New home sales soared to its highest level in nearly eight years but the markets continued to trade in negative territory with the Dow plunging 163 points to 16,116 as durable goods orders dropped. Nasdaq tumbled 46 points to 4,706.
On the upside
A group of lenders hired a law firm to engage in discussions to restructure Peabody Energy's (NYSE: BTU) $6.3 billion debt.
Shares of Vascular Biogenics (Nasdaq: VBLT) continued soaring.
Rising gold prices lifted shares of Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX).
On the downside
Sientra (Nasdaq: SIEN) closed its follow-on public offering of 3 million common shares.
Retreating copper prices weighed down shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX).
Citi analysts cut their price target on Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) from $37 to $30.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 tumbled 16 points to 1,922. Bitcoin rose $4 to $233.
Markets lower even as new home sales soar
September 24, 2015 at 13:55 PM EDT