Possible Radiation Exposure In Japan, Markets Extend Losses
An already devastated Japan may face radiation exposure from damaged nuclear power plants. Uncertainty about the economic impact of the devastating earthquake and tsunami on world's third largest economy sent the markets tumbling during the midday with the Dow plunging 216 points to 11,776. Nasdaq sank 48 points to 2652.
On the upside
Impax Laboratories (Nasdaq: IPXL) reported upbeat results in a late stage clinical trial of its Parkinson's disease treatment IPX066.
Goldman Sachs analyst Ingrid Chung upgraded Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) to a Buy rating and set a $300 price target on the online movie rental company.
Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) reported higher fourth quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations and lifted its quarterly dividend by 2 cents to 17 cents per share payable on May 24 to shareholders of record April 27.
On the downside
ZAGG (Nasdaq: ZAGG) reported higher fourth quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates but concerns about future earnings persisted after Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced two weeks ago that it will offer its own protective covers for the iPad 2.
Falling silver prices weighed down shares of Silvercorp Metals (NYSE: SVM).American Oriental Bioengineering (NYSE: AOB) disappointed with lower fourth quarter earnings as revenue dropped prompting a downgrade.In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 7 points 790.
