Ciena Net Income Nearly Triples...

Ciena posts net income to $28.8 million, or 28¢ a share, amid increasing demand for gear allowing network operators to handle more traffic at lower costs. Excluding items, EPS jumps to 47¢; analysts expected 40¢. Shares rise 4% pre-market.

C'mon Ciena...we're not supposed to have good news...only the bad stuff...

Fed Moves to Bolster Liquidity...

To address heightened liquidity pressures in term funding markets, the Fed will increase the amounts outstanding in the Term Auction Facility to $100 billion. It also will initiate a series of term repurchase transactions that are expected to amount to $100 billion.

US Payrolls Fall, Raising Odds for Recession...

U.S. recession fears mount as employment falls by 63,000 in February, its fastest rate in five years, suggesting that the housing and credit crunch is gripping the broader economy. Unemployment rate surprisingly ticks down to 4.8%, triggered by a 450,000 decline in the size of the labor force, not a rise in employment. Data support expectations for additional Fed rate cuts.

Marvell Beats, but Conference Call Spooks...

Marvell (MRVL) blasted past expectations with Q4 EPS of $0.20 vs. consensus of $0.11 and revenue of $845M vs. consensus of $783M. After gaining 6% in AH trading, things got ugly during the conference call after MRVL said 2008 costs would be higher than expected, and declined to offer a full-year forecast due to broad economic uncertainty.

Shares ended -5.4% in extended trading.

National Semi Soars on Margin Surprise...

National Semiconductor (NSM) posted FQ3 EPS of $0.28, better than consensus estimates of $0.24. Revenue was just short at $453.4M. NSM sees Q4 revenue of $440M-$460M, short of consensus estimates of $470.3M. NSM said Q3 bookings declined sequentially by approximately 14%, due primarily to weak orders for wireless handsets and personal mobile devices. But gross margins "held up well," it said, at 64.3%, up from 59.8% Y/Y.

Shares jumped 9.5% in AH trading.

Retail Sales Encourage....

Retail sales in February largely beat expectations. Same-store sales were up 1.9%, led by a 2.6% increase at Wal-Mart (WMT). Still, stores continue to expect a rough spring, and a number of retailers have stopped reporting monthly comps in order to focus on long-term strategy. "These month-to-month blips don't change the trend," economist Frank Badillo said. "

Shoppers are intent on slowing their spending, and that will continue in the months ahead." Analysts noted sales at discounters (WMT, FDO) were stronger than at middle-end retailers (TGT, JCP, KSS).

iPhone SDK Wows...

Apple's iPhone SDK impressed developers, who said the tool addresses all three core groups: Developers, IT departments, and end-users. Developers liked the functionality of iPhone APIs, and the ability to store data using popular SQL Lite. Apple is licensing technology from Microsoft (MSFT) that will enable it to interact with Microsoft Exchange, and will enable "wipe and lock" and "on-device data encryption" along with other IT tools.

Consumers get push email that turns the iPhone into an instant BlackBerry (RIMM) rival. What's still missing? Multiple carriers, and corporate management tools.

Sony, Microsoft Talk Blu-Ray....

Sony (SNE) is in talks with Microsoft (MSFT) about a Xbox 360 Blu-ray drive. On the one hand, Sony has touted the now de-facto standard Blu-ray as one of its PS3's advantages over the Xbox; on the other, the revenue from a Microsoft deal might be irresistible. Sony also said it has had discussions with Apple (AAPL), which has yet to offer Blu-ray drives on its computers.