Lower close as oil continued falling

The markets closed lower with the Dow tumbling 96 points to 17,737 as crude oil prices continued falling. Nasdaq dropped 39 points to 4,664.

On the upside

Arotech (Nasdaq: ARTX) received approximately $17 million in new orders from various clients.

Hutchinson Technology (Nasdaq: HTCH) will participate in the 17th Annual Needham Growth Conference tomorrow, January 13, in New York.

Shire (Nasdaq: SHPG) will pay a premium of approximately $5.2 billion to purchase NPS Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: NPSP).

On the downside

Reuters reported that Chinese rebar and iron ore futures slowed which weighed down shares of AK Steel Holding (NYSE: AKS).

Crude oil prices dropped below $46 per barrel sending shares of Oasis Petroleum (NYSE: OAS) and Whiting Petroleum (NYSE: WLL) lower.

Shares of Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) fell after rival SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) cut its fourth quarter revenue guidance.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 3 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 fell 17 points to 2028. Bitcoin added $1 to $268.