Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Giving Up Friday's Gains, Oracle Acquires Acme Packet

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.72 percent to 13,908.18 while the NASDAQ fell 0.48 percent to 3,163.18. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.63 percent to 1,503.25.

Making headlines this morning was Oracle's

acquisition of Acme Packet

for $29.25 per share, or roughly $1.7 billion. Following the news, Acme Packet shares shot up over 22 percent, above the purchase price. Adding to the rally was an earnings beat by Acme Packet this morning, giving traders another reason to get bullish on the stock, but the acquisition price has kept a ceiling on shares.

Sonus Networks

gained an impressive 13.49 percent to $2.59 in early trading as the company got a boost from the Acme Packet acquisition news. Shares of Yingli Green Energy Holding

shot up following the market opening Monday, rising 7.53 percent to $3.28 following an announcement that the company had received its first order in Jordan earlier this morning. BlackBerry

traded up 5.87 percent to $13.79 on its first day of trading since changing its ticker symbol from RIMM. The boost was attributed to the company's commercial debut of BB10 during Super Bowl Sunday.

Herbalife

took a hit in early trading, falling 6.73 percent to $32.71 after the FTC announced a probe into the company's dealings, sending fear throughout the street that Bill Ackman's thesis may indeed be right. Gannett

was also down, falling 5.75 percent to $18.70 after the company released a disappointing earnings release Monday morning. Shares of Nu Skin

was down at the open as well, but regained much of its losses, remaining down 1.60 percent at $41.13 as shares took a hit from the FTC probe of Herbalife.

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.54 percent to $96.26, while gold traded down 0.14 percent to $1,668.40. Silver traded down 0.29 percent Monday to $31.67.

In the Eurozone this morning, markets fell lower, lead downward by Italian shares as regulators began a formal investigation into Banca Monte dei paschi di Siena following its bailout request. The Spanish Ibex was down 0.89 percent while the Italian MIB index was down a painful 1.75 percent.

In economic news for Monday, factory orders came in at 1.80 percent for December, mising the projected 2.30 percent but beating the prior report of 0.00 percent by a long shot.