From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : In contrast to the prior session, the stock market put together an impressive gain and held it into the close. The action in recent sessions is making for a strong finish to the first quarter.
Stocks are currently up almost 5% year to date. That puts the S&P 500 on track to tie last year's first quarter performance, which was actually the best first quarter that stocks had recorded since 1998. Buying interest in recent weeks hasn't come as a result of any particular catalyst or economic development, rather a fear among participants of missing out on further gains.
Buyers showed their willingness to step in with a bid once it was apparent that an early slip wasn't hit with any kind of follow through selling interest. Participants pretty much shrugged off news that analysts at Standard & Poor's trimmed Portugal's debt rating another notch lower to BBB-, which is barely above junk status. They also cut Greece's rating two notches to BB-.
Participants were also dismissive of the March Consumer Confidence Index, which came in at 63.4 when the consensus among economists was for a reading of 65.0 following the upwardly revised reading of 72.0 for the prior month.
Telecom put together the best performance for the second straight session. Integrated plays led the sector to a 1.5% gain, which extended the 1.4% advance that it had staged on Monday.
Energy stocks swung to a 1.0% gain after they had lagged in the early going. Schlumberger (SLB 94.36, +3.93) was a top performer. Even its peer Halliburton (HAL 49.00, +1.10) staged a gain. In fact, the stock set a fresh 52-week high despite comments that production interruptions in the Middle East and North Africa could cut into earnings.
Elsewhere in the corporate sphere, home improvement retailer and Dow component Home Depot (HD 37.70, +1.05) announced an accelerated $1 billion share repurchase plan that won its shares considerable support. Fellow consumer discretionary play Phillips-Van Heusen (PHV 65.20, +5.03) posted an upside earnings surprise and issued strong guidance, which helped its shares spike to a three-month high. However, shares of homebuilder Lennar (LEN 19.07, -0.68) sank even though the company posted a surprise profit of its own.
Financials lagged for the entire session, but were helped to a 0.3% gain on the back of broader market support. Insurers had bogged down the sector for most of the session.
Treasuries turned lower amid the stock market's strength and generally uninspiring results from an auction of 5-year Notes. The auction drew a bid-to-cover of 2.79, dollar demand of $97.7 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 42.4%.
The end of the first quarter is quickly approaching. That usually brings an increase in trading activity as money managers rebalance portfolios, but participation remains paltry ahead of the official monthly nonfarm payrolls report on Friday. Today's trading volume on the NYSE totaled just 800 million shares.
Advancing Sectors: Telecom (+1.5%), Energy (+1.0%), Materials (+1.0%), Utilities (+0.9%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.9%), Industrials (+0.7%), Health Care (+0.6%), Tech (+0.6%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%), Financials (+0.3%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +81.13 NASDAQ +26.21 NQ100 +1.0% R2K +0.9% SP400 +0.9% SP500 +9.25 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1756/1.62 bln/864 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2073/803 mln/924
5:59PM Texas Instruments' Japan factories on track for full recovery (TXN) 34.96 +0.47 : TXN reported that just over two weeks after a major earthquake in Japan, recovery at its manufacturing sites in Miho and Aizu is progressing well and is on schedule to return to full production. The site in Miho, about 40 miles northeast of Tokyo, achieved a significant milestone this past Sunday as repairs were completed on the infrastructure systems that deliver water, gases, chemicals and air, and recertified the cleanroom. Additionally, more than 90% of the equipment has been electrically checked out. TI now estimates that initial production lines at Miho will resume in mid-April, and full production will resume in mid-July. This translates to full shipment capability in September.
4:31PM SMTC Corp creates interim office of the CEO, names new Chairman of the Board (SMTX) 2.76 +0.06 : Co announces that following the planned retirements of the current Chair of the Board, Wayne McLeod, and President and Chief Executive Officer, John Caldwell, Alex Walker will be appointed Chairman of the Board and will also Chair a newly created Interim Office of the CEO, on which he will serve alongside fellow Director Claude Germain. Mr. Walker's and Mr. Germain's appointments are effective April 1, 2011. Mr. Walker has served as a member of the board of directors since June, 2008 and Mr. Germain was recently appointed to the board of directors in February, 2011.
4:02PM Emcore acquired certain assets of Soliant Energy, including equipment, inventory, software, licenses, intellectual property and tooling for rooftop solar energy product line; terms not disclosed (EMKR) 2.38 +0.07 :
JDSU (JDSU) and Amada announced plans to jointly develop a second generation suite of kilowatt class fiber lasers with up to 4 kilowatt output power. The lasers will be used in the Amada high-powered laser material processing system.
8:01AM Cisco Systems to acquire newScale; financial terms not disclosed (CSCO) 17.19 : Co announced its intent to acquire privately-held newScale Inc., a provider of software that delivers a service catalog and self-service portal for IT organizations to select and quickly deploy cloud services within their businesses. Based in San Mateo, Calif., newScale allows commercial and enterprise customers to initiate the provisioning of their own systems and infrastructure on an as-needed basis. Financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed. The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to be complete in the second half of Cisco's fiscal year 2011. Upon the close of the acquisition, the newScale team will report into Cisco's Advanced Services organization.
7:31AM KVH Industries receives $2.7 million order for fiber optic gyros to use in remote weapon stations; delivery will begin immediately and span the next several months. (KVHI) 14.60 :
1:13AM Zoran terminates Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period early for proposed merger with CSR (ZRAN) 10.30 : Co announces that the 30-day waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements, applicable to co's proposed merger with CSR plc, was terminated early on March 24, 2011. Completion of the transaction remains subject to other customary closing conditions, including approval by both co's stockholders. ZRAN anticipates that the transaction will be completed in the second quarter of 2011. |
