Lower open as new home sales slip

The markets opened lower with the Dow losing 17 points to 18,191 as new home sales slipped 0.2% in January. Nasdaq eased a point to 4,966.

On the upside

Benefitfocus (Nasdaq: BNFT) widened losses for the fourth quarter but the results were better than expected. Mercer expanded its contract and made an equity investment in the company.

WaferGen Bio-systems (Nasdaq: WGBS) announced positive results from a study using its SmartChip technology to isolate and study single cells via Next Generation Sequencing.

Shares of Biocept (Nasdaq: BIOC) soared for the third day.

On the downside

Some provincial sports lottery administration centers in China will temporarily suspend online purchase orders sending shares of online sports lottery service provider 500.com (NYSE: WBAI) tumbling.

First quarter earnings slipped for Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and the company forecast current quarter results below analyst expectations.

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) swung to a profit for the fourth quarter but the results fell short of expectations prompting the company to cut its rig count and spending for 2015.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 10 to 9 on the NYSE while advancers barely edged out decliners by a slim margin on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 2 points to 2112. Bitcoin eased a fraction to $235.