The markets retreated in late afternoon trading to close flat with the Dow slipping 4 points to 20,656 after the House of Representatives delayed its vote on a Republican bill to repeal Obamacare. Nasdaq edged down 3 points to 5,817.

On the upside

Rumors swirled that Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) offered to acquire Flexion Therapeutics (Nasdaq: FLXN).

LSC Communications (NYSE: LKSD) priced its secondary offering of approximately 6.24 million common shares at $20.25 per share.

Penn National Gaming (Nasdaq: PENN) lifted its first quarter revenue forecast.

On the downside

Investors locked in profits on Moleculin Biotech (Nasdaq: MBRX).

Heat Biologics (Nasdaq: HTBX) priced its public offering of 5 million common shares at the discounted price of $0.80 per share.

Orion Engineered Carbons (NYSE: OEC) priced its secondary offering of 5 million common shares at the discounted price of $18.75 per share.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index slipped 2 points to 2,345. Bitcoin gained $15 to $1,052.