A sharp drop in September job openings weighed down the markets during the midday with the Dow falling 58 points to 11,348. Nasdaq lost 11 points to 2568.
On the upside
Third quarter earnings fell for McDermott (NYSE: MDR) but the results beat analyst estimates by a wide margin.
Merge Healthcare (Nasdaq: MRGE) reported higher third quarter earnings and named Jeffery A. Surges to the position of chief executive officer.
Darling International (NYSE: DAR) will pay approximately $840 million in cash and stock to purchase rival Griffin Industries.
On the downside
Hhgregg (Nasdaq: HGG) disappointed with lower second quarter earnings due to a drop in appliance sales.
EnerNoc (Nasdaq: ENOC) reported higher third quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations but the company lowered its full year outlook.
Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) announced a secondary offering of 13 million common shares by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 4 points to 732.
