The markets opened lower with the Dow tumbling 85 points to 14,461 as existing home sales slipped 0.6% in March. Nasdaq lost 3 points to 3202.
On the upside
ABB offered a premium of approximately $1 billion to acquire Power-One (Nasdaq: PWER).
Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) fell to a loss for the first quarter due to expenses related to the Deep Horizon oil spill but the results were better than expected.
ARCA biopharma (Nasdaq: ABIO) will collaborate with Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) to conducta Phase 2b/3 clinical trial of its atrial fibrillation prevention drug Gencaro.
On the downside
Audley Capital once again called on investors to vote for the slate of nominees for the Board of Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT) that is supported by Audley Capital.
AmTrust Financial Services (Nasdaq: AFSI) completed its $60 million acquisition of Sequoia Insurance.
A Seeking Alpha contributor suggested that investors avoid Halcon Resources (NYSE: HK) .
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index fell 6 points to 1548.
