On the upside
Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) restarted a crude unit at its Eagle Point refinery that had shut down when power was lost.
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: BCRX) reported that its injectible flu treatment met the goals of a midstage clinical trial.
EnergySouth (Nasdaq: ENSI) agreed to be acquired by Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) for approximately $510 million in cash.
On the downside
Mylan's (NYSE: MYL) generic version of Sciele Pharma's (Nasdaq: SCRX) blood pressure treatment Sular was approved by the Food and Drug Administration.Renewed concerns about the stability of the financial services sector sent shares of Merrill Lynch (Nasdaq: MER) tumbling.
Insurance industry earnings concerns weighed down shares of American International Group (NYSE: AIG).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks skidded 14 points to 696.