The markets pared earlier losses but continued trading in the negative as Treasury Secretary Geithner echoed Fed Chief Bernanke's comments that the government must exert greater authority over troubled financial firms. The Dow slipped 15 points to 7761 while Nasdaq tumbled 16 points to 1540.

On the upside

Rumors swirled that GlaxoSmithKline may be interested in acquiring Allergan (NYSE: AGN).

American Capital Agency (Nasdaq: AGNC) declared a first quarter dividend of $0.85 per share payable on April 27, 2009 to shareholders of record April 2, 2009. American Capital Agency is managed by an affiliate of American Capital Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS).

International Paper (NYSE: IP) received $71.6 million from the Internal Revenue Service for an alternative fuel mixture the company used at fifteen of its mills.

On the downside

T-3 Energy Services (Nasdaq: TTES) named Steven W. Krablin to replace Gus D. Halas as chairman, chief executive and president.

Caris analyst Claire Gallacher downgraded Under Armour (NYSE: UA) saying that 2009 revenue and earnings estimates were overly optimistic.

Huntington Bancshares (Nasdaq: HBAN) agreed to exchange approximately 9 million shares of common stock held by institutional investors for approximately 43,000 shares of Series A Preferred Stock.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 9 points to 424.