Markets Retreat As Investors Await Fed Meeting Results
July 30, 2012 at 06:07 AM EDT
The markets retreated into negative territory with the Dow slipping 6 points to 13,069 as investors await the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting later this week. Nasdaq lost 13 points to 2944.On the upsideA Seeking Alpha contributor wrote that ATP Oil and Gas (Nasdaq: ATPG) may not file for bankruptcy protection.Sarepta Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SRPT) regained compliance for Nasdaq listing by maintaining a $1 minimum closing bid price for ten consecutive business days.Roper Industries (NYSE: ROP) reported higher second quarter earnings and announced the acquisition of Sunquest Information Systems for approximately $1.4 billion in cash.On the downsideCredit Suisse analyst Michael Exstein said that J.C. Penney’s (NYSE: JCP) efforts to revitalize its brand with the new branded shops within a department store concept will be challenging.Second quarter earnings for Lufkin (Nasdaq: LUFK) fell short of analyst expectations and the oilfield services provider forecast earnings and revenue that missed analyst estimates.Needham downgraded Progenics Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: PGNX) after the Food and Drug Administration requested additional clinical data for its opioid-induced constipation treatment Relistor.In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 10 to 9 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 4 points to 791.
