Mixed markets over Japanese recession

The markets traded mixed during the midday with the Dow rising 24 points to 17,646 despite a pledge by the Group of Twenty to increase global output as Japan slipped into a recession. Nasdaq lost 12 points to 4,675.

On the upside

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SNSS) will present results from a Phase 3 VALOR trial of vosaroxin and cytarabine in patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia at the 56th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting on December 6-9, 2014.

Viggle (Nasdaq: VGGL) chief financial officer John Small will present at the Midwest Investment Conference on November 18, 2014.

Merck's (NYSE: MRK) announcement that its cholesterol lowering drug Vytorin was effective lifted shares of Esperion Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ESPR).

On the downside

Sky-mobi (Nasdaq: MOBI) swung to a profit for the third quarter but chief financial officer John Bi announced his resignation effective immediately.

Shares of Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) fell after delaying the release of its third quarter results last week.

Profit taking weighed down shares of Ascena Retail Group (Nasdaq: ASNA).

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added a point to 2040. Bitcoin slipped $3 to $383.