China Tightens Monetary Policy Again, Markets Open Lower

Investors concerned that China's second move in a month to tighten its monetary policy will dampen the global economic recovery sent the markets tumbling to a sharply lower open with the Dow plunging 124 points to 10,019. Nasdaq fell 16 points to 2160.

On the upside

Private equity firms Berkshire Partners, Advent International and Bain Capital offered approximately $1.1 billion in cash to acquire SkillSoft (Nasdaq: SKIL).

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) announced that it will separate into two companies in 2011, one focused on consumers while the other will target business clients.

Oppenheimer analyst Brian Nagel upgraded Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) and lifted his price target on the home accessories retailer saying that sales are improving.

On the downside

Labopharm (Nasdaq: DDSS) priced its offering of approximately 11.7 million units at $1.70 per unit with each unit composed of one common share and a warrant to purchase half a common share.

Senomyx (NYSE: SNMX) priced its offering of over 7.1 million common shares at $2.80 per share.

While Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE: IR) reversed year ago losses for the fourth quarter, the results fell short of analyst estimates and the manufacturer forecast disappointing first quarter earnings that missed expectations by a wide margin.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 6 points to 599.

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