The ongoing debt crisis in Europe continued to weigh on investor sentiment sending the markets tumbling to a sharply lower close with the Dow plunging 101 points to 12,721. Nasdaq plummeted 35 points to 2890.
On the upside
German conglomerate Joh. A. Benckiser will take Peet's Coffee & Tea (Nasdaq: PEET) private in a deal valued at approximately $1 billion.
Moody's Investors Service downgraded Nokia's (NYSE: NOK) credit rating from Ba1 to Ba3 but the stock price rose.
Genesee & Wyoming will pay a premium of approximately $1.39 billion in cash to acquire rival RailAmerica (NYSE: RA).
On the downside
Shares of Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) fell after Nikkei reported that Toshiba will slash NAND flash memory production by 30%.
Analysts expect Sprint (NYSE: S) to report a loss for the second quarter on Thursday before market open.
Retreating gold and silver prices weighed down share of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks tumbled 12 points to 778.
European Debt Crisis Weighs Down Markets
July 23, 2012 at 18:57 PM EDT
