From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Aggressive selling dropped the Dow more than 300 points before it began to fight back in afternoon action. Efforts to sell were largely debt driven.
Many market participants were put into a negative mindset with the technical breakdown last week. Their move to dump stocks came as Europe's bourses rolled over to resume their descent. Europe continues to wrestle with precarious financial conditions in both its periphery and its core -- Moody's even issued cautious comments about the outlook on France's debt rating. Traders were also agitated over the lack of progress made by U.S. officials in a recent attempt to arrange plans for shoring up fiscal conditions. The major equity averages were all down well in excess of 2% before stocks got any relief.
The market squeezed higher an afternoon trade right around the time that headlines indicated officials are moving forward on a plan to handle the U.S. deficit. Around the same time, Atlanta Fed President Lockhart was quoted for saying that he does not see risk of an outright recession, and that the risk of a recession stands at about 30%. Market participants may get more insight into the thinking of Fed members with the release of minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting tomorrow afternoon.
Although stocks were able to work their way up from session lows, the market never generated a great deal of momentum. That left stocks to still log sizable losses -- all 10 major sectors ended the day down 1% or more -- and give the S&P 500 its lowest close in more than a month.
Concerns about conditions in Europe and an aversion to risk prompted some to rotate into the dollar. As a result, the greenback gained ground against a basket of major foreign currencies. This morning the Dollar Index set a one-month high, but by session's end it was up a tame 0.3%.
Treasuries saw only limited interest amid the carnage, even after the latest auction of 2-year Notes saw very strong demand. The auction drew a bid-to-cover of 4.07, dollar demand of $142.5 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 42.2%. Dollar demand was actually its strongest in more than 20 months.
Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Telecom -1.1%, Utilities -1.2%, Consumer Staples -1.5%, Consumer Discretionary -1.5%, Materials -1.6%, Energy -1.7%, Health Care -1.9%, Tech -1.9%, Industrials -2.3%, Financials -2.5%DJ30 -248.85 NASDAQ -49.36 NQ100 -1.9% R2K -2.4% SP400 -2.0% SP500 -22.67 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 436/2.05 bln/2132 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 447/932 mln/2607
6:02PM O2Micro: Patent for battery cell monitor/balance issued to O2Micro (OIIM) 4.32 -0.22 : Co was issued 13 claims under United States patent number 8,004,246 for its Battery Cell Monitor and Balance invention; a continuation of the invention issued April 2010 under United States patent number 7,696,725. This patented IC accurately monitors cells and balances voltage levels of cells in battery packs for notebook computers, cell phones, PDAs, and other devices with multi-cell rechargeable batteries.
4:11PM Hewlett-Packard beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q1, FY12 EPS below consensus (HPQ) 26.86 -1.13 : Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $1.17 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.13; revenues fell 3.5% year/year to $32.12 bln vs the $32.12 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.83-0.86, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.12 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues downside guidance for FY12, sees EPS of at least $4.00, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $4.69 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. In the Americas, fourth quarter GAAP net revenue was $14.5 bln, down 4% YoY and down 5% when adjusted for the effects of currency. Non-GAAP net revenue in the Americas was $14.6 bln, down 3% year over year and down 4% when adjusted for the effects of currency. Europe, the Middle East and Africa GAAP revenue of $11.7 bln was down 6% year over year and down 10% when adjusted for the effects of currency. GAAP revenue in Asia Pacific was $6.0 bln, representing a 3% increase YoY, and down 4% when adjusted for the effects of currency. GAAP revenue from outside of the United States in the fourth quarter accounted for 65% of total HP revenue. BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) generated revenue of $3.8 bln, up 9% over the year-ago period, for 12% of total HP revenue. Revenue in HP's commercial businesses declined 2% year over year. Revenue in HP's consumer businesses, within PSG and IPG, was collectively down 9% year over year.
4:04PM Analog Devices misses by $0.04, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS, revs below consensus (ADI) 34.34 -0.96 : Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.60 per share, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.64; revenues fell 5.5% year/year to $716.1 mln vs the $731.18 mln consensus. Gross margin was 64.3% of revenue, compared to 67.2% of revenue in the immediately prior quarter, and 67.0% of revenue in the same period one year ago. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.44-0.51 vs. $0.60 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs -5 to -10% QoQ to ~$644.5-680.3 mln vs. $707.47 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, with GM of ~62.5-63.5%.
Flextronics (FLEX) announced that it has expanded its facility in Timisoara to include a dedicated medical operation to better serve medical equipment and medical disposables original equipment manufacturers globally.
8:02AM Advanced Energy announces $75 million share repurchase program (AEIS) 8.95 :
5:40AM Western Digital reports an arbitration award of $525 mln was rendered against the co by a sole arbitrator in a pending confidential arbitration action in Minnesota (WDC) 26.04 : Co announces an arbitration award of $525 mln was rendered against the company by a sole arbitrator in a pending confidential arbitration action in Minnesota. The award involves claims brought by Seagate Technology (STX) against WD and one employee who was formerly employed by Seagate, alleging misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets. Co states: "We do not believe there is any basis in law or fact for the damage award of the arbitrator. We believe the company acted properly at all times and we will vigorously challenge the award. This does not affect our ability to conduct our operations, to complete the recovery and recommencement of our Thailand operations or, subject to obtaining the required regulatory approvals, to consummate our planned acquisition of Hitachi GST."
Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) announced that ABS GmbH, Jena, Germany, has chosen the mid-range LatticeECP3 FPGA for use in its compact digital camera reference design.
09:11 am Entegris initiated with a Buy at Stifel Nicolaus; tgt $12: . Stifel Nicolaus initiates ENTG with a Buy and price target of $12 saying they believe the company is well positioned to benefit near term from an impending recovery in the semiconductor market (both units and capital spending), and in addition, Entegris has taken tangible steps to position itself favorably for long-term growth.
10:21 am Technology Sector Trading Lower Today Along With Market (WDC)
The tech sector is trading lower today along with losses in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness in the tech space with the Philly Semi Index trading 2.5% lower. MU (-5.9%) is a notable laggard in the chip index. Among other major indices, the S&P 500 is trading 1.9% lower, while the NASDAQ is trading 2.0% lower and the QQQ is trading 2.1% lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, INTC (-2.6%) and GOOG (-2.5%) are notable underperformers.
In earnings this morning, TECD (-3.7%) reported a Q3 miss. In news, EXPE (-2.8%) and RENN (-4.7%) jointly announced that RENN has sold its investment in LONG (+13.1%) to EXPE for ~$72.4 mln, or $23 per ADS.3 per ADS.
Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, WDC (-2.3%) was upgraded to Overweight at Barclays and CRM (-3.6%) was upgraded to Outperform at Raymond James. In downgrades, RIMM (-5.8%) was downgraded to Underperform at JMP Securities. HPQ (-4.5%), BRCD (-4.5%), and ADI (-2.5%) are a few notable names in tech scheduled to report results today after the close. |
