Rising oil prices weighed down the markets during the midday with the Dow dropping 43 points to 13,190. Nasdaq held steady at 2596.

On the upside

C. R. Bard (NYSE: BCR) signed a licensing deal to make and market Genzyme's (Nasdaq: GENZ) Sepramesh IP hernia repair product line.

Shares of Orion Energy Systems (Nasdaq: OESX) surged in its market debut.

Pacific Ethanol (Nasdaq: PEIX) named Joseph Hansen to replace John Miller as chief financial officer.

On the downside

Force Protection (Nasdaq: FRPT) was downgraded after the company received a smaller than expected contract from the Defense Department.

ADC Telecommunications (Nasdaq: ADCT) will offer $400 million in convertible subordinated notes.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) reported lower second quarter earnings and forecast 2008 results below estimates prompting a downgrade.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly the same on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped a fraction to 754.