The markets extended its losses during the midday with the Dow dropping 81 points to 12,072 as September industrial production tumbled in Europe. Nasdaq fell 18 points to 2660.

On the upside

Maxim Group initiated coverage of United Continental (NYSE: UAL) with a Buy rating and set a $28 price target on the stock.  

VeriFone Systems (NYSE: PAY) will pay approximately $818 million to acquire Swedish electronic payments provider Point. 

BFC Financial will acquire Bluegreen (NYSE: BXG) in an all stock deal valued at approximately $143.1 million.

On the downside

Investors locked in profits on Salix Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SLXP), whose stock price climbed last week after posting a third quarter profit and announcing the acquisition of Oceana Therapeutics.

Shares of Alimera Sciences (Nasdaq: ALIM) continued falling after the FDA requested additional drug trials for the company’s diabetic macular edema treatment Iluvien on Friday.   

QEP (NYSE: QEP) forecast 2012 earnings and organic production growth below analyst expectations.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks tumbled 13 points to 731.