Stocks End Lower Amid Portugal Downgrade, Spike in Treasury Yields

4:17 PM, Mar 24, 2010 --

• NYSE down 70.66 (1%) to 7,408.20.
• DJIA down 52.7 (0.5%) to 10,836.
• S&P 500 down 6.5 (0.6%) to 1,168.
• Nasdaq down 16.5 (0.7%) to 2,399.

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

Hang Seng up 0.10%

Nikkei up 0.38%

FTSE up 0.08%

UPSIDE MOVERS

(+) ADBE Q1 beat, in line to higher guidance for Q2.

(+) MF continues gain after announcing Jon Corzine to become CEO, Chairman.

(+) AEZS swings to profit on improving revenue.

(+) LEN beats with Q1 results.

(+) EGHT wins patent.

(+) HNZ upgraded to Neutral.

(+) COP announces buyback.

(+) NVAX reports positive data from first stage of vaccine study.

(+) ARNA starts Narcolepsy and Cataplexy trial.

(+) S jumps on Android report.

(+) BA gets upgrade.

DOWNSIDE MOVERS

(-) ORRF prices shares.

(-) GIS beats with Q3 results, raises FY EPS view though in range that straddles Street.

(-) JBL stock continuing late evening decline seen depsite earnings beat; guidance does straddle Street view.

(-) DELL guides for China sales.

(-) BOCH selling shares.

(-) GENZ says FDA to take enforcement action on Allston plant.

(-) PARD stops Picoplatin development program.

MARKET DIRECTION

Stocks drifted in a relatively narrow downside range throughout Wednesday's session. A credit downgrade for Portugal sapped some of the bullishness saturating markets over the past several sessions. Stocks briefly extended losses after poor demand greeted the Treasury's auction of 5-year notes and sent the benchmark 10-year yield up by the most since July.

European finances are back in the spotlight and contributing to global stock weakness. Fitch downgraded the rating of Portugal to AA- from AA and kept the country's outlook on negative.

Separately, Greece has indicated it will turn to the International Monetary Fund for support in the absence of a euro-zone aid package.

Domestically, February durable goods orders rose 0.5%, lower than the 0.7% gain that economists had expected.

New home sales unexpectedly fell 2.2% to a 308,000 unit annual rate from 315,000 units in January and were below expectations for sales to edge up to a 320,000 unit annual pace.

Crude oil closed lower Wednesday on a stronger dollar and a U.S. government report showing a gain in crude-oil inventories. Oil for May delivery, the most active contract, lost $1.30, or 1.6%, to end at $80.61 a barrel in the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Portugal's rating was lowered by one notch to AA-minus as diplomats said euro zone countries have not yet agreed on a safety net for heavily indebted Greece.

Boeing (BA) is a gainer, helping to curb broader market losses, after an analyst upgrade.

Bank of America (BAC) is the Dow's top percentage gainer, rising over 2%, after it said it plans to offer about $3 billion in loan forgiveness to about 45,000 troubled homeowners in an effort to prevent foreclosures when home values drop sharply below the amount owed, Reuters reported.

Builder Lennar (LEN), though, was higher. The company reports Q1 revenue of $574.4 mln, down 3%. Loss for the quarter was $0.04 per share, vs. a year ago loss of $0.98 per share. The Street view was $568.2 mln in revenue and a loss of $0.30 per share.

In other company news, Jabil (JBL) fell. The company beat with its Q2 results released in the extended-hours period but set guidance in a range that straddled the Street view.

Sprint Nextel (S) was up on reports that the company announced last night with HTC Corp. a summer availability for the 3G/4G Android handset.

MF Global (MF) rallied on news ex-New Jersey governor Jon Corzine will be the company's new CEO. Corzine also was the former head of Goldman Sachs.

Adobe (ADBE) gained after the company beat Q1 expectations and set its Q2 guidance in line to higher than Street estimates.