Sharp Drop In Regional Manufacturing Weighs Down Markets

A sharp plunge in the Empire State Manufacturing index sent the markets tumbling to a lower open with the Dow plummeting 120 points to 10,246. Nasdaq dropped 30 points to 2219.

On the upside

Carlyle Group will pay approximately $3.8 billion in cash to acquire NBTY (NYSE: NTY).

Verenium (Nasdaq: VRNM) will sell its cellulosic biofuels business to BP (NYSE: BP) for approximately $98.3 million.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) will release second quarter earnings next Thursday, July 22, 2010.

On the downside

Range Resources (NYSE: RRC) increased production of natural gas in the second quarter but prices fell.

Piper Jaffray analyst Ahmar Zaman downgraded Veeco Instruments (Nasdaq: VECO) and slashed the price target to $44 from $69.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) reported sharply higher second quarter earnings that surpassed expectations, but analysts warned of a challenging economic environment.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped a point to 638.