Concerns that European spending cuts will halt the global economic recovery sent the markets tumbling to a sharply lower close with the Dow skidding 162 points to 10,620. Nasdaq plunged 47 points to 2346.
On the upside
Caris & Co. initiated coverage of Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) with a Buy rating.
On the downside
First quarter earnings for China Electric Motor (Nasdaq: CELM) fell due to initial public offering expenses.
Cumberland Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CPIX) reported sharply lower first quarter earnings as expenses rose.
BP (NYSE: BP) extended its losses as efforts to stop the oil flow from the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico fail again.
Shares of Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America, (NYSE: BAC) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) all fell after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation into deceptive banking practices.
Investors locked in profits on InfoLogix (Nasdaq: IFLG), which announced on Wednesday a strategic partnership with Wavelink to provide voice-enabled mobile solutions to SAP transactions.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 6 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks stumbled 15 points to 693.