Stocks Extend Losses (VLO, CRM, JCP, XOM, SPLS)

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) shares fell 2.77% to $23.88 in the morning hour. Valero Energy and LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB) are interested in buying Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4)’s refinery in Texas, newspaper Valor Economico reported without saying how it obtained the information.

salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares declined 3.48% to $131.05. The company is expected to buy start-up GoInstant for over $70 million, people familiar with the matter said.  The deal is the latest for Salesforce.com, which has been acquiring start-ups that have developed social-media tools and Web-based services.

J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) shares fell 1.04% to $21.90 in the morning hour after the Dallas Morning News reported that physical transformation has started inside J.C. Penney stores, with the company wanting to remake itself into an group of individual shops. The company said that the first 10 shops will be open at all of its large department stores in time for back-to-school shopping.

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) shares declined 2% to $83.10 after the company said that it started production at the Kizomba Satellites Phase 1 oil project in offshore Angola. The project will in time produce 100,000 barrels of oil a day from two large deep-water fields, dubbed Mavacola and Clochas.

Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS) shares fell 1.63% to $13.01 in the morning hour. The company is said to visit the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City's Times Square to declare July 10th as the official first day of the 2012 back-to-school shopping season. In honor of the occasion, Demos Parneros, president of U.S. Stores for Staples, Inc., will preside over the NASDAQ Opening Bell.