Markets lower as oil continues to fall

Crude oil prices continued to slide sending the markets down during the midday with the Dow falling 61 points to 17,897. Nasdaq dropped 29 points to 4,751.

On the upside

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SNSS) will present data 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 tomorrow.

Isis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ISIS) reported positive Phase 2 data for its venous thromboembolic event prevention treatment ISIS-FXI.

Acceleron Pharma (Nasdaq: XLRN) presented upbeat preliminary data from a Phase 2 clinical trial of its beta-thalassemia treatment luspatercept.

On the downside

Falling crude oil prices weighed down shares of independent oil and gas companies Breitburn Energy Partners (Nasdaq: BBEP), Legacy Reserves (Nasdaq: LGCY) and Rex Energy (Nasdaq: REXX).

Offshore drilling services providers North Atlantic Drilling (NYSE: NADL) and SeaDrill (NYSE: SDRL) fell as crude oil prices retreated.

Shares of DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS) tumbled. The company's recent revenue growth stemmed partly from drilling contracts.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 lost 9 points to 2065. Bitcoin lost $7 to $365.