The markets opened lower with the Dow dropping 59 points to 12,870 as the nation’s wholesale stockpiles rose 0.9% in February. Nasdaq lost 7 points to 3040.

On the upside

Supervalu (Nasdaq: SVU) fell to a loss for the fourth quarter due to an impairment charge but the results were better than expected.

Danaher (NYSE: DHR) will pay a premium of approximately $467.8 million to acquire X-Rite (Nasdaq: XRIT).

Renren (NYSE: RENN) partnered with SnapDish to offer food photo sharing.

On the downside

The Food and Drug Administration approved a generic version of ViroPharma’s (Nasdaq: VPHM) antibiotic Vancocin.

Shares of Optimer Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: OPTR) continued falling after firing chairman Michael Chang, chief financial officer John Prunty and vice president Youe-Kong Shue.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) blamed tax expenses for more than doubling its expected losses for the year.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 7 points to 795.