Concerns about European political stability weighed the markets down during the midday with the Dow plummeting 146 points to 12,862. Nasdaq tumbled 32 points to 2925.

On the upside

OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX) reported lower first quarter earnings but the results were better than expected.

Savient Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SVNT) entered agreements with certain creditors to restructure its debt.

First quarter earnings for Generac (NYSE: GNRC) surged to surpass analyst expectations by a wide margin prompting the company to boost its full year revenue outlook.

On the downside

Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX) disappointed with first quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations.

Jaguar Mining (NYSE: JAG) will implement a restructuring plan but will reject a change of control proposal from Shandong Gold Group.

Merge Healthcare (Nasdaq: MRGE) narrowed first quarter losses and created operating groups Merge Healthcare and Merge DNA.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 7 points to 786.