Opening Bell Report

The markets opened lower as investors worried about job losses and the highest rate of unemployment in five years.  The Dow lost nearly 100 points to 11,090 while Nasdaq dropped 18 points to 2240.

On the upside

SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) is in talks with South Korea's Samsung and is considering an alliance or a buyout.

Altria Group (NYSE: MO) may make a $10 billion offer to buy UST (NYSE: UST) which makes Copenhagen and Skoal tobacco products, according to a New York Times report.

Shares of Spectranetics (Nasdaq: SPNC) edged higher after the stock collapsed yesterday.   Investors and analysts remained uncertain as to why the company had received a search warrant from both the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

On the downside

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) lowered its market share outlook for the 3rd quarter, but reiterated its full-year targets.

Shares of Cascade (NYSE: CAE) skidded after the maker of forklift attachments, hydraulic cylinders and other loading gear reported lower revenues and earnings.

Shares of Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) continued to fall as investors worried about lower wholesale gas prices squeezing profit margins.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 5 points to 712.