The
markets extended its losses during the midday with the Dow crashing 385 points to 11,059 after Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nasdaq skidded 111 points to
2420.
On the upside
RPC (NYSE: RES) retained the services of Goldman Sachs to explore the possible sale of the oilfield services firm.On the downside
DG FastChannel (Nasdaq: DGIT) reported higher second quarter earnings and revenue but the results fell short of expectations.
Manhattan Federal Judge Harold Baer allowed a settlement between Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) and subscribers in a federal class action antitrust suit to stand.
The Food and Drug Administration accepted Teva Pharmaceutical's (Nasdaq: TEVA) new drug application for its seasonal allergy nasal spray beclomethasone dipropionate hydrofluoroalkane but the stock price dropped.
Approximately 45,000 Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) union employees went on strike for the second day after their labor contract expired at midnight on Saturday.
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) agreed to pay $590 million to settle an investor lawsuit claiming that Wachovia, which was acquired by Wells Fargo, made misleading disclosures related to security sales.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 13 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 11 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 34 points to 680.
