The markets traded mixed during the midday as existing homes sales tumbled. The Dow slipped 7 points to 12,264 while Nasdaq gained 15 points to 2332.

On the upside

The Food and Drug Administration approved MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals' (Nasdaq: MBRK) once a day strep throat treatment Moxatag Tablets.

Although F5 Networks (Nasdaq: FFIV) reported lower first quarter earnings, the results beat expectations and the software company forecast second quarter results above estimates prompting upgrades.

Fourth quarter earnings for Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) tumbled due to credit card loan losses but the results surpassed expectations.

On the downside

THQ (Nasdaq: THQI) blamed underperforming titles and product development charges for slashing its third quarter outlook.

Despite revenue that more than tripled, fourth quarter earnings for SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR) plunged as expenses soared.

Sovereign Bancorp (NYSE: SOV) widened fourth quarter losses as the company wrote down $1.58 billion.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 2 points to 691.