Mid-Morning Market Update: Warren Buffett Shows Some Love For Heinz on Valentines Day

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.10 percent to 13,968.18 while the NASDAQ fell 0.30 percent to 3,187.18. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.18 percent to 1,517.25.

For technicals on the major indices today, the S&P looks poised to bounce off its 1515 support, while having a second level of support at 1495 if it falls further. The NASDAQ looks set to reject its September 12th resistance breakout, with support landing around 3125. The Dow looks ready to bounce of 13940 intraday, while it should reside in the 14022-13860 range. The RUT looks to be holding a 915 breakout sitting at 920 highs.

In a wild morning of news, Berkshire Hathaway and 3G's purchase of Heinz

for $72.50 per share, roughly a 20 percent premium on yesterday's close. Following the news, shares briefly shot up above $73 on the rumor of a special dividend before the transaction closes, but have since settled around $72.54.

Constellation Brands

shot up 34.97 percent to $43.03 in the pre-market after it was announced that AB InBev had revised its Modelo deal to meet US regulators objections. Shares of Zillow

also got a boost, shooting up 13.60 percent to $42.26 after the company posted a big earnings beat after the close Wednesday. Alpha Natural Resources

was also up, gaining 12.40 percent to $9.54 after an earnings beat on top and bottom lines.

Affymax

took a 16.26 percent hit to $14.16 this morning after the company announced it will pause the expansion of Omontys pilot that began in July 2012. CenturyLink

was also down, falling 20.30 percent to $33.22 after the company matched earnings expectations but lowered its dividend significantly. Shares of Windstream

were down 9.33 percent to $8.90 this morning, as traders feared the 11 percent dividend yield stock would lower its dividend in line with CenturyLink's move.

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.40 percent to $97.40, while gold traded up 0.08 percent to $1,646.40. Silver traded up 0.04 percent Thursday to $30.91.

In the eurozone this morning, markets fell sharply on some very poor GDP data. The Spanish Ibex lead the fall, dropping 1.23 percent, while the Italian MIB index nose-dived 0.83 percent. The German DAX also displayed a significant fall, dropping 0.58 percent.

In economic news for Thursday, initial jobless claims came in at 341K, beating the estimated 360K and the prior report of 368K. Continuing jobless claims were also reported, coming in at 3.114 million, lower than the projected 3.205 million and the previous release of 3.224 million.