Disappointing earnings news weighed the markets down during the midday with the Dow falling 44 points 12,560. Nasdaq lost 8 points to 2815.
On the upside
Opnext (Nasdaq: OPXT) swung to a fourth quarter profit as revenue increased.
First quarter earnings slipped for Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) but the results beat analyst expectations.
Speculation that BP (NYSE: BP)will settle claims from the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last year lifted shares of Andarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC).
On the downside
Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) disappointed with sharply lower first quarter earnings that fell short of expectations as expenses rose.
Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) warned that sequential gross margins will fall.
China Yuchai International (NYSE: CYD) named chief financial officer to the position of acting president to replace retiring president Boo Guan Saw.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by margin of nearly 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped a point to 833.