Slow retail sales weighed down the markets during the midday with the Dow falling 11 points to 13,296. Nasdaq dropped 9 points to 2665.

On the upside

Improved margins lifted third quarter earnings for Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) to beat expectations prompting the company to boost its full year outlook.

Third quarter earnings for MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) nearly doubled due to the addition of 114,000 subscribers.

Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP) signed two agreements for silicon wafer supplies.

On the downside

Daktronics (Nasdaq: DAKT) blamed a supply chain problem for missing second quarter expectations and warned that third quarter results will fall short of estimates.

Fourth quarter earnings for MedCath (Nasdaq: MDTH) plunged after the company changed an accounting method and sold some of its interest in one hospital. The hospital operator also warned that fiscal 2008 revenue will drop.

Bois d'Arc Energy (NYSE: BDE) decided not to sell the company and instead will repurchase up to $100 million of common stock.

In the broad market, advancing issues barely edged out decliners by a slim margin on the NYSE while decliners outpaced advancers by more than 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 4 points to 785.