Midday Movers: MRK, PFE & More

Take a look at some of Tuesday's midday movers:

The S&P 500 touched a new five-year high for the sixth straight session. However, the majority of stocks were lower at midday on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 by a roughly 3:1 margin versus gainers.

Merck shares were up on news that the pharmaceutical giant would be allowed to continue its study of the cholesterol drug, Vytorin.

Pfizer was little changed despite an FDA warning that azithromycin (Zithromax or Zmax) can cause abnormal changes in the electrical activity of the heart that could lead to a potentially fatal irregular heart rhythm.

Monster Beverage was the biggest loser on the Nasdaq 100 index. Shares of the beverage company have tumbled about 6.5 percent over the past week.

Life Technologies was among the best performers on the Nasdaq after a report in the WSJ suggested that KKR might put together a private equity team to consider an offer for the company. The WSJ report followed reports by Reuters and others on a similar theme.

Delek US was halted, news pending. Shares of the integrated energy business were lower prior to the trading halt.

Financials traded in the red with Citigroup among the biggest big bank decliners.

EverBank Financial fell on a valuation downgrade from Sterne Agee to "neutral" from "buy."

And gold stocks moved higher along with the price of gold futures. Barrick Gold, Goldcorp and Newmont Mining were among the gainers in the gold mining sector.

—By CNBC's Lori Spechler

Questions? Comments? Email us at [e-mail]