Construction of apartments surged in September but building permits fell. The markets opened mixed with the Dow rising 42 points to 11,620 while Nasdaq lost 8 points to 2649.
On the upside
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) will become two separate companies with one focused on generic drugs and medical devices while the other company will be dedicated to research based medicines.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reversed year ago losses to post a better than expected profit for the third quarter.
Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL) reported higher fourth quarter earnings that surpassed analyst expectations.
On the downside
Powerwave Technologies (Nasdaq: PWAV) warned that third quarter revenue will fall far short of analyst expectations.
Alcatel-Lucent's (NYSE: ALU) Genesys unit received an acquisition offer from private equity firm Permira.
ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN) said that flooding in Thailand has damaged manufacturing facilities and will reduce revenue by between $40 to $60 million every quarter over the next year.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a point to 707.
