Friday's Winners & Losers

Homebuilders were in focus again Friday, this time after Wachovia lowered its earnings estimates for this year and next on names across the sector.

Citing higher cancellations and trouble getting promotions to lure in new buyers, the firm reduced its estimates for 13 builders, including Beazer Homes (BZH Quote), Lennar (LEN Quote), Toll Brothers (TOL Quote), Hovnanian (HOV Quote) and D.R. Horton (DHI Quote).

Beazer was one of the worst decliners, falling nearly 6%. Most others in the group were down 2% to 3%.

McDonald's (MCD Quote) was one of the session's winners after saying its third-quarter earnings would probably beat analysts' estimates.

Profits for the quarter should be 89 cents a share, including 83 cents from continuing operations and a gain of 6 cents from the sale of Boston Market. Analysts were looking for earnings of 77 cents before the gain. Shares of McDonald's were up 0.7% at $56.64.

GE (GE Quote) matched Wall Street's earnings estimates for the latest quarter and reaffirmed its full-year guidance, but its shares were down 2.2% at $40.69.

The company earned $5.09 billion, or 50 cents a share, from continuing operations for the third quarter, and revenue climbed 12% from a year ago to $42.5 billion. Analysts were calling for a 50-cent profit on revenue of $42.4 billion.

Women's apparel retailer Coldwater Creek (CWTR Quote) was one of the biggest losers, plunging 25.5% to $8.10 a day after it cut its forecast for the second half of the fiscal year.