The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up where it left off last week,
falling 203.18 points to close at 8,175.77 on Monday, but there were a
few diamonds in the rough. The market had a steep drop off toward the
end of the session, triggered in part by news that Moody's Investors
Service downgraded troubled General Motors Corp.'s credit rating deeper
into junk status. GM shares fell 8.4% to close at $5.45. The automaker
is reportedly seeking government funding to buy Chrysler LLC.
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As for those diamonds, telecom company Embarq Corp. was one of them,
gaining 2.15% to close at $30.38 on news that CenturyTel Inc. plans to
acquire it for $11.6 billion.
A pair of activist investors helped
boost an ailing retail stock, department store Dillard's Inc. Barington
Capital Group LP and Clinton Group Inc. urged the retailer to oust its
chairman and CEO William Dillard II and a handful of other high-ranking
executives from the Dillard family, which the hedge funds claimed are
overpaid for poor performance. Dillard's shares skyrocketed 35.33% to
close at $4.52.
A handful of regional banks, which could use all
the help they can get, got a jolt thanks to news they would receive
capital infusions from the federal government. The biggest gainers on
the list were Regions Financial Corp. with an 11.3% jump to close at
$9.95 and First Horizon National Corp. with a 10.88% increase to close
at $9.58. See the chart below for more bank stocks. - Michael Rudnick
Troubled Wall Street
Prices at close |
| Name |
Price at
open |
Price
at close |
Change |
Mkt cap |
| J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. |
35.1 |
34.00 |
-1.43 |
126714.60 |
| Merrill Lynch & Co. |
15.65 |
15.21 |
-0.65 |
24337.52 |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. |
96.8 |
92.88 |
-7.52 |
36728.63 |
| Morgan Stanley |
15.37 |
13.73 |
-2.79 |
14581.03 |
| Citigroup Inc. |
12.1 |
11.73 |
-0.41 |
63922.63 |
| Fannie Mae |
0.6702 |
0.68 |
0.02 |
727.47 |
| Freddie Mac |
0.7012 |
0.65 |
-0.09 |
420.56 |
| Bank of America Corp. |
20.87 |
20.53 |
-0.54 |
103000.13 |
| Wachovia Corp. |
5.75 |
5.74 |
-0.06 |
12266.38 |
| Wells Fargo & Co. |
30.42 |
30.83 |
-0.08 |
102393.17 |
| American International Group Inc. |
1.7 |
1.35 |
-0.35 |
3629.93 |
| Sovereign Bancorp Inc. |
2.31 |
2.18 |
-0.10 |
1447.12 |
| National City Corp. |
2.07 |
2.02 |
-0.05 |
4112.72 |
| Fifth Third Bancorp |
8.7 |
8.47 |
0.40 |
4891.32 |
| Capital One Financial Corp. |
35.77 |
34.40 |
-0.90 |
13378.16 |
| SunTrust Banks Inc. |
33.53 |
35.34 |
0.23 |
12509.04 |
| U.S. Bancorp |
28.56 |
28.82 |
-0.63 |
50550.28 |
| Regions Financial Corp. |
8.9 |
9.95 |
1.01 |
6884.96 |
| KeyCorp |
10.12 |
9.92 |
-0.20 |
4908.07 |
| PNC Financial Services |
58.6 |
58.63 |
-0.25 |
20403.24 |
| BB&T Corp. |
31.21 |
32.20 |
-0.05 |
17693.57 |
| Bank of New York Mellon Corp. |
27.8 |
26.50 |
-1.31 |
30410.51 |
| State Street Corp. |
35.9 |
35.69 |
-1.92 |
15401.88 |
Source: The Deal |
