The markets opened mixed with the Dow rising 41 points to 12,139 while Nasdaq slipped 5 points to 2649 after Standard & Poor’s warned yesterday that the credit ratings of 15 European nations may be cut.

On the upside

John Fredriksen’s Hemen Holdings will offer more than $500 million in guarantees to restructure Frontline (NYSE: FRO).  

Leap Wireless (Nasdaq: LEAP) entered into spectrum transaction agreements with Verizon Wireless. 

William Blair & Co. upgraded MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) to an Outperform rating.

On the downside

Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) slashed its full year guidance. 

A Seeking Alpha contributor alleged that China Medical Technologies (Nasdaq: CMED) paid $28.2 million to acquire Beijing Bio-Ekon from a party related to chief executive officer Wu Xiaodong. 

BP (NYSE: BP) claimed in a court filing that Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) destroyed evidence related to the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped a point to 745.