Despite Drop In Jobless Claims, Markets Close Lower

On the upside 

Origin Agritech (Nasdaq: SEED) acquired exclusive worldwide rights to weedkiller resistant new seed.

Orient-Express Hotels (NYSE: OEH) announced that it promoted vice president of operations Filip Boyen to the newly created position of chief operating officer.

Jefferies & Co. analyst Randal Konik said that revenue at Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) will stabilize.

On the downside

Conexant Systems (Nasdaq: CNXT) was named to the 2009 InformationWeek 500 list of the nation's most innovative users of business technology.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: BCRX) warned that it may not see a profit from sales of its flu treatment peramivir.

Headwaters (NYSE: HW) announced a direct offering of 9.6 million common shares to raise capital to pay down debt.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 4 on the NYSE while decliners were on par with advancers on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a point to 615.