Financials Lead Broad Slump

Equities fall even though oil does, too
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 12, 2008 3:30 PM CDT
Financials Lead Broad Slump
Specialist Gerard Petti, second left, directs trading at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in this undated file photo.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Stocks fell today as waves of bad news from the financial sector battered investor sentiment, MarketWatch reports. Equities lost value despite a $1.44 drop in the price of oil, reversing what has recently been a consistent inverse relationship. The Dow fell 139.88 to 11,642.47, the Nasdaq 9.34 to 2,430.61, and the S&P 500 15.73 to 1,289.59.

Financial stocks plummeted as JP Morgan disclosed $1.5 billion in mortgage-related losses over the last 6 weeks, and its credit woes show no sign of abating. Wachovia added to its Q2 loss a $500 million settlement it’s likely to incur for its part in the auction-rate security mess. UBS reported a Q2 loss of over $300 million.
(More Dow Jones stories.)

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