Lower Open As China Increases Bank Reserve Requirements
Higher bank reserve requirements in China weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow falling 44 points to 11,136. Nasdaq slipped 9 points to 2504.
On the upside
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval for Mela Sciences' (Nasdaq: MELA) skin cancer detection product MelaFind.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (NYSE: KKR) offered approximately $3.58 billion to purchase Del Monte Foods (NYSE: DLM).
Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) reversed year ago losses to post a better than expected profit for the third quarter as revenue rose.
On the downside
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) announced the retirement of chairman and chief executive Henry L. Meyer III on May 1, 2011 and will be replaced by vice chair and community banking business leader Beth E. Mooney.
Third quarter earnings slipped for Gap (NYSE: GPS).
Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) widened first quarter losses and forecast second quarter results that fell short of analyst expectations.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 4 points to 716.
