The markets opened lower as investors mulled over the latest report on job losses. The Dow lost 79 points to 12,543 while Nasdaq dropped 9 points to 2354.

On the upside

Agriculture-chemical company Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) posted results that handily beat estimates and helped lift its sector.

The possibility of the federal government propping up student loans fueled a rally among education providers like ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ESI) and Corinthian Colleges (Nasdaq: COCO).

Shares of U.S. coal producers like Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) and Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR) continued to climb due to possible merger talks.

On the downside

Bear Stearns downgraded Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) due to anticipated write-downs related mortgages and leveraged subprime debt obligations.

AZZ Inc. (NYSE: AZZ) which manufactures electrical equipment and components for the power industry posted earnings that narrowly beat estimates, but missed its revenue goals.

Riverbed Technology (Nasdaq: RVBD) lowered its outlook due to slowing demand for its distributed computing services.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly 4 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped 3 points to 710.