From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Today began with all eyes turned to the Dow Jones Industrial Average after the blue chip index ended yesterday's session just 37 points below its all-time closing high. However, the anticipation was promptly removed after the bell when equities jumped higher and the Dow marked its fresh all-time best at 14,286.37.
Following the steady climb of the first hour, they key indices leveled off and held the bulk of their gains throughout the afternoon.
In addition to the Dow, the Dow Jones Transportation Average marked an all-time high of its own. The bellwether complex settled higher by 1.5% thanks to outperformance from freight carriers and shipping services. Con-way (CNW 36.07, +1.36) and FedEx (FDX 107.91, +2.11) finished with respective gains of 3.9% and 2.0%.
The notable strength among transportation stocks also contributed to the outperformance of the industrial sector. The SPDR Industrial Select Sector ETF (XLI 41.40, +0.58) settled higher by 1.4% after finishing among yesterday's biggest laggards.
Similarly, the technology sector underperformed yesterday, but finished as today's leader. Applied Materials (AMAT 13.74, +0.17) and Qualcomm (QCOM 67.97, +1.34) both hiked their quarterly dividends which helped support other chipmakers. The broader PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 2.0%.
Although the market finished with broad gains, some pockets of weakness could be spotted.
J.C. Penney (JCP 14.96, -1.78) has been in the news since reporting downbeat quarterly earnings on February 27. Today, shares of the retailer fell 10.6% after reports indicated recent weakness has prompted major investors from exiting the stock. In addition, the New York Post reported the company is facing delays in its court case against Macy's (M 41.72, +0.18).
Though J.C. Penney finished firmly lower, the weakness appeared to have no effect on other retailers. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 68.68, +0.76) gained 1.1%.
Walgreen (WAG 40.72, -1.05) was another retailer which missed out on today's rally. The weakness followed disappointing second quarter revenue guidance as well as February comparable store sales which missed expectations.
The relative weakness in Walgreen contributed to the underperformance of consumer staples, which registered the slimmest gains of all 10 sectors.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 13.47, -0.54) fell 3.9% and slid back to levels last seen two weeks ago.
Looking back at the final S&P 500 sector alignment, technology (+1.5%), industrial (+1.4%), and consumer discretionary (+1.0%) stocks outperformed. On the downside, consumer staple (+0.3%), utilities (+0.6%), and materials (+0.6%) trailed behind the broader market.
Trading volume was once again below average as 683 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Today's economic data was limited to the February ISM Services Index, which increased from 55.2 in January to 56.0 in February. Today's reading was ahead of the Briefing.com consensus, and put the index at its highest level since February 2012.
Business activity growth was essentially flat as the respective index increased a modest 0.5 points to 56.9 in February. However, the report did not signal impending weakness in the services sector.
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET. At 8:15 ET, the February ADP Employment Change will cross the wires with January factory orders scheduled for a 10:00 ET release. Lastly, the Federal Reserve will release its March Beige Book at 14:00 ET.DJ30 +125.95 NASDAQ +42.10 SP500 +14.59 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1734/1.83 bln/723 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2236/683.0 mln/774
3:30 pm :
- Apr crude oil dipped to a session low of $90.02 per barrel as the dollar index recovered into positive territory. However, the energy component gained steam in afternoon floor trade and pushed to a session high of $90.99 per barrel as the dollar index fell back into the red. It eventually settled 0.7% higher at $90.76 per barrel, booking its first gain in four sessions.
- Apr natural gas traded higher for most of today's pit trade and advanced to a session high of $3.59 per MMBtu in afternoon floor action. However, it erased all of its earlier gains in the last 20 minutes of pit trade and settled the session flat at $3.53 per MMBtu.
- Apr gold rose to a session high of $1585.80 per ounce shortly after pit trade opened but lost momentum in mid-morning action as the dollar index pushed into positive territory. The yellow metal dipped to a session low of $1571.10 per ounce moments before settling 0.2% higher at $1574.80 per ounce, booking its first gain in five sessions.
- May silver also pulled-back from its session high of $29.09 per ounce and touched a session low of $28.52per ounce in late afternoon floor trade. It eventually settled 0.4% higher at $28.60 per ounce.
2:47PM NXP Semi announces upsizing and pricing of $500 mln senior unsecured notes offering ( NXPI) 32.34 +0.58 : Co announced the upsizing of the previously announced offering by its subsidiaries NXP B.V. and NXP Funding LLC of $300 mln to an offering of $500 mln aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2023 and also announced the pricing of the offering. The sale of the Unsecured Notes is expected to close on or around March 12, 2013. The Unsecured Notes will bear interest at 5.75% per annum and will mature on March 15, 2023. NXP intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to repay amounts outstanding under its Term Loan B that it entered into on February 16, 2012, and thereby decrease the amount of variable rate debt in its capital structure.
9:02AM Agilent: FDA approves two dako assays as companion diagnostics for Genentech's new breast cancer medicine Kadcyla ( A) 42.03 : Dako, an Agilent Technologies Company and worldwide provider of cancer diagnostics, announced it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the addition of Kadcyla in the labeling of two Dako companion diagnostic assays. Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab emtansine) is Genentech's (RHHBY) new medicine for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who have received prior treatment with Genentech's cancer medicine Herceptin (trastuzumab) and a taxane chemotherapy.
Texas Instruments (TXN) and 4DSP announced their collaboration on a new mezzanine card, the FMC667, for mission critical applications.
8:33AM Xilinx increased its quarterly dividend to $0.25/share from $0.22/share ( XLNX) 36.39 :
- Vishay Precision Group (VPG) announced that Whistler Technology is distributing the complete line of Vishay Foil Resistors brand Bulk Metal Foil resistors throughout the United Kingdom.
- Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) announced that its Silicon-on-insulator switching technology is now being utilized by European, Japanese, Korean and North American car manufacturers for advanced infotainment systems
8:07AM Cree issues Q3 business update; raises Q3 EPS and revs guidance ( CREE) 44.72 : Co raises guidance for Q3 (Mar), sees EPS of $0.31-0.36 vs. $0.33 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate and above prior guidance of $0.30-0.35; sees Q3 (Mar) revs of $335-350 mln vs. $335.93 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate and above its prior guidance of $325-345 mln.
Additional operational metrics:
- The GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin targets remain the same as previously announced with GAAP gross margin targeted to be similar to Q2 and non-GAAP gross margin targeted to be 39.5%
- Operating expenses are targeted to be ~$2 mln higher than previously announced, due to higher R&D and marketing costs to support the new product launch.
Cree (CREE) introduced a series of LED bulbs available exclusively at The Home Depot (HD).
HP (HPQ) announced that Teradyne has selected HP FlexNetwork architecture to improve operational efficiency, reduce network downtime and boost design-phase efficiency for new products.
7:32AM Qualcomm increases quarterly dividend by 40% to $0.35/share from $0.25/share; announces new $5 bln stock repurchase program ( QCOM) 66.64 : Co announced that its Board of Directors has approved a 40 percent increase in the Company's quarterly cash dividend and, effective immediately, a new $5.0 bln stock repurchase program to replace the prior $4.0 bln stock repurchase program, which had $2.5 bln of repurchase authority remaining. The cash dividend will increase from $0.25 to $0.35 per share of common stock and will be effective for quarterly dividends payable after March 27, 2013.
DSP Group (DSPG) announced that Lightspeed has chosen DSP Group's XceedR DECT CAT-iq 2.0 platform to deliver HD audio for its new classroom audio products, Topcat and Flexcat.
ZTE (ZTCOF) announced a strategic collaboration with Intel (INTC) focused on the Intel Atom Processor Z2580 platform.
Cisco (CSCO) announced that Telenet, a cable TV operator in Belgium, has selected the Cisco Videoscape Snowflake user interface to provide advanced navigation of content and services across their platform. |
