The markets recovered earlier losses to trade mixed during the midday with the Dow losing 29 points to 13,250 while Nasdaq added 2 points to 3052. Unemployment in 17 European countries rose but the number of job seekers in Germany fell.
On the upside
Arena Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARNA) narrowed first quarter losses and announced that the Food and Drug Administration will hold an advisory committee meeting on May 10 to discuss the New Drug Application for the biopharmaceutical's obesity treatment Lorcaserin.
EasyLink Services International (Nasdaq: ESIC) agreed to be acquired by OpenText (Nasdaq: OTEX) for a premium of $7.25 per share in cash.
First quarter earnings rose for TripAdvisor (Nasdaq: TRIP) to top analyst estimates.
On the downside
Ubiquiti Networks (Nasdaq: UBNT) reported sharply higher third quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates but the company's current quarter outlook disappointed. Separately, TianYa.cn reported that company chief executive Robert Pera was under investigation for using the Chinese mafia to intimidate competitors in China.
Silicon Image (Nasdaq: SIMG) widened first quarter losses even as revenue climbed and announced $50 million stock repurchase plan.
Bankrate (NYSE: RATE) reported first quarter earnings that doubled but the results fell short of analyst expectations.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by more than 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks edged up a fraction to 816.
