Opening Bell Report

The markets opened lower despite retreating oil prices and easing consumer prices as investors struggled to deal with turmoil in the financial services industry. The Dow dropped 76 points to 10,841 while Nasdaq plummeted 27 points to 2153.

On the upside

Although Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) announced that it will take a third quarter charge due to investments in senior unsecured notes and preferred securities issued by bankrupt Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH), analysts said that the company's exposure is less than other financial institutions.

Citi Investment Research analyst Joshua Shanker upgraded Chubb (NYSE: CB) saying that the property and casualty insurer will gain market share in the wake of American International Group's  (NYSE: AIG) troubles.

Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) reported upbeat trial results for its experimental osteoporosis treatment denosumab.

On the downside

Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) warned that global demand for information technology products will continue to weaken in the current quarter.

Shares of American International Group (NYSE: AIG) continued to plunge after S&P, Moody's and Fitch all cut their ratings on the world's largest insurer.

Third quarter earnings for Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) plummeted 70% as the company reported over $800 million in losses from defaults on real estate assets.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plunged 9 points to 681.