Debt Crisis Concerns Send Markets Tumbling

July 11, 2011 at 10:47 AM EDT

Continued concerns about the debt crisis in Europe sent the markets tumbling to a sharply lower open with the Dow plummeting 147 points to 12,509. Nasdaq plunged 43 points to 2816.

On the upside

YRC Worldwide (Nasdaq: YRCW) replaced its asset backed securitization facility with a $400 million asset based loan.

Lonza Group will pay a premium of $1.2 billion in cash to acquire Arch Chemicals (NYSE: ARJ).

Marisco Capital acquired a 10.7% stake in Youku.com (NYSE: YOKU).

On the downside

Stillwater Mining (NYSE: SWC) will pay approximately $487.1 million in cash and stock to purchase Peregrine Metals.

Bernstein Research downgraded Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentina (NYSE: BBVA) to a Market Perform rating on Friday.

Approval of News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWSA) acquisition of British Sky Broadcasting may be delayed in the aftermath of the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks tumbled 12 points to 839.