Record drops in consumer prices and housing starts stoked recessionary fears to weigh down the markets during the midday with the Dow plunging 208 points to 8216. Nasdaq skidded 48 points to 1436.
On the upside
Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE: LPX) eliminated 200 jobs and cut expenses prompting an upgrade.
Bristow Group (NYSE: BRS) declared a quarterly dividend of 68.75 cents per share of Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock payable on December 15 to shareholders of record December 1.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Teva Pharmaceutical's (Nasdaq: TEVA) generic version of AstraZeneca's (Nasdaq: AZN) asthma drug Pulmicort.
On the downside
JP Morgan downgraded Century Aluminum (Nasdaq: CENX) saying that the company's cost cutting measures will not be enough to counter sharply lower aluminum prices.
Although Genesco (NYSE: GCO) preannounced higher third quarter earnings as sales rose, the baseball cap maker warned that same store sales will drop in the fourth quarter.
Citi Investment Research analyst Joshua Shanker downgraded reinsurer Ace (NYSE: ACE) citing potential losses from variable annuities.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 16 points to 432.
