Wednesday's Financial Winners & Losers

OptionsXpress (OXPS Quote) slid nearly 8% after the online broker reported November account growth of only 1% from October totals. An analyst with Raymond James called the numbers "well below expectations" and downgraded the company to outperform from strong buy. Shares were losing $2.14 to $24.96.

Morgan Stanley (MS Quote) rose after agreeing to sell its Britain-based wealth management advisory firm Quilter to Citigroup (C Quote) for an undisclosed sum. Quilter manages more than $10.9 billion in managed assets. Morgan Stanley shares were up 49 cents to $78.89. Citigroup shares were unchanged.

US Bancorp (USB Quote) continued to rise a day after the bank raised its quarterly dividend by 21% to 40 cents a share. Shares were up 79 cents, or 2.3%, to $35.17.

Axis Capital (AXS Quote) slipped on news that one of its founding investors, Trident, will sell 3 million of its Axis shares. Citigroup is underwriting the deal. Shares were down 23 cents to $34.37.

Cowen (COWN Quote) fell on a downgrade by an analyst with Credit Suisse to neutral from outperform. Shares of the brokerage were down 63 cents, or 3%, to $19.56.