Crude oil prices fell to a five-year low sending the markets plunging to a sharply lower close with the Dow plummeting 106 points to 17,852. Nasdaq tumbled 40 points to 4,740.
On the upside
Merck's (NYSE: MRK) acquisition of Cubist Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CBST) lifted shares of fellow antibiotic developer Cempra (Nasdaq: CEMP).
Investor interest in CAR-T cancer immunotherapy lifted shares of Bluebird Bio (Nasdaq: BLUE) and Celgene (Nasdaq: CELG), which partnered to develop CAR-T therapies through a joint venture.
Norbord's acquisition of Ainsworth Lumber lifted shares of building products manufacturer Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE: LPX).
On the downside
Goodrich Petroleum (NYSE: GDP), Sanchez Energy (NYSE: SN) and Mill Energy Resources (NYSE: MILL) as fell as crude oil prices dropped to its lowest level in five years.
Oilfield services provider Seventy Seven Energy (NYSE: SSE) tumbled.
Shares of oil and gas engineering firm McDermott International (NYSE: MDR) dropped.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 dropped 15 points to 2060. Bitcoin lost $8 to $363.
Crude oil drops to 5-year low, markets tumble
December 08, 2014 at 17:19 PM EST