Lower Open As GDP Contracts
January 30, 2013 at 01:38 AM EST
The markets opened lower with the Dow losing 24 points to 13,930 as the nation’s economy contracted in the fourth quarter. Nasdaq slipped 3 points to 3150. On the upsideJLL Partners will pay a premium of approximately $123 million in cash to acquire BioClinica (Nasdaq: BIOC).Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) chief executive Aubrey McClendon will retire on April 1 prompting an upgrade.Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: KERX) will make a public offering of $55 million worth of common stock.On the downsideVentrus Biosciences (Nasdaq: VTUS) priced its public offering of 5.8 million common shares at the discounted price of $2.50 per share. Sensata Technologies (NYSE: ST) reported sharply higher fourth quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates but the company forecast current quarter results below expectations.Meritor (NYSE: MTOR) narrowed first quarter losses but the results fell short of analyst expectations and the company trimmed its full year revenue guidance.In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index slipped 2 points to 1504.
