Retail sales rose 0.3% in February but the markets turned negative during the midday with the Dow falling 59 points to 16,280. Nasdaq lost 15 points to 4307.
On the upside
Ballard Power Systems (Nasdaq: BLDP) climbed on rival Plug Power's (Nasdaq: PLUG) upbeat outlook.
magicJack (Nasdaq: CALL) reported sharply higher fourth quarter earnings that more than doubled.
Tesaro (Nasdaq: TSRO) entered a strategic immuno-oncology collaboration with AnaptysBio.
On the downside
A Seeking Alpha contributor wrote that Galena Biopharma (Nasdaq: GALE) management reviewed and edited paid articles that promoted company stock.
Gogo (Nasdaq: GOGO) narrowed fourth quarter losses but the stock price fell.
Horizon Pharma (Nasdaq: HZNP) widened fourth quarter losses even as revenue soared.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 lost 6 points to 1861. Bitcoin added $1.19 or 0.19% to $633.50
