Swine Flu Fears Sink Stocks

Fears of a global swine flu pandemic sent the markets down to a lower open with the Dow losing 39 points to 8037.  Nasdaq dropped 10 points to 1684.

On the upside

Shares of antiviral makers Novavax (Nasdaq: NVAX) and BioCryst Pharmaceutical (Nasdaq: BCRX) surged as the swine flu continued to spread.

PURE Bioscience (Nasdaq: PURE) announced that its PureGreen24 antimicrobial treatment meets CDC recommendations for treating patients with swine flu.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) will discontinue its Pontiac brand of cars and eliminate 21,000 jobs.

On the downside

B/E Aerospace (Nasdaq: BEAV) blamed the slumping economy for slashing its full year earnings and revenue guidance.

Shares of United Airlines parent UAL (Nasdaq: UAUA) and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL)tumbled over concerns that the swine flu outbreak will drastically curtail travel plans.

Orient-Express Hotels (NYSE: OEH) warned that it will report a first quarter loss of $14.6 million.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 6 to 3 on the NYSE and by 3 to 2 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 5 points to 473.