Lower close as factory activity expands at slower pace

Factory activity expanded at the slowest pace in nearly two years to weigh the markets down to a lower close with the Dow falling 77 points to 17,698. Nasdaq dropped 20 points to 4,880.

On the upside

Telemar Participacoes shareholders approved plans to merge with Oi (NYSE: OIBR) and Portugal Telecom.

UBS initiated coverage of Esperion Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ESPR) with a Buy rating and a $140 price target.

Great Basin Scientific (Nasdaq: GBSN) stock extended its gains.

On the downside

Shares of OvaScience (Nasdaq: OVAS) continued falling.

Celladon (Nasdaq: CLDN) stock extended its losses.

Mylan (Nasdaq: MYL) priced its secondary offering of 35 million common shares at the discounted price of $58.35 per share.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 10 to 9 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 lost 8 points to 2059. Bitcoin held steady at $243.