Despite a 0.7% gain in November retail sales, the markets closed flat with the Dow rising 15 points to 15,755 over concerns that the Federal Reserve would soon begin tapering its bond buying program. Nasdaq added 2 points to 4000.
On the upside
Bargain hunters lifted shares of FreeSeas (Nasdaq: FREE).
Shares of Fidelity & Guaranty Life (NYSE: FGL) climbed on its first trading day.
Sonus Networks (Nasdaq: SONS) will pay a premium of approximately $30 million to acquire Performance Technologies (Nasdaq: PTIX).
On the downside
Insys Therapeutics (Nasdaq: INSY) received a subpoena related to sales and marketing practices that may have violated rules of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Shares of Avanir Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AVNR) continued falling.
XOMA (Nasdaq: XOMA) priced its public offering of 9 million common shares at the discounted price of $5.25 per share.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 9 to 7 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 held steady at 1775. Bitcoin edged up $2.26 or 0.25% to $897.04.
