Mid-Day Report

Falling factory orders along with soaring jobless claims weighed down the markets during the midday with the Dow plunging 272 points to 10,559.  Nasdaq skidded 64 points to 2005.

On the upside

Microchip Technology (Nasdaq: MCHP) and ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN) made an unsolicited $2.3 billion offer to acquire Atmel (Nasdaq: ATML).

Capstone Turbine (Nasdaq: CPST) reported that sales of its C1000 Capstone MicroTurbine clean energy systems have surpassed expectations.

Although Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) widened fourth quarter losses, shares of the chipmaker rose on analyst comments that the company is a leader in the memory space.

On the downside

According to a Wall Street Journal article, senior executives of General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP) have sold a total of 5.6 million shares of the real estate investment trust for approximately $112 million.

Con-way (NYSE: CNW) citied the sluggish economy for slashing its full year guidance prompting a downgrade.

Although The Shaw Group (NYSE: SGR) secured a $14.4 million Navy contract, shares of the construction company tumbled over concerns that the weak economy will weigh down revenue.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 21 points to 651.