Renewed concerns about the European economy weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow slipping 13 points 12,582. Nasdaq fell 10 points to 2817.
On the upside
Stryker (NYSE: SYK) will pay approximately $304 million in cash to acquire competitor Orthovita (Nasdaq: VITA).
J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) reported higher first quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates prompting the retailer to lift its full year outlook.
J. P. Morgan upgraded American Airlines parent AMR (NYSE: AMR) citing lower fuel costs.
On the downside
Nasdaq OMX Group (Nasdaq: NDAQ) and IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) withdrew their $11 acquisition offer for NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) citing regulatory obstacles to the deal.
Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) blamed bad weather and challenging economic times for lower first quarter earnings that fell short of analyst expectations.
Shares of Rambus (Nasdaq: RMBS) continued falling after a federal appeals court ruled that the company inappropriately destroyed documents related to a patent case.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 9 to 7 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 4 points to 831.
