A greater than expected drop in factory orders and rising unemployment applications sent the markets tumbling to a sharply lower close with the Dow plummeting 348 points to 10,483. Nasdaq plunged 93 points to 1977.
On the upsides
Shares of Wachovia (NYSE: WB) and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) rose after the Senate passed a revised version of the $700 billion bailout plan.
ClickSoftware Technologies (Nasdaq: CKSW) provided third quarter revenue guidance above expectations and lifted its full year revenue forecast.
Sallie Mae (NYSE: SLM) expects third quarter income to surpass analyst expectations and reassured investors that the student lender is well capitalized.
On the downside
A comment by Senate majority leader Harry Reid that a major insurance company was on the brink of bankruptcy sent shares of insurers MetLife (NYSE: MET), Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU) and Hartford Financial Services (NYSE: HIG) tumbling.Although Matrix Service (Nasdaq: MTRX) reported sharply higher first quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates, the stock price plunged when the company reported a 2% sequential fall in backlog.
Agilysys (Nasdaq: AGYS) blamed the sluggish economy for lowering its 2009 revenue guidance.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks skidded 34 points to 638.
