An unexpected gain in jobless claims weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow falling 65 points to 13,107. Nasdaq lost 11 points to 3062.
On the upside
Aegis Capital initiated coverage of Rosetta Genomics (Nasdaq: ROSG) with a Buy rating.
Hain Celestial (Nasdaq: HAIN) reported sharply higher fourth quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations and announced that it will pay approximately $316 million in cash and stock to acquire the packaged grocery brands unit from Premier Foods.
Molibdenos Y Metales increased its holdings in Molycorp (NYSE: MCP) by 4.5 million shares to 17 million shares.
On the downside
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) fell to a significant loss for the third quarter and trimmed its full year outlook. Second quarter earnings dropped for Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) to miss expectations and the closeout retailer cut its full year guidance.
Guess (NYSE: GES) disappointed with lower second quarter earnings that fell short of expectations prompting the retailer to cut its full year forecast.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 4 points to 807.
Jobless Claims Rise, Markets Fall
August 23, 2012 at 10:49 AM EDT
