Small business confidence rose in November but the markets closed lower with the Dow falling 52 points to 15,973 in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's meeting next week. Nasdaq lost 8 points to 4060.
On the upside
Enanta Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ENTA) reported very high response rates in hepatitis C patients treated with the protease inhibitor ABT-450 in a SAPPHIRE-II study.
Apollo Global Management will sell all of its holdings in EVERTEC (NYSE: EVTC) with EVERTEC repurchasing $75 million worth of its common stock.
Deutsche Bank initiated coverage of 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) with a Buy rating.
On the downside
Icahn Enterprises (Nasdaq: IEP) will sell 2 million depositary units.
StealthGas (Nasdaq: GASS) will offer 10 million common shares through a public offering.
Needham upgraded Geron (Nasdaq: GERN) from a Hold rating to a Buy rating but the stock price fell.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 fell 5 points to 1802. Bitcoin soared $130.20 or 14.36% to $1,037.20.