On the upside
Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq: ESLR) signed a contract valued at approximately $1.2 billion, the largest in the history of the company, to supply solar panels to Germany's IBC Solar AG.
First Horizon National (NYSE: FHN) swung to a larger than expected loss for the second quarter due to sharply higher loan loss provisions but the stock price recovered after collapsing yesterday.
Shares of Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) recovered after the company reassured investors that the bank had over $40 billion in excess liquidity. Rrumors also circulated that the company will eliminate additional positions in order to cut costs.
On the downside
ViroPharma (Nasdaq: VPHM) announced plans to purchase Lev Pharmaceuticals in a cash and stock deal valued at approximately $617.5 million.
Shares of Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) extended their losses as investors continued to flee mortgage related stocks.
Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney downgraded Wachovia (NYSE: WB) saying that the company will report losses for fiscal 2008 as well as 2009 and expects loan loss provisions for the second quarter to reach $9.5 billion.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 12 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plunged 13 points to 652.
