Benzinga Mid-Day Market Update

Midway through the day Thursday, the Dow was up about 20 points, while the Nasdaq was up 9 points and the S&P was up 2 points. The market is moving up on anticipation that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will implement a new round of quantitative easing, QE3, at his scheduled announcement 12:30 this afternoon. FirstMerit

announced its acquisition of Citizens Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ; CRBC) for $912M in stock. CRBC rose 1.61 percent in early trading, while shares of FirstMerit fell 10.49 percent. Pall Corp

rallied 7.93 percent to $62.79 Thursday morning, following Wednesday's earnings beat and positive fiscal year finish. Whiting Petroleum

was also on the rise, as it traded up 3.10 percent around $50.90. dealReporter said the company will put itself up for sale. Monster Beverage

traded up 3.31 percent, around $52.46, regaining some of its previously lost value. In tech news, Facebook's

rally faltered as share prices fell 0.67 percent, trading around $20.79. Shares of Equinix

continued their rally as the stock rose 8.44 percent to $202.29 in late morning trading, following news that its board approved the company's REIT conversion plan. O'Reilly Automotive

took a tumble Thursday as share prices fell 4.01 percent to $82.21. NRG Energy

also fell, trading down 3.85% around $21.48. Northrop Grumman

was down 2.99 percent, trading around $65.90 following a downgrade from UBS.