The European Central Bank lowered a key interest rate but announced that there would be no increase in government bond purchases. The markets opened lower with the Dow dropping 65 points to 12,130 while Nasdaq fell 15 points to 2633.
On the upside
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval of Affymax's (Nasdaq: AFFY) peginesatide to treat anemia in dialysis patients.
Pacific Sunwear (Nasdaq: PSUN) widened third quarter losses but the results were better than expected and the teen retailer announced plans to close up to 200 underperforming stores.
Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN) narrowed fourth quarter losses as revenue rose to top analyst estimates.
On the downside
American Airlines (NYSE: AMR) entered into a partnership with China's Hainan Airlines to codeshare each other's flights but the stock price fell over concerns about AMR's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
Clearwire (NYSE: CLWR) increased its stock offering to 175 million common shares and priced the offering at $2 per share.
THQ (Nasdaq: THQI) warned that current quarter revenue will fall short of expectations.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 9 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks tumbled 11 points to 734.
