Jobless claims climbed to their highest levels in two years while the markets opened lower. The Dow lost 47 points to 12,558 while Nasdaq fell 14 points to 2346.
On the upside
Software giant Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) priced $5 billion in notes bearing interest rates of 4.95 to 6.5% to fund its purchase of BEA Systems (Nasdaq: BEAS).AngioDynamics (Nasdaq: ANGO) posted higher profits that beat forecasts while settling a patent lawsuit for laser treatment of varicose veins. The company will make a one-time payment of $7 million to Diomed.
A Goldman Sachs analyst upgraded Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) after its Asian rival raised memory chip prices.
On the downside
MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR) lowered its 1st quarter outlook due to production problems. The company makes wafers for the semiconductor and solar power industries.
Shares of Garmin (Nasdaq: GRMN) fell sharply to a new 52-week low after its CFO warned that revenues would drop more than expected from last quarter's holiday levels.
Shares of Blackbaud (Nasdaq: BLKB) dropped after an analyst downgraded the maker of software to nonprofit organizations due to an environment of declining donations from worried consumers.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 4 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 4 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped 2 points to 710.
