SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Among the shares expected to see active trade in Friday's session are Ann Taylor, J.M. Smucker, D.R. Horton, and Dell.

Novellus Systems narrows its revenue and outlook for the fourth quarter, citing improvements in business conditions.

As noted earlier this week in my article “Inventory in Semiconductors Looking Lean” most of it has improved with the exception of hardware OEMs. Within that classification one of the sub-sectors that has done little to improve its inventory position over the last year has been the wafer fab equipment (WFE) companies -- KLA-Tencor (KLAC) Applied Materials (AMAT) and  Novellus Systems (NVLS) for example.For a number of years the rapid expansion of memory-production capacity had been a major catalyst for growth for WFE companies frequently driving more than 50% of the topline. However with the recognition of over capacity ...

Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Thursday's session Amgen, Anglo American, Astoria Financial, Black & Decker, Delta Air, eBay, Goodrich, Lam, Logitech, McDonald's, Merck, New York Times, Novartis, Occidental Petroleum, Pactiv, Travelers, 3M, UPS, VMWare, and Xerox.

Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Thursday’s session are AT&T Inc., McDonald's Corp., and Merck & Co.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Ridgewater Equity (RWE).

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by AnalystChoice.com (AC).