Closing Bell Report
The markets reeled from the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers and the sale of investment firm Merrill Lynch to Bank of America to close sharply lower with the Dow collapsing 504 points to 10,918. Nasdaq skidded 51 points to 2210.
On the upside
UBS analyst Kevin Crissey upgraded AirTran Holdings (NYSE: AAI) saying that falling oil prices will boost earnings. The airline also announced that flights to Houston Hobby International Airport will resume.
Putnam Managed Municipal Income Trust (NYSE: PMM) renewed its repurchase program for closed-end funds and announced the approval by its board to merge two closed-end funds into open-end funds.
On the downside
Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) underwrote the senior note offering in July by Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq: ESLR) but the solar products company reassured investors that none of the proceeds from the sale are on deposit with Lehman.
JA Solar Holdings (Nasdaq: JASO) warned that solar prices are expected to drop between 8% to 10% in 2009.
Meruelo Maddux Properties (Nasdaq: MMPI) will repurchase up to $10 million worth of common stock.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 15 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 6 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plummeted 31 points to 690.
