Profits May Be Hurt By New Banking Restrictions

On the upside

Plexus (Nasdaq: PLXS) reported higher first quarter earnings that surpassed analyst estimates by a wide margin.

Comerica (NYSE: CMA) reported a loss for the fourth quarter that was narrower than expected.

Third quarter earnings for Xilinx (NYSE: XLNX) beat expectations and revenue rose to a new record.

On the downside

A-Power Energy Generation Systems (Nasdaq: APWR) closed an $83 million private placement.

Shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) all fell over the possibility of increased banking regulations.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) will pay Auxilium (Nasdaq: AUXL) $15 million for exclusive rights to market and sell Auxilium's Xiaflex.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks tumbled 11 points to 628.