Here is a 5-minute look at today’s action:

Volume today was 14 percent below its 50-day moving average, so market bulls can take comfort in the relative indifference to whatever motivated today’s market malaise.

The S&P 500 is now up 16.84 percent for 2013 and 0.07 percent below the all-time closing high of May 17. 

Doug Short Ph.d is the author of dshort at Advisor Perspectives.

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New Suicides at Foxconn Put Apple in a Pickle

Two employees of Taiwanese manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. have fallen to their deaths since April, the company disclosed today.

Hon Hai is a large manufacturer of iPhones that has come under scrutiny for its labor practices in recent years. The deaths are a reminder of human rights struggles the manufacturer has faced after the suicides of at least 13 employees in 2010. The company, which uses the trade name Foxconn Technology Group, has instituted reforms since those deaths, but the tight relationship between Foxconn and Apple has been unraveling…(Read more.)

Is Apple Dodging Taxes?

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is set to testify before Congress Tuesday on how his company manages its books.

Up for question at Tuesday’s hearing are accounting practices such as Apple’s reporting of a 25.2 percent rate, which takes into account the billions set aside each year for potential repatriation taxes, even though that money does not get paid to the government. Apple, like other multinationals, also does not have to reveal how revenues move between various subsidiary corporations, making tracing their taxable income even harder… (Read more.)

Is the U.S. Government Giving Apple Shoddy Treatment?

Is Apple being unfairly targeted by its own government? Apple and various departments of the U.S. government have been sharing some news headlines lately, and it’s not for good reasons. First, the U.S. Department of Justice is proceeding with an antitrust lawsuit against Apple that alleges the company conspired with publishers to price-fix e-books… (Read more.)

Follow Meghan on Twitter @MFoley_WSCS

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Tumblr – David Karp

Tumblr, started in 2007, is a part micro-blogging, part social networking site that allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog. It has approximately 100 million blogs on its network, and was acquired by Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) in May 2013 for $1.1 billion. Founder David Karp, a 26-year old born and raised in New York City, dropped out of high school at age 15 and after homeschooling, worked at UrbanBaby as Head of Product. When the company was bought by CNET in 2006, Karp used the money from the sale and started his own software consulting company, Davidville, where he worked to launch his microblogging website in February 2007. According to Forbes, he is already worth about $200 million.

Instagram – Kevin Systrom

Instagram is an online photo-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to “snap a photo, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post to Instagram,” on a variety of other social networking sites such as Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter. Facebook officially acquired Instagram in September 2012 after the social networking service went public. Kevin Systrom, co-founder and CEO of Instagram, graduated from Stanford University in 2006 and went on to co-found the photo-sharing service with Mike Krieger in 2010 after working for two years at Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). While Facebook was rumored to acquire Instagram in a $1 billion deal in April 2012, the deal officially closed in November 2012 at a lower price of $736 million.

Summly - Nick D’Aloisio

Summly is a mobile app that works as an analytical tool by solving the problems that arise when news articles are presented on smartphones. It finds snippets of news and converts them to be easier to read on mobile devices. Summly was acquired by Yahoo for $30 million on March 25, 2013. Yahoo’s youngest employee and Summly’s founder, 17-year old British Australian Nick D’Aloisio developed the app in his bedroom when he was 15. The app was originally created as Trimit in March 2011, but was re-launched in December 2011 as Summly after D’Aloisio took Trimit’s feedback and made improvements.

YouTube - Chad Hurley and Steve Chen

YouTube is a video-sharing website that allows users to view, upload and share videos. Google acquired it for $1.65 billion in October 2006.  It is rumored that YouTube’s two founders, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, developed the idea in 2005 after the two had difficulty sharing video footage that had been shot at a dinner party. However, it remains unclear whether this story is true or was fabricated for marketing purposes. Hurley, an Indiana University of Pennsylvania grad, and Chen, a University of Illinois grad, began YouTube as a venture-funded technology startup in November 2005. The site is now one of the most visited websites on the Internet, following Google and Facebook.

OMGPOP - Charles Forman

OMGPOP is an online multiplayer gaming website that uses Adobe Flashplayer and is marketed as a place to hang out, play games and make friends. Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) bought OMGPOP in March 2012 for about $200 million, which marked the company’s biggest acquisition to date. The founder of OMGPOP, listed on Time Magazine‘s 50 Best Websites of 2009, is Charles Forman, a 33-year old Chicagoan who never went to college. What he initially started as a dating website, I’m In Like With You, eventually became a gaming one and was renamed OMGPOP. Forman left the company in 2008 soon after he received a phone call from Zynga, asking him to work for the company. Though he claims to have “[fallen] out of love with gaming,” he kept all of his stock and stayed on the board, and is still believed to be worth more than $22 million.

Anobit Technologies - Ehud Weinstein, Ariel Maislos, and Ofir Shalvi

Anobit Technologies Ltd. is an Israeli fabless semiconductor company whose technology optimizes Flash memory storage for store solutions. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) acquired it for about $390 million in January 2012 after weeks of private negotiation. The company, based in Herzelia, Israel, was founded in Februrary 2007 by Ehud Weinstein, Ariel Maislos, and Ofir Shalvi, who also founded Libit Signil Processing and Passave, among other startups. It remains Apple’s biggest buy to date.

Here’s how Apple traded on Monday:

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In a May 1 policy update, the FOMC announced that it had “decided to continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month and longer-term Treasury securities at a pace of $45 billion per month.”

“Taken together,” the FOMC added, “these actions should maintain downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative.” This has proven to true, and the policy has acted as a unique stimulus to equities. Stock markets have hit successive record highs on the back of QE spending, making any indication that the program will end critical to investors.

Interest Rates:

In the same policy update, the Federal Reserve indicated that “a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy will remain appropriate for a considerable time after the asset purchase program ends and the economic recovery strengthens.” As it stands, the target range for the federal funds rate is between 0.00 and 0.25 percent, and the Fed anticipates that this will remain the case as long as U-3 unemployment remains above 6.5 percent and inflation below 2.5 percent.

With this in mind, most observers are not expecting any change to the Fed’s target interest rate. Instead, all eyes will on the lookout for language indicating that bond purchases will be curbed in the coming months.

Inflation

“Currently the personal consumption expenditures or PCE inflation rate, which the Federal Reserve chose as the measure for its inflation goal a year ago, is about 1.0 percent,” said Eric Rosengren, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, in a speech on May 16. “This is well below our 2 percent target.”

The Bureau of Economic Analysis won’t release PCE inflation data for April until the end of May, but April’s low reading has been supported by consumer and producer price inflation data that shows little pressure in the pipeline. Core PPI and CPI data show just fractional sequential increase in prices, while all-items data for both indexes was negative.

Speaking earlier in May, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser — who is critical of current policy — pointed out that over the past three years, average personal consumption expenditures inflation in the U.S. has been about 1.8 percent, but has been running at a slightly lower rate over the past four quarters.

“At this point,” he said, “I do not see inflation or deflation as a serious threat in the near term. However, I do believe that our extraordinary level of monetary accommodation will have to be scaled back, perhaps more aggressively than some think, to ensure that inflation over the medium term remains consistent with our target.”

Labor Market

“We have seen a gradual improvement in labor markets,” Boston Fed President Rosengren said in his May 16 speech. “The unemployment rate was 7.8 percent in September when we began the program, and is currently 7.5 percent. Employment growth averaged about 150,000 jobs per month in the three months ending in September; then for the most recent three months (February through April) employment growth averaged over 200,000 jobs per month.”

All this is ostensibly good news for a beleaguered U.S. labor force that faced unemployment rates as high as 10 percent in 2010. However, data from the National Employment Law Project showed that while low-wage occupations accounted for 21 percent of recession-era job losses, they accounted for 58 percent of recovery job gains — and while mid-wage occupations accounted for 60 percent of recession losses, they accounted for just 22 percent of recovery growth. This suggests that much of the post-crisis recovery has been characterized by marginal and underemployment, and growing income inequality.

What’s more, as Rosengren points out, “much of the improvement in the unemployment rate is just a result of workers leaving the labor force. More significant improvement in the employment picture will require growth in real GDP that is faster than the 2 percent we have been averaging.”

Will the Fed Taper Purchases?

The discussion of this question has taken center stage in recent months. There are at least three hawks on the FOMC (Philadephia Fed President Charles Plosser, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, and Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota) but none of them are currently voting members.

While support for current policy largely falls along the dove-hawk divide, there has been an increasing amount of speculation recently that dovish members are entertaining the idea of tapering purchases. Not only are conditions improving, but there more and more data show that the positive effects of QE diminish with time. The current rate of bond purchases — which is enormous and has grown the Fed’s balance sheet to a tremendous and perilous size — is harder to justify the larger it grows, given the risks it presents.

“I do think they are concerned the longer they maintain this $85 billion pace, the more exaggerated or adverse the market reaction will be when the time comes finally to make an adjustment,” Dana Saporta, an economist at Credit Suisse in New York, told Reuters.

That said, most economists do not expect the Fed to begin tapering purchases until later in the year. This is partially due to weak inflation and partially do to the soft touch that the Fed will have to apply when changing policy.

Here’s how the market traded Monday:

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The rumors have been floating around for a while. Smartphones and tablets took the mobile world over, but wearable devices haven’t been explored as thoroughly, and it’s been suggested time and time again that Apple would be making a smartwatch. In March, Samsung (SSNLF.PK) went ahead and announced that it plans to make one. Meanwhile Sony (NYSE:SNE) has actually already made some smartwatches, though with very limited success.

Despite Apple saying nothing about developing a watch — as secrecy has been one of the company’s longstanding traits — much of the hype around wearables has been surrounding an Apple iWatch. The rumors do go pretty deep, adding a sense of probability to them.

One Japanese blog, Macotakara, cited to reports in Taiwan’s Economic Daily News that suggested an iWatch was going into limited production, like that required by a trial phase. However, the news source is not always accurate with its information and predictions, with a track record a bit spottier than that of KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo.

Many believe there’s a good bit of money to be made in a smartwatch industry. Some estimates put the smartwatch market at $6 billion by 2016. With Apple commanding a strong share of the smartphone and tablet industry, it’s likely that it could also snag a large share of the new watch market, assuming it is actually going to launch a device.

One survey showed that consumers are already more excited about an iWatch than they were about iPads or Macs that ran on Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) components prior to the launch of such devices. Of the consumers surveyed, 19 percent showed interest in buying an iWatch.

One surprising bit of information is that the iWatch could be utilizing Organic Light Emitting Diode technology, which Apple has long been expect to use but never has. The technology would seem practical for something as small as a watch, as it requires less power than the display technologies in other devices. It was also suggested that the screens would be 1.5 inches in size after tests of a 1.8-inch display found the screen to be too large.

As all details remain rumors, it’s hard to say just what can truly be expected from Apple, but it might be even harder to think Apple won’t come out with a smartwatch.

Follow Mark on Twitter (@WallStMarkSheet)

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Americans Still Aren’t Jumping For Joy Over Economic Growth: Bankrate’s May 2013 Financial Security Index revealed Americans to be optimistic, but cautious, about the economy, which was reflected in a decision not to increase spending elsewhere in the face of falling gas prices. American consumers are more optimistic about their overall financial security than they were a year ago, but still did not spend money saved at the pump on vacations or dining out… (Read more.)

Is Ben Bernanke’s Bazooka Brigade Running Out of Ammo? The Federal Reserve will meet to debate policy on June 18 and 19 under the full scrutiny of U.S. market participants. Analysts and investors won’t receive the minutes from the meeting for three weeks — the standard lag time — but observers have a good idea about what the Federal Open Market Committee will be talking about: interest rates, inflation, the labor market, and whether or not to begin winding down QE4… (Read more.)

Will Obamacare Actually Make Workers Cheaper to Insure? Before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was enacted into law, approximately 150 million Americans received health insurance through their jobs. Beginning next year, any business with 50 or more employees will pay a penalty for not offering coverage to its workers, and those not covered through their jobs will be required to purchase insurance as well… (Read more.)

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stock stories:

Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) stock closed the day up 0.23 percent on Monday. The company announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Tumblr, and has issued a promise “not to screw it up.” The media network will operate independently and as a separate business, and CEO David Karp will remain CEO. Total consideration for the deal is approximately $1.1 billion, most of which will be paid in cash… (Read more.)

Actavis (NYSE:ACT) closed the day up 1.31 percent after announcing that it will buy Warner Chilcott (NASDAQ:WCRX) in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at approximately $8.5 billion. Actavis reports that if successfully completed, the transaction will create a leading global specialty pharmaceutical company with approximately $11 billion in combined annual revenue, and the third-largest U.S. specialty pharmaceutical company with approximately $3 billion in annual revenues focused on core therapeutic categories of Women’s Health, Gastroenterology, Urology, and Dermatology.” Chilcott closed the day up 2.03 percent.

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) stock closed the day up 2.61 percent after announcing that Robert Lawler, Senior Vice President, International and Deepwater Operations at Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC), will join the company as CEO and as a member of the board effective June 17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) closed the day up 0.47 percent after GE Capital announced that it would return $6.5 billion in dividends to GE in 2013. In addition, GE Capital will pay out $4.5 billion in special dividends, returning about 30 percent of total 2013 earnings for the year.

Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) closed the day down 4.26 percent after analysts at BMO downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform on concerns that growth expectations may be too high given forecasts for a softer computer server market than currently projected. BMO holds a $54 price target on the stock, just 2.6 percent above Monday’s closing price.

Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) closed the day down 3.88 percent after reporting earnings. Revenue rose 15 percent on the year to $2.09 billion, just beating the estimate for $2.04 billion. Adjusted earnings increased 10.7 percent on the year to $0.62 per share, beating the mean analyst estimate of $0.56 per share.

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) reported first quarter results last Thursday, which showed just how deeply the shrinking personal computer market had hurt its business during the last three-month period. The PC manufacturer reported Thursday that profit dropped 79 percent from the year-ago quarter, and revenue dropped two percent to $14.1 billion, slightly above analysts’ expectations for $13.5 billion. But Carl Icahn, who has made an offer for the company with Dell’s largest shareholder Southeastern Asset Management, wants more information on the state of the PC maker’s business… (Read more.)

Websense (NASDAQ:WBSN) closed the day up 28.76 percent at $24.76 per share after announcing that private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners has agreed to buy the company for $24.75 per share in a cash deal valued at approximately $1 billion.

Pandora (NYSE:P) closed the day up 1.99 percent after receiving an upgrade from Barclays Capital. The firm upgraded shares to Equal Weight from Underweight and increased its price target from $10 to $17, about 3.8 percent above Monday’s closing price. The company will report earnings on Thursday.

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Into Darkness was J.J. Abrams’ second Star Trek movie, and it grossed $70.6 million in the U.S. and Canada since screenings began on Wednesday evening. While the movie topped domestic box office sales, distributor Paramount Pictures, owned by Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA), had hoped it would sell $100 million by Sunday. The first of Abrams’ Star Trek movies grossed $79.2 million in its opening weekend. In second place for weekend box office sales was Walt Disney Co.‘s (NYSE:DIS) Iron Man 3 with $35.2 million, followed by director Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby with $23.4 million, which was released by Warner Bros, a division of Time Warner (NYSE:TWX).

The Star Trek sequel might not be making what was expected domestically, but it has grossed 82 percent more than the first film did overseas. Paramount looked to increase international ticket sales for Into Darkness with increased foreign marketing and a global publicity tour. It is expected that the film will more than make up for low domestic ticket sales by bringing in about the same amount as the first Star Trek domestically — and double internationally.

Like Iron Man 3, Star Trek: Into Darkness was released overseas before U.S. audiences could see it, having had its premiere in London and opening in multiple foreign countries before being released in the States. While this strategy has increased international sales, it could also lead to spoilers for American audiences. Paramount explained that they chose to release the film overseas first due to changes in The Great Gatsby‘s release date, which opened a convenient hole for Into Darkness to occupy. While some movie buffs are annoyed with the marketing strategy, it seems that as international sales of blockbusters beat out domestic sales, the trend will continue.

International sales have left Paramount feeling optimistic about the “Star Trek” franchise, with plans for more sequels in the future.

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Here is your Cheat Sheet to Ltx-credence Earnings:

Earnings Expectations: Analysts expect earnings of $-0.06 per share on revenues of $38.19 million.

Analyst Trends:

Analysts have a more negative outlook for the company’s next-quarter performance. Over the past three months, the average estimate for next quarter’s earnings has fallen from a profit of $0.14 to a profit $0.04. For the current year, the average estimate is a loss of $0.08, which is worse than the estimate ninety days ago.

Earnings Trends:

Here’s how Ltx-credence has been performing on an annual basis:

Next, our CHEAT SHEET investing framework asks us to drill down to the recent quarterly data:

Past Performance:
Ltx-credence has beat analyst estimates 2 times in the past four quarters. This is not consistent enough to get bullish yet.

“E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter” is a core component of our successful CHEAT SHEET investing framework. Don’t waste another minute – click here to discover our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now!

(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Email any earnings discrepancies to earnings [at] wallstcheatsheet.com)

TiVo (NASDAQ:TIVO) shares jumped almost 1 percent in late afternoon hours. The company reported a quarterly loss of 9 cents per share, beating expectations calling for a loss of 14 cents per share. Tom Rogers, president and chief executive officer of TiVo, said, “The solid financial results this quarter were the outcome of strong operational execution across our business. Our advanced television innovation is helping to drive the global adoption of TiVo as we increased our MSO subscription base by 277,000 subscriptions, our strongest quarter of MSO subscription additions in seven years.”

Shares of Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) edged slightly higher on Monday and continued to rise in late afternoon trading. Yahoo announced that it is buying the blogging network Tumblr for approximately $1.1 billion, which will help the company lure in users as well as advertisers. This is Marissa Mayer’s priciest acquisition to date, but it could also be the most beneficial, and the high price Yahoo is paying, which represents about a fifth of the company’s $5.4 billion cash stockpile, underscores the deal’s importance to Mayer’s turnaround attempt. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares also edged higher in late afternoon trading.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares jumped 2.2 percent on Monday, despite the tech giant receiving heat from Congress over its tax practices. The Senate is investigating the $100 billion in cash that Apple has stored overseas, and how keeping that money offshore affects U.S. taxes. In the testimony, which is available in full on Apple’s website, Tim Cook argues that Apple is the largest corporate income tax payer in the U.S. and there is no need for Apple to repatriate its overseas cash. Apple plans to pay $7 billion in taxes to the U.S. Treasury this year.

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On Monday, Tesoro Logistics (NYSE:TLLP) said that it has amended the acquisition agreement for the purchase of Chevron Pipe Line Company’s Northwest Products System, by lowering the purchase price from $400 million to $355 million. This reduced price is the product of a renegotiation resulting from the diesel fuel release that occurred close to Willard, Utah on March 18th.  Chevron Pipe Line Company will retain liabilities and responsibility for remediation of the site for two years.

Are these stocks a buy or sell? Let us help you decide.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE: PAA): Closing price $58.00

Plains announced Monday that it is building a 95-mile extension of its existing Oklahoma crude oil pipeline system to handle growing output from the Granite Wash, Hogshooter and Cleveland Sands producing areas in western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. The new Western Oklahoma pipeline will supply as much as 75,000 barrels per day of new takeaway capacity from Reydon, Oklahoma in Roger Mills County, to PAA’s Orion station in Major County. At the Orion station, crude oil will be transported on PAAs existing pipeline system to the PAA terminal in Cushing, Oklahoma. The new Western Oklahoma pipeline is backed by long-term producer commitments and should be online by the end of the first quarter of 2014.

Are these stocks a buy or sell? Let us help you decide.

Kosmos Energy (NYSE: KOS): Closing price $11.92

Kosmos announced results on Monday from its Sipo-1 exploration well onshore Cameroon, which was targeting the Miocene Isongo Formation. The Sipo-1 well was located roughly 8 miles onshore and it was drilled to a total depth of 5,660 feet. Oil and gas showed a working petroleum system but the well failed to encounter commercial reservoirs. Subsequent to the conclusion of drilling operations, including the plugging and abandonment of the well, the drilling rig will be released.

Are these stocks a buy or sell? Let us help you decide.

Talisman Energy (NYSE:TLM): Closing price $11.83

Talisman has reported first oil output from its Hai Su Trang and Hai Su Den development, off the coast of Vietnam. Gross production should come to 15,000 barrels per day, once the facilities are fully commissioned.

Are these stocks a buy or sell? Let us help you decide.

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