Editor's Picks
Stocks Open New Week With Old Volatility
Following a lower open, U.S. stocks were trading erratically Monday, as has been the story for weeks, as the prospect of a global recession continued to loom.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was lately trading around the flat line. Recently, the blue-chip average was down 11 points at 8368. The S&P 500 was lower by 8 points at 869, and the Nasdaq was losing 17 points at 1535.
As the new week began, financial firms, major players in the global crisis, were in focus. The Financial Times Web site reported that Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein approached Citigroup head Vikram Pandit about a merger. Pandit turned down the proposal, which was made in September, the report said.
Elsewhere on the merger front, CenturyTel reached an agreement to acquire Embarq in a stock swap the companies are valuing at around $11.6 billion.
Also, as the Treasury's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program to buy equity stakes in troubled banks got underway, several companies announced their participation in the initiative. Among them, KeyCorp and Huntington Bancshares announced they would take part in the Treasury Department's plan to buy stock in banks facing liquidity troubles.
More on MainStreet
SunTrust , meanwhile, said it would slash its dividend 30% and apply to sell stock and warrants to the Treasury.
The Federal Reserve was also working to shore up short-term debt markets and get companies to lend to one another. The Fed said it will give companies a rate of 1.88% for three-month, high-grade commercial paper and buy asset-backed debt for 3.88%. Three-month dollar Libor, a measure of the rate banks charge one another for large loans, ticked down to 3.51% from 3.52% Friday. The overnight Libor rate was at 1.27%.
