Higher food and energy prices lifted consumer prices in April to weigh the markets down to a lower open with the Dow slipping 7 points 12,688. Nasdaq lost 3 points to 2859.
On the upside
Goldman Sachs upgraded Dean Foods (NYSE: DF) to a Buy rating.
Second quarter earnings surged for Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) to surpass analyst expectations by a wide margin and the company forecast current quarter results ahead of estimates.
Shares of Vermillion (Nasdaq: VRML) continued climbing after a study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology reported that the company's OVA1 blood test more accurately identified cancerous ovarian masses in women than the currently recommended CA 125 blood test.
On the downside
Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) said that Alipay was sold to Alibaba's chief executive Jack Ma without the knowledge or approval of the board.
First quarter earnings slipped for Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA). Analysts cut their price target on the chipmaker and downgraded the stock citing competition concerns.
El Paso Pipeline Partners (NYSE: EPB) priced its offering of 14 million common units at the discounted price of $34.51 per unit.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 3 points to 844.
