Goldman Sachs' downgrade of Citigroup sparked concerns of further turmoil in the banking sector sending the markets tumbling to a sharply lower close. The Dow plummeted 218 points to close at 12,958 while Nasdaq plunged 44 points to 2593.

On the upside

Hilltop Holdings, which already owns a 6.8% stake in Downey Financial (NYSE: DSL), is considering purchasing the savings and loan.

EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) CEO John D. Craig, CFO Michael T. Philion and executive vice president Richard W. Zuidema all exercised options to purchase common stock in the company.

Cooper Tire & Rubber (NYSE: CTB) will repurchase up to $100 million worth of common stock.

On the downside

Golar LNG (Nasdaq: GLNG) completed a private placement of 3.2 million new shares of common stock for approximately $77.5 million.

Pacific Ethanol (Nasdaq: PEIX) reported a wider than expected loss last week.

BluePheonix Solutions (Nasdaq: BPHX) will sell 2 million shares of common stock in order to raise $35 million.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 19 points to 750.