International markets were down, and financial stocks were mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 Average was down 362.82 points at 8876.42, and the FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 2.14 points to 4505.37. Financial stocks were mixed after the Bank of England
slashed interest rates to 1.5%.
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Barclays plc's stock is up. The bank announced it will
shed 30 jobs in Singapore and Hong Kong as part of the bank's post-Lehman Brother's merger restructuring. BNP Paribas SA stock is down after its CEO said it
remained "comfortably profitable" in 2008 even after a €710 million ($969 million) pretax loss in the first 11 months of the year, and it expects 2009 to be a "complex" year, also
predicting that recovery will happen quickly in Asia.
Deutsche Bank AG stock is down. Reports by Bloomberg suggest that the bank turned down hedge
fund investors dealing with Bernard Madoff dozens of times after the money manager failed to meet the bank's due diligence criteria
. HSBC Holdings plc stock is down. The bank is not cutting its strategic stake in China's Bank of Communications. Royal Bank of Scotland plc's stock is up after the announcement of a
potential sale of its
$2.8 billion stake in Bank of China Ltd.
However, the bank will have to find buyers for at least $12 billion of other
U.K. and U.S. assets, including Citizens Financial Group Inc. Lloyds TSB Group plc's stock is up after it
offered to exchange up to £8.5 billion ($12.9 billion) of existing upper tier two capital
notes to strenghten its
capital base.
- Maria Woehr
Troubled International Banks
Prices at 12:30 pm EDT |
| Name |
Open |
Price at
12:30pm |
Change |
Mkt cap |
| UBS |
14.45 |
14.85 |
0.50 |
42136.79 |
| Barclays plc |
169.5 |
177.00 |
7.20 |
14818.14 |
| BNP Paribas SA |
34.5 |
34.84 |
-0.16 |
31173.66 |
Deutsche Bank AG
|
36.03 |
35.41 |
-1.55 |
19323.24 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc |
15.65 |
15.48 |
0.74 |
30538.95 |
| Royal Bank of Canada |
36.75 |
37.50 |
0.40 |
50217.75 |
| HSBC Holdings plc |
638 |
640.25 |
-2.75 |
77503.96 |
Lloyds TSB Group plc
|
125.1 |
128.40 |
4.50 |
11104.62 |
| Standard Chartered plc |
905 |
860.00 |
-60.00 |
16306.75 |
| Toronto-Dominion Bank |
45.2 |
46.58 |
1.02 |
39413.99 |
| Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. |
6.03 |
6.08 |
-0.02 |
70336.36 |
Source: The Deal |
