Afternoon Market Update

Shares of Perfect World (NASDAQ: PWRD) dipped around 15% after the company reported a sharp decline in its Q3 earnings. Analysts at Credit Suisse and Citigroup both downgraded PWRD to “sell” rating.

Shares of Saks Inc (NYSE: SKS) lost more than 1% after the company reported its Q3 results. The company's net income came in at $0.20 per share, up from $0.04 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, SKS posted its net income at $0.06 per share. The company's revenue came in at $658.8 million, up from $631.4 million, in the year-ago period. However, analysts were expecting earnings at $0.03 per share on $656 million in revenue.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered the long-term sovereign credit rating of Cyprus from “A+” to “A.” However, Standard & Poor's has affirmed its short-term sovereign rating of “A-1.” The outlook on the rating is negative. S&P credit analyst Benjamin Young said, "The downgrade reflects our opinion of increased vulnerabilities from embedded credit risk of the Cypriot financial system's external assets and domestic loan book, and the impact these could ultimately have on public finances."

Read more from Benzinga's Markets.