Concerns of slowing iPhone sales weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow losing 11 points to 13,476. Nasdaq dropped 16 points to 3108. On the upside
Activist investor Carl Icahn purchased a 1.56% stake in Transocean (NYSE: RIG) and has applied for approval to acquire more shares. Shares of Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) continued climbing as the company prepared to launch its BlackBerry 10 smartphones on January 30. Dendreon (Nasdaq: DNDN) extended its gains on expectations of higher Provenge sales. On the downside The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) slashed its iPhone 5 production for the current quarter by nearly one half. The news also weighed down shares of Apple supplier Cirrus Logic (Nasdaq: CRUS).Strong holiday sales prompted Francesca's Holdings (Nasdaq: FRAN) to lift its fourth quarter outlook but the stock price dropped. J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) extended its losses after an analyst downgrade on Friday. In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 10 to 9 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index lost 4 points to 1467.
