The markets recovered from early morning losses but continued trading in negative territory during the midday with the Dow slipping 15 points to 13,492 as December retail sales gained a better than expected 0.5%. Nasdaq lost 14 points to 3103. On the upside
Bank of America Merrill Lynch affirmed its Buy rating on Gafisa (NYSE: GFA) citing stronger than expected free cash flow. Retail sales rose more than expected in December to lift shares of Gap (NYSE: GPS). The Burlington School District deployed EnerNOC's (Nasdaq: ENOC) EfficiencySMART Insight application to reduce energy consumption and expenses. On the downside Coldwater Creek (Nasdaq: CWTR) warned of flat fourth quarter sales and greater losses than previously forecast.Given Imaging (Nasdaq: GIVN) ended discussions for a possible sale. Profit taking sank shares of Telik (Nasdaq: TELK). In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index slipped 2 points to 1467.