Disappointing Retail Sales Weigh Down Markets
A disappointingly small gain in January retail sales weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow falling 54 points to 12,213. Nasdaq dropped 13 points to 2803.
On the upside
Limelight Networks (Nasdaq: LLNW) narrowed fourth quarter losses more than expected as revenue soared and the company forecast current quarter revenue ahead of estimates.
ESL Partners, the hedge fund of Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD) chairman Edward Lampert, increased its stake in Gap (NYSE: GPS) to 5.8%.
Goldman Sachs upgraded U. S. Steel (NYSE: X) to a Buy rating.
On the downside
Sirius XM (Nasdaq: SIRI) blamed higher operating service expenses for swinging to a loss for the fourth quarter.
Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY) priced its public offering of 75 million common shares at $17.30 per share.New York Stock Exchange parent NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) will merge with Frankfurt Stock Exchange parent Deutsche Boerse in a $10 billion all stock transaction.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 3 points to 822.
