The markets opened lower with the Dow dropping 60 points to 18,491 ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes. Nasdaq fell 17points to 5,209.
On the upside
Morgan Stanley analyst David Risinger upgraded Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) from a Neutral rating to an Overweight rating.
Sky Solar Holdings (Nasdaq: SKYS) will sell its interests in 152 MW of solar projects in Japan to Solar Partnership Capital for approximately $165 million.
Guggenheim analyst Louise Chen initiated coverage of SCYNEXIS (Nasdaq: SCYX) with a Buy rating.
On the downside
StemCells (Nasdaq: STEM) chief executive Ian Massey, chief financial officer Greg Schiffman and three board members resigned.
Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) reported a larger than expected loss for the fourth quarter and forecast current quarter results below analyst estimates.
Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS) fell to a loss for the second quarter and warned of losses for the third quarter.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 fell 6 points to 2,171. Bitcoin lost $3 to $573.
