Tuesday's Financial Winners & Losers

Updated from 1:53 p.m. EDT

Financial stocks fell Tuesday in lockstep with the major indices, caught in the broader market's undertow and pressured by sector-specific analyst downgrades, among other things.

Franklin Resources (BEN Quote), an asset manager based in San Mateo, Calif., sank 2.6% to $133.66 after an analyst with J.P. Morgan said its funds have been turning in poor performances lately. He cut the stock to underweight from neutral.

Keefe Bruyette, meanwhile, lowered Synovus Financial (SNV Quote) to market perform from outperform, after which the Georgia bank's shares slumped 1.5%, or 48 cents, to $32.58.

Franklin and Synovus, both components of the NYSE Financial Sector Index, helped pull the tracker down 0.7% to 9910.90. Most of the index's other members were likewise falling -- among them, credit-card company MasterCard (MA Quote), down 2.1%; insurance broker National Financial Partners (NFP Quote), down 1.9%; and broker Friedman Billings Ramsey (FBR Quote), down 3.1%.

The KBW Bank Index fared even worse, giving up 0.8% at 116.40 as every single one of its components foundered in the red.

Also suffering was Pacific Capital Bancorp (PCBC Quote), based in Santa Barbara, Calif., which lost 3.1% to $25.09 on word its chief financial officer, Joyce Clinton, will leave the bank in August. New York broker Jefferies (JEF Quote) sank 2.4% to $29.73 after announcing it sold $600 million in senior bonds.

Elsewhere, credit-ratings firm Moody's (MCO Quote) slipped even as it boosted its full-year 2007 guidance for both income and revenue. The New York-based company also maintained its prior forecast for an operating-margin slide of up to 150 basis points. Shares eased 66 cents, or 0.9%, to $70.36.

Savings bank BFC Financial (BFF Quote) was up 2.7% earlier in the day but closed down 0.9% at $4.40. Asset manager Janus Capital (JNS Quote), up 1% earlier in the day, closed down 0.6% at $28.27.

Among the few financial stocks on the upswing, New York lender Financial Federal (FIF Quote) jumped 4.6% to $28.77 after saying that fiscal third-quarter earnings climbed 14.3% year over year to 48 cents a share, or $12.7 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial sought 46 cents a share.

Other scarce financial winners included mortgage lender Fannie Mae (FNM Quote), which added 0.3% to $64.82.