Profit Warnings, Job Cuts Weigh Down Markets

Profit warnings and job cuts weighed down the markets to a lower close with the Dow plunging 243 points to 8691 to end a two day rally.  Nasdaq dropped 24 points to 1547.

On the upside

Sunrise Senior Living (NYSE: SRZ) received proceeds of approximately $8.3 million after refinancing the debt from a joint venture.

Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) licensed Nvidia's (Nasdaq: NVDA) Nvidia PhysX technology development platform to be used at the game developer's global studios.

Raymond James analyst Bryan C. Elliott upgraded O'Charley's (Nasdaq: CHUX) after the casual restaurant operator amended its credit facility.

On the downside

Shares of Sunstone Hotel (NYSE: SHO) fell ahead of its stockholder update call on Thursday.

Fitch lowered its ratings for Host Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HOT) last week due to sharply lower travel and hotel stays as the economy continues to flounder.

Shareholders of National City (NYSE: NCC) have filed lawsuits to halt the sale of the commercial bank to PNC Financial Services (NYSE: PNC) saying that the sale price was too low.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 16 points to 466.