Despite a drop in jobless claims, the markets opened sharply lower with the Dow plunging 121 points to 17,596 as Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes in Yemen. Nasdaq plummeted 49 points to 4,827.
On the upside
Conatus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CNAT) reported upbeat results from a Phase 2 clinical trial of emricasan in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
Five Below (Nasdaq: FIVE) reported higher fourth quarter earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectations.
Fourth quarter earnings and revenue rose for Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) to surpass analyst expectations.
On the downside
SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) blamed disappointing sales for lowering its first quarter revenue guidance.
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SCMP) priced its public offering of 4 million common shares at the discounted price of $14 per share.
Novavax (Nasdaq: NVAX) priced its public offering of more than 24.13 million common shares at the discounted price of $7.25 per share.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 9 to 7 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 lost 13 points to 2047. Bitcoin rose $6 to $251.
Markets plunge as airstrikes launched in Yemen
March 26, 2015 at 10:43 AM EDT
