Banking Regulation Concerns Weigh Down Markets
On the upside
Somaxon Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SOMX) resubmitted its New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration for its insomnia treatment Silenor with a decision expected by March 21.
Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the first quarter as sales rose and the auto parts maker lifted its full year revenue guidance.
NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) will replace Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA) on the S&P 500 index after Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) completes its acquisition of Sun.
On the downside
C. K. Cooper initiated coverage of Patterson-UTI Energy (Nasdaq: PTEN) with a Sell rating.
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the first time in three years. The stock price dropped because the profit was due to a $1.25 billion payment from IBM (NYSE: IBM) to settle an antitrust lawsuit.
Capital One (NYSE: COF) swung to a better than expected profit but warned that growth of credit card business may be limited.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 5 points to 623.
