Durable goods orders unexpectedly fell last month to send the markets tumbling to a sharply lower open with the Dow plummeting 278 points to 17,400. Nasdaq plunged 78 points to 4,692.

On the upside

Lattice Semiconductor (Nasdaq: LSCC) will pay a premium of approximately $600 million in cash to acquire Silicon Image (Nasdaq: SIMG).

AK Steel Holding (NYSE: AKS) reported lower fourth quarter earnings but the results were better than expected.

The Wall Street Journal reported that CommScope Holding (Nasdaq: COMM) was finalizing a deal to buy the network equipment unit of TE Connectivity for approximately $3 billion.

On the downside

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) reported lower second quarter earnings prompting downgrades.

Fourth quarter earnings fell for Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) to miss analyst expectations and the company forecast 2015 results below estimates.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) fell to a greater than expected loss for the fourth quarter.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 plunged 24 points to 2032. Bitcoin lost $6 to $258.