Private employers added more jobs in December than expected but the markets traded mixed during the midday with the Dow falling 78 points to 16,452 while Nasdaq gained 10 points to 4164.
On the upside
Shares of Plug Power (Nasdaq: PLUG) continued rising after announcing yesterday that it would develop fuel cell range extenders for FedEx (NYSE: FDX).
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries offered a minimum of $150 million to acquire NuPathe (Nasdaq: PATH).
Qihoo 360 Technology (NYSE: QIHU) named former Google Corporate Vice President and Head of Greater China Dr. John Liu to the position of Chief Business Officer.
On the downside
Support.com (Nasdaq: SPRT) expects fourth quarter revenue to fall in the low range of its previous guidance and forecast first quarter results below expectations.
Investors locked in profits on Verso Paper (NYSE: VRS).
Origin Agritech (NYSE: SEED) reported that fiscal 2013 revenue fell 13% from a year earlier.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 eased a point to 1836. Bitcoin tumbled $91.81 or 10.02% to $916.01.
