Rising crude oil prices weighed the markets down to a modestly lower close with the Dow losing 17 points to 12,018. Nasdaq fell 8 points to 2683.
On the upside
Piper Jaffray upgraded E-Commerce China Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) to an Overweight rating.
BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ) shareholder Leonard Green & Partners is exploring the possibility of acquiring the company.
Harvest Natural Resources (NYSE: HNR) will sell its oil and gas assets in the Uinta Basin in Utah for $215 million in cash.
On the downside
BroadSoft (Nasdaq: BSFT) expanded its interoperability program to include mobile device manufacturers and SIP voice and video clients but the stock price dropped.
Carnival (NYSE: CCL) disappointed with lower first quarter earnings and cut its full year outlook to fall below analyst expectations.
Chimera Investment (NYSE: CIM) announced a quarterly dividend of 14 cents per common share payable on April 28, 2011 to shareholders of record March 31, 2011. The dividend is lower than the previous dividend.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 9 to 7 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 4 points 808.
