Market Wrap: Germany's Rising Bunds; Fifth Third's Capital Approval; Apple's Size Scares Firm; Icahn Ceases CVR Courting

Market wrap-up for August 21st

End of the Day: Dow Jones down 68 to 13,203.58; S&P 500 down 5.0 to 1,412.17; Nasdaq down 9.0 to 3,067.26

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• Hot cross bunds: German two-year yields rose into positive territory for the first time since July 12th, according to Bloomberg. The move is a positive for Europe, indicating that Germany is lessening as the de facto storage facility for excess funds. Data shows that yields rose four basis points to 0.017 percent at 4:20 pm.
  
  Negative yields hint that investors will receive less than they paid for it upon maturity.
  
  
• They still sell Apple products, right?: Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) added to the fun Tuesday, reporting a second-quarter earnings miss and suspending guidance for the rest of fiscal 2013.
  
  Stock buybacks were also cut due to transition into a new CEO, which FB) saw some unusual pressure Tuesday following disclosure late Monday that early investor and Board Member Peter Thiel sold just over 20 million shares on expiration of Facebook's post-IPO lock-up last week. The news sent Facebook shares over 4 percent lower Tuesday.
  
  
• Like a one-ton weight lifted: Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq: FITB) said proposed capital actions through March 31, 2013 included in Fifth Third’s capital plan submitted in June under the Comprehensive Capital & Analysis Review process were not objected by the Federal Reserve board. Under the plan, Fifth Third has the opportunity to repurchase common shares as well as potentially raise its dividend to 10 cents per share.
  
  On the news, Fifth Third approved a 100 million common stock buyback plan. The new authorization replaces the previous authorization from 2007 under which approximately 14 million shares remained.
  
  
• Taking a bite our of..: Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) received another rare downgrade Tuesday, this one from Oracle Investment Research. The firm cut Apple to Hold from Buy, with a price target of $650. Basically, OIR said the fact that Apple was the all-time most-valuable stock was a scary prospect.
  
  
• Widening cracks are (almost) never good: Late in the session Tuesday, Carl Icahn withdrew his offer to take CVR (NYSE: CVI) private. Icahn cited widening crack spreads and market conditions on the move.

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