Wednesday's Financial Winners & Losers

The financial sector was mostly hemmed in with the climbing major indices Wednesday after the Federal Reserve introduced a liquidity-injection plan, making for a partial recovery following yesterday's market-pounding news of only a quarter-point rate cut by the Fed.

The NYSE Financial Sector Index lately tacked on 0.3% to 8,607.79 after a brief dip into the red.

Still, a number of financial stocks were losing ground, among them banking giant Citigroup (C Quote). Shares were losing 5.2% a day after it appointed Vikram Pandit as its new CEO, as expected, about a month after ousting former Chief Chuck Prince. Pandit most recently headed Citi's institutional clients group. Citi shares were off $1.72 to $31.51.

Among the biggest decliners was student lender Sallie Mae (SLM Quote), which said that attempts to revive its April buyout deal with a J.C. Flowers-led buyer group have fallen flat. The consortium, which also included Bank of America (BAC Quote) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote), in October pared down its original $25 billion bid for Sallie following the passage of a new federal law cutting education-lending subsidies. Sallie had initially responded with a lawsuit that proved costly before recently attempting to reconcile with the group and forge a new deal.

Sallie also said it expects fourth-quarter "core" earnings of just 52 cents to 57 cents a share, excluding one-off items such as costs related to the failed merger, against 71-cent Wall Street expectations from Thomson Financial. And its 2008 profit outlook was slashed by 45 cents to between $2.60 and $2.80. Analysts are looking for $3.12 a share, excluding items. Shares of the Reston, Va., company were tumbling $3.49, or 10.9%, to $28.45.