Investors in battered home lenders Countrywide Financial Corp. and Washington Mutual Inc. did not pick up and run Tuesday despite adverse housing market conditions and a whopping loss taken by Countrywide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 39.81 points on Tuesday to close at 12,831.94, weighed down by news that the number of U.S. homes heading toward foreclosure in the first quarter skyrocketed 112% over the year-ago period.
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It may be that Countrywide shareholders have grown numb to the continuous wave of dismal housing data, as its shares inched up 0.34% to close at $5.85. And by the way, Countrywide announced an $893 million loss on Tuesday for the first quarter compared with a $434 million gain for the same period last year. News of Bank of America Corp.'s plans to work out at least $40 billion in troubled mortgages after it completes its pending $4 billion acquisition of Countrywide might have also offset any major share price decrease.
Savings and loan Washington Mutual also survived the foreclosure news, inching downward .08% to $12.59 per share. WaMu is still fresh off of news that TPG Capital and other investors had agreed to pump $7 billion of new equity into the company.
One very bright note was clothing retailer Syms Corp.'s 7.01% gain to close at $14.96 following a Tuesday New York Post report that Syms had purchased development rights from a building adjacent to its 42 Trinity Place location in Manhattan to develop it as a high-rise tower, according to the retailer's annual 10-K filing late April 25. Activist shareholder Esopus Creek Advisors in an April 21 letter to the retailer's independent directors pressed Syms to evaluate its real estate assets for development or lease. - Michael Rudnick
