A drop in factory production weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow easing 2 points to 16,984. Nasdaq fell 38 points to 4,528.

On the upside

Avanir Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AVNR) reported positive results from a Phase II clinical trial of its agitation in Alzheimer's disease treatment AVP-923.

Shares of ReWalk Robotics (Nasdaq: RWLK) continued to soar after a successful debut on Friday.

21Vianet (Nasdaq: VNET) chief executive Josh Chen issued a letter to shareholders denying allegations of fraud made by Trinity Research.

On the downside

Net Element (Nasdaq: NETE) entered a debt exchange agreement with Crede CG.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval for NPS Pharmaceuticals' (Nasdaq: NPSP) hypoparathyroidism treatment Natpara but many safety questions were raised.

Profit taking continued to sink shares of Weibo (Nasdaq: WB).

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 fell 11 points to 1985. Bitcoin slipped $2 to $470.