On the upside
Shares of banking stocks Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq: FITB), Huntington Bancshares (Nasdaq: HBAN) and Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) all rose after Fed Chief Ben Bernanke again dismissed the possibility of nationalizing banks and discussed stress tests that will be conducted on banks.
CL King & Associates analyst Jim Barrett upgraded Sturm, Ruger & Co. (NYSE: RGR) after the firearms maker said that demand climbed in the fourth quarter.
On the downside
The expanded approval process for Questcor Pharmaceuticals' (Nasdaq: QCOR) Acthar to treat infantile spasms is taking more time than the company expected.
Standard & Poor's will remove American Capital (Nasdaq: ACAS) from its S&P 500 index after market close on March 3 due to the company's low market capitalization.
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) will appeal a lower courts decision that casino operator's license to operate a ferry between Hong Kong and Macau, where the company owns two casino resorts, is unlawful.
Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) disappointed with lower fourth quarter earnings and lowered its 2009 outlook prompting a downgrade.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plunged 11 points to 401.
