Oil prices continued to rise while consumer confidence plunged sending the markets tumbling during the midday with the Dow dropping 90 points to 12,903. Nasdaq fell 21 points to 2512.

On the upside

China Precision Steel (Nasdaq: CPSL) impressed with third quarter earnings that more than doubled as revenue surged.

Finisar (Nasdaq: FNSR) offered approximately $212 million in stock to acquire Optium (Nasdaq: OPTM). Finisar also forecast fourth quarter sales ahead of analyst estimates.

Pharmacopeia (Nasdaq: PCOP) reported that a midstage clinical trial of its blood pressure medication PS433540 demonstrated significant improvement in patients.

On the downside

Exar (Nasdaq: EXAR) blamed a significant goodwill impairment charge for widening fourth quarter losses.

Dynavax Technologies' (Nasdaq: DVAX) ragweed allergy treatment Tolamba failed to improve patient symptoms in a midstage clinical trial prompting the biopharmaceutical to halt development of the drug.

While Giant Interactive Group (NYSE: GA) reported higher first quarter earnings, margin fell and income growth was less than previous quarters.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks tumbled 9 points to 735.