Loan Loss Worries Sink Markets
<p>Concerns about increasing loan loss provisions sent the markets into a tailspin with the Dow collapsing 289 points to close at 7841. Nasdaq skidded 64 points to 1608.</p>
<p><strong>On the downside</strong></p>
<p>Renewed concerns about credit losses weighed down shares of Fifth Third Bancorp(Nasdaq: FITB), Huntington Bancshares (Nasdaq: HBAN) and Regions Financial (NYSE: RF).</p>
<p>Image Entertainment (Nasdaq: DISK) terminated its merger agreement with Nyx Acquisitions citing Nyx's inability to finance the deal.</p>
<p>Profit takers weighed down shares of DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS), whose stock price rose on Friday after an analyst upgrade.</p>
<p>Alcoa (NYSE: AA) announced that a two-year contract extension was ratified by union workers at a Cleveland plant.</p>
<p>The University of Georgia will adopt Synovus Financial's (NYSE: SNV) Secure Vault Payments for making online tuition payments. However, the stock price fell along with the rest of the financial services industry.</p>
<p>Shares of Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) plunged ahead of its earnings release tomorrow.<br /></p>
<p>In the broad market, declining issues overwhelmed advancers by a margin of nearly 8 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks skidded 26 points to 452. </p>
<p><strong>On the downside</strong></p>
<p>Renewed concerns about credit losses weighed down shares of Fifth Third Bancorp(Nasdaq: FITB), Huntington Bancshares (Nasdaq: HBAN) and Regions Financial (NYSE: RF).</p>
<p>Image Entertainment (Nasdaq: DISK) terminated its merger agreement with Nyx Acquisitions citing Nyx's inability to finance the deal.</p>
<p>Profit takers weighed down shares of DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS), whose stock price rose on Friday after an analyst upgrade.</p>
<p>Alcoa (NYSE: AA) announced that a two-year contract extension was ratified by union workers at a Cleveland plant.</p>
<p>The University of Georgia will adopt Synovus Financial's (NYSE: SNV) Secure Vault Payments for making online tuition payments. However, the stock price fell along with the rest of the financial services industry.</p>
<p>Shares of Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) plunged ahead of its earnings release tomorrow.<br /></p>
<p>In the broad market, declining issues overwhelmed advancers by a margin of nearly 8 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks skidded 26 points to 452. </p>
