with a solid move. JD moving up off the 50 day EMA in its recovery. SINA set up well. HTHT interesting as is BZUN. Anticipating a recovery?

Financial: Mostly working laterally all week, e.g. C, JPM, GS. Regional banks are improving, e.g. TCBI, STTdec. V broke higher Friday after its earnings report.

Apparel: DECK gapped to a new high, clearing a 3 month range on earnings. LULU still looks nice in a test of the rally off the December low.


MARKET STATS

DJ30
Stats: +64.22 points (+0.26%) to close at 25063.89

Nasdaq
Stats: -17.87 points (-0.25%) to close at 7263.87
Volume: 2.4B (-18.09%)

Up Volume: 1.52B (-290M)
Down Volume: 850.49M (-249.51M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.37 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 1.79 to 1

New Highs: 57 (-18)
New Lows: 17 (-10)

S&P
Stats: +2.43 points (+0.09%) to close at 2706.53
NYSE Volume: 881.197M (-36.32%)

Up Volume: 468.586M (-414.319M)
Down Volume: 389.316M (-103.256M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.33 to 1
Previous Session: Advancers led 2.16 to 1

New Highs: 99 (-33)
New Lows: 10 (+3)


SENTIMENT

VIX: 16.14; -0.43
VXN: 19.80; -0.44
VXO: 16.67; -0.43

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 1.13; +0.29

Bulls and Bears:

Bulls rebounded farther but the move has slowed after that crash into the thirties during the December selloff. Bears are fading but bulls and bears crossed and did their 'thing' in terms of a contrary signal.

Bulls: 45.8 versus 45.4

Bears: 20.6 versus 21.3

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: 45.8 versus 45.4
45.4 versus 34.8 versus 29.9 versus 39.3 versus 45.4 versus 46.7 versus 38.3 versus 39.6 versus 42.9 versus 42.5 versus 50.5 versus 51.9 versus 56.3 versus 61.8 versus 60.6 versus 59.0 versus 57.7 versus 60.1 versus 59.6 versus 57.7 versus 57.3 versus 54.9 versus 54.5 versus 54.9 versus 55.3 versus 52.4 versus 47.1 versus 47.6 versus 52.0 versus 55.5 versus 52.9 versus 50.0 versus 49.1 versus 46.6 versus 43.1 versus 43.6 versus 48.0 versus 43.6 versus 42.2 versus 49.5 versus 55.5 versus 54.9 versus 48.6 versus 48.1 versus 48.5 versus 41.9 versus 54.4 versus 66.00

Bears: 20.6 versus 21.3
21.3 versus 29.4 versus 34.6 versus 21.4 versus 20.4 versus 21.50 versus 20.6 versus 19.8 versus 19.0 versus 19.8 versus 19.8 versus 19.0 versus 18.3 versus 18.5 versus 18.6 versus 18.3 versus 18.1 versus 18.3 versus 18.1 versus 18.3 versus 18.3 versus 18.6 versus 18.8 versus 18.6 versus 18.5 versus 18.5 versus 18.6 versus 18.4 versus 17.6 versus 17.8 versus 17.7 versus 19.2 versus 19.2 versus 19.4 versus 19.4 versus 20.6 versus 20.8 versus 19.6 versus 19.8 versus 18.6 versus 17.5 versus 16.8 versus 15.7 versus 15.5 versus 14.4 versus 14.6 versus 14.4 versus 15.5 versus 12.6 versus 12.8 versus 12.7 versus 13.5 versus 15.2 versus 15.1 versus 15.2 versus 15.1 versus 15.1 versus 15.4 versus 15.4 versus 14.4 versus 14.4 versus 15.1 versus 15.2 versus 15.1 versus 17.0 versus 17.1 versus 19.0 versus 20.2


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds: 2.684% versus 2.64%. Bonds surged Thursday but Friday dropped back to the 10 day EMA, giving up the Thursday surge.

Historical: the last sub-2% rate was in November 2016 (1.867%). 2.64% versus 2.679% versus 2.710.5 versus 2.738% versus 2.748% versus 2.734% versus 2.741% versus 2.75% versus 2.788% versus 2.752% versus 2.727% versus 2.718% versus 2.706% versus 2.699% versus 2.733% versus 2.712% versus 2.731% versus 2.694% versus 2.668% versus 2.552% versus 2.643% versus 2.686% versus 2.716% versus 2.774% versus 2.811% versus 2.736% versus 2.788% versus 2.803%. versus 2.762% versus 2.821% versus 2.855% versus 2.895% versus 2.913% versus 2.908% versus 2.884% versus 2.863% versus 2.854% versus 2.892% versus 2.915% versus 2.979% versus 2.993% versus 3.032% versus 3.061% versus 3.058%


EUR/USD: 1.14554 versus 1.14478. Still bumping at the 200 day SMA.

Historical: 1.14478 versus 1.14924 versus 1.14351 versus 1.14285 versus 1.1407 versus 1.13134 versus 1.13830 versus 1.13652 versus 1.13636 versus 1.13919 versus 1.13993 versus 1.14802 versus 1.14734 versus 1.14699 versus 1.15075 versus 1.15532 versus 1.14547 versus 1.14834 versus 1.13980 versus 1.13957 versus 1.13343 versus 1.14450 versus 1.14425 versus 1.1432 versus 1.13588 versus 1.14015 versus 1.13708 versus 1.13828 versus 1.13755 versus 1.13533 versus 1.13049


USD/JPY: 109.530 versus 108.85. Dollar jumped Friday though it was a tough week, recovering what it lost Wednesday.

Historical: Last below 109 in June 2018: 108.85 versus 108.96 versus 109.364 versus 109.180 versus 109.545 versus 109.757 versus 109.58 versus 109.651 versus 109.773 versus 109.133 versus 108.912 versus 108.551 versus 108.340 versus 108.563 versus 108.332 versus 107.959 versus 108.802 versus 108.705 versus 108.517 versus 107.173 versus 107.515 versus 109.687 versus 110.273 versus 110.845 versus 111.190 versus 110.337 versus 111.223 versus 111.21 versus 112.521 versus 112.477 versus 112.653 versus 113.382


Oil: 55.26, +1.47. Bounced off the 50 day MA and hit a higher recovery high Friday.


Gold: 1322.10, -3.10. Off a bit Friday, but a strong move on the week into Thursday. Quite the break higher.


MONDAY

This week more earnings while the economic data slows a bit. The market could use a bit slower news feed.

Good breaks higher that stuck for the indices and of course many stocks making up the indices. The key will be if new blood joins the upside. Semiconductors have come back into leadership after a long absence, a huge addition upside. China stocks are stirring with some breaking higher, others looking to do the same. Financials are still recovering, trying to make the next move.

We have positions on many of the current leaders in software, FAANG, etc. Indeed, we are looking at AAPL for a new position this week. Still, the other areas need to set up more and make moves, and we do like some of these groups. If they can make the moves that would provide the market a lot more support for the move higher.

Recall way, way back when we talked about the sentiment indicators being leading indicators, and the initial leaders moving, and while they did their thing, over time other stocks would build bases and set up? That is occurring, e.g. the semiconductors, and others are setting up. Thus far it is a slow process but it is working for the upside.

Have a great weekend!

[ReturntoSender]

Stocks Fall on Weak Jobs Growth, but Close Near Highs
08-Mar-19 16:20 ET
Dow -22.99 at 25450.24, Nasdaq -13.32 at 7408.16, S&P -5.86 at 2743.03

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2019/3/8/stocks-fall-on-weak-jobs-growth-but-close-near-highs.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 declined as much as 1.0% on Friday, as disappointing growth in U.S. jobs contributed to global growth concerns and profit-taking interest. However, renewed buying interest in the afternoon helped the benchmark index trim its loss to 0.2% and close at session highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.1%), the Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%), and the Russell 2000 (-0.1%) also finished near session highs after being down as much as 0.9%, 1.2%, and 0.9%, respectively.

The S&P 500 energy (-2.0%) and consumer discretionary (-0.7%) sectors underperformed the broader market. Conversely, the utilities (+0.4%), materials (+0.2%), real estate (+0.1%), and consumer staples (+0.1%) sectors outperformed.

It had been broad-based retreat for most of the day with all 11 S&P 500 sectors trading lower following a mixed February Employment Situation Report. The ability to hold above morning lows, though, encouraged some buying interest, and the acceleration of the rebound likely added a short-covering element into the picture.

February nonfarm payroll growth was surprisingly weak, coming in at just 20,000 (Briefing.com consensus 173,000). NEC Director Larry Kudlow, among many others, believed the payroll figure was an outlier.

The positive spin is that average hourly earnings grew 0.4%, which pushed up the year-over-year wage growth rate to 3.4% -- the highest since April 2009, and unemployment fell to 3.8% from 4.0%. Still, the big miss on payrolls stoked concerns that it was a sign of developing softness in the labor market.

At the same time, weak trade data out of China, where February exports declined 20.7% year-over-year, and some pessimism about the prospects for a U.S.-China trade deal helped contribute to early-morning weakness.

In earnings news, Costco (COST 227.82, +11.03, +5.1%) and Big Lots (BIG 36.18, +4.34, +13.6%) sported notable gains after both beat earnings estimates. National Beverage (FIZZ 58.27, -10.00), meanwhile, dropped 14.7% after it missed top and bottom-line estimates.

U.S. Treasuries edged higher, pushing yields lower. The 2-yr yield declined two basis points to 2.44%, and the 10-yr yield declined one basis point to 2.63%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.3% to 97.36. WTI crude lost 0.8% to $56.14/bbl.

Reviewing Friday's economic data, which included the February Employment Situation Report and the Housing Starts and Building Permits Report for January:

The February Employment Situation Report muddied what had been a pretty clear labor market picture. The headline that will jump out at everyone is that nonfarm payrolls increased by only 20,000 in February, well below expectations and far off recent readings running above 200,000. Average hourly earnings, meanwhile, increased 0.4%, which left the year-over-year wage figure up 3.4%. That's good news, as it is a positive underpinning for consumer spending.
The key takeaway from the report is that the weak payrolls figure will drive thoughts of either there being a shortage of skilled labor that could drive up wages or that it is a sign of a softening job market. In other words, the key takeaway is that it is going to create uncertainty that is going to hang over the market.
Housing starts increased 18.6% month-over-month in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.230 million units (Briefing.com consensus 1.180 million) and permits rose 1.4% month-over-month to 1.345 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.280 million).
The key takeaway from the report, however, is that starts were down 7.8% year-over-year and permits were down 1.5% year-over-year. Accordingly, the strong January figures belie an otherwise torpid new residential construction market.

Looking ahead, investors will receive Retail Sales for January and Business Inventories for December on Monday.

Russell 2000 +12.9% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +11.7% YTD
S&P 500 +9.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +9.1% YTD

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InvestmentHouse - Economic Data Slips After Showing Improvement (Weekend Newsletter)

https://news.investmenthouse.com/2019/03/the-daily-part-1-of-3-3-16-19.html

MARKET SUMMARY

- More advances on expiration push SP500, NASDAQ over the top of the range -- barely.
- SOX posts a strong week, DJ30 lags but would be over resistance but for BA.
- Small and midcaps lag due to rotation to the big names.
- Economic data slips after showing improvement. Soft patch starting to firm overall, however.
- No Fed, no headache. Market preparing to do the improbable and try for new highs.
- After a very good week, before any more breakouts there is likely some kind of profit taking test.

Much was made by Bob Pisani of SP500 cracking over the top of the October/December range, though he did not call it that, just citing resistance at 2815ish. He failed to note NASDAQ did the same Friday. He said that break of resistance pretty much assures the indices keep rising. I am paraphrasing of course, but I have listened to Mr. Pisani for over a decade so this is nothing new. When you are around as long as he has been at the NYSE it means something -- usually that you are a useful patsy for those pushing their book. And as you know, EVERYONE on financial stations pushes their book. Yours truly is the exception, of course. Take what the market gives, right?

But I digress.

It was a good session and a solid upside week rising off a support test.

SP500 14.00, 0.50%
NASDAQ 57.62, 0.76%
DJ30 138.93, 0.54%
SP400 0.18%
RUTX 0.25%
SOX 2.90%
NASDAQ 100 0.88%

VOLUME: NYSE +199%, NASDAQ +58%. Ah, quad witching expiration. Throw the volume figures into the garbage for the day, but note that volume on the week was not bad.

ADVANCE/DECLINE: NYSE 1.4:1, NASDAQ 1.5:1. Very large cap oriented.

Breaking through resistance is always a good indication. In this market of algo-driven trades, however, breakouts and breakdowns through resistance and support have a way of nastily reversing as milestones are used as triggers for profit taking in the form of either selling or buying.

Just look at SP400. It was the first to break the October/December barrier (sounds like something from 'The Right Stuff' or 'Star Trek'-- breaking the sound barrier or the energy barrier), yet it fizzled after an excellent rally, fading back to the 50 day EMA. It held there and bounced a bit, but it has yet to recapture its prior market-leading panache.

Of course SP400 did not break down; it was likely just rotated out of leadership and is resting while NASDAQ, FAANG, and the chips returned to more prominence. The point, however, is: a break of resistance is good, but it does not assure immediate further benefits.

Consider NASDAQ and SP500 both put in one of their top weeks of 2019 just to get to the Friday close. Indices typically do not make completely linear moves, and after good runs to and through resistance they tend to test sooner than later. Perhaps the two continue upside near term then test from strength, coming back to the old resistance to test. That is always an upside plus as the index can get the profit taking out of its system after a good run and use the old resistance as support to bounce the next move upside. Didn't happen for SP400, but again, that was likely due to rotation.

SOX also put in a great week. It is not near taking out the spring to summer 2018 highs, but it did surge past the February high. From the 200 day SMA to a higher recovery high bumping at the lower 2018 resistance in a week. That is a serious move and likely needs some kind of rest in the coming week or so before it can try for a new high.

That said, even with the FAANG resurgence and continued strength from the 'old tech' names (e.g. MSFT, CSCO, INTC), NASDAQ 100 failed to take out the Oct/Dec range on the close. Perhaps a minor detail, but in a large cap dominated move on the week, that is notable.

Also, don't forget to look at things from the other side of the fence. Take a look at QID, SDS and some other index inverse ETF's. SDS perhaps is setting up something of a short double bottom that would suggest some kind of short bounce, meaning SP500 would fade after such a good run. QID broke to a lower low but is at the August/October lows -- trending lower for sure, but at a point where it would bounce to test the downtrend.

Again, this is not saying the indices collapse. There is no indication of sellers at all at this juncture. When the Fed exited the back door and left a card to call it when inflation surged, Brexit was completed, the US and China signed a trade deal, the US economic data was not so equivocal, mass hysteria ensued, dogs and cats started sleeping together . . . stocks started up and have not looked back. As the old commercial showing the family getting everything it could ever want for Christmas after leaving Santa a plate of cheese, don't underestimate the power of a compliant Fed. Powell, for all the talk and pragmatism, has put on his Janet Yellen Halloween mask and slipped out the side door. BUT, damn it, he is NOT bowing to Trump. He says.

What it does say is there is upside bias. There is rotation back into groups such as FAANG that lay dormant for many weeks. Chips renewed their leadership. Growth, outside of perhaps RUTX small caps, is back in vogue.

Even so, near term after such good runs there may be some more rotation with techs testing back from good moves while DJ30, SP400, RUTX play catch up. That is the healthy, virtuous rotation that sees money stay in the market and new money coming in to keep the upward bias overall.


ECONOMICS/NEWS

The economic data Friday flipped back to disappointing. After some improving data the first part of the week suggested the economic soft patch could be passing, the new data said not so fast.

New York Empire PMI, March: 2.7 vs 10.0 expected vs 8.8 February. A 22 month low.

Industrial Production, Feb: 0.1 vs 0.4 expected vs -0.4 January (from -0.6)

Capacity Utilization, Feb: 78.2 vs 78.5 expected vs 78.4 prior (from 78.2)

Back to backsliding. I guess that is 'good news' in a bad news is still good news Fed environment.


TSLA: Introduced the Model Y to yawns. The question heard most was 'why?' Get it? TSLA dropped stone-like from a pretty good week up to then.

FB: Lost its Chief Production Officer and the director of WhatsApp in one day. Also being probed by US AG's for its use of user data.

GOOG: It is also being looked at for possible suits by state AG's.

The question: how did your personal information morph into the property of companies whose advertisements say they are just there to provide a convenience to you to interact and a tool to help your life be better (search) and make a profit providing that service?

Yes, yes, if you put that information out there you are opening yourself to having everyone see it. But, as the fine print of the 'do you agree to our terms or else not use our service' says, the data then becomes the provider's to do with as it wants. That is an adhesion contract that the courts have historically time and again broken as against public policy. If you have no bargaining power and no alternative, that triggers the scrutiny. The old movie and recording contracts (Tom Petty broke the music industry's stranglehold over the artists), labor contracts, etc. all were broken due to the unequal bargaining power. As FB and GOOG are or are near virtual monopolies in their industry, they ARE going to get this scrutiny.


CHARTS

SP500, NASDAQ: As noted, both put in strong weeks and closed just over the Oct/Dec range tops. Solid action, a bit extended. After a strong-ish expiration session we are looking for some kind of test next week either after a bit more upside or starting Monday. Not a rollover from anything shown thus far, just a normal post-new high pause.

DJ30: A good Friday putting an upside emphasis on a week that saw the index miss out on a really good move due to the BA issues. It would be right there with SP500 and NASDAQ but for that drag.

SOX: Cleared the February recovery high, just below the first resistance from the March through summer trading range. Chips were resurgent.

SP400: Bounced off the 50 day EMA Monday then slid laterally the rest of the week, unable to break higher again, stalling at the 200 day SMA Friday on the high and fading.

RUTX: Same as SP400, bouncing off support Monday then a lateral move through Friday, well, well off the February high up at the 200 day SMA. For now money is not moving into the small and midcaps. Not leaving, just not moving in.

NASDAQ 100: A strong week after the prior Friday gap to the 50 day EMA and reversal. Rallied to the top of the Oct/Dec range and stopped just below that point Friday. Solid, solid move as the FAANG had some bite again, but as it is below resistance perhaps GOOG, AMZN, AAPL, MSFT, CSCO take a breather after excellent weeks to the upside -- AND provide us with new entries after they take that breather.


MARKET STATS

DJ30
Stats: +138.93 points (+0.54%) to close at 25848.87

Nasdaq
Stats: +57.62 points (+0.76%) to close at 7688.53
Volume: 3.45B (+58.26%)

Up Volume: 2.2B (+1.18B)
Down Volume: 1.2B (+70M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.54 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.33 to 1

New Highs: 116 (+33)
New Lows: 44 (+2)

S&P
Stats: +14.00 points (+0.50%) to close at 2822.48
NYSE Volume: 2.72B (+199.19%)

Up Volume: 1.574B (+1.194B)
Down Volume: 1.104B (+604.89M)

A/D and Hi/Lo: Advancers led 1.41 to 1
Previous Session: Decliners led 1.13 to 1

New Highs: 137 (+34)
New Lows: 24 (+3)

SENTIMENT

VIX: 12.88; -0.62
VXN: 15.12; -0.53
VXO: 12.14; -1.26

Put/Call Ratio (CBOE): 0.85; -0.06

Bulls and Bears:

The pullback from the prior week stalled the bulls' advance a bit while bears moved back over 21 after a 2 week hiatus below that level. Not major change in the trends: bulls are moving back up, bears sliding again, and this past week's action will further those trends.

Bulls: 52.4 versus 52.9

Bears: 21.4 versus 20.6

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: 52.4 versus 52.9
52.9 versus 52.4 versus 51.9 versus 49.5 versus 48.6 versus 45.8 versus 45.4 versus 34.8 versus 29.9 versus 39.3 versus 45.4 versus 46.7 versus 38.3 versus 39.6 versus 42.9 versus 42.5 versus 50.5 versus 51.9 versus 56.3 versus 61.8 versus 60.6 versus 59.0 versus 57.7 versus 60.1 versus 59.6 versus 57.7 versus 57.3 versus 54.9 versus 54.5 versus 54.9 versus 55.3 versus 52.4 versus 47.1 versus 47.6 versus 52.0 versus 55.5 versus 52.9 versus 50.0 versus 49.1 versus 46.6 versus 43.1 versus 43.6 versus 48.0 versus 43.6 versus 42.2

Bears: 21.4 versus 20.6
20.6 versus 20.4 versus 20.7 versus 21.5 versus 20.6 versus 20.6 versus 21.3 versus 29.4 versus 34.6 versus 21.4 versus 20.4 versus 21.50 versus 20.6 versus 19.8 versus 19.0 versus 19.8 versus 19.8 versus 19.0 versus 18.3 versus 18.5 versus 18.6 versus 18.3 versus 18.1 versus 18.3 versus 18.1 versus 18.3 versus 18.3 versus 18.6 versus 18.8 versus 18.6 versus 18.5 versus 18.5 versus 18.6 versus 18.4 versus 17.6 versus 17.8 versus 17.7 versus 19.2 versus 19.2 versus 19.4 versus 19.4 versus 20.6 versus 20.8 versus 19.6 versus 19.8 versus 18.6 versus 17.5 versus 16.8 versus 15.7 versus 15.5 versus 14.4 versus 14.6 versus 14.4 versus 15.5 versus 12.6 versus 12.8


OTHER MARKETS

Bonds: 2.591% versus 2.628%. TLT held flat but the 10 year went wild with an upside rally.

Historical: the last sub-2% rate was in November 2016 (1.867%). Last trade over 3% was November 2018.

2.628% versus 2.625% versus 2.60% versus 2.641% versus 2.632% versus 2.641% versus 2.693% versus 2.715% versus 2.724% versus 2.759% versus 2.717% versus 2.673% versus 2.636% versus 2.672% versus 2.654% versus 2.695% versus 2.641% versus 2.641% versus 2.664% versus 2.654% versus 2.706% versus 2.686%


EUR/USD: 1.13248 versus 1.13070. Euro rallied to the 50 day MA and stopped there Thursday and Friday. Still in that long lateral trading range.

Historical: 1.13070 versus 1.13271 versus 1.12895 versus 1.12592 versus 1.12344 versus 1.1191 versus 1.13123 versus 1.13050 versus 1.13344 versus 1.13650 versus 1.13725 versus 1.13790 versus 1.1391 versus 1.13598 versus 1.13332 versus 1.13363 versus 1.14490 versus 1.13544 versus 1.12922 versus 1.12955 versus 1.12616 versus 1.3323 versus 1.12816 versus 1.13218 versus 1.13396 versus 1.13645 versus 1.1396 versus 1.14350


USD/JPY: 111.470 versus 111.715. Three weeks trading laterally around the 200 day SMA after rising to that resistance to end February. Still trending upside, but the next break higher or lower from this key level is, well, key.

Historical: Last below 109 in June 2018 then tumbled to 107 in early January 2019. 114.51 is the recent high from October 2018.

111.715 versus 111.314 versus 111.428 versus 111.165 versus 111.482 versus 111.624 versus 111.845 versus 111.856 versus 111.921 versus 111.433 versus 110.873 versus 110.53 versus 110.979 versus 110.670 versus 110.664 versus 110.786 versus 110.848 versus 110.469 versus 110.462 versus 110.945 versus 110.523 versus 110.488 versus 109.754


Oil: 58.52, -0.09. Broke higher from the range Wednesday, then stalled there into Friday. Still trending up toward the 200 day SMA at 62.50ish.


Gold: 1302.90, +7.80. Gold dumped to end February, bounced back over the 50 day MA midweek, but is struggling on the rebound. Actually, it is good gold struggles and fades some. It has a near term, 6 week head and shoulders, and some more downside would not hurt as it suggests tamer inflation, better economics.


MONDAY

Good move on the week, some key intersections with resistance. The market has not yet resolved the trading range inflection point, but it certainly is making the case for a more bullish outcome. No selling at the highs, just profit taking. More solid patterns. Dormant groups (e.g. FAANG) coming back into play. Semiconductors continuing their leadership role after a week or so hiatus. That certainly bodes well from an upside perspective.

That does not mean post-expiration week rally there is some profit taking. Indices up for a week, many stocks up for a week or more, some approaching resistance, some just feeling gravity after very good moves. After perhaps some more upside, perhaps not, if there is some likely profit taking, we plan using that to position for some new upside buys.

Indeed, there are still a LOT of stocks in good position to move higher after a week's market gains. Many did move upside on Friday, so they may very well have some post-expiration weakness. That works as well because we can use a bit of a pullback on the plays we have to set up some better entries. Chips still look good with many solid setups, some software as well.

We also have some lower priced stocks to choose from this weekend. With GOOG, AAPL, ISRG, NFLX, NVDA, MSFT, etc., most can only use options. Thus, with some good setups in some smaller names, e.g. IPI, GOGO, we have some names to look at. We likely won't marry them or even have deep feelings for them. It is okay to use a stock, get what you want, then dump it. This is the one area that is totally acceptable.

Also have some mid-range stocks such as AMAT, FIVN, HUYA that we could be coaxed into longer term relationships. We are very open: if they perform, we keep them. If they don't, we bag them fast. Keeps the relationships neat.

In any event, the upside bias remains, a bit of a giveback early week is okay for the new plays, and if the recent leaders want to give back a bit more and set up again for new buys a la V did, even better.

Have a great weekend!

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Stocks Close Higher as Bond Yields Stabilize
26-Mar-19 16:20 ET
Dow +140.90 at 25657.73, Nasdaq +53.98 at 7691.51, S&P +20.10 at 2818.46

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2019/3/26/stocks-close-higher-as-bond-yields-stabilize-.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 gained 0.7% on Tuesday, as an early uptick in U.S. Treasury yields and gains in most global equity markets helped foster some risk-on sentiment. It wasn't easy, though, as the benchmark index declined from a gain of 1.1% at its high to a gain of 0.2% at its low before rallying in the last 30 minutes of action.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7%, and the Russell 2000 gained 1.0%.

All 11 S&P 500 sectors finished higher with gains ranging from 0.4% (consumer discretionary) to 1.5% (energy). Many energy stocks benefited from an increase in oil prices ($59.94/bbl, +$1.05, +1.8%).

Stocks jumped out of the gate as investors rallied to buy the recent dip in equities while bond yields edged up from this year's lows. The 2-yr yield and the 10-yr yield had been up as much as four basis points each from their unchanged marks, but spent most of intraday action in a steady retreat. The pullback in yields coincided with the pullback in equities.

The 2-yr yield closed one basis point higher at 2.26%, while the 10-yr yield declined one basis point to 2.41%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.2% to 96.80.

Shares of Apple (AAPL 186.79, -1.95, -1.0%) were up as much as 2.2% but steadily declined throughout the day. The stock took a leg lower into negative territory after Bloomberg reported a U.S. trade judge recommended a ban on imports of some iPhone models due to Apple's infringement on a Qualcomm (QCOM 58.00, +1.36, +2.4%) patent. The judge's findings will be subject to a full review by the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY 16.92, +3.05) was another story stock, surging 22.0%, after The Wall Street Journal reported that activist investors are preparing to launch a proxy fight to replace its entire 12-person board. Disappointing guidance from Carnival (CCL 51.71, -4.94), meanwhile, sent the stock lower by 8.7%.

In M&A news, Uber Technologies (UBER) announced it will acquire Middle East rival Careem Networks for $3.1 billion, consisting of $1.7 billion in convertible notes and $1.4 billion in cash. Uber plans to kick off its IPO next month.

Reviewing Tuesday's batch of economic data, which included Housing Starts and Building Permits for February, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for March, the FHFA Housing Price Index for January, and the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for January:

Housing Starts decreased 8.7% m/m in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.162 million units (Briefing.com consensus 1.210 million) from an upwardly revised 1.273 million (from 1.230 million) in January. Building permits decreased 1.6% m/m to 1.296 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.308 million) from a downwardly revised 1.317 million (from 1.345 million) in January.
The key takeaway from the report is that the yr/yr rate of decline accelerated, with starts now down 9.9% yr/yr while permits are down 2.0% yr/yr.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index decreased to 124.1 in March (Briefing.com consensus 132.0) from an unrevised 131.4 in February. The March decline represents the fifth decrease over the past six months.
The key takeaway from the report is that while consumers remain confident in the economy's ability to expand, the level of expectations has moderated.
The FHFA Housing Price Index for January increased 0.6% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%), up from an unrevised December reading of 0.3%.
The Case-Shiller Home Price Index for January increased 3.6%, down from a revised reading of 4.1% in December (from 4.2%).

Looking ahead, investors will receive the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index, the Trade Balance Report for January, and the Current Account Balance for the fourth quarter on Wednesday.

Nasdaq Composite +15.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +13.3% YTD
S&P 500 +12.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +10.0% YTD

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Wall Street ticks lower in front of possible market-moving events
30-Jul-19 16:15 ET
Dow -23.33 at 27198.02, Nasdaq -19.71 at 8273.62, S&P -7.79 at 3013.18

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2019/7/30/wall-street-ticks-lower-in-front-of-possible-marketmoving-events-.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market wavered mostly in negative territory on Tuesday, leaving the S&P 500 (-0.3%), Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.1%), and Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) with slight losses. There weren't too many positive catalysts for the broader market, but the small-cap Russell 2000 did advance 1.1% to finish near session highs.

The S&P 500's worst levels of the day came shortly after the open, as investors appeared uninterested to participate in the action in front of Apple's (AAPL 208.78, -0.90, -0.4%) earnings report after the close and the FOMC's rate decision tomorrow. President Trump alleging that China has yet to buy U.S. agricultural products added to the negative tone.

Still, aside from some profit taking in hot-flying stocks like Beyond Meat (BYND 194.76, -27.37, -12.3%) and Under Armour (UAA 24.08, -3.36, -12.2%) following their earnings reports, there was no serious interest to withdraw from the broader market. At its low, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and hanging just above the 3000 level, where it would firmly stay above the rest of the day.

The final standings reflected a mixed session with five S&P 500 sectors finishing higher and six sectors finishing lower. The utilities (-0.8%), information technology (-0.7%), and consumer discretionary (-0.7%) sectors underperformed, while the energy (+1.1%), real estate (+0.9%), and materials (+0.6%) sectors finished on top.

Energy stocks gained traction as oil prices ($58.05, +1.18, +2.1%) made a big move in the afternoon on no confirmed news catalyst. The noticeable gain today could have been derived from speculation that the Fed's expected rate cut tomorrow could increase demand for oil.

In other corporate news, Procter & Gamble (PG 120.41, +4.41, +3.8%) and Merck (MRK 83.27, +0.78, +1.0%) pleased investors with their earnings results. Pfizer (PFE 38.79, -2.66) fell 6.4% after the stock was downgraded at both Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. Capital One (COF 91.21, -5.71) fell 5.9% after disclosing a data breach that affected over 100 million customers.

U.S. Treasuries finished slightly lower in another muted session. The 2-yr yield and the 10-yr yield increased one basis point each to 1.85% and 2.06%, respectively. The U.S. Dollar Index finished unchanged at 98.05.

Reviewing Tuesday's economic data, which included the Personal Income and Spending Report for June, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for July, the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for May, and Pending Home Sales for June:

Personal income increased 0.4% (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%) while personal spending rose 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) m/m in June. The PCE Price Index was up 0.1%, as expected, and the core PCE price Index, which excludes food and energy, jumped 0.2%, also as expected. On a yr/yr basis, the PCE Price Index held steady at 1.4% while the core PCE Price Index edged up to 1.6% from 1.5% in May.
The key takeaway from the report is that it contained decent consumer data and tame inflation data, which is not all that surprising relative to recent data seen of late.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index surged to 135.7 in July (Briefing.com consensus 125.5) from an upwardly revised 124.3 (from 121.5) in June. That is the highest reading since November 2018 and the third-highest reading since October 2000.
The key takeaway from the report is that consumers are optimistic about current and prospective business and labor market conditions, and have improved expectations for their financial outlook. That is a supportive combination that will encourage increased consumer spending activity.
The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for May increased 2.4% (Briefing.com consensus 3.5%) after increasing 2.5% in April.
Pending Home Sales increased 1.6% in June (Briefing.com consensus +1.0%). Today's reading follows an unrevised increase of 1.1% in May.

Looking ahead, investors will receive the FOMC rate decision, the ADP Employment Change report for July, the Chicago PMI for July, the Employment Cost Index for the second quarter, and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index on Wednesday.

Nasdaq Composite +24.7% YTD
S&P 500 +20.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +17.6% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +16.6% YTD

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Dow closes above 28,000 amid continued trade optimism
15-Nov-19 16:25 ET
Dow +222.93 at 28004.80, Nasdaq +61.81 at 8540.83, S&P +23.83 at 3120.46

https://www.briefing.com/stock-market-update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market rallied higher into record territory on Friday, with risk sentiment fueled by NEC Director Larry Kudlow saying the U.S. and China are close to reaching a Phase One trade agreement. The S&P 500 (+0.8%) closed above the 3100 level, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.8%) closed above 28,000 -- both for the first time.

The Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%) also closed at a record high, while the Russell 2000 (+0.5%) continued to trail its large-cap peers.

The S&P 500 health care sector did the heavy lifting on Friday, climbing 2.2%, even as the Trump administration announced an initiative to increase price transparency from hospitals and insurers. Investors were evidently unconcerned about the proposal leading to an adverse effect on earnings.

No other S&P 500 sector increased 1.0%, but the continued outperformance of Apple (AAPL 265.76, +3.12, +1.2%), Microsoft (MSFT 149.97, +1.91, +1.3%), and Alphabet (GOOG 1334.87, +23.41, +1.8%) should not be understated. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 44.86, +0.44, +1.0%) and Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (+0.9%) also showed relative strength.

Retail stocks extended yesterday's advance after October retail sales increased 0.3% m/m (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%). Semiconductor stocks benefited from the trade news and the solid results and guidance from Applied Materials (AMAT 62.06, +5.10, +9.0%). Conservative guidance from NVIDIA (NVDA 204.19, -5.60, -2.7%) did limit gains, though.

Interestingly, the trade-sensitive materials sector (-0.1%) was the lone holdout on Friday.

Separately, T-Mobile US (TMUS 78.07, +1.23, +1.6%) CEO John Legere is no longer considering the CEO role at WeWork, according to CNBC. Shares of RH (RH 188.47, +13.25, +7.6%) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY 38.95, +1.19, +3.2%) outperformed after Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B 219.74, +0.38, +0.2%) disclosed new positions in the companies.

U.S. Treasuries didn't sell off despite the risk-on mentality in the stock market, but they did edge lower. The 2-yr yield increased three basis points to 1.61%, and the 10-yr yield increased two basis points to 1.83%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.2% to 97.99. WTI crude rose 0.9%, or $0.99, to $57.75/bbl.

Reviewing Friday's batch of economic data:

October retail sales increased 0.3% m/m (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) following an unrevised 0.3% decline in September. Excluding autos, retail sales jumped 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus +0.4%) after declining an unrevised 0.1% decline in September.
The key takeaway from the report, other than it shows continued growth in discretionary spending, is that it will be a positive input for Q4 GDP. Core retail sales, which exclude autos, gasoline, building materials, and food services and drinking places sales, and which factor into the goods component of the PCE calculation, were up 0.3%.
Import prices for October were down 0.5%. Excluding fuel, they were down 0.2%. Export prices were down 0.1%. Excluding agricultural products, they were down 0.3%.
The key takeaway from the report is that it points to an indolent inflation backdrop.
Industrial production slumped 0.8% in October (Briefing.com consensus -0.4%) on the heels of an upwardly revised 0.3% decline (from -0.4%) in September. The capacity utilization rate fell to 76.7% (Briefing.com consensus 77.1%) from 77.5% in September.
The key takeaway from the report is that, while the GM strike had a big impact on industrial production, things were still weak excluding that impact. To wit, the Federal Reserve reports industrial production declined 0.5% excluding motor vehicles and parts.
Total business inventories were unchanged month-over-month in September (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) after a downwardly revised 0.1% decline (from 0.0%) in August. Total business sales were down 0.2% following a downwardly revised 0.1% increase (from 0.2%) in August.
The key takeaway from the report is that the gap between inventory growth on a yr/yr basis (+3.7%) and sales growth (+0.5%) remains, which should help keep prices in check.

Looking ahead, investors will receive Net Long-Term TIC Flows for September on Monday.

Nasdaq Composite +28.7% YTD
S&P 500 +24.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +20.1% YTD
Russell 2000 +18.4% YTD

Market Snapshot
Dow 28004.80 +222.93 (0.80%)
Nasdaq 8540.83 +61.81 (0.73%)
SP 500 3120.46 +23.83 (0.77%)
10-yr Note -1/32 1.833
NYSE Adv 1787 Dec 1070 Vol 859.0 mln
Nasdaq Adv 1860 Dec 1223 Vol 2.0 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Health Care, Information Technology, Communication Services
Weak: Materials, Consumer Staples

Moving the Market

-- S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq close at record highs; Dow breaks 28,000 for the first time

-- NEC Director Larry Kudlow said a Phase One trade agreement is close to being reached

-- Applied Materials (AMAT) led the semiconductor space higher on solid results and guidance

-- Strength in the health care space

-- October retail sales rebounded slightly more than expected (0.3% actual vs 0.2% Briefing.com consensus)

WTI crude gains nearly 2%
15-Nov-19 15:25 ET
Dow +190.26 at 27972.13, Nasdaq +44.06 at 8523.08, S&P +17.66 at 3114.29

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.6%) is on pace to close out the session above the 3100 level for the first time.

One last look inside the S&P 500 shows the health care sector (+2.3%) way out ahead of the industrials (+0.6%) and information technology (+0.5%) sectors. The materials (-0.3%) and consumer staples (-0.2%) sectors remain the lone sectors trading lower.

WTI crude settled up $0.99 (+1.7%) to $57.75/bbl amid the upbeat trade mood on Wall Street.

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Stocks close slightly higher on Friday
22-Nov-19 16:10 ET
Dow +109.33 at 27875.53, Nasdaq +13.67 at 8519.88, S&P +6.75 at 3110.29

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market closed slightly higher on Friday in an uninspiring session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.4%) edged above the S&P 500 (+0.2%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%), and Russell 2000 (+0.3%).

The market heard from both President Trump and his Chinese counterpart, President Xi, on Friday. Mr. Xi called for mutual respect and equality in talks, but reiterated Beijing is willing to fight back if necessary. Mr. Trump said talks are moving along nicely and closing in on a deal, but the president suggested a deal should not be equal and should favor the U.S. instead.

The takeaway was that the market still doesn't know for certain if a Phase One trade agreement will be signed this year, but talks are ongoing and appear to not be escalating. Separately, an upwardly revised reading in the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for November was supportive for equities today.

Leading the market in gains were the S&P 500 financials (+0.8%), consumer discretionary (+0.7%), and industrials (+0.5%) sectors. The real estate (-0.5%) and energy (-0.4%) sectors were today's laggards.

Nordstrom (JWN 37.95, +3.63, +10.6%) and Gap (GPS 16.94, +0.72, +4.4%) were among the biggest earnings-driven gainers in the consumer discretionary space, while an earnings-driven decline in Intuit (INTU 259.81, -11.34, -4.2%) put some pressure on the information technology sector (-0.1%).

Elsewhere, the futuristic design of Tesla's (TSLA 333.04, -21.79, -6.1%) Cybertruck pickup was met with some confusion and mixed reviews. Ultimately, it appeared to be a sell-the-news case after the stock climbed about 40% in the past month.

U.S. Treasuries ended the week on a flat note. The 2-yr yield increased two basis points to 1.63%, and the 10-yr yield was unchanged at 1.77%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.3% to 98.26. WTI crude declined 1.2%, or $0.70, to $57.88/bbl.

Friday's economic data was limited to the revised reading for the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for November:

The final November reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index checked in at 96.8 (Briefing.com consensus 94.9), which exceeded the preliminary estimate of 95.7 and the final October reading of 95.5. The November reading is in close proximity to the average level (97.0) since the start of 2017.
The key takeaway from the report is the acknowledgment that consumers aren't anticipating sizable increases in inflation, unemployment, and interest rates, which suggests consumer spending activity should remain supportive for the U.S. economy.

Investors will not receive any economic data on Monday.

Nasdaq Composite +28.4% YTD
S&P 500 +24.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +19.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +17.8% YTD

Market Snapshot
Dow 27875.53 +109.33 (0.39%)
Nasdaq 8519.88 +13.67 (0.16%)
SP 500 3110.29 +6.75 (0.22%)
10-yr Note +1/32 1.768
NYSE Adv 1717 Dec 1152 Vol 717.7 mln
Nasdaq Adv 1778 Dec 1303 Vol 1.9 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Financials, Consumer Discretionary, Industrials
Weak: Real Estate, Energy

Moving the Market

-- Stock market closes slightly higher; close the week lower for the first time in over one month

-- Relative strength in the financials sector

-- Chinese President Xi called for mutual respect and equality in trade talks; President Trump said deal is close but the U.S. should have the better deal

WTI crude gives up bulk of weekly gains
22-Nov-19 15:25 ET
Dow +109.33 at 27875.53, Nasdaq +11.20 at 8517.41, S&P +6.53 at 3110.07

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 is on pace to close the session on higher note. The benchmark index is up 0.2%, but is also on pace snap a six-week winning streak.

One last look inside the S&P 500 shows the financials (+0.6%) and consumer discretionary (+0.6%) sectors outpacing the broader market. Conversely, the real estate sector (-0.5%) remains today's laggard.

WTI crude settled down $0.70 (-1.2%) to $57.88/bbl. For the week, the commodity was up just 0.2%.

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Stock Market Update

Weak data, trade angst send stocks lower in first session of December
02-Dec-19 16:25 ET

Dow -268.37 at 27782.95, Nasdaq -97.48 at 8567.98, S&P -27.11 at 3113.87

https://www.briefing.com/stock-market-update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 lost 0.9% on Monday, as weak manufacturing data and some trade angst contributed to a rough start to December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-1.0%), Nasdaq Composite (-1.1%), and Russell 2000 (-1.0%) slightly underperformed.

Leading the decline were the S&P 500 real estate (-1.8%), industrials (-1.6%), and information technology (-1.4%) sectors, all of which fell more than 1.0%. The consumer staples (+0.3%) and energy (+0.03%) sectors finished in positive territory, with the latter finding support from higher oil prices ($55.99, +0.82, +1.5%).

The day began relatively unchanged, but selling quickly ensued and accelerated after the ISM Manufacturing Index for November declined to 48.1% (Briefing.com consensus 49.2%) from 48.3% in October. The deceleration in activity was disappointing but was especially disheartening after manufacturing PMIs from China and Europe showed improvement.

Dampening risk sentiment was President Trump declaring he will restore tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Argentina and Brazil after the countries devalued their currencies. On a related note, reports continued to present the existing tariffs on Chinese imports and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act as roadblocks to a trade deal.

Other underperforming stocks included those in the trade-sensitive Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (-1.5%) and many highly-valued growth stocks like Roku (ROKU 136.07, -24.30, -15.2%). The latter was downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley with a $110 price target for valuation reasons.

The mood on Wall Street wasn't as negative as the losses would suggest, though. The market had a great month of November, and today might have been exacerbated by some profit-taking interest. It's also worth reminding that the U.S. is more a services economy than a manufacturing economy.

Consumer spending appeared in good shape on this Cyber Monday. Adobe Analytics estimated online sales would total $9.4 billion by the end of today after Black Friday registered a record $7.4 billion in online sales.

Elsewhere, longer-dated U.S. Treasuries succumbed to increased selling pressure after the Financial Times reported that the Fed is considering a rule to allow inflation to exceed its 2.0% target. The 2-yr yield increased two basis points to 1.84%, and the 10-yr yield increased six basis points to 1.84%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.4% to 97.84.

Reviewing Monday's economic data, which included the ISM Manufacturing Index for November and the Construction Spending report for October:

The ISM Manufacturing Index for November registered a 48.1% reading (Briefing.com consensus 49.2%) versus 48.3% for October. The dividing line between expansion and contraction is 50.0%, so the November reading connotes a deceleration in activity from the prior month.
The key takeaway from the report is that it reflects ongoing weakness in the U.S. manufacturing sector, evidenced primarily by the fourth straight decline in the New Orders Index (to 47.2% from 49.1%).
Total construction spending declined 0.8% m/m in October (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) on the heels of a downwardly revised 0.3% decline (from +0.5%) in September.
The key takeaway from the report is that private construction spending remains weak (down 1.8% yr/yr), saddled by a downturn in nonresidential spending (down 4.3% yr/yr) that has stemmed in large part from a 17.7% decline in commercial spending.

Investors will not receive any notable economic data on Tuesday.

Nasdaq Composite +29.1% YTD
S&P 500 +24.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +19.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +19.1% YTD


Market Snapshot
Dow 27782.95 -268.37 (-0.96%)
Nasdaq 8567.98 -97.48 (-1.12%)
SP 500 3113.87 -27.11 (-0.86%)
10-yr Note -4/32 1.823

NYSE Adv 807 Dec 2090 Vol 784.5 mln
Nasdaq Adv 909 Dec 2218 Vol 2.2 bln


Industry Watch
Strong: Consumer Staples, Energy

Weak: Information Technology, Real Estate, Industrials


Moving the Market
-- ISM Manufacturing Index for November comes in weaker than expected

-- President Trump says he will restore tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Argentina and Brazil

--Cyber Monday sales, better-than-feared manufacturing PMIs from overseas were overshadowed



WTI crude settles up 1.5% amid hopes for further production cuts
02-Dec-19 15:30 ET

Dow -226.47 at 27824.85, Nasdaq -91.30 at 8574.16, S&P -23.32 at 3117.66
[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 in on pace to close out the first day of December in negative territory, as it currently holds a 0.7% decline.

One last look at the S&P 500 sectors shows real estate (-1.3%), information technology (-1.3%), and industrials (-1.2%) down more than 1.0%, while the energy sector (+0.1%) sector remains the only sector trading higher.

WTI crude settled up $0.82 (+1.5%) to $55.99/bbl. Saudi Arabia is reportedly looking to push OPEC for further production cuts in 2020 as it gets ready for its IPO.

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Wall Street ends week on high note
20-Dec-19 16:10 ET
Dow +78.13 at 28455.00, Nasdaq +37.74 at 8924.97, S&P +15.85 at 3221.22

https://www.briefing.com/stock-market-update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 rose 0.5% on this quadruple-witching expiration Friday in another record-setting advance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.3%) and Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) also closed at record highs. The Russell 2000 increased 0.3%.

Economic data continued to depict an improving macro environment, with U.S. personal income and spending rising more than expected in November. With few negative developments to alter the market's positive outlook, then, the bullish trend remained intact heading into the holidays. For good measure, President Trump said he had a good talk with President Xi about their trade deal.

All 11 S&P 500 sectors finished higher, led by the energy (+0.9%), utilities (+0.8%), and health care (+0.8%) sectors. The financials (+0.1%) and consumer discretionary (+0.1%) sectors underperformed.

Boeing (BA 328.00, -5.50, -1.7%) continued to struggle amid negative news: United Airlines (UAL 89.28, +0.06, +0.1%) extended its 737 MAX cancellations through June 4, and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft failed a NASA mission.

In pre-holiday earnings news, Nike (NKE 99.96, -1.19, -1.2%) and CarMax (KMX 92.71, -6.08, -6.2%) underwhelmed investors with results, while Carnival (CCL 50.21, +3.56, +7.6%), Blackberry (BB 6.53, +0.72, +12.4%), and Winnebago (WGO 51.91, +3.77, +7.8%) pleased investors.

U.S. Steel (X 11.92, -1.44, -10.8%) didn't report earnings, but it did issue downside quarterly guidance and cut its dividend to $0.01/share from $0.05/share.

U.S. Treasuries finished the session on a lower note, pushing yields modestly higher. The 2-yr yield increased three basis points to 1.63%, and the 10-yr yield increased one basis point to 1.92%. The U.S. Dollar Index advanced 0.3% to 97.70. WTI crude declined 1.5%, or $0.92, to $60.38/bbl.

Reviewing Friday's economic data:

Personal income increased 0.5% m/m in November (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) following an upwardly revised 0.1% increase (from 0.0%) in October. Personal spending rose 0.4% on the heels of an unrevised 0.3% increase in October. The PCE Price Index increased 0.2%, as expected, and the core PCE Price Index, which excludes food and energy, jumped 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%).
The key takeaway from the report is that it continues to present an encouraging backdrop for consumer spending growth, as incomes are rising amidst relatively muted aggregate inflation pressures.
The third estimate for Q3 GDP was right in-line with the second estimate and consensus estimates, with real GDP up 2.1% and the GDP Price Deflator up 1.8%.
The key takeaway from the report, other than that there were no surprises and that the data are extremely dated, is that third quarter growth and inflation were in that market-friendly zone of being neither too hot nor too cold.
The final reading for the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment was 99.3 (Briefing.com consensus 99.1) versus the preliminary reading of 99.2. The final reading for November was 96.8.
The key takeaway from the report, and something sure to catch the Fed's eye, is that inflation expectations declined. Over the next five years, consumers expect an annual inflation rate of just 2.2%, which is the lowest level since the question was first asked in the survey in the late 1970s.

Looking ahead, investors will receive New Home Sales for November on Monday.

Nasdaq Composite +34.5% YTD
S&P 500 +28.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +24.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +22.0% YTD

Market Snapshot
Dow 28455.00 +78.13 (0.28%)
Nasdaq 8924.97 +37.74 (0.42%)
SP 500 3221.22 +15.85 (0.49%)
10-yr Note 0/32 1.921
NYSE Adv 1708 Dec 1174 Vol 2.8 bln
Nasdaq Adv 1811 Dec 1320 Vol 3.5 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Energy, Utilities, Health Care
Weak: Consumer Discretionary, Financials

Moving the Market

-- Stock market closes at new record highs in broad-based advance

-- Personal income and spending increase more than expected in November

-- Nike (NKE) slips on gross margin miss

-- House passes USMCA deal, British Parliament backs Brexit deal, President Trump says he had good call with President Xi

WTI crude pulls back 1.5%
20-Dec-19 15:25 ET
Dow +121.65 at 28498.52, Nasdaq +38.13 at 8925.36, S&P +18.07 at 3223.44

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 continues to trade higher by 0.6%, while the Russell 2000 trades higher by 0.3%.

One last look inside the S&P 500 shows a defensive tilt, with the utilities (+1.1%), consumer staples (+1.0%), and health care (+0.9%) sectors outperforming the broader market. Conversely, the financials sector (+0.1%) trails the pack.

WTI crude settled down $0.92 (-1.5%) to $60.38/bbl.

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Stocks wrap up record 2019 on high note
31-Dec-19 16:10 ET
Dow +76.30 at 28538.35, Nasdaq +26.61 at 8972.63, S&P +9.49 at 3230.78

https://www.briefing.com/stock-market-update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 advanced 0.3% on this New Year's Eve, wrapping up a phenomenal 2019 with a 28.9% gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite, and Russell 2000 also increased 0.3% apiece to extend their yearly gains to 22.3%, 35.2%, and 23.7%, respectively.

Tuesday's action was tight-ranged amid a lack of conviction for most of the session, but renewed buying interest in the last hour of trading helped stocks close at session highs. All 11 S&P 500 sectors finished in positive territory, with the materials (+0.8%), energy (+0.7%), and real estate (+0.6%) sectors advancing the most.

In trade news, President Trump said the Phase One deal will be signed at the White House on Jan. 15 and that he will later travel to Beijing for Phase Two talks. Market reaction was muted, as the signing news was already priced in, but interested investors can jot the date on their 2020 calendars.

Corporate news was relatively light, but it's worth noting that Apple (AAPL 293.65, +2.13, +0.7%) extended its yearly gain to an impressive 86.2%. NVIDIA (NVDA 235.30, +2.98, +1.3%) had its price target raised to $275 from $240 at The Benchmark Company. Meritor (MTOR 26.19, +2.87, +12.3%) will join the S&P SmallCap 600 on Jan. 6.

U.S. Treasuries finished the thinly-traded session on a lower note. The 2-yr yield increased one basis point to 1.57% (-93 bps for 2019), and the 10-yr yield increased two basis points to 1.92% (-77 bps for 2019). The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.3% to 96.50. WTI crude declined 0.3%, or $0.16, to $61.48/bbl (+35.4% for 2019).

Reviewing Tuesday's economic data:

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index slipped to 126.5 in December (Briefing.com consensus 128.0) from an upwardly revised 126.8 (from 125.5) in November.
The key takeaway from the report is that consumer's short-term income prospects dipped, suggesting the economic momentum in 2020 many are expecting to see might not materialize if that attitude persists.
The FHFA Housing Price Index for October increased 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%) following an unrevised 0.6% increase in September.
The S&P Case-Shiller Housing Price Index for October increased 2.2% (Briefing.com consensus 2.1%) following an unrevised 2.1% increase in September.

The market will be closed on Wednesday for New Year's Day and will reopen on Thursday. Investors will receive the weekly Initial and Continuing Claims report on Thursday.

Nasdaq Composite +35.2% YTD
S&P 500 +28.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +24.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +23.8% YTD

Market Snapshot
Dow 28538.35 +76.30 (0.27%)
Nasdaq 8972.63 +26.61 (0.30%)
SP 500 3230.78 +9.49 (0.29%)
10-yr Note -4/32 1.922
NYSE Adv 1851 Dec 998 Vol 803.0 mln
Nasdaq Adv 1974 Dec 1223 Vol 2.0 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Materials, Energy, Real Estate
Weak: Industrials, Consumer Staples

Moving the Market

-- Stocks close 2019 on high note; S&P 500 gains 29% for the year

-- President Trump said Phase One trade deal will be signed on Jan. 15 at the White House

-- Broad-based advance as all 11 S&P 500 finish in positive territory

WTI crude ends 2019 up 35%
31-Dec-19 15:25 ET
Dow -7.72 at 28454.33, Nasdaq +14.94 at 8960.96, S&P +1.13 at 3222.42

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 is back in positive territory with a 0.1% gain. The Russell 2000 is up 0.5%.

One last look at the S&P 500 sectors shows the materials (+0.5%) and energy (+0.4%) sectors outperforming the broader market. Conversely, the industrials (-0.2%) and consumer staples (-0.2%) sectors hold modest losses.

WTI crude declined $0.16 (-0.3%) to $61.48/bbl but still finished the year up 35%.

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S&P 500 and Nasdaq close at record highs in front of earnings season
13-Jan-20 16:15 ET
Dow +83.28 at 28906.96, Nasdaq +95.07 at 9273.95, S&P +22.78 at 3288.13

https://www.briefing.com/stock-market-update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.7%) and Nasdaq Composite (+1.0%) closed at record highs on Monday in a continuation trade of the market's bullish momentum. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.3%, and the Russell 2000 increased 0.7%.

Today's advance could be attributed to several factors: 1) the positive price action buoying sentiment, 2) expectations that the upcoming earnings season will include reassuring guidance, 3) news the U.S. will remove China from its currency manipulator list, thereby improving trade relations and possibly economic growth prospects, and 4) little negative news to derail sentiment.

In turn, ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors pushed higher, with leadership coming from the materials (+1.4%), information technology (+1.3%), and real estate (+1.2%) sectors. Apple (AAPL 316.96, +6.63, +2.1%) remained an influential force after its price target was raised to $375 from $300 at D.A. Davidson.

High-growth stocks remained in favor, too, particularly Tesla (TSLA 524.86, +46.71, +9.8%), lululemon athletica (LULU 245.18, +10.34, +4.4%), and Beyond Meat (BYND 114.34, +18.27, +19.0%). Tesla had its price target raised to $612 from $385 at Oppenheimer. Lululemon raised its Q4 EPS, revenue, and comparable sales guidance.

The health care sector (-0.4%) was the lone holdout amid disappointing guidance from Abiomed (ABMD 168.10, -20.96, -11.1%), weakness in the insurance stocks after Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) took the lead in the latest poll in Iowa, and a relatively quiet first day at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference.

In M&A activity, Hexcel (HXL 79.89, +6.98, +9.6%) and Woodward (WWD 127.84, +5.88, +4.8%) agreed to merge in a $6.4 billion deal. The bidding war for Anixter (AXE 98.33, -0.46, -0.5%) finally ended after the company agreed to be acquired by Wesco (WCC 56.43, -1.71, -2.9%) in a $4.5 billion deal.

U.S. Treasuries finished slightly lower in a tight-ranged session. The 2-yr yield and the 10-yr yield increased two basis points each to 1.58% and 1.85%, respectively. The U.S. Dollar Index finished flat at 97.36. WTI crude fell 1.5%, or $0.87, to $58.12/bbl.

Monday's economic data was limited to the Treasury Budget for December, which showed a deficit of $13.3 billion (Briefing.com consensus -$15.0 billion) versus a deficit of $13.5 billion in the same period a year ago. The budget deficit over the last 12 months is $1.022 trillion versus $1.022 trillion in November.

Looking ahead, investors will receive the Consumer Price Index for December and the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for December on Tuesday.

Nasdaq Composite +3.4% YTD
S&P 500 +1.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.1% YTD

Market Snapshot
Dow 28906.96 +83.28 (0.29%)
Nasdaq 9273.95 +95.07 (1.04%)
SP 500 3288.13 +22.78 (0.70%)
10-yr Note -2/32 1.843
NYSE Adv 2004 Dec 842 Vol 834.4 mln
Nasdaq Adv 2036 Dec 1161 Vol 2.4 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Information Technology, Materials, Real Estate
Weak: Health Care, Energy

Moving the Market

-- S&P 500 and Nasdaq close at record highs

-- Bullish momentum persists amid high expectations for earnings season, little negative news to derail sentiment

-- U.S. will remove China from its currency manipulator list

WTI crude extends losses
13-Jan-20 15:25 ET
Dow +46.53 at 28870.21, Nasdaq +76.98 at 9255.86, S&P +17.79 at 3283.14

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 is up 0.5% and is on pace to end the session at a record high.

One last look at the S&P 500 sectors shows the materials (+1.2%) and information technology (+1.1%) sectors up more than 1.0%. The health care sector (-0.4%) continues to underperform following disappointing guidance from Abiomed (ABMD 168.40, -20.59, -10.9%) and a relatively lackluster day at the JPMorgan Chase Healthcare Conference.

WTI crude fell $0.87 (-1.5%) to $58.12/bbl to extend its recent losses amid the ease in geopolitical tensions.
Investor optimism remains high
13-Jan-20 14:55 ET
Dow +58.40 at 28882.08, Nasdaq +80.95 at 9259.83, S&P +18.63 at 3283.98

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 continues to trade near session highs with gain of 0.6%. The Russell 2000 is also up 0.6%.

Investor sentiment remains buoyed by the bullish momentum in the stock market and a lack of meaningful negative news today. Expectations for a rebound in fourth-quarter earnings are relatively high, trade optimism remains upbeat, central banks are on the side of equities, and geopolitical tensions with Iran appear to be subsiding.

Looking ahead, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 136.70, +0.63, +0.5%), Wells Fargo (WFC 52.09, -0.42, -0.8%), and Citigroup (C 80.14, +0.88, +1.1%) will kick off the Q4 earnings-reporting season when they report earnings results tomorrow morning.

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Dow closes at record high, but loses steam after Phase One signing
15-Jan-20 16:20 ET
Dow +90.55 at 29030.13, Nasdaq +7.37 at 9258.72, S&P +6.14 at 3289.29

https://www.briefing.com/stock-market-update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market set new highs in the moments leading up to signing of the Phase One trade deal on Wednesday, but a fade in momentum left the S&P 500 up just 0.2% for the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.3%) closed at a record high, the Nasdaq Composite increased 0.1%, and Russell 2000 increased 0.4%.

The USTR released the full text of the agreement after the signing, but the lack of surprising details wasn't conducive for a risk-on mindset, as the news was already priced in. Investors didn't necessarily sell the event, but a cautious view that the stock market is due for a pullback contributed to a defensive mindset.

The defensive-oriented S&P 500 utilities (+1.4%), health care (+0.9%), real estate (+0.8%), and consumer staples (+0.7%) sectors were today's best-performing sectors. Conversely, the energy (-0.7%), financials (-0.6%), and consumer discretionary (-0.3%) sectors finished in the red.

The financials sector was pressured by a modest decline in Treasury yields and by the negative reactions to earnings results from Bank of America (BAC 34.67, -0.65, -1.8%), U.S. Bancorp (USB 54.97, -1.62, -2.9%), and Goldman Sachs (GS 245.21, -0.45, -0.2%). BlackRock (BLK 530.26, +11.94, +2.3%) pleased investors with its results.

Target (TGT 117.00, -8.26, -6.6%) reported relatively disappointing holiday sales results due to softer-than-expected performance in categories such as electronics, toys, and portions of its home businesses. On a related note, the Fed's Beige Book noted that consumer spending expanded at a moderate pace during the last six weeks of 2019.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 1.2% amid some profit-taking interest, with shares of Taiwan Semi (TSM 58.39, -1.93, -3.2%) pulling back from record territory in front of its earnings report tomorrow morning.

U.S. Treasuries ended the session on a higher note as part of a defensive-oriented trade. The 2-yr yield and the 10-yr yield declined three basis points each to 1.55% and 1.79%, respectively. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.2% to 97.23. WTI crude declined 0.8%, or $0.44, to $57.86/bbl.

Reviewing Wednesday's economic data:

The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.1% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) and so did the Producer Price index for final demand, excluding food and energy (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%). Those changes left the yr/yr increases at 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively, versus 1.1% and 1.3% in November.
The key takeaway from the report is that it isn't going to convince the Federal Reserve that it needs to raise its policy rate soon.
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported a 30.2% surge in weekly mortgage applications, which included a 16% increase in purchase application volume.
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey for January increased to 4.8 (Briefing.com consensus 2.8) from the prior month's reading of 3.5.
The Federal Reserve's Beige Book for December noted that economic activity during the last six weeks of 2019 continued expanding at a modest pace.

Looking ahead, investors will receive the following reports on Thursday: Retail Sales for December, the Philadelphia Fed Index for January, the NAHB Housing Market Index for January, Business Inventories for November, Import and Export Prices for December, and weekly Initial and Continuing Claims.

Nasdaq Composite +3.2% YTD
S&P 500 +1.8% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +1.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.8% YTD

Market Snapshot
Dow 29030.13 +90.55 (0.31%)
Nasdaq 9258.72 +7.37 (0.08%)
SP 500 3289.29 +6.14 (0.19%)
10-yr Note +3/32 1.784
NYSE Adv 1578 Dec 1262 Vol 871.8 mln
Nasdaq Adv 1784 Dec 1378 Vol 2.6 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Real Estate, Health Care, Utilities
Weak: Financials, Energy

Moving the Market

-- Stock market hits new intraday highs, but currently trades near its lows

-- U.S. and China sign Phase One trade deal

-- Relative strength in the defensive-oriented sectors; weakness in financials sector

-- Producer prices barely increase in December, mortgage applications spike 30%

WTI crude extends losses
15-Jan-20 15:25 ET
Dow +80.50 at 29020.08, Nasdaq -0.68 at 9250.67, S&P +2.49 at 3285.64

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 continues to trade in the green with a 0.1% gain, although it is trading near session lows.

One last look inside the S&P 500 shows a defensive-oriented tilt, as the utilities (+1.3%), real estate (+0.8%), health care (+0.7%), and consumer staples (+0.5%) sectors outperform the broader market. The energy (-0.8%) and financaisl (-0.8%) sectors underperform.

WTI crude settled down $0.44 (-0.8%) to $57.86/bbl. It is now down 5% this year.

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Market Snapshot

https://www.briefing.com/stock-market-update

Dow 36252.02 +183.15 (0.51%)
Nasdaq 15153.45 +210.62 (1.41%)
SP 500 4713.04 +42.75 (0.92%)
10-yr Note 0/32 1.765
NYSE Adv 2392 Dec 849 Vol 852.8 mln
Nasdaq Adv 3048 Dec 1404 Vol 4.3 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Energy, Information Technology, Materials
Weak: Utilities, Real Estate, Consumer Staples

Moving the Market

-- Stocks extend rebound bid following Fed Chair Powell's Senate confirmation hearing

-- Treasury yields calmed down

-- S&P 500 reclaims 50-day moving average (4678)

Stocks extend rebound bid following Powell's confirmation hearing
11-Jan-22 16:15 ET
Dow +183.15 at 36252.02, Nasdaq +210.62 at 15153.45, S&P +42.75 at 4713.04

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 gained 0.9% on Tuesday in a continuation of dip-buying efforts that started yesterday afternoon. The Nasdaq Composite (+1.4%) and Russell 2000 (+1.1%) outperformed with gains over 1.0% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.5%) rose more modestly.

The session started on a softer note as buyers held off conviction for Fed Chair Powell's Senate confirmation hearing. Mr. Powell didn't say anything particularly new, reaffirming that he thinks the Fed will end asset purchases in March, hike rates over the course of the year, and allow the balance sheet to run off later in the year.

The reaction in the Treasury market was perhaps more consequential for stocks. The 2-yr yield quickly backed down from 1.94% and settled unchanged at 0.90% while the 10-yr yield drifted lower by three basis points to 1.75%. The U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.4% to 95.62.

The S&P 500 information technology (+1.2%) led the market higher with the retracement in yields, but it was outdone by the 3% gain in the energy sector (+3.4%). Energy stocks followed oil prices ($81.14, +3.03, +3.9%) higher.

Conversely, the utilities (-0.9%), real estate (-0.2%), and consumer staples (-0.1%) sectors closed lower, as their defensive characteristics did not sit well with investors in the rebound-minded session.

From a technical perspective, the ability for the S&P 500 to reclaim its 50-day moving average (4678) was seen as another good development for dip-buying activity. This key technical level has shown to be a good buying opportunity since April 2020.

Looking at individual stocks, IBM (IBM 132.87, -2.16, -1.6%) was an exception in the tech sector after receiving a downgrade to Sell from Neutral at UBS. Illumina (ILMN 423.80, +61.52, +17.0%) jumped 17% on upbeat guidance while CVS Health (CVS 106.04, +0.98, +0.9%) set a 52-week high after raising its FY21 EPS guidance above consensus.

Tuesday's economic data was limited to the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, which December increased to 98.9 in December from 98.4 in November.

Looking ahead, investors will receive the Consumer Price Index for December, the Fed's Beige Book for January, the Treasury Budget for December, and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index on Wednesday.

Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.2% YTD
S&P 500 -1.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.3% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -3.1% YTD

Crude futures settle 4% higher
11-Jan-22 15:30 ET
Dow +192.81 at 36261.68, Nasdaq +203.98 at 15146.81, S&P +41.25 at 4711.54

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 is up 0.8% and is looking up to the Nasdaq (+1.3%) and Russell 2000 (+1.1%).

One last look at the sector performances shows energy in a league of its own with a 3.5% gain, largely due to a 4% gain in oil prices ($81.49, +3.26, +4.2%). The information technology sector (+1.2%) follows behind with a 1.2%, while the utilities (-0.8%) and consumer staples (-0.3%) sectors trade lower.

WTI crude futures settled higher by 3.9%, or $3.03, to $81.14/bbl.