From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Tech had attempted to provide the broad market with a positive source of leadership today, but instead the stock market fell to its eighth loss in 10 sessions as participants remained focused on the problems of the eurozone.
Word that first quarter economic growth in Germany exceeded expectations had quelled concerns about the precarious eurozone region and resulted in gains by Europe's major bourses, but sentiment soured when market participants were reminded of the persistent problems in the eurozone periphery. Specifically, headlines indicative of continued political impasse in Greece revived worries about what that could mean for the country's austerity plans. Greece returned to focus later in the day as financial media detailed the outflow of deposits among Greece's banks.
A relatively underwhelming dose of domestic data failed to instill confidence among market participants. Both overall retail sales and retail sales less autos increased during April by 0.1%. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected both to increase by 0.2%.
There were no surprises to the latest Consumer Price Index. Overall CPI was flat from the prior month, while core CPI increased by 0.2%.
The Empire State Manufacturing Index for May surprised many, however. It improved to 17.1 from 6.6 in the prior month to exceed the 8.4 that many economists had expected.
Stocks struggled to sustain an early bid amid eurozone worries, but an advance by Tech helped lift the Nasdaq to a nice gain and put the S&P 500 in positive territory. However, Tech's strength proved unsustainable in the face of a broad market downturn in afternoon trade. Tech stocks collectively shed 0.5%.
Even Consumer Discretionary stocks suffered a 0.2% loss after the sector had been up about 1% at its session high. Although home improvement retailer Home Depot (HD 48.67, -1.21) lagged in the wake of its latest quarterly report, TJX Co's (TJX 42.45, +2.75) managed to maintain most of its gain following its latest earnings announcement.
Energy received an early bid, but eventually the sector succumbed to the efforts of sellers, who dropped it to a 2012 low and a 1.5% loss. Energy's action came in close connection to that of crude oil, which chopped around the unchanged line in early morning action, but fell as low as $93.77 per barrel before settling with a 0.8% loss at a 2012 closing low of $93.97 per barrel.
The afternoon slide among stocks sent both the Dow and S&P 500 to their lowest level in little more than three months. The Nasdaq set a three-month low by only an incremental margin.
Despite the slip, Treasuries saw only limited support. As such, the 10-year Note settled near the neutral line, but that kept its yield a few basis points below 1.80%.
Buying interest in the greenback grew as trade progressed. By the close the dollar was up about 0.8% against a basket of major foreign currencies. The Dollar Index is now at its highest level since January.
Advancing Sectors: None
Declining Sectors: Utilities -0.1%, Consumer Discretionary -0.2%, Telecom -0.4%, Tech -0.5%, Health Care -0.5%, Financials -0.6%, Utilities -0.6%, Industrials -0.6%, Materials -1.5%, Energy -1.5%DJ30 -63.35 NASDAQ -8.82 NQ100 -0.4% R2K -0.2% SP400 -0.4% SP500 -7.69 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1131/1.83 bln/1387 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1041/868 mln/1968
11:19 am Tech Sector trading lower today along with market
The tech sector is trading higher today, outpacing gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are also showing relative weakness with the Philly Semi Index trading only 0.2% higher. POWI (+2.1%) is a notable leader in that chip index. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.01% higher today, while the QQQ and the NASDAQ are trading 0.4% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, GOOG (+1.2%) is showing notable strength, while CSCO (-0.9%) is under pressure.
In earnings last night, A (+5.8%) posted a quarterly beat and issued guidance slightly above consensus, whereas this morning ACXM (+4.6%) reported a beat but guided lower. In news, FB increased its IPO price range to $34-38/share from $28-35. ZNGA (+7.2%) is trading higher in sympathy. Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, The Benchmark Company upgraded MIPS (+7.2%) to Buy, JNPR (+4.1%) and JBL (+3.0%) were upgraded to Buy at BofA/Merrill and AKAM (+2.6%) was upgraded to Buy at Janney. While in downgrades, AMAT (-0.4%) was downgraded to Hold at Needham. SINA (-0.2%) is the notable name in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.
EMCORE (EMKR) announced that it has been awarded a solar panel manufacturing contract by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for its Soil Moisture Active Passive mission targeted for launch in late 2014.
O2Micro International (OIIM) was issued 20 claims under U.S. patent for its Circuits and Methods for LED control. Co was also issued 18 claims under U.S. patent for its Portable Lighting Device methodology.
8:33AM Lam Research enters into accelerated stock buyback agreement to repurchase an aggregate of $375 mln of its common stock (LRCX) 41.20 : Co announced today that it entered into an accelerated stock buyback agreement ("ASB agreement") with Goldman, Sachs & Co. to repurchase an aggregate of $375 million of Lam Research common stock. The Company will acquire the common shares pursuant to the ASB agreement as part of its $1.6 billion stock repurchase program.
HGST, formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and now a Western Digital company, (WDC) announced a new family of CinemaStar 2.5-inch hard disk drives for the growing traditional and small form factor audio/video and consumer electronics HDD markets.
Nokia (NOK) unveiled two new mobile phone models as it continues to accelerate its strategy to connect the next billion consumers to information and the internet. The Nokia 110 and Nokia 112 have been designed to appeal to young, urban consumers who want to experience a fast, affordable online experience.
Suntech Power (STP) and Krannich Solar announced an agreement for Suntech to supply up to 120 megawatts of solar panels in 2012.
Groupon (GRPN $13.74 +2.05) reported first quarter earnings of $0.02 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the consensus of $0.02, while revenues rose 89.6% year/year to $559.3 million versus the $530.45 million Capital IQ consensus. Gross billings, which reflects the gross amounts collected from customers for Groupons sold, excluding any applicable taxes and net of estimated refunds, increased 103% to $1.35 billion in the first quarter 2012, compared with $668.2 million in the first quarter 2011. Free cash flow, a non-GAAP financial measure, was $70.6 million for the first quarter 2012. At the end of the quarter, Groupon had $1.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents and no long-term debt.The company issued in-line guidance for the second quarter with revenues of $550-590 million versus the $560.11 million consensus. Income from operations for the second quarter 2012 is expected to be between $25 million and $45 million, compared with a loss from operations of $101.0 million in the second quarter 2011.
Agilent (A $41.21 +2.32) reported second quarter earnings of $0.78 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.73, while revenues rose 3.3% year/year to $1.73 billion versus the $1.71 billion consensus. For the third quarter the company sees EPS of $0.82-0.84, excluding non-recurring items versus the $0.83 consensus and revenues of $1.77-1.79 billion versus the $1.76 billion consensus. The company issued in-line guidance for fiscal year 2012 with EPS of $3.18-3.24, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $3.19 consensus and revenues of $6.94-7.00 billion versus the $6.95 billion consensus.
OPNET (OPNT $26.81 +4.68) reported first quarter earnings of $0.21 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the consensus of $0.20, while revenues rose 8.5% year/year to $44.6 million versus the $44.48 million consensus. The company issued in-line guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.16-0.23, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.20 consensus and revenues of $42.5-45.0 million versus the $43.73 million consensus. "While we are disappointed that we did not achieve our revenue guidance for the quarter, we are pleased to report that $2.2 million of the $2.4 million in delayed March deals discussed during our last conference call have been closed. Our application performance management (APM) products continue to drive our business. APM product bookings accounted for 78% of our total product bookings during the March quarter, and grew 37% from the same quarter last fiscal year. The growth in demand for our APM products, together with strong maintenance renewal bookings, allowed us to end the quarter with record deferred revenue of $54.9 million." |
