From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : Equities began today's session amid optimism regarding a potential fiscal cliff compromise. In addition, headlines out of Europe indicated the next tranche of Greek aid will likely come through before December 5. The positive sentiment lifted the S&P 500 to its session highs during the opening minutes. The benchmark average maintained these levels throughout the day before seeing a final round of buying which ran it to session highs into the close. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq outperformed with a gain of 2.2%.
The materials sector led the market higher. Within the space, two steel producers saw gains despite receiving downgrades. AK Steel (AKS 3.66, +0.09) rose by 2.5% following Longbow's downgrade to ‘neutral' from ‘buy.' Meanwhile, Mechel Steel (MTL 6.09, +0.25) advanced 4.3% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the company to ‘equal-weight' from ‘overweight.'
After seeing considerable pressure during recent market weakness, tech stocks rebounded broadly. The PowerShares QQQ ETF (QQQ 63.78, +1.48) settled higher by 2.4%, after losing more than 10% since September 21. Among technology bellwethers, Apple (AAPL 565.73, +38.05) spiked 7.2% in an attempt to establish support and put a stop to its recent softness.
Also of note, Cisco Systems (CSCO 18.30, +0.31) added 1.7% after announcing its intent to acquire Meraki, a start-up specializing in cloud-networking, for approximately $1.2 billion.
Due to the nature of their business, financials are expected to be highly sensitive to any hints of progress in budget discussions. Today, the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF 15.56, +0.28) ended higher by 1.9%. Bank of America (BAC 9.49, +0.37) was the top performer among the majors. The bank shares gained 4.1% after Stifel Nicolaus upgraded the stock to ‘buy' from ‘hold' with an $11 price target. Elsewhere, Citigroup (C 36.10, +1.12) added 3.2% after earlier reports indicated the company will eliminate about 300 sales and trading jobs. Separately, Citigroup has agreed to pay $360 million over a Lehman Brothers dispute.
The exuberance was apparent in European financials as well. Barclays (BCS 15.85, +0.87) advanced 5.8% after Goldman upgraded the stock to ‘buy' from ‘neutral.' Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank (DB 43.25, +1.68) and Credit Suisse (CS 22.92, +0.98) saw respective gains of 4.0% and 4.5%.
This morning, October existing home sales were reported at 4.79 million. The number was an improvement from the prior month, and it beat expectations. In addition, the November NAHB Housing Market Index came in at 46, which was also better-than-expected. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB 25.39, +0.50) rose by 2.0% as the strong data combined with a broad-market rally translated into outperformance by builders. PulteGroup (PHM 16.01, +0.33), and Lennar (LEN 36.81, +0.68) gained 1.4% and 1.9%, respectively.
Additionally, Lowe's (LOW 33.96, +1.98) surged 6.2% after the home improvement store operator reported third quarter earnings of $0.40 on $12.07 billion in revenue. Both figures were ahead of the Capital IQ consensus estimate, and were followed by in-line full-year earnings guidance.
Tomorrow's economic data includes October housing starts and building permits. Both figures will be reported at 8:30 ET.DJ30 +207.65 NASDAQ +62.94 SP500 +27.01 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1950/1.7 bln/523 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2715/710.9 mln/359
3:30 pm : Crude oil extended overnight gains as it inched higher during today's pit trade. It came off its session low of $88.40 per barrel and brushed a session high of $89.80 per barrel as it gained support from strength in the equities market, Middle East conflict, and a weaker dollar index. The energy component pulled-back slightly as it headed into the close and booked a 2.7% gain as it settled at $89.35 per barrel.
Precious metals also advanced on the weaker dollar index and strength in the equities market. Gold rose to a session high of $1735.50 per ounce in late morning action and traded near that level for the remainder of its session. It settled 1.2% higher at $1734.60 per ounce. Silver also trended higher as floor trade progressed. It settled 2.4% higher at $33.15 per ounce, just below its session high of $33.21 per ounce.
Natural gas, on the other hand, struggled in the red for most of its floor session. It climbed to a session high of $3.80 per MMBtu in late morning action but was unable to sustain the momentum and fell back into negative territory. It settled 1.8% lower at $3.72 per MMBtu, or just above its session low of $3.71 per MMBtu.DJ30 +177.37 NASDAQ +56.14 SP500 +23.70 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1883/1392.4 mln/570 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2629/1380 mln/414
4:15PM Corning Director discloses buying 170K shares at ~$10.76 on 11/16, worth ~1.8 mln ( GLW) 11.05 +0.15
4:13PM Brocade beats by $0.03, beats on revs ( BRCD) 5.55 +0.28 : Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.17 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.14; revenues rose 5.1% year/year to $578 mln vs the $565.95 mln consensus.
- Q4 2012 GAAP gross margin was 62.4% and non-GAAP gross margin was 64.8%, compared with 59.5% and 62.9% in Q4 2011, respectively. The year-over-year improvement in gross margin was due to higher revenue, favorable product mix, and lower fixed costs.
- "Q4 was an excellent quarter for Brocade and a strong ending for fiscal year 2012 during which we established a number of company records including revenue, net income, and operating cash flow...Our product portfolio across all areas of our business is the strongest it has ever been and we are driving industry transformation in emerging areas of growth including virtualized data centers, cloud computing, and software-defined networking. We believe Brocade is well-positioned for continued growth in fiscal 2013."
4:09PM Agilent beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY13 EPS below consensus, revs in-line ( A) 37.51 +1.70 : Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.86 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.80; revenues rose 2.3% year/year to $1.77 bln vs the $1.76 bln consensus.
- Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.65-0.67 vs. $0.76 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $1.68-1.70 bln vs. $1.72 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
- Co issues mixed guidance for FY13, sees EPS of $2.80-3.10 vs. $3.33 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY13 revs of $7.0-7.2 bln vs. $7.16 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
12:03PM Cisco Systems working back toward opening high ( CSCO) 18.25 +0.26 : Stock gapped above last week's peak (18.25) but quickly stalled. Limited range trade modestly below followed with it edging back toward the early peak (18.27) again in recent trade. Initial levels of interest above are at its 50 sma (18.33) and its 200 sma (18.37).
Riverbed (RVBD) announced that its Stingray product family is available through the Amazon (AMZN) Web Services Marketplace.
9:12AM PMC-Sierra appoints Steve Geiser VP and CFO ( PMCS) 4.79 : Co announced the appointment of Steven Geiser as VP and CFO. Geiser joins the Company effective today and will be responsible for the overall financial direction of the company, reporting to president and CEO Greg Lang. Prior to joining PMC, Geiser held the position of CFO at two early stage companies. Most recently he was chief financial officer at Trilliant Networks.
9:01AM Intel CEO Paul Otellini to retire in May - stock is halted ( INTC) 20.19 :
- Co announced that the company's president and CEO, Paul Otellini, has decided to retire as an officer and director at the company's annual stockholders' meeting in May, starting an orderly leadership transition over the next six months.
- Otellini said "After almost four decades with the company and eight years as CEO, it's time to move on and transfer Intel's helm to a new generation of leadership. I look forward to working with Andy, the board and the management team during the six-month transition period, and to being available as an advisor to management after retiring as CEO."
- The board of directors will conduct the process to choose Otellini's successor and will consider internal and external candidates for the job.
- In addition, the company also announced that the board has approved the promotion of three senior leaders to the position of executive vice president: Renee James, head of Intel's software business; Brian Krzanich, chief operating officer and head of worldwide manufacturing; and Stacy Smith, chief financial officer and director of corporate strategy.
8:36AM Plexus announces John Nussbaum to retire as Chairman; Dean Foate elected as successor ( PLXS) 22.31 : Co announced that John Nussbaum, the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, informed the Board of his intention to retire from the Board effective as of Plexus' 2013 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on February 13, 2013. Consistent with its succession planning, the Board appointed Dean A. Foate, Plexus' President and Chief Executive Officer, to succeed Mr. Nussbaum as Chairman, effective after the 2013 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on February 13, 2013. Mr. Foate joined Plexus in 1984, has been a member of the Board since 2000, and has served as Plexus' President and CEO since 2002.
ModusLink Global Solutions (MLNK) announced Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH has selected ModusLink's solution center in Brno, Czech Republic to provide on-demand configuration capabilities.
8:04AM SemiLEDs reschedules announcement of fiscal Q4 and year end 2012 financial results to Nov 28 from Nov 20 ( LEDS) 1.16 : Co announced that it will postpone the release of its financial results for the Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Year End for 2012, which was scheduled November 20, 2012. The Company will now host a conference call to discuss the Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Year End 2012 Financial Results on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (5:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, 9:00 p.m. China Standard Time).
4:52AM United Micro restructures executive team; Po-Wen Yen appointed as CEO; former CEO Dr Shih-Wei Sun promoted to vice chairman ( UMC) 1.80 : The move is intended to strengthen UMC's competitiveness as Mr. Yen leverages his successful 300mm manufacturing experience, just as the company brings its multi-billion dollar Fab 12A expansion online. Prior to becoming CEO, Po-Wen Yen was UMC's senior vice president responsible for 12-inch operations.
Adobe Systems (ADBE) released its Adobe Digital Index 2012 Online Shopping Forecast focused on the 2012 holiday shopping season in the U.S. and Europe and expects Cyber Monday 2012 online revenue for the retail sector to reach $2 bln, growing by 18% year-over-year.
12:59AM Cisco Systems announces intent to acquire privately held Meraki for ~$1.2 bln ( CSCO) 17.99 : Co announces its intent to acquire privately held Meraki. Meraki offers midmarket customers easy-to-deploy on-premise networking solutions that can be centrally managed from the cloud. Cisco will pay ~$1.2 bln in cash and retention-based incentives to acquire the entire business and operations of Meraki. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2013, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory review. Meraki's cloud networking solutions will expand Cisco's network offerings by providing scalable solutions for midmarket businesses. The Meraki acquisition will also strengthen Cisco's Unified Access platform, which makes IT more responsive to business innovation by simplifying IT operations and uniting wired and wireless networks, policy and management into one integrated network infrastructure, unlike other competitive offerings.
12:33AM Celestica waives condition to substantial issuer bid ( CLS) 7.20 : Co announces that it has waived a condition to its previously announced substantial issuer bid. Co commenced the Offer to purchase for cancellation up to 25 mln of its Shares for an aggregate purchase price not exceeding $175 mln on October 29, 2012. The Offer is being conducted through a "modified Dutch auction" within a price range of not less than $7.00 per Share and not more than $8.00 per Share. Co has not revised the specified price range for tenders pursuant to the Offer.
Cantor Fitzgerald notes, Facebook (FB) seems to be winning the mobile war, with its mobile engagement growth far outpacing that of peers, according to October data from comScore. They say combined smartphone/PC time spent metrics improved sequentially last month, even excluding tablets, likely the fastest growing platform. While many fear a rapid transition to mobile usage, where monetization is still nacent, they view increased mobile engagement as a key strength for Facebook and a longer-term differentiator.
10:26 am S&P Information Technology trading higher along with the broader market
The tech sector is trading higher today, along with gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing slight relative weakness with the SOX trading only 1.2% higher. Within the chip index, CRUS (+7.0%) is a notable standout. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 1.5% higher today, as are both the QQQ and the NASDAQ on the session. Among tech bellwethers, INTC (-1.8%) is showing notable weakness, while AAPL (+4.0%) is a leader.
There were no earnings of note in the tech sector this morning. In news, CSCO (+1.2%) announced intent to acquire privately held Meraki for ~$1.2 bln. ARUN (-3.6%) is under pressure on the news. Elsewhere, INTC (-1.8%) CEO announced his plans to retire. Alibaba plans to purchase a 15-20% stake in SINA's (+10.0%) Weibo. Also, EBAY (+1.8%) is being sued by the Justice department over INTU (-0.8%) agreement, according to reports. Among rumors, PAY (+3.8%) may be an attractive takeover target for GOOG (+1.8%), according to reports. In notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, IFNNY (0.0%) was upgraded to Hold at Jefferies, RMBS (+6.1%) was upgraded to Overweight at JP Morgan, A (+4.1%) was upgraded to Buy at Goldman, SAP (+2.3%) was upgraded to Outperform at William Blair and CSC (+4.8%) was upgraded to Buy at Deutsche Bank. Also, SWKS (+2.6%) was added to US 1 list at BofA/Merrill. There were no notable downgrades in the tech sector this morning. A (+4.1%), NUAN (+2.8%), and BRCD (+1.9%) are the notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close. |
