Profit Taking Weighs Down Markets
On the upside
Bowne & Co. (NYSE: BNE) announced that its bank group agreed to amend and extend its $150 million revolving credit facility.
On the downside
BMO Capital Markets downgraded Bandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN).
Shares of Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) fell after the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International industry group reported a 5% drop in orders for chip equipment.
Chairman of the House Financial Services Committe Representative Barney Frank asked Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) to rescind bonuses at the two mortgage lenders. Both companies were taken over by the government.
Shares of Frontier Financial (Nasdaq: FTBK) and Sterling Financial (Nasdaq: STSA) fell as investors locked in profits from the recent banking sector rally.
Fears that steel exports and iron ore imports by China will plunge this year weighed down shares of DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 13 points to 400.
