International stocks were mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 Average was up 158.40 points at 9239.24, and the FTSEurofirst 300 index decreased by 146.37 points to 4492.55. Most financial stocks were down, with HSBC Holdings plc and Standard Chartered plc hit the hardest.
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HSBC's stock is down after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
downgraded the bank along with two other European banks, Handelsbanken AB and BancSabadell, because of expectations that distressed funding markets and capital concerns will take their toll on the firms. Standard Chartered is down after a gain Tuesday. Hong Kong Securities regulators reprimanded Standard Chartered for allegedly
"giving a hedge fund timing advantage on mutual fund investments." Meanwhile, UBS is down after it confirmed it had a
$4.7 billion exposure to recently the bankrupt U.S. arm of LyondellBasell Industries AF, raising investors concerns that it could prompt more write-downs in the first quarter. Barclays plc's stock is up after the bank cut
400 jobs in its U.K. IT departments. Royal Bank of Scotland plc is down.
DealBook reports that the U.K. government-owned bank lent over twice as much as its competitor Calyon to financial sponsors in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa last year -
Maria Woehr Untitled Document
Troubled International Banks
Prices at 11:30 am EDT |
| Name |
Open |
Price at
11:30am |
Change |
Mkt cap |
| UBS |
14.40 |
14.40 |
-0.04 |
40859.92 |
| Barclays plc |
165.00 |
169.50 |
6.20 |
14190.25 |
| BNP Paribas SA |
33.90 |
34.22 |
0.12 |
30614.44 |
Deutsche Bank AG |
37.53 |
37.38 |
-0.70 |
20398.27 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc |
15.04 |
15.14 |
-0.31 |
29868.20 |
| Royal Bank of Canada |
37.31 |
37.44 |
-0.60 |
50137.40 |
| HSBC Holdings plc |
654.75 |
643.00 |
-14.75 |
77836.85 |
Lloyds TSB Group plc
|
120.00 |
124.00 |
5.00 |
10724.09 |
| Standard Chartered plc |
995.00 |
922.50 |
-76.50 |
17491.83 |
| Toronto-Dominion Bank |
46.11 |
46.13 |
-0.43 |
39033.22 |
| Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. |
6.22 |
6.14 |
-0.02 |
71030.46 |
Source: The Deal |