The markets traded lower during the midday with the Dow slipping 24 points to 14,840 as consumer sentiment fell. Nasdaq lost 9 points to 3290.
On the upside
Shares of Sinclair Broadcast Group (Nasdaq: SBGI) continued rising after announcing yesterday plans to acquire Fisher Communications (Nasdaq: FSCI) for approximately $373 million.
Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Bankrate (NYSE: RATE) to a Buy rating.
Cleantech Solutions International (Nasdaq: CLNT) reported higher fourth quarter revenue.
On the downside
Falling gold prices weighed down shares of Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX), Harmony Gold (NYSE: HMY), Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC) and Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY).
Profit taking sank shares of ImmunoGen (Nasdaq: IMGN), whose stock price climbed the last two days after announcing upbeat preclinical results for its IMGN289 product.
The proposed acquisition of Hudson City Bancorp (Nasdaq: HCBK) by M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB) may be delayed due to anti-money laundering concerns.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index lost 7 points to 1586.
