December factory orders rose less than expected to weigh the markets down to a sharply lower open with the Dow plunging 102 points to 13,906. Nasdaq dropped 15 points to 3163.
On the upside
Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) will pay a premium of approximately $1.7 billion in cash to acquire Acme Packet (Nasdaq: APKT) .
Bernstein Research upgraded BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) to an Outperform rating.
Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) announced that it supplied its first Jordanian client, Kawkabuna for Energy Solutions, with 65 kilowatts of PV modules.
On the downside
The New York Post reported that Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) was under investigation by a law enforcement agency and that the Federal Trade Commission has received numerous complaints against the company.
Shares of Celsion (Nasdaq: CLSN) continued falling after reporting disappointing study results last week for its ThermoDox to treat liver cancer patients.
Gannett (NYSE: GCI) reported lower fourth quarter earnings even as revenue rose.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index fell 9 points to 1503.
