The markets traded lower during the midday with the Dow dropping 62 points to 12,034 as crude oil prices spiked. Nasdaq fell 13 points to 2672.

On the upside

Pacific Ethanol (Nasdaq: PEIX) retired in full its $35 million senior convertible notes.

Anonymous sources said that the European Union will most likely approve Western Digital's (NYSE: WDC) acquisition of Hitachi next week.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Incyte's (Nasdaq: INCY) blood cancer treatment Jakafi.

On the downside

A former manager of Chemed (NYSE: CHE) unit Vitas Healthcare accused the company of engaging in Medicare fraud.

Crude oil prices soared over $100 per barrel sending shares of refiners Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO), CVR Energy (NYSE: CVI) and Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) tumbling.

Wells Fargo analyst Sam Dubinsky dropped research coverage of LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) yesterday saying that the company was not a viable investment.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a fraction to 742.