The major market averages continue to hover near their worst levels of the day with the Dow holding losses of close to 1.2%.
Shares of Microsoft (MSFT 24.58, -0.43) and Nokia (NOK 6.68, -0.34) are in focus today after technology blog Boy Genius reported that Microsoft was set to purchase Nokia's phone business for $19 billion. A Nokia spokesman has denied the reports, calling them "100% baseless." Nonetheless both stocks are seeing heavy volume.