Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Merge Healthcare CFO Justin Dearborn as resigning, when in fact he changed roles to head the newly created Merge DNA. The Fool regrets the error.
European market troubles set off a broad market slide that bottomed out late morning, while the bulls came out to play in the afternoon, helping pare the day's losses. The seemingly never-ending concern from the eurozone re-emerged, as elections have brought new leaders that may shake up the status quo and balk at further austerity measures. Apparently, the only thing investors hate more than a bad plan is uncertainty.
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at how the major indexes fared and drill down on a few stocks that got crushed in today's action.
|
Index |
Gain / Loss |
Gain / Loss % |
Ending Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) | (76.44) | (0.59%) | 12,932.09 |
| Nasdaq (INDEX: ^IXIC) | (11.49) | (0.39%) | 2,946.27 |
| S&P 500 | (5.86) | (0.43%) | 1,363.72 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
The Dow fared worse than the other two major indexes, as all but four components closed in negative territory. This marks the fifth straight decline for the index, as it has firmly retreated beneath 13,000. Hewlett-Packard, Bank of America, and McDonald's were the index's largest decliners, all off more than 2%. However, the following three stocks fared even worse.
The Nasdaq's biggest plunge goes to Fossil (Nasdaq: FOSL), down more than 37% thanks to -- what else? -- Greece and EU worries. The slow recovery in the eurozone led to a slash in 2012 guidance, as Fossil gets about a third of its revenue from the region. Is a nearly 40% plunge actually reflective of reality? I agree with Fool retail analyst Austin Smith that the sell-off is overdone; it's not as if Europe will slide into the Atlantic and all of those sales will suddenly vanish.
Jaguar Mining (NYSE: JAG) hit the litter box today, closing with a 35% decline and a new 52-week low. Shares were halted in the morning ahead of two press releases including a "restructuring and turnaround plan" designed to get operational costs back under control. However, that wasn't what investors focused on. Investors eager for a buyout after interest was shown from Shandong Gold Group in November may not get their wish after the conclusion of a strategic review, which contacted 22 companies, resulted in no agreement. That doesn't mean a buyout is completely dead, but the company and its new leadership appear determined to turn around Jaguar's fortunes on their own.
Finally, Merge Healthcare (Nasdaq: MRGE) shares might as well have had the plague on them. Investors were running away so fast that they saw 36% of their value vanish as the company missed on both revenue and net income. Merge also announced it was splitting into two separate units focusing on different end users and switching to a subscription pricing model. Investors can only hope the new strategic alignment can turn around a company that finds its share price in territory not seen since 2010.
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