North Korea's artillery attack against South Korea sent the markets tumbling during the midday with the Dow plunging 154 points to 11,024. Nasdaq plummeted 39 points to 2492.
On the upside
China TechFaith Wireless (Nasdaq: CNTF) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the third quarter as revenue rose and margins improved.
Private equity firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners will acquire J. Crew (NYSE: JCG) in a deal valued at approximately $3 billion.
Robert W. Baird upgraded MedAssets (Nasdaq: MDAS) to an Outperform rating.
On the downside
La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB) disappointed with lower second quarter earnings and revenue that fell short of estimates.
Cninsure (Nasdaq: CISG) reported higher third quarter earnings as revenue climbed but short sellers weighed down the stock.
Focus Media Holding (NYSE: FMCN) reversed year ago losses to post a better than expected profit for the third quarter but the stock price fell as investors locked in profits.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 7 points to 719.
