The markets extended its losses during the midday with the Dow falling 65 points to 11,917 as Italy wrestled with mounting debt. Nasdaq dropped 22 points to 2663.
On the upside
Baird analyst Thomas J. Russo and Canaccord analyst George Farmer both lifted their price targets for Inhibitex (Nasdaq: INHX) citing the sales potential of the company's experimental hepatitis C treatment INX-189.
American Dental Partners (Nasdaq: ADPI) will be taken private by JLL Partners for approximately $317 million in cash.
Coeur d'Alene Mines (NYSE: CDE) reversed year ago losses to post a better than expected profit for the third quarter.
On the downside
Ariad Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARIA) reported upbeat preliminary results from a clinical trial of its chronic myeloid leukemia treatment ponatinib but the study will not be completed until mid-2012.
Shares of MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR) continued falling after the polysilicon company cut its full year outlook.
Quicksilver Resources (NYSE: KWK) reported higher third quarter earnings but the results fell short of expectations.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 13 points to 733.