Closing Bell Report

Disappointing retail sales weighed down investor sentiment to send the markets tumbling to a sharply lower close with the Dow plunging 345 points to 11,188.  Nasdaq skidded 75 points to 2259.

On the upside

Shares of Medivation (Nasdaq: MDVN) continued to soar after announcing a partnership with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) to develop and market the Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease treatment Dimebon.

Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors (NYSE: GBE) purchased a 312 unit multifamily community called The Retreat in Peachtree City, Georgia.

Range Resources (NYSE: RRC) announced that Macellus Shale project is ahead of schedule and the oil and natural gas company expects production at the site by the end of the year.

On the downside

Trading was halted on Spectranetics (Nasdaq: SPNC) after the stock collapsed.  Investors are awaiting news from the medical device maker.

Although TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) introduced its latest HD XL Digital Video Recorder with more recording capacity, MicroSoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) slashed the price of its gaming and entertainment console Xbox 360, which can stream movies from Netflix.

Bloomberg reported that Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) may spin off $32 billion worth of its commercial real estate and mortgage assets as a new company.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks skidded 23 points to 719.