From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Intense selling sent the S&P 500 to its worst single-session loss in six months as participants pared risk amid rising social and political tension in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
Ongoing protests and social unrest in Libya prompted the country's leader, Gaddafi, to threaten suspension of oil supplies from his country, which boasts the biggest oil reserve in Africa. Gaddafi was also defiant in the face of calls for him to step down as dictator.
Asia's major averages led an overnight sell-off that saw the Shanghai Composite drop 2.6%, the Hang Seng slide 2.1%, and the Nikkei tumble 1.8%. News that Moody's lowered its outlook on Japan to Negative darkened the tone of trade.
The overnight slide combined with concern about volatility related to rising geopolitical risk abroad stirred U.S. participants to slash their stock holdings. At first, their efforts took stocks down about 1%, but as has been the case in previous sessions some stepped in to provide support and bid up the dip. A February Consumer Confidence Index reading of 70.4, which exceeded the Briefing.com consensus of 67.0 to set a near three-year high, aided the effort.
However, in contrast to previous sessions, sellers redoubled their efforts after stocks failed to extend their morning rebound. Persistent pressure took the S&P 500 to its first 2% loss since last August.
More than 90% of the stocks in the S&P 500 ended the day in the red. The bleeding brought in plenty of participants, who sent share volume well above 1 billion on the NYSE. Among the major sectors, materials were hit the hardest. As a group, materials stocks dove to a 3.1% loss. Energy had been resilient in the early going, but weakness inevitably bled into the space as the broad market buckled. Energy stocks had been up as much as 1.5%, but ended the day with a 0.7% loss.
Early strength in the energy sector was predominately underpinned by a spike in oil prices. April crude oil finished 6% higher at $95.32 per barrel. Elsewhere in the commodity space, safety seekers sent April gold up 0.9% to $1401.10 per ounce and silver 2% higher to $32.86 per ounce. Silver prices had actually set a new 30-year high above $34 per ounce in the early morning.
Treasuries also benefited from an interest in safety, despite lackluster results from an auction of 2-Year Notes. The auction drew a bid-to-cover of 3.03 for dollar demand of $106.1 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 31.2%.
The dollar did little today. It had been flat in morning trade, but mustered a gain of merely 0.2% by the end of the day.
Corporate news had no real impact on overall trade. The spike in volatility -- the Volatility Index was up about 30% at its high -- caused many to shrug off earnings from Dow components Home Depot (HD 38.09, -0.39) and Wal-Mart (WMT 53.67, -1.71). Both bested what Wall Street had expected for the bottom line, but HD complemented its report with increased guidance and an increased dividend.
Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Materials (-3.2%), Financial (-3.1%), Industrials (-2.9%), Tech (-2.6%), Consumer Discretionary (-2.4%), Telecom (-1.7%), Health Care (-1.5%), Energy (-0.7%), Consumer Staples (-0.7%), Utilities (-0.3%)DJ30 -178.46 NASDAQ -77.53 NQ100 -2.9% R2K -2.6% SP400 -2.4% SP500 -27.57 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 374/2.12 bln/2306 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 359/1.11 bln/2701
4:12PM Hewlett-Packard beats by $0.07, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS, revs below consensus; raises FY11 EPS in-line, lowers revs below consensus (HPQ) 48.23 -0.44 : Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $1.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.29; revenues rose 936.3% year/year to $32.3 bln vs the $32.95 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.19-1.21, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.25 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $31.4-31.6 bln vs. $32.59 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for FY11, raises EPS to $5.20-5.28, excluding non-recurring items, from $5.16-5.26 vs. $5.24 Thomson Reuters consensus; lowers FY11 rev to $130-131.5 bln from $132-133.5 bln vs. $132.95 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Q1 non-GAAP operating margin of 12.4% vs 11.7% Thomson Reuters consensus. HP saw balanced growth in the first quarter across all regions in local currency, with accelerated growth in BRIC countries. Results were largely driven by momentum in the commercial sector as businesses continued to spend on technology. HP experienced uneven consumer performance across its geographies and product categories during the quarter. First quarter revenue was up 6% in the Americas to $14.4 billion. Revenue was flat in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and up 7% in Asia Pacific to $12.1 billion and $5.8 billion, respectively. When adjusted for the effects of currency, revenue was up 5% in the Americas, up 4% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and up 2% in Asia Pacific. Revenue from outside of the United States in the first quarter accounted for 65% of total HP revenue, with revenue in the BRIC countries increasing 11% while accounting for 11% of total HP revenue.
11:12AM Cisco Systems promotes Gary Moore to COO, a new position within the co, effective immediately (CSCO) 18.66 -0.19
11:01AM Benchmark Elec announces that it has acquired facilities and certain other assets to expand its precision technologies capabilities in Penang, Malaysia; financial terms not disclosed (BHE) 19.58 -0.28 : +
Verizon Wireless (VZ) and Motorola Mobility (MMI) announced the Feb. 24, 2011 availability of the innovative new Motorola XOOM tablet. The first device to run Google's new Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system, the Motorola XOOM will be available for purchase from Verizon Wireless for $599.99 with a new two-year customer agreement or $799.99 without a contract. Wireless 3G data service for the Motorola XOOM will begin at $20 monthly access for 1GB.
8:25AM Zoran discloses that it has entered a merger agreement with CSR for an equity value of ~$679 mln; ZRAN shareholders will receive ~$13.03 per share in CSR shares (ZRAN) 9.32 : Zoran shareholders will receive ADSs representing the equivalent of 1.85 ordinary shares of CSR for each share of Zoran common stock held, which, as at close on 18 February 2011 represents a value of US$13.03 per share of Zoran common stock. In addition, CSR announces that it intends to return up to US$240 million to shareholders via an on-market share buyback programme. The Share Buyback is intended to achieve an overall financial impact on CSR broadly equivalent to a transaction structured with ~65% stock and 35% cash. The Share Buyback, which will replace the US$50 million programme announced on 13 September 2010, of which approximately US$37 million has been expended, is expected to commence as soon as practicable following this announcement.
8:07AM Chipmos Technology reports Jan revs +24.5% YoY to $53.4 mln; up 1.9% sequentially (IMOS) 7.39 : Revenue for the month of January 2011 was NT$1,548.8 million or US$53.4 million, an increase of 1.9% from the month of December 2010 and an increase of 24.5% from the same period in 2010.
6:26AM Trina Solar beats by $0.78, beats on revs; sees Q1 shipment volume higher QoQ (TSL) 29.41 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.87 per share, $0.78 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.09; revenues rose 104.9% year/year to $641.8 mln vs the $525.3 mln consensus. Gross margin was 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared to the co's previous guidance of ~30%, and was primarily due to higher than targeted ASP. The fourth quarter gross margin compares to 31.4% in the third quarter of 2010 and 32.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009. Gross margin relating to the co's in-house wafer production to module production was 36.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared to its previous guidance of mid 30s in percentage terms, and 37.6% in the third quarter of 2010. For the first quarter of 2011, the co expects its shipment volume for PV modules to be slightly higher than that for the fourth quarter of 2010. The co expects its gross margin relating to its in-house wafer production to module production to be ~30% during the first quarter of 2011. The co believes its overall gross margin, taking into account wafer and cell requirements outsourced to third party suppliers to meet demand in excess of its internal capacity, for the first quarter will be in the mid to high 20s in percentage terms. To meet expected demand for its PV solar modules, the co expects to raise its annualized in-house ingot and wafer production capacity, as well as PV cell and module production capacity to reach approximately 1.2 GW and 1.9 GW, respectively, in the second half of 2011, based on actual manufacturing yield.
1:48AM Jabil Circuit acquires 3 of its former divested operations; expects one time charge to GAPP earnings of $25-40 mln (JBL) 22.57 : Co announces it has acquired three of its former operations in France and Italy, which were divested in July of 2010. Co currently expects, based on existing information, to take a one-time charge of $25-40 mln to U.S. GAAP earnings in its second fiscal quarter of 2011. This charge is principally the write-off of working capital loans for the operations and other expenses associated with the transaction. Co comments: "Although the transgressions of the purchaser that led to this action were beyond our control, we could not stand-by and allow the circumstances to deteriorate further, risking more serious consequences to our stakeholders."
Cree (CREE) announced commercial availability of the LBR-30 LED lamp, aimed at replacing energy-wasting incandescent lamps commonly used in tracks, commercial and residential recessed downlights. Panasonic Solutions Company, a unit of Panasonic (PC) announced it will offer a new high definition, 32", hospital-grade, patient room display later this year.
Dell (DELL) and Microsoft (MSFT) will collaborate to deliver an analytics, informatics, Business Intelligence and performance improvement solution designed specifically to meet the needs of community hospitals through an affordable, subscription-based model.
GT Solar (SOLR) announced its next generation silicon tetrachloride converter for polysilicon production plants using direct chlorination for hydrogenating STC. |
