Market Continues Negative, Midday Movers: TEAR, GALE, WPX, PPO, YELP, LCC

Stocks continue to trade in negative territory today as worst than expected economic data from Europe and China weights on investors. China cut its 2012 growth target to 7.5% as the country. Chinese Premiere Wen Jiabao said the country hopes to reach this new target by using prudent monetary policies to fight pressure to its growth and high inflation. Investors continue to worry about a Greek default. Last week, Moody’s downgraded Greece to the lowest bond rating.

In the U.S., economic news continues to be positive. The ISM index for February hit 57.3, beating economists’ expectations of 56.1. Positive news closer to home couldn’t overshadow negative news overseas though. Right now the Dow is down 45 points, the Nasdaq is off 28 points and the S&P 500 is down 8 points.

TearLab Corporation (NASDAQ:TEAR) is up 11.93% in midday trading at $1.97. TEAR is up on above average volume with 220 thousand shares traded. TEAR shares are bouncing back today after dipping from $2 to $1.70 over the past two weeks. On the year, TEAR is up about $0.90 from its low of $1.10. The company has a market cap of 40.42 million.

Galena Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:GALE) is up 13.10% today at $1.6399. GALE has traded 3.5 million shares so far today, more than 4 times its average volume. GALE shares are up more than $0.50 a share since last Thursday. The company has a market cap of 69.64 million.

WPX Energy, Inc. (NYSE:WPX) is up 2.66% today at $18.31. WPX has traded 3.1 million shares so far today and trades 3.3 million shares a day on average. WPX Energy recently reported a 200% increase in oil production volumes and higher natural gas production. The company has a market cap of 3.64 billion.

Polypore International Inc. (NYSE:PPO) is tumbling 11.26% today at $35.30. PPO is down on big volume today with 4.6 million shares traded, well above its daily average of 2.1 million shares a day. Polypore is taking a hit today after GM announced it is halting production of the Volt for five weeks. According to Robert Baird, a research firm, it is believed that Polypore supplies separators for the batteries of the Volt. The company has a market cap of 1.64 billion.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) is down 7.47% in midday trading at $22.75. YELP has traded 2.1 million shares today and trades 4.8 million shares a day on average. YELP shares are falling today after jumping 64% in its IPO. The company has a market cap of 380.66 million.

US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE:LCC) is down 7.60% today at $7.05. LCC has traded 10.5 million shares so far today, 2 million shares more than its daily average. US Airways shares slipped today after the company saw sales growth slow in February. The company has a market cap of 1.14 billion.