On the upside
Encore Wire (NYSE: WIRE) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the fourth quarter.Second quarter earnings for K12 (NYSE: LRN) more than doubled as revenue surged.
On the downside
Zoltek (NYSE: ZOLT) reported lower first quarter revenue and earnings due to the sluggish global economuy.
Needhan & Co. analyst Mark May downgraded Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) citing weak advertising revenue due to the economic slowdown.
Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS) announced the retirement of executive vice president of human resources Susan Hoyt to be replace by Shira Goodman.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded Alcoa's (NYSE: AA) corporate credit rating on the expectation that the company's credit metrics will worsen.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 22 points to 446.