A drop in September sales of previously owned homes weighed the markets down with the Dow falling 55 points to 11,449. Nasdaq tumbled 30 points to 2574.
On the upside
Third quarter earnings climbed for Riverbed Technology (Nasdaq: RVBD) to top analyst estimates as revenue rose.
Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX) widened third quarter losses but the results were better than expected.
Select Comfort (Nasdaq: SCSS) reported sharply higher third quarter earnings as sales climbed prompting the mattress maker to lift its full year guidance.
On the downside
Second quarter earnings tumbled for Cirrus (Nasdaq: CRUS) to fall short of expectations and the company forecast third quarter results below estimates.
Quicksilver Resources (NYSE: KWK) will spin off part of its Barnett shale assets.
Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE: IR) blamed a significant impairment charge for sharply lower third quarter earnings and trimmed its full year guidance.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 8 points to 685.