From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The S&P 500 settled higher by 0.4% to snap its streak of four consecutive losses. Small caps outperformed as the Russell 2000 rose 1.5% after registering five declines in a row.
Unaffected by another round of losses across emerging markets, stocks climbed at the open, but gains were limited as the S&P could not retake its 50-day moving average. The benchmark index made a brief midday appearance above the key level before spending the entire afternoon just below it.
A retreat in Treasury yields contributed to the relative strength of equities as the benchmark 10-yr yield fell seven basis points to 2.82%.
The pullback in yields helped rate-sensitive sectors such as telecom services (+0.5%), utilities (+0.8%), and home builders. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 21.32, +0.64) added 3.1% as most major builders gained between 2.0% and 4.0% apiece.
The relative strength of home builders provided a measure of support to the discretionary sector, which ended atop the leaderboard. In addition, retailers rallied after Best Buy (BBY 34.80, +4.07), Home Depot (HD 74.29, -0.92), TJX Companies (TJX 54.24, +3.49), and Urban Outfitters (URBN 43.19, +3.27) all reported solid results. Meanwhile, J.C. Penney (JCP 14.01, +0.79) advanced 6.0% despite missing on earnings and revenue while Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS 46.64, -3.95) sank 7.8% following its disappointing report. The broader SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 80.14, +1.21) rose 1.5%.
While most cyclical sectors displayed strength, industrials and technology underperformed. The industrial space ended flat as the underperformance of Deere (DE 83.25, -1.27) and Dow component General Electric (GE 23.72, -0.13) overshadowed the relative strength of transportation companies. The Dow Jones Transportation Average settled higher by 0.9% as 18 of 20 components posted gains.
Elsewhere, the tech sector was pressured by its top component, Apple (AAPL 501.07, -6.67), which lost 1.3%.
Today's trading volume was well below average as less than 640 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
There was no economic data reported today, but tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET and July existing home sales will be reported at 10:00 ET. Lastly, the Federal Open Market Committee will release the minutes from its July meeting at 14:00 ET.DJ30 -7.75 NASDAQ +24.50 SP500 +6.29 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1860/1.24 bln/662 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2357/634.8 mln/716
3:35 pm : Commodities ended the day mixed with crude oil selling off in the afternoon session, gold ending higher, silver ending lower, copper flat and natural gas lower.
Crude oil gained some steam in the morning session and rose as high as $107.00/barrel. However, it was still modestly lower at that level and ultimately reversed lower, selling off by $2.41/barrel to $104.59. By the end of the day, Sept crude was down $2.15 at $104.92/barrel.
Sept natural gas finished 2 cents lower at $3.44/MMBtu.
Precious metals ended today's session mixed with Dec gold up $6.50 to $1372.30/oz and Sept silver down $0.12 to $23.05/oz. Sept copper closed one cent higher at $3.34/lb.
4:13PM Analog Devices beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line ( ADI) 47.85 +0.07 : Reports Q3 (Jul) earnings of $0.57 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.54; revenues fell 1.3% year/year to $674.2 mln vs the $671.79 mln consensus. Q3 Gross margin was 64.5% of revenue.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.55-0.61 vs. $0.59 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $675-700 mln vs. $697.35 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Q4 Gross margin estimated to be approximately 65%.
"By end market, industrial applications totaled 47% of revenue, communications infrastructure was 21% of revenue, and automotive and consumer applications were 18% and 15% of revenue, respectively...Order rates improved across all of our end markets during the third quarter, and we saw the strongest sequential revenue growth from products used in communications infrastructure applications. It appears that customer order rates were in-line with consumption, keeping inventories low."
4:00PM Veeco Instruments Receives NASDAQ Notice Regarding Late Form 10-Q Filing ( VECO) 33.32 +0.16 : VECO announced that it received a letter from NASDAQ 8/14/13 notifying co that it is not in compliance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) because its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 6/30/13 was not filed on a timely basis with the SEC. As previously announced, the Form 10-Q, as well as co's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 12/31/12 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended 9/30/12 and 3/31/13, could not be filed timely because co is reviewing the timing of the recognition of revenue and related expenses on the sale of certain of its products. The accounting review was announced on 11/15/12.
Co continues to conduct the review and intends to file its Forms 10-Q and 10-K as soon as reasonably practicable after these accounting matters have been resolved.
Large Cap Gainers
- BBY (33.89 +10.28%): Beat on EPS by $0.21, beat on revs.
- TJX (53.77 +5.95%): Beat on EPS by $0.03, beat on revs; guided Q3 EPS in-line; raised FY14 EPS guidance, just below consensus; raised FY14 comp guidance.
- NLSN (33.94 +4.27%): Upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Bernstein.
Large Cap Losers - PUK (36.18 -2.19%): Select financial related names showing weakness; AEG and SAN also lower.
- MDT (52.89 -2.24%): Reported EPS in-line, revs in-line; reaffirmed FY14 EPS guidance.
- TCK (26.64 -1.88%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at BB&T Capital Markets.
Mid Cap Gainers - URBN (43.99 +10.18%): Beat on EPS by $0.03, missed on revs; reported Q2 Comparable Retail segment net sales +9%; tgt to $40 from $38 at Jefferies, to $48 from $41 at Canaccord; upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush.
- EA (27.74 +4.4%): Co announced Plants vs. Zombies 2 reached over 16 mln downloads worldwide; #1 on the AAPL App Store in 137 countries worldwide.
- ONXX (114.93 +3.55%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Maxim Group, price tgt set at $130; OZ Management disclosed 2.04% passive stake in 13G filing out yesterday after the close; down from 5%+ position previously held by firm.
Mid Cap Losers - DKS (47.5 -6.11%): Missed on EPS by $0.03, missed on revs; guided Q3 EPS below consensus; lowered FY14 EPS below consensus; Q2 adjusted same store sales -0.4%; lowered FY14 comp guidance.
- RVBD (15.76 -4.72%): Downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
- Z (81.3 -4.06%): Priced offering of 5,023,486 shares of its Class A common stock (2,523,486 shares by certain existing shareholders) at $82.00 per share.
8:32AM Marvell: Jury finds Marvell does not infringe lake cherokee patents ( MRVL) 13.15 : Co announced that a jury in Marshall, Texas delivered a verdict in a lawsuit brought by Lake Cherokee Hard Drive Technologies against Marvell Semiconductor, Marvell's U.S. operating subsidiary, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In the lawsuit, Lake Cherokee asserted that MSI infringed two patents purchased by Lake Cherokee pertaining to certain read channel technology that is not practiced by any Marvell chips. Specifically, the patents at issue are U.S. Patent Nos. 5,844,738 and 5,978,162. The jury unanimously found that Marvell did not infringe these patents.
Analyst comments: RVBD -5.1% (downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank), NOK -3.1% (hearing cautious Bernstein comments; sees upcoming qtr as 'disastrous'), QIHU -2.7% (initiated with a Neutral at Goldman), ZNGA -1.8% (initiated with Sell at Janney), PNRA -0.7% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies), WMT -0.1% (downgraded to Neutral at Susquehanna; tgt lowered to $79 from $85).
8:02AM First Solar, Roseville sign contract for Lost Hills PPA ( FSLR) 37.09 : Co and the City of Roseville, California announced they have signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for 32MWAC of solar electricity to be generated at the Lost Hills photovoltaic power plant that First Solar is developing and will construct in Kern County, California. The 10-year PPA is First Solar's first such agreement with a municipal utility, and is effective in 2015. The PPA was approved by the Roseville City Council on July 17, 2013. The Lost Hills project construction could start in early 2014, and is expected to create up to 200 jobs at its peak. Roseville Electric purchased 325,000 MWH of renewable energy for $24 million for 10 years. The contract cost $6.5 million less than similar renewable energy purchase offers in 2012.
TranSwitch (TXCC) announced that the co's Atlanta 80 communication processor has been selected by Rancore Technologies, the technology and development arm of Reliance Jio Infocomm.
Advances & Declines
NYSE NASDAQ | Advances | 2,981 (71%) | 1,846 (71%) | | Declines | 1,116 (27%) | 661 (26%) | | Unchanged | 95 (2%) | 84 (3%) | | Up Vol* | 2,371 (72%) | 984 (76%) | | Down Vol* | 883 (27%) | 244 (19%) | | Unch. Vol* | 39 (1%) | 60 (5%) | | New Hi's | 52 | 74 | | New Lo's | 276 | 69 | |
