Tuesday's Financial Winners & Losers

Financial stocks pushed through the headwinds of discouraging economic data Tuesday, finishing in the green for a second straight day.

Bond insurer MBIA(MBI Quote) closed up 5.4% to $15.36 after ratings agency Moody's Investors Service confirmed its "AAA" rating, a day after Standard & Poor's did the same. The company has been under pressure to raise capital to gird against potential losses tied to debt it insures, which has weighed on financial stocks and the wider market.

The NYSE Financial Sector Index jumped 89.07 to 7759.90, building on Monday's strong finish.

Even as executives at an industry conference in Munich predicted a tough year ahead for private equity firms, Blackstone Group(BX Quote) jumped 6.9% to $17. U.S. antitrust authorities have given the private equity firm approval to buy hedge fund GSO Capital Partners for up to $930 million in cash and stock, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday. Approval of the deal was announced in a periodic listing of approvals issued by the FTC.

Elsewhere, Cninsure (CISG Quote) rose 17% to $11.50 after reporting its earnings after Monday's close. The Chinese insurance agency and brokerage company beat the estimates for the one analyst covering the stock and was rewarded handsomely.

And Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Janus Capital (JNS Quote) with a hold rating. Shares of the Denver-based asset manager climbed 3.3% to $26.13.

On the flip side, CME Group(CME Quote) has agreed with Nymex Holdings(NMX Quote) to extend until March 15 a 30-day exclusive negotiating period to merge with the fellow futures exchange. CME edged down fractionally to $529.28 and Nymex slipped $1.63 to $102.17.

Unable to shake off the never-ending stream of negative mortgage news, Fannie Mae (FNM Quote) and Freddie Mac (FRE Quote) were both sliding in advance of their earnings reports Thursday. With the market preparing for the worst, shares of Freddie were down 3.7% to $25.20 and Fannie dropped 4.6% to $26.98.

Insurance and risk manager Hilb Rogal & Hobbs (HRH Quote) saw its profit shrink 48% in the fourth quarter as insurers were reluctant to pay brokers higher fees, the insurance broker said late Monday. Hilb Rogal & Hobbs earned $11.1 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with profit of $21.4 million, or 59 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2006. The stock fell 4.8% to $31.07 following the conference call Tuesday morning.

And finally, Goldman Sachs (GS Quote) had its first-quarter earnings estimate cut by competitor Merrill Lynch for the second time this month as the subprime mortgage crisis continues to spread. The stock fell $4.66 to $172.70. Lehman Brothers(LEH Quote), on the other hand, was rising $1.18 to $56.75.