A drop in manufacturing activity sent the markets down to a lower close with the Dow falling 41 points to 9732. Nasdaq lost 7 points to 2101.
On the upside
Jefferies analyst Andrew Fein initiated coverage of Avanir Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AVNR) with a Buy rating saying that the Food and Drug Administration should approve the company's Pseudobulbar Affect treatment Zenvia.
Shares of AutoNavi (Nasdaq: AMAP) climbed on its first trading day.
Frontier Communications (NYSE: FTR) paid $5.3 billion to acquire phone lines from Verizon in 14 states.
On the downside
LHC Group (Nasdaq: LHCG) entered a home health joint venture with The Health Care Authority for Baptist Health.
Popular (Nasdaq: BPOP) announced intentions to sell a 51% share of its subsidiary Evertec to Apollo Management.
Level 3 Communications (Nasdaq: LVLT) will be the exclusive provider in the U. S. of online and mobile content for the 2010 Tour de France.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 4 points to 604.
