Disappointing earnings and forecasts sent the markets tumbling during the midday with the Dow plunging 148 points to 12,111. Nasdaq fell 27 points to 2231.

On the upside

Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HOT) will open their Luxury Collection Resort in the United Arab Emirates in 2011.

Excelon (NYSE: EXC) will repurchase $500 million shares of common stock from Bank of America.

Steven Burd, the chief executive of Safeway (NYSE: SWY), expressed confidence in the company's 2008 earnings guidance.

On the downside

The U. S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected some of Tessera Technologies' (Nasdaq: TSRA) claims.

Cell Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CTIC) will issue approximately $51.7 million worth of senior convertible notes.

Jackson Hewitt (NYSE: JTX) disappointed with lower third quarter earnings as fewer people filed early tax returns.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plunged 12 points to 673.