U.S. stocks tumbled Thursday as concerns about a subdued economic recovery played in the minds of investors.  Safer bets like dollar strengthened and oil prices slumped.  As investors turned to safe havens, Treasury prices rose, sending corresponding yields lower.  Yields on three-month bills, considered one of the safest bets, turned negative for the first time since December.  A Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgrade of semiconductor industry also added to the downward pressure.     

The spike in bond prices came even as the Treasury announced plans to auction a record $118 billion in new notes next week – an auction schedule of $44 billion 2-year notes on Monday, $42 billion 5-year notes Tuesday, and $32 billion 7-year notes on Wednesday.

The Dow, which had plunged as much as 170 points during the session, ended down 93.87 points, or 0.9%, to 10,332.44.  The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 14.90

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• Bank of America/Merrill (NYSE:BAC) downgraded a number of semiconductor companies, expecting a modest inventory correction, even as economies improve and demand for electronics rises.  Four shares were downgraded to neutral, including Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN), Marvel Technology Group (NASDAQ:MRVL) and LSI Corp (NYSE:LSI).  The form lowered Maxim Integrated Products (NASDAQ:MXIM), National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM), Power Integrations (NASDAQ:POWI) and Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) to underperform

• Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) rose 10.6% yesterday. The firm announced a private debt offering of $500 million of senior notes. This morning's news saw FBR Research raising its price target to $9 from $8, while maintaining a "market perform" opinion

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) reiterated its "buy" rating on CVS Caremark (NYSE:CVS), saying the shares are cheap at current levels.  The firm said at $30, CVS is selling at just 10.6 times 2010 estimates, below a two year, 14x average, with long-term growth of 13% anticipated

• Reports

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Intel Corp (INTC) raised the quarterly cash dividend by 12.5%, totaling 63 cents a share in 2010. The dividend yield comes to 3.1%. The company has been paying a cash dividend for the last 17 years and has raised the dividend 14 times since it started. Intel has over $8 billion of net cash on its balance sheet, or around $1.58 a share. The $1.25 billion payment to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will take another 23 cents a share off the cash balance. The remaining cash ($1.35 a share) is sufficient to fund its growth plans, even after paying the higher rate of dividend. We also expect Intel to continue generating strong cash flows, based on its leading market position and product development strategies. Intel’s announcement comes as an indication of the technology turnaround. However, the company is not the first to recognize ...

Maxim Integrated Products Inc.’s (MXIM) first quarter earnings beat consensus estimates by a penny. Revenue was over the high-end of management’s guidance range of $415-445 million, or a sequential increase of 5-13%. Revenue Revenue of $449.2 million was up 13.9% sequentially and down 10.4% year over year. The sequential strength in demand was reflective of the rebound in the semiconductor sector and follows stronger results reported by other chip companies, such as Linear Technology (LLTC), Intel Corp. (INTC), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Texas Instruments (TXN). Revenue by End Market The computing market generated 25% of revenue, up 13.9% sequentially and down 20% year over year. Revenue benefited from sequential strength in the server, financial terminals and notebook segments. The consumer market generated 33% of revenue, up 17.4% sequentially and 5.6% year over year. ...

Today, we are featuring top-performing “Technology" equity mutual funds, which primarily invest in equity securities of companies that deal in advanced technologies.

Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Technology Equity Funds.

3 Hi-Tech Choices

T. Rowe Price Global Technology (PRGTX) seeks long-term capital growth. It may purchase stocks ranging from small companies to blue chip firms with established track records.

The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets throughout the world in the common stocks of companies that generate a majority of their revenues from the development, advancement, and use of technology. It looks to invest at least 30% of its assets in established as well as emerging foreign markets.

Shareholders have to make a minimum initial investment of $2,500 to enter this Zacks#1 Rank (“Strong Buy") fund. As of June 2009, it has a portfolio turnover of 104.6%.

David J.

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Supertex Inc. (SUPX) recently reported revenues of $15.9 million in its fiscal second quarter, down 32% year over year but up 17% sequentially.  The sequential increase in revenues was driven by growth in LED driver products for lighting and backlighting, medical electronics products, and electroluminescent (EL) driver products. Orders for LED and EL driver products surged after Labor Day. The company had to rush these orders through its wafer fab and expedite them through backend assembly and test in order to meet customer demand schedules. Demand for medical ultrasound products is also beginning to rebound, as sales grew 17% sequentially.

Management added that its major customer has increased its LED TV sales estimates for 2009 and 2010 while other customers are also ramping up. Sales of LED driver products for general lighting applications have also increased. In anticipation of new cell phone launches, shipments of EL inverter products ramped

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 21, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Texas Instruments (TXN), State Street Corporation (STT), Zions Bancorporation (ZION), Comerica Inc. (CMA) and Regions Financial (RF).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s AnalystBlog:

TI Beats; Guidance Conservative

Texas Instruments (TXN) reported third quarter results that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3 cents. Revenue beat the consensus by 2.1%.

Revenue of $2.88 billion was up 17.2% sequentially, the second straight quarter of 17%+ growth. However, revenue declined 15.0% on a

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MARKET COMMENT October 20, 2009 TAKING A BREAK It was a pretty strange day. Logic would argue for a big rally following earnings from Apple, Texas Instruments and Caterpillar; but no, instead investors focused on weaker than expected housing data and sold. It’s like I said at the end of last night’s commentary: “that’s why they play the game.” As this is written, the “better than expected” earnings are rolling in from the likes of Yahoo and SanDisk. Both stocks are bid higher in after hours trading. And volume is repeating the previous pattern of being heavier (although today’s volume was hardly “heavy”) on selling than buying. Breadth was negative. ...

Atheros Communications (ATHR) recently reported revenues of $156.6 million for the third quarter, up 13% year over year and up 40% sequentially and surpassed management’s guidance of revenues around $145 million – $150 million. The strong growth in revenues came from personal computers and wireless handsets.

Gross margin came in at 48.4% compared to 47.4% in the prior quarter and 49.4% in the year-ago quarter. Operating margin came in at 19.4% compared to 10.8% in the previous quarter and 17.7% in the year-ago quarter. Net income almost quadrupled to $38.6 million in the reported quarter from $10.0 million in the year-ago quarter and a loss of $0.2 million in the previous quarter and due to growth in sales and orders. EPS of 46 cents easily beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 25 cents.

Management stated that the economic environment remained challenging but the strength of the company’s product cycles and increasing

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With buyers back in action, US stocks rose to their fresh one-year highs and remained near their high points as optimism grew that an economic recovery, helped by solid third-quarter earnings reports and increased M&A activity, is on cards. 

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 96.28 points, or 0.96%, to close at 10,092.19.  The broader S&P 500 index jumped 10.23 points, or 0.94%, to 1,097.91 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 19.52 points, or 0.91%, to 2,176.32, its highest point since September 26, 2008.  Market breadth was positive, with advancing shares ahead of decliners by a margin of three-to-one.  Only five of the DJIA thirty declined in price.

After the close, iPhone maker Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) reported better-than-estimated numbers, fuelling hopes for the technology industry.  Last week Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Intel Corp’s (NASDAQ:INTC) numbers had come in above expectations.

Although there were some jitters last

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