Hologic, which guided third-quarter earnings and revenue below consensus, slumped 9.9 percent.
Humana Inc. (NYSE:
HUM) lost 8.2 percent after the health insurer's quarterly earnings trailed Wall Street projections, hit by higher medical benefit costs. First-quarter EPS of $1.49 missed market expectations of $1.53. For 2012, HUM lifted its EPS forecast in the range of $7.55 to $7.75 from $7.50 to $7.70 projected earlier, yet below consensus estimate of $7.99.
NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) dropped 4.88 percent after a 44 percent drop in quarterly earnings, hit by slowdown in trading business even as it had to abandon merger with Deutsche Boerse.
VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE:PAY) tumbled 12.4 percent. Deutsche Bank downgraded its rating on shares of VeriFone to "Sell" from "Hold" and lowered its target price to $40 from $44.
Global Markets:
The European markets closed in red weighed by renewed concerns over Spain's finances, with Germany's DAX losing 0.59 percent to finish at 6,761.19. France's CAC40 fell 1.64 percent to close at 3,212.80. Britain's FTSE 100 declined 0.68 percent to end at 5,737.78.
Among the Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.70 percent to close at 21,094.21. India's BSE Sensex finished at 17,318.81, up 0.76 percent. The markets in China and Japan were closed for public holidays.
Commodity & Currency Scan:
Crude oil futures dipped 0.11 percent to $104.81 per barrel, while natural gas futures rose 4.89 percent to $2.293 per million metric British thermal units. Gold futures edged 0.03 percent higher to $1,665.3 per ounce, while silver retreated 1.21 percent higher to $31.03 per ounce.
In the currency market, the euro dropped 0.12 percent against the U.S. dollar to $1.3238. The British pound fell 0.22 percent against the greenback to 1.6231, and the dollar retreated 0.54 percent against the Japanese yen to 79.8400.