A sharp plunge in June home construction weighed down the markets to a lower open with the Dow tumbling 83 points to 10,071. Nasdaq dropped 25 points to 2173.
On the upside
Second quarter earnings surged for Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) despite a drop in revenue as the company continues restructuring.
The Food and Drug Administration accepted MannKind's (Nasdaq: MNKD) resubmission for its inhaled insulin Afrezza.
Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT) swung to a second quarter loss due to acquisition related expenses but the results topped analyst estimates.
On the downside
Zion Bancorporation (Nasdaq: ZION) widened second quarter losses more than expected.
Atheros Communications (Nasdaq: ATHR) swung to a better than expected profit for the second quarter but weakness in its PC unit weighed down shares of the semiconductor system solutions company.
Although second quarter earnings rose for Tupperware Brands (NYSE: TUP), the results fell short of expectations and the company warned that third quarter results will miss estimates.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 7 points to 605.
