From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : The FOMC statement made for a volatile afternoon as stocks sold off, treasuries sold off, and the dollar rallied. The Dow had been trading up as much as 85 points following the FOMC statement, but sold off as traders digested the news, and closed with a gain of 48 points. Today's gains in the Dow allowed the index to close at its best level since September 2008. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each finished with gains of 0.1%.
Telecom (+1.6%), health care (+1.1%), and utilities (+0.3%) were among the best performing sectors for a second consecutive session as traders seem to be rotating out of more economically sensitive stocks, and into some of the recent laggards. Those investors seeking yield will be happy to know that today's leading sectors sport healthy dividend yields.
Health care was one of the top performing sectors buoyed by a strong gain in Amgen (AMGN 56.78, +2.67) after the company announced its bone drug Xgeva allows prostate cancer patients to live longer without the disease spreading to their bones. Other stocks in the sector to see solid gains included C.R. Bard (BCR 89.55, +3.50), and Mylan (MYL 20.68, +0.85).
Shares of Best Buy (BBY 35.49, -6.21) were hit hard today after reporting weaker-than-expected results before the opening bell. The company announced earnings of $0.54 per share when the Thomson Reuters consensus was looking for earnings of $0.61 per share. The company also missed analysts' expectations by posting revenues of $11.89 billion which represented a 1.1% drop in year/year. The poor earnings hit other electronics retailers with Radioshack (RSH 18.63, -0.58) and Gamestop (GME 21.76, -0.16) also seeing losses.
Financials (-0.9%) closed lower today as weakness in the regional banks were a drag. Huntington Bancshares (HBAN 6.29, -0.37), Regions Financial (RF 6.21, -0.34), and First Horizon National (FHN 10.46, -0.46) finished the day among the worst performing stocks in the S&P 500 Financials Index. Within the index, 63 of 81 members ended the session in negative territory.
Treasury yields were higher all session long, and spiked to new highs following the FOMC statement. Selling in the 10-yr pushed its yield up to a session high of 3.490%, a level it had not seen since mid-May. As traders more aggressively sold the longer dated maturities, the 2-10-yr spread steepened to a session high 285. The spread now trades within striking distance of its all-time steepest level of 293.9.
The dollar strengthened post FOMC statement, and will end the day near its best level of the session. As the dollar moved higher, the euro fell back below the 1.3400 level, and the pound retreated further from 1.5800. After trading flat near 83.35 for much of the afternoon, dollar/yen will finish near its session high of 83.78.
Economic data was mixed with better-than-expected November retail sales, and a bigger-than-expected rise in producer prices. Business inventories saw a gain, but failed to meet expectations.
Volume was light yet again with less than one billion shares trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. DJ30 +47.98 NASDAQ +2.81 SP500 +1.13 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1327/1.85 bln/1297 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1334/956.9 mln/1694
11:05AM FSI Intl receives order for Orion single wafer cleaning system from major Asian semiconductor manufacturer (FSII) 4.23 +0.04 : Co announces the receipt of an order for its FSI ORION single wafer cleaning platform from a major Asian semiconductor manufacturer. The order represents acceptance of the evaluation tool shipped in late 2009 for front-end-of-line (FEOL) development programs. This system is now qualified in ashless all-wet photoresist strip and silicon etch for the production of 28nm logic devices. Revenues for the four-chamber evaluation system and four-chamber expansion model is expected to be recognized in the second quarter of fiscal 2011
Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) is powering multiple smart phones from HTC including the EVO, Desire HD and Z with Skyworks' highly integrated power amplifier modules as well as the company's industry leading switch technology. Taiwan-based HTC is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile sector.
LSI Corporation (LSI) announced that its Link Layer Processor and Advanced PayloadPlus processors have achieved compliance with three Metro Ethernet Forum specifications.
8:06AM Best Buy misses by $0.07, misses on revs; lowers FY11 EPS guidance below consensus (BBY) 41.70 : Reports Q3 (Nov) earnings of $0.54 per share, $0.07 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.61; revenues fell 1.1% year/year to $11.89 bln vs the $12.45 bln consensus. Co lowers guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $3.20-3.40 vs. $3.55-3.70 previously and the $3.59 Thomson Reuters consensus. The co noted that this new guidance range includes the favorable impact of share repurchases made year-to-date through the end of the fiscal third quarter which approximates $0.12 ($0.10 previously). "Fiscal third quarter domestic sales were softer than we expected, but we were very pleased with the continued strong gross margin performance and actions to lower variable expenses." The co noted that the Domestic segment's rev declined more than expected, driven primarily by larger than expected industry declines in key U.S. consumer electronics categories for the three months ended October 31, 2010, as well as a decline in the co's estimated domestic market share for such period. The co estimates that its domestic market share declined 110 bps versus the comparable period last year for the three months ended October 31, 2010. The decline was driven primarily by declines in TVs, mobile computing and gaming software. Based on fiscal year-to-date trends, the co now estimates that its domestic market share will decline for the full fiscal year as compared to the prior fiscal year.
8:06AM Altera Acquires Avalon Microelectronics, Extending Its Communication System IP for FPGA and ASIC Product Portfolio (ALTR) 36.91 : Co announced it has acquired Avalon Microelectronics Inc., an industry leader in flexible Optical Transport Network (OTN) IP, for use in its FPGA and ASIC products. With the acquisition of Avalon, Altera expands its portfolio of customizable IP solutions for OTN applications, supporting data rates at 1.2G, 2.5G and 10G, as well as 40G and 100G. Terms have not been disclosed on the acquisition, which is not a material financial matter for Altera.
8:05AM Conexant to sell property in Newport Beach for $23.5 mln (CNXT) 1.68 : Co signed an agreement with Uptown Newport LP to sell property adjacent to its Newport Beach headquarters for $23.5 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Conexant will retain an equity investment in the land in the form of a limited partnership interest of up to $2.2 million. Uptown Newport LP is a joint venture consisting of a fund controlled by New York-based DRA Advisors LLC and an affiliate of The Shopoff Group. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, and expected to be completed by the end of December.
7:24AM SEMI reports 3Q10 worldwide semiconductor equipment figures; billings +22% sequentially to $11.12 bln (SMH) 32.58 : SEMI reports that worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached $11.12 billion in the 3Q10. The billings figure is 22% higher than 2Q10 and 148% higher YoY. Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings were $12.39 billion in the 3Q10. The figure is 113% more than the same quarter a year ago and 6% greater than the bookings figure for the 2Q10.
# F5 Networks (FFIV) announced enhanced support for organizations that run Citrix and other virtual desktop applications. Using the BIG-IP Access Policy Manager or BIG-IP Edge Gateway solution, customers can consolidate and centralize authentication and access control for simpler and more predictable access management across all virtual desktop environments, including Citrix, Microsoft, and VMware based deployments.
# CEVA (CEVA) announced that PMC-Sierra (PMCS) has licensed its CEVA-VoP voice-over-IP platform for use in PMC-Sierra's next generation system-on-chip devices for Fiber-To-The-Home applications.
An RFID device from STMicroelectronics (STM) now allows technical equipment to 'talk back,' providing detailed information, such as a full maintenance history, to speed up servicing and simplify record keeping for OEMs and equipment operators.
09:48 am BBY Lowers FY11 EPS Guidance (BBY)
Best Buy (BBY 35.76 -5.94) reported third quarter earnings of $0.54 per share, $0.07 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.61.
Revenues fell 1.1% year-over-year to $11.89 billion versus the $12.45 billion consensus.
For the fiscal year 2011, the company lowered its earnings guidance to $3.20 to $3.40 versus $3.55 to $3.70 previously and the $3.59 Thomson Reuters consensus.
The company noted that this new guidance range includes the favorable impact of share repurchases made year-to-date through the end of the fiscal third quarter which approximates to $0.12 ($0.10 previously)."
Fiscal third quarter domestic sales were softer than we expected, but we were very pleased with the continued strong gross margin performance and actions to lower variable expenses." The co noted that the Domestic segment's rev declined more than expected, driven primarily by larger than expected industry declines in key U.S. consumer electronics categories for the three months ended October 31, 2010, as well as a decline in the co's estimated domestic market share for such period.
The company estimates that its domestic market share declined 110 bps versus the comparable period last year for the three months ended October 31, 2010. The decline was driven primarily by declines in TVs, mobile computing and gaming software. Based on fiscal year-to-date trends, the co now estimates that its domestic market share will decline for the full fiscal year as compared to the prior fiscal year. |
