On the upside
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) posted a quarterly loss while keeping its dividend payment intact. To the relief of investors, the banking giant also maintained assumptions about risks associated with its recent acquisition of Wachovia.AT&T (NYSE: T) reported higher revenues and lower earnings while adding 2.1 million wireless subscribers in the 4th quarter thanks to sales of Apple's iPhone (Nasdaq: AAPL).
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) posted lower revenues and a massive loss due to one-time charges, but its operating income was better than expected.
Shares of State Street (NYSE: STT) soared after its private equity group reported a 60% increase in assets under management for 2008.
On the downside
Legg Mason (NYSE: LM) posted a 3rd quarter loss that missed expectations. The investment bank also missed revenues targets.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin
of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The
Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks surged 8 points to 463.