Further contraction of the British economy weighed the markets down during the midday with the Dow losing 32 points to 12,463. Nasdaq fell 18 points to 2831.
On the upside
Genetic Technologies (Nasdaq: GENE) continued soaring after announcing increasing sales of its breast cancer risk test BREVAGen on Tuesday.
Shares of Rosetta Genomics (Nasdaq: ROSG) surged again over acquisition speculation.
First quarter earnings soared for PVH (NYSE: PVH) to beat expectations prompting the apparel retailer to lift its full year guidance.
On the downside
Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG) reported higher first quarter earnings but revenue fell short of estimates and the jewelry retailer forecast second quarter income that missed analyst expectations.
A Seeking Alpha contributor recommended that investors avoid Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX) saying that the company could file for bankruptcy.
A Seeking Alpha contributor calculated Alpha Natural Resources' (NYSE: ANC) Altman Z-score as indicating a very high likelihood of bankruptcy.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by a 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 3 points to 762.