A bipartisan budget agreement was reached but the markets opened lower with the Dow dropping 75 points to 15,897. Nasdaq tumbled 22 points to 4038.
On the upside
CytRx (Nasdaq: CYTR) reported positive results from a Phase 2b clinical trial of its advanced soft tissue sarcomas treatment aldoxorubicin.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services increased the reimbursement rate for BG Medicine's (Nasdaq: BGMD) galectin-3 blood test from $17.80 to $30.01 beginning in 2014.
NorthStar Realty Finance (NYSE: NRF) will spin-off its asset management business into a separate publicly traded company.
On the downside
Gevo (Nasdaq: GEVO) priced its public offering of 18.525 million common units at the discounted price of $1.35 per unit.
Avanir (Nasdaq: AVNR) widened fourth quarter losses more than expected and reported disappointing results from a midstage clinical trial of its multiple sclerosis pain medication AVP-923.
Investors locked in profits on Opko Health (NYSE: OPK).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 dropped 9 points to 1792. Bitcoin dropped $74.38 or 7.22% to $955.62.
