Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 60 Points; Neurometrix Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.34 percent to 17,661.06 while the NASDAQ dipped 0.49 percent to 5,083.09. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.38 percent to 2,070.43.

On Wednesday, utilities shares slipped by just 0.14 percent. Top gainers in the sector included

,

, and

. In trading on Wednesday, energy shares dipped by 1.39 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included

, down 8 percent, and

, down 10 percent.

Fairchild Semiconductor Intl Inc

confirmed the receipt of a revised unsolicited proposal. On November 18, Fairchild entered into an agreement and plan of merger with a subsidiary of ON Semiconductor Corp

. As part of the initial terms, the company would acquire all outstanding shares of Fairchild for $20 per share in cash. Fairchild acknowledged on Tuesday receipt of a revised, unsolicited proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Fairchild for $21.70 per share in cash.

shares shot up 25 percent to $24.14. Over the past three months, shares of Weight Watchers International have gained more than 200 percent in large part due to media mogul Oprah Winfrey's decision to buy a 10 percent stake in the company. Shares of

got a boost, shooting up 3 percent to $20.69. Fairchild Semiconductor reported in a filing Tuesday, that on December 28, 2015, the company received a revised, unsolicited proposal from Party G Group to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Fairchild for $21.70 per share in cash.

shares were also up, gaining 5 percent to $5.25 after the company reported a deal to extinguish $336 million of '20 exchangeable notes.

shares dropped 13 percent to $2.02 following late Tuesday-night release disclosing $13.8 million ATM private placement of preferred shares and warrants. Shares of

were down 3 percent to $18.41 after

agreed to acquire Pep Boys in an all-cash transaction for $18.50 per share.

was down, falling around 9 percent to $2.86. Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded Vanguard Natural from Overweight to Equal-weight and lowered the price target from $11 to $7.

In commodity news, oil traded down 3.30 percent to $36.62, while gold traded down 0.77 percent to $1,059.80. Silver traded down 0.60 percent Wednesday to $13.85, while copper rose 0.28 percent to $2.14.

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 declined 0.54 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.29 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.12 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 1.08 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.52 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.64 percent.

The pending home sales index slipped 0.9 percent in November, versus economists' expectations for a 0.5 percent growth. U.S. crude inventories climbed by 2.63 million barrels in the week ended December 25, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a drop of 2.46 million barrels.