Market Wrap: Dow Makes it Four; Apple Loves Selling Tablets; M&A Monday; Intel to Become TV Provider

Market wrap-up for March 12th

End of the Day: Dow Jones up 37.7 to 12,959.71; Nasdaq down 4.7 to 2,983.66; S&P 500 up 0.2 to 1,371.09

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• Two isn't a streak: Four is, however. The Dow notched a four-day winning streak with today's close up 0.3 percent on the session. Initial data from China showed a $31.5 billion drop in its trade balance, the widest one-month reported decline in a decade. Otherwise, most stocks were mixed on the session.
  
  
• Going, going, gone..: Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) new iPad already sold out, according to reports Monday.
  
  Despite initial speculation that mimicked the iPhone 4S, Apple is said it has sold all iPad supplies in countries where it is available. In addition, some shipments have been pushed back three-weeks, although some blogs have reported getting confirmation that their device has already shipped.
  
  For more on the new iPad sales, click here.
  
  
• M&A Monday: Asahi Kasei Corporation and ZOLL Medical Corporation (Nasdaq: ZOLL) jointly announced that Asahi Kasei, Japan’s leading diversified chemical manufacturer with businesses in the health care, chemicals & fibers, homes & construction materials, and electronics sectors, has entered into a definitive merger agreement with ZOLL, a manufacturer of resuscitation and critical care devices and related software solutions, pursuant to which Asahi Kasei will acquire ZOLL for approximately $2.21 billion.
  
  For more color, click here.
  
  Youku Inc. (NYSE: YOKU) and Tudou Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: TUDO) have signed a definitive agreement for Tudou to combine with Youku in a 100% stock-for-stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, each Class A ordinary share and Class B ordinary share of Tudou issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the merger will be cancelled in exchange for the right to receive 7.177 Class A ordinary shares of Youku, and each American depositary share of Tudou, each of which represents four Tudou Class B ordinary shares, will be cancelled in exchange for the right to receive 1.595 American depositary shares of Youku, each of which represents 18 Youku Class A ordinary shares resulting in Youku and Tudou shareholders and ADS holders owning approximately 71.5 percent and 28.5 percent of the combined entity, respectively, immediately upon completion of the transaction. Upon completion, the combined entity will be named Youku Tudou Inc. Youku's ADSs will continue to be listed on the NYSE under the symbol "YOKU."
  
  
• Patents, patents, and more patents: Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOOO) sued Facebook NYSE: FB)(Nasdaq: FB) over patent infringement. The 10 patents being mentioned relate to ads, privacy, and social networking features. For more color,
  
  
• Aiming for Netflix by an unlikely source: Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) might be fixing to produce its own Internet-based TV service, the WSJ reported earlier. Reports have Intel contacting media companies with the idea to create a "virtual cable operator." Though Intel is aiming for a lunch by the end of 2012 at the earliest, snags like bandwidth constraints and content costs remain carriers for Intel. For more color, click here.

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