A downgrade of Spain's credit rating sent the markets lower during the midday with the Dow losing 22 points to 10,812. Nasdaq slipped a point to 2374.
On the upside
Jefferies upgraded Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) to a Buy rating.
Covance (NYSE: CVD) signed a 10-year agreement to provide drug development services to Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) for approximately $2.2 billion.
Wilmington Trust (NYSE: WT) will serve as the collateral agent for the construction of the largest solar power plant in Colorado.
On the downside
Xyratex (Nasdaq: XRTX) reported higher third quarter earnings but the data storage solutions company forecast fourth quarter revenue below estimates.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive (NYSE: DTG) delayed voting by shareholders on Hertz' (NYSE: HTZ) $1.5 billion acquisition offer.
Shares of Satyam (NYSE: SAY) continued to fall after reporting significant losses for fiscal 2010 yesterday.
In the broad market, advancing issues edged out decliners by a slim margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE while decliners outpaced advancers by more than 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a point to 676.
