The markets opened lower with the Dow falling 56 points to 17,735 after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet. Nasdaq dropped 26 points to 5,075.
On the upside
Aeterna Zentaris (Nasdaq: AEZS) announced that the final Series B Common Share Purchase Warrants have been exercised.
Citigroup upgraded Avon Products (NYSE: AVP) from a Neutral rating to a Buy rating and lifted its price target from $3.50 to $5.
Pinnacle Foods (NYSE: PF) will acquire Boulder Brands (Nasdaq: BDBD) in a deal valued at approximately $975 million including the assumption of debt.
On the downside
Uni-Pixel (Nasdaq: UNXL) priced its public offering of more than 9.625 million units at the discounted price of $0.85 per unit.
Deutsche Bank downgraded Infoblox (NYSE: BLOX) from a Hold rating to a Sell rating and slashed its price target from $20.00 to $13.00.
Brocade Communications Systems (Nasdaq: BRCD) reported higher fourth quarter earnings and revenue but forecast disappointing current quarter results prompting a downgrade.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 lost 5 points to 2,081. Bitcoin slipped $1 to $321.
