Oil falls again, markets open lower

Crude oil prices fell again to weigh the markets down to a lower open with the Dow tumbling 91 points to 17,645. Nasdaq dropped 37 points to 4,666.

On the upside

Roche will acquire a majority stake in Foundation Medicine (Nasdaq: FMI) in a deal valued at approximately $1.03 billion.

Agenus (Nasdaq: AGEN) chairman and chief executive Dr. Garo Armen provided details of Agenus' recently announced partnership with Incyte (Nasdaq: INCY) on a post in TheCharimansBlog.com.

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: TKMR) will merge with OnCore Biopharma to create a global hepatitis B virus infection company dedicated to developing a curative regimen by combining multiple therapeutic approaches.

On the downside

The Food and Drug Administration asked Arrowhead Research (Nasdaq: ARWR) to lower the dosage of its hepatitis B treatment ARC-520 in a Phase 2b study.

SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) cut its fourth quarter revenue guidance.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) reported a disappointing 1% drop in holiday sales prompting the jewelry retailer to lower its full year earnings outlook.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 dropped 15 points to 2029. Bitcoin added $2 to $269.