The markets opened mixed with the Dow slipping 12 points to 14,951 while Nasdaq gained 11 points to 3650 after a three hour outage paralyzed Nasdaq yesterday.

On the upside

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) chief executive Steve Ballmer will retire within the next year.

Jefferies Group upgraded Renren (NYSE: RENN) from an Underperform rating to a Hold rating.

Second quarter earnings slipped for Autodesk (Nasdaq: ADSK) but the results beat analyst expectations.

On the downside

Pandora Media (NYSE: P) widened second quarter losses and forecast current quarter earnings below expectations prompting a downgrade.

Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) fell to a greater than expected loss for the second quarter and warned of significant losses for the third quarter.

Marvell Technology Group (Nasdaq: MRVL) reported lower second quarter earnings and revenue.  

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added a point to 1657.