The markets extended its losses during the midday with the Dow skidding 212 points to 12,129 after Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit outlook for the United States to negative. Nasdaq plummeted 51 points to 2713.
On the upside
Chelsea Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CHTP) will file a new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration for its neurogenic orthostatic hypotension treatment Northera in the third quarter.
Shares of Thoratec (Nasdaq: THOR) rose after rival HeartWare International (Nasdaq: HTWR) reported that patients implanted with its mechanical heart assist device experienced a surprisingly high 9.2% risk of developing blood clots.
Fourth quarter earnings for Titan Machinery (Nasdaq: TITN) tripled as revenue surged.
On the downside
Search engine optimization company Sistrix reported a sharp 66% drop in traffic to Demand Media's (NYSE: DMD) eHow after Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) updated its search algorithm.
Gramercy Capital (NYSE: GKK) extended the maturity dates of its $240.5 million mortgage loan and its $549.7 million senior and junior mezzanine loans by two weeks.
Citadel Securities downgraded ViroPharma (Nasdaq: VPHM) to a neutral rating.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 6 to 1 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 18 points to 816.
