Existing Home Sales Plunge, Markets Open Lower

A sharp drop in existing home sales to a 15-year low sent the markets tumbling to a lower open with the Dow plummeting 121 points to 10,053. Nasdaq plunged 32 points to 2126.

On the upside

PricewaterhouseCoopers will pay approximately $378 million in cash to acquire Diamond Managment & Technology Consultants (Nasdaq: DTPI).

Bloomberg reported that Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) will raise its offer for 3Par (NYSE: PAR).

Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL) issued a 37-page paper saying that the for-profit educator costs less than public schools.

On the downside

First quarter earnings for Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) surged but revenue fell and the company lowered its full year outlook.

Inclement weather in Columbia hurt coffee crops and sent coffee prices soaring. Shares of Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) fell.

Concerns that base metal prices may fall weighed down shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX).

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 9 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 6 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plunged 12 points to 590.