Market Wrap-Up

Another topsy-turvy trading session Wednesday floored a few financial stocks like Bank of America (BAC) and erased earlier gains. Bad corporate and economic news, from a delayed reaction to plummeting car sales to weaker jobs data, finally caught up to stocks a day after the market posted its first gain of the month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 121 points to 7956.

Weighing heavily on stocks all day was the ADP Employment Report, which showed private payrolls shed 522,000 jobs in January, a tally slightly less than expected. Investors also got news that the service sector environment improved last month. In Washington, President Obama moved to cap the compensation of executives at some of the institutions that have received government aid.

Meanwhile, the earnings season continued with more poor results. Walt Disney (DIS) posted weak results that showed losses across all its business segments, and even discount retailer Costco (COST), a magnet for budget-conscious shoppers, faltered. Aerospace manufacturer Textron (TXT) said it was drawing down a $3 billion credit line to help it wipe out debt as it exits the commercial financing business. Regional banks such as Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) and Huntington Bankshares (HBAN) sold off sharply on another rough day for financial stocks.

Oil stayed fairly steady, declining 47 cents to close at $40.31, despite a government report that showed weekly inventories jumped more than expected.

Winners

The Oil Service HOLDRS ETF (OIH) rose 3.6% Wednesday, pushed up by prospects of production cuts by OPEC and strong earnings from National Oilwell Varco (NOV). A third consecutive day of rising Chinese stock indexes left the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index fund (FXI) up 2.7%.

Losers

Costco s negative news and the implications for other retailers, including major holding Walmart Stores (WMT), took down the Retail HOLDRS ETF (RTH) 3.0%. The hit to Walmart also helped bump down the Proshares Ultra Dow 30 ETF (DDM) 2.6%.

Thursday s Notebook

Earnings and Conference Calls
Apollo Investment, Avanex, Belo, Bunge, Burger King, Cigna, Duke Energy, Evergreen Solar, Hartford Financial Services, Kellogg, MasterCard, McClatchy, Moody s, Scripps Networks Interactive, Unilever, VeriSign, Western Union

Economic Data
8:30 a.m. Initial Jobless Claims for Jan. 31
8:30 a.m. 4Q Productivity
8:30 a.m. 4Q Unit Labor Cost
10:00 a.m. Dec. Factory Orders
10:00 a.m. DJ-BTMU Business Barometer for Jan. 23

Quick Take

A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Wednesday.