On the upside
While third quarter earnings for Headwaters (NYSE: HW) plunged due to the slumping housing construction, the results surpassed estimates.
Shares of bond insurers Ambac Financial Group (NYSE: ABK), MBIA (NYSE: MBI) and Radian Group (NYSE: RDN) surged after the cost of debt protection fell.
East West Bancorp (Nasdaq: EWBC) blamed loan loss provisions for reporting a preliminary loss for the second quarter but stated that loan loss provisions will decrease by the end of 2009.
On the downside
Sirius Satellite (Nasdaq: ) will raise capital to finance its acquisition of XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR) through the sale of discounted stock.Sepracor (Nasdaq: SEPR) disappointed with second quarter earnings that fell short of estimates and lowered its full year outlook.
Although Questar (NYSE: STR) reported higher second quarter earnings, revenue fell short of expectations.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks soared 18 points to 715.
