On the upside
Danaher (NYSE: DHR) offered $1.1 billion in cash and debt to take control of the mass spectrometers product line from MDS (NYSE: MDS) and Life Technologies (Nasdaq: LIFE).
Shares of VeriFone Holdings (NYSE: PAY) rose after the electronic payment service provider posted a 3rd quarter profit that surpassed expectations.
On the downside
Shares of Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) fell on the possibility that Congress may transform the two mortgage financing companies into small, private businesses.
An analyst downgraded Novavax (Nasdaq: NVAX) due to valuation. The biopharmaceutical company develops flu vaccines.
Shares of Donaldson (NYSE: DCI) fell after the filtration systems maker offered guidance that missed analysts' estimates.
Communications equipment and service provider Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) announced a $1 billion convertible bond offering.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by 5 to 4 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost a point to 556.
