Merger and acquisition activity failed to trigger a buying trend as investors adopted a cautious approach to the markets. The Dow slipped 22 points to 10,837 while Nasdaq lost 7 points to 2373 during the midday.
On the upside
Virtual Radiologic will acquire NightHawk Radiology (Nasdaq: NHWK) in an all cash deal valued at approximately $170 million.
BioFuel Energy (Nasdaq: BIOF) secured a six month bridge loan agreement for $19.4 million.
LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) signed a five-year credit facility with China Development Bank for $8.9 billion.
On the downside
The Wall Street Journal reported that negotiations for M&T Bank's (NYSE: MTB) acquisition of Sovereign Bank stalled again as the parties disagreed on the management of the combined company.
Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski downgraded Infinera (Nasdaq: INFN) to a Sell rating saying that the stock price has doubled in the last three months.
Merriman Capital analyst Richard Fetyko downgraded ValueClick (NYSE: VCLK) saying that the combined Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) search platform will increase costs for advertisers.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 4 points to 666.
