The markets extended its losses during the midday with the Dow plunging 95 points to 13,011 as the threat of Hurricane Isaac sparked a surge in gas prices. Nasdaq tumbled 29 points to 3051.
On the upside
Validus Holdings will pay approximately $600 million in cash and stock to acquire Flagstone (NYSE: FSR).
StemCells (Nasdaq: STEM) will present interim data from a Phase I/II clinical trial in chronic spinal cord injury at the 51st Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Spinal Cord Society on September 3, 2012.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Brian Klein initiated coverage of Geron (Nasdaq: GERN) with a Buy rating.
On the downside
First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) stopped delivering solar panels to the Agua Caliente power plant. Investors locked in profits on Molycorp (NYSE: MCP) whose stock price has soared after an analyst upgraded the rare earth metals company on Tuesday.
Disappointing results from Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN) weighed down shares of rival networking equipment company Finisar (Nasdaq: FNSR).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 8 points to 809.
Markets Extend Losses As Gas Prices Climb
August 30, 2012 at 15:10 PM EDT
