The nation's trade deficit widened more than expected to weigh the markets down to a lower open with the Dow losing 23 points to 13,447. Nasdaq slipped 7 points to 3114. On the upside
Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Dendreon (Nasdaq: DNDN) to an Outperform rating. Infosys (NYSE: INFY) reported lower third quarter earnings but the results beat expectations. Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) reported flat domestic holiday sales, reversing a pattern of declining sales over the past three quarters. On the downside ArQule (Nasdaq: ARQL) reported that its colorectal cancer treatment tivantinib failed a midstage clinical trial.KBR (NYSE: KBR) blamed charges for slashinbg its 2012 earnings guidance. UBS downgraded J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) to a Sell rating. In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by 5 to 4 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index slipped 3 points to 1468.