Monday's Winners & Losers: Wachovia

Standard & Poor's cut the ratings of three investment banks with the opinion that the outlook for them was mostly negative. S&P lowered Merrill Lynch (MER), Lehman Brothers (LEH) and Morgan Stanley (MS) each by one notch after a review of the sector showed more trouble ahead, but the ratings continue to stay in investment-grade territory.

Merrill fell by 3% to $42.55, while Morgan Stanley dropped 3.5% to $42.75. Lehman plunged 6.8% to $34.30.

Palm(PALM) was up 39 cents, or 6.4%, to $6.45. The gains were based on an IDC smartphone market share report Friday that said Palm took 13.4% of smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2008, up from 7.9% in the fourth quarter, based on strong sales of its Centro smartphone. A report in the blog Engadget also suggested that Palm's upcoming Treo 800W may be making its debut on Verizon's(VZ) wireless network soon.

A big loser for the day was Wachovia (WB), which tumbled 3% after announcing the ousting of chief executive Ken Thompson. Somehow the nation's fourth largest bank managed to avoid hitting its 52-week low, but did trade down to $23.30. The bank has struggled with massive losses as it continues to review its portfolio. Thompson will not receive any pay for the 2008 fiscal year, but still walks away with s severance pay of $1.45 million and accelerated vesting of $7.25 million in restricted stock.

Shares of TiVo(TIVO) were down 76 cents, or 9%, to $7.65 as the company continued to battle with Dish Network(DISH) and EchoStar(SATS) over patents. Dish and Echostar filed a lawsuit against TiVo Friday asking a Delaware court to find that their new DVR software does not infringe Tivo's patent. The lawsuit is in response to Tivo's public statements that our new DVR software infringes its patents, said Dish Network in a statement Friday.

Novato, Calif.'s Sonic Solutions (SNIC), which develops and markets computer software, stumbled 8.7% to $8.77 on a Canaccord Adams downgrade to hold from buy.

On the winning side, Brigham Exploration (BEXP), which explores, develops and produces oil and natural gas, saw shares jump 14.7% to $16.71. The Austin, Texas-based firm announced completion of two additional Vicksburg wells and another successful Williston Basin Red River well.

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