The Japanese economy expanded at a slower than expected pace in the fourth quarter to weigh the markets down during the midday with the Dow falling 56 points to 16,396. Nasdaq slipped 5 points to 4330.
On the upside
The Paul Ehrlich Institute approved a Hospital Exemption for Northwest Biotherapeutics' (Nasdaq: NWBO) DCVax-L to treat glioma brain tumors and the German reimbursement authority approved reimbursement from the Sickness Funds for DCVax-L treatments.
Montage Technology Group (Nasdaq: MONT) received an offer to acquire the company from Shanghai Pudong Science and Technology Investment for a premium of $21.50 per share in cash.
Northland Capital lifted its price target on Himax Technologies (Nasdaq: HIMX) from $17.50 to $20.
On the downside
Profit taking weighed down shares of Sky-mobi (Nasdaq: MOBI).
Investors locked in profit on 58.com (NYSE: WUBA).
Seeking Alpha noted that Cimatron's (Nasdaq: CIMT) price surge over the past year was due to 3D printing but the company had earned no revenue from 3D printing.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 lost 2 points to 1875. Bitcoin slipped $14.23 or 2.23% to $623.05.