Pending Home Sales Fall, Markets Open Mixed

January 28, 2013 at 09:41 AM EST

The markets opened mixed with the Dow slipping 17 points to 13,878 as pending home sales fell in December. Nasdaq rose 4 points to 3154.
On the upside
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: KERX) reported positive results from a Phase 3 study of Zerenex in dialysis patients.
Hess (NYSE: HES) will sell its terminal network and exit its refining business.
Dole (NYSE: DOLE) agreed to support a water filtration project in Guatemala to settle a lawsuit.
On the downside
Jos. A. Bank Clothiers (Nasdaq: JOSB) warned that fiscal 2012 earnings would be lower than last year prompting a downgrade. Repros Therapeutics (Nasdaq: RPRX) delayed the results date for its secondary hypogonaadism treatment Androxal until the third quarter.
Content partners for Research in Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) Blackberry 10 storefront include Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures and Warner Music Group but the stock price fell.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index lost 3 points to 1499.