US stocks lost ground overnight – falling for the second trading session in a row, as a surprise drop in existing home sales and tumbling commodity prices gave investors a reason to sell into a rally that pushed the major gauges to one-year highs.
The Dow Jones industrial lost 41 points to 9,707. The S&P500 Index dropped 10 points to 1,051 and the NASDAQ fell 24 points to 2,108.
On the economic news front: A report from the National Association of Realtors found existing home sales fell to 5.1 million units in August from 5.24 million in July.
A report from the Labor Department showed new claims for unemployment fell to 530,000 last week from 551,000 in the week before. While continuing claims fell to 6,138,000 from 6,261,000 in the previous week
In company news: Looking first at IPOs, shares of A123 Systems (NASDAQ:AONE) closed at $20.29 The company, which is one of a small group of electric-car battery makers, raised $380 million in an initial public offering. A123 Systems shares rose as much as 56.6% from their initial pricing, before trimming the gain to just over 50% at the close.
Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) shares fell 12.31% to $1.71 after the drugstore chain reported its ninth consecutive quarterly loss, although the results were not as weak as analysts had expected.
Chelsea Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CHTP) shares tumbled 61.11% to $2.73 after the company’s experimental drug to treat a neurological disorder showed disappointing results in a late-stage trial.
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) shares fell 2.72% to $19.29, after Microsoft responded to market speculation and said that it isn’t seeking to buy the video-game maker.
Checking the NASDAQ Top 100: The best performer overnight was Cintas Corp, adding 6.53%t to $30.20, followed by Citrix Systems and O’Reilly Auto. On the downside, Foster Wheeler was the worst performer, shares fell 6.31% to $32.23. While Paychex and Microchip Technology also closed lower.
