Persistent fears that European debt problems will expand weighed down the markets to a lower close with the Dow tumbling 126 points to 10,066. Nasdaq dropped 15 points to 2213.
On the upside
Hampton Roads Bankshares (Nasdaq: HMPR) announced a capital raise of $275 million.
Rodman & Renshaw analyst Lewis Fan lifted his price target for Origin Agritech (Nasdaq: SEED) saying that the bioengineered hybrid seed market should double by 2015.
Fourth quarter earnings for Longtop Financial Technologies (NYSE: LFT) slipped but the results topped analyst estimates.
On the downside
Preliminary results from a Navios Maritime (NYSE: NNA) shareholder vote indicated that shareholders are against the proposed vessel acquisition.
JP Morgan Chase lowered its earnings estimate and price target for Transocean (NYSE: RIG), owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.
Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) appeal of a verdict that the company infringed on Alcatel-Lucent's (NYSE: ALU) patent was rejected by the Supreme Court.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 4 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased dropped 8 points to 641.
