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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (589899)	10/14/2010 2:38:22 PM
From: one_less	1 Recommendation Respond to of 1574071

Mortgage jitters hit bank stocks BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Shares of large-cap banks Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. slid more than 4% Thursday on growing concerns about the "robo-signing" foreclosure scandal. Financials were the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500, as the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund fell more than 2%. On Wednesday, officials in all 50 states unveiled a joint investigation into mortgage companies' conduct during foreclosure proceedings. Some big banks like Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. have placed moratoriums on foreclosures. See related story on the foreclosure fraud scandal. Shares of J.P. Morgan declined 3.5%, falling for the second day after the company reported quarterly results Wednesday. A drag on the foreclosure process "could delay any recovery in the housing market that might be on the horizon," said analysts at FBR Capital Markets in a note Thursday. The uncertainty surrounding the mortgage probe also hit bank bonds Thursday. See full story on selloff in bank bonds. Meanwhile, the cost of default protection against U.S. bank debt jumped Thursday on worries that financial institutions could be on the hook for losses as a result of the nationwide investigation. U.S. bank credit default swap spreads "have widened sharply amid fears of prolonged litigation," said Gavan Nolan, vice president of credit research at Markit, in a note. "Bank of America's spreads are now at their widest levels since July 2009. There are also concerns that the issue could have a damaging effect on the fragile U.S. housing market." Separately, U.S. foreclosure filings rose 3% in September from the previous month, RealtyTrac said Thursday. In other economic data, jobless claims rose 13,000 to 462,000 in the latest week. See full story on weekly jobless claims. Producer prices rose 0.4% in September, the government said Thursday. Read complete article on producer prices. H&R Block Inc. was the biggest financial-services decliner in the S&P 500 Index . The stock was down nearly 9% after the tax-services company said it plans to acquire 2SS Holdings Inc. for $287.5 million. etrade.wallst.com\|US;XLF\|US;BAC\|US;JPM\|US;HRB\|