Opening Bell Report
The markets opened lower as investors grappled with falling home prices while the auto industry continued to struggle. The Dow lost 94 points to 11,538 while Nasdaq fell 15 points to 2309.
On the upside
Medical products maker Vital Signs (Nasdaq: VITL) was snapped up by General Electric's GE Healthcare unit (NYSE: GE) for $860 million in cash.
Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) set modest earnings outlook for the rest of the year, but investors celebrated the end of a lawsuit between Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and the world's largest maker of chips that run cell phones.
Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) showed surprising resilience amid a weak U.S. economy as revenues and earnings leaped and beat expectations. The CEO of the online retailer explained that consumers opted to order online rather than drive due to high gasoline prices.
Ford (NYSE: F) posted a hefty $8.7 billion loss for the latest quarter as the struggling automaker retooled its factories to produce smaller, fuel-efficient cars.
Casual dining chain Cheesecake Factory (Nasdaq: CAKE) reported lower profits due to higher costs and a decline in same-store sales.
On the upside
Medical products maker Vital Signs (Nasdaq: VITL) was snapped up by General Electric's GE Healthcare unit (NYSE: GE) for $860 million in cash.
Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) set modest earnings outlook for the rest of the year, but investors celebrated the end of a lawsuit between Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and the world's largest maker of chips that run cell phones.
Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) showed surprising resilience amid a weak U.S. economy as revenues and earnings leaped and beat expectations. The CEO of the online retailer explained that consumers opted to order online rather than drive due to high gasoline prices.
On the downside
Investors worried that government support for Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) may not prevent the need to raise capital diluting existing shareholders.Ford (NYSE: F) posted a hefty $8.7 billion loss for the latest quarter as the struggling automaker retooled its factories to produce smaller, fuel-efficient cars.
Casual dining chain Cheesecake Factory (Nasdaq: CAKE) reported lower profits due to higher costs and a decline in same-store sales.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a
margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by 5 to 4 on Nasdaq. The
Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 4 points to 715.
