2:30PM NY, U.S. Market Movers

Accredited Home Lenders (LEND: chart) rallied after the company said overnight that it''s reached an agreement to sell substantially all of the loans in its inventory. The company said it plans to sell the $2.7 billion in loans """"at a substantial discount in order to alleviate recent pressures from margin calls."""" Accredited also said the sale, which it expects to complete in the next few days, will include a holdback reserve of about $40 million to satisfy all future claims against the loans, including early payment defaults. The company anticipates the sale will result in a pre-tax charge of about $150 million. It estimates it will retain about $120 million of loans held for sale in its warehouse facilities. Shares climbed 18.5%.

AnnTaylor Stores (ANN: chart) shares rose 8.1% after the women''s apparel retailer said fourth-quarter profits fell but offered a strong first-quarter outlook. The company said net income fell 22% to $21.5 million, or 31 cents per share, but that was still better than the 29 cents per share that analysts were expecting. AnnTaylor said it expects 2007 earnings between $2.15 and $2.25 per share, while analysts expect full-year profit of $1.96 per share.

DXP Enterprises (DXPE: chart) shares soared 16.5% after a strong fourth-quarter showing. The company announced its fourth-quarter profit rose 68%, driven in part by product sales from four acquired businesses. Total revenue jumped 45%.

Fremont General Corp. (FMT: chart) said it has received various proposals for additional credit if needed to supplement the company''s current liquidity position of $1.3 billion in cash and short-term investments. Shares of the company went up 11.8%.

Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals (HEPH: chart) said it is cutting back further development of its radiation drug Neumune and instead will focus on developing its experimental drugs for diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. The pharmaceutical company said it will consider licensing or selling Neumune to third parties for further development. Shares climbed 41%.

Manitowoc Co. (MTW: chart) rose 7.4% after the maker of heavy-lifting equipment boosted its 2007 profit forecast. The company now sees earnings of $4.20 to $4.30 a share, up from an earlier projection of $3.85 to $4 a share. For the first quarter, Manitowoc expects earnings to exceed Wall Street''s forecast by about 10%. Analysts currently project earnings of 79 cents a share.

OMI Corp. (OMM: chart) shares jumped 14.7% after the operator of oil tankers said it is evaluating strategic alternatives. The company said that its strategic alternatives include a sale, merger, or the continued execution of its operating plan. OMI has hired financial adviser Perella Weinberg Partners to help it with the process.

Pacific Sunwear of California (PSUN: chart) said that its fourth-quarter net earnings declined to $9.06 million or 13 cents a share, compared with $47 million, or 63 cents per share, in the year-ago period. The fourth-quarter 2006 results include asset impairment and inventory write-down charges of $16.6 million, or 24 cents per share. Excluding items, the company posted a profit of $25.7 million, or 37 cents per share diluted share, compared with $45.2 million, or 60 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Shares climbed 7.9%.

Adams Respiratory Therapeutics Inc. (ARXT: chart) said it expects third-quarter revenue of $80 million to $85 million and full-year fiscal 2007 revenue of $320 million to $335 million. The pharmaceutical company said lower-than-expected trade orders during the third quarter, coupled with a lack of severity in the reported levels of upper respiratory ailments will impact sales of its major products for the remainder of the fiscal year. Adams also said preliminary data from its Phase IIb erdosteine clinical trial suggest a significant placebo effect and that the two different erdosteine treatment groups do not seem to break statistically from placebo. The company added that it has terminated an underwriting agreement related to its re-sale registration statement, and said the trade has been cancelled. Shares fell 27.7%.

Bally Total Fitness (BFT: chart) shares lost 59.8% after the struggling fitness center operator said it may file for bankruptcy. The slide accelerated a steep decline in the company''s stock that began last year amid questions about management and failed efforts to sell the company. Its stock plummeted $1.19, or 60 percent, to 80 cents a share in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

New York Mortgage Trust (NTR: chart) shares hit their 52-week low, a day after reporting a wider-than-expected quarterly loss due to high levels of loan repurchases and credit losses. The company attributed the loss to its mortgage lending segment, which is being discontinued. Shares fell 13.2%.

Six Flags Inc. (SIX: chart) fell 6% after the theme park operator reported a wider fourth-quarter loss. The company posted a loss of $195.2 million, or $2.07 per share, on revenue of $104.3 million. Analysts expected a loss of $1.18 per share. A year earlier, Six Flags recorded a loss of $144.5 million, or $1.55 per share, on revenue of $104.5 million.

9:00AM Asian markets ended lower on Friday on a higher-than expected U.S. inflation.
Asian markets ended lower on Friday. The Nikkei 225 index ended 0.7% lower, trimming 116.24 points to close at 16,744.15. Shares of Nissan Motor ended 0.9% lower in volatile trading after a daily reported the company would cut production at two car assembly plants by up to 20% for three months from April. In other Tokyo trading, shares of Toyota Motor fell 0.7%, while Honda Motor fell 1.5%.

Shares of Mizuho Financial Group fell 2.3%. Its subsidiary had agreed to sell its entire holding in Nikko Cordial to Citigroup at the tender offer price of 1,700 yen a share. Weakness in banking shares also spread to Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group shares, which dipped nearly 3%, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group closed down 2.8%. JVC, rose 0.5% on reports Matsushita Electric Industrial is finalizing a deal to give priority negotiating rights for its shares in the electronics subsidiary to U.S. private equity firm TPG. The deal is reportedly worth 80 billion yen, or $682 million

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index ended 0.1% lower at 18,953.50. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.7% to end at 2,930.48. Cellphone maker Foxconn gained 5% after UBS recommended investors buy the stock on an improving earnings outlook and recent declines in the share price. Cellular operator China Mobile rose 2.9%.New World Developmentled decliners among Hong Kong large-caps, declining 3.1% after reporting a 35% drop in first-half net profit owing to slim property sales in Hong Kong

Elsewhere in the region, Australia S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% to 5,836.30 and Seoul Kospi rose 0.7% to close at 1,427.88. Taiwan Weighted Price Index bucked the trend and gained 0.3% to finish at 7,719.80.

8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex ends lower Friday, Reliance helps cut down losses.
The Sensex on BSE finished 113.45 points, or 0.9%, lower at 12,430.40. The market-breadth was negative as there were two decliners for every advancer. For 817 stocks that advanced on BSE, 1,738 declined and 64 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, five advanced and 25 declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,608.60 crore, lower than Rs 3,834.63 crore on Wednesday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 7,058.77 crore, lower than Rs 7,776.71 crore onWednesday.

Economic news

Inflation jumped to 6.46% in the week ended March 3, as against 6.10% a week ago as vegetables became more expensive and so did cement, whose prices were raised by manufacturers after the Union Budget 2007-08. Vegetable prices soared by 7% and cement became expensive by 4.4%, showed the official data, the latest after the budget, which imposed dual excise duties to rein in cement prices.