Consumer Confidence Plunges, Markets Open Lower

Consumer confidence in August plunged to its lowest level in more than two years to weigh the markets down to a lower open with the Dow tumbling 73 points to 11,466.  Nasdaq fell 12 points to 2549.

On the upside

DG Fastchannel (Nasdaq: DGIT) paid approximately $66 million in cash to acquire Limelight Networks' (Nasdaq: LLNW) EyeWonder rich media advertising unit.

A Seeking Alpha contributor wrote that Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) was undervalued with strong revenue growth in its consumer inkjet and packaging solutions units.

Ticonderoga upgraded PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM) to a Buy rating.

On the downside

The Food and Drug Administration rejected NuPathe's (Nasdaq: PATH) single-use migraine patch Zelrix.

Investors locked in profits on National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG), whose shares surged yesterday after the merger of two Greek banks sparked speculation of further banking consolidations.

Profit takers weighed down shares of Central European Distribution (Nasdaq: CEDC), whose shares climbed yesterday on news that investor Mark Kaufman acquired a 9.6% stake in the vodka maker.


In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 5 points to 718.