Stock Market Watch

Stocks headed for a Lower Finish on Last Trading Day of the Month

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Stocks have remained in red in late trading and are headed for a lower finish on the last trading day of what has been a good month for the U.S. equity market. Stocks are falling on worries about Europe’s ability to deal with the debt crisis. The bankruptcy of MF Global Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: MF) due to Europe’s debt crisis has also raised worries about exposure of other U.S. financial institutions to debt of peripheral euro zone economies.

At last check, the Dow Jones was trading 1.24% lower at 12,080.04, the S&P 500 was trading 1.34% lower at 1,267.81, and the Nasdaq was trading 1.02% lower at 2,709.31.

Financial stocks are down sharply in trading today as investors worry about U.S. banks’ exposure to euro zone debt. Among the major losers in the Financial sector today are Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), which is currently trading 4.63% lower at $7.01, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), which is currently trading 5.80% lower at $32.18, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), which is currently trading 6.37% lower at $18.08 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), which is currently trading 3.96% lower at $111.27.


Other major losers in trading today are Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU), which is currently trading 11.38% lower at $61.15, Cobalt International Energy (NYSE: CIE), which is currently trading 7.21% lower at $10.42, NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: NPSP), which is currently trading 31.19% lower at $5.34 and Changyou.com Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ: CYOU), which is currently trading 12.37% lower at $26.29.

Despite the sharp decline in the broad market, Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) shares are climbing in trading today after the company announced its third-quarter financial results. At last check, Humana shares were trading 6.98% higher at $85.96. The stock touched a new 52-week high of $87.32 earlier today.

The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SHAW) shares are also up sharply today. At last check, the stock was trading 6.40% higher at $23.60.

edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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