Wednesday’s biggest gaining and declining stocks

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Shares of the following companies made notable moves in Wednesday�s U.S. stock market:

Advancers

Caesars Entertainment Corp. CZR �shares climbed 17%. Renaissance Capital said Wednesday Caesars� quiet period will end on Monday. The casino company raised about $16 million in February in an initial public offering. See related story on gambling culture in Asia

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. CLF �shares jumped 7% after the miner late Tuesday said it would more than double its quarterly dividend. Read more on Cliffs Natural Resources.

Francesca�s Holdings Corp.�s FRAN �shares gained 9.4% after the women�s apparel retailer late Tuesday projected first-quarter results above Wall Street�s expectations.

Click to Play S&P 500 nears 1,400

U.S. stocks push higher, putting the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index on the cusp of 1,400 for the first time since 2008. Photo: Reuters

FXCM Inc.�s FXCM � shares soared 12% after the online currencies trading firm reported fourth-quarter results that topped estimates.

Guidewire Software Inc.�s GWRE �shares rose more than 17% after the maker of software for the insurance industry reported second-quarter revenue above expectations.

LSI Corp. LSI �shares advanced 7%. The technology firm said earlier Wednesday that it expects to meet or beat analysts� earnings forecast in the first quarter because of a stronger-than-expected recovery in the hard disk drive market.

Shares of Regions Financial Corp. RF �added 6.9% following an announcement that it plans to offer $900 million in common stock to finance the repurchase of $3.5 billion of preferred stock issued to the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Zions Bancorp. ZION �shares rallied 10.5% after the bank said it would not have to raise equity to repay $1.4 billion to TARP. Read more on financial stocks

Decliners

U.S.-listed shares of AU Optronics Corp. AUO �slid more than 5% after the Taiwan-based company was convicted of fixing prices of thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display panels by a federal jury in San Francisco.

Cheniere Energy Inc. LNG �shares fell more than 3% after the company said it is offering more shares than it had initially planned. It increased the size of the offering to 21 million shares from 17 million.

Raven Industries Ltd. RAVN �shares slipped 6.1% following nearly 4% gain in the previous session. The technical products company early Tuesday reported its fourth-quarter profit rose to 60 cents a share from 41 cents a share in the same quarter a year earlier.

U.S.-listed shares of Youku Inc. YOKU �slumped 8.3%. The Chinese company said earlier this week that it plans to buy its main competitor, Tudou Holdings Ltd. TUDO , in an all-stock deal. The merger would create an entity that will control more than a third of China�s online advertising market, according to the companies. Todou also lost 6%.