TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp will scale back domestic semiconductor output by the end of March 2012 and cut about 1,000 jobs, reflecting its recent move to reduce TV panel production, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday.

All of the firm's five domestic chip-manufacturing facilities, including the state-of-the-art Uozu plant in Toyama prefecture, will cut output, the report said.

The company is likely to outsource more semiconductors from such firms as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and boost its outsourcing ratio from the current 10 percent to around 30-40 percent within a few years, the report said.

Officials with the company were not immediately available for comment.

Panasonic will reduce plasma TV panel production and lay off about 1,000 people, a source told Reuters on Thursday, as its loss-making television unit struggles to compete with Asian rivals like Samsung Electronics.

(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Matt Driskill)

NEW YORK – Strong earnings reports from blue chip companies are lifting stocks across the market.

Apple Inc. rose nearly 3 percent after its first-quarter earnings beat analyst estimates. The Travelers Companies and UnitedHealth also rose after beating expectations.

All 10 company groups that make up the benchmark S&P 500 index finished higher. The Dow Jones industrial average hit another high for the year.

At the market close, the Dow is up 52 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,506. The S&P index is up 7, or 0.5 percent, to 1,337. The Nasdaq composite is up 18, or 0.6 percent, to 2,820.

Two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 3.7 billion shares.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Dow rebounded on Wednesday with a jump in IBM’s stock on its 2015 outlook, but the Nasdaq fell as a weaker-than-expected earnings target from Texas Instruments (TXN.N) weighed on the chip sector.

Rising oil prices dragged on the broader market on the two-year anniversary of stocks’ bull run from the S&P 500′s 12-1/2-year closing low of 676.53, which was sparked by the financial crisis.

The Dow bounced back from a session low and reclaimed a slim gain as buyers snapped up shares of International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N), driving it up 2.7 percent to $166.59. Earlier, IBM climbed to an intraday high of $167.72 after a host of analysts raised their target price on the stock. A day earlier, the tech giant reaffirmed its 2015 earnings target.

But the Nasdaq couldn’t overcome the drag from the chip makers, with an index of semiconductor shares (.SOX) down 2.3 percent and trading below its 50-day moving average in another sign of weakness for the sector.

Texas Instruments shares fell 2.7 percent to $34.87, a day after the company gave a current-quarter earnings estimate below Wall Street’s estimates.

Tech shares also felt the weight of Finisar Corp (FNSR.O), which plummeted 36.1 percent to $25.62 after the network equipment maker forecast a dismal fourth quarter, blaming an inventory pile-up by telecommunications equipment makers in China.

Techs “are losing steam … there’s some movement going on in the space that’s affecting the market,” said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC, which oversees $1.3 billion in Lisle, Illinois.

“Several names that have run up a lot are coming down,” he said.

Finisar is still up 100 percent since the start of September.

Oil prices resumed their upward trend, reinforcing worries that high energy costs could dampen economic growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 5.56 points, or 0.05 percent, at 12,219.94. But The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) was down 2.34 points, or 0.18 percent, at 1,319.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was down 15.14 points, or 0.55 percent, at 2,750.63.

Brent crude gained $2.65 to $115.71 a barrel.

Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi surrounded rebels in the western city of Zawiyah with tanks and snipers in the main square, witnesses said.

In Portugal, the government’s two-year cost of borrowing hit the highest level since it joined the euro in a bond auction on Wednesday, and an official said yields were unsustainable in the long run without Europe-wide action.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)

NEW YORK – This is a good time to make money off of someone else’s misfortune.

One of the best, but rarely followed, rules of investing is to buy when things look bleak. Blue chip stocks in the euro zone are down 5.5 percent since it became clear in mid-April that Greece needed help to prevent it from defaulting on its debt. Some economists speculate that the bailouts of Greece and Ireland mean that the euro won’t last much longer.

Investors are waiting to see whether the European Central Bank takes additional steps this week to prevent Europe’s financial crisis from spreading to Spain and Italy. That uncertainty has created stock bargains. You may not find the same parade of once-in-a-lifetime deals as during the 2008-2009 financial crisis when General Electric Co. traded as low as $7.06 (it closed at $16.78 on Friday). But the broad retreat from anything associated with Europe means that there are easy pickings.

Take French oil giant Total SA. It has fallen 21 percent this year and is trading at a price-earnings ratio of only 8.3. “The company has become incredibly inexpensive,” says Cody Dick, an analyst with Dreyfus Worldwide Growth, a $430 million mutual fund that is buying Total. “When you look at the stock compared to its peers it’s been unjustifiably discounted.”

At $51.34, the stock costs about what it did during the financial crisis in October 2008. It comes with a dividend yield of 4.9 percent. Competitor BP PLC, meanwhile, doesn’t offer a dividend.

Though Total has its headquarters in France, its revenues are global. It drills for oil around the world and can expand regardless of the weak European economy.

Like a parachute strapped onto the back of a runner, concerns that Europe’s problems will spread have held back stocks that should have performed better. Britain’s Diageo, the world’s largest booze company and parent of brands like Johnnie Walker, Jose Cuervo and Guinness, rose 4.3 percent this year.

That is less than half the gain of the broad U.S. stock market, which rose 9.8 percent this year as retail spending increased. The U.S. also happens to be Diageo’s most profitable market. Its operating margins here top 35 percent, well above the 20 percent operating margin it averages globally. It recently lowered its prices on its premium brands, which should send sales higher.

Diageo costs $72.67, which is about the same price it did in October 2008. The company is reasonably priced at a 17.5 price-earnings ratio and offers a 4.1 percent dividend yield. That’s more than the 3 percent yield offered by a 10-year Treasury bond.

If buying alcohol companies rubs you the wrong way, then you can find a bargain with a staid phone operator. Concerns that Spain will be the next country to need a bailout have pushed the country’s stock market down 10 percent over the last month. Telefonica S.A. is down 14 percent over the same time. It costs $69.45 and trades at an 8.8 price-earnings ratio.

While the company operates phone lines and cellular phone networks in Spain, more than 60 percent of its customers live in expanding markets in Latin America. Telefonica is also the second largest wireless company in the United Kingdom and has a large number of customers in Germany and the Czech Republic.

Investors aren’t buying Telefonica because they are too fixated on Spain’s problems, says Jim Moffett, who manages the $6.9 billion Scout International Fund.

His description of the company could apply to other European blue chips.

“There is more growth there than the market is giving them credit for,” he says. “We like them not because they’re Spanish but in spite of the fact that they’re Spanish. It’s a good company in a troubled country.”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Semiconductor shares rallied on Friday as robust revenue from Marvell Technologies buoyed the sector, but the market ended flat for the week as investors backed away from a strong autumn advance.

The major stock indexes finished little changed on Friday after China’s central bank raised bank reserve requirements for the second time in two weeks, stepping up its fight to rein in prices in a move that could temper growth.

The S&P 500 was just below 1,200, an important psychological level, and analysts said if it fails to break above that mark convincingly, the index could trade in a tight range for the rest of the year.

Volume was light as strength in the materials and tech shares offset earlier selling. On the Nasdaq, Marvell Technologies Group Ltd (MRVL.O) rallied 6.1 percent to $20.09 after its revenue topped expectations.

“A lot of the semis do well in an inflationary environment and we have been seeing more and more of our customers trying to set up for impending inflation,” said Dave Lutz, managing director at Stifel Nicolaus in Baltimore.

William Delwiche, an investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co in Nashville, said overall sentiment indicators have grown too bullish.

He sees the market in a pullback or trading range “until we get the optimism worked off and some pessimism built up. At that point that could clear the way for the typical year-end rally supported by favorable Fed policy, strong seasonal trends, and strong breadth underlying the market.”

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) added 22.32 points, or 0.20 percent, to 11,203.55. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) edged up 3.04 points, or 0.25 percent, at 1,199.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) put on 3.72 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,518.12.

After a nearly 13 percent run-up in September and October, the S&P 500 has slipped 2.1 percent in the last two weeks on concerns of tightening in China and debt woes in Europe. A financial aid plan to help Ireland cope with its battered banks will be unveiled next week, EU sources said on Friday.

For the week, indexes were flat with the S&P inching up 0.04 percent, the Dow adding 0.1 percent, and the Nasdaq off 0.004 percent.

In a potentially positive sign, the S&P managed to break above its 20-day moving average after slipping below it earlier in the week.

Marvell helped boost the rest of the semiconductor sector, including SanDisk (SNDK.O), which rose 3.9 percent to $39.98. The semiconductor index (.SOX) gained 1.6 percent.

Also on the Nasdaq, Dell Inc (DELL.O) rose 1.7 percent to $13.90 after it raised its profit outlook.

General Motors Co (GM.N) eased 0.2 percent to $34.26 one day after its record-setting initial public offering. Separately, Harrah’s Entertainment terminated its own IPO, citing market conditions.

About 6.86 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below last year’s estimated daily average of 9.65 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,754 to 1,226, while on the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners 1,461 to 1,179 .

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Additional reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Semiconductor shares rallied on Friday as robust revenue from Marvell Technologies buoyed the sector, but the market ended flat for the week as investors backed away from a strong autumn advance.

The major stock indexes finished little changed on Friday after China’s central bank raised bank reserve requirements for the second time in two weeks, stepping up its fight to rein in prices in a move that could temper growth.

The S&P 500 was just below 1,200, an important psychological level, and analysts said if it fails to break above that mark convincingly, the index could trade in a tight range for the rest of the year.

Volume was light as strength in the materials and tech shares offset earlier selling. On the Nasdaq, Marvell Technologies Group Ltd (MRVL.O) rallied 6.1 percent to $20.09 after its revenue topped expectations.

“A lot of the semis do well in an inflationary environment and we have been seeing more and more of our customers trying to set up for impending inflation,” said Dave Lutz, managing director at Stifel Nicolaus in Baltimore.

William Delwiche, an investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co in Nashville, said overall sentiment indicators have grown too bullish.

He sees the market in a pullback or trading range “until we get the optimism worked off and some pessimism built up. At that point that could clear the way for the typical year-end rally supported by favorable Fed policy, strong seasonal trends, and strong breadth underlying the market.”

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) added 22.32 points, or 0.20 percent, to 11,203.55. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) edged up 3.04 points, or 0.25 percent, at 1,199.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) put on 3.72 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,518.12.

After a nearly 13 percent run-up in September and October, the S&P 500 has slipped 2.1 percent in the last two weeks on concerns of tightening in China and debt woes in Europe. A financial aid plan to help Ireland cope with its battered banks will be unveiled next week, EU sources said on Friday.

For the week, indexes were flat with the S&P inching up 0.04 percent, the Dow adding 0.1 percent, and the Nasdaq off 0.004 percent.

In a potentially positive sign, the S&P managed to break above its 20-day moving average after slipping below it earlier in the week.

Marvell helped boost the rest of the semiconductor sector, including SanDisk (SNDK.O), which rose 3.9 percent to $39.98. The semiconductor index (.SOX) gained 1.6 percent.

Also on the Nasdaq, Dell Inc (DELL.O) rose 1.7 percent to $13.90 after it raised its profit outlook.

General Motors Co (GM.N) eased 0.2 percent to $34.26 one day after its record-setting initial public offering. Separately, Harrah’s Entertainment terminated its own IPO, citing market conditions.

About 6.86 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below last year’s estimated daily average of 9.65 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,754 to 1,226, while on the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners 1,461 to 1,179 .

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Additional reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks ended higher on Monday, spurred by optimism over forthcoming technology earnings and in the wake of strong orders from Dow component Boeing (BA.N).

Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 56.53 points, or 0.56 percent, at 10,154.43. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) was up 6.39 points, or 0.60 percent, at 1,071.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was up 19.18 points, or 0.88 percent, at 2,198.23.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Leslie Adler)