Mixed Open On Housing Data

Construction of apartments surged in September but building permits fell.  The markets opened mixed with the Dow rising 42 points to 11,620 while Nasdaq lost 8 points to 2649.

On the upside

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) will become two separate companies with one focused on generic drugs and medical devices while the other company will be dedicated to research based medicines.  

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reversed year ago losses to post a better than expected profit for the third quarter. 

Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL) reported higher fourth quarter earnings that surpassed analyst expectations. 

On the downside

Powerwave Technologies (Nasdaq: PWAV) warned that third quarter revenue will fall far short of analyst expectations.

Alcatel-Lucent's (NYSE: ALU) Genesys unit received an acquisition offer from private equity firm Permira.   

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN) said that flooding in Thailand has damaged manufacturing facilities and will reduce revenue by between $40 to $60 million every quarter over the next year.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a point to 707.