| | | From Briefing.com: The stock market had trouble making up its mind where it wanted to go on Tuesday, selling off early, rallying back, and then fading late to close the day little changed.
The market was buffeted by another jump in market rates, which followed a report showing job openings in the U.S. at their highest level since that data started being tracked in December 2000, and another weak showing from the Dow Jones Transportation Average (-0.3%)
Separately, the information technology sector (-0.2%) was unable to get back on track as investors continued to take money off the table in notable leadership stocks like Apple (AAPL 127.42, -0.38, -0.3%), Microsoft (MSFT 45.65, -0.08, -0.2%), Micron (MU 25.19, -0.73, -2.8%), and Yahoo (YHOO 41.63, -0.38, -0.9%).
The weakness in those names, and the underperformance of the biotech stocks, helped keep a lid on the Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%), which underperformed the S&P 500 (+0.04%) for the second straight session.
Notable news items from sector components included the following:
Cisco (CSCO 28.24, -0.04, -0.1%): At company's Cisco Systems Investor Day, says it continues to focus on Internet of Everything (IoE) and Fast IT to adapt to shifting market demands. Highlights continued strength in Enterprise Switching and Routing and notes it is seeing mixed results in its Wireless segment, with trouble coming in gaining market share at the low-end of the product range. The company's new Cisco One product has 500 customers, and is seeing an uplift in both software and hardware sales.
Facebook (FB 80.67, 0.00, unch): Reuters reported that company executives said overseas markets accounted for 51% of global ad sales in the first quarter.
Harris (HRS 78.00, 0.00, unch): Received a $55 mln order to provide the Australian Defence Force with comprehensive technical and logistics support for Harris tactical radios. Company will provide maintenance, training, warehouse and distribution, and engineering support under a turnkey, performance-based contracting model to support the Joint Project 2072 Battlespace Communications program. The ADF uses Harris Falcon III multiband, multi-mode radios in manpack, handheld and vehicular configurations for wideband tactical networking capabilities, as well as line-of-sight, ground-to-air and tactical satellite communications.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 32.58, -0.11, -0.3%): Company confirmed today that it has entered into a settlement agreement with PGGM Vermogensbeheer B.V., the lead plaintiff in the securities class action arising from the impairment charge taken by HP following its acquisition of Autonomy. Under the terms of the settlement, HP's insurance will pay $100 million to a settlement fund that will be used to compensate persons who purchased HP shares during the period from August 19, 2011 through November 20, 2012.
IBM (IBM 165.68, +0.34, +0.2%): Announced that SES Platform Services has selected high speed file transfer software from Aspera, an IBM company, to broadcast networks and delivery of content to Video On Demand platforms and Over-The-Top providers located worldwide.
Western Digital (WDC 92.06, -0.54, -0.6%): HGST, a Western Digital company, announced the first enterprise-class 10TB hard disk drive for next-generation active archive applications.
Elsewhere in the technology space:
Alibaba (BABA 87.58, -0.71, -0.8%): CEO Jack Ma speaking at Economic Club in New York says he sees Alibaba outgrowing Wal-Mart; can sell over $1 trillion in five years. Separately, CNBC's David Faber says sources are downplaying BABA's interest in making a large acquisition in the U.S.
Amazon.com (AMZN 425.48, +1.98, +0.5%): Announced plans to open a fourth Texas fulfillment center in Dallas, TX
Atmel (ATML 9.81, +0.06, +0.6%): After Monday's close, Reuters reported the company is exploring strategic alternatives that could include a possible sale, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Cree (CREE 29.59, +0.24, +0.8%): EVP bought 5K shares at $30.14 worth ~$151K
Electro Scientific Industries (ESIO 5.48, -0.03, -0.5%): Announced that PFC Flexible Circuits Limited has selected the Model 5335 Laser Processing System to expand its high density interconnect flexible circuit manufacturing capabilities
Fairchild Semi (FCS 18.99, +0.20, +1.1%): Company announced that Power Integrations (POWI 48.25, -0.03, -0.1%) was found to infringe its US patent by continuing to market and sell its LinkSwitch II family of products, even after a 2012 jury found those same power conversion chips violated the patent. A U.S. District Court jury awarded Fairchild $2.4 million in damages. This damages figure reflects an approximately 1.5-cent per unit royalty on LinkSwitch II parts imported into the US.
Power Integrations (POWI 48.25, -0.03, -0.1%): Company announced the latest result in its ongoing patent litigation against Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS). After a two-week trial, a Jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that Fairchild infringes another Power Integrations patent, and that Fairchild has contributed to and induced infringement by its customers. The infringed patent relates to zero-standby technologies; Power Integrations intends to seek a permanent injunction to prevent the sales and importation of infringing products and products with substantially similar circuitry. Though a second Power Integrations patent was found by the Jury not to be infringed, the accused Fairchild products are already covered by infringement findings from the parties' prior litigation.
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM 22.83, +0.18, +0.8%): Digitimes reports that the company's Chairman said at shareholders meeting that company is aiming to report sales growth of more than 10% this year. Company also announced that its Board approved the sale of 82 million common shares of Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation for a total price of ~NT$3.88 bln. Currently, TSMC holds approximately 33.3% of VIS shares on a fully diluted basis, which would decline to approximately 28.3% after the sale. TSMC will remain the largest shareholder of VIS, and TSMC announces that it has no plan to sell more VIS shares in the foreseeable future. The company also announced that at its annual meeting, shareholders approved the distribution of a NT$4.5 cash dividend per common share.
Analyst Action:
Adobe Systems (ADBE 77.90, -0.26, -0.3%): initiated with a Hold at Wunderlich; target $90
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 2.29, -0.02, -0.9%): initiated with a Outperform at Northland Capital; target $5
Akamai Technologies (AKAM 72.90, -1.99, -2.7%): downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie
Altera (ALTR 51.50, +0.09, +0.2%): downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo
Citrix Systems (CTXS 64.45, -1.54, -2.3%): downgraded to Sell from Buy at Berenberg; target lowered to $56 from $75
FireEye (FEYE 50.65, -0.26, -0.5%): initiated with a Buy at Wunderlich; target $62
Microsoft (MSFT 45.65, -0.08, -0.2%): initiated with a Hold at Wunderlich; target $52
Oracle (ORCL 43.07, -0.03, -0.1%): initiated with a Hold at Wunderlich; target $47
Red Hat (RHT 77.37, -0.87, -1.1%): target raised to $85 from $80 at Cowen; Outperform
Salesforce.com (CRM 71.76, -0.08, -0.1%): initiated with a Buy at Wunderlich; target $85
Symantec (SYMC 23.44, +0.01, +0.04%): initiated with a Hold at Wunderlich; target $27
(Disclosure: Briefing.com has a business relationship with Yahoo! and Microsoft)
4:10 pm : The major averages ended the Tuesday session near their flat lines with the S&P 500 registering a slight gain (+0.04%) to snap its three-day skid while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) settled in the red.
Equity indices slumped at the start with investor sentiment pressured by the continued lack of progress between Greece and its creditors. The ongoing uncertainty weighed on European markets, but they were able to climb off their lows into the close. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks hit their lows not long before Europe closed for the day before returning to their flat lines.
The ensuing rebound helped stocks turn positive during afternoon action, but the S&P 500 could not overtake its 100-day moving average (2,085), settling below that mark for the second consecutive day. Interestingly, this was the first time that the benchmark index registered back-to-back settlements below the 100-day average since late October.
Seven sectors registered losses, but only telecom services (-0.5%) surrendered more than 0.2%. Meanwhile, the top-weighted technology sector (-0.2%) struggled throughout the day and contributed to the underperformance of the Nasdaq. The tech sector suffered from losses among influential components like Apple (AAPL 127.42, -0.38), Google (GOOGL 542.16, -1.32), and Qualcomm (QCOM 66.84, -0.44) while high-beta chipmakers traded in mixed fashion, which was masked by a 0.1% decline in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. Micron (MU 25.19, -0.73) was a notable laggard, falling 2.8%, after Drexel Hamilton downgraded the stock to 'Sell' from 'Hold.'
Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, the consumer discretionary space (-0.1%) underperformed throughout the day with most homebuilders registering losses after Hovnanian (HOV 2.86, -0.31) reported disappointing results with its Chief Executive Officer saying the company had overestimated buyer demand. Shares of HOV fell 9.8% while iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 26.27, -0.11) surrendered 0.3%.
Staying on the earnings front, another discretionary component-Lululemon (LULU 68.27, +6.75)-spiked 11.0% after its one-cent beat overshadowed below-consensus guidance.
On the upside, consumer staples (+0.5%) and financials (+0.2%) ended in the lead after overtaking the energy sector (unch), which retreated from its opening high even as crude oil spiked 3.4% to $60.12/bbl. Greenback strength was not a factor as the Dollar Index ended flat.
Treasuries retreated throughout the day with the 10-yr note ending near its low to send its yield higher by two basis points to 2.41%.
Once again, today's participation was below average with roughly 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included Wholesale Inventories and JOLTS:
- Wholesale inventories increased 0.4% in April following an upwardly revised 0.2% gain (from 0.1%) in March while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.2%
- Durable goods inventories increased 0.1% in April, down from a 0.5% increase in March
- Gains in automotive (1.8%) and machinery inventories (0.7%) offset declines in professional equipment (-2.1%) and metals (-1.2%) inventories
- Nondurable goods inventories increased 0.8% in April after declining 0.3% in March with much of the increase resulting from higher petroleum and gasoline prices, which helped boost petroleum inventories by 2.3% in April
- The April Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 5.376 million from a revised rate of 5.109 million (from 4.994 million)
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the Treasury Budget for May (Briefing.com consensus -$85.00 billion) will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.
- Nasdaq Composite +5.5% YTD
- Russell 2000 +3.9% YTD
- S&P 500 +1.0% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.3% YTD
DJ30 -2.51 NASDAQ -7.76 SP500 +0.87 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1111/1.62 bln/1722 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1086/702.5 mln/1977 3:10 pm :
- The dollar index closed moderately lower, after trading in a narrow range around the unchanged mark for most of the session.
- The index offered inconsistent and slight pressure/support for commodities, finishing down 0.1% to 95.19
- Crude traded flat overnight, but finished positive on a strong, all-day rally driven by EIA US production forecasts
- July WTI closed at +3.4% to $60.12/barrel
- Natural gas held its earlier gains into the close, after lifting in early morning price action on intermediate term forecasts for warm national weather
- Nat gas futures closed up 4.8% to $2.84/MMBtu
- Precious metals saw a mixed close, as movements in the dollar failed to provide a definitive price trend for both gold or silver. August gold was +0.4% to $1177.60/oz and July silver was flat at $15.96/oz
- Copper closed modestly positive at +0.4% to $2.71/lb
4:07 pm Sigma Designs beats by $0.08, beats on revs ( SIGM) : Reports Q1 (Apr) earnings of $0.09 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.01; revenues rose 49.4% year/year to $55.1 mln vs the $53.48 mln consensus. Non-GAAP gross margin in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 was 53.8%. This compares with a non-GAAP gross margin of 50.8% in the previous quarter, and 58.1% for the same period in fiscal 2015.
11:42 am Power Integrations announces an update on its ongoing legislation with Fairchild Semiconductor ( FCS) ( POWI) : Co announced the latest result in its ongoing patent litigation against Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS). After a two-week trial, a Jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that Fairchild infringes another Power Integrations patent, and that Fairchild has contributed to and induced infringement by its customers. The infringed patent relates to zero-standby technologies; Power Integrations intends to seek a permanent injunction to prevent the sales and importation of infringing products and products with substantially similar circuitry. Though a second Power Integrations patent was found by the Jury not to be infringed, the accused Fairchild products are already covered by infringement findings from the parties' prior litigation.
11:38 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (187) outpacing new highs (93) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ADPT, ALJ, ALN, AMBA, AMED, ASB, ATML, ATTU, AXN, AZZ, BBNK, BBP, BBT, BFAM, BKU, BKYF, BOFI, BOH, BSQR, BXS, CASY, CATY, CBSH, CMN, CNTY, COLB, CRF, CTRX, CUBI, CVBF, DCOM, DSKX, EGBN, ENSG, FCAP, FMER, FNFG, FOLD, FTAI, FULT, GGAC, GKNT, HAFC, HALO, HDS, HOMB, IART, ISBC, ISLE, IXYS, LEG, LGND, LPTH, LTXB, MBFI, MMAC, MXL, NAT, NFLX, NICE, NWBO, NWL, NYCB, OZRK, PLAY, PMBC, PNC, QABA, RALY, RBA, RELY, RLGT, RMTI, SAGE, SBBX, SBCP, SBNY, SEED, SF, SIEN, SIVB, SNV, SPWH, SUSQ, TROV, TXMD, UMPQ, WAL, WBS, WIBC, WINA, WTFC, ZION
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, ACTX, AEGR, AFB, AGNC, AHT, AP, ARR, AUDC, AXE, BAX, BBN, BDN, BEBE, BFK, BFO, BIE, BKN, BLE, BLJ, BLT, BOI, BOTA, BTA, CBL, CCD, CIM, CLW, CMU, CNI, CPN, CSAL, CSTM, CTL, DGSE, DMF, DMLP, DPG, DTF, EARN, EDD, EDE, EE, EFC, EIM, EIV, ELLO, ERH, ERJ, ESL, EVJ, EVLV, EVP, EZPW, FDML, FGB, FHY, FMN, FPT, FSNN, GBAB, GHM, GOV, HCP, HDNG, HGG, HIE, HOV, HTS, HWCC, IF, IIM, IQI, IRC, IRT, ISH, JRI, KIQ, KLAC, KSM, KTF, LE, LEO, LFL, LFVN, LL, LOR, LPL, MAV, MDIV, MGF, MHI, MIN, MIY, MPA, MQT, MQY, MSI, MU, MUE, MUH, MUI, MUJ, MUS, MVF, MYD, MYM, MZF, NBB, NBD, NBH, NCZ, NEA, NID, NIM, NKA, NMY, NNC, NNY, NOR, NPF, NPI, NPM, NPP, NQI, NQP, NRK, NSC, NTC, NTX, NUM, NUO, NURO, NVG, NXJ, NXP, NXQ, NXZ, OFC, OGE, OIA, PCN, PDLI, PFL, PMX, PNF, POT, PSEC, PTX, PTY, RCS, RDS.B, SJI, SMLP, SMT, SMTC, SPW, SRET, SRV, SVBL, TYPE, UBA, UBP, UCP, USDP, USEG, UTI, VBF, VCIT, VCLT, VGM, VKI, VKQ, VMO, VPV, VRA, VTN, WIA, WLT, WMT, WPG, WRES, XRX, YLCO, ZAZA, ZQK, ZUMZ
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: KBE
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AGG, BND, IDX, LQD |
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