Rising Mortgage Rates Weigh Down Markets To Lower Open
Rising mortgage rates weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow losing 11 points to 10,561. Nasdaq slipped 6 points to 2294.
On the upside
Cellu Tissue Holdings (NYSE: CLU) agreed to be acquired by Clearwater Paper in a deal valued at approximately $502 million.
Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) reversed year ago losses to post a second quarter profit that topped analyst estimates as revenue rose.
GameStop (NYSE: GME) will repurchase up to $300 million worth of common stock.
On the downside
First quarter earnings for FedEx (NYSE: FDX) more than doubled but the results fell short of estimates and the package delivery company trimmed its second quarter outlook.
Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) blamed lower than expected natural gas prices for cutting its earnings guidance for 2010, 2011 and 2012.
NPS Pharmaceutical (Nasdaq: NPSP) priced its offering of 6.88 million common shares at $6.00 per share.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped 2 points to 649.
