The markets opened lower for a shortened holiday trading session. Investors focused on rising unemployment and record high oil prices. The Dow dropped 113 points to 11,268 while Nasdaq slipped 3 points to 2247.
An RBC Capital Markets analyst raised his opinion on communications-tower operators. Shares of American Tower (NYSE: AMT), Crown Castle (NYSE: CCI) and SBA (Nasdaq: SBAC) rose.
Chindex International (Nasdaq: CHDX) announced preliminary approval by Chinese regulatory agencies for the sales and marketing of laser surgical equipment.
Shares of Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) rose on revived acquisition talks by Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and a consortium of media companies, according to media reports.
On the downside
Shares of Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) tumbled after the graphics chip maker lower its 2nd quarter revenue outlook.As expected, Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE: FIG) and private equity firm Centerbridge Partners LP withdrew their $5.82 billion takeover offer of casino operator Penn National Gaming (Nasdaq: PENN) due to lengthy litigation.
Shares of Aetna (NYSE: AET) fell to a multi-year low after an analyst downgraded the health insurance provider due to falling profit margins.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin
of 5 to 4 on the NYSE, but were narrowly edged out on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000
which tracks small cap stocks inched up a point to 673.
