Friday's Winners & Losers: Xilinx

Xilinx(XLNX Quote) rose 12.5%, a day after the company posted third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations. On Friday, Citibank noted that the programmable logic chipmaker wasn't experiencing macroeconomic weakness. Xilinx shares were up $2.39 to $21.53.

MBIA (MBI Quote) shares got kicked even lower after the bond insurer announced that Moody's is mulling a cut of its vital triple-A insurance financial-strength rating, as well as those of its insurance affiliates. Also on review for possible downgrade, among other things, are the Aa2 ratings of the surplus bonds MBIA just issued last week in an effort to shore up its worrisome capital levels.

MBIA is baffled by the move, saying Moody's had asked for a solid cash position last month and that MBIA had responded in kind -- via the bonds, a dividend cut, and an earlier cash injection agreement for up to $1 billion from Warburg Pincus. And the bonds' Aa2 rating, it groused, was just assigned last week. Plus, it added, both Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's have recently affirmed their top-notch ratings of MBIA. ...