The markets tumbled to close sharply lower after the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The Dow plummeted 192 points to 13,360 while Nasdaq plunged 48 points to 2677.
On the upside
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight reported that Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) was adequately capitalized as if September 30.
Energy Focus (Nasdaq: EFOI) introduced three new energy efficient LED products.
PIMCO High Income Fund (NYSE: PHK) will issue a capital distribution of $1.1179 per share on January 11, 2008 to shareholders of record December 31, 2007.
On the downside
Weak durable goods orders weighed down shares of auto parts supplier Visteon (NYSE: VC).
Fitch Ratings may lower the ratings on 19 mortgage bonds insured by Security Capital Assurance (NYSE: SCA).
Goldman Sachs expects J. P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) to write down more as mortgage defaults continue to rise.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plunged 12 points to 785.
