Pending Home Sales Drop, Markets Open Lower

On the upside

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: KERX) reached a Special Protocol Assessment agreement with the Food and Drug Administration regarding the design of a Phase 3 trial for its end-stage renal disease treatment Zerenex.

On Track Innovations (Nasdaq: OTIV) landed contracts for a national eID program valued at over $30 million.

Goldman Sachs upgraded Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) and placed the company on its conviction buy list citing the hospital operator's valuation.

On the downside

Brightpoint (Nasdaq: CELL) disappointed with a fourth quarter guidance below expectations.

Barclays cited lower mortgage volumes for downgrading Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF).

Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) increased the cash component of its acqusition offer for Cadbury (NYSE: CBY) but Cadbury's largest shareholder billionaire William Buffet said he vote no on the offer.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped 3 points to 636.