Bank shareholders and basically everyone else with any skin in the Wall Street game were no fans of GOP lawmakers on Monday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its biggest point drop in history following the House of Representatives' rejection of a $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan due in part to 133 Republican nay votes on the legislation.
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Surprisingly, Democrats' response was not overwhelmingly positive either, accounting for 95 nay votes in the House. The Dow plummeted 777.68 points to close at 10,365.45. While the biggest point drop in history, it is overshadowed on a percentage basis by the roughly 508 point, or nearly 23% 1987 market crash.
Winners were few and losers were many on Monday with the battered financial sector taking some of the biggest hits. Wachovia Corp. shares sunk 81.50% to close at $1.85 per share following news that Citigroup Inc. agreed to buy its banking operations after the company's stock plummeted over the weekend due to liquidity worries. Citigroup, which did not disclose the offer price of the deal, dropped 11.91% Monday to close at $17.75.
As American International Group Inc. shareholders nervously await to be washed out by the Federal Reserve's soon-to-be exercised 79.9% stake, shares slid 20.63% to close at $2.50. AIG's new chairman and CEO Edward Liddy is expected in the coming days to list assets that AIG will put on the block to pay off the Fed's $85 billion loan.
Also particularly hard hit was Merrill Lynch & Co., which dove 19.59% to close at $22 per share. Merrill's pending owner Bank of America Corp. was also slammed, logging a 16.95% decline to close at $30.48 per share. BofA shareholders are likely hanging on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's every word due to the bank's ownership of Countrywide Financial Corp. and all of the sour mortgage-related debt that came with it. -
Michael Rudnick
Troubled Wall Street
Prices at 4:00 pm EST |
| Name |
Price at
open |
Price
at 4:00pm |
Change |
Mkt cap |
| J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. |
46.58 |
41.00 |
-7.24 |
140.92B |
| Merrill Lynch & Co. |
26.19 |
22.00 |
-5.36 |
33.64B |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. |
134.49 |
121.98 |
-16.01 |
48.04B |
| Morgan Stanley |
24.83 |
21.11 |
-3.64 |
23.41B |
| Citigroup Inc. |
19.57 |
17.75 |
-2.40 |
96.66B |
| Fannie Mae |
2.15 |
1.55 |
-0.28 |
1.62B |
| Freddie Mac |
2.35 |
1.74 |
-0.26 |
1.13B |
| Bank of America Corp. |
36.70 |
30.48 |
-6.22 |
138.99B |
| Wells Fargo & Co. |
36.00 |
33.25 |
-4.06 |
110.02B |
| American International Group Inc. |
3.35 |
2.50 |
-0.65 |
6.72B |
Source: The Deal |
