The markets recovered earlier losses but closed lower with the Dow slipping 28 points to 12,542 as Israeli airstrikes in Gaza continued. Nasdaq lost 9 points to 2836. On the upside
ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) priced its follow on public offering of 14 million common shares at the discounted price of $28.00 per share and announced an extended lock-up period of 90 days on shares that are still held by the selling stockholders. BFC Financial will pay a premium of approximately $150 million in cash to acquire Bluegreen (NYSE: BXG). Helmerich & Payne (NYSE: HP) reported higher fourth quarter earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectations.On the downside DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS) fell to a loss for the third quarter as shipping rates dropped. Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB) will not be selling itself. The Children's Place (Nasdaq: PLCE) reported higher third quarter earnings but the retailer disappointing current quarter results and cut its full year guidance. In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 3 points to 769.