The markets opened lower with the Dow falling 52 points to 13,382 as lawmakers turned their attention to the debt ceiling. Nasdaq lost 7 points to 3093.
On the upside
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: PPHM) reported upbeat results from an internal review of a Phase II trial of its second-line non-small cell lung cancer treatment bavituximab.
Nationstar Mortgage (NYSE: NSM) will pay approximately $1.3 billion to acquire the servicing rights to $215 billion worth of residential mortgage servicing rights from Bank of America (NYSE: BAC).
Shipments of Vivus' (Nasdaq: VVUS) weight loss drug Qsymia surged nearly 68% in December compared with November.
On the downside
Roche said that it was no longer interested in acquiring Illumina (Nasdaq: ILMN). ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ESI) agreed to pay $46 million to settle a lawsuit with Sallie Mae.
Sequenom (Nasdaq: SQNM) reported unaudited preliminary operational results for 2012.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 5 to 3 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index slipped 5 points to 1461.
Markets Open Lower As Lawmaker Wrestle With Debt Ceiling
January 07, 2013 at 09:43 AM EST
