Mid-Afternoon Update: Herbalife Takes a Bigger Beating, Markets Still Red

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.90 percent to 13,191.24 while the NASDAQ fell 1.02 percent to 3,019.21. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.85 percent to 1,431.42.

Making waves in the markets this morning was the announcement that Boehner's “plan B” to avoid the fiscal cliff did not pass in the house last night. This subsequently sent markets down, hitting the financial sector especially hard with Bank of America

and JP Morgan

taking especially large hits in early trading.

Ameristar Casinos

shot up 19.99 percent to $26.48 after Sterne Agee said that MGM and Penn National could counter bid for the casino. Shares of Pinnacle Entertainment

were also up, gaining 21.69 percent to $16.25 after the company issued an $869 million bid to buy Ameristar Casinos. Halozyme Therapeutics

traded up as well, rising 25.45 percent to $6.93 following its deal the Pfizer.

Research in Motion

took a 21.67 percent hit to $11.06, despite posting better than expected earnings after the close Thursday. Herbalife

took a 20.96 percent hit, falling to $26.64 on massive volume as Bill Ackman's Pershing Square continued its assault on the company, underlining its large short position. Shares of Micron Technology

fell 6.77 percent to $6.33 after posting a larger than expected loss on Thursday.

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.55 percent to $88.73, while gold traded up 0.73 percent to $1,657.80. Silver traded up 0.37 percent Friday to $30.05.

European markets fell this morning as they followed Asian markets down. Leading the fall were the German DAX which fell 0.9 percent and U.K. shares which fell 0.94 percent. In economic releases, the UK released a few economic points including service sector growth and GDP growth, both were lower than expected, while the November budget deficit was reported higher than the prior year.

In economic news Friday morning, durable goods orders came in at 0.7 percent, above the anticipated 0.3 percent and the revised prior release of 0.5 percent. Personal spending came in at 0.4 percent, equal to estimates and above the previous release of -0.2 percent, while personal income came in at 0.6 percent, double the anticipated 0.3 percent and above the flat prior release of 0.00 percent.