Germany warned that a detailed plan to resolve Europe’s debt crisis will not be finalized this weekend sending the markets tumbling to a sharply lower close with the Dow collapsing 247 points to 11,397. Nasdaq plummeted 52 points to 2614.
On the upside
Roche’s $230 million acquisition of Anadys Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ANDS) sparked speculation that fellow hepatitis C treatment developer Inhibitex (Nasdaq: INHX) may also be acquired.
Shanda Interactive (Nasdaq: SNDA) chief executive Tianqiao Chen offered approximately $2.33 billion in cash to take the company private.
On the downside
Profit taking sank shares of Cemex (NYSE: CX) .
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) blamed lower prices for warning of sharply lower margins in the third quarter.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Jonathan Dorsheimer downgraded Veeco (Nasdaq: VECO) to a Sell rating and slashed his price target on the company to $18 from $45.
Kaufman Bros. analyst Jeffrey Bencik cited increasing supplies flooding the LED market for reiterating his Sell rating on Cree (Nasdaq: CREE).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 9 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks sank 23 points to 688.
