Midday Movers: General Motors, First Security, MetaCreations and Herbalife

First Security (FSCO Quote) was rising 1/16, or 8.7%, to 13 1/4 this afternoon following Wells Fargo's (WFC Quote) announcement that it will purchase First Security for about $3 billion. Under terms of the deal, First Security shareholders will receive 0.355 of a share of Wells Fargo stock, or $14.11 a share, a 16% premium over First Security's closing price of 12 3/16 on Friday. Wells Fargo fell 3/4 to 39.

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Netcentives (NCNT Quote), a developer of software and services for online marketing, boosted 2 1/2, or 10.6%, to 26 after Internet venture capital firm CMGI (CMGI Quote) announced that it will buy 4.9 percent of the company. CMGI will work with the company to develop an online loyalty program. Accordingly, Netcentives will become the preferred software provider for the CMGI points reward program, which means that if the customer has no other preference, Netcentives' software will be used. CMGI fell 3 11/16 to 90 1/16.

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Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures

GTE's (GTE Quote) board approved a capital expenditure plan totaling $1.8 billion to $2 billion in 2000 and $11 billion to $13 billion over five years so its Genuity unit, formerly known as GTE Internetworking, can accelerate the buildout of its network infrastructure. Genuity has also filed a registration statement with the SEC for an IPO. GTE was down 2 3/16 to 72 7/8. ...