Euro Falls, Markets Open Lower

The falling euro weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow tumbling 84 points to 12,206. Nasdaq dropped 24 points to 2600.

On the upside

Hyperdynamics (NYSE: HDY) resumed drilling offshore the Republic of Guinea at its Sabu-1 exploration well.   

Rodman & Renshaw upgraded Endeavour International (NYSE: END) to an Outperform rating after the oil and gas company acquired Central North Sea oil fields from ConocoPhillips. 

Arctic Cat (Nasdaq: ACAT) will repurchase 6.1 million shares of class B stock from Suzuki Motor.

On the downside

J.P. Morgan lowered its earnings guidance and price target on Molycorp (Nasdaq: MCP). 

Northland Securities cited valuation concerns for downgrading Kodiak Oil & Gas (NYSE: KOG).

The New York Times listed Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) chief executive Mike Lazaridis as one of the worst CEOs of 2011.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 6 points to 744.