Libyan Violence Sends Markets Tumbling
Continuing violence in Libya sent oil prices soaring and markets tumbling to a sharply lower close with the Dow plummeting 178 points to 12,212 over fears of an impending civil war. Nasdaq plunged 77 points to 2756.
On the upside
A Seeking Alpha article noted that Apricus Biosciences (Nasdaq: APRI) had a number of products in its pipeline with market potential.
SIGA Technologies (Nasdaq: SIGA) will respond to a new government Request for Proposal to procure 1.7 million courses of smallpox antiviral.
Rising oil prices lifted shares of Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM).
On the downside
Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) reported lower third quarter earnings that fell short of expectations, suspended its annual dividend and will not provide guidance for the rest of the year.
Fourth quarter earnings rose for Expeditors International of Washington (Nasdaq: EXPD) but revenue fell short of expectations.JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO) reported sharply higher fourth quarter earnings but margins fell.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 6 to 1 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plounged 21 points to 812.
