Despite Unexpected Drop In Jobless Claims, Markets Fall

On the upside

Bloomberg spotlighted Stillwater Mining (NYSE: SWC) as having surged 85% this year as platinum and palladium prices leaped.

BusinessWeek's Bengt Nordstrom sees Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) increasing its market share in 2010.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) will not award cash bonuses to its top executives in 2009. Instead, the bank will offer stock grants that vest after three years.

On the downside

Preferred Bank (Nasdaq: PFBC) must restate third quarter results prompting a downgrade.

Investors locked in profits on Origin Agritech (Nasdaq: SEED). Shares of the biotech firm soared yesterday after completing a debt repurchase agreement.

The Food and Drug Administration is still reviewing Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) pneumonia and meningitis vaccine Prevnar. The regulatory agency was supposed to make a decision yesterday.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost a point to 632.