Lower Open Ahead Of Earnings
July 09, 2012 at 02:52 AM EDT
The markets opened lower with the Dow falling 45 points to 12,727 as corporations begin reporting earnings after market close. Nasdaq lost 8 points to 2928.On the upsideWellPoint (NYSE: WLP) will pay approximately $4.46 billion in cash to acquire Amerigroup (NYSE: AGP).Roth Capital upgraded Nanosphere (Nasdaq: NSPH) to a Buy rating.Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) will pay a premium of approximately $625 million in cash to acquire FX Alliance (NYSE: FX).On the downsideProfit taking sank shares of Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX).The Western Association of Schools and Colleges denied accreditation for Bridgepoint Education’s (NYSE: BPI) Ashford University.FBR Capital Markets downgraded SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) to Market Perform from Outperform.In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 2 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 5 points to 801.
