Stocks Falter on Quarter's Last Day

Also, Broadcom(BRCM Quote) raised its offer for technology storage company Emulex(ELX Quote) to $11 a share from $9.25 and said the new bid is the best offer it plans to make. Broadcom shares fell 0.5%, while Emulex gave up 10.1%.

Elsewhere, Abbott Laboratories (ABT Quote) has been ordered by a federal jury to pay $1.67 billion in a patent infringement suit over its rheumatoid arthritis drugs, according to Centocor, a unit of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ Quote). Abbott said in a statement, however, that it plans to appeal the decision. Abbott shares shed 1.6%, while Johnson & Johnson edged down just 0.3%.

Stocks overseas were mixed. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was lower by 1%, while the Dax in Frankfurt fell 1.6%. In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan gained 1.8%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed 0.8% lower.

Longer-dated Treasuries were recently falling in price, rising in yield. The 10-year was losing 11/32 to yield 3.52%, while the 30-year was down 18/32, yielding 4.32%.