On the upside
Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. analyst Bijan Moazami reiterated a rating of Outperform for XL Capital (NYSE: XL).
The Federal Reserve will purchase up to $300 billion in long term government bonds. Shares of banking stocks Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) rose.
Charming Shoppes (Nasdaq: CHRS) narrowed fourth quarter losses.
On the downside
Crocs (Nasdaq: CROX) auditor Deloitte & Touche questioned the ability of the colorful plastic shoe maker to remain a viable company.
Third quarter earnings for General Mills (NYSE: GIS) tumbled as expenses rose.
Humanitarian group Reporters Without Borders criticized Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) for bowing to the demands of repressive foreign governments and censoring users.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks leaped 14 points to 418.
