The markets opened mixed with the Dow rising 7 points to 16,485 while Nasdaq slipped 8 points to 4147 on the second to the last trading day of the year.
On the upside
The Health Canada-Medical Device Bureau granted a license to Biolase (Nasdaq: BIOL) to sell its EPIC dental soft-tissue diode laser systems in Canada.
Blackstone Group will purchase $200 million in Crocs (Nasdaq: CROX) convertible preferred stock and Crocs will buy back $350 million worth of stock.
Kandi Technologies Group (Nasdaq: KNDI) will make 100,000 electric vehicles available for hourly rental in Hangzhou, China.
On the downside
The Centers for Medicines & Medicaid Services will cut reimbursement rates for Myriad Genetics' (Nasdaq: MYGN) BRCA genetic tests prompting downgrades.
Shares of Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) continued falling after a downgrade last week.
CohnReznick resigned as the independent accounting firm for WPCS International (Nasdaq: WPCS).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 slipped a point to 1839. Bitcoin held steady at $792.10.
