Investors welcomed the extension of tax cuts to further the economic recovery but raised concerns that the cuts will deepen the budget deficit. The markets opened mixed with the Dow losing 16 points to 11,342 while Nasdaq rose 3 points to 2601.
On the upside
A Food and Drug Admininstration advisory panel recommended approval for Orexigen Therapeutics' (Nasdaq: OREX) weight loss treatment Contrave. The news lifted shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARNA) and Vivus (Nasdaq: VVUS), whose Lorcaserin and Qnexa diet drugs were rejected a few months ago.
Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) chief executive will present at the Goldman Sachs U. S. Financial Services Conference today.
MicroVision (Nasdaq: MVIS) partnered with Pioneer to develop, manufacture and distribute in-vehicle head-up displays using MicroVision PicoP laser display technology.
On the downside
JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU) cut its fourth quarter revenue guidance.
KKR Financial Holdings (NYSE: KFN) will sell 18 million common shares through a public offering.
Stillwater Mining (NYSE: SWC) priced its secondary offering of 37 million common shares at $19.50 per share.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 9 to 7 on the NYSE while advancers edged out decliners by more than 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks edged up a fraction to 764.
