Markets drop as crude oil prices retreat

Retreating crude oil prices weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow falling 75 points to 17,711. Nasdaq lost 13 points to 4,934.

On the upside

The Food and Drug Administration granted Fast Track designation to Galena Biopharma's (Nasdaq: GALE) NeuVax.

Salesforece.com (NYSE: CRM) will pay a premium of approximately $2.8 billion in cash to acquire Demandware (NYSE: DWRE).

Ocean Power Technologies (Nasdaq: OPTT) entered into a PB3 PowerBuoy lease agreement with Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding.

On the downside

Profit taking weighed down shares of B.O.S. Better Online Solutions (Nasdaq: BOSC).

Ascena Retail Group (Nasdaq: ASNA) reported lower third quarter earnings as revenue fell short of expectations prompting the retailer to lower its full year forecast.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) completed the sale of a 13% stake in Morenci Mine.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 lost 5 points to 2,091. Bitcoin climbed $11 to $533.