Company/Estimate
- (CNO)/.21
- (BSC)/.90
- (AES)/.27
Banks and brokerages plunged after JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to buy Bear Stearns Cos. (BSC) for less than a 10th of the bank's value and UBS AG downgraded U.S. financial shares on concern liquidity problems may worsen. Bear Stearns, the second- largest underwriter of U.S. mortgages plunged 87 percent to $3.90. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) fell 28 percent to $28. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) dropped 8.8 percent to $143. Citigroup Inc. (C) lost 5.3 percent to $18.73. UBS AG (UBS) slid 7.1 percent to $25.79. Washington Mutual Inc. (WM) fell 14 percent to $9.10. Morgan Stanley (MS) slid 12 percent to $34.70.
ChoicePoint Inc. (CPS): Mario Gabelli, one of the highest-paid U.S. financial services executives, boosted his stake to 6.2 percent in ChoicePoint, the provider of services to the insurance industry, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The stock fell 16 cents to $48.24 in regular trading.
McDonald's Corp. (MCD): The fast-food restaurant chain, which has more than tripled in the past five years through 2007 to rank as the best-performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, may lose its momentum, Barron's reported, without citing anyone. McDonald's shares fell 11 cents to $54.78 in regular trading on March 14.
National Financial Partners Corp. (NFP): The financial services distributor, which has lost more than half its value in the past five months, may sink even further as regulatory accounting practices trim the company's pro-forma earnings, Barron's reported, citing analyst Mark Roberts of Off Wall Street Consulting Group. National Financial stock declined 4.5 percent to $22.53 in regular trading on March 14.
Radian Group Inc. (RDN): The third-largest U.S. mortgage insurer said it revised fourth-quarter earnings lower by $103 million to reflect a writedown in the value of collateralized debt obligation transactions. The stock fell 36 cents to $5.15 in regular trading on March 14.
Watch BVN, DNA, SGY, COG for long breakouts.
Watch GS, ENR, PRU, STI, MGM, DGX, WLP for short breakdowns.
-MM
