Opening Bell Report

The markets opened lower as investors worried about the financial meltdown with Washington Mutual became the largest bank failure in U.S. history.  The Dow dropped 56 points to 10,965 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 30 points to 2156.

On the upside

Indevus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IDEV) announced plans to resubmit its testosterone boosting treatment to the FDA.

Synnex Corp. (NYSE: SNX) posted higher revenues and earnings as a business services provider.

Gold prices rose as investors reshuffled their portfolios.  Shares of Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) and Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY) edged higher.

On the downside

Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) was seized by regulators and its deposits were sold to JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) for $1.9 billion.

Shares of Wachovia (NYSE: WB) fell sharply as investors worried about more fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) posted strong results, but investors worried about the company's tempered guidance.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 9 points to 696.