Jobless claims fell last week but the markets opened mixed with the Dow slipping 4 points to 11,368 over concerns that Congress may not pass the tax cut extensions. Nasdaq rose 4 points to 2613.

On the upside

Cien (Nasdaq: CIEN) widened fourth quarter losses but the communications networking company forecast first quarter revenue ahead of analyst estimates.

Shock jock Howard Stern signed a new five-year contract with Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) that includes distribution to mobile devices.

Third quarter earnings surged for Lululemon Athletica (Nasdaq: LULU) to surpass analyst expectations by a wide margin and forecast fourth quarter results ahead of estimates.

On the downside

American Capital Agency (Nasdaq: AGNC) announced the sale of 8 million common shares to Citi and Deutsche Bank.

Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) announced a tentative deal to pay a discounted price of $27.50 per share for data storage provider Compellent Technologies (NYSE: CML).

SAIC (NYSE: SAI) reported higher third quarter earnings but revenue fell short of expectations and the company lowered its outlook for the full year.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 9 to 7 on the NYSE and by a margin of 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added a point to 765.