A greater than expected drop in December retail sales sent the markets tumbling to a sharply lower open with the Dow plunging 142 points to 17,471. Nasdaq fell 14 points to 4,647.

On the upside

Intrexon (NYSE: XON) and Ziopharm Oncology (Nasdaq: ZIOP) entered an exclusive licensing agreement with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop non-viral adoptive cellular cancer immunotherapies.

SunEdison Semiconductor (Nasdaq: SEMI) priced a secondary offering of 15 million common shares on behalf of selling shareholders at $15.19 per share.

GameStop (NYSE: GME) reported a strong 4.4% increase in December same store sales prompting an analyst upgrade.

On the downside

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) extended its losses.

Ocwen Financial (NYSE: OCN) stock continued falling.

Investors locked in profits on Frontline (NYSE: FRO).

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 fell 10 points to 2012. Bitcoin dropped $26 to $193.