Markets Lower As Investors Remain Cautious

Investors remained cautious even as consumer sentiment rose and consumer prices held steady. The Dow dropped 51 points to 8280 while Nasdaq slipped 3 points to 1686.

On the upside

HSH Nordbank agreed to issue a covenant waiver to DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS) for $654 million of outstanding debt.

Cell Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CTIC) will reduce approximately $14 million in annual expenses through the closure of its Bresso, Italy facility and the elimination of 56 positions at the facility.

BioCryst (Nasdaq: BCRX) reported upbeat results from a Phase II clinical trial for its cutaneous T-cell lymphoma treatment.

On the downside

Analysts downgraded FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) after its supply and pricing auction yielded disappointingly low results.

Gushan Environmental Energy (NYSE: GU) swung to a first quarter loss as revenue tumbled.

Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) priced its offering of 40 million shares of Class A stock at $5.00 per share.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by nearly 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 2 points to 477.