Mid-Day Report
The markets pared its early morning gains but continued trading in positive territory during the midday with the Dow climbing 89 points to 10,698 as financial services firms pursued merger deals to stay afloat. Nasdaq soared 22 points to 2121.
On the upside
Although advertising sales in publishing tumbled for Media General (NYSE: MEG), the company said that in terms of overall revenue, August was the best month so far this year.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is pursuing merger discussions with Wachovia (NYSE: WB).
On the downside
Investors concerned that the slumping housing market will adversely affect Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) sent shares of the mortgage insurer tumbling.
Shares of State Street (NYSE: STT) plunged over worries that the company will again write-down billions in unrealized securities losses. The company has written down over $6 billion in the first two quarters.
Shares of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) continued to fall after reporting its worst quarterly profit since the world's largest investment bank went public in 1999.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 2 on the NYSE while advancers edged out decliners by 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 5 points to 682.
