Opening Bell Report

The markets opened lower with the Dow falling 131 points to 11,256 while Nasdaq lost 30 points to 2243.  Investors were wary about the government's plan to prop up the banking sector by buying $700 billion in mortgage debt.

On the upside

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) rose on the possibility of an equity investment by Mitsubishi UFJ.

Nike (NYSE: NKE), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) all announced stock buyback programs.

Robert Willumstad, the former CEO of American International Group (NYSE: AIG), turned down a $22 million severance payment citing his inability to execute a restructuring plan.  Investor response on message boards were positive.

On the downside

Shares of exchange-traded futures and options broker MF Global (NYSE: MF) fell despite management stating that it had no "material exposure" to bankrupt Lehman Brothers.

The financial services sector gave up much of Friday's gains.  Shares of Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) and Wachovia (NYSE: WB) fell sharply.

An analyst downgraded Netapp (Nasdaq: NTAP) whose shares edged toward 52-week lows.  The company provides data storage systems to businesses.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 13 points to 740.