Rise In Wholesale Inventories And Job Cuts, Markets Mixed

On the upside

Immunomedics (Nasdaq: IMMU) received a patent for its proprietary autoimmune disease treatment epratuzumab.

Hutchison Telecommunications International's (NYSE: HTX) majority shareholder made an offer to take the company private.

The Puerto Rico Ports Authority awarded OSI Systems (Nasdaq: OSIS) a ten year contract to provide a turn key scanning solution for containerized cargo.

On the downside

Lawson Software (Nasdaq: LWSN) will acquire Healthvision Solutions for approximately $160 million prompting a downgrade from Cowen & Co. analyst Peter Goldmacher. The company also forecast third quarter results below estimates.

December traffic for Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) tumbled 7.5%.

Deutsche Bank downgraded FTI Consulting (NYSE: FCN).

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added a fraction to 642.