Global economic recovery concerns sank stocks during the midday with the Dow dropping 89 points to 10,181. Nasdaq lost 9 points to 2169.
On the upside
Chelsea Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CHTP) initiated a phase II clinical study of its chronic fatigue syndrome treatment Droxidopa.
Tyco International (NYSE: TYC) will replace Smith International (NYSE: SII),which is being acquired, on the S&P 500 index after markets close on August 26.
Matrixx Initiatives (Nasdaq: MTXX) will settle federal lawsuits over the company's cold medication Zicam.
On the downside
Shares of BSD Medical (Nasdaq: BSDM) continued falling after announcing a registered direct offering of common shares and warrants.
SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) priced its offering of convertible senior notes.
Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Gelblum downgraded Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) saying that the BlackBerry maker will lose market share.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 6 points to 604.