6:49 pm First Midwest Banc misses by $0.01 (FMBI) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.30 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.31.
• Produced a return on average tangible common equity of 12%, up from 10% for the third quarter of 2014 and consistent with the second quarter of 2015.
  
• Grew fee-based revenues to $33 million, an increase of 12% from the third quarter of 2014 and 5% from the second quarter of 2015.
• Decreased non-performing assets to $71 million, down 33% from September 30, 2014 and 6% from June 30, 2015.
• Reduced net loan charge-offs to $3.1 million for the third quarter of 2015, down 81% from the third quarter of 2014 and 45% from the second quarter of 2015.
  

6:24 pm Renasant and KeyWorth Bank announce definitive merger agreement; KeyWorth will merge with and into Renasant in a transaction valued at ~$58.7 mln (RNST) :

Co announces the signing of a definitive merger agreement. Under the agreement, KeyWorth will merge with and into Renasant Bank in a transaction valued at approximately $58.7 million. Founded in 2007, KeyWorth operates six offices in the Atlanta metropolitan area and as of June 30, 2015, had approximately $389 million in total assets, which included approximately $246 million in total loans, and approximately $336 million in total deposits.

• According to the terms of the merger agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, KeyWorth shareholders will receive 0.4494 shares of Renasant common stock for each share of KeyWorth common stock. Based on Renasant's 20-day average closing price of $33.38 per share as of October 19, 2015, the aggregate deal value is approximately $58.7 million, or $15.00 per share. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Renasant's estimated earnings and tangible book value per share and has an IRR which exceeds internal thresholds.

5:47 pm Packaging Corp misses by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus (PKG) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.28; revenues fell 3.2% year/year to $1.47 bln vs the $1.5 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $1.03 vs. $1.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  • "We expect seasonally lower volumes for containerboard and corrugated products as well as a seasonally less rich mix in corrugated products, compared to the third quarter. In addition, we expect seasonally lower volumes and a less rich mix in white papers. With colder weather, wood and fuel costs are also expected to be seasonally higher. Finally, as previously reported, maintenance outage costs are expected to be $.10 per share higher in the fourth quarter due to the planned 24-day outage at our Jackson, Alabama white papers mill for a major rebuild of the recovery boiler which will reduce production and increase costs. Considering these items, we expect fourth quarter earnings of $1.03 per share."

5:39 pm Southwest Bancorp reports EPS in-line (OKSB) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.22 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.22. 

• Loan growth was $98.7 million, or 7%, for the third quarter and $148.1 million, or 11%, for the first nine months of 2015.
• The quarterly net interest margin improved to 3.34% at September 30, 2015 compared to 3.31% at June 30, 2015. The quarterly efficiency ratio improved to 68.25% for the third quarter, reflecting management's commitment to improved operating performance.
• As of September 30, 2015, total assets were $2.1 billion, an increase of $28.3 million from June 30, 2015.

5:37 pm Pinnacle Finl beats by $0.02 (PNFP) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.66 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.64.
• Revenues (excluding securities gains and losses) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2015 were a record $83.5 million, an increase of $12.2 million from $71.3 million in the second quarter of 2015. Revenues (excluding securities gains and losses) increased 33.8 percent over the same quarter last year.
• Loans at Sept. 30, 2015 were a record $6.336 billion, an increase of $1.506 billion from June 30, 2015 and $1.915 billion from Sept. 30, 2014, reflecting year-over-year growth of 43.3 percent.
• Average balances of noninterest-bearing deposit accounts were $1.690 billion in the third quarter of 2015 and represented approximately 28.6 percent of total average deposit balances for the quarter.

5:35 pm Rush Enterprises reports Q3 EPS of $0.48 vs. $0.57 a year ago, Q3 revs +4.3% to $1.29 bln were in-line with consensus estimates (RUSHA) :  

5:33 pm Volt Info announces its Board has appointed Michael Dean as CEO, effective immediately; Dana Messina to become Chairman of the Board (VISI) : Co announces that its Board of Directors has appointed Michael Dean to serve as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Dean has served as Volt's Chairman of the Board since May 2015 and as interim President and Chief Executive Officer since June 2015. Mr. Dean will remain a member of the board, but will no longer act as Chairman. Concurrent with this announcement, the Board of Directors has appointed Dana Messina, a current Board member, as Chairman.

5:32 pm A. Schulman reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides FY16 EPS below consensus (SHLM) :

• Reports Q4 (Aug) earnings of $0.64 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.64; revenues rose 7.4% year/year to $674.02 mln vs the $685.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Capital expenditures for fiscal 2015 were $42.6 million compared with $35.1 million last year.
• Co issues downside guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $2.80-2.85, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.97 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Guidance includes the accretive impact of the Citadel acquisition.

5:30 pm Volt Info names Michael Dean as President and CEO effective immediately (VISI) : ean has served as Volt's Chairman of the Board since May 2015 and as interim President and Chief Executive Officer since June 2015. Concurrent with this announcement, the Board of Directors has appointed Dana Messina, a current Board member, as Chairman.

5:22 pm Targa Resources increases quarterly dividend 4% to $0.91 from $0.875 per share (TRGP) :  

5:21 pm Terex misses by $0.04, beats on revs, warns will be at or near low end of previous FY15 guidance range (TEX) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.58 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.62; revenues fell 9.3% year/year to $1.64 bln vs the $1.56 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

• Backlog for orders deliverable during the next twelve months was $1,482 million at September 30, 2015, a decrease of 19.2% from June 30, 2015 and a decrease of 13.0% from September 30, 2014.
  
• Says continues to make progress towards the completion of the merger with Konecranes Plc
• "Given where we are in the year and the challenging environment we are operating in, we believe we will be at or near the low end of our previously announced earnings guidance for the full year 2015." In July the company guided for FY15 seeing EPS of $1.90-2.10 (lowered from $2.00-2.30) vs. $2.01 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate (The CURRENT Capital IQ consensus estimate calls for EPS of 1.92; they saw FY15 revs of $6.1-6.4 bln (lowered from $6.2-6.6 bln) vs. $6.55 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate (The CURRENT Capital IQ consensus estimate calls for revs of 6.395 bln)

5:12 pm Renasant reports EPS in-line (RNST) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.53 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.53. 
• For the third quarter of 2015, the Company's return on average assets and return on average equity were 0.81% and 6.28%, respectively, as compared to 1.07% and 8.84%, respectively, for the third quarter of 2014.
• The Company's 2015 third quarter return on average tangible assets and return on average tangible equity were 0.93% and 12.20%, respectively, as compared to 1.20% and 16.50%, respectively, for the third quarter of 2014.
• Excluding merger expenses on an after-tax basis, return on average assets and return on average equity were 1.07% and 8.28%, respectively, and return on average tangible assets and return on average tangible equity were 1.14% and 14.95%, respectively, for the third quarter of 2015.

5:08 pm FMC Tech beats by $0.03, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus (FTI) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.61 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.58; revenues fell 21.8% year/year to $1.54 bln vs the $1.67 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.61, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.60 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

5:02 pm WSI Industries, Inc. reports Q4 EPS of ($0.01) vs. $0.10 a year ago; revs -22.5% y/y to $8.8 mln (WSCI) :  

5:00 pm Cabot to restructure its operations with anticipated cost savings of ~$50 mln in FY16 through the reduction of ~300 positions globally (CBT) :

The co announced its intention to restructure its operations with anticipated cost savings of ~$50 mln in fiscal 2016 as compared to fiscal 2015. As proposed, the plan would result in the reduction of ~300 positions globally and the savings are expected to begin in the second quarter of fiscal 2016.

• The Company expects the restructuring plan, which is subject to local consultation requirements and processes in certain locations, to result in a pre-tax charge to earnings of approximately $35 million, mainly comprised of severance and employee benefits. Net cash outlays related to these actions are expected to be approximately $30 million, substantially all of which is expected to be paid during fiscal 2016.

4:46 pm Hubbell increases quarterly dividend to $0.63/share from $0.56/share (HUB.B) :  

4:35 pm Jetblue Airways issues a redemption call for its 5.5% convertible debentures due 2038 for 100% of principal (JBLU) :  

4:33 pm Navient reports EPS in-line (NAVI) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.47 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.47. The decrease is primarily the result of a $69 million reduction in net interest income.
• Third-quarter 2015 operating expenses totaled $228 million, including $8 million ($0.01 diluted earnings per share) of regulatory-related costs and $11 million ($0.02 diluted earnings per share) of one-time conversion costs to move $4.9 billion of FFELP loans to our servicing system.

4:33 pm Essendant reports EPS in-line, misses on revs (ESND) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.00 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.00; revenues fell 2.0% year/year to $1.39 bln vs the $1.44 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Fourth Quarter Cost Initiative:

• The company remains committed to its strategy and has executed well on its priorities.
• However, additional steps must be taken to reduce cost through management de-layering in order to achieve broader functional alignment of the organization, and to counteract headwinds in the industrial and energy markets.

4:32 pm Cathay Bancorp reports EPS in-line (CATY) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.47 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.47. 
• The net interest margin was 3.36% for the third quarter of 2015 compared to 3.31% for the third quarter of 2014.
• "In the third quarter, with the completion of the Asia Bancshares acquisition, our deposits grew $900 million to $10.24 billion while loans grew $538 million to $10.04 billion. Excluding the loans and deposits from Asia Bank, our loan growth was $116 million, or 5% annualized, and our deposit growth was $479 million, or 20% annualized, for the third quarter of 2015."

4:32 pm Fulton Fincl reports EPS in-line; approves $50 mln share repurchase program (FULT) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.20 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.20.
• NIM decreased two basis points, or 0.6%, to 3.18% in Q3 from 3.20% in Q2.
• Co announced approval for $50 mln share repurchase program (~2.3% outstanding shares)
  
  

4:30 pm Black Stone Minerals to commence a cash tender offer to purchase up to 100% of its 117,963 outstanding Series A Preferred Units (BSM) : Black Stone Minerals intends to offer to purchase up to 100% of its 117,963 preferred units at their par value of $1,000.00 per preferred unit plus unpaid accrued yield. The partnership expects to commence the tender offer during the first week of November, and the tender offer will remain open for at least twenty business days following the date of the commencement of the offer.

4:22 pm Celestica misses by $0.09, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (CLS) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.31; revenues fell 1.0% year/year to $1.41 bln vs the $1.46 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.27-0.33 vs. $0.32 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $1.375-1.475 bln vs. $1.48 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:21 pm Norfolk Southern reports it will no longer accept shipments of poisonous-inhalation-hazard commodities, or allow commuter trains on its lines, effective Dec. 1, 2015 (NSC) :

Co said its rail operating subsidiaries will no longer accept shipments of Poisonous-Inhalation-Hazard commodities, effective Dec. 1, 2015. PIH commodities in transit on Dec. 1 will be delivered to destination by Dec. 31.

• Additionally, passenger and commuter trains operated by Amtrak, Virginia Railway Express, and Metra will be prohibited by law from operating on NS after Dec. 31. The cessation of service-effective across the entire NS rail network-is required to comply with federal safety laws that become effective after Dec. 31, the government's deadline for installation of PTC. Despite investment of nearly $1 billion to date, NS will not meet the deadline.
• Co stated: "We remain hopeful that Congress will grant the railroad industry an extension of the PTC deadline and appreciate the consideration elected officials and regulators are giving this issue. However, in order to conduct lawful operations on Jan. 1, 2016, and beyond, we must plan ahead to clear affected loaded and empty freight cars from our system."

4:21 pm Pzena reports Q2 EPS of $0.12 vs. 0.13 a year ago; revs +3.9% to $30.8 mln (PZN) : Average assets under management for the third quarter of 2015 were $27.1 billion, a decrease of 4.2% from $28.3 billion for the second quarter of 2015 and an increase of 1.1% from $26.8 billion for the third quarter of 2014.

4:19 pm Discover Financial Services beats by $0.05, reports revs in-line (DFS) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.38 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.33; revenues fell 0.1% year/year to $2.19 bln vs the $2.2 bln Capital IQ Consensus. 
• Total loans grew 4.0% YoY to $70.1 billion.
• Credit card loans grew $2.0 billion, or 3.6%, to $55.7 billion and Discover card sales volume increased 2.6% from the prior year or ~7% excluding gas purchases.
• Net charge-off rate for credit card loans decreased 12 basis points from the prior year to 2.04% and the credit card delinquency rate for loans over 30 days past due decreased 6 basis points to 1.65%.
• Payment Services transaction dollar volume for the segment was $46.0 billion, down 7% from the prior year.

4:17 pm Chipotle Mexican Grill misses by $0.03, reports revs in-line; sees low to mid single digit comps in FY15 (reaffirmed) and FY16 (CMG) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $4.59 per share, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $4.62; revenues rose 12.2% year/year to $1.22 bln vs the $1.22 bln Capital IQ Consensus. 
• Q3 comps +2.6%, vs. estimates just below 2.5%.
  • Comparable restaurant sales growth was driven primarily by an increase in customer visits, and to a lesser extent from a menu price increase taken in certain markets in the third quarter of 2015.
  • Restaurant level operating margin was 28.3%, a decrease of 50 bps, primarily driven by increased labor costs, and higher marketing and promotion costs, partially offset by lower food costs as a percent of revenue.
• FY15: Reaffirms low-to-mid single digit comparable restaurant sales increases (consensus +5.2%), increasing guidance to 215-225 new restaurant openings, up from the previously announced range of 190-205
• FY16: Low-single digit comparable restaurant sales increases (consensus +5.3%); sees 220-235 new restaurant openings.
• "We have currently returned carnitas to 90% of our restaurants, and will look to bring it back to 100% of restaurants during the fourth quarter."

4:17 pm Forest City Enterprises announces that shareholders approved all proposals related to the planned conversion to a REIT (FCE.A) : Forest City Realty Trust, as the successor to Forest City Enterprises, Inc. upon completion of the REIT conversion, plans to elect REIT status pursuant to the Internal Revenue Service Code effective January 1, 2016, and will continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols FCEA and FCEB.

4:16 pm Ingram Micro agrees to acquire Brazil-based Grupo AO; expects $300 mln in annual value-add solutions revs, and be modestly accretive to 2016 FY non-GAAP EPS (IM) :

Co has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sao Paulo based Grupo AO, provider of critical value-add IT solutions in Latin America.

• AO key leadership has agreed to join co upon close of the transaction to assist in the integration and help drive continued growth and expanding profitability across the combined business thereafter. Transaction expected to close late in 4Q15.
• AO is expected to contribute in excess of $300 mln in annual value-add solutions revenue to co and be modestly accretive to 2016 FY non-GAAP EPS.

4:16 pm Assoc Banc-Corp increases quarterly dividend to $0.11/share from $0.10/share (ASB) :  

4:15 pm Westell Tech appoints Mike Moran as SVP and Chief Technology Officer (WSTL) : Prior to joining Westell, Moran served in a variety of positions at Tellabs (TLAB), covering software defined networking, cloud data center evolution, network function virtualization, optical networking, and packet switching. Before that he was Chief Architect at McAfee

4:14 pm Great Basin Scientific receives a notice from Nasdaq for non-compliance with the exchange's minimum market cap and $1 minimum price bid standards (GBSN) :

Co has been provided a grace period of 180 calendar days, through April 11, 2016, to evidence compliance with the rules. Co is considering its options to address the deficiencies, including as previously announced to file a proxy for a special shareholders meeting to solicit a vote on the implementation of a reverse stock split to evidence compliance with the $1.00 bid price requirement.

4:12 pm Marlin Business Services CEO Daniel Dyer retires effective immediately; EVP Edward Siciliano named interim CEO (MRLN) : Korn Ferry has been engaged to lead a search for Mr. Dyer's successor.

4:11 pm WesBanco Inc misses by $0.05 (WSBC) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.58 per share, $0.05 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.63.

• Net interest income increased $12.0 million or 24.7% in the third quarter of 2015 compared to the third quarter of 2014 due to a 33.3% increase in average earning assets, primarily through the acquisition, and through a 6.3% increase in average loan balances, exclusive of ESB, partially offset by a 22 basis point decrease in the net interest margin. Year-to-date, net interest income increased$32.1 million or 22.3%.
• The net interest margin decreased to 3.36% in the third quarter compared to 3.58% in the same quarter of 2014. The decrease in the net interest margin is primarily due to a 41 basis point decline in the average rate earned on securities due to lower yields on ESB's retained securities portfolio and other purchased securities, while rates on loans decreased by 15 basis points due to repricing of existing loans and competitive pricing on new loans.

4:11 pm Owens-Illinois appoints Andres Lopez as CEO effective January 1 (OI) : O-I's Board of Directors affirmed Lopez's appointment at its October board meeting, marking the final step in the CEO succession process. Current Chairman and CEO Al Stroucken will retain the role of Executive Chairman of the Board as of Jan. 1, 2016, until the annual shareholder meeting in May 2016. As chief operating officer of the company, Lopez has been responsible for O-I's business and operations in all of the company's geographic regions.

4:11 pm Intuitive Surgical reports Q3 (Sep) results, beats on revs (ISRG) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $5.24 per share, including $0.77 tax benefit, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus of $4.23; revenues rose 7.2% year/year to $589.7 mln vs the $579.24 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Worldwide da Vinci procedures grew approximately 15% over the third quarter of 2014, driven primarily by growth in U.S. general surgery procedures and broad-based procedure growth in Asia and other international markets.
• The Company shipped 117 da Vinci Surgical Systems, compared with 111 in the third quarter of 2014 and 118 in the second quarter of 2015.

4:11 pm Manhattan Assoc beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; guides FY15 EPS above consensus, reaffirms FY15 revs guidance (MANH) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.42 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.36; revenues rose 13.3% year/year to $142.3 mln vs the $141.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $1.47-1.49, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.41 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $553-558 mln vs. $556.8 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• Co says it's pleased with its Q3 performance and year-to-date 2015 results. "Our associates continue to execute well serving our customers and delivering strong financial performance...Demand for our omni-channel, store and distribution management solutions continues to be strong and we continue to lead with product innovation to enhance our market leadership position. Our outlook for the balance of 2015 and the future is quite positive."

4:11 pm Vascular Solutions beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (VASC) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.25; revenues rose 16.0% year/year to $37 mln vs the $36.41 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.26-0.28, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.28 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $37-38 mln vs. $37.85 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:11 pm Electronics For Imaging reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (EFII) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.50 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.50; revenues rose 15.7% year/year to $228.7 mln vs the $228.78 mln Capital IQ Consensus. 
• "EFI delivered another solid quarter, overcoming the negative impact from various foreign currencies and weak emerging markets,"

4:10 pm Werner Enterprises beats by $0.01, misses on revs (WERN) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.44 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.43; revenues fell 3.2% year/year to $534.45 mln vs the $548.59 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

4:10 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Unable to Overcome Weakness in Health Care and Technology (:WRAPX) :

The stock market finished Tuesday on a quiet note after spending the session inside a narrow trading range. The S&P 500 shed 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%) underperformed throughout the day.

Just like yesterday, today's affair was very quiet with the S&P 500 spending the majority of the session near its flat line. The benchmark index opened with a modest loss and rallied into the green during morning action, but could not climb above its 100-day moving average (2,039), which served as resistance. The index followed that short-lived rally with a return into the red, where it settled for the day.

Six sectors ended the day with gains, but top-weighted technology (-0.3%) and health care (-1.5%) struggled, which kept the market under pressure. Notably, the technology sector could not overcome the relative weakness in the shares of IBM (IBM 140.68, -8.54) after Big Blue reported below-consensus revenue and lowered its guidance, which overshadowed a bottom-line beat.

Staying in the tech sector, chipmakers also struggled with the PHLX Semiconductor Index shedding 0.2%. Micron (MU 17.09, -2.07) was the weakest performer, sliding 10.8%, after Intel (INTC 33.44, -0.15) announced plans to increase its investment in non-volatile memory technology.

Meanwhile, the health care sector (-1.5%) spent the day behind the remaining groups due to daylong weakness in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 305.96, -9.98) retreated into the afternoon to settle lower by 3.1%, which contributed to the weakness in the Nasdaq Composite.

On the upside, the telecom services sector (+0.8%) held the lead throughout the session thanks to a 1.2% spike in Verizon (VZ 45.24, +0.54) after the company beat earnings expectations and reaffirmed its full-year revenue growth outlook.

Similar to telecom services, financials (+0.5%) and industrials (+0.6%) ended the day with solid gains. Travelers (TRV 108.95, +2.63) spiked 2.5%, contributing to the relative strength in financials, while United Technologies (UTX 95.70, +3.65) surged 4.0%, underpinning the industrial space. Transport stocks also rallied alongside the sector with the Dow Jones Transportation Average climbing 0.6%.

Treasuries notched their lows during morning action and they remained near those levels until the close with the 10-yr yield rising five basis points to 2.07%.

Just like yesterday, investor participation was a bit below average as fewer than 800 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Housing Starts, which increased 6.5% in September to 1.207 million from an upwardly revised 1.132 million (from 1.126 million) in August while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 1.150 million. That was the second time in 2015 that total new housing starts topped 1.200 million (1.211 million in June) and the first time that the level has been exceeded on two occasions in one year since 2007. New single-family home construction remained robust in September with starts increasing 0.3% to 740,000 from 738,000

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which will be released at 7:00 ET.

• Nasdaq Composite +3.1% YTD
• S&P 500 -1.4% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average -3.4% YTD
• Russell 2000 -3.5% YTD

4:10 pm Illumina reports Q3 in-line after warning on October 5; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, reaffirms Q4 revs guidance (ILMN) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.80 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.79; revenues rose 14.5% year/year to $550.3 mln vs the $553.17 mln Capital IQ Consensus. 
  • Warned on Oct 5: Guided Q3 rev $550 mln vs. 569 mln consensus, Q4 $570 mln vs. $603 mln consensus
• Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.78-0.80, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.86 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $570 mln vs. $571.85 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• "The fundamentals of our business remain strong, despite a 3% miss to revenue expectations," stated Jay Flatley, CEO. "Our competitive position and product development pipeline are as robust as ever, which we believe will enable our continued penetration of the enormous market opportunities ahead."

4:09 pm VMware reports Q3 results inline with prior guidance; beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line (VMW) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.02 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.00, and inline with prior guidance; revenues rose 10.2% year/year to $1.67 bln vs the $1.66 bln Capital IQ Consensus, also inline with prior guidance.
  
  
• License revenues for the third quarter were $681 million, an increase of 7% from the third quarter of 2014, or up 11% year-over-year in constant currency.
  
  
• Operating cash flows for the third quarter were $411 million. Free cash flows for the quarter were $321 million.

4:09 pm Cepheid reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides FY15 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (CPHD) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.13); revenues rose 9.8% year/year to $126.5 mln vs the $126.45 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues guidance for FY15, sees EPS of ($0.01) - $0.01, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.07 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $537-541 mln vs. $538.02 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 
• "Worldwide, we now have more than 9,200 GeneXpert Systems installed, and a menu of up to 23 tests spanning healthcare associated infections, critical infectious disease, sexual health and virology."

4:09 pm Yahoo! misses by $0.01, misses on revs (YHOO) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.15 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.16; revenues fell 8.3% year/year to $1 bln vs the $1.02 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Q3 Maven (Mobile, Video, Nativem and Social) Revenue +43% y/y; Q2 +60% y/y
  Q3 Mobile revenue represented 20% y/y of traffic-driven revenue; Q2 22% y/y
  
• Q3 Search Revenue:
  
  • Gross search revenue +2% y/y; Q2 +15% y/y
  • Number of Paid Clicks increased +5% y/y; Q2 +13%y/y
    
  • Price-per-Click increased -2% y/y; Q2 +4% y/y
    
• Q3 Display Revenue:
  
  • GAAP display revenue +14% y/y; Q2 +15% y/y
    
  • Number of Ads Sold +8% y/y; Q2 +9% y/y
    
  • Price-per-Ad +8% y/y; Q2 +10% y/
    

4:07 pm Chubb beats by $0.36 (CB) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $2.37 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.36 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.01; net premiums written rose 0.1% year/year to $3.17 bln vs the $3.24 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• The third quarter combined loss and expense ratio was 83.3% in 2015 compared to 85.8% in 2014. The impact of catastrophes accounted for 1.0 percentage point of the combined ratio in the third quarter of 2015 compared to 2.4 points in the third quarter of 2014. Excluding the impact of catastrophes, the third quarter combined ratio improved to 82.3% in 2015 from 83.4% in 2014.
• The expense ratio for the third quarter of 2015 was 31.5% compared to 31.8% in the corresponding year-earlier quarter.
• As previously announced, Chubb has entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger with ACE Limited, under which ACE has agreed to acquire Chubb for $62.93 in cash and 0.6019 of a share of ACE common stock for each share of Chubb common stock. A special meeting of Chubb shareholders to vote on the transaction will be held
  October 22, 2015. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.

4:07 pm Zix Corp beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (ZIXI) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.07 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.05; revenues rose 10.3% year/year to $14.0 mln vs the $13.8 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.05-0.06, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.06 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $14.1-14.4 mln vs. $14.4 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:07 pm PharMerica acquires McGuire Group Pharmacy; terms not disclosed (PMC) : McGuire provides comprehensive pharmacy services to long-term care facilities and other customers in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area.

4:06 pm EMC and VMware (VMW) announce plans to form a new cloud services business, by combining their respective cloud capabilities under the Virtustream brand (EMC) :

Co's announced plans to form the Federation's new cloud services business by combining their respective cloud capabilities, along with existing Virtustream cloud offerings, under the Virtustream brand. Virtustream will be jointly owned by VMware (VMW) and EMC and led by Rodney Rogers, CEO of Virtustream.

• The parties are finalizing a definitive agreement for the transaction. Virtustream's financial results will be consolidated into VMware's financial statements beginning in Q1 2016.

4:06 pm Bar Harbor Bankshares increases quarterly dividend to $0.26/share from $0.255/share (BHB) :  

4:06 pm Cree beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS and rev mid-points below consensus (CREE) :

• Reports Q1 (Sep) earnings of $0.21 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.20; revenues fell 0.5% year/year to $425.5 mln vs the $418.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.21-0.26 vs. $0.26 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $425-445 mln vs. $445.11 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• "Fiscal 2016 is off to a good start, with Q1 revenue and profits above the middle of our targeted range, driven by strong demand for commercial LED lighting and a solid quarter for our LED business..."

4:05 pm Interactive Brokers misses by $0.01, misses on revs (IBKR) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.35 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.36; revenues rose 109.9% year/year to $359 mln vs the $378.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• 61% Electronic Brokerage pretax profit margin for this quarter, down from 63% in the year-ago quarter
• 51% Market Making pretax profit margin for this quarter, up from 14% in the year-ago quarter
• Customer equity grew 13% from the year-ago quarter to $62.1 billion while customer debits decreased by 9% to $15.8 billion
• Customer accounts increased 18% from the year-ago quarter to 322 thousand.

4:05 pm Tremor Video names John Walsh as Chief Technology Officer (TRMR) : The co announced that John Walsh has joined the company as CTO. Former CTO and co-founder Steven Lee will continue with the co reporting to CEO, Bill Day. Mr. Walsh joins Tremor Video from CareCloud, a cloud-based healthcare IT solutions provider, where he served as CTO responsible for engineering and operations since January 2013

4:04 pm iRobot beats by $0.17, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (IRBT) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.42 per share, $0.17 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.25; revenues rose 0.1% year/year to $143.6 mln vs the $145.34 mln Capital IQ Consensus.  Adjusted EBITDA for Q3 of 2015 was $25.9 mln, compared with $29.7 mln last year.
• Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.53-0.58 vs. $0.66 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $200-205 mln vs. $215.60 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• "While we are experiencing weakness in a few isolated international markets, we expect the macro impact to be temporary. Global spending on robotic vacuum cleaners continues to grow."

4:03 pm LDR Hldg announces that the FDA has cleared the ROI-C Cervical Cage for use with allograft; device previously was cleared only for use with autogenous bone graft (LDRH) :  

4:01 pm Ambassadors Group announces intent to file for dissolution, and approves an initial liquidating distribution of $2.85/share (EPAX) :

Co intends to file a certificate of dissolution with the Delaware Secretary of State and to close its stock transfer books and discontinue recording transfers of its common stock as of the close of business on October 23, 2015. The company also plans to file a Form 25 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on such date to delist its common stock from The NASDAQ Stock Market.

• The dissolution of the company was approved by its stockholders at a special meeting held on October 13, 2015. In connection with the dissolution, the company's Board of Directors has approved an initial liquidating distribution of $2.85 per share

4:01 pm Parkervision receives an additional 180 days, or until April 18, 2016, to regain compliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement (PRKR) : The co announced that The Nasdaq Stock Market has provided the co with an additional 180 days, or until April 18, 2016, to regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement set forth under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5500(a)(2). If at any time during the 180 day period, the closing bid price of the co's common stock is at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten consecutive business days, Nasdaq will provide the co a written confirmation of compliance and the matter will be closed.

4:00 pm Concordia Healthcare updates on financing, says term loans relating to financing for Amdipharm Mercury have been fully allocated to institutional accounts (CXRX) :

The co announced that its term loans of ~$1.865 bln, being raised in connection with the financing of its acquisition of Amdipharm Mercury Limited, have been fully allocated to institutional accounts. The Company previously announced fully committed debt financing of ~$2.8 bln. This debt financing will consist of the Term Loans, the senior notes of $790 mln and equity bridge loans in the aggregate amount of $180 mln. The $2.8 bln of debt financing and $520 mln raised from the Company's recent public equity offering, along with cash on hand, will be used to fund the purchase price for AMCo, refinance certain Concordia and AMCo debt, and complete the acquisition, which is scheduled to close on or about October 21, 2015.

• Following the closing of the acquisition, Concordia's total debt, including both new debt and existing notes of US$735 million, will have a maximum blended interest rate of approximately 7.25 per cent.

3:43 pm Treasury Market Summary (BONDX) :

Government Yields Jump Higher

• Treasury prices moved lower in a curve-steepening move today as housing start and building permit data for September showed that the housing market has been unaffected by the financial market volatility in August. The steady drumbeat of economic data that has so far failed to show significant deterioration in the economic outlook is outweighing the "divisions in the FOMC" narrative from last week. That story, prompted by public remarks from Fed Governors Brainard and Tarullo in which they questioned the advisability of using progress on the employment front as a sufficient condition for policy normalization
  
• Yield Check:
  
  • 2-yr: +3 bps to 0.63%
    
  • 5-yr: +4 bps to 1.38%
    
  • 10-yr: +5 bps to 2.07%
    
  • 30-yr: +4 bps to 2.92%

• News:
  
  • U.S. housing starts rose 6.5% in September to 1.207 mln from an upwardly-revised 1.132 mln (from 1.126 mln) in August. The Briefing.com consensus expected housing starts to increase to 1.150 mln
    
    • That was the second time in 2015 that total new housing starts topped 1.200 mln (1.211 mln in June), and the first time two months have exceeded that level in one year since 2007
      
  • New building permits fell to 1.103 mln in September from 1.161 mln in October. The Briefing.com consensus was for 1.170 mln new permits. The initial reading for September was 1.17 mln
    
  • A report from the European Central Bank on bank lending dampened speculation for an expansion of that central bank's asset purchase program. The report showed banks' credit standards easing for the sixth straight quarter
    
  • The blackout period preceding the October FOMC 27-28 begins tonight

• Commodities:
  
  • WTI crude: -0.15% to $46.21/bbl.
    
  • Gold: +0.36% to $1,177.0/troy oz.
    
  • Copper: unch at $2.3675/lb.
    
• Currencies:
  
  • EUR/USD: +0.13% to $1.1344
    
  • USD/JPY: +0.30% to 119.87
    
• Data Out Wednesday:
  
  • MBA Mortgage Index for the week ending 10/17 (07:00 ET)
    
  • Crude Inventories for the week ending 10/17 (10:30 ET)

3:32 pm Earnings Calendar (:SUMRX) :

Today after the close look for the following companies to report:

• SHLM, EFII, WERN, ACE, CATY, CMG, FMBI, FTI, FULT, IBKR, ILMN, IRBT, ISRG, LTXB, MANH, NAVI, OKSB, PKG, PNFP, RNST, VASC, VMW, WSBC, YHOO, ZIXI, DFS, ESND, CB, CLS, CPHD, TEX, CREE

Tomorrow before the open look for the following companies to report:

• UNF, KNL, ABG, ARMH, BHI, MAN, ABT, ANGI, APH, BA, BABY, CS, EMC, IPG, ITW, KO, LAD, MKTX, NTRS, NYCB, OC, PII, SCL, SEIC, SLGN, STJ, TMO, TUP, WFT, ABB, AOS, BKU, CSL, GM, GNTX, KMB, SYNT, WIT, BIIB, NLSN, SVU, HLI

3:31 pm Synthetic Biologics reports the presentation of results supporting the proposed therapeutic mode-of-action of SYN-010, in irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (SYN) :

Co announced that experimental results supporting the proposed therapeutic mode-of-action of SYN-010 in irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) were presented today in a poster at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Meeting. A poster, entitled "Lovastatin Lactone Inhibits Methane Production in Human Stool Homogenates," included data from studies comparing the effects of different statins and statin forms on methane production by stool homogenates from five female donors with high levels of breath methane.

• The study concluded that, of the various statins examined, lovastatin lactone was the only effective inhibitor of methane production in the stool homogenates, significantly inhibiting methane levels by -65% compared to the control stool.
• Co stated: "This lovastatin data suggests that SYN-010 has therapeutic potential to diminish the production of methane in the gut, thereby treating the cause of IBS-C, not just the symptoms. We continue to expect topline results from the first Phase 2 clinical trial of SYN-010 during the fourth quarter of 2015, and topline results from the second Phase 2 clinical trial during the first half of 2016."

3:01 pm Market View: SPY, DIA, QQQ, & IWM with a notable push higher in recent trade as the final hour gets underway here with SPX @ 2033.04 -0.62 (:TECHX) :  

3:00 pm Currency Market Summary (:FOREX) :

Loonie Recovers Post-Election Losses

• The Canadian dollar slid following the Conservative party's loss in the general election yesterday, which removed Stephen Harper from the role of prime minster after almost a decade in power. Despite the victory by the more left-leaning Liberal party, the loonie has recovered significant ground today
  
• The U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.04% to 94.89 today, clawing back overnight losses after strong housing market data out of the U.S
  
  • Housing starts in the U.S. rose to an annual rate of 1206K in September, beating out the Briefing.com consensus of 1150K. The pace in August was1132K (revised up from 1126K)
    
• EUR/USD: +0.09% to $1.1339
  
  • Germany's producer price index was down 0.4% m/m, more than forecasts but better than the 0.5% fall in August
    
  • The PPI declined 2.1% in the year to September, marking the 26th straight month of year-on-year declines
    
    • The eurozone's current account surplus fell more than expected in August, dropping to EUR 17.7 bln from an upwardly-revised EUR 25.6 bln in July
      
• GBP/USD: -0.15% to $1.5442
  
• USD/CHF: +0.01% to 0.9564
  
  • Switzerland's trade surplus widened to CHF 3.047 bln in September from a downwardly-revised CHF 2.862 bln in August
    
• USD/JPY: +0.34% to 119.92
  
• USD/CAD: -0.28% to 1.2987
  
  • Wholesale sales in Canada fell 0.1% m/m in August, worse than expected but in line with the change in July
    
• AUD/USD: +0.14% to $0.7258
  
  • The Reserve Bank of Australia released the minutes from its October board meeting today. The RBA saw the boom in property prices as the greatest risk to economic stability and noted that the job market was doing better than expected
    
    • Interest rate futures are pricing in a 1 in 3 chance for a rate cut at the RBA's November meeting
      
• NZD/USD: -0.72% to $0.6748
  
  • New Zealand's GlobalDairyTrade Price Index fell 3.1% in October after gaining 9.9% in September
    
    • The crucial role of dairy production in New Zealand's economy meant that the Kiwi got walloped on the release

2:07 pm SPY trading lower by 0.36%. Healthcare is the worst performing sector while Telecom and Industrials are the leaders. (SPY) :

2:01 pm Dime Community announces the retirement of Vice Chairman and President, Michael Devine, effective December 31, 2015; COO Kenneth Mahon to assume role of President (DCOM) : Devine will remain as Vice Chairman of the Boards of both the Company and Bank. Kenneth Mahon, currently Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, will assume the role of President and Chief Operating Officer as of January 1, 2016. Devine has agreed to provide consulting and other services to the Company and Bank for a period of three years.

2:00 pm Wilson Greatbatch prices its $360 million offering of senior notes due 2023 at 9.125% (GB) : Co intends to use the net proceeds from the notes as part of the financing for its previously announced acquisition of Lake Region Medical Holdings. The Lake Region acquisition is currently expected to close in late October

1:52 pm Patriot National terminates its previously announced public offering of $80 mln of its common stock in response to market conditions (shares halted) (PN) :  

1:49 pm Market View: Biotechnology with notable sector weakness here nearing the start of afternoon trading with QQQ now -0.80% just off session lows (:TECHX) :

• XBI now @ 64.10 -3.7%
• IBB now @ 305.90 -3.2%

1:37 pm Metals closing prices (:COMDX) :

• December gold ended today's session $5.00 higher (+0.4%) at $1177.70/oz
• December silver closed today's session $0.05 higher (+0.3%) at $15.89/oz
• December copper closed $0.01 higher (+0.4%) at $2.37/lb

1:37 pm FedEx and TNT Express N.V. (TNTEY) confirm they have not received a Statement of Objections from the European Commission (FDX) :

The internal deadline of the European Commission for issuing a Statement of Objections would have expired on 23 October 2015, but FedEx and TNT have been informed by the European Commission that no Statement of Objections will be issued.

• FedEx and TNT continue to expect that the Offer will close in the first half of calendar year 2016.

1:22 pm Notable movers of interest (SCANX) :

The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).

Large Cap Gainers

• UTX (96.84 +5.2%): Beat Q3 consensus EPS estimates by $0.11, missed on revs; reaffirmed FY15 EPS, revs guidance; authorized $12 bln new share repurchase program .
• SNDK (76.04 +5.61%): Bloomberg report out that SanDisk is in advanced talks to be acquired by Western Digital (WDC); per the article, conversations regarding price have been between $80-90/share, with WDC said to be leaning towards an all-cash offering.
• MNST (139.95 +5.46%): Gaining amid speculation its products are being tested at McDonald's (MCD) following a positive note from Evercore ISI

Large Cap Losers

• HOG (46.95 -16.24%): Missed Q3 EPS consensus estimates by $0.08, missed on revs, shipment guidance; lowered FY15 shipment, margin guidance; Price tgt lowered at Wunderlich.
• VRX (150 -8.44%): Shares extended recent multi-week downtrend after being downgraded to Sector Perform from Sector Outperform at CIBC.
• IBM (140.62 -5.76%): Beat Q3 consensus EPS estimates by $0.04, missed on revs; lowered FY15 guidance; Price tgt lowered at Stifel, RBC Capital Mkts, and UBS.

Mid Cap Gainers

• TMH (59.21 +12.78%): AmSurg (AMSG) proposed acquiring Team Health for $71.47/share, or ~$7.8 bln; Team Health subsequently rejected the unsolicited bid saying the offer contained insufficient value.
• DOV (61.68 +6.88%): Beat Q3 consensus EPS estimates by $0.07, missed on revs; lowered FY15 guidance; announced the acquisition of Italy-based JK Group SPA and Gala Industries for a combined ~$520 mln.
• FLEX (12.06 +7.65%): Reported Q2 EPS, revs ahead of consensus; guided Q3 in-line.

Mid Cap Losers

• HZNP (15.4 -19.24%): Underperforming following a negative feature in the NYTimes.
• BIN (22.37 -17.36%): Announced that it sees Q3 revs below consensus, reaffirmed FY15 rev guidance, again trimmed its FY15 adj-EBITDA guidance; Downgraded at BMO Capital, Wedbush, Stifel, CIBC, others.
• ANAC (92.07 -14.23%): Biotech bloodbath back on; may be related to updated figures showing Hilary Clinton expanding her lead over fellow democratic candidate Berny Sanders (AKRX, ALNY, NVAX, AGIO, OPK, MDCO among long list of names in the space under pressure).

1:07 pm Brunswick raises its quarterly common stock dividend by 20% to $0.15/share, up from $0.125/share Q/Q (BC) :  

12:53 pm Midday Market Summary: Health Care and Technology Weigh (:WRAPX) :

The major averages hover in the red at midday with the Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%) trading behind the S&P 500 (-0.2%).

Equity indices hover near their opening levels after failing to hold a slim late-morning gain. The S&P 500 opened with a two-point loss, but was able to make a brief appearance in the green during late-morning action. However, the index hit resistance in the neighborhood of its 100-day moving average (2,039) around 10:45 ET, returning into negative territory shortly thereafter.

Five sectors display midday gains with the telecom services sector (+0.9%) holding the lead thanks to better than expected earnings from Verizon (VZ 45.49, +0.79). The stock trades higher by 1.8%, but more notably, financials (+0.3%) and industrials (+0.7%) also display relative strength.

The financial sector has received a boost from Travelers (TRV 109.04, +2.72) as the stock trades higher by 2.6% in reaction to better than expected results. Meanwhile, other large sector components like Citigroup (C 52.86, 0.00) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 62.57, +0.35) trade closer to their flat lines.

For its part, the industrial sector has rallied behind Dow component United Technologies (UTX 97.16, +5.11) as the stock trades up 5.6% after beating earnings estimates on below-consensus revenue. Elsewhere in the sector, Lockheed Martin (LMT 207.64, -3.00) has given up 1.4% despite beating earnings and revenue estimates.

On the downside, heavily-weighted health care (-1.4%) and technology (-0.5%) have kept the market on the defensive. IBM (IBM 140.51, -8.71) has pressured the technology sector after below-consensus revenue and lowered guidance overshadowed a bottom-line beat while biotechnology is responsible for the retreat in health care. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 306.54, -9.40) is lower by 3.0% at this juncture.

Treasuries retreated during morning action and they have held their ground for the past three hours or so with the 10-yr yield up four basis points at 2.06%.

Economic data was limited to Housing Starts, which increased 6.5% in September to 1.207 million from an upwardly revised 1.132 million (from 1.126 million) in August while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 1.150 million. That was the second time in 2015 that total new housing starts topped 1.200 million (1.211 million in June) and the first time that the level has been exceeded on two occasions in one year since 2007. New single-family home construction remained robust in September with starts increasing 0.3% to 740,000 from 738,000.

12:35 pm Market View: QQQ -0.55% & IWM -0.35% remain under pressure now in midday trading as they trade back near session lows here (:TECHX) :  

12:20 pm Healthcare & Pharma by far the biggest laggard in the SPX 500 here in midday trading with XLV @ 69.01 -1.45% on session lows (SPY) :  

12:16 pm CBL & Assoc closes an extension/modification on its three unsecured credit facilities, and closes on a new $350 mln term loan (CBL) :

Co announces that it closed the extension and modification of its three major unsecured credit facilities totaling $1.1 bln and closed a new $350 mln term loan.

• Outstanding balances on all three lines of credit will bear interest at a rate equal to LIBOR plus 120 bps (20 bp improvement)
• The maturity date of the first $500 mln facility was extended through October 2019, with an option to extend to October 2020.
• The maturity date of the second $500 mln facility was extended to October 2020.
• The maturity date of the $100 mln facility was extended to October 2019, with an option to extend to October 2020.
• The aggregate commitment of $1.45 bln represents an increase of $150 mln. The $350 mln unsecured term loan matures in October 2017, with two one-year extension options available for a final maturity of October 2019.

12:03 pm Telecom- IYZ & Industrials- XLI remain the top SPX 500 sectors here into midday trading with SPX @ 2031.31 -2.35 (SPY) :  

12:02 pm Surgical Care Affiliates acquires an interest in Advanced Surgical Hospital; terms not disclosed (SCAI) : Effective September 1, 2015, Surgical Care Affiliates has partnered with the members of Advanced Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, a group of orthopedic and spine surgeons, to enhance and grow access to high quality surgical care in Southwestern Pennsylvania. In the transaction, SCA acquired an interest in Advanced Surgical Hospital in Washington, Pennsylvania, and SCA will provide management support services to the leadership of the hospital.

12:01 pm Lions Gate Entertainment and Leone Films Group renew and expand output deal to distribute theatrical titles from the Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment labels (LGF) :  

11:47 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (100) outpacing new lows (46) (SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ACGL, ADUS, AEPI, AGII, AMRK, AMSF, APTS, AROW, ATNI, AVB, AWK, BBCN, BRSS, BSQR, BYD, CINF, CLI, CLX, COR, CTS, DEI, DPS, DWTR, EFX, ELEC, ELS, ENVI, EQC, ERII, EXPE, EXR, FB, FF, FISV, FN, FONR, HBNC, HOMB, HTBI, JE, JNPR, KEP, KRNY, LB, LEA, LII, MAA, MATW, MCI, MNRO, MO, MTS, MXIM, NAVG, NAZ, NDAQ, NI, NKSH, NPK, NVX, ORI, PAYC, PFS, PGR, PNY, PRA, PRMW, PSA, PULB, RAI, RENX, RLI, RNR, RRM, SABR, SBUX, SFNC, SHEN, SHOR, SIG, SIGI, SIX, SRCL, SVBI, SYKE, TE, TFSL, TNK, TSS, TTEC, UBSH, UCBA, UDR, ULBI, VLRS, VNTV, VRSN, WGL, WTR, XUE 

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AIMT, AMS, ASCMA, ASTE, ATRS, BCOR, BDE, BIN, DAKP, DEST, DK, EAT, ECC, FDEU, FREE, FSC, FSI, GNK, HCLP, HOG, IBM, IMMY, KOOL, LOB, MFRM, MOKO, NEOS, NNBR, NTRA, OIIM, PERF, PETX, RLOC, SHLO, SMSI, STX, SXC, SYRX, TANH, TOR, TWER, USAP, VCEL, WCC, WWW, XBIT

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: none

11:34 am Virgin America partners with Spotify, to offer free streaming of its entire catalogue of over 30 mln songs, and The New York Times (NYT) to offer a curated collection of daily NYTimes.com content onboard the airline's new ViaSat WiFi-equipped aircraft through March 2, 2016 (VA) :  

11:30 am TASER falls ~6% after Motorola Solutions (MSI) launches competitive body-worn video camera with radio speaker, microphone and cloud-based content mgmt (TASR) : DGLY

11:29 am Motorola Solutions announces its development of a three-in-one combination body-worn video camera, radio speaker and microphone, in addition to a cloud-based mgmt system (MSI) :

Co announced the debut of its first-ever, three-in-one combination body-worn video camera, radio speaker and microphone along with a new, cloud-based content management system.

• Co stated; "Using the Si500 or Si300 VSM in combination with CommandCentral Vault, a new cloud-based storage solution that meets Criminal Justice Information Services standards, will make evidence management significantly easier while lowering costs."

11:20 am Reynolds American confirms an agreement with the State of NY, to settle the company's Master Settlement Agreement payments to the state (RAI) :  

11:19 am Team Health Holdings confirms, rejects unsolicited proposal from AmSurg Corp (AMSG) (shares halted) (TMH) :

TeamHealth stated that this is the same proposal that its Board of Directors previously reviewed, considered and rejected as not in the best interest of TeamHealth and its stockholders.  This conclusion was reached with the assistance of TeamHealth's financial and legal advisors and was based on the insufficient value indicated in the AmSurg proposal, the execution risk of achieving that value, and other key strategic factors, including the Board's confidence in TeamHealth's current strategic plan, the benefits associated with TeamHealth's acquisition of IPC Healthcare (IPCM), and TeamHealth's leadership position in the physician services industry. 

• In a response letter to AmSurg, TMH's CEO detailed, "We appreciate the time and effort you committed to studying a combination with our company. However, we do not believe any purpose would be served by further discussions regarding your proposal."

11:18 am Huaneng Power reports YTD results (HNP) :

• YTD profit +16.7% to RMB 13.24 bln, revenue -8% to RMB 97.25 bln.
• Without regard to the financial restatement for assets acquisition from parent company last year required under the PRC GAAP, the net profit attributable to the shareholders of the Company increased by 32.41% over the same period last year.
• The profit increase was mainly attributable to the year-on-year decrease of domestic fuel cost and acquisition of generation assets from parent company in 2014.

11:13 am PowerShares QQQ: QQQ now -0.50% slides to new session lows & is weaker than peers here this morning (QQQ) :  

11:07 am Currency Commentary: Housing Data Helps Bolster Greenback (:SUMRX) :

• The Dollar Index continues to trade just below the 95 level but has been unable to break above that key resistance area. The DXY hit 94.95 in overnight trade but would would come under pressure at the start of European trade. The DXY dipped back to 94.60 before finding support. It has been able to recover some of its losses following the latest Housing Starts and Building Permits data which came in better than expected and continue to support a strong housing market picture.
• The euro was able to push off the 1.1320 support level during European trade. But after a 60 pip move the single currency was faded. A weak German PPI and Eurozone Current Account number certainly helped the roll over. And the specter of further stimulus from the ECB at Thursdays meeting should continue to provide headwinds.
• The pound re-tested the 95 level but once again failed to see the bids to move it higher. The 100 sma (1.5490) has been able to hold sterling in check since late August. Sterling has been entering into a consolidating pattern in the 1.54 area over the past week.
• With the market seeing some risk on trade back in play the yen has come under selling pressure and is eyeing up its first test of the 120 level in a week. Yen showed some potential signs of a breakout higher on October 14 but has given up those gains (BONDX, FOREX). 

10:59 am Market View: The banking sector ETFs display leadership this morning with KRE now +1.1% & KBE now +1.2% (:TECHX) :

• SPX @ 2037.61 +3.95 (+0.19%)

10:46 am AT&T and Communication Workers of America reach tentative agreement in southeast wireline contract negotiations (T) :

Co announces that AT&T southeast wireline operations have reached a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America in southeast wireline contract negotiations. Additionally, the Company reached tentative agreements with the CWA on two southeast regional contracts covering AT&T Billing Southeast and Southeast Utility Operations.

• The agreements will be submitted to the union's membership for a ratification vote in coming days. They cover about 24,000 employees in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

10:43 am Market View: SPY, DIA, & IWM move to new session highs in recent trade as SPX now trades @ 2038.30 +4.64 into fresh multi-week highs this morning (:TECHX) :  

10:38 am EQT Midstream Partners increases quarterly distribution to $0.675/unit from $0.64/unit; EQT GP Holdings (EQGP) increases quarterly distribution to $0.104/unit from $0.09175/unit (EQM) :  

10:34 am American Electric increases quarterly dividend 5.7% to $0.56 from $0.53 per share (AEP) :  

10:22 am J.M. Smucker: Highlights from Investor Day as call progresses, shares -3.9% (SJM) :

• As mentioned earlier, the company revised its sales guidance for FY16 to $7.9 bln (from prior guidance of $8.0 bln) vs. the $7.94 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Smuckers also reaffirmed its FY16 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $5.65-5.80 vs. the $5.75 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• Targeting $200 mln in synergies by the end of FY18, up from projections for $25 mln in FY16
• The company boosted its FY16 Capital Expenditures budget by 10% to $220 mln. The increase will contribute to its Pet R&D center as well as the expansion of its Uncrustables facility. Smuckers reaffirmed its FY16 FCF projection of $900 mln
  
• Cash from operations expected to averages $1.2 bln annually over the next five years. Plans to maintain current dividend payout ratio, apply 40-45% of cash towards debt repayment. Expects leverage ratio of 2.2x by 2019 vs. 4.1x in 2015.
• Says continuing to explore enabling and bolt-on acquisitions, transformational acquisitions unlikely in the near-term
• Three-to-four year growth target plan includes 3% growth for net sales, 6% growth in operating profit, and 8% growth in EPS
• In speaking on its Canada performance, Smuckers highlights the overall business continues to grow and perform well. Projected FY16 sales growth calls for 15% increase on a constant currency basis. They caution against the continued impact of a weak Canadian dollar but say are pursuing opportunities to minimize the impact of FX.
• In planning to establish a meaningful presence over time in China, Smuckers says it is exploring additional acquisitions, JVs, as well as importing their prouct offerings

Shares are down 3.9% at three-week lows with the call and presentation ongoing, but off earlier session lows of $112.85

10:11 am SPX 500 moves to new 1st hour highs here with the index now @ 2034.46 +1.80 (SPY) :  

10:07 am Nielsen and Katz Radio Group sign agreement to license Nielsen's Voter Ratings service for all 48 radio Portable People Meter markets (NLSN) :  

10:06 am Fiat Chrysler confirms that its Fiat Chrysler Finance has not received any state aid from Luxemburg, and that any increase in FCF's taxable income would be immaterial to FCAU results (FCAU) : The company's statement is in response to press reports that have been speculating about Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. facing tens of millions of euros in tax repayments as a consequence of the expected decision by the European Commission in a case pending against the State of Luxemburg reading a certain Advanced Pricing Agreement entered into by FCA's subsidiary in Luxemburg Fiat Chrysler Finance Europe with Luxemburg.

9:59 am Weight Watchers (+24%) extends yesterday's surge after partnering with Oprah (WTW) :

WTW is extending yesterday's huge move to the upside after the company singed a partnership with Oprah Winfrey yesterday morning, giving her a 10% equity stake and a seat on the Board.

• The stock is up 24% today after surging 105% yesterday, which was fueled by the fact that 57% of the float that was sold short.
• WTW was down over 70% YTD coming into this week as it struggled in a very competitive weight loss market. Fitness is becoming more popular but wearable devices [like Fitbit (FIT +7%)] and free apps are taking share.
• Barlcays upgraded WTW to Equal Weight from Underweight this morning.
• B. Riley also defended Nutrisystem (NTRI +2%) this morning after the stock sold off 8% yesterday on competitive concerns.
• WTW is now coming into resistance at an eight month high near the $18 level.

9:41 am Market View: The gold miners are firmer in early trading here with GDX now +2.55%, & GDXJ now +2.45% (:TECHX) :

• GLD @ 112.80 +0.70%

9:37 am AstraZeneca opens new manufacturing and packaging facility in Kaluga, Russia (AZN) : The Company has invested $224 mln in the development, which is the largest foreign investment in the construction of a new pharmaceutical facility in the country. Commercial production will begin early next year and will focus on final-stage manufacturing, packaging and quality control. The site will become fully operational in 2017 and will produce around 40 million packs and 850 million tablets of some 30 innovative medicines every year. This represents more than 60% of AstraZeneca's medicines marketed in Russia to treat diseases across the Company's therapy areas.

9:37 am Facebook hits new all time high then pulls back (FB) :  

9:37 am Opening Market Summary: Energy and Technology Pace Opening Retreat (:WRAPX) :

The stock market began the trading day with a modest loss. The S&P 500 trades lower by 0.1% with eight sectors showing opening losses.

Similar to yesterday, the energy sector (-0.4%) has paced the opening retreat while technology (-0.4%) trades just ahead. On the upside, the telecom services sector (+0.2%) outperforms while financials (+0.1%) also trade in the green.

Elsewhere, Treasuries have slid to new lows, pushing the 10-yr yield up to 2.07% (+5 bps).

9:31 am Air Methods: Voce Capital sends a letter to the Board, reiterating its call for an evaluation of strategic alternatives (AIRM) :

Group's letter stated:

• "As you are well aware, for several months Voce Capital Management has implored Air Methods to take action to address the destruction of shareholder value wrought by the Company's increasingly untenable ownership structure. More than a month has passed since the Second Letter and we have been engaged with the Board in this futile colloquy for the better part of six months. While we have appreciated the open lines of communication, we are disappointed by the Board's inertia and unwillingness to act in the best interests of shareholders.
• We have repeatedly urged Air Methods to retain a credible financial advisor to assist in evaluating all options to enhance shareholder value. A strong Board recognizes this turning point and embraces the opportunity that it represents, while a weak one fails to see it or, even worse, stubbornly attempts to resist it. Shareholders are about to discover which type of Board they have elected at Air Methods and will decide whether it properly represents their best interests going forward."

9:28 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Fitbit (FIT) announced that Fitbit Wellness, has seen the introduction of more than 20 new enterprise customers in the last four months, including Aon Service Corporation, Barclays, BMC Software, Boston College, Emory University and Emory Healthcare, GoDaddy.com and Gonzaga University
• Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) announced that it has ratified a multi-year collective agreement with its 450 U.S. engineers represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
• 3D Systems (DDD) announced it has entered into a partner agreement with Methods Machine Tools. Under the new agreement, Methods will immediately begin to offer 3DS' full line of professional and production 3D printers and materials to its customers

9:20 am TEGNA approves $75 mln increase in share repurchase program to $825 mln; funded by sale of its corporate HQ with additional proceeds to be used for Senior Notes redemption (TGNA) : The increase reflects a portion of the proceeds from the $270 million sale of TEGNA's corporate headquarters building earlier this month. Co intends to use the balance in the fourth quarter to redeem up to $180 million of its 7.125% Senior Notes due 2018.

9:11 am S&P futures vs fair value: -2.70. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -1.00. (:WRAPX) :

The stock market is on track for a modestly lower open with S&P 500 futures trading three points below fair value after spending the night in an eight-point range.

The overnight action has not introduced any curveballs into the mix as Asian markets ended the day in mixed fashion while European indices trade mostly lower. All in all, yesterday's quiet tone has carried over into this morning.

Investors have received a fair dose of quarterly reports since yesterday's closing bell with IBM (IBM 142.00, -7.22) on track to open lower by 4.8% after below-consensus revenue and lowered guidance overshadowed a bottom-line beat. Also of note, Verizon (VZ 45.10, +0.40) has climbed 0.9% in pre-market after beating earnings expectations and reaffirming its full-year revenue growth outlook while Yum! Brands (YUM 75.08, +3.37) has spiked 4.7% after announcing plans to split into two separate companies.

On the economic front, September Housing Starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1,206,000 from a revised 1,132,000 units in August (from 1,126,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decrease to 1,150,000 units.

Treasuries hover near their lows with the 10-yr yield higher by four basis points at 2.07%.

9:04 am Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management launches first currency-hedged China A-Shares ETF to be traded under ticker ASHX (ASHR) : Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management announced the launch of Deutsche X-trackers CSI 300 China A-Shares Hedged Equity ETF (Ticker:ASHX), seeking to provide direct access to China A-share equities while mitigating exposure to fluctuations between the value of the Chinese Yuan and the US Dollar.

9:03 am Kinder Morgan finalizes agreements with BP (BP) to acquire 15 refined products terminals and associated infrastructure in the US, in a transaction valued at ~$350 mln (KMI) :

Kinder Morgan and BP (BP) will form a joint venture limited liability company terminal business to own 14 of the acquired assets, which Kinder Morgan will operate and market on the JV's behalf. One terminal will be owned solely by KMI.

• The terminals, with ~9.5 million barrels of storage, are pipeline-connected to refining and processing centers across the United States.
• Kinder Morgan will own a 75 percent interest in the JV, with BP owning the balance. The terminals are located in the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and on the West Coast.

9:02 am NVR beats by $0.33, misses on revs (NVR) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $27.11 per share, $0.33 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $26.78; revenues rose 16.6% year/year to $1.4 bln vs the $1.43 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Q3 new orders increased 11% to 3,258 units, when compared to 2,936 units in 3Q14. Average sales price of new orders in the third quarter of 2015 was $378,900, an increase of 1% when compared with the third quarter of 2014.
• Backlog of homes sold but not settled as of September 30, 2015 increased 15% on both a unit and dollar basis to 7,139 units and $2,716,947,000 when compared to September 30, 2014.

9:01 am Sunoco Logistics increases its quarterly cash distribution by 5% to $0.458/unit, up from $0.438/unit Q/Q (SXL) :  

9:00 am Xplore Tech secures additional $1.1 mln follow-up order from major US telecommunications provider (XPLR) :

• Co announces it has received an additional order for its fully rugged Bobcat Windows series tablets and docks from a major U.S. telecommunications provider in excess of $1.1 mln. This latest order follows on the heels of a $9 mln purchase in April of 2015.

8:55 am S&P futures vs fair value: -1.60. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -2.50. (:WRAPX) :

The S&P 500 futures trade two points below fair value.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Tuesday as participants lacked conviction. Reportedly, that lack of conviction was tied to growth concerns surrounding China, but the Chinese media for one spent some time Tuesday highlighting the potential for improved growth prospects in China's economy. Notably, China's Shanghai Composite (+1.1%) outperformed all other major indices in the region, scoring the entirety of its gain in the final 30 minutes of trading.

• In economic data:
  • China's September Foreign Direct Investment +9.0% (prior +9.2%)
  • South Korea's September PPI -0.3% month-over-month (prior -0.6%); -4.5% year-over-year (prior -4.5%)

------

• Japan's Nikkei increased 0.4%, recouping nearly half of Monday's losses. The rebound effort was helped along by gains in the communications (+2.0%), technology (+0.6%), and health care (+0.5%) sectors. Individual standouts included Takara Holdings (+6.6%), Nippon Telegraph $ Telephone (+5.2%), and Nippon Soda (+4.9%). Tuesday's biggest laggards were Haseko Corp (-7.1%), Tokyo Electric Power (-4.5%), and Asahi Kasei Corp (-4.0%). Out of the 225 index members, 120 ended higher, 92 finished lower, and 13 were unchanged.
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.4% but had been down 1.0% at its lows for the day, which were hit in the afternoon session. China Unicom Hong Kong (-3.0%), China Shenhua Energy (-3.0%), and Sands China (-2.3%) were the worst-performing issues. Hong Kong & China Gas (+1.2%), China Overseas Land & Investment (+0.8%), and Bank of Communications (+0.5%) topped the list of winners. Out of the 50 index members, 11 ended higher, 33 finished lower, and 6 were unchanged.
• China's Shanghai Composite increased 1.1% with the entirety of the gain achieved in the final 30 minutes of trading. The market was down 0.9% at its lows of the morning. There was no news catalyst for the closing spike, although media reports during the day touting China's growth prospects were deemed to be sources of support in the comeback from session lows. Some speculative trading flair could be seen in the outperformance of the small-cap Shenzhen Composite (+2.0%) and the start-up laden ChiNext Index (+3.2%).

Major European indices trade lower across the board with Germany's DAX (-0.2%) showing relative strength. On a separate note, the European Central Bank released its survey on bank lending, which indicated lending standards have eased more than expected during the third quarter as banks use additional liquidity to grant loans.

• Economic data was limited:
  • Eurozone August Current Account surplus narrowed to EUR17.70 billion from EUR25.60 billion (expected surplus of EUR20.10 billion)
  • Germany's September PPI -0.4% month-over-month (expected -0.1%; prior -0.5%); -2.1% year-over-year (consensus -1.8%; last -1.7%)
  • Swiss September Trade Surplus expanded to CHF3.05 billion from CHF2.86 billion (expected surplus of CHF2.51 billion)

------

• Germany's DAX is lower by 0.2% with exporters and financials showing relative weakness while utilities outperform. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, BMW, and Volkswagen hold losses between 0.7% and 1.8%. On the upside, RWE has climbed 1.4% and E.On trades up 0.8%.
• UK's FTSE trades down 0.2% amid weakness in mining names. Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Glencore, and Rio Tinto have given up between 1.2% and 2.0%. On the flip side, InterContinental Hotels has surged 5.6% after providing an update on performance.
• In France, the CAC has slid 0.8% with growth-sensitive names pacing the retreat. ArcelorMittal, Saint Gobain, Total, and Air Liquide are down between 1.4% and 3.2%.

8:55 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• China Biologic Products (CBPO) has received the operating permit from local authorities to commence plasma collection at the new branch collection facility in Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province. As previously announced, Shandong Taibang received approval to build the new branch collection facility in September 2015.
• Luminex Corporation (LMNX) and Bio-Techne Corp (TECH) announced the signing of a new distribution and supply agreement through 2020. This agreement extends the relationship between the two companies for immunoassay development and commercialization of Bio-Techne biological content using the Luminex testing platform. Furthermore the agreement allows Bio-Techne to distribute Luminex multiplexing instrumentation, including the Luminex 200, FLEXMAP 3D and the MAGPIX platforms in major markets worldwide.
• Xactly (XTLY) and CEB (CEB) announced that through a partnership, CEB will leverage Xactly's Insights product offering for it commercial operations
• Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX) announced that it has expanded the clinical efforts for NBI-98854 (Valbenazine), by initiating a Phase II clinical trial in adults with Tourette syndrome.The T-Forward study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-dose, parallel group, study of up to 90 adults. Subjects will receive once-daily dosing of NBI-98854 during an eight-week treatment period to assess the safety, tolerability and efficacy of NBI-98854 in Tourette patients. The primary endpoint of this study is a change from baseline of placebo vs. active scores utilizing the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale at the end of Week 8. Data readout from this study is expected later in 2016.
• Inventergy Global (INVT) announced that it has been granted ten newly issued patents in the US, Europe and Asia. Among others, the patents cover technology to improve end-to-end security for media digital communications, and technology to improve searching, connectivity establishment and synchronization of mobile devices and cell towers

8:47 am Fusion Telecom Int'l awarded a three year cloud networking solutions contract valued at more than $1.5 mln by an unnamed health insurance organization (FSNN) :  

8:45 am Shenandoah Telecom increases its annual dividend to $0.48/share and declares two-for-one stock split for shareholders of record as of close of business on December 31, 2015 (SHEN) :  

8:38 am Sify reports Q2 results (no estimates) (SIFY) :

• Revenue for the quarter was INR 3715 million +18% YoY.
• EBITDA for the quarter was INR 663 mln, +43% YoY.
• Net Profit for the quarter was INR 133 mln, +48% YoY.

8:35 am TEGNA beats by $0.01, misses on revs (TGNA) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.37 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.36; revenues rose 18.5% year/year to $807.1 mln vs the $816.39 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $267 million, a 22% YoY.
• "We expect to see growth in core advertising in the fourth quarter. However, the fourth quarter of 2014 benefited from a record $92 million of politically related advertising. As a result, we expect the percentage decline in total television revenues for the fourth quarter of 2015 to be in the mid to high-single digits due to the challenging year-over-year comparison."

8:35 am Canadian Pacific beats by CAD$0.01, beats on revs (CP) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of CAD$2.69 per share, excluding non-recurring items, CAD$0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of CAD$2.68; revenues rose 2.3% year/year to CAD$1.71 bln vs the CAD$1.68 bln Capital IQ Consensus. 
• Carloads -3%, pricing +5%.

8:34 am Exar announces departure of CEO, reports Q2 prelim EPS of $0.06 vs $0.07 Capital IQ Consensus Est, prelim revs of ~$37 mln vs. $38 mln consensus (EXAR) :

• Co announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Chairman of the Board, Richard L. Leza, as interim President and Chief Executive Officer.
• Leza's appointment follows a mutual agreement by the Company's Board of Directors and Louis DiNardo that he will step down as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors.
• As interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Leza will work closely with Exar's executive team and Board of Directors to oversee the Company's ongoing operations and strategic initiatives.
• The Board will immediately commence a search for a permanent replacement for the President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Leza will continue to serve as a member of the Board of Directors.

8:34 am European Markets Update: DAX -0.2%, FTSE -0.2%, CAC -0.8% (:SUMRX) :

Major European indices trade lower across the board with Germany's DAX (-0.2%) showing relative strength. On a separate note, the European Central Bank released its survey on bank lending, which indicated lending standards have eased more than expected during the third quarter as banks use additional liquidity to grant loans.

• Economic data was limited:
  • Eurozone August Current Account surplus narrowed to EUR17.70 billion from EUR25.60 billion (expected surplus of EUR20.10 billion)
  • Germany's September PPI -0.4% month-over-month (expected -0.1%; prior -0.5%); -2.1% year-over-year (consensus -1.8%; last -1.7%)
  • Swiss September Trade Surplus expanded to CHF3.05 billion from CHF2.86 billion (expected surplus of CHF2.51 billion)

------

• Germany's DAX is lower by 0.2% with exporters and financials showing relative weakness while utilities outperform. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, BMW, and Volkswagen hold losses between 0.7% and 1.8%. On the upside, RWE has climbed 1.4% and E.On trades up 0.8%.
• UK's FTSE trades down 0.2% amid weakness in mining names. Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Glencore, and Rio Tinto have given up between 1.2% and 2.0%. On the flip side, InterContinental Hotels has surged 5.6% after providing an update on performance.
• In France, the CAC has slid 0.8% with growth-sensitive names pacing the retreat. ArcelorMittal, Saint Gobain, Total, and Air Liquide are down between 1.4% and 3.2%.

8:33 am Signal Genetics signs additional preferred provider organization agreements, for coverage of its MyPRS assay for 21 million patients in the US (SGNL) : Under the terms of the agreements, the Signal Genetics MyPRS assay will be offered through additional PPO networks including the Stratose, USA Managed Care Organization, and Evolutions Healthcare Systems PPO networks. The new agreements will provide coverage to over 21 million patients across the United States.

8:32 am EZCORP announces that its previously announced financial statement restatement will include FY12 and FY13 (EZPW) :

The company has now substantially completed its review of the accounting issues and has determined that the previously issued financial statements for fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2013 should be restated to adjust the interest revenue and bad debt reserves associated with the Grupo Finmart loan portfolio.

• The company also stated at that time that it was continuing to evaluate other accounting issues related to its Grupo Finmart loan portfolio and, based on the outcome of that review, may determine that financial statements for periods prior to fiscal 2014 should also be restated.

8:32 am S&P futures vs fair value: -2.10. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -1.00. (:WRAPX) :

The S&P 500 futures trade two points below fair value.

Housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1,206,000 units in September, which was up from a revised 1,132,000 units in August (from 1,126,000). The Briefing.com consensus expected starts to decrease to 1,150,000 units.

Building permits fell to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1,103,000 in September from a revised 1,161,000 for July (from 1,170,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 1,170,000.

8:31 am Bovie Medical acquires its Bulgarian R&D and manufacturing contractor for ~$570k; expected to reduce co's operating expenses in 2016 and 2017 by ~$850k (BVX) :

Co purchases its Bulgarian R&D and manufacturing contractor for ~500,000 ($570,000)in cash, payable over a five-year period.

• The initial cash payment of 375,000 ($427,000) was made at closing, and the remaining cash payment of ~125,000 ($143,000) is due on Oct.20, 2020.
• Transaction is expected to reduce co's operating expenses in 2016 and 2017 by ~$850k.

8:31 am Market View: Front-month Dec. eMini stock-index futures now trade slightly below fair values following the 8:30 am ET economic data points (:TECHX) :

• ESz5 now -3.75
  
  
• YMz5 now -10
  
  
• NQz5 now -4.75

8:30 am Barnes & Noble authorizes a new stock repurchase program of up to $50 million of its common shares (BKS) : Co announces that its Board of Directors has authorized a new stock repurchase program of up to $50 million.

8:27 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Mondelez International (MDLZ) announced that it has invested more than $50 million in a state-of-the-art local production facility to meet demand for Cadbury Bournvita. Theinvestment in Nigeria boosts production capacity for Cadbury Bournvita by more than 30 percent
• Foamix Pharmaceuticals (FOMX) announced the enrollment of the first patient in its Phase 2 clinical trial of FMX103 for the treatment of papulopustular rosacea
• Studio City International Holdings Limited, a company in which Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (MPEL) owns a 60% interest, announced that the Macau government has authorizedit to operate 250 new gaming tables and 1,233 new gaming machines at the Studio City gaming areas; of which 200 gaming tables and 1,233 gaming machines may be in operation upon the opening of Studio City with the remaining 50 gaming tables authorized to be in operation beginning in January 2016
• MediWound (MDWD) announced receipt of authorization from the Ministry of Health in Argentina to market and distribute NexoBrid for the removal of dead or damaged tissue, known as eschar, in adults with deep partial and full-thickness thermal burns. Co intends to launch NexoBrid in Argentina in the next quarter
• Clean Diesel Technologies (CDTI) opened 4 new distribution centers in the U.S. The multiple national distribution points allow for faster order fulfillment of its DuraFit diesel particulate filters
• Chanticleer Holdings (HOTR) announced the company has closed a transaction to increase its investment in its five Hooters stores in Australia from 60% to 80%. The Company has increased ownership in the Parramatta, Penrith, Campbelltown, Surfers Paradise, and Townsville locations.

8:26 am Gapping down (SCANX) : Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: RMBS -16.5%, HOG -8.6%, HXL -8.3%, VAR -5.7%, IBM -4.4%, IEX -2.2%, WIBC -1.4%, WWW -1.2%, ETN -1.1%, SIX -0.8%, ELS -0.6%, LMT -0.5%

M&A news: WDC -1.9% (Bloomberg reporting co is in discussion to acquire SNDK)

Select oil/gas related names showing early weakness: TOT -1.2%, BP -1%, RDS.A -0.8%

Other news: NEOS -13.7% (received notification that the FDA has identified deficiencies that preclude discussion of labeling & postmarketing requirements/commitments for Cotempla XR-ODT), ZGNX -7.4% (co received a request from the FDA for additional information related to the proposed Phase 3 program for ZX008 prior to the FDA declaring the Investigational New Drug Application effective), MSB -4.9% (reported that due to a delay in the reporting of Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) regarding shipments of iron ore products, no distribution will be paid in November 2015), SGY -1.4% (filed mixed securities shelf offering), SNY -1.1% (may be in symp with AZN dg), AMD -1% (in symp with RMBS), ESI -0.9% (issues statement has received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education identifying certain past procedural deficiencies and requiring certain additional reporting, procedures and remedial actions)

Analyst comments: ENPH -7.2% (downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank), AZN -1.7% (downgraded to Underperform at Credit Suisse), VRX -2.2% (downgraded to Sector Perform from Sector Outperform at CIBC), CALM -1.1% (downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at a boutique firm), TS -0.8% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup), DO -0.8% (initiated with a Sell at Citigroup), PH -0.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup)

8:26 am Melco Crown Entertainment announces gaming table allocation at Studio City in Macau (MPEL) :

• The Macau government has authorized Studio City's gaming operator, Melco Crown (Macau) Limited, to operate 250 new gaming tables and 1,233 new gaming machines at the Studio City gaming areas, of which 200 gaming tables and 1,233 gaming machines may be in operation upon the opening of Studio City with the remaining 50 gaming tables authorized to be in operation beginning in January 2016. Studio City's gaming operator is a Macau gaming subconcessionaire and a member of Melco Crown Entertainment.
• Following the table allocation confirmation, Studio City intends to proactively engage the lenders under its senior credit facilities to discuss proposed amendments to the terms of its loan documentation to reflect the number of tables allocated.

8:22 am European Yields (BONDX) :

Sovereigns Slide as QE Expansion Hopes Fade

• The European Central Bank released a report today showing that its EUR 60 bln/month asset purchase program is in fact being transmitted to the real economy via the banking system. The data show that banks eased terms and conditions on loans of every category by narrowing their profit margins. The survey of banks showed that almost 40% used the funds from the ECB's QE program to lend to businesses, 14% expanded mortgage lending, and 36% boosted loans to consumers. Many investors remain optimistic that the central bank will expand its asset purchase program by the end of the year
  
• Germany's producer price index was down 0.4% m/m, much more than forecasts but better than the 0.5% fall in August
  
• The eurozone's current account surplus fell more than expected in August, dropping to EUR 17.7 bln from an upwardly-revised EUR 25.6 bln in July
  
• Switzerland's trade surplus widened to CHF 3.047 bln in September from a downwardly-revised CHF 2.862 bln in August
  
• Yield Check:
  
  • France, 10-yr OAT: +4 bps to 0.98%
    
  • Germany, 10-yr Bund: +4 bps to 0.61%
    
  • Greece, 10-yr note: +6 bps to 7.52%
    
  • Italy, 10-yr BTP: +4 bps to 1.64%
  • Portugal, 10-yr note: +2 bps to 2.41%
    
  • Spain, 10-yr ODE: +4 bps to 1.80%
    
  • U.K., 10-yr Gilt: +2 bps to 1.74%

8:22 am Gapping up (SCANX) : Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: TACO +13.6%, TTS +10.7%, SONC +5.7%, IHG +5.5%, GIG +4.3%, HSTM +3.7%, FLEX +3.1%, CE +1.6%, VZ +1.6%, SAP +1.5%, VLRS +0.8%, TRV +0.6%

M&A news: TMH +21.9% (AmSurg (AMSG) confirms proposal to acquire TeamHealth for $71.47/share, or ~$7.8 bln), SNDK +8.7% (Bloomberg reporting co is in discussion to be acquired by Western Digital (WDC)), YUM +6% (to separate into two publicly traded companies; China Division to become independent company focused on growth in Mainland China)

Select metals/mining stocks trading higher: AU +3.1%, IAG +2.1%, GOLD +2%, ABX +1.6%, GDX +1.4%, GG +1.3%, SLW +1.1%

Other news: ERII +135% (signed 15-year license with Schlumberger (SLB) to provide exclusive rights to its VorTeq hydraulic fracturing technology; deal includes $125 mln in upfront payments paid in stages), ONE +42.5% (sold its Campus Labs data analytics business to Leeds Equity Partners, for $91 mln in cash), CRBP +34.1% (confirms the FDA has granted a Fast Track development program and Orphan Drug Designation for Resunab, to treat cystic fibrosis), RXII +10.8% (reports positive results with its RNAi platform, showing it demonstrated robust and potent reduction of the levels of lncRNAs in a target specific manner), KITE +3.5% (enters into an exclusive, worldwide license with the National Institutes of Health, related to T Cell Receptor-based product candidates), ATRA +1.9% (confirms Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA, for STM 434 to treat ovarian cancer), SKX +1.7% (still checking), MPAA +1.6% (to replace OMG in the S&P SmallCap 600)

Analyst comments: RCPI +8.4% (initiated with a Buy at Maxim Group; tgt $4), WTW +6.1% (upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays), TSEM +5.1% (initiated with a Buy at Drexel Hamilton), RESN +3.1% (initiated with a Buy at Drexel Hamilton), BLUE +2.3% (initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer; $162 tgt), GOLD +2% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank), CPE +1.7% (initiated with a Buy at Canaccord Genuity), ADRO +0.7% (initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer), PFE +0.7% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen)

8:06 am Tile Shop beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides FY15 revs above consensus (TTS) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.06; revenues rose 15.3% year/year to $72.4 mln vs the $69.4 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues upside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $289-292 mln vs. $288.19 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• Co reports Q3 same store comps of +9.7%.

8:06 am Corbus Pharma confirms the FDA has granted a Fast Track development program and Orphan Drug Designation for Resunab, to treat cystic fibrosis (CRBP) :

Co announces that the FDA has designated as a Fast Track development program and granted Orphan Drug Designation to the Company's investigational new drug Resunab for the treatment of cystic fibrosis.

• Co recently initiated an international, multi-center, Phase 2, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-control clinical study with multiple doses of Resunab in CF supported by a $5 million development award from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics, Inc.
• The study will enroll ~70 adults with CF, irrespective of their CFTR mutation.
• Co believes will report top-line safety and efficacy results from its Phase 2 study in CF at the end of 2016

8:05 am Ideal Power's grid-resilient 125kW power conversion system receives certification for UL1741 conformance (IPWR) :

• Co announced that its Grid-Resilient 125kW Power Conversion System has been certified for UL1741 conformance by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory.
• The newly certified 125kW product brings the flexibility and efficiency of Ideal Power's patented Power Packet Switching Architecture (:PPSA) to energy storage applications requiring larger, more powerful power conversion systems.
• Ideal Power's grid-resilient power conversion system features microgrid-forming capabilities that enable back-up power for critical loads in the event of grid challenges, such as power outages.
• They are also software configurable to enable operation in both 50Hz and 60Hz environments, allowing customers worldwide to support both grid-tied and off-grid applications.

8:05 am Prologis reports FFO in-line, beats on revs; narrows FY15 FFO in-line (PLD) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) funds from operations of $0.58 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.58; revenues rose 39.8% year/year to $580.6 mln vs the $492.72 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Prologis' share of GAAP same store NOI increased 6.2%
• Co issues narrowed guidance for FY15, sees FFO of $2.19-2.21 from $2.18-2.22 vs. $2.20 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.  "The underlying trends in our businesses continue to be favorable."

8:05 am PMC-Sierra confirms the receipt of unsolicited proposal from Microsemi Corporation (MSCC), offering $8.75 in cash and 0.0736 of an MSCC share, for each PMC share (PMCS) :

Co announced that it has received an unsolicited proposal from Microsemi Corporation (MSCC) to acquire all of the outstanding shares of PMC common stock in a cash and stock transaction. Under the terms of Microsemi's proposal, PMC stockholders would receive $8.75 in cash and 0.0736 of a share of Microsemi common stock for each share of PMC. PMC had previously announced that it had entered into a merger agreement with Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) pursuant to which Skyworks would acquire all of the outstanding shares of PMC common stock for $10.50 per share in an all-cash transaction.

• PMC's board of directors is evaluating Microsemi's proposal and has not made a determination as to whether the proposal constitutes a Superior Proposal under the terms of PMC's merger agreement with Skyworks. However, PMC's board of directors believes, after consultation with its financial advisors and outside legal counsel, that the Microsemi proposal would reasonably be expected to lead to a Superior Proposal,

8:04 am Navios Maritime Midstream increases its quarterly cash distribution 2.4% to $0.4225/unit for the quarter ended 9/30/2015, up from $0.4125/unit Q/Q (NAP) :  

8:03 am AmeriServ Finl reports Q3 EPS of $0.09 vs $0.02 year ago; NIM 3.52% (no estimates) (ASRV) :

8:03 am Flex Pharma to present data demonstrating GMP-synthesized single agent efficacy and a dose response in significantly reducing human muscle cramp intensity in its electrically induced cramp model (FLKS) : Co announced that it will present data demonstrating GMP-synthesized single agent efficacy and a dose response in significantly reducing human muscle cramp intensity in its electrically induced cramp model at the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, IL today at 2:00pm ET. An exploratory analysis of two concentrations of FLX-787, a GMP-synthesized single agent agonist of TRPA1 and TRPV1, demonstrated an increase in the human cramp inhibition effect size at the higher concentration consistent with significant dose-response efficacy.

8:01 am Pericom Semi: Montage Technology Group issues statement reiterating belief in its $18.50 per share offer being superior to Diodes' (DIOD) offer (PSEM) :

• Montage Technology Group issued a statement in response to the press release issued on October 16, 2015 by PSEM responding to Montage's preliminary proxy statement.
  • Montage believes that Pericom is misleading its shareholders by incorrectly and greatly exaggerating any antitrust or regulatory risk of a transaction with Montage, and notes that Montage has committed financing from highly regarded financing sources.
  • Montage believes "it's clear that Pericom is determined to convince its own investors to sell their company to Diodes at a significantly lower price than the superior $18.50 Montage proposal that is currently on the table."

8:01 am Ashford Hospitality Trust sees preliminary Q3 RevPar of approx 5% (AHT) : "While RevPAR growth in the third quarter was negatively impacted by a couple of calendar events, namely the shift in the Labor Day holiday to one week later than last year, as well as the shift of some holiday dates both of which led to a sizeable decrease in business travel during the quarter, Trust's RevPAR growth of 5.0% illustrates the benefits of its geographically diversified portfolio," said Monty J. Bennett, Ashford Trust's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We continue to see very positive industry dynamics and believe that those favorable fundamentals will drive solid RevPAR growth going forward."

8:01 am Kite Pharma enters into an exclusive, worldwide license with the National Institutes of Health, related to T Cell Receptor-based product candidates (KITE) :

Co announces that the Co has entered into an exclusive, worldwide license with the National Institutes of Health for intellectual property related to T Cell Receptor-based product candidates directed against MAGE A3 and A3/A6 antigens for the treatment of tumors expressing MAGE, which include lung, pancreatic, gastric, and breast cancers, among others.

• The National Cancer Institute is currently conducting two Phase 1-2a clinical trials of TCR-based product candidates targeting the MAGE antigens under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between Co and the NCI.
• NIH will receive from Co an upfront payment and certain clinical, regulatory, and sales milestone payments, as well as royalties on net sales of products covered by the license.

8:01 am Ashford Hospitality Prime Q3 RevPAR +2.7% (AHP) : "While our RevPAR growth for the third quarter was not as robust as we have been experiencing over the last several quarters, we believe this was an anomaly as the third quarter was negatively impacted by a couple of calendar events, namely the shift in the Labor Day holiday to one week later than last year, as well as the shift of some holiday dates both of which led to a sizeable decrease in business travel during the quarter," said Monty J. Bennett, Ashford Prime's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We continue to see very positive industry dynamics and believe that those favorable fundamentals will drive solid RevPAR growth going forward."

8:01 am MagneGas announced that due to growing demand for MagneGas2 fuel that has created a substantial backlog, a second production facility will be operational this week (MNGA) :

• The second production unit is expected to fulfill the increased demand and the Co plans to have a third unit in operation in early 2016 to handle the continued expected high demand for its MagneGas2 industrial fuel.
• The Co believes the additional demand is a direct result of its sales penetration into key vertical market segments including utilities, demolition companies, first responder markets as well as government and military sectors.
• The Co has also aggressively worked to expand its distribution network and in-house sales and marketing programs.

8:01 am The Fresh Market to conduct a strategic and financial review of its business (shares halted) (TFM) : The co announced that it and its Board will conduct a strategic and financial review of its business. This review may result in the Company continuing to pursue value-enhancing initiatives as a standalone company, capital structure optimization, or a sale of the Company or other business combination. The Company has retained J.P. Morgan Securities LLC as its financial advisor and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A. as its legal advisors to assist in this process.

7:59 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Veracyte, Inc. (VCYT) will present data assessing the clinical utility and performance of the Co's genomic test to improve lung cancer diagnosis at the CHEST 2015 Annual Meeting, being held October 24-28 in Montreal, Canada. Data from the first study suggest the ability of the Percepta Bronchial Genomic Classifier to reduce diagnostic procedures following inconclusive bronchoscopy results among patients being evaluated for potentially cancerous lung nodules or lesions. A second abstract reviews the AEGIS I and II studies, which validates the Percepta test's ability to identify patients who are at low risk of malignancy following an inconclusive bronchoscopy.
• Scientific Games Corporation (SGMS) announced that it has signed a new contract to provide an instant game Cooperative Services Program to a lottery in Germany. The six-year contract for full-service CSP began in July 2015 and may be extended for an additional three years

7:55 am S&P futures vs fair value: -2.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -4.40. (:WRAPX) :

U.S. equity futures trade modestly lower amid cautious action overseas. The S&P 500 futures hover three points below fair value after spending the night in an eight-point range.

Today's economic data will be limited to September Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.15 million) and Building Permits (consensus 1.17 million) with both data points set to cross at 8:30 ET.

Treasuries hold modest losses with the 10-yr yield up two basis points at 2.05%.

In U.S. corporate news of note:

• IBM (IBM 141.91, -7.31): -4.9% after below-consensus revenue and lowered guidance overshadowed a bottom-line beat.
• Verizon (VZ 45.47, +0.77): +1.7% after beating earnings expectations and reaffirming its full-year revenue growth outlook.
• Yum! Brands (YUM 75.75, +4.14): +5.8% after announcing plans to split into two separate companies.
• Lockheed Martin (LMT 211.00, +0.36): +0.2% after beating earnings and revenue estimates.
• Flextronics (FLEX 11.75, +0.55): +4.9% in reaction to better than expected results.
• United Technologies (UTX 92.05, 0.00): beat earnings estimates on below-consensus revenue.
• Harley Davidson (HOG 51.99, -4.06): -7.2% after missing earnings, revenue, and shipment expectations. In addition, the company lowered its fiscal-year 2015 guidance for shipments and margins.

Reviewing overnight developments:

• Asian markets ended mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.4%, Japan's Nikkei +0.4%, and China's Shanghai Composite +1.1%
  • In economic data:
    • China's September Foreign Direct Investment +9.0% (prior +9.2%)
    • South Korea's September PPI -0.3% month-over-month (prior -0.6%); -4.5% year-over-year (prior -4.5%)
  • In news:
    • A former adviser to the People's Bank of China said the country's 2015 GDP growth is expected to come in around 6.8% and rise to 6.9% in 2016

• Major European indices trade lower across the board. Germany's DAX -0.2%, UK's FTSE -0.3%, and France's CAC -0.7%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB -0.8% and Spain's IBEX -1.0%
  • Economic data was limited:
    • Eurozone August Current Account surplus narrowed to EUR17.70 billion from EUR25.60 billion (expected surplus of EUR20.10 billion)
    • Germany's September PPI -0.4% month-over-month (expected -0.1%; prior -0.5%); -2.1% year-over-year (consensus -1.8%; last -1.7%)
    • Swiss September Trade Surplus expanded to CHF3.05 billion from CHF2.86 billion (expected surplus of CHF2.51 billion)
  • Among news of note:
    • According to the European Central Bank's survey on bank lending, lending standards have eased more than expected during the third quarter as banks use additional liquidity to grant loans

7:49 am Brinker beats by $0.01, misses on revs; reaffirmed FY16 EPS guidance, in-line (EAT) :

• Reports Q1 (Sep) earnings of $0.56 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.55; revenues rose 7.3% year/year to $762.6 mln vs the $774.82 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Restaurant operating margin, as a percent of company sales, improved ~10 basis points to 14.6% compared to 14.5% for Q1 of fiscal 2015
• CHILI'S Q1 company sales increased 8.8% to $653.1 mln from $600.1 mln in the prior year primarily due to an increase in restaurant capacity resulting from the acquisition of 103 Chili's restaurants on June 25, 2015.
  • As compared to the prior year, Chili's restaurant operating margin1 declined slightly primarily due to the impact of the recently acquired restaurants.
• Co reaffirmed guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $3.55-3.65, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $3.60 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

7:45 am Overnight Treasury Summary (BONDX) :

Treasuries Pull Back

• Treasury yields are moving higher this morning after a report from the European Central Bank dampened speculation for an expansion of that central bank's asset purchase program. The report showed banks' credit standards easing for the sixth straight quarter. The ECB meets in Malta on Wednesday and Thursday. The U.S. Dollar Index is down 0.31% to 94.63, WTI crude is up 0.32% to $46.43/bbl., and the S&P 500 futures are showing an open for the index down 0.12% to 2,031.1
  
• Yield Check:
  
  • 2-yr: +2 bps to 0.61%
    
  • 5-yr: +2 bps to 1.36%
    
  • 10-yr: +2 bps to 2.04%
    
  • 30-yr: +2 bps to 2.90%

• International News:
  
  • The Reserve Bank of Australia released the minutes from its October board meeting today. The RBA saw the boom in property prices as the greatest risk to economic stability and noted that the job market was doing better than expected
    
    • Interest rate futures are pricing in a 1 in 3 chance for a rate cut at the RBA's November meeting
      
  • Germany's producer price index was down 0.4% m/m, much more than forecasts but better than the 0.5% fall in August
    
    • The PPI declined 2.1% in the year to September, marking the 26th straight month of year-on-year declines
      
  • The eurozone's current account surplus fell more than expected in August, dropping to EUR 17.7 bln from an upwardly-revised EUR 25.6 bln in July
    
  • Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, has resigned as leader of the Conservative Party following the national elections yesterday. Official projections are giving the Liberals 189 seats, the Conservatives 103 seats, and the New Democratic Party 35 seats. Harper was prime minister for almost a decade. Market reaction to the results was muted

• Data Out Today:
  
  • September Housing Starts and Building Permits (08:30 ET)
• Fed Speakers:
  
  • Fed Governor Powell (FOMC voter) gives introductory remarks at conference on "The Evolving Structure of the U.S. Treasury Market" (09:15 ET)
    
  • Fed Chair Yellen gives welcome remarks at ceremony honoring two former BLS commissioners (11:00 ET)

7:36 am Verizon beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; reaffirms expectation for full year rev growth of at least 3% (VZ) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.04 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.02; revenues rose 5.0% year/year to $33.16 bln vs the $32.98 bln Capital IQ Consensus. 
  • Reported 1.3 million net retail postpaid connections added in the quarter; low retail postpaid churn of 0.93 percent; 110.8 million total retail connections; 105.0 million total retail postpaid connections.
  • Wireless operating income margin was 33.3%, up from 31.9% in 3Q14.
• Reaffirms expectation for consolidated revenue growth of at least 3% for full-year 2015, in-line with expectations.

7:36 am Allegheny Tech beats by $0.07 (within pre-announced range), misses on revs; announces workforce reduction (ATI) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.36); revenues fell 22.1% year/year to $832.7 mln vs the $949.44 mln Capital IQ Consensus (earnings are within pre-announced range of ($0.32) - ($0.27) on October 6.
• Outlook: "We remain confident that our High Performance Materials and Components segment operating performance will significantly improve in 2016...We expect ~$23 mln in reduced costs from these workforce reductions beginning in January 2016. Fourth quarter 2015 results are expected to include approximately $6 mln in severance charges as a result of these workforce reductions."
• "..last week, we implemented a reduction in salaried workforce in both the HPMC segment and at ATI's headquarters. We expect approximately $23 million in reduced costs from these workforce reductions beginning in January 2016. Fourth quarter 2015 results are expected to include approximately $6 million in severance charges as a result of these workforce reductions."

7:33 am S&T Bancorp misses by $0.02 (STBA) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.54 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.56.
• Net interest income increased $0.8 million to $49.6 million compared to $48.8 million for the second quarter of 2015. The increase in net interest income was primarily due to an increase in average loans and one additional day in the third quarter compared to the second quarter.
• Net interest margin decreased 6 basis points to 3.61% compared to 3.67% for the second quarter of 2015, primarily due to the decrease in accretion of the purchase accounting adjustments and lower rates and fees on loans.
• Return on average assets was 1.20% and return on average equity was 9.51% for the third quarter of 2015.
• Portfolio loans increased $128 million from June 30, 2015, representing a 10.6% annualized rate.
• Net loan charge-offs to average loans remained low at 0.17% annualized for the third quarter of 2015.
• S&T's Board of Directors approved a 5.6% increase in the quarterly cash dividend to $0.19 per share.

7:32 am Roche Hldg's Genentech enters exclusive worldwide license agreement with Nimbus Therapeutics to discover and develop small molecule inhibitors of interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 4 (RHHBY) : Under the terms of the agreement, Nimbus will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and is eligible to receive milestone payments based on achievement of certain predetermined milestones. In addition, Nimbus is eligible to receive royalties on sales of certain products resulting from the license agreement. Genentech will be responsible for all preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

7:32 am Viking Therapeutics reports results from its a short-term safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic study of VK5211; showed VK5211 to be safe and well tolerated at all doses evaluated (VKTX) : Co announced the successful completion of a short-term safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic study of VK5211 in healthy elderly subjects. The results of this study showed VK5211 to be safe and well tolerated at all doses evaluated. No serious adverse events were observed and all subjects received all scheduled doses. In addition, VK5211 demonstrated pharmacokinetic properties similar to those previously reported in younger subjects. Co plans to begin dosing hip fracture patients in a Phase 2 efficacy trial of VK5211 in the fourth quarter of 2015.

7:31 am CSI Compressco LP increases quarterly distribution to $0.5025/unit, up from $0.50/unit Q/Q (CCLP) :  

7:30 am Lockheed Martin beats by $0.04, beats on revs; sees FY15 at high end of range; sees FY16 sales comparable to FY15, below estimates (LMT) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $2.76 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.72; revenues rose 3.1% year/year to $11.46 bln vs the $11.12 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues guidance for FY15, sees EPS of ~$11.30 from $11.00-11.30 vs. $11.36 Capital IQ Consensus; sees FY15 revs of ~$45 bln from $13.5-45.0 bln vs. $44.82 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues downside guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of comparable with 2015 vs. $46.57 bln Capital IQ Consensus, total business segment operating margin will be in the 11.0 percent to 11.5 percent range. The Corporation also expects its 2016 cash from operations will be comparable with 2015. The Corporation's preliminary outlook for 2016 does not reflect any impacts from the ongoing strategic review or its pending acquisition of Sikorsky. The Corporation's outlook for 2016 will be updated at the conclusion of its strategic review, and when the acquisition of Sikorsky closes.

7:30 am Pacira Pharma appoints James Scibetta as President, effective October 20, 2015 (PCRX) :

Co appoints James S. Scibetta as President, effective October 20, 2015.

• Mr. Scibetta will continue to report to CEO and Chairman Dave Stack, who will maintain oversight of the commercial and corporate strategy.
• Mr. Scibetta joined Pacira as CFO in 2008 and led the Co's 2011 initial public offering and subsequent debt and equity financings. 
• Mr. Scibetta will continue to serve as CFO while the company conducts a search for his successor.

7:29 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Airbus Group SE (EADSY) has appointed Dirk Hoke to succeed Bernhard Gerwert as CEO of Airbus Defence and Space as of 1 April 2016. Dirk Hoke, until recently CEO of the Large Drives business unit at Siemens AG (SIEGY), will join Airbus Group on 1 January 2016 as Deputy to Bernhard Gerwert.
• Barsele Minerals Corp announced that an exploration program has been approved by the joint technical committee with Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM) for the Barsele Gold Project in Vsterbottens Ln, Sweden. Agnico Eagle will serve as the operator of the program. The 2015 exploration budget totals $3.25 million and commences immediately. Structural geology mapping and Diamond drilling, with two drill rigs, are currently underway
• Silver Standard Resources (SSRI) announced that its Marigold mine passed a major milestone with the production of its three millionth ounce of gold. The Marigold mine is forecast to produce between 195,000 and 205,000 ounces of gold this year
• The New York Times (NYT) announced the launch of NYT VR, a new virtual reality project in collaboration with Google (GOOG). The project includes the distribution of more than one million Google Cardboard viewers to home delivery subscribers with their copy of The New York Times. The Google Cardboard viewer, allows anyone to experience virtual reality with a smartphone
• Accenture (ACN) Federal Services was awarded a contract to help manage digital interactions for The U.S. Census Bureau.Accenture's work will support the agency's five-year Digital Transformation Program. The work will be done under a Blanket Purchase Agreement which has a one-year base with four, one-year options.
• Alibaba Group (BABA) announced details of the expansion of its presence in the European market. Accordingly, its London office will expand to serve as the company's European hub, and the company is also opening a country office in Milan, Italy. Effective immediately, Amee Chande will serve as the managing director of Alibaba Group in the U.K. and Rodrigo Cipriani Foresio will serve as the managing director of Alibaba Group in Italy

7:13 am Mueller Industries reports Q3 results (MLI) :

• Q3 EPS $0.31 vs. $0.42 last year; rev -11% to $535 mln (no estimates).
  • Both revenues and earnings in the third quarter of 2015 were impacted by lower copper prices and lower unit volume in the OEM Segment.
• "Construction remains positive in both residential and non-residential segments and we expect this trend to continue. However, uncertainty in the industrial sectors looks to continue into the next few quarters."

7:11 am Shutterstock names Anshu Aggarwal as its Chief Technology Officer (SSTK) : Aggarwal most recently served as the VP of Engineering at Tumblr. 

7:08 am Dover beats by $0.07, misses on revs; lowers FY15 gudiance ; announces two acquisitions (DOV) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.14 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.07; revenues fell 11.0% year/year to $1.79 bln vs the $1.81 bln Capital IQ Consensus. (Co delivers quarterly diluted EPS from continuing operations of $1.19, including $0.05 of discrete tax benefits).
• Co issues lowered guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $3.73-3.80 from $3.75-3.90 vs. $3.73 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• "Specifically, we have agreed to acquire Italy-based JK Group SPA..We have also agreed to acquire Gala Industries" The combined purchase price of JK and Gala will be approximately $520 million. JK and Gala are expected to have combined 2016 revenue of about $165 million and be about $0.11 accretive to continuing earnings per share in 2016. On an operating basis, which excludes purchase accounting amortization, JK and Gala are expected to be approximately $0.23 accretive in 2016.

7:08 am Zynerba Pharma initiates a Phase 1 clinical trial for its ZYN002 cannabidiol gel; results expected in the first half of 2016 (ZYNE) : The "Single Rising Dose Study in Normal Subjects and Patients with Epilepsy" study will evaluate the pharmacokinetic profile and tolerability of ZYN002 in 32 healthy volunteers and then in 12 patients with epilepsy. The first group of healthy volunteers was dosed today in Australia. Results are expected in the first half of 2016.

7:06 am Pentair beats by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY15 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (PNR) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.97 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.96; revenues fell 11.7% year/year to $1.55 bln vs the $1.59 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $1.03-1.05, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.08 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of ~$1.7 bln vs. $1.81 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• Co issues guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $3.84-3.86 (Prior $3.80-3.90), excluding non-recurring items, vs. $3.87 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $6.4 bln vs. $6.54 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

7:06 am Asian Markets Close: Japan's Nikkei +0.4%; Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.4%; China's Shanghai Composite +1.1% (:SUMRX) :

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Tuesday as participants lacked conviction. Reportedly, that lack of conviction was tied to growth concerns surrounding China, but the Chinese media for one spent some time Tuesday highlighting the potential for improved growth prospects in China's economy. Notably, China's Shanghai Composite (+1.1%) outperformed all other major indices in the region, scoring the entirety of its gain in the final 30 minutes of trading.

Economic data

• China
  • September Foreign Direct Investment +9.0% (prior +9.2%)
• South Korea
  • September PPI -0.3% month-over-month (prior -0.6%); -4.5% year-over-year (prior -4.5%)

Equity Markets

• Japan's Nikkei increased 0.4%, recouping nearly half of Monday's losses. The rebound effort was helped along by gains in the communications (+2.0%), technology (+0.6%), and health care (+0.5%) sectors. Individual standouts included Takara Holdings (+6.6%), Nippon Telegraph $ Telephone (+5.2%), and Nippon Soda (+4.9%). Tuesday's biggest laggards were Haseko Corp (-7.1%), Tokyo Electric Power (-4.5%), and Asahi Kasei Corp (-4.0%). Out of the 225 index members, 120 ended higher, 92 finished lower, and 13 were unchanged.
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.4% but had been down 1.0% at its lows for the day, which were hit in the afternoon session. China Unicom Hong Kong (-3.0%), China Shenhua Energy (-3.0%), and Sands China (-2.3%) were the worst-performing issues. Hong Kong & China Gas (+1.2%), China Overseas Land & Investment (+0.8%), and Bank of Communications (+0.5%) topped the list of winners. Out of the 50 index members, 11 ended higher, 33 finished lower, and 6 were unchanged.
• China's Shanghai Composite increased 1.1% with the entirety of the gain achieved in the final 30 minutes of trading. The market was down 0.9% at its lows of the morning. There was no news catalyst for the closing spike, although media reports during the day touting China's growth prospects were deemed to be sources of support in the comeback from session lows. Some speculative trading flair could be seen in the outperformance of the small-cap Shenzhen Composite (+2.0%) and the start-up laden ChiNext Index (+3.2%).
• India's Sensex declined 0.2%, fading into negative territory as the afternoon trade progressed. Weakness was concentrated in the materials (-3.9%) sector. The biggest decliners for the day were Vedanta (-6.4%), Tata Steel (-3.1%), and Hindalco Industries (-2.7%). Conversely, Tata Consultancy Services (+1.5%), Infosys (+1.3%), and Tata Motors (+1.2%) were the best-performing issues. Out of the 30 index members, 8 ended higher and 22 finished lower.
• Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7% and closed near its lows for the day. The market was weighed down by weakness in the gold (-3.5%), energy (-3.3%), and resources (-3.0%) sectors, which came on top of growth concerns flowing out of China's Q3 GDP report on Monday. Separately, minutes from the October RBA meeting highlighted an expectation that growth in Australia should pick up in the September quarter. Out of the 200 index members, 62 ended higher, 122 finished lower, and 16 were unchanged.
• Regional advancers: South Korea +0.5%, Taiwan +0.3%, Indonesia +0.4%, Philippines +0.1%
• Regional decliners: Malaysia -0.8%, Singapore -0.2%, Thailand -0.1%, Vietnam -0.5%

FX

• USD/CNY -0.2% at 6.3485
• USD/INR +0.3% at 64.9950
• USD/JPY +0.1% at 119.63

7:04 am Astec Industries misses by $0.16, misses on revs (ASTE) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.10 per share, $0.16 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.26; revenues fell 4.0% year/year to $211.4 mln vs the $224.9 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Total backlog decreased 17% to $245.6 mln at September 30, 2015 from $295.0 mln at September 30, 2014.
• "Low oil prices have hurt our Energy Group sales. The mining slowdown has hurt our Aggregate and Mining Group sales. The strong U.S. Dollar has hurt our international sales and the lack of a long-term highway bill has hurt all of our groups."

7:02 am RXi Pharma reports positive results with its RNAi platform, showing it demonstrated robust and potent reduction of the levels of lncRNAs in a target specific manner (RXII) :  

7:02 am Harley-Davidson misses by $0.08, misses on rev, shipment guidance; lowers FY15 shipment, margin guidance; co will increase invesmtents (HOG) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.69 per share, $0.08 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.77; revenues rose 0.9% year/year to $1.14 bln vs the $1.21 bln Capital IQ Consensus. 
  • 53472 shipments vs. 54-59K guidance.
• Dealer new motorcycle sales were down 1.4% worldwide for the third quarter compared to the year-ago period, with sales down 2.5 percent in the U.S. and up 0.9 percent internationally.
• "We expect a heightened competitive environment to continue for the foreseeable future, and now is the time for us to dial things up with significant additional investments in marketing and product development."
• Harley-Davidson is revising its full-year guidance for motorcycle shipments, reflecting its commitment to managing supply in line with demand and now expects to ship 265,000 to 270,000 motorcycles to dealers and distributors worldwide in 2015, which is ~flat to down 2 percent from 2014; from 276,000 to 281,000 motorcycles.
• In the fourth quarter, the co expects to ship 47,000 to 52,000 motorcycles compared to 47,157 motorcycles shipped in the year-ago period. The company now expects full-year 2015 operating margin of ~16 percent to 17 percent for the motorcycles segment, from 18-19%.
• In 2016, Harley-Davidson will increase its investment in customer-facing marketing by approximately 65 percent above 2015 levels. The company also plans to increase its investment in new product development by approximately 35 percent from 2015 levels. These changes represent an approximate $70 million increase in investment to drive demand compared to 2015.

7:01 am Travelers beats by $0.68, beats on revs (TRV) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $2.93 per share, $0.68 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.25; revenues rose 2.6% year/year to $6.19 bln vs the $6.04 bln Capital IQ Consensus. 
• The combined ratio improved 3.1 points to 86.9% due to a lower underlying combined ratio (1.7 points) and higher net favorable prior year reserve development (1.4 points). RoE was 15.4% compared to 14.5% in prior year period. The combined ratio improved 3.1 points to 86.9% due to a lower underlying combined ratio (1.7 points) and higher net favorable prior year reserve development (1.4 points).
• RoE was 15.4% compared to 14.5% in prior year period. 

7:01 am Yum! Brands to separate into two publicly traded companies; China Division to become independent company focused on growth in Mainland China (YUM) :

YUM confirms it will separate into two publicly traded companies:

1. Yum! China: "A market leader with decades of accumulated consumer loyalty and world-class operations in China, will become a franchisee of Yum! Brands in Mainland China." It will have exclusive rights to three brands: KFC; Pizza Hut; and Taco Bell.
2. Yum! Brands: Will focus on expanding the presence and performance of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell around the world.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2016 and is intended to qualify as a tax-free reorganization for U.S. federal income tax purposes, with the legal structure and form to be announced at a later date. Upon completion of the separation, Yum! Brands will be led by Mr. Creed, and Yum! China will be led by Micky Pant, who was named its CEO in August.

7:01 am Team Health Holdings: AmSurg (AMSG) confirms proposal to acquire TeamHealth for $71.47/share, or ~$7.8 bln (TMH) :

AmSurg Corp. (AMSG) announced a proposal to combine with Team Health Holdings in a stock-and-cash merger at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.768x AmSurg shares per TeamHealth share, which will result in pro forma 50/50 ownership of the combined company. TeamHealth shareholders also will receive cash consideration of $11.49 per share. The proposal has a total current value of $71.47 per TeamHealth share, or a total enterprise value of $7.8 billion, based on AmSurg's closing stock price yesterday. This represents a current premium of 36% to TeamHealth shareholders.

• Commenting on the proposed combination, AmSurg CEO detailed, "TeamHealth shareholders will receive immediate cash value equivalent to 22% of its market capitalization, and share equally in our combined company's upside. The combined company will have significantly enhanced free cash flow, expanded opportunities to accelerate growth, an attractive risk profile, $200 million to $290 million in annual synergies, and the ability to rapidly de-leverage.....Engaging now also gives us the opportunity to further enhance shareholder value by optimizing the financing of the AmSurg/TeamHealth and TeamHealth/IPC transactions and could decrease aggregate financing expense by $100 million to $150 million. We believe strongly in this combination and hope TeamHealth's Board will engage with us promptly to reach an agreed transaction"
• Per the letter to the Board of Team Health, AMSG CEO noted the companies first held combination discussion on September 30

7:00 am Concordia Healthcare prices its 9.5% Senior Notes due 2022 at par (CXRX) :  

7:00 am United Tech beats by $0.11, misses on revs; reaffirms FY15 EPS guidance, revs guidance; authorized $12 bln new share repurchase program (UTX) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.67 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.56; revenues fell 5.6% year/year to $13.79 bln vs the $14.59 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $6.15-6.30 vs. $6.21 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $57-58 bln vs. $57.45 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• UTC expects the previously announced sale of its Sikorsky unit to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.
• Co authorized a new $12 bln share repurchase program, including the $6 blnn accelerated share repurchase using the net proceeds from the Sikorsky sale.

6:57 am Merck KGaA confirms Sigma-Aldrich's (SIAL) sale of parts of its solvents and inorganics business in Europe to Honeywell (HON), continues to expect closing of merger by the end of November (MKGAY) :  

6:53 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Spark Networks (LOV) disclosed in a regulatory filing that on October 14, 2015, Gregory J. Franchina, Chief Information Officer, delivered a notice of resignation to the Company indicating that he intended to resign effective as of November 14, 2015. The Company intends to replace Mr. Franchina and has initiated the process of recruiting qualified candidates.
• Fluor Corporation (FLR) announced that it was selected by Cytec Industries (CYT) for the engineering, procurement and construction management of the expansion of its high-performance adhesives manufacturing facility in Wrexham, North Wales. Co booked the undisclosed value of the contract in the company's third quarter of 2015
• International Game Technology (GT) announced an agreement with LUDI S.F.M. to provide IGT's full suite of slot machines and systems in France. The agreement also includes legacy GTECH machines
• Science Applications International (SAIC) was awarded the Aviation Systems and Computer Resources Support contract by the U.S. Army Contracting Command -- Redstone to provide a variety of Aviation Systems Engineering and Software Development services. The single-award, cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order, under the GSA One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services contract, has a one-year base period of performance, a one-year option, and an estimated contract value of ~$109 million

6:51 am Hecla Mining reports Q3 prelim production results, showing silver production of ~2.59 mln oz, 43,635 oz of gold and 17,435 tons of zinc (HL) :

Co reported for the third quarter;

• Silver production of 2,591,546 ounces
• Gold production of 43,635 ounces
• Silver equivalent production of 8.7 million ounces
• Zinc production of 17,435 tons and lead production of 9,123 tons
• Co also stated that a production decision has been made at th San Sebastian project in Mexico and stripping on the Middle Vein has begun.
• Year-end production expected to be at the high end of the previous estimate of 10.5-11.0 million ounces of silver and 185,000 ounces of gold.
• Gold production is now expected to be 59,000 ounces at Greens Creek and 126,000 ounces at Casa Berardi.

6:46 am Avianca Holdings reports September traffic (AVH) : In September, the subsidiary companies of Avianca transported 2,299,926 passengers, up 5.3% compared to September 2014. Capacity, measured in ASKs (available seat kilometers), increased 9.4%, while passenger traffic, measured in RPKs (revenue passenger kilometers), increased 8.1%. The growth in ASKs during the period was mainly driven by the new service from Bogota to Los Angeles, and incremental frequencies (from 4 weekly flights to 1 daily flight) from Bogota to London and Barcelona. The load factor for the month was 78.1%.

6:46 am Midstates Petroleum reaffirms its revolving credit facility at $252 mln; reports Q3 avg production of 32,609 Boe/day (MPO) :

Co reported the borrowing base under its revolving credit facility has been reaffirmed at $252 million. There are currently no borrowings under the credit facility. Co also reported that during the third quarter of 2015, total company production averaged 32,609 barrels of oil equivalent (Boe) per day of which approximately 39% was oil, 21% was natural gas liquids and the balance was natural gas.

• The temporary interruption of production at a Midstates' well site due to a previously reported incident reduced third quarter production by approximately 650 Boe per day. Production from the impacted well site was restored in August. Production from the Company's Mississippian Lime properties averaged 26,358 Boe per day.
• Co currently estimates operating capital expenditures will be in the range of $55 million to $60 million and anticipates adjusted EBITDA will be near the bottom end of the previously disclosed range of $80 million to $90 million.
• The Company's total operated rig count remains at three rigs, all of which are drilling in the Mississippian Lime.

6:45 am ITT Educational issues statement, says received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education identifying certain past procedural deficiencies and requiring certain additional reporting, procedures and remedial actions (ESI) :

Co receives a letter from the U.S. Department of Education identifying certain past procedural deficiencies and requiring certain additional reporting, procedures and remedial actions.

• Co is in the process of implementing measures to fully address the related reporting and administrative matters.
• The additional requirements will cause an increased administrative burden, the Co does not believe they will be a material negative impact on its financial results in any manner.

6:43 am Omnicom beats by $0.02, beats on revs (OMC) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.97 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.95; revenues fell 1.1% year/year to $3.71 bln vs the $3.65 bln Capital IQ Consensus. 
  • The components of the change in revenue included an increase in revenue from organic growth of 6.1%, a marginal increase in revenue from acquisitions, net of dispositions and a decrease in revenue from the negative impact of foreign exchange rates of 7.2% when compared to the third quarter of 2014.
  • The change in organic revenue in the third quarter of 2015 as compared to the third quarter of 2014 in our four fundamental disciplines was as follows: advertising increased 9.9%, CRM increased 2.8% and specialty communications increased 5.4%, while public relations decreased 1.5%.

6:39 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (AMPH) has began shipping Amphadase for commercial distribution. The launch marks the first product made using starting material from the Co's subsidiary, ANP, located in Nanjing, China.
• Hercules Technology Growth Capital (HTGC) announced the latest liquidity events for two of its portfolio companies: Cerecor Inc (CERCU), which recently completed an initial public offering; and nContact, which was recently acquired. Cerecor raised ~$26 million. nContact, Inc. was acquired by AtriCure (ATRC) for ~$99 million in common stock and cash

6:36 am Synovus reports EPS in-line; Board authorizes new $300 mln share repurchase program; quarterly dividend increases 20% to $0.12/share (SNV) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.42 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.42. T
• Total loans ended the quarter at $21.86 bln, up $369.4 mln or 6.8% annualized, from the previous quarter and up $1.28 bln.
• NIM declined one basis point to 3.14% compared to 3.15% in the previous quarter.
• Dividend & Share Repurchase: Board authorized a new share repurchase program of up to $300 mln of the Company's common stock to be executed over the next 15 months; Board of Directors approved a 20% increase in quarterly common stock dividend from $0.10 to $0.12/share.

6:36 am BNY Mellon beats by $0.03, misses on revs (BK) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.74 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.71; revenues rose 1.1% year/year to $3.8 bln vs the $3.89 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• BK's CEO said: "Our third quarter results reflect our focus on delivering significant value to our shareholders in all market environments. We are executing on our strategic priorities, which helped us to generate more than 370 basis points of positive operating leverage year-over-year and to remain on track to achieve the three-year targets we shared on Investor Day a year ago. We are enhancing our risk management and regulatory compliance practices, investing in technology platforms for the future and have onboarded employees associated with two strategic relationships while simultaneously controlling expenses."

6:36 am Wolverine reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; lowers FY15 EPS, revs guidance below consensus (WWW) :

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.48 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.48; revenues fell 4.5% year/year to $678.9 mln vs the $684.13 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

• Co issues downside guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $1.44-1.47 (vs. prior of $1.53-1.60) vs. $1.48 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $2.69-2.71 bln (vs. prior 2.82-2.85) vs. $2.76 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• In revising the guidance, the company noted that certain trends and conditions experienced during the third quarter are now expected to continue and to put pressure on the Company's top line performance during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015. 
• The Company now expects to incur total pre-tax charges of approximately $50 million to $54 million related to the previously announced Strategic Realignment Plan, exit of the Cushe business, certain organizational changes across the business and debt extinguishment costs from the debt refinancing. 

6:35 am Oncolytics Biotech announces Phase 1b study in advanced Pancreatic Cancer (ONCY) :

Co announces that the Investigational New Drug Application containing the protocol titled "A Phase Ib study of pembrolizumab in combination with REOLYSIN and chemotherapy in patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma" is now active.

• The study will enroll patients 18 years or older with histologically confirmed advanced or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who have failed, or did not tolerate, first line treatment.
• It is an open-label Phase Ib trial designed to determine the safety and dose-limiting toxicities of REOLYSINand chemotherapy (gemcitabine or irinotecan or fluorouracil, at the treating physician's preference) in combination with pembrolizumab.
• Secondary endpoints include overall response rate and progression free survival by immune-related response criteria; overall survival; and effects of REOLYSIN and pembrolizumab when administered in combination as determined by analysis of pre- and post-treatment treatment biopsies and blood based immune markers.

6:35 am Fifth Third beats by $0.05 (:GAAP) (FITB) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) GAAP earnings of $0.45 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.40.  
  • Q3 earnings include: a $130 mln pre-tax (~$84 mln after tax) positive valuation adjustment on the warrant Fifth Third holds in Vantiv, $35 mln pre-tax (~$23 mln after tax) of provision expense related to the restructuring of a student loan backed commercial credit originally extended in 2007, a $9 mln pre-tax (~$6 mln after tax) charge associated with executive retirement and severance costs, and an $8 mln pre-tax (~$5 mln after tax) charge related to the valuation of the Visa total return swap, resulting in a net $0.06 impact on earnings per share
• Tangible book value $15.18 from 14.62 last quarter.
• Net interest income (:FTE) of $906 mln, up 2 percent sequentially and flat from 3Q14; net interest margin of 2.89%, down 1 bp sequentially
• Average portfolio loans of $93.4 bln, up $1.2 bln sequentially and up $2.6 bln from 3Q14; both increases primarily driven by increases in C&I loans

6:32 am Asterias Biotherapeutics reports its Data Monitoring Committee has recommended dose escalation in its SCiStar Phase 1/2a clinical trial of AST-OPC1 (AST) :

Co announced that its Data Monitoring Committee has reviewed the initial safety data from all three patients in the first cohort and has recommended dose escalation to the second cohort. Recruitment for the second cohort will begin immediately, with a planned enrollment of five patients who will each receive 10 million cells of AST-OPC1.

• The three patients in the first cohort were administered a low dose of 2 million AST-OPC1 cells and have completed at least 30 days of follow up for safety. The results of the trial continue to support a positive safety profile for AST-OPC1, with no serious adverse events observed to date in any of the three treated patients.

6:30 am Atara Biotherapeutics confirms Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA, for STM 434 to treat ovarian cancer (ATRA) :  

6:23 am Vivendi issues clarification regarding the number of Canal+ subscribers for September, will file a complaint with the French Stock Exchange Authority (VIVHY) :

Following the release of false information stating in particular a 10% drop in the number of Canal+ subscribers for September 2015, which negatively impacted its share price, Vivendi was yesterday obliged to issue a press release indicating that in fact the real figure was positive. Despite this clarification, a new figure was circulated this morning showing a 10% drop in new Canal+ subscribers for September 2015, compared to September 2014. As a matter of fact, the number of new Canal+ subscribers over this period is actually up by 20%.

• In an attempt to put an end to this 'detrimental campaign', Vivendi has decided to file a complaint to the French Stock Exchange Authority for the propagation of misleading information, which has negatively affected the Vivendi share price.

6:22 am MPLX LP increases its quarterly distribution to $0.47/unit, up from $0.44/unit Q/Q (MPLX) :  

6:18 am Check-Cap reports new data demonstrating safety and polyp detection, from a clinical study evaluating the company's system for prepfree examination of the colon (CHEK) :

The study evaluated data from 49 volunteers and tracked the entire passage of the capsule through the alimentary tract using radio frequency telemetry and Check-Cap's proprietary capsule position tracking system. All capsules were swallowed naturally without adverse events, and there was a 100% capsule excretion rate after an average transit time of 68 +/- 31 hours. Enrolled subjects were exposed to ultra-low doses of radiation with an average total exposure of 0.03 +/- 0.007 mSv. Quantitative ultra-low dose x-ray 3D imaging was achieved in the colon of human subjects, and the system successfully generated multiple reconstructions of colon segments with polyps.

• The study results represent a preliminary analysis of the first patients evaluated in Check-Cap's ongoing multi-center clinical evaluation. The study aims to further evaluate the clinical efficacy of the Check-Cap system for the detection of pre-cancerous polyps. Check-Cap anticipates submitting data from this study for CE Mark in the first quarter of 2016 and initiating a U.S. pivotal trial in the second half of 2016.

6:11 am First Cash misses by $0.02, misses on revs; lowers FY15 EPS below consensus (FCFS) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.59 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.61; revenues fell 3.1% year/year to $169.5 mln vs the $176.02 mln Capital IQ Consensus. 
• Same-store revenue growth from core pawn operations increased 8% in Mexico, decreased 4% in the U.S.
• Co issues lowered guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $2.40-2.50 from $2.60-2.75 vs. $2.59 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 
  • Guidance Details: The projected rate for the fourth quarter is now set at a range of 16.25 to 17.25 Mexican pesos / U.S. dollar. Accordingly, the incremental impact on dollar-translated earnings in Mexico is estimated to be an additional $0.07 to $0.11 per share of earnings as compared to the previous guidance. Given the further declines in U.S. gasoline prices during the third quarter, the Company's updated guidance is also more cautious about short-term fourth quarter U.S. pawn loan demand.

6:10 am S&P futures vs fair value: -6.00. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -10.90. :

6:10 am European Markets : FTSE...6326.78...-25.60...-0.40%.  DAX...10113.24...-51.10...-0.50%.

6:10 am Asian Markets : Nikkei...18207.15...+75.90...+0.40%.  Hang Seng...22989.22...-86.40...-0.40%.

6:08 am Mercantile Bank beats by $0.05; beats on revs (MBWM) :

Reports Q3 EPS $0.45 vs $0.40 Capital IQ consensus; revs increased 3.5% YoY to $29.9 mln vs $28.9 mln consensus. 

• The net interest margin was 3.87% in the third quarter of 2015, continuing a relatively stable trend over the past five quarters during which the margin ranged from 3.79% to 3.95%.

6:04 am Regions Fincl misses by $0.01, beats on revs (RF) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.19 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.20; revenues fell 5.0% year/year to $1.34 bln vs the $1.31 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Ending loans totaled $81 billion, an increase of $4 billion or 6% as production increased 20%.
  • Business lending balances increased 7% as production increased 19%.
  • Consumer lending balances increased 4% as production increased 24%
    

6:03 am MYR Group issues supplemental statement regarding the resignation of CFO Paul Evans, says the transition was not related to any issues or concerns around MYR's historical financial statements or any disagreement (MYRG) :  

6:01 am Honeywell agrees to acquire the laboratory research chemicals business Seelze, from Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL) for ~105 million euro (HON) : Honeywell will acquire three brands: Fluka chemicals and reagents used for biochemical research and other chemical and pharmaceutical applications; Hydranal Karl Fischer titration reagents used by laboratories to measure moisture content in liquids and solids; Chromasolv high-purity solvents for chromatography, a technique used to separate and analyze complex mixtures.

6:00 am Exco Resources announces a series of transactions expected to enhance liquidity; includes issuing senior secured term loans, repurchasing unsecured notes, amending credit agreement (XCO) :

• Co executed an agreement with subsidiaries of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited to provide a $300 million Senior Secured Second Lien Term Loan. The loan bears interest at a rate of 12.50% per annum and has a five-year maturity.
• Co also entered into agreements with certain unsecured noteholders pursuant to which the Noteholders have agreed to become lenders under a new $291 million Senior Secured Second Lien Term Loan in exchange for the Company repurchasing $577 million of the Noteholders' senior unsecured notes at an average price of 51% of principal amount.
• In connection with the foregoing transactions, co entered into an amendment to its Credit Agreement which reduced the borrowing base to $375 million and provided further covenant flexibility.

5:39 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Constellium N. V. (CSTM) launched Aeral, a new aluminium solution designed for the production of aerosol containers using the Drawn and Ironed technology which is currently used to produce beverage cans.
• ARM (ARMH) has acquired the product portfolio and other business assets of Carbon Design Systems, a supplier of cycle-accurate virtual prototyping solutions, to deliver design optimization, time-to-market and cost-efficiency gains for its partners. As part of this acquisition, Carbon's staff will transfer to ARM.
• Qualcomm (QCOM) introduced the industry's first fully integrated, smart gateway system-on-chip incorporating its next generation Qualcomm Internet Processor, Qualcomm VIVE with Qualcomm MU | EFX MU-MIMO technology, built-in Gigabit Ethernet, Qualcomm StreamBoost, with support for dual band simultaneous transmission and LTE backhaul.
• Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) launched industry-leading innovations in fiber and copper technologies that will enable operators to meet current and future demand for ultra-broadband access services -- including addressing performance and capacity requirements critical to delivering on the promise of 5G.
• China Telecom (CHA) and SAP (SAP) announced the general availability of the SAP Anywhere solution in China. SAP Anywhere is the first front-office solution specifically tailored to the e-commerce needs of small and midsize businesses with 10 to 500 employees.
• Fluke Networks Enterprise Solutions, a business unit of NETSCOUT SYSTEMS (NTCT) announced it is rolling out new 802.11ac functionality in two of its most popular portable network analysis and troubleshooting tools, the OptiView XG Network Analysis Tablet and the OneTouch AT Generation 2 Network Assistant.
• Ericsson (ERIC) announced a collaboration with Intel, Telenor Connexion and MyOmega System Technologies to build a secure Internet of Things connectivity service that supports more effective wine production.
• ADTRAN (ADTN) announced it is unlocking closed, single-vendor access networks to bring FTTx into line with the open, standards based approach common across all other broadband media.
  

5:07 am Signature Bank beats by $0.06 (SBNY) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.88 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.82.
• Average Deposits Increased $1.54 bln, or 6.3%, in the 2015 Third Quarter
• For the 2015 Third Quarter, Loans Increased a Record $1.70 bln, or 8.3%, to $22.23 bln. Since the End of the 2014 Third Quarter, Loans Have Increased 34.3%, or $5.68 bln
• Core Net Interest Margin Excluding Loan Prepayment Penalty Income Decreased Six Basis Points to 3.11% for the 2015 Third Quarter when Compared with the Previous Quarter.
• Tier 1 Leverage, Common Equity Tier 1 Risk-Based, Tier 1 Risk-Based and Total Risk-Based Capital Ratios were 8.95%, 11.58%, 11.58% and 12.34%, Respectively, at September 30, 2015. Signature Bank Remains Significantly Above FDIC "Well Capitalized" Standards. Tangible Common Equity Ratio Was 8.84%
  
  

4:58 am Intercontinental Hotels Group reports Q3 Interim Management Statement (IHG) :

Co reports Global Q3 comparable RevPAR up 4.8%1, led by rate up 3.6%.

• Expanded our global scale: net system size of 727k rooms, up 4.3% year on year (2.7% excluding Kimpton); 16k rooms signed into our 218k room pipeline, highest Q3 hotel signings since 2008.
• Strengthened the position of our preferred brands, in particular opening more Holiday Inn rooms in the period than ever before.
• Completed the sale of InterContinental Hong Kong, for proceeds of $929 mln
  

4:44 am SAP AG beats by $0.07; beats on revs; reiterates 2015 outlook (SAP) :

Reports Q3 EPS of EUR0.98 vs EUR0.91 Capital IQ consensus; revs increased 17% YoY to EUR4.99 bln vs EUR4.95 bln consensus. 

• SAP delivered growth in the cloud, outpacing most pure cloud competitors even without the contribution from the Concur acquisition.
• Third quarter non-IFRS cloud subscriptions and support revenue grew 116% year-over-year (90% at constant currencies) to 600 million.
• New cloud bookings, the key measure for SAP's sales success in the cloud, increased 102% in the third quarter to 216 million.

BUSINESS OUTLOOK 2015
The Company reiterates the following full year 2015 outlook:

• Company expects full-year 2015 non-IFRS cloud subscriptions and support revenue to be in a range of 1.95 - 2.05 billion at constant currencies (2014: 1.10 billion).
• The upper end of this range represents a growth rate of 86% at constant currencies. Concur and Fieldglass are expected to contribute ~50 percentage points to this growth.
• The Company expects full year 2015 non-IFRS cloud and software revenue to increase by 8% - 10% at constant currencies (2014: 14.33 billion).
• The Company expects full-year 2015 non-IFRS operating profit to be in a range of 5.6 billion - 5.9 billion at constant currencies (2014: 5.64 billion)

4:23 am New Oriental Education & Technology President to step down, will remain on Board; Chenggang Zhou promoted to the position of President (EDU) :

Co announced the promotion of Chenggang Zhou to the position of President, effective January 5, 2016. At the same time, Louis Hsieh will step down as President of New Oriental, but will remain on the Board of Directors of the Company and will serve as a non-executive Senior Adviser to the Company.

• Zhou joined New Oriental in 2000 and has held multiple positions in the Company since then, including Executive President for Domestic Business, Executive Vice President, Vice President and President of Beijing and Shanghai New Oriental Schools.

4:20 am New Oriental Education & Technology beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (EDU) :

• Reports Q1 (Aug) earnings of $0.84 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.78; revenues rose 16.4% year/year to $458.5 mln vs the $447.14 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Total student enrollments in academic subjects tutoring and test preparation courses increased by 13.8% to 1,011,300 for the first fiscal quarter of 2016.
  
• Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $267.0-276.4 mln vs. $269.02 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:05 am Volvo to sell its external IT business; provides cost savings and a capital gain (VOLVY) :

Co announced intends to divest its external IT business and to outsource IT infrastructure operations to HCL Technologies. The transaction is to be closed during the second quarter of 2016 and will provide both cost savings and a capital gain.

• In conjunction with the closing, the Volvo Group's operating income and net financial debt are expected to be positively impacted by an amount of ~SEK 900 mln
• The Volvo Group and HCL have signed a Letter of Intent, awaiting the signing of the final contract. Approximately 2.600 Volvo personnel globally will be affected by the transaction. They will be given the offer to move over to HCL Technologies and will continue to work closely with their colleagues in Volvo's IT services division.
  

3:59 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Exterran Holdings (EXH) announced that its board of directors has set a record date and a distribution date for the spin-off of its international services and global fabrication businesses into a stand-alone, publicly traded company named Exterran Corporation. Exterran Corporation has applied to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "EXTN."
• ZTE Corporation (ZTCOF) has signed a Global Framework Agreement with Telenor (TELNY).
• Amazon.com (AMZN) announced it is creating 100,000 seasonal positions across its U.S. network of fulfillment and sortation centers this holiday season in order to meet the increase in customer demand. 
• Technip (TKPPY) has been awarded by Tecnicas Reunidas a significant contract to supply three hydrogen reformers as part of the hydrogen production facility at PETRONAS' Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development project located in the state of Johor, Malaysia.
• Toshiba Corporation's (TOSBF) Semiconductor & Storage Products Company announced its newest enterprise performance hard disk drive line, the AL14SE series, designed for mission critical servers and high-performance, high-availability storage systems.
  

3:45 am United Continental CEO to take medical leave; Brett Hart named acting CEO (UAL) :

Co announced that its president and CEO, Oscar Munoz, is on medical leave following a heart attack he suffered on Oct. 15, 2015.

• At this time, it is too soon to know the course of treatment and timing of recovery.
• The UAL board of directors has named Brett Hart, currently United's executive vice president and general counsel, as acting CEO. This appointment is effective immediately.

3:43 am Helix Energy beats by $0.02, misses on revs (HLX) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.09 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.07; revenues fell 46.4% year/year to $182.5 mln vs the $194.34 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Well Intervention revenues increased 11% in the third quarter of 2015 as compared to revenues in the second quarter of 2015, reflecting a greater number of utilized days in the quarter for two of our North Sea vessels. Well Intervention vessel utilization in the third quarter of 2015 decreased to 60% from 63% in the second quarter of 2015. The Gulf of Mexico fleet utilization was 34% in the third quarter of 2015 compared to 42% in second quarter of 2015.
• Robotics revenues increased 11% in the third quarter of 2015 from revenues in the second quarter of 2015. Vessel utilization increased to 87% and ROV asset utilization was marginally lower, quarter over quarter. The increase in vessel utilized days was the primary driver in higher revenue and gross profit for the quarter.