It was a mixed close for the markets with the Dow losing 26 points to 8579 despite falling oil prices and a $17.4 billion bailout for automakers as investors questioned whether the assistance will be enough to turn around the industry. Nasdaq climbed 12 points to 1564.
On the upside
Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) with an Outperform rating.Frontier Financial (Nasdaq: FTBK) suspended payment of its dividend on the company's common stock in order to preserve capital.
While Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) reported slightly lower second quarter earnings, revenue rose and the company forecast third quarter results that were better than expected.
On the downside
Homebuilder Standard Pacific (NYSE: SPF) confirmed rumors that it was in discussions with rival TOUSA.
KeyBanc Capital Markets initiated coverage of Tempur Pedic International (NYSE: TPX) with a Hold rating.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 3 to 2 on the NYSE while decliners barely edged out advancers by a slim margin on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 7 points to 486.
