Disappointment With ECB Weighs Down Stocks

The markets extended its losses during the midday with the Dow plunging 137 points to 12,059 over disappointment that the ECB will not be purchasing more government bonds. Nasdaq tumbled 33 points to 2615.

On the upside

IBM (NYSE: IBM) will pay a premium of approximately $440 million in cash to acquire DemandTec (Nasdaq: DMAN).   

E-Commerce China Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) will launch its own digital book reader at the end of the month. 

Russian Standard expressed interest in acquiring an additional 19.9% stake in Central European Distribution (Nasdaq: CEDC).

On the downside

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas downgraded Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) to an Underweight rating and slashed his price target on the stock from $44 to $26. 

Analysts lowered their price target for Hartford Financial Services (NYSE: HIG). 

Analysts lowered their earnings estimates and price target on Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR).

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 7 to 1 on the NYSE and by 5 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 18 points to 727.