>>> US Close Dow-0,89% S&P-0,95% Nasdaq-1,34%

Closing Market Summary: Stocks End Down Week on Defensive Note

The stock market finished the week on a broadly lower note with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 enduring their worst week since 2012. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3%, ending the week with a loss of 3.1%. For its part, the S&P 500 settled lower by 1.0% to end the week down 2.7%.

Equity indices faced selling activity at the open after the overnight session failed to deliver any noteworthy respite following yesterday's drubbing. The lack of a concerted rebound effort today likely fed into concerns that the stock market is in the midst of a larger degree price correction than what participants have grown accustomed to seeing the past few years.

Despite starting in the red, the major averages spent the initial 90 minutes of action in a dash towards their flat lines. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were able to make a brief appearance in the green with help from biotechnology, while the Dow spent the entire day in the red.

The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 215.45, -6.44) appeared to have found support at its 200-day moving average in the morning, but the modest morning rebound was met with daylong selling that drove the ETF to a fresh session low. The ETF lost 2.9%, while the health care sector fell 1.1%.

Biotech notwithstanding, other momentum names that comprise a portion of the consumer discretionary sector (-1.4%) and a good part of the technology space (-1.2%) were weak once again. Amazon.com (AMZN 311.73, -5.38), Google (GOOG 530.60, -10.35), Netflix (NFLX 326.71, -8.02), and LinkedIn (LNKD 165.78, -4.21) lost between 1.7% and 2.5%, to name a few.

Even though the Nasdaq and S&P 500 made short-lived appearances in the green, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.9%) was unable to do so as JPMorgan Chase (JPM 55.30, -2.10) and top-weighted component, Visa (V 196.63, -4.92), weighed. Visa sank 2.4% while JPMorgan Chase plunged 3.7% after missing earnings estimates on below-consensus revenue. The financial sector (-1.2%), meanwhile, ended among the laggards. The sector was kept from logging additional losses due to a 0.8% gain in Wells Fargo (WFC 48.08, +0.37), which reported above-consensus earnings.

On a separate note, shares of Herbalife (HLF 51.48, -8.36) took a dive in the final hour of action, falling 14.0% after The Financial Times reported that a criminal probe has been launched into the company's business practices.

On the fixed income side, Treasuries were little changed overnight, but began climbing during the early morning hours. The 10-yr note added eight ticks, pressuring its yield to 2.62%.

Participation was a bit above average as nearly 800 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.

Reviewing today's data:

* Producer prices jumped 0.5% in March, the largest monthly increase since June, after falling 0.1% in February. The consensus expected the PPI to increase 0.1%. We would not categorize the forecasting miss as a big surprise. The consensus is having difficulty forecasting the PPI following the methodology change. Under the previous PPI methodology, price growth for finished goods was down 0.1%. That was in line with expectations. The entire increase in producer prices was the result of a bounce in prices for final demand for services. After declining 0.3% in February, these prices increased 0.7%, which was the largest monthly gain since January 2010. 

* The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index increased to 82.6 in the preliminary reading for April from 80.0 in March. That was the strongest sentiment reading since July 2013. The consensus expected the index to increase to 81.0. Consumer sentiment typically follows changes in the equity markets, unemployment, and gasoline prices. The surveys were filled out prior to the recent weakness in the stock market, so equity prices enhanced sentiment in the preliminary reading. If the market does not rebound, we would expect the final reading to be notably lower. The Expectations Index increased to 97.1 in the preliminary reading for April from 70.0 in March. The Present Conditions Index increased to 97.1 from 95.7.

>>> Autonavi Enters agreement to be acquired by Alibaba at $5.25/shr in cash ($2

Autonavi Enters agreement to be acquired by Alibaba at $5.25/shr in cash ($21/ADS); deal valued at $1.5B
- Will receive US$5.25 in cash per ordinary share (a "Share") or US$21.00 in cash per American depositary share of the Company. The price represents a premium of 27.0% over the Company's closing price of US$16.54 per ADS on February 7, 2014, the last trading day prior to February 10, 2014, the date that the Company announced it had received a "going private" proposal from Alibaba, and a premium of 38.5% and 39.8% to the volume-weighted average price of the Company's ADSs during the 30 and 60 trading days prior to February 10, 2014, respectively. 
- The transaction expected to close in the third quarter of 2014 
- AutoNavi's board of directors (the "Board"), acting on the unanimous recommendation of an independent committee of the Board (the "Independent Committee"), which was assisted by its independent financial advisor and legal counsel, approved the merger agreement and the transaction and recommends that the Company's shareholders vote to authorize and approve the merger agreement and the transaction. 
- Alibaba beneficially owns 78,428,700 shares in AutoNavi (representing 28.2% of the total outstanding shares of the Company as of March 31, 2014) in the form of ordinary shares and series A convertible preferred shares, and has entered into a voting agreement with certain AutoNavi shareholders under which they will vote up to approximately an additional 26.2% of the total outstanding shares of the Company as of March 31, 2014) in favor of the transaction. If completed, the transaction will result in the Company becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba, and its ADSs will no longer be listed on Nasdaq.

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance/SSS: DWCH -30%, NQ -13.7%, AVD -10.5%, GPS -4% (also downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney), TTMI -3.8%, JPM -3.7%.

Select financial related names showing weakness following weakness overseas and JPM results: NBG -3.9%, GS -1.5%, C -1.5%, UBS -1.2%, ING -1.2%, LYG -1.2%.

Select solar stocks trading lower: YGE -3.6% (sees Q1 shipments below prior guidance), CSIQ -2.6%, SPWR -2.1%, TSL -2.3%, SUNE -2%, JKS -1.6%.

Other news: NTN -27.4% (announces proposed public offering of common stock, size not disclosed), CWTR -15.8% (commences voluntary Chapter 11 proceeding to facilitate orderly wind-down of operations), RGDO -14.2% ( prices public offering of 10 mln shares of its common stock at $6.00 per share), VJET -10.2% (following 13% drop yesterday), CTSH -4.8% (still checking), GLOG-3.5% (announced that it plans to offer ~4.25 mln of its common shares to the public; announces agreement to purchase an additional three LNG carriers from BG Group for ~ $468 mln), ARMH -2.8% (weakness in overseas trading), ALU -1.8% (still checking for anything specific), IRBT -1.7% (disclosed Amendment and Termination of Shareholder Rights Agreement; rights to purchase Series A-1 Junior Participating Cumulative Preferred Stock are now expired ), AJG -1.5% (prices 19 mln shares of its common stock at a price of $43.25), NOK -1.2% (still checking), TSLA -1% (following yesterday's 13 point drop; plans Chna charging network, according to reports), SCHW -0.6% (announces interim business update will be held via webcast on April 24), LNKD -0.5% (will tell subs about jobs at their own cos, according to reports).

Analyst comments: APOG -3.9% (removed from Conv Buy list at Goldman), SDRL -2.6% (downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse ), ASML -1.9% (initiated with a Cautious at ISI), GLW -1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS), SYMC -1% ( downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays), FSL -0.7% (initiated with a Cautious at ISI), BBBY -0.3% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup), ABB -0.2% ( downgraded to Neutral at Robert W. Baird; tgt lowered to $28)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: APP +6.1% (reports total net sales for March 2014 were flat year/year; comparable sales decreased 5% and wholesale net sales increased 11%; sees Q4 revs of 137.8 mln vs $136.12 mln single analyst estimate), CERE +5.3% (light volume), FAST +2.9%, WFC +1.6%.

Select metals/mining stocks trading higher: GOLD +0.7%, GDX +0.7%, AG +0.5%, GG +0.5%, GLD +0.4%, NEM +0.4%.

Other news: HRB +6.8% (reaches definitive agreement to divest its bank; expected to dilute H&R Block earnings by ~ $0.07 to $0.09 per share annually beginning in fiscal 2015), BOFI +6.1% (BofI Holding unit BofI Federal Bank agrees to provide banking products to H&R Block clients), ONCY +5.8% (ticking higher, collaborators present translational brain cancer clinical data and immunomodulatory preclinical research at UK Oncolytic Virus Conference; covered early clinical research showing that intravenously delivered REOLYSIN can cross the blood brain barrier to access tumours in the brains of humans), NEPT +4.6% (Haywood disclosed 9.9% stake in 13D; says ' Company should implement changes to the Board of Directors and management', ZNGA +2.2% (names David Lee as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer), INFY +1.4% (Board of Directors commences search for Mr. S.D. Shibulal's Successor), DIS +1.3% ( Maker Studios founders have failed a lawsuit to prevent DIS takeover, according to reports ), VISN +1.2% (announces strategic partnership with China Unicom), GTAT +1.2% (following positive MadMoney mention),WTT +0.8% (repurchased 4,815,110 shares of its common stock, representing ~ 20% of its total shares outstanding (prior to the repurchase), from its largest shareholder, Investcorp Technology Ventures and its affiliates, for an aggregate purchase price of ~ $9.6 mln, or $2.00 per share), GILD +0.8% ( Sovaldi demonstrates efficacy and safety among chronic Hepatitis C patients with advanced liver disease), WCG +0.7% (following late spike on blog suggesting M&A), DNDN +0.7% (immune responses enhanced and sustained when PROVENGE is given after androgen deprivation therapy in biochemically-recurrent prostate cancer), KIM +0.4% (acquires balance of KIF I Portfolio for $408 mln), ABBV +0.1% ( presents detailed Phase III results from SAPPHIRE-I and SAPPHIRE-II studies in chronic hepatitis C patients).

Analyst comments: PNW +2.5% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Argus), SFLY +2.2% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman; tgt raised to $52 from $47 ), IMPV +2.1% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sterne Agee ), F +1% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank), AMTD +0.8% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays), CSX +0.5% (initiated with an Outperform at Macquarie), TM +0.4% (Toyota upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies)