It was a mixed close for the markets as new home sales plunged to a 12-year low. The Dow added 6 points to 13,366 while Nasdaq lost 2 points to 2674.

On the upside

Economic uncertainty prompted investors to turn to metals lifting shares of Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) higher.

In an SEC filing, American Eagle Outfitter (Nasdaq: AEO) chairman Jay Schottenstein reported that he owned a 14.3% stake in DSW (NYSE: DSW).

Morgan Keegan analyst Brian Feed cited Quantum's (NYSE: QTM) recent drop in stock price for recommending the company.

On the downside

Merge Technologies (Nasdaq: MRGE) reported a loss for the second quarter as revenue tumbled.

Although Ashworth (Nasdaq: ASHW) narrowed fourth quarter losses, the company reported lower full year earnings as revenue dropped.

Brean Murray analyst Michael Gaugler upgraded Consolidated Water (Nasdaq: CWCO).

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE while decliners edged out advancers by nearly 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 2 points to 772.