European Concerns Sink Stocks

Concerns that European leaders will fail to reach an agreement to manage the debt crisis sent the markets down to a lower open with the Dow falling 83 points to 12,066. Nasdaq dropped 36 points to 2612.

On the upside

Talbots (NYSE: TLB) received an unsolicited acquisition offer from Sycamore Partners for a premium of $3 per share.  

J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) will acquire a 16.6% stake in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) for approximately $38.5 million. 

Berkshire Hathaway's MidAmerican Energy will acquire First Solar's (Nasdaq: FSLR) Topaz Solar Farm in California.

On the downside

Analysts lowered their earnings estimate for Sprint (NYSE: S). 

ING Group (NYSE: ING) warned of a $1.48 billion loss from its U. S. annuity business. 

Jaguar Mining (NYSE: JAG) announced the immediate departure of chief executive Daniel Titcomb.

In the broad market, declining outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks tumbled 11 points to 735.