A drop in new home construction weighed down the markets during the midday with the Dow slipping 13 points to 10,390. Nasdaq edged up a fraction to 2306.
On the upside
Sunoco (Nasdaq: SUN) announced that it will spin off its metallurgical coke manufacturing unit SunCoke Energy in 2011.
Pharmacyclics (Nasdaq: PCYC) will sell shares to institutional investors in order to raise approximately $40 million.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons awarded the GEO Group (NYSE: GEO) a new ten year contract to manage the Rivers Correctional Institution in North Carolina.
On the downside
Genoptix (NYSE: GXDX) forecast second quarter results below expectations lowered its full year guidance.
A Texas jury sided with Dilliard's (NYSE: DDS) in a software license dispute with JDA Software (Nasdaq: JDAS) and ordered JDA to pay $246 million in damages.
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) warned that second quarter earnings will fall short due to a competitive market.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by more than 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a fraction to 668.
