A sharp 6.8% drop in housing starts along with a 0.4 dip in manufacturing production weighed the markets down to a lower close with the Dow plunging 113 points to 20,523. Nasdaq slipped 7 points to 5,849.
On the upside
Piper Jaffray upgraded Stratasys (Nasdaq: SSYS) from a Neutral rating to an Overweight rating.
Shares of tire maker Titan International (NYSE: TWI) climbed after the Department of Commerce found that China had increased the subsidies that it provided to Chinese Off-the-Road tire producers in 2014-2015 and that tire producers continued to dump their products in the U.S.
XOMA (Nasdaq: XOMA) presented positive data from preclinical studies of its anti-PTH1R antagonist monoclonal antibody.
On the downside
Rumors circulated that Power Solutions International (Nasdaq: PSIX) would be delisted from Nasdaq.
Barracuda Networks (NYSE: CUDA) reported flat fourth quarter earnings and forecast full year results below expectations.
Shares of Adeptus Health (NYSE: ADPT) fell for the second day in a row.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE and by 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index lost 6 points to 2,342. Bitcoin leaped $19 to $1206.
