Financial Stocks Slump, Citigroup Falls 4.80% (C, MS, UBS, GS, JPM)
Financial stocks slid on Monday as the broader market slumped on concerns about the upcoming UE summit this week. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. shares fell 5% or more Monday, leading the financial sector lower as fresh anxiety over the European debt crisis rolled across the Atlantic.
Citigroup Inc.(NYSE:C) declined 4.79% to $26.65 as the Spanish government on Monday made its request for aid for the banking sector official, with a letter from Finance Minister Luis de Guindos to Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Morgan Stanley(NYSE:MS) fell $0.68 or 4.81% to $13.46 after the chief executive of its German unit stepped aside as officials probe the alleged overpriced purchase of a stake in a French utility by the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Over the past three months of trading sessions, the stock plunged more than 31%.
UBS AG (USA)(NYSE:UBS) is trading 4.27% lower at $11.44. Recently, UBS AG was sued in a New York by a pension plan over a $2.3 billion trading loss reported last year that the bank blamed on an alleged rogue trader. The lawsuit is based on the Swiss bank’s disclosure that a former trader, Kweku Adoboli, engaged in unauthorized trades on behalf of UBS resulting in that loss.
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.(NYSE:GS) lost 2.57% at $91.22. Recently, Reuters reported that Ratings agency Moody’s downgraded 15 banks on Thursday, lowering credit ratings by one to three notches to reflect the risk of losses they face from volatile capital markets activities, but banks criticized the move as backward looking. Morgan Stanley had its long-term debt rating lowered by just two notches, one level less than had been expected. The downgrade left Morgan Stanley more highly rated than Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc., but a step below Goldman Sachs Group.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.(NYSE:JPM) is trading 2.56% lower at $35.07. Integra Mining Ltd. announced that JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its affiliates have ceased to be shareholders of the Company effective April 9, 2012.