On the upside

Shares of Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance (Nasdaq: ULTA) surged in its market debut.

Third quarter earnings for Sybase (NYSE: SY) soared on strong sales from its messaging unit.

Black & Decker (NYSE: BDK) blamed a weak market along with higher commodity prices for third quarter earnings that slipped but managed to surpass expectations.

On the downside

Although third quarter earnings for Vasco Data Secutiry (Nasdaq: VDSI) rose, the results fell short of expectations.

FormFactor (Nasdaq: FORM) delayed release of its third quarter results until the completion of an inventory review.

While Cummins (NYSE: CMI) reported higher third quarter earnings, the results missed expectations.

In the broad market, declining issues barely edged out advancers by a slim margin on the NYSE while deliners outpaced advancers by 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 5 points to 806.