Markets Open Lower on Credit Loss Worries

Bank of America gave investors an excuse to take profits on recent gains. The Dow tumbled 182 points to 7948 while Nasdaq plunged 40 points to 1632.

On the upside

Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA) received a $7.4 billion bid from Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) putting the Java programming language into the hands of the world's largest database company.

Beverage and snack maker PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) offered $6.6 billion to acquire its two largest bottlers, Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG) and PepsiAmericas (NYSE: PAS).

On the downside

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) posted profits that beat expectations as revenues from its recently acquired Lehman Brothers operations contributed to 1st quarter results. However, sizable credit losses marred the report.

The FDA asked for more information about a respiratoratory drug treatment for infants from Discovery Laboratories (Nasdaq: DSCO). The stock promptly fell about $1 a share.

Energy explorer and producer Quicksilver (NYSE: KWK) renewed its $1.2 billion credit facility at higher rates.

Wireless carrier NTELOS Holdings (Nasdaq: NTLS) lowered its outlook for 2009.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 6 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks tumbled 15 points to 463.