Regions: Financial Winner

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Regions Financial (RF) was the winner among large U.S. financial names on Tuesday, with shares rising over 4% to close at $6.65.

The broad indexes saw another day of 1% declines as investors continued to worry that the eurozone may be forced to bail out Spain, rather than just shore up the country's banking sector. The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds rose as high as 7.64%, while the yield on 10-year U.S. paper dipped below 1.40%.

Moody's Investor Service late on Monday announced that it had revised its outlook on the Aaa ratings for Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg to negative from stable, while affirming its positive outlook for the Aaa rating of Finland, saying that all four countries were "adversely affected" by "the rising uncertainty regarding the outcome of the euro area debt crisis given the current policy framework, and the increased susceptibility to event risk stemming from the increased likelihood of Greece's exit from the euro area, including the broader impact that such an event would have on euro area members, particularly Spain and Italy."

Moody's also said that the burden of providing greater support to Spain and Italy would "likely fall most heavily on more highly rated member states if the euro area is to be preserved in its current form."

Markit Economics on Tuesday reported that its preliminary purchasing managers index for the eurozone was unchanged at 46.4 in July indicating a sixth month of economic contraction. The preliminary July PMI for Germany slipped to 47.3 from 48.1 in June.

The KBW Bank Index (I:BKX) recovered late in the session from earlier losses to rise slightly for the day, closing at 44.46, with nine of the 24 index components advancing.

Regions Financial on Tuesday reported second-quarter net income available to common shareholders of $284 million, or 20 cents a share, beating the consensus estimate of a 16-cent profit, among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

The Birmingham, Ala., lender's earnings increased from $145 million, or 11 cents a share during the first quarter, and $55 million, or four cents a share, during the second quarter of 2011.

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