A sharp 1% drop in May producer prices weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow slipping 24 points to 12,549. Nasdaq lost 5 points to 2837.

On the upside

Summer Street Research initiated coverage of Dendreon (Nasdaq: DNDN) with a Buy rating.

Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) announced its first ever quarterly dividend of 8 cents per share to be paid in the third quarter.

Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARNA) continued climbing in anticipation of regulatory approval of its obesity treatment Lorcaserin by June 27.

On the downside

Wunderlich Securities analyst Theordore O’Neill questioned whether A123 Systems’s (Nasdaq: AONE) new extreme weather lithium ion technology would generate enough revenue to keep the battery maker solvent.

Endeavour International (NYSE: END) priced its public offering of 7.5 million common shares at the discounted price of $7.50 per share.

Shares of Regeneron (Nasdaq: REGN) fell after Ophthotech reported upbeat results from a clinical trial of its wet age-related macular degeneration treatment Fovista which will compete with Regeneron’s Eylea.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 2 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 4 points to 756.