Disappointing earnings sent the markets tumbling with the Dow plummeting 138 points to 12,444. Nasdaq plunged 30 points to 2321.
On the upside
PDL BioPharma (Nasdaq: PDLI) announced plans to spinoff its biotechnology products as a new company and will pay shareholders of record on May 5 a special dividend of $4.25.
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) rose over a report that privately held Linens 'n Things will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Bargain hunters lifted shares of Pantry (NYSE: PTRY) higher.
On the downside
Jefferies & Co. analyst Adam Benjamin downgraded Zoran (Nasdaq: ZRAN) citing weak DVD and camera technology.
Shares of Navteq (NYSE: NVT) tumbled after analysts predicted falling prices for personal navigation devices.
Bernstein Research analyst Alexia Howard downgraded Hershey (NYSE: HSY) and cut her price target for the candy maker saying that climbing commodity prices will hurt profits.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly the same on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 9 points to 698.
