Markets

The markets closed in negative territory with the Dow easing 3 points to 12,807 despite upbeat earnings and the death of Osama bin Laden as airlines increased fuel surcharges. Nasdaq lost 9 points to 2864.

On the upside

Shares of Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX) climbed on speculation that Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) may acquire drug company.

Ralcorp (Nasdaq: RAH) reported sharply higher second quarter earnings that surpassed analyst estimates and forecast full year results ahead of expectations.

Horizon Lines (NYSE: HRZ) and former parent company CSX (NYSE: CSX) signed an agreement reducing charter payments Horizon will make to CSX by $12 million.

On the downside

Shares of Sify Technologies (Nasdaq: SIFY) tumbled ahead of its earnings release tomorrow morning.

Investors locked in profits on Sky-mobi (Nasdaq: MOBI), whose shares climbed last week after the launch of its OPENSKY plug-in enabling social functions on standalone mobile applications.

Falling silver prices weighed down shares of First Majestic Silver (NYSE: AG), Endeavor Silver (NYSE: EXK), Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW) and Silvercorp Metals (NYSE: SVM).

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 10 points to 854.